Rocket to fuchsia

A week or two after New Year's Eve, Christy Hunt told her Facebook friends she was "thinking of hanging up my rock 'n' roll shoes."

Last weekend at the 501 Club, though, not only was Hunt back onstage in high, pointy heels, her new bandmate Arzu Gokcen accidentally kicked one of her heels into the crowd while jump-starting the song "Black Door."

"I've never done that before," Gokcen told the guy who returned the shoe despite nearly being whacked by it.

There aren't a lot of rock-related occurrences that the members of Pink Mink haven't experienced before, so little accidents like that are big fun in their eyes. The pop-punky, Ramones-ian, slightly girl-groupish all-star quartet has been enjoying a lot of happy accidents over the past three months.

Since the band's first semi-rehearsed gig at Honey in early May -- clips of which went viral via YouTube, somewhat to the members' horror -- Pink Mink has stumbled into a steady stream of fun summer gigs, including the Art-a-Whirl and Chiang Mai Thai block parties, and culminating this Saturday at the big kahuna of street fests, the Pizza Lucé Block Party, also featuring Brother Ali, Lookbook, Red Pens, Dessa and more.

Pink Mink's rosy summer is a far cry from Hunt's dreary Facebook posting last winter, which luckily caught Gokcen's attention.

"The winter blues had set in, and I was seriously thinking of going back to school," recalled Hunt, who also fronts Ouija Radio and spent the past two years touring internationally with Detroit band the Von Bondies. "Arzu responded that she'd lock me in my closet before she'd let me call it quits."

A Twin Cities rock heroine from the Selby Tigers, Lefty Lucy and Strut & Shock, Gokcen had been on hiatus from performing while she studied up for a new job as a wine seller over the winter. She and Hunt had been longtime casual friends who finally discovered they had a little chemistry last year when they joined forces to sing on a track on the Birthday Suits' latest record.

When the idea arose months later of starting her eighth band with Hunt, Gokcen said with a laugh, "I always think of that part in 'An Officer and a Gentleman' where [Richard Gere] yells, 'I got no place else to go!' I don't know what else to do with myself but be in a band.' "

The same apparently goes for their male counterparts in Pink Mink. Drummer Charles Gehr also plays in Ouija Radio and the Seawhores and is one of those guys you're never surprised to see playing in some other band. Bassist Jacques Wait gigs with the Twilight Hours and Iguano and is one of those guys you're never surprised to see credited in a local CD jacket, either as engineer, producer or backup musician.

Gokcen and Hunt still have their own extracurricular activities. Arzu hosts her popular Staraoke karaoke shows three times a week at Grumpy's Downtown (Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays). Christy is now the talent booker at the Hexagon Bar and will soon return to booking at the former home of Stasiu's Place, currently under construction to become Stanley's Northeast Bar Room.

With all their experiences and grunt work over the years, one might think Pink Mink's members (all in their mid to late 30s) would be jaded about playing in a new band again. They say the opposite is true.

"I book all these younger bands that have bigger egos than any of us, and I get why they're that way, and I even sort of missed it," Hunt said. "I get that kind of feeling in this band: that we can play a million shows and conquer the world, and I love it."

With nine original songs and 14 gigs to their name so far, Pink Mink thinks things are moving along so quickly and smoothly in large part because they've all been around the block a few times.

"It was really a no-sweat thing from the start, since everybody knew each other before and knew what we were getting into," said Wait, who was recruited only about a week before that first gig.

Said Gehr, "Being a little older makes it more casual and more anything-goes. I think it's the first band I've been in where we're not trying to shove one particular style of music down people's throat."

No, just shoes, it seems.

Going Rogue (again)It would be pretty forgivable to have low expectations for "The Bookseller's House," the second of four albums that Chris Koza's Rogue Valley plans to release with each passing season. Not only is that a lot of music to write, rehearse and perform in a year's time, but the band's other distractions include its clever CD packaging and promotional gimmicks such as the "geocache" contest now on its site (think: online scavenger hunt).

