Musical Shapes

Go See Hear: March 1-7 (March roars in like a Lionheart)

2011-02-28T22:09:00.000-08:00

If you haven’t caught haunting sounds of Haroula Rose at the Hotel Café, March 1st is the last night of her Hotel Café residency. The 1st also finds Arboretum and Endless Boogie shaking up the Satellite and Bare Wires ripping things up with their Brit-ish glammy garage rock at Long Beach’s Que Sera – and then the Echo on the 2nd. Jukebox the Ghost has a new disc on Yep Roc and gigs at the Echo on the 1st and Anaheim’s Chain Reaction on the 2nd. Loch & Key, one of my favorite discoveries of 2010, will be at the Mint, revealing their interesting interplay between singer Leyla Akdogan and guitarist Sean Hoffman. The 2nd also brings the guitar handiwork of Kaki King to Largo and Ferraby Lionheart (can I rave again about his delightful tune "Harry and Bess") to the Bootleg.

What a difference a “t” makes. That is one way to differentiate between one-time Steely Dan guitarist Elliott Randall and San Francisco-based troubadour Elliot Randall. The latter Randall brings his band the Deadmen to the Viper Room to deliver rough-hewn twang rock as they served notice with the last album, the gritty yet tuneful Caffeine and Gasoline.

Speaking of gritty country, Eddie Spaghetti, from the Supersuckers, shows off his unique take on honky tonk music with his new Bloodshot disc, the Sundowner. He plays the Echo on the 3rd (with Zander Schloss and Sean Wheeler) and then Costa Mesa’s Tiki Bar on the 4th and Redondo Beach’s Brixton on the 5th.

The marvelous Mavis Staples has an intimate show at the Satellite on the 3rd; see if you can get into that one! East Coast roots rocker Stephen Kellogg has shows at the Hotel Café on the 3rd and also the 10th. Coincidence those dates also are the ones that Meshell Ndegeocello will be at Largo for some special shows. The first one is something of a career retrospective show while the second one she’ll be paying tribute to the music of Prince.

The Elephant 6 collective brings their mysterious Holiday Surprise Tour to the Satellite on 3/4. Nearly as intriguing is the group that goes by the name The Conspiracy of Beards, which is a Bay Area choir that performs Leonard Cohen songs. Also on Friday, JJ Grey has a solo show at the Hotel Café, the Concretes will be rocking the Troubadour that night and old time folkie Noel Stookey (the “Paul” in Peter, Paul and Mary) plays McCabe’s.

Soft-spoken singer-songwriter Alexi Murdoch has yet another sold out show at the Bootleg on the March 5. That night, Braids and Baths share the bill at the Troubadour. Sunday, meanwhile, holds Morcheeba at the Music Box. And if you are looking enough to have a ticket for the Drive-By Truckers sold out gig at the Troubadour, then you should have a great night on the 7th.

Rufus Wainwright's latest project - parenthood

2011-02-22T22:26:00.000-08:00

Word has come out this week that Rufus Wainwright became a dad and the birth mother is Lorca Cohen, who is the daughter of Leonard Cohen. That sets up quite a genetic pool of musical talent. Particularly if you consider that Rufus has a double dose of music in his blood. It does make me wonder if Rufus will write songs about his daughter and parenting as his old man did. Remember Loudon’s tune “Rufus is a titman?” Will Rufus pen an update? Just wondering…

Go See Hear In L.A.: Feb. 22-27 - From Rupa To Ritter

2011-02-21T21:41:00.000-08:00

Hope you had a relaxing Presidents’ Day weekend because the workweek gets rolling with a busy Tuesday night.

John McEuen – a founding father of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – will be performing at the Coffee Gallery Backstage. Largo will be again hosting the wonderful Watkins Family Hour, with scheduled guests including Abigail Washburn and Fiona Apple.
The global, gypsy dance band Rupa and the April Fishes return to the Mint; I interviewed Rupa for City’s Best Los Angeles. The delightful duo Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion spotlight their fine new disc, Bright Examples (I have reviewed it for Americansongwriter.com) at the Hotel Café.

Veteran avant noise rockers Yo La Tengo come to the El Rey on Wednesday night. Also on the 23rd, the popular Washington D.C. band Scythian bring their eclectic roots sound to the Mint.

Thursday is another crowded night of music. The reunited Sebadoh revives their beloved slacker rock sound at the Troubadour. Best Coast and Wavves team up to deliver their version of slacker rock to the Music Box. Two up and coming indie rockers The Love Language and Telekinesis share the bill at the Echo. Anne McCue returns to L.A. (her home between Australia and Nashville) to heat up the Mint with a blast of powerful blues-rock on Thursday. The acclaimed Americana singer-songwriter Malcolm Holcombe comes to the Coffee Gallery Backstage. Gwyneth & Monko recently released an impressive debut disc recently; they’ll be at the Viper Room. Over at the Hotel Café, you can catch a set from Holly Conlan.

Friday finds a familiar face at Largo as Jon Brion plays ringmaster for an unpredictable night of music. Goldenboy will be having a CD Release show at the Hotel Café while Pepper Rabbit will hop up the crowd at the Bootleg with their moody tunes. Singer-songwriter David Gergen has a show at the TRiP Bar in Santa Monica while the legendary Country Joe McDonald pays tribute to Woody Guthrie at McCabe’s. The top show of the night, however, probably ranks as Justin Townes Earle at the Autry.

The soft, seductive folk sounds of Alexi Murdoch will fill the Bootleg on Saturday. Local faves Local Natives have a big show at Disney Hall on the 26th. I interviewed Josh Ritter for City’s Best L.A. in conjunction to his concert at the Music Box.

If you want to escape L.A.'s Oscar fever, you might want to head to the desert this weekend as the New LA Folk Fest Desert Weekend will be happening at Pappy and Harriet's Pioneertown Palace

For What It's Worth - The 2011 Bonnaroo lineup

2011-02-15T17:23:00.000-08:00

Bonnaroo has announced its acts for 2011. If a magic carpet came and took me to the event (which, sadly, is probably the only way I would get there), then here are the top acts I would want to see
Maybe it's my nostalgia talking but the number one band that I would want to see is
Buffalo Springfield. Sure, it wouldn't be like seeing them on the Sunset Strip in 1966 but then that wasn't a possibility anyway.
Here are a "mere" 26 more acts that I would love to see on stage.
Arcade Fire,
The Black Keys
Robert Plant & Band of Joy
Mumford & Sons
The Decemberists
Iron & Wine
Dr. John and The Original Meters
Gregg Allman
Old Crow Medicine Show
Alison Krauss & Union Station
Bootsy Collins & the Funk University
The Del McCoury Band and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Mavis Staples
Loretta Lynn
Wanda Jackson
Abigail Washburn
Freelance Whales
Florence + the Machine
Justin Townes Earle
Ryan Bingham
Hayes Carll (it would be interesting to see these guys sharing the stage)
The Low Anthem
Jessica Lea Mayfield
Karen Elson
Sharon Van Etten (and for some reason, it seemed interesting to me if these three also shared the stage)
Phosphorescent

Go See Hear In L.A.: Feb. 14-21

2011-02-14T13:09:00.000-08:00

So the Grammys are over and done (a big wow for Arcade Fire’s victory and congrats to other fave winners like the Black Keys, Lady A, Miranda Lambert, Marty Stuart and Mavis Staples) but the music doesn’t end.

Monday night Jenny O’s Bootleg residency continues with Henry Wolfe and Leslie Stevens (of “and the Badgers”) filling out a fine bill.

I don’t know if there has a been a packed Tuesday as the 15th has to offer. Greg Dulli’s current project The Twilight Singers stop by Amoeba for a free show.
Frank Fairfield brings his old-timey sounds to the Coffee Gallery Backstage, while the Satellite welcomes the Canadian band, Mother Mother.
Two of my favorite Nashville singer-songwriters Todd Snider and Elizabeth Cook take over the El Rey for a rip-roaring time of tales and tunes.
Susan James celebrates her long-overdue (and quite fine) CD Highways, Ghosts, Hearts and Home at the Echo Lounge. Plenty of her pals will be there, including Old Californio, Evie Sands, Tony Gilkyson and Kip Broadman.
More terrific acts will be at the Hotel Café where the awesome all-female group Mountain Man takes a day off from opening for the Decemberists and the alluring Haroula Rose will be playing there again too.

The 16th finds the Generationals at the Hotel Café and Nicole Atkins at the Troubadour, while Lucero delivers their wonderfully raucous garage rock to the Echo on the 17th.

The Hotel Café is busy on Friday with sets from Tom Freund, Cowboys and Indians and My Morning Jacket’s Carl Broemel. Scott H. Biram brings his “dirty old one man band” to the Redwood on the 18th while Cake commences its string of sold out shows at the Troubadour on Friday.

The lovely Living Sisters be appearing at the Broad Stage, while the multi-talented David Lindley will be spending the weekend at McCabe’s.
Sunday finds Ted Leo at Eagle Rock’s Center for the Arts and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band founder John McEuen stopping by the Coffee Gallery Backstage.
The Gang of Four has a new album, Content, and shows on Sunday at Anaheim House of Blues and Monday at the Music Box on the 21st. Also on Monday, Austin superstar Bob Schneider comes to the Hotel Café with Joe Firstman & Marianne Keith also on the bill.

Brian Setzer - From Rockabilly To Bluegrass?

2011-02-10T09:14:00.000-08:00

Word today that Brian Setzer will be covering the bluegrass classic "Blue Moon Of Kentucky" on his upcoming release Setzer Goes Instru-MENTAL (out April 19 on Surfdog Records). Having given it a listen, the one-time Stray Cat definitely Setzer-izes "Blue Moon" with some slick guitar licks; however, the tune's roots remain present. Other tracks on this disc, Setzer's first all instrumental album, include "Cherokee" and "Be-Bop-A-Lula."

Remembering Waylon

2011-02-07T21:38:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday February 8, Big Machine Records and ScatterRecords are releasing tribute album to the late, great Waylon Jennings, which comes out on the 9th anniversary of his death. The disc, The Music Inside: A Collaboration Dedicated to Waylon Jennings, Volume 1 is first volume of a proposed three volume series. Performers on this edition include Jamey Johnson, John Hiatt, Kris Kristofferson, Shooter Jennings, and, a personal favorite, Sunny Sweeney (who does a duet with Jessi Colter on "Good Hearted Woman").

Here's the official press release

WAYLON JENNINGS LEGACY COMMEMORATED
IN STAR-STUDDED TRIBUTE CD RELEASING FEBRUARY 8

Nashville, TN…(February 7, 2011)…He’s been awarded 2 Grammys, 2 ACM Awards and 4 CMA Awards. With 40 million units sold and 16 #1 singles, Waylon Jennings remains a legendary force across all genres of music.

This week will mark the ninth anniversary of Waylon Jennings’ passing, and to celebrate his enduring legacy, country music's finest are joining forces to pay tribute to the original outlaw on the new CD The Music Inside: A Collaboration Dedicated to Waylon Jennings, Volume 1, releasing Tuesday, February 8.

Recording for the three volume series started over two-and-a-half years ago, and it's been a labor of love for Waylon's widow Jessi Colter, son Shooter Jennings and guitarist Reggie Young, who along with Producer Witt Stewart, have assembled a star-studded roster of artists to pay tribute to Waylon and highlight his undeniable musical and cultural influence.

“There have been several tribute albums made in my father's honor, all of which were great tributes to his legacy. But this one has been a true passion project for a lot of artists and friends who truly wanted to remember and give back to the wonderful man he was,” says son Shooter Jennings. “In the years since my dad passed away, I've grown as an artist and I feel this is the first time I've truly been able to give back to the man who inspired, influenced and nurtured me and my musical passion.”

This first volume features Waylon's most critically and commercially acclaimed tracks, uniquely interpreted and performed by yesterday’s and today's country legends, including Kris Kristofferson, Jamey Johnson, Trace Adkins, Patty Griffin, Randy Houser and John Hiatt. Also included are new recordings by Shooter Jennings, Jessi Colter and the Jennings classic "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way," the first new music in over ten years from super-group Alabama.

THE MUSIC INSIDE: A COLLABORATION DEDICATED TO WAYLON JENNINGS, VOL. I

Official Track Listing:
1. This Time – Jamey Johnson
2. Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way – Alabama
3. I’m A Ramblin’ Man – Randy Houser
4. Belle of the Ball – Shooter Jennings
5. Good Hearted Woman – Sunny Sweeney and Jessi Colter
6. Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out Of Hand – James Otto
7. Just To Satisfy You – John Hiatt w Waylon Jennings
8. Rose In Paradise – Kris Kristofferson and Patty Griffin
9. You Ask Me To – Trace Adkins
10. Go Down Rockin' – Waylon Jennings
(Bonus Track) The Wurlitzer Prize (I Don’t Want To Get Over You) – Chanel Campbell

THE MUSIC INSIDE: A COLLABORATION DEDICATED TO WAYLON JENNINGS,VOL. I will be released on ScatterRecords and Big Machine Records on February 8th. Volume II is scheduled to release on June 14, the day before what would have been Waylon’s 74th birthday. Volume III is slated to release Fall 2011, the day prior to Waylon and Jessi’s 42nd wedding anniversary.

For more information regarding the project, visit: www.waylonjennings.com

ABOUT THE LEGACY OF WAYLON JENNINGS:

Modern music owes much of its broad-based appeal and rugged individualism to Jennings, a man whose career stretched from the mid-‘50s, when he was a protégé of Buddy Holly and throughout four decades later. The one-time radio disc jockey from Littlefield, Texas went on to record 16 No.1 songs and earn 4 multi platinum, 8 platinum, and 15 gold sales certifications, selling more than 40 million records worldwide. Along the way, he captured a string of awards (including 2 GRAMMYs and 4 CMA Awards), scored numerous movie roles, authored a best-selling autobiography and became a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

His career exhibited spirit and individualism and helped define a generation of country music and continues today. Artists too numerous to mention-- from established peers to the new generations of rock and country acts-- give credit to him as their inspiration and mentor.

Jennings’ eclectic, raw-edged music created a niche and became part of a movement in the mid-70’s that would change the face of both country and across-the-board music. He was one of the music world’s truly innovative stylists who never became classifiable.

He was the first of his era to sell a platinum album and a quadruple platinum album. While some of today’s artists may sell a lot of albums, too, it’s extremely rare to hear of one who can generate the kind of electricity that Waylon exuded--from the minute he entered a room or on the stage. Waylon Jennings is an American original and remains one of the true giants of this business.

Go See Hear In L.A.: Feb. 7-13

2011-02-07T11:33:00.000-08:00

This first full week of February holds the launch of several recommendable residencies.

On Mondays this month, you can find Jenny O at the Bootleg. This buzz-worthy singer-songwriter released a strong EP Home and she will also be welcoming some talented acts to these Monday shows including Everest and The Belle Brigade Feb. 7, Henry Wolfe Feb. 14, Harper Simon Feb. 21 and J. Tillman Feb. 28.

Joseph Arthur has his own Bootleg residency on Tuesdays (2/8, 2/15, 2/22 and 3/1). He’ll undoubtedly have an intriguing collection of sets and guests; his last disc Fistful of Mercy was a collaboration with Ben Harper and Dhani Harrison. This Tuesday, the talented Tom Freund shared the bill.

Leila Broussard will have shows at the Hotel Café on Thursdays Feb. 10. 17 and 24. Her tune “Satellite” is one of my favorite tunes now (I plan to have more to say on the song in a subsequent blog) and she has a winningly quirky singer-songwriter style.

Lovers of singer-songwriters might also want to seek out David Gergen on Tuesday the 8th at the Viper Acoustic Lounge, Grant Langston (who is working on a new album) is at the Cinema Bar on the 11th, Jackie Greene at the El Rey on the 12th and Chris Velan at Room 5 also on the 12th.

If you are going to see ALO at the Troubadour on the 11th, makes sure you arrive early enough to see Nathan Moore. The East Coast troubadour has an impressive new disc Dear Puppeteer out that is worthy a long listen.

Any conversation on singer-songwriter shows this week must include Kim Richey’s appearance at the Hotel Café on Feb. 10. She is one of the top songwriter in Nashville today and makes her own fine music, which smoothly blends country and pop elements.

The eclectic Mia Doi Todd will be playing at Footsie’s on Feb. 9 and Martha Wainwright has a pair of shows at Largo on Friday and Saturday (11th and 12th) in which she will be singing the songs of Edith Piaf.

The 12th offers more recommendable selections. The Decemberists at the Wiltern on the 12th. The King Is Dead is an early favorite for album of the year. Go early to check out the all-female outfit Mountain Man.

Another terrific album that has come out this year so far has been the debut from Apex Manor, the new band from the Broken West’s Ross Flournoy. The band will be playing tunes from The Year of Magical Drinking at the Satellite on the 12th.

Other Grammy eve show include Trombone Shorty and Los Amigos Invisibles at the Congo Room, Stan Ridgway at the McCabe’s and Leslie and the Badgers at the Hotel Café. The Smith Westerns will be at Costa Mesa’s Detroit Bar after a show on the 11th at the Echo.

Music fans might want to check out a rare screening of the Beatles’ Complete First American Concert (filmed at their Feb. 11, 1964 show in Washington DC) at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theater.

"Spare Us The Cutter" - Echo And The Bunnymen Return To Tour The U.S.

2011-02-02T16:10:00.000-08:00

Just got a press release today that Echo and the Bunnymen will be touring North American on their "Crocodiles & Heaven Up Here" tour. If you know their work, then you know that these are their first two albums. They will be playing them in their entirety. Personally, I think their third and fourth albums, Porcupine and Ocean Rain, better. Maybe they will return to do those. Still, they were one of the cooler UK bands from the '80s and definitely underrated. Ian McCullough is a charismatic singer and Will Sargent a powerful guitarist. You can find out more at www.bunnymen.com
here is the press release

Echo & The Bunnymen Announce North American

Dates for Crocodiles & Heaven Up Here Tour

British post-punk legends Echo & The Bunnymen have announced the North American leg of their acclaimed Crocodiles & Heaven Up Here tour. The band will be playing those two legendary albums in their entirety. The UK leg of the tour saw the band play to rapturous sold out audiences. See a clip of them playing the Crocodiles track “Stars and Stars” at Liverpool’s Olympia here , please repost.

Echo & The Bunnymen toured North America last year in support of their acclaimed album The Fountain. They kicked off the run of dates with a thunderous performance at Coachella and stormed their way from coast to coast. Don’t miss the chance to see this legendary band perform two of their classic albums live!

www.bunnymen.com
www.facebook.com/thebunnymen
www.myspace.com/thebunnymen
www.twitter.com/officialeatb

Echo & The Bunnymen 2011 North American Tour

5/9 Boston, MA @ Paradise Club
5/11 Washington DC @ 9.30 Club
 5/12 Philadelphia ,PA@ Trocadero
5/13 New York,NY @Irving Plaza
5/16 Toronto,Canada @Phoenix Theatre
5/17 Chicago,IL @ Vic Theatre
5/19 San Francisco ,CA @ Warfield Theatre
5/20 Las Vegas,NV @ Red Rock Casino
5/21 Los Angeles, CA @Club Nokia Theatre
5/22 Anaheim, CA @ House Of Blues

Discovering: Gods And Monsters

2011-02-01T09:18:00.000-08:00

The names Ernie Brooks and Billy Ficca probably don’t mean a lot to the average rock fan. But to fans of cult bands of the ‘70s/’80s punk and new wave era, those names are associated with some beloved bands: Brooks was the bassist in the Modern Lovers while Ficca drummed for Television and later the Waitresses. Their names surfaced again yesterday in a press release for the group Gods And Monsters. G & M is basically an on-and-off project for guitarist Gary Lucas, who first made his name playing with the late Captain Beefheart - although I admit that I haven't really been familiar with his work.
This new album The Ordeal of Civility (due in May on Knitting Factory Records), was produced by Jerry Harrison, who also was in the Modern Lovers before being in the much more popular group, the Talking Heads. Only heard one tune on myspace, but it is sort of a prog/new wave melding.

Here is the official press release

A thoroughly modern odd-rock ensemble, Gods and Monsters have existed in
one incarnation or another since 1989. Driven by the vision and relentless
spirit of guitar champion Gary Lucas, these defiant avant-punk architects
have always been united in their uncommon mission. As a matter of course
they are artists first and foremost, intrinsically opposed to the path of
least resistance that invariably leads to knee-jerk cultural assimilation
and soul-killing aesthetic conformity.

All of which brings us to "The Ordeal of Civility," [their latest album,
due out this May on Knitting Factory Records] the title of this collection
and a reference to John Murray Cuddihy's book of the same name. Published
in 1974, Cuddihy's arcane meditation on Jewish identity in an anti-Semitic
20th Century focuses on the unlikely Jewish triumvirate of Sigmund Freud,
Karl Marx and Claude Levi-Strauss, how their revolutionary theories,
philosophies and strategies defied the established order accepted and
promulgated by Gentiles and further describes the Jewish population's
knotty integration into mainstream/European/Christian/Western Society.

[the band is comprised of Gary Lucas - guitars & vocals, Ernie Brooks
(Modern Lovers, Flying Hearts) - bass , Billy Ficca (Television) - drums,
Jerry Harrison (Modern Lovers, Talking Heads) - production, Jason Candler
and Joe Hendel - keyboards] Sift through your mind's archive and surnames
snap into focus: Lucas, along with Brooks, Ficca and Harrison' as well as
Messrs Candler and Hendel' are all clearly compelled towards personal
independence and artistic insurgence. Together, they came to inhabit and
exhibit the ultimate living protest, that is, thinking freely and playing
creatively' onstage and in the studio' generally unfettered by vain
commercial anxieties, lemming trends or other cookie-cutter solutions.

So, what exactly is Lucas trying to say here?

Just that, like his rebellious brethren of yore, he has been out there
musically innovating for many a year (and over 20 critically acclaimed
albums in a variety of genres), in spite of and in opposition to the
pressure to conform to accepted norms and market forces, creating
revolutionary sounds both as a guitar slinger without parallel and
Grammy-nominated songwriter-- kicking against the pricks in what is
genteelly referred to in the standard industry text book as 'this
business of music.' Creating music his own way, music of the highest
quality fitting no known category other than Other, touring relentlessly
and patiently gathering a worldwide fan-base of like-minded folks tired
of the same old same old, be it Mainstream or what is quaintly referred
to as Alternative.

Produced with Jerry Harrison at the controls (savvy hands and expert
ears), The Ordeal of Civility is a razor-sharp effort reflecting Lucas and
co.'s sensibilities without sacrifice or concession. The opening
'LuvzOldSweetSong' is a softer exhibition, nimbly driven by the
Ficca/Brooks rhythm team and Hendel's resonant keyboards burbling low in
support of Gary's understated vocal and hypnotic guitar motif. The sage
advice found within 'Chime On' enjoys the classic twang of a
country-blues, incorporating snatches of forgotten Americana along the
way. 'Swamp T'ing' is a slashing blast of Blank Generation rawk straight
outta NYC' and that's the way, the way that it is.

Throughout this disc the earnest wordplay of Gary Lucas is served up with
great feeling' and consistently illuminated by his unique fretwork. The
folk-ballade "Lady Of Shallott' boasts a medieval feel that should have ye
olde fans of acoustic Thompson and Jansch weeping with joy, while the
screaming slide on 'Peep Show Bible' reminds us why the late great Captain
Beefheart chose Gary to occupy a guitar chair in his last and final Magic
Band.

And for the technique freaks, there are three instrumental tracks 'the
steady-rolling 'Whirlygig' showcases Gary's trademark guitar flourishes,
'Hot & Cold Everything' features G&M's kicking horn section with some
gnarly, high-decibel fingerbusting from Señor Lucas, and the kinder,
gentler solo guitar of 'Lazy Flowers' provides an introspective pause
before the ominous closing opus,
Jedwabne.

Jedwabne is Gary's outraged commentary on the Jedwabne pogrom that
occurred in July 1941, where the horribly organized killing of
approximately three hundred Jews exposed Poland's (long-denied) complicity
with Nazi Germany at that time. Some of Gary's relatives were among the
three hundred burned to death in the barn that day in Jedwabne. The grave
tone of this account j'accuse is unavoidable, but the message is, as
always, never forget. And for those who still try to deny or doubt or
excuse, well - real monsters walk among us whether you believe it or not.

Anyway, this is Gary Lucas, Ernie Brooks, Billy Ficca, Jerry Harrison,
Jason Candler and Joe Hendel 'Gods and Monsters, first, last, and always.

Mitch Myers New
Years Day, 2011
----------
for more information and materials contact:

Howard Wuelfing
Howlin' Wuelf Media
215-428-9119
http://howlinwuelf.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/howlinwuelf
http://howlinwuelf.blogspot.com/

Go See Hear In L.A.: Feb. 1-6

2011-01-31T23:13:00.000-08:00

It’s hard to believe that the first month of 2011 has come and gone. February is starting off on an eclectic note.
There are hip young acts like Baths (Amoeba in-store Feb. 1), School of Seven Bells (Conga Room, Feb. 1) and Tennis (the Echo, 2/4) arriving in town as well as reunited hipsters (of the cocktail nation variety) Love Jones (Largo, Feb. 2). The 2nd also is the night when Amoeba hosts JD Samson’s new project Men.
The terrific, somewhat underappreciated Australian rock band, the Church puts on a mega-show at the El Rey on 2/2 in which they plan to play a trifecta of albums (Untitled #23, Priest=Aura and Starfish).
Thursday the 3rd offers an opportunity to see Bobby Long, whose impressive ATO debut, A Winter’s Tale, comes out on the 1st. On this disc, Long shows that he is long on talent, with his literate tunes and his rich voice.
Thursday also is the night that Shadow Shadow Shade start its month-long residency at the Satellite. Their always inventive debut disc was one of my favorite rock albums of 2010.
Friday holds a handful of good concert-going choices. Popular local singer-songwriter Tom Freund checks into the Hotel Café. Another local favorite Kristian Hoffman has a big, guest-studded show at the Steve Allen Theater.
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals bring their rootsy tunes to the El Rey and cool Icelandic chamber popster Ólafur Arnalds will be playing the Echoplex.
Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses show at the El Rey tops Saturday night’s shows. Bingham, who grabbed last year’s Oscar for Song of the Year, is one of the best young Americana songwriters. Another good young singer/songwriter Tony Lucca will be playing the Hotel Café.
Shawn Colvin and Loudon Wainwright III bring their impressive catalog on songs to the newly opened Valley Performing Arts Center. Over at Harvelle’s, blues master Guitar Shorty will be showing why he’s been such influential guitarist.
Another notable show on the 5th is the Autumn Defense’s appearance at the Troubadour. The Autumn Defense is the side project for Wilco mates John Stirratt and Patrick Sansone. Their recently released Yep Roc disc Once Around comes stocked with low-key but sophisticated music.
Last but not least, the intriguing, unpredictable Cat Power closes out the first week of February with a show at the Music Box.

Keepin' An Eye On: Lynn Miles

2011-01-31T10:15:00.000-08:00

Lynn Miles is a name from my listening past. I recall her early albums in the late ‘90s - Slightly Haunted and Night In A Strange Town as being really strong country-rock outings. I have lost track of her along the way but I was glad to get an email announcing a new album (Fall For Beauty) was just released on True North Records.

Here is the press release:

"Fall For Beauty" is the eighth album from songstress Lynn Miles, just
release on True North Records. There is something to be said for
experience, for taking the time to grow into your own skin. All sturdy
things need time to root firmly into the ground to find their strength.
Lynn Miles is one of Canada's most accomplished singer/songwriters,
oftened compared to the likes of Emmy Lou Harris and Lucinda Williams.
With seven albums to her credit, the winner of multiple Canadian Folk
Music Awards, and a 2003 Juno Award for Roots & Traditional Solo Album of the Year, she has certainly found her strength over time.

