CheckOneTwo

…and I’m going to leave it in you’uns’ capable hands.  CheckOneTwo is headed to a remote patch of South Carolina soil to hang with my fellow enviro lobbyists from this side of the Mason-Dixon line.   We get together once a year or so.  If tradition holds, I’ll be spending the evening sippin’ bourbon and cussin’ polluters.  I do expect to take in a bit o’ music while I’m in the Palmetto State, along the lines of blues and gospel. 

What’ll YOU be doing this weekend?  So many choices:

Cornerstone Pub, 9 p.m., $10:  The Chill (Dime Edition), hosted by Liz & Epiphany.  10-minute sets from your favorite local hip-hoppers.  Acts include:  Rockst*r, Epiphany, Dave Harmony, Fiyah Burnz, BMore Mike, Swang, Shea Marie, Ashley, and Risky Bizness, plus DJ KP on the 1s and 2s.

Whitewater Tavern, 9 p.m.:  Runaway Planet’s CD release show–some of the finest bluegrass around.  I’m sorry to be missing this one, for sure. 

Vino’s, 8 p.m., $7:  KILLING ZOE w/ Sam Walker, A Heartwell Ending & Xoversa  

Sticky Fingerz, 10 p.m.:  Dizzy Reed (of Guns N’ Roses) and his band (dudes from Quiet Riot, the Jani Lane Band, and Puddle of Mudd) on the “Hookers & Blow” tour. 

Rev Room, 9 p.m., $8, 18+:  Big Smith, Charliehorse. 

Juanita’s, 10 p.m.:  B-level Entertainment presents Rodney Block & The Real Music Lovers (sheesh, I hate missing this)sting Hate

I want to see this event jampacked:  Arkansas Community Arts Cooperative (ACAC) “Stanza Extravaganza” open mic night.  Friday, July 18th, 8:30-11:00. 

CheckOneTwo went to one of these at ACAC a while back, and it was an utter blast.  Great funky times for me and the whole crew.  Music, poetry, free-stylin’…the works.  My youngstahs (age 13 and 9) both got up and performed and it was a real cool thing for them.  All ages, and way groovy.

ACAC is just about the coolest thing around.  Please support them.  They do all sorts of really rad events and go out of their way to aim a lot of  ‘em at younger folks.  Outside of Vino’s, there really aren’t too many all-ages places around.  Find out more at http://acacarkansas.wordpress.com/

Sibilance,

Glen

Riverfront Park, sundown, free, all ages:  The original Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory movie, outside on the big screen.  Ohhhhh…yes.  AND THE ROWERS KEEP ON ROWING!  AND I HAVE NO WAY OF KNOWING!  JUST HOW FAST THIS BOAT IS GOING!…or something like that.  Ahem.

Whitewater Tavern, 9 p.m., $5:  Dale Beavers (from Michigan, via Lake Village). 

Cornerstone Pub, 6 p.m., free:  Match Castashadow (solo indie stuff, outta New Orleans)

Juanita’s, 9 p.m., 6 p.m., $5:  103.7 The Buzz Presents “Buzzaritaville“.  Tonight’s guest:  Jeff Coleman

The Vino’s anniversary show:  Sept 20, featuring the rarely-spotted Ashtray Babyhead.

Mark it down.

Friday, September 12th, as part of the Live At The Garden series at the Memphis Botanic Garden.   If you’re feeling especially sassy, catch Earth Wind & Fire there on July 19th.  Right on!!

One of my favorite local albums of the past few years was Keep in Touch  by The Good Fear (Max Recordings, 2006).  It filled my headphones for a good couple of months.  My infatuation with the album led to an embarrassing moment when I was shopping and actually ran into TGF’s Zach Holland  (with my headphones in).  In my surprise, I gushed/confessed that I was listening to the album while I was talking to him.  I’m pretty sure that I freaked him out a little bit, because he didn’t know me that well, certainly not well enough to conclude that I was anything but some sort of freaky stalker hassling him at the Target.  Embarrassing moment aside, I still do love the album (although I kind of grounded myself from talking to Zach for a while in hopes of rehabilitating my rep.)   Hopefully, I’ve made some progress.  One day at a time.

