The Elbow Room should not be quiet on a Sunday night. Is it the Sabbath Day? Oh, I’m sorry, I wasn’t listening - I was too busy rocking out. You can’t stop (can’t stop) the ROCK! It’s an historically proven fact that even Jesus rocked out.

So as the beginning of my 3-day weekend of rock, I went down to the Elbow to see Wishek open for Noise Way Out (There was supposed to be a third band, but they were no-shows). My friend Aaron is one of the guitarists in Wishek, so I thought I might see some of our mutual friends amidst the crowd. “Crowd” is a generous term - there were four of my old roommates and maybe four other people in the bar. Bummer, because Wishek was excellent.

Their new album, Stopping Just Short, is good, but their live show is even better. They bring a great energy to their fusion of midwest-Americana and punk (think a heavier Wilco with occasional bursts of Cursive). There’s an organic, kind of warmly analog quality to their music live that I think was lost to some extent on their album. I enjoyed the set immensely, got to hear Aaron lay down a couple of blistering solos, and then purchased the CD, which is packaged like a Christmas present, or expensive cologne or something.

Album standouts “Dressage” and “Chinapino” are both available on Myspace - check them out. This was Wishek’s first show on our side of the state, but hopefully I can convince them to come back again, and we can give them a bigger crowd.

After Wishek, the aptly named Noise Way Out took the stage. A slightly larger crowd had trickled in by then, and they seemed to appreciate the thunderous punk stylings on display. Despite the resident sound-tech’s efforts to turn them down, they just kept cranking their amps up to compensate. He should have remembered, as I mentioned above, “the rock” is something which you “can’t stop.”

In an upcoming entry:

- Casiotone for the Painfully Alone and Mount Eerie at the B-Side (definitely not rock)

- The Hold Steady and Art Brut at the Crofoot (indie rock gods)

Here are some particularly awesome rock shows going on in November. For a complete list, see the Stop, Drop, Rock Calendar.

Fri, November 9 @ the Blind Pig: Battles with White Willliams, 9:30 PM, $15, 18+

Mon, November 12 @ the Elbow Room: the Dollyrots with Two Roads to Mexico and Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, 10 PM, $5, 18+

Tue, November 13 @ the Magic Bag: Blue Cheer with Powertrane, 8 PM, $15, 18+

Fri, November 16 @ the Elbow Room: Ypsifest 5.2: Lasalle, Anchourage, Mass Solo Revolt, Jehova’s Witness Protection Program, and Pinkeye, 10 PM, $5, 18+

Sat, November 17 @ the Magic Bag: Marta Complex with the Great Fiction and Schaeffer, 8PM, $7, 18+

Wed, November 21 @ the Magic Stick: the Detroit Cobras, 9 PM, 13$, 18+

Fri, November 23 @ the Painted Lady: Ghostwriter with Friends of Dennis Wilson and Jawbone, 9 PM, 18+

Tue, November 27 @ the Magic Stick: Citizen Fish with MDC, Malpractice, and the Red Shift, 8 PM, 10$, All Ages

Thu, November 29 @ the Magic Stick: The Magic Stick: Shonen Knife with The Juliet Dagger and Verona Grove, 8 PM, $12, All Ages