Through a career that has seen her move from Ottawa to Los Angeles and
back again, with stops in Nashville and Austin, she has always written
music with unbridled feeling and vulnerability. Miles has consistently
been unflinching in putting herself out there. Now with her eighth studio
offering Fall For Beauty the voice of her experience has truly elevated
her songwriting to its richest depth of emotion.

While her melodies undulate between traditional country and folk roots, on
Fall For Beauty, it's her sensitivity to the world around her that pours
itself directly into Miles' music to make it stand out. “Love Doesn't
Hurt” was written as an emotional plea for people in abusive
relationships. “I wrote this song after watching Oprah do a show about
domestic violence. She kept repeating "love doesn't hurt", and even though
I've written plenty of songs about how emotionally painful love can be, I
wanted to put this crucial idea right up there beside my other songs, for
balance, and clarity.” says Miles. “I've been playing the song live and
have been approached by several people who work at women's shelters who
tell me it's a powerful song, and that they want to play it for their
clients. There's no better compliment than that.”

Therein is the powerful secret behind Miles' music - her astute
observations of life, its trials and triumphs, are the hallmark of
sincerity in her music. The gritty honesty of her music never falters –
neither does her unshakeable ability to make even the most melancholy
lyrics sound as if they are brimming with hope and grace. “Little Bird”
infuses her lyrics with an assertive and encouraging voice. “I wrote this
song after reading "In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts" by Gabor Mate. It's the
best book on addiction and articulates the need for compassion when
dealing with addictions. The song about what I call The X Factor, the
initial source of pain that can cause a person to seek solace in alcohol
and drugs.”

Lynn Miles is a musician in the rarest sense of the word, an unmistakable
talent, an eye for both the subtle and sweet that can only be unearthed
with experience.

http://www.lynnmilesmusic.com/
http://www.myspace.com/lynnmilesmusic

For more information and materials contact:
Howard Wuelfing
Howlin' Wuelf Media 215-428-9119
http://howlinwuelf.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/howlinwuelf
http://howlinwuelf.blogspot.com/

Go See Hear In L.A.: Jan. 18-25-31

2011-01-25T10:59:00.000-08:00

It’s just a busy week that I am only getting to this on Tuesday (it makes sense in my mind).

Iron & Wine will be showcasing their new, full-bodied album Kiss Each Other Clean with shows at the Wiltern Jan. 25-26 (are they sold out already?). Great but different openers each night. Laura Marling on the 25th and Low Anthem on the 26th.

The terrific WPA (that’s some Watkins, Glen Phillips and whoever else they pull in to play) is at the Hotel Café on the 25th.

Lizz Wright plays the Roxy on the 26th. A wonderful singer and song stylist, Wright doesn’t get enough recognization. Check out her fantastic recent release Fellowship.

Social Distortion celebrates Hard Time and Nursery Rhymes with a string of shows at the Palladium Feb. 27-29. Chuck Ragan opes all the shows with the Aggrolites playing on the 27th and the awesome Lucero on the 28-29.

Ty Segall is an interesting cat, playing weird, distorted punkabilly as far as I can tell. See for yourself at the Echoplex on the 27th. Other interesting shows to catch on the 27th: Grouplove’s Amoeba instore, Amos Lee at the Music Box and Wovenhands at the Bootleg.

Daniel Lanois brings his new project Black Dub to the El Rey on the 28th.

The fun and energetic Free Energy returns to town to play the Roxy on the 28th too,

The husband and wife duo called Hymn to Her pull into Molly Malone’s on Friday while more Americana can be found that night at the Mint’s Sin City’s Cosmic American Road Show.

The Handsome Family has a pair of shows this weekend. Eastside at the Bootleg on the 28th and Westside at McCabes on the 29th. Opening for them at McCabes is Sean Rowe, who also plays the Hotel Café on the Feb. 1. His cool debut disc Magic is out on Anti.

Other options Friday are Peter Case at the McCabes, Deena Carter at the Hotel Café, Les Savy Fav at the Echoplex and Ween at the Wiltern (although that one seems to be sold out).

The legendary Ian Hunter has a “Saturday Gig” at the El Rey

On the 29th, Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Hall hosts Blues at the Crossroads: The Robert Johnson Centennial Concert with living blues heroes Honeyboy Edwards and Hubert Sumlin along with Cedric Burnside, Lightnin’ Malcolm and Big Head Todd and the Monsters.

Also, Yann Tiersen performs at UCLA’s Luckman Auditorium, Darwin Deez is at the Satellite with (the band) Friends and Ari Shines plays Labries in Glendale.

Peaking into next week, singer/songwriter John Shipe showcases his new disc Villains with the CD release show at the Viper Room on Monday night.

CD Review: Alexa Woodward - Weary

2011-01-20T15:23:00.000-08:00

CD Review: Alexa Woodward - Weary

Back in 2009, I was taken by Alexa Woodward’s album Speck. While she is New York City-based, Woodward’s spare, rustic sound feels drawn from her Southern roots (she grew up in Virginia and South Carolina).
Her latest offering It's a Good Life, Honey, If You Don't Grow Weary (available online in February) is a joy to listen to. She does a terrific job of gently fleshing out her sound while retaining its delicate Americana sound. Woodward plays banjo and ukulele; however, her songs make use of vibephones, cello, washboard, percussions and even some electric instruments. An electric guitar, for instance, howls in the background of “Wolves” to compliment its title and its eerie tale.
Her music nicely balances old-timey and contemporary elements. Her songs, which are frequently relationship-based, mix images of the past and the present “All That Sugar” holds the line “and I bet you don’t have good sex/when your blood’s all full of gold,“ while in “Elephant,” she tells an ex-lover that “I hope Nina treats you right/that Copenhagen’s kind /that you sleep sound every night” among fanciful imagery of traveling over mountains and water.
Throughout the disc, Woodward displays a strong lyrical command. She begins “O Tornado” with “drive across the county line/Salinger and Andrew Wyeth/betwixt, between the time/where the frozen clocks are awful quiet” and doesn’t come across as a freshman lit major. “Pillar of Salt” similarly shows a deft poetic touch as she mixes biblical references and emotional revelations.
When Woodward harmonizes with frequent collaborator Linky Dickson, they suggest a more rural version of the Roches. Abigail Washburn and Gillian Welch also serve as touch points here; however, Woodward forges her own sound – something that’s modern and timeless, lilting and melancholic - during this thoroughly delightful disc. With her exquisitely crafted third effort, Woodward seems on poised for big things.

Go See Hear In L.A.: Jan. 18-23

2011-01-19T09:16:00.000-08:00

Where has this week gone to? Since I am late here, I will just be brief and to the point.

The Infamous Stringdusters – super Americana pickers – are at the Mint 1/19

The highly talented, locally based singer/songwriter Tom Freund plays the Hotel Café 1/21. The 21st is also when Cowboy Mouth and Dash Rip Rock rip things up at the Mint (they will be at Hermosa Beach’s Sainte Rocke on the 19th). Also, the Old 97’s will be at the Music Box that night. I did a Q&A with Rhett Miller that you can find at http://www.citysbest.com/los-angeles/news/2011/01/18/rhett-miller-talks-dylan-sushi-and-fred-segal/

Legendary folkie Tom Paxton has two night at McCabe’s 1/21-22, while a slightly younger folkie Ellis Paul is there on Sunday night.

Suzanne Vega will be re-interpreting her catalog in a series of acoustic CDs, so you can expect a sampling of this project at her Largo show 1/22.

Wanda Jackson is experiencing a welcome career revival courtesy of a new Jack White-produced CD. She has shows at the El Rey 1/23-24.

Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl bring their beguiling The Ghost of the Saber Tooth Tiger project to the Troubadour on 1/23.

Back When Clapton Was “God”

2011-01-14T11:58:00.000-08:00

DVD Review: Eric Clapton: The 1960’s Review

The DVD Eric Clapton: The 1960’s Review came out last fall and, despite its rather vanilla title, it does make for interesting viewing. The 2-hour documentary covers arguably the most exciting time in Clapton’s illustrious career – his formative years from the start of the Yardbirds to Cream and Blind Faith and ending with Derek And The Dominos. The era when “Clapton Is God” was a familiar rallying cry.

Even without the advantage of new Clapton material, the filmmakers utilize well-chosen old Clapton clips, new interviews from Clapton’s musician colleagues (like John Mayall, Manfred Mann’s Paul Jones and Bonzo Dog’s Neil Innes) and journalists (including Cream biographer Chris Welch and Yardbirds biographer Alan Clayson) to stitch together an insightful and engaging look into this very exciting, greatly influential time period of Clapton’s career. It’s hard to imagine that he was just 24 at the end of Cream.

The unauthorized biography also is jammed with some marvelous archival footage, from photos of Clapton as a kid through his time in Blind Faith. There also are some nice vintage clips of Clapton influences Muddy Waters, Freddie King and Jimi Hendrix, as well as a special segment on Sonny Boy Williamson in the Extras. Also, you can have fun of seeing Clapton’s wide range of Sixties hairstyles (short crop, long locks and curly afro) too.

The DVD doesn’t pretend to be a definitive look at Clapton’s storied career. It does, however, prove to be a highly successful look at his early career – packed with information and an entertaining array of footage. Any Clapton fan, and fan of Sixties rock ‘n’ roll, would find this DVD a thoroughly enjoyable and enlightening flashback to this golden musical era.

Go See Hear In L.A.: Jan. 9-16

2011-01-09T23:01:00.000-08:00

This week starts off on a relatively quiet note. The Hotel Café has a couple interesting shows during the week. Singer/songwriter Henry Wolfe, whom the LA Times hailed as one of their people to watch in 2011, plays there with the local band Willoughby on Tuesday night. Then on Thursday night, Nicole Simone has a gig there. Her music reminds me of Eleni Mandell’s Tom Waits-style chanteuse vibe.

Things really pick up when the weekend comes. Largo hosts a tremendous songwriter summit on Friday night when Jesse Winchester, Jimmy Webb and Tom Russell share the stage and share songs. There isn't enough space to mention all of the classic tunes that they have written. If you appreciate expert songwriting, then this is a can't miss show.

Otis Taylor has a show out at the Arcadia Blues Club on the 14th. Taylor is a creative, unique bluesman. A banjo player, Taylor fills his albums (which he gives names like Pentatonic Wars and Love Songs) with non-traditional blues instruments to bring to life his compelling, heartfelt, hard-lived tunes.

Jake La Botz also plays the blues - blues inspired by Delta blues and Chicago blues. While he once did a tour of tattoo parlors, this Friday, he’ll be at the Redwood Bar with his band.

John Doe will be performing at McCabe’s Friday and Saturday night. The X and Knitters frontman has put out a string of potent solo efforts, including 2009’s covers-based collaboration with the Sadies, Country Club.

Andrew Bird has a pair of sold-out solo shows at Largo this weekend. So if you want to see him, hopefully you have a ticket already.

The Bad Books is a collaboration between the Manchester Orchestra’s Andy Hull and Kevin Devine that has drawn a lot of critical raves. They’ll bring this new project to the Troubadour on 1/15.

Midwestern folk-rocker Lissie will be headlining the Music Box on the 15th. Her Catching A Tiger disc garnered a lot of praise last year and she has become a KCRW favorite.

Newbie Quickie: The Daylights "I Hope This Gets To You"

2011-01-03T22:23:00.000-08:00

The Very Short List clued me into a terrific video and song by the L.A. band, the Daylights, entitled "I Hope This Gets To You." The song is wonderful love letter, full of aching longing and jangly urgency. The song is a little like Brit pop with a pinch of grit. It also clocks in a classic pop length: 2:33. The video is equally marvelous in its minimalistic simplicity - hands "acting out" the songs. Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjgtxVxE14A

Go See Hear In L.A.: Jan. 3-8

2011-01-03T22:10:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a fine holiday time and fun New Year.
It’s only the third day of the year but it seems like already there is so much to do.

I am probably too late to get the word out on Guards'’ show at the Bootleg Theatre Monday night but I wanted to mention the band anyway because their sound is as vibrant as their name is commonplace. The brainchild of Richie James Follin, Guards creates glorious rock that is arty but hooky, and vice versa. You can check out their music at http://guards.bandcamp.com.

Drivin’ N Cryin’ make a couple of stops in Southern California this week. They’ll pull into the Mint on 1/5, the Brixton on 1/16 and Anaheim’s House of Blues on 1/7. Kevn Kinney has been leading these roots rock road warriors since the ‘80s. They were part of the REM-led movement of Southern college rock bands and are still going strong. In 2009, they released the terrific Great American Bubble Factory, a disc well worth tracking down.

Exene Cervenka was recently in town playing with her X mates. She’ll be at McCabes for a show on 1/8, where she’ll probably play some music from her upcoming The Excitement of Maybe. In an interview that I did for City’s Best LA, she described it as folk/pop with some twang along with horns and violin. The fine Paul Burch opens the show.

It’s be like the old days at Molly Malone’s when the Sin City All-Star play there on Saturday night. Molly’s was the All-Stars’ home for many a moon. Joining them on the bill will be Old Californio and Gaucho Gil. Making for a terrific trio of Americana music.

Tis The Season - For Christmas Albums

2010-12-20T23:36:00.000-08:00

Christmas CDs have turned into something of a cottage industry, although the results are often cottage cheese. This year, however, several Americana-friendly artists are serving up some rather tasty musical treats for the holidays.

Shelby Lynne – Merry Christmas (Everso Records). On this 11-song set, Lynne gives a torchy touch to some holiday standards (“Silent Night” and “Sleigh Ride/Winter Wonderland”) with her rendition of “Silver Bells” really shining. The disc’s middle section is particularly strong as Lynne delivers a moving “O Holy Night” to a festive “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” and follows it with a powerful original “Xmas.”

Indigo Girls – Holly Happy Days (IG Recordings). Amy Ray and Emily Saliers have put together a dozen holiday tunes – some old, some new, some borrowed and some originals (sorry, that it doesn’t rhyme). They display an entertaining range of music, from traditional choral tunes (“Angels We have Heard On High”) to more down-home efforts (the bluegrassy “I Feel The Christmas Spirit”). The gentle Amy Ray original “Mistletoe” is a lovely tune no matter the season, but the Girls really shine on the uptempo tunes (“I Feel The Christmas Spirit,” “It Really Is (A Wonderful Life),” and “The Wonder Song). They even give a shout-out to hillbilly Hebrews with a spirited rendition of Woody Guthrie’s “Happy Joyous Hanukkah.”

Scott Miller - Christmas Gift (Fay Recordings). This Xmas CD presents one of the more unusual song credits – Miller, R.B. Morris and T.S. Eliot - which appears on the opening track medley “The Kingdom Has Come/Journey of the Magi.” Miller’s 7 song seasonal offering serves up an entertaining mix of reverence and irreverence. His front porch arrangements of “Holy, Holy, Holy” and “Joyful, Joyful” fill the former while his original “Yes, Virginia” and the Roger Miller (no relation) “Old Toy Train” supply the latter. And anytime John Prine’s wonderful wry “Christmas In Prison” gets recorded, it is time to celebrate.

Dan Hicks – Crazy For Christmas (Surfdog Records). It’s should come a no surprise that Hicks’ Christmas offering is a fun, spirited affair. Using his signature hot jazz/western swing/vaudevillian rock hybrid, Hicks and his Hot Licks mix oldies but goodies (“Run Run Rudolph,” and “Here Comes Santa Claus”) with good-humored originals (“Christmas Mornin’” and “I’ve Got Christmas By The Tail”). It all makes for a merry Xmas party album.

So when you are looking for a new Christmas disc, you don’t have to settle for Susan Boyle or Katherine MacPhee, but seek out one of these alternative Christmas albums.

Go See Hear In L.A.: Dec. 20-Jan. 2

2010-12-19T22:52:00.000-08:00

In the holiday spirit of giving, I will be giving you two weeks of picks instead of one. While maybe it has to do with giving myself a break during this winter break time period.
Either way, onto the shows.
On Dec. 20, Middle Brother, a band formed by members of the Dawes, Delta Spirit and Deer Tick, will be playing a benefit show at the Troubadour. Don’t know much about the band, but they have a good pedigree.
Also, on the 20th the Blind Boys of Alabama will be filling Disney Hall with their sweet sounds.
That rockabilly filly Rosie Flores will be playing a trio of shows before the year’s end. Her shows on the 22 at the Cat Club and the 23rd at the Redwood Bar will be Christmas-themed while her 29th show at the Cat Club will regular rocking affair.
On the 27th, the Long Tangles out of New Orleans come to the Silverlake Lounge for a show. They are one of those boy-girl duos and they have a lovely poppy sound with some appealing dark shading. Watch out for them.
When it comes to New Year’s Eve, the top bet is the Lucinda Williams show at the Viper Room, if you can snag tickets. There’ll also be a swinging time at the Mint with the Royal Crown Revue and Donovan Frankenreiter headlines at the Grove of Anaheim

Have a great holiday. Thanks for reading. And see you in ’11.

Go See Hear In L.A.: Dec. 13-19

2010-12-12T21:07:00.000-08:00

This week the holiday season swings into full steam. Local country angel Lynda Kay hosts a holiday show at the Variety on Monday night. Los Lobos will be appearing at the Grammy Museum on Tuesday before their big local show on Sunday the 19th at the House of Blues. X has its Xmas gigs at the House of Blues on the 15th and the Ventura Theatre on the 16th. Ozomatli celebrates its Quinceañera at Club Nokia on Saturday night.
There are other notable shows at well. The White Buffalo will be appearing at Costa Mesa’s Detroit Bar on Dec. 14 and the next night at the Mint. The Rescues continues its Hotel Café residency with shows on Dec. 14 and 15, with Garrison Starr also playing on the 14th. Mike Viola and Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger will be sharing some sweet pop tunes at the Hotel Café on 12/15, while things will be more “low” key at Spaceland when Low plays there.
Badly Drawn Boy has a pair of shows at the Troubadour 12/15-16 with up & comer Justin Jones opening.
NYC-based soul-funksters Soulive will be at the Roxy on the 16th in support of its new disc Rubber Soulive. For funkiness from the rock side, there's Head Like A Kite at Spaceland/Satellite on 12/16. Check out their super catchy "We're Always On The Wrong Side Of Sunrise" to hear one of the band's shiny moments.
John Grant, whose Queen of Denmark disc is well worth checking out, performs at the Gene Autry Museum on 12/16, along with the Chapin Sisters
The eclectic and acclaimed banjo wizard Bela Fleck brings his Flecktones to the Orpheum on Dec. 18

Go See Hear In L.A.: Dec. 6-12

2010-12-07T21:18:00.000-08:00

It’s been a busy week, which is why I am only getting to this now.

Hopefully it’s not too late to get either the rugged Texas country rock band Reckless Kelly at the Mint or folk chanteuse Edie Carey and Americana-rooted Sarah Sample at Genghis Cohen on Tuesday. Both women have new albums to celebrate, Bring The Sea and Someday, Someday (respectively). I was familiar with Carey from her earlier work but Sample was a pleasant surprise

The one and only Jonathan Richman starts his two night stand at the Troubadour on 12/7; Gail Davies is his opener.

Wednesday finds up and coming local rocker Delta Spirit at the Music Box while the Silverlake Lounge hosts Western States Motel (shouldn’t they be at the Hotel Café?). Jokes aside, they have a jaunty, engaging indie rock sound that is worth exploring.

The Bad Plus sets a spell at the Mint 12/9-11, with them doing an acoustic show on the 11th.

The Bird and the Bee lands at the Mondrian on the 10th. That same night, You Tube starlet Kina Grannis plays the El Rey.

The show of the week probably is at McCabe’s on the 10th, where NEeMA shares the bill with Anais Mitchell (presenting her Hadestown show). I am not familiar with Mitchell, but my No Depression colleague Kim Ruehl raves about her which is an good endorsement for me. NEeMa is a cool singer-songwriter whose CD Watching You Think comes out in Feb (and hopefully I can write it about more but it holds several really memorable tunes). A guy named Leonard Cohen co-produced her disc, by the way.

The Black Crowes farewell tour comes to the Palladium on Saturday. Say what you will about them, but the band has done some good things with and for roots rock. Opening for them is a fine L.A. country rock group, The Truth & Salvage Company.

Saturday night also is the night at Dan Hicks has a Christmas Show at McCabe’s (he has a new Christmas CD just out). I remember as kid liking Hicks’ “How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away.” He too has a place in Americana history.

Go See Hear In L.A.: Nov. 30-Dec. 5

2010-11-30T19:38:00.000-08:00

It’s looks to be a rather subdued post-Thanksgiving week. More time to get over your holiday indulgences and make up for the short work week.
But there are several notable shows.
Ranking at the top show of the week is the Posies/Brendan Benson double bill at Club Nokia on Fri. Dec. 3. The Posies have long been one of the top melodic rock (don’t just pigeon-hole them as power pop) around. In you need convincing, Posies frontmen Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow served as Big Star sidemen before Alex Chilton’s untimely death. Benson now is known as a Jack White sidekick in the Raconteurs but he could my ear when he released One Mississippi back in ’96.
On Wednesday, the cool vocal group Sonos performs at the Hotel Café. They are known for their covers of indie rock tunes (like Bjork or Bon Iver) but they will showcasing the seasonal songs from their new December Songs CD.
The Hotel Café will also be the site for Julian Velard’s show on Sunday Dec. 6. The young NYC-based singer/songwriter will be at the piano there to play songs off of his quite tuneful debut, The Planeteer.
And just peeking into next week, I wanted to say that Jack White-head should be aware that the Greenhornes, who formed the rest of the Raconteurs with White and Benson, will be that the Troubadours. Their new disc Four Stars is a vibrant slice of garage rock.

Go See Hear In L.A.: Nov. 23-29 - The Thanksgiving Edition

2010-11-22T22:29:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s one of the quieter weeks around town.

The big show to recommend is the Dawes/Moondoggies/Romany Rye concert at the El Rey on 11/26. Both Dawes and Moondoggies venture out through country rock into interesting territory. Dawes is working on a follow up to their strong debut North Hills, while Moondoggies have just released the wonderfully appealing Tidelands, which was an airy Neil Young vibe

Another good show along the Americana rock lines is Lucero and Drag The River at the Troubadour on Nov. 27. The gritty 1372 Overton Park was one of my favorite discs of 2009.

and of course there are the Weezer/Best Coast shows (Gibson Amphitheatre 11/27-11/28) with the intrigue of whether the young upstarts can hold their own with Rivers Cuomo.

It's probably too late in the game to mention that Dar Williams is closing her two night stand the Hotel Cafe on Monday night, so I will say that her new album, Many Great Companions contains some really great guests (Gary Louris, Patty Larkin, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Sean & Sara Watkins.

Go See Hear In L.A.: Nov. 15-22 - A Miniature Tiger, A Pepper Rabbit and mre.

2010-11-15T22:56:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am day late, and probably more than a dollar short
So it’ll be a skinny version this time around.
I have to mention first the Richard Thompson “Cabaret of Souls” show at UCLA’s Royce Hall on Friday. I did a Q&A with him for City’s Best (http://www.citysbest.com/los-angeles/news/2010/11/12/richard-thompson-a-cabaret-of-souls-and-a-tofu-scramble/) that was quite fun.
A couple terrific double bills to trumpet. The Freelance Whales and Miniature Tigers, two worth-the-buzz bands who have come through town regularly, return with a show at the Troubadour on the 18th.
Tift Merritt and Elizabeth & The Catapult make for a marvelous bill at the Troubadour the next night, Nov. 19th. Merritt had a great show there a few years that I had the pleasure to see.
John Doe and the Sadies ride into the Plaza Del Sol at CSUN on the 20th for a show that probably will feature sets separate and combined. Doe has made some fine recordings with the Sadies for Yep Roc.

Among the other notable shows
The Lonely Forest – Spaceland – Nov. 16
Olof Arnalds opening for Blonde Redhead at the Music Box Nov. 16-17
Pomegranates and Oh No Oh My – Bootleg – nov. 16
Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl’s The Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger – Largo – Nov. 17
Pepper Rabbit – Echo – Nov. 18
Kings Go Forth – Mint – Nov. 18
Luisa Maita – Congo Room – Nov. 19
Wild Flag (Carrie Brownstein, Mary Timony, Rebecca Cole, and Janet Weiss) – Spaceland – Nov. 19
Tunng – Bootleg – Nov. 19
Bob Mould – Bootleg – Nov. 20
Dar Williams – Hotel Café – Nov. 21-22

Go See Hear In L.A.: Nov. 8-14 - Sheepdogs, Mojo Monkeys, Or, The Whale

2010-11-07T22:46:00.000-08:00

I’ve been really taken with the Canadian band the Sheepdogs, who have a wonderful Southern rock/UK pub rock thing going on. Loose, rockin', tuneful - all the things you can ask of a rootsy bar band. They come to the Cat Club on Tuesday, and they stand out as my "must-see" band of the week.

I did a Q&A with Over The Rhine (http://www.citysbest.com/los-angeles/news/2010/11/04/over-the-rhine-to-serenade-l-a-but-first-thai-food), they play the Troubadour on 11/12 in advance of their upcoming Joe Henry-produced disc.

On Monday, you can learn about the legendary Elektra Records from founder Jac Holzman and other guests at the Grammy Museum.

Besides the Sheepdogs on Tuesday, you can head back down to the Grammy Museum for an appearance by Jimmie Vaughan. Not much on the radar for Wednesday, but Thursday offers a trio of talented singer/songwriters around town: Erin McKeown at Largo, Kris Gruen at Molly Malone’s and Darren Hanlon at the Bootleg.

On Friday, the Bootleg hosts Teitur, while the Mother Hips have an acoustic show at McCabe’s and Dengue Fever will be performing the soundtrack for the silent film The Lost World at UCLA’s Royce Hall (which sounds like a particularly intriguing concept). And, of course, Over The Rhine at the Troub.

The Mojo Monkeys have a record release show downtown at Syrup on Saturday. Andrew Belle shares his songs at the Hotel Café on Saturday while Or, The Whale surface at Spaceland. Best Coast will be enlivening the Troubadour both Saturday and Sunday, and the Echoplex gets Margot And The Nuclear So and So’s on Sunday.

Megamind = Megafunny

2010-11-02T23:02:00.001-07:00

While I generally concentrate on music, I had a chance to see the new Dreamworks/Paramount animated family film Megamind last weekend and wanted to report in on it. The movie was mega-clever, mega-fun and mega-entertaining.
The terrific team of comic actors (Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill and, don’t forget, David Cross) wonderfully handles all of funny things to do and say – which isn’t always the case on film or animated comedies. Brad Pitt also seems to be having a fun time with his heroic role.
It’s one of those animated films that offer plenty of laughs for young and old alike. Parents will be having just as much fun as their kids.

Go See Hear In L.A.: Nov. 1-7

2010-10-31T23:10:00.000-07:00

Welcome to November. Wow, somehow we're only weeks from Thanksgiving and only days from seeing Christmas decorations.
Anyway, it's another fine week with a wealth of musical choices and here is what I recommend.

This week’s top shows offer two cool pairings. Elton John and Leon Russell play the Palladium on Nov. 3 to support their new duet disc, The Union. It’s nice to see both musicians making relevant music again.

Mavis Staples and Billy Bragg haven’t made an album together but they are touring together (with a show at Royce Hall Nov. 5) and a common friend, Jeff Tweedy. The Wilco frontman produced Staples new album You Are Not Alone and teamed up with Bragg a few back on the Woody Guthrie project Mermaid Avenue.

