Fern Knight/Luigi Archetti/Odal/Blue Sausage Infant/Twilight Memories of Three Suns - Velvet Lounge - Sept 23 2009

This show is part of the Sonic Circuits Festival which has events in many clubs, embassies and even the Kennedy Center. The American Composers Forum has used this to showcase avante garde music and electronic music with new technologies, etc. They have expanded to become more inclusive of other styles and other crap, but we will get to that.

Fern Knight - What was to be the headliner turned out to be the opener. The three members told me they were less one member who was ill, so they decided just to do more experimental improvisation rather than their Fern Knight songs. So the version that hit the stage was an instrumental trio with violin, cello, and a percussionist. The strings were nicely treated with interesting pedal work by the violinist. The percussionist had a very small set of drums but did a nice job. All in all, it was a lovely set by 3/4 of a band that I had been quite familiar with for reasons I forget (and a couple I do remember).

Blue Sausage Infant - This was a one man and machine loop with noise effects, drum machines, synths and vocals. You know the drill. With such a limiting format, it was not bad. I suppose some will object to me calling this a limiting format as any format has lots of limits, but I really don't see this as much of a challenge. Still, this act was a bit better than most of the genre, to my ears.

Twilight Memories of Three Suns - I assume this was the band I saw next. The highlight was a guy dressed in a white plastic all covering suit looking a bit like a slimmed down Gort, I guess. He sat around the previous set confusing people who didn't see him come in as to whether there was a human in there. I will also assume that. The band took forever to set up and couldn't find some of their equipment. Then one guy asked if they should start without a band member. Were I to say what I was thinking, I would have said yes as it probably wasn't going to matter with the vibe I was getting from them. The music began, I guess, when some feedback came in. Pretty much noise hereafter from a few people doing god knows what as I was in the back and most of them were sitting on the stage. There was a guitar which didn't matter. I offer sets like this as proof of how little originality matters. I really get tired of the excuse that something isn't original. This is not truly original either, as many others have done this sort of crap. There wasn't one thing up there I heard, that anyone in the crowd couldn't have done. Profound. Let's break down the fourth wall. If that is the case, please don't leave your home next time. And as for a link, they apparently don't have a good one on the web which is good news for all, although there is something about an album.

At this point, I was bored, tired and spending time with my cat would be infinitely more enjoyable, although I was sorry to miss Luigi Archetti.

Quote of the Night: "I ended up using 411, so I probably cost you forty dollars."

Steeleye Span - Birchmere - September 22 2009

Steeleye Span - I have to admit that although it certainly has its good points, the Birchmere is the Branson of rock clubs. Wow are these crowds getting older by the moment--you can almost see the aging right in front of you like some bad Star Trek episode. Hippies with canes? Amazing. Although I walk very quickly, I feel like I can walk twice as fast as half the crowd at least and I am not young. But anyway, on to seeing on of my favorite bands and the last of the "Big Three" of British Folk-Rock that I had yet to see (Fairport Convention and Pentangle being the other two). I see Maddy Prior on vocals and Peter Knight of violin as the key members present. Clearly that is Liam Genocky on drums who has worked with them off on for a number of years in recent times. I later find out that is Ken Nicol on guitar and Pete Zorn on bass (not Rick Kemp who was too ill). Both of these guys are from the same scene and have played with them, so this is a pretty credible line-up and even the absolutely first original Steeleye Span (present on the first album) has never played together live. Maddy's voice doesn't push too much early on but grew a bit fuller as the songs kept coming. They covered a lot of territory and to my mind, hit on some recent and/or lesser material a bit too often. I did love the old songs like "Blacksmith", "When I was on Horseback" and "Lovely on the Water" with its stunning vocals, moody folk arrangement and great mandolin by Knight. Knight was in great form on violin, mandolin and vocals and I don't think the band would work if he were to leave. They broke up the show into two sets, had some nice stage patter and played well. When it worked, it soared to the heights I look for in this music. Glad to see them finally.


Quote of the Night: Maddie Prior describing the lyrics to Tam Lin-- "...the man was a shapeshifter, so he became a snake, an ogre, a wild bull, all of these things designed to make her let go, release her love and keep the spell on. That's the sort of metaphor that speaks to my marital experiences."

Robin Trower - Birchmere - September 21 2009

Robin Trower - The old, old Birchmere crowd files in quickly and fills the place much more thoroughly than I would have guessed. Guitar nuts are roaming around photographing the set list, photographing the backup guitars and bass and comparing notes of old Robin Trower shows. This is the first time for me as I missed his arena shows in my youth. Frankly, although he is an excellent guitarist, he wrote very few songs of interest and all of them are on the album "Bridge of Sighs". But that didn't stop me from enjoying another excellent guitarist who wrote even lesser songs, Frank Marino of Mahogany Rush, so here I am. I sit near a guy with a "You Might be a Guitar Nut if..." t-shirt that had several amusing answers to that question such as "you think a G-string is made of phosphor bronze". Anyway, Trower comes on and I wouldn't recognize him in a small police line-up. But once he starts playing the facial histrionics give it away, it's him. Oh, and he does play really well and has a strong signature sound. What was interesting is that he doesn't live at his pedal box, but mostly just creates the unique sound and works with it. The band was a bit too mannered. You expect that a bit with older bands, but the singer especially did not really give the edge that James Dewar did on the early albums. The Bridge of Sighs songs were good and got the biggest ovation from the enthralled crowd, well kind of enthralled, more respectful perhaps. Good show, but not one I will repeat next tour.



