Tribute bands that don't suck
Led Zeppelin fans have been praying for the band to announce a U.S. tour since it played its much-ballyhooed reunion show in London on Dec. 10. But the Zep, along with AC/DC, has left us hanging. All of this heightened anticipation may help explain the growing popularity of two local tribute bands, Zed-Leppelin and TNT. Both bands are drawing pretty sizable -- and oftentimes easily excitable -- crowds.
"I've had at least a dozen 55-year-old men come up to me in tears saying, 'I saw Zeppelin back in 1977, and this is the closest I've been to reliving it,'" Zed guitarist John Rohling told me after the show.
The only tears I got from Zed-Leppelin last Saturday at POV's in Andover came with my first glimpse of singer Andy Lijewski in his tight, open-chested, hippie-dippie Plant shirt. But I was genuinely satisfied getting the Led out with the quartet.
I got there in time for their second of two sets, when they really get to the down-and-dirty stuff, including "Dazed and Confused," "Heartbreaker," "Since I've Been Loving You" and "The Ocean." Lijewski fits Plant's vocal range better than his wardrobe, and Rohling was equally impressive as Jimmy Page. He plays the same style of sunburst and double-neck Les Paul guitars that Page used, and he even brings out the bow for "Dazed." Their next gig is April 18 at the Whiskey Rack in North St. Paul.
TNT's approach to AC/DC was the exact opposite of Leppelin's. When the band members took the stage at Mayslack's earlier on Saturday, they looked like guys who had just gotten off work from Jiffy Lube or a paper warehouse. Guitarist Wally Borgan even had on a Wild jersey.
Without visual props, TNT only had the songs and their own musical chops to rely on. Perfect! Mike Grabow, who looks like Turtle from HBO's "Entourage," was a little grating as Brian Johnson -- which is to say, he was pretty accurate. But Jon Magnuson truly burned it up as Bon Scott, despite being about four times the size of the late, wee-sized singer. He channeled and not just mimicked Scott, from the set openers "If You Want Blood" and "Dirty Deeds" through such deep cuts as "Squealer," "Live Wire" and "Sin City." (Next gigs: Saturday at the Straight 8 in Amery, Wis.; April 19 at Jersey's in Inver Grove Heights.)
Chris Riemenschneider
'Stencil guy' goes global
With the weather growing more conducive to mural painting, one can't help but wonder what John Grider, our local king of wall stencils, has planned for the city's naked buildings. Will we see any new giant billy goats this spring and summer? Unlikely. Grider's hectic spring schedule has him showing work in galleries in Vienna, Austria, and Orlando, Fla., and in a poster show in Rome. Plus, he's due in Milwaukee this month to put up a mural, and then heads to London for its annual Stencil Festival. Oh, and he has a new 3-month-old daughter to play with. Dude's pretty busy.
Fortunately, Grider fans can spend an intimate moment with the artist -- at least by proxy -- Wednesday at Art of This, when the south Minneapolis gallery hosts a screening of "24 Weeks 3 Days," a documentary capturing Grider's every move as he paints an installation at the Maryland Art Palace in Baltimore. For a show titled "Objects of Adoration," Grider stenciled a portrait of his pregnant fiancée, who at the time was 24 weeks along in carrying their daughter-to-be; her son also appears in the portrait.
