Category: Uncategorized

Categories
Uncategorized

“Hey, Fred!” 09/14/15-09/20/15 A biased and idiosyncratic Top Fiveart

As I settle back in to my hometown and the routines of work and life, there is no rest for the wicked this week. I could have easily filled a Top Ten and still had to leave interesting, valuable stuff off – all this recommended in addition to three plays I’m reviewing and probably a record or two.

Visual Art

After Picasso: 80 Contemporary Artists. Wexner Center for the Arts, 1847 N High St.  

This has been one of the strongest years for the Wexner Center’s visual arts exhibitions in recent memory. The group show Fiber, the new Catherine Opie work, and the Jack Whitten retrospective all astonished me. From all accounts, they’re ending on another high note.

It’s almost impossible to imagine a 20th century without the hand of Pablo Picasso – through his long career, his wide-ranging stylistic experiments, and his constant devotion to the truth, Picasso created the template almost all artists have to deal with either for or against to this day. After Picasso, organized by Dirk Lucknow, general director of the Diechtorhallen in Hamburg, attempts to show the breadth and depth of responses to Picasso’s work. It includes 80 artists as diverse as Cindy Sherman, Maria Lassnig, Khaled Hourani, Robert Longo, and Wolfe von Lenkiewicz.

Opening Reception Friday September 18 kicks off with a curator’s talk by Dirk Lucknow at 5:00pm and goes until 9:00pm. Free to the public. The exhibit runs through December 27.


Us Is Them. Pizzuti Collection, 632 N Park St. 

One of the most important things an artist can be is an articulate canary in the coal mine. If an artist has their receptors tuned and ready to receive, they know when the air’s rotten and they know when there’s not enough oxygen to breathe. Even better than that canary in a mineshaft, they have the tools and the empathy to explain on an emotional level why things are fucked and do it in a way that continues to resonate into other times.

The new exhibition at the Pizzuti is the kind of who’s who of the artists making the biggest splash on the global scale we expect but with an eye toward how their work intersects with and delineates the million spiderweb-crack crises threatening to blow our world apart. Names like El Anatsui, Nick Cave, Mickalene Thomas, Aminah Robinson, Kehinde Wiley, and Carrie Mae Weems have given me some of my most moving experiences with visual arts and there are at least 10 artists I haven’t investigated yet at all. One of the things I most look forward to this fall.

Opens to the public Saturday September 19 and runs through April 2, 2016.

Conception and Reduction: Recent Landscapes by Eric Barth / Line and the Landscape: Recent Drawings by Marc Lincewicz. Keny Galleries, 300 E Beck St.

Keny Galleries is one of our steadiest, most consistent commercial galleries with terrific retrospective shows and classic artists represented but also with an eye toward people making timeless work now. Their September-October show reunites Eric Barth and Marc Lincewicz who have an interest looking back but doing it with sharp, clear eyes.

Lincewicz’s recent work has seen himself delving deeper and deeper into a deliberately raw line that makes his new landscape investigations incredibly moving. I have a hard time looking away from his work, it’s always something I can get lost in. Barth’s work I don’t quite as well, this will be probably the third exhibition of his I’ve seen, but it feels like color is more important in his newer pieces and with his jaw-dropping compositions I truly look forward to seeing these in person.

Opening reception 5:30pm Friday September 18. Exhibition runs through October 30.

Music

September 17: Chuck Prophet. Natalie’s Coal Fired Pizza, 5601 N High St.

Chuck Prophet, since leaving Green on Red at the vanguard of the paisley underground wave of cowpunk, has quietly built up one of the most impressive catalogs of songs of anyone working today. He’s made a bigger splash on the mainstream with his collaborations with longtime friend Alejandro Escovedo on Escovedo’s Real Animal and Street Songs of Love records, but under his own name he makes smart, literate, soulful rock and roll with deep grooves and huge hooks.

His new record, Night Surfer, is a complicated, thorny rock rock record with the same care for arrangements and thick, twangy guitar he always brings to the table. Expect that to be hit heavily but in this rare solo acoustic show (leaving his crack band The Mission Express at home) look for a diverse set list that hits all periods of his career including favorites of mine Age of Miracles and his big-hearted paean to San Francisco, Temple Beautiful.

September 20: OBN IIIs. Cafe Bourbon Street, 2216 Summit St. 

For meat and potatoes rock lined with all the best parts of punk, there isn’t a better band working today than OBN IIIs. I first saw Orville B. Neeley’s eponymous group at Gonerfest 8 when they stole the whole damn festival – saying something since I also got my lid flipped by Royal Headache, Straight Arrows, Deaf Wish, Shannon and the Clams, Reverend John Wilkins, and early sets by Ex-Cult and The Fuzz (still called Sex Cult and Aquafuzz, respectively) that same weekend.

Back then they struck me as a young Eric Davidson fronting the Dictators – controlled rawness and intersecting edges and exploding, angry pop hooks. They’ve subtly evolved to incorporate Neeley’s terrific guitar playing and to cast a wider net over rock and roll history, making muscular record and a coiled, ferocious show that incorporates elements of The Stooges, The Saints, Thin Lizzy, and even in the one song on WFMU I’ve heard so far from the new record Worth a Lot of Money, Cheap Trick circa In Color. Not to be missed if you want to remember how fresh and exciting rock and roll can still sound.

I have not found anything out about start time or who’s opening or how much cover is about this show – if I find that information before I’m traveling, I’ll try to update this.

Categories
Uncategorized

“Hey, Fred!” 09/07/15-09/13/15 A biased and idiosyncratic Top Five

Back on the horse, my friends and (like we talked about last week, emotionally if not by the hands of the clock or the pages of the calendar) my favorite season, Fall, is upon us. Going to Raleigh the week of this entry for the Hopscotch Music Festival and to see one of my oldest and dearest friends who had a profound influence on me over the years, both of which I’m incredibly excited about, but there’s lots I’m gutted to miss – get out and see some shit, mes amies.

Theatre

September 8: New Works Lab: Cold Read – Baltimore by Kirsten Greenidge. 

