Another of the Quad City Times’ “live” music sessions went down at the River Music Experience’s Mojo Café on Monday, December 8th, 2008, kicking off at 5 p.m. with The Kaps, moving on to “Keep Off the Grass” from 6:40 to 6:20 p.m. and, at 6:20 p.m., the band Hugh Hefner.
The introduction that “Times” Arts & Entertainment editor David Burke gave the group pronounced their name as “huge,” not “Hugh.” They have been together a year and a half and covered groups like the Bangles “Walk Like an Egyptian” and “We Got the Beat,” which certainly had the volume. Hugh Hefner had a full-bodied rock sound and a female vocalist with a country twang. The drummer was on the money and the bass guitar support was full throttle full speed ahead.
Following Hugh Hefner was “Cosmic” from 7 to 7:40 p.m. There were 2 female vocalists who sang harmony well and whose voices meshed together well. “Cosmic” has been playing as a group for 6 years and, this night, they played (among others) “I Shot the Sheriff,” “Boogie Oogie Oogie,” and “A Bad Case of Lovin’ You.”
“Head Held High” played last from 7:40 to 8:20 p.m. They were very loud, flat, at times, and, although the drummer did yeoman’s work keeping the group on tempo, it was really more noise than music. At the risk of having the lead singer send hate mail, I have to say that there is a difference between screaming as loudly as you can and singing. The band literally emptied the joint. It was painful to listen to and each song ended with an off-key twanging sound from the guitarist. The lead singer attempted to make up for tonal quality by volume and by thrashing around onstage, neither one of which worked well. At the end of the set, there were only about 3 people left in the entire place, and I had moved as far away from the noise as possible and was still getting a headache.
There is no charge for listening to the five bands, however, so the price was right, and all bands are being filmed for later enjoyment at qctimes.com/goanddo. The “live” sessions continue on Tuesday, December 8th, and, again, in January, on the 12th and 13th (Monday and Tuesday.) I plan to be there with books from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on those nights.