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Notable shows in the greater Cleveland area & not much else

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Shows worth checking out this week in and around Cleveland:

The Beachland Ballroom & Tavern

  • Sun, May 16| 8 PM (7 PM door)
    Reverend Horton Heat
    Cracker
    Split Lip Rayfield
    $26.50 adv
    $27.00 dos
    Ballroom | All Ages

  • Tue, May 18| 8 PM (7 PM door)
    Crash Test Dummies
    Nicholas Megalis
    $15.00
    Ballroom | All Ages

  • Wed, May 19| 9 PM (8 PM door)
    Jessica Lea Mayfield
    The Futurebirds
    $10.00
    Ballroom | All Ages

  • Wed, May 19| 9 PM (8 PM door)
    Wayne “The Train” Hancock
    $12.00
    Tavern | All Ages

  • Fri, May 21| 8 PM (7 PM door)
    SOLD OUT!
    Mumford & Sons
    The Middle East
    $12.00 adv
    $14.00 dos
    Ballroom | All Ages

  • Fri, May 21| 9 PM (8 PM door)
    Whiskey Daredevils
    Rumble Daddy / The Elks
    $7.00
    Tavern | All Ages

Peabody’s

  • Fri, May 21| 7 PM
    Buzzcocks
    The Dollyrots
    $19 adv
    $22 dos

Now That’s Class

  • Fri, May 21| 9 PM
    Cobra Verde
    Uncle Scratch’s Gospel Revival
    Non-Fiction

My list is pretty lean this week due to the previously-mentioned computer meltdown and the inability of this dinocomp to handle MySpace to hear if a band might be worth checking out, but you can head over to Dust Sleeve for more listings. And then you can imagine a great video here becuase this machine can’t handle YouTube, either.

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Slackday: Like choosing my favorite limb

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This Slackday post has actually caused me to do a lot of mental work. One of NTSIB’s twitter followers, @DtotheChan, asked me a seemingly innocent and simple question the other day: “top 5 black keys songs?”

My brain almost melted out of my ears.

There aren’t many bands I can point to and say, “I can’t pick a favorite song”, but with the Black Keys, I really can’t pick a favorite song. They have produced so much consistently good music, that no one song stands out more than any other to me. And now that I’ve gotten a good listen (several good listens) to Brothers, it’s impossible to quantify.

But here: I’ve done my best. I’ve chosen songs that make me feel something a little deeper than “Damn, that’s a kickass song!” (And I’ve excluded Brothers all together because I can’t even cope with that one yet – every time I listen to it, a new song sneaks up and smacks me in the face with its gem-like quality.) In no particular order…

  • “Oceans and Streams” – from Attack and Release

  • “The Flame” – from Magic Potion

  • “Work Me” – from Chulahoma

  • “When the Lights Go Out” – from Rubber Factory

  • “Things Ain’t Like They Used To Be” – from Attack and Release

  • Honorable Mention: ALL OF THEM

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXcAt3p-n5E]

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Cassette & the Felice Brothers at the Beachland Tavern in Cleveland, OH, 5.10.10

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Cassette

(I’m not very familiar with their songs, so I wasn’t able to construct a playlist.)

Cassette has a violinist and a cellist. These are good things. Cassette also has a keyboardist who seems to enjoy the hell out of himself and a singer whose voice really shines from time to time. These are also good things. Their songs are of the softer, more subtle variety, which A) doesn’t seem like the best fit for a Felice Brothers opener and B) is not my favorite kind of music, to be honest.

Perhaps it was because they were on their last night of their tour with the Felice Brothers, but Cassette’s music lacked oomph and many songs seemed not so much to end as peter out. Their set ended, however, on a highlight as the band, especially the cellist and keyboardist, let go and played their hearts into a burning crescendo. More fire like that throughout Cassette’s set would serve them well.