Since I do so much writing about theatre in other, more widely-distributed venues I’m going to cover less of it in “Hey Fred” and what I do write about here will be things that wouldn’t fit the manifest of other places. Mainly, one-offs or things I couldn’t see until the last shows. While OSU’s always had a strong theatre school, it’s really come into its own the last few years and one of my favorite parts is their New Works Lab. The Lab series is a combination of student work given a shot in front of an audience for the first time and a chance to delve into professionally produced plays from elsewhere that might never have a full production in Columbus. As a friend said, “It’s surprising how much value you can get just reading a great play out loud in front of people. If you strip away sets, lights, etc, you can get 85% of the charge with 20% of the cost.”

Kirsten Greenidge, based in Boston, is one of the brightest lights in the US right now with an incisive, distinctive voice. Baltimore, the work being read here, was developed with assistance by Michigan State University in the Big Ten New Plays Initiative and looks at loss of innocence and the still-fractious subject of race viewed through the prism of an incident on a college campus.

Starts at 7:00pm. Free.

Music


September 9-13: Kate Schulte Tribute featuring Hamiet Bluiett and Kidd Jordan with the Jazz Poetry Ensemble. Various locations.

Michael Vander Does has long been one of Columbus’s shining lights as a booker, a writer, and a musician (leading his Jazz Poetry Ensemble). Since his wife – known civil rights attorney and advocate for good in the world, Kate Schulte – passed away in 2011, through a fund in her memory, he’s been bringing the great Kidd Jordan (as artist-in-residence) and usually at least one other legendary jazz musician into town for a concert at Hot Times Festival and satellite shows. These are always fantastic but this year looks extra special because the additional act is the great Hamiet Bluiett.

The baritone sax – Bluiett’s principal axe – is the lifeblood of rock and roll and R&B. From Heywood Henry and Paul Williams through Floyd Newman and Red Tyler and Mike Terry all the way up to Dana Colley from Morphine and Steve Berlin from The Blasters and Los Lobos, the sweet growl of a bari adds a depth of field and a propulsion to anything blessed by it. In jazz, Harry Carney’s bari defined the sound of those classic early Duke Ellington records and Gerry Mulligan helped shape the West Coast “cool” sound in the ’60s. But, and with all due respect to the great Peter Brotzmann and Ken Vandermark, no one’s done a better job of fusing the different strains of the bari – the snarl, the sadness, and the sweetness – and putting it into an avant-garde context than Hamiet Bluiett.

Coming out of St. Louis’ still-under-recognized Black Artists’ Group, along with Julius Hemphill, Oliver Lake, Bobo Shaw, and Joseph Bowie, Bluiett’s unmistakable tone can crack your chest open from a hundred yards away. Arguably, his run in the ’70s was better than any other reed player working, From his work with Mingus at the beginning of the decade, through the phenomenal World Saxophone Quartet records on Black Saint, and his solo albums (I’m particularly fond of Resolution, maybe the best free jazz record of all time) you can’t find a bum note or an ill-conceived move. As a sideman he held down Julius Hemphill’s two best records – Dogon AD and Coon Bid’ness – and lent key color to classics by Abdullah Ibrahim, Don Cherry, and Anthony Braxton. I think Bluiett’s last appearance in Columbus was with the World Saxophone Quartet backed by the Promusica Orchestra, and before that was with David Murray I think when I was still in college.

Kidd Jordan’s no slouch either – massive understatement alert. A eminence grise of American music, one of the few people who can say they played with Big Joe Turner, Larry Williams, Clifton Chenier, Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, and REM (on Out of Time). I still remember the first time I heard his collaborative record with Fred Anderson, Two Days in April, and the way it cracked my mind open. Jordan’s still playing at the top of his game by accounts and video from his 80th birthday celebration at this year’s New Orleans Jazzfest this spring. There aren’t many chances to see two people who shaped the vocabulary of American music, especially in intimate venues with a crack rhythm section (Vander Does, Brett Burleson, Roger Myers, and Roger Hines). This is the thing I’m sorriest to miss this week.

For a better writeup and details on the three shows happening this week, see Andrew Patton’s article in JazzColumbus.

https://youtu.be/FeC2m0K0B40


September 9: Tigue. Garden Theater, 1187 N High St.

New Amsterdam is one of my favorite record labels right now – documenting and influencing the new breed of chamber music composers and their give and take with interesting rock and roll. They’re one of a handful of labels right now I’m checking for anything they put out and I’ve never been disappointed.

NYC’s Tigue is a percussion trio comprised of OSU alums Matt Evans, Amy Garapic, and Carson Moody. They work in long forms with looping, overlapping cells, that don’t neglect that frisson that’s supposed to shoot up your spine. It’s a physical, body music, with lots of thematic complexity and intellectual weight. There’s plenty to chew on – I’d recommend this to fans of Steve Reich, Man Forever, So Percussion, and even the Boredoms’ multi-drum days. This show, in advance of their first record on New Amsterdam, is highly, highly recommended.

Starts at 7:00pm. Free.

September 10: Tyondai Braxton with Clark. Wexner Center for the Arts, 1871 N High St.

There are very few composers working today more exciting and surprising than Tyondai Braxton. First coming to my attention with his solo cut-up and processed guitar work and exploding onto the national scene in the first iteration of math-rock groove specialsts Battles, his frenzied post-Battles creativity has consistently sated me and left me hungry for more. His first solo record for Warp, Central Market (2009), is my favorite chamber music record of the last 10 years and getting to see him play that live with Wordless Music Orchestra in 2011 at Lincoln Center poured me out onto Broadway floating but unable to speak. And I wasn’t alone there, looking down from the balcony I saw no less than David Byrne lead a standing ovation.

Braxton said, in a terrific interview with Ben Vida for BOMB Magazine, that “The artist’s role is to be in dialogue with their times, whatever that means, and to translate complicated ideas simply.” He achieves that in spades – he’s writing music that makes me look at the world differently. I was blessed to see his new piece, HIVE, at Big Ears Festival in March (so taking the sting out of missing this a little) – on a handmade installation of pods and colored lights Braxton and four classical percussionists wove exploding webs of sticky synthesizer through shifting tectonic plates of rhythm. It was the first thing I saw that last day and I had that same just-stuck-my-finger-in-a-light-socket feeling. The record based on that piece – originally commissioned for the Guggenheim – HIVE1 came out this year on Nonesuch and I’m still finding my way into and learning more about the stuttering, cracked, wrigglingly alive forms. But this rare – these days and not in NYC or London – solo show should not be missed by anyone who misses the days the Wexner’s music booking was as adventurous as their film and visual art.

