september
2004
play st. louis pop culture
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ambulance ltd. interviews: riddle of steel, julia sets, gooding, jude law reviews: drive-by truckers, ray charles, steve earle previews: chris mills, trainwreck, the killers
www.playbackstl.com
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PLAYBACK– TALK
September 2004 You’ve Gotta Work This month, we’d like to celebrate the spirit of the independent artist. We’ve got a cover story on Ambulance Ltd., whose full-length debut came out in March on major indie TVT. We’ve got interviews with Riddle of Steel (Ascetic), Julia Sets (self-released), and Gooding (S3, his own label), some of the hardest working and most talented bands in the Midwest. We’ve got a review of the Midwest Music Summit, the place to see and be seen in August in Indianapolis. And we’ve got five quick questions with Bob Rocca and Abbie Griegaitis, managers of Cabin Inn the City, an eclectic little venue on the grounds of the big, eclectic City Museum. Maybe you’re in a band yourself, in which case you can definitely learn something. Are you ready? Here’s what it takes to succeed: You’ve gotta work. Forget the pipe dream; you’re not going to get “discovered” if you’re not out there, making it happen for yourself. It takes exposure and effort: playing the festivals, touring, getting to know other bands, talking to all the industry folks you can. As for those out-of-town dates, that’s where your network comes in: trade shows with all the indie bands you respect. And back to those festivals...how many of you are even submitting entries? We are proud to have been a part of MMS, and we’re also sponsoring this month’s South Park Music Festival. How many of you applied to either one? Money shouldn’t always be your goal; there’s also exposure, networking, getting your music and your face out where it will be seen. Write press releases; send them to local media outlets every chance you get. If you’re no good at writing, hire a publicist. Ask for gigs. If the answer’s no, ask again. You have to be perceived as willing to work for it; it’s that simple.
Playback St. Louis: Get used to it.
and
Where Are All the Good Bands (and Where’s the Coverage)? This letter is a small part praise and a lot of bitching. I have been in the STL for almost two years, and this is by far the worst music city I have lived in. (The other cities include San Francisco, Chicago, Columbus, and my hometown, Cleveland.) I really think a lot of that has to be placed upon the music rags in this town. I applaud your attempt to cover the local music. The problem is that it seems that there is a very high degree of nepotism involved. There must be 200 local punk, hip-hop, and reggae shows in this town. If I open your mag, I never see any of them reviewed or listed. There has to be some good, new shit going on. I know you guys cover some bands, but it is always the same names over and over and over. If somebody doesn’t find you something new, fire their ass, because they are lazy. Your friend’s band is not always the best band in town. On the national scene, you guys miss a lot, which seems pretty rough since not much comes here. Just last month Shellac (Steve Albini—Big Black, famous producer, etc.) came and nobody bothered to review it. Shellac does not play anywhere. This show is bigger than Haley’s Comet in the indie rock world. Where is the review? Another good story is where are all the good bands going this year, because they sure as hell aren’t coming here. There are a million bands that do not hit St. Louis. If you guys covered them, they may build a following and show up. I am sick of driving hours to see a show that should come here. Half your show reviews are from out of town. That should tell you something. I think we may be the cover band capital of the world. I guess that is saying someting. —Philip Hoffman
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Jim Dunn responds: I agree with you that our world is somewhat limited. We count on our writers to expand it and they do, but there is always room for growth (please, please somebody write about hip-hop, jazz, punk...). We view the magazine as a way to promote the things we love: great bands, great city, and the arts in general. Nothing says that we can’t cover more local bands and the scene. Local music needs more advocates, and we count ourselves as such because this is our money that put this out every month, and we have the choice of putting those local bands in there in the first place. We do encourage our writers to write about them. Another thing: local bands have to treat music like a business and an art. They need to be advocates for themselves. Case in point: the Indianapolis Midwest Music Summit, which acts as a networking event for bands. How many St. Louis bands went? One. How many applied? Two.) Now some housekeeping. Two things: We did review Shellac, and we did bitch about where all the shows went this summer. That was the point of our June editorial, in which we complained that Denver had a better scene than STL. Ironically, our cover story (the Von Bondies) canceled their tour just as we hit the streets.
Playback STL: It’s Not Just in Print I was just looking at your Web site and am very impressed! There’s so much on it, I can’t even get through it. Although, that’s a backhanded complaint, too, because it is a little too packed. Still, I’m glad I found it and will come back. I especially liked the small bit about the Coral Courts documentary. I only wish I had seen the actual movie. —Luby Kelley Junk Junkie
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Contents Profiles
Riddle of Steel..........................................3 Julia Sets .................................................4 Gooding ..................................................5 Jude Law ............................................... 30
Play by Play .................. 7
Drive-by Truckers, Ray Charles, Clinic, Cowboy Jack Clement, Steve Earle, Gram Rabbit, Kings of Convenience, Mark Lanegan Band, A.C. Newman, Phoenix, Smoosh, Mike Watt
Quick Hits.................... 12 The Like Young, Jason Ringenberg, Robbie Rivera, Robb Steele, Shame Club
Backstage Pass............ 14 Ozzfest, Old Canes w/The Race, Midwest Music Summit
Three to See ................ 15
Come Out and Play...... 17 You Are Here ............... 20
Wiktor Szostalo, Hua Qimin
On the Cover ............... 22 Ambulance LTD
Now Playing
Cinema: Howard Zinn, Zhou Yu’s Train, She Hate Me ................................................ 24
From the Corner ......... 27 Curmudgeon ................ 32 Elliot Goes.................. 32 Take Five ...................... 34 The Cabin Inn
Local Scenery ............. 35 Page by Page................ 36
Paul Dorrell, McGruder-Hudlin-Baker, William Lychack, Paris Nights
Delirious Nomad ......... 39 What’s Going on Here?....................... 40
Chris Mills, Trainwreck, The Killers, Emmylou Harris, Ryan Adams, The Domino Kings, David Byrne
Good Sounds................ 44 MAXJAZZ
Matt Bellamy of Muse rocks the second stage of the Curiosa Festival. For a review and photo gallery, visit www.playbackstl.com. Photo: Jim Dunn
GOOD TO THE LAST DROP Playback St. Louis invites you over to our cyber place for a good cup of coffee, some movies, and maybe a shirt, a book or a free CD to take home. On our Web site you can find lots of extended versions of the articles you read in the street edition, pictures from the concerts, a weekly Events Page, and lots of free stuff including movies at Webster, the Tivoli and bags of our Playback coffee, specially blended for you by the cool folks at the Hartford Coffee Co. So visit, in fact, sign up today for our mailing list by sending an e-mail to contact@playbackstl.com.
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Playback St. Louis Pop Culture Publisher Two Weasels Press LLC Managing Editor Laura Hamlett Associate Editor/Art Director Jim Dunn Contributing Editor Bryan A. Hollerbach Book Editor Stephen Schenkenberg Film Editor Bobby Kirk Live Music Editor Brian McClelland Editors-at-Large Rob Levy, Kevin Renick Editorial Assistant Kimberly Faulhaber Creative Consultant Christopher Gustave Contributing Writers Tyson Blanquart, J. Church, Chris Clark, Thomas Crone, Jim Dunn, Kimberly Faulhaber, Adam Hackbarth, Laura Hamlett, Dan Heaton, Cory Hoehn, Bryan A. Hollerbach, Byron Kerman, Bobby Kirk, John Kujawski, Rob Levy, Rachel McCalla, Brian McClelland, Sean Moeller, angela Pancella, Kevin Renick, Andrew Scavotto, Stephen Schenkenberg, Jeremy Segel-Moss, Emily Spreng Lowery, Ross Todd, Michele Ulsohn, Anne Valente, Rudy Zapf Contributing Photographers Jim Dunn, Eric Fogelman, Lauren Winchester Contributing Illustrator Jessica Gluckman Interns Carey Kirk, Anne Valente Advertising Sales Color Rates Now Available! Jim Dunn • 314-630-6404 or Advert@playbackstl.com Distribution Two Weasels Press LLC Playback St. Louis is published Monthly. Current circulation is 18,000. ©All content copyright Playback St. Louis 2004. No material may be reproduced without permission. For advertising rates, submissions, band listings, or any other information, please check our Web site at www.playbackstl.com or send e-mail correspondence to Contact@Playbackstl.com. Submit calendar information to Events@Playbackstl.com. Manuscripts for consideration must be typed and e-mailed to Editor@Playbackstl.com. We want your feedback! write to Contact@Playbackstl.com. Subscriptions are available for $35/ year (12 issues) prepaid and include a free T-shirt. Send check or money order and T-shirt size to: Playback St. Louis P.O. Box 9170 St. Louis, Missouri 63117-0170 314-630-6404 Y Y Y We’re Online! Check out our Web site at www.playbackstl.com
September 2004
RIDDLE OF STEEL THROWS OUT THE 300-POUND DRUNK ASSHOLES
PBSTL PROFILE RIDDLE OF STEEL
By Kimberly Faulhaber n the 1982 cheese-epic Conan the Barbarian, James Earl Jones’s Thulsa Doom explains the “riddle of steel” with a question: “What is steel compared to the hand that wields it?” On a Monday evening in the Rocket Bar, Riddle of Steel’s singer/guitarist Andrew Elstner is attempting to explain the band’s moniker. After a mirthful delving into its deeper meaning, singer/bassist (and Rocket Bar co-owner) Jimmy Vavak gets momentarily serious, shrugging, “It’s just a name.” Not quite finished, Elstner wants to make clear that the band has no affiliation with an RPG-come-lately of the same name, deadpanning, “Although Jimmy is a wizard—an eighteenth-level—and I’m a fifthlevel halfling wizard.” Explaining their music isn’t as easy. Although rooted in math rock—don’t be frightened—and often thunderously percussive, strategically placed Andy Summers–esque jazz chords and melodic balls-of-fire vocals in the league of XTC’s Andy Partridge create a dichotomy that makes for powerful, addictively listenable music. After releasing two critically acclaimed records (2001’s Burn EP and 2003’s Python) on local music mogul Hieu Nguyen’s Ascetic Records and touring nationally—now with Traindodge’s Rob Smith on drums—the band recently released a seven-inch split with Dakota/Dakota on Forge Again Records. The new track, “Our Guitars Are Haunted,” a combustive mix of stuttering snares and tornadic vocals that sounds like Devo rocking incredibly hard, adds a new poppier element—whoawhoas included. After the critical praise for Python, is it difficult to risk experimenting with your sound? AE: Absolutely not. The idea of any sort of “formula” is pretty awful to us. I don’t expect the next batch of songs we write to be totally divergent from what we’ve been doing, but we definitely like new ideas rolling in. JV: The risk for any band lies in not experimenting with your sound. What’s your songwriting process? AE: It usually comes together in rehearsal; Jimmy will come in with a bass part or I’ll be
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noodling a guitar part. It’s very collaborative. We’ll work up the music and then start on the lyrics. Do you hide your lyrics on purpose? I couldn’t find them anywhere. AE: Sort of. I’m not Bob Dylan or anything. At this point, with most of the music I like, the lyrics are mostly there to serve the melody line. The words aren’t nonsense; they’re about something. We just never gave [printing them out] that much thought. JV: Listening to records growing up, I always thought it was cool when I had my own ideas about what lyrics were. When I found out what they were sometimes...you’re thinking, this doesn’t really relate me as much as I thought it did. Did it take a while to find a local audience? JV: I think we’re still trying. We’ve been fortunate to play with a wide variety of bands. Last month we played with some radical metal bands at Pop’s; three days later we opened for Sebadoh in Lawrence, Kansas. It’s amazing to be considered appropriate for both shows. We’ve been lucky to not get genre-tagged too heavily. Is ego clash inevitable with two frontmen? AE: Usually before a gig, Jimmy and I do rock-paper-scissors over who gets to be frontman for the night. As far as ego clashes, psh... There’s only room for one ego in this band, and his name starts with “A” and ends with “ndrew J. Badass.” I mean, there’s always healthy debate in the mix, but there haven’t been any ego clashes in our band. I think if Jimmy or I were involved in that kind of scenario, we’d quit. We’re friends, you know? I mean, we even go out sometimes, and get an ice cream or a malted and use two straws in the same big glass! I have been working out, though, just in case “someone” tries to pull any “nonsense.” JV: To my knowledge, there’ve been no ego clashes...until our interview for Playback. Band meeting! Has anyone tried to attribute your successes to your ties to the Rocket Bar?
JV: Only a couple times to my face [laughs] and basically, if any of those people opened their own venue, set up shows for their favorite bands, putting their own money and neck on the line, do you think they wouldn’t put their band on the show? I’d be an idiot if I didn’t occasionally take advantage of that. AE: There’s no moral obligation for bar owners to book every band that sends them a CD. It’s your place; you can book whoever the hell you want. JV: I wouldn’t put us on a show if we didn’t fit the bill, either. We didn’t open for Interpol, TV on the Radio—there are so many huge shows I would have loved to play, but I didn’t, because it wasn’t best for the show. I’ve actually had someone say that it must be nice to book this place so I can get my band on all the big shows. I was like, are you out of your fucking mind? First of all, why wouldn’t I? I clean the toilets. I clean up puke. I throw out the 300-pound drunk assholes. If anybody should be playing shows here, it’s my band. And it’s a guarantee that on the worst possible Monday or Tuesday night, we can always get at least 30 or 40 people to come out, and there’s only a handful of St. Louis bands that can say that. So many bands don’t get out and promote shows, but we do. I’ve been sacrificing for this. I’m not a hobbyist. I’m gonna make this happen. AE: We wanna play the show where the talent scout walks in. [Laughs] Where the limo with personalized plates rolls up and he’s got this golden cane, saying, [in a gangster-ish talent-scout voice] “You guys are pretty good,” pulling the record contract out of his jacket, “I’m flying you out to the coast tonight.” Riddle of Steel performs at Chicago’s Double Door with Haymarket Riot and Bearclaw on September 16. Read the full interview at www.playbackstl.com.
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PLAYBACK ST. LOUIS
PBSTL PROFILE JULIA SETS
JULIA SETS SURFING A YES-WAVE TO A CAREER PEAK By Kevin Renick PHOTO: BOB REUTER our snobby friend from the Coast—the one who always brags about the bands “I think from day one we knew this was in his town and says that nothing good’s going to be the record we’d all be proud of,” come from St. Louis ’cept Nelly and Uncle said Weber. “Everything about it was so easy, so Tupelo—might have to reconsider when he comfortable. The tracking went quickly and never hears Julia Sets. Lead singer/guitarist James really bogged down or created frustration. It’s the Weber Jr., drummer Kris Boettigheimer, and first record where we really took control.” bassist Kate Eddens comprise one of the hard“We weren’t overthinking anything,” added est-working, most artful rock trios in town. Boettigheimer. “We were just asking, ‘How Real recognition has eluded them, though, good is the sound quality?’ Dan Freund mixed except among a small coterie of friends and it; he was super-conscious of the mastering to colleagues at Vintage Vinyl, where all three begin with.” work. The wait may be over. The “We demoed all the songs just-released Yes-Wave has the We were playing “Of Milk with full arrangements beforefeel of a “coming out” of sorts. and Strings,” and all our It’s loud, brash, charged up, and drunk, beautiful friends hand,” said Weber. “And we all were together in how we well-produced. were throwing crap at us “This record definitely feels on stage the whole show, wanted it to sound and feel. All those classic ’80s independent heckling us, and I see like the defining moment of what we’ve been trying to achieve as a these people I care about records—Let It Be, New Day band—in the music, the energy, so much—each one sing- Rising, all the early American just all of it,” said Weber, the ing every line with us. How Music Club stuff—those are the group’s charismatic leader. “I feel can anything else in your records that stand up to us today. life matter as much? Those They’re the standard we judge our I’ve finally figured out how to moments cement that write songs. All our recordings playing this music is abso- music against, which sets the bar have been disappointing, but any lutely what I’m supposed pretty high.” Growing up, Weber taught mistakes here are strong, honest to be doing with my life. himself songs, developing a style chances, and I’ll take that over he calls unexplainable. Neil Young perfection any day.” was one of a handful of musicians The band’s 2000 debut, The Last One whose influence became clearly discernible. Hundred Days of Julia Sets, had some terrific “Any artist has something to learn from Neil songs, but suffered from murky sound. The Young, both from a creative abandon perspecfollow up, An Alternative to Extinction, was tive and his uncanny ability to be fearless, to a cassette-only release that seemed little more stare down the good and the bad and the ugly,” than a gesture to friends, though it had some he said. Weber’s capable of that same kind of strong material. Last year’s Steel Rails Under raw “ragged glory” on his electric, and seems Thundering Skies was only available as a Web to meld into his instrument. download, and seemed like a nervous, scatter“[Former Sets bassist] Matt Harnish turned shot affair. They also went through several bass me onto The Replacements. They really taught players, using fill-ins for gigs. An aura of uncerme everything I needed to actually play music. tainty emerged, until Eddens joined and some Abandon, songcraft, an allegiance to rock light began to penetrate their foggy mystique. tradition and the fearlessness to dance on its Yes-Wave is noticeably more confident, filled grave. The need to take your tunes seriously, with searing guitar, memorable songs, and a but not yourself.” thrilling urgency.
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Weber and Boettigheimer were the core, but a vital piece was missing. (“[Kate’s] one of those gifted people that knows how to listen and jump in fearlessly,” said Weber.) Although Eddens was still learning as sessions were underway for Yes-Wave (bass duties were handled by Jason Rook and Steve Scariano, among others), the more energized attitude and improved sound are unmistakable. “We’ve finally written something important to us, and I’ll be damned if the people here aren’t going to hear it,” said Weber. Live shows were Weber’s least favorite aspect of making music for a while. It’s something Eddens helped change. “It was a necessary evil, playing live. But now that Kate’s up there, and Kris has gotten so strong, I’m just living to play. We had a small CD release party at the Red Sea. We were playing ‘Of Milk and Strings,’ and all our drunk, beautiful friends were throwing crap at us on stage the whole show, heckling us, and I see these people I care about so much—each one singing every line with us. How can anything else in your life matter as much? Those moments cement that playing this music is absolutely what I’m supposed to be doing with my life. “I think there’s definitely a sort of ‘blue-collar’ level of musician that we’re aspiring to. If you’re putting out good music, putting on great performances, things that people really care about and need, then I’ve got to believe labels, management, and booking will take notice.” Meanwhile, the band’s gelling as never before. “It’s definitely been a long, slow climb, growing comfortable as ‘James from Julia Sets.’ I’m just now starting to be okay with it. Kate and Kris like the way I write, so I don’t feel embarrassed about the songs anymore. And I think I’m driven differently than them; music’s more of an obsession for me. They’re okay with me being out front.” continued on page 35
September 2004
PBSTL PROFILE GOODING
GETTING GOODING By Laura Hamlett his might get a little confusing. The singly named Gooding (it’s his last name; he’s abandoned the first) is an extremely talented musician/singer/songwriter. He’s got a band, along with drummer Jesse Ringenberger and bassist Billy Driver, also called Gooding (or sometimes The Gooding Band). We sit down with Gooding outside of Cicero’s following his show. It’s the most quiet we can find in close proximity to the venue, and even that’s not absolute. He’s chatty, the type of guy who’ll take five full minutes to answer a brief question about the meaning behind a song. But that’s not a complaint; he’s genial and conversational and, as a listener, you enjoy the ride. It’s like that with his music, too. Sometimes meandering (especially live, as it flirts with various influences, often venturing into jam band territory), with a lot of sounds (from just three people!) to expand on what he’s trying to say. Even in the extended instrumental interludes, though, there’s a control bordering on genius; this man knows his music. And it’s fitting, too, given that he grew up surrounded by the stuff. Both his parents played music, to a certain extent. Says Gooding fondly, “My dad played the radio; he was a DJ in the ’60s, right before payola and through all of it. He worked for Wolfman Jack for a little while down in Tijuana. My mother’s a classically trained pianist. When my parents separated, she taught piano lessons late into the night.” Following an adolescent interest in the hard, fast, and loud (“When I moved to Wichita at [age] 12, I made Jesse suffer through a lot of Yngwie Malstem,” he recalls. “All the shredding guitar players; speed before melody.”), this self-described “movie soundtrack boy” turned to ambient soundscapes, electronic and guitar-based compositions crafted as film scores. Ironically, as Gooding’s musical horizons have continued to broaden and refine, he’s gravitated more toward good, old-fashioned rock ’n’ roll.
