Author: April

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Notable shows in the greater Cleveland area & Ohio girls, best in the world

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Shows worth checking out this week in and around Cleveland:

The Beachland Ballroom & Tavern

  • Sun, Apr 4| 8 PM (7 PM door)
    South Memphis String Band
    featuring Luther Dickinson / Alvin Youngblood Heart / Jimbo Mathus / Austin “Walkin” Cane
    Presented with the support of Roots of American Music
    $15.00 adv / $18.00 dos
    Ballroom | All Ages

  • Wed, Apr 7| 9 PM (8:30 PM door)
    Megafaun
    Charlie Parr
    $10.00
    Tavern | All Ages

Grog Shop

  • Tues, Apr 6| 9 PM
    Japandroids
    Avi Buffalo
    Jaguar Love
    Two Hand Fools
    $10.00

  • Thurs, Apr 8| 9 PM
    Rare Birds
    Winters Warm
    2nd Half
    FREE

Musica

  • Sat, Apr 3| 8 PM
    Cameron McGill and What Army
    Gallery
    Stereovox
    Sweet Spot
    $8.00

Oberlin College

  • Wed, Apr 7| 10 PM
    Girls
    Dum Dum Girls
    $10

Now That’s Class

  • Fri, Apr 9| 9 PM
    Easy Action
    Short Rabbits
    The Exploding Lies

House of Blues

  • Fri, Apr 9| 8 PM (7 PM door)
    The Dan Band
    Dot Dot Dot
    $17.50 adv
    $20.00 dos
    $25.00 balcony

Ohio girl Jessica Lea Mayfield will be playing the Beachland next month. We like her.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5131892&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

KEXP inStudio 5.2 – JESSICA LEA MAYFIELD from More Dust Than Digital on Vimeo.

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Slackday: NTSIB has a crush on Duke Street Blog

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Duke Street Blog assured themselves a place in NTSIB’s heart the moment they posted those amazing A.A. Bondy videos back in February. They’ve continued to deliver and have been posting some really great stuff from SXSW. This Roadside Graves clip had me smiling all the way through, and the Schocholautte clip is total rock ‘n’ roll.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=10558611&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ffffff&fullscreen=1

Roadside Graves – Valley – SXSW 2010 from DUKE STREET on Vimeo.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=10557315&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ffffff&fullscreen=1

Schocholautte – Spilled Milk – SXSW 2010 from DUKE STREET on Vimeo.

And look at that: I got through an entire post without mentioning that Akron duo. My gift to you.

Duke Street Blog

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Bits: listen to new Conrad Plymouth, see through Mike Watt’s eyes

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  • Conrad Plymouth are streaming their newborn (as in, the masters were just finished yesterday) EP on their MySpace and Facebook pages. I have even stopped listening to “Next Girl” to hear it.

  • Thunderbroom legend Mike Watt becomes an exhibited photographer tonight. If you’re in the Santa Monica area, you can see his Eye-gifts from Pedro exhibit at Track 16 through May 1.

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Rock ‘n’ Roll as Educational Tool

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I’ve always liked the Black Keys, but I have been getting more into them lately thanks to an early taste, via the uber groovy track “Tighten Up” (not a cover of the Archie Bell and the Drells’ song as I originally suspected), of their new album that’s coming out in May. Dan and Pat are Ohio boys who grew up in Akron, relatively speaking, just down the road from where I grew up. This is sometimes weird and slightly unsettling.

For instance: In doing some TBK fansite reading, I came across a familiar face.

See that big, craggy-faced dude with the feathers who’s lurking behind the amps? I know that dude. I’ve passed him many times throughout my life. Never knew his name or where he came from, but I always gave him a nod and a smile in passing.

Well, not that dude exactly. You see, that dude is a representation (possibly to size) of this dude:

I don’t know how many times I’ve passed him, and I’ve always admired him (especially during my high school years when I was obsessed with American Indian culture), but I never knew a damn thing about him until today. He has a name. Rotaynah. His creator is Hungarian-born Ohio artist Peter Wolf Toth, and Toth has erected at least one monolithic Indian head sculpture in every state in the country (some states have two or three of them), as well as in some provinces of Canada. They each have a name, and, collectively, they make the Trail of the Whispering Giants.