Quote of the Night: "There's no opening act tonight which often happens here--one of the reasons I like this place." Well, I agree that I don't want to see a six band bill keeping me out until 2:00am, but I wouldn't mind a bit more music for $40 and I really don't need to arrive home at 9:20pm.

A Hawk and a Hacksaw/Damon & Naomi/Garland of Hours - Rock'n'Roll Hotel - September 20 2009

Garland of Hours - This is the type of band I will place in my extensive psyche-folk collection even though it is not a clean fit other than the mood I get from listening. The band is a drummer and a singer/cellist who lays down a loop prior to the duo joining in. As I said, a nice mood evocative of old European village legends and melancholic tales, although the lyrics I picked up on where more modern. Nice opener.

Damon & Naomi - I've seen this duo several times. This time it was just acoustic guitar and keyboards with the excellent vocals I expect. A well received set by the small crowd and a good warm selection of songs. A cover of Leonard Cohen's Bird on a Wire closed off another solid set by this high quality veteran duo.

A Hawk and a Hacksaw - Some great world/gypsy music it looks like here. Yes, the violinist is flying and is accompanied by a trumpet, tuba, accordian, bouzouki, and some percussion now and then. Reminds me of some of Boiled in Leads forays into world music and sure enough, there's that 7/8 beat that BiL used at times. Just a bit of vocals for some nice contrast and the songs sometimes featured a different player in a lead role, so it was quite interesting in addition to being quite good. Hard to not enjoy this group.

Quote of the Night: "This song's from 1995. Were you on H Street in 1995? I don't think a single one of you was on H Street in 1995." ...Damon Krukowski

Sian Alice Group/Polite Sleeper/The Console War - Red & the Black - September 17 2009

The Console War - Two guys with electric guitars, some keyboards and one guy went to a small mismatched drum kit at times. Pretty much shoegaze rock with vocals heavy on the reverb. When the guy switched to drums, it was alarmingly powerful. Overwhelming almost, but cool. Decent and well received by a sizable crowd.

Polite Sleeper - Three piece with drummer, keyboards and an acoustic guitarist/singer. Backup vocals from the other two as well. Simple, good quality song-writer rock was pretty much the menu here. Guitarist had energy to burn and stalked about a bit like a young Elvis Costello or David Byrne back in the day. I sensed the songs were a bit smarter than average but I rarely pick up fully on that issue unless I listen to a CD many times as I really don't pay close attention to lyrics until many listens. Still, a good delivery from this Brooklyn based band.

Sian Alice Group - Wow. They delivered the knockout blow. I hadn't seen anything this dreamy cool since United Bible Studies who they reminded me of, although sounding a little more ethnically neutral. Very dreamy psychedelic post-shoegaze rock. Even some freak-out psyche moves, amazing. Female singer percussionist fronts a rhythm section, keyboardist and guitarist. I could place this between the Velvet Underground and Vetiver (which alphabetically would make them Venom, but thankfully no dull death metal here). Some small instrument shifting and a trumpet briefly work their way in, too. The small crowd ate it up. This UK band is doing a lengthy tour and hopefully they will get the needed PR before the shows as that is what brought me to this one. Truly PR I am very thankful for.

Quote of the Night: "Don't act like you don't know who I am". No, that's not a near quote from Serena Williams berating of a linesperson. It was some very loud guy in Popeye's carrying on an unwanted conversation with the cashier either trying for a date, free food or both as he was loud but unclear. The manager came out to confront him in the street after he left and all was well. Always an adventure at Popeye's.

Dead Meadow/The Shirks - Black Cat

The Shirks - A couple guitars, bass and drums with some vocals. Nice revved up melodic punk. Straight ahead rocking not unlike early Misfits. Short sweet, good thrust. The set was really short but that can work to a band's favor with this sound. Ian MacKaye sighting, so there must be some incestuous Dischord tie-in. Yes, one of the band members works there.

Dead Meadow - Clearly, one of best psychedelic acts working today, this three piece rocked out a crowded Black Cat backroom once again. Hopefully they will be hitting main stages soon. They are certainly a favorite of many in the know including Nick Cave who invited him to play Australia at an ATP show with the Saints, Bad Seeds and Spiritualized among other great bands. Dead Meadow really hits a groove with great psychedelic jamming. What really puts them a bit higher than most is that there are some lovely songs to go along with the great jamming. Style and substance. Do explore this band if you have not already.

Quote of the night: I wasn't listening, so I will just comment that the Trapeze School of NY is still open and doing their work in a parking lot near where I live. There are four great locations in NYC, DC, Boston and LA. So if you want a new career or just want to brush up your trapeze skills, check it out at: http://www.trapezeschool.com/default.php. It does make an entertaining site on my walks to Chinatown.

