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Notable shows in the greater Cleveland area & the Black Keys crack my shit up

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Shows worth checking out this week in and around Cleveland:

The Beachland Ballroom & Tavern

  • Sun, Mar 28| 8 PM (7 PM door)
    Bob Schneider
    Steve Palmer Band
    $15.00 adv / $17.00 dos
    Ballroom | All Ages

  • Wed, Mar 31| 7:30 PM (7 PM door)
    Judgement Day (feat. Anton Patzner of Bright Eyes)
    Arlo & The Otter (CD Release)
    $5.00 adv / $7.00 dos
    Tavern | All Ages

  • Fri, Apr 2| 9 PM (8 PM door)
    Trombone Shorty
    & Orleans Avenue
    Bill Burke & Tertium Quid Percussion Ensemble
    $15.00
    Ballroom | All Ages

  • Fri, Apr 2| 9 PM (8 PM door)
    Tim Barry (of Avail)
    Red Clay River / The Not So Good ol’ Boys / Audra Mae
    Presented in conjunction w/ The Grog Shop
    $10.00
    Tavern | All Ages

Grog Shop

  • Sat, Mar 27| 10PM
    Lowly,The Tree Ghost
    Bethesda
    Christopher Black
    $5

Musica

  • Mon, Mar 29| 7 PM
    Bear Hands
    Call Me Constant
    Nick Wilkinson
    Apogee 13
    $13

House of Blues

  • Sun, Mar 28| 9 PM (8 PM door)
    Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
    $27.50 ADV
    $30.00 DOS
    $39.50 Balcony

  • Wed, Mar 31| 8 PM (7 PM door)
    Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
    Alberta Cross
    $16 ADV
    $18 DOS

Lakewood Civic Auditorium

  • Sun, Mar 28| 8 PM
    Tegan & Sara
    Holly Miranda
    Steel Train
    $25/$30

The Kent Stage

  • Thurs, Apr 1| 8 PM
    Henry Rollins
    Presented by the Grog Shop
    $20 ADV
    $25 DOS
    Tickets available at the Grog Shop fee-free

Aside from rockin’ booty, the Black Keys also crack my shit up.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKXlgISd3iA]

And you know you’re from Ohio when you still think it would be rad to shoot a video at Laser Tag in the year 2008.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKXlgISd3iA]

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Slackday: Can you feel the blood poundin’ way down inside?

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It’s Slackday, y’all! Because, let’s be honest, that’s all those Friday Fun posts have ever been: NTSIB phoning it in by looking for YouTube videos that might amuse you. Today is a special Slackday, though, as you get the barely-trying post you’ve come to expect every Friday, plus a hit of Guilty Pleasure because, this week, Slackday is all about Billy Squier, friends.

Why, in the name of Joe Strummer, do I persist in listening to Billy Squier, you ask? I got to know Billy’s music at that time in my youth when things were beginning to stir in my pants. Bad things. Shameful things. Billy understood. He had just the soundtrack for bad and shameful things. To this day, his music still makes me feel bad and full of shame, partially in my head and partially, still, in my pants.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR0j7sModCI]

You can’t have a tribute to Billy without this song, and the video features a starring role by the foil-wrapped zucchini in Billy’s trousers.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR0j7sModCI]

Saving the best for last, I like to think of this as the Deranged Richard Simmons video.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR0j7sModCI]

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Rebirth of the Cool: Wolf Like Me

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Moving forward in time for this edition of Rebirth of the Cool, our origin song of the day is “Wolf Like Me” by the incredible TV on the Radio. This was one of the first TVOTR songs I heard (along with “Providence” and “Dry Drunk Emperor”) when a savvy friend recommended them to me back in 2007. It was love at first listen.

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

(Sidenote: Kudos to Jimmy Kimmel for bringing the feel of an intimate concert hall into the studio, thus encouraging better performances.)

