It only took nine months, but Mitch finally wrote up the last night of three nights at the 2004 Frogapalooza - a Sunday at The Bullfrog in Redford.
Performances include Sonic Disturbance, Sarah Brosch, Laura Wilke, Jiva and Maybe August. He missed Soul Driven and Busy Signal, sadly, but Webmaster Rick can fill you in I'm sure if you ask him nicely.


Sonic Disturbance

The third and final day of the 2004 Frogapalooza show at The Bullfrog in Redford started at three in the afternoon - which felt more like six in the morning after spending the previous two days in the bar getting blasted by nearly two dozen bands. But that didn't quash the spirit of our Sunday performers. On the contrary....

Consumate professional that he is, Sonic Disturbance (a.k.a. Joe Luellen) was already pumping serious air when I pushed through the double doors. Didn't seem to bother him that it was the middle of the afternoon and the sun was shining outside; SD was spinning a dance party like he was downtown after-hours and didn't have to be anywhere soon. Brad turned down the lights and shut the front door so we could get the full effect of SD's electric groove - and help us forget it was a Sunday afternoon.

Electronica, techno or trance (I can never get them straight) vibrated the entire room at high decibals, enhanced by a spiraling, midi-fied, multi-coloted light show that coruscated in the barroom mirrors - all of it controlled by one man from behind a rack of gear that surrounded him like a space-shuttle cockpit. He had to use a flashlight just to tweak the dials, knobs and buttons that kept that beats a-pumpin'.

Within five minutes of entering The Bullfrog my head was pounding and my ears were ringing - more from lack of sleep and excess alcohol over the previous two nights I'd guess. But it was LOUD - a fitting torture for totally blowing it with the scheduling of this act. He should have headlined the after-hours party in Rick's basement. What were we thinking?

Hear "Sonic Disturbance" at Soundclick.com


Sarah Brosch

The second act, polar opposite from the first, was Sarah Brosch. Sarah first honed her chops in the local Catholic church and went on to join "The Sacred Cows", "Kernal Blimp", "Over the Edge" and finally "Reagan?" with whom she recorded the CD "All the way from Allen St" (read the review here)

Since striking out on her own, Sarah's been paying her dues on the local coffee house circuit and teaches piano in her spare time, according to manager Nate Dorough (Blue Collar Booking / Livingston Underground).

"Mostly she just sits in her basement all day long and writes songs. Lots of songs," Dourough said. She's compelled to create and it shows in her music.



Dressed in a drab, gray sweater and black slacks, Brosch sat behind a simple electric piano and a solitary microphone. She warmed up with a couple covers from Jeff Buckley and Ben Folds then drifted seamlessly into her contemplative and absorbing originals. Sarah Brosch's music was made for Sunday afternoon; a soothing voice for a pop weary world (Would it be rude if I napped?).

What's more striking than the simplicity and quality of Brosch's melodies is the intimacy of her performance; she sings with such private intensity that she seems to disappear within her own music. You can hear that quality in some of her recordings with her old band Reagan? but the effect is even more pronounced in person. Watching her perform is like eavesdropping on a living diary. She writes to live and sings to breathe.

"This is my first time out of the coffee house (pause) and into the bar," Brosch confessed intermittently to the mic while she stroked the keys. "It's a different atmosphere (pause) but I like it. Oh, and my manager (pause) is pressing me to tell you (beat) that I have a CD for sale." Dorough nodded from the wings while holding up her solo debut, "Goodthing. Badthing. Everything."

Brosch is already working on a follow-up while maintaining a modest tour schedule and simultaneously pursuing her teaching degree. According to her blog, she feels a bit conflicted about her upcoming graduation:

'I feel so lame...everyone in my Teacher Education class said inspirational and moving things, such as, "i've wanted to be a teacher since i was two years old!" and "it's my one true passion!" and "i'm sooooooo excited to teach!!!" Meanwhile, cut to me - plotting out song arrangements and making hypothetical setlists in my head. And the worst part is, i can't help it. It's not my fault that music runs my life...'

Everything is just as it should be, Sarah.

http://www.sarabrosch.com


Laura Wilke

I get the feeling that Laura Wilke and her manager/mother feel they're wasting their time here. And who can blame them? The Bullfrog is nearly empty at five o'clock except for bar staff, Rick & I, Laura & her mother, her six-member band, and a small entourage.

