Tag: The Heartless Bastards

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Notable shows in the greater Cleveland area & the Heartless Bastards are on their way

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Shows worth checking out this week in and around Cleveland:

The Beachland Ballroom & Tavern

  • Sat, May 8| 8 PM (7:30 PM door)
    Grass Roots Movement
    Red Side Visible
    $5.00
    Ballroom | All Ages

  • Sat, May 8| 9 PM (8 PM door)
    SOLD OUT!
    Deer Tick
    The Guile
    $12.00
    Tavern | All Ages

  • Mon, May 10| 8:30 PM (7:30 PM door)
    The Felice Brothers
    Cassette
    $15.00
    Tavern | All Ages

  • Tue, May 11| 8:30 PM (7:30 PM door)
    Local Natives
    Suckers / In Association with Music Saves
    $10.00 adv / $12.00 dos
    Ballroom | All Ages

  • Thu, May 13| 8 PM (7 PM door)
    Wanda Jackson
    The Lustre Kings
    $15.00 adv / $17.00 dos
    Ballroom | All Ages

Grog Shop

  • Sun, May 9| 9 PM
    Murder By Death
    Ha Ha Tonka
    Linfinity
    $12 adv
    $14 dos

  • Thurs, May 13| 9 PM
    Plants and Animals
    Elliott Brood
    Lowly, The Tree Ghost
    $8 adv
    $10 dos

Now That’s Class

  • Mon, May 10| 9 PM
    Pride Parade

Akron Civic Theatre

  • POSTPONED – was Tues, May 11 – now Sun, July 18
    Willie Willie Nelson & the Family
    $49.50/$59.50

The House of Blues

  • Weds, May 12| 9 PM (8 PM door)
    RATT
    Byron Nemeth Group
    $23.00 adv
    $27.00 dos
    $38.00 reserved seats

Happy Dog

  • Weds, May 12| 8 PM
    Juston Stens and The Get Real Gang

The Kent Stage

  • Thurs, May 13| 8 PM
    Colin Hay
    $25

Wilbert’s

  • Fri, May 14
    Pat Dinizio
    (acoustic set for Mike Campbell book launch)

The Heartless Bastards signed to Fat Possum Records with help from Patrick Carney of the Black Keys, and the Bastards will be playing the Beachland Ballroom on July 22, just a couple of days before the Keys hit the stage at Nautica. Gonna be an amazing week for live music.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71mt0FcgGI8]

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The Heartless Bastards: I’m Gonna See What Tomorrow Brings

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I am guilty of misogyny in my listening practices. I am not the most girly of girls, and hearing twee and breathy vocals can turn me off to a song faster than mentions of pina coladas and getting caught in the rain or riding through the desert on a horse with no name. I find a great many female singers either sound alike to me or give me nothing I can connect to. This is one reason I am grateful for Erika Wennerstrom and her band the Heartless Bastards.

[Author’s note: In recent years, this line of misguided chatter has haunted me, and I feel shame whenever I think about it. I’d like to offer my apology for it. Women in music, women in general, people in general, deserve better.]

To say Erika Wennerstrom has a powerful voice is a bit like saying meteor showers are pretty. True as it is, it doesn’t get the whole idea across. By all accounts a diminutive woman, Wennerstrom can belt out vocals like she’s eight feet tall. Though her power is not just in volume, but also in the emotions she can convey: weariness, toughness, heartache, hope. Backed up by the Bastards with buzzsaw guitars and stomping beats, one might be inclined to dub the Heartless Bastards listening experience “empowering”. I prefer to think of it as bringing out my inner badass, and Wennerstrom effortlessly takes her place alongside rock ‘n’ roll heroines like Patti Smith, Chrissie Hynde, Kim Gordon and the Deal sisters. (One might be tempted to posit a theory that there’s a correlation between being from Ohio and being a wickedly cool lady.)

The Heartless Bastards will be playing two stateside dates at the end of this month (February 25 in Shreveport, Louisiana, and February 26 in Houston, Texas) before heading out on a Eurpoean tour. There has also been talk of a Heartless Bastards headlining tour with A.A. Bondy playing support for several shows, which seems like a perfect match.

On a sidenote, I would love to hear Erika Wennerstrom and A.A. Bondy duet. What stories those two voices could tell together!

The Heartless Bastards – The Mountain
The Heartless Bastards – Sway

The Heartless Bastards official site