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Grandfather in Cleveland Tonight

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Grandfather is going to be part of a free bar show tonight at Now That’s Class. I wrote about them about a year ago when I was sucked in by their heavy, Steve Albini-engineered album Why I’d Try.

 

 

Showtime is 9 PM with Grandfather set to play at 10 PM. Come check them out. If you’re not in Cleveland tonight, they have a bunch more shows coming up around the country, including shows at SXSW.

3.05.12 – Cleveland, OH @ Now That’s Class
3.06.12 – Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups w/ White Wolves, Stella, Tenth Generation
3.07.12 – Akron, OH @ Annabelle’s w/ The Hobs
3.08.12 – Bloomington, IN @ The Gourley Hole w/ Otis and the Rufies
3.09.12 – Louisville, KY @ Spinneli’s Pizza w/ Otis and the Rufies
3.10.12 – Nashville, TN @ The Thunderdome w/Otis and the Rufies
3.11.12 – Memphis, TN @ TBA
3.12.12 – Little Rock, AR @ Super Happy Fun Land
3.13.12 – Denton, TX @ Violitionist Sessions
3.14.12 – SXSW in Austin, TX
3.15.12 – SXSW in Austin, TX
3.16.12 – SXSW in Austin, TX 3:30PM Show
3.17.12 – SXSW in Austin, TX 2:00PM Show, 7:00PM Show, 1:30AM Show (Pearl St. SXSSUX Show)
3.18.12 – SXSW in Austin, TX
3.19.12 – Houston, TX @ The Mink w/Giant Battle Monster
3.20.12 – New Orleans, LA @ TBA
3.21.12 – Pensacola, FL @ The Handlebar w/ The Helvetica Effect
3.22.12 – Birmhingham, AL @ TBA
3.23.12 – Atlanta, GA @ The BeAtlanta House w/ Big Jesus
3.24.12 – Knoxville, TN @ The Pilot Light w/ Mother Mange
3.25.12 – Charlotte, NC @ The Milestone w/ Herra Terra
3.26.12 – Richmond, VA @ TBA
3.27.12 – Washington DC @ The Velvet Lounge w/ Treble Lifter
3.28.12 – Baltimore, MD @ TBA
3.29.12 – Jersey City, NJ @ The Lamp Post
3.30.12 – Philadelphia, PA @ Motel Hell w/ Ladder Devils, Girlfight, Psychic Teens
3.31.12 – Brooklyn, NY @ The Shop w/ Psychic Teens + more.

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Don’t Follow Me (I’m Lost) to Premiere Next Month

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For those keeping tracking, there’s exciting news out of the Bobby Bare Jr. documentary camp.

We are VERY excited to announce that the WORLD PREMIERE of DON’T FOLLOW ME (I’m Lost) will be at the NASHVILLE FILM FESTIVAL in APRIL! Stay tuned for all the details!

Can’t wait until April? Check out an EXCLUSIVE WORK IN PROGRESS SNEAK PREVIEW of the film at LA FILM & MUSIC WEEKEND MARCH 23rd – 25th!!
AND opening for us is the short film ONE BIG HOLIDAY – a behind the scenes look at MY MORNING JACKET!

Tickets for the preview can be ordered here.

 

Don’t Follow Me (I’m Lost) Official Website

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Alex Greenwald: Balisong (She Told Me So)

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Balisong (She Told Me So) is a teaser from Alex Greenwald’s as-yet-untitled (and unreleased) solo record, which – and I say this with bemused affection – I have been referring to as “Nessie”, since I do sometimes feel like I’m sitting on the edge of a dark Highland loch with a toy radio, waiting for static-filled fin sightings.

And, too, when (if?) I do ever get to write about it, there will be a certain amount of myth and legend (i.e. out-of-date Wikipedia notes) to untangle.

But until such time as it glides to the surface, there is this song, which is a love song for a knife, and is made of many dark, shimmery layers:

BALISONG (SHE TOLD ME SO) by ALECKSU

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Video Grab Bag: The Monkees

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It won’t let me embed, but go and watch it anyway. This particular video for Daydream Believer showcases both Davy Jones’ voice and the daffy fun that was The Monkees TV show, which I know I watched as a small child, either in re-runs or in syndication.

