Naming a band is an act of concentrated creative expression. Square Pig in a Round Hole exists to reward five favorite band names each week. Winners are (usually) listed alphabetically.
Selection is wholly unscientific and subject to whim, with a bias toward wordplay, humor, and local flavor. In most cases, I won’t know anything about the bands at the time of selection. Thanks to the Seattle Times club listings for abundant source material!
I’m not getting out to any band shows this weekend but I did get to play in something much weirder: Piano Drop Live Performance at Jack Straw, a concert of an array of short pieces composed for and performed on the remains of a piano that was dropped from a helicopter in 1968. I was part of the ensemble performing “Piano Gusting” by Aaron Keyt. From the event page:
In 1968 KRAB FM—which was founded and run by the Jack Straw Foundation, now known as Jack Straw Cultural Center—collaborated with the Helix newspaper and KRAB producer and musician Larry Van Over to drop an upright piano from a helicopter at Van Over’s farm in Duvall, Washington.
The Piano Drop installation, a commemoration of this historic occasion, publicly displays what remains of this instrument for the first time since the event, along with historical film footage and documents, and recordings of new music composed and performed on the instrument.
The concert was a one-off (and spectacular) but the installation continues through March 15. As far as I know, none of these bands has dropped a piano from a helicopter but they all have great names.
A comparison of concreteness, but chosen for unrelated personal reasons. Decades ago, when my spouse and I began a long-distance Seattle-Tacoma relationship, he was in his first corporate job, which held the impressive title “abstractor,” but actually involved a lot of reading court documents and typing. We took as our superhero names TacoMan and the Abstractor.
I’m seeing exhausted parents of preschoolers. If that’s not punk song fodder, I don’t know what is.
The name is likable in that goofy, fun-to-say way. These pickles are the sweet kind.
Whoever is listed before them on the poster gets to be a superhero, at least for one night.
Loving the sibilance and internal rhymes. This would be a great title for an epic fantasy novel.
One last thing before you go: I share highlights from this blog in my quarterly author newsletter, as well as news of what I’m writing and reading, and other goodies. It’s called The Storypunk Report and the first issue is out! Click the link to check it out and subscribe here for future issues.
Karen Eisenbrey 