Brian Myers has become an important puzzle piece in St. Joseph, Missouri. Known for his sometimes shocking honesty and blunt wit, he is either passionately loved or hated; depending on who you talk to. The turnout at the Cafe Acoustic for his “Birthday Blowout” proved that there are still several people in town he has yet to offend; the ball is in your court Mr. Myers.

Among the not-yet-offended was Brian’s girlfriend and the operator of the fantastic local business The Lucky Tiger, Amy Heath. She spent the time to make tons of heads on sticks for the crowd, each one with a unique fact about Myers; each more disturbing than the last. My favorite of which was “Brian once got busy in a Burger King bathroom.” No word on whether a second party was involved in this act.

The occasion did bring together three great bands as well. All three brought very different styles of music to the table. First up was one of St. Joseph’s hardest working bands: Dsoedean. Dsoedean was in its three piece variety featuring Colby Walter on bass. Zale Bledsoe would take exclusive guitar duties while Bobby Floyd would pound on his low-sitting drum kit. While the limitations of a bass around Walter’s neck inhibits his abilities, it does give the band a more brash, garage rock sound than when Walter is able to tickle the keys of his keyboard. The band continued to move up the ramp to their much anticipated first full-length release, Continue To Move.

Dsoedean busting through their opening set at Cafe Acoustic on 4/13/13. Left to right: Colby Walter, Bobby Floyd and Zale Bledsoe.

Third Wounded Man would take control of the stage next with Bill Blizzard on drums, Tyson Bottorff on bass and occasionally taking a shot at the mic and Todd Cooper relentlessly taking on guitar and vocals. Blizzard would hit the drum head so hard it was difficult to imagine either the drum skin or drum stick wouldn’t eventually give way and his thrash-metal drum style perfectly complimented Bottorff’s machine gun bass playing and Cooper’s aggressive vocal and guitar style.

Third Wounded Man makes Cafe Acoustic’s neighbors angry on 4/13/13. Left to right: Bill Blizzard, Todd Cooper and Tyson Bottorff.

Todd Cooper has the best guitar poses in town, he would lean his long frame back, position himself under the mic with a wide stance and sing up to the metal gods while doing his best to make ears bleed. The 20 plus year veteran to the hard rock scene has perfected how to sing in a heavy band. He avoids the “sceamo” tactics and really belts out clear, understandable vocals to go along with the band’s driving sound. Third Wounded Man has already stockpiled a few grade A original songs like “Every Little Thing She Does Is Tragic,” the Rush referencing “March of the True” and an overdue ode to album release day in “Ghosts of Tuesday’s Past.” They would even debut a new song named “I, Escapist” that is sure to graffiti the bands setlists for the foreseeable future. The group would also give a loving headbanging nod to one of the Ramones better songs by covering “I Believe In Miracles” before they would turn the stage over to the next act.

Cupcake challenges the limits of what is normal at the Cafe Acoustic, 4/13/13. Left to right: Shardie, Jeff Jensen, Marc Darnell and Kiley Bodenhamer.

Cupcake would close out the night with their standard amount of weirdness. Jeff Jensen and Kiley Bodenhamer would steady the boat while the guitar playing of Shardie and vocals and guitar of Marc Darnell would attempt to tip the boat over. The crowd would be enticed to leave their seats and gather around the stage for the band’s antics. The set could be nicely summed up by Darnell uncomfortably positioning his guitar so he could lift his shirt to show his bare stomach for no apparent reason. The only debate about Cupcake is whether they are more fun to watch or to listen to; luckily those two things go hand-in-hand.

The three bands really didn’t fit together as a cohesive bill but kept the audience on their toes. The group of friends and music lovers that gathered to honor the revered Brian Myers would get a supreme sampling of what St. Joseph has to offer musically. Each band had it’s own personality and each band was personally connected to Myers. In retrospect, the powerful hooks of Dsoedean, the thrash of Third Wounded Man and the abstractness of Cupcake may have been the perfect way to celebrate St. Joseph’s favorite Jew’s birthday.