Several shows this week I highlighted already in a piece I wrote for City’s Best Los Angeles (http://www.citysbest.com/los-angeles/news/2010/10/26/this-falls-british-invasion-5-u-k-artists-not-to-miss/). The concerts include Paul Weller’s appearance at the Wiltern Nov. 3. His “check-them-out too” opening act, Alessi’s Ark (www.myspace.com/alessisark)is at the Mint Nov. 2. UK troubadour Johnny Flynn (www.myspace.com/johnnyflynn) is at the Hotel Café Nov. 5-6 with Americana chanteuse Cheyenne Marie Mize (www.myspace.com/shinymoneymize). Massive Attack headlines the LA101 show at the Gibson Nov. 7.

Nov. 7 also is the big Frontier Records Anniversary show that Part Time Punks is hosting at the Echoplex. A number of old Frontier Records bands will be back to play, with the Pontiac Brothers being a particular favorite of this writer.

On the 5th, the Wiltern hosts a terrific double bill featuring Dr. Dog (www.myspace.com/drdog) and Here We Go Magic (http://www.myspace.com/herewegomagic) – yes, another Brooklyn band but their song “Collecter” is indeed magical.

Other shows to recommend this week include The Apples In Stereo at the Echoplex Monday 11/1, where they’ll be showcasing their new delightful new offering, Travellers in Space And Time.

Fans of female singer/songwriters have a pair of choices on Nov. 3. With Ingrid Michaelson having a show at the Music Box and impressive newcomer Kelli Scarr (www.myspace.com/kelliscarr), whom I have recommended before, at the Hotel Café. If you time it right, you might be able to see both.

Nov. 4’s choice involves Loch & Key (www.myspace.com/lochandkey), an enchanting local outfit that I have also praised here in the past, at the Silverlake Lounge and chamber folk artist Emily Wells (www.myspace.com/emilywells) at Largo with singer-songwriter Henry Wolfe.

Largo hosts Paula Cole on Friday the 5th, while the House of Blues welcomes Great Big Sea and Mississippi’s punkish
Colour Revolt (http://www.myspace.com/colourrevolt) comes to the Bootleg.

Blues fan should head to the Brixton in Redondo Beach on Nov. 6 because that’s where blues giant Charlie Musselwhite will be performing.

The eclectic UK dance-pop group Florence and the Machine (http://www.myspace.com/florenceandthemachine) has a string of shows at the Wiltern Nov. 6-8,

Go See Hear In L.A.: Oct. 25-31

2010-10-24T22:01:00.000-07:00

Only have the chance to do a super brief roundup this week
A couple really interesting shows to start off with.
Free Energy and Foxy Shazam at the Troubadour on 10/28.
Kate Nash with openers Peggy Sue at the Music Box on 10/29
Stew and the Negro Problem at the Getty on Sat 10/30 and the Echoplex on Nov. 2.
The Icelandic Americana group Seabear plays the Troub with Grandchildren 10/26
Also notable are
JP, Chrissie & The Fairground Boys at the Sunset Blvd House of Blues on 10/25 and the Anaheim HoB 10/27
The Reigning Sound and the Ettes at the Echoplex 10/26 and Spaceland 10/27
Corinne Bailey Rae at the Avalon 10/28
The Secret Sisters at McCabes 10/29
Blame Sally at Boulevard Music 10/29
Joe Pug – Spaceland – 10/31

Go See Hear In L.A.: Oct. 18-24: from Mt. Desolation to Gold Motel

2010-10-17T20:47:00.000-07:00

If you are headed to the sold out Mumford & Sons show (and you have to love it these roots rock UK band has become such an under-the-radar hit), get there earlier enough to see Mt. Desolation (www.myspace.com/mtdesolation), another British country rock band featuring guys from Keane. Their debut actually comes out on Tuesday.

The Canadian collective Broken Social Scene sets up shop at the Wiltern on Oct. 19 in support of their latest effort, Forgiveness Rock Record. Who will be playing at this show? You’re never totally sure already frontman Kevin Drew should be leading the Scene.

Ra Ra Riot (www.myspace.com/rarariot) will be creating a “quiet storm” (and I don’t mean the soft rock radio format) at the Music Box on the 20th. This upstate NY band crafts elegant chamber-style indie rock that’s a joy to listen to.

It’s Irish night at the Hotel Café Oct. 20 Yep Roc/Bella Union recording artists Bell X1 (www.myspace.com/bellx1) is doing an acoustic tour, which is a great way to hear their sweet/bittersweet hooky pop tunes. Sharing the bill is the introspective Irish singer/songwriter James Vincent McMorrow (www.myspace.com/jamesvmcmorrow) who is on his first American tour.

UCLALive offers a very special musical summit on Friday Oct. 22. when Taj Mahal and Vieux Farka Touré share the stage for a show that will undoubtedly be a unique exploration of the intertwined elements of American blues and African music.

Friday night finds the Ryan Montbleau Band (www.myspace.com/ryanmontbleau) at the Mint. Last month, the Boston-based band released Heavy On The Vine, which is heavy with fine and lively soulful folk-rock. Montbleau also penned “Something Beautiful” that is Trombone Shorty’s current hit single.

Texas honky tonker Wayne "The Train" Hancock rolls through Southern California again with shows at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano on Oct. 22 (with the Blasters) and Redondo Beach’s Brixton on Oct. 23.

Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor have reconstituted Azure Ray (www.myspace.com/azureray). Their latest set of gentle, haunting music. Drawing Down The Moon, was released by Saddle Creek last month. They will be at the Troubador Oct. 22 along Tim Fite (www.myspace.com/timfite), whose more abrasive music is a compelling combination of folk, rock and rap.

For jam band fans Oct. 22 means the return to town of the great live band, Widespread Panic, who will be putting on one of their customary epic shows at the Greek that night.

It’s tempting to say that Brooklyn’s The Defibulators (www.myspace.com/thedefibulators) play such lively music that they raise the dead. It is true that their music, which'll be on display at Molly Malone’s Sat. the 23rd, is spirited roots music that ties together the past and present.

L.A.’s own Juliette Commagere (www.myspace.com/juliettecommagere) commemorates her solo album The Procession by opening for Air at the Shirne on the 23rd. The disc is filled with airy atmospheric but subtly textured music that makes for an enchanting listen.

NEeMA (www.myspace.com/neemaste) is an exotic, unusual name but she can create straightforward and enchanting melodic pop tunes. A Canadian of Middle Eastern decent, NEeMA has traveled around the globe and there is a worldly, philosophical side. Beautiful songs like “Escape” and “Elsa’s Lullaby” are about all you can ask for from a singer-songwriter. She has a show at the Hotel Café on Saturday.

The White Buffalo (www.myspace.com/thewhitebuffalo) is man, not band nor beast. On his new EP, Prepare For Black & Blue, he plays his acoustic music with a fierce physicality that recalls a harder-edged Ray Lamontagne or an unplugged Eddie Vedder. He’ll be appearing at Hermosa Beach’s St. Rocke on Oct. 24.

I became instantly enamored with Gold Motel (www.myspace.com/goldmotel) upon listening to their tunes. The Chicago pop-rockers, fronted by singer Greta Morgan, serve up a delightful sunny sound on the aptly named Summer House album that recalls Blondie in their prime. Hooky, energizing and hard to resist. They play the Echo Sunday Oct. 24 with Michael Runion and Family of the Year.

Go See Hear in L.A.: Oct. 11-17 - Danielle Ate The Sandwich to Hoodoo Gurus

2010-10-10T16:27:00.000-07:00

Danielle Anderson goes by the stage name Danielle Ate The Sandwich (www.myspace.com/danielleatethesandwich), so it’s not surprising that her music is quirky and eclectic. However, The intriguing uke-playing singer-songwriter can also be soul-searching and heartfelt – she’s something like those low-budget indie films chronicling twentysomethings’ lives but more charming than pretentious. You can find Danielle at the Hotel Café on Monday the 11th.

David Olney (www.myspace.com/davidolney) is a one of those singer-songwriter better known to his peers than the general public. He’s been recording albums over nearly 30 years and draws together various Americana strands – folk, rock, country, blues and even standards (he covered “I Only Have Eyes For You” on his last album) into something quite special. A sagacious, witty storyteller, Olney is something like John Prine with a bit more of an old school rock ‘n’ roll soul. He’ll be at the Coffee Gallery Backstage on the 11th and the Cinema Bar on the 13th.

The Ottawa-based quintet the Acorn (www.myspace.com/theacorn) is a band well worth digging up. On their CD, No Ghost (Bella Union) they reveal themselves as a really cool mix of woodsy-meets-city indie rock. While they aren’t at the anthemic state of fellow Canadian The Arcade Fire, the band’s music has a strong visceral pull. They are appearing at the Echo on Oct. 13.

Shadow Shadow Shade (www.myspace.com/shadowshadowshade) has created a lot of buzz around town (since the days when they were known as the Afternoons) and listening to their debut disc it is clear that they are deserving of all the praise. A swirling of colorful rock ‘n’ roll with patches of psyche., prog and other fuzzy guitar rock, SSS falls somewhere between the Flaming Lips and MGMT. “Say Yes” stands out as a rousing triumph while “Your Perfect Wilderness” is a rich Dark Forest rock exploration. Their 10/14 show at the Echoplex should be quite the record release party.

The Legendary Shack Shakers (www.myspace.com/legendaryshackshakers) will bring their rip-roaring redneck-a-billy to Spaceland on 10/14 behind their latest offering Agridustrial. The band’s new guitarist Duane Denison comes from Hank III and Jesus Lizard, so expect the Shack Shakers to raise more of a racket.

Baltimore-based, Merge Recording artists Wye Oak (www.myspace.com/wyeoak), who are basically the duo Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack) returns to town with their cool soft/loud sound that has a bluesy bottom and a freak folk-rocky topside. They share a bill with ex-Pedro The Lion frontman David Bazan at Spaceland on Oct. 15.

Armed with her comical, twangy bluesy tunes (her latest CD is entitled Donald Trump’s Hair), Kacey Jones (www.myspace.com/kaceyjonesmusic) comes from Nashville to Coffee Gallery Backstage on Friday night for her only Southern California show for the year.

Vincent Minor (www.myspace.com/vincentminor) celebrates his recently released self-titled album with a gig at the Bootleg Theatre. His cleverly composed, Tin Pan Ally-ish tunes suggest Rufus Wainwright without the operatic aspirations. Seek out his delightful ditty “Late Night Show” to get a good taste of what he’s all about

Hoodoo Gurus (www.myspace.com/hoodoogurus) hit the Viper Room on Oct. 17. These Aussies have been cranking out some wonderful garage rock-y music for many years. Tunes like “I Want You Back,” “What’s My Scene” and “Bittersweet” are a joy to hear any day. This Aussie outfit is still going strong as their latest Purity Of Essence (released earlier this year) amply proves.

Go See Hear in L.A.: Oct. 4-Oct. 10 - Tired Pony To Bearfoot

2010-10-04T06:57:00.000-07:00

The first full week of October starts off with a Tired Pony and ends with a Bearfoot – sorta.

Tired Pony is the new collaboration between Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody and REM”s Peter Buck. Place We Ran From is filled with pretty shimmery, textured pop-rock that makes for a quick pleasant listen – more Snow Patrol than REM if you’re curious where on the sound spectrum they fall.

Tuesday night offers Van the Man at the Greek. A cool autumn evening should match up well with Morrison’s melancholic music and often stormy (always mercurial) performing style.

The Stones will play the El Rey on Tuesday. Not the Rolling Stones, but Angus & Julia Stone (www.myspace.com/angusandjuliastone). These awesome Aussie siblings have been making compelling music together for the past few years – this year they released their sophomore album Down The Way - and it’s only a matter of time before they become better known for the hippie-ish folk-rock.

The Grammy Museum has another one of their fabulous events as it hosts a sit-down with Rosanne Cash. She has a new memoir, a rather current album, the List, and a totally fascinating life.

On Tuesday night too, First Aid Kit (http://www.myspace.com/thisisfirstaidkit) plays the Echo. Another band that I don’t know much about, but are very high on. The Swedish Soderberg sisters create fragile folkie music that’s quite alluring. Also on the bill is the Canadian autoharp-playing singer-songwriter Basia Bulat as well as Ferraby Lionheart (seek out the gorgeous tune, “Harry And Bess.”).

The Lee Boys (www.myspace.com/leeboys) might not be as well known as the Randolph Family Band but they too have been something special with sacred steel music. The Miami-based band bring together a number of styles (R&B, rock, hip-hop and country) in their energizing music. They’ll be at the Mint on Thursday night and Hermosa Beach’s Saint Rocke on Friday.

John Wicks and Paul Collins are two longtime figures in the power pop world. Wicks led the wonderful Records, who had such cool tunes as “Starry Eyes,” “Teenarama” and “Girls That Don’t Exist.” Paul Collins fronts the Beat (not the UK Beat), which was one of the key players in LA’s ‘70s pop scene. He also was in the Nerves with a pre-Plimsoul Peter Case. They share the stage at Genghis Cohen on Oct. 7.

Judy Collins is not just an American folk music legend but an American music legend. In the mid-Sixties, for example, she explored an innovative art-folk sound on albums like In My Life and Who Know Where The Time Goes. On this year’s Paradise, she still reveals her strong interpretative skills covering the likes of Harold Arlen, Tim Buckley and Jimmy Webb. She’s at the Broad Stage on Friday night.

Marley’s Ghost (www.myspace.com/marley39sghost) has been making acoustic-based music for over 20 years. They are skilled craftsmen who expertly mix together a range of styles into their music. This year they put out Ghost Town, produced by Cowboy Jack Clement, while their prior one Spooky was done with Van Dyke Parks. So if you judge people by the company that they keep, then you’ll have hold this band with respect. They’ll be at Caltech’s Beckman Auditorium on Saturday night.

Bearfoot (www.myspace.com/barefoot) is a one of those acoustic outfits that has enlivened the bluegrass scene in recent years (like Nickel Creek, Crooked Still, the Duhks, etc). I am not that familiar with this Compass Records artists, but was impressed with what I have heard. They play up at Ojai’s Matilija Auditorium on Saturday. Check them out if you're in that neighborhood.

Remember the Tom Tom Club? The beat-happy Talking Heads spinoff fronted by the Heads’ married rhythm section, bassist Tina Weymouth and drummer Chris Franz. They are on the road again as they’ve reissued their classic Genius of Love album. They will be at the non-club-like Getty on Sat. 10/9 and the more club-y Echoplex on Sunday the 10th. Will they have new music too? I can’t say.

Another couple, Deb Talen and Steve Tannen, does have a new album out. Better known as the Weepies (www.myspace.com/theweepies), they have filled the delightful Be My Thrill, their fourth full-length, with more smart pop tunes about life and love. It’s hard not to smile while listening to “I Was Made For Sunny Days.” They headline the El Rey on Sunday.

How To Survive The LA County Fair

2010-09-30T17:48:00.000-07:00

The L.A. County Fair is a real Southern California treat. Packing Pomona’s Fairplex each fall with carnival rides and games, fried food and cold drinks, animals and people. It’s something to make sure that you experience at least once, if not more so. We ventured out there during its opening weekend and here are tips based on our experiences.

Arrive early. Not only does this give more time at the Fair, but it also let you enjoy some time before it gets too hot. Plus you can usually find a pretty decent parking spot in the general parking lot so you don’t have too long of a walk at the end of a day spent walking.

A nice way to start your day is by going on their sky lift, which offers a fantastic aerial view of the Fair and lets you pick out some spots you want to go to. It is also good to do in the morning before temperatures heat up.

Another nice thing to do if it looks like it will be a hot day is to get over to the Hot Dog On A Stick stand and buy a big souvenir glass of lemonade, which you can refill throughout the day at a discounted price.

Among the best rides were the giant ferris wheel (well worth the ticket price) and the faux canoe water ride (which is very refreshing, particularly after a long wait in line). On the other hand, the Ghost Pirate – a blink-and-you-are-done ride – definitely wasn’t worth its tickets.

The “best” carnival game (if “best” equals “easiest to get a prize”) would be the Pop The Balloon game since it’s a pretty simple to win a prize there (although it isn’t much of one). Conversely, there are a lot of shoot-a-basketball game booths but I didn’t see one person win one of the fine jerseys that they have hanging up so you shouldn’t get your hopes up too high at these games. Maybe it’s because the fine print on their signs state that something to the effect that the basketball hoops aren’t regulations size.

Another big attraction at the Fair is the food, and there is plenty of it. We didn’t go whole hog during our day there, but we did order up some BBQ and roasted corn on the cob for lunch, where were pretty good Fair grub. The main disappointment was a soggy piece of spanakopita, while the big highlight was the deep-fried Klondike Bar that we got at Chicken Charlie’s. It was warm and crispy on the outside and soft and cool on the inside.

While you can try to cover the entire Fair in one day, it’s nice just to be more relaxed about it, and stroll around and see what you can discover. One of the most memorable things we did was to stop at the Hollywood Aerial Arts setup. Our 8-year-old daughter got to go up and swing from a trapeze, which was a thrill for all of us. Although we didn’t see everything (the Pig Races will have to be for another visit), it was a full and fun day.

Go See Hear in L.A.: Sept.27-Oct. 3

2010-09-26T22:58:00.000-07:00

With this early autumn heatwave in L.A. it’s hard to think about doing much beyond sitting in front of your fan. But there is a wave of hot shows this week (sorry for the easy pun) that go beyond the big Pavement/Sonic Youth Hollywood Bowl concert (Sept, 30) and Tom Petty local appearances at the Bowl and the Verizon Amphitheatre (Oct. 1 and 2, respectively).
There’s something exciting every night

Monday: the sensational soul songtress Bettye LaVette starts her two-night stand at Largo. Pete Yorn showcases his new album at Roxy.

Tuesday: Outlaw country star Jamey Johnson will play his “Guitar Songs” at the House of Blues. Sara Barellies has a show downtown at the Orpheum Theatre. But the 5-star event is the Jerry Lee Lewis appearance at the Grammy Museum.

Wednesday: The Drums will make some New Wave-y noise at the Music Box. The Felice Brothers delivers their rugged Americana rock at the Echo. Folk-popster Sarah Harmer has new disc Oh Little Fire that will be the probable focus for her Spaceland gig.

Thurday: The legendary John Cale commences this year’s UCLA Live concert series. Unfortunately, the Autry show headlining Justin Townes Earle has been cancelled since he has postponed his tour plans.

Friday: Ludo will rock up the Key Club with “Whipped Cream.” The School of Seven Bells will chill out the Echoplex. The Fountains of Wayne team up Jill Sobule for a night of catchy pop at the Troubadour while the Avett Brothers, Brandi Carlile and Grace Potter and the Nocturnals make for a rootsy triple bill at Nokia LA Live. Aimee Mann, who is reportedly penning a musical based on her The Forgotten Arm album, returns to Largo. As part of the OohLaLA Fest of French rockers at Spaceland, Bewitched Hands (who like a more dream-poppy Arcade Fire) will play. Check out the band’s fine tune “Work”. The Miniature Tigers swings through L.A. again with a show at the Henry Fonda Theatre with Neon Indian and Perfuse 73.

Saturday: Matt And Kim have a weekend stand at the Henry Fonda Theatre. The Truth & Salvage Co. set up shop at the Troubadour. My top choice, however, is Hayes Carll at McCabes. He is one of the best young songwriters around, IMHO.

Sunday: The week winds down with one big show. The Hollywood Palladium, welcomes the reunited Belle & Sebastian, with the talented duo Jenny And Johnny opening. J & J also have a show at the Troubadour on 10/6.

Go See Hear in L.A.: Sept.20-26

2010-09-20T12:59:00.000-07:00

Just a quick run through this week this time around.

Monday finds the Ranchero Brothers (the Old 97’s Rhett Miller and Murry Hammond) ride into Largo while Miller has a solo gig on Tuesday.

Henry Wagons, an Australian with a real feel for American country rock, has a solo outing at the Hotel Café on Monday. His disc The Rise And Fall Of Goodtown, with his band Wagons is worth seeking out.

Power pop icon Tommy Keene has a special gig on the 22nd. He’ll be playing this landmark Songs From The Film album in its entirety as well as other old tunes from his new retrospective.

James McMurtry brings this highly charged tales to the Mint on Wednesday. Come early to catch Jonny Burke, a terrific young musician whose debut full length Distance & Fortune is one to keep an eye out early next year.

Thursday night finds the wonderful Robyn Hitchcock and legendary producer Joe Boyd teaming up for an evening of music and stories at Largo.

Sean Lennon’s current project The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger will be showcases its tunes (which has been described as recalling Syd Barrett and Simon & Garfunkel) at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery on the 24th.

Another dynamic duo – Ryan Bingham opening for Willie Nelson - will be the Greek Theatre that night, while Friday also finds the New Orleans outfit BeauSoleil at McCabe’s.

I have liked, and reviewed, Jeffrey Halford’s music in the past. He’ll be coming down from the Bay Area for a gig at the Coffee Gallery Backstage on Friday and San Pedro’s Warner Annex on Saturday.

“He’s a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction.” Kris Kristofferson wrote this great line, and many more. He’s at the Cerritos Center on Saturday and Thousand Oaks on Sunday.

The wonderful Jon Langford (Waco Brothers, Mekons, etc.) will entertain folks with a free show at Amoeba on Saturday and then west to McCabe’s to play there on Sunday.

Singer-songwriter Slaid Cleaves should be better known than he is. You can get to know him and his songs better at Claremont’s Folk Music Center on Saturday and McCabe’s on Sunday.

Darryl Holter’s new CD West Bank Gone takes an interesting look back to his roots in the Minneapolis roots/folk scene, before he headed out to L.A. He’ll be at the Hotel Café on 9/26

David Gray, Ray LaMontagne & Tift Merritt at Greek Theatre, Los Angeles

2010-09-13T17:37:00.000-07:00

David Gray, Ray LaMontagne & Tift Merritt at Greek Theatre, Los Angeles
September 7, 2010
By Michael Berick

Fall was in air for this evening and it seemed appropriate for this autumnal sounds delivered by this triumvirate of talented singer-songwriters.
Opening the show was Tift Merritt, who hit the stage sharply at 7 p.m. while most of the audience was still lounging at the Greek’s plaza, looking for parking or still in traffic. Her set was short (only around 20 minutes) and pleasant, but didn’t really showcase her talents fully. She, more or less, played solo (a bassist sometimes played with her), accompanying herself on the guitar or piano. The stripped down set-up didn’t do her justice, and her voice also got lost some in the largely empty amphitheatre.
As a longtime Merritt fan, I was a little disappointed; however, it was more due to the circumstances than the performance. It was nothing like her powerful show I saw her give at L.A.’s Troubadour a few years back in support of Tambourine. But this show did get her introduced to a wider audience who might seek out her fine, sophisticated new album, See You On The Moon.
Ray LaMontagne came out next, and he had an interesting set-up with his band basically on one side and him on the other. The ever-modest LaMontagne seemed to enjoy hanging in the stage shadows, coming out just to sing. He was a man of few words, although the one time he did talk was a funny reaction to the proverbial “Free Bird” request.
What he concentrated on was his singing. The raspy-voiced romantic easily won over the receptive crowd with his soulful, folk-rocky tunes, which mixed old numbers with new ones from his recently released, God Willin & The Creek Don’t Rise. Old favorites like “Trouble,” on which his inspiration felt drawn from Otis Redding and Richie Havens, provoked a big reaction from the audience.
His newer material, however, worked very well live. This is due in no small part for the talented folks in his band, The Pariah Dogs, which features such session stalwarts as guitarist/pedal steel player Eric Haywood, drummer Jay Bellerose and bassist Jennifer Condos. They worked up a fine funkiness to “Repo Man,” which recalled the Americana jamminess of LaMontagne’s idol Stephen Stills. They really got things cooking near the end of his 65 minute set with a rousing rendition of “Like Rock & Roll And Radio” that he followed with his encore, “You Are The Best Thing.”
David Gray served as this evening’s headliner, although it seems like it could have been a coin flip between LaMontagne and him over the honors. Gray is definitely more animated performer than LaMontagne. Backed by a rock combo (guitar, bass, drums, keyboards), he started his set off quite energetically; however, the songs seemed to fall just short of being truly memorable. The hooks and melodies just weren’t quite strong enough to win you over. Granted I am not such a Gray fan that I knew his new songs well but if they were really strong tunes that would have succeeded more with me.
In fact, it was his older tunes, “Flame Turns Blue,” “Sail Away” and his breakthrough hit “Babylon” seemed to shine the brightest for him. This set overall felt tasteful but tame folk-rock. It was a nice touch when he did an enthusiastic version of the second-tier Beatles tune “Dig A Pony” during his encore, but it’s telling that the tune was the most fun song of the night.
At the show’s end, I felt each performer could have benefited from a slightly grander sound. Maybe it was the outdoor setting and its proximity to the even larger Hollywood Bowl, but I thought it might have nice for Gray to have a string section to fill out his elegant tunes, if LaMontagne had horns to punctuate his songs’ soulfulness and if Merritt simply had a band behind her to bolster his sound.
That said, you have to take what the musicians give you – not what you wish they had done – and LaMontagne, Gray and Merritt all showed themselves to be accomplished singer-songwriters even if the latter two in particularly weren’t as compelling as they could have been.

Go See Hear in L.A.: Sept.13-19

2010-09-13T09:41:00.000-07:00

The top story for this week is the trio of talented female performers making appearances in town.

On Monday, Clare Burson (www.myspace.com/clareburson) arrives at the Hotel Café in support of Silver & Ash, which will be released by Rounder on Tuesday. The Memphis-bred, Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter has a sophisticated, assured sound. The history-mind Burson has crafted a song cycle about her grandmother’s life in Europe before the start of WW11. While tackling dark issues, she also creates some splendid chimey-ness on “I Will/With You.” She also was recently chronicled in the New Yorker for having an ancient piece of cheese (a story too intricate to synopsize.

On Friday, Nicole Simone (www.myspace.com/nicolesimone) has a show at the Hotel Café. I praised the L.A.-based singer-songwriter here last month, so just to briefly restate: she has a cool chanteuse vibe that recalls early Eleni Mandell.

The wonderful Elizabeth Cook (www.myspace.com/elizabethcook) comes to town from Nashville for a show at McCabe’s on Saturday. One of my favorite Americana female singers, Cook is a fun and feisty performer who can pen memorable tunes like “El Camino” and “Heroin Addict Sister” that are country without being country clichés.

There are several other interesting shows during this week too.
Tracy Bonham teams up with the duo KaiserCartel (www.myspace.com/kaisercartel) for a show at the Hotel Café on Tuesday. While I haven’t kept up much Bonham over the years, her new disc Masts of Manhatta has gotten some good notices. The KaiserCartel also have a new disc, Secret Transit, which I have heard and is a fine slice of indie pop.

Dan Mangan (www.myspace.com/danmangan), who is at the Henry Fonda on the 15th, hails from Vancouver (New Pornographers) and is on the Arts & Craft (Broken Social Scene, Feist) – and if that isn’t enough to make you curious. His album Nice, Nice, Very Nice lives up to its name with its nicely crafted literate folk-pop like the laidback but majestic “Fair Verona” and the cracked humor fanboy lament “Tina’s Glorious Comeback.”

JBM’s (www.myspace.com/jessemarchant) return to town, with a Spaceland show on 9/15. I had recommended his Hotel Café show earlier this month and I will recommend him again.