Koza & Co. know what's most important, though. "Bookseller's" is as carefully crafted as its spring predecessor, "Crater Lake," but even more rocking and radio-friendly. The best tracks are the Wilco-ish rocker "Encierro," the summer-shimmery "Jar Flies" and the triumphal march closer "Rockaway." Friday's release party at First Avenue will feature some surprises, plus openers Communist Daughter and Total Babe (8 p.m., $9-$12).

Random mixWith his new location still under construction and the liquor license at his old site still valid pending appeal of last week's revocation, Ted Wilebski is keeping this weekend's gigs with the Insomniacs and Jimmy Thackery at the original Blues Saloon. Look for an update in a week or two on when the bar will reopen at the former Club Cancun space. ...

Shuga Records is hosting the 13th Avenue Folk Festival & Record Swap on Saturday outside the store (165 13th Av. NE., Mpls.) and inside the 331 Club. The all-day lineup of acoustic/rootsy acts includes Papa John Kolstad with Clint Hoover, Jerry Rau, Glen Hanson, Black Audience, Sneaky Pete Bauer and Gabe Barnett. It's free and all-ages, and money raised will go toward Sheridan Arts Elementary School and St. Stephen Human Services. ...

Another cool co-write for Dan Wilson: The Semisonic leader had a hand in "Ruling Me," on Weezer's album due out Sept. 14. ... For anyone headed to the North Shore -- or looking for an excuse to do so -- the school fundraiser Bradfest is going on Friday and Saturday in Two Harbors with Arcwelder, Alan Sparhawk, Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank and more. It's in honor of drummer Brad Rozman (FriendsofBrad.org). ...

Slapping Purses, Total [Expletive] Blood, Tender Meat, Falcon Crest and several more bands you wouldn't let your mother know you're seeing are performing for free Saturday behind Nick & Eddie restaurant (1612 Harmon Place, Mpls.) for the Loring Alley Party. You know the block party phenomenon has gone mainstream when the punk-rock answer is an "alley" party.

THREE TO GET TO KNOW ...

1. Screamo-style hard-rock band New Medicine is going from playing 7th Street Entry around Christmas to performing across the street at Target Center next week with Disturbed, Avenged Sevenfold and Stone Sour on the Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Tour. The local quartet is newly signed to Photo Finish Records, the Atlantic Records subsidiary that is also home to hunky techno-hop duo 3OH!3. Its first album, "Race You to the Bottom," is due for release in the fall and features a team of producers, including the duo S.A.M. & Sluggo (Coheed and Cambria) and punk vet Bill Stevenson (Descendents).

2. After several years of impressing older peers with an immaculate voice that belies her age, Sophia Shorai finally put one of those admirers to work with results that should impress fans of Norah Jones and Karrin Allyson alike. The blonde jazz crooner, 27, paired up with Prince & the NPG keyboardist Tommy Barbarella for an impromptu one-day session last winter that resulted in her second jazz CD, "Long as You're Living." With only Barbarella's soulful playing for accompaniment -- you could also call this his first solo piano disc -- Shorai churns out bittersweet versions of "In the Wee Small Hours," "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" and 10 other standards/covers. They're promoting the album Thursday at the Dakota (7 p.m., $5).

3. If I tell you there's a hip, smooth-voiced singer/songwriter from Minneapolis named Ryan Traster whose debut EP evokes comparisons to Grant Lee Phillips or Josh Ritter, you might take note but not think it unusual. But if I tell you that Traster used to play in the stormy, pounding rock band Small Towns Burn a Little Slower, you could and should be surprised. He has since left town for Brooklyn, but he recorded his five-song EP, "The Tourists," here with Ed Ackerson producing and MVPs Marc Perlman and Peter Anderson as backers, and it's strong enough to earn him attention in New York. He's back for a release party Friday at Sauce (9:30 p.m., $5).

chrisr@startribune.com • 612-673-4658