Alright...Grand Rapids, I love you very much. But seriously, what's with some of you nutjobs?
The drive out to GR took about 2 hours, finding Teazer's took 20 minutes (one thing GR and Detroit has in common is it's metropolis made of one-ways.) By the time we* got to the bar, Winnie Cooper had already started. Teazer's is a sports bar in an industrial district about 6-7 minutes northwest of the downtown area. One of the first things I noticed about this bar, that struck me as "odd", was their lack of a smokeeter (a smoke filter that most bars, i thought, were mandated to have one present.)
On my way to the bathroom, I came around a corner to find a room with a pool table and next to it....beer pong. Yes, BEER PONG....in a fucking bar. Where most bars seem to frown on people getting "out of hand", this bar almost seemed to encourage it. The drink prices were typical, the bar staff was slow (with 4 waitresses, I waited about 20 minutes.) As soon as I got my drink, I made my way to a table in the back, near my buddies in Marshall Plan.
Winnie Cooper is five-piece indie-rock band. Not bad at all, just kind of a weird opener for Mean Mother and Marshall Plan. I hate to say it but by the time they finished up, most people were at the point where they needed to hear something that....rocked?
Mean Mother isn't a band to be taken lightly. Watching them play is like being hit by an eighteen-wheeler...or a soft-tail. One of the two. Since Ben Roeske's depature, Old Man Kelly (from Today I Wait) has taken of his guitar duties and Jason Shrum does his singing. Their new stuff is much better than their older songs (or maybe that it's just time they started playing songs that aren't 5+ years old.
Marshall Plan is a west Michigan gem. A hidden gem, mind you. These guys are great but there seems to be a lack of real interest in rock bands of their caliber. If you have the chance to see them (on the westside...because they almost never play anywhere else), I suggest you do it.
*we = niceguy-rob, jason lockwood and megan
ps. listen to ac/dc when you are driving somewhere like GR.
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