Tag: Hey Fred

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“Hey, Fred!” 06/08/2015-06/14/2015 A Biased and Idiosyncratic Top Five

Visual Art

The Work of Sara Adrian. Urban Scrawl Pop-Up Gallery, 480 W Town St. 

Sara Adrian’s painting combines a rich, flowing line with deep investigations of myth and the subconscious. Her work with both oils and acrylics is striking, I still remember the first time I saw her pieces in a group show. This is the first solo show of hers that’s hit my radar in a while and I think it’s a must-see.

Music

June 10: Shifted. The Summit, 2210 Summit St. 

Kevin DeBroux and Albert Gray are doing some of the most interesting booking in town right now at the Summit/Bobo complex and this has all the hallmarks of being another winner. I don’t keep up on electronic music that well these days but slowly more and more of it is creeping back into my diet. One of my favorite records in this rediscovery of the last few years is Under a Single Banner by UK artist Shifted. Shifted’s music is full of left angles and surprises. His love of juxtaposition with glossy snare sounds and thick bass rumbles laced with almost pure static used like an additional percussion track is intoxicating. The tracks work on the dancefloor but they also work as landscapes, as action painting.

The rest of the lineup is stacked as well. Cleveland’s Prostitutes make use of similar jolting juxtapositions in a way that shocks the listener but coheres into total sense, rewiring your brain and perception. Locals The Fallen – the new project from Columbus house legend FBK – and Funerals are no slouches either, the kind of gritty, dark and uplifting techno that puts your more in the moment and more in your own body.

Doors at 9:00pm. $8 cover.

For a great interview with Shifted, check out http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2013/11/shifted-interview-bed-of-nails

June 12-13: What You Will Fest. Old World Stone Carving, 4820 Beard Rd, Sunbury, OH.

Gerard Cox is one of the unsung heroes of music in Columbus and I’m going to keep saying that until his praises are adequately sung in both tenor and volume. For many years he’s booked artists that might never have played Columbus otherwise – including Mary Halvorson, about whom more below – and as he’s turned more attention to local and regional in the last few years he’s kept that same standard of quality and discernment. Cox is someone who believes in improvisation as one of the highest standards of music but also as a healing practice without getting too esoteric about it.

His fifth What You Will festival in Sunbury is the event of the summer for anyone interested in jazz or free improvisation. Friday night’s set with Rent Romus from the bay leading a septet of Cleveland and Columbus improvisers – including LA Jenkins on guitar, Dan Wenninger on reeds, and Chris Weldon on cello – is bookended by a duo of Adam Smith on drums and Wenninger on reeds and Nicole Sherburne’s Auriculum Quartet with Phil Maneri, Smith, and Jason Branscum.

Saturday is full of highlights – what I’m most looking forward to include Detroit’s James Cornish on cornet in duo with percussionist Curtis Glatter; a different septet of Rent Romus, Jayve Montgomery, Tony Zilinick, James Cornish, Chris Weldon, Bryan Stewart, and Ryan Jewell; a quartet of the great Hasan Abdur-Razzaq, Adam Smith, Michael Goecke, and Willie Smart; and so much more. A chance to see phenomenal music in a gorgeous setting barely an hour from town. Even if you have the same aversion to camping I do, this should not be missed.

7:00pm Friday through midnight Saturday. Suggested donation of $10-20. The full schedule is here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153302896638605&set=gm.398931153628295&type=1&theater

June 14: Second Annual Mark Flugge Memorial Concert. Mees Hall, Capital University, 1 College Ave, Bexley, OH.

I talked quite a bit in my year end wrap ups about what a loss the death of Mark Flugge was to this town last year. The tribute concert at Capital University where he worked for so long, and had such an amazing impact on so many musicians over the years, was one of the most moving afternoons I had.

Flugge is still being remembered and paid tribute to – I just a smoking version of his “The Borderland” by the John Allen Trio at Dick’s Den on Wednesday – and I’m happy to say everyone involved is making good on their promise to make that formal concert hall tribute an annual event. This year’s memorial features the Vaughan Wiester Famous Jazz Orchestra going specially commissioned arrangements of Flugge’s work along with smaller combos, chamber music groups, and soloists. This also marks the release of Mark Flugge Remembered: Jazz Originals and Standards which is a compilation of previously-unreleased tracks designed to give a taste of the width and breadth of one of the finest careers in Columbus music. From early word, the record should be an essential document of Columbus jazz and classical music.