Owl City/Kate Havnevik/Unicorn Kid - Rock'n'Roll Hotel - September 12 2009

Unicorn Kid - Time to challenge myself with something beyond my comfort zone with this show sandwiched between Motorhead, Hugh Cornwell and Dead Meadow. The Unicorn Kid comes out and plays his computer. Lots of pop melodies, electronic thrust with the Kid bobbing his head whilst wearing his furry lion head hat. He is from Scotland and went over well with the excitable crowd. Geeze, they looked young. So that's why this started at 7:30 on a Saturday night (and the sold out show had a good early crowd). When the Kid asked for hands in the air, I thought I was looking the entire first issue of Dischord's first release of the Teen Idles ep. ($10 to the first person who gets the reference without looking it up). Anyway, I was as distracted by non musical issues during this set as I am writing this up. But it went over well with the crowd.

Kate Havnevik - Kate plays acoustic guitar and sings with some pop recordings playing in the background. She is from Norway and had a Coco Rosie light kind of sound (with me, that is a compliment). This was lightly enjoyable, although the crowd seemed to like the more up tempo styling of the first act. God, this crowd is young, but teen. What television show is breaking these acts? I don't have kids and am not up on youth culture. I do feel it's kind of cool to infiltrate this type of show at an indie level at the Rock'n'Roll Hotel as opposed to seeing Hannah Montana at the Verizon. That is refreshing in a weird way.

Owl City - Ok, I can no longer hide my mistake. I thought I was buying a ticket for Owl Service, an interesting UK folk band. So I confused the owl bands. I have long since given up trying to figure out the differences between wolf bands (Wolf Eyes, Wolfmother, Wolf Parade, etc.) and am getting to the point of skipping all animal bands. Animal Collective is ok because they cover the entire kingdom, although I've seen them twice and am less interested in seeing them again. Anyway, Owl City did come out with a real band as well as some electronics, so that was nice. Some good pop melodies here, quite polished and nothing wildly original. The soundman was pumping a pedal plugged into the sound board, but I couldn't here what resulted. A bit of violin was nice and a real drummer. The crowd dug it and all in all, it's good to balance my diet by having this between Hugh Cornwell, Dead Meadow, movies like The World's Greatest Dad and In the Loop and books about corporate fraud.

Quote of the night: "Oh my god, I feel like I'm actually cool." from one of the half dozen people my age present in the club (later it went up by a dozen or so). I guess most were here as chaperones and drivers.

Hugh Cornwell/Dennis Kane - Black Cat - September 10 2009

Dennis Kane - It's a CD release party and we are all invited for the $12 cover at the backstage at the Black Cat. Dennis Kane plays electric guitar and sings with a drummer and another guitarist. It starts off as a perfectly decent indie rock set with just enough bite and some fair songs with catchy enough melodies. And as good bands generally do, they have me feeling better by the end of the set than at the beginning. Not off the charts, but a likable set, just a little hard to distinguish from the crowd. Good reception by the 40-50 present.

Hugh Cornwell - I last saw Cornwell with the Stranglers in November, 1980. I had pulled an all-nighter the previous night and had no sleep time. After the show, I nearly killed myself on the 50 minute drive back to Oxford as I was dying to fall asleep after 40 hours. But my memories of the show are very good, so it was obviously worth it. Hugh was looking a bit older (imagine that after 29 years) but in good shape with a younger rhythm section behind him. Even in the newer material, he had that jagged guitar style with the flowing bass lines running up and down the scale. It is still a good sound. The songs, like some of the Stranglers older material (including "Walk on By" a ripping Bacharach cover they used to do), sometimes got a little downer and dreary but in a numbing sort of way, not a strong negative. He did chip in some Stranglers and they closed (early I thought) with a ripping "No More Heroes". The 50-60 in the crowd gave them a strong ovation and they came back with a six song encore including "Peaches" and finishing with the full version of "Down in the Sewer". Very good set. I hadn't realized how much I missed this sound. Recommended while you can get it, although this may be it as it is his first tour in the US in ten years.

Quote of the Day: The opening band did the usual thanks to the headliner... "...happy to opening for Hugh Cornwell. We saw them in the soundcheck and they sounded great...". A perfectly nice quote from someone who wasn't born when I saw the Stranglers and probably had to be told who they were when told of the show. Nothing like feeling old and obscure or at least being reminded of it.

Motorhead/The Reverend Horton Heat/Nashville Pussy - 9:30 Club - September 8 2009

Nashville Pussy - Ok, so this guy in line is giving me a hard time (with humor--see below) and he gives me a tip that I should stand on the right side of the stage up front for this band. So I do so as the crowd is slow to build to its ultimate near sell-out size. Was his reasoning:
(a) The lead guitar sound will come through clearer?
(b) The lead guitarist has the best rock moves?
(C) Both a+b
(d) The blonde female lead guitarist has large barely covered breasts.
(e) He will be on the left and he doesn't want to see me nearby.
My answer is (b), but since he was a beer drinkin', foot stompin' guy in a Sturgis t-shirt, I'll let you guess which is his answer. Anyway, the band crunched through some good southern fried sleazy blistering hard rock and was quite good. The lead guitarist was the spirit of the band (a four-piece, 2 guys, 2 women). The male vocalist/rhythm guitarist didn't really stand out to give me much more than an entertaining set, so I don't sense anything really big here (as opposed to Valiant Thorr who I saw with Motorhead last year and I really thought did this a whole lot better). But they did rev up the crowd and were a strong effective band to start the show.