The Felice Brothers

Playlist
(?)
Greatest Show on Earth
Love Me Tenderly
Katie Dear
Murder By Mistletoe
Stepdad
River Jordan
Fuck the News
Run Chicken Run
Goddamn You, Jim
Whiskey in My Whiskey
Honda Civic
White Limo
Endless Night
Take This Bread
Frankie’s Gun!
Two Nickels (? – Farley song)
Ballad of Lou the Welterweight
Two Hands
-encore-
St. Stephen’s End
Dancehall
Helen Fry

As soon as the Felice Brothers took the stage, it was obvious they were several sheets to the wind. This is not a bad sign where the Felice Brothers are concerned. If you want a neat, orderly show, the Felice clan was never going to be your best bet. Still, no one fell off the small stage, and the only casualties were some booze and a key from James Felice’s accordion (leaving the instrument on the floor near a dancing Ian Felice was probably not the greatest idea).

I’ve been to a few Felice shows now and can tell you they are consistent in their chaos. They pepper their always crowd-pleasing rabble-rousing tunes like “Frankie’s Gun!” and “Run Chicken Run” with sing-a-longs like “Whiskey in My Whiskey” and their cover of Townes Van Zandt’s “Two Hands” with new songs, like “Dancehall” and the funked-up “Honda Civic” and slow numbers that showcase Ian Felice’s stellar songwriting. This night’s “Greatest Show on Earth” was the most spirit-raising version I’ve witnessed so far, and I was immensely pleased to hear my new favorite, the as-yet-unreleased “Endless Night”, which is a bit of a departure in sound and just beautiful. Always a family affair, whether blood or adoptive, the lead duties were shared by James Felice, Greg Farley and Christmas/Josh/whatever-he’s-calling-himself-now, though the majority of tunes are always carried by Ian Felice – and rightfully so with his aforementioned songwriting skills and worn, dusty voice. They also brought Cassette singer Samantha Jones on stage to share vocals on “Ballad of Lou the Welterweight”.

The Tavern at the Beachland is a just a small bar with a stage at one end, making it an ideal setting for a Felice Brothers show as they always excel in intimate quarters where they can feed off the vibe of the audience. This night’s crowd was into it, and there were a number of avid fans littered throughout the room, which was heartening for the Brothers’ first show in the CLE.

Felice Brothers shows are always a good recommendation if you want a ramshackle good time and are especially illustrative of the joy and abandon that music can (and should) encompass if you are used to more removed shows in larger venues.

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Rock ‘n’ Roll Photog: HIM/We Are The Fallen/Dommin/Drive A

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Usenet, anyone remember that? That’s where the Rock ‘n’ Roll Photog, Jennifer, and I met, at a little place called alt.gothic. This week, Jennifer goes back to her gothy roots.

And now, jumping back to the present, with a show I just went to last week: HIM, along with We Are The Fallen, Dommin and Drive A, at Irving Plaza. I was shooting from the balcony, so there are probably better pictures out there. But these are mine, and here are some of my favorites:

Drive A was the lone punk band on the bill. They bounced around the equipment-crowded stage to the best of their ability, and they got the only proper mosh pit of the evening. (Tangent: I love watching the pit form and surge from the balcony. My black little heart grows three sizes when the crowd bells out and the circle coalesces and starts to spin.) At one point the lead singer hopped down to stand on the barrier:

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and later he jumped into the crowd:

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Next up was Dommin , who have declined to classify themselves on MySpace, but I can tell you they are high-quality gothabilly with a hint of Elvis. Favorite song: My Heart, Your Hands, which is magnificent and rolls like a mighty wave, live.

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I think those might be skulls hanging off the keyboard, but I’m not entirely sure:

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And then there was We Are The Fallen , which I thought was Amy Lee (Evanescence) with a new band, but is actually Evanescence without Amy Lee. Oops. Sorry, Carly Smithson. I did enjoy your cover of Like A Prayer! I am also sorry most of the pictures I took of you were kind of awful. Here’s one for general flavor:

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And then, at long last, HIM , who are a thing of beauty and a joy forever, and seemed to be as delighted to see us as we were to see them. This is mainly a picture of the stage, with a hint of Ville Valo in the middle there, but I like the color, and also the spots of cellphone/camera lights:

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I tried to get some close-ups, but that didn’t work out so well. This one of Linde probably came out the best:

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And then there’s this one, of Ville Valo and Migé:

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It was, overall, a wonderful show. The music was great – atmospherically gothy but not a ponderous doom fest — and they did two fabulous covers, one of Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game and Billy Idol’s Rebel Yell. Ville Valo was chatty and charming between songs, teasing his bandmates and occasionally telling jokes with no punchline, and I basically spent the whole set grinning at them dopily, clapping along and trying to dance and/or headbang without knocking into anyone standing next to me.

