NTSIB’s good friend and travel companion, writer Cameron Rogers, has posted the first part of his recollections of our visit to Clarksdale, widely considered the birthdplace of the blues. Check it out.
No comments
Month: October 2010
Notable Shows in the Greater Cleveland Area + Party of Helicopters
Shows worth checking out this week in and around Cleveland:
The Beachland Ballroom & Tavern
- Sat, Oct 30| 8:30 PM (7:30 PM door)
Los Straitjackets
Big Sandy and his Fly-Rite Boys
(costumes encouraged)
$18 adv / $20 dos
Ballroom | All Ages - Mon, Nov 1| 9 PM (8:30 PM door)
Wet Hair
Cloud Nothings
Three Legged Race
$5
Ballroom | All Ages - Wed, Nov 3| 8:30 PM (8 PM door)
The Union Line
Hollis Brown
Woovs
$8
Tavern | All Ages - Thu, Nov 4| 7:30 PM (6:30 PM door)
Los Lobos
Jorma Kaukonen
At the Cleveland Masonic Auditorium
In association with Visible Voice Books
$35
| All Ages
- Fri, Oct 29| 10 PM
Mayer Hawthorne & The County
Gordon Voidwell
DJ MisterbradleyP
$17 - Tue Nov 2| 9 PM
Filter
Middle Class Rut
Nonfiction
$15
- Sun Oct 31| 9 PM
The Dreadnoughts
Achachay
Bomb Back Hellcat
$5 donation - Thu Nov 4| 9 PM
Masaki Batoh
Moonrises
Orange Luna Temple
Kohoutek
Fillmore Jive
Zacharius Hay
$5
- Sat, Oct 30| 9 PM
Filmstrip
Clovers
Prisoners
- Sun, Oct 31| 7 PM door
Suicidal Tendencies
Ringworm
Death Before Dishonor
Crossface
$20 adv / $25 dos
Early warning: Party of Helicopters have reunited (again) and will be playing Musica on November 20th. Out of Kent, Ohio, PoH is part of the family tree that also includes Houseguest, Teeth of the Hydra, Beaten Awake, the Six Parts Seven, Drummer and the Black Keys. Additionally, guitarist Jamie Stillman is the founder of Earthquaker Devices.
All this to say, if you don’t know them, they’re good. You should go see them.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svZMJ0filL8?fs=1]
Tony Joe White: You Just Got To Do Your Own Thing
When I stumbled on the music of Tony Joe White while compiling my weekly Notable Shows post, I thought I was unearthing an obscure treasure. Launching the player on his official website, I started listening and didn’t stop for the rest of the day. With a voice so deep that you feel it in your pelvis before it even hits your ears, a penchant for playing his guitar in the lower registers and rhythms that feel fresh even on songs written thirty-some years ago, it’s easy to fall for White’s music. And it’s easy to see why he can count Dan Auerbach and the White Stripes among his fans and why he’s been covered by everyone from Elvis Presley to Brook Benton, Ray Charles and, ahem, Great White.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrzbjgpVjO4?fs=1]
The name may be as unfamiliar to you as it was to me, but it’s likely that you’ve heard his music as White, a.k.a. The Swamp Fox, penned the classic “Polk Salad Annie” and “Rainy Night in Georgia”. And White is still going. He released the album Shine this year and was tour earlier this month. You can sign up for a free mp3 of the lovely “Season Man” from the new album at his website.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6diOn54OWs?fs=1]
Rock ‘n’ Roll Photog: Black Cards
Jennifer re-employs her uncanny ability to get killer shots of Pete Wentz as he broadens the current trend of bands with “Black” in their names. While my taste frequently diverges from Jennifer’s, and NTSIB would not have any Wentz-related content without her, I’m truly proud to be able to feature her great shots here.
Black Cards
Pete Wentz amid a forest of hands and cameras
Apparently I have some mysterious talent for taking reasonably good but yet oddly blown-out pictures of Pete Wentz. I took this a week and a half ago in a teeny-tiny club in Poughkeepsie. The occasion was the last night of a three-show mini-tour by Black Cards, which is his new band. Blown out or not I’m fond of it, though, because, well, look at his little grinny face. He was having fun, y’all, and I was glad I could be there to see it. (Also, that forest of hands and cameras? They were there ALL NIGHT. I was three rows back from the stage and that was essentially my view!)
