Theatre
August 29: Feed Your Soul ’15. Riffe Center Theatres, 77 S High St.
I don’t think it’s any surprise how hard I rep for Available Light – the single theatre company that reignited my taste for local theatre six-seven years ago. They’re not only doing the most consistently inspiring and invigorating work in town but they’ve been a vanguard, helping raise everyone’s game.
I’m really looking forward to the plans for this new season (which I detailed in an article for Columbus Underground) and the kickoff for their seasons are always the most fun gala I’ve ever attended – Feed Your Soul. Great, hand-chosen items for silent auction, terrific small plates food, fascinating conversations with awesome people, and most importantly some one-night-only entertainment. In past years sometimes it’s been previews of the next season, sometimes greatest hits, always a few brand new exciting collaborations not to be duplicated, and while no details have been revealed to me, I have been told this year will be very, very special.
Starts at 6:00pm. $50 and up tickets and more info are available at http://avltheatre.com/fys15/
August 29: A Little Night Gala. Garden Theatre, 1187 N High St.
Also impressing me consistently this past year has Short North Stage who have really grown into fulfulling their promise. They’re doing a fantastic job of balancing the big-budget musicals they’re known for with quirkier small plays and musicals, making excellent use of their smaller green room stage.
Friends who’ve gone to their gala in past years say it’s a blast. Expectations are particularly high for this season which kicks off in earnest with Sondheim’s masterpiece A Little Night Music so expect a preview of that along with great food and a silent auction.
VIP begins at 6:30pm, general admission 7:30pm. $50 Patron and $75 VIP tickets along with more info are available at http://www.shortnorthstage.org/calendar/v/481
Music
August 27: Orgone. Woodlands Tavern, 1200 W 3rd Ave.
Funky ground zero to soundtrack your late Summer comes to Woodlands this week. Orgone’s one of the most purely entertaining, vibrant, monstrous bands I’ve ever seen live. I’ve seen them leave a pound of sweat on the stage even when they were playing to maybe 5 people (an ill-starred last minute show at Ravari Room) and I’ve seen them make the floor buckle with a strong crowd. Promoting their new record, the terrific Beyond the Sun, this LA band’s show at Woodlands is a can’t miss.
Opening are Chicago’s The Heard, one of the country’s fastest rising, hottest funk machines. They’ve been recording with Orgone and this double bill is a match made in funk heaven.
Show starts at 9:00pm. $10 tickets available at http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=6020365
August 28: Barrence Whitfield and the Savages. Natalie’s Coal Fired Pizza, 5601 N High St.
Still one of the finest, most unmistakable screams in rock and roll. The great Barrence Whitfield’s second act with a reconstituted Savages, currently including original member Peter Greenberg of DMZ and The Lyres (one of the great vocalist and guitarist pairings) is a wonder and a joy to watch.
Whitfield’s putting out records that stand tall alongside his classics like Dig Yourself and Ow! Ow! Ow!. His tribute to the King Records catalogue, Savage Kings, and Dig Thy Savage Soul are grimy, soul-soaked classics and advance word is the new record Beneath a Savage Sky they’re touring on this trip through town is the best one yet. Soul-punk fusion that’s never been bettered.
Show starts at 10:00pm. $15 tickets available at https://www.vendini.com/ticket-software.html?t=tix&e=624796105164aa050fcdc6b9f305fa89
August 30: Loveless Family Reunion. Columbus Commons.
Sometimes you see a band that has that x-factor, that je ne sais quoi, that sticks with you for a long time. For me, one of those bands was Carson Drew who I first saw at my lifelong pal Ryan Vile’s birthday at Bernie’s. After I got past the shock of seeing a band of teenage girls with their father on drums in that bar I associated with filthy ebullience and hazy debauchery, I was enraptured by the songs’ attempt to grapple with the seamy underbelly of ’60s pop. They didn’t last long enough to quite fulfill their inherent promise but a couple years after the breakup, offshoot bands started to emerge that took different aspects of Carson Drew – and other interests and life experience picked up along the way – in other directions. Columbus Alive is presenting a family reunion of sorts, bringing the prodigal bands back under the same tent to Columbus Commons.
Most famous in the world at large is Lydia Loveless, the new rising star of Bloodshot Records with my record of the year last year (and a lot of other folks). I’ve gushed about her at length many times but she just gets better and stronger and more nuanced and her band continues to be among the best bands in town, even better now that they’ve added George Houndroulis on drums. She closes the evening at 5:10.
Immediately before Lydia, at 4:20, The Girls! (featuring Jessica Wabbit as well as Ryan Vile mentioned earlier) return to where they rightfully belong – the stage – to continue bashing out the best damn power-pop in town. Sugary hooks, acidic lyrical detail, and plenty of the power in the first half of that term.
Prior to The Girls!, Dead Girlfriends play at 3:10. Dead Girlfriends, led by Eleanor (and also featuring Reaghan Buchanan from The Girls!), takes the darker, moodier song-forms of Carson Drew into a punkier, more abrasive place. One of my favorite bands in town who don’t play nearly often enough for my liking.
Opening is their brother Nate Akrom’s (on drums) up and coming death metal band, Shores of Elysium, at 2:00.
Doors at 1:00pm. Free show.
Screen of Distance 