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Now must go deeper to get Deep Blues, metal trio has new reason to sing darkly

Its summertime and the weather (and music) was hot, bringing changes, lots and lots.
— After years of hosting big-time blues, Bayport BBQ has announced it will no longer feature bands to go along with its signature food. Instead the format has shifted from a deep blues juke joint, to a record store for that kind of music, (any vinyl, like the recent KQRS promotion, one might wonder?) It turns out that’s exactly the case, as by the front window there are boxes and boxes of albums that had accumulated over the years from the bands that played there. A sign posted on the window announcing the change also referenced a deep blues fest down south in October and implied a connection between venues. In what has been a theme lately as far as local music, there was skull imagery. While I doubt that the music style is much the same, the pose and body language given to a crowned figure in the flyer, evoked the voodoo imagery of another southerner, King Diamond on one of his album covers.
— The Hudson-based death and black metal trio named Exmordium now has another reason to write their self-described dark lyrics. Their touring schedule all around a two-state area has been cut short by months for various reasons, including that one of its members broke his back in spring on a construction accident during his day job. The group already had scaled back live shows because of time constraints involving the college studies of its members, Carl Knutson, Evan French and the Led Zep-sounding Evan Page. And on a personal note, they list one of their influences as the slightly-less-darth Black Sabbath, which is my favorite band.
— The changing of the guard for Pepper Fest royalty means unwrapping the exterior of the Great Pepper that gives their names. The big Green Monster of a pepper, the size of a refrigerator, has stayed within two blocks of our house for the last couple of years, so on a driveby the other day I saw the plastic wrap being uncurled as part of the replacement of the old names with the new.
Speaking of the benefits of carefully placed plastic, one become readily apparent during a recent midnight storm of monsoon proportions. The Green Mill bartender placed two of their takeout bags on her head, one on each side, so she could run to her car after closing without getting drenched.

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