The Reverend Horton Heat - The Reverend plays guitar and sings in front of a drummer and a stand-up bass player and has been doing this for quite a while now. I wasn't sure if it was a good fit at a Motorhead show, although I do notice an older more varied crowd than for the Opeth and Mastodon shows at this club. And now that I think about it, I wasn't even frisked tonight, so the 9:30 trusts us Motorhead-heads more than the modern metal followers. The Rev does a great psychobilly through a Texas juke joint style. In case you weren't sure, he revs it up best in a song called "Psychobilly Freakout". The band was hot, the crowd was into it and all was well and everyone was happy. So quit yer worryin', son.

Motorhead - The trio came out with classics like Iron Fist and Stay Clean before mixing in old and new. No matter the song, the strength of the band's sound always came through loud and clear. It's fascinating to see one guitar and bass create the thick sonic soup that this duo has been doing for a quarter of a century now. Lemmy is actually closing in on 40 years soon and still sounds like he gargles with battery acid (as my friend said in 1982). A really great hard rock band that belongs at the pantheon for me along with Black Sabbath and Metallica in the history of metal/hard rock. Motorhead isn't exactly metal, has attitudes of punk even, but is a can't miss band if you want it loud and heavy. The drumming didn't seem quite as strong this time and it was explained that this was the first show for Matt Sorum (G'n'R/Velvet Revolver) who was filling in for Mikki Dee who was off in Malaysia shooting a reality show for Swedish tv. Huh? He did fine, but the breaks weren't quite as smooth as I saw last time. Barely worth a mention.

Quote of the Night: "Are you sure you are in the right line with that book on finance?" from the Sturgis biker guy behind me giving me crap about the ever present book I carry with me everywhere. No problem, bud, I was following Motorhead when Larry Wallis of the Pink Fairies was their guitarist and they were releasing singles on Stiff Records along side label mates, the Damned and Elvis Costello.

Bonus Quote: As I walked home, some nice young ladies in a car at the light at the corner of my condo, were wishing me well and the passenger asked if I knew where K Street was. "You're on it" was the obvious reply as she tried not to look too sheepish. That's the second time I've given this type of answer in the last few months.

Slickee Boys/Girl Loves Distortion - Black Cat - September 4 2009

Girl Loves Distortion - Three piece with a bass player that used a keyboard briefly. The female drummer had some good pop to her rhythms and shared vocals with her two compatriots. They switched around on instruments and unless I missed something, this was the first time I ever saw a right handed bass player switch to left handed guitar. Interesting move and an interesting band. They moved around a bit from psyche to pop to rock to post punk. They seemed smart enough to pull from several decades of influences. The set was slowed by some duller songs in the middle, but they can certainly grow out of that. Good start.

Slickee Boys - I certainly did not have to take any notes on this venerable DC act. I know it well and they don't change much in their annual or biannual show in DC. A great band that formed in the seventies punk era that played the garage punk style of the sixties with the energy and ferocity of the present times. It's a bit like the Dickies going a bit more garage. This was as good as any show I've seen from them in recent years. The guitarists, Kim Kane and Marshall Keith were ripping it up and Kim Kane is always fun to watch. All of them looked to be having a great time and the singer Mark Noone said they were having more fun than anyone there. Infectious fun for all those that didn't run out of town for the labor day weekend.

Quote of the Night: "This is our dance number because we know people in DC love to dance, they just hide it" from the GLD drummer with a nice nod and a wink.

Mother Mother/Paul Michel/We Were Pirates - Rock'n'Roll Hotel - August 29 2009

We Were Pirates - They were power-pop. Well, a bit more thoughtful and introspective rather than the sunny, happy faced style I suppose. A little jangle present and really good vocals from the guitarist (later he switched to bass) with the bassist doing some nice backing vocals. Decent enough songs and ultimately a nice set. A band I would be happy to see again.

Paul Michel - Didn't I just see this duo? I did. The duo is back and in a bit more control of the computer. Live, there is a guitar, a drummer and both sing. On computer, there are bass lines and some keyboards or electronica. Although I am not a fan of computer music, I will say that having a live drummer makes it much more acceptable to me. It depends on the style of the music, too, and this rocking songwriter style is an odd one to rely on computers. But it works well enough and I thought this set was a little stronger than the last. I will stay tuned.