If Whitney Houston made me want to dance with someone, this song made me hope I might get to be the homecoming queen for a daydream believer. That sounded like a good time. I was sure there were frilly princess dresses involved, maybe even a crown.

Last Train To Clarksville was another one of my favorites:
 
http://youtu.be/RUZeZ1e441A
 
And finally I’m A Believer:
 
http://youtu.be/XfuBREMXxts
 
Rest in peace, Mr. Jones. We shall miss you very much.

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Name That Face: Randy Travis vs Randy Newman

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Good morning, NTSIBbers, and welcome to the first installment of Name That Face. It’s a new thing I’m doing, inspired by some of the epic and sometimes (often) ridiculous mistakes I’ve made over the years in confusing one artist with another for a wide variety of reasons. If you’ve got any suggestions (or puzzles you’d like solved), drop me an an email.

Up today: Randy Travis and Randy Newman.

This is Randy Travis. He started out playing country music in the early ’80s and apparently switched to gospel in the late ’90s but then swung back around to secular tunes again in 2008. Here I give you my two favorite songs: Diggin’ up Bones , from Storms of Life (1986) and Forever and Ever, Amen, from Always & Forever(1987).
 
http://youtu.be/VXjYB9tt7yQ
 
http://youtu.be/BLxhbxh6kMY
 
And this is Randy Newman, who has been specializing in pop music and movie scores since the early ’70s, and who I have repeatedly confused with Randy Travis for reasons inexplicable even to me.

The best I can do is it’s possible I decided that Randy Travis looked kind of like the cowboy in Toy Story and also absorbed the idea that someone named Randy had done the theme song for the film, and thus began conflating the two, even though they neither look nor sound anything alike.

In any case, here is Mr. Newman with You’ve Got a Friend in Me, from Toy Story, and I Love L.A., from Trouble in Paradise.
 
http://youtu.be/LXARdPb4YBs
 
http://youtu.be/BBOQiMxwk1o

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Jon Gant & His Band: A Rough Start to the Night

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A Rough Start to the Night is Canadian singer/songwriter Jon Gant‘s eighth album. It was recorded in Calgary with Lorrie Matheson, and Gant’s new band, which is Scott Munro (Chad Vangaalen, Gunther) on upright bass, Chris Dadge (Lab Coast, Samantha Savage Smith) on Drums, Chris Vail (Key To The City) on mandolin and Lawrence Nasen (No River) on banjo.

Gant’s been around for a while and done some hard traveling, and on this record, it shows. Though while these songs are world-weary, only two – Broad Street and That Way Again are really sad.

My favorites are the love songs: And I Always Will and Wild Irish Girl.

The former is wry and sweet – sample lyrics: I used to tell you through the radio / but the radio don’t play my songs anymore / I’m hoping somehow this song will make it to your stereo/I just want you to know / I love you / and I always will – and got me to thinking about both love songs and radio songs and the sometimes fleeting nature of both.

It’s also interesting as part of a dialogue, of a kind, a third voice in a conversation between Courtney Love’s Boys on the Radio and the Felice Brothers Radio Song.

The latter is an “I will always come home to you” song with a clap-and-sing-along chorus, and I have a special fondness for that sort of thing. Here it is so all y’all can appreciate it with me:
 

Plus also some videos. The first one is for Never Gonna See Me Again:
 
http://youtu.be/jTaeRuk-89M
 

And the second one is for Motorville:
 
http://youtu.be/lRNIn3_1j8c
 

If you like what you hear, you can get the rest of the record and a big chunk of Gant’s back catalogue at bandcamp.

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Dolly Varden: Mouthful of Lies

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Dolly Varden is: Steve Dawson (vocals, guitars, piano), his wife Diane Christiansen (vocals, guitar, organ), Mark Balletto (back-up vocals, guitars, lap steel), Mike Bradburn: (back-up vocals and bass) and Matt Thobe (back-up vocals, drums and piano). My favorite fact about them is that they named their band after a “rare and beautiful trout” that was named after a character in Charles Dickens’ short novel Barnaby Rudge and not, as it may sound, after Dolly Parton.