Blues icon Buddy Guy has a sit-down at the Grammy Museum on Thursday night the 16th; it's a rare chance to have an up-close opportunity to hear a living legend talk a little talking and play a little. Thursday too is when The Chapin Sisters (www.myspace.com/thechapinsisters) bring their delightful harmonies and a full band to the Echo Lounge on the 16th to showcase their new one, Two. On that night, Roy Jay (www.myspace.com/royjaymusic) opens up for Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers at the Troubadour. He has named his new album with a more locally significant title, Fairfax Avenue.

The esteemed (yet still somewhat underappreciated) Eliza Gilkyson (www.myspace.com/elizagilkyson) plays McCabe’s on Friday the 17th. The same night, Hanson will be at the House of Blues. Their latest Shout It Out comes stocked with savvy, soul-infused pop-rock.

This weekend’s Los Angeles Lobster Festival boosts a particularly strong music line with Leslie & the Badgers, We Barbarians, Fitz & The Tantrums and Dengue Fever among Saturday’s performers and John Doe & Exene headlining Sunday.

Newbie Quickie: those darling Darlings

2010-09-10T12:42:00.000-07:00

I came across the NYC band Darlings (not to be confused with the Tennessee punky twangsters Those Darlins) today and so glad I did. These Darlings have a wonderful trashy garage rock vibe, something that combines early CBGB’s clever punk with Weezer-y power pop. I’ve only listened to their myspace trio of tracks (http://www.myspace.com/darlingsokay) but they were compelling enough to make me listen a couple times. The buzzy-riffed “Big Girl” is the most Weezer-like of the three, not that’s there’s anything wrong with hooky, slightly snarky power pop. I like “Eviction Party” better with its Fountains-of-Wayne-doing-the-Strokes-in-a-Village-bar feel and “If This Is Love” is noisy fun too with its “Don’t bother me ‘cuz I’m surfing” outro. Familiar while still fabulously fresh, the Darlings are a new garage pop crush.

Go See Hear in L.A.: Sept.6-12

2010-09-06T22:39:00.000-07:00

After a relaxing Labor Day Monday, the week gets off to a tremendous start. This week there isn't a "show of the week" but a "night of the week" and the night is Tuesday.
The Philly retro rockers Free Energy (www.myspace.com/freeenergymusic) will be lighting things up Tuesday night at the Viper Room. Their Stuck On Nothing is a wonderful blast of ‘70s-style big riff rock ‘n’ roll.

The Mynabirds (www.myspace.com/themynabirds), meanwhile, will be arriving at Spaceland. Laura Burhenn and her new band put out one of my favorite albums of the year, What We Lose In The Fire We Gain in The Flood, a gorgeous dose of Memphis country soul with a dash of indie rock.

Hotel Café plays host to Luke Doucet (www.myspace.com/lukedoucet), who comes to showcase his highly anticipated new album, Steel City Traweler. If you are not familiar with the talented Canadian, then check out Broken (And Other Rogue States), his fantastic 2005 disc.

As if those aren’t enough choices, then you can head to the Greek Theatre for the first night of the David Gray/Ray Lamontagne/Tift Merritt 2-night stand there. This wonderful feast of classy singer-songwriters offers a selection of soulfulness: Merritt’s Southern style, Lamontagne’s rustic New England variety and Gray’s English folk version. It's hard to pick just one but any one of them are worth getting out to see.

On Thursday, Loch & Key (www.myspace.com/lochandkey) starts their Redwood residency. The LA-based group, which will also be there 9/23 and 9/30, blend an European artiness with a laidback Southern Cal pop vibe. I saw them a couple weeks ago at Room 5, and, despite some rough live edges, they are definitely worth checking out.

Also, on the 9th, the Gibson Amphitheatre welcomes two popular country artists who aren’t the typical hat acts. Jack Ingram spend many years in the Texas music scene mining a Steve Earle-like sound. A few years back he signed with Toby Keith’s Big Machine label and garnered more popularity. Headliner Gary Allan is a Calfiornia-bred honky tonker whose brings an outlaw sense of real-ness to the Nashville mainstream.

The English art-pop ensemble The Clientele returns to L.A. for a show at the Echoplex. They have put out a series of dark and interesting discs on Merge, including this year’s Minotaur.

Those lovely singing sisters, The Watson Twins (www.myspace.com/thewatsontwins) have another local show; this time it’s Friday at the Bootleg. Earlier this year, they released their second effort for Vanguard, Talking To You, Talking To Me.

The legendary songwriter Jesse Winchester comes to McCabe’s on Saturday. His songs became hits for folks like Jimmy Buffett and Emmylou Harris and he spent many years in Canada resisting the draft. Last year, he released Love Filling Station (his first release in over a decade) and appeared on Elvis Costello’s Spectacle show.

Welcome Home Walker (www.myspace.com/welcomehomewalker) is a side project of Colin Jarrell from the NW glam rock-y group The Nice Boys. WHW’s retro sound is based more in the garage. Seek out their tune, “Suds,” a glorious slice of dumb fun rock. They come to the Redwood on 9/11.

Neil Finn, who recently came through town fronting his long-time band, Crowded House, comes back for a pair of lower-key shows at Largo on Sat.-Sun.

Go See Hear in L.A.: Aug.31-Sept.5

2010-08-29T09:14:00.000-07:00

August is closing up shop and September is putting up the “Now Open” sign. And there are a number of shows to see was Summer transitions to Autumn.

Before we hit the clubs, the Grammy Museum has a trio of excellent events this week. The sensational soul singer Mavis Staples, who has been returning to prominence in recent years, will be at the Museum on Monday night. On Tuesday night, Ray Benson, long a leader of the modern Western Swing movement, comes to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his band, Asleep At The Wheel. Then on Wednesday night, Oscar-winning Texas troubadour Ryan Bingham will be there to showcase his new album Junky Star (which I am reviewing for Country Standard Time). Get to as many of this wonderful events as you can.

Now onto the clubs:

On Tuesday night there are two notable shows on the East Side. The Submarines (Blake Hazard and John Dragonetti) surface at the Bootleg, along with Sea of Bees and Obi Best, to play some of their lovely, bittersweet indie pop in advance of their next disc slated for a fall release (www.myspace.com/thesubmarinesmusic).
Over at the the Echo, Bobby Bare Jr (www.myspace.com/bobbybarejr) does has a new release, A Storm-A Tree-My Mother’s Head, another in his fine line of endearingly ramshackled country rock efforts. Blue Giant will open as well as serve as his backing band.

On Wednesday Sept. 1, Colin Gilmore (www.myspace.com/colingilmore) comes to town for a show at Molly Malones. Besides being the son of Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Colin is a talented musician in his own right with Goodnight Lane being the most recent example of his work.

The right place to be on Thursday night is at the Santa Monica Pier for the incomparable Dr. John. The New Orleans music legend is still going strong. Earlier this year, he released the terrific Tribal album and did a colorful performance at the Grammy Museum.

Friday night finds JBM (Jesse Marchant) performing at the Hotel Café. JBM’s (www.myspace.com/jessemarchant) new album Not Even In July has more of an autumnal flavor with its handcrafted melancholic tunes that subtly warm your soul.
If you are looking for a lively (and inexpensive) way to usher in the weekend, you can enjoy a free show from Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys at the Farmer’s Market.

Sara Randle (www.myspace.com/sararadle) begins a Saturday night residency at Casey’s Irish Pub on the 4th. The former Rental’s vocalist has a new album, Four, of shimmering indie pop to share.
Meanwhile, the Detroit-based Deadstring Brothers (www.myspace.com/deadstringbrothers) will be bring things to live at the Hotel Café with their rough ‘n’ tumble roots rock that I have drawn comparisons to the twangier side of the Rolling Stones.

Newbie Quickie: Unicycle Loves You

2010-08-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

I don’t know much about this band, Unicycle Loves You. At least not yet, but one thing I do know that I love their new tune, "Mirror, Mirror." It’s a summer slice of sublime goodness. Thrift store pop reminiscent of early Blondie and those ‘90s girl-fronted Brit pop groups like the Primitives. Not all of their tunes have this quality but they do seem to hold a quirky garage pop appeal. Until I get a song link, here is where you find them on myspace - www.myspace.com/unicycle

Go See Hear in L.A.: Aug. 23-30

2010-08-23T07:30:00.000-07:00

Before highlighting shows from the final full week of August, I wanted to talk about the bands I saw this past Tuesday at Room 5. The local outfit Loch & Key opened the show with a short but alluring set drawn from their debut Jupiter’s Guide For Submariners. Frontwoman Leyla Akdogan has a very cool, somewhat Deborah Harry-gone-Euro chanteuse quality to her. Most of their songs project an interesting SoCal “chanson” quality sparked by the interplay between Akdogan singing and guitarist Sean Hoffman’s quiet but nimble playing. A little stiff as a performer, Akdogan acknowledged that she does need to work on her stage presence.
I wasn’t familiar with the local band The Minor Canon, who played next, but came away impressed with their enthusiastic performance. They reminded me of one of those bands you’d see in a ‘60s “youth movie” with their soul-fueled rock ‘n’ roll, only a step or two up in quality.
The headliner was the Grownup Noise and they definitely have stepped things up.
Their set displayed a tougher, rockier sound that they have shown on disc, which is undoubtedly due to the unavailability of their cellist Katie French for this tour. As a compact unit of guitar, bass, keys and drums, they churned out an invigorating 9 song set plus an encore that slightly rearranged their terrific tune, Grey Skies. Frontman Paul Hansen has a warmer, softer voice than you’d expect from his lumberjack size. It’s sorta like a young James Taylor fronting an indie rock outfit like a stripped down Arcade Fire. This Massachusetts-based band serves up melancholic tunes with just enough edge and hooks to make for compelling music.

This week’s recommend shows start off Monday with Austin singer/songwriter Bettysoo (www.myspace.com/bettysoo) at Genghis Cohen. I’m rather smitten with her new disc Heat Sin Water Skin, which serves up Lucinda-style, gritty Texas tunes.

Another tough, twangy lady, Manda Mosher (www.myspace.com/myspacemanda) has a show on Tuesday night at the Hotel Café where she is celebrating the release of her new EP City of Clowns. I reviewed her impressive debut Everything You Need for All Music Guide a year or so ago.

On Wednesday night, you can squeeze into Amoeba to catch a free set for local heroes Los Lobos, who have another fine release Tin Can Trust now out on Shout! Factory.
Then you have either try to see the legendary Jimmy Webb at Largo or Oscar winning upstart Ryan Bingham (www.myspace.com/ryanbingham) at the Bootleg Theatre. I’ll be reviewing Bingham’s new disc Junky Star for Country Standard Time.

Thursday night you can head down to Long Beach’s Queen Mary Park for a “sounds-too-good-to-be-true” pairing of Lucinda Williams with Chrissie Hynde, who is on tour with her new project, JP, Chrissie & the Fairground Boys.
Also, on the 26th, the marvelous guitarist John Jorgenson (www.johnjorgenson.com) will be doing a free performance in front of the Culver City City Hall. He also has a show on the 28th at Boulevard Music. The one-time Desert Rose Band member recently released a pair of terrific Django Reinhardt-inspired disc.

McCabe’s offers a pair of excellent shows this week featuring musicians who came to prominence in the ‘90s. Mark Olson (www.myspace.com/markolsonmusic) helped to usher in the alt.country scene as co-leader of the Jayhawks. Still making vital music as his 2010 disc Many Colored Kite reveals, Olson will be playing McCabe’s on Friday night. The following night Matthew Sweet has a show there. His 1991 album Girlfriend remains one of the decade’s best disc. Over the last few years, he has been collaborating with Susannah Hoffs on covers discs, so it will be interesting to see what he offers up tonight.
Also on Saturday, Cyndi Lauper will be at the Greek. While she has a new blues-based disc, this show is notable because New Orleans icon Allen Toussaint is sharing the stage with her.

Go See Hear in L.A.: Aug. 16-22

2010-08-15T07:42:00.000-07:00

We’re zooming through August with another big week of concerts.

The week starts off with a blast as the Ruby Friedman Orchestra (www.myspace.com/rubyfriedman) will be shaking up with Bootleg Theater on Monday night with their high-energy show.

Things turn a little quieter on Tuesday night with an excellent showcase at Room 5. The local duo Loch & Key (singer Leyla Akdogan and ex-American Music Club guitarist Sean Hoffman) will be kicking off a string of area shows, including a September Redwood Bar residency (www.myspace.com/lochandkey). Their disc Jupiter’s Guide To Submariners presents a quirky yet beguiling sound that combines a bit of Europe with California. Also populating Room 5 is the talented Boston group GrownUp Noise (www.myspace.com/thegrownupnoise) who craft sophisticated melodic indie rock that’s warm and inviting. “Grey Skies,” a soaring song about depression off their self-titled full length is a fine place to start with the band.

The Grammy Museum hosts an evening with John Mellencamp to celebrate his new offering, the T Bone Burnett-produced No Better Than This, which I reviewed for Country Standard Time. These intimate evenings always provide a great glimpse into a performer, and I have a feeling that Mellencamp won’t be shy up on stage.

Wednesday bring a great big bit of New Orleans to the Hollywood Bowl with an all-star lineup featuring Neville Brothers, Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.

Star Anna & The Laughing Dogs (www.myspace.com/starannakrogstie) swing down from the State of Washington to show off their rugged, earthy rock ‘n’ roll. Their sophomore album The Only Thing That Matters shows that they are a band that matters, with feisty frontwoman Star Anna exhibits some real star quality.

Another impressive young band comes to town on Thursday when the Bay Area Gwyneth and Monko (www.myspace.com/gwynethmoreland ) come to Molly Malones. Their EP Good Old Horse contains a fine, old timey folk sound that doesn’t sound lost in time. You can also catch them at Santa Monica’s Dakota Lounge on the 20th and Altadena’s Coffee Gallery Backstage on the 23rd.

If you are looking to blues by the blue water, head to the Santa Monica Pier for a special Twilight concert with one-time Rolling Stone guitarist Mick Taylor headlining the evening’s show.

It’s a Wainwright night at the Greek on the 20th when Rufus and Martha put on a show, while over at Spaceland, Springfield Missouri’s own Ha Ha Tonka serve up their rugged Midwestern brand of rock ‘n’ roll. Crowded House will be filling Club Nokia that night with their catalog of pop gems, but come early to catch Lawrence Arabia. Their soon-to-be released Yep Roc debut is a truly impressive piece of melodic pop-rock. Coincidentally, the band’s leader James Milne has a side project BARB with Neil Finn’s musical son Liam.

Saturday the 21st holds a pair of terrific shows from which to choose: Celllist Ben Sollee (www.myspace.com/bensollee) brings his soulful Americana to the Bootleg, Texas singer-songwriter Sarah Jaffe (www.myspace.com/sjaffe) swings through town again stopping at the Hotel Cafe to showcase her wonderful tunes off her smart and assured debut Suburban Nature, which stands as one of this year's better debuts.

The weekend wraps up in a particularly “crooked” way Sunday with the well-respected Darrell Scott (Robert Plant nabbed him for his new Americana project Band of Joy) will be performed songs from his new double disc A Crooked Road at the Waterfront in Marina Del Rey. Slightly inland at McCabes it will be an evening of eclectic acoustic music from Crooked Still (www.myspace.com/crookedstill), a talented Massachusetts-based outfit who have put several worth-discovering album on Signature Sounds including Some Strange Country, which came out earlier this year.

Go See Hear in L.A.: Aug. 9-15 - Two Whales, A Lone Wolf and A Band Of Heathens

2010-08-10T16:49:00.000-07:00

I am running a bit late this week but wanted to get the word out on a couple shows before that they happened. See why it’s a “whale” of a week for local gigs.

Tuesday has a trio of interesting shows. There’s the B.B. King/Buddy Guy celebration of the blues at the Hollywood Bowl. Over at the El Rey, Alejandro Escovedo will unleash tune from his dynamic new disc, Street Songs of Love (this marvelous re-teaming with Real Animal’s producer Tony Visconti and co-writer Chuck Prophet has garnered Alejandro has much deserved accolades), with L.A.-gone-Texas singer-songwriter Amy Cook opening the show.

I wanted to add a few more words to the Frazey Ford show at the Hotel Café on the 11th. Ford, who is part of the Be Good Tanyas, recently put out an impressive solo outing that I reviewed for americansongwriter.com (www.americansongwriter.com/2010/07/frazey-ford-obadiah/). I really enjoyed that way blended acoustic Americana thread with more soulful ones. Also on the bill there that night is Snow & Voices, a So Cal ensemble that mines a warm yet chilled out folk-pop sound.

On Thursday evening, you can enjoy a free show from the Hot Club of Cowtown at the Culver City City Hall. The Hot Club has long crafted a wonderful blend of gypsy jazz and western swing. Elena James, who has played in Dylan’s band, is a particularly fiery fiddle player while Whit Smith is also nimble on guitar.
The Freelance Whales share a bill with the Tokyo Police Club at the El Rey on 12th too. Even though they hail from the trendy Brooklyn rock scene, I really like the Freelance Whales’ debut Weathervanes, with its quirky but well crafted indie rock.

Friday the 13th offers a wide range of shows. On the softer side, Natalie Merchant (hmm, an ex-10,000 Maniac performing on Friday the 13th…) has a show at the Orpheum Theatre. Meanwhile, down in Long Beach at Queen Mary Park, folk legend Joan Baez shares a bill with folk/rock legend Roger McGuinn (how many Dylan covers will done there?)
Speaking of legends, the one and only Dave Alvin will be performing with steel guitar whiz Cindy Cashdollar at McCabe’s, although I’ll be surprised if tickets are still available.
If you can’t get in there and have a hankering for Americana music, you can catch Or The Whale (yes, the second Whale band to surface in town this week) at Spaceland. This San Francisco outfit offers an appealing country-rock sound that’s mostly laidback and harmony-laden but they also play with enough zest to make for a lively time. They share the bill with Americana eccentrics These United States.
Or you can check out the quietly compelling orchestral bedroom pop sound of Lone Wolf, the brainchild of U.K. musician Paul Marshall. Lone Wolf will be at the El Rey where the bill is topped by its countrymates The Wild Beasts.
The wildest show, and probably the most fitting for Friday the 13th will take place at the House of Blues where the Reverend Horton Heat, Hillstomp and Split Lip Rayfield will join forces for a riotous night of revved up bluegrass, raucous rockabilly and other root rock shenanigans.
And if that isn’t enough, Cambodian-flavored psyche rockers Dengue Fever will have a free show at California Plaza as part of the Grand Performances Summer Series.

If you have something left for the weekend, Saturday brings Eleni Mandell and Ana Egge to the Center for Folk Music and the awesome Austin country rockers, The Band of Heathens will ripping things up at the Viper Room. No doubt they will play their terrific tune, “L.A. County Blues.”

The weekend wraps up with a wonderful show Suunday at the Greek Theater, where music icon Levon Helm will share the stage with Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis (who will presumably accent her twangier material) along with some special guests (like some up-and-coming singer-songwriter named Steve Earle).

Go See Hear In LA: Aug 2-8

2010-08-01T18:30:00.000-07:00

Before I get to the recommended shows for this week, I want to reflect on a couple shows that I actually was able to attend this past week.
On Thursday, I have the pleasure of attending the Squeeze show at the Gibson Amphitheatre, and it definitely was a pleasure. I wrote a full review that I posted here earlier this week. However, I will reiterate that Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford were in magnificent form, playing their songs with vivacity and flair. It’s always a treat to hear the terrific tunes, particularly when they are played so well and so enthusiastically.
I also was able to check out a little of the big Roots Roadhouse on Saturday at the Echo and the Echoplex. Unfortunately, I only had the opportunity to stay for around an hour but it was a great hour. First off, I got to see a couple songs from Frontier Ruckus. This Michigan-based band crafted songs that are rather linear but also wonderfully literate. Frontman Matthew Milia has a real way with words (my current favorite couplet is “back when our tongue thrust/all of our young lust” but his lyrics, as found on FR’s new disc, Deadmalls & Nightfalls, is populated with a lot of great lines) and his bandmates include banjo player David Winston Jones and saw/trumpet player (yes, those are his instruments) Zachary Nichols.
After catching the end of Pete Anderson’s set of muscular blues tunes, I stayed to see Chatham County Line. These North Carolina boys look like trad. Bluegrass guys, dress in suits and ties and huddling around a single microphone. While they are talented bluegrass players, they have expanded their music into a broader acoustic-based sound that also gets displayed impressively on their new Yep Roc album. Wildwood.
And now onto this week’s shows.
The L.A.-based singer-songwriter Nicole Simone has a gig opening up for Ferraby Lionheart at the Bootleg Theatre on Aug. 2. I wasn’t familiar with her before hearing her debut EP but it was a real attention-grabber. Simone was a soft but alluring vocal sound that she pairs with a Tom Waits-like junkyard saloon arrangements. Reminiscent of Eleni Mandell’s early work, the EP marks an impressive introduction by Simone, and suggests that she is someone to keep an eye on.
This week’s Twilight Dance Concert at the Santa Monica Pier offers up the Southern California treasure Rickie Lee Jones. It should be interesting to see what she will be playing – her old crowd pleasers or her more recent, more adventurous fare.
Also on the 5th, the Redwood hosts the dynamic duo of Rosie Flores and Ruby James. Flores is the well-known rockabilly filly (who used to be a regular around these parts), while Ruby James is another L.A. native gone Austin with a mighty fine debut Happy Now that is well worth the listen.
The Henry Clay People have a big show at the Greek Theatre on Friday the 6th. Their vibrant new album, Somewhere On The Golden Coast, is something like Pavement with more of an easy-going yet still aggressive spirit. It’s something to be heard.
Lost In The Trees comes to L.A. for a series to shows to commemorate its Anti- album, All Alone In An Empty House. This N.C. band emphasizes the chamber in their chamber-folk-rock blend. LITT’s main man Ari Picker can create some intriguing dynamics in his songs – numbers like “Fireplace” and the title track caught my ear – and it’ll be interesting to see how this quiet, string-based music translates live. They have shows at McCabe’s on the 7th, Spaceland on the 9th, Amoeba on the 10th, and the Hotel Café on the 12th – if I got it all right.
Down at the Pacific Amphitheatre on the 8th is a show headlined by Blondie with an opening set by Gorevette, a garage rock outfit put together by Amy Gore and Nikki Corvette. While Blondie has been a longtime fave, seeing them now seems like an exercise in nostalgia; however, Gorevette’s music does some fun, greasy, Motor City rock ‘n’ roll.

Squeeze Live At The Gibson Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, 7/28/10

2010-07-30T10:30:00.000-07:00

Summertime concert-going can be an exercise in “pick your nostalgia.” Do you want to see Heart or Pavement? The Scorpions or Cheap Trick? Last night, I chose the early ‘80s New Wave-y variety of nostalgia, going to see a double bill of the English Beat and Squeeze at Los Angeles’ Gibson Amphitheatre.

Opening the show was the English Beat, which is now original frontman Dave Wakeling and a younger supporting cast. While professing to having some “weak knees” about playing in front of his adopted hometown audience, Wakeling enthusiastically ran through a set featuring key Beat tunes: “I Confess,” “Save It For Later, “Can’t Get Use To Losing You,” and their version of “Tears of a Clown.” His supporting cast was game, with toaster Antonee particularly enlivening the festivities with some nimble wordplay. Wakeling’s voice came off a little thin and got swallowed up a bit by the Gibson’s acoustics; however, the appreciative audience didn’t seem to mind. The band wrapped up their nearly hour-long performance with an especially energetic performance of “Mirror In The Bathroom,” which stood out as a set highlight.

Squeeze got the crowd on its feet from the opening notes of their lead-off tune, “Take Me I’m Yours.” It was a rousing rendition that set the tone for the rest of the evening. Lead singer Glenn Tilbrook showed that his voice is still as strong as ever, and he also flashed some aggressive guitar playing, which signaled that this just wasn’t a night for rote renditions by a band reuniting for a cash-grab. Tilbrook’s guitar work is something that often gets overlooked in the praise for his songwriter skills with longtime musical partner Chris Difford.

The band didn’t overlook their popular numbers; they filled the night with many fan favorites, like “Goodbye Girl,” “Black Coffee in Bed,” “Annie Get Your Gun,” “Tempted,” “Slap & Tickle” and the Difford showpiece “Cool For Cats.” They also displayed a genuinely fun vibe to their performance. In “Black Coffee,” for instance, Tilbrook sparred instrumentally with keyboardist Stephen Large. In fact, one of the show’s surprises was the strength of the band beyond Tilbrook and Difford. Large was a not only talented on the keys (his karate chops keyboard moves on “Slap & Tickle” were quite impressive) but also revealed an endearingly humorous presence. Both he and drummer Simon Hanson play in Tilbrook’s “other” band, the Fluffers, so it’s easy to see how they slip in naturally as Squeeze men. Similarly, the bassist John Bentley is a familiar face having played in the band back in the ‘80s.

The thoroughly entertaining concert also served as a reminder of the massively impressive song library that Difford and Tilbrook built over the years. Not only have they composed hooky, literate tunes like “Tempted” or “Is That Love” but they really crafted some truly unique numbers. It’s hard to think of rock songs that are crafted as inventively as “Up The Junction” “Pulling Mussels From A Shell” or “Cool For Cats” that are also catchy and memorable.

Although Difford and Tilbrook have had some rough patches in their professional relationship over the years, they now seem to be enjoying playing together. Tilbrook, in fact, told the crowd that they “love each other again,” while Difford said that standing next to Tilbrook on stage was one reason that his job was one of the best in the world. The band is releasing soon a disc entitled Spot The Difference, on which they re-recorded their classic tunes. While this could seem like another way to repackage their greatest hits and regain some publishing rights, the skill and enthusiasm that the band brought to this concert suggests that the album should also be just as joyous a journey down memory lane as the show was.

Go See Hear in L.A.: July 25-Aug. 1

2010-07-25T16:51:00.000-07:00

This week I want to start at the end as the “Show of the Week” takes place on Saturday. The big Roots Roadhouse (www.myspace.com/thegrandoleecho) takes over the Echo and the Echoplex. The headliners are California honky tonk icon Red Simpson, legendary bluesman Model-T Ford, and the “King of California” Dave Alvin. If this trio isn’t enticing enough, the lineup also boasts terrific local acts as the Chapin Sisters, Leslie and the Badgers, Old Californio, I See Hawks In LA and Pete Anderson, as well as visiting dignitaries like Chatham County Line and Frontier Ruckus. It shapes up to be a fantastic day of American roots music.

There will also be another visiting dignitary performing on Saturday night who deserves "Show of the Week" considerations. The one and only Kinky Friedman (www.myspace.com/kinky_friedman) will be making his first LA appearance in nearly 20 years with a show at McCabe's. The Kinkster certainly has been busy over the years, becoming a celebrated mystery author and running for Governor in Texas. But he first got notoriety as a singer/songwriter and, with the help of two members of his old Texas Jewboy band, he’ll playing tunes that made him infamous (like “Sold American” and “They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore.”).

For those in a different mood, freak folk goddess Joanna Newsom (www.myspace.com/joannanewsomfansite) also plays in town July 31 at the Orpheum Theatre.

Now, going back to earlier in the week. The Troubadour presents a terrific bill on the 27th featuring J. Tillman (www.myspace.com/jtillman) and Phosphorescent (www.myspace.com/phosphorescent). Tillman, who playing in the Fleet Foxes, crafts lovely spare music on his own while Alabama-born, Brooklyn-based Matthew Houck (aka Phosphorescent) really impressed him with the songs that I’ve heard off on his critically acclaimed new disc Here’s To Taking It Easy.

