I went to see Jesse Malin last night with Ash, basically on the strength of how much I love his ridiculous self-indulgent covers album, and I walked out a convert to everything else he does. The St. Mark’s Social, his current backing band, are incredibly tight musicians, and Jesse is a captivating frontman — can’t…
Tag: guitarists
cleave-fest @ local 506
So far 2011 has been good to me, local music-wise. Good groups of people pulling together to do interesting and amazing things, forcing bands onto my radar that I would not have otherwise seen. Three of my first five shows have been locals, and I’m glad for it. I resolved it, anyway, to see more…
jason & the scorchers @ berkeley cafe
So more than three years ago, two days before 2008 happened, after the worst six months of my life, I went to see Jason Isbell at the Lincoln Theatre; there’s another story there, too, and it ends with me punching someone in the face, but it’s not the important story here (perhaps someday it will…
hungry heart of gold: neil young vs. bruce springsteen
Like last year’s Petty vs. Dylan covers benefit show, last night’s Neil Young vs. Bruce Springsteen benefit show played to a full house; a very full house, in fact. Which is a great thing, because shows like this are always a great time — I like them for the chance to see locals I might…
whitey morgan & the 78s @ the pour house
This show made me miss Chicago, not my people in Chicago like I often do, but the city of Chicago and the things it meant to me, in visceral, heartclenching ways — it made me miss Saturdays drinking and two-stepping at Carol’s, it made me miss the various residencies that Bloodshot artists do at various…
the avett brothers @ cat’s cradle
The trouble is: I have been spoiled for all other Avett Brothers shows ever. I had never seen them live, after all. And tonight we could have driven to Asheville — but we didn’t; dinner with my parents — and seen them at the Civic Center with 7,000 other people, and it would have been…
top ten shows of 2010
Today kicks off a couple of year end lists; tomorrow you’ll get EPs and tracks, and next week, a massive list of albums the making of which may make me more insane than usual, but which will be thorough if nothing else. Today, though: today you get my Top 10 Live Shows of 2010. I…
luego @ local 506
See local bands enough times, and they start to grow on you. Luego is growing on me, is what I mean. An easy, funny, warm night, a friendly crowd in the 506, and excellent company and music.
trekky records christmas at the cradle 2010
At some point I will give up trying to explain why the scene here is so amazing, so valuable to me; at some point, I promise I will. But then there are shows like last night, where I end up laughing my head off and wailing “But I don’t understand what’s going ooooooooon” and enveloped…
justin townes earle @ cat’s cradle
I’ve now seen Justin Townes Earle three times in three years, all three utterly different crowds: the first in 2008, a small but supremely enthusiastic crowd at the Berkeley Cafe in Raleigh (a tiny venue); in 2009 on one of the mainstages at Bristol Rhythm & Roots, to a huge (thousands) but utterly placid crowd;…
brand new kind of photography 