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PHOTOS: JIM DUNN
He’s also gone from primarily an instrumentalist to a rather accomplished singer. “I played the guitar a lot longer,” Gooding says by way of explaining his belated turn to vocals. “I didn’t start singing until much later; I had already been playing guitar for like ten years. It’s been a process; it’s taken a lot of touring.” It’s helped, he says, “being on the road, trying to get to the heart of what I can do. Also, just working on the range and the inflection and stuff.” All of the influences and interests, while blending into an aurally inventive and pleasing library for the listen made Gooding’s mu “I hope we never record twice,” Good “between the begi the end, there’s so m a difference that it w make it impossible f a label not to be afraid of us.” So, a lá Ani DiFranco, h started his own S-3 Records, on wh released 7 discs ove 12 years. Starting his ow to be pigeonholed, out of the year w tour manager—Gooding is the epitome of the independent artist. How important is that to him? “Obviously, it means creative freedom,” he admits. “We do have management that is definitely making an effort to cull the best of our sounds into one thing that they can market; that’s their job, that’s what we want them for. But I’m not gonna lie and say that one single on the radio wouldn’t be the equivalent of five hundred of the shows we played tonight, because it would. We’d love to have that break, but we’re obviously not one of those bands that’s going to line up and dance to get the
deal. But we’re more actively looking for some help, even if it was a distribution deal. I’m still confident that we can produce our own stuff, but there’s business people that are much better suited for the whole dog-eat-dog thing.” As for what the future holds, Gooding remains cautiously optimistic. “I’d like to see us go overseas and give it a shot. If [Europeans] grab onto something musically, then you can always work there. Here, I think there’s a certain kind of apathy to live music that makes it really, really hard if you’re trying to do something a little off the path. But, you know, this is our me; we want to ’re going to need that. There’s only hree of us can do nes all day. We’ve got to expand organization if ’re going to keep going.” So he’s a musical uoso, supremely in composition, d now vocals. He’s r, unafraid to take ake his own way. en months out of the time, “home” u through. What’s it all about? Gooding smiles. “This is going to sound really lofty, but at the end of the day, it’s to feel like I felt when I first fell in love with music. It’s to make someone else feel like that. For somebody to be able to put themselves into what we’re doing the way we do our heroes, it’s just to make somebody feel all those emotions.” Gooding gets it. You can get Gooding when he plays two shows in St. Louis this month, Sept. 20 at Cicero’s and 21 at Frederick’s Music Lounge. He’ll also take part in the South Park Music Festival Sept. 11. www.goodingband.com
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a Festival of Art for the Body & Soul Over 100 Performing & Visual Artists in 4 Days At 4 Venues All in The District Downtown Columbia MO
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PLAY BY PLAY
MUSIC REVIEWS
DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS: THE DIRTY SOUTH (N
EW
Led by singer/guitarist Patterson Hood’s battle cry of “Proud of the glory, stare down the shame,” the Drive-by Truckers burst onto the national scene in 2001 with The Southern Rock Opera, an epic two-disc concept album. The South Rock Opera explores what Hood refers to as “the duality of the Southern thing”—the tension between pride for his home region and discomfort with the stereotypes and misunderstandings that haunt the South. Exploring this “duality” has become an obsession for these Alabama rockers, and the critical acclaim received by The Southern Rock Opera snowballed in 2003 with the release of Decoration Day, a hard-rocking, thought-provoking effort that ended up on just about everyone’s annual “best-of” list. Driven by three singer/songwriters who double as guitar heroes (Hood, Mike Cooley, and Jason Isbell), the Truckers have earned a reputation as insightful, ambitious storytellers who also know how to rock—hard. This identity characterizes the band’s newest release, The Dirty South, a diverse collection of carefully woven stories set in the Deep South and fueled by the Truckers’ trademark three-guitar attack. In the liner notes, Hood sets the tone for the entire album, summarizing several tales that inspire the songs: “Such is how things are down here…welcome to the Dirty South,” and concluding with, “Turn it up to 10 and rip off the knob.” The Truckers are on a mission to depict the dark side of Southern culture, and they’re going to give you some fist-pumping rock in the process. If you’re into baby ducks and cute little bunny rabbits, you should probably avoid this album. While The Southern Rock Opera tells
the story of optimistic, Skynyrd-worshipping youngsters who form a rock band and hit the road, and Decoration Day chronicles lives ravaged by the strain of touring, The Dirty South narrates from a different perspective. The album paints a bleak picture of the Deep South that is part real and part myth, presenting characters struggling to cope with hard times and economic strife. These aren’t the people who started a band and get out of town—they’re the ones who had no choice but to stay behind and tough it out. Hood’s “Puttin People on the Moon” tells the tale of a man who loses his job at the Ford plant and has to sell drugs and work at WalMart to support his family. While he’s “stuck in Muscle Shoals just barely scraping by,” his wife dies of cancer, and those in power are “Turnin’ mountains into oceans, puttin’ people on the moon.” The music intensifies as the song climaxes, and frustration is palpable as Hood lets out a desperate scream over a frenzied, three-guitar outtro. “Tornadoes” is a beautifully serene ode to nature’s destructive power, while Isbell’s “The Day John Henry Died” uses an undeniably catchy melody to describe a worker who loses his job to a machine. A relatively new member of the band, Isbell expands his role on The Dirty South, and it’s clear that he deserves to stand beside Hood and Cooley as one of the band’s creative leaders. He’s a songwriting phenom—“Never Gonna Change” is an anthemic rocker, and “Goddamn Lonely Love” is a soulful ballad that makes sitting in a lonesome bar and drowning in a bottle of Evan Williams seem strangely appealing. Hood’s “The Buford Stick” explores the leg-
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end of Sheriff Buford Pusser, a crooked lawman who inspired the movie Walking Tall. In contrast, “The Boys From Alabama” presents the “other side of the story,” exploring the mindset of an Alabama gang that rebelled against the sheriff. Cooley’s “Where the Devil Don’t Stay” and Hood’s “Lookout Mountain” rock with the Truckers’ trademark fury, while acoustic songs such as “The Sands of Iwo Jima” and “Daddy’s Cup” provide a change of pace. Hood, Isbell, and Cooley are remarkable songwriters with a common theme, and The Dirty South is just as ambitious as its predecessors. The Truckers explore what it means to be Southern, crafting vivid stories and creating a brand of heart-on-sleeve Southern rock that is both cerebral and loud. If you’re not into the storytelling, you can still stomp your foot and pump your fist as the guitars wail, so go ahead….turn it up to ten and rip off the knob. —Andrew Scavotto R AY CHARLES: GENIUS LOVES COMPANY (Concord) Imagine how frightening it’d be to record a duet with a singer known as “The Genius.” The latest and last Ray Charles CD finds him in the company of such high-caliber vocalists across the musical spectrum as James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, and Gladys Knight. It’s fun to play “How do they measure up?” as you listen—who can provide worthy counterpoint continued on next page
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Play by Play to that iconic growl? But let’s be fair and say the deck was stacked against success. A duet with Charles when his voice is rough with age, hardened with discipline, shadowed with mortality, luminous with soul? Why not make today’s presidential candidates debate a resurrected Abe Lincoln? That said, Elton John tries too hard and Natalie Cole is outclassed, but Norah Jones doesn’t break a sweat. Her youthful grace matched with Charles’ maturity on “Here We Go Again” conjures images of a granddaughter dancing with Grandpa at a family wedding. When Brother Ray is paired with peers, there’s no nailbiting, no feeling it could go right or very, very wrong. Come on—who wouldn’t want to hear Charles and B.B. King testify with their “Sinner’s Prayer”? Lucille takes the first verse, her guitarist takes the next, then comes the single greatest moment on the disc: Charles breaks in with a “Know what, B.B.?” and B.B. defers with a “Yeah?” Two hard-lived old guys sitting around being old guys together, and it’s recorded—what an unimaginable privilege for the listener. The arrangements rely too often on sicklysweet strings or other overcooked elements, and some of the song choices could have been better. But the best duets come leaping out of their settings into a place far beyond criticism. There is a near-unimaginable poignancy in hearing Johnny Mathis—Johnny Mathis!—still gifting us with that silk. He and Charles may not be able to hold the last note of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” for a whole count, but it just doesn’t matter. —Angela Pancella CLINIC: WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL (Domino Recording Co. LTD) Winchester Cathedral begins with a heartbeat monitor racing out of control. It makes a promise that is fulfilled time and again on this album—passions race, emotions race, and mostly, the music speeds along at a brilliant rate. “Country Mile” gets the album off to a great start with Ade Blackburn’s accent— full, upfront, menacing, and guttural—dancing around the bastardized instruments. The band makes sounds as if they were pulled together from instruments found in a deserted building
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and plays them as if they were fugitives from a carnival, leading to an end product that is desperate and raw. The songs, tilted and blurred, seem to come from tapes run at different speeds, and the MC offers commentary that doesn’t always run simultaneously with what is being shown on the screen. Blaring horns, vocorders, and pianos all form a joyous cacophony on the Liverpool band’s third album. The driving sound of songs like “Circle of Fifths” and “Magician” take the listener to an unspecified Middle Eastern country with the accompanying intrigue and angst. The anarchy verges on control in songs such as “Home” and the haunting “Anne,” but they are merely a respite before launching into something nonsensical like “WDYYB.” “Majestic #2” features Blackburn seemingly from beneath water. Nonetheless, it provides an undeniably charismatic performance. Honestly, I understood about half of all the words sung on Winchester Cathedral due to Blackburn’s strong accent, but the overall package gels as tightly as a musical Twin Peaks (the good episodes that came early on, not later when it became incomprehensible). “Thank You (for Living)” starts to sound very Hallmarkian with its verse of “Thank you for living, thank you for giving,” but Blackburn sings with such conviction that you know there is a sense of desperation and relief in the song, as if he is seriously considering the alternative. “Fingers” ends out the album instrumentally, offering proof that Clinic can fill a mood both with words and without. Winchester Cathedral, named after the famous English landmark (or perhaps the 1966 hit by the New Vaudeville Band), brings you to a time and place that is indistinct and at times disorienting, but the adventure is worth it. You will find yourself dancing, perhaps even along with an accordion-playing dwarf or two. —Jim Dunn COWBOY JACK CLEMENT: GUESS THINGS HAPPEN THAT WAY (Dualtone Records) Perhaps like no other CD released in recent memory, Cowboy Jack Clement’s Guess Things Happen That Way should resonate powerfully for music lovers in general and country fans in particular.
September 2004 The Dualtone disc, after all, comes from a bona fide living legend. Had he done nothing beyond helming the soundboard at Sun Records during its dawn, when titans like Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and that Cash kid were launching their careers, Clement would still hold a place in the history of popular music, regarding which the liner notes sketch his contributions during the past half a century. (“I’ve got a bunch of people who say I’m a genius,” the booklet quotes the grizzled septuagenarian as saying. “That don’t make me a genius. But you’ve got to be pretty smart to get all them people to say that on cue.”) Those contributions echo grandly not only in much of the best contemporary country music but also, predictably, in the dozen tracks on Guess Things Happen That Way. Happily enough, even at 73, Clement still sounds hale and hearty, and if his voice has never ranked among the greats of the genre, the old fox certainly knows how to play to its strengths. As a lyricist, meanwhile, he remains strong; of the songs here, Clement wrote or co-wrote two-thirds, including not just the title track and “Ballad of a Teenage Queen” (both country landmarks from 1958) but the emblematic “Every Place I’ve Ever Been” and the romping, hilarious “Drinking Carrot Juice.” Vulpine to the end, he closes the disc with the joyful hurdy-gurdy hijinks of Shawn Camp and Mark D. Sanders’ “Off to Join the World,” one of the most blissfully goofy love songs ever written. As a result, frankly, it’ll come as a shocker if a disc more purely delightful than Clement’s Guess Things Happen That Way appears this year. —Bryan A. Hollerbach STEVE EARLE: THE REVOLUTION STARTS NOW (Artemis Records) Steve Earle is all heart. He spends quite a bit of his already tight schedule working on antideath penalty issues and being an activist against the war in Iraq and the policies of the U.S. government. Often, those pursuits bleed over in to his albums. 2002’s Jerusalem included a majority of songs that raised some hackles, including “John Walker’s Blues,” a sympathetic look at the American Taliban. The Revolution Starts Now follows that template while still finding room for sentiment other than politics.
Earle is an activist and this album, when it hits on the money, as with “Rich Man’s War” and “The Gringo’s Tale,” is excellent Earle. Songs like “Condi, Condi” and “F the CC,” while being funny and great rants, don’t help Earle’s case. They are loud and arrogant approaches to a loud and arrogant government—in the end, the messages cancel each other out. The ubiquitous Emmy Lou Harris duets with Earle on “Comin’ Around,” and the effect is magical. Harris has lately become the ringer on many albums and her voice is magic. Another nonpolitical song, “The Seeker,” is, as Earle says, “a state-of-me” song and, in this case, where the heart of Steve Earle beats the strongest. The song is a sweet dose of advice from granddaddy to grandson: “In a world full of sorrow, hunger and pain/it’s so hard to explain, why I’m still travelin’/but there’s a new day tomorrow and maybe I’ll hold/something brighter than gold to a seeker.” —Jim Dunn GRAM R ABBIT: MUSIC TO START A CULT TO (Stinky) The cult is already forming around Gram Rabbit, a coastal California trio with so many things going for them that it’s hard to know where to begin. Start with a dangerously seductive female singer named Jesika von Rabbit who can mimic ’80s new wave femmes (a lá Missing Person’s Dale Bozzio—with whom von Rabbit shares a legacy of bunny ears—Terri Nunn, Martha of the Muffins, etc.) but seems possessed by a dark secret, like she was once abducted by aliens or something. Add kindred spirit/singer/guitarist Todd Rutherford, who met Jesika in the Joshua Tree hotel where Gram Parsons died (the two shared fondness for the legendary singer/songwriter and have performed at Gram Fest). Then add inventive bassist and sampling master Travis Cline, who adds curious and unexpected twists to the desert-bred, sinewy, sultry electro-pop the trio were bent (and they are a little bent) on creating. “Imagine walking into a honkytonk, deep in the heart of desert country,” says their press release. “The clientele includes devil worshippers, witches, hippies, rock climbers, military men, and the random soul-searching tourist, all gathered to hear alien frequencies channeled by continued on next page
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Morse code keyboards, slithering reverb-laden guitars, tick-tocking drum machines and samplers that yield a shocking surprise every 40 seconds.” Hard to describe the music inspiring such prose, but it’s truly memorable. Gram Rabbit’s songs are fresh, filled with inventive musical textures and laced with an “out there” vibe, like coming upon a small, isolated town where the customs are unnervingly different. Haunting moments abound. On “Devil’s Playground,” the shivers build in intensity: a softly strummed acoustic guitar, von Rabbit’s potently gripping vocals—part countrygoth, part Stevie Nicks mysticism—then the double-tracked low-moaning chorus vocals of Rutherford (which add a spiritual vibe to the mood), and the simple repetitive percussion. It makes for an utterly spellbinding piece of music, one that sets this band far apart from the crowd. Then there’s the sinister and surreal “Cowboys & Aliens,” in which von Rabbit raps the entire vocal in a disembodied monotone while an insistent rhythm, and a swirl of ambient guitar and other eccentric musical flourishes vie for your attention. “Cowboy-up” seems to invent a genre—“space western,” perhaps—though it largely melds ’80s new wave rhythms with ’90s industrial such as Skinny Puppy, adding a spaghetti western accent just to throw y’all. More genuinely startling are the eerily beautiful “Kill a Man,” which mixes unlikely elements such as the melodic progression from Mason Proffit’s FM staple “Two Hangmen,” early Jefferson Airplane melancholia, a dash or two of Legendary Pink Dots surrealism and completely weird but effective “doo-be-doos” added in the background; the funky, foot-tapping “Disco#2,” which uses cleanly played piano chordings to potent effect and has some nice crunching guitar; and “Witness,” a Talking Heads–like gem that offers a hypnotic descending bass line, luridly lounge-y keyboards, and bits of bizarre vocal samples. On “Dirty Horse,” von Rabbit and Rutherford sing together, generating a spooky vibe that will have you scratching your head for new descriptors, while still recognizing the start of a remarkable new songwriting partnership. Music to Start a Cult To is one of the most fascinating and inspired albums of the year; don’t be surprised if Gram Rabbit quickly graduate from cult to phenomenon. www.gramrabbit.com —Kevin Renick
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KINGS OF CONVENIENCE: RIOT ON AN EMPTY STREET (Astralwerks) With their 2001 album Quiet Is the New Loud, Norway’s Kings of Convenience provided a sort of mantra for the “new acoustic” movement, and for lovers of musical introspection. The album showcased a plaintive brand of romanticism—a sweetly melancholy sound couched in soft, blended vocals and acoustic guitars, summoning the spirit of Simon and Garfunkel better than any artist since the ’60s. One particularly catchy song, “Toxic Girl,” ended up in a cell phone commercial and probably earned the group loads of extra greenbacks. After time off to work with other artists like Royksopp and make a solo dance CD, Erlend Oye has rejoined partner Eirik Glambek Boe for another helping of acoustic treats on Riot on an Empty Street. The title is sort of a misnomer; there’s no “riot” on this street, and precious little activity of any kind. Just a lot of staring out the window, sitting on the couch, and (judging from the album’s cover) playing chess. Oye and Boe are contemplators—big time—and this “empty street” stretches way beyond their own neighborhood. The mood created by having very quiet voices placed up-front in the mix is one of total intimacy. Add softly strummed acoustic guitars and an occasional piano passage, and you’ve got a perfect sound for a casual, romantic evening with a companion of old-fashioned (or undetermined) musical tastes. With the gentler tunes on this album, like “Cayman Islands,” “Surprise Ice” and “The Build-Up” (now there’s an ironic title), you and that companion may very well fall asleep in each other’s arms. Variety on KOC recordings is always subtle: there’s some lilting strings on “Stay Out of Trouble,” trumpet and banjo on “Sorry or Please,” an even more beguiling use of banjo on one of the disc’s bounciest songs, “Love Is no Big Truth” and, most surprisingly, a rhythm section on “I’d Rather Dance With You.” But overall, these songs are of a piece—although not necessarily peace. The restlessness and sadness of the singer are palpable on “Surprise Ice,” “Stay Out of Trouble,” the beautifully poignant “Gold in the Air of Summer,” and the self-disclosing introspection of “Sorry or
Please,” with its pervading sense of uncertainty and emotions held in check (perhaps due to fear of loss). Oye sings on the latter track: “Tonight’s actors: me and you/Each day is taking us closer/While drawing the curtains to close/This far, or further/I need to know/Your increasingly long embraces, are they saying sorry or please?/I don’t know what’s happening—help me.” It’s a passage any insecure romantic could relate to. Riot on an Empty Street lacks the consistent emotional sway of KOC’s debut, and it’ll no doubt sound a little ponderous to those more inclined to rock. But if you miss Simon and Garfunkel, or if you find yourself in a weary, lovelorn state of mind, go hail these Kings…at your Convenience. —Kevin Renick MARK LANEGAN BAND: BUBBLEGUM (Beggars Banquet) Despite its title, there is nothing sugary or even remotely sweet about any of the music found on Bubblegum, the new release from former Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan. Continuing in very much the same vein that his eight-song EP, Here Comes That Weird Chill, established back in January, Bubblegum’s 15 tracks are rough-edged, nofrills reminders of how not sweet life can be, and usually is. Bare-boned, acoustic-flavored numbers like “One Hundred Days,” “Bombed,” and “Come to Me” sound as if they were written and recorded late at night, while punkish, hyperactive tracks like “Sideways in Reverse” and “Death Valley Blues” could have easily been created in the late-morning, after consuming several cups of coffee. The radio-friendliness of “Head,” with its super-catchy Sceaming Trees–like guitar riffs, is in sharp contrast to the bizarre freakiness of “Can’t Come Down,” a song that definitely shows Lanegan’s willingness to take chances as a songwriter. Having been in the music business for quite a while, Lanegan has developed numerous friendships with members of other bands, some of whom were kind enough to lend their vocal and instrumental contributions to this disc. Afghan Whigs/Twilight Singers frontman Greg Dulli, Izzy Stradlin and Duff McCagan from
September 2004 Guns N’ Roses/Velvet Revolver, P.J.Harvey, and Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri from Lanegan’s side project Queens of the Stone Age are all present here. However, it is Lanegan’s whiskeysoaked, raspy vocals providing the glue that bonds Bubblegum’s many components together into one cohesive unit. —Michele Ulsohn A.C. NEWMAN: THE SLOW WONDER (Matador) There’s a new New Pornographers disc out, only it’s slightly less jetpropelled and filed under the name A.C. Newman. On NP frontman and main songwriter Carl Newman’s stellar solo debut The Slow Wonder (Matador), his band’s trademarks are everywhere—from the Neko Case power harmonies (by Neko stand-in Sarah Wheeler) to the banging, bouncy piano, to the new-wave and sometimes ELO-ish chanted vocals—but after the first listen you realize the most memorable,
hooky elements on NP’s records are Newman’s cloudless voice and yeasty songwriting. While NP’s last outing, 2003’s Electric Version (Mint/Matador), was a brilliant pop steamroller with nary a dip in tempo, The Slow Wonder showcases a more diverse Newman— from the heartbreaking “Come Crash”’s tender, pensive refrain “Christine, come crash on my floor,” which sounds like the saddest of late night phone calls—to the Robert-Pollard-onhis-best-day ballad “Drink to Me, Babe, Then.” These songs are stunning, suggesting a depth and solemnity NP fans wouldn’t have guessed him capable of. The heart of this record lies somewhere between those gorgeous, sober-sided laments and the sunny, caffeinated NP-ish numbers, in mid-tempo (“mid” for Newman, anyway) anthems like the insanely catchy “The Battle for Straight Time” and “Secretarial.” I couldn’t sleep for a week after the former’s bombastic chorus (“Bat-tle for! Straight time!”) lodged in my brain, and the verse’s early-era R.E.M. guitar is perfectly complimented by a priceless off-kilter vocal harmony hook worthy of pre-suck Sting. Those in need of an NP fix will cheer the
dry pop chants and piano stomps of “On the Table” and the kicky, metal-ish cello riff–driven “The Town Halo.” As with Electric Version, every song here is hook-filled to bursting, the only difference being these songs have a little more room to breathe, allowing the hooks to settle in deeper before the next song’s out of the gate. An assured, many-layered pop gem, The Slow Wonder is one of the best pop records you’ll hear this year, a self-contained greatest hits compilation masquerading as a solo debut. —Brian McClelland PHOENIX: ALPHABETICAL (Astralwerks) France and the guitar: the two fall short of any kind of correlation. Music fans around the world normally link the French with electronically synthesized beats that make listeners sweat instead of chill (i.e., Daft Punk, Miss Kittin). French natives Phoenix act continued on page 28
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PLAYBACK ST. LOUIS
QUICK HITS
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THE LIKE YOUNG: SO SERIOUS (Parasol) Since 1997, Amanda Ziemba (drums and vocals) and husband Joe (guitar and vocals) have created music in and as Wolfie, Busytoby and, for two records now, The Like Young. Featuring relatively spare arrangements and a tendency to not write tunes longer than two minutes, the pair have created a real pop gem on the sophomore effort, So Serious. Whereas Wolfie released nice but ultimately forgettable cuts, the duo approach seems to highlight their talents quite well, with hooks left and right. The band’s one-sheet press notes sees journalists dropping comparisons to everyone from Elvis Costello to the Go-Gos to Weezer. And while the latter act might be the closest comparison in some respects, their sound has enough energy and pop polish to merit consideration purely on its own. They’re pure fun. The only downer is the disc’s brevity—only 24 minutes and change for the dozen tracks here. But in those 12 cuts, at least half will beg for a repeated listen, including the chiming opener “Out to Get Me” and the equally zippy “Tighten My Tie.” Safe to say, a lot of listeners won’t be satisfied with just this disc, and will seek out 2002’s debut, Art Contest. If you see either, dig in your wallet and be ready to tap your foot. The Like Young play the Rocket Bar on September 25. (TC) JASON RINGENBERG: EMPIRE BUILDERS (Yep Roc Records) Currents of profound unrest are once more galvanizing this land, and Jason Ringenberg, with nonpareil timing, has just arrived with a top-of-the-line voltameter entitled Empire Builders. Its political content notwithstanding, the 11-track CD (the fourth solo effort from the king of the cowpunks) scarcely signals his departure from alt-country for polemics—he may be crazy but he ain’t no fool. No, the new Yep Roc disc still boasts Ringenberg’s gonzo twang and often impish arrangements and ranges from ballads to rockers, among them Merle Haggard’s “Rainbow Stew,” the first of two covers here; “Link Wray,” a blazing paean to that rumblin’, ramblin’, rawhide-tough guitarist; and “Half the Man,” a tribute to Ringenberg’s father. That said, righteous anger slices like a straight razor through the majority of these
songs. Abiding socioeconomic concerns inform “Chief Joseph’s Last Dream,” “NewFashioned Imperialist,” and “Tuskegee Pride.” On seeing the Stars and Bars topping a barn overseas, meanwhile, Ringenberg, in “Rebel Flag in Germany,” drawls, “Hell I don’t even want to see that flag in Tennessee.” Otherwise, book-ending Empire Builders are “American Question” and the spoken-word “American Reprieve,” two scathing gems of musical protest. “Yes we can bomb most any land/ On CNN with marching bands,” Ringenberg intones on the latter over a beatnik vibe. “Pour ourselves an ice cold Coke/Make a war and tell a joke.” The disc, in short, will likely incense those who see introspection as irresolution, dissent as sedition, protest as treason. Their loss. Not merely a stunning new release by an Americana artist, Ringenberg’s Empire Builders ranks as a stunning new release by an American artist. In these increasingly troubled and troubling times, one can only hope a significant number of other Americans pay heed to the message in his new music. (BH) Robbie Rivera: Do You Want More (Ultra) Sometimes the only chance of getting airplay for dance music means forfeiting creative bravery and opting for an ’80s cover. These songs end up laced with cutesy vocals and synths that were overused back in 1992. Robbie Rivera finds his own sense of direction with Do You Want More, while the margin of other DJs who create full-length albums often use a cookie-cutter style. Rivera had the know-how to recruit vocalists who can withstand his strong compositions without the vocals or the music drowning the other out. Rather than take the easy route of incorporating Latin house throughout, Riviera exudes his own resourceful juices.“Hometown” has a samba beat, but what else would one expect from the title? Rivera deserves to display his heritage a little bit since the rest of the CD is well presented. Do You Want More is like a turbo jet ride across a mountainous landscape or the ocean, with each of nature’s details dancing to the pulse. This is particularly true of “Which Way You Going?” inspired by Coldplay’s “Clocks.” Ascension is the main theme throughout this recording by a DJ who invents (as opposed to remixing), resulting in energy well-spent. (CH)
ROBB STEELE: ROBB STEELE (self-released) On the remote outskirts of the hip-hop scene in St. Louis, there is an eclectic threepiece called Robb Steele. Pete Meyer, Bryan Tucker, and Martian Hick are over 30 years old, Caucasian, and—you’ll never guess—grade school teachers. They’ve been making music together for over ten years, and having randomly performed over the last year, have released a remarkable self-titled EP. More Jurassic 5 than Nelly, Robb Steele’s style is idea-driven and even calculated. “Bucket” is a reflection on the obstacles we face living in the U.S.; Tucker raps, “In the land of the lost, it’s hard to keep winning/In the land of the free, two million in prison.” Surprisingly, it’s the beats that set Robb Steele apart from an average amateur local rap group. Meyer and Tucker break from the tired bee-bop tradition by mixing music genres and using electronic/techno sounds to enhance their flava. Too creative to remain in one genre, the band crafts some incredibly involved instrumental songs. The music drifts and floats, refreshing after a rap song. Well-produced and deliberate, Robb Steele has created a mature EP that is a welcome addition to the hip-hop ection of any record store, not ust those in St. Louis. (RM) HAME CLUB: VOL. self-released) Shame Club is known for playng solid rock shows. They have een entertaining St. Louis clubgors for years with loud sets, great songs, and the powerful drum sounds of Brian Pollard. The band’s live show is so hot that one of the stage monitors at the Hi-Pointe literally caught fire one night. Finally, Shame Club’s songs can be heard on CD. Vol. is exactly what our music scene needs: a great set of songs by a great rock band. Singer/guitarist John Lumley shines on tracks like “Kit Lambert” and “Black Moon.” The guitar sound is toned down a bit on the recording so the vocals can be heard, and the result is an enjoyable listen. Of course, there is no shortage of great guitar work; the riffs in songs such as “The Drags” and “Cherry Red” are so impressive, they demand to be heard again. As a good local release to pick up after a Shame Club gig, this CD certainly fits the bill. (JK)
Contributors: Thomas Crone, Cory Hoehn, Bryan A. Hollerbach, John Kujawski, Rachel McCalla.
