Let the After Times Begin

On the night of June 2nd, I ventured to a strange place. It was inside. It was sort of dark, but with colorful lights which lit up a strange platform. Upon this platform, human beings created sounds, using their voices, and various stringed and percussive devices.  I think this was what they used to call “live music.” 

Could June 2021 be the month that live music REALLY comes back to us? Wednesday at Ruby Deluxe, there was an actual, real, LIVE SHOW.  Not that there haven’t been any at all.  I’ve seen the odd outdoor gig, and much love to the Pour House for starting things with seated shows indoors a few weeks ago, as things were beginning to re-normalize.  But THIS is the first music I’ve seen that felt truly like the before times. 

It started quietly, as if to warm us up to the very idea again. One singer and an electric guitar, Al Riggs, standing alone on the great new stage at Ruby, playing songs from what has become a damned impressive and extensive catalog, including the recent full-lengths Bile & Bone and I Got A Big Electric Fan To Keep Me Cool While I Sleep.  The dark, sometimes sad songs entranced the audience... Riggs’ music sets an otherworldly tone, and they appreciated it, though were sometimes a bit talkative for a quiet act... but hey, they came to dance 😊 (see below). I saw Riggs play a couple of outdoor gigs during the pandemic, and when playing solo, their music lends itself to that. But this felt different. Maybe it was the indoor vibe, the reverb, the sound bouncing off the walls. Or maybe it was just because I was just so eager for venue show. Whatever, it was good.

Al Riggs...

Even when I like the act, I’ve never enjoyed amphitheater or arena shows, or even smaller outdoor shows, as much as the intimacy of a small club. You literally feel the music, the sweat and heat, the energy. It’s visceral. The proximity of the stage makes you part and parcel of the show. 

Speaking of which, much of the audience seemed to come for the second act, Charlie Paso, and to be sure that they themselves became a part of the show. Charlie Paso, apparently, travel with their own dance crew. And I can see why. Their songs are at once catchy and ragged. Hints of Pavement and Modest Mouse flutter through ‘50s pop and ‘70s psych before heading out to the ocean and riding a rolling surf back to now. I swear they were a 4-piece the only other time I saw them too long ago, but being as 2-piece now, they’re none the worse for wear. No lack of energy and fun here. Check out their newest couple of tunes on bandcamp, What a Beautiful Place and I'm Contagious, Yr a Mess. Thanks also to Ruby for adding a cage at stage right, of which several of the dancing crowd made use. 

Charlie Paso...

Two great acts to wet my whistle, and I want MORE. Also, not a bad crowd for a mid-week show, especially considering most people hardly remember what a “show” is. So if you’re vaxxed, get out there and SUPPORT LIVE MUSIC again! And if you’re not, then wtf are you waiting for?!?  

Just Another Raleigh Friday Night: Part II - Ghostt Bllonde/Seabreeze Diner/the Dead Bedrooms, Gudiya (7/14/17)

Continuing my chronicle of just an average Friday night in downtown Raleigh, after Granite In Reverse outside (see earlier post), I head indoors for what promised to be a fun 3-band bill at Kings Barcade.  All three acts share an affinity for mid-century pop, something I like to hear in new music after it percolates through the brains of today's kids.  I hadn't yet seen opening act the Dead Bedrooms.  They had perhaps the most straight-ahead-pop take... a little surfy and maybe a little '80s too.  They show real promise for a new band.

The Dead Bedrooms...

This was my second time seeing Seabreeze Diner.  They bounce crunchy dual guitars off smooth crooning, and filled the bigger room nicely (I'd seen them at the quaint, excellent but more quaint Carrboro venue the Station).  I'm not sure, but they might just like the Everly Brothers even more than Ghostt Bllonde's Marc Kuzio.

Seabreeze Diner...