Another expert crafter of quiet tunes, Peter Bradley Adams (www.myspace.com/peterbradleyadams) returns to LA for a show at the Hotel Café on 7/28. Adams, who now lives in the Nashville area, has a way with gently alluring, intimately heartfelt tunes. If you want to get Peter's music, you can go here Also playing that night will be the Guggenheim Grotto (www.myspace.com/guggenheimgrotto), continuing their July Wednesday Hotel Café residency.

On the 28th, the Gibson Amphitheatre hosts two key members of the ‘80s UK New Wave scene: Squeeze (www.myspace.com/squeezeofficial) and English Beat (www.myspace.com/officialbeatspace). The English Beat’s debut is one of the liveliest, more dance-happy albums of its era (or maybe any era), while Squeeze’s Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford have a true gift for writing literate and hooky tunes. They have made a “new” disc Spot The Difference, where they re-do some of their greatest hits.

Paul Thorn (www.myspace.com/paulthorn) is a wonderful Southern storyteller with a uniquely colorful past (he has been a prizefighter and a skydiver). Touring behind his powerful Pimps & Preachers album, Thorn appears at the Mint on July 28 and the Brixton in Redondo Beach on the 29th.

Here We Go Magic’s “Collector” (www.myspace.com/herewegomagic) is one of my favorite tunes of the year. Its infectious melody and pulsating rhythms recalls the ‘80s dance-pop without sounding like they just want to be the next hip thing from Brooklyn. They bring their eclectic beats to the Troubadour on 7/29.

The Pousette-Dart Band was an act from the late ‘70s and early ‘80s that I associate with folk-pop-country acts like Pure Prairie League, Firefall and, particularly, Jonathan Edwards. The PDB tune that I remember best is the dandy, humor-filled number, “Amnesia,” which still holds up very well. I don’t know what Jon Pousette-Dart (www.myspace.com/pousettedart) has been doing over the years, but he will be playing Genghis Cohen on July 30.

Go See Hear in L.A.: July 19-25

2010-07-17T19:24:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes, yes, The New Pornographers and The Dodos make for a fine bill at the Henry Fonda Theater, but if you looking for an alternative, and still coming down from the She & Him, The Bird & The Bee, Swell Season Hollywood Bowl show, then check out Kaiser Cartel (www.myspace.com/kaisercartel), who have a show at the Hotel Café on 7/19 and at the Echo on the 20th. This Brooklyn-based duo is another delightful boy-girl indie pop couple. They are presenting their new disc, Secret Transit, the follow-up to their impressive March Forth.

Also on the 20th, Ben Taylor (www.myspace.com/bentaylorofficial) and Katie Herzig (www.myspace.com/katieherzig) share a bill at Largo. On his last disc, The Legend of Kung Fu Part 1, Taylor favored an agreeably funky folk sound that suggested that he’s emerging out of the shadow of his parents (James Taylor and Carly Simon). I really enjoyed Herzig’s last disc, Apple Tree, which featured a winning set of winsome folk-pop.

Come on out to the Mint Friday night and be treated to the record release show by local troubadour Tony Lucca (www.myspace.com/tonylucca). His new disc, Rendezvous With the Angels, boasts a strong of collection of his signature soul-folk tunes. David & Devine and The Chris Parish Band round out the bill.

What can be said more about Lyle Lovett? So, let me just tell you where his show is: Walt Disney Hall on July 23.

I’ve been intrigued by Kelli Scarr’s upcoming debut Piece (www.myspace.com/kelliscarr). The sometime Moby collaborator has crafted a disc of generally gentle, subtly lush music that floats into your ears and lingers in your brain. She has a gig at the Hotel Café on July 24 with the fellow NYC rockers The Shivers. Playing earlier in the evening there is another talented, up-and-coming (and also from New York) singer-songwriter Amy Regan (www.myspace.com/amyregan) whose full-length debut isn’t scheduled for release until later this year.

The Miniature Tigers’ debut Tell It To The Volcano (www.myspace.com/miniaturetigers) was one of my favorite rock albums on the last couple years. They have a new disc out on the 27th, Fortress, which expands upon the Weezer/Fountain of Wayne like qualities of that disc. They form a nifty bill with the eclectic rockers, the Spinto Band (www.myspace.com/thespintoband) at Spaceland on July 24.

Get introduced to Nashville singer-songwriter Shane Lamb (www.myspace.com/shanelambmusic) at Venice’s Talking Stick on July 24. The talented Tennessee troubadour will be performing tunes from his impressive debut, Disengage. Although he hails from Music City, his music is something like a rootsier Tommy Keane than Nashville country.

Go See Hear in L.A.: July 5 - 18

2010-07-04T17:41:00.000-07:00

I’m going to a special double issue of Go See Hear as I don’t know if I would have a chance to get to it next Sunday. I’ll try to be a little more concise so I don’t make it too long.

Rockabilly Filly Rosie Flores returns to SoCal for a show at the Coffee Gallery Backstage on July 6. She was a fixture in the LA roots rock scene from the late ‘70s through the ‘80s.

I have really been enjoyed the new Steel Train disc, which is simply a terrific bolt of energetic rock. They play the El Rey on July 6.

If you are going to the big Sugarland-topping Go Country concert at the Greek on July 8, please get there early enough to see Will Hoge, who is a fine singer-songwriter.

Over at the Echoplex on the 8th with strong pairing of the Euro-poppy Au Revoir Simone and the haunting spare songtress Alexa Wilding (I enjoyed her new, self-titled EP)

Peter Case rocks it hard on his new Yep Rock disc Wig!; it’ll be interesting to see how he plays it at the cozy McCabe’s – a place I’ve seen him play some great shows.

Another fine singer-songwriter Mary Gauthier plays McCabe’s the next night.

On July 10, The Getty series Saturdays Off The 405 has the Dawes in performance.

Former Bad Liver Mark Rubin comes to the Grand Ole Echo on the 11th with his new duo Fat Man and Little Boy.

The Mynabirds land at the Hotel Cafe on July 12. Led by Laura Burhenn, the 'birds debut, What We Lose In The Fire, We Gain In The Flood rates as one of my top albums of 2010, with its gorgeous take on Southern soul rock.

The Kings of Leon will reign at the Hollywood Bowl on July 12 and the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater July 14.

Ben Lee has a free show at the Santa Monica Pier July 15 as part of the Twilight Dance Series.

Shelby Lynne returns to town for a night at McCabe’s on the 17th. She put on a dynamo of a show at the Roxy back in the Spring.

Jeremy Messersmith has a gig at the Mint on the 17th. I’m intrigued by what I’ve heard of his quiet, lo-key tunes.

The Danish artist Kira arrives in L.A. with a gig at the Silverlake Lounge. There are some really hard-hitting rock tunes on her album. I particularly like “Riders of the Freeway.” She’s someone to keep an eye on.

The Philly band, Drink Up Buttercup bring their quirky, arty, quasi-psych-y rock to Spaceland on the 18th. They recently released their debut Born & Thrown On A Hook on Yep Rec.

The Hollywood Bowl hosts couples night on the 18th. With a trio of duos that KCRW would be proud of (in fact, it’s part of KCRW’s World Festival). The lineup features The Swell Season, She & Him and The Bird and the Bee. All talented act but I wonder if it might be too much of a good, but lushly dreamy pop, thing.

Also quirky, but more poppy – the New Pornographers have a pair of shows at the Henry Fonda Theater 7/19-20,with the Dodos opening.

The 19th also find the poppy duo Kaiser Cartel at the Hotel Café and then opening for the Grand Archive at the Echo on the 20th. KC have their sophomore disc, Secret Transit, out.

Go See Hear in L.A.: June 28-July 4

2010-06-27T21:59:00.000-07:00

June turns into July this week; the Summer just keep motoring along.
Here are the shows that stand out for this week that leads up to July 4th.

Frank Fairfield (www.myspace.com/frankfairfield) cultivates an intriguing old-school country sound. He has gig at the Redwood Bar and Grill Monday Night coincides with the release of the first release on Fairfield’s label Pawn Records. Unheard Ofs & Forgotten Abouts draws upon “vernacular music” from around the world and reveals his love for 78 rpm records.

Sloan (www.myspace.com/sloan) swings down from the Great White North for the concert at the House of Blues on July 1 – which is appropriately enough Canada Day. While Sloan’s a huge group in their native land, Sloan is known more here mainly by power pop aficionados and there is much to love in the melodic music that they have creating for nearly two decades now.

On July 2-3, Free Energy (www.myspace.com/freeenergymusic) will be lighting things up at the Echoplex. This Philly band offers a fantastic blast of ‘70s riff-happy rock that makes for a great soundtrack for the summer. Their disc Stuck On Nothing is nothing but fun, good-timin’ rock ‘n’ roll and stands as one of the top debuts of 2010. Also on the bill is the hooky pop-rock duo Mates of State and musician/comedian Nick Thune.

The annual Hootenanny (www.myspace.com/hootenanny) down at Irvine’s Oak Canyon Ranch offers some All-American rock ‘n’ roll Hall of Famers topping the bill: Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis, with the Old 97’s and Shooter Jennings also notable acts on this day long, pre-Independence Day festival.

Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles at the Mint, Los Angeles, June 23

2010-06-24T22:14:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to catch Sarah Borges and her band, the Broken Singles, at the Mint this week. While I had included her show in my list of recommended shows, I was reminded how much I enjoy Borges as a performer and how I probably didn’t convey that enough in the preview blurb.

The wise-cracking, raven-haired Borges (pronounced like “gorgeous”) certainly is a vivacious frontwoman. Since this is Los Angeles, comparisons can be made to Sandra Bullock (more the feisty Speed model than say the recent All About Steve). Musically, however, she recalls Neko Case back in the days when she played with the Boyfriends, and before she turned into an NPR art-pop darling.

Borges has her own “boyfriends” backing her up: guitarist Lyle Brewster, drummer Robert Larry Dulaney and bassist/comic sidekick Binky. Together they whipped up twangy rock ‘n’ roll that’s part grange and part garage. A good example of their sound would be their energizing cover of the NRBQ’s “It Come To Me Naturally,” a good-natured, roadhouse rave-up that they perform with grit and sass.

So far, Borges has put out 3 full lengths: Silver City (2005), Diamond In The Dark (2007) and The Stars Are Out (2009) – and all are highly recommendable. She’s known on these works almost as much for her excellent array of covers (Stars’ covers range from Smokey Robinson to The Magnetic Fields, for example) as her own originals. And if she hasn’t crafted her own standout signature tune, she certainly has accumulated a very strong set of originals.

At the show, she announced that they have a DVD coming out and have been working on demos for her next CD; efforts that hopefully will give her the popularity that she deserves

Justin Roberts Is A Kindie King With Jungle Gym

2010-06-23T22:59:00.000-07:00

Justin Roberts ranks among the top songwriters in the kids music scene today. Along with the likes of Ralph Covert and Peter Himmelman, Roberts pens little pop gems that really relate to what it’s like to be a kid.
His latest CD is entitled Jungle Gym, and, naturally, there’s a very playful vibe to the tunes. There’s a dozen delightful ditties dealing with various childhood thrills: playing duck, duck goose, getting a new haircut, having a fire drill and being “obsessed by trucks.” In “Cardboard Box,” he inventively captures how a cardboard box can fire up a child’s imagination. Although this is a summer release, Roberts’ tunes here covers the whole calendar, as he includes a song among Halloween as well as one about a wintry snow day.
While there is plenty of fun and games in his music, he also is quite effective on songs that take a bit more serious look at childhood. “Sign My Cast” tells the story of an active boy who has to slow down after an injury, while “Never Getting Lost” is about a child apologizing to his mom for wandering off at a mall.
Roberts has fashioned another wonderful album that will entertain both adults and kids.

This review was originally written for L.A. Parent Magazine

Film Talk: The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia and Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

2010-06-23T15:43:00.000-07:00

The Tribeca Film Festival swings through Los Angeles this weekend and I got the opportunity to watch a couple of the fest’s music-related movies.

The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia continues the cinematic legacy of the White family. It started with Mike Seeger’s Talking Feet documentary, which featured D. Ray White’s unique mountain dancing skills and then there were the Dancing Outlaw movies that focused on Jesco White, who has become a cult figure. Or as he is called by his sister in the film, “the most famous man in West Virginia.”
This new documentary follows the various members of the White clan, including Jesco, for a year. While there are some samples of Jesco’s dancing, the film mostly dwells a series of drug use and dealing, paroles and convictions that the Whites experience. It’s a fascinating look at poverty-level life in coal country where people don’t really see a future for themselves so they have a “what-the-hell” attitude. But it’s also stands as a very sad, tragic portrait of the White family.
Part of this sadness is that the Whites don’t seem to have any conscience-ness or consciousness about their behavior. For example, one daughter, who goes by the name Kirk, doesn’t understand why she isn’t allowed to take her newborn baby girl home from the hospital even though she does drugs in the recovery room. There’s also a family birthday party for the White matriarch Bertie Mae that involves the family consuming cake and drugs. I could go on, but you get the point.
In a weird way, you hope that there are performing for the cameras. Something like “The Hills” set in the West Virginia hills or the Real Housewives of Boone County (except none of these women really aren’t housewives, at least not in the conventional sense). That this isn’t how that they behavior normally, but you suspect that it really is. The White Family may not be wonderful but they certainly are wild. One town official mentions that there’s was a local boy who got admitted into M.I.T. and asks why he isn’t getting any media. In fact, it probably would have been interesting to see more of the other side of life in Boone County, West Virigina.
There are several musical performances in the movie, including one where Jesco dances to Hank III’s plays a tune. The film, directed by Juilen Nitzberg (who worked on Dancing Outlaw and directed a documentary of backwoods musician Hasil Atkins) and produced by Johnny Knoxville of Jackass fame, is the kind of movie where you shake your head in dismay at these folks’ behavior, but you keep watching just to see what they do next.

Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll is the bio-pic about Ian Dury, who came out of the ‘80s British New Wave/Punk scene and scored big hits with tunes like “Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick,” “Reasons To Be Cheer, Pt. 3” and, of course, “Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll. “ The film really captures Dury’s dark, manic charm and that is due greatly to the terrific lead performance by Andy Serkis (who is best known for playing Gollum in the Hobbit movies) and the inventive direction of Mat Whitecross. While undoubtedly taking some liberties with Dury’s life story, Whitecross and Serkis successfully create a portrait of a man who is haunted by his past and self-destructive in his present but also talented and endearing, despite his repeated poor behavior. Dury contracted polio as a child, which afflicted him throughout his lifetime, seemingly serving both as a motivation and a crutch (both physically and emotionally) for his behavior.
His conflicting behavior played out in his relationships with the key women, his long-suffering wife Betty and his long-suffering girlfriend Denise. The film spends a good deal of time focusing on his relationship (or lack of a relationship) with his son Baxter, who has become in musician now in his own right, which offers a glimpse of the genuine love he has for his son even if he didn’t always show it.
Interestingly, the movie doesn’t dwell much on the music business, so music fans will be left wanting to learn more (much like the even more muddled Pirate Radio). There are some scene dealing with his collaborations with Chaz Jankel, but his other bandmates, the Blockheads, figure little in the movie; more time is spent on the character of the band’s roadie/Dury’s minder. Moreover, little is shown about the ‘80s UK music scene, which is a disappointment since Dury was a part of the very colorful Stiff Records label.
However, director Whitecross does give the movie a lively, inventive look that does recall the spirited New Wave scene and distinguishes it from the standard bio-pic. The highly theatrical opening sequence sets up viewers for a stylized look at - rather than a historical record of - Dury’s life. While the film has flaws, it also has Serkis’ captivating performance and Dury’s quirky, memorable tunes to make this recommendable, particularly for fans of that music scene.

During the Tribeca Film Festival’s stay in Los Angeles, the White documentary plays June 25-July 1 at 10 pm at the Laemmle Sunset 5 in West Hollywood and then moves to the Downtown Independent for a run through July 7. The Dury film screens at 2:30 pm at the Sunset 5 from June 25-July 1. For more information, visit www.tribecafiml.com. Also, they both, undoubtedly, will be making more art house circuit showings and appearing in other media (dvd, internet, etc).

While I'm talking about film, I got an email that other about the DVD release of two mid-‘80s French films. Joy and Joy and Joan (two films that probably will never be confused with the Truffaut classic Jules and Jim). While I typically write about music, I did go to film school to study film history/criticism and have a long love of movies. I have to admit that I have never heard of these films, the directors (Serge Bergon and Jacques Saurel) or the lead actresses (Claudia Udy and Brigitte Lahaie).
What caught my eye was how the prints used to strike these DVDs were discovered. According to the press release (and what’s to stop me from believing it), the print for Joy was found in the screening room of a Parisian brothel while its sequel came from a print seized in a Marseilles vice raid. These aren’t the places where film historians typically do their business, unless I was totally misinformed in school.
The films are compared to the Emmanuelle series, and the descriptions definitely make me think of something that would air on “skin-amax.” To return to the Severin Films’ press release, Joy now includes “the complete ‘secret orgy dungeon’ sequence, while Joy and Joan now has “the complete ‘Philippine sex grotto’ sequence.”
For those interested in more, you can visit www.myspace.com/severinfilmsdvd

Go See Hear in L.A.: June 21-27

2010-06-21T10:34:00.000-07:00

The start of Summer starts off with one of the hottest – and busiest - weeks of music shows in LA so far. At least when it comes to my concert radar. It's one of those weeks that it is not only difficult to pick the show of the pick but it's hard to pick just the top shop of the night since several nights have more than one show to recommend.

Peggy Sue is a cool, young UK group, led by co-singers Rosa Slade and Katy Young, with an intriguing “folk noir” sound draws upon old and modern elements. Their 6/22 show at Spaceland supports their US debut, Fossils and other Phantoms that’s out on Yep Roc. www.myspace.com/peggywho

The veteran band Blue Rodeo performs at the Mint on June 22. One of Canada’s most esteemed groups for around 20 years, they are still creating their signature harmony-rich country rock as their recent double album The Things We Left Behind proves. www.myspace.com/bluerodeomusic

The Viper Room hosts the all-female quartet, Katzenjammer on the 22nd too. Hailing Norway, they play a lively gypsy folk-rock and I found their US debut Le Pop, which comes up at the end of June on Nettwerk, a kicky listen that should attract them a good deal of attention. They’re also known for using a trunkload of instruments on stage, suggesting that they are fun to see in concert too. www.myspace.com/katzenjammerne

I have been a longtime fan of Josh Ritter, who’s one of the most talented singer-songwriters of his generation. His new disc, So Runs The World Away, stands as his most ambitious work of his young career. He has a show at the Music Box on June 23, with the talented Carolina Chocolate Drops is opening with their take on old time string music that’s inspired by their African American backgrounds. www.myspace.com/joshritter, www.myspace.com/carolinachocolatedrops

Sarah Borges has been another of my favorite acts in recent years. Her music is a captivating mix of barroom country and rock ‘n’ roll – maybe it’s “punky tonk.” On her last album (The Stars Are Out, Sugar Hill Records), her covers range from NRBQ to Lemonheads and Smokey Robinson. Known for her energetic live shows, She brings her band the Broken Singles to the Mint on 6/23. www.myspace.com/borgesrocks

Last month, Kate Miller Heidke was in town opening for Ben Folds. In my LA Weekly preview of that show, I praised the quirky Australian songtress’ album Curiouser for its lively dance pop music (that) comes colored with a theatrical streak and then twisted up in ‘70s New Wave disco." You have another chance to check out this colorful performer as she returns to L.A. for her own set at the Hotel Café on 6/24.www.myspace.com/katemillerheidke

The 24th also is a night for a special benefit at the Echo that MusiCares is doing for Nashville Flood Relief. The lineup includes such wonderful roots rockers as Syd Straw, Exene Cervenka and Dave Alvin, plus the great Carlene Carter will be performing too. She did a strong comeback album, Stronger, a few years back and her classic album, Musical Shapes was the inspiration for this blog title. For more show info., visit http://www2.grammy.com/MusiCares/NashvilleFloodRelief/

Maryland-bred singer-songwriter Joe Pug might not do anything fancy on his debut The Messenger but it still impresses by being a mature effort from a first timer. He has a show at the Echo on 6/25. www.myspace.com/thejoepug

While legendary indie rock Lou Barlow is the headliner at the Bootleg on Sat. June 26, I want to sing the praises of his opening act, Sarah Jaffe . The twenty-something Texan’s debut full length Suburban Nature caught my ear for its captivating offering of bedroom folk that’s energized with edgy emotionality. www.myspace.com/sjaffe

On the 26th, McCabe’s hosts Greg Brown, a mainstay in the American folk scene since the early ‘80s. Possessing a rich voice and literate story-songs, I always think of him as a Midwestern Dave Alvin. The Iowan, by the way, is married to Iris Dement and is the dad to musician, Pieta Brown. www.myspace.com/folkingregbrown

Last year, Peter Case had heart surgery, so not only is it great to welcome him back to the stage – he has a show that Claremont Folk Music Center on June 26 and one at McCabe’s on July 9 – but it’s also great that his new disc, Wig, is such a wonderfully bluesy, rockin’ affair. www.myspace.com/petercase

The 26th is also the date that the Wiltern will be shaking with the sweet soul music served up by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. They are coming to town supporting their new album, I Learned The Hard Way, and it’s heartening that their old school soul sound is getting a niche in the mainstream. www.myspace.com/sharonjonesandthedapkings

Go See Hear in L.A.: June 14-20

2010-06-14T11:54:00.000-07:00

The music this week starts in New Orleans and ends with Texas – but travels many other places in-between.

Dr. John, the night tripper, stops in at the Grammy Museum Monday night to talk his colorful musical career and play some tunes. He will be returning to LA to close out the Santa Monica Pier Twilight Dance Series on Sept. 2.

The Austin-based honky tonkers Horse Opera ride into the charming Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena on June 15.

Young singer-songwriter Jenny Owen Youngs performs her eclectic but forthright tunes at the Hotel Café on June 17. She comes from the recent NYC anti-folk scene that spawned artists like Langhorne Slim and Regina Spektor.

Also, on the 17th, the Troubadour welcomes a strong lineup of atmospheric indie rock featuring Matt Pond PA and Nova Scotia-based Wintersleep, who have a new CD, New Inheritors. While I haven’t heard much from that one, I did really dig “Archaeologists” from their prior effort, Welcome To The Night Sky.

British songstress Gemma Ray has the first of two local shows at the Redwood Bar on June 18 and then returns with a gig at the Hotel Café on June 22. Her new disc, It’s A Shame About Gemma Ray offers an eccentric covers selection ranging from Gershwin to Sonic Youth.

Onetime LA resident Jim Lauderdale has become one of the revered artists in the Americana scene, known for his songwriting and his singing (last year he toured as Elvis Costello’s accompanist). A prolific musician (he’s average over a CD a year in the last decade), Lauderdale arrives at McCabe’s on 6/18 behind his latest effort Patchwork River.

After SoCal favorite Chris Gaffney died in 2008, his Hacienda Brothers co-leader Dave Gonzalez (ex-Paladins) soldiered on with the Stone River Boys, whose terrific debut Love On The Dial continues churning out country soul gems. They have a show on the 6/18 Weber’s Sports Bar in Reseda.

Saturday night the Redwood Bar hosts the weekend’s top bill. The one and only Billy Joe Shaver makes his one and only L.A. appearance. He is true outlaw country original. Also appearing is the talented up and comer Eilen Jewell. While drawing comparisons to Lucinda Williams and Gillian Welch, she has impressively developed her own take on retro-based music that is rooted in the blues as much as country.

Go See Hear in L.A.: June 6-June 13

2010-06-06T22:06:00.000-07:00

The first full week of June comes with a full week of interesting shows.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals are road warriors whose funky rock sounds have gotten them a reputation as a strong live. I remember digging their debut Nothing But The Water but have lost track of them since then; however, their new disc has received some good notices. They come to the Roxy on June 8.

Karen Elson comes to town for some shows: Spaceland on the 9th and McCabe's on the 11th. Sure, sure, she's Jack White's wife, but listening to some tracks from her impressive debut disc, The Ghosts Who Walks, you forgot all that and focus on the haunting folk-based music that she has crafted.

The Sadies swing down from Toronto to play the Echo on June 10. Over the 10-12 years, the band, led by the brothers Travis and Dallas Good, have released a string of fine albums, first on Bloodshot and now on Yep Roc. Their latest Darker Circles is their second in a row with ex-Jayhawk Gary Louris as producer. Their always interesting eclectic alt. country rock should have made them better known than just being Neko Case’s sometime collaborators.

Speaking of Bloodshot Records, their honky tonk maven Wayne “The Train” Hancock pulls into the Mint for a show on June 10. This true-blue Texan has been cranking out traditional country music – like Hank Sr. did – for going on 15 years now and there seems to be no slowing him down.

Gregory Alan Isakov returns to the Hotel Café on June 11. I found his This Empty Northern Hemisphere filled with laidback, yet lush, chamber folk music.

The next night another purveyor of lush folk-pop Greg Laswell comes to the Hotel Café; he has a new on Vanguard called Take A Bow

Up at the Getty on the 12th is Mayer Hawthorne who has been receiving a big buzz for his retro soul stylings.

The week closes with the top of the week as McCable’s welcomes Leslie and the Badgers and Eleni Mandell. Leslie and the Badgers have an excellent album Roomful of Smoke on which singer Leslie Stevens can sound as sweet as Emmylou Harris or as feisty as Kasey Chamber or Neko Case. Eleni Mandell has been concentrating on her Living Sisters project but she’s also a talented singer/songwriter who likes to cover a lot of musical territory.

Go See Hear: May 24-June 6

2010-05-24T23:04:00.000-07:00

The last week of May looks to be a rather quiet one, so I thought I’d also cover the first week of June and make it a special holiday double issue.
I will mention that Tippy Canoe is making her way down from the Bay Area from a couple of local shows. She’ll be at the Echo Park Film Center on Saturday May 29 and doing the grand Grand Ole Echo on Sunday (Dead Rock West also is on the bill). The Oakland-based ukulele artist creates lively music (what else would you expect from someone who goes by the name “Tippy Canoe”) that draws upon old-timey traditions as well as modern rootsy music.
The Bootleg has a cool bill on the June 1 featuring the First Aid Kit and Samantha Crain. I don’t know much about the former besides that they are a Swedish group fronted by two sisters, Johanna & Klara Söderberg, who make beguiling Neko Case-like music. Samantha Crain hails from Oklahoma and her music also exudes a mystery, haunting quality. She has an alluring new disc, You (Understood) on Ramseur Records, the Avett Brothers’ old label.
The Crooked Still play Largo on June 2, the day after their fine new disc, Some Strange Country (which includes a version of the Jagger/Richards’ tune “You Got The Silver”) comes out on Signature Sounds. They take a youthful, spirited approach to bluegrass/acoustic-based music that feels both tradition-bound and unbound.
Continuing in the acoustic vein is an appearance by the London-based outfit, Mumford and Sons. They have generated a lot of buzz for their spirited updating of British folk music (I believe they have sold out one of their two shows at the Music Box). Their sound has been compared to Pogues and The Men They Couldn’t Hang (which just reminds of the late Deirdre O’Donoghue’s beloved radio show SNAP, where I first heard TMTCH along with a number of cool bands).
Hope everyone has a memorable Memorial Day.

Go See Hear: May 17-21

2010-05-16T22:10:00.000-07:00

This week offers a mix of cult heroes and up & comers

The legendary Jonathan Richman swings through town for a couple of shows, which will undoubtedly be as idiosyncratic as ever. I got into his music way back during his vinyl days on Berserkley Records (“Hey, Ice Cream Man!”) but he still keeps cranking out his quirky stuff. Apparently his last disc is a Spanish import only where he sings in a variety of languages. He plays the Smell on the 18th and di Piazza’s in Long Beach from the 20-22.

