May 2010 Archives

Superdrag frontman John Davis has a busy summer ahead of him, most of it related to side projects. He recently played an Alex Chilton tribute show with the surviving members of Big Star, and he's got a solo show coming up at Barley's on Friday, June 4. It's the John Davis Liberation Front, which is apparently 40 minutes of solo material and 20 minutes of Davis talking about the ongoing conflict in Darfur, Sudan. Flesh Vehicle, the Nashville band led by Superdrag bassist Tom Pappas, is opening that show.

Then, on Friday, July 9, Davis is regrouping with his pre-Superdrag bandmates in 30 Amp Fuse--Mike Smithers and Joey Sanchez--for a one-off reunion show. They'll be playing at Barley's and performing the Wind-Up album in its entirety. I hope I can find my copy of that between now and then... (Thanks to Steve Wildsmith for the tip.)

Finally, Davis' alter ego Johnny Flame is recording tracks for a song-for-song tribute to the Misfits' 1982 superclassic album Walk Among Us. There's no release date yet, but you can hear a few early samples at Davis' MySpace page.

So the verdict on Thursday night's Neil Young show at the Civic Auditorium is: Dude rocks. In a relatively brief but still generous-seeming 17-song solo performance, the 64-year-old hippie/sage/ecofreak/grungefather hit on a bunch of obvious career highlights ("Helpless," "Down by the River," "Ohio," "After the Gold Rush"). But nearly half the set list was unreleased, much of it apparently slated for his forthcoming album. The unfamiliar tunes weren't for the most part up to the level of the classics--because, c'mon, not many songs by anyone are up to the level of Young's best work--but his engagement with both the old and new material was forceful and, for the most part, compelling. Switching between acoustic and electric guitars, piano, and (for "After the Gold Rush") a pump organ, Young barely spoke to the crowd but seemed fully immersed in the songs. And, especially on the electric numbers, he immersed the crowd in them, too. He finished the set with back to back renditions of "Cortez the Killer" and "Cinnamon Girl" that filled the auditorium with giant waves of gorgeous fuzz guitar. Then, after a one-song encore (the plaintive "Walk With Me"), he tipped his hat and waved goodbye. 

Tom Fec, aka Tobacco, the frontman for the trippy Pittsburgh electro-pop group Black Moth Super Rainbow, is coming to the Square Room later this year. His new solo album, Maniac Meat, is out on indie hip-hop label Anticon this week, with a supporting tour starting in September.

Tobacco will be in Knoxville on Friday, Oct. 1. Andrew Clayman interviewed him last year, when BMSR played at Pilot Light. (Whatever you do, don't call what he makes in either project psychedelic music. "I've never set out to make psychedelic music," he told Clayman. "I don't listen to psychedelic music. I don't particularly appreciate psychedelic music. ... I find it extremely limiting, and I'm definitely not okay with it," he says. "I mean, I don't care what anyone does when they listen to the music. It does not matter to me as long as you enjoy it. But what bothers me is how 90 percent of our write-ups have to talk about how we're stoners or how you have to be stoned to listen to the music. It just trivializes everything that I'm trying to do. It's fine if people still want to call it whatever they'll call it, but it's just the constant, never-ending drug references that really get old."

Sarah Pirkle's been a prolific local performer for years now--solo, with her husband Jeff Barbra of the Drunk Uncles, and as a member of the Naughty Knots. But she's just getting around to her first solo album, which is due out on July 9. (If you pre-order the disc with a $20 purchase through PayPal, you get your name listed in the credits.)

The Bearden nightclub Level 10 has shut its doors for good, as of May 15. The club opened last summer as a combo sports bar/live-music club and morphed over the last few months into a full-time dance club. Neither approach was enough to keep the Western Plaza spot in business, apparently. According to former general manager Dinah Scott, "It's shut down and is not scheduled to re-open."

This weekend provided further confirmation that the coolest Saturday night in town these days is Donald Brown's residency at the S&W. Playing (for no cover charge, mind you) with Rusty Holloway on bass and Keith Brown on drums, with several guest sax spots from Jerry Coker (the founder of UT's jazz program), Brown lent his energetic, sympathetic touch to a host of standards Saturday night. Almost as remarkable as the music was the crowd, an age-, sex-, and race-diverse assemblage that leaned heavily on a stylish gray-haired contingent that we will henceforth declare Knoxville's Senior Hipsters. These are people who were digging Miles and Trane decades before you were born, kid. At one point, a dance party broke out among a quartet who were all well into their AARP years (led by the fabulous Edye Ellis, who will always look better than you or me), and the younger, more abashed clientele could only watch with appreciation. Even the S&W's oddly spectral lighting suddenly makes sense in the context of a late-hours jazz club.

If there was any question what counts as "classic rock" in 2010, two Knoxville bands answered it decisively Thursday night: Radiohead. In their Market-Square-filling, crowd-pleasing set at Sundown in the City, Aftah Party (who opened for Tonic) found the inherent funk lurking in "Just" (which, if you have as much trouble remembering Radiohead song titles as I do, is the one that goes, "You do it to yourself/Just you/You and no one else..."). Many hours later, long after the Sundown crowd had dispersed but just a few hundred feet from the Sundown stage, Grandpa's Stash rocked the Preservation Pub with their trombone-driven rendition of "Paranoid Android." 

