Athens Music Scene (9-10-09)

One of the joys of writing this article is that I get to preach to the choir. Certainly, those of you who take the time to read this column are intelligent, articulate individuals with strong role models and healthy work ethics. You obviously comport yourselves with heads held high and trash cans in sight; hell, you probably even recycle. I needn't chastise or educate you about the poor behavior of some of this town's witless denizens. It can be fun, though, poking fun at this insidious miasma.

We here at The Athens NEWS are avid supporters of the music scene. There are at least three levels of coverage that occur each week, mostly on Thursdays. I write this weekly column. Editor Terry Smith compiles the "œWhat's Happening" section, and photo editor Ed Venrick finds photos of bands during the layout process (please note: I DO NOT have anything to do with the photos; I am just a word man, man). If you e-mail us at least a week before your show, we can serve you better. My deadline for this article is noon on Monday for Thursday's edition: athens.music.scene@gmail.com, news@athensnews.com.

What you should provide me with, ideally, is information about your band: who you are, what you are doing, when are you doing it, and where to find out more about you. Give me a place, date and a link to a meaningful Web page, if you have one. If you don't have a Web page, make one (a MySpace page can be created in under an hour); music writers and potential fans will go there and check you out, and I will be able to write from an informed perspective. Editor Smith now has the power to place links, photos and online videos on Web version of this article at athensnews.com, so you can get great cross-coverage for FREE!

If you don't have online goodies for me to find, then I might make up ridiculous things to say, often based on your name (pick one that will show up in the top 10 of a Google search!). Eventually you will get so mad you'll send me an angry e-mail finally informing me that you are "NOT A WALTZING XYLOPHONE ZEBRA DANCE TROUPE FROM TANGIERS." What, me infallible? My general feeling is, if you don't seem to care, why should I, especially when there are so many other bands out there working so very hard.

I am really excited about the coming season. We have an incredible music scene, and I am delighted to embark on yet another year's musical journey. Go hear live music. Bring friends.

Casa Cantina

The Spikedrivers are back at the Casa Cantina tonight. Prepare to be boarded! These guys take no prisoners as they rip their way through some blistering bluegrass and psych-country. Good stuff. They often feature the fine fiddlin' of Megan Palmer and gittery-guit-work of Hookah's Steve Sweney.

Friday: Circle K takes two-parts Bad Mamma Jamma and combines it with a heaping dose of Hiatus and other top-notch ingredients to create some seriously baked goodness. Combine that with some tasty tunes from the recently formed Rojax Blues Band, and you might deduce that I am hungry for music. There may be other entrees on this musical menu.

Saturday evening there will be one of Casa's early shows (6:30 p.m.) with the fine W.Va. old-time stylings of Born Old. They are a very entertaining duo with stories and songs galore.

Saturday night there will be an Open Doors Dance Night.

Rattletrap hosts an Old-Timey Jam at the Casa every Monday night. Nice banjo and fiddle music fills the air.

Chris Biester hosts the Open Stage at the Casa every Wednesday night. No sign-ups necessary. Frills provided by Josh Brown.

Jackie O's

I was pleasantly surprised the other night when I heard Rusty Smith announce that the band Scythian would be performing at Jackie O's Thursday night (tonight). "Crossing Boundaries" was on WOUB-FM and the music that poured forth from the speakers was nothing short of amazing: a rich, fiddle-filled celtic/gypsy frenzied jazzma-spazz, highly complex and musical. These young guys will not only be back, but they will be big. Catch them now.

Born Old will hole up on the patio at Jackie O's Friday evening from about 7-10. This talented twosome has a very entertaining way about them, not to mention their great song catalogue. I am praying for good weather - and an expanded patio!

Friday night, Vinyl Soup (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) will be back in Athens. These guys draw from all over the musical map to create their, well ... I guess the name is fairly descriptive. Their "robust sonic melange" will get your feet moving.

Two bands are performing at Jackie O's Saturday night. There is a chance, verrrry slim, that one of them will be in the new space that has been bubbling away all summer like a bourbon-barrel ale. Soraia is a female-fronted four-piece rock and roll band from Philly. I have a fondness for Philly bands. They rock in an unabashed and honest way. It's a very different vibe from around these parts, but they definitely know how to rock!

Also performing Saturday night will be the fabulous reggae mavens Supermassive, from Cincinnati. These guys are the roots-rocks of the reggae foundation in Athens, gracing us on a regular basis. Just so you know, John Gentry's guitar is weird looking; it's not that you are too impaired - well, maybe a little.

The suspiciously me-seeming Junebug hosts the Monday night Open Mic at Jackie O's. No spills or sign-ups.

There is a great Celtic jam that occurs every Tuesday at Jackie O's featuring numerous of the region's top players - and Guinness.

The Union

Tonight the Union offers up a Backdrop Magazine Welcome Back show featuring the inimitably cool Spooktober, the militantly charged Red Army, and the soon-to-disappear-back-down-the-hole Pup the Rabbit. Other bands will likely appear.

Friday night, Columbus' Flotation Walls are throwing a CD release party at the Union. They should sport some Nancy Couch artwork to illustrate their pysch-folk, intelligent art-pop chorale. They will be resplendent in their trademarked yellow duds. These folks are really good. Ably assisting will be Russenorsk and She Bears.