Show starts at 2:00pm. Free event.

June 14: Secret Keeper (Mary Halvorson and Stephan Crump). Natalie’s Coal Fired Pizza, 5601 N High St.

Mary Halvorson’s probably my favorite jazz/avant-garde guitarist working right now. I was blown away the first time I saw her in duos with viola player Jessica Pavone at a show booked by Gerard Cox – see above – and I’ve been blown away every single time since, seeing her with Ingrid Laubrock in both Laubrock’s quintet at Barbes and an improvised trio with Tom Rainey at Issue Project Room, playing duets at The Stone, with Marc Ribot in Sun Ship, with Trevor Dunn’s Trio Convulsant at Bowery Poetry Club and Travis Laplante’s quartet at Shapeshifter Lab, and of course her own groups which I’ve seen from the Jazz Gallery to the Wexner Center for the Arts. So it’s a big deal to me she’s coming back to town.

Her unique writing and guitar vocabulary can conjure everything from her longtime teacher Anthony Braxton to Derek Bailey to Horace Silver to Mingus. Over the years she’s developed a way of working with space and the decay of notes that almost puts me in mind of Eliane Radigue and Feldman. Her singular tone and attack haven’t changed so much as over the years they’ve had flash and excess stripped away. The renewed depth and spaciousness of her playing is most apparent in her new project, Secret Keeper, and she’s found a perfect foil in bassist Stephan Crump – this is dancing on air without a net.

I’m very glad to see Natalie’s – one of my favorite listening rooms in town – booking something like this and it’s the show I’m most excited for this week.

Show starts at 8:00pm. $10 tickets available at http://www.vendini.com/ticket-software.html?t=tix&e=9c5d0e4bdb33efe24d11945ea6d77f4f

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"Hey

“Hey, Fred!” 06/01/2015-06/07/2015 A Biased and Idiosyncratic Top Five

This is the week of Origins Game Fair which I don’t attend every year any more but it still brings many of my dearest friends in from out of town and I’m happy it’s both still here and it weathered GenCon moving closer to its date. There are some great music options if anyone’s coming to town but – like I always used to be at cons – interested in ducking out and seeing what else the town has.

Music

June 3: Beth Israel. Double Happiness, 482 S Front St. 

Beth Israel is a deliciously loud, abrasive, and plodding post-punk band from Austin co-signed by Parquet Courts. They plow a similarly bummer sphere as PC, steeped in late ’70s and ’80s referents with a delighful, Dadaist approach to lyric writing. If you’re a sucker for that kind of thing like I am, they do it in a way targeted right for that sweet spot.

Anyone into Protomartyr, the dronier parts of the Bassholes, or the many bands who’ve taken up the Joy Division torch in recent years, would do well to see Beth Israel in these intimate confines.

Doors at 8:00pm. $5 tickets at https://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/860413?__utma=1.209975392.1432496223.1432496223.1432496223.1&__utmb=1.1.10.1432496223&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1432496223.1.1.utmcsr=google|utmccn=(organic)|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=(not%20provided)&__utmv=-&__utmk=209472018

June 5: Ava Luna. Double Happiness, 482 S Front St.

Like the above-mentioned Beth Israel, Ava Luna has a strong interest in sounds of the ’70s and ’80s but they fuse and fracture that DNA into something beguiling and uniquely their own. Brooklyn’s Ava Luna traffic in an intense, agitated funk that’s frayed around the edges but also gleaming with gorgeous harmonies that never seem to resolve where you’d expect.

Doors at 8:00pm. $7 tickets available at https://www.ticketfly.com/event/829191-ava-luna-columbus/

June 6: Elizabeth Cook. Rumba Café, 2507 Summit St.

There aren’t many finer American songwriters than Elizabeth Cook – if you can name 10 better country songwriters, pound-for-pound, I think you’re a liar. She has a knack for a melody that will slip right between your skin and your bones and clean you like a fish so your all-together is whipping in the breeze in long, red strips.