Also, on the 18th, Roky Erickson has a show at the Mayan. Another legendary cult figure, Erickson’s life has sadly been plagued by mental illness and drug arrests. He is best known as the man behind the 13th Floor Elevators, whose hit “We’re Gonna Miss Me” is on the great garage rock nuggets. Happily he returns now on an up note with a great new disc, True Love Cast Out All Evil, on Anti-, that he did with the guys in Okkervil River. Even without Erickson’s backstory, the disc is powerful, memorable effort. Opening the show is a terrific local outfit, Leslie and the Badgers, who sound a bit like Emmylou Harris crossed with Neko Case. Their disc, Roomful of Smoke has been a favorite of mine for the past several month. The strong double bill, mixing the old and the new, stands as my “show of the week.”

On Thursday night, the Grammy Museum hosts an intimate event with Chris Hillman. Founding member of both the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers, Hillman has helped make country-rock what it is today. I was at the Grammy Museum recently for their night with the Court Yard Hounds, it is a great little room to hear a musician talk and play a few tunes, so this night provides a unique opportunity to hear a Hall-of-Famer.

The Shout Out Louds and the Freelance Whales have a pair of shows at the El Rey May 20-21, although the show on the 21st is sold out, I believe. The Swedish Shout Out Loud continue to create melodic rock on their new disc, Work. Freelance Whales are a hip young band from the hip Brooklyn scene, but I have been liking the off-kilter Americana/indie rock sound of their debut, Weathervane.

Dan Mangan hails from the inventive Vancouver pop scene. His album, Nice, Nice, Nice, Very Nice not only reference Kurt Vonnegut but also attracted a bunch of acclaim in his homeland. He’s not as elaborate a Vancouver pop-ster as say A.C. Newman but his music holds intriguing qualities.

If you are looking for a show on Saturday night the 20th, the place to be is McCabe’s as the two of the more popular local Americana acts, The Chapin Sisters and I See Hawks In LA, hold court there. You can go wrong seeing either in a night and here you get both.

Go See Hear: May 11-16

2010-05-11T22:45:00.000-07:00

Kate Miller-Heidke is opening up for Ben Folds at the Music Box Wednesday and Thursday. I actually wrote about her in the LA Weekly this week (http://www.laweekly.com/events/ben-folds-kate-miller-heidke-894946/), so I won’t get too long-winded now. But I will say that the up and coming Australian singer has a quirky New Wave dance pop style to her. At times, she reminds me of Lene Lovich, which I make as a compliment. While she’s an opener now, look for her to return to town with her own show before the year is out.

Jakob Dylan has gotten some good notices for his new disc, Women And Country. And he’s touring with two terrific women singers: Neko Case and Kelly Hogan. They are enough to recommend a show on their own. This 5/13 Wiltern show also features two other good-to-check-out groups, the Felice Brothers and honeyhoney. Strength in numbers for this bill.

The UK group, the Turin Brakes play the Echo 5/14. I have been enjoying listening to their new album, Outbursts. Despite its title, the disc isn’t filled with loud “outbursts” but well-crafted music that attractively blends folk, pop and rock.

The eccentric violin ace Andrew Bird has a pair of solo shows at Largo, May 14-15. I have only kept up with his work periodically but he always seems to be seeking out new musical territory.

Freedy Johnston has a show at the Mint on Saturday the 15th. He garnered many accolades in the early/mid-90s with his expertly penned tunes; he is probably best known for the 1994 gem, “Bad Reputation.” Earlier this year, Johnston put out his first album in around a decade; however, Rain On The City has no signs of rust. It’s a disc of terrifically crafted tunes that etch haunting tales of love and loss. At times suggesting a pensive Matthew Sweet, Johnston makes this disc a mostly quiet affair but he does turn up the energy on tracks like “Don’t Fall In Love With A Lonely Girl.” An album well-worth checking out as is this show.

Go See Hear: May 3-9

2010-05-03T22:10:00.000-07:00

The first week of May features several notable shows.

The wonderful Hold Steady return to town with a show at the El Rey on Wednesday 5/5. Their just released Heaven Is Whenever is their first without longtime keyboardist Franz Nicolay, so it will be interesting to see how that affects the live shows. What does hold steady is Craig Finn’s knack for ramshackle yet epic story-songs and Tad Kubler’s big guitar playing.

Thursday finds Georgia-based troubadour Ken Will Morton in town at Harvelle’s for a BMI showcase. I have always enjoyed Morton’s music – it’s gritty and witty Americana and he shifts between rockier and quieter numbers with ease. Check him out (and his new record True Grit) and see if you find yourself saying “he should be better known.”

The Hold Steady’s one-time tourmates, the Drive-By Truckers roll into the Avalon on Friday to support their big new album, The Big To-Do. DBT have established themselves over the past few years as not just one of the predominant Southern Rock bands around, but as one of the best American Rock bands around, and these road warriors certainly know how to put on a show.

Friday the legendary Peter Gabriel has a show at the Hollywood Bowl; however, I want to talk about his opening act, Ane Brun. This Norwegian songtress captured my attention a couple years back with her alluring album, A Temporary Dive. She crafts quiet but beguiling music that’s chilled but not frozen, and she is one reason that Scandinavia is such a musical hot spot these days. She has her own show at Largo on May 8.

Marcia Ball will be bringing the boogie woogie to the Mint on Saturday the 8th. The acclaimed piano player is an institution in the roots music world for her ability to dish out good-timin’ music spiced with the rollicking sounds of New Orleans, the Gulf Coast and points inbetween.

Saturday night is also went Martin Sexton headlines a shows at the House of Blues. His new disc Sugarcoating came out last month and it is a tasty showcase of his music. His very much American music draws from blues, folk, country, jazz, rock and R&B. While there’s a laidback quality to this music, it also holds an undeniable power (often forged by his smooth singing and nimble guitar picking).

Wrapping up the week on Sunday is Reckless Kelly, whose show is at the Roxy. The Texas-based band’s latest effort Somewhere In Time is something of a tribute album as it spotlights the work of “outlaw country” songwriter Pinto Bennett. However, the music still plays to the band’s strengths: hard-charging country rock.

Go See Hear: April 26-May 2

2010-04-25T20:50:00.000-07:00

April winds down with a relatively quiet week – at least on my concert radar.
However, there is a one show that leaps out at me: the Dr. Dog show on Tuesday night (April 27) at the Music Box at the Fonda. This Philadelphia-based band has been building the buzz over the last several years and they have taken a major leap with their latest effort, the super Shame, Shame, which also marks their Anti- Records debut. The group draws inspiration from the classic rock of the ‘60s and ‘70s but have developed their own style that nicely balances power and polish – and so these Dogs stand out as the "Show of the Week."

Also notable this week is a couple local appearances by legendary British bluesman John Mayall, who has a show at Agoura Hills’ Canyon Club on April 29 and the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano on May 1. While Mayall isn’t exactly a household name, almost every major British musician seems to have played with him at one time or another. For example, the guitar slot in his band Bluebreakers was held down by Eric Clapton, then Peter Green and finally Mick Taylor during one stretch in the ‘60s.

CD Review: Sing SOS – Songs Of The Spectrum

2010-04-20T22:13:00.000-07:00

Benefit albums often are more earnest than truly enjoyable. You typically buy to support the cause rather than wanting to listen to the songs. It’s rare for a benefit album to actually engage you musical, but Sing SOS – Songs of the Spectrum is one of those rare albums.

As the title suggests, this disc concerns autism spectrum disorders, and these disorders are said to affect around 1 in every 100 children. The project’s organizers know something about this disorder too. John O’Neill is a a New York Times writer who wrote about his autistic son as part of a Pulitzer Prize-nominated series.

The disc attracted a strong lineup of performers. The biggest names here are folks like Jackson Browne, Jonatha Brooke and Marshall Crenshaw, along with other musicians such as Dar Williams, Ollabelle, Ari Heist and Don Dixon & Marti Jones. There are obviously a number of fine songwriters involved; however, one of the unique (and rather risky, considering the assembled talented) aspects here is that the artists just sing the songs, not compose them. All the songs basically were written by the trio of O’Neill and Jon Fried and Deena Shoshkes, from the long-running New Jersey indie rock band the Cucumbers. So besides being a benefit disc, this is also something of a concept album.

However, this approach worked out wonderfully. The trio has penned a lyrically cohesive yet musical diverse set of songs that explore living with autism as well as living with someone who has autism. They are able to write from an insider’s perspective while also making it lyrically interesting. On the opening number, “One Went Missing,” engagingly performed by the band Ollabelle, they talk about a parent’s anxiety about having to be vigilant about watching an autism child “every waking hour, every waking minute.” In “Diagnosis,” Richard Julian sings the powerful image of “falling down a well” to convey someone living with autism.

One song that struck me in particular was “Afraid (My Brother’s Cries)” which Fried co-wrote with Chris O’Neill (John’s non-autistic son). It is a relatively simple tune about a brother’s fears for his afflicted brother, but lines like “I’m afraid that there won’t be anyone to catch him when he falls” pack a strong emotional punch. In fact, the entire disc resonates powerfully.

While the lyrics all deal with this serious topic, the arrangements vary enough to avoid making the songs feel like lectures. “If It Were His Legs” is done by Christina Courtin as a piano-based ditty. Dar Williams makes “House On Fire” into an urgent folk-rockers and Dixon & Jones injects “He’s Coming Back” with a fun funkiness.
The final song here, “It’s Time,” puts across an impassioned plea to the government bureaucrats to get “these kids some help,” and it’s performed with suitable outrage by Dan Bern & Mike Viola. The album actually closes with a short but touching spoken word piece written and done by James O’Neill. He gives his perspective about living with autism and concludes with the hopeful line: “the rainbow needs to be spread.”

Sing SOS is not just a terrific benefit album, it’s a pretty terrific album overall.
For more information, visit www.singsos.org

Go See Hear April 18-25

2010-04-18T21:10:00.000-07:00

This week offers another super week of shows.

The top choice for the week is the Shelby Lynne show at the Roxy on Thursday April 22 with Findlay Brown as the opening act. Lynne has a terrific new album that just came out, entitled Tears, Lies and Alibis – which gives you a good sense of what she’s singing about. It’s one of my top albums of the year for so. Come early to see Findlay Brown, a young British crooner whose currently disc, Love Will Find You, a lovely set of retro pop that evokes Roy Oribson and Chris Isaak.

Also that night, Trampled by Turtles brings their revved up bluegrass tunes to the Mint. Their new disc, Palomino, was a real eye-opener for me. The fine local country-rock outfit Old Californio also is on the bill.

Colorful Art Brut frontman Eddie Argos has a fun side project: Everybody Was in the French Resistance…Now! - in which he has created cheeky “answer songs” like “Think Twice (It’s Not Alright” and “Hey It’s Jimmy Mack.”

Ex-Toad The Wet Sprocket frontman Glen Phillips, who is currently part of the all-star Americana ensemble, Works Progress Administration, has a show at McCabe’s on April 23, with the Irish band the Guggenheim Grotto opening (I really liked their tune “Her Beautiful Ideas”) off their Happy The Man disc.

Saturday, April 24, brings several interesting options: the Black Prairie, which contains a trio of Decemberists, creates dark acoustic-based sound that suggests a gypsy mountain music done for a David Lynch soundtrack. The band, whose debut is out on Sugar Hill, shares a bill at the Bootleg with trio of fabulous female singers, the Living Sisters; I caught their delightful set recently at Amoeba Records.

Baltimore-based, Merge Recording artists Wye Oak (basically the duo Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack) forge an interesting soft/loud sound that has a bluesy bottom and a freak folk-rocky topside. Their show is at Spaceland.

The beloved Nanci Griffith brings her sweet voice and impressive catalog of tunes to the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills on the 24th too.

Josh Rouse has a weekend stay at Largo. The traveling troubadour now resides in Spain, which is evident from his latest effort, the Yep Roc-released El Turista, which is a cool, bilingual affair of laidback tunes backed with some world rhythms.

Rounding out the weekend, Peter Himmelman will serve up some of his smart, tart tunes at McCabe’s on Sunday, April 25.

Field Trippin’ with the Guthrie Family

2010-04-16T21:29:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, I took field trips to the art museum and the kids program at the symphony. I remember one – in junior high – when we went to see the stalagmites and stalactites in the caverns outside of Pittsburgh.
Today I got to experience a school field trip that I would have loved to have gone on as kid – to see the Guthrie Family. In town for an evening show at UCLA’s Royce Hall, the Guthries (save for Papa Arlo) spent their morning entertaining a Hall-full of elementary students. Over 1500 3rd-5th graders from around Southern California got to experience a performance from the first family of American Folk Music. The show was a part of UCLALive’s admirable educational outreach program, Design For Sharing, which brings in school groups to artistic performances.
While the stage was filled with 13 members (include 4 young kids) of the Guthrie troupe, it was Sarah Lee Guthrie and her husband Johnny Irion who fronted the show. This made perfect sense since Sarah Lee recently released a delightful album of family music, Go Waggaoloo (Smithsonian Folkways Recordings), earlier this year. So, not surprisingly, the program focused on songs from the album, which included originals like “Take Me To Show-And-Tell” and “Don’t I Fit In My Daddy’s Shoes” as well as some rediscovered Woody tunes (“Bright Clear Day” and the title track).
I was curious to see how this folk-based music would go over with these pre-tweens. It’s not the type of music that they probably listened to (few raised their hands when asked if there knew who Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie were). However it was a testament to the timelessness, and agelessness, of this music, along with the Guthries’ performances charms (especially Sarah Lee and Johnny’s youngest daughter Sophie) that the kids seemed really into the concert.
Perhaps not surprisingly, what really got to school kids animated was when they got to do hand clap games to accompany “Miss Mary Mack” – that included some initially reluctant boys sitting in front of me. The grade-schoolers even followed along with the hand movements for “She’ll Be Coming Around The Mountain,” even though it’s a song generally for younger children. The Guthries wrapped up the show, naturally enough, with a rousing rendition of “This Land Is Your Land,” a tune most of the kids knew (although maybe not as a Woody Guthrie song).
I wasn’t able to attend the evening show, but I am glad I was able to see this performance, and see how the Guthries are maintaining their family legacy of making music as well as sharing American folk music traditions.

Go See Hear April 12-17

2010-04-12T13:22:00.000-07:00

I’m back in town and getting back into the swing of things. Taking a look at this week’s concerts, here are the ones that pop out at me.

Bill Frisell is simply one of the most stylish, most versatile guitar players around. As an in-demand sideman, he has collaborated with everyone from John Zorn to Elvis Costello. Frisell comes to Largo on April 13, playing with pianist Jason Moran and drummer Kenny Wolleson.

Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs (which is basically her sidekick, multi-instrumentalist Lawyer Dave) light up Spaceland on April 14. While British-born Golightly started up her career in the UK band, Thee Headcoastees, she now lives in rural Georgia, a fitting location for her lively hillbilly noir music.

Lady Antebellum had a breakout year last year, topping country charts and coming up winners at the CMAs and the Grammys with their easy to enjoy country rock sound. Just two years ago they had a sold out showcase at the Mint and now they will be packing them in at the Wiltern on April 15.

April 15 will be a special night at Club Nokia as the Specials come to town for the band’s first American tour in almost 30 years. The Two-Tone pioneers were a popular new wave/ska band on both sides of the Atlantic in the late ‘70s and early 80s with tunes like “A Message to You, Rudy” and “Ghosttown.” This reunited UK outfit features all of the original members except for songwriter/keyboardist Jerry Dammers.

April 15 also finds the legendary Buffy Sainte-Marie playing the Bootleg Theatre. One of the stars of the Sixties folk scene, Sainte-Marie has not only had a successful musical career but also has been a vocal political activist.

The following night is another night for folk music lovers, as the Guthrie Family Rides Again into UCLA’s Royce Hall. This show, which ranks at my “show-of-the-week,” features family patriarch Arlo Guthrie along with his son Abe and daughters Cathy, Annie and Sarah Lee. Sarah Lee and her husband Johnny Irion (who also is part of the “family band”) have put out a number of excellent Americana albums both together and separately, and she also released a fine children’s music CD last year (continuing in her family’s footsteps there too).

On 4/16 you can also find singer-songwriter Mason Reed hosting an evening of music at Santa Monica’s Enterprise Fish Company. Reed has an engaging rough-hewn sound – there’s a Steve Earle growl in his vocals – as he displays on his new EP You Can’t Come Back From Heaven, which follows an Americana route with some rockier sidetrips.

Long-time Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler needs little introduction, but his opening act, Pieta Brown, deserves some attention. The daughter of folk singer Greg Brown, Pieta has fashioned her own sound, drawing upon country, folk, blues and rock, over the past 8 years. Brown, who typically tours with acclaimed guitarist (and now husband) Bo Ramsey, has a new disc One and All out on Red House. They have shows at the Pantages April 16-17.

When Steve Forbert, who plays McCabe’s on April 17, burst onto the New York City music scene during the late ‘70s New Wave era he was heralded as a new “Bob Dylan” – and even scored a hit with “Romeo’s Tune.” He weathered the “Dylan” tag and persevered, turning out a number of Southern-vibe folk music over the years.

CD Reviews: Mose Allison – The Way Of The World (Anti- Records) & Graham Parker – Imaginary Television (Bloodshot Records)

2010-03-24T22:53:00.000-07:00

Still Tickin: Mose Allison and Graham Parker
Sometimes you get some song stuck in your head, and you just hope that it’s a good one. Right now, I have a good one and, no pun intended, it’s “My Brain,” a new Mose Allison tune.
I must admit that I have listened more to his daughter Amy Allison’s music than his own work (not that I wasn’t familiar with him). I also must admit that his new album The Way Of The World is a pure delight that makes me want to explore his work more.
Besides the marvelous “My Brain,” the disc is populated with a “cool little clutter” (to borrow one of Allison’s lyrics) of gems that he forges by masterfully melding jazz, blues and American Songbook pop ditties. His performance exudes a looseness that suggests a living room show from your favorite (and musical talented) uncle tossing off tunes filled with worldly-wise bon mots. In “Modest Proposal,” Allison suggests that people should “start making sense today” by taking the road of self-reliance over being dependent on organized religion. In “Ask Me Nice,” he asks that “if you can’t sympathize with me/please let me be,” as he is “just trying to swing my way through” life.
This disc, the first in a dozen years from the 82-year-old Allison, nicely matches his witty and wise originals with the covers choices, from Roosevelt Sykes’ funky “Some Right, Some Wrong” to London Wainwright’s “I’m Alright” (which fits Allison like a glove). Producer Joe Henry does his typically terrific job, lining up ace session men (drummer Jay Bellerose, bassist David Piltch and string wizard Greg Leisz) to back Allison, who still is a nimble piano player. Daughter Amy “appears” twice here. Mose covers his daughter’s wickedly insightful “Everybody Thinks You’re An Angel” and she duets with Dad on the old Buddy Johnson nugget “This New Situation.”
It all adds up to a wonderful offering from this renowned musician, who not only is “still tickin’” but also has made of a feisty disc that should stand as one of the year’s best.
Another old geezer who’s still tickin’ is Graham Parker. The one-time angry young man of ‘70s England now has settled in America and settled in a mature, yet still not sedate, musical existence. While the vitriol isn’t raging as much as when “Mercury Poisoning” was coursing through his veins, Parker remains a sharp-tongued singer-songwriter.
Parker performs a clever conceptual twist on his latest effort, Imaginary Television. He has penned themes to TV shows that he made up himself. Parker had been asked to write theme songs to two TV pilots; however, his submissions were rejected. Those two songs – “Always Greener” and “See Things My Way” – are included here. One of the fun parts of this disc is reading the liner notes that contain short descriptions of his TV shows. While Network Execs probably won’t be beating a path to his door, they do reveal his still caustic views of civilization.
Interestingly, these “theme songs” find Parker in a perkier mood than normal. “Always Greener” offers a musically chipper view of dysfunctional domestic situation. “1st Responder,” about car thieves, is a particularly punchy number while the eminently catchy “See Things My Way” boasts a jaunty reggae lilt. My favorite track is “Bring Me My Heart Again” is jazzy ditty that makes a nice companion piece – body part-wise - with Mose Allison’s “My Brain.”
Imaginary Television might not provide the powerful blasts that epitomized Parker’s early albums, but the modestly scaled disc definitely comes packed with nifty nuggets. Parker may have mellowed but he certainly isn’t mellow, and hopefully he will keep crafting tart but heartfelt discs like this one.
By Michael Berick

Go See Hear March 21-April 10

2010-03-20T22:42:00.000-07:00

Here’s a double-sized list of recommended Southern California shows for your concert-going consideration.
The Recommended Shows are the appearances by the Low Anthem with the Barr Brothers and Timber Timbre at Largo on 3/24 and the Bootleg 3/25 and then Patty Griffin and Buddy Miller at the Wiltern on April 10. The Low Anthem put out an excellent CD, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, last year – it was one of my favorites for ‘09. You can write my LA Weekly blurb at http://www.laweekly.com/2010-03-18/music/rock-picks-bassekou-kouyate-ngoni-ba-donovan-ana-tijoux-john-wicks/3. Griffin recently released another stellar album, Downtown Church, and Buddy is…well...Buddy.
Also recommended:
John Wicks plays Genghis Cohen on March 21 (and Molly Malone’s on April 9). Wicks, as my colleague Falling James described in the LA Weekly, led the ‘80s UK power pop band in The Records, who created such sublime tunes as “Starry Eyes” and “Hearts In Her Eyes.”
The Miniature Tigers mine a Weezer-like sound. Last year’s Tell It To The Volcano was a fun slice of modern rock. They are at the Troubadour on 3/25.
Imelda May is a young UK chanteuse who has been creating a buzz on the other side of the Atlantic. Her retro stylings are more grounded in roots music than the retro soulsters like Adele, Joss Stone and the Winehouse girl. She plays the Avalon on 3/25.
I saw Ben Sollee several years ago while he was playing cello with Abigail Washburn but now is making his own fine chamber Americana. He recently teamed up with fellow Kentuckian Daniel Martin Moore for a disc entitled Dear Companion. They come to McCabes on 3/26.
On the 28th, McCabes hosts 3 talented singer/songwriters: Wendy Waldman, Cindy Bullens and Deborah Holland, who go by the Refugees - perhaps because they are all Major Label refugees
The always entertaining, always musically adventurous Michelle Shocked has a show at McCabes on April 4. The next day, the dynamic duo of singer/songwriters Tom Russell and Dave Alvin play McCabes, but the shows look like sellouts.
The longtime Australian band, the Church, has a show at the Roxy on April 5 as part of their 30th anniversary tour, which is billed as an acoustic tour too. Both Steve Kilby and Marty Willson-Piper put out albums. It all makes me want to hear Unguarded Moment.”
That living legend Willie Nelson wheels into the Grove of Anaheim on 4/11.
While the Mother Hips pulls into Redondo Beach’s Brixton club on the 11th too. Check out their latest effort Pacific Dust is a highly recommended offering of California country rock.

DVD Reviews: The T.A.M.I. Show (Shout! Factory) & The British Invasion Box Set (Reelin’ In The Years/Voyage Digital Media)

2010-03-12T11:58:00.000-08:00

Before MTV played music videos (remember what they did play music videos?), music still made it to TV and the big screen through a number of ways. Two new DVDs that I have been enjoying lately offer a great look into Sixties rock ‘n’ roll.
The T.A.M.I. Show (Shout! Factory) is something of an elusive legend in the annals of rock. The T.A.M.I. Show, which stands for (at least in this incarnation) “Teenage Awards Music International, was a high-wattage, low-budget film that was came out in 1964. A quickie release, the “concert” was recorded at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in October and was in the theaters by November. While it has been floating around for years in the pop culture consciousness - it probably is best known from the Police lyric: “James Brown on the T.A.M.I. Show” – this actually is its first full length, official version.
The show’s lineup combines a Motown package tour (Marvin Gaye, the Supremes, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles) with a British Invasion tour group (Gerry and the Pacemakers and Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas), plus some additional acts (the Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, the Rolling Stones, Leslie Gore, the Barbarians, Jan & Dean and, of course, James Brown and the Flames). It all makes for a fantastic time capsule of rock’s past.
The movie looks mostly like a Sixties variety show with nominal sets, go-go dances (including a very young Terri Garr) and comical hosts (the blond and genial Jan & Dean). However, the performances run from good to superb. The standouts include the electric James Brown, the Rolling Stones (their biggest hit here is “Time Is On My Side”), Marvin Gaye (particularly “Can I Get A Witness”) and the Beach Boys.
It’s also interesting to see Chuck Berry and Gerry And The Pacemakers square off with versions of “Maybellene,” Or how Lesley Gore was featured as a big star then with several acts coming out to form a chorus on her set closer, “Judy’s Turn To Cry.” However, the show’s big finale was even cooler, with everyone joining the Stones for “Let’s Get Together” (not the Youngbloods’ tune). There’s a fun, spontaneous quality to this low-budget film that - combined with the treasury of performers - makes it such a landmark work. In fact, the movie was selected in the Library of Congress’ Film Registry in 2006.
The other look at rock’s past comes in the terrific new set of DVDs from Reelin’ In The Years and Voyage Digital Media. The four discs in this “British Invasion” series cover Dusty Springfield, Herman’s Hermits, Gerry & The Pacemakers and the Small Faces. The DVD creators have done a great job of putting together old TV performances with archival footage and newer interviews. These aren’t critical documentaries but well-crafted appreciations of the various artists. Among this foursome, I was drawn particularly to the Dusty Springfield and Small Faces discs.
The Dusty DVD covers the years 1964-69 and is stocked with performances of her classic tunes like “I Only Want To Be With You, “ Wishin’ And Hopin’,” “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” and “The Look Of Love.” It’s interesting to compare her 1965 Ed Sullivan Show appearance in classic, button-up Springfield fashion with her “groovier” outfit on a 1968 appearance. While the TV spots offer somewhat canned performances, it also features several live performances from NME Concerts that reveal her even more loose and soulful live vocals. This disc contains some old Springfield interview clips along with recent ones conducted with longtime background singers Simon Bell and Madeline Bell as well as the songwriter legend, and frequent collaborator Burt Bacharach.
In America, the Small Faces are more of a legend than legendary band - better known as the launching pad for Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan and Kenney Jones into the Faces, Humble Pie and beyond. Their one true hit here was “Itchycoo Park,” so this DVD provides a welcome close-up look at the band, starting from their early Mod-influenced days to their latter more psychedelic phase. The band’s sound suggests a unique intersection of the Animals, the Who and the Move. It showcases Steve Marriott’s wonderfully soulful rock vocals and the band’s ambitious, if sometimes drug-influenced, musical ambitions
The disc features recent interviews with Jones and McLagan along well as older ones of the now-deceased Marriott and Lane (in fact, the bonus features hold all of Lane’s last filmed interview). While no one song really knocked me out, the 20 plus tunes here demonstrate what a dynamic band they were. The highlight here being a splendid 7-song set, from their landmark Odgen’s Nut Gone Flake album, that the band did on a 1968 BBC program Colour Me Pop. It’s not often that a band gets to do a full-blown theme set on TV like this.
Both of these discs are colored with sadness, along with nostalgia. In Springfield’s case, it is with how her career languished after her Sixties success, although her legacy is extremely large. Similarly, the deaths of Marriott and Lane hover over the Small Faces’ story. Combined with the stories of their drug use, the deaths of the band’s leaders suggest an unfulfilled potential of this band and these musicians.
These DVDs – the T.A.M.I. and the British Invasion set – all come with excellent liner note, and the British Invasion box-set also contains a fifth disc filled with extra interview footage and additional performances from Herman’s Hermits and Dusty Springfield. The Hermits and the Pacemakers might not be rank as members of the British Invasion pantheon but there is no denying the terrific job the filmmakers did in putting these discs together. Similarly, kudos to Shout! Factory for putting the magnificent T.A.M.I. Show back into circulation.
- Michael Berick

Go See Hear: March 8-14

2010-03-07T08:14:00.000-08:00

A couple of gigs have grabbed my attention for this week, with three falling all on the same night – isn’t that the way it is.