Saturday's night's music looks to take a turn for the heavy when PALA comes to town. Fellow slam-bangers Pansori, Horseburner, Harsh Reality and Locusta make this an ear-ringing good time.

Wednesday night you can shake a booty or two when ACRN hosts a dance party at the Union.

Stuart's Opera House

Stuart's wraps up their FREE Outdoor Concert series tonight in the parking lot - with a beer garden - beside the Opry House in Nelsonville. Pokey LaFarge & the South City Three will bring things to a rousing close. The rambler Pokey seems to have picked up every musical tradition from the East Coast to the Mississippi valley from traveling the back roads of old school America. Jump blues, ragtime and swamp boogie all make appearances. It's a damn good time. Go. Listen. Dance.

ARTS/West

The Aquabear Legion is an organization that works with musicians, filmmakers writers and artists of all kinds, something they've done for many years now. Saturday they will celebrate their fifth anniversary at ARTS/West with a show by the Black Swans, a group from Columbus that shelters great musicians from the bands Orchestraville and the Randys. Their sweeping and complex sound begs and defies description, but it certainly does captivate. Singer/songwriter/occasional-rock-star Chris Biester will regale you with tales both in song and without. Dust From 1000 Years will shake loose a cosmic sneeze of a set. Gesundheit. Comes out loose. This show begins at 8 p.m.

Donkey Coffee

Tonight and every Thursday night Troy Gregorino plays host to an Open Stage. You need to sign up at the counter in order to play.

Laura Nadeau will perform an acoustic show at Donkey on Saturday night. This chanteuse croons delicate and beautiful tunes with a voice that will put the hair up on your neck in the most delicious way. Fans of the rock band Stella will be delighted.

19 South

This South Court club has just released its schedule, with music nearly every evening. Tonight's Lady's Night with DJ Ace; Friday features iPhonic, Shank Bone, Elemental Groove Theory and Candy Flip; Saturday offers DJ Ace; Monday sports an open jam session; Tuesday has College Night with DJ Ace and the return of DJ T-Mo (the dark lord of spin); and Wednesday features Triangle Pancake with special guests.

Smiling Skull

The Smiling Skull has an Open Stage most every Thursday. Tonight the guest host will be Jesse Wilkes.

Blue Seven and special guests will hit the Skull Friday night with a hailstorm of Darker Bluer.

Broken Ring takes their countrified set to the Skull Saturday night for an evening of '70s-style California sunshine. Leah Nairn, fresh from a life-affirming trip to the country, will make Dickie proud with her singing and songwriting. She'll open the night.

House Party

Sona the Voice will perform 9 p.m. Saturday at a house party in Athens (45 Mill Street). I know you young folks will eat up this this Cameroon-born wordy wonder.

Fall Poston Lake Bluegrass Festival - Guysville

You can get one more gullet full of live, outdoor bluegrass music at the lovely Poston Lake facility near Guysville this weekend. The Altered Boys (billed as the Paranormals), featuring Catfish, Dan Purdom and myself, will perform all four days, beginning tonight at 6.

The Hart Brothers will appear Friday along with Big Country Bluegrass, Josh Williams Band, Idletymes and No One You Know; not a slouch among them.

Saturday continues toward greatness with Don Rigsby & Midnight Call, Melvin Goins & Windy Mountain, Idletymes and Once Blue.

The Altered Boys close the weekend out and provide music to help you pack your tents with their 10 a.m. set Sunday.

Court St. Grill - Pomeroy

Jackie does it again. Australian guitar phenomenon Geoff Achison will stop into the Grill tonight for a blistering display of guitar finesse on his way to a weekend of teaching at the Fur Peace Ranch. This is a rare chance to see a world-class musician without shelling out the big bucks to move down the street for a listen. He is a self-taught blues/funk machine that manages to get incredible sounds out of a guitar. His vocals ain't too shabby either - and who doesn't love to hear an Aussie talk (unless it's an insurance-hawking lizard)?

Friday night you can hear the winners of the 2008 River City Blues Competition, as well as the 2009 Big Bend Blues Competition, Mojo Theory. These folks will be representing the PB&J in January at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. You don't have to go there to listen (hear).

Fur Peace Station - Darwin

Saturday night's show at the Ranch is Sold Out. You lucky few will catch the Chicago Blues Jam featuring Bob Margolin, Hubert Sumlin, Bob Stroger and Willie "Big Eyes" Smith. Those who know are likely to go. Those who ain't came too late.

Rhapsody - Nelsonville

The well-heeled among us will get to enjoy the music of Steve Zarate while they dine deliciously Saturday night.

Nelsonville Eagles Lodge

There is an Open Acoustic Jam night in the bar of the Eagle's Lodge every Thursday night in Nelsonville hosted by Shawn Mohney. More music is on the way.

Kaeppner's Woods - Logan

The Something Fantastic Music Festival starts off tonight at Kaeppner's Woods near Logan. The Rumpke Mountain Boys take a three-day stand at the festival, as do Papadosio, Jahman Brahman, Boogie Matrix Mechanism, Screamin' Peach, Cliff & Colin John, Skilless Villains and Bum Wealthy. There will be nightly dance parties with DJ Chad.

Not too bad for a first week of school, eh? I'm thrilled. Be sure to check out the value-added Web version of this article at athensnews.com. Giggity!