And it only took me twenty-plus years to find that out. Thanks, Dan and Pat!

(Astute observers may have also noted that Rotaynah makes an appearance on the cover of the Black Keys’ album Rubber Factory.)

  • Speaking of TBK, it didn’t take long for “Next Girl” to get posted on the net after it was offered as a tour tickets pre-sale incentive. You can listen to it at I Am Fuel You Are Friends. Though I have already listened to it enough times for all of us combined.

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Late to the Party: BlakRoc

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NTSIB could be all late-to-the-party all the time. Some music I am slow to warm up to (I’m just now starting to get on board with Local Natives). Some music I know I like, but I don’t really get into until years after I first hear it. Some music I don’t even know about until it’s old news.

BlakRoc falls into the third category for me, and I’m still mystified that I didn’t even know about this project this time last week. For others who may be as out of the loop as I have been on this: BlakRoc is a collaborative project between the Black Keys and Damon Dash of Roc-A-Fella Records. Dash helped bring a number of hip-hop luminaries in for the project, like Mos Def, Ludacris, Raekwon, Q-Tip and the RZA. The fucking RZA! Names even white people recognize! There’s even a from-the-grave appearance from Ol’ Dirty Bastard.

It’s no secret that the Black Keys have soul, and their groove-heavy music is a perfect, strong background for the rhymes laid down on this project. BlakRoc is fucking sweet, and NTSIB hasn’t been this instantaneously excited about an album in a long time.

http://www.lala.com/external/flash/SingleSongWidget.swf

The BlakRoc website could keep you busy for hours because not only have they posted videos of their appearances on Letterman and Fallon, but they also have webisodes of each of their recording sessions.

BlakRoc Official Website

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Bits: Black Keys pre-sale tix, new Low Anthem in the works, Radio Free Song Club, MGV first performance, Lissie’s AD interview

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  • Pre-sale tickets for the Black Keys summer tour went on sale this morning. Early birds will get the new album, Brothers, when it is released and instant downloads of “Tighten Up” and “Next Girl”.
  • The Low Anthem are working on a new album, which will include the lovely “Apothecary”.
  • Gather a bunch of seasoned songwriters, give them a monthly song deadline, make a podcast about it. That’s the premise of Radio Free Song Club, whose members include Victoria Williams, Peter Holsapple and Freedy Johnston, among others.
  • Duke Street Blog have begun posting their videos from SXSW, including the first performance by mini supergroup MG&V; – John McCauley of Deer Tick, Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes and Matt Vasquez of Delta Spirit.
  • Lisse gets the Aquarium Drunkard treatment.

    • Here are the Low Anthem performing “Apothecary” in Grand Central Station for La Blogotheque’s Take Away Concert series:
    http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9319392&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

    The Low Anthem – Apothecary – A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

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    Bob Wills: Talkin’ ‘Bout the King of Western Swing

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    The first time I heard the name Bob Wills was in the Brian Setzer/Joe Strummer-penned tune “Ghost Radio” from Setzer’s Guitar Slinger album. I learned a little more about Wills and his Texas Playboys from one of my many visits to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and decided to take the plunge and scrounge some of Wills’ western swing to actually listen to.

    Confession: I hated it.

    Wills constant, high-pitched interjections of “A-haaa!” and “Yes, yes…” got on my nerves in record time. I could appreciate the music, but I couldn’t get past Wills’ voice. So I set Wills aside, thinking it just wasn’t for me.

    A few years later, I checked out the first volume (and the only volume that my library has…) of the PBS documentary series American Roots Music. Not only was Wills mentioned in the doc itself, but one of the extras on that first disc is a full performance of Bob and his boys playing “Sitting on Top of the World”.

    I kinda fell in love.

    It seems in the later years, Bob cut down on the high-pitched interjections and cranked up the funny asides. I decided it was time to give Mr. Wills another go. I found that if I started with the later work, I could get past the frequent “Ahhh!”s of the early work. I could even begin to enjoy them because they started to make me smile.