September 2004
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BACKSTAGE PASS CONCERT REVIEWS
Ozzfest UMB Bank Pavilion
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August 12 Simon and Garfunkel failed to show up at Ozzfest 2004, but the crowd didn’t seem to notice, distracted as they were by 13 unrelenting hours of death metal, black metal, “hardcore metal,” goth metal, etc. There was a lot to absorb. Coffee (or beer) achievers arrived in time to catch the first band (some angry young dudes called Unearth) at 9:30 a.m. You have to salute the next band, Every Time I Die; their lead singer tried in vain to rile up the crowd by proclaiming, “It’s 10 a.m. and that stands for Absolute Mosh.” It was hard to empathize with a band that stole Rage Against the Machine’s sound and their graphic-design team, though. One after the other—Throwdown, Bleeding Through, DevilDriver, God Forbid, Lamb of God, Hatebreed, et al.—rolled out their croaking, unintelligible vocalists and the relentlessly unmelodic bang-bang-bang-bang of their noisy music. Now, don’t get me wrong—I may be old, but the music wasn’t too loud. It just wasn’t all that creative. Even The Ramones and Black Flag understood the value of melody. The music that’s heating up MTV2’s Headbanger’s Ball these days, though, is just a bludgeon to the head, pure and simple, again and again. Twenty years ago, who could have imagined that hardcore, punk’s ugly little cousin, would someday rule the hard-rock scene? When Slipknot took the stage, the crowd went apeshit. Is it the splatter-movie rubber masks that they wear? The fact that there are nine of them onstage together, including two DJs and two superfluous percussionists? Whatever the case, Iowa’s finest had them body-surfing and jumping around like pissed-
off trout in the bottom of a johnboat. Rick Rubin, I blame you. Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society kicked off the evening mainstage shows. Wylde sounds more than a little like Axl Rose, and I’d say his guitar collection is way cooler than his songwriting. The mildly enthused crowd seemed to agree. Boy, that Phil Anselmo’s a talker. The lippy former Pantera frontman filled the space between songs with a stream of blather about how members of his current band, Superjoint Ritual, are ordinary folk “just like you.” Regardless—or perhaps because—of his pointless stoner invective, Anselmo sure got the UMB crowd into the music. He closed the set with a parting, “Everybody drop acid” and left the stage in a predictably agitated state. One of these bands is not like the others... Dimmu Borgir brought the chilly metal of Norway—complete with corpsepaint, spiked costumes, and a poor command of English— to an unseasonably cold St. Louis. Lead singer Shagrath has a great haunted-house voice: not a growl (thank Satan) but a deep rasp. Dimmu Borgir’s synthesizer goth metal excited some, and left others mystified. It’s hard not to love Slayer, though. As soon as their backdrop fell into place behind the stage, the entire mood of Ozzfest changed. An air of genuine menace filled the place, as the security forces prepared to contain the most violent mosh pit of the day. When Slayer roared into the title cut from God Hates Us All, the crowd came alive. Nobody can make death metal swing like they can. Every band on the second stage should take a break from their post-show carousing and watch Slayer every night of the tour. This is how angry, evil music is done, kids. You can’t just bang out real intensity; you have to craft it.
OZZFEST (l to r): SLAYER, SUPERJOINT RITUAL, and DIMMU BORGIA. PHOTOS: LAUREN WINCHESTER
The reunited Judas Priest was a sweet, sweet promise to me, but I feared their music would prove too slow for the hardcore kids in the crowd. In truth, I was too busy reliving the mid ’80s to notice what anybody else was doing. When Rob Halford emerged from the pupil of the “Electric Eye” backdrop, heavy metal’s Jesus Christ had risen from the dead. The bald, black-bearded singer proved he can still hit those castrato high-notes in such songs as “Beyond the Realms of Death,” and his joy in joining his old mates onstage was evident with every hammy gesture. Black Sabbath opened with the sirens of “War Pigs”—a statement on the invasion of Iraq? Soon after, Ozzy, the most energetic (and the oldest) singer in metal informed us that he’d recently told his worrywart doctor to fuck off—he had an Ozzfest to pull off, fer God’s sake! Sabbath played their classic dirges, with brain-damaged Ozzy warbling away, and the real Prince of Darkness, Tony Iommi, standing stock-still, coaxing that gorgeous evil from his Gibson SG Warlock yet again. This is where it all started. Sabbath influenced Priest. Priest influenced Slayer. Slayer influenced every other band at Ozzfest. That’s why it was so shocking to hear everyone from the front row to the outermost reaches of the lawn singing along with Black Sabbath. How is it that the 17-year-olds at Ozzfest know the words to an old chestnut like “Fairies Wear Boots”? It can only be the success of Ozzfest and, by proxy, the success of Ozzy’s reality show on MTV, The Osbournes. Whatever the cause, hearing mere teenagers sing along to Sabbath’s thunderous Children of the Grave filled this drunk metalhead’s heart with joy. The complete Ozzfest review can be found online at www.playbackstl.com. —Byron Kerman
September 2004
Old Canes w/The Race Rocket Bar, August 11 After their set, two members of Chicago’s The Race unwind with a couple of local cornfed Midwestern disco-type gals in a booth across from the stage where Old Canes sleepwalked through a hauntingly subdued set. The bolder of the two girls, a toothy blonde we’ll call “Siskel,” leans forward as if to share a secret with the boys, beerily braying, “Let me tell you something. I like what you’re doing. I do. But everything’s so slooooow! It’s so hard to dance to! I was trying; you saw me up there. If only it were faster! More upbeat!” Her friend, let’s call her “Ebert,” chimes in, comparing the band to Pink Floyd, which seems to please the boys, although I’m not sure she means it as a compliment. After all, you can’t dance to Pink Floyd, either. Not wearing a J. Lo top, anyway. Ten minutes into this absurd career-counseling session—I’m wondering why these two indie-rock guys are wasting valuable brooding time listening to this nonsense—Old Canes’ drummer asks the 20 or so bleary-eyed attendees if any of them has available crash space. The guy from The Race bolts his arm into the air like an overeager student, yelling, “We found some!” Suddenly his decision to hang out with these two broads makes sense. Don’t
let anybody tell you that being a touring musician isn’t glamorous. Superstar! The Race is only as Pink Floyd as Radiohead is—which is to say, a lot—playing their unhurried emo with grand, orchestral arrangements and smatterings of skittering electronica. While the grandeur of their recordings doesn’t often translate to the stage, the band relies heavily on the ethereal vocals of singer/guitarist Craig Klein to hold the sometimes meandering compositions together. With unstructured-sounding songs that seemingly stop and start at random, introducing gorgeous melodies only to abandon them before they’ve had a chance to sink in, The Race’s music often frustrates. Klein has an easy grace on stage, though, coming up for a welcome breather from the slowburning, intense indie-rock for the occasional dry non sequitur, like, “This is only our first show, so it’s okay if we fuck this up.” Old Canes is Appleseed Cast frontman Christopher Crisci’s stripped-down let’s-recordgood-old-timey-folk-music-on-an-eight-track project. Their recordings have been very well received, but in a live setting, you’re looking at two guys in chairs—one holding an acoustic guitar and singing, the other straddling a kick drum case while playing tambourine and a Casio-esque keyboard smaller than
his forearm—and a drummer, playing music that’d make you yearn for a simpler time of kicking back in a creaky rocking chair on a dusty Mississippi porch and contemplating the stars—that is, if wasn’t making you so...darn...(yaaaawn). Wait. What was I talking about? Unfortunately, I missed much of local darlings Lapush’s set, but what I did hear sounded a lot like what The Race is up to, with a stronger sense of melody and song structure. And peppier. I do enjoy the pep. Siskel and Ebert might be on to something. —Brian McClelland
Midwest Music Summit Indianapolis, August 12–14 Our trip to Indianapolis started with a spectacular traffic jam that left us sitting for nearly three hours, unmoving, waiting on a bridge in a long line of cars. We got out of our car and got to know our fellow travelers, people whom we would normally only acknowledge with a gesture (and not always a pleasant one, at that). We arrived in Indianapolis in time to (a) run into Beatle Bob, (b) be assisted by the kindly bouncer at the Patio who found badges for us, and (c) hunker down to catch the spectacular performance by Ambulance Ltd. continued on page 19
Three to See Here are just three of the great original St. Louis bands that play around town on a regular basis. Check them out as soon as you get a chance. Rocket Park—Good pop bands are hard to find, so there is plenty of space in the local music scene for Rocket Park. The group is fronted by Brian Andrew Marek, who sings well and plays keyboards with so much confidence that the audience is drawn into the performance, knowing that Marek is loving what he is doing. Aside from his stage jokes and comical interaction with the audience, the songs hold up as well. The mix of keyboards and electric guitar is appealing and the melodies are always strong. It’s hard not to be hooked on tunes like “Kimberly Said” or to want to sing along with their cover of “Hungry Like the Wolf.” Drummer Eric Moore stands out as well, being a solid and hardhitter who never misses a beat. If provoked
enough by the audience members, he’ll even do an amusing break-dance routine in front of the stage. While Rocket Park usually spends most of its time blasting through originals, they are probably one of the only local bands light-hearted enough to cover the early ’80s classic “Pac-Man Fever.” With a show like this, it’s hard not to have a great time. Rich Boy Falling—A certain sight comes to mind when I think of seeing Rich Boy Falling. It is certainly not a Web site, nor is it any club in particular. It’s not so much the sight of kids with dyed hair, tattoos, and piercing; rather, it’s the sight of a young audience having a good time. Rich Boy Falling appears to be a fairly young group, but the guitar sound is huge and the band has no problem drawing groups of kids into their set. The band literally creates a wall of sound that is super solid and strong—listeners are likely to feel a rush off the powerful electric guitar hooks and brutal power chords. The vocals were somewhat buried in the mix the night I saw them play, but they did compliment the loud guitars and the overall sound
was addictive. Anyone wondering what true underground rock is like in St. Louis should take note of this impressive group. Lost to Metric—Anyone bored with a lot of the hit music stations in St. Louis will most likely gain an appreciation for Lost to Metric after catching one of their sets. This is one band in St. Louis that can truly be called an alternative to a lot of what is currently popular. One audience member commented, “I didn’t know anything like this was going on in this town.” Lost to Metric has a tremendous amount of energy, both in their stage antics and their guitar sound. The rhythms and guitar riffs are fast and lively—all sorts of original sounds go through the mix before the crowd even knows what hit them. The band unpredictably tears through layers of distortion, showing they are skilled musicians as well as good songwriters. The only time the frantic pace of the set slows down is when the members take water breaks. Anyone hoping to find something fresh and exciting will find it with Lost to Metric. —John Kujawski
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PLAYBACK ST. LOUIS
OPEN MIC. NIGHT EVERY MONDAY JAKE’S LEG EVERY THURSDAY Fri. 9/3: Dogtown Allstars Sat. 9/4: Closed for private party Tues. 9/7: Racket Box Fri. 9/10: Big Star Cadilac w/Team Tomato Sat. 9/11: Closed for private party Tues. 9/14: Tim Faye & Randy Furrer w/Ali& Emily Weds. 9/15: Gentleman Callers w/guest Fri. 9/17: Jalopy Sat. 9/18: Dr. Rob w/Kapital Tues. 9/21: Confluence benefit Fri. 9/24: Thos Fri. 9/25: Buddahs Belly Drink Specials Every Night—Free Beer Yesterday See our calendar on page 42 and always call for updates on our schedule.
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September 2004
Conscription of the Fates: A Play in Three Unrelated Acts
COME OUT AND PLAY
THEATER
By Tyson Blanquart
POSITION OPENINGS/AUDITIONS If you have an audition, show announcement, or other news of interest to the theater community, please e-mail theater@playbackstl.com no later than the 15th of each month. Also be sure to visit www.playbackstl.com for updated announcements throughout the month.
SHOWS OPENING The Tin Ceiling Productions will present its original play Conscription of the Fates: A Play in Three Unrelated Acts at 3159 Cherokee Sept. 17–19 & 24–26 at 8 p.m. Directed by John Strasser, Conscription brings together three original one-acts by local writers Robin Garrels, Ben Gaa, and Jason Lauderdale. The play includes the South American revolution, talking New York hotel furniture, aging super-heroes, T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland, a magic alien ring, and 9/11. Tickets are $8. www.tinceiling.org St. Louis Shakespeare will present the classic Richard III, directed by Robin Weatherall, through Sept. 5 at the Grandel Theatre. Tickets can be purchased through MetroTix at 314-534-1111 or www.metrotix.com. Performances at 7:30 p.m Thur., 8 p.m. Fri. & Sat., and 2 p.m. Sun. Tickets are $20 adults, $18 students/seniors Thurs. & Sun., and $22/$20 Fri. & Sat. www.stlshakespeare.org Ragged Blade Productions will present St. Louis playwright Jerry Rabushka’s Empty Closets at the Theatre at St. John’s in the Central West End Sept. 3–4. Empty Closets is a comedy revolving around three men and three women gathered at a “coming out workshop” to share stories of their revelations. The play was nominated as “Outstanding One-Act” by Omaha’s Theatre Arts Guild. www.raggedblade.com Historyonics Theatre Company will open its original play Fair Visage: The 1904 World’s Fair Sept. 18–19, continuing Sept. 24–26 and Oct. 1–3. Showtimes for Thur., Fri., & Sat. will be 8 p.m.; Sun. performances at 2:30 p.m., with a special matinee Sat., Sept. 25 at 2:30 p.m. Created by local actor/writer/musician Joe Dreyer. Tickets are $20 adults, $18 seniors/MHS members, and $10 students. Call 314-361-5858 for reservations, or go to www.historyonics.org for more info. Hydeware Theatre will perform William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew in Tower Grove Park at the Old Playground Pavilion Sept. 11–12 & 18–19 at 5:30 p.m. Hydeware turns the Bard’s story on its ear by casting women in all of the male parts, and men in all of the female roles. Richard Strelinger directs; admission is free. www.hydewaretheatre.com
Echo Theatre Company will present The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade (More Commonly Known as Marat/Sade) by Peter Weiss Sept. 10–26. This wickedly entertaining musical, directed by Eric Little with musical direction by Kad Day, takes an unconventional look at history. For reservations and showtimes, call 314-9952123 or e-mail echotheatre@aol.com. ACT, Inc. presents Diana of Dobson’s by Cicely Hamilton Sept. 24–26 and Oct. 1–3 at Fontbonne University. Directed by Steve Callahan, questions of money and real worth come into play. Fri./Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 adults, $12 students/seniors. To order tickets, contact either 314-725-9108 or MetroTix at 314-534-1111 or www.metrotix.com. www.act-inc-stlouis.org The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis season opens with The Crucible by Arthur Miller at the Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts at Webster University Sept. 8–Oct. 8. The show is directed by Steven Woolf. For tickets and showtimes, visit www.repstl.org or call 314-968-4925. New Line Theatre will open its 14th season with the dark and moving chamber musical Man of La Mancha by Dale Wasserman, Sept. 30 (preview)–Oct. 23. Scott Miller directs. Thur., Fri., & Sat. at 8 p.m. at the Art Loft Theatre (1529 Washington). Tickets available at www.metrotix.com or 314-534-1111. www.newlinetheatre.com West End Player’s Guild will present Diviners by Jim Leonard Sept. 24–26 and Oct. 1–3. Directed by Teresa Doggett, Diviners is the story of a young boy in the dusty 1930s who has a gift for divining water, but is afraid of it. Fri. & Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. Individual tickets $10, season tickets $35. Performances will be at Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 Union Ave. http://waxwing.westhost.com/westend/history The NonProphet Theatre Company continues its signature sketch-comedy show The Militant Propaganda Bingo Machine every Thurs. at 9 p.m. at the Hi-Pointe Café, 1001 McCausland. Tickets $5–8, 21+. www.nonprophets.com City Improv Comedy Club in Union Station offers live improvisational comedy throughout the week, including Phat Tuesdays, hosted by BET’s Darius Bradford, and Jimmy Tambourine’s Thursday Night Social. Fri. & Sat. are home to Comedy Feud, with shows at 7:30 and 10 p.m. Tickets $10/$8 for groups, with a two-drink minimum. www.cityimprov.com
Joan Lipkin is looking for an experienced stage manager to lend a hand for an upcoming production at the Center of Contemporary Arts. Candidates would need to help run a tech rehearsal on Thur., Oct. 14, and two performances on Sat., Oct. 16; this position may be paid. E-mail JLipkin@aol.com for more information. Looking Glass Playhouse will hold auditions for David Auburn’s Proof on Sept. 25 at the Looking Glass Playhouse, 301 W. St. Louis St. in Lebanon, Il. www.lookingglassplayhouse.com or 618-537-4962 for more info. Monroe Actors Stage Company will hold auditions for Wait Until Dark by Fredrick Knott at 7 p.m. Sept. 27–28 at the Capitol Theatre in Waterloo, Il. For audition and cast requirements, call 618-939-7469 or email questions@masctheatre.org.
THEATER NEWS First Run Theatre’s Third Annual Playwriting Competition runs Aug. 1–Dec. 31. St. Louis–area playwrights are invited to submit one-act and full-length plays that meet specific criteria; see www.firstruntheatre.com for details. Plays will be selected by a highly qualified three-person committee. A Play Selection Reading Festival will be conducted in early 2005, and productions will be scheduled for 2005. For more information, contact Don Weiss at 314-680-8102 or by e-mail at d_weiss@firstr untheatre.com. HotCity Theatre has announced that it will revive I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change! in the fall. Prior to the merger of HotHouse Theatre and City Theatre in June, City Theatre produced this fast-paced comic musical to sold-out crowds. Visit www.HotCitytheatre.org for updates and season announcements. Hydeware Theatre will present the chilling tale The Woman in Black, adapted by Steven Mallatratt from the book by Susan Hill, in Oct. This show will be presented at the Soulard Theatre, 1921 S. 9th St., Oct. 15–17, 21–24, and 28–31 at 8 p.m., with a preview Oct. 14. Tickets are $10, buy-one-get-one-free on Thurs. www.hydewaretheatre.com The Actors’ Equity Association Liaison Committee is sponsoring a Labor Day picnic from 12 to 3 p.m. on the west Muny rehearsal platform. Michelle Burdette Elmore has chaired the event; all Equity members and their families and significant others are invited. RSVP by e-mail at theatreme2003@yahoo.com.
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September 2004 Backstage Pass
Ambulance hit the stage with little fanfare and no intro, launching into a smooth and effective seven-song set comprised mostly of material from their full-length debut, LP. They were followed by the ascerbic Elefant, who worked up the already-excitable crowd by performing songs from Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid. Manishevitz lead singer Adam Busch throws himself into a performance and for that, I wanted to like them; in the end, though, he comes off a little too “Barenaked-Lady-in Waiting” for my taste. We left shortly before The Sights came on. We had honky-tonkin’ to do, and that meant going to the Hideaway, one of those odd little places hidden back behind the mall, dinky for all but drinking. We came in just as Archer Avenue was finishing up and Everything Now! took over the “stage.” EN! created a calamity as the lines between audience and band blurred. Suddenly, audience members were shaking tambourines and maracas. The rhythm become infectious as the lyrics to “Trailer Park” were shouted by almost everyone in the club. This unity seemed a fitting way to end the night. Saturday we found ourselves at the mall. Yes, that is where they held part of the MMS: the Glendale Mall. It actually worked out better than expected, as the mall was pretty empty, and there was something really cool about hearing all that noise bounce off the cavernous walls. It was also fun to watch the little, old mall-walkers stare at the bands with a refined glint of some indignation, while the bands tried their best to keep it clean. The Patio was once again the place to be on Saturday night…at least for the opening band: Miranda Sound from Columbus, Ohio.
