Athens Music Scene
By Eric Leighton
Athens NEWS Writer
April 10, 2008
With the weather as nice as it is (as of earlier this week), all I can think about is getting outside and enjoying it. At least there are windows. By the time you read this I am a-feared we will be back into the drizzles again. Yuckers.
It seems as though people are waking up from the winter blahs and getting rowdy. I’ve definitely heard from a number of folks I haven’t heard from in a while. The thaw is on, and the clothes are coming off!
All I ask is that you folks don’t forget about us musicians while you’re out there enjoying this warmer weather. Be sure to stop in and listen to some tunes as you walk around, and luckily, this weekend there’s no shortage of bands to check out. Let’s mosey …
Casa Cantina
Tonight Casa offers a benefit for the upcoming Athens International Film and Video Festival. There will be films plus music by Mr. Leg, Billy Stagg, the Balloon People and Space6oy. (Speaking of Space6oy, my editor says he hates aggressively quirky band names that are impossible to pronounce.)
Friday night The Church of the Red Museum brings back their dark, cabaret, funhouse music. These folks are neat. Brainbow adds their spaced-out rock to the mix, and NYC’s Electric Junkyard Gamelan offers “original groove-driven music on self-invented instruments” to the stage; a junkman’s dream band. Future primitive for sure; re-use to the max.
Saturday the Casa has booked a Bob Dylan Tribute with all of the proceeds going to the March of Dimes. Organized by Liz Pahl (whose birthday happens to be the same day – HB!), this event features the talents of Silo Circuit, The Sad Bastards, The McGovern Brothers, Laura Nadeau, Bruce Dalzell and Liz Pahl & Mike Elliott.
Casa has a special show Sunday night when The Wailin’ Elroys saddle up and take a ride through the club. For those of you with a short attention span, the WE kicked around town for a few years playing top-fueled rockabilly, touring Europe and the States and having all kinds of other fun. Glad to have ’em back. Woody Pines and the Lonesome Two will add their swingy, rag-blues, old-timey kind of groove to a cool Sunday night.
Jackie O’s
Tonight my good buddy Dan Purdom rolls back into town from Virginia so as to give y’all another installment of our bluegrass group, The Altered Boys (with Junebug and Catfish). We were playing around here while most of you were in middle school or something, so come on out and see what it’s all about. The Paranormals will likely do a set, and Dan’s son Ben Purdom is coming up from Kentucky to show you what a first-rate singer/songwriter he has become.
Friday night, Detroit’s Bump hits town for the first time at Jackie O’s. They are hard to pin down musically. Dynamic, with attention to details, good vocals, good songcraft and excellent presentation.
Boogie Matrix Mechanism returns to Jackie O’s on Saturday night. These rockers throw in a bit of rap and a bit of jam to create a hodge-podge of highly listenable tunes.
Papadosio turns it loose at Jackie O’s on Wednesday for a pre-Earth Day celebration benefit for the Sierra Club. This will be a good-time jam for all.
The Union
Tonight Russenorsk brings their melodic shoe-gaze folk-rock to the Union with God’s weapons of choice, The She Bears. The Blastronauts bring their tight and fun musical mayhem in to town for the occasion, and Black Horse Wind fills out the bill.
Friday night, Dance or Die continues the boogie revolution by spinning tunes to make you crazy for the dance floor.
Saturday night, John Vanderslice returns to Athens to give us another dose of his unique songwriting and full band execution. These guys must live on the road in order to be here from San Francisco so often. Cool for us. Joe Anderl makes a nice addition to the bill, as does the mystical Nostra Nova.
Blue Gator
Jesty Beatz sticks around for us to get another opportunity to hear and buy his new CD. Entouraje, Jesty and others will put on a hip-hop show of masterful proportions tonight.
Red Wanting Blue returns to the Gator on Friday night. I saw them the last time through, and with the new additions to the band, I would have to say that I was mightily impressed. The new guitarist really adds a different feel to the songs that makes them the most palatable version yet.
Saturday night features an Open Doors Dance Party.
19 South
Tonight The Penetrators come down from Columbus to rip and rock it out. The Revulvas may take part in this gig as well.
Ace, A-roc and Jesty Beatz throw down on Friday night to keep you steppin’ on the good foot.
TMO is back on Saturday to spin your world around.
Sunday, a new band debuts at 19 South, but they wouldn’t tell me a name. It’s an early show so that Puffy and friends can watch “Adult Swim.”