    Wills’ music not only hits the spot on two-stepping, but it also throws in some down ‘n’ dirty booty-shakin’ and it also fills a niche for music I don’t have enough of: sweet, languid fiddle music that puts me in mind of a mild summer evening, sitting on a porch swing with a glass of sweet tea and a sweet boy.

    This is the very performance that turned the tide for me. Please try to ignore Bob’s old man pants. And the wife beater seen through his shirt. I repeat, DO NOT STARE DIRECTLY INTO BOB’S CLOTHING.

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sS5jSbV0Vg]

    And a clip from one of a number of film appearances that Bob and the boys made, this one of my favorite Wills tune, “Stay a Little Longer”:

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM50ZQpSSTY]

    Bob Wills Official Website

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    Notable shows in the greater Cleveland area & the Black Keys crack my shit up

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    Shows worth checking out this week in and around Cleveland:

    The Beachland Ballroom & Tavern

    • Sun, Mar 28| 8 PM (7 PM door)
      Bob Schneider
      Steve Palmer Band
      $15.00 adv / $17.00 dos
      Ballroom | All Ages

    • Wed, Mar 31| 7:30 PM (7 PM door)
      Judgement Day (feat. Anton Patzner of Bright Eyes)
      Arlo & The Otter (CD Release)
      $5.00 adv / $7.00 dos
      Tavern | All Ages

    • Fri, Apr 2| 9 PM (8 PM door)
      Trombone Shorty
      & Orleans Avenue
      Bill Burke & Tertium Quid Percussion Ensemble
      $15.00
      Ballroom | All Ages

    • Fri, Apr 2| 9 PM (8 PM door)
      Tim Barry (of Avail)
      Red Clay River / The Not So Good ol’ Boys / Audra Mae
      Presented in conjunction w/ The Grog Shop
      $10.00
      Tavern | All Ages

    Grog Shop

    • Sat, Mar 27| 10PM
      Lowly,The Tree Ghost
      Bethesda
      Christopher Black
      $5

    Musica

    • Mon, Mar 29| 7 PM
      Bear Hands
      Call Me Constant
      Nick Wilkinson
      Apogee 13
      $13

    House of Blues

    • Sun, Mar 28| 9 PM (8 PM door)
      Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
      $27.50 ADV
      $30.00 DOS
      $39.50 Balcony

    • Wed, Mar 31| 8 PM (7 PM door)
      Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
      Alberta Cross
      $16 ADV
      $18 DOS

    Lakewood Civic Auditorium

    • Sun, Mar 28| 8 PM
      Tegan & Sara
      Holly Miranda
      Steel Train
      $25/$30

    The Kent Stage

    • Thurs, Apr 1| 8 PM
      Henry Rollins
      Presented by the Grog Shop
      $20 ADV
      $25 DOS
      Tickets available at the Grog Shop fee-free

    Aside from rockin’ booty, the Black Keys also crack my shit up.

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKXlgISd3iA]

    And you know you’re from Ohio when you still think it would be rad to shoot a video at Laser Tag in the year 2008.

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKXlgISd3iA]

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    Slackday: Can you feel the blood poundin’ way down inside?

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    It’s Slackday, y’all! Because, let’s be honest, that’s all those Friday Fun posts have ever been: NTSIB phoning it in by looking for YouTube videos that might amuse you. Today is a special Slackday, though, as you get the barely-trying post you’ve come to expect every Friday, plus a hit of Guilty Pleasure because, this week, Slackday is all about Billy Squier, friends.

    Why, in the name of Joe Strummer, do I persist in listening to Billy Squier, you ask? I got to know Billy’s music at that time in my youth when things were beginning to stir in my pants. Bad things. Shameful things. Billy understood. He had just the soundtrack for bad and shameful things. To this day, his music still makes me feel bad and full of shame, partially in my head and partially, still, in my pants.

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR0j7sModCI]

    You can’t have a tribute to Billy without this song, and the video features a starring role by the foil-wrapped zucchini in Billy’s trousers.

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR0j7sModCI]

    Saving the best for last, I like to think of this as the Deranged Richard Simmons video.

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR0j7sModCI]