Local H – whose cover of Britney Spears’ “Toxic” helps me feel less guilty about liking that song – took a crack at “Wolf”. They imbue the song with their characteristic immediacy and bring the emotional center of the song from the hips up to the chest.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aBl3bnRv3g]

Then along came Dulli. Greg Dulli has long been a purveyor of fascinating, gorgeous, twisted covers, from Paul K. and the Weathermen’s “Amphetamines and Coffee” to “The Temple” from Jesus Christ Superstar to Al Green’s “Beware” to Prince’s “When Doves Cry” to all sorts of others in between. His take, with the Twilight Singers, of “Wolf” strips it down to its raw core.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZq-8Tiiey4]

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Weapons of Mass Creation Festival: NXNEO

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Weapons of Mass Creation Fest presented by Go Media

Cleveland rocks! You’ve heard it. Some of us have heard it for what seems like our entire lives. And we’re constantly being challenged to prove it. Jeff Finley thinks he has the definitive evidence. With the help of a number of other creatives in the northeastern Ohio area, he is organizing the Weapons of Mass Creation Festival this spring.

Touted as Cleveland’s answer to SXSW, WMC Fest will feature music, art and film from around the country with a concentration on creators from our region. NTSIB is, of course, most excited about the music aspect. Check out some of the youngsters who will be throwing down. They’re a bunch of promising punky and folky… uh… folks. NTSIB is currently most compelled by Saintseneca, a quartet from Columbus, Ohio, with lots of strings and a strong roots influence.

WMC Fest will center in the bustling (that’s right, I wrote “bustling”) Ohio City neighborhood on May 22 and 23. Tickets are affordable, and they’re even more affordable (i.e. free) if you volunteer or donate.

We’ve been watching some of the WMC Fest team (including Erin from fellow Cleveland music blog Dust Sleeve) organizing and promoting on Twitter, and their enthusiasm for this project is infectious. We’re looking forward to being a part of it.

Weapons of Mass Creation Festival

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Bits: Beastie Boys gearing up, new Teenage Fanclub album, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy is everywhere, A.V. Club Undercover, Gorillaz + Jones & Simonon

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  • The Beastie Boys put everything on hold when Adam Yauch was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor on his salivary glands, but now Yauch is recovering nicely, and the Beasties are planning to get back to it in September with the release of their latest album Hot Sauce Committee, Part One.

  • Also coming back, after a much longer hiatus, are Teenage Fanclub. They’ll be releasing Shadows on June 8th, and Pitchfork has a taste for you

  • The new Bonnie “Prince” Billy (with the Cairo Gang) album drops/is dropping/been done dropped today. Hot Chip celebrate by mixing the bonnie one’s vocals into “I Feel Bonnie”.

  • The A.V. Club have started a great series called “Undercover”. The premise: The A.V. Club has chosen a list of songs they’d like to see covered, and they’ve invited artists to come to their offices to cover a chosen song from the list… but the longer a band waits, the fewer songs they’ll have to choose from. The Fruit Bats’ cover of Hall and Oates’ “One on One” is fucking delightful, and we’re greatly looking forward to seeing who will cover Billy Squier’s “Everybody Wants You” and Guided By Voices’ “Game of Pricks”.

  • The Gorillaz are currently on a fans-only tour as they gear up for a monster Coachella performance. Manning the strings this time around? NTSIB heroes Mick Jones and Paul Simonon. Here’s the gang playing “Dare” with Jones looking goofier than we thought it was possible for him to look:

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

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The Black Keys: An Early Taste of Brothers

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Not much to say today, but not a lot needs to be said when there’s new Black Keys to listen to. Messrs. Auerbach and Carney have made “Tighten Up” from the forthcoming Brothers album available for listening on their MySpace page. It’s good shit.

The Black Keys MySpace

The Keys have already sold out their July 27th Summer Stage show in New York, but there are other swiftly-approaching dates that you may find yourself able to take advantage of, including a few European dates.

