Thing and I were commiserating outside the Bug Jar last Tuesday night trying to make sense out of the racket within. He copped to the Captain.

"It's music from the other side of the fence," he said. "Opaque melodies that bug most people."

The Blood And Bone Orchestra was on stage playing music on the fringe of the fringe of the fringe that has little bits of fringe on it; in other words, out there, dad. Talk about free jazz, this music knew no boundaries whatsoever, much less restraint (speaking of which, check out that new Bettie Page flick). The lyrics (or rather, the spoken parts) were strictly in the now, on the spot, off the cuff.

Pengo followed with complete WTF wall of noise that lasted eight minutes. It's easy to dismiss this group, but you really can't if you're truly a music fan and understand their contrarian-instigator-agitator stance. It's far better to clear a room with this music than to fill it up with pop, you know?

Scotland's The Country Teasers headlined with a set of oddball lo-fi country. The band played herky-jerky and somewhat spastic, like Devo at the rodeo. I first got hipped to the band after hearing them at a party in Nashville where the singer was going on about waking up black in the tune "Black Change." Well, it wasn't black, but the change from the two openers' opaque weirdness to The Teasers' Euro-hillbilly wackiness was subtle in spirit yet mammoth to the ears. Great night.

It was a trip back in time to Stooges Saturday to catch Ballbreaker. Known mostly as an AC/DC tribute, this band has original material that, frankly, is even better. But the kids, they wanna hear the hits. And I gotta say the band sounds just like AC/DC. Singer Ed Spock shifts from Scott to Johnson as the songs dictate. The band was as tight as the stonewashed jeans that a good number of the crowd had stuffed their asses into. Everyone loved the band loudly and seemed to be dressed like they did back in high school. Come to think of it, so did I.

--- Frank De Blase