Mother Mother - This is a five piece with core instruments and the women vocalists playing keyboards part of the time. The bass player stepped up with a sax and clarinet a couple of times which was nice. The music was interesting hard pop. I have trouble pegging it which is a good thing. It reminds me of Abba and the B-52s playing more like the Dickies. Well, that ain't it, but I enjoyed trying to dream up a descriptor as much as I enjoyed the music. A good, fresh take on pop music, somewhat danceable, but more designed just to emit energy and connect with the audience. And I have not yet seen a smaller crowd as into a band as I had seen tonight. The club was only a little more than half full, but the fans were loud, knew the band's material and were more supportive than even a good metal crowd. This Vancouver band has been here three times and intimated that they would love to play here more were it not for the massive amount of land between here and Vancouver. Here is hoping they can grow there fan base and make that trip a little easier.

Quote of the night: From Paul Michel ' "our computer bass player is a real asshole..."

Nebula/Entrance Band/Naam - Black Cat - August 25 2009

Naam - The evening begins downstairs at the Black Cat. A small crowd is assembled but quickly fills to a moderate level as Naam kicks in. They are the first of three power trios in what appeared to be some combination of psyche, metal and hard rock bands. Naam has me hearing Blue Cheer right away, but it then morphs into a Hawkwind style. As the songs keep coming, it gets more into the heavy psyche style with even a hint of Sabbath. I thought they would be more metal, but they stayed spacey with some intriguing vocals that were strong, but atmospheric. The band I was finally reminded of was Om who are playing here shortly. They were a couple of metal guy who left their band and went into heavy psyche. Good sound, very nice band we have here. From Brooklyn, what a surprise.

Entrance Band - Third time for me with this trio and second time this year (see Sonic Youth show below). I thought this was their best effort. The expected psychedelic swirl of a sound was excellent, the songs sparkled and the crowd was at its peak and into the show. The guitarist thanked his dad for being here. I had him spotted early on kind of in a "spot the narc" sort of game played back in the sixties. The band's new record on Ecstatic Peace still isn't quite out, but the songs I heard have me itching to make a purchase.

Nebula - Unfortunately the late start thinned the crowd out a bit with some of the x'ed hands and metro riders cutting out before Nebula got set up. They announced prior to their song that their drummer quit on them after last night's show in Baltimore and they were able to get a replacement and get five songs together for the show tonight. They hoped to have a couple more tomorrow. Pretty amazing they were able to get something together that quickly, but also pretty necessary as they are only a week into a US tour with an extensive European tour right after. Note to this drummer and any others--life on the road for lesser known bands is rough. If you think you might not like it, you won't so don't even bother. Anyway, the new drummer did well, but the band was my least favorite of the night. They did more of a hard rock style with good wah-wah leads. A decent amount of power and pop, but just a bit more lacking in the song department. A good set, but judgment will be withheld until they get more settled.

Quote of the night: From the bassist of Naam talking to a guy behind me... "I'm kind of lost in the zone, but we have a hotel tonight. We showered, washed all our clothes and have a bed tonight. Gonna be awesome". The simple pleasures of the road. Kudos to him for recognizing a fan who bought a shirt from them the night before in Baltimore. And kudos to the fan for really supporting the music he likes by going to both shows. Nice to see the enthusiasm on both sides.

Love/Kuschty Rye Ergot/Pablonious Bill

Pablonious Bill - Good opening set by an electric guitarist/singer with a sax player (playing pretty lightly and sporadically) and a drummer who had to join in just after the set started as he was downstairs. Kind of folk, kind of singer/songwriter style (apologies to people who hate that label, but it just seems to fit and I'll have to work on coming up with alternatives as I cringe a little whenever I write it). I enjoyed, the crowd was very supportive although I smelled a fair number of friends and family in the audience. No matter, good job.

Kuschty Rye Ergot - Third time seeing this band and I like them better every time out. They almost begin ambient, but I would say it is more rock soundscape style as the rhythm section really keeps a rock music feel which I think is a positive as too much ambiance or freak jazz moves often lose me unless the artists are really top notch. The music builds to more psychedelic rock and I felt sort of an Agitation Free type feeling as they shared a kind of eastern music prog sound that Ag-Free did so well. Two long instrumental songs and I was involved the whole way.

Love (featuring Johnny Echols backed by Baby Lemonade) - Ok, this just wasn't destined to be anywhere near as transcendent as when I saw this same lineup with Arthur Lee a few years ago. That was pure magic with Lee still only recently out of his ridiculously long prison sentence singing songs of freedom, playing with Baby Lemonade who he played with before incarceration as well and finding original guitarist Johnny Echols to join in on the tour. So this time around, Arthur Lee has joined Ken Forssi and Bryan Maclean in the dying way too early club and realistically this is about the only version that could call itself Love with the appropriate fuller explanation in parentheses. The set started well and did have some strong moments. The five piece was augmented with a guy who played some of Arthur's tambourine and harmonica parts, but also added trumpet and keyboards which was nice. Rusty Squeezbox's vocals did the songs justice and the players were all good. Highlights were "Stephanie Knows Who" from Da Capo which Arthur Lee didn't perform much and included some harpsichord and "Revelation" when they were called back for a unplanned second encore. A few of the smart audience were calling for this side-long monstrosity earlier in the set to chuckles and they did (thankfully) a short version which was kind of fun. For those not in the know, this is considered about the only mistake on Love's part where they devoted side two of their second album to a pretty dull and very long jam of a song. Echols sang this and Signed DC and still had some nice solos in him.

