CheckOneTwo

The local music video scene has had a banner year, what with numerous local acts A-gaming it outside the studio and bringing a sleek visual complement to their sound.  The 1st Annual Arkansas Music Video Competition was perhaps inevitable–and irresistible to those of us who witnessed the birth of MTV.

May 17th–come see the finalists on video, crown the winner, hear The Moving Front, Epiphany, and Ace Spade & The Whores of Babylon, and 607.  Plus–YEP–the triumphant return of Techno-Squid Eats Parliament. 

You’re going to be there, right?

Glen

Time to get all syrupy again tonight–on tap:

Quatre Tete, 3-piece indie, with local loud guys Cinemahurt (grrrowwwwly lyrics and big-ass drum sound).

Only $4, and $1 cans of Old Stool plus $1 kamikaze shots. 

Stop on by and ask Travis if he’s feeling better.

I’m just sayin.

Glen

Regular readers remember that I was none too happy about AETN’s production of a recent Epiphany & One Night Stand show, for the station’s “AETN Presents” series.   Muddled sound, weird editing, transmission interruptions…kind of hard to appreciate.

I’m happy to report that the fine folks at AETN promise that the problems have been rectified, and they’re re-airing the show tonight at 6:30.  Check it out tonight if you can, and let me know what you think.

Sibilance,

Glen

House Show at 315 S. Schiller–The Moving Front (woo-hoo!!) w/Cortez the Killer (the Minneapolis group, not the Long Island group) and Older Women.  8 p.m.  ALL AGES

Whitewater Tavern, 9 p.m.–The Future of Ghost (Salt Lake City), Jason & The Punknecks, The Weisenheimers.

Sticky Fingerz, 9:30 p.m.–Jackson Taylor

Juanita’s, 9 p.m., $5, 18+:  Bombay Black w/Odsis, The Muddlestudds

Sticky Fingerz, 8:30 p.m.:  Patrice Pike (opening act TBA). 

Whitewater Tavern, 9 p.m.:  Bettysoo (out of Austin, TX)

Juanita’s, 8 p.m.:  $15, ALL AGES:  Secondhand Serenade w/PlayRadioPlay, Making April, & Rookie of the Year

In one day, I will have a thirteen year old son.  Whoa.

Thirteen was a big year for me, especially that summer.   T’was a summer of spending a lot of time with my dad at his place in Memphis.   For a boy from Gravel Ridge, summer there was paradise.  Pops lived in a townhouse complex with a pool and an assortment of randy teenagers.   I was the kid from out of town, but in a good way–novelty, fresh face, etc.  One of my favorite summers ever.  Endless days of straightup lounging, arguing about how to spell Def Leppard, stolen kisses in the deep end of the pool, and wondering if this was the summer it was finally going to happen (answer:  no).

More importantly:  it was the summer of my first real concert. 

I’d been on my mom for years, asking if I could go to concerts that rolled into Barton Coliseum.  Foreigner?  No, you’re too young.   Loverboy!  Forget it.   Ozzy!!  No, there’s too much pot at those shows.  Imagine my frustration when my neighbor–a year younger–won two tickets to see Rush and I was denied (”that’s Devil Music–it stands for Roots Under Satan’s house”).  T’was a grim morning when I saw Chris Kenner wearing a Rush shirt the next day.  It glowed in the dark, he said.   Much like my fury the night before, lying in bed knowing that a sixth-grader was at Rush and I, a much more mature seventh-grader, was…not.

Mom’s rules, apparently, did not apply when I was at Dad’s.  So when Dad asked if I wanted to go see CHEAP TRICK, I swam through the cartoon noises in my head (ahh-a-eee/ahh-a-eee/ahh-a-eee!!) and said YES!  A concert!  Sweeet!  Who the hell is Cheap Trick?  I don’t know any of their songs!  But it’s a concert and I’m going!  Right on!

After what seemed like a year (but was really only about a day), we were there!  I remember it being an outdoor show, we were down near the front, and I was vibing hard on the energy of live music.  Instantly addicted to what Jeff Bebe would call “the fucking buzz, man!”  The details still stick with me:  the smell of sweat and cotton candy, the extra heartbeat in my chest from the bass and drums, the sweet raw pain in my throat from yelling, me wondering why all the mohawked guys near us (actual mohawks! wait’ll I tell the guys at school!) kept screaming “She’s Tight!” 

Wait!  I do know some of their songs!  “I Want You to Want Me,” “Surrender,” “The Dream Police”!!!!  I didn’t know that was Cheap Trick!  Yeahhhh!!! 

I remember thinking that Rick Nielsen must be the greatest guitarist EVER, especially when he brought out a double-necked twelve-string guitar painted up to look like him (the necks were legs, the body was, well, a body)).  

To this day, CheckOneTwo has a soft spot for Cheap Trick and will always, always, always turn up their radio cuts and sing along.   Thanks, Dad, for that show and for all the others we went to in Memphis (Adam Ant, Billy Idol, Springsteen…too many to count).  My mommy’s allright, but–in this way–my daddy’s really allright, even though they both seem a little weird.

QUESTION:  TELL ME SOME DETAILS ABOUT YOUR FIRST TIME? 

Sticky Fingerz, 8:30, $20:  Martin Sexton & George Stanford.  From the Stickyz site:  Hailed by Billboard as “the real thing, people. A star with potential to permanently affect the musical landscape and keep us entertained for years to come.”

Martin Sexton distills soul, gospel, R&B, country and blues into archetypal rock n’ roll. Renowned as a die-hard road warrior, Sexton has traveled the globe with his guitar slung on his back and a heart full of soul. His songs are intricate and spirited… According to The New York Times, “[Sexton's] unpretentious heartiness helps him focus on every soul singer’s goal: to amplify the sound of the ordinary heart.”

Whitewater Tavern, 9 p.m.:  Adam Carroll, Jason Eady, Owen Temple (Songwriters Night)

Juanita’s, 7:30 p.m., $16:  The AP Tour:  All Time Low, The Rocket Summer, Sonny, The Matches, and Forever The Sickest Kids.  ALL AGES!!

APRIL 22:  NEW DAISY THEATRE (MEMPHIS)–ELVIS COSTELLO

Sticky Fingerz, 9 p.m., $4:  Thick Syrup’s Monday night dealie with Adam Faucett of Taught The Rabbits & Allyn Ross

Vino’s, 7 p.m., $15:  MURDER BY DEATH , O’DEATH & KISS KISS