(when the action is perfect but your auto-focus can't keep up)

What can I say about Ghostt Bllonde that I haven't already?  (after several years, I think I finally have the "LL"s and the "TT"s right?  Oh yeah, I know... GET THAT DAMN ALBUM OUT GUYS!!!  I know they're close; judging from the updates crossing my feed, praising the work of the great Missy Thangs finishing it up at Mitch Easter's Fidelitorium studio.  

Ghostt Bllonde...

GB having some fun with SD...

As I said, there was plenty going on this night.  Being a longtime fan of Indian music, Bollywood or otherwise, I had to check out a unique offering at Slim's called Garam Masala.  Advertised as "an experimental night of spicy selections", it featured a DJ, Gudiya, mixing South Asian sounds with electronic.  Altered the usual Slim's atmosphere into a more experimental, easy-going vibe... great for a post-show beer.  I even recognized a couple from the movies I used to watch much more often... think I heard Chaiyya Chaiyya, and maybe some Jazzy B.  Check out Gudiya's Sister Mix on her Soundcloud page.

Gudiya & incense...

Here's a couple of videos from the King's show...

The GOOD Kinda MOAB (Mother of All Bills) - Zack Mexico, Naked Gods, Lonnie Walker - Nightlight, Sat, 4/22/17

I don't usually promote a show beforehand other than to fire off a quick facebook post, linking to the event.  But this one merits more.  To Be Heard booking have put together numerous great shows since their inception earlier this year.  But this one tops them all.  And by "all", I mean all local shows.  Ever.

Okay, maybe that's hyperbolic.  Musical taste is subjective.  But these three bands are all right in my sweet spot, and in my mind, may just be the three best bands in North Carolina:  Zack Mexico, Naked Gods, and Lonnie Walker.

If you read my blog at all, you know I'm in LOVE with Outer Banks' own Zack Mexico.  ZM is my crush... if I weren't too old to crush, and if I were gay, and if he were a person.  He's HAWT!  Just Google How Strange... and Zack Mexico and you'll see some overlap.  I hate long jams, but I can sit and watch these guys extend a song over 10 minutes and love it.  Hell, I can and often have watched them build a long set out of 4 or 5 songs, and left completely satisfied and musically satiated.  I can't count the number of times I've heard newbies gush after one of their shows, and with a series of opening dates with Future Islands, they'll be making a lot more fans soon.

Here's a vid I took of them at Hopscotch a couple of years back, doing an older song that appears on their latest album, Get Rich and Liver Forever:


Then there's Naked Gods, from Boone.  I kind of consider them to be the mountain equivalent to the beach's Zack Mex... similar mindset, slightly more rootsy vibe.  But they got that indie-psychedelic jam thing going.  Their self-titled album is one of the best by an NC band in years.  Frontman Seth Sullivan is a force of nature onstage.  Expect bear hugs.

Here's them at Hopscotch a couple of years back with a great song from the afore-mentioned album:


Then Raleigh's Lonnie Walker.  They laid off for a while, but are back, and the recent Earth Canals was another one of the best local albums in years.   They lean even a bit rootsier (maybe twangier, really), but really it's just Brian Corum's unique style.  I link them with some of the great Ghostmeat records bands from that Athens GA label in the '90s (Sunbrain, Drip, Tony Tidwell, Dave Dondero... particularly Dondero's band Flatwheelers that predated his solo stuff...damn they were great.).    I regret that I never had time to give ...Canals its due when it came out.  Teenage Poem is perfect pop.  Songs like All Bombs Away and Baby Man are downright incendiary.  And it's all punctuated by sublime slower tunes like No Pure Light and Seasons.

Here's Lonnie Walker doing Summertime at the very same venue where this show of shows will be tomorrow night:


Any one of these bands blows up the stage.  All three, and it might just change your life.  Do not miss this show.  Zack Mexico, Naked Gods, and Lonnie Walker, Saturday, 4/22/17, Nightlight in Chapel Hill.  Mother of all Bills.