Robert Plant with Johnny Echols.

Quote of the night: Well, no interesting quotes, but I did pass Johnny Echols walking into Ben's Chili Bowl as I was walking out. I would have introduced myself, but my hand was sticky with chili overflow and needed to get to the club to clean up a bit. I would have liked to asked about the tour with some of the people involved as there were obviously some problems, but I really did not need to thanks to this excellent Washington Post article. Some good lessons here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/15/AR2009081502826.html

Robert Gordon/Fleshtones - 9:30 Club - August 14 2009

Fleshtones - This long running NYC garage rock band still delivers a fun show. They don't let a quiet audience get in the way of their energetic moves and by bringing their style/shtick out full throttle, they easily win over crowds. They are a four-piece with the singer sometimes moving to a sadly under mic'ed farfisa once in a while. Grind it out garage pop that played well in the punk era when they began and has played well long before and since. I've seen many of their moves at a previous show such as the axemen moving in unison and they take their wireless instruments and mics into the crowd many times. The best moment tonight was when the guitarist gave his instrument to the legendary Kim Kane (Slickee Boys) and the bass was handed to a ten year old boy. Kane rocked out, the boy was keeping a simple line going with the drummer and the three band members went into the middle of the crowd and did push-ups. OK, you had to be there. But if you make it to the northeast and get a chance to see these guys, treat yourself to some fun.

Robert Gordon - Although I looked forward to seeing this legendary rockabilly singer, I was also drawn to his backup band which consisted of Chris Spedding on guitar, Glen Matlock on bass and Slim Jim Phantom on drums. Interestingly, all four were relevant in my early punk rock days. Matlock, most obviously, was a founding Sex Pistol. Spedding played guitar for some acts and took the young Sex Pistols into the studio for the first time. Slim Jim Phantom drummed for the Stray Cats and Gordon worked with Link Wray in that era and got the deserved respect from the youngsters for the roots and what they were doing presently. Anyway, Gordon did a lot of classics and the band was solid. Nothing too upstagey, which was both good and bad. Gordon tooka break half way through "cuz I'm gettin' old" leaving each member to sing two of their songs each. Spedding did one where he paid tribute to 10-12 classic guitarists naming them and playing a famous riff which was fun--Hendrix to Paul Kossoff if I heard the last one correctly. Matlock lead them in a "God Save the Queen" and Slim took the lead on "Rock this Town." Gordon came out to finish and the crowd was fully into the set by this point. An older crowd, but quite enthusiastic. Good show with some interesting players I never thought I would see.

Quote of the Night: "I'm the most punk rock of anybody as I hauled my suitcases all through the airport" from Slim Jim Phantom. Poor Glen, still not punk enough for the Sex Pistols.

Want to email somebody a link to this photo?

Hammers of Misfortune/Ludicra - DC9 - August 13 2009

Ludicra - A very metal looking band hits the stage and rips into a ferocious monstrosity that sounds like a cross between Napalm Death and Slayer. Whew, the rest of the set settles into more of a compositional death metal. There were some very catchy riffs coming out of the four players. The female singer and female guitarist were the only vocalists and pretty much limited themselves to the death metal screech/shriek sort of thing which does tire me out when there isn't a real voice to offset it once in a while. Close your eyes and your not sure if the singer is male, female, a blender in need of oil, or a wounded animal. But metalheads do like this sort of thing. Still, good music with good hooks.

Hammers of Misfortune - Large band of two guitars (one from previous band), bass, drums, singer and an organist. Three people sang (two women) and it was all singing for this band. I thought it was going to be a progressive metal band from what I read, but the metal was not really there, at least in the modern style. It was a very hard, assertive progressive sound with great organ, strong rocking guitars, good rhythm section and vocals that tried to cut above the rock (and failed early in the set until the sound got better). A good throwback sound and a nice set. The songs did not quite move me to great heights, but they were close. I would recommend them and see them again.

Quote of the Night: "First, we'll dedicate this set to the great Les Paul, the creator of this very guitar". Kudos to the Hammers of Misfortune guitarist for starting the set with this which did draw applause from the crowd, almost all of who knew exactly who Les Paul was and what he meant even if they probably couldn't pick him out of a police lineup.

New Riders of the Purple Sage/Commander Cody Band - Birchmere - August 12 2009

Commander Cody Band - I guess the Lost Planet Airmen are indeed lost. I wanted to check out Cody more than the headliners and he was allowed the chance to put on his full show as his set was an hour and a quarter. He sang (allowing three leads to other members) and played piano and was accompanied by drums, bass, guitar, organ and a pedal steel player. The band was smart, experienced and the lead guitarist was quite good. Another guest (Bill Kirchen) jumped in on guitar for a few songs which was sort of in Cody's easy going spirit. Cody sort of sounded like Gary Busey--the sort of crazed, gnarled, road worn voice and dialogue that often will make for good rock'n'roll. The sound was a honky-tonk boogie sort of rock with Cody mentioning Texas a few times. He is from Detroit which is one reason I wanted to seem him as I am a fan of the early Detroit scene (although you won't find a Bob Seger review from the Verizon Center here should that happen). All in all, a decent set which was worthy of my time.

