listening this week....

the ladybug transistor - can't wait another day

mandy moore (lol) - wild hope (as i explained to a friend earlier today, this is one of those albums i knew i'd hate but had to hear it for myself)

josh rouse - country mouse, city house

amandine - solace in sore hands

okkervil river - the stage names

lewis & clarke - blasts of holy birth

VA - rubber folk (folk covers of rubber soul)

dolores o'riordan - are you listening

montag - going places

tom jones - reload

willie nelson - red headed stranger, yesterday's wine

handsome furs - plague park

the budos band - the budos band

reviewees:

southern culture on the skids - countrypolitan favorites

prosser

robbers on high street - grand animals

emerson hart - cigarettes and gasoline

lafayette gilchrist - 3

upcoming shows

1964: the tribute?

the slip with bobby bare, jr.

the mayhaws?

the hotdamns

the laylons

homemade knives

ralph stanley

FloydFest! (or creeping weeds)

son volt, cripple lilies, karma bat, o'circus, the HOTDAMNS

i saw the cripple lilies open for now sleepyhead on 6/11. yes, i've been vacationing or something so it's almost old news. i was very impressed especially with the likes of Elizabeth Lopiccollo (flute, keys, vocals). i was mesmerized by her style and unique sounds. laid back folk led into chamber folk/pop. check them out. now sleepyhead were a bit pretentious for their britches, but that's just my opinion. they need to work on their stage presence (not use lyric sheets, be more comfortable in front of audiences without showing their lack of confidence. i missed out on vince dynamic, which i was sorry for.



son volt was a few days later, 6/14, at the botanical garden. i can see why jeff tweedy and jay farrar went their separate ways from uncle tupelo. son volt's boring, droning "alt-country-rock" reminded us of a matchbox 20 show. there was maybe a high point where collective chaos allowed for the lead guitarist to go off a bit. perhaps it was the crowd of aging gen-xers boozing it up, too, but i was less than pleased.

later that night we went to show our support for botox party and saw opening band crack filler and karma bat. they were half no doubt, half hardcore. the lead female singer had a wireless mic attached to her face, so that was humorous. she then switched to guitar as the prior guitarist screamed in his mic. i did enjoy the finale, as she came into the crowd and hit on the women while she sang, ending with molesting me at my feet.


saturday night i went to see the hotdamns, who gave their best performance to date (including debuting a new yet-to-be-titled song with a surf flavor.
after they left the stage, o'circus took to the stage with their acts ranging from a mime, fire dancing, juggling, burlesque, and a joke magician. their turn of the century (1920's ish) brand of entertainment was a great time. and the chicks were hot.

los huevos diablos

tuesday night i saw los huevos diablos (no site yet, myspace soon) perform some classic old-time jazz. they shifted between latin sounds, straight ahead jazz, gypsy-tinged, bebop, and sweet jazz. some of their selections were even folk based. we got there to hear dizzy gillespie's "muskrat ramble" and "estrellita" (most likely by manuel maría ponce cuéllar).



their next set began with mostly latin tango rhythms and flavors. at one point they switched phrases in a linear fashion: guitar 1 played a brief phrase, fiddle (i thought it was a viola, but my man disagreed) played a phrase, and so on). it was a refreshing take on the trading riffs and soloing that goes in at typical jazz shows. usually it's one guy does a solo, golf clap. another guy wails, golf clap. they kept it fresh and alive.
they then played "take the a train" made popular by duke ellington and written by billy strayhorn. classic awesome. you can't go wrong with that song, and that's one of npr's picks of the 100 most influential songs in american history.


things got extra exciting when an older redneck couple (although the female obviously kept her figure and other attributes) slow danced (read:leaned on each other) and then met in the bathroom to have sex. they emerged with giant smiles and disappeared into a booth behind us. ahh, old love.

red clay river, the fox hunt

red clay river was one of two openers for mason dixon disaster's cd release show saturday. dan bivins played banjo and steel guitar while his associate, aaron parker, played his custom-made (by himself) guit-cell. that is, it had a cello base and a guitar head for a sweet sound. being from roanoke made for a realistic, rusty sound as bivins' voice spread on grisly charm.

the fox hunt was made up of four gentleman, two of whom switched between double bass and guitar. they are also here. the other two were a fiddler and mandolin player (who also switched to banjo). their blended four part harmony was impressive, especially when they went a capella. the final song was "old drinking song" during which the female singer from MDD joined in (drunkenly). below please see a horrible snippet youtube of them from another performance. it was the only one i could find. anyway, their music was swinging and hollering and just lovely. oh, and the fiddler's arms were beautiful:




i didnt stay for much of MDD because 1)the show started about two hours later than advertised and we had some other plans and 2)MDD isnt my thing. they are loud, but that doesnt make them good. the female singer is alright, but she just stands there during half of the songs doing nothing (sometimes using a harmonica to do that nothing). they have a new bassist (who is in marionette and barstool heroes, both of whom i've mentioned in this blog before).