They are from Chicago, and Mouthful of Lies is actually their debut album from way back in 1995, freshly remixed and remastered and returned to the world. It’s a little bit like a time capsule: there’s some grunge echoes in there, some shoe-gaze-y filigree around the edges, and a couple that have some sweet pop shimmer.

This is the title track:
 

Dolly Varden "Mouthful Of Lies"

 
And this is the one I go back to over and over again:
 

 

And you can hear the rest of the record at their bandcamp page!

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Video Grab Bag: Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

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Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears were the 2nd opening act at the Flogging Molly show I went to earlier this week, and they were excellent. Because of a combination of factors (being late because of school and mysterious venue shenanigans) I only got to hear maybe two and a half songs, but those two and a half songs were amazing.

I’d say about 25% of the room was dancing – including me, I was totally doing a slow twist-frug with a stranger – 25% of the room was at least swaying and clapping appreciatively and the rest of them I guess either wanted Flogging Molly or nothing at all or might be dead inside.

Anyway. Here are some videos, as an introduction. Some of these songs are a little slow, but I assure you that live, Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears are an electrifying jazzy-funk sensation.

Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - Sugarfoot

 
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - Livin' In The Jungle

 
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - I'm Broke

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Postcards from the Pit: TESLA / Built By Stereo, Irving Plaza, 2/17/12

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IMG_5237TESLA, on the 25th Anniversary of the Five Man Acoustical Jam.

 I waited 25 years for this show, and it was worth every minute. The experience was all the sweeter because I made new friends in the line, and they saved me a spot on the rail. So not only did I get to see a band I never thought I’d be able to see live, but I got to be up close and personal with them while I was at it. Best Valentine’s Day present I bought for myself ever!

Built By Stereo opened the show. They rocked as hard as they possibly could without falling off their chairs. I was especially impressed with their drummer, who brought some real power and pizzazz to their set. Here are some pictures of them:
 

IMG_5124The left half of Built by Stereo: Brandon Hood (bass) and Daniel Espinoza (vocals, guitar).

 

IMG_5121And the right half, with part of the left: Daniel Espinoza again, and also Derek Diesen (drums) and Tony Ricker (guitar).

 
And then it was time for TESLA. In the early ’90s they got lumped in with other “hair metal” bands largely, I suspect, because they had long hair. (And because early on they toured with Poison, Def Leppard and David Lee Roth.) But they really aren’t hair metal. They sit at the intersection of Led Zeppelin and the Grateful Dead – both of whom they covered at this show – and they have a much bluesier, jammier sound.

I got into them somewhere around the original release of Five Man Acoustical Jam (1990), and, while missed seeing them when they toured on that record, their covers of Lodi (CCR) and Signs (Five Man Electrical Band) were on a whole bunch of my high school mixtapes. They didn’t play Lodi at this show, but they did do a rousing rendition of Signs as the final song of the evening.

Before that they played a mixture of old and new material, including Hang Tough , Heaven’s Trail (No Way Out), 2nd Street, Better Off Without You and, of course, Love Song. The cover songs were Comin’ Atcha Live/Truckin’, which is a combination of TESLA and the Grateful Dead; Thank You by Led Zepplin; and I Love You, by the Climax Blues Band.
 

IMG_5150Jeff Keith; his trademark rasp is still intact.

 

IMG_5145Brian Wheat, sitting on his bad-ass acoustic perch.

 

IMG_5136The bad-ass acoustic perch, sans Brian Wheat. My corner of the rail totally wanted one of those for our offices.

 

IMG_5159Jeff Keith and Frank Hannon

 

IMG_5178Dave Rude, who they found on MySpace, after original guitarist Tommy Skeoch left the band. True story!

 

IMG_5194Frank Hannon wearing an electric guitar while playing an acoustic that was mounted on a stand. He switched off between them during the song.

 

IMG_5198Troy Luccketta, in one of my all-time favorite drummer pictures.

 

IMG_5218
Brian Wheat and one of the several basses he had with him.

 

IMG_5213A whole-band shot. Brian Wheat is at the keyboard and hidden behind his Wall of Basses, but he’s in there!

 

IMG_5248Dave Rude and Brian Wheat