TGF’s new album, Dirty Lowdown Adventure, (Max Recordings, 2008) is a strong, if somewhat uneven, followup to Keep in Touch.  Two years in the making, it’s 21 (21!!) tracks long and reflects what must happen when six excellent musicians are all too nice to each other to consider excising some of the tracks out of the final package.  All in all, it’s a much more subdued and curious album than its predecessor, much more spare and quiet than I expected from this sometimes rollicking sextet.  

Dirty Lowdown Adventure seems to be an experiment in turning down the volume.  It’s technically delicious, somehow enormous in its sparseness.  Haunting musically, yet ultimately puzzling.  Perhaps this is a concept album and I just haven’t yet grasped the concept.  

Frankly, this is not an album that grabbed me upon the first–or even the third–listen.  I confess a preference for livelier musical fare.  Meandering tracks like “Western Meds” (a real head-scratcher), “yawn, yawn, yawn, ya…sleep” (aptly named) and “Just a Vice” (about 10 minutes of WTF?) are puzzling and left me wondering if the band spent two years smoking the homegrown.   There are more up-tempo rewards for the patient, however, including the title track, “Where We Were Before,” “I LIke My Lived-in Life”, and “Dear Daniel” that show flashes of The Good Fear that I love to see in concert.  I’m also especially fond of “January Home”.

Dirty Lowdown Adventure is an album that is somber in tone, layered in texture, and challenging in its makeup.  It’s not The Good Fear’s party album, but it showcases a band unafraid to take chances and experiment with the formula.  Give it a listen–but don’t expect it to make you head-bob around the Target on your next shopping trip.

Sibilance,

Glen

IAMTHELIFE.NET, the multimedia superduper hip-hop website previously written about on CheckOneTwo here, is now planning a July 14th launch date.   Stay tuned.

Rev Room, $5/$10 d.o.s., 8:30, ALL AGES:  Army of Freshmen (out of Ventura), with Everyday Tragedy (out of Orange County, CA) and DJ Ashen out of Seattle.  RR says this is a Warped Tour-style show. 

Whitewater Tavern, $5, 10 p.m.:  Cicada Omega (blues/trance/rock out of Portland, OR), with Graham Weber & Leatherbag (Austin, TX)

Vino’s, 6:30 p.m., $12/$14 d.o.s., ALL AGES:  EMMURE w/ A LIFE ONCE LOST , TONY DANZA TAPDANCE EXTRAVAGANZA , VEIL OF MAYA & ASHES OF AUGUSTINE  

Juanitas, 9 p.m., free admission for 21+, $5 for 18-20 yr olds:  LR Scene Presents
Paul Sammons, Adam Hambrick, and Midwest Caravan. 

Sticky Fingerz, 10 p.m., $4:  This could very well be the last of the short-lived Thick Syrup Monday night events.  Why?  Because your lazy arses don’t make it out enough, that’s why.  Tonight:  Browningham, Kevin Kerby, and the newly devirgin-ized Drunken Angels.

Whitewater Tavern, 9 p.m., FREE SHOW:  The High Rollers (super-charged neo-rockabilly out of Arizona).

Rev Room, 8:30, $6, ALL AGES:  Deas Veil,with Sean Michel and A Rich History

Was perusing an Uncut magazine (terrific British read, up there with Q and Mojo) from last month, and came across a review of our very own American Princes’ new album, Other People (reviewed by CheckOneTwo in this space back in April).  They dug it large.  Check it out: it’s the issue with David Bowie on the front.

AMERICAN PRINCES:  Other People (Yep Roc)

*  *  *  *

Big rock sounds from Little Rock, Arkansas

“American Princes come roaring back from their lair in Little Rock with this howling beast of a disc.  With twin songwriters Collins Kilgore and David Slade battling hammer and tongs for supremacy, the quality control has been ramped up a few notches, as the band extends its range from the poppy chime-and-jangle of “Gravel” to the epic and elegiac “Where i’m Calling From”.  There’s a bit of everything–Smashing Pumpkins, REM, Pixies–but best of all this sounds like a band blossoming into its own identity.”

Adam Sweeting

Congrats, fellas.   If the Brits be with ya, then who can be against ya?

Sibilance,

Glen