As for the music: it was great. Their sound incorporates elements of reggae and dance-pop and is wholly different from Fall Out Boy, but is still definitely rock and roll. They don’t have a record out yet, but based on what I heard, I’ll be picking it up when it does appear. Meanwhile, you’ll find links to listen to and/or download the two singles they have on the internet here. Note: the singles are representative of their dance-pop side. They’re much heavier live, and the drums and guitars have a larger, more solid presence. I won’t make April’s head explode (today) by using any “sounds like” comparisons, but I will say: imagine what No Doubt might be like if they had Chicago grit and New York City glamour going for them.
Bebe Rexha, Nate Patterson, Pete Wentz
You might now be wondering whatever possessed me to take a two hour train ride to Poughkeepsie to attend a show in a teeny-tiny bar by a band with no record out and only two singles on the internet. The answer is: April has Greg (fucking) Dulli, I have Pete Wentz. Also, while I’m not going to get into the tedious gory details, suffice it to say, the tour and the music were and are the physical fruits of Wentz’s recovery from a rough year. And it was really, really good to see him happy on stage again.
Meanwhile, here is another one of my favorite pictures from the evening:
Bebe Rexha
This is Bebe Rexha (of Staten Island!), lead singer for the band. Her voice is delicious, and her stage presence is killer. I believe I used the phrase “hot reggae swagger” to describe it to people.
I’ll conclude now with an atmospheric shot of the alley next to the club, in honor of Halloween. And because everyone needs some spooky lights and shadowy dragons in their Wednesday, right?
Love, Blood and Rhetoric
In lieu of a constructive contribution to the blogosphere today, and in tribute to my fraught relationship with my lady parts, I’m sharing a list of menstrual music. Songs to bleed to. With a little help from our friends.
“Happy and Bleeding” – PJ Harvey
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev6rS2O19ik?fs=1]
suggested by takethisbread
“Positive Bleeding” – Urge Overkill
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww-f4glTOdw?fs=1]
suggested by April
Peaches
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXiFuU7X_Fo?fs=1]
suggested by amanjo
“Grown So Ugly” – The Black Keys
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkp_EU_yqz0?fs=1]
suggested by Bluerooster
“Comfortably Numb” – Pink Floyd
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkJNyQfAprY?fs=1]
suggested by Jennifer
And, really, no menstrual music list would be complete without the Cramps…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fyr0zbaFyE?fs=1]
Honorable (for a given value of “honor”) mentions: “Let it Bleed” by the Rolling Stones (suggested by takethisbread), “Blood” by My Chemical Romance (suggested by Jennifer)
Feel free to share other suggestions in comments. Misery loves company.
Notable Shows in the Greater Cleveland Area
Shows worth checking out this week in and around Cleveland:
The Beachland Ballroom & Tavern
- Fri, Oct 22| 9 PM (8 PM door)
Papadosio
Zoogma
Broccoli Samurai
$10
Ballroom | All Ages - Wed, Oct 27| 9 PM (9 PM door)
JC’s Night of Star MakingMoth Cock with Nate Scheible
Poly Sumkin (Justin & Julia)
RA Washington
Christopher Cannon
JC DJing minimal techno & eurobass in between setsFREE SHOW!!!
Tavern | All Ages - Thu, Oct 28| 8 PM (7:30 PM door)
Mooncussers
The Corduroy Mason Band
Dave Padrutt
$6
Tavern | All Ages
- Fri, Oct 22| 8:30 PM
Humble Home (CD Release)
Andy Cook & The Waterloons
Authors
Tom Evanchuck
Rebekah Jean
$7 (includes CD) - Sun, Oct 24| 8 PM
Legendary Pink Dots 30th Anniversary Tour
DJ Neal Darewaves
DJ Textbeak
$16 adv / $18 dos - Wed, Oct 27| 9 PM
Me & My Arrow
Craig Ramsey
Adam Barry
$6 - Thu, Oct 28| 9 PM
Blood Red Shoes
Sky Larkin
Starlazer
Trans Atlas
$8
- Sat, Oct 23| 9 PM
Human Eye
Beast in the Field
Little Sister
Centrifuge
$5
- Sat, Oct 23| 6 PM
The Photo Atlas
Asleep
Maid Myriad
Polymertization Band
Come Wind
$8 - Mon, Oct 25| 8 PM
Phantogram
Josiah Wolf
The Royaltons
$11
- Sun, Oct 24| 8 PM (7 PM Door)
Social Distortion
Lucero
Frank Turner
$30 / $38
- Tue, Oct 26| 7 PM
The Misfits
Juicehead
Werewolves
$20 adv / $24 dos
Lee Fields and the Expressions: Stay Tuned or It Will Pass You By
Talk about being late to the party. Lee Fields made his first album in 1969 when he was 17 years old, but I didn’t hear about him until this summer when he opened for the Black Keys at their Terminal 5 show in New York. And not having been in attendance for that show, I didn’t actually listen to Fields until even more recently.