Clark (full name Chris Clark), Braxton’s Warp labelmate, also played Big Ears but I couldn’t make that set – hoping to catch him at Hopscotch. His electronic dance work is informed by a sensuality of stopping – the way sounds degrade and beats that don’t continue to their logical point – and his new EP Flame Rave is an intoxicating listen. These two on the best soundsystem in town will be a massive treat.

Starts at 8:00pm. For more info and $18 tickets, visit http://wexarts.org/performing-arts/tyondai-braxton-clark

September 12-13: Aaron Diehl and Cecile McLorin Salvant. King Arts Complex, 867 Mt Vernon Avenue.

At all of 29, Aaron Diehl is one of Columbus’ proudest exports to the jazz world. Since going to Julliard he’s played with Wynton Marsalis, music directed series at Jazz at Lincoln Center, premiered Philip Glass etudes, and has made two fantastic studio albums as a leader – Bespoke Man’s Narrative, a polished tribute to the Modern Jazz Quartet, and this year’s Space, Time, Continuum, which features legendary tenor player Benny Golson.

Any time Diehl has a homecoming show, it’s an event and this two-night stand at the King Arts Complex is doubly special because it’s a duo performance with vocalist Cecile McLorin Salvant one of the rising stars in jazz singing. Salvant also has a new record out which includes fresh takes on standards like “The Trolley Song” and the West Side Story classic “Something’s Coming,” and co-wrote a song on the Diehl record.

Saturday at 7:00pm and Sunday at 4:00pm. $25 tickets available at https://aarondiehl-cecilemclorinsalvant-912.eventbrite.com/

Categories
Uncategorized

“Hey, Fred!” 08/31/15-09/06/15 A biased and idiosyncratic Top Five [FeMMe Fest Edition)

We’re at the moment when, emotionally if not tracked on the calendar, summer’s just about over with one last spam, one last exhalation: Labor Day. Along with cookouts and family gatherings, days off (I mean, one hopes), that holiday is the home of one of my favorite new traditions in Columbus – FeMMe Fest. While it rose in opposition to a larger festival, in its inaugural year it was a fascinating showcase for everything I love about our town’s music scene. This year’s looks even bigger, better, and more diverse.

Time and other responsibilities got away from me so not doing a whole “Hey, Fred!” this week but here are some things I want to draw attention to at FeMMe Fest this week. We’ll get back to a wide lens next week but if you did nothing other than events around FeMMe Fest this week, you’d have a full damn week in every sense of that word.

FeMMe Fest

FeMMe Fest runs September 3-September 6 and benefits BRAVO, the Buckeye Region Anti-Violence Organization. Below are personal recommendations, not a list of all acts playing. For the full schedule please visit http://femmefest.net

Film and Visual Art

Friday, September 4:

400 W Rich, 400 W Rich St. 6:30pm-8:30pm, $5 suggested donation.

Cinema Outsider. This film program is curated by Columbus multi-media artist and filmmaker Alexis McCrimmon which should make it a must-see; her work is vibrant, surprising, and striking and her connection and commitment to the society and the art world in Columbus and at large is fantastic. A list of films was not available when I wrote this but we’re promised work that will “challenge existing cinematic and cultural conventions, addressing issues of concern to queer, trans, and non-binary people of color and our communities.”

Saturday, September 5:

“Girls to the Front!” What the Rock?!, 1194 N High St. 12:00pm-8:00pm.

This is the art show I know the least about but I have the utmost faith in co-owner of What the Rock?! Heather Ziegler’s curation and anything named after Sara Marcus’s phenomenal history of Riot Grrl I’m 100% in favor of. Beyond a portion of proceeds from art sales going to BRAVO, 15% of all retail sales at WTR will be donated.

Emanate. Girl & Guy Republic, 32 W 5th Ave. Opening reception September 5 at 5:30pm, runs through Oct 24.

Laura Kuenzli of Rivet has turned her niche, fascinating toy store into one of the more consistently interesting, delightful galleries in town. For Emanate, she’s working on a larger scale with a cross-section of some of our best artists including Lisa Ragland, Kent Grosswiler, Taylor Hicks, and Lexie Holliday. A portion of art sales will be donated to BRAVO.

The Art of Meagan Alwood Karcic and Cassie Phillips. St. James Tavern, 1057 N 4th. 8:00pm-2:00am.

Michelle Hill, owner of the St. James, is one of Columbus’s treasures – running a terrific bar that’s immune to fads and nonsense, a rock even as the neighborhood changes around them, and one of the proudest supporters of great causes. The art show her bar is hosting features two phenomenal painters. Meagan Alwood Karcic, also of the bands Alwood Sisters and Velveteen, works in a variety of styles from watercolor to collage, but with an unflinching eye and unmistakable line – her work cracks open the world’s chest and lets you see its heart a little clearer. Cassie Philips is a commercial photographer who’s moved into painting and it’s gripping, dramatic work I really look forward to seeing in person.

Workshops Kafe Kerouac, 2250 N High St. Register here: http://www.femmefest.net/workshops.php

Saturday, September 5:

2:30pm: LGBTQI Culture and Community Conversation. 

The introduction of workshops is one of the most interesting twists in this year’s Fest and I hope it continues and even expands. This session is a discussion led by BRAVO about how bias, even subconscious, can infect language and action and about the difficulties inherent in the LGBTQI community of reporting and getting help for partner violence.

1:00pm: Walking the Talk: Allyship and Accountability.

New Voices Cleveland leads this workshop about community accountability and challenges with allies. It can be hard to figure out how to be an ally without defensiveness and it can be hard to hold allies accountable when you see them step out of line – this workshop will offer tools and springboards for more discussion.

Sunday, September 6: 

2:30pm: Beyond Betty and Veronica: Women and Inclusivity in Modern Comics.

Elissa and Tracy who lead The Circle here in Columbus talk about how gender representation has changed in comics over the years, how in many ways it hasn’t, and possible futures for the medium and related art forms.

