Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Spanish Moon, Baton Rouge, LA

Thunderclap, gypsy medicine show, feral lullaby and brimstone rage. No one is master of his weirdness like Will Oldham. One is not sure whether to surrender or flee from it, and you get the sense that he might feel that way too.


And if I'm not mistaken, that was Jim White of the Dirty Three on drums (I never did get a good picture) and if so, I scream a tiny music nerd scream.

The Howling Hex, Spanish Moon, Baton Rouge, LA

Neal Haggerty looks like the walking corpse of indie rock, backed up by summerstock Grease cast members. Each tune is 5-6 minutes of hypno-rotary garage genius/torture. Love these guys.

5 things I've looked up very recently, with answers and expectations where applicable

1. The spelling of thresher. I thought it was threasher, and was hoping it was thrasher, but it was neither.
   
2. The original band name for Journey. We all had it in our head that it was something more exotic than Golden Gate Rhythm Section, but it was revealed that Steve Perry's band before Journey was named Alien Project, and we decided that what what we were thinking.
3. The lyrics to Marshall Crenshaw's "Someday, Someway" to decide whether it would be appropriate to play on acoustic guitar at a wedding pre-party. There is a lot of taking things from each other and a good bit of crying in there, but I think the buoyant romanticism of the delivery overshadows all that.
4. How to get Word 2007 to repeat a value entered in one form field throughout other fields in the document, specifically in the header and footer. Still looking for a satisfactory answer for this one.
5. The name of the new Woody Allen movie, starring Larry David playing the Woody Allen role. It is Whatever Works.
   

walk it out music

LCD Soundsystem - 45:33
Arthur Russell - Springfield (listen)
Kraftwerk - Tour De France Soundtracks (listen)

Anything on any of these, really, but especially this:

You Have Did The Right Thing W...

[Record Crate] R.I.P. Justin Hilbun

This past weekend, we lost one of our finest musicians Justin Hilbun, known to many for his contributions to the Way*High Men, Poor Harvey, Elsah, Polly Pry, Judge Genius and recently his own band Justin Hilbun & the Homewreckers, but what I will always think of is his congeniality and his enterprising spirit. Hilbun never came across as one to complain about the lack of a music scene, he was instead a guy who put on his boots and forged his own scene. You wish there was such-and-such a band around? Start one. He will be sorely missed by those lucky enough to have known him.

On to the music: Bonnie “Prince” Billy (AKA Will Oldham, the Palace Brothers, etc.) brings the country mysticism that graces his most graceful new CD Beware to an early show at Spanish Moon on Wednesday, and as much as I think Oldham is one of the most compelling musical personalities going, I’m just as excited to see the opening band The Howling Hex, the idiosyncratic band helmed by former Royal Trux mastermind Neal Haggerty. The Howling Hex mix African highlife guitar, new wave syncopation and art-punk inventiveness into a spellbinding, boogiefied gumbo.

Thursday night, Louisiana legend Zachary Richard will share the Manship stage with New Orleans jazz pianist and host of WWOZ’s The Blues Ball David Torkanowsky and New Orleans guitar whiz Shane Theriot who has played with everyone from The Neville Brothers to Willie Nelson.

Monday night, Cambridge electro pop darlings Passion Pit with drop in to the Spanish Moon to fill it with bubbles and summer joy. Lil Dave Thompson with tear yet another hole in the space-time-blues continuum out at Teddy’s on Friday.

Wednesday, June 3

Bonnie Prince Billy & The Howling Hex at Spanish Moon (early show)

Thursday, June 4

Zachary Richard, David Torkanowsky, and Shane Theriot at the Manship Theatre

Corvina and Maven at The Varsity

Friday, June 5

Passion Pit at Spanish Moon

American Aquarium at Chelsea’s

Matt Kayda, Marcus Elizondo, and Stephen Cochran at Boudreaux & Thibodeaux’s

Letters in Red at Click’s

Furr at the Caterie

Lil Dave Thompson at Teddy’s Juke Joint

Saturday, June 6

Thou at Spanish Moon

The Bedlamville Triflers and The Unnaturals at Chelsea’s

Pyledtriver and Axes of Evil at North Gate Tavern

Marcus Elizondo and The Dre Zaunbrecher band at Boudreaux & Thibodeaux’s

Lucid (CD Release party) and Here is Why at Click’s

Meriwether at The Caterie

Country Fried at Phil Brady’s

Troy Turner at Teddy’s Juke Joint

Sunday, June 7

Elvin Killerbee at Teddy’s Juke Joint

Monday, June 8

Ryan Bingham & the Dead Horses at Chelsea’s

the steps we take to become more like Endicott

"Give Me Just a Little More Time" by Chairmen of the Board was just stuck in my head, and now it is stuck in yours. You're welcome!

Give Me Just A Little More Tim...

And thanks to the embarrassment of riches that is the Semi-Pro soundtrack (listen) where I tracked the song down, I offer up the Blackbyrds, the streetwise jazz-flute-armed funk patrol recruited from Donald Byrd's music students at Howard in the early 70's. (listen)

Hash And Eggs - The Blackbyrds

I forgot to chart whatever steps brought me from there to the disco/ragtime crossover curiosity of Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band, (listen) but those steps were made, and it is a short jump from there to Kid Creole and the Coconuts, formed by Dr. Buzzard vibraphonist August Darnell, who apparently needed a weirder concept than disco/big-band to realize his vision. That led to this song that has been a little on my mind. You are welcome for this as well.

Kid Creole And The Coconuts - Endicott
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[outsideleft] Bob Log III's Shit is Perfect

Gaze into this helmet and tell me you care if this is for real or not. (more...)