If Ben Sollee's recent makeup show for his canceled appearance at the Rhythm N' Blooms festival in April wasn't enough, or you couldn't make it, or you wanted to get paid back with interest, Sollee is indeed coming back again. He'll be performing at the Bijou Theatre on Friday, July 23, with Daniel Martin Moore and Yim Yames (otherwise known as Jim James) of My Morning Jacket. The three are touring together in support of the 2009 Sub Pop album Dear Companion. Part of the proceeds from the tour will benefit Appalachian Voices.

From the Sub Pop press release:

Dear Companion was born when Sollee stumbled upon Moore's music early in 2009. Both singer-songwriters were especially united in their concern about mountaintop removal coal mining (MTR), a form of coal mining that is devastating the land and culture of Central and Southern Appalachia. They set out to create a five-song EP that would raise awareness about the issue. When Yames, also an outspoken opponent of MTR, came aboard at Sollee's invitation, he knew that the friends had something special, so he suggested they expand the project to a full album. Released on Sub Pop Records in February 2010, Dear Companion explores their ties to the home they love and aims to draw attention to the problem of mountaintop removal coal mining and its impact on the people and heritage of Appalachia.

The weekday roots-music series Blue Plate Special is kicking off its monthly Market Square shows today at noon with a performance by former everybodyfields singer/songwriter Sam Quinn (above) and master fingerstyle guitar picker Bill Mize. Quinn is celebrating the release of his first solo album, the fake that sunk a thousand ships, with his backing band the Japan Ten. You can read an interview with Quinn here. He's also playing a show at the Square Room on Friday, May 14.


The Blue Plate Special series, usually held at the WDVX studio on Gay Street at noon, with Friday installments at the Square Room, will now hold shows on the big Market Square stage on the second Wednesday of each month at noon. 

Today's First Friday, so there's art, box wine, and fruit-and-cheese plates all over downtown. There's plenty more to do this weekend, though. Here are some highlights:



• Wendy Williams, the AVN Transsexual Performer of the Year for 2009, will be signing autographs at Rainbow Video in North Knoxville today at 5 p.m. Jesse Fox Mayshark interviewed Williams for this week's issue.

• The John Myers Band, led by the local veteran R&B singer John Myers (above), is performing at Knoxville Museum of Art's Alive After Five series at 6 p.m. The show is free. Jack Neely profiled Myers in 2007, and I reviewed his new CD this week.

• Royal Bangs play at Barley's Taproom tonight, with former Bang Brandon Biondi's band Coolrunnings--whose remix of Twin Sister's "All Around and Away We Go" was featured on Pitchfork earlier this week--opening.

• The Night of 1,000 Dollys, an annual celebration of all things Dolly, moves to Club XYZ in Happy Holler tonight. The party includes biggest hair, biggest boobs, and Dolly look-alike contests and late-night Dolly-themed drag shows. It's 21 and up and admission is $3, unless you have a Dollywood season pass or ticket stub, in which case you get in free. 

• Local "anti-pop" stars Hudson K celebrate the release of their debut album, Shine, at the new Relix Variety Theatre in Downtown North, on Central Street, on Saturday night at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10, which includes a copy of the disc. Janet Jay interviewed Hudson K singer/pianist/songwriter Christina Horn this week. 

• Cellist/singer/songwriter Ben Sollee, whose scheduled headlining performance at last month's Dogwood Arts Rhythm N' Blooms festival was canceled when volcanic ash stuck Sollee in Sweden, will hold a makeup performance at the Knoxville Botanical Garden on Sunday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25-$75. The expensive seats include a reception with Sollee. Discounts are available for Rhythm N' Blooms passholders. Jack Neely interviewed Sollee here. 

AC Entertainment's announced the lineup for the next Tennessee Shines concert on Wednesday, May 26 at the Bijou Theatre. From the press release:

May's roster includes returning performers Cherryholmes and Darrell Scott [above]--two of
the most exciting acts in Tennessee Shines' history who are releasing new
records in the near future. May's show also presents a first: Jim Lauderdale
will do double duty as our host and a performer. He'll bring a full band to
play songs from his forthcoming CD, Patchwork River.

Local modern rock band Zero Point is headlining a benefit show this weekend for Jake Young, a friend of the band who suffered a traumatic brain injury when he was struck by an SUV. Here's the e-mail the band sent out with details:

We are playing a benefit show this Saturday for Jake Young. He was struck by an SUV as a pedestrian and suffered a traumatic brain injury. The money raised from the benefit show will go towards medical procedures to improve his quality of life. Music will be played all day from noon until around 11pm. Admission is $7 for adults and $3 for kids under 12. We will be playing starting at 10pm so we hope to see you there for at least our set if not more. There will be smoked pork, popcorn, and cotton candy for sale to raise money as well as a moon bounce for the kids. The location is the fireworks shed on 411 South at the Blount County/Loudon County line. We will be donating a portion of any CD sales at the show to the family to help with medical procedures for Jake so if you haven't checked out our CD yet make sure to pick up a copy at the show so that you can support the cause as well as get some new music to listen to. See you there!! Bring some people! The more people that show up, the more help that can be provided for Jake and it will also make for more fun for everyone.

If you've had trouble getting reception for WDVX the last few days, you're not alone--the station's been reduced to its online broadcast since a lightning strike early this week knocked out its transmitter. The station administration had already been trying to raise money for a new transmitter, and now they're asking for emergency help to get the new transmitter installed and the station back on the air.
"Right now we are still broadcasting online and hosting our live events," Jennie Cassie, WDVX's director of development, writes in an e-mail. "I want your readers to know that WDVX will be back on the air soon and that they can still listen online or come on down to our events (Blue Plate/First Friday/Wild Wing Cafe) for some cool live music!"