1:00pm: Concepts in Intersectional Feminism.

If intersectionality isn’t at the forefront of our thoughts, we’re barely having half the conversation. This workshop, led by Bailey Laverty and Sarah Mamo, Co-Presidents/Co-Founders of the Intersectional Feminists Organization (at OSU), gives an overview of the underpinnings and concepts of intersectionality and discusses how to use these concepts in the real world.

Music

A handful of bands I have no intention of missing but I, again, encourage you to see the whole lineup linked above. Like usual, bandcamp/soundcloud if I could find it, apologies if I couldn’t.

Time and Temperature. I’ve seen Val Glenn’s singer-songwriter project, sometimes with a band, Time and Temperature fully silence a loud bar on a drunk Friday night without ever raising her voice. Her evocative voice, crystalline guitar, and imagistic songs are one of the best things to ever come out of Columbus musically. (Ace of Cups, Friday, 11:30pm)

Cherry Chrome. It’s no surprise that Xenia Holm, daughter of two of Columbus’s finest – David Holm and Melanie Bleveans Holm – would have a leg up on people her age. It was a surprise how incredibly good her songwriting and vocals are and how great her band, Cherry Chrome – also featuring Mick Martinez on guitar and Amina Adesiji on bass along with Dave Holm on drums – already is. One of the bands I look forward to seeing most in town rich with hooks that will stick in your head and your heart, and still in High School. Already on their way to supernova status. (Ace of Cups, Friday, 9:30pm)

Funerals. Mollie Wells (formerly of the much-missed Cinema Eye) and Casey Immel-Brown make an atmospheric brand of noirish techno that effortlessly conjures moods and changes the vibration and temperature of a room. With Spacebar’s recently upped sound game this should be perfect for a Friday night. (Spacebar, Friday, 10:30pm)

Marlena Bowen. Bowen very recently hit my radar but she’s doing beguiling work I can’t wait to see translated live. Lo-fi tape effects and a love of drone merge to create something mysterious and fascinating, well-crafted songs that make you chase them. (Lost Weekend Records, Saturday, 6:30pm)

Dominique Larue. I write her up a lot here but it’s because she’s one of the best voices in local rap I’ve heard in a long time and an electrifying show. Whatever you’re doing on Saturday night, end up here. (Spacebar, Saturday, 1:00am).

Thunder Thighs. A singer-songwriter with a taste for the avant-garde filling that sweet spot for me better than anyone else in town since Jerry DeCicca left. Circular structures, gorgeous, raw, guitar and violin playing and incisive lyrics. The transition from this to The Girls! is the kind of whiplash that makes FeMMeFest so consistently terrific.

Melted Man. Surging, damaged electronic noise that still feels like it’s about the world, not a hermetic exercise. (Cafe Bourbon Street, Sunday, 10:30pm)

Cosmic Moon. One of the most interesting songwriting voices in Columbus music right now. Long, icy, tense songs backed by a harmonium and a rotating cast of other musicians (Cafe Bourbon Street, Sunday, 9:30pm).

Raw Pony. Another band I write up a lot but probably the best rock band in town right now. I saw them play with Memphis’ Nots a couple weeks ago for their 7″ release and they’ve broken through to a whole other level of taut telepathy. Muscular and finely tuned but without forsaking that beautiful rawness. If you love rock and roll in this town do not sleep on Raw Pony. (The Summit, Sunday, 10:00pm).

Categories
Uncategorized

“Hey, Fred!” 08/24/15-08/30/15 A Biased and Idiosyncratic Top Five

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.

Categories
Uncategorized

“Hey, Fred!” 08/17/15-08/23/15 A Biased and Idiosyncratic Top Five

Visual Art

August 21: NSATSAT&A. MINT, 42 W Jenkins St. 

MINT’s one of the new loci for the experimental art and music community in Columbus. This new group exhibition, subtitled “surveillance + security + sexuality” has me incredibly intrigued. This feels like a show you don’t want to miss in your town.

Karen Azoulay, from Toronto now based in Brooklyn, works in a variety of media whose forms seem to hover around a sensuous, ecstatic, apocalypse. When Glenn Ligon wrote about a New York exhibition of hers he said, “Suffused with humor and melancholy her work reveals an interest in mythology, literature and alchemy as well as Las Vegas spectacles, the work of Yayoi Kusuma, opera and Renaissance painting.”

Angela Jann, returned to Columbus after getting an MFA at Pratt, is a painter who deals in a knives-out surrealism leavened with a winking pop art absurdity.

Ann Hirsch, based in Los Angeles, works in video and performance interrogating how technology shapes gender and human relations. What I’ve seen gives me a strong Laurel Nakadate vibe which is high praise, Nakadate’s made my visual art of the year list at least once and barely missed it a few other times. Maybe the artist I’m most interested in checking out.

Kathryn Shinko recently finished her MFA at Kent State and works in textiles which is a medium I’ve been ravenous for since the Wexner Center’s Fiber show finally opened up my half-dead eyes.

Beny Wagner is based in Berlin. His moody, intoxicating, textured work in video and installations has gotten heavy praise from Artforum, Kaleidoscope, and other sources.

Opening 7:00pm-10:00pm. Free.

Music

August 19: Alanna Royale. Rumba Cafe, 2507 Summit St. 

I doubt it’s a surprise to anyone who’s ever sat with me in a bar with a jukebox for 20 minutes, much less read this column for a week or three, that Alanna Royale’s right up my alley. Catchy, sultry, sweaty retro soul with an immediately identifiable voice and songs that hold their own against history.

If you like The Right Now, Robin McKelle, or I’d even wager to say JD McPherson or St. Paul and The Broken Bones, this is a must-see. The kind of Wednesday night that makes however much you hurt on Thursday worth every bit.

Local funk-inspired jam band The Floorwalkers close the night.

Doors at 8:00pm. $10 tickets available at http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=6010225

August 21-23: VIVO Music Festival. Garden Theatre, 1871 N High St.

More than once I’ve lamented that the biggest gap in Columbus’s musical landscape is contemporary classical (new music, whatever term you feel you want to use). We’ve got decent symphony and chamber orchestras but despite two very fine music schools Columbus doesn’t get the same kind of flood of young, excited players doing exciting, new programming out of the classical realm as we do with jazz.

