Andy Brown Wins Scoot Inn Beer-Bobbing Contest

The Eastside's Scoot Inn and Attack Formation's Ben Webster hosted the fourth annual July Fourth Beer Bob (this year benefiting the Crack Pipes' Billy Steve Korpi) with live music, a beer-bobbing competition, and free jambalaya from Gene's Poboys. Here's the haps on beer bobbing: 1) Inflate a children's pool; 2) fill said pool with water, as much ice as possible, and 12-ounce cans of Pabst; 3) then contestants cross their arms behind their backs and commence to remove as many cans of beer from the pool with their mouth as possible in one minute. And, by the way, contestants get to keep the beers they remove from the pool during competition. Enough reason to join in right there.

The bobbing was fierce and contestants such as the Riverboat Gamblers' Mike Wiebe and Those Peabodys' Clarke Wilson braved the icy cold, sorta-sanitary water for bragging rights until next year's throwdown. While all performed admirably, none could keep pace with the relentless bobbing skills of Andy Brown who left no doubt that he was king of the beer-bobbing pool. Special recognition to runner-ups Stephen Ceresia and Clarke Wilson who walked away with arms full of delicious beer.

Webster and the Scoot Inn's Joe Sebastian did an excellent job booking this benefit with nary a lame band to be heard. The Strange Attractors rocked hard with a drony, garage-rock wall of sound that dazzled those in attendance. Count me as a convert. I did a serious double-take when I saw Big Foot Chester on the bill as they have been laying low of late. Walter Daniels, Bill Anderson, and company filled the outdoor venue with their bluesy Howlin' Wolf stomp and sounded as solid as ever. Here's hoping there are more gigs in the future from these gents. Former Bad Liver Ralph White played a low-key solo set inside that most of the crowd outside unfortunately missed and the Ends channeled the Dead Boys for a raucous beer-drenched set. The highlight of the evening was Webster's musical collective the Attack Formation whose pleasing and challenging set is a post-punk freakout that is satisfyingly hard to pigeonhole.

To help Mr. Billy Steve Korpi offset his ridiculous hospitals bills, donate funds through PayPal to leukorpia@hotmail.com.