— Jennifer

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The No-Post-Today Post

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Due to the new and exciting ways my household has found to kill computers (I’m speaking to you know from the distant past, i.e. a Windows 98 machine), there will be no real post today. But we should be back on track tomorrow for our regular Rock ‘N’ Roll Photog post, and we’ll have Felice Brothers and Local Natives show reviews coming your way.

Meanwhile, go back to yesterday’s post and give the new Black Keys album a spin on my behalf.

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Obsess Much? : The Black Keys, All times are now

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I had already planned to obsess some more about the Black Keys, and specifically about how the biggest reason I love Dan Auerbach is because he is a music sponge, today when I learned that NPR Music had posted the new Black Keys album Brothers in their “First Listen” feature.

Let me just get this out of the way now: I am in love with this album. Every song hits me in a way that gets me excited. These 55 minutes of music go by far too fast.

(And if you put on your headphones and turn “Howlin’ For You” up loud enough, it sounds like the walls are coming down around you. Spectacular.)

Okay, now I’ll try to calm down enough to formulate coherent thought.

I’m going to start off by apologizing to Patrick Carney for excluding him so often when I talk about the music of the Black Keys. The Black Keys would not be the Black Keys without Carney – you can’t just Spinal Tap another drummer into his place. He is a monster of a hitter and one of the few drummers who makes me sit up and take notice (I may be nursing dreams about an Ohio supergroup with dual drummers: Carney and Sam Meister of mr. Gnome. I haven’t even thought about who else I’d put in that lineup because I can’t get past how mind-blowingly awesome it would be to have Carney and Meister together). But I think it’s safe to say that much of the Black Keys sound can be contributed to Auerbach.

It’s no secret that Auerbach is heavily influenced by the blues – especially the late Junior Kimbrough, the Black Keys’ Chulahoma album being a love letter to the man who set Auerbach on the path that took him to where he is today – and Brothers is drenched with soul. Both of these genres can feel like, and be treated as, relics, but they have never felt dated when filtered through Auerbach’s lens. One reason for this is that he is not precious about what he creates. The Keys are known for being quick and dirty about recording their albums, getting the heart that comes out of an unpolished, from-the-gut performance, resisting the temptation to slick things up to make them perfect (a move which can easily result in soulless noise), creating a base from which their music can change and evolve.

Another reason goes back to what I wrote earlier about Auerbach being a music sponge. Taking into consideration all the music the Black Keys have created, all the music they have produced for others and Auerbach’s solo work, it is obvious that Auerbach listens to everything, from all genres and all eras. And it seems that, where music is concerned for Auerbach, all times are now. Music created even before the dawn of recording is just as current as the most recent mp3 posted to the internet. For Auerbach, music is alive. All of it. Living and breathing just as strongly now as when the first beat was thumped out or the first string was plucked. The blood still flows, and Auerbach adds a few drops of his own red to this gushing stream.

NPR Music First Listen: The Black Keys, Brothers

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Notable shows in the greater Cleveland area & the Heartless Bastards are on their way

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Shows worth checking out this week in and around Cleveland:

The Beachland Ballroom & Tavern

  • Sat, May 8| 8 PM (7:30 PM door)
    Grass Roots Movement
    Red Side Visible
    $5.00
    Ballroom | All Ages

  • Sat, May 8| 9 PM (8 PM door)
    SOLD OUT!
    Deer Tick
    The Guile
    $12.00
    Tavern | All Ages

  • Mon, May 10| 8:30 PM (7:30 PM door)
    The Felice Brothers
    Cassette
    $15.00
    Tavern | All Ages

  • Tue, May 11| 8:30 PM (7:30 PM door)
    Local Natives
    Suckers / In Association with Music Saves
    $10.00 adv / $12.00 dos
    Ballroom | All Ages

  • Thu, May 13| 8 PM (7 PM door)
    Wanda Jackson
    The Lustre Kings
    $15.00 adv / $17.00 dos
    Ballroom | All Ages

Grog Shop

  • Sun, May 9| 9 PM
    Murder By Death
    Ha Ha Tonka
    Linfinity
    $12 adv
    $14 dos