So I’m very excited by the prospect of this first year of the VIVO Music Festival. Organized by violinist Siwoo Kim and violist John Stultz this has the potential to be the exact kind of antidote I (and at least a few others I could name) have been hungry for. Partnering with the Johnstone New Music Fund they’re putting on three shows at the Garden Theatre.

Friday, 8:00pm: 8 Strings, 9 Tails. This program presents Dvorak’s Terzetto, Mendelssohn’s Octet for Strings and John Zorn’s Cat O’ Nine Tails (Tex Avery Directs the Marquis De Sade), the latter of which was a massively formative experience for me. I remember the day I bought Zorn’s String Quartets at Shake It Records and put it on my friend’s stereo in college. I was hooked, my friends.

Saturday, 8:00pm: In the Dark. Performed in the Garden’s smaller Green Room space, this program features Georg Friedrich Haas’s String Quartet #3, “In iij, Noct,” played in complete darkness.

Sunday, 4:00pm: Unstrung. This program experiments with a conductorless chamber orchestra of some of the most promising classical musicians in town. The repertoire includes Bach’s Third Brandenberg Concerto and one of my favorites, Astor Piazolla’s  Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.

A terrific interview with the artistic directors is available at WOSU and $15 reserved tickets for Friday and Sunday (Saturday is free) as well as more info are available at http://www.vivofestival.org/

August 22: Dave Holland Tribute. Dick’s Den, 2417 N High St.

A quartet of our finest younger jazz players including maybe our hottest rhythm section – Max Button (drums), John Allen (bass), Zakk Jones (guitar), and Danny Bauer (piano) team up to take on the oeuvre of maybe the finest straight-ahead jazz composer since the ’70s, bassist/bandleader Dave Holland.

Holland’s one of the few artists of any stripe I think I can literally say I’ve never heard a bad record by. He writes ballads that will make your wine taste sweeter and you fall in love more with the world, uptempo ragers that will make you bounce off the wall or ruin your pants, and abstractions you can get lost in for days. And this is a perfect group to play those perfect songs. Watch summer start its fade over a nice glass of rye whiskey while the music takes you somewhere else and also plants you back in yourself.

Starts at 10:00pm. $4 cover.

August 23: Publicist UK with Young Widows. Spacebar, 2590 N High St. 

Publicist UK hit my radar when I saw they had guitarist David Obuchowski from Goes Cube who I loved. Fronted by Zachary Lipez of Freshkills with a rhythm section held down by David Witte (Municipal Waste) on drums they merge a young Nick Cave delivery to pummeling almost metal drums and bass for charcoal drawings of a scorched Earth I find intoxicating.

Rounding out the bill are Louisville’s Young Widows who plow the fields of a clench-jawed shadowy ecstasy that reminds me most of Swans. If you dread Mondays anyway, come to this show and let your darkness come out of your pores and join the vibes in the room. Locals Hadak Ura, with whom I’m not yet familiar, open.

Doors at 8:00pm. $12 cover.

Categories
Uncategorized

“Hey, Fred!” 08/10/15-08/16/15 A Biased and Idiosyncratic Top Five

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.

https://youtu.be/ubrrJWGvo3o

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.

Categories
Uncategorized

“Hey, Fred!” 08/03/15-08/09/15 A Biased and Idiosyncratic Top Five

Music

August 4: Gramps the Vamp and Urban Tropic. Brothers Drake, 26 E 5th Ave.

Gramps the Vamp refer to what they play as “doom funk” and it’s definitely an ominous but sensual sound. The closest comparison I can make is to Budos Band’s recent turn toward ’70s soundtrack influences on their record Burnt Offerings and the snaky brass definitely recalls that but the country could use more bands like that, not fewer. I missed them on their last trip through town during June’s Gallery Hop but I’ve got no intention of making that mistake this time.

Locals Urban Tropic open.

Show starts at 9:00. Free show.

August 5: Ursonate Guitar Quartet. Huntington Recital Hall, Capital University, 1 College Ave, Bexley, OH.

The Ursonate Guitar Quartet, named after the famous Dadaist sound-poem by Kurt Schwitters, brings together four of the finest guitarists in town. Well, three still in town (Larry Marotta, Aditya Jayanthi, and Dennis Hodges) and one visiting expat (Aaron Quinn). These four have all done work blending jazz, classical, eai, and noise and I can’t wait to see what this configuration brings in the beautiful sounding Huntington Hall at Capital.

Show starts at 6:30. Free show.

August 5: Polikarpa y Sus Viciosas. Legion of Doom, 1579 Indianola Ave. 

Legion of Doom is that rarest of things, an elder statesperson in the world of house shows. Through a combination of a forgiving landlord and good taste in residents who genuinely want to preserve this tradition – the disallowance of alcohol and drugs at the shows probably helps – it’s a rock in a scene where sometimes venues barely last a season.

Even more impressive, Legion continues to book interesting acts more commercial venues probably wouldn’t touch. This week it’s Colombian agitpunks Polikarpa y Sus Viciosas. Names for Policapra Saliverrieta, a legendary figure who was executed in the name of Colombian revolution, this group has been making fiercely political, vital music since the mid-’90s full of hard drumming and catchy, abrasive hooks. The bill’s rounded out by Philly’s Ramones-inspired Dark Thoughts and locals Surfin’ Safari.

Doors at 8:00pm. $5 donation strongly encouraged.

August 7: Locusta. Ace of Cups, 2619 N High St.

Locusta is one of my favorite metal bands in town – dense, atmospheric songs that shift from mood to mood and tempo to tempo without ever going in so proggy a direction that it loses that visceral crunch. Their blistering live show hasn’t been seen in town for over a year so expectations are high they’re going to explode on Ace of Cups’ bigger stage and strong PA.

The undercard’s not shabby here either. Lexington’s Tombstalker do some of the best punky black metal around right now, caked in grime with huge, bone-rattling riffs. Locals Fever Nest plow a different intersection between black metal and punk rock, built around mood and tension – even sporting a great Birthday Party cover. Discrow’s a little earlier in their development but I hear lots of potential in their grind.

