by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Well, Punkusraucous Rex is two years old this week, and after hot “stop the presses” columns on ZZ Top and Dixie Chicks, as well as numerous rants about Dave Navarro, I’ve finally hit the terrible twos and begun the teething stage.

Instead of getting all misty-eyed and looking back at the dizzying heights I’ve achieved, like the time I brazenly compared Pop Montreal organizer Dan Seligman to a certain fascist dictator, or mistakenly called AIDS Wolf a speed-reggae band (for the record, the AIDS Wolf incident still pulled in the most letters I’ve ever got, oddly beating out the Seligman/Hitler brouhaha by an embarrassingly large margin), let’s just put a sock in the trumpets, keep a stiff upper lip and get right down to the real reason your grubby mitts flipped to this column: the shows.

Tonight is a no-brainer when Chicago’s Cococoma and Headache City play with the always-amazing Turpentine Brothers and the B-Sides at Quai des Brumes. Cococoma are a bass-free trio, while Headache City is a garage-based guitar/drum duo featuring a member of Cococoma. The real don’t-miss here, though, is the Stones-y swagger of the Turpentine Brothers, whose record We Don’t Care About Your Good Times proved to be one of the most grossly unsung rock ’n’ roll records of the past three years.

On Friday night, Katacombes celebrates its first week with Iron Fist, Excreted Cowboy and Fatal Flaw, while the first of the two-night Degeneration Overdrive Rock ’n’ Roll Extravaganza festival gets underway with Million Dollar Marxists, Jerk Appeal, the Shifters and what is rumoured to be the last ever show by Fake Blood. If their first night is undeniably punk, the second night is unapologetically rock, with the Last Vegas, Squalor, Tokyo Sex Whale and Arson Eagles. It’s all going down Friday and Saturday night at Café Chaos. While you’re there, pick up a copy of the new Degeneration Overdrive zine while it’s hot off the presses.

Saturday night is packed solid with rock action, starting at Casa del Popolo, where the Cockroaches manage to piss off both rockabilly purists and psychobilly poseurs, with guests Bharath and the Rhythm Four. The Main Hall hosts Ninja High School, World Provider and Giselle Number One, while la Sala Rossa merges the Gothic south of Cormac McCarthy with the debonair damage of the Bad Seeds when the Blood Meridian stomp the pines with the Christa Min and Birds of Wales. Playing out a lot lately are les Breastfeeders, who prove that wearing out their welcome is near impossible on Saturday night at Maison de la culture Maisonneuve, with Karkwa and Damien Robitaille.

On Monday, you’re invited to be an extra in the new film 3 Saisons, directed by Jim Donavan (Pure, Naked Josh), while being treated to a performance by Rockets Away at Foufounes Électriques at 8 p.m. If you feel you’re ready for your close-up, the producers of the film ask that you get gussied up especially (ahem) “punk or rockabilly.”

Finally, on Tuesday, finish up the week according to Punkusraucousrex with Panopticon Eyelids and Crowface at the Barfly.

TURBOJUGEND! jonathan.cummins@gmail.com

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