Live Like This

The second installment of the Square Room's Sound Off competition on Wednesday night ended in triumph for Vinyl Thief, who broke out all their high-school band instruments for a rousing set.

Most of the bands--Vinyl Thief, Seeing Skies, Madre, Kamuy, and Enigmatic Foe--were only vaguely familiar to me, but each one had significant charm and/or promise. (As someone who thinks Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle" is one of the great singles of the decade, I especially appreciated Seeing Skies' tight and polished radio emo.)

More details soon.

Conventional wisdom around town the last couple of years has been that two Knoxville bands seemed to have the potential for Superdrag-style breakout success--the Royal Bangs and Tenderhooks. Royal Bangs just released their very good new album, Let It Beep, on Black Keys' drummer Dan Auerbach's Audio Eagle label, to some enthusiastic--if not exactly widespread--reviews. The Tenderhooks, on the other hand, have been supporting their second album, New Ways to Butcher English, for a year now, frequently performing in New York but apparently unable to land the kind of label deal they want.

So, about a week and a half ago, just after their performance at the CMJ Music Marathon, the band called it quits. Singer/guitarist Jake Winstrom and drummer Matt Honkonen are heading into the studio soon with Tim Lee; guitarist Ben Oyler and bassist Emily Robinson haven't announced any plans. It's disappointing news from one of the city's best bands.

Mic: "You can edit this, caintcha?" Todd: "Nope." Mic: "No? Aw shit." Local singer/songwriters Mic Harrison, R.B. Morris, and Todd Steed discuss their upcoming show at the Square Room on Dec. 11.

I took a shot Wednesday at a particular club about a show that we didn't provide any coverage for because we didn't know it was happening. That wasn't really fair--it was a little mean, and the show was listed on its website in advance.

The club's management apparently thought our staffers would be looking there for info--that's how it was done until a few years ago. It was a lot easier just five or six years ago to keep up with all of Knoxville's entertainment options--there were far fewer of them than there are now. Now that there are dozens of clubs, bars, and theaters that offer live music every night, it's sometimes hard to keep up. We rely on musicians, promoters, and venue managers to provide information for our calendar and also so we can conduct interviews, write stories, get photos, and all the other stuff that goes into providing the coverage we do. Sometimes we (and mostly I mean me) miss shows, either because I don't look in the right spot or because the aforementioned people I rely on for info don't know how to reach me.

For clarity, the best way to get a listing in the Metro Pulse calendar is to send an e-mail to calendar@metropulse.com or submit an event directly to the website. (Full guidelines for submissions are here.)

 I do my best to know what's happening and when, but a little head's up is always appreciated. (And I'll try not to be so grumpy about this stuff.)

I don't want to name names (it's the one named below) but there's at least one club in town that apparently is way too popular and profitable to bother with promoting its shows. And by "promote" I mean just announce--you know, send an e-mail to let somebody know you're hosting a well-regarded '80s icon like Mitch Easter. (I did get a last-minute notice from somebody in one of the opening bands, but too late for any meaningful coverage.)

So, yeah, Mitch Easter (the dB's, Let's Active, and producer for R.E.M., Suzanne Vega, Game Theory, and more) is playing at Patrick Sullivan's in the Old City tonight. If you're not already occupied with Tennessee Shines or Warband/Stinking Lizaveta, it should be worth the trouble. Econopop opens.

A few updates from Catalyst since it closed last week:

• Hank Williams III and Assjack with Those Poor Bastards on Nov. 2 has been moved to Southbound in the Old City.

• Evol Intent on Oct. 28 has been moved to the Cider House.

• Crome Molly on Oct. 29 has also moved to Southbound.

It's a big weekend in Knoxville:

• The James Agee Film Festival starts tonight at the East Tennessee History Center and continues tomorrow at the Square Room and Sunday at the Bijou Theatre. Lots and lots of details courtesy MP editor Coury Turczyn here.

• Jonathan Sexton has a release show for his new CD New Day at the Square Room tonight with his band the Big Love Choir.

• The first Knoxville Horror Film Fest is tonight at Pilot Light.

• KSO at the Tennessee Theatre tonight.

• Comedian D.L. Hughley at Sidespltters Comedy Club.

• Angel Zuniga Martinez, formerly of Angel and the Love Mongers and long overdue for some MP coverage, is playing at Preservation Pub tonight with Kevin Hyfantis and Matt Urmy.

• Get an intro to Knoxville Rock Girls Camp at the Birdhouse on Saturday afternoon.

• Brewers' Jam at World's Fair Park on Saturday.

• Local deathcore kings Whitechapel at the Valarium.  

AC Entertainment's Charlie Jennings is featured in the December "Reader of the Month" column in Decibel magazine, which should hit stands in a week or two. The feature's not online, but Jennings cops to being a fan of Bela Fleck, praises Swedish metal, and discusses the resurgence of vinyl among indie labels. 

Fox News has this online news show called Strategy Room. Knoxville has an indie power-pop band called the Tenderhooks. Somehow the two have hooked up; the Tenderhooks are scheduled to perform on the show this afternoon at 1 p.m., according to a Facebook message from 'hooks drummer Matt Honkonen.



Doesn't make any sense to me, but I'll check it out.  

EDIT: Josiah Leming's opening for the Duhks, who are not '90s has-beens, as noted in the comments. Days of the New are scheduled for December 12 at 4620.

Josiah Leming seems to be taking the (very) long road to the superstardom some people predicted for him after his tearful stint on American Idol in 2007. (An entry on his MySpace blog this summer indicates that poor judgment may have something to do with it: "In the past year I've been a lot of places, seen a lot of people, had a lot of chances, and made very very very few right choices.") The Morristown native's debut album, expected to be released last year on Warner Bros., still hasn't materialized--a second EP came out with no press attention late last month--and he just finished a month-long tour opening for '90s used-to-bes Better Than Ezra.

He's playing 4620 Revisited in Bearden on Friday night, opening for more '90s used-to-bes in Days of the New.

(Any questions about how I feel about Leming's prospects can be answered here.)