In Da Club: Boy Girl Boy Girl at the Turf Club

Duluthian barbarians attack Twin Cities with whammy bars, Thin Lizzy riffs, and foot-stomping bluegrass

Comments (0) By Christina Schmitt Wednesday, Oct 5 2005

Kathy Easthagen

More About

If you're going to use a Thin Lizzy riff for your own song, as did Boy Girl Boy Girl at the Turf Club a couple of Fridays ago, you need to be bold about it. But it seems unsportsmanlike to knock the group, who were down a girl--bassist Nikki Moeller, also of the Keep Aways--for the Turf's "Duluth Invades the Twin Cities" showcase. Fellow invaders from the Retribution Gospel Choir kindly took turns filling in on bass, though they didn't really know how to play the songs. Even RGC's Alan Sparhawk (of Low fame) needs to warm up at least once before playing a "Jailbreak" doppelgänger. Next the Choir started its own set, minus sometime-member Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon). Sparhawk's harmonies with drummer Eric Pollard were wistful and dead-on, and for someone revered for his lovely expressions of sadness, Sparhawk was smiling more often than not as he pumped his Les Paul's whammy bar, ending with a cover of Neil Young's "Down by the River." Two girls parked on stools near the stage had no idea who Sparhawk was and didn't seem to care--they were blissfully waiting for the headliners, Trampled by Turtles (pictured), who play a fast, stomping bluegrass that inverts the normal poses of audience and band. The Turtles mainly sit down to rock out, while their fans stand up, jump around, and, this time, fill out the empty floor space in front of the Turf Club stage all the way to bar close.