Her last record, Welder, might be her masterpiece, with songs like “Mama’s Funeral,” “Heroin Addict Sister,” and “Rock and Roll Man”, but I thought that about both her records before. A killer, cunning stage presence honed by more than 300 appearances on the Grand Old Opry and lots of touring, plus her acclaimed radio show on SiriusXM, she’s not to be missed whenever she comes to town.

Boston singer-songwriter Reed Foehl opens. The buzz around him is white-hot, having written the single on Lee Ann Womack’s amazing last record and strong press across Americana and jamband lines.

Starts at 9:00pm. $15 tickets available at http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=5679165

June 6: Cory Henry and the Funk Apostles. Park Street Saloon, 525 N Park St.

Cory Henry, keyboardist from Grammy-winning jazz-R&B combo Snarky Puppy has been on fire with his new solo band this year, the Funk Apostles. Columbus has benefited from this as this is, I’m pretty sure, Henry’s third time through town this year. This time, he brings his gleaming new mothership to the larger (and more centrally located especially for you Origins folks, hint hint) confines of the Park Street Saloon.

Henry has a crack ensemble built around himself on keys and vocals. Featuring Andrew Bailey on guitar and Nick Semrad on keys and one of the greatest rhythm sections touring now – Sharay Reed (from Aretha Franklin and Chaka Khan’s bands) on bass and Cleon Edwards (Jill Scott, Erykah Badu) on drums. It’s a powerful, joyous sound when they get together with an understanding of dynamics and tension not often seen in the more jam-centric groups.

Starts at 10:00pm. $10 tickets available at http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=5805105

June 6: Mojoflo and Gramps the Vamp. Brothers Drake, 26 E 5th Ave. 

Mojoflo is the preeminent party band in Columbus right now, one so infectious they even get a hardened, cynical jackass like me on the floor and moving.

Amber Knicole’s one of our finest singers and entertainers, as riveting on a ballad as on a call and response chant. George Barrie’s guitar is perfect, never overplaying and while he understands stretching for the dancers, he never over-complicates the lines, there’s a sense of space and purity in his playing. The horn section, too, cares more about space than making sure you know how much they can technically play on every line. That goes double for the rhythm section anchored by Doni Jai on drums and a rotating selection of bassists. Great songs, a great show, something I never regret seeing in town.

The icing on the cake for this Gallery Hop show is the Chicago band Gramps the Vamp. 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.

Categories
"Hey

“Hey, Fred!” 05/25/2015-05/31/2015 A Biased and Idiosyncratic Top Five

Art

OTG_Twitter_Feed_smallMay 30: Off the Grid. Wexner Center for the Arts, 1871 N High St. 

This week there’s nothing I want to recommend more highly than Off the Grid. The Wexner Center’s fundraiser for their education programs is also one of my favorite parties of the season. Over the last five years since the annual non-gala fundraiser has morphed into its current form and name, Off the Grid has taken on its own identity and carved out its own demographic:  culture vultures like me, young professionals out to see and be seen (and get their first taste of the Wexner Center in the bargain), and a crowd just out to eat some great food and dance to some of the best out of town DJs anyone books.

The selection of local restaurants is always top notch – don’t forget to eat as I have sometimes, too caught up in talking and dancing. The music’s always a righteous dancefloor filler and it gets taken up another notch this year with local electronic artist Giant Claw and Brooklyn DJ Lauren Flax (half of Creep) one of the hottest producers and DJs out there right now.

This marks the end of my two year run on the GenWex Advisory Committee. I know there are a lot of competing choices that night. But if you’re not at Nelsonville Music Festival an hour’s drive away – and if you’re getting down to Oblivians, Budos Band, or Mavis Staples, I won’t question your choices – or seeing the Rolling Stones a fifteen minute walk away, it would be lovely to see you out at this. Starts at 8:00pm. For tickets and more information visit http://wexarts.org/public-programs/genwex/grid-0

Film

May 26: Hard to Be a God. Wexner Center for the Arts, 1871 N High St. 

No discrespect to Mad Max, but I feel comfortable saying this is the Science Fiction film event of the summer and maybe the year if you’re my breed of SF fan. That is, the kind of nerd who got his or her head blown open by reading Boris and Arkady Sturgatsky’s The Roadside Picnic as an adolescent (and seeing the Tarkovsky adaptation Stalker in High School or College).