March 10 – Great American Taxi pulls into the Mint. The band, headed by ex-Leftover Salmon singer/guitarist/mandolinist Vince Herman, delivers a funky, jam mix of rootsy rock ‘n’ roll and their new album Reckless Habits makes for a fun, lively ride.

March 12 – The Truth & Salvage Co. ends its residency at the Hotel Café. The local LA band creates a sound that’s wonderfully rich with the Southern California country rock vibe. The group, gearing up for a May release of their Chris Robinson-produced debut disc, boast four singers, which creates some truly fine harmonizing.

The Dutchess and the Duke are on the bill at the Echo on the 12. The Seattle-based band – basically the duo Jesse Lortz and Kimberly Morrison – have a beautifully beguiling sound that blends rustic Americana with stripped down garage rock that can recall plugged-in early Dylan or an acoustic Velvet Underground.

Zac Brown Band, which has a show at the Gibson Amphitheatre on the 12th, was something of a 2009 phenomena. Coming out of nowhere, they delivered a good-timin’ country-fringed rock album that wound up being a platinum seller and earning them a Grammy nomination for best new band. Opening for them is another impressive act that favors country a little more than rock, the duo Joey & Rory.

Go See Hear: For March 1-7 in L.A.

2010-02-28T08:30:00.000-08:00

The top recommended show of the week takes place at the Mint on March 2. The headliner is Backyard Tire Fire, hot off the release of their disc, the Steve Berlin-produced Good To Be - and quite good it turns out to be. Which isn’t a surprise. BTF has been one of my favorite rootsy rock groups for the last few years. They fall in with fellow hoist-a-beer-to bands like the Hold Steady, Marah and Lucero – guys who create gritty music with a dose of twang and a big serving of rock ‘n’ roll. Frontman Ed Anderson evokes Tom Petty vocally, but he’s reared less on the Beatles and Byrds than the Replacements and early Wilco. Backyard Tire Fire is one of those bands percolating just under the mainstream but poised to become better known.
Preceding BTF is the fine local outfit, Old Californio, another band that looking to blossom to bigger things. Haling from the San Gabriel area, this group mines the golden SoCal country-rock sound, but make their music feel new and fresh. Last year, they produced their debut, the thoroughly wonderful Westering Again, a disc you should get to know if you haven’t already.

Other shows worth checking out include:
Andrew Belle, part of the Ten From Tenn singer/songwriter collective, plays the Hotel Café March 3
The quirky Brit pop/rock group the Clientele comes to Spaceland on March 5.
The Experience Hendrix Tour brings a galaxy of guitar wizards (Joe Satriani, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, David Hidalgo, Ernie Isley and more) to the Gibson March 5.
March 6 finds the critically acclaimed performer/producer Joe Henry appearing at Largo.
While across town at UCLA’s Royce Hall that night, two iconic acts from the American South – The Blind Boys of Alabama and Allen Toussaint - will perform. Coincidentally, Joe Henry produced Toussaint’s last disc..hmm.

Matthew Ryan at Molly Malone’s, Los Angeles, CA, 2/21/10

2010-02-22T21:50:00.000-08:00

Over the past three years, Matthew Ryan has produced a fascinating trilogy of discs, From A Late Night High Rise, Matthew Ryan vs. The Silver State and Dear Lover, which matched with confessional singer-songwriter tunes with haunting folk-tronica sonic background. For his solo appearance at L.A.’s Molly Malone’s, however, it was just him on stage, accompanied only with his guitar and an occasional harmonica.
In his raspy, hushed voice, Ryan shared a searing set of life-scarred songs, like “They Were Wrong,” “American Dirt,” “Dear Lover” and “The Wilderness.” His emotionally intimate tunes feature such evocative lyrics as “I want the dream that we never had,” “I don’t feel much lately but that’s how I hide,” and “we were in the front row at the sad last goodbye.” There’s a little bit of Springsteen in Ryan’s working class/dead-end life setting but a little of the Irish poet (maybe it was the Irish bar that got me thinking that way) in him too. Ryan’s stripped-down set-up at this show also fit with his emotionally stripped down lyrics.
I felt too a certain punk rock influence - both in the physicality of his songs and structurally in the way he repeats phrases to add emphasis. It’s not surprising then that one of few covers songs that he has recorded is the Clash’s “Somebody Got Murdered.” He didn’t perform that one, but he did do another favorite cover, the Go-Betweens’ “Providence,” which does fit wonderfully in with his own tunes. It was also one of the several tunes that he closed the set with playing in the audience – a shadowy area that was an appropriate area for Ryan’s neither black nor white musical world.
In the small club’s crowd was Lucinda Williams, a big-time admirer. She expressed her admiration for him during this set and he dedicated his slowed down version of Burt Bacharach’s “I Will Never Fall In Love Again” to her and her husband Tom, and Williams sang along. While his songs were darkly intense, Ryan was far from the brooding musician on stage. He humorously announced that he made it through “Chrome” successfully for the first time in three shows and later stopped a song to help an older woman look for her purse.
Opening the show was the country rocker Gina Villalobos who turned out a lively set to her hometown crowd. Her feisty, rootsy tunes and crackly, gritty vocals brought Lucinda Williams to mind, and not just because she was in the audience. Songs like “Somebody Save Me” “Pictures of Pictures” and “Sun In My Eyes;” however, stood out on their own. I was aware of Villalobos but hadn’t kept up with her music; however, this show reminded me of her talent.

Go See Hear: For Feb. 8-14 in L.A.

2010-02-09T11:28:00.000-08:00

This week makes an unusually strong week of singer-songwriters in L.A. Starting this week off is the inimitable Loudon Wainwright, who has a show at one of his favorite L.A. spots, the Largo at the Coronet on Tuesday the 9th. He got a Grammy win this year for his Charlie Poole tribute.
Findlay Brown might not qualify in the singer-songwriter category but I have been enamored with his new album Love Will Find You, on which the young crooner makes a cross between Chris Isaak and Roy Orbison on suave set of retro sounding romantic songs. He is opening for Nouvelle Vague at the Henry Fonda Theater and also has a show at the Echo on 2/10/
On the 10th, the legendary Sixties folkie and political activist Buffy Sainte Marie has a rare show at the Bootleg Theatre.
Thursday the 11th offer a high number of recommendable shows. Justin Townes Earle and Joe Pug – two talented Nashville-based singer-songwriters have a show at the Echo. Yes, Earle is the son of Steve but he has really staked out his own turf with his two albums on Bloodshot Records.
Richard Thompson, who not that long ago shared a bill at UCLA with Loudon Wainwright has his own show at Largo on the 11th (will his pal Loudon hang around for this gig?). While Thompson’s guitar playing and songwriting skills are well known, it’s a treat to see him in a small, casual venue where he has chance to air out his British sense of humor.
Over at the Mint, James McMurtry will be performing his fiery tunes. Another son of a famous father (his dad’s is the author Larry McMurtry), James has garnered a lot of attention in recent years with his politically charged songs. He also has a show at McCabe’s on Friday.
Meanwhile, the Hotel Café hosts the Guggenheim Grotto on Thursday night; this Irish folky-poppy outfit has been a KCRW fave and their tune “Her Beautiful Ideas” is just a beautiful pop tune.
Valentine’s Day Sunday holds an interesting show at McCabe’s. Clare and the Reason come to town and share a show with Van Dyke Parks. This twosome should make for a night of artful pop. Clare and the Reason’s last offering is stocked with Euro-flavored sounds while Parks has long been known for his sophisticated pop music.
The 14th also signals the first of several local shows for the Acoustic Brotherhood Tour, which features Los Lonely Boys, Alejandro Escovedo and Carrie Rodriguez. More than just a showcase of Latino musicians, this tour boasts three acts who can play an impressive range of music, acoustic or otherwise. On the 14th, they have a show at the Grove of Anaheim, followed by the Wiltern on the 16th and Agoura Hills’ Canyon Club on the 18th.

Both Sides Then - Mitchell, Taylor and Ochs at the 1970 Amchitka Benefit Concert

2010-02-08T10:23:00.000-08:00

I have been listening recently to the Amchitka concert CD (www.amchitka-concert.com) that got its long overdue release late last year. This live double disc documents the historic October 16 1970 show that launched Greenpeace. Money raised from this Vancouver, British Columbia benefit concert was used to buy a boat (later named the Greenpeace) that served to successfully protest U.S. nuclear bomb tests by the Amchitka Islands off the coast of Alaska.

The concert, consequently, has obvious importance on the historical and political fronts, but it is also quite fascinating for its musical content. The three performers featured on these 2 discs are all significant singer-songwriters: Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and Phil Ochs. This late 1970 show captures the threesome at a critical crossroads in each of their respective careers.

Mitchell (who has a disc devoted to herself) and Taylor were both artists on the rise. Mitchell had won a Grammy in March of ‘70 for Clouds and released her classic Ladies of the Canyon later that Spring. 1970 was a big year too for Taylor, who put out his breakout album, Sweet Baby James in February although he not yet graced the cover of Time Magazine.

Ochs, on the other hand, was entering the twilight of his career. Around the same time as Taylor released Sweet Baby James, Ochs offered up the (perhaps) ironically entitled Greatest Hits, his last studio album, and within 6 years of this concert appearance he had killed himself by suicide.

This CD release can be seen as representing the change from ‘60s folkies to ‘70s singer-songwriters, with the politically charged Ochs giving way – on several levels – to the more introspective lyricists of Taylor, Mitchell and the “Seventies sensitive singer-songwriters” – the shift from the Civil Right Generation to the Me Generation.

Philosophizing aside, this CD, happily, also holds a trio of notable performances. Ochs had been playing more electric set around this time (his infamous electric Carnegie Hall shows from March of 1970 were later released as the live album, Gunfight At Carnegie Hall) but here he is in classic guitar-strumming troubadour mode. His set favors political tunes (“Joe Hill,” “I Ain’t Marching Anymore,” “Rhythms of Revolutions” and “I’m Going To Say It Now”) but also contains several dark, autobiographically-based tunes (“Chords of Fame” and “No More Songs”). It’s interesting to contrast the “Chord of Fame” with Mitchell’s “For Free.” Both songs are about the trappings of being a successful singer although Och’s tone is much more sour than Mitchell’s.

While Ochs’ performance is quite strong, he also seems, in contrast to Mitchell and Taylor, a bit stiffer on stage despite his years of experience. His banter is mostly half-swallowed asides and even when he announces that “it’s not every day you get to play in a police state” it is not said in a galvanizing way but more of a tossed off remark. Perhaps it is just the perspective of hindsight, but there seems to be a bittersweet quality to his performance.

James Taylor also comes off rather shy and nervous, but this is more understandable considering he was still at the beginning of his now-lengthy career. Just accompanying himself on the guitar, he performs several memorable songs - like “Fire And Rain” “Carolina On My Mind” and “You Can Close Your Eyes” - from his Warner Brothers’ debut and his earlier Apple album. In introducing “Sweet Baby James,” he explains that the song is really about his young nephew James. It’s a real joy to listen to play here as he’s on the cusp of stardom; you can hear easy warmth that has been a hallmark of his laidback, folksy musical style.

The same type of joy can heard in Mitchell’s set. Even though she was a rather established artist by the time of this show – she was the benefit’s headliner – she reveals a relaxed, unguarded quality in her performance as if she was still singing in coffeehouses. Playing solo on a guitar, dulcimer or piano, she does several of her well-known tunes – such as “Woodstock,” “A Case Of You” and “Big Yellow Taxi” - in a simple, stripped down way that is always enchanting. Her voice is at her classic best - all lilting, gossamer glory.

It’s a treat to hear Mitchell display her sense of humor throughout this less-than-perfect set. She asks her the audience’s indulgence while she “putters around” trying to find her way back into “For Free” (the disc contains the occasional, yet charming flub and overall less than pristine sound, with the too-early-fade out on Mitchell and Taylor doing “Circle Game” to close out the disc). She apologizes too for a press quote about her calling Vancouver a hick town. It’s also fun to hear her weave in an old schoolgirl favorite “Bony Maronie” into “Big Yellow Taxi” or when she pulls Taylor out to join her in a seemingly unrehearsed rendition of “Mr. Tambourine Man” that she slides into the end of “Carey.”

It’s a lightheartedness that you don’t always associate with Mitchell, which helps to make this recording something special. More than just an exercise in nostalgia or an archival curio, Amchitka stands as a marvelous snapshot of three talented singer-songwriters performing strong sets at a significant (for varying reasons) moment in their careers.

Review: Sammy Sadler - Heart Shaped Like Texas

2010-01-15T17:17:00.000-08:00

Sammy Sadler - Heart Shaped Like Texas
(E1 Records)

There’s no good reason really why Sammy Sadler shouldn’t make it big in Nashville. His latest disc, Heart Shaped Like Texas, provides a fine showcase for his warm country tenor and his nice way with melodies. This disc also moves along smoothly through a strong mix of hooky country rockers and quieter ballads.
However, it doesn’t all add up to a memorable album. While solidly done, the disc lacks the distinctive execution or material to make it rise above being more than agreeable but average country music – a nice listen but nothing truly exciting.
Not that there aren’t some strong moments. “Heart Like Texas” is a color Lone Star state love ode about a cowgirl whose favorite song is “Amarillo By Morning.” Love songs like “Trying To Get The Girl” and “I Wanna Be Loved By You” are hooky country rock numbers that please the ear. “Thinking About Mexico” has a pleasant South-of-the-Border flavor while “That Ole Gravel Road” is a lively small town tale. Sometimes Sadler gets too heavy-handed, either with this sentimentality (“No Place To Land”) and spirituality (“John 3:16”).
This tendency also surfaces in the closing number “Thank God,” which pulls at the heartstrings a bit too hard. This is somewhat unfortunate because this tune draws on a tragic episode in Sadler’s life when he was shot (and his friend was killed) on Nashville’s Music Row. While it’s a poignant, often powerful song, the melodramatic use of background singers tends to underline the emotions a bit too much. This song also is the only one that Sadler had a hand in writing, which might add to the album’s rather generic feel.
So while Sadler the singer demonstrates that he has the talent to perform with the big boys, this disc suffers from a lack of big league material. As a result, Sadler remains a promising, talented performer who knows how to deliver a song but hasn’t yet delivered a thoroughly compelling album.

This Week’s “Shows To See” Nov. 30-Dec. 6

2009-11-30T22:56:00.000-08:00

Just a quick one this week. I actually have two show previews in the LA Weekly this week: the Ten Out Of Tenn show on Dec. 1 and the J. Tillman
Dec. 2 gig – both at the Troubadour. So those are both shows worth checking out. You can read more starting here:
http://www.laweekly.com/2009-11-26/music/rock-picks-j-tillman-peaches-japandroid/2
I also wanted to mention the Vic Chesnutt’s Dec. 1 show at the Echoplex. The eclectic Georgia-based performer has been having a particularly productive time period of late and his newest offering At The Cut is an especially strong disc. The track, “Band Camp,” is simply put - one fantastic song, recounting a long, twisted acquaintance with a girl. Find some way to hear it.
Notable too is Peter Case’s show at McCabe’s on Friday night, although I think it’s sold out. McCabe’s a great place to this Grammy-nominated roots rock troubadour and it’s great that Case is playing again after having heart surgery earlier this year.

“Shows To See” for Nov. 23-29

2009-11-23T22:41:00.000-08:00

It’s Thanksgiving Week which seemingly means fewer official work days but just as much work too do. It also is a rather light week for shows but still there are several shows that caught my eye.
I do want to put out the good word on Vicki Emerson, who has a show Monday night the 23rd at Room 23. The New York City-based singer has crafted an impressive disc Long Ride, on which she sounds more like a country girl than a city girl. Nicely walking the line between mainstream and alternative country, Emerson projects a strong, confident musical persona that makes me curious about what she comes up with next.
Another NYC-based act, Elizabeth and the Catapult lands at the House of Blues on Nov. 28. Elizabeth Ziman is a lively vocalist who has an engaging jazzy, poppy sound. The band’s Verve debut (produced by Omaha wunderkind Mike Mogis) boasts a number of memorable tracks including “Momma’s Boy” and the title track “Taller Children.”
In keeping with this week’s female theme, I very much wanted to spotlight the two appearances this weekend from Candye Kane, who performs Saturday night at Cozy’s and Sunday night at Redwood Bar. This is something of a homecoming for Kane, who was born in East L.A. and cut her teeth in L.A.’s roots music scene. Now living in San Diego, Kane has lived a remarkable life, which includes a recent battle with cancer. Onstage she is quite remarkable too. A fun, feisty performer, Kane also knows how to belt out the blues. Her latest disc, the super Super Hero, reveals a fighter’s sense of survival in a vibrant set of rootsy, rockin’ blues, and is just the latest laudable album from Kane.

This Week’s “Shows To See” - Nov. 15-22 Edition

2009-11-15T17:27:00.000-08:00

The recommended shows for this week all fall towards at the week’s end.

On Thursday, the Ruby Friedman Orchestra checks into the Hotel Café. I actually haven’t had the RFO experience yet but they have created quite the buzz in local circles with Ruby touted as quite the singer and frontperson. Come early to see Corb Lund who opens the night at 7. I saw him open a while back for Chuck Mead and the Canadian alt. country star delivered a sparkling set of modern honky tonk music. His latest, Losin’ Lately Gambler came out earlier this fall on New West Records

On Friday night, the “King of Rock & Soul, “ Solomon Burke presides at Club Nokia. Now approaching 70, Burke is not the live performer or singer that he once was, Burke is more than just a living legend – which would be reason enough to see him. During the last decade, his career has experienced an artistic renaissance as he put out a string of acclaimed albums, produced by the likes of Joe Henry and Buddy Miller, that found him putting his indelible vocal stamp on a wide range of material (from Bruce Springsteen to Dolly Parton) - and he’ll hopefully have his throne out on the Nokia stage too.

The weekend McCabe’s hosts a doubleheader of terrific double bills. Friday night the 20th the guitar shop/club welcomes a pair of feisty female singer/songwriters, Erin McKeown. McKeown’s beguiling new album, Hundreds of Lions, finds her expanding her musical territory. While her last effort, Sing You Sinner, found her mining the 20s and 30s, this one explores various pop music style of the 50s and 60s, all conveyed through McKeown’s always expressive vocals. Jill Sobule is best known for the 1995 hit “I Kissed The Girl” – she was there first Katy Perry! However over the years, she has continued putting out sweet and bittersweet music that skirt the lines around folk and pop. She raised funds for her current disc, the Golden State-themed California Years, through appealing to her loyal fans and that earned her press too (although the album is quite worthy of attention too)

On Sunday night the 22nd, it’s a night for those who like their bluegrass with a twist as Crooked Still and King Wilkie take the stage there. Based in the Northeast, Crooked Still comes to L.A. for the first time with this gig but the band has been creating engaging acoustic music for the past several years. Their most recent studio outing, Still Crooked, mixes originals and covers to create a beautiful take on Americana music. King Wilkie started off as a mostly traditionally minded bluegrass group but they have expanded their sound to move into modern musical styles. While keeping some strains of old school bluegrass, they also weave in some laidback country-rock elements, which make them something of a front-porch Jayhawks.

This Week’s “Shows To See” - Nov. 9-14 Edition

2009-11-08T21:05:00.000-08:00

L.A. has seen some very impressive double bills of late. I have written about last week’s Over The Rhine/Katie Herzig pairing. Before that, there was the Blind Pilot/Low Anthem show and Hoot and Hellmouth/William Elliott Whitmore gig.

This week again offers some recommended musical pairings. On Monday night, Chuck Prophet and Jason Isbell share the bill at the Echoplex. Prophet first made a name for himself in the Paisley Underground with Green on Red. While he has become an in-demand guitar slinger/songwriter/producer, Prophet also has put out a series of captivating solo discs this past decade that offer his own unique take on soulful roots rock. Isbell, meanwhile, earned his stripes in the Drive-By Truckers before venturing off on his own a few years back. With his own band, The 400 Unit, Isbell serves up his own inspired Americana rock that is dipped in Dixie without being smothered in the South.

On Wednesday the 11th, Via Tania (Chicago-based Australian expat Tania Bowers) brings her ethereal electro-pop to the Bootleg Theater (she's also plays the Bordello on Tuesday). There’s a bewitching quality to this often spare, typically haunting tunes from her album Moon Sweet Moon, with tracks like “the Beginning,” “How Come” and “Light Years.” Also on the bill is the local alt. a cappella ensemble, Sonos. This inventive vocal outfit modernizes the old fashion a cappella style by covering songs by acts like the Fleet Foxes, Radiohead and Rufus Wainwright. They will provide a lightness to balance out Via Tania’s darker musical hues.

Rufus’ dad Loudon appears at UCLA on Friday matched up with Richard Thompson. Billed as “Loud & Rich,” these two esteemed old folkies not only boast lengthy, and impressive musical resumes, but both men share a deep interest in the history of music. A few years back, Thompson released the disc 1000 Years of Popular Music, which covered tunes spanning 1068 AD to 2000 (the latter being Britney Spears’ “Oops I Did It Again.”). Wainwright, meanwhile, has just released a tribute to country music pioneer, Charlie Poole, whose name isn’t as well known today as it should be. Whether they will be performing their own tunes or others’, it all should make for a night of expert songcraft, witty repartee and nimble guitar picking (particularly by Thompson).

The Treasure of Rupa

2009-11-08T14:42:00.000-08:00

I will admit it. I don’t know a lot about World Music. But I do know what I like, and I do like Rupa And The April Fishes.
I have greatly enjoyed their two CDs, Extraordindary Rendition and the recently released, Este Mundo (both on Cumbancha) so I jumped at the chance to finally see them play live, even though it was a late (for me) set.
This won’t be a standard live review. I didn’t take notes or jot down the song titles, and wasn’t I able to stay for the whole set. I went for the fun of it but I was so impressed with what I heard that I wanted to share my enthusiasm for the band.
Rupa and the April Fishes play what I would describe as gypsy music. The type of music that you might hear on the streets of Europe, but it’s also “gypsy” in the sense that it borrows from a whole host of global styles. There is some Parisian jazz, some American funk and a host of other world music styles that I don’t know well enough to name-check.
While this unique global sound is colorful and lively on disc, it is even more so in concert. Rupa is a charming frontwoman – smart, passionate and exuding vivacity. Her band (drums, stand-up bass, cello, accordion and trumpet) shares this joie de vivre. They know their chops but play with just enough sloppiness to keep things fresh and fun live.
Rupa Marya has a fascinating story. Her parents moved to Northern California from India before she was born. However, she also spent her childhood in Southern France, another land where she experienced a sense of “outsider-ness.” She returned to the San Francisco area to study medicine but she never gave up her love of music. Now she is both a doctor and a musician.
True to her multi-national upbringing, Rupa sings in a number of languages – French, Spanish, Hindi, English, just to name four. Not understanding most of the lyrics (unless you know all the languages that she knows) gives the songs a mysterious quality. The joyful music, however, can often hide the lyrics’ more serious content. However, Rupa and her band put across the songs with such expressiveness and enthusiasm that the music shines with an irresistible quality.
At their Mint show, they packed the house and had the typically jaded L.A. crowd whooping it up - clapping, singing and dancing along.
If the NPR set and the jam-band crowd haven’t discovered Rupa And The April Fishes yet than it’s only a matter of time. The band’s boisterous fusion of world rhythms is attractive to both audiences. However, if you don’t align yourself with either camp, you might want to check them out anyway. They are a fine gateway band to world music. Rupa and her talented crew make marvelous “music without borders” that transports you on a one-of-a-kind journey with their exuberant songs.

This Week’s Shows that I Wish I Could Check Out

2009-11-02T23:04:00.000-08:00

There are a number of intriguing shows going on between Nov. 3-8 that I will I could get out to see, but maybe you will.
On November 3, Lucero brings their Ramblin’ Roadshow and Memphis Review, which features Jack Oblivian and John Paul Keith and the One Four Fives, to the Echo. Lucero have a wonderful new disc out, 1372 Overton Park, which comes packed with Springsteen-via-the-Replacements ramshackle rockers. If you are a fan of bands like Hold Steady or Marah and aren’t a fan yet of Lucero you should check them out because you’ll be a convert.
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, who comes to Spaceland on Nov. 4, is something of a mystery figure to me. He has generated some buzz back East and I have listened to his disc Summer of Fear. It kinda of reminds of the New York City branch of the late 80s College Rock updated with some current Indie Pop flourishes (for example, the trumpet-powered “The 100th of March,” which nearly tops the 6 minute mark). Summer of Fear is on Saddle Creek – if that steers your opinion one way or the other. I hope to listen to the disc some more and see if I can decipher more of songs, and if it holds up to repeated listens.
The following night, Nov. 5, Will Hoge returns to town with a show at the Hotel Café. The Nashville based rocker would have fit in nicely on the Lucero bill as Hoge delves into gritty yet literate roots rock. Hoge survived a nearly fatal traffic accident a few years and his new album is the all-too-aptly named The Wreckage. While he might not move around as much on stage as he used too, he still produces potent music.
Friday’s fine show is Rupa and the April Fishes. By day, Rupa is a doctor in San Francisco but she hasn’t forsaken music for her career in medicine. The multi-lingual singer guides her band through a colorfully woven style of gypsy-like world music. It’s a festive sound that belies some of the more serious lyrical content and is so invigorating that you forget that she isn’t singing in English – not that that’s important. The group is now out celebrating their new release Este Mundo (on Cumbancha).
The week wraps up with a recommended double bill. Over the weekend, Largo at the Coronet hosts Over The Rhine with Kaite Herzig sharing the bill. OTR is a long-standing band from Cincinnati centered around the couple Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist. They have become known for the haunting, dark-hued songs, although they did lighten up a little on their late full length, 2007’s The Trumpet Child. Nashville-based singer/songwriter Katie Herzig is starting to make a name for herself, and deservedly so. Songs off of her tasty disc Apple Tree have shown up on TV shows and NPR shows (but don’t let that prejudice you). Herzig has a delightful way with a tune (as exemplified on tracks like “Hologram” and “Forevermore”) and it’s her quirky charms which differentiates her from the folk-pop pack.

