I was always a big fan of attending the Las Vegas Shakedown, even though every other time i went i had one of the worst experiences of my life (for completely non-music-related reasons), but i (apparently sagely) passed on attending the relocated Shakedown this year, even though, by the math, i was due for nothing but metaphorical blue skies and hopefully-not-so-metaphorical orgiastic revelry this time. Apart from the fact that, as i understand it, one could have more fun playing this compilation at home whilst watching PBS with the sound down and ramming lard up one's own ass than one would have had had one actually attended the event, this comp serves as a fairly functional sampler (and/or souvenir of what you might have seen if they would've let you in), and includes both a surprisingly cool Nashville Pussy track and a mirth-makingly woeful Supersuckers song. Also, were i local muttonchop heartthrobs the Mystery Girls, i would be prostrating myself before and/or greasing the palms of the almighty Comp Gods, because some kind soul put their track on right before the Nebula song, and, obviously, that's where i or anyone else with half a grain of musical taste take it off in disgust. BEST SONG: Nashville Pussy, "Hitchhike Down to Cincinnati" BEST SONG TITLE: Nekromantics, "Gargoyles Over Copenhagen" FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: There are no fantastic amazing trivia facts to speak of, as this whole extended family of bands has now hit and surpassed the same Permanent Glut Threshold that pop-punk did about five or six years ago, and anything fantastic or amazing that might occur can just be written off as statistical aberration, the exception that proves the rule, or, in the case of the Nashville Pussy song, rather overdue.
–norb (Acetate)