from page 15
Wait, are you suffering déjà vu on this one? So were we. Last year’s MMS was where we first heard Miranda Sound. We were impressed with them then, when they nearly took down Birdy’s stage with their high-energy tactics. Each time we see them, they are even more amazing, and Saturday night was no exception. Miranda split their 30-minute set between new and known. The new material was immediately likable and the known sounded fresh. We headed to the Red Room for the singersongwriter showcase. We needn’t have rushed, since the venue had decided to preempt MMS by scheduling a private party. Finally, two-anda-half hours late, Richard Edwards (of Indy’s Archer Avenue) launched into his set. Even over the still-lingering birthday party crowd, Edwards showed an exceptional range with his music. With mostly good humor, each of the performers had to put up with whistles and oddball requests from the audience (“David, do you know ‘Ring of Fire’?”). Cameron McGill from Chicago offered what was quite possibly the evening’s most impressive performance. His songs of the lost and the lonely can come across as a bit slight on his CD; in person, he has the persona of troubadour, if a slightly seedy one, banging his foot along with the songs and making the audience feel his music in every way possible. McGill’s lyrics are thoughtful and dreamy, which befits a man who seems a bit lost in his own world. In an amazing display, he picked up his guitar and struck some chords, fed them in to a machine, and looped them. They played on as he strummed another part, looped it, and let it play on. He did this twice more and then, when he had created his “band,” he sat down at his piano and proceeded to play. The effect was beautiful and McGill made it look effortless. Another performer worth mentioning was Heidi Glück, one-third of Indy band The Pieces. She was charming (with a scarf handmade from the 30th birthday banner) and her material showed a depth and a sense of humor sometimes overshadowed when with her band. The MMS is growing, and deservedly so. It is becoming the showcase for Indianapolisbased bands who want to be seen and heard, as well as national acts looking for exposure in the Midwest. In the end, the mix works. We came away from Indianapolis with a few new bands we want to follow, and hopefully some of those bands went away with lessons in how to move to that next level. —Jim Dunn
TOP: CAMERON McGILL CAPTIVATES AT THE MIDWEST MUSIC SUMMIT. PHOTO: JIM DUNN
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YOU ARE HERE
WIKTOR SZOSTALO
Watching a Rerun of the Final Battle Between Good and Evil
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Checklist: born in Lithuania, move to communist Poland at six, lean toward nuclear physics and almost miss calling as artist, attend art school, become Solidarity leader in Cracow, spend five months in Soviet jail, be “invited” by authorities to leave your home country. What’s next on the list? If you’re Wiktor Szostalo, you move to St. Louis and continue to break rules and rebel against all types of constraints through your art. For years, Szostalo has received commissions from churches and religious organizations to create sculptures and icons for the church; he is well represented by African American parishes. Depicting Jesus, Mary, and the saints with African features has lionized Szostalo as a code breaker who shows the face of God as universal. His religious works have not been without dispute, as some parish members feel that his modern cultural inclusions detract from the reverence that these scenes require. While earning a certain amount of fame/ infamy through his commissioned pieces, the artist wrestles with the ideas of hypocrisy and cultural/religious idolatry. Mad Art Gallery hosted Szostalo’s exhibit Watching a Re-run…for two weeks in July. The show itself lured one in—it caught the observer unawares. Angel wings were riddled with bullet holes. A
RECORD OF WESTWARD TRAVEL Painting and Drawings by Hua Qimin weary ruler was advised by the monkey on his back. A pregnant woman tied to a stake looked down at her immolator. The formal aspects of the work were the lures: the medium of wood, the method of hollowing logs through the use of fire and chain saws. Destructive processes, engaged for the purpose of art. The painted, embellished figures, being largely hollowed, gave full play to considerations of space, light, negativity, adornment. Through the interest that the pieces sparked, the viewer stepped into the artist’s trap. Suddenly the entire systems of power— money, idolatry, religions—were being questioned. Like a sleight of hand, acceptance of the status appeared and disappeared. This trick was pulled by the “decorative victims”; they were abused or suicidal but still they “looked good.” Two Angels in a Dog Fight takes on the noble ideal of peaceful protest. As the artist said in an interview, “Non-violence has limited use.” Considering the slow response that nonaggressive movements receive, “You have to brace yourself for being in it for the longer time.” The artist acknowledges that most of his works refer to the premise that “humanity is only skin-deep.” He speaks of “veiled discourse” as being a problem of humanity— where duplicity is more the norm than honest discussion, and being desperate or a despot is all right as long as you look good doing it. Whether fighting against communism, capitalism, religiosity, or pop idolatry, Szostalo knows how to push the right buttons. —Rudy Zapf
Fontbonne University Gallery of Art 6800 Wydown Blvd. • 314-725-8515 September 10 – October 8 Reception: Friday, September 10, 7–9 p.m. The tradition of Chinese ink painting is one of the oldest art forms in human history, yet it continues to be reinvented by new generations who take up the brush. One of the main goals of this ancient tradition is to seek the inner implications of nature from the standpoint of a sincere attitude. Taken from a Buddhist perspective, painters are asked to comprehend the truth of the unseen through the objects before them. This approach precludes Photo Realism, or any other Realism that might trick the eye into believing in the artifice of an image. The painter’s job is to search for the reality that is inherent beneath the surface. Not an easy task, even under the best of circumstances. To bring such a deeply spiritual dialogue to painting—while living in a politically secularized country—signifies a depth of understanding of the genre to which most artists could only aspire. Yet this is what Beijing artist Hua Qimin offers in his exhibit of paintings and drawings at Fontbonne’s art gallery. The subject matter is based on Hua’s travels in Tibet, giving an anthropologist’s attention to the people who endure in that land of terrible beauty. True to the imperatives of his art, he focuses on the spirit rather than appearances. One of the most beautiful (and non-Western) qualities of this type of painting is the way form is expressed without subjecting it to contours; objects have a soft focus, but a strong presence. Layers of ink wash and empty areas are handled in a way that implies vast mountains or intimate settings. While the eye vainly searches for the outlines of things, the artist quietly offers the strength of what is really there. In his skilled hands, Hua portrays both the uniqueness of the Tibetans as well as the universal qualities required of those who live in a harsh land. Several of the paintings address the symbiotic bond between horse and rider, and the stoic relationship in the painting “Father and Son” bears the uncomfortable love sometimes found in 19th century cowboy paintings. This, along with Hua’s tendency to alter facial structure into more European or Native American features, creates a Pangea effect in his portrayal of humans; they are wondrously different and mysterious, and yet they seem so familiar. While Hua is a celebrated artist and educator in China, he is, surprisingly, relatively unknown in this country. During his time in St. Louis, he will share his unique perspective through painting sessions (St. Louis Art Museum) and slide presentations (Fontbonne University). For anyone interested in Chinese art, this exhibit should not be missed. —Rudy Zapf
September 2004
EVENTS AND CLASSES AT THE CRAFT ALLIANCE
CRAFT OF ISRAEL September 9 – October 24 Opening September 9, 5 – 8 p.m. FREE PRESENTATION
Jewelry Artist Israel Dahan Saturday, September 11, 6:30 p.m. Visit the Craft Alliance on the Web:
www.craftalliance.org
“Bracelet” by Lia Kirel. Silver, Banknote
WORKSHOPS Israel Dahon Sunday, September 12, 11 am – 4 pm Israel Dahan lives in Israel and lectures in the Department of Gold and Silversmith at the Bezale Academy of Art and Design and exhibits internationally. His works are in the collection of The Israeli Museum in Jerusalem. Registration required
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PLAYBACK ST. LOUIS
ON THE COVER AMBULANCE LTD.
T
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here have been a lot of labels tossed around to describe Ambulance Ltd.’s sound, many of them familiar: shoegazer, ’60s pop, garage rock, late Beatles, mid-career Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd. Leave it to me to pull in the odd reference: Lloyd Cole. English singersongwriter from the ’80s and ’90s, back then as new wave Brit-pop with the Commotions, later as a more introspective solo artist (and he’s still recording today, though his songs, for obvious reasons, have mellowed). It wasn’t until I saw Ambulance live at South by Southwest in March that it struck me. With his longish Beatlesesque hairstyle, full cheeks, and ready pout, Ambulance singer/songwriter/guitarist Marcus Congleton very much resembles a young Cole. Going back to the disc, the impressive full-length debut LPP (TVT Congleton’s easy, sometime sweet voice has elements o Cole’s as well. The comparison is lost on the band, though. “Who?” Congleton asks blankly when I mention the name. I hate to say I’d expected as much, but it’s true. They’re young—I don’t have dates and ages, but I’d be willing to bet all of th band members are still in their early 20s—and come off as extremely hip. What need would they have for Lloyd Cole in their musical vocabulary? We’re sitting in the Ambulance RV outside
the Patio in Indianapolis, where the band has just finished its too-brief 30-minute set as part of the Midwest Music Summit. We’ve cajoled drummer Darren Beckett into joining us (“I don’t want to talk to her,” he’d initially whined when invited by Congleton; I’d overheard, though, and he amended his statement: “Why wouldn’t I want to talk to you? I’m a man, I’ve got urges.” Whatever.). The group recently graduated from a van to a small RV, so the two of them give us “the tour”: “This is our living room, there is our kitchen, where we prepare our meals. This is also our sleeping area, and that”—pointing to the bunk above the driver’s seat—“is the bridal suite. The bathroom’s off limits.” Band nastiness in tow, apparently. As we begin the interview, Congleton is holding Bert from Sesame Street doll and a bottle of Red tripe. I must glance oo obviously at the doll cause he looks down, es the doll, and discards No chance to snap pics, then. Darn. Ambulance was signed to T in the music industry’s to find the next Strokes: qualified based on the t of being a hipsterlooking band from New York City. (Ironically, only bassist Matthew Dublin is a New York native; Beckett is a transplant from Ireland, Congleton from Oregon, and guitarist Benji Lysaght from California.) They had played
AMBULANCE LTD. (l to r): MARCUS CONGLETON, BENJI LYSAGHT, DARREN BECKETT, an
what they described as an unusually bad set in NYC and were thinking of calling it quits (not an unusual occurrence; “We got really disheartened because we didn’t have any money,” Beckett says) when they were approached by TVT. First up was a self-titled EP, released in June of last year, followed by LP in March. Since then, they’ve toured with the likes of Placebo, The Killers, Stellastarr*, Elefant, and others (hipster bands, all of them). LP is one of those slow, creeping discs that gradually insinuates itself into your musical soul until, ultimately, it claims you for itself. At first listen, it’s a little mellow, a little slow. Congleton’s voice isn’t especially strong or unique, the guitar riffs, bass jams, and drumbeats don’t instantly grab you…at least, that’s how it seems. Once the band owns you, you’ll recognize that sweet voice and those mellow yet involved chords anywhere. Songs like “Primitive (The Way I Treat You)” and “Heavy Lifting” will quickly become staples on your iPod; soon, you’ll be wondering why they’re not on every radio station and television ad. As we begin the interview, I first ask about the band’s name. In a strange set of circum-
September 2004
stances, the name “Ambulance” belonged to an existing group that Congleton and Dublin joined; once the original members left, Beckett and Lysaght came on board—and the name lived on. “We had demo tapes with the name ‘Ambulance’ on them when record labels first got interested in us,” explains Congleton. “At that point, one of the original guys was gone. We gave out a few demo tapes, [the last original member] left, and then we got offers from these companies that knew us as Ambulance.
EN BECKETT, and MATT DUBLIN. PHOTOS: JIM DUNN
We didn’t make an effort to keep the name; it just kind of happened.” (The “Ltd.” is for legal reasons, to differentiate them from other similarly monikered bands. “We wanted something you couldn’t say,” says Beckett. Congleton adds, “I think he suggested Esq., for Esquire. We were trying to think of abbreviations, things that people would not pronounce. Ltd., U.S…” “People say Ambulance Limited, like Public Image Limited,” expounds Beckett, then shrugs. “It doesn’t really bother me anymore. Hopefully pretty soon it’s just going to be Ambulance.”) The band members consider themselves to be a team of musicians rather than friends; as Lysaght’s said, “We’re not afraid to kick someone out if they aren’t pulling their weight, because we didn’t go to grade school together or anything.” This band-before-friendship mentality was evident by the abrupt addition of bassist Matt Dublin before Ambulance recorded LP. “We fired our other bass player a week before we went to London to record our record,” Beckett says. In typical point-counterpoint fashion, Congleton explains, “We were just drinking in a bar one night and we called
him and we said, ‘Matt’s joined the band.’ [Matt’s] an amazing bass player, a great musician.” Adds Beckett, “I was just scared to do it, so he did the dirty work.” Today, the band numbers four or five, depending on whom you ask. Keyboardist Eric Roddick, a consistent part of the touring lineup since March, isn’t included in the lineup or the publicity photos. “We kind of treat him like he is [an official member],” protests Congleton as Beckett belches. “It’s just his legal status that’s different.” Beckett chimes in, “He’s also a producer. He might actually do some stuff [on the next album].” As has become custom in this conversation, Congleton again offers the explanation to his mate’s statement: “He’s setting up a studio in Brooklyn, and we’re talking about moving in there and doing some rehearsing and recording. So he’ll probably be involved in whatever we do next; I’m not sure if he’ll play on the next album or not. Maybe. He’s been definitely a staple of the band for the past few months.” “And now we love him,” Beckett finishes. Ironically, though, it’s impossible not to notice that, onstage, Roddick is so obviously not a part of the band. Tonight, the four “legal” members all wore faded, retro T-shirts with jackets, their hair longish and tousled; relegated to the side of the stage with his close-cropped hair, button-down shirt, and Converse hightops, Roddick is very much an afterthought. Though you wouldn’t know it in St. Louis, Ambulance does get its fair share of radio play. “We get added to a lot of radio,” says Congleton. “We’re surprised [the album’s] done as well as it did. I mean, shit: doing pop music. It’s such a gamble.” As this is an issue about independent artists and labels, I want to ask about the band’s decision to sign with TVT—the largest indie label, to be sure, but still not one of the major players. I want to know if Ambulance sought out an indie in an effort to maintain creative freedom or to rally against The Man. In his laid-back, reserved manner, Congleton quickly shoots down that line of thought, saying, “Nah, we didn’t really give a shit. It wasn’t anything that we pursued or thought about in any way; it was just the best option for what we had, which was nothing. It was a really, really tiny advance,
but we wanted the money so we just did it.” After a little more prodding—surely there are benefits to being on an indie label?—he admits, “[TVT’s] been good to us, for the most part. They’ve really spent a lot of time with us. [On a] major, we’d be a lot richer and happier, but we’d probably only last for three months.” Ultimately, though, it’s about the music, and this is something Ambulance takes very, very seriously. Congleton initially writes all of the songs, then takes them to the rest of the band for their input. Though he previously considered himself more writer than musician, he’s changed his opinion of himself. “Now we have to do so many shows; I’ve got to take voice lessons, and warm up my voice and stuff. Maybe that will help in the writing; maybe we’ll evolve in that way, think about it in terms of doing shows and playing live in front of people, and that’ll influence how we make albums.” As a slave to LP, I, of course, look forward to what future releases from this promising young band will bring. For now, though, there are the live shows to think about—specifically, the band’s upcoming tour with The Killers. Hopefully, The Killers’ rapid rise to success will rub off on these four; at a minimum, Ambulance will be playing in front of larger audiences that they’re typically used to. Though the two bands’ music styles are different—and, let’s face it, though they’ve influences from all over the board, Ambulance’s style is, really, their own—let’s hope the audience appreciates the talent put forth by its opening act. After that, the world is theirs for the taking. All they need now is distribution on the other side of the ocean. We leave the boys arguing over a possible European fall tour with The Thrills (MC: “We can’t go.” DB: “I think we still might go.” MC: “Really?” DB: “That’s what Veronica said.” MC: “I hope so.” DB: “But there’s no fucking point, because we don’t have a record out.”) and walk down the Indianapolis sidewalk, “Primitive” playing a pleasant loop on our inner soundtrack. Ambulance Ltd. opens for The Killers September 13 at Mississippi Nights. It’s an early, all-ages show—doors 6:00, show 7:00—so get there early and expect a crowd.
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NOW PLAYING CINEMA
HOWARD ZINN: YOU CAN’T BE NEUTRAL ON A MOVING TRAIN (First Run Features, Unrated)
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Author/historian Howard Zinn is widely recognized for 1980’s compelling A People’s History of the United States, but his life has involved much more than writing a few popular books. Zinn’s actions have placed him at the forefront of the labor, civil rights, and anti-war movements, and he has never strayed from providing alternative ideas to those of the mass media. The 81-year-old teacher continues his social activism today and remains positive about the possibilities of our nation. Howard Zinn: You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train takes the name of Zinn’s 1995 autobiography and provides an intriguing visual summary of his life. Directors Deb Willis and Dennis Mueller craft a praising but effective documentary that includes enough historical context to interest viewers who may not subscribe to leftist politics. Narrated by Matt Damon, this film explores Zinn’s working-class background and the event that made him realize the authorities were not “neutral.” Observing a Communist rally in Times Square, he watched the police beat the protestors and was even knocked unconscious himself. Zinn gained considerable prominence as a teacher at Spellman College in Atlanta, which placed him at the forefront of the civil-rights movement. The much-lauded teacher was fired for his unconventional views, but his regard for the need for civil disobedience continued throughout his life. Damon reads some of the author’s most electric passages during this picture, but the popular actor largely stays in the background. Willis and Mueller may not utilize a stunning visual style, but they do allow Zinn to speak freely and tell his own story, which enhances the movie’s personal elements. Critics would paint Zinn as unpatriotic, but that label does not describe him in any way. As a young man, he volunteered for the army in World War II and flew bomber missions during the conflict. These moments also shaped
his opinion on war, as Zinn participated in a harrowing napalm drop over a French village that killed many civilians. This anti-war stance was pivotal during Vietnam, where he was one of the major speakers against the incursion, and continues during the current battles in Afghanistan and Iraq. Unlike some of his more cynical contemporaries, Zinn has participated in the “American Dream” and does speak positively about his hopes for the future. You Can’t Be Neutral follows Zinn across the country for book signings, rally speeches, and visits to local schools. His history books are being taught at many schools in place of the typical generic textbooks, and his enjoyment of teaching remains strong. With his unkempt white hair and crooked teeth, Zinn does not typify the appearance expected of a radical thinker. Walking arm in arm with his wife of many years, he comes across as a hopeful man who continually strives to enhance the public consciousness. This film encapsulates Zinn’s ideas into a tight product and should provide an informative experience for viewers interested in the present-day political turmoil. —Dan Heaton ZHOU YU’S TRAIN (Sony Pictures Classics, PG-13) If you’re looking to get away, hop aboard Zhou Yu’s Train and immerse yourself in the stunning Chinese countryside with the freespirited Zhou Yu, portrayed by Chinese film star Gong Li. Zhou, an optimistic artist, is obsessed with beauty, both through words and the ceramic bowls she skillfully decorates, and she rides the rails searching for romance. Twice a week, she travels from her industrial hometown of Sanming to visit her boyfriend Chen Ching (Tony Leung Ka Fai, star of 2001’s The Treatment, a Chinese production shot in St. Louis). Chen originally wooed his lover with poetry, but their relationship starts to fizzle
when his work does not achieve the notoriety that Zhou craves for hiim. She not only arranges a failed public reading, but also plans to publish Chen’s book with her own resources. Unable to deal with the escalating demands of their relationship, Chen eventually sneaks off to a teaching job in Tibet, leaving behind a lovesick Zhou, who doggedly continues her regular trips to his now-vacant library apartment. Meanwhile, the charming Zhang Jiang (Honglei Sun), a confident, upbeat veterinarian whom Zhou meets on the train, is determined to win her heart, convinced that he has more to offer than the seemingly nonexistent poet. The story is told in a series of flashbacks. It focuses simultaneously on Zhou’s very different relationships with both men, and the backdrop behind it all is poetry. The three actors perform brilliantly from start to finish, hindered only by an unnecessarily confusing storyline. Most of this confusion is caused by a character named Xiu, a woman also played by Li, with an updated hairdo and wardrobe. Since Xiu rides the rails to visit Chen—just like Zhou—and has an uncanny amount of information about the film’s mysterious love triangle, one assumes that the story is taking place in the memories of an older and wiser Zhou. Xiu even carries a collection of poems entitled Zhou Yu’s Train, the very book Zhou wanted to publish with her own money. There is also the possibility that Xiu is imagining herself as Zhou Yu—the poet’s beloved inspiration—but if so, experienced director Sun Zhou should have made this clear. While challenging plots are always welcomed, intentionally misleading casting is not. Despite all this, the movie does entertain. It delicately questions the authenticity of even the most passionate relationships. In one memorable moment, when Zhou is unable to locate Xan Hu Lake, which Chen has used as a metaphor for Zhou’s beauty, she is reminded
September 2004 that, “If it’s in your heart, it’s real. If it’s not, porate intrigue and male sexual fantasy. Jack then it never will be.” The question is: Can the Armstrong (Anthony Mackie) exposes the cordown-to-earth Zhang ever compete with Zhou’s porate wrongdoings of his bosses. The scandal recalls Enron and the filmmaking romantic recollections of Chen? evokes The Insider. After Jack loses Thanks to the work of cinematoghis job, he is approached by his former rapher Wang Yu, the big screen also fiancée Fatima (Kerry Washington) emphasizes the outstanding visuals, with a proposition that makes Robert and it is fascinating to eavesdrop on small-town Chinese life. Even better, Win Tickets to the Redford’s Indecent Proposal seem Webster Film Series conventional. Fatima, a lesbian, wants there’s nothing like an old-fashioned showing of The Beaver Trilogy. Jack to not only father her child, but love triangle—vividly portrayed by Go to the to also simultaneously impregnate her three talented actors—to keep the Events Page on www.playbackstl.com lover (Dania Ramirez). She is willing train wheels spinning. to pay for the service and eventually —Emily Spreng Lowery pimps Jack to her lesbian friends. Neither plotline is handled with any subtlety SHE HATE ME (Sony Pictures Classics, R) Spike Lee is often controversial, usually or skill. Jack is supposed to be a rising star, but entertaining, and always challenging. He chal- his decisions surrounding his act of conscience lenges himself as an artist. He challenges the are ridiculous. Jack exposes the company withconventions of the medium. And he challenges out compiling evidence or insulating himself in society. It is because of this desire to challenge any way. He procrastinates in hiring an attorney that Lee’s filmography has included some of the and allows his adversaries every chance to turn best films of the past 20 years. It has also what the tables on him. A man so inept at corporate has caused Lee to falter occasionally. Previous games would have never climbed high enough low points have been School Daze and Summer to be a whistleblower. Even more outrageous is Jack’s work as a of Sam, but even these missteps had some redeeming qualities. Lee’s latest offering, She lesbian stud horse. Only one of the lesbians has any reservations about actually having Hate Me, is devoid of redeeming qualities. She Hate Me is a bizarre mismatch of cor- sex with Jack, and all of them are brought to
rollicking orgasm. In Lee’s world, all lesbians are irresistibly gorgeous and just looking for an excuse to bed a man. Absurdly, Fatima brings her clients in groups. Lee ignores the realities of ovulation cycles and sperm count and has Jack downing Red Bull and Viagra to satisfy women all night. Both stories are resolved ridiculously, while Lee muddies the already goofy plot with multiple tangents: pointless animations of Jack’s sperm doing their work, stories about the security guard that foiled the Watergate break-in, and jealousies between Fatima and her lover. The tangents are an excuse for Lee to preach in an attempt to crowbar social relevance into a vapid sexual romp. The ultimate example of this is the title. Jack and a buddy have a lengthy conversation about where the phrase comes from (it’s an XFL reference), and then it is never mentioned again. There are countless other plot holes and outlandish conceits. The inane script leaves the actors with little to do and the acting is acrossthe-board mediocre, except for Jim Brown, who as an actor is a great running back. This film is a horrible, preposterous, boring mess from one of this generation’s most gifted filmmakers. —Bobby Kirk
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OUR FILMY SUBSTANCE BY ADAM HACKBARTH
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So, did you do your homework? I gave you two full months to dance about, shake hands with strangers, and poke around the St. Louis film community. I did not want to waste 12 issues bringing you up to speed, so I asked for you to take a little crash course on the local film and video scene. I hope this gnarly moment of exploration tickled you just as much as it tickled us. If not, go to Del Taco, buy a Macho Burrito, spend seven hours feasting on that beast while watching the Earth rotate, talk for three hours on your cell phone, then go home and throw a load of whites into your washer—all the while, of course, feasting upon that glorious, Coppola*-sized treat of refried goodness. These last few months have been pretty incredible for Technisonic Studios. Not only was The World’s Greatest Fair a tremendous success, but they also were recognized by The Hollywood Reporter’s sister publication Shoot Magazine for “Jump,” a simple but effective ad for the Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club. This “Best Work You May Never See” fundraising ad was codirected by Jim Fortune and Bob Harris of St. Louis agency Waylon Ad. For more info on “Jump” or The World’s Greatest Fair, visit www.stlfilmwire.com. Most Shoot readers may never see the ad, but it can certainly be seen scattered all over our local television broadcasts. Every once in a while, I will rattle off some names of people around town to whom I feel you need to pay close attention. This month, I direct your attention to Peter Carlos and Doveed Linder. Carlos, the cool mastermind behind the locally televised “Dad’s Day” and holder of a couple of paperweights—err, Emmys—was recently seen diligently working on the short film “Atta Boy.” Obviously, this is a man who continues to crank out quality work. You may remember Linder from his Lion’s Gate release Defiance, or perhaps you’ve heard of his little jaunt to Cannes. Well, in August, Linder found himself producing the short “Tiger Jake” for director Rob Clark and DP Michael Lowhorn. I missed Linder’s communication and therefore was unable to join them on location, but I have learned that Clark is not only directing
this short, he’s also starring in a bad person to hook up with, eh? it. Considering that he has long Cinema St. Louis’s Andrea Sporcic been one of my favorite local is sharing producer duties with personalities, I expect pure gold Hazel as they prepare to present from his self-directed effort. a pitch trailer at the IFP Market in Joining him in “Tiger Jake” is local September. actor/comedian Craig Hawksley Production of Thomas Smugala’s (The Game of Their Lives). Do long-awaited feature Apocalypse not consider it a coincidence that and the Beauty Queen draws near. Linder always seems to attract We will learn more as we creep such a talented crowd. closer to the fourth quarter of 2004. “Harrah’s Lucky Break” has I’d like to welcome been shooting episodes before a www.stlauditions.com into the standing-room-only crowd each local mix. Unlike other local Web Wednesday night at Harrah’s Voodoo Lounge. sites, theirs is geared solely toward actors and Congratulations to the show’s producers for their agents. They list casting calls for film, telebeing wise enough to bring 97.1 FM’s Dave vision, and theater; every base is covered. Glover into the mix. It’s good Jeremy Corray is to St. Louis what Abe to know that somebody gets Froman is to Chicago. it. Check www.kmov.com for Yet another writing surprise: stlfilmwire.com details. subscriber Brian Hohlfeld of Kirkwood recently Lighthouse Productions learned that his script for Piglet’s Big Movie was recently decided to pay St. nominated for a prestigious PEN Center USA Louis’s Union Station a visit Literary Award. The award, however, went to for their documentary Fourteen Brian Helgeland for Mystic River. Other films Days in America (www.14day nominated were Seabiscuit, Holes, and House of sinamerica.com). I bet you a Sand and Fog. Yes, Hohlfeld had some awesome shiny quarter that at least 12 minutes of their competition, which gives you an idea just how footage featured some young fellow hollering special his writing is. about fudge. Jenna Fischer is bringing her shock- JENNA FISCHER ing mockumentary “Lollilove” to the St. Louis International Film Festival. Stay tuned! This short film features Judy Greer (The Village), Linda Cardellini (Freaks and Geeks), and Fischer’s main squeeze, James Gunn. Congratulations to Vernon Whitlock III. His screenplay Sugar on the Floor received Special Jury Prize at the 8th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival in New York. I would really love to read that one. Hear me, Vernon? Speaking of screenplays, Robert Hazel has discontinued his screenwriters’ group at Adam Hackbarth is the writer of the upcomMeshuggah’s in the Delmar Loop due to lack of interest. Hazel’s screenplay Missing Nick ing Creative Light Entertainment/Razor Digital (previously Original Cyn) has been chosen Entertainment feature The Possessed. He also as a part of the Emerging Narrative section of co-wrote the sensational, yet embarrassingly the 26th Independent Feature Project Market moronic low budget feature Inbred Redneck Film Conference in NYC. It was one of 200 Alien Abduction—and had a blast doing it. projects selected from 1,600 submissions. Not You can e-mail him at stlfilmwire@yahoo.com.