The Jazz Cream Assassins keep their Wednesday night going at 19 South.
Donkey Coffee
The McGovern Brothers bring their bluegrass music to a family-friendly joint on Friday night when they play Donkey. Stanley Brothers, Hutchison Brothers, Bill Monroe and John Hartford ooze from their instruments in a delightful manner.
J.D. Hutchison (of the Hutchison Brothers) has roused from his winter’s hibernation to make two appearances within seven days of each other. Hallelujah! His increasingly rare appearances here make me glad of all the times I went to see him in the past, and even happier to be able to do so now. He is the King of this scene, and if you do not know why, then your butt had better be at Donkey on Saturday night!
Smiling Skull
The Skull kicks it in with two shows this weekend. ACRN is sponsoring the show Friday night, featuring Via Audio, a synth-pop group from NYC/Boston; Grade School, a local/Cleveland group full of “sweet indie-pop goodness,” and one of my favorite songwriters, Jake Householder, begins the begin.
Saturday night keyboard wizard and multimedia freak George Hertzel returns to the Skull for a high-tech show at low-tech prices. Expect odd instruments and crazy visuals from this guy who once toured with Todd Rundgren (of hexagonal LP cover fame). A coterie of Hocking College music students will make special guest appearances.
Athens Public Library
The Athens Public Library has a trombone concert planned for tonight featuring OU professor Christopher Hayes and four of his best students. They are going for baroque and jazzing you all the way out the door.
Athens Community Center
The Royales and The Mudfork Blues Band get it together for Movin’ and Groovin’ Saturday night at the Athens Community Center, an event being held to raise awareness and money for the Child Advocacy Center and the Court Appointed Special Advocates Organization. There will be an open bar, and folks will be dancin’ their butts off. The fun begins at 7 p.m. For ticket info, call 591-8886.
Stuart’s Opera House - Nelsonville
The Great Kaplan materializes at Stuart’s Opera House on Friday evening. Kaplan is a “virtuoso juggler, magician, inventor, musician and physical comedian.” He juggles bean-bag chairs and cracks jokes for you. He has made numerous television appearances and looks to be an all-around good time for everyone.
Court St. Grill - Pomeroy
The Frank Harrison Group heads back to the Court Street Grill on Saturday night to hit you with some heavy guitar-laden blues.
Don’t forget to check out the Open Stage hosted by Dale Kulchar on Tuesdays. Speaking of which…
Rhapsody - Nelsonville
Duo-Glide locks it in on Friday and Saturday nights this weekend at the Rhapsody. Dale Kulchar and Chad Dodson will be playing “da boos, jazz, original, folk, psychedelic bo-jive.”
Sandstone - Logan
Steve Zarate plays at the Bistro/Sandstone Saturday night from 7-11, as he anticipates the release of the first batch of his new CD next week. There’s barely a song he doesn’t know, and his originals can be mighty fine, too.
Fur Peace Ranch - Darwin
Hot Tuna is back and fishier than ever on Saturday night out at the Ranch. Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady, Barry Mitterhoff and Erik Diaz will rock your socks off with the electrified version of this classic and enduring group. Toby Walker will open the evening. Alas, if you don’t already have a ticket, you’re out of luck. The show is sold out.
Union Hall Theater - Chesterhill
Saturday night, the historic Union Hall Theater is proud to have Rj Cowdery performing her award-winning music in Chesterhill. A winner of the Mountain Stage New Song Contest, Cowdery has opened for Mary Chapin Carpenter and Shawn Colvin, to name a couple. Avalon Nine, an acoustic duo from Columbus, will win you over with their winsome takes on familiar material. This is a nice drive on a spring night to a cool location in the country. Visit www.unionhalltheater.org for more information.
Albany VFW
Long Tall Short, formerly D&R Studio Band, are back at the Albany VFW playing their tightly played and euphoric classic rock and R&B. The fish fry comes before the music, as per usual. Mmmmm, fish…
That’s all I have to report, but I betcha there’s even more music than this happening. Keep yer ears peeled, and I’ll see ya at the gigs!
Comments
Please log in to post a comment.
space6oy commented, on April 15, 2008 at 11:07 p.m.:
hey junebug - tell your editor it's pronouced spaceboy, just spelled w/ a 6 instead of a b... that old trick for getting around online filters that block words like dum6a$$. ;)
