September 11, 1992 at Cochran Lounge

Venue: Macalester College, Cochran Lounge

Note: found in the September 11, 1992 issue of MacWeekly.

Written by Charlie Amter.

Flavor O’ the Month: Walt Mink - Hurry Up and Get a Scoop Before Ifs Gone! Walt Mink - Cochran Lounge 9-11-92

First off let me say that, despite what you may have heard, Cochran lounge is not the premier sound venue in the Twin Cities. With the disproportionately large amount of talented bands/musicians coming out of the Macalester community recently, one would hope the college could notice this trend and take according action. Wouldn’t it be nice if Mac had a practice/playspace with decent acoustics a la the Cave at Carleton College?

This perennial gripe aside, the earth still spins on its axis and Walt Mink still are in the “next big thing” pigeonhole. Anyone who has seen Mink at First Avenue or opening up for indie majors on either coast, knows this show is 1/2 of what Walt Mink is like live. Not to say this wasn’t a fine evening of entertainment; t’was merrier than a 3rd grade fieldtrip. However, it was entertaining for different reasons than an amazing performance by a rockin’ band. The party atsmosphere and stagediving element pervasive throughout the evening was a fun yet distracting part of the show. There isn’t a club in the country that would allow Bruce Fisher to swandive off a 12 foot amplifier stack into a crowd of potential litigants. In fact, I don’t think there’s a club in the States that would let Bruce in period (J/K Bruce, please don’t hurt me). Suffice it to say, there was a mad amount of stagediving at Cochran Friday eve. The pit was intimate, pungent, sweaty, condusive to head injuries and swollen toes. In other words, more fun than a game of Boggle with your floormates.

Four, count em’ four new songs were thrust upon the ill prepared auidience. One of these songs may or may not be called “Company.” A sped up rendition of “Quiet Time” found Candice wrenching every once of potential boom from her bass while “Chowdertown” sounded like a 70’s AOR dream come true. No “Free To Be” or “Nine O’Clock World” at all.

Guitarist John Kimbrough has an amazing propensity to “jump around” while playing if he feels so moved yet Friday night, John just said no to Kris Kros and stayed mostly grounded. I couldn’t help but think John was feeling a bit trapped by the small stage, trapped into playing the role of semi-famous Mac alum guitar god, trapped into having to talk to people he dosen’t know about the band etc… (Excuse the pop psychology tangent). But as a 13th century Zen master once said: if you don’t like the smog, don’t move to Los Angeles. Walt Mink play good music and have put out a compelling record in Miss Happiness. They can and will have to deal with stares, real rock critics on Salary who wank all over their CD players, lame-ass reviews like this one, and finger pointing even on this lowly campus. Walt Mink writes the songs that make the whole world sing; and believe me they are singing along-even if they don’t know the words

ONE SENTENCE SYNOPSIS FOR THE SHORT ATTENTION SPAN IMPAIRED: No, this wasn’t a great Walt Mink show but conventional wisdom mandates: 2 bands, 2 bucks, like that kid Parker Lewis you can’t lose.