It’s hard not thinking about the discussion of a few sad, small, scared men trying to hem in boundaries and keep people out of that kind of genre work (and the celebration of same) when something that reminds me of the genre work I love most comes out. Those were the kind of voices that made me think SF wasn’t worth bothering with and made it easy for me to walk away – without regret – from almost all cons over a decade ago. I went many years not even checking for what was new on those shelves. In the long term, I know their time is done – with them now emboldened and scared leading a terrifying choir that chokes on dust and sounds like a death rattle. As I try to empathize with my friends fighting the good fight on those fonts, I think it’s more important than ever to celebrate this kind of work.

If you want to think of it as other than science fiction, that’s great too.I’m not that kind of nerd to say “You stand up and say ‘No, this is science fiction! You do like science fiction!'” (Yes, I sat in a panel where someone actually did this about Future Shock or Frankenstein or Rappacini’s Daughter and my sense of fuck this started to harden). But it’s a great example of what those tools can tell us about the future and about the past. This film adaptation, finished by Aleksei German before his death, is supposed to be phenomenal and you can best believe I’ll be there. Starts at 7:00pm. $8 tickets available at http://wexarts.org/film-video/hard-be-god

Music

May 28: Deicide, Hate Eternal, Entombed AD, and Svart Crown. Alrosa Villa, 5055 Sinclair Rd. 

In high school when I got turned onto the Earache school of death metal, that was my punk rock, and while it’s not a huge part of my diet these days, I still get a charge out of putting on Deicide’s Legion or Serpents of the Light, and To Hell with God of a few years ago was a stunning return to form full of catchy riffs and pummeling rhythms. Entombed I took a little longer to warm to – and they’re probably still more often thought of by most readers of this blog as the band Nicke Andersson left to form Hellacopters, but I still put on Wolverine Blues with some regularity and it might be the best example of a fusion of straight-ahead rock and roll with the prickly grind of death metal. I saw Hate Eternal a few years ago at the Newport and Erik Rutan still has that quicksilver guitar tone and mastery of the immediately identifiable riff, this power trio format is a brilliant showcase for him. Svart Crown I just found researching this and they’re a French band in the same scene as Alcest who have a great blacked death groove akin to Ohio’s Skeletonwitch. For someone with my tastes and aesthetic, this is the most stacked metal show to come through town in a while. Locals Lorna Shore and Exudate open along with Reading, PA’s, Black Crown Initiate. Doors 5:30pm. Tickets available at http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=5774665

May 29: E-40 and Mystikal. Xclusive Elite Entertainment Center, 1921 Channingway Center Dr. 

Two of the strongest proponents of the regional rap explosion of the mid-late ’90s coming back to town on one massive bill. E-40 helped popularize the Bay Area’s hyphy sound. Mystikal brought a different slowed-down blues shout flavor to the New Orleans flourishing exploding everywhere. These were two voices immediately recognizable the minute they came out of a speaker on a radio or at a party and two indelible songwriters. This venue – a revival and restoration of a classic Columbus dancehall – has been booking killing hip-hop and country acts of late, I haven’t made it to one yet but I’d be remiss not bringing this up to anyone anywhere near my age. St. Louis’ Stevie Stone opens. Doors at 7:00pm. Tickets available at http://www.ticketmaster.com/e40-and-mystikal-columbus-ohio-05-29-2015/event/05004E8DB0D27D04

May 30: Scale Model with Damn the Witch Siren and The Girls!. Wall Street Nightclub, 144 N Wall St. 

Wall Street’s principally known as a dance club but they’ve always done other things – drag shows, musical theater – and they’re making a rare foray into live rock bands this weekend with a perfectly chosen bill. Scale Model out of Nashville does a riff on classic New Wave with observational lyrics, a wry sense of humor, and hooks to spare delivered by a ferocious frontwoman, Megan Rox.

They’re paired with two of Columbus’s finest in a similar make-you-dance vein. Damn the Witch Siren, fronted by Krista Botjer, refine their funky throwback dance music at a white-hot pace, better every time I see them with ever-stronger songs. The Girls! came out of the gate with maybe the best hooks in town and their unhinged live show is a fireworks display, a thing of beauty and wonder that will fill a dancefloor in seconds flat; they’re recording again soon so look for new songs through that big, gorgeous PA at Wall Street. 8:00pm doors. $7 cover.