Show starts at 9:00pm. $7 cover.

August 8-9: Festival Latino. Bicentennial Park.

Festival Latino might be my favorite festival all summer – certainly of the mainstream mass appeal fests, nothing else even comes close. The best food and the widest range of interesting music.

Especially for a total Latin music dilettante like me, I always walk away exposed to some things I really love.

Highlights from my early research I’m looking forward to:

Saturday:

3:00pm, Al Son del Iya: This Columbus-based act led by percussionist/bandleader El Negro Tino Casanova does smoking, sultry salsa in the Fania records mode with a repertoire that hits the classics like Willie Colon, Ruben Blades, and Celia Cruz and plays them with a remarkable fire.

4:00pm, Jose Peña Suazo y La Banda Gorda: Peña Suazo’s Banda Gorda out of the Dominican Republic plays blistering-fast merengue with extra Caribbean flavor but without losing that light, high touch. I’m not sure there’s a better band to see on a summer afternoon.

6:45, Luis Vargas: Bachata’s having a moment in the mainstream US press right now with lots of articles and think pieces about Romeo Santos, Prince Royce and Aventura. The Dominican’s Luis Vargas might not have the name recognition of those aforementioned artists but he’s wildly popular and boasts a haunting, sexy, unmistakable voice that reminds me of Raul Malo and Roy Orbison. This is not to be missed.

Sunday:

2:30pm, Ritmo Ondas featuring Zancudo: Rachel Sepulveda, known largely as one of Columbus’ finest jazz singers (see Jazz Columbus’ terrific interview) has always also worked in Latin forms. Ritmo Ondas is a versatile band that can hit a range of styles – I heard nothing but raves about their “From Cuba to Brazil” program at CityMusic earlier this year – and augmented by Victor Zancudo, one of this town’s fastest-rising Latin singers, this should be magical. Sepulveda’s leaving Columbus for grad school soon so don’t miss one of the last chances to see one of our finest talents.

4:15. Banda Machos: Banda music is also having a moment breaking through to other audiences, though in a smaller, more underground way than bachata discussed earlier. Banda Machos, out of the Jalisco area of Mexico, helped forge a modern style of banda through fusion with cumbia and ranchera styles. Some of the best, hardest hitting dance music you’ll see.

Categories
Uncategorized

“Hey, Fred!” 07/27/15-08/02/15 A Biased and Idiosyncratic Top Five

Literary

July 30: Four Horsewomen of the Apocalypse. Wild Goose Creative, 2491 Summit St.

This benefit for the Women’s Fund of Central Ohio brings together four fascinating artists and personalities to riff on apocalyptic themes through their true stories.

Amy Turn Sharp, local poet and organizer of Word Church, speaks about Pestilence. Amy Dalrymple, designer and proprietor of Made by AmyD, talks about War. Emily Toney, from ARC Ohio and the Greater Columbus Arts Council, discusses Famine. Amee Bell Wanzo, frontwoman of garage rock band Trachete, wraps it up with Death.

Show starts at 8:00pm. Suggested donation of $5.

Music

July 29: Aaron Lee Tasjan and Lilly Hiatt. Natalie’s Coal-Fired Pizza, 5601 N High St.

Columbus expat Aaron Lee Tasjan’s songwriting has exploded through his stints as a vital player in NYC’s roots-rock scene – including work with Kevin Kinney, Keith Christopher, and Pat Green – and more recently in Nashville. It’s heartfelt, surprising work with big hooks and an eye for detail that reminds me of Robert Earl Keen and Jon Dee Graham and a voice that’s more his own every time I hear him.

If an occasional return of the prodigal son isn’t enough to get the roots fans out to this, the other side of that coin should be: Lilly Hiatt. Hiatt’s second album, Royal Blue, is one of my favorite discoveries of the year reminding me of early Amy Rigby with a contemporary sheen of synths and big, dark drums wrapped around rock-solid songwriting. The kind of show Natalie’s does better than anywhere else in town.

Show starts at 9:00pm. $10-15 tickets available at Vendini

July 29: Liver Quiver. Brothers Drake, 26 E 5th Ave.

Another favorite expat – of more recent vintage – also returns home this week, jazz and classical guitarist Aaron Quinn. One of my favorite of his groups, Liver Quiver, a trio with Alex Burgoyne on sax and Seth Daily on drums reunites at Brothers Drake for a Jazz Wednesday.

Liver Quiver has a unique empathy that almost reminds me of some of Chris Speed’s groups, partly because Seth Daily does the best drumming in a Jim Black mode of anyone in recent memory. It’s a little spikier and a little edgier than that free Wednesday series usually gets, drifting into both chamber music and free improv territories, but it should be as refreshing as a cold gin drink while the sun melts away through that big open door.

Show begins at 8:00pm. Free.

August 2: Natalie’s Anniversary Celebration: Bobby Floyd Trio. Natalie’s Coal-Fired Pizza, 5601 N High St.

I think it’s pretty clear from the volume of these writeups that I think Natalie’s has added something really special and really needed to the Columbus scene. So consider this me raising a glass to Natalie’s and to having many more anniversaries.

The whole weekend is packed with Columbus favorites that showcase the breadth of the room’s interesting booking but, and again, no surprise, I’d steer you toward our finest organist Bobby Floyd and his trio with Derek DiCenzo on guitar and Reggie Jackson on drums. As good an example of classic organ jazz as you will hear anywhere – New York, Chicago, LA – and not playing as often as they used to with both Floyd and Jackson touring with Dr. John these days. Two birds with one stone and one of the best pizzas in town.

Show starts at 8:00pm. $10 tickets available at Vendini.

August 2: Richard Thompson. Dublin Irish Festival, Perimeter Drive, Dublin, OH.

The Dublin Irish Festival is one of those things it’s easy for locals to take for granted. It’s huge – one of the biggest Irish heritage festivals in the country – and has all the problems that come along with that, but it’s gotten that huge because its organizers have spent many years and no small amount of money turning it into a well-oiled machine huge acts love to play and love to come back to.