Gaby Moreno w/ Davíd Garza - Pour House (11/1/16)

After howling like a wolf for Halloween at two fairly raucous rock’n’roll shows (see photos on my facebook page), it seemed appropriate to celebrate All Saints’ Day with a little mellower vibe.  Also appropriate was the coincident line-up of two Latino artists, being as All Saints’ Day (as we call it in Catholic NOLA) has become more-or-less supplanted by El Dia de los Muertos (which is MUCH more fun).

  

Not to paint Guatemalan native Gaby Moreno and opener Davíd Garza with too broad a genre-brush.  While Garza has been known to incorporate Mexican rhythms into his songs, he’s pretty much a straight-ahead rocker.  His unique and varied influences range from 1920’s popular music to Led Zeppelin… and pretty much everything in between.  Likewise, while Moreno is equally comfortable singing in Spanish or English, her songs are such a broad mélange of blues, soul, and Latin as to defy categorization.

Davíd Garza is what really planted this show on my must-see schedule.  I’ve been a fan of Garza since his little acoustic trio, Twang Twang ShockaBoom, were bangin’ on bongos and standup bass on the West Mall at UT Austin (early ‘90s, to stamp a date on both of us).  The bare bones set up was a great accompaniment to his classically-trained guitar chops.  As tapes trickled over to Baton Rouge and made their way into my grubby little hands, I couldn’t give them enough airplay on Saturated Neighborhood, the local-regional music show I was hosing on KLSU.  After Twang, several solo albums with a fully fleshed-out band quickly followed.  Man-Oh-Man, those were some FUN shows!  But since then, I’ve only seen him perform once.  He rarely plays shows outside of Texas or L.A., where he currently resides.  [Side note:  Davíd has been part of the music/comedy scene at Largo in L.A., which has produced some of my absolute favorite alt-comedians... Patton Oswalt, Paul F. Thompkins, Sarah Silverman, etc.]  

In the years since Twang, Garza’s songwriting has flourished, proving him to be one of the most prolific artists working today.  He’s had his flirt with major-label success (see This Euphoria, which shoulda sold millions).  But his real strength is the range and consistency of his songs.  I assumed he’d play mostly new stuff off his recent April Fool CD, expecting just a taste of the old stuff.  Turns out, he placated the crowd, which was laced with other longtime fans who clamored for some older tunes.  The short set included several songs from Euphoria (Float Away, Kinder, Slave, Discoball World), along with later, darker tunes Drone and God’s Hands (one of my favorites).  

If you’re not familiar with Garza, look up his 4 CD set, A Strange Mess of Flowers (on itunes etc), or Eternal Tambourine (on Bandcamp).  Both are extensive collections which showcase the breadth of his career.  Check them out; you won’t be disappointed.  

Davíd Garza…

But for all my fawning over Garza’s music, the headliner, after all, was Gaby Moreno.  I’m new to her music, but can this woman sing!  And write.  And play.  SO soulful, her songs and voice both remind me of my NOLA.  At the very least, she and her band could blend easily into the New Orleans music scene.

Moreno has a growing following, receiving numerous accolades, including a Latin Grammy for Best New Artist in 2013.   Though a newer artist than her opener (and bandmate) Garza, she’s no slouch herself as far as output.  She’s put out a half dozen or so records in the past 7 or 8 years.  So the large crowd – especially for the early week, post-Halloween hangover slot – had plenty to sing along to.  And sing they did.  Quizás, Quizás,Quizás was a crowd favorite, and the title cut from her new album, Ilusión, was a quiet detour... a sweet, sublime ode to fantasy (see video below).

Now that I’m clued in, Gaby Moreno’s next pass through town will again be immediately planted on my must-see schedule… no matter who the opener is!

Gaby Moreno…

Finally, in what was possibly the sweetest moment I've ever seen onstage, Moreno brought her niece Alexia to the stage... for her United States singing debut!  They sang Fronteras, another cut from Ilusión. 

