MIKE WATT & The Missingmen: double punk happiness with FERAL KIZZY

Herein entitled "double punk happiness" in the Asian vernacular not so much due to strong bill at The Redwood 5.4.13 but also because headliners Mike Watt and The Missingmen performed a set entirely composed of classic songs by The Clash and Wire, see set list below, (with the last four songs bonus selections by Red Krayola, The Pop Group and Watt's own The Minutemen.)

 

 Top photograph, Mike returns the crowd's love for his always impassioned performances. The Missingmen are Tom Watson, Raul Morales and Watt (also seen in Iggy and The Stooges, The SecondMen, Hellride and assorted other bands.) 

Feral Kizzy should place highest on anyone's list of genuine up-and-comers seen gigging around SoCal. Singer Kizzy Kirk remains fearless in her approach to interaction inside an audience or even with other acts. I'm proud of the above image of Kizzy as it shows all the intensity she brings while implying just a twinge of Edie Sedgwick vulnerability. (See LINK. Just a twinge though: Kizzy's a tough cookie, carrying a full college academic load and heading towards grad school. Ambition: mashup of full time rock and roll plus psychology careers. Holy Deniz Tek! explanation: LINK)

This gig, Kizzy's sense of improv seemed as en pointe unpredictable as ever. No sooner had she spied headliners Mike Watt and the Missingmen entering the club pushing their own equipment than she sprang on top of one of their cabinets and rode it in like a horsie (see pic below.) 
 

Out in the crowd, makeup dripping in sweat, Brenda Carsey's keyboards anchoring her, Kirk's and guitarist Jonny Lim's melodies of suicides and gigolos...

 

Below, opening act No Children Allowed provided a lively set of Nu-feminism with choruses like "No More Salad!" (protesting  perpetual dieting) while incorporating an amusing change of punk pace via the trumpet.