*My original choice was Brando, but I decided to respect the recently deceased acting legend.
September 2004
Big Muddy Blues festival The one-year anniversary of “From the Corner” falls conveniently on the weekend of the 2004 Big Muddy Blues Festival, the biggest blues event of the year in St. Louis. There’s something magical about seeing musicians who perform regularly in our fair city playing next to some of the top national acts. At Big Muddy, you can see a monster musician wailing on one stage, then walk a few blocks and hear another, and another…all for free. There’s no good way to express the power wrought by so much blues in a single space over one weekend. Watch for everything from electric to acoustic to Chicago to New Orleans, some R&B, some old folks, some new folks, and some folks that are going to absolutely blow your mind. Don’t misunderstand. The festival isn’t just any show with any band that plays on any corner in St. Louis on any given day. There are, of course, the regulars: Soulard Blues Band, Rich McDonough, Cryin’ Shame, Keith Doder, and the like. There also are some folks you can’t see all the time: Piano Slim, David Dee, Willie Johnson, J.R. Reed. And there are a few folks that you just hands-down should not miss, no matter how much you want a beer: Bennie
Smith and the Urban Blues Express, Kim Massie and the Solid Senders, and The Ground Floor Band featuring Charles Hunt, to name just a few. The truth is that they are all good, most of them great. A quick note about some of the national acts stopping by to take the main stages this year: Clarence Gatemouth Brown is a true American treasure. He blends a mixture of blues, R&B, country, jazz, and Cajun into anything he wants: guitar, violin, harmonica, mandolin, viola, and even drums (which he played during WWII—who knew?). In his late 70s, Brown still takes his unique sound all over the world. There’s usually a surprise jam when he shows up; you never know who will be sharing the stage this year. The Holmes Brothers (bassist Sherman Holmes, guitarist/keyboardist Wendell Holmes, and drummer Popsy Dixon) are not to be missed. The last time they performed in St. Louis at B.B.’s left our jaws dropping and hearts jumping. They’ve recorded with Van Morrison, Peter Gabriel, Odetta, Phoebe Snow, Jungle Brothers, and Joan Osborne, none of which reflect their style of blues and gospel. While their rhythm and hard-driving guitar playing will force your head to nod and hips to swing, it’s the mul-
FROM THE CORNER
BY JEREMY SEGEL-MOSS tilayered sound from their amazing, three-part harmony that will bring down any house. Alvin Youngblood Hart has been playing acoustic blues for the last 20 years, but it wasn’t until 1997 that he won the W.C Handy Award for Best New Artist and, later, two Living Blues Awards. He’ll be the first to admit that the customary definition of traditional delta blues doesn’t fit his style, but then he’ll also tell you that what people think is traditional is a load of crap. Just don’t miss a master of acoustic blues on both the 6- and 12-string guitar. It’s been a busy summer here in St. Louis, lots of candy for our ears. Labor Day weekend signals the beginning of the end of the summer, our last chance to get out and enjoy some of the world’s best blues music. It’s also our chance to show the world (or at least the folks who drive in from towns around the area) that St. Louis deserves a place on the map with the other blues cities. And like I said last year, it’s freakin’ free! The Big Muddy Blues Festival runs Sept. 4–5 at Laclede’s Landing, Sat 3–11/Sun. 2–11 p.m.
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from page 11
as Air’s kid brother who relishes The Beatles more than Kraftwerk. Not that Alphabetical is without the use of voltage; it’s all about the subtle combination of sounding organic and technological at the same time. The songs are solid in form and function and complimented adequately by all musicians involved. Although Phoenix leaves out a significant amount of pliable information in their work, it’s still captivating to the approachable and auditory senses. Their aloofness seems intentional, which makes “Victim of the Crime” a song better deciphered with each listen: “Lost illusions/ Try the best that you can do/You might get another chance/Burn my leather coat/I need to change my suit/You don’t listen to a single word I say.” If a song is worth questioning, it’s worth listening to. Perhaps, this makes me a devotee of mild surrealism in music—especially when it prowls. “Everything Is Everything” could be a love song or it could be a hate song—it’s tricky to draw the line between one and the other. In conjunction with the rest of Alphabetical, it’s another brainteaser just complex enough to warrant the time required to solve it—it’s not too complex for enthusiasm. “The more I talk about it/The less I do control/Everything means everything/Can’t understand a word/Half of the stuff I’m saying.” The lucid songwriting display can get under your flesh and cause it to sway back and forth.
SMOOSH
Among the awkward concoctions on Alphabetical, each track promises reassurance and comfort when the delightfully quirky lyrics are paired up with the sincerity of the band’s instrumentation. “Holdin’ on Together” is unmistakably the best track on this record because the harmonies are solid, the rhythm is infectious—and the lyrics? “Ghetto uniform, collect calls/That I can explain/All the things I’ve ruined, abandoned/They come back to me.” I’m okay with not knowing the full story, sometimes for fear or disappointment of it being something very ordinary beneath the surface. Either way, it fits my imagination like a glove. Phoenix’s journey of the mind is dependent on minimalism in places and in the spirit of this simplicity, they’ve sequenced Alphabetical in a thematic Lynchian way in some parts, while in others it acts as a temperamental sequel to World Party’s Ship of Fools. The best way to sum up this record might be with a series of inkblots in a comfy chaise lounge. I say this with utmost respect because if it were any less, it wouldn’t be worth the countless cycles spent in my stereo. —Cory Hoehn SMOOSH: SHE LIKE ELECTRIC (Pattern 25 Records) What can I say about this album that isn’t good? As straightforwardly as I can lay it down, this album blew me away. It bulldozed every prejudice I carried into my first listen, each of which centered on my certainty that kids can’t create decent music. When I first picked it up, I cringed to note that the band was composed of a 10- and 12-year-old sister duo. At 10, I was pouring Coke on bees I had collected in a jar to see if I could outrun the angry swarm once I unscrewed the lid. This is not the kind of maturity level I expect out of
good music. With creeping thoughts of Hanson in mind, I forced the album into my CD player anyway...and was completely floored. Smoosh is amazing, and not even in a “they’re good, for little girls” kind of way. Sure, at times it may be difficult to relate to preteens singing about playing soccer and being happy, but who cares? We were all children once. Somewhere, maybe buried deep beneath that grizzled, world-weary exterior, is a memory in everyone of what it was like to have no cares except what kind of sandwich you’ll find in your sack lunch. One reason among many to enjoy Smoosh is that there are no pretenses. A breath of fresh air from affected, malaise-driven bands, Smoosh just wants to have fun. In the liner notes of the album as well as on their Web site, sisters Asya and Chloe offer these words of thanks: “We wouldn’t be a band if it wasn’t for Jason.” This is Jason McGerr, current Death Cab for Cutie drummer and instructor at the Seattle Drum School. McGerr was working as a salesman at the Trading Musician, a music store in Seattle, when the girls and their parents came in to find a violin for the father. They left with a drum set instead, after McGerr said he would teach 10-year-old Chloe to play. Now a student at the Seattle Drum School, Chloe rocks out on drums while her older sister plays keyboard and sings. The girls have already opened for Death Cab, Dub Narcotic Sound System, and Sleater-Kinney, and Cat Power has even covered one of their songs during her own set. With such hip connections you’d think Smoosh would be star-struck and dazed, but instead these girls are completely unaffected, creating music inside their own little world. And the music is astounding, so melodically complex that it will provide your ears and mind with endless stimulation; it’s impossible to grow bored listening to this album. The tremendous amount of contrast and texture, lent by a variety of rhythms and sounds, as well as Asya’s lovely vocal range, is quite amazing considering there are only two instruments
September 2004 present. Each song is distinct from the next, too. Chloe and Asya cover all of their bases, from goofy to subdued, and even throw in their own rap—before you judge, see first if you too don’t find yourself singing along. Ultimately, all descriptive words will fall short of the serene, just-plain-happy feeling you’ll get when you listen to this band. If you appreciate startling talent, drop any preconceived notions and check them out. I guarantee you won’t be sorry. —Anne Valente MIKE WATT: THE SECONDMAN’S MIDDLE STAND (Columbia/Red Ink 2004) In the music industry, there are those few, elite musicians who inhabit such a rarified atmosphere that they can pretty much do whatever in hell they want. Resting comfortably atop a well-established body of work, it seems they are handed a musical pass to record anything they can think of, or, in some cases, just stop recording altogether, yet still somehow retain legendary status in the musical world. They are “artists,” no longer bound by the constrictive rules of good taste, public opinion, or even coherency of expression. You know the type. Mike Watt deserves one of those passes. Starting out as bassist for the Minutemen, Watt was at the forefront of the indie-rock scene, touring in the early ’80s with then-unknowns Black Flag and the rest of the SST roster until 1985, when Minutemen co-founder/guitarist D. Boon died in a car accident. Afterward, Watt fell into a deep depression, halting all performances for a few months until a young guitarist and huge fan of the Minutemen, Ed Crawford, found Watt’s home number and persuaded him to start a new project, the power trio fIREHOSE. In 1995, Watt began his solo career, recording his first album, ball-hog or tugboat?, with no less than 48 different participants, including members of Pearl Jam, the Beastie Boys, Soul Asylum, Screaming Trees, and the Lemonheads. It also included Watt playing with a then-littleknown group called the Foo Fighters, turning in their first public appearance as Watt’s sidemen. Watt rounded all this out with musical turns in Iggy Pop and the Stooges, DOS, and Porno for Pyros.
The Secondman’s Middle Stand, Watt’s third solo album, is a concept album thematically concerned with the mystery illness that nearly killed him in 2000. Watt became ill with a fever lasting 38 days, culminating in a giant abscess growing, and subsequently bursting, in his perineum (that’s your taint, in case you didn’t know). During his long recuperation, Watt found himself unable to play, dependent on others for his most basic needs, and trapped in a world concentrated around his bodily processes and various medical treatments. To combat boredom, Watt did a lot of reading. Fittingly, Watt composed much of The Secondman’s Middle Stand as his own version of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, with nine songs divided into three ostensible stages: the Inferno (“Boilin’ Blazes,” “Puked to High Heaven,” “Burstedman”), Purgatory (“Tied a Reed ’Round My Waist,” “Pissbags and Tubing,” “Beltsandedman”), and finally Paradise (“The Angels Gate,” “Pluckin’, Pedalin’, and Paddlin’,” “Pelicanman”). The title of the album itself is a punned reference to his stint in the Minutemen, and references are made within the album to the Aenid, the journey of Huck Finn, and the Orpheo. Watt didn’t take a pass on this one. Completely indefinable as anything other than “rock,” there are as many catchy moments here as there are challenging ones. Throughout, the sparse instrumentation of drums, bass, and organ draws the attention exactly where it needs to be: Watt’s unbelievably literate, hilarious-byturns-to-poetic lyrics, and, of course, his bass playing. Standout tracks include “Pissbags and Tubing” with its horribly infectious title line, delivered in as poppy a style as any boy band, and “Puked to High Heaven,” with a clever organ pedal sliding home the “Heaven” in true church fashion. Throughout, Watt displays his virtuosity on the electric bass in the fashion of a true master: simple, understated fills that subtly hint at the awesome ability lurking beneath them. Breaking pop and punk music down to its elemental forms and reassembling them at will, Watt builds a challenging narrative of his journey through incapacity that never fails to compel, and never falls into any established musical category for long. Mike Watt may hold the artist’s pass card, but he surely hasn’t stopped making art. Mike Watt appears at Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room September 29. —Chris Clark
PBSTL PROFILE JUDE LAW
JUDE LAW, SKY CAPTAIN By Rob Levy
One of the most anticipated films of the fall film season is Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. First-time director Kerry Conran’s film is like none other released in recent years. It combines elements of film noir, traditional sci-fi, and art deco and blends them with lots of action, contemporary sci-fi gadgets, and computerized digital effects. But perhaps the most interesting aspect of the film is its cast, a veritable who’s who of young Hollywood, including Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi, and an amazing, technologically advanced cameo from a long-dead master thespian. Law plays Joe Sullivan, a Sky Captain who becomes involved in the investigation of disappearing scientists from around the world. He is joined by his ex-love, reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow). It is not an easy assignment; they have to ward off dastardly flying robots, unleashed upon New York by the brilliant yet evil Dr. Totenkopf. The film is a spectacle to behold. The cinematography is astounding. Not since Brazil or Blade Runner has a film been this incredible to just look at. Conran has created a precise and intricate backdrop to spin his yarn of technology, daring do, grave peril, love, and hope. Most of his sets and backgrounds are digitally created, appearing onscreen as striking and awesome visual images. For example, New York City is vividly recreated to painstaking detail that recalls those thrilling days of yesteryear when spaceships, robots, cheezy pulp, and B-movies were fresh and new in the psyche of popular culture. Playback St. Louis was fortunate enough to interview Jude Law at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con press conference and press junket. The affable Law shed light on his involvement with the film, of which he is extremely excited to be a part. What attracted you to the role? This was very much a type of role [that] I really wanted to play at some point in my career. It was like fitting into a skin that was very familiar, to have a huge backstory that existed before in other forms in other characters, whether it’s Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon.
How did you become involved in Sky Captain? I got involved really early on. About two years ago, [Producer] John [Avnit] wanted to show me this teaser trailer, and I was just blown away. I loved its references. It was very clear he was a filmmaker who had a sense of style and rhythm. His composition was beautiful; it used pretty advanced ’90s technology to create a very retrospective look. I loved that kind of duality about it. Rather than creating a super real world or a world of the future, he was going back with advanced technology. I loved the clear references in that trailer, whether it was Fritz Lang, Citizen Kane, or The Third Man. Then [Conran] let me read the script, and it was clear that this guy was also an incredibly good writer. At its center was a really great cinematic relationship that you could put into any genre and it would work. I would call it African Queen meets Buck Rogers; it’s that kind of relationship. You know, if you can create two good characters, a history of the world around them, and a dynamic between them, you can put them anywhere and people will want to watch. There was a humor in all the obvious references to world domination, gadgets, and gizmos, and I was eager to get on board. You seem to have worked well with Conran. Kerry was so clear from the get-go in his own humble, incredibly shy sort of way, so strong with what could be created, and he was eager to draw us into that. We knew exactly what this was going to become. It was only really when I saw it that I realized a leap of faith we’d all made. There was nothing there! [Laughs] I mean, how did we know? What was clear was this guy’s world. It was a matter of going along with that. You went from working with Spielberg to a first-time director. That is quite a leap of faith. Yeah, but again it’s interesting. I really enjoyed the opportunity of changing the kind of challenge. The film I had before this was Cold Mountain, so the idea of going from extreme locations—real locations, real temperatures—to a world in which we have to create everything, imagine everything, was an ideal way of reinventing the process of what
it means to create a character, what it is to complete a role within a whole piece. I always think experience obviously counts for a lot and success counts for a lot. But at the same time, if you meet someone who is clear and collaborative and brave and talented, then you want to work with them just as much as someone who is a tried and tested genius. How did the producer credit come about? John [Avnit] needed help rallying a team because there was no agreement with Paramount to enable this vision to be realized. I’d been developing stuff on my own for a couple years. It was also something I was very keen to do because I felt it was a world I loved very much, a world I recognized and felt I could put a lot into and assist with. Whether it was putting in favors with cast members and friends like Gwyneth and making sure they saw the trailer and read the script, or whether it was being able to sit with someone like Kerry and throw in ideas. It was basically my enthusiasm; I wanted to help out as much as I could. In the end, the part I played best as a producer was on set, enabling Kerry to do what he needed to keep the floor running. One hard thing with inexperience is recognizing a lot of its energy. If you have worked on a film, you recognize that it is keeping spirits up and everyone knows what is going on and who is doing what. In the midst, of course, we are all learning. You got to work with Gwyneth Paltrow again. What was it like to work with her? We first worked together five years ago [The Talented Mr. Ripley] and enjoyed ourselves. When we began to talk about casting Polly, no other name came up. It was perfect from the get-go; she came in and was very enthusiastic. How did you establish the film’s tone of simplicity and innocence? Funny enough, that was really in the script; the blueprint was there. Gwyneth and I got that tone the first time we read it through. Once we knew it worked, we spent the whole time trying to embellish it and Kerry kept adding little moments. More was more, in this case. We could really run with this. Would you like the film to have a sequel? I hope so.
PLAYBACK ST. LOUIS
BY ROB LEVY
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I was recently in the bind of having to listen to bad contemporary radio for several hours without escape. As I switched the dial, I was truly appalled at how terrible most radio is today. With that in mind, I decided to tell others about the sounds of the underground. Now I realize that there are bigger issues in the world than bad local radio—broken fax machines, MTV, the crisis in the Sudan, for example. But none of these problems erase the fact that contemporary “modern alternative rock” radio is complete crap. What the hell is “alternative” radio anyway? Good radio is essential to keeping the denizens of our fair metropolis happy and content. It also is fun to hear something new and cool. This is why we, as a populace, need to support the indies as much as possible and just say no to the big corporations. There are some options for you, mighty radio listener. 3WK (www.3wk.com) is a St. Louis–based online station that serves up loads of new, obscure, and inviting new music. The station’s playlist is pretty cutting-edge and free of Korn, Staind, or even Blink-182. KWUR (90.3 FM) is Washington University’s excellent radio station. No matter what the genre, they are always playing something new, interesting, or weird. If you live out west, you can listen to KYMC (89.7 FM). This station, based out of a West County YMCA, all too often falls prey to playing the hits but still manages to cut loose some good shows. North Countians know that KCFV (89.5 FM) has been pumpin’ out the tuneage for over
Elliot Goes
30 years. The station, out of Florissant Valley Community College, plays new rock, hip-hop, and other odd sounds. Finally, almost everyone is already is aware of KDHX (88.1 FM). The station still plays new, old, and obscure sounds with vigor and enthusiasm. Embrace the left of the dial and go forth. Explore your inner spirit of adventure and find radio that works for you. Chuck Berry is getting the royal treatment from 19 local artists with the tribute CD, Brown Eyed Handsome Man: St Louis Salutes the Father of Rock ’n’ Roll. Berry’s influence on musicians such as John Lennon and Stevie Wonder is renowned. This compilation proves that his influence on local musicians is just as profound. Berry’s music continues to cross genres and break boundaries, affecting a broad and diverse new generation of music fans. For this CD, KDHX has assembled some fine talent from all reaches of St. Louis’s musical community. Among the diverse artists who have contributed to this project are Jay Farrar, Fontella Bass, The Orbits, Bottle Rockets, Palookaville, Trip Daddys, Earl, Tinhorn, Gumbohead, and the Soulard Blues Band. For more information, check out www.KDHX.org/Chuck. Damon Albarn of Blur has been recording an album in Nigeria with legendary Fela Kuti percussionist Tony Allen. Tackhead has recently reformed for a series of dates in North America. The Pogues are reuniting for eight U.K. shows this December. One of the greatest bands in the world, The Delgados, has a new album, Universal Audio, coming out this fall. They are touring
the States over the next few months. Jude Law has been tabbed to play Ian Curtis in the forthcoming Joy Division biopic. If that doesn’t horrify fans, this might: Siobhan Fahey has recorded a cover of “She’s Lost Control” for a U.K. compilation by lingerie pimps Agent Provocateur. Two highly lauded music documentaries are coming to the Tivoli next month. The first, End of the Century, chronicles the history and social impact of The Ramones. Next, the highly touted film festival darling Dig! makes its St. Louis debut. Dig! spans seven years and focuses on the coexistence and eventual rivalry between the Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols. God only knows: Good Vibrations, a musical based on the Beach Boys, will open in early 2005. The production, which features about 30 Beach Boys songs, has been touted as one of the most eagerly anticipated productions of Broadway’s upcoming season. Pink Floyd is also getting theatrical. A musical version of their 1979 masterpiece The Wall is currently in production, with Roger Waters writing the orchestral score. Guided by Voices’ farewell tour starts next month and runs through December. Paul Westerberg has signed on to record the soundtrack for the animated film Open Season, due out sometime in 2006. Ring of Fire, the Johnny Cash film with Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter Cash, is currently filming in Memphis. The curtain has closed on one of Britain’s most interesting bands, The Beta Band. The Trashcan Sinatras will hit the road for a short tour of the States next month in support
by Bosco (with illustration help from Jessica Gluckman)
m prog ra
We really don’t care about the 62 independent bands or the camping; all we came for is the beer.
www.mentalsewage.com
CURMUDGEON
September 2004 of their new album, Weightlifting. Mellow Drunk will be supporting. Dan the Automator is lined up to produce the next Franz Ferdinand album, which will be recorded this fall. The band is having such huge success here in the States that they have added more North American tour dates through October. The Strokes have begun work on their different-sounding third album; next month, they will release a live album entitled Live in London. They recently recorded a version of The Clash’s “Clampdown.” Also covering “Clampdown” is The Poster Children; this song and five others comprise an EP of politically themed covers entitled On the Offensive. Besides The Clash, they cover songs by X, XTC, and Heaven 17. Robyn Hitchcock has been busy. He has a cameo in his pal Jonathan Demme’s film, The Manchurian Candidate, and also has a new solo album in the works for an Octoberish release. The Thrills will be opening for The Pixies for most of September and October’s dates. Pavement was amazing back in the day. Their decade-old masterpiece, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, has just been remastered by Matador. Morrissey will contribute a song to the forthcoming Frank Sinatra tribute record. If they ever met, the Chairman of the Board would have broken the Mozzer’s wussy little kneecaps. It should be hilarious to see Flavor Flav on this year’s The Surreal Life. “Never Young” is the next single from Fishcherspooner, who are finishing up recording of their second album. Neko Case has a new studio album coming out in 2005, but if you can’t wait that long, then you’re in luck. Her new live album, Tigers Have Spoken is due out this November. Neko Case is also featured on Touch My Heart, a tribute CD for Johnny Paycheck. Joining her are Jeff Tweedy and Mike Ireland; Robbie Fulks produced. On November 1, you can take the edge off of your pre-election jitters by seeing the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players when they return to Mad Art. I hate Christmas and most of the annoying music that goes with it. The labels always annoy us all with really bad music to go with our long lines at those stores we hate to go to. Nettwerk Records is at least trying to remedy the situation with their yuletide compilation, Maybe This Christmas. Among the highlights are “Christmas Time Is Here” by Ivy, “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” by The Polyphonic Spree, and “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” by Death Cab for Cutie. But be warned: the compilation also features Lisa Loeb. Brody Dalle and Shirley Manson are both contributing to the new Queens of the Stone Age album, due in early 2005. Lest We Forget, the new greatest-hits collection from Marilyn Manson, contains a cover of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus.” Manson recently nabbed some voiceover work for the film Area 51. How Soon Is Never?, Marc Spitz’s novel about a man hellbent on reuniting The Smiths, is being made into a film. Supergrass have recorded two new songs for their best-of compilation, Supergrass Is 10. I’ll close with another impassioned plea for you to vote. If you are already registered, help out by driving someone to the polls or getting others registered to vote. You don’t have to be left or right or centered to appreciate the process and take part in it.