Here’s a video of Garza performing Slave, from This Euphoria; and, if it sounds familiar to Ethan Hawke fans, from the film Great Expectations. J

And here’s the title cut from Moreno’s new album, accompanied by Garza…

Hopscotch Music Festival - Saturday Night (9/10/16)

At long last, here's the last night of my Hopscotch Music Festival coverage... is it Hopscotch 2017 yet? (I know, practically... :) )  You may have noticed I skipped the big shows at City Plaza, save for the wonderful Wye Oak on Thursday.  With all the day parties (often stretching into the City Plaza time slot) and the great night shows, I had to take a break sometime!  Plus, I've never been much for bigger venues... takes the immediacy away.  Live music for me is as much about a shared experience with the band as it is about hearing the music.  I need to be front and center whether I'm taking photos or not.

Side note:  It's come to my attention that some people think I'm "working" when they see me shooting a show, or they don't want to get in my way, etc.  Nah, I'm having fun like everybody else.  Dive in!  Say hi!  The camera's just the way I see things.

Anyway, two shared experiences I was looking forward to in this last batch of night shows were at Deep South, always a good venue for Hopscotch shows.  I had never seen Weird Pennies (of Raleigh) yet, but knew of frontman Thomas McNeely when he was with Jenny Besetzt.  The Pennies' music sounded great online, and the show didn't disappoint.  Jerky, punky indie-experimental in the vein of a (slightly less esoteric) Whatever Brains or the next band in the lineup (see later)... I'll have to listen more to fully digest their sound, but it was good.

Weird Pennies...

Next band in the lineup (see now) was Columbia, SC's, ET Anderson.  As I wrote a few weeks back after their Kosher Hut pre-Hopscotch show, they may be my new favorite live band.  Recorded, they come off a bit quieter... chill, introspective weirdness with a slow burn.  Live, they take the same songs and blow that shit up.  Either way, it's a meld of soul and indie-weirdness.  A little bit Devo, a little bit Pavement, a lot bit outer space.  That shot at the top is ET Anderson bassist Hot Tub John, his wife's eyes lit up with love (and guitar glare).

ET Anderson...

Speaking of Whatever Brains, my next stop was to be Neptune's to see Bodykit, a new project featuring Rich and Josh from the Brains.  Unfortunately, I found out on the way over they were done. But I bumped into most of Beauty World and Moon Racer (where they told me about their joint release show at the Carrack in Durham this weekend, to which all of you MUST GO!) and followed them over to Memorial Auditorium to catch a little of Andrew Bird.  I'm somewhat familiar with Bird's music (having only one of his releases), but again, me and big venues... not so much.  Still, it was a nice break from the treble and the clang.  Tift Merritt even got up and sang a couple with him (see below).

Andrew Bird...

One way or another, I was gonna close Hopscotch with some brass.  My initial thought was fellow New Orleanians the Stooges Brass Band.  I figured the shotgun shack that is Slim's would already be at capacity for Downtown Boys (sorta-kinda brass in that members come from brass band What Cheer? Brigade, who wowed Hopscotch a year or two ago).  But I was getting reports that the line at the Pour House for Stooges was around the block, and when I walked by Slim's, it was open!  So I camped out there for the remainder.

Downtown Boys describe themselves as a "bi bilingual political dance sax punk party from Providence."  Yeah, that's pretty much it.  Singer Victoria Ruiz opened most songs with a rant against the given injustice of the next song, and then proceeded to cap it with a blast of raw energy, belting out lyrics in English and Spanish with the ferocity of Ian MacKaye in his heydey.  She spent half her time in the crowd, singing and slamming, as the band held down the fort with dual saxes.  Definitely a fun way to close Hopscotch 2016.

Downtown Boys...

Are we done yet?

Not quite.  Here's a few black and white shots that better capture the controlled chaos of the Downtown Boys at Slim's.

See ya next year, Hopscotch!