One of the best-sounding festivals I’ve ever been to, which will be doubly important when it hosts a return appearance by British singer-songwriter Richard Thompson. While talked about more as an electric guitar virtuoso, I’ve seen him in both guises a number of times and my favorite shows are solo acoustic where he’ll highlight the newest records (the new, very good, Jeff Tweedy-produced Still and the even better Buddy Miller produced Electric from a couple years ago) but he’ll dip into his extensive catalogue, he’ll dust off surprising covers. It’s as close as I’ve ever seen a singer-songwriter come to walking on a wire (if you’ll excuse the borrowing or even if you won’t). If you love songs, storytelling, guitar playing, this is an example of the very highest peaks of those arts.

Categories
Uncategorized

“Hey, Fred!” 07/20/15-07/26/15 A Biased and Idiosyncratic Top Five [Anne Courtney Birthday Edition]

The overarching thing this week is, of course, my better half’s birthday. Happy birthday, Anne Courtney! I love you, baby. In conjunction with that, there’s a greater chance you won’t see me at these shows with the commensurate wining, dining, and fête-ing. So get out there and mix it up on my behalf. Secondarily, this continues the summer of rocking retro sounds with both some classic shit and some new artists plowing those still-fertile fields.

Music

July 21: The Rezillos with Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments, Senor Citizen and the Border Patrol. Ace of Cups, 2619 N High St.

Scotland’s The Rezillos burst into the first wave of UK punk with their barbed hooks, stop-start grooves and ominous B-movie sheen. Their first record, 1978’s Can’t Stand the Rezillos is a stone classic with a similar place of pride in that early Sire Records lineup as the Dead Boys’ Young, Loud and Snotty and Richard Hell and the Voidoids’ Blank Generation. They reformed for periodic tours a little over a decade ago and word from everyone I’ve heard is it’s still a funny, sharp, intense show.

Rounding out Ace of Cups’ terrific coup in booking this are Columbus ’90s heroes TJSA and manager Aleks Shaulov’s Senor Citizen and the Border Patrol who are steeped in this same kind of late ’70s raw rock and roll. A rare chance to see full-stop, no-qualification-needed, legends at play in a sweaty club. Fuck what you’re doing Wednesday.

Doors at 8:00pm. $12 tickets available at http://aceofcups.ticketleap.com/rezillos/

 

July 22: Alice Bag with Sex Tide and Raw Pony. Cafe Bourbon Street, 2216 Summit St.

Also starting in 1976, The Bags were part of maybe the most diverse punk scene of the first wave, LA. They only put out a handful of singles and compilation tracks, most notably on Dangerhouse Records, but those few songs sent shockwaves through the nascent underground scene. And – in a “Did you love well what very soon you left” way – they continued to reverberate with band members going on to be integral parts of 45 Grave, The Gun Club, Sisters of Mercy, and Catholic Discipline.

In the intervening years, frontwoman Alice Bag wrote one of the best rock memoirs, Violence Girl. This tour bringing her to Bourbon Street finds her promoting her second book, Pipe Bomb to the Soul, culled from journals she kept on a trip to Nicaragua in 1986. This stop promises a mix of readings and songs.

Supporting Bag are two of the finest rock bands in Columbus right now, Raw Pony and Sex Tide.

Starts at 9:00pm. Alice Bag scheduled to read/play first. $5 cover.

July 24: James Cotton. Scioto Mile, 25 Marconi Blvd.

James Cotton is one of the few living links to the purifying groundwater from which most American music post-WWII sprung. Very few people still touring can say they played with Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters at the height of those two legends’ powers, which is not to discredit Cotton’s own stellar work starting in the late ’60s, especially his work with pianist Otis Spann. From Sun Records through working with Johnny Winter, Cotton’s the real deal.

An unmistakable stylist, his harmonica has been copied by almost everyone to pick up a harp since but never as well. You can hear his using the harp to lead a horn section echoed in The Blasters and his throaty conjuring of other sounds in Charlie Musselwhite. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still see the real thing while you can. At 80 years old, there may not be many more chances.

Starts at 8:00pm. Free.

July 24: Pigeons with Crystalline Roses. The Summit, 2210 Summit St.

NYC’s Pigeons make a blend of introspective rock that slips between signifiers. Led by Wednesday Knudsen’s voice, guitar and occasional reeds, Galaxie 500 seems like a heavy touchpoint for this band but I also hear Spanking Charlene’s mellower moments and even some of Husker Du’s mournful aggression. Their new record, out in May, The Bower, is revelatory. Summer songs heavier on the melancholy of memory (or maybe the melancholy of memory).

Massachusetts’ Crystalline Roses is a throwback to the best stuff I heard at the height of the freak-folk era – PG Six, In Gowan Ring, B’erith, Sharron Krauss. Great, echoey songs that use their twists and turns, that use mystery, to keep that spark in them alive instead of using it to obfuscate some lack of meaning, some thing not thought through.

Doors at 9:00pm. $5 cover.

https://youtu.be/R0SeHRy2W7Q

July 26: JD McPherson. Park Street Saloon, 533 Park St.

JD McPherson might have the best shot of crossing over of any roots-rock act I’ve seen in many years. A great-looking guy with an intense charisma and a live show that’s nothing short of incendiary. With his new one Let the Good Times Roll, he also finally has a record that’s as good as he is.

I saw him at Woodlands Tavern a couple years ago with a rhythm section anchored by Teen Beat from Los Straitjackets doing a set of Specialty Records-style vintage R&B and early rock and roll – despite the lazy writing you might have heard, while rockabilly’s in his toolbox, it’s not most of what he does – and it might have been the wildest, most ecstatic crowd I’ve ever seen in that club. He had that audience – especially the ladies – eating out of the palm of his hand for a set that, honestly, might have gone a little long for me but there was the very real danger he’d be torn apart if he stopped playing. I walked out of there with my shirt sticky and translucent and definitely a believer. Maybe the best dance party of the summer but, even though it’s in the more spacious Park Street Saloon this time, I wouldn’t expect it to be any less packed. Come ready to move.

Jake La Botz, Chicago blues of a more recent stripe than James Cotton referenced earlier, opens.