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CABIN INN THE CITY
By Jim Dunn The City Museum is one of the more unusual and unique attractions in St. Louis. The former shoe factory has been converted into a playground for children and adults, peppered with large doses of education and inducements for creativity. Recently, an aquarium was added to the second floor, providing even more reasons for you to go and explore. Outside the building sits Cabin Inn the City, with a full bar and entertainment on most nights. We talked with managers Bob Rocca and Abbie Grigaitis about the goals and challenges of a 21st century bar in a 19th century building. How does the Cabin Inn choose its
34 rather eclectic schedule of music? BR: You know, I was just thinking about the music thing the other night. It is kind of like being a visual artist. Happy accidents happen; they aren’t planned, they just happen. Dave [Landreth] and Catherine [Cathers] and the Black-Eyed Susies only happened because they live [in the neighborhood]. AG: A lot of the musicians, the ones that don’t come through me, are customers of the bar who ask us how they can play here. We haven’t really had to go out and find any musicians. One of the things that is important to us is that we don’t feature “common music.” Most of the bands that play here don’t do covers, at least not top 40.
Does that mean the Cabin Inn sort of extends the mission of the museum as a way to educate the audience? BR: If you know the museum like I know the museum, the answer is “Yes,” though nothing is done with a specific intent; it all has to do with keeping artistic integrity here. My dream would be to have people do things here artistically that they can’t do any place else. This is the place where you can take some risks. AG: It is not necessarily that we go with what is going on in [the museum]. Nothing is really going together; it is just a big confluence of all different types of things and people. It is nice when a group of people come down for the music at the Cabin Inn and they discover the museum, which they might not have seen otherwise. How is that artistic integrity reflected in what you serve? AG: Really different wines that people wouldn’t normally try. We try to support smaller distributors and places. BR: Things here are more interesting. Like a Flying Dog with a Ralph Steadman label; half of us around here would love to earn our pay from our art so we love to see Steadman’s stuff. We try to keep it eclectic; even now, having the liquor in there is sort of an experiment. You noticed that a lot of it was sort of high-end.
Where did the cabin come from? BR: The cabin was built in 1803 by Nathaniel Boone and two partners called the Buchanan brothers out where Barnes West Hospital is now. You would have never known there was a cabin there because this was surrounded by a house. When the company came to tear down the existing houses, they found it and called us. One of the businesses of the architectural department upstairs is taking apart old buildings. So the guys took it down log by log. When it first arrived, they wanted to use it for a petting zoo because the museum was doing sheep and llama shearing. Then from that it went to an ice cream parlor. AG: I was working here at that time. Ice cream by day and we served some wine at night. What else would you like to do here? BR: There are some things that I would like to do that are non-music. I would love to get Bobby Norfolk here, who is a story teller. AG: Did you tell them about the fire? Wednesday nights this group of fire spinners comes down here basically to practice, but it has really become a cool thing… BR: This is like the St. Louis chapter of Burning Man. AG: That is that combination of things coming together... BR: Then we do the big iron pour a couple of time a year and that just gets things going. I guess fire is kind of our image. AG: It is sort of a beer garden. You don’t know what to expect, but that is part of the allure. When the fires are out here, you feel like you are out in the middle of nowhere. A log cabin and an open fire—right here in the middle of the city. PHOTOS: ERIC FOGLEMAN
September 2004 Playback St. Louis offers its deepest condolences on the death of NoisyPaper founder Carrie Lindsey, her husband, Mike Shelton, and their daughter, Emily. The three, returning from Beatlefest in Chicago, were traveling south on I-55 and nearly home when a northbound car crossed the median and hit them head on. They were killed instantly. Jason Potter of Left Arm reports that the band has finished tracking a yet-to-be-titled five-song EP to be released this October. Their current release, Dirty Mississippi Sound, is available from their Web site at www.left-arm.com. You can catch Left Arm Saturday, September 4, at Lemmons with Sibylline and The Front. STL-based record label First Flight now has T-shirts! The American Apparel screen prints (guaranteed sweatshop-free, so says label honcho Andrew Benn) are available from www.firstflightrecordlabel.com. Inbred Redneck Alien Abduction, a film by stlfilmwire.com’s Adam Hackbarth (and author of “Our Filmy Substance,” page 26) was mentioned in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Said Post film critic Joe Williams, “[I]f you want to see a movie that truly evokes the drive-in aesthetic circa 1974, be on the lookout for Inbred Redneck Alien Abduction.” Abduction, directed by Patrick Voss and cowritten by Voss and Hackbarth, will be released November 30 on DVD by Sub Rosa Studios. Williams calls the film “a gleefully cheap sci-fi spoof with a rudely funny script and richly cheesy effects.” You can see Abduction for yourself when it screens at the St. Louis International Film Festival in November. Hoosierweight Championship Boxing is back on the Hill at Pop’s Blue Moon (5249 Pattison) on September 5. Tickets are available via Metrotix (314-534-1111, www.metrotix.com); doors at 5:30 p.m., fights at 6:30 p.m. Eddie Spinaio of Neptune Crush reports an October release for the band’s new CD, entitled An Evening in the Starlight. Join the fun at the NC CD release show October 23 at Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room. Not-so-great news from the Bibowats camp: The new tracks the band had been recording were stored on a Mac that crashed and burned. The band reports they are staying positive, claiming, “If we have to start over, then we will just make the songs rock even more.”
LOCAL SCENERY
Here’s a really cool EDITED BY J. CHURCH art fair you may not have heard about: the weekend of September 10–11, by The Moscows. Schlafly Bottleworks Lost to Metric began recording in August (7260 Southwest Ave. in with plans to release Maplewood) will play host the material before to the Art Outside Fair. the holidays. They Billed as a local art and will also be featured local beer alternative, Art on Vintage Vinyl’s Outside will feature afford- Better Than Fruitcake able art from 30 local art- compilation, a benefit ists, as well as performance for Operation Food art and musical acts, food, and drink. Other Outreach. planned activities include a fashion show, colThe local Pixies laborative art projects, films, a poetry reading, cover band, The Pixels—featuring Heath dancers, and more. The food offered will focus Moylan, Shanna Kiel (Sullen/Sibylline), on local growers. The fair is free and open to Brian Due (el mail boxo, who also are curthe public 5 to 10 p.m. Friday, September 10, rently recording their second full-length album), and 12 to 10 p.m. Saturday, September 11. and new drummer Thatcher Bell—will begin Visit their Web site (www.schlafly.com) for playing out in September or October. more information. Ghetto Prenup/Languid guitarist Josh Keep that groovy art coming…Join Mad Kohn had his solo work featured on ESPN Art on Friday, September 3, from 7 to 11 Profiles during the Kentucky Derby and Belmont p.m. for the opening of Faculty5, an exhibit legs of the Triple Crown. Previously, Kohn had of work from the faculty of area universities been heard on MTV’s The Real World (as guiand schools. Faculty5 consists of ceramics by tarist on Brandy Johnson’s “So Long”). Laurie Blaes, photography by Joel Feldman, On Friday, October 29, Gateway to a fiber installation by Carole Loeffler, mixed Cure will be hosting “Stand for Something,” media/sculpture by Polly a night of music, fashion, and Saputo, and performance/ spinal cord injury awareness at the digital work by Chris Pageant. Performing at the event Wildrick. The exhibit is Kyle Cook from Matchbox runs through October 29. Twenty with his solo project, The In more Mad Art New Left, Earl, Steve Bequette, news, you’ll want to and 99Dealers. Tickets go on sale circle Saturday, October CAROLE LOEFFLER: LINGER, 2003 September 1. For more information 30 in orange and black on the charity, visit www.gatewaytoacure.org on your calendar so as not to forget Mad or www.stevebequette.com. Art’s Halloween Space Rock Opera Party. If you’ve been before, you know Mad Art’s parInterested in seeing your name in print? Please ties are artsy but never fartsy. Tickets will go on send news items to events@playbackstl.com. sale in September, and music will be provided
Julia Sets Now Julia Sets just needs the attention of more listeners in a town where audiences tend to be fragmented, and where bands break up or depart the city with alarming frequency. “It took me a long time to make peace here,” said Weber. “Most of our songs are about St. Louis: the architecture, the weather, its history. I’ve had friends in NYC trying to get me to move for years, and I’m terrified I’ll have to leave this town to find an audience, like most folks do.”
from page 4
No card-carrying member of the local music community would want that. St. Louis can be hard on bands, and few ever get rich from their efforts. Those with talent, credibility, and determination deserve to be heard. Julia Sets are unquestionably among the groups who matter most here. “Every night, no matter where or to whom, we play our hearts out,” said Weber. “We love this town, we love its people, we love music. We’re rough and ragged, but somehow that seems all right. Come to a show. Yell stupid crap at us. Scream. Dance. Let us in, dammit!”
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East Side Rebellion
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AARON MCGRUDER, REGINALD HUDLIN, AND KYLE BAKER: BIRTH OF A NATION: A COMIC NOVEL (Crown, 144 pgs, $25) What’s so surprising about the new graphic novel Birth of a Nation is: (a) how funny it is, (b) how incendiary it is, and (c) how hard it makes you laugh as it suggests the overthrow of the U.S. government. Birth of a Nation is surpris too. It’s an all-star collabo usually connotes an emba clusterfuck. In this case, angry writer/artist of the daily comic strip Boondocks, Aaro McGruder, shares the writi duties with Reginald Hudlin, known as director of such m as House Party and Serving Sara. They recruited gifted comic-book artist Kyle “Plastic Man” Baker to form a trinity of African-American creatives, and, somehow, their book-by-committee is right on the money. Birth imagines the same squirrelly votecounting that marred the 2000 presidential election in Florida happening instead in the familiar armpit of East St. Louis. The difference: the mayor of East St. Louis ain’t the governor of Florida. The fictional mayor of our depressed sister city decides that if his citizens’ votes don’t count, the mandate is clear: East St. Louis will secede from the U.S. This allows McGruder and Hudlin to share some hilarious lines about the new nation, christened “Blackland.” The new national anthem is sung to the tune of the theme from Good Times. The new government decides to engrave the face of Sade on the nickel, and put James Brown on the $100 bill. The whole effort barely gets off the ground because some folks are reluctant to rebel—after all, some white investors were fixin’ to build a new Church’s Chicken in town before all this controversy started. As unrealistic as the plot of Birth might be, McGruder and Hudlin are making some serious arguments here. First of all, if political scumbags can manipulate votes that have already been cast, people need to get angry (before it happens again this November). Also, what has to happen before
the African-American people who live in East St. Louis, Harlem, Gary, Indiana, and other blighted areas can get some real help? To paraphrase the authors, East St. Louis ain’t gettin’ nowhere with the federal government. Might as well see what happens without ’em. Hudlin, an East St. Louis native, ear the scene of the t month, signing cop rth at the Central West Left Bank Books. The ook-signing was so well ttended that folks who wanted to meet Hudlin had o take a line number. The writer/director said that he’s known McGruder for some time, and that McGruder’s very public griping against newspaper editors who occasionally refuse to run his controversial Boondocks strip is all part of the unending struggle against The Man. “Sometimes you just have to fight,” Hudlin said. He added that we can all do something to promote social justice “if thirty guys with box cutters can change the world.” That sick reference to September 11 immediately quieted the Left Bank crowd—except for the few who laughed. —Byron Kerman PAUL DORRELL: LIVING THE ARTIST’S LIFE: A GUIDE TO GROWING, PERSEVERING, AND SUCCEEDING IN THE ART WORLD (Hillstead, 174 pgs, $16.95) Most artists don’t follow a career path so much as they press on through a job swamp, dragging their gifts behind them. Trying to consistently produce work of artistic integrity, while at the same time earning a living, can lead to the double-ended candle effect. It should come as a great relief, then, that there is a new book on the market titled Living the Artist’s Life: A Guide to Growing, Persevering, and Succeeding in the Art World. It should come as a great relief, but it does not. While this book purports to be a map that will help artists to achieve financial and creative success, it is, for the most part, a self-
indulgent memoir of the author’s travails in his quest to become published. Paul Dorrell has been a gallery owner for over ten years. While he has reached some level of financial security, his countless anecdotes would have readers believe that his path has not been easy. The book’s longest chapter is devoted to the history of his gallery in Kansas City, from its inception in Lawrence, Kansas, to its fairly secure outlook for the future. On page one, Dorrell admits that he is in the art business in order to support his writing addiction: “That is the primary passion of my life; driven, maddening, fulfilling, by turns sane and insane.” Dorrell needs to kick his habit, because the book devotes most of its pages to the talents and trails of its author, not the needs of those who may buy the book. He writes in a casual first person narrative, as if each reader is both an artist and close personal friend. Yet his style is so self-centered that the innumerable and glaring faults of his prose supercede any relevant advice that he might offer. In this typical paragraph, Dorrell uses “I” 14 times: When did the depressions first begin for me? I think when I was about eight, when I first realized I didn’t really fit in (as most artists don’t), and was terrified that I never would. By the time I was thirteen, this condition made me feel unworthy. By the time I was fifteen, it, and other difficulties drove me into bouts of erratic and destructive behavior. By the time I was eighteen, I’d resolved to deal with my shortcomings through hard work, aggression, and arrogance. By the time I was twenty-one, I realized… He recounts the horrors of his own “tortured youth” to explain that depression is a normal condition for artists. Depression and hardships continued to dog him into his adult
September 2004 life. When financial difficulties threatened to close his gallery, Dorrell describes how he “got up at dawn and drove to the East Side ghetto.” Pardon? The “ghetto”? He describes getting out of his car to walk those streets of desperation, so “I could feel how grateful I was that I hadn’t had to start life with all this against me. Next to these people I had things easy.” These people? What people? To be fair, there are some positive points to this book. Chapter four is the most practical, offering advice on such professional concerns as portfolios, résumés, artists’ statements, documenting artwork, and how to get media coverage. Artists who need more exposure of their work will find the sample press release letter informative. Dorrell is encouraging to nascent artists, and he seems to have a good rapport with the artists he represents. His accumulated experience lends his
advice a practical perspective, but, in total, the condensed version of useful information could be made into a pamphlet. The author is, by turns egotistical, patronizing, self-contradictory, and presumptuous. He encourages all artists to go to Europe: “Let the Europeans humble you. They’re good at it, and enjoy doing it.” He is, however, opposed to artists accepting individual grants, fearing that the money will interfere with fate. “The artist’s life is supposed to be harsh to a certain degree,” he writes. If that is the case, then what is the point of this book? —Rudy Zapf
PARIS NIGHTS About a month ago, discussing books and writers and book sections of magazines, a friend suggested creating for Playback’s readers a list of essential 20th-century writers to keep in mind for book-browsing. Ready? First, take down the following title: The Paris Review Book of Heartbreak, Madness, Sex, Love, Betrayal, Outsiders, Intoxication, War, Whimsy, Horrors, God, Death, Dinner, Baseball, Travels, The Art of Writing, and Everything Else in the World Since 1953. Got it? Good. Because this wonderfully fat anthology, out in paperback this month (Picador, 784 pgs, $18), boasts a roster of just about every writer I could think to include, and several others I’d not been turned on to until now. Vonnegut, Hemingway, Stein, Cheever, Updike, Miller, Sontag, Borges, DeLillo, Faulkner, Eco, Nabokov, Garcia Marquez, Carver, Moore, Foster Wallace, White, Morrison, Munro, Baldwin, Calvino, Pound, Oates, Roth, Naipul, Eugenides, poets Heaney and Pinksy and Collins and Simic and Rich and Brodsky and on and on. (St. Louis makes a good showing with Lou-linked writers Jonathan Franzen, Wash. U. visiting professor Peter Ho Davies, Stanley Elkin, and Tennessee Williams.) There are long and short stories, brief poems, and—a staple of this literary journal—interviews with writers on their craft. (Nabokov: “No, it is not
my sense of the immorality of the Humbert Humbert–Lolita relationship that is wrong; it is Humbert’s sense. He cares, I do not.” Faulkner: “My own experience has been that the tools I need for my trade are paper, tobacco, food, and a little whisky.” Wendy Wasserstein: “Sitting in the garage in a nightgown with a typewriter—it might be the only time I’m calm. It’s an ageless sort of happiness.”) There are 146 pieces in all, and after getting through 82 of them so far (Lorrie Moore’s story “Terrific Mother” and Usef Komunyakaa’s poem “Memory Cave” are favorites), I can say without hesitation that the anthology’s worth the $18 and then some. Owning it as a bedside-table book feels a bit like being able to have a squad of bookstore clerks wheel you around the store in your Serta, stopping in for 5 minutes with Faulkner, 10 with Stein, 20 with Borges. The company the book offers is incredible. Also now out is the paperback-only Paris Review Book For Planes, Trains, Elevators, and Waiting Rooms (Picador, 386 pgs, $15), which splits up stories and poems by the length of time it might take to read them. (Example: The six-page Raymond Carver story—yes, it’s bleak and involves booze—is perfect for that Metro ride to Lambert; then, on the plane you’ll read…) The contributors’ list is again impressive—Munro, Williams, Kincaid, Washington U.’s Carl Phillips—but when considered next to
WILLIAM LYCHACK: THE WASP EATER (Houghton Mifflin, 176 pgs, $21) This slender, quietly assured debut novel concerns a lonely tenyear-old boy, Daniel, caught between his poorly treated, lifeless mother and
his sly, slippery father, who is continually cast out of the house before resurfacing every time, like a bobber. Lychack nails the couple in four words—the mother’s “quicksand eyes,” the father’s “sweepstakes smile”—and takes us on the road with the AWOL father and son, Daniel playing the half-willing hostage. There are motel pools and whiskey sips, faux phone calls home to mother, and a boy’s quiet desperation. “Dad? Are you going to be here in the morning?” “I hope so. Why, you know something I don’t?” Daniel eventually breaks free to the big city (“New York piling up like so many stacks of nickels and pennies in the light”), with a plan that he’ll return able to reunite his parents. But the author has well convinced us: it’s hopeless. And so the book ends as it began, amid a pall, with the author reaching only for small moments, for minor feelings, and getting them whole. —Stephen Schenkenberg its 800-page grandfather, it’s hard for it to stand up straight and look strong. And while there are excellent stories from Denis Johnson and Karl Iagnemma, more than a few pieces—including those from better-known writers Philip Roth, V.S. Naipaul, and Lydia Davis—fell flat for me. In the publishing circles, Planes, Trains is notable as the first book born under the editorship of 31-year-old Brigid Hughes, the journal’s new executive editor. The enviably employed Hughes has the humbling assignment of replacing the 51-year editor (and Good Will Hunting psychiatrist) George Plimpton, who died September 25, 2003, at the age of 76. How cool of a life did Plimpton live? See book one. —Stephen Schenkenberg
The Future Dictionary of America This book was conceived as a way to bring almost two hundred authors and artists together to promote progressive causes in the November 2004 election. The book is an imagining of what a dictionary might look like about thirty years hence, when all or most of the world’s problems are solved and our current president is a distant memory. The book is by turns funny, outraged, utopian, and dyspeptic. Every cent of the proceeds from this book will go to progressive organizations working on the 2004 election. TO BUY A COPY ONLINE, PLEASE VISIT MCSWEENEY’S AT: HTTP://STORE.MCSWEENEYS.NET/
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MONDAYS — Sessions Jazz Big Band WEDNESDAYS — Cryin Shame Blues Band THURSDAYS — Marcel Strong & The Apostles SUNDAYS — Live Reggae with Dubtronix and Yard Squad B.B.’s Jazz, Blues & Soups has been the home of St. Louis blues for over 25 years. We currently offer lunch starting at 11:00 a.m. (Mon–Fri) featuring St. Louis–style home-cooked and health-conscious cuisine. Music nightly by St. Louis legends and national acts until 3 a.m. B.B.’s—for the best in blues.
Be Sure To Check Out Kim Massie and the Solid Senders Every Tuesday & Thursday! Live Blues Nightly— See Web site for listings.
MONDAYS — Soulard Blues Band TUESDAYS — Big Bamou WEDNESDAYS — Brian Curran (5–7 p.m.) THURSDAYS — Bennie Smith & the Urban Blues Express SATURDAYS — Brian Curran (6–9 p.m.) The Broadway Oyster Bar, a local favorite for over 25 years, offers the best Cajun-Creole food in the Midwest while offering live music seven nights a week. A great party spot, the Oyster Bar is “a great local dive that never changes — thank goodness.”
Beale on Broadway is home to live blues, soul, and R&B seven nights a week. Catch St. Louis diva Kim Massie and the Solid Senders every Tuesday and Thursday at 9:00 p.m. 14 craft beers on draft. 35 Bottles. Full-service dinner menu everyday ’til midnight.
NEED TO BUY OR SELL A HOME? Andrew Cohen Prudential Alliance Realtors • 314-276-9966 acohen@prudentialalliance.com
Fair Trade & organically grown coffee air-roasted on site Live acoustic music Saturday nights
Kevin Power
Free wireless internet
Mainline Alliance Mortgage • 314-614-7994 kpower@mlmortgage.com
Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
1000 Schnucks Woodsmill Plaza Town and Country, MO 63017 www.yourSTLagent.com
Iced coffee, frozen frappes and fruit smoothies
Patio seating
3974 Hartford Avenue • St. Louis, MO 63116 (314)771-JAVA www.hartfordcoffeecompany.com
DELIRIOUS NOMAD COMPILED BY BYRON KERMAN
Self—Pointillist (2003), a self-portrait in map pins by Andy Magee, on view at the St. Louis Community College – Forest Park Art Gallery.