New Riders of the Purple Sage - Ok, the real reason I came to this show was to get a refund for my Electric Prunes ticket when they cancelled and I picked a night that might offer some amusement. And this night offered Commander Cody along with a band that was part of my youth that I pretty much tried to ignore most of my life. I knew these guys were from California, knew they had some radio play back in the day (ah, Panama Red, that was their hit), and knew they did a kind of country rock. I thought it was more LA based, but actually it was SF and they were formed by Grateful Dead members and only two others. One of the two, David Nelson (guitar,vocals) was the only member onstage tonight. The pedal steel player is also a longtime member (replaced Jerry Garcia early on), but the others are all recent additions. The sound did have some of the classic SF psyche elements, but did kind of go heavy jam and slowed to country rock or folk country at times. I was interested that Richie Unterberger mentioned he liked Quicksilver, Jeff.Airplane and lots of SF Psyche bands, but not the Grateful Dead. That was always my position too and I do have to include the New Riders on the Dead side of that divide. Big crowd tonight and I think most of them were on the New Riders' side.

Quote of the Night: "There's no 'o' in team." A couple was discussing sports behind me and I missed the exact reasoning behind this twisted gem. It did fall between a twin trashing of Michael Vick and the Boston Red Sox.

Akron/Family / Wand - Rock'n'Roll Hotel - August 11 2009

Wand - Formerly known as Wooden Wand or Wooden Wand and the Skye High Band, basically Wand is just some singer songwriter from Nashville with a guitar and a voice. Sound familiar? Well, he really doesn't sound very Nashville too often and I enjoyed the set a lot more than the early music I heard by him a few years ago when he was lumped in with the freak folk movement. He had a steel and electric guitarist accompany him on most tracks and a steel guitarist from Nashville normally has me locating all exits, but in this case he added more atmosphere and spookiness (courtesy of reverb) to the moody songs of Wand. This was akin to the sound to what Jimmie Wilsey gave to Chris Isaak. All in all, a decent set. I am not ready to jump on the bandwagon, but a good set by a decent song writer is a good start to any evening.

Akron/Family - The first time I have seen them since the retirement of one member. I knew that Seth, the main guitarist was still in the band, but wasn't sure who else was left. Turns out the bassist and drummer remain which is good as it is probably the most potent three piece possible of the original four. All sing lead and harmonize and there was less wholesale instrument switching this time around (compared to two previous sightings at this club). Some electronics and loops, but they pretty much just rocked out as a power trio. And it was indeed powerful. Some folkish elements and vocal bits, but a bit less of the sing along material. The crowd was a little laid back as they noted (although they improved as the night wore on), so that may have lead to a more psyche jam outing. The bass player commented that they were having fun and surprised themselves a bit with the ferocity (forgot the word he used, but that was certainly my impression as well). Excellent set by a band well worth seeing. The crowd was bigger than the first show, but not bigger than the second, so I hope they can catch a few breaks and build their audience some. They deserve it.

Quote of the Night - "I have seen quite a few people take notes in a club but you're the first to do so on a copy of Watchmen". Yes, I almost always have a book or magazine in hand. I just had to bring this graphic novel this time as I had about twenty pages to go prior to hitting the club and absolutely had to finish it. The show started a little late, so the fate of the world was resolved for me. Excellent novel.

Fiery Furnaces/Wye Oak/Screens - Black Cat - August 8 2009

Screens - I am smiling very early in the first song. A guitarist, drummer, keyboardist and singer with two guys harmonizing at rare times. Keyboard lead songs with good guitar textures and powerful drumming. Wailing singing as everyone is intense but not in a forceful way. I am thinking it's a great postpunk kind of sound as if imagining ATV getting music lessons from Can. Strong, beguiling music that I could see visibly convince the crowd that they were seeing a very fine band.

Wye Oak - I have reviewed this duo before and enjoyed them a lot. Nothing changed this time, only new songs from a new album. I still enjoy the drummer using feet and his right hand while keeping his left on a keyboard. The vocals are from the female guitarist who does an excellent job as well. Lots of sound from two people, not just a folk sound, but a fuller indie rock sound with some folk elements. Good things can indeed come from Baltimore and this band hopefully will do very well as they increase their touring this year.

Fiery Furnaces - Third time seeing them and they have a different look every time with slight instrument adjustments between the brother and sister duo. This time, brother is solely on guitar (no keys) and sister is solely on vocals. Jason Lowenstein (Sebadoh) is back, but on bass, not guitar. And the fourth member is a drummer. Good, interesting music as always by the Furnaces, but never quite enough to induce me into buying their music. Smart, thoughtful, quietly unique songs that I do enjoy live which is why I keep coming back. There was an added Jangly garage pop this time around. I think I liked the second incarnation better with Lowenstein on guitar. There was a good crowd, but no bigger and maybe a tad smaller than last time which could be due more to the economy than the band. But the crowd enjoyed it and it was a good night on the whole.