Starts at 9:00pm. $18 tickets available at http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=5806335

Categories
Uncategorized

“Hey, Fred!” 07/06/15-07/12/15 A Biased and Idiosyncratic Top Five

Of course, the first thing here is RIP Valerie Starr taken from all of us and from the world far, far too soon. A brilliant mind, a font of endless charm and delight, and a fascinating artist who was only beginning to show the world what she had to offer. My heart goes out to her husband, Talcott Starr, and all the many, many people she touched.

If you like retro sounds of one stripe or another, there is an embarrassment of riches in Columbus this week; more than I could reasonably fit in my top five.

Music

July 6: Dale Watson. Woodlands Tavern, 1200 W 3rd Ave.

At the height of my alt.country fandom, I never found a better singer than the hardcore classicist Dale Watson. I came to him with the I Hate These Songs record on HighTone (much missed aesthetically but I hear not so much from a people or fiscal perspective) and that might still be my high-water mark for a contemporary honky-tonk record.

Watson’s chiseled good looks (well-preserved as he’s gone into silver fox territory), silky baritone and boundless charisma are all so striking they’ll drag you into the bar floating like a cartoon, but most of what keeps you there is the songs. Watson understands the pacing of a set, when to break out a weepy ballad and when to kick it up to a shuffle or a two-step. All these styles have been synthesized, with a bone-deep understanding, into a personal voice that lifts songs of Watson’s like “I Wish I was Crazy Again”, “Every Song I Write is For You”, “I Lie When I Drink”, “Louie’s Lee’s Liquor Lounge”, or “Call Me Insane” above a Lefty Frizzell pastiche that sends you home wanting to listen to the real thing. These songs are the real thing. This band is the real thing. Dale Watson is the real fucking thing.

Show starts at 9:00pm. Tickets and more info at http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=5826515&pl=wood 

July 7: Sarah Borges and Amy Black’s Muscle Shoals Revue. Natalie’s Coal Fired Pizza, 5601 N High St.

Much like Dale Watson (and a couple things discussed last week), the Fitzgerald’s American Music Festival pays Columbus dividends by putting us in the path of two of Boston’s finest singer-songwriters: Sarah Borges and Amy Black, bringing their special Muscle Shoals show to our finest overall listening room.

Borges is one of the finest writers and interpreters of song I’ve ever seen. The first time I saw her, at Joe’s Pub in Manhattan, doing “The Day We Met” almost made me drop my drink all over the row in front of me – I didn’t, but it was close. Every time after that when I saw her, the Mannerchor in Columbus twice, Fitzgerald’s in Chicago, talking other friends of mine into seeing her in Boston and St Louis, she had a purity of voice, a sharp wit and a way of getting to the marrow of the song and making it both writ-large and human sized that’s never bettered and damn near unparalleled. Beyond her own songs, she’s done phenomenal covers of Smokey Robinson’s “Being With You”, Compulsive Gamblers’ “Stop and Think it Over”, NRBQ’s “It Comes to Me Naturally”, Tom Waits’ “Blind Love”, and Hank Ballard’s “Open Up Your Back Door” so seeing her dig into Muscle Shoals’ rock and soul should be a treat.

I don’t know Amy Black’s work as well but the handful of songs I’ve heard off her Muscle Shoals Sessions record are world-beaters. If this won’t get you out on a Tuesday, nothing will.

Show starts at 9:00pm. Tickets and more info available at http://nataliescoalfiredpizza.com/?p=7395

https://youtu.be/PDjRvlJ1BYg

July 8: Wreckless Eric. Strongwater Food and Spirits, 401 W Town St.

Wreckless Eric (née Eric Goulden) has had at least one eye on mortality and the danger and crushing disappointment inherent in daring to dream your own dreams since his days on Stiff Records in the late 1970s.

No matter how weighty the themes he’s wrestled with, Wreckless Eric found bouncy melodies and irrepressible, unforgettable hooks to wrap that darkness in so his work never feels monochromatic. He makes – yes, still makes, both solo and with his partner Amy Rigby – classic powerpop that’s about the world and about a depth of feeling, not just the depth of somebody’s record collection.

Ken Eppstein’s Nix Comics – whose work also gets better and better and more unique with every year – is putting on this show in one of our most gorgeous bars/event spaces, Strongwater.

Show starts at 8:00pm. Tickets and more information available at http://nixcomics.com/

July 9: Ghostface Killah and Raekwon. Park Street Saloon, 525 N Park St.

Raekwon’s Only Bult 4 Cuban Linx which heavily featured Ghost might be the best of the first wave of Wu-Tang Clan solo records. Those records are all so good that’s an impossible call to make but it’s certainly a record I take out and put on regularly even 20 years later.

Both rappers also tour regularly so they haven’t been growing cobwebs in the studio during the intervening years so this reunion for the 20th anniversary of that landmark record shouldn’t be missed.

Doors at 8:00pm. Tickets and more info available at http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=5953505

July 11: 4th and 4th Fest. Seventh Son Brewing, 1101 N 4th St.

Revelator Productions’ 4th and 4th Fest has always had one foot in national acts, separating it from many of the Summer festivals in Columbus, and making it more than just a substitute for Surly Girl’s much-missed Parking Lot Blowout on this weekend in the same part of town. They’ve outdone themselves this year with a gobsmacking afternoon/evening of music. I’m going to touch on a couple personal highlights.

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. Seeing them on a bigger stage on a summer afternoon, for me, was worth the ticket price all on its own.

Nobunny’s a little more seasoned but I’ve never seen him disappoint whoever’s in his backing band. Chuck Berry riffs filtered through the Cramps’ horror imagery isn’t a new concept but whenever Nobunny takes the stage it’s easy to forget any antecedent for his sound and approach. If you can get through a set of his without dancing like a moron, you’re made of stronger stuff than I am.

Turbo Fruits, led by Jonas Stein, have sanded down some of their rough edges since their first record with Ecstatic Peace after breaking off from Be Your Own Pet but they still have those infectious hooks, even in a more stadium-rock package. Jaill bring a jittery, dance floor-ready, surf inflected rock with great, heartbroken vocals.

The locals on the bill are no slouch either – Cherry Chrome and American Jobs are two breaths of fresh, new air in a city sometimes prone to recycle whatever worked year in and year out.

Show starts at noon. Tickets and more info available here: http://4thand4th.com/