Through Oct. 1: The Vanishing: Photographs from a Small Midwestern Town by Lowell Handler at Webster University’s May Gallery (314-961-2660, ext. 7673, www.webster.edu/maygallery) Sept. 3: Takashi Horisaki creates adults-only performance art at Elliot Smith Gallery (314-361-4800, www.elliotsmith.com) Sept. 3–5: The Princess Bride, midnights at the Tivoli (314-995-6270, www.landmarktheatres.com) Sept. 4–6: St. Nicholas Greek Festival (www.stnicholas. missouri.goarch.org) Sept. 4–6: Japanese Festival at Missouri Botanical Garden (314-577-9400, www.mobot.org) Sept. 4: Great Godfrey Maze giant corn maze opens (618-466-1483, www.greatgodfreymaze.com) Sept. 7–Oct. 12: Twilight Tuesdays free outdoor concerts at Missouri History Museum (314-746-4599, www.mohistory.org) Sept. 8: Album-cover designer Paula Scher speaks at Washington University School of Art Lecture Series in Steinberg Hall Sept. 9: University City Great Books Club season begins with discussion of Adam Hochschild’s King Leopold’s Ghost at Trinity Presbyterian Church (314-994-7914) Sept. 10: Public Telescope Viewing at the St. Louis Science Center (314-289-4453, www.slsc.org) Sept. 10–11: Art Outside at Schlafly Bottleworks (www.schlafly.com) Sept. 10: Underground Comics show at Des Lee Gallery (314-621-8735, pslein@art.wustl.edu) Sept. 10–12: St. Louis Art Fair in downtown Clayton (314-863-0278, www.saintlouisartfair.com) Sept. 10-Nov. 21: Works by video curator Hamza Walker and race/science-fiction specialist Keith Piper at Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (314-535-4660, www.contemporarystl.org) Sept. 10–Dec. 5: Radiant Forms in Contemporary Sacred Architecture and Daniel P. Ramirez: Twenty Contemplations on the Infant Jesus at SLU’s Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (314-977-7170, mocra.slu.edu) Sept. 11: Prairie Day with demos, hikes, teepees, games, food, and live animals at Shaw Nature Reserve (636-451-3512, www.shawnature.org)
Sept. 11: First practice for St. Louis Hurling Club coed team (314-422-2268, www.stlhurling.com) Sept. 11: The London Symphony Orchestra performs Music of Hollywood with lasers and explosions at Savvis Center (314-241-1888, www.savviscenter.net) Sept. 11–19: Hydeware Theatre presents The Taming of the Shrew in Tower Grove Park (314-3687306, www.hydewaretheatre.com) Sept. 16: Kool and the Gang taping concert for live album at Harrah’s (www.harrahs.com/our_casinos/stl) Sept. 16–Oct. 30: Charles Gick: Flowers From the Mouth multimedia installation at Gallery 210 (314-5165952, www.umsl.edu/~gallery) Sept. 17: A Grand Opening in Grand Center season-opening with Rockettes, radio broadcast, picnic, and live music (314-863-3033) Sept. 17: Steina Vasulka performs live violin with video art at Webster Films (314-968-7487, www.webster.edu/filmseries.html) Sept. 17: Ciné 16 academic-film showcase “Best of” at Grand Center (www.afana.org/cine16stlouis.htm) Sept. 17: Jazz at the Bistro season begins with University City native bassist Neal Caine (314-531-1012, www.jatb.org) Sept. 17–19: St. Louis Symphony Orchestra opening weekend featuring Leonard Slatkin (www.slso.org) Sept. 18: Old Webster Jazz and Blues Fest featuring Johnnie Johnson (www.oldwebsterjazzfestival.com) Sept. 18: Hop in the City with 34 different Schlafly beers (www.schlafly.com) Sept. 18: Show-Me Sunsplash Reggae Festival at Saint Louis University (www.acfaces.com) Sept. 18–19: Tilles Park Arts and Crafts Festival (314-615-4FUN) Sept. 19: Great River Road Fish Fry-Off at Eckert’s Grafton (www.eckerts.com) Sept. 20: River Styx presents authors William Trowbridge and Peter Leach at Duff’s (314-533-4541) Sept. 24: Nighttime Scavenger Hunt with hayride at Queeny Park (314-615-4FUN, www.stlouisco.com/parks) Sept. 25–26: Fall Festival at the Butterfly House (636-530-0076, www.butterflyhouse.org) Sept. 26: The Grey Zone screened at Holocaust Museum film series (314-442-3711) More listings online at www.playbackstl.com/Events
Conceptual artist Andy Magee works with maple seedpods, map pins, razor blades, and dead cicadas. Step into his world at a retrospective show at the Gallery of Art, St. Louis Community College – Forest Park (through Sept. 17, 314-644-9231, terrellcarter@msn.com). Beat Takeshi is the Japanese Charles Bronson—if it isn’t an ultra-violent movie, there’s no reason for him to star in it. His remake of one of the films from the classic Japanese series, Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman, opens Sept. 3 at the Tivoli Theatre (314-995-6270, www.landmarktheatres.com). Within walking distance of the hydra of the St. Louis Art Fair, you’ll find the inaugural Balagan on the Boulevard. The Mavrik Israeli jewelry and gift shop offers free hot dogs, drinks, a DJ, kids’ crafts, and a sidewalk sale with a Mediterranean flair (Sept. 10–12, 314-862-1828, www.mavrikjewelry.com). What’s in the chili? You’ll probably never 39 know at the National Kidney Foundation Chili Cookoff at Westport Plaza (Sept. 11, www.nkfstl.com/chili.htm). Hint: try any chili cooked inside a cannon, a bedpan, or a coffin. The St. Louis Science Center has two funny-shaped movie screens: the Omnimax, and the roof of the James S. McDonnell Planetarium. Watch campy fare from the ’50s projected outdoors at the Sci-Fi Film Fest (Sept. 17, 314-289-4444, www.slsc.org). Artica is just so damned weird. The fringe-art festival sets art installations in the midst of crumbling buildings and homeless drunks on the riverfront (Sept. 17–19, www.artica.org). It usually becomes an all-night rave, too. Forbidden Broadway Shoots for the Stars at UMSL’s Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center makes fun of the Great White Way’s most smarmy and pompous crap, but with an affectionate wink (Sept. 24–26, 314-516-4949, www.touhill.org). The end of September offers a major geekout: the area’s largest comic-book convention, Royalfest, at Collinsville’s Gateway Center (Sept. 25–26, www.royalfest.com), followed by the area’s largest science-fiction convention, Archon, also at the Gateway Center (Sept. 30–Oct. 3, www.archonstl.org). It must be something in the water over there…
B.B.’S JAZZ, BLUES & SOUPS
CHRIS MILLS w/BRANDON BUTLER (of CANYON) and THE HAVE NOTS (from ENGLAND) at OFF BROADWAY September 3, 9 p.m. • 21+ TICKETS: $5/8 • CALL: 314-773-3363 We were left for a girl. Chris Mills, one of the brightest, friendliest, heart-on-his-sleeviest stars of the Midwest songwriting scene (he was a fixture in Chicago for more than a half-decade, playing a coffee shop one week, opening for Wilco the next, hitting Dublin the next), moved to Brooklyn last year to be with his girlfriend. Damn, dude. We should have seen it coming. The signs were there. A rosier glow. Fewer shows in this part of the country. More and more songs about a certain girl. (Okay: Almost all his songs are about a certain girl.) But maybe it’s a healthy thing for us. A bit of a wake-up call. After all, when Mills’ 40 fourth record—the layered, lush Silver Line—came out in 2002, the Chicago SunTimes warned us that “it’s easy to take Chris Mills for granted,” before going on to deem the record “a statement by an artist who has finally come into his own.” Isn’t that just perfect. You raise ’em right. Provide love and affection, applause and attention. And the moment they reach their prime? Boom: Gone. For bigger things in the bigger city. Stopping back in the Midwest only now and then, to raise a glass, sell a shirt, sing a song. You re-read the letter he sent in advance of his trip. “I think the next album will be a much more intimate affair,” he writes, no doubt his new girl asleep and dreaming nearby. “I love the grandeur of the production on Silver Line, but it’s time to reign it in. I try hard to make each album stand out from the one before, and it would be difficult to go any bigger, production-wise. So I’m going to attempt something more restrained, which is hard for me, because I’m used to doing things in sort of a big way.” Yes, you think: Like moving. “I’m doing a solo set in St. Louis. That’s the best way to see if a new song works—because it just has to stand on its on.” As do we, Chris Mills. As do we. —Stephen Schenkenberg
700 S. Broadway • St. Louis, Mo. 63102 314-436-5222 • www.bbsjazzbluessoups.com 9/1: Janiva Magness Blues Band 9/2: Marcel Strong & the Apostles 9/3: 7pm: Pennsylvania Slim Blues Band; 10:30pm: Sean Costello Blues Band 9/4: 7pm: Tom Hall; 10pm: Bennie Smith & Urban Blues Express 9/5: 7pm: Leroy Pierson; 10 pm: Gamble Brothers Band 9/6: Sessions Jazz Big Band 9/7: Pennsylvania Slim Blues Band 9/8: Cryin’ Shame Blues Band 9/9: 7pm: Leroy Pierson; 9:30pm: Marcel Strong & the Apostles 9/10: 7pm: Leroy Pierson; 10pm: Baker-McClaren Blues Band 9/11: 7pm: Margaret Bianchetta & Eric McSpadden; 10pm: The Bel Airs 9/12: DJ Ranx & Dubtronix Reggae Band 9/13: Sessions Jazz Big Band 9/14: Rich McDonough Blues Band 9/15: Cryin’ Shame Blues Band 9/16: Chris Cain Blues Band 9/17: 7pm: Leroy Pierson; 10pm: Soulard Blues Band 9/18: 7pm: Tom Hall; 10pm: Arthur Williams Blues Masters 9/19: The Yard Squad Reggae Bands 9/20: Sessions Jazz Big Band 9/21: Willie Johnson Blues Band 9/22: Cryin’ Shame Blues Band 9/23: Nick Moss & The Flip Tops 9/24: 7pm: Leroy Pierson; 10pm: The Mighty Big Band w/Larry Thurston 9/25: 7pm: Fab Foehners; 10pm: Bennie Smith & Urban Blues Express 9/26: DJ Ranx & Dubtronix Reggae Band 9/27: Sessions Jazz Big Band 9/28: Alvin Jett & The Phat Noiz Blues Band 9/29: Cryin’ Shame Blues Band 9/30: 7pm: Leroy Pierson; 10pm: Marcel Strong & the Apostle
BEALE ON BROADWAY 701 S. Broadway • St. Louis, Mo. 63102 314-621-7880 • www.bealeonbroadway.com Every Sunday: The MoonGlades Every Monday: Shakey Ground Blues Band Every Tuesday: Kim Massie & The Solid Senders Every Wednesday: Rich McDonough Acoustic Blues Every Thursday: Kim Massie & The Solid Senders 9/3: Melissa Neels Band 9/4: Rob Garland and The Blue Monks 9/10: Rich McDonough Band 9/11: Rich McDonough Band 9/12: Pepperland 9/17: Rich McDonough Band 9/18: Scott Kay & the Continentals 9/19: Deke Dickerson and the Eccofonics 9/24: Ground Floor Band
BLUE NOTE 17 N. 9th St. • Columbia, Mo. 65201 573-874-1944 • www.thebluenote.com 9/3: Tech N9ne, Project Dead Man, Skatterman & Snug Brim-Kut Calhoun & Bigg Krizz Caliko 9/4: Tech N9ne, Project Dead Man, Skatterman & Snug Brim-Kut Calhoun & Bigg Krizz Caliko 9/8: Support the Crews 9/10: Bockman’s Euphio 9/11: Split Lip Rayfield 9/13: Ryan Adams
9/14: Wilco w/Calexico 9/15: Burning Spear 9/16: Fiesta Latina 9/17: Ronnie Baker Brooks & Frank Bang 9/18: Thomas Frank & Bruce Herman 9/22: The Wailers 9/24: Jake’s Leg 9/29: Pat Green
BLUEBERRY HILL 6504 Delmar Blvd. • University City, Mo. 63130 314-727-0880 • www.blueberryhill.com 9/11: Lithium 9/15: Chuck Berry w/The Pneumatics 9/25: Hayseed Dixie 9/30: Steve Kimock Band
BRANDT’S 6525 Delmar Blvd. • University City, Mo. 63130 314-727-3663 • http://brandtscafe.com 9/2: Jesse Gannon w/Ben Wheeler 9/3: Elaine Donohu 9/10: Erin Bode
EMMYLOU HARRIS w/guest BUDDY MILLER at SHELDON CONCERT HALL September 9 • all ages TICKETS: $68/62 • CALL: 314-533-9900 Two guitars, two voices—that’s all anyone needs, if one of those voices belongs to Emmylou Harris. Come see this principle in practice at the Sheldon, where Harris’s opening act, singer-songwriter Buddy Miller, will transform into her backup band. Genius loves economy. Miller and his wife Julie write songs with economy of word choice, folk’s direct approach: “Tell my heart to stop beating/tell my mind not to think/Throw a stone in the ocean/And tell that stone not to sink.” Eight years ago Harris tapped Buddy Miller to be her lead guitarist after singing Julie’s “All My Tears” on her classic Wrecking Ball. Miller speaks of it now with awe. “When Emmylou records a song, then you really should put it away. It’s been done.” —Angela Pancella
BROADWAY OYSTER BAR 736 S. Broadway • St. Louis, Mo. 63102 314-621-8811 • www.broadwayoysterbar.com Mondays: Soulard Blues band Tuesdays: Big Bamou Wednesdays: 5-7 pm: Brian Curran Thursdays: Bennie Smith & the Urban Blues Express Saturdays: 6-9 pm: Brian Curran 9/1: 5pm: Brian Curran; 9pm: Mojo Syndrome 9/2: 5pm: The Bottoms Up Blues Gang; 9pm: Bennie Smith & the Urban Blues Express 9/3: 5pm: Johnny Fox; 9pm: Hudson & the Hoodoo Cats 9/4: 6pm: Brian Curran; 10pm: Baker McClaren Band 9/5: 4pm: Rich McDonough Band; 9pm: Chickenfoot Gumbo 9/6: Soulard Blues Band 9/7: Big Bamou 9/8: 5pm: Brian Curran; 8pm: Mark Shark & the Hammer-Heads 9/9: 5pm: Johnny Goodwin; 9pm: Chubby Carrier & The Bayou Swamp Band 9/10: 5pm: Tim Session; 9pm: Dangerous Kitchen 9/11: 6pm: Brian Curran; 10pm: Jakes Leg 9/12: Not Quite Nashville 9/13: Soulard Blues Band 9/14: Big Bamou 9/15: 5pm: Tim Sessions; 9pm: Shakey Ground 9/16: 5pm: Billy Barnett; 8pm: Bennie Smith & the Urban Blues Express 9/17: 5pm: Tom Hall; 10pm: Brian Elder Project 9/18: 6pm: The Zonkeys; 10pm: Soulard Blues Band 9/19: 4pm: Mark Moore & the Smokers; 8pm: Johnny Fox 9/20: Soulard Blues Band 9/21: Big Bamou 9/22: 5pm: Brian Curran; 8pm: The Groove Hogs 9/23: 5pm: Johnny Goodwin; 9pm: Bennie Smith & the Urban Blues Express 9/24: 5pm: Johnny Fox; 9pm: Zydeco Crawdaddies 9/25: 6pm: Brian Curran; 10pm: Gumbohead 9/26: 6pm: Blues Daddy; 8pm: Magic Slim & the Teardrops 9/27: Soulard Blues Band 9/28: Big Bamou 9/29: 5pm: Brian Curran; 8pm: Logan Graham & Schaeffer 9/30: Bennie Smith & the Urban Blues Express
CABIN INN at the City Museum 16th & Delmar • St. Louis, Mo. 63103 314-231-2489 Every Mo.nday: Traditional Irish Jam Every Tuesday: Acoustic Jam w/Dave Landreth & Friends Every Wednesday: The Blackeyed Susies Every Thursday: The Sawmill Band
CICERO’S 6691 Delmar Blvd. • University City, Mo. 63130 314-862-0009 • www.ciceros-stl.com Every Monday: Madahoochi & Friends Every Tuesday: The Schwag Every Wednesday: Open Mic 9/2: Phix – Phish tribute w/Brooklyn Deadwood 9/3: Jake’s Leg 9/4: Core Project & Sac Lunch 9/5: Afternoon: The Day After Yesterday w/IQ22, Eke, & Jupiter Jazz 9/9: Brother’s Past w/The Jeremiah Bridge 9/10: Jake’s Leg 9/11: Lost Parade 9/12: Afternoon: Six Point Summer w/Once-Again & A New Joan 9/16: Leo, Pennington, TBA 9/17: Jake’s Leg 9/18: Backstoppers Benefit w/12 oz. Prophets, Mojo
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Blue, Impala Deluxe, & D-Bone Blues Band 9/19: Afternoon Show w/Group Think 9/23: The Helping Phriendly Band 9/24: Lord Baltimore, Happy Endings, & Maxtone Four 9/25: Logic & Pipe Circus 9/26: Afternoon: SP3
9/10: Uncle Albert 9/11: Rondo’s Blues Deluxe & Fairchild 9/17: Uncle Albert 9/18: Rondo’s Blues Deluxe & Fairchild 9/24: Rondo’s Blues Deluxe 9/25: One Kindred Soul & Rondo’s Blues Deluxe
CREEPY CRAWL
HELEN FITZGERALD’S
412 N. Tucker • St. Louis, Mo. 63101 314-851-0919 • www.creepycrawl.com 9/1: Fear Before The March of Flames, Wings of Azriel, Saved From Tomorrow, & The Citation 9/3: 6pm: Westcott, Bi-Level, Open Sky Reminder, & Fair Verona; 10pm: Sofachrome, Midshift, & Shattermask 9/5: The Queers, The Dynamite, & The Gamits 9/6: Limbeck, Spindle, Sleep Station, & Blinded Black 9/8: Anal Blast & TBA 9/9: Dog Fashion Disco, Tub Ring, Bad Acid Trip, & Collateral Insight 9/10: MU330, Swift Kixx, Secret Cajun Band, & Fifth Row Felons 9/14: Trainwreck w/Kyle Glass 9/17: The Toasters, The Redlight Runners, & Monskasities 9/18: Nine Pound Hammer, The Cripplers, & The Hail Mary’s 9/20: Nebula & TBA 9/23: Further Seems Forever, The Kicks, & Brandston 9/25: Femme Fatality CD Release w/ nus Marcus, R. Babbit, & Superstars of Love
3650 S. Lindbergh • St. Louis, Mo. 63127 314-984-0026 Every Sunday: Karaoke Every Wednesday: Malcolme Blitz Every Thursday: Gargoyle Reign 9/3: Paint The Earth 9/4: Malcolme Blitz 9/7: Gargoyle Lounge 9/10: Grovethang 9/11: Glorious Blue 9/14: Deep Six 9/17: That 80’s Band 9/18: Killing Vegas 9/21: Gargoyle Lounge 9/24: Joe Dirt & the Dirty Boys 9/25: Johnny Can’t Rap 9/28: Deep Six
FAMILY ARENA 2002 Arena Pkwy. • St. Charles, Mo. 63303 636-896-4200 • www.familyarena.com 9/24–26: The Royal Circus of Moscow on Ice
FOCAL POINT 2720 Sutton • Maplewood, Mo. 63143 314-781-4200 • www.thefocalpoint.org 9/17: Julie Henigan 9/18: Seldom Home 9/25: 2pm: Song Circle of Friends; 8pm: Andy Cohen
FOX THEATRE 527 N. Grand Blvd. • St. Louis, Mo. 63107 636-534-1111 • www.fabulousfox.com 9/15: Wilco w/Calexico
FREDERICK’S MUSIC LOUNGE 4454 Chippewa • St. Louis, Mo. 63116 314-351-5711 • www.fredericksmusiclounge.com 9/2: 6pm: Hinson’s Ragtime Open Mic; 8pm: Free Noiseday Hootenanny Open Mic & Jam Session 9/3: The Meat Purveyors, Roughshop 9/4: Jackhead CD Release Party w/TBA 9/6: Free Monday Movies 9/7: Jon Deee Graham, Pyedog, & Marr Ahern 9/8: More North & The Have Nots 9/9: 6pm: Hinson’s Ragtime Open Mic; 8pm: Free Noiseday Hootenanny Open Mic & Jam Session 9/10: Blue Mother Tupelo & Black Diamond Heavies 9/11: The Tripdaddys 9/13: Free Monday Movies: St. Louis Movie Lounge 9/14: Red Eyed Driver w/TBA 9/15: Relapse w/TBA 9/16: 6pm: Hinson’s Ragtime Open Mic; 8pm: Free Noiseday Hootenanny Open Mic & Jam Session 9/17: No River City & Ben Weaver 9/18: The Malcontents, Transient Frank, & Pelvic Gridles 9/20: Free Monday Movies 9/21: Gooding 9/22: Old Yeller & Fluffer’s Union
RYAN ADAMS at THE BLUE NOTE in COLUMBIA September 13 • 21+ TICKETS: $17.50 • CALL: 573-874-1944 Prolific 29-year-old singer/songwriter Ryan Adams has been conspicuously inactive as of late. That’s to be expected, considering he fell off stage and broke his wrist at a concert in Liverpool in January. His European dates and an accompanying American tour—the one scheduled to kick off in March at Columbia’s Blue Note—were canceled as Adams had his broken wing mended under the surgeon’s knife. Perhaps the break has given Adams time to discover a new stack of records to mimic in his ever-shifting attempt at self-definition. You’re guaranteed to hear something familiar—whether it’s the Graham Parsons disciple of Adams’ Whiskeytown days or the ’80s Britpop echoes of 2003’s Rock N Roll— as a rested Ryan rambles through his back catalog. —Ross Todd 9/23: 6pm: Hinson’s Ragtime Open Mic; 8pm: Free Noiseday Hootenanny Open Mic & Jam Session 9/24: The Izzys & The Silvermen 9/25: Funky Circus Fleas & Nimbus 9/29: Bishop Don & Western Soul 9/30: 6pm: Hinson’s Ragtime Open Mic; 8pm: Free Noiseday Hootenanny Open Mic & Jam Session
GENERATIONS 10709 Watson Rd. • St. Louis, Mo. 63127 636-256-8522 • www.eliteconcerts.com 9/9: Walter Trout & the Radicals 9/26: David Wilcox
HAMMERSTONE’S 2028 S. 9th St. • St. Louis, Mo. 63104 314-773-5565 Every Monday: Tim Albert Every Tuesday: Lucky Dan & Naked Mike Every Wednesday: Park Ave. Jazz Every Thursday: Rondo’s Blues Deluxe Every Sunday: Voodoo Blues w/Bennie Smith & Eric Brooks 9/3: Uncle Albert 9/4: Rondo’s Blues Deluxe & Farichild
HI-POINTE 1001 McCausland Ave. • St. Louis, Mo. 63117 314-781-4716 • www.hi-pointe.com Every Thursday: Non Prophet Theatre Company 9/19: Vaux and Code Seven 9/22: Stephen Orth 9/29: Crank County Daredevils
INFIERNO 1403 Washington Ave. • St. Louis, Mo. 63103 314-588-8900 9/10: Crypt33, The Spiders, & The Electric
JAZZ AT THE BISTRO 3536 Washington Ave. • St. Louis, Mo. 63103 314-531-1012 • www.jazzatthebistro.com 9/17-18: Neal Caine 9/22-25: Janis Siegel
LEMMONS 5800 Gravois • St. Louis, Mo. 63116 314-481-4812
LEMP NEIGHBORHOOD ARTS CENTER 3301 Lemp Ave. • St. Louis, Mo. 63118 314-771-1096 • www.lemp-arts.org 9/2: Strike the Colors & Benedict Arnold 9/3: Archeology 9/4: Desperately Waiting & Ivanovic 9/5: Hive Mind, Luasa Raelon & Redrot 9/7: Shoplifting & Night Wounds 9/9: All or Nothing, Blood in Blood Out, & SNAF 9/10: Immaculate:Grotesque, As All Die, & Brain Transplant 9/11: Magrudergrind & Dancing Feet March to War 9/12: Adversary Workers CD Release 9/13: Anodyne, Ed Gein & Childlike Eyes 9/14: Folly & Paulson 9/15: Outbreak & Step On It 9/17: Commichung CD Release, Dancing Feet March to War, Hyphen-O, & Corbeta Corbeta 9/18: Matt Schaub 9/23: Rope, Danny McClain, & 6th Epicycle 9/24: Crime In Sterio & Benedict Arnold 9/25: Replicator
TRAINWRECK CREEPY CRAWL September 14, 7 p.m. • all ages TICKETS: $10/12 • CALL: 314-851-0919 As Kyle Gass—also known as KG, Jack Black’s sparring partner in Tenacious D—prepares his mulleted alter-ego country-rock side-project, Trainwreck, for its longest tour yet, rehearsal is the last thing on his mind. “I’m more worried we’re gonna kill each other,” he admits. Rising tensions on their last tour sent the band into group therapy. “We did it before Metallica, though. When that movie came out, I said to the guys, ‘See? I’m a genius!’” Starting as a side-project between Gass and J.R. Reed—also known as The D’s long-suffering roadie, “Lee”—the duo soon added actor Kevin Weisman (of TV’s Alias) on drums and keyboardist Chris Darienzo. The ’Wreck’s newest members, guitarist John Konesky and bassist John Spiker, were recruited during a visit to Ohio. Hiring local boys does them no favors in 41 Columbus, however. “That’s the irony; we didn’t get a show there! We wanted to play this place—I think they’re a cover for a heroin ring or something, ’cause they weren’t interested in booking us. The other irony is we don’t do very well in Columbus. And there’s so much drama, ’cause we’ve been there a few times and we’ve shared a few ladies. And I think one guy wants to kill J.R. It’s better to avoid.” Although a live album is available at www.twreck.net, Trainwreck’s studio debut, tentatively titled It Ain’t Gonna Lick Itself and produced by Gass with Dust Brother John King, won’t be in stores any time soon. Gass says King’s busy schedule is part of the problem. “John’s working with Beck. In fact, right now we’re supposed to be doing the Tenacious D movie soundtrack and our stuff, but Beck, because of the Scientology, takes extra time. To get it just right. For the cult.” You can’t truly experience the ’Wreck with headphones anyway. This mongrel mix of L.A. actors and untamed, truck-stop Midwesterners— wearing absurd wigs and going by even more absurd stage names—was custom-built for a hot, dirty stage. As Gass explains, “We’re what happens when you take away the rules. Kind of hillbilly, but we always want to rock, you know?” We know. —Brian McClelland
