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A quick reminder: Our CMJ showcase begins at noon today and features, in order of appearance, Diehard, Colleen Green, Diarrhea Planet, Bleached, Pujol, and Turbo Fruit. I'm not sure what condition the basement of Cake Shop is in after Thursday night's Life or Death showcase—at which Wise Blood freaked out and ripped down some of the Christmas lights and Trash Talk led a pretty intense circle pit—but either way, that's where we'll be. The event is free whether you have a badge or not, and there will be happy hour specials on beer and cider, because if a lineup of six great punk bands doesn't provide a good enough excuse for day drinking, I don't know what does. High school football, I guess. Set times below.

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​The bilevel coffee shop/bar/venue/place for hangs Cake Shop turns six this weekend, and it's celebrating with a sixth-birthday party with a bunch of bands and "surprises." Cake Shop's gone through some changes over the course of its existence--R.I.P., for all intents & purposes, record store that took up much of the back of the ground floor and slowly got chipped away--but it's consistently booked fantastic indiepop bills and local bands, and it's nice to see it holding down the fort and slinging the still-relatively-cheap hooch in an increasingly unfun-to-visit corner of the Lower East Side. The fête tomorrow night includes a set by the quite lovely Kiwi act Surf City, who are keeping the New Zealand chiming-pop flame alive; full flyer (via BV) after the jump.

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Other than this poor guy everyone had a lovely time. Pics by Mike.

​Capsul/Purling Hiss/Home Blitz/Tom Surgal/Mad Scene
Cake Shop
Saturday, January 22

Better than: Any other rock show you could've seen tonight

Letha Rodman was a significant presence on the pre-Internet indie scene in NYC -- chiefly with her band Ruby Falls (which included the future Rogers Sisters, Jennifer and Laura), but also as an encourager and friend to many. Early in the '00s, she met transplanted English rocker Dan Melchior, who was transitioning from guitar star with Billy Childish and Holly Golightly into a prolific and vital bandleader of his own with the swinging blues-punk band the Broke Revue. They married, and a few years ago departed the city for the greener pastures of the Chapel Hill area.

As traumatic events can, the news late last fall that Letha Melchior Rodman had been diagnosed with melanoma and breast cancer (as she related in an e-mail also filled with optimism and resolve) united her friend-base in support. (Make your own donation here.) If Saturday night's benefit at Cake Shop felt more functional than emotional, that's probably due to it morphing from a regular gig to a benefit after a few of the bands had already been booked. No matter: The cash will go to an excellent cause, and the rock ranged from good to great to . . . bloody.

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See if you can spot this grinning blogger in the above picture. Photo by Keith Marlowe, via Brooklyn Vegan.

​Beloved early '90s hardcore band Universal Order of Armageddon are resistant to the term "reunion" (according to drummer-turned-Del Posto pastry chef Brooks Headley, they prefer "money losing labor of love"), but whatever it was they did at Death By Audio back in July--their first New York performance in over fifteen years--was one of the best shows we've seen in 2010. Because the four members of the band are busy, successful people, we figured this wouldn't be happening again anytime soon, but it turns out we were wrong: UOA will reunite (ahem) for a couple more New York shows in January, at the Cake Shop and the sight of their July triumph, Death By Audio, on January 21st and 22nd. The Cake Shop show is with SOTC pals and fearsome Providence-based two-piece the Body and the recently YIMBY'd Orphan; the show on the 22nd, at Death By Audio, will be with Fight Amp and Trophy Wife. We emailed Brooks to find out what the deal was with the January dates:

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Monarch, doing their slow-shriek thing. Photos by Phil, more below, including one that's not particularly SFW.

​Monarch/Tinsel Teeth
Cake Shop
Friday, November 12

Better than: The usual noise-rock sausage-fest.

So Friday night, French doom-metal quintet Monarch brought their first U.S. tour to the Cake Shop, joined by two East Coast acts: robed art-doomsters Bloody Panda and convulsive noise-rockers Tinsel Teeth. Yes, it was Female-Fronted "Extreme" Music Night, and not a moment too soon.

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​Most people, of course, have long since made up their minds about former Black Flag frontman, spoken word poet, and Bad Boys II actor Henry Rollins. Those who haven't would be advised to watch the below clip (which looks to have been shot a while ago), in which Rollins wanders into the Lower East Side indie-rock den that is the Cake Shop, and confronts the natives. If you've ever wanted to see the weird plight of the aging punk dramatized, this is pretty much it. "Oh, I see," he says to some cowering girl who has just heckled him by yelling "Get in van, man," and giggling. "Is this where the young elitist hipsters take on the ancient, dodgy, in-the-way types?" You almost feel bad for him, until he marches out of the venue, gets in the back of a black livery car, and explains to his dumbfounded companion that "When she yelled out 'Get in the van,' that's the title of a very famous book I wrote." Not self-aggrandizing enough for you? He then adds. "The audiobook won a Grammy." Fuck you, Rollins:

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photos by Sam Horine

John O'Regan a/k/a Diamond Rings
Hails from: Toronto
Occupation: Musician
Best CMJ moment, so far: French toast, buttercream and pecan cupcakes before the Cake Shop show.
Favorite CMJ band P.S. I Love You

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​Online DIY fund-raising phenom Kickstarter can claim many success stories, sure: Take Frankie Rose's van or Weingarten's whole Tweetbox thing. But Kickstarter fatigue/backlash is a real danger, and, you know, the economy is in tatters, so success is never assured, which five-year-old L.E.S. institution the Cake Shop just found out the hard way.

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Fang Island's Jason Bartell, reveling. Pics by Raymond Haddad, more below.

​Fang Island
Cake Shop
Saturday, May 29

No offense to the other four (!!!) bands on this bill, but the full-on, Facebook-abetted lightsaber battle raging in the park at Houston and Chrystie on the Lower East Side Saturday night was a bewildering, fascinating sight. We're talking dozens of folks with LED swords (our own slideshow is here) whacking at each other, in a sportsmanlike but still real real aggressive way: "Everybody's been hitting me in the bonch," one slightly annoyed but thoroughly emotionally invested young lady announced, to no one in particular. Only in New York, etc. etc., and then it was off to the Cake Shop to find out what exactly would happen if REO Speedwagon played math rock.

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If this doesn't say it all, don't know what does

Wyclef's Yele charity has recently drawn a firestorm of criticism, but he's not the only musical figure trying to mobilize folks and funds on behalf of Haiti. There's also an impressive number of benefit concerts and music events happening in the city over the next few weeks, plus a series of ongoing efforts from the likes of Lady Gaga to Clipse to Blink-182. Our exhaustive round-up of the ways artists are attempting to involve their fans, and the general public, in the relief effort, be it downloading a new song (or a great cover of an old one), buying a custom T-shirt, or sending that ever-so-simple text message. Did we miss something? Kindly leave it in the comments.

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