This Week’s So Fine So. Cal. Concerts: Doubly Fine Double Bills

2009-10-19T22:24:00.000-07:00

This week, I have a pair of shows to recommend that both boast particularly excellent double bills.
On Friday, Oct. 24, the Troubadour welcomes Blind Pilot and The Low Anthem. Blind Pilot has been known to tour via bicycle. I don’t know if the Portland, Oregon band will be pedaling down to L.A., but they will be pedaling their tunes off of their terrific 2007 release 3 Rounds And A Sound. They have been known to tour via bicycle. Led by singer/guitarist Israel Nebeker, the band has a knack for folksy rock that is anchored in melodic hooks. 3 Rounds comes packed with a number of memorably tracks, like “Oviedo,” “Paint Or Pollen” and “Two Towns From Me”; it’s one of those discs that’s always a pleasure to pull off the shelf.
The Rhode Island-based Low Anthem put out a disc this year, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, that is shaping up to fall into the very same category. It starts off with a trio of beguiling, gentle tunes (“Charlie Darwin,” “To Ohio” and “Ticket Taker”) that set up the band up along the quiet bucolic pop of the Jayhawks, but then they shift gears with a pair of raucous foot-stompers (“The Horizon Is A Beltway” and the Kerouac/Waits collaboration “Home I’ll Never Be”). It’s impressive that singer Ben Knox Miller can convincingly pull off these dulcet and ragged vocal styles. On Charlie Darwin, the Low Anthem has evolved into mighty fine craftsmen of lovely pastoral pop and more rugged, rootsy rock.
The week’s second recommendable show occurs the next night when the Hotel Café hosts both William Elliott Whitmore and Hoots and the Hellmouth. Over the past few years, Whitmore has been churning out stark folk blues that sounds likes it comes from a much older man than young Iowan is. This year he released his “major label” debut Animals In The Dark on Anti-. Whitmore expanded his arrangements a bit on this effort (like on the fiery full-band opener “Mutiny”) but overall he still sounds like an old-time bluesman on dark, intense tunes like “Johnny Law” and “Hell Or High Water.”
Also residing at the Hotel Café that night is the Hoot And Hellmouth. Although they hail from Philadelphia, they are more of a rural band than a city one. On their rollicking new release, The Holy Open Secret, they sound like they have been busking for year. Songs like “Root of the Industry” and “Watch Your Month” crank out a funky acoustic vibe, while “Three Penny Charm” and “Family Band” showcase their quieter side. With their blend of the rollicking and gentle, they fall somewhere between the Old Crow Medicine Show and the Avett Brothers on the jammy Americana band spectrum.

Song of the Week: The Blakes – “Charmed”

2009-10-16T10:42:00.000-07:00

I don’t know much about the Blakes. They are a Seattle based garage pop band fronted by brothers Garnet & Snow Keim, who have a new full length Souvenir that I listened to the disc last night. While I enjoyed the band’s sweaty, retro-inspired sound, I was totally charmed by their song “Charmed.” It sounds like a wonderful Nuggets flashback. The gritty little number is powered by a thumping drum beat, although a vintage sounding guitar solo peaks out about halfway through. It also nicely balances the scrappy lead vocals with some shadowy background vocals floating in the mix. There’s an Anglophile flair to the Blakes’ sound without being too obvious of an homage. Its straightforward, low-tech production values fit in perfectly with what the band is going after. Although the lyrics aren’t especially profound (“hey there juicy fruit” is the opening line), they definitely get the sound vibe right. If you are looking for a new, but throwback sounding, garage pop gem, you need to look no further than the Blakes’ “Charmed.”

A Show To See (although I wasn’t there): Elliott Brood

2009-10-13T22:22:00.000-07:00

I meant to get out some advance word for the Elliott Brood show but the Columbus Day holiday made me lose track of the week from the start.
So while it’s too late to plug their 10/13 show in L.A., it’s not too late to plug the band itself. And yes, Elliott Brood is a band, not a man. The Canadian trio blend acoustic and electric instrumentation into something deeply intense and richly textured.
They have just issued a powerful and memorable new disc, Mountain Meadows (Six Shooter Records). Apparently it deals with a slaughter that occurred in 1857. Given the bloody backstory, it’s not surprising that the music comes off as moody and (yes) brooding, but there’s also a vibrancy in its darkness. While it’s hard to highlight one song out of this cohesive set, the closing tune “Miss You Now” is a particular standout and it nicely exemplifies the band’s loud/soft construct and emotionalism in both the singing and the playing.
I saw an acoustic set that they did during the Americana Music Conference and I was struck by the ferocity of their performance. The dynamics that they created made me think of them something like an acoustic Feelies, although they don’t really sound like that iconic band. Still, Elliott Brood is worthy checking out both live and on disc.
Next time, I’ll try to give more advance warning…

Merci Bien, Jessie Torrisi

2009-10-07T21:47:00.000-07:00

When I received this disc, it touted Jessie Torrisi as some who played in some NYC bands (Unisex Salon, Laptop, Les Fleurs Tragiques) that I wasn’t familiar with, so I didn’t have any expectations as to what this album would be like. Well, actually, I wasn’t expecting much for this “mystery disc”, but I am happy to report that Torrisi has fashioned a terrific little solo debut (“little” in the sense that it’s a concise 8 song disc that runs just over 30 minutes) with "brujer, brujer."
Torrisi is something of an alt. folk-rock chanteuse, for lack of a better term. Take the marvelous leadoff track, “Hungry Like Me.” Torrisi’s captivating search for someone compatible with her deftly mixes twangy elements (pedal steel) with plucky keyboards (my copy of disc didn’t come with credit list so I’m fishing a little for specific instrumentation).
Love is a common theme throughout the disc. “X In Texas” finds her essaying a busted relationship – one where she wants to “just unbuckle me from you.” It’s another song that boasts a strong, although subtle arrangement, as it well utilizes some subdued horns along with a slide-y guitar line.
Torrisi goes back on the love offensive with “Cannonball.” It’s a jaunty, near-jazzy number that showcases the beguiling way Torrisi sashays around a song. Near the song’s end, she chooses to sing the work “explode” softly, making it all the more effective. “Runaway Train” is another standout track, both with its powerful, percussive arrangement and Torrisi’s emotive singing, which resembles an arty roadhouse version of Chrissie Hynde.
She exudes a playful bittersweet quality in the troubled relationship tune “Stormy Clouds,” which also displays her knack for phrase-turning. She’s particularly adept at using strong natural imagery – in this song, there’s a radiant line: “everything you love bursts into flames”- that reflect her dealings with relationships and love. Moreover, song titles like “Runaway Train” and “Cannonball” reveal a certain physicality to her songwriting, which also works well with her song’s looks at love.
After the sultry soulful “So Many Miles,” the disc wraps up with her most emotionally direct tune, the spare, piano-based “The Brighter Side.” This survivor’s tale is a stirring, and ultimately uplifting, number suggests a more laidback Michelle Shocked (in her gospel mood).
In “Runaway Train,” Torrisi sings: “what’s it going to take to get your attention?” With this thoroughly impressive debut, she certainly has created an attention-grabber. One of the joys of receiving mystery discs is when they turn out to be surprising delights, and "bruler, bruler" is one of the surprisingly delightful discs.

If I Were Going Out – I’d Be Going Out To See Todd Snider on October 8

2009-10-06T21:54:00.000-07:00

I don’t get out as much as I used to, or want to, so I often wind up “attending” show vicariously. One show that you attend for me is Todd Snider’s appearance at the Grammy Museum as part of their The Drop series. The Drop is a very cool on-going program the Museum has where it hosts an act that is releasing (“dropping”) a new album. I saw a Drop session with Marshall Crenshaw and was a very worthwhile experience.
Todd Snider might make for an even more engaging guest than Crenshaw. The Nashville-based singer/songwriter is one of the best around at telling a story that’s laced with wit and arsenic. For several years, Snider was on John Prine's label and if the master songsmith Prine wants a singer-songwriter for his label that's a high compliment. While Snider's last disc, Peace Queer, was a decidedly politically charged effort, his new album, The Excitement Plan (on Yep Roc), promises to be his trademark collection of darkly humored tunes.
Snider’s best-known numbers probably are “Alright Guy” and the satiric “Talkin’ Seattle Grunge Rock Blues,” from his 1994 debut. However, over the past 15 years he has crafted a slew of memorable tunes, like “Thin Wild Mercury” (that deals with Phil Ochs and Bob Dylan), “D.B. Cooper” and “Play A Train Song,” to name a few.
But Snider is really in his element on a stage, where he can tell colorful tales about his just-as-colorful tunes. It’s this quality that makes The Drop’s Q&A-plus-performance set-up such an appealing scenario to catch Snider.
However, if you can make it down to the Grammy Museum on Oct. 8, Snider is scheduled to return to L.A. on December 12 for a show at the El Rey.

Todd Snider appears at the Grammy Museum (800 W. Olympic Blvd., LA, www.grammymuseum.org) at 8 p.m. on Oct. 8. Tickets are $10.

The Stone River Boys - Live At The Mint 9/25/09

2009-09-26T22:07:00.000-07:00

When the talented and much loved Chris Gaffney passed away last year, it was a loss for the Americana music world, and particularly for the Hacienda Brothers – the band he started with David Gonzalez. Gonzalez decided not to fill Gaffney’s void and continue the Hacienda. Instead he started the rather like-minded Stone River Boys, and picked Mike Barfield to be his new musical sidekick. On paper, Barfield seemed to be an inspired choice. In the late ‘90s, he led the neo-honky-tonk outfit, the Hollisters, and has also displayed an affinity for the twangy soul sound that the Hacienda Brothers did so well.
I caught up with the Stone River Boys when they road into L.A. on Sept. 24 for a show at the Mint. Their set started out tackling their two main musical pursuits: the Hacienda’s western soul number “Midnight Dream” followed by old Hollisters’ honky tonkin’ favorite “East Texas Pines.” Gonzalez dedicated “Walkin’ On My Dreams” to Gaffney’s widow, who was in the house.
At first Barfield seemed to be hanging back a little, looking a bit uncertain of his role. But he soon loosened up, showing off (for lack of a better word) his swivel-hip, maraca-shaking dance moves on tunes like the “She’s A Yum Yum” and “The Struggle.” He proved that Gonzalez’s selection of him to be a good one. His “life of the party” persona balanced nicely with Gonzalez’s gritty guitar work as well as Hacienda Brother holdover David Berzansky’s terrific steel guitar playing.
While the Stone River Boys are a relatively young band in terms of time together, they are old souls who know how to play their brand of rockin’ soulful country music with skill and vitality. Their set let me looking forward to seeing a CD come out from them.

Americana Music Festival And Me

2009-09-23T09:19:00.000-07:00

With the Americana Music Conference still nestled in that precarious spot between the blur of the experiences and the blurriness of the memories, I wanted to share a few impressions that I took away from my trip to Nashville.
There were a number of memorable moments, some from acts catching my attention for the first time and others living up to expectations.
One act that definitely made a big first (and second and third) impression was the trio, The Baskery. These three sisters from Sweden seemed to have everyone talking at the Conference with their punk-fueled rootsy tunes. One of the cool things was watching the eldest sister strum a mean banjo while also playing a kick drum and singing (in English) to boot.
Peter Cooper was a name I was familiar with – but mostly as a journalist. He’s also a talented singer/songwriter with a terrific gift for the story-song. He performed a song about baseball great Henry Aaron that has stayed with me for days.
I was not at all familiar with the name Patrick Sweany, an Ohio transplant to Nashville. He did an animated set of sweaty, bluesy rock that really energized the audience at the Basement
I happened upon Sweany because I had gone to the Basement to see the Nashville band DADDY. I had enjoyed their recent album, For A Second Time, but this funky rootsy rock outfit was just a wonderfully fun band to experience live. This shouldn’t come as a surprise since the group is fronted by Tommy Womack and Will Kimbrough.
Kimbrough also sat in on Saturday night’s set by Angela Easterling, which reminded me about her fine album, Blacktop Road. Kimbrough, who produced the disc, combined with Easterling’s guitarist Brandon Turner to make her tune “American ID” a delicious slice of jangly roots pop.
DADDY’s Friday night set was followed by a late night/early morning performance from the Canadian trio Elliott Brood. Their new disc Mountain Meadows had caught my ear but I wasn’t prepared for the ferocious intensity that Mark Sasso and Casey Laforet serve up on acoustic guitars, banjo and the like. They made me think of an acoustic version of the Feelies for some reason.
The Band of Heathens was another group that I had targeted to see, having enjoyed their last two albums – and this Austin-based band didn’t disappoint. They play a potent blend of Neil Young, Little Feat and Southern Rock, and their song “LA County Blues” was another of those “stick in my mind” numbers.
I also enjoyed the short set from feisty Nashville country singer, Elizabeth Cook. Cook soon will be starting an album to be produced by Don Was, which might be her ticket to more prominence. She did a dandy song “El Camino” that was both funny and heartfelt.
It’s hard to call John Fogerty’s “secret” set a surprise (most folks seemed to have found out about it) but it was unexpected for him to play for 90 minutes at the intimate Mercy Lounge. The Mercy was also where I later caught Radney Foster’s surprisingly rockin’ set and some sweet swing music from the together-again Hot Club of Cowtown.
Downstairs at the Cannery was the site of strong sets from Holly Williams, W.P.A. (featuring that night Watkins Sean and Sara along with Glen Phillips) and a sublime performance from Buddy Miller (the big winner at the AMA Awards) who brought out Patty Griffin to sing with him (including a version of “Dark End Of The Street”). Miller’s was of the one of the top sets that I saw during the conference.
One of the challenging aspects of this conference (like SxSW and any other multi-stage festivals) is getting to all the acts that you want to see. It’s a little bit like the Robert Frost poem “The Road Not Taken,” although in this case it’s four clubs, not two roads. However, I am quite happy with the road I took in Nashville, and all the music (and people) I encountered along the way.

AMA Conference countdown

2009-09-09T21:57:00.000-07:00

The Americana Music Conference is now less than a week away so the countdown has really begun in earnest (as in Tubb) for me. My panel (A is for Americana) starts off the morning on Thursday and I’ve been looking over the daily schedule. A number of other panels and workshops have caught my eye, and like the musical showcases, it will tricky to get to all of them. For example, following my panel on Thursday morning, Rosanne Cash will be doing her Keynote Interview but overlapping with that is an Artist Development panel focusing on Sarah Borges, a singer I’ve been a big fan of. Another Thursday highlight looks to be the songwriting workshop with Mary Gauthier and Darrell Scott. One of the cool things of the conference for me is to get an up-close listen to musicians talking about their craft. Chip Taylor will be holding one of these sessions on Friday and Will Kimbrough has one of Saturday. Looking over the listings, it just reminds me what a wealth of interesting events the conference has.

Master Blaster - Dave Alvin gets personal on his two new albums

2009-08-29T16:34:00.000-07:00

Master Blaster
Dave Alvin gets personal on his two new albums
by Michael Berick
From his early days as co-founder of the retro roots-rock band the Blasters to his solo career that yielded albums like Ashgrove (named for the legendary Los Angeles folk club that he haunted as a teen) and the aptly titled covers disc Public Domain, Dave Alvin's music has long been fueled by the past. But the past has never been as personal as with his two current projects, Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women and Man of Somebody's Dreams: A Tribute to Chris Gaffney.
Both discs arose from the 2008 death of Chris Gaffney. A longtime fixture on the Southern California music scene, guitarist/accordionist Gaffney spent nearly a decade in Alvin's band the Guilty Men and was like a brother to him. They had grown up in neighboring, and decidedly untrendy, L.A. suburbs (Alvin in Downey and Gaffney in Hawaiian Gardens), but only met one night in the late '80s when Alvin happened upon Gaffney's band playing at the Hollywood rock dive bar, Raji's.
"It was one of those things where there are people that you feel have known your entire life except that you haven't met them yet," says Alvin. "It was one of those moments. We got each others' jokes — that's maybe the best type of friendship there is."
When Alvin learned Gaffney had cancer, he started to organize a benefit album. However, the fatal cancer moved swiftly, and the disc evolved into a tribute effort. Alvin assembled an all-star Americana team (including Los Lobos, James McMurtry, John Doe and Alejandro Escovedo), which perfectly reflects Gaffney's musical mosaic: from Joe Ely's Tex-Mex-flavored take on "Lift Your Leg" to Jim Lauderdale's honky-tonky "Glass House"; from Peter Case's rollicking rendition of "Six Nights a Week" to Dan Penn's heartaching "I'm So Proud."
One contributor that causes a double-take is Boz Scaggs. However, as Alvin explains, Scaggs (owner of two Bay Area clubs) is a fan of both Alvin's work and Gaffney's last band, the Hacienda Brothers. He says Scaggs' silky, soulful rendering of "Midnight Dreams" is "one of the best things I think he has ever done."
The disc also contains the late Freddy Fender's version of the Gaffney song "The Gardens." Alvin reveals that several acts "wanted to get their mitts" on the song, but he chose this mid-'90s recording Fender made with the Texas Tornados because "when Freddy Fender sings one of your songs, that is pretty damn good."
In his own music, Alvin very much felt Gaffney's absence. "I had done a few gigs with my normal band [the Guilty Men]. They were great and cathartic, but I was still looking around for Chris," says Alvin. "I just thought, let's do something different, and European techno was out."
For a show at last year's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco, he put together an all-female band with some of his favorite Americana ladies: guitarists Cindy Cashdollar and Nina Gerber, fiddlers Laurie Lewis and Amy Farris, bassist Sarah Brown, drummer Lisa Pankrantz and singer-songwriter Christy McWilson.
Despite a lack of practice time ("We rehearsed going on stage," jokes Alvin), their set was a success. "I was stunned," says Alvin. "I knew it would be good. I didn't think it would sound like a band that had been on the road for about a year. Walking off the stage, it was like, 'We're making a record.'"
The group, dubbed the Guilty Women, reconvened about two months later at an Austin recording studio. Alvin conducted a swift recording session to get the live, organic sound. While recording the old Tim Hardin gem "Don't Make Promises," for example, Alvin, Cashdollar and Gerber broke off into a spontaneous four-minute jam. That song also fits in with the album's reflective mood.
"A lot of the songs are based around death and passings," says Alvin.
Although there isn't a specific tune about Gaffney, "Downey Girl" deals with the life and death of Downey native Karen Carpenter, while the plaintive McWilson song "Potter's Field" squarely addresses morality. "Boss of the Blues" and "Nana And Jimi" both look back at youthful episodes (riding around with Big Joe Turner and going to see a Jimi Hendrix concert) that influenced Alvin's musical career.
The album is far from a downer, though. It opens with the Blasters' hit "Marie, Marie" done Cajun-style and closes with a roadhouse take on the standard "Que Sera Sera," which Alvin remarked "is my philosophy of life."
With these two discs, Alvin pays homage to the past and his late, great friend, while also moving forward with a "what will be, will be" attitude.
from Cleveland Scene

Elvis Costello At The Greek Theater, Aug. 18, 2009

2009-08-20T08:30:00.000-07:00

As I was waiting to see Elvis Costello the other night at the Greek Theater, I was trying to recall the other times that I have seen. The memory that overwhelmed the others was the first time, which I realized (for better or for worse) was 30 years ago. It was a show at the Cleveland Agora, just after his infamous blowup with Bonnie Bramlett in Columbus, Ohio in which he drunkenly badmouthed Ray Charles. That show was a blast of the angry, young Elvis that ended with the blare of ear-splitting white noise to clear the club. It was quite different Costello who took the Greek stage. He was more relaxed and friendlier - and also backed by an all-star bluegrass outfit instead of the Attractions or another rock-based backing group.
While I don’t yet have his new disc Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, I have been a fan of his initial country outing, the influential-in-its-own-way, Almost Blue, and was curious about how the latest musical guise of the chameleon-like Costello would be.
I enjoyed the show immensely, although I could see how fans wanting to hear that favorite old Elvis faithfully performed might be disappointed. There was no “pumping it up” at this concert. No Steve Nieve keyboard work. No Pete Thomas drums – no drums at all. In fact, little in the way of electric instruments. The Sugarcane band, however, provided him with a rich swatch of acoustic textures, with fiddler Stuart Duncan and dobro ace Jerry Douglas particularly standing out.
It was the set list that made this show is truly special evening. While there were expected selections from his newer, Americana based discs as well as a classic Almost Blue gem “Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down,” he also reinvented several his older, well-known tunes plus delved into a number of eclectic covers. Longtime fans could feel at home with his twangier interpretations of his old standards like “Blame It On Cain,” “Everyday I Write The Book” and a somewhat Mariachi-flavored take on “Red Shoes.” And I’m sure the faithful left happy that he closed the set with “Allison.” The dapperly dressed Costello also scattered some choice covers throughout the set, from the Velvet Underground’s “Femme Fatale” to the Grateful Dead’s “Friend of the Devil.” He did two tunes with opening act Lucinda Williams – one was the humorous Williams song “Jailhouse Tears” and the other an exuberant version of the Stones’ ‘Happy.”
Costello’s Sugarcane crop proved to be one of his more successful musical harvest, at least to this longtime Costello and Americana fan.

Americana Music Festival - Countdown to Kickoff

2009-08-17T21:53:00.000-07:00

The Americana Music Festival is now less than a month away, and I will be returning after a several year hiatus.
While the festival is turning the big 1-0, its award ceremony has only been around for 8 years. This year, the AMA will be celebrating the lifetime achievements of bluegrass progressive Sam Bush, western swing revivalists Asleep At The Wheel and ace producer Jim Rooney, who has helmed works by John Prine, Iris DeMent, Nanci Griffith and more.
The evening showcases offer an array of interesting Americana acts – and of course it’s own share of logical dilemmas. For example, who to see midnight on Wednesday night – Raul Malo, the Deadstring Brothers or Charlie Robison, all artists I’ve written about but never seen. Or what about Saturday night, when Webb Wilder, Buddy Miller and the trio of Nanci Griffith, Mary Gauthier & Elizabeth Cook are all performing at different stages.
So there will be quandaries like those to resolve as well as just seeing how my legs and general stamina holds up.

Hey, Hoge

2009-08-12T15:48:00.000-07:00

It was a real treat to see Will Hoge perform earlier this week as he passed through Los Angeles for an early set at the Mint. A treat because it reminded me what a terrific, if over-exposed roots rocker he is. It was also good to see that the Nashville-based musician was still just alive and kicking after being hit last year by a van while he was riding on his scooter. The main consequence of this accident – at least in this show - just seemed to be that he sat down more than he used to.
But the music was still as strong as ever. On his electric numbers, he conjured up the spirit of a younger Bruce Springsteen, much like his fellow rootsy neo-classic rockers like Marah and Hold Steady. Hoge’s songs this evening, however, favored more relationship-based songs rather than the character-flavored tunes that those aforementioned bands favor. On his acoustic songs, I got to thinking that any of these could be easily picked up by some better known Nashville acts – although they undoubtedly wouldn’t match Hoge’s ragged charms.
Hoge, who looks a little like Law & Order’s Jeremy Sisto, flashed his Southern civility when he complimented the club’s soundman for fixing his microphone during a song, while also serving up a dig at the Troubadour. Mostly it was a night for Hoge to showcase tracks from his upcoming disc, The Wreckage, while also touching on some older songs. He closed his all-too-short set with a Wreckage track “Hard To Love” but Hoge was very easy to love if you are a fan of well-crafted blue-collar rock ‘n’ roll. Hopefully, his new album will give him a well-deserved career boost.

His Guitar Gently Weeps

2009-07-13T12:15:00.001-07:00

When I was a kid, I had George Harrison’s magnum opus All Things Must Pass on 8-track. In fact, it was an 8-track “box set” – with two 8-tracks packaged together. The childhood memories of it stayed strong enough that I never got around to purchasing the deluxe reissue that came out a few years ago.
However, All Things Must Pass returned to my mind the other day after listening to the new EP Tribute To, a sublime six-pack of Harrison songs credited to Yim Yames (aka Jim James from My Morning Jacket). Four of the EP’s six tunes originated on ATMP – “Behind That Locked Door,” “My Sweet Lord,” “Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)” and “All Things Must Pass”, with “Long Long Long’ and “Love You To” filling out this short set.
Although James recorded these tunes shortly after Harrison’s passing in 2001, it is only being released now. It’s a spare, simple affair that serves as a loving tribute to Harrison. Somber without being funereal. Typically on these songs, it’s just James and his guitar, with the sound is more aligned to the earlier Neil Young-ish My Morning Jacket than the more recent MMJ style. The arrangements aren’t embellished performances much, but James does add, for instance, a nice touch of banjo to “Love You To.”
But the disc’s gauzy sound well suits the material, as it feels like a stripped down version of Phil Spector’s denser work on the original. You can hear a fan working through his sorrow on the moving renditions of “My Sweet Lord” and the title track, with the inclusion of “Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp,” a very personal song of Harrison’s, is an inspired choice.
The six songs create an emotional mood of reflection and remembrance – from recalling George Harrison and the Beatles on one hand to the reflecting sheer emotional power of music on another. It achieves the nice trick of making you want to go back to hear the original while also appreciating the new renditions.
The EP also makes you wish that the disc were longer, and see how James might have tackled other ATMP tunes, from the well-known ones like “Isn’t It Pity” and “What Is Life” to more personal faves like “Apples Scruffs” and “Wah-Wah.” But it’s always good to leave fans wanting more as opposed to wearing out your welcome, and Tribute To is a welcome arrival for Beatles fans and My Morning Jacket fans, and music fans inbetween
The EP is available now digitally at YimYames.com, while ATO Records officially releases it on Aug. 4. A portion of the proceeds will go to the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary (www.woodstockfas.org) .

The Good Word on Alexa Woodward

2009-06-28T21:41:00.000-07:00

I have been intrigued with Alexa Woodward’s new album Speck, so I went to see her perform at her recent Los Angeles appearance at the intimate Genghis Cohen – and it was a very rewarding experience. The banjo-picking Woodward’s songs are like mountain music with an MFA. References to Tolstoy and Harper Lee slip into her dark-hued, old-timey tunes; however, she’s doesn’t sound liked an affected musical anthropologist appropriating native backwoods sounds. Although based out of New York City, Woodward grew up in Virginia and South Carolina so there is an easy naturalness to her rural porch music. An easy reference would be the stripped down Americana styling of Gillian Welch. Hearing her live, I came to appreciate the way Woodward’s honeyed singing voice dips and soars. Her phrasing and harmonizing (she was frequently accompanied on vocals by her washboard-playing sidekick Linky Dickson) also brought to mind to Roches, as did her endearing stage presence. She shared some funny tales of touring misadventures, like trying to sleep in a WalMart parking lot that was blaring Whitney Houston. But what really grabbed me is how her singing and lyrics blend together to make for spare, haunting music. There’s an earthy ethereal quality to tunes like “Window” “Spoon” and “Speck.” After several songs that held murder ballad imagery like “her blood was melancholy” and “a speck of blood for the birds and the bees,” she lightened the tone with the “Plants” (she apparently likes one word titles). This rather upbeat tune, which celebrates her time living in a community house with some 20 other folks, offers that urban gardener rallying cry “plants growing in the city!” With its quiet folksy sound, Speck might be easy to overlook, but Alexa Woodward impresses both in concert and on disc, making her someone for Americana connoisseurs to keep an eye on.

Rosy Times For Rosewood Thieves

2009-06-18T23:21:00.000-07:00

There’s a certain sepia quality to the name Rosewood Thieves, conjuring up images of some long-ago gang of western outlaws. While this New York City-based band has some twang to them, their musical roots have mostly been dug up from rock’s golden Sixties. The cover art to their 2006 debut EP, From The Decker House, aped ‘60s era Columbia releases, and the title itself was a nod to the Band’s Music From Big Pink. Listen to their music, and you know that they have spent hours pouring over classic Dylan, Beatles and Band albums, with frontman Erick Jordan’s voice frequently sounding like a Lennon/ Dylan hybrid. Their new EP still finds them foraging rock’s past, but also expanding their musical territory some. Heartaches By The Pound is a terrific little six track EP devoted to the songs of Rock and Roll Hall Of Famer Solomon Burke, and covering the “King of Rock & Soul” proves to be an inspired concept. While you can still hear the Beatles and Dylan influences bubbling up, the band dirties up their sound with a heavier garage pop vibe that’s also supported by soulful grooves. The Rosewood Thieves are one of those bands that can easily appeal to classic rock hippies and young Americana hipsters.