PLAYBACK ST. LOUIS
9/26: Davis Redford Triad 9/29: Warhammer 48K & Skarekrau Radio
LIL NIKKI’S 1551 S. 7th St. • St. Louis, Mo. 63104 314-621-2181 Every Thursday: New FM 101.1 The River Homgegrown Show w/Ken Williams
MAGEE’S 4500 Clayton Ave. • St. Louis, Mo. 63110 314-535-8061 Every Monday: Open Mic w/Heather Barth Every Thursday: Jake’s Leg 9/3: Dogtown Allstars 9/4: Closed for private party 9/7: Racket Box 9/10: Big Star Cadillac w/Team Tomato 9/11: Closed for private party 9/14: Tim Faye & Randy Furrer w/Ali & Emily 9/15: Gentleman Callers 9/17: Jalopy 9/18: Dr. Rob w/Kapital 9/21: Confluence Benefit 9/24: Thos 9/25: Buddha’s Belly
MANGIA ITALIANO
42
3145 S. Grand Ave. • St. Louis, Mo. 63118 314-664-8585 • www.dineatmangia.com Every Sunday: Reggae Dub Spin w/Gabe and Dino Every Monday: Open Mic Hosted by Kieran Malloy Every Wednesday: Eightyfourglyde DJ Spin Every Friday: Dave Stone Trio 9/2: Blaxtarrs 9/4: Swing Set 9/9: Team Tomato 9/11: Rowdy Cum Lowdies 9/16: Visions Jazz 9/18: Bad Folk & The Good Griefs 9/23: Brian Sullivan Quartet 9/25: The Round-Ups 9/30: Cherry Octopi
THE MARTINI BAR 4004 Peach Ct. • Columbia, Mo. 65203 573-256-8550 • www.themartinibar.biz 9/1: Hadden Sayers 9/2: Jazz Dujour 9/3: Baker McClaren Band 9/4: James Armstrong 9/9: Brian Curran & Doug Macleod 9/10: Wayne Baker Brooks 9/11: Kim Massie 9/15: Chris Cain 9/16: Rich McDonough Band 9/17: Jazz Dujour 9/18: Jazz Dujour 9/22-23: The On Call Band 9/24-25: Pennsylvania Slim Band 9/30: Lil’ Ed and the Blues Imperials
MISSISSIPPI NIGHTS 914 N. First St. • St. Louis, Mo. 63102 314-421-3853 • www.mississippinights.com 9/3: River Gypsy 9/4: Black Dahlia w/Killjoy4fun & Scorched Earth 9/8: Gillian Welch w/Old Crow Medicine Show 9/9: Maybe Today w/Not Waving But Drowning, Sophomore, & Mock Orange 9/10: Leftover Salmon 9/11: The Slip w/Benevento-Russo Duo 9/12: The Legendary Wailers
THE DOMINO KINGS at VENICE CAFE September 11 • 21+ CALL: 314-772-5994
THE MUSIC CAFÉ
POP’S
120 S. 9th St. • Columbia, Mo. 65201 573-815-9995 • www.themusiccafecolumbia.com Every Monday: Open Mic 9/1: Phix 9/3: A Bateria 9/9: Javier Mendoza band 9/10: Witch’s Hat, Core Project, A Bateria, The Monte Carlos, Triple Whip, Hazard to Ya Booty, The Filthy Homewreckers, & Lojic 9/14: Relapse 9/16: Otis Gibbs 9/17: A Bateria 9/18: Steve Ewing Band w/Gunderson 9/21: Gris Gris 9/22: Honey Tongue w/Ruhig 9/24: A Bateria 9/25: Pocket Dwellers 9/29: June Panic & Elephant Micah
1403 Mississippi • Sauget, Il. 62201 618-274-6720 • www.popsrocks.com 9/17: America 9/18: Nektar & Caravan 9/25: Starz 9/29: Taking Back Sunday
The Domino Kings hail from Springfield, MUSIC FOLK Missouri, where honky-tonk is alive and well, 8015 Big Bend • Webster Groves, Mo. 63119 and where mainstay Stevie Newman is a 314-961-2838 • www.musicfolk.com certified guitar hero. Newman, drummer Les 9/25: Al Petteway & Amy White Gallier, and charismatic bass player/guitarist OFF BROADWAY Brian Capps made a pair of fantastic albums, 3509 Lemp Ave. • St. Louis, Mo. 63118 Lonesome Highway and Life Plus 20, which 314-773-3363 • www.offbroadwaystl.com blended rockabilly, old-time country, and some 9/2: Marah w/The Trailer Park Travoltas & Earl straight up rock ’n’ roll, before an acrimonious 9/3: Chris Mills w/Brandon Butler of Canyon & The split saw Capps leaving the band to do his own HaveNots 9/4: Asylum Street Spankers thing, replaced by a pair of other musicians 9/9: Michelle Anthony who completed a third DK album with Newman 9/10: The Doxies w/Miles of Wire & The Trailer Park and Gallier. Time heals at least some wounds, Travoltas however, as the original lineup will be rockin’ 9/11: The Feelgoods w/The Bellheads & Dead Letter Drop the Venice Café on 9/11, an evening better 9/15: Showcase of The Bands spent boppin’ to some gloriously trad-trio 9/17: Kristen Foht CD Release magic than watching television broadcasters 9/18: Jervis Jort w/Bejeezus & Hardly Portland 9/24: 7pm: Dan Bern; 9pm: Dennis Stroughmatt & The argue over what’s changed (or not) since the Creole Stomp terrorist attacks three years ago. The Kings 9/25: Grumass have a ton of great tunes to choose from, and 9/28: The Silos w/Rough Shop maybe Capps will sneak in a few from his 9/29: Bobbie Bare Jr. & Band w/Aintry 9/30: Athena Reich w/Celia upcoming solo album. —Kevin Renick 9/13: The Killers w/Ambulance LTD 9/14: Monster Magnet w/Bongzilla 9/25: The Samples
MOJO’S 1013 Park Ave. • Columbia, Mo. 65201 573-875-0588 • www.mojoscolumbia.com 9/1: Marah 9/2: Joe Buck Yourself vs. Scott H. Biram 9/3: The Station & Eckobase 9/4: 5pm: Tom Austin Trio; 8:30pm: The Meat Purveyors, Chirs Mills, Brandon Butler, & the Havenots 9/7: Carier & Sofa Kit XL 9/8: Col. Bruce Hampton & the Codetalkers 9/10: SRE 9/15: Engine Down, These Arms Are Snakes, & Trebuchet 9/16: The Kingdom Flying Club, The Company Men, & Red Hunter 9/18: The Black Keys & The Cuts 9/20: Deke Dickerson 9/24: Emergency Umbrella Showcase Ft., The Doxies, & Billy Schuh and the Foundry 9/28: Mike Watt & the Secondmen & Sleepytime Gorilla Museum 9/30: Warhammer 48k, No Doctors, & Haunted House
THE PAGEANT 6161 Delmar Blvd. • St. Louis, Mo. 63112 314-726-6161 • www.thepageant.com 9/9: Ottmar Liebert & Luna Negra 9/10: Denim & Diamonds 2 9/13: Fourplay 9/16: Bob Weir & Ratdog 9/17: The David Grisman Quintet 9/18: Brown Eyed Handsome Man CD Release & KDHX Benefit Tribute to Chuck Berry featuring The Bottle Rockets, The Trip Daddys, & Waterloo 9/25: Kathleen Madigan 9/30: Brian Culbertson
PICASSO’S COFFEEHOUSE 325 Winding Woods Ctr. • O’Fallon, Mo. 63366 636-272-4150 • www.picassoscoffeehouse.com Every Wednesday: Open Mic 7-11p 9/3: Mike Feldman 9/4: Tom Nugent 9/10: Chris Griffith 9/11: Fred Baue 9/17: Black Hole Incident 9/18: Eke 9/25: PRAZ
POP’S BLUE MOON 5249 Pattison • St. Louis, Mo. 63110 314-776-4200 • www.popsbluemoon.com Every Tuesday: World’s Most Dangerous Open Jam 9/1: Tim Moody & Wayne Kimler 9/2: Tango Loco 9/3: Dave Black & Matt Kimmick 9/4: The Jeremiah Bridge 9/5: Hoosierweight Boxing in the Street 9/8: Brian Curran 9/9: Wayne Kimler Jazz 9/10: The Rogues
DAVID BYRNE at SHELDON CONCERT HALL September 16 • all ages TICKETS: $70/75 • CALL: 314-533-9900 David Byrne’s latest album may be called Grown Backwards, but the eclectic former Talking Head is bent on growing forward, despite Heads fans who reveled in the band’s recent box set and expanded edition of The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads, one of the great live albums of the ’80s. Byrne is a true renaissance man, having scored films, composed music for ballet, dabbled in painting, produced compilations of Brazilian music, and released a series of fascinating and diverse solo albums since his seminal and highly influential work with the Heads. Byrne has a weirdly surreal sense of humor, which, combined with an ultra-nerd’s brand of musical rigor and a wide-eyed view of world cultures, results in a rhythmic, playfully eclectic approach to recording. You may not learn much personal stuff from Byrne’s lyrics, but you’ll certainly be plunged into one of the most vivid imaginations in modern rock, one that always engages both your feet and heart while conceptually tripping you up. Byrne will be offering up his quirky sounds at the acoustically perfect Sheldon this time, surely a “Once in a Lifetime” opportunity for Heads heads. —Kevin Renick
September 2004
9/11: Eric Nassau 9/13: Fab Foehners 9/15: Visions Jazz Duo 9/16: EN2 9/17: Flying Mules 9/18: Naked Groove 9/20: Johnny Fox 9/22: The Bottoms Up Blues Gang 9/23: Full Circle Jazz 9/24: 710: Tribute to the Dead 9/25: Brothers Green 9/27: Open Mic Acoustic 9/29: Logan & Graham 9/30: Sam Thompson
RADIO CHEROKEE 3227 Cherokee St. • St. Louis, Mo. 63118 www.radiocherokee.net 9/4: Grand Ulena, Corbeta Corbeta, & The Pubes 9/18: The Phonocapters & Sex Robots 9/25: Autumn-Waking, The Botanists, & Berry
RHYTHM & BREWS 541 N. Grant • St. Louis, Mo. 63103 314-531-JAVA Every Monday: Acoustic Blues Jam w/ Bootigrabbers Delight Every Thursday: Singer Songwriters
RIDDLE’S PENULTIMATE 6307 Delmar • University City, Mo. 63130 314-725-6985 • www.riddlescafe.com Every Tuesday: Jeff Lash Every Wednesday: Ptah Williams Every Sunday: The John Norment Quartet 9/2: The Uncle Albert Band 9/3: Bennie Smith & the Urban Blues Express 9/4: Swirl! 9/9: The Bottoms Up Blues Gang 9/10: The Hot Flashes 9/11: The Boney Goat Band 9/16: The Uncle Albert Band 9/17: The Bottoms Up Blues Gang 9/18: Swirl! 9/23: The Bottoms Up Blues Gang 9/24: The Hot Flashes 9/25: The Flying Mules 9/30: The Bottoms Up Blues Gang
ROCKET BAR 2001 Locust St. • St. Louis, Mo. 63103 314-588-0088 • http://rocketbar.net 9/3: Stella Link CD Release w/Desperately Waiting 9/4: Ghost in Light & Caterpillar Tracks 9/6: Drop Dynasty, Lapush, The X & the O, & Chunnel 9/9: Just a Fire, Tree of Woe, Wake Up Report, & Goodnight Ghost 9/10: Those Peabodys & Grinner 9/16: The Spiders, Black Nasa, & Lo Freq 9/17: Traindodge, Rollo Tomas, & Lost to Metric
SALLY T’S 6 Main St. • St. Peters, Mo. 63376 636-397-5383 • www.sallyts.com 9/1: The Rove w/Rockwell 9/2: Avadis 9/3: Adams off Ox CD Release Party 9/7: Open Mic 9/8: Gun Metal Grew w/Hour Darkness and Obsidian 9/9: Alive w/Simmons 9/10: The Avnjahs w/Break Beat Mechanic & EQ 9/11: Mass Diffusion w/Grandma Death & The Saw Is Family
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9/15: The O’Fallon Brewery Beer Release 9/16: Barley Hopkins Band w/Them Damn Kids, Bagheera, & Pilot Around the Sun 9/18: Wyccad w/Spatik & X-Hell 9/22: Andy, Southerly & Juvenile Justice, & Bibowats 9/23: Panhandle w/Scotty Stringz 9/24: MCM Taping Night w/Gordo, Mystery Tramp, & Artificial Help 9/25: Tory Z. Starbuck w/Polarized Mind & Eke
THE SHANTI 825 Allen Ave. • St. Louis, Mo. 63104 314-241-4772 Every Tuesday: Open Mic w/Kimmy V 9/2: Paul Fryer 9/3: Tom Wood 9/4: 4pm: Pickin’ Lickin’; 9pm: Roads End 9 9/9: Bob Case 9/11: Alsop Grussi Haley 9/15: Tom Hall 9/16: Doogie Armstrong 9/17: Steve Bise 9/18: 4pm: Pickin’ Lickin’; 9pm: Stuart Johnson 9/23: Troubadours of the Divine Bliss 9/24: Devon Allman 9/25: 4pm: High Maintenance; 9pm: Johnny Fox 9/30: Racket Box
SHELDON CONCERT HALL 3648 Washington Blvd. • St. Louis, Mo. 63108 314-533-9900 • www.sheldonconcerthall.com 9/9: Emmylou Harris 9/10: Extreme Guitar 9/16: David Byrne 9/17: Angelique Kidjo 9/22-26: Christine Andreas
STUDIO CAFÉ 1309 Washington Ave. • St. Louis, Mo. 63103 314-621-8667 9/3: Simmons w/Joe Sparks 9/4: Once And For All w/John Maxfield 9/5: Beatfest w/DJ Chilly C 9/10: Natural Laps 9/11: Village Idiot 9/17: Jeff Lazaroff Band 9/18: Cactus Smile 9/24: 12 oz. Prophets 9/25: Groovaholics
SYBERG’S 2430 Old Dorsett Rd. • St. Louis, Mo. 63043 314-785-0481 9/1: Stacy Collins Band 9/2: Deep Six 9/3: Gargoyle Lounge & Shrinking Violet 9/4: Glorious Blue 9/6: Karaoke 9/7: Live Trivia w/DJ DaMo.n 9/8: Riddle Jim 9/9: That 80‘s Band 9/10: Gargoyle Lounge & Ever Spinning Reel 9/11: Groove Thing 9/13: Karaoke 9/14: Live Trivia w/DJ DaMo.n 9/15: Cloud Nine 9/16: Deep Six 9/17: Gargoyle Lounge & Paint the Earth 9/18: Malcolm Slit’s 9/20: Karaoke 9/21: Live Trivia w/DJ DaMo.n 9/22: Stacy Collins Band 9/23: That 80’s band 9/24: Gargoyle Reign
9/25: That 80’s Band 9/27: Karaoke 9/28: Live Trivia w/DJ DaMo.n 9/29: Stacy Collins Band 9/30: Deep Six
THE TAP ROOM 2100 Locust St. • St. Louis, Mo. 63103 314-241-BEER • www.schlafly.com 9/3: Tom Hall & Dan Bliss 9/5: Frank Heyer 9/10: Bob Case Band 9/11: Westernsoul 9/12: John Farrar 9/17: Raven Moon 9/18: Flying Mules 9/19: Peter Clemens 9/26: Dizzy Atmosphere
THREE-1-THREE 313 E. Main St. • Belleville, Il. 62220 618-239-6885 • www.three-1-three.com Every Monday: Park Avenue Trio Every Tuesday: DJ Rob Gray Every Thursday: DJ Kelly Dell, Just J, Andreas Ardesco 9/3: Aaron Kamm 9/10: Roger “Hurricane” Wilson 9/19: Gray-V
TOUHILL PERFORMING ARTS CTR. University of Mo. – STL • St. Louis, Mo. 63121 314-516-4949 • www.touhill.org 9/10: Three Mo’ Tenors 9/17: The Odd Couple; Lee Theater: An Intimate Evening of Chinese Traditional Music 9/18: Mark Russell 9/24-26: Forbidden Broadway Shoots for the Stars
VENICE CAFÉ 1906 Pestalozzi • St. Louis, Mo. 63118 314-772-5994 Every Wednesday: Bennie Smith & the Urban Blues Express 9/11: The Domino Kings
WAY OUT CLUB 2525 S. Jefferson Ave. • St. Louis, Mo. 63118 314-664-7638 • www.wayoutclub.com 9/1: A Bit Shifty 9/2: Necro Tonz & Nashid 9/3: Highway Matrons & Ransom Note 9/8: Tape Deck Sonata 9/9: Mo.rpheate & Jeremiah Bridge 9/10: The Bureau 9/15: Agency 9/16: Bug 9/22: The Zim Zam Show 9/25: The Way Out 10th Anniversary Party
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WHAT’S GOING ON HERE? is expanding. We want to be the number one source of events for our readers. To do this we need your listings. You send it in and it will be here. Just send us your monthly schedule by one of the following methods: e-mail: calendar@playbackstl.com fax: 877-204-2067 Deadline for the August 2004 issue is July 15.
THE KILLERS w/AMBULANCE LTD at MISSISSIPPI NIGHTS September 13 • all ages TICKETS: $10.57 • CALL: 314-421-3853 Being infatuated with The Killers and lead singer Brandon Flowers in a platonic, strictly heterosexual ways is unsettling. We’re not talking about passionately breaking down at the feet of the broken-smiled Elvis Costello, dreaming about the perfect afternoon spent with Paul McCartney, or getting some serious vapors for a chance meeting with Stevie Wonder. What we’re dealing with is a band that’s been together for just over a year and has one single fucking record to its name. And even that’s only been around since mid-July. They’ve not even completed a season yet. It’s hasty appreciation. It’s nouveau lust, still in its tadpole stages—during tails and before legs. I might as well tell people that my favorite band of all-time is Taking Back Sunday, my favorite male R&B voice is Usher, and Spiderman 2 is hands-down my favorite movie. It’s too soon to like The Killers. They’re so new 43 to this that, if they were newborns, they wouldn’t have even had enough time to dry off from their trip through the birth canal or soil their first diaper—if we want to use that comparison. I feel like an ass for thinking the world of them—but then, I always did fall for the new girl in school. But they’re better than the new girl. They’re the band equivalent of having the good fortune to be blessed with an Australian accent and vacationing somewhere in the U.S. in the middle of a hot, busty babe convention. Those Australians might be real pricks, but the gloss their native country’s tongue gives to their utterance of the simplest, most puerile things (“Aren’t the restrooms in this tavern the most heinous places you’ve ever taken a leak in?” or “Care for a slice of this cobbler?”) an exoticness that is unexplainable. The Killers do very little new in rock, but they do it with an accent. Not a literal one—as they’re from Las Vegas—but one of greater import. They’re a darker version of U2 when they were making records like Joshua Tree. Flowers sings choruses that burst at the buttons and split out the crotches, as big as they are. He’s Bono with a black streak, singing about accidental homicides and things of seedy ilk. In a late spring and summer that has seen unlikely conquerors of mainstream radio and music television stations in Modest Mouse, Scissor Sisters, and Franz Ferdinand, The Killers make them all look like sissies. —Sean Moeller
PLAYBACK ST. LOUIS
GOOD SOUNDS
BY ANDREW SCAVOTTO
MAXJAZZ
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ut of all the area’s 20-somethings, does Clayton McDonnell have the coolest job in St. Louis? After spending four years at NYU, immersed in the New York City jazz scene, he now works side-byside with Richard McDonnell, his father and fellow fanatic. Together they run MAXJAZZ, an independent, Grammy-nominated record label based in Webster Groves, devoted to “recording distinctive jazz for the listener and the art itself.” MAXJAZZ is not a local record label, and Clayton McDonnell is not his father’s intern: he’s a full partner in the business, and he has helped MAXJAZZ develop into a major player, with worldwide distribution and a roster loaded with high-end talent. Although MAXJAZZ officially started doing business in 1998, founder Richard McDonnell’s love affair began years ago. Enamored with John Coltrane, he began a career as a semi-professional saxophonist, playing as often as six nights a week in St. Louis jazz clubs. Although McDonnell eventually gave up performing for a career as an investment banker with A.G. Edwards, he maintained a passion for the art. He became a jazz aficionado, and when asked about his time at A.G. Edwards, McDonnell remarks, “I traveled constantly, and I kept my jazz contacts going, in a very close knit way.” In the mid-’90s, McDonnell started to produce some jazz recordings in his home studio for local artists such as Brilliant Corners, The Kennedy Brothers, and Mardra and Reggie Thomas. McDonnell was intrigued by the recording concept, and the result was MAXJAZZ, a fusion of his corporate experience, keen business sense, love for jazz, and musical ability. This diverse range of talents and experience allows McDonnell to keep a small staff; with the exception of an accountant and a New York City publicist, the McDonnells run the business entirely by themselves, serving as A&R reps, promoters, business managers, and producers. When it comes to his creative input, McDonnell has adopted a unique strategy: he helps artists develop concepts and ideas, while respecting their artistic and creative freedom. Says McDonnell, “We are very involved on the front end, looking at the song list, talking about the concept of the project…yet the approach is
one of giving the artist as much flexibility as possible. Our most important choice is the artist— that is, we choose an artist for lots of reasons, based on what we stand for, and what we want to represent in the market. From there, we allow the artist a lot of movement in terms of what they want to present, because it’s their art.”
By managing all aspects of the business, the McDonnells maintain close relationships with their artists. According to Richard, “They feel very comfortable with the fact that they have artistic freedom, and secondly, they feel very comfortable with the fact that we do try and run it as a family, meaning the extended family. The artists are part of our family, and they know that they can get a decision right away; all they have to do is call Clayton or me.” He continued, “They have a gift, and we treat them with respect.” Running the business entirely by themselves also allows the McDonnells to preserve their primary vision: the development and promotion of the jazz art. Says Richard, “Because we’re only a jazz label, we don’t have a lot of conflicting agendas. Major labels might have great revenues going on the pop side, and they may have to start shrinking the jazz side to keep feeding the pop side. That’s the risk of the having a big company: losing the philosophical/cultural content of the company by getting larger and larger, also the accessibility and quick decision-making.” Although they’re based in St. Louis, the McDonnells spend eight to ten days a month in NYC, working on the recordings, promoting
their artists, and discovering new talent. Every record is created in New York studios, and spending time in the jazz capital of the world is a must, because the McDonnells place a heavy emphasis on getting to know their potential artists and watching them perform live. However, the McDonnells certainly don’t feel that living in St. Louis puts them at a disadvantage: their limited time in NYC forces them to be very efficient. According to Clayton, “We have a fresh perspective being outside of the NY jazz loop. [Here], the jazz community is small enough: we know who the players are, we know what’s going on.” In fact, when talking to the McDonnells, you almost get the impression that putting them in NYC permanently would be kind of like placing an alcoholic in charge of the Heineken brewery: they’re jazz addicts, and they could easily spend all of their time enjoying the product if they had the opportunity. The McDonnells have created a distinctive brand, choosing artists carefully and using the same graphic format and design for the all of their recordings. This year’s releases include works by several well-established musicians, including former Verve artists Claudia Acuna and Russell Malone, and renowned pianists Mulgrew Miller and Denny Zeitlin. In addition, MAXJAZZ develops new artists, and they’re not afraid to take chances on talented performers such as St. Louis vocalist Erin Bode. Richard and Clayton know how to do business, but more importantly, they love jazz. They’ve literally surrounded themselves with their passion: the MAXJAZZ office is covered with classic jazz photos, and they’ll often break during the day to jam, with Clayton on drums and Richard on sax. Richard McDonnell has created some second career for himself, and by making Clayton a full partner in the business, he’s given his son an opportunity most 25-yearolds could only dream about. Says Clayton, “When you grow up with the passion for music and jazz, it’s a dream come true to become so deeply involved in something. Since we are an independent label, it allows me to get my feet wet in every aspect of the business, which is something I would not have experienced in at any other business or label.” MAXJAZZ has a bright future, and that’s great news for music lovers. www.MAXJAZZ.com
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