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Notable shows in the greater Cleveland area & another April

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Shows worth checking out this week in and around Cleveland:

The Beachland Ballroom & Tavern

  • Wed, Mar 24| 8:30 PM (8 PM door)
    April Smith and The Great Picture Show
    Shiny Penny
    $8.00
    Tavern | All Ages

Grog Shop

  • Sun, Mar 21| 8 PM (7 PM door)
    Marc Maron (comedy)
    Alan Cox & Chad Zumock of WMMS
    presented by The Independent
    $15

  • Tues, Mar 23| 8 PM
    The Big Pink
    A Place to Bury Strangers
    Hot Cha Cha
    $12 adv/$14 dos

Musica

  • Thurs, Mar 25| 8 PM
    Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson
    Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers
    Suckers / Bethesda
    $10

State Theatre

  • Sun, Mar 21| 7:30 PM
    David Gray
    Phosphorescent
    $35/$45

Lorain Palace Theatre

  • Sun, Mar 21| 7:30 PM
    Puscifer
    Uncle Scratch’s Gospel Revival
    $35/$49.50

Now That’s Class

  • Fri, Mar 26| 9 PM
    Gunslingers
    Terminal Lovers
    Puffy Areolas/Make Sica

Here’s April Smith and the Great Picture Show from a previous outing at the Grog Shop:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR4dNQky6h4]

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Friday Fun: Comedy! Jokes!

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I need to find a better title for these Friday posts. Is “Fuck-off Friday” too off-putting?

Anyway, a little departure today, away from music. I just learned Marc Maron – who could probably be termed a “rock ‘n’ roll comedian” if one was into those kinds of goofy labels – is going to be appearing at the Grog Shop this Sunday. His Wikipedia entry would lead you to believe that his career didn’t really exist until the launch of Air America radio in 2004, but I’ve been digging Maron since the mid-1990s. He’s sharp, he’s cranky, he kills.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBTF4ZmmlTI]

WTF with Marc Maron

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R.I.P.: Alex Chilton

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Alex Chilton died yesterday.

As I suspect was the case with most music-lovers around my age, Chilton wove his way through my life in a non-direct fashion. My first brush with Chilton was through the 1967 hit he had with his young band the Box Tops, “The Letter”. When my father was a younger man, before my arrival, back when he was the sort of person who had friends in bands, he got up at a party and sang a song with his friend’s band – “The Letter”. Anyone who knows my father now would have a difficult time reconciling this fact with the gruff, curmudgeonly Italian-American they know. That is likely the very reason why the song always felt significant to me, that connection to a version of my father that was more like me. That, and it’s a good song. Chilton’s husky, soulful voice is commanding, and the modern sensibility of the song was always a captivating thing to hear in the midst of all the other songs played on the oldie goldies radio stations.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD9mCp8SifM]

My next, very roundabout exposure to Chilton was the obvious one: the Replacements’ fantastic paean to the singer/songwriter, “Alex Chilton”. A practically perfect song in every way.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52PPm1fozqU]

I have to admit that I didn’t fully understand who Chilton was until my third exposure, when Jeff Buckley took to covering Big Star’s “Kanga Roo” at his shows.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-7YvAC3j9g]

While I never became a fan of Big Star, I came to understand, appreciate and respect the influence the band had on so many of the artists I have loved. I was excited when I learned that Big Star were slated to play SXSW this year. They were set to take the stage in Austin this coming Saturday. Bad timing, Alex.

Thanks for being with us, Alex.

Bonus: Follow the link to view one of the weirdest band T.V. show appearances I’ve ever seen, the very young and awkward Box Tops on a teen dance show called “Disc-O-Teen”.

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Future Sounds: Dead Pioneers & Conrad Plymouth

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Here are a couple of artists for you to listen to now so you can get a headstart on being dismissive and saying, “They were better when…” once they get big.

Dead Pioneers

Dead Pioneers is a one-man show out of L.A. with a menacing Southern/Western gothic sound. The demos available for listening on the Dead Pioneers’ MySpace page, “Cyanide Moonshine” and “Headin’ That Way, Part 1”, feature wild hillbilly yelp vocals, jangling banjo, western guitar ambience and driving stomp-beats. Look out for the debut EP promised in this early part of 2010.

Dead Pioneers MySpace

Conrad Plymouth

Prepping an album right now and taking the stage tomorrow night for Muzzle of Bee’s SXSW showcase, Conrad Plymouth are currently based out of Milwaukee. Like Dawes, Conrad Plymouth makes NTSIB eat their words about not liking earnest singer-songwriter types who write languid, guitar-centric tunes. Damn them. They’ve released an unmastered track for their forthcoming album for free download, and “Fergus Falls” is nothing short of beautiful.

Conrad Plymouth MySpace