  • Thurs, May 13| 9 PM
    Plants and Animals
    Elliott Brood
    Lowly, The Tree Ghost
    $8 adv
    $10 dos

Now That’s Class

  • Mon, May 10| 9 PM
    Pride Parade

Akron Civic Theatre

  • POSTPONED – was Tues, May 11 – now Sun, July 18
    Willie Willie Nelson & the Family
    $49.50/$59.50

The House of Blues

  • Weds, May 12| 9 PM (8 PM door)
    RATT
    Byron Nemeth Group
    $23.00 adv
    $27.00 dos
    $38.00 reserved seats

Happy Dog

  • Weds, May 12| 8 PM
    Juston Stens and The Get Real Gang

The Kent Stage

  • Thurs, May 13| 8 PM
    Colin Hay
    $25

Wilbert’s

  • Fri, May 14
    Pat Dinizio
    (acoustic set for Mike Campbell book launch)

The Heartless Bastards signed to Fat Possum Records with help from Patrick Carney of the Black Keys, and the Bastards will be playing the Beachland Ballroom on July 22, just a couple of days before the Keys hit the stage at Nautica. Gonna be an amazing week for live music.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71mt0FcgGI8]

Giveaway: Local Natives

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Friday. It’s not the absolute best day of the week, but it’s a worthy runner-up to King Saturday. And this Friday right here is pretty damn good for Local Natives fans, as we’ve got two big-deal things going on.

First, the kind folks at the Orchard have a shiny, new 7″ of Local Natives’ great song “Sun Hands” with the B-side being the also-great (there aren’t many of their songs that aren’t great) rendition of “Cards & Quarters” from the band’s Daytrotter session. You want it? Be the first to drop a comment on this post expressing your wild enthusiasm for the band (or even your not-quite-wild but still enthusiastic enthusiasm), and you will be the proud owner.

Second, Cleveland-area Local Natives’ fans have the opportunity to obtain goodness from the very fine folks at Music Saves. Be the first to purchase the Gorilla Manor LP at Music Saves (see previous link for address and hours of operation if you’re not already familiar with them), and a pair of tickets to the May 11th Local Natives/Suckers show at the Beachland Ballroom, will be yours.

I will be at the Beachland show as well as their Music Saves in-store performance beforehand. At this point, you’d have to break my hands and feet to keep me from seeing these guys.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re0wALTqiaA]

(Note on this video: This is not a true La Blogotheque Take Away Show, but it’s still a great performance.)

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Rock ‘n’ Roll Photog: The Felice Brothers

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This week Jennifer brings the extra-happy by featuring NTSIB favorite the Felice Brothers. I’ll be seeing the boys again on Monday, and Jennifer and I both look forward to rocking Lebowski Fest with them (and the wonderful Digger from Take This Bread) in July.

The week after I saw the Gin Blossoms, I continued my January theme of “wandering around unfamiliar places in the dark and bitter cold looking for concerts” with a trip to the Boulton YMCA in Bay Shore, Long Island to catch the Felice Brothers. There were no scantily-clad college students or gigantic mixers, but I did encounter a lighthouse small enough to fit on a traffic island. It did not light my way home, or, more importantly to the venue, and I was both lost and running late, so I didn’t take its picture. Perhaps next time, Bay Shore. Anyway, I did eventually make it to the show:

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I was expecting Ian Felice to be about twice as old as he actually is, and three times as grizzled. I was really, truly sure they were the opening band until he started singing. (NB: there was no opening band.) I would like to add here that their set list was written on the back of that pizza box. I don’t know if it was pizza from the place next to the venue, but the pizza from that place is excellent. Especially when you are frazzled and your fingers have been numb for ten minutes.

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James Felice and Christmas having an accordion-bass party

The Boulton YMCA is set up so that the front row is really pretty close to the stage, which is excellent for photography but awkward for dancing. Though when James Felice insisted we all get up and do the dance moves for Whiskey in my Whiskey we did our best to comply.

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James Felice rocking his accordion while Greg Farley plays the living daylights out of his washboard.

These last two of Ian Felice and Christmas are wholly self-indulgent. I just really like the light, or the way they’re standing, or both:

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— Jennifer