Music
August 11: Frau with Birds of Hair and Katherine. Cafe Bourbon Street, 2216 Summit St.
Frau from London are a breath of fresh air, taking classic punk tropes and stylistic signifiers and injecting enough acid in their veins that they feel brand new. Great songs that break into wild, unpredictable noise, this is the kind of show Bobo excels at.
Birds of Hair are one of my favorite, favorite bands that almost never plays. Marcy Mays from Scrawl and Night Family on guitar and vocals, Sarah Yetter from Frostiva and El Jesus de Magico on bass, and Jen Burton, now mostly known in town as an entrepreneur for The Barrel and the Bottle and Seventh Son Brewing but with a long history of fascinating music with bands like Face Place, on drums. A noisy, riotous band that reminds me of everything I love about rock and roll.
Katherine were one of those bands I wished I saw more in town, great songs and an earnestness that never got cloying. One of the two members is moving to Philly very soon so this is both a reminder that nothing gold can stay and that you should get out and see the bands you love while they’re playing because you don’t know when it’s going to stop, but mostly this will just be a great show.
Doors at 9:00pm. $5 cover.
August 13: Danny Bauer. Dick’s Den, 2417 N High St.
Danny Bauer, recently profiled in JazzColumbus, has over the last couple years established himself as one of the city’s most versatile pianists, a first call for a lot of musical situations. I’m very intrigued to see this new group he’s suggested (in the above interview) skews toward the avant-garde.
Bauer’s assembled an incredibly strong lineup of players. John Allen, rapidly becoming one of the finest bass players I’ve ever seen in town and Ryan Folger who’s worked a lot with those two and Zakk Jones combine for what should be a tight, swinging rhythm section. Aroh Pandit on trumpet astonished me with John Allen’s quintet at Dick’s not long ago. Justin Dickson on saxophone from that Capital University axis I haven’t seen as much but I’ve heard great things. The most intriguing x-factor for me here is the addition of Annie Huckaba on vocals who blew me away in CATCO’s brilliant production of [title of show].
Show begins at 10:00pm, $4 cover.
August 14: Maceo Parker. Scioto Mile, 25 Marconi St.
Popular music of the last half of the 20th century would look a hell of a lot different if it weren’t for the great Maceo Parker. A key player in the JBs and the best lineups of Parliament-Funkadelic, his unmistakable gritty tenor sound has enlivened records from Keith Richards to Dee-Lite to Prince without even getting into all the samples.
Maceo invariably has one of the best live bands touring. I still talk about that joint tour with Ani Difranco in the late ’90s as one of the five best shows I’ve seen of any genre. Funk/rock/pop royalty doesn’t get any higher than this and you’d be a fool to miss a chance to see one of the true, unassailable living legends.
August 15: Nots. Dude Locker, 527 E Hudson St.
Nots is one of the most exciting rock bands I’ve seen in years. Based out of Memphis and led by Natalie Hoffman and Charlotte Watson, when they take the stage it’s a torrent of sparks and heat and acid. They put out a record on Goner last year I can’t stop listening to. They blew the roof of the tent off at 4th and 4th a few weeks ago and we’re very blessed to have them back in town so soon.
This is also the 7″ release party for one of the best bands in town, Raw Pony, making this even more of a don’t-miss for anyone who likes rock and roll. The bill’s rounded out by the spacier rock of Sex Tide and elder statesman Mike Rep.
August 16: Eric Taylor. Natalie’s Coal-Fired Pizza, 5601 N High.
I’m not sure I can think of a better songwriter than Eric Taylor – I know for damn sure I couldn’t name more than five. His ability to zoom in from universal aphorism to the most perfect of details and, in turn, reveal the universal in that, bringing Blake’s the world in a grain of sand to life, is the kind of dazzling writing that makes me want to work much, much harder.
Taylor fuses a deep empathy for his characters to heartrending earworm melodies. He can say more in a couple lines – like the opening to “Big Love”, “I found your name and number / On a pack of matches / Thought that I might call you up / And talk about myself” – than most people ever do in whole books or records. Do not miss this. I can’t recommend anything higher.
Screen of Distance 