Now I can’t stop listening.
Aided by Leon Michels (whom you may know as co-owner of Truth & Soul Records or from his work as one of Sharon Jones’ Dap-Kings or as part of El Michels Affair or as one of those dudes backing up the Black Keys on their current tour or from any number of other projects Michels has his creative hand in), Fields has created a marvelous, sensuous, emotionally-charged album, My World, of contemporary soul with a decidedly classic edge. This is the first album in ages that has made me feel like turning the lights down low and spending time with a special someone – and since music is my boyfriend, this works out nicely.
Honey Dove – Lee Fields and the Expressions
Ladies – Lee Fields and the Expressions
Do it.
Rock ‘n’ Roll Photog: Mark Ronson and the Business INTL
This week, Jennifer reveals the quirky interests of her childhood and sees Q-Tip! (Oh, and this Mark Ronson kid.)
Mark Ronson and the Business INTL
I have spent a certain amount of time in the last couple of weeks listening to Record Collection and pondering the question of how to descibe the sound of Mark Ronson and the Business INTL. A potpourri made of hip-hop and synth-rock electronica? The soundtrack to someone else’s glamorous life? The kind of thing that would be playing the background of a Wes Anderson movie? All of the above? I finally settled on: a delicate, complicated game of vocal pick-up sticks with hot dance beats, though The Business’ Twitter bio says they’re “Nature’s The Traveling Wilburys”, which might also be a wholly accurate description.
Stuart Zender (Jamiroquai) and Alex Greenwald (Phantom Planet)
Ronson has certainly managed to pull in an eclectic collection of musicians, representing multiple generations of multiple genres. I was at the Webster Hall show, where in addition to the Business – Rose Dougall, Alex Greenwald, Stuart Zender, MNDR, and MC Spank Rock – hip-hop artists Q-Tip and Pill showed up to jam. At his UK shows, audiences were treated to Boy George (!) and Duran Duran (!!).
MC Spank Rock
What all of that talent in one place translates to is some great tunes amd a really, really fun show. I’ve already expressed my appreciation for the title track; I’m also especially fond of You Gave Me Nothing and The Night Last Night. It’s important to note here that I am normally not so much into synth-pop; back in the early ’80s, while my sister was wearing out her Rio tape, I had my radio dial tuned to hockey games, Larry King Live and Loveline. But these grooves are kind of irresistible.
Q-Tip
Also, for those of you who are squinting at your screen right now thinking Mark who?, his previous (concurrent?) incarnations include being a DJ and, perhaps most notoriously, Amy Winehouse’s producer. Though he’s worked with a whole lot of other people as well, in fact he made a handy flow chart for an interview he did with New York Magazine.
MNDR and Mark Ronson
In conclusion: If you did like synth-pop, or still do, and in particular of you prefer your synths poppy and untroubled by industrial undertones, there is a lot for you to love here, and you should totally check them out.
Bit: Cadillac Sky
- After the news of Bryan Simpson’s departure, Cadillac Sky have announced that Levi Lowery is joining the band and will begin playing with them on their tour with Mumford and Sons, beginning October 27.
Bits: Cadillac Sky, Stephen Calt, The Magnetic Fields, mr. Gnome, Twain, The Low Anthem
- Bryan Simpson has announced his departure from Cadillac Sky. An announcement about his replacement is forthcoming. We are grateful to Bryan for the great music he’s given us and wish him much happiness.
- Dust-to-Digital reports the passing of blues biographer Stephen Calt, author of King of the Delta Blues: The Life an Music of Charlie Patton and I’d Rather Be the Devil: Skip James and the Blues among other tomes.
- Now on to better news: the Magnetic Fields would like to bring their film Strange Powers to your town. Learn how you can help make it happen.
- mr. Gnome has almost completed it’s third album and has announced tour dates starting in November.
- Mat Davidson of the Low Anthem has released his second album with his project Twain. Interesting stuff. Check it out.
Speaking of the Low Anthem, we’ve been slowly falling in love with them since seeing them open for the Avett Brothers last winter. Here’s a nice little docu-video on them.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0yAMMCCgg4?fs=1]