Cassie Ramone Headlined an Old School Churchill’s Night

It has been three months since Churchill’s reopened, but entering the legendary dive bar still feels like one of those dreams where you revisit a childhood spot with everything slightly different than the way you remembered it. There are things that have clearly changed; no more double-decker bus parked outside, and the stools at the bar are more stable. Then there are the details that feel slightly off but might or might not all be in your head, like wasn’t the lighting harsher, and wasn’t there a constant cloud of smoke floating in the air? Friday night, however, felt like an old school Churchill’s night, at least musically.

Churchill’s always had an insane music calendar. They would have nights where seemingly countless acts would take the stage, each one making sounds that were completely out of the ordinary. Happy Holidaze on Friday night was just such an evening, headlined by Cassie Ramone, who was making her Miami debut, sandwiched by four South Florida acts that provided over four hours of live music.

The festivities began close to 9 p.m. with Kenny Moe. Hers was probably the most conventional of the acts. The singer has a beautiful voice that even the stern gaze of the Winston Churchill painting on the wall behind her seemed to approve of. She performed an Americana blend of rock mixed in with a tinge of folk, accompanied by a drummer and bassist.

Next came the Dreambows, who drove down from West Palm. The quartet’s instrumentals verged into surf rock territory. The vocals took a muffled back seat as they sought rocking grooves. Then came one more West Palm quartet in Rude Television, who broke all the rules with their spastic high-energy post-punk. The first norm that is ignored is that their drummer is also their singer; then they have a secret ingredient: using an old-school, Casio-looking mini-keyboard to add to the unfamiliar.

Getting close to midnight, it was Cassie Ramone’s turn to take her first South Florida stage. Though her stage name makes you think of the Ramones, the recordings of the New York-based musician, both in her solo records and with her band, Vivian Girls, sound more like the ’60s girl groups the Ramones dug, like the Ronettes. After wrapping the stage with Christmas lights and snowflake decorations, Ramone sat down on an orange amplifier. Armed with an acoustic electric guitar, she crossed her legs and addressed the crowd, “Merry Christmas. I’m playing Miami for the first time, and I’m using a guitar I rented from Guitar Center.”  She then played what was truly a solo show backed by prerecorded backing tracks while she sang and strummed her rented guitar.

The only visual element was a tiny laptop screen that played what looked to be old-school camcorder footage of cityscapes and shopping malls. Even with the limited frills, she captivated the few dozen people in attendance who stood around the stage as she serenaded with her confessional lyrics. Bedroom pop is an overused term, but with the lo-fi sounds and stage decorations, it really did feel like we were eavesdropping on an art school student as they experimented with making music. For the final song, she warned, “This guitar I rented from Guitar Center is already out of tune.” She put the instrument down and comforted the audience by saying, “The last song will still be dorky, don’t worry.”

The night was getting late, but it still wasn’t over. Miami’s own Mold! still had to play. Play the quartet did, loud and fast, jumping up and down and shaking their long hair, just like the Churchill’s you remember.