The band quickly load in and fire up the equipment for a short sound-check. They want to get this over with ASAP (Now, who's bright idea was it to play in the city on a Sunday afternoon?). In no time, the six-piece, pop-corn country machine shifts into full gear and Wilke is belting out a couple of warm-ups. It's quickly apparent that this band could play the best gigs in the state - and probably already has.

Then comes a brisk version of "The First Cut is The Deepest"- which Wilke mistakingly attributes to Cheryl Crow who covered the song about thirty years after it was a hit for Rod Stewart and written another decade before that by Cat Stevens (1967). Musicological lapses aside, Wilke nails the vocals like a pro. She's got a great voice, a bright smile and a stage presence like I haven't seen since Marie Osmond confessed to my t.v. dinner that she's 'a little bit country'.

My take: Laura, or "Lew" as she's known, is a media-ready American Idol. Pocahontas with perfect teeth. A Nashville Britney, if you will. Pre-packaged with youth (she's only 18), beauty, talent and self-confidence - she has everything she'll need to meet the expectations of demanding modern country fans with the exception of a big, fat national contract and her own daytime talk-show. I get the feeling she's as passionate about her career as Sarah Brosch is about her song writing. If Lew don't "make it", it won't be for lack of tryin'.

After performing a few well-crafted originals, including "Tunica", "No Boys Allowed" and "I Don't Play That Game Anymore", Wilke and her band close with the tried and tired bowling-alley standard, "Sweet Home Alabama". It's not their best moment, but then, it's certainly not their best gig. Thanks for coming anyway.

http://www.laurawilkie.com/


Jiva

Jiva took to the stage around 7:30 and pumped the swelling crowd to life with a mix of their hypnotic originals and some classic covers, including The Beatles "Helter Skelter" and The Stones' "Sympathy For The Devil". The Jiva sidemen played their hearts out, the stage barely able to contain their bounding energy by the end of the set.



Fronted by the dark & lovely Tasha Valdez, Jiva claims Detroit as home and play what I call hypnotic-groove rock. If I had to compare, they remind me of a local, female-fronted version of the band "LIVE". Their songs creep up on you; seductive at first, then suddenly shifting into rhythmic overdrive and inevitably carrying you out on wave of climactic guitar.

Good music. Powerful performance. What more do you need?

http://www.jivamusic.net/



Maybe August

Coming all the way down from a Friday/Saturday gig in Traverse City, Maybe August took the stage at The Bullfrog around 10 p.m. on Sunday night, much to Webmaster Rick's unabashed delight. It's his favorite Michigan band.

In fact, Rick was so enthusiastic about Maybe August's appearance he re-introduced the band after each of the first three songs! Ok, so he was a little hammered by that time, but he was genuinely thrilled to have them in the house.

After witnessing the live performance, I finally understood why he was so jazzed. Maybe August were tight. (How tight were they?) Ok, they were as tight as a camel's ass in an Iraqi sandstorm; they were as tight as second-cousins boning in a bale of hay; they were as tight as two nickels tucked into Martha Stewart's puckered tush. I'm talkin' tie-eeet!

Maybe August is one of the few bands I've witnessed who were actually better live than they were on disc, and their disc kicked ass. By the second or third song they owned the room and people were already asking for their own copy of "A Fine How Do You Do", Maybe August's debut CD. People were especially blown away by Rosco's" fantaschromatic (ok, I just made that word up) harmonica solos. Blues Traveler and Bare Naked Ladies eat your heart out.

So the room was humming on a Sunday night - Mission Accomplished. When I left, Maybe August was playing an excellent cover of Elvis Costello's "What's so funny 'bout peace, love & understanding". I sang along all the way to the parking lot. I had to work early.

http://www.maybeaugust.com/

???

The 2004 Frogapalooza was an exhilarating, albeit exhausting weekend of great local music of every flavor. Thanks go out to all the bands who volunteered their time and who conducted themselves with the utmost professionalism in a hurried atmosphere. Thanks to Brad and The Bullfrog Staff. Thanks to Fish and Molly. And thanks to all of you who showed up and for giving a damn about Michigan's many talented bands. - Mitch

Read about the Sat. March 13th Show

Read About the Friday March 12th Show

See a liked list of performers