Quote of the Night: "You mean I can't take that in? Can I get it back?" from the guy in front of me who had his huge backpack with him and had two normal water canisters and another one that looked to hold about a gallon. He wanted that back and they held it at the ticket counter for him. Thankfully the line and club wasn't jammed or you would here my rant about backpacks.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros/Sean Bones - DC9 - August 5 2009

Sean Bones - A group with the guitar, bass, drums, keys and one singer. Kind of a lo-fi garage pop with some psyche soca-calypso rhythms going on half the time. This was another one of those sets that began as an "eh" for me and ended up more of a "yeah, ok". So a decent job by a likable little band.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - It looked like about nine musicians playing the usual arrray of rock instruments with an accordian and a trumpet among the unique sounds present. I couldn't make a full accounting as the club was packed most likely due to the band's coverage on NPR's All Songs Considered (hosted by Bob Boilen--see below). The set started well and I felt an Akron/Family kind of vibe at work with this conglomerate. As the set went on, it kind of got a bit cloying for me, although that's a little harsh. Still a little too precious. Immediately after I wrote those notes, the band completed its song dedicated to love (the emotion, not the band) and the singer then asked the crowd "why don't you guys all hug each other?" which a few decided to. The soundman was closest to me and thankfully he was busy.

Quote of the night: "Are you Bob Boilen? You sort of look like him." from a nice NPR fan who came over to me. If I had recognized the name instantly, I may have gone into elaborate fakery which may have gotten me a phone number for my little black book, but I didn't connect the name with the show until she told me and I am ultimately a bit too ethical for that. The only other music person I have been compared to is Dave Grohl which would be far more lucrative were I wildly unethical. Bob Boilen? You decide.

Fear/Agent Orange/DI/Total Chaos/Bloodhook/Unskilled Professionals/The Pogo - Jaxx - August 4 2009

The Pogo - Three piece band were all members "sang". Dull, dull, dull. A very green band that was just a quiet dull set of cliches that didn't inspire much pogoing. Although there was a small moshpit that tried to form, but it looked more like a carnival bump 'em car ride with a dozen cars out of order. Nothing insulting here, just utterly pointless other than allowing some young kids to get on stage and work out aggression while figuring out if they want to become a real band some day.

Unskilled Professionalz - Also a young local band, but much more promising. A three-piece again that actually had songs and variety and some decent playing. Some dead spots of course, but this band showed me young kids can try to do punk at least at a minimally interesting level without sliding into the oh so many dull cliches.

Bloodhook - Well, the cliches are back. A slicker three-piece with a slightly more metal-punk attack. The players were good, vocals dull, only a couple songs stood out, although one stood out because I thought it was a cover of Sabbath's "Symptom of the Universe", but no, just something sounding way to close. Ho-hum. Was that a Toxic Reasons t-shirt on that woman? Yes it was! Note-Toxic Reasons was the punk band I managed thirty years ago in Dayton, Ohio.

Total Chaos - Hopefully they wouldn't be "total" chaos and their set would hold together a bit. It did. They were a raucous four-piece with a vocalist in front of the basic three. Too bad he couldn't sing, but he was loud and powerful, so it fit well enough. Some metallic leads, but good frantic hardcore punk with some glam metal crossover. Fun, at least and better than I hoped.

DI - The first of three old time LA punk acts that I was amazed that I hadn't seen back in the day. DI is lead by Casey Royer who drummed for the Adolescents in the early days. None of the three behind him was in early versions of DI, but they were all good choices. Casey was humorous as I expected in kind of a California-lite version of Tesco Vee. The band rocked hard and tight and really delivered much more than I expected. "Richard Hung Himself" was a bit too sped up and lost some of the cool dynamics it has, but that happens at live shows, it seems. The drummer looked like William Bendix which was scary.

Agent Orange - Speaking of speeding up and losing dynamics... Agent Orange is a tight three piece that does surf, punk and strong emotive rock (Can I say that and avoid labelling someone emo?--probably not, but I'm not changing it). The band was strong, good, engaging, but the sound was poor. Vocals were lost and not expressive when heard, although that may be part aged singer and part soundman. Still, the highlights were quite good, so I enjoyed the set. It just seemed that the old Poshboy-produced recordings are the way to go.

Fear - I pretty much expected Lee Ving to show up with some mediocre support and was hopeful that it would not be dreadful. It wasn't but it was closer to dreadful than good. But, hey, Fear was never that good. They had a brilliant spot on Saturday Night Live, played a couple great songs in Penelope Spheeris's first Decline movie, and really had nothing else. The first album was ok and had a couple killer songs, but after that there was nothing. I will say that Lee's vocals carried through better than almost all the previous bands and he sounded stronger than I expected. So it's nice to finally see Lee, but once is plenty. And what a hairdo! But maybe it is real based on what I now see below.

Quote of the Night -- "Montrose, you remember Montrose?" from
one of the proud parents who were huddling around me early in
the evening as best I could deduce since they were my age and
not in uniform.