Fallen Thoughts

:: 11.04.2003 ::

about a month and a half ago I started working at the 40 watt here in athens. it's my first steady job since I moved here and so far it's been great. as they say on the site, there are no benefits and the pay isn't that great, but there are some pretty nice perks - one being the music. since late summer, I've seen a ton of shows - rock, jam, acoustic, reggae, bluegrass, indie and a few things in between. I started jotting some of the shows down not long ago and realized just how many there have been, so I wanted to write a little about them all.

the weekend after bonnaroo was athfest, an annual weekend of music held in athens. the good folks of mother jackson hooked me up with an all-access weekend pass, although I only took advantage of one night with it. no time for regrets - I ended up seeing four great shows that night, so I had no reason to be anything but satisfied. the first show of the night was mother jackson at the engine room. this is my roommate richard's band and they rock. it was my first time seeing them play with chuck of southern bitch on bass and it was a treat. kate, austen, and chris were all there, along with a nice crowd of folks on the outside porch and we all enjoyed a nice (and loud!) set from mj. next up was garbage island - loud, experimental, improvisational noise. my now and then-soon-to-be boss craig, along with 4 or 5 others folks, make up the meat of the band. it was an interesting introduction, to say the least. after helping mother jackson break down and get their shit put aside, we all took off for the tasty world to catch grand fury downstairs. their show was a nice mix of country and rock n' roll and they had a great crowd to play to. aside from being my first fury show, it was also my first time getting to see matt play pedal steel and he was all over it. I watched them wrap up and then headed down to the theatre to wrap up the night with stewart & winfield. another first for me - I'd heard their another round album, but I got to experience the real thing that night. I ended up getting right up to the stage and took my best pictures of the evening. the show was nice - I even got to hear a favorite of mine, a track called "festival". after the show, I met stewart and got hold of a setlist for chris adams (he's a pretty avid fan). and with that, my weekend of music was done.

I caught a few other shows between then and the time I started working at the watt. david barbe and southern bitch at the caledonia was not long after - barbe opened and the bitch closed it down. both bands set up outside on the deck and it was perfect. barbe's set was nice and he had some pretty acclaimed local musicians playing with him, but I was there for southern bitch and they didn't disappoint. chris' straightforward backbeat, chuck's alabama basslines, and wendy's thick, crunchy rhythm all blended nicely behind the lead attack of adam's sharp playing and deep-fried vocals. they blazed through a rockin' set, with a good number of tracks from their new album, thunderbolt. at the end of the night, I said their show may have been the best I've ever seen in athens - I've seen a lot of music up here and that's a pretty bold statement, but rest assured these guys rock and they're all really, really great folks. they're in state college, pa tonight at the crowbar opening for the drive-by truckers and back in athens on november 19th with lucero and joseph plunket & the weight. check them out if you haven't already. I also saw a couple of good sets at the watt - ghost envy and echo canyon. ghost envy is my friend dan's band - not really my style, but the show I saw was their first show EVER, so for them to have the composure and togetherness they had was enough of a statement in itself to their ability. echo canyon is a new thing that craig (of garbage island) is doing with chuck (of southern bitch/mother jackson) and jim wilson (of mother jackson). it's also an experimental improv set, but it's a little more subtle than the sounds of garbage island. jim plays drums and percussion, chuck is on upright bass, and craig directs on guitar. I caught them again not too long ago opening for drums & tuba, but I only got to hear the last couple of songs. matt (of grand fury) sat in on lap slide and from what I heard it sounded like a great night. I think the last show I saw before starting work was mother jackson again at the roadhouse. the show was in the middle of their recording sessions at elixir and was in part to try and raise a little extra money to put towards studio costs. I ended up working the door for two bucks a person and although it was a slow night downtown, they still managed to make a little bonus money for the record.

one of the first shows I worked at the 40 watt was jet by day and jucifer. a pretty good crowd came out for the show, seeing as it was a homecoming show of sorts for jucifer. they'd just gotten back into town after a national tour and they were well received. jet by day wasn't really appealing to me, but they put on a nice opening set. jucifer, on the other hand, was a great show. the band consists of only two people, ed on drums and amber on guitar. amber played a 7-string guitar with two bass strings up top. they had a great stage presence and were LOUD. the speaker setup they played through was huge, and from what I heard only part of their usual gear. not long after I worked richard buckner/joseph plunket/jonathan richman. I'd seen richman play with moe tucker about a year ago at the watt, so I was pretty pumped about seeing him perform again. I missed buckner's opening set, but plunket's was a nice acoustic set reminiscent of early springsteen. richman put on a helluva show, always holding the crowd with his ever-so-comfortable persona and spanish-style acoustic riffs. backed by tommy larkins on drums, he played song after song, told stories, and above all had a blast doing so. kayla and chris came up to see jonathan with me and right after we hauled ass down to tasty world to see southern bitch. we got there just in time to see richard sit in on three or four songs. he's been working on them all week at the house and was pretty nervous when we got there, but he stepped on stage and settled in nicely. he & adam played well off each other and the crowd assured them so.

the next show I worked was the delusions/the solace brothers/built to spill. I was working backstage so I didn't really get to catch much of the first two bands, but to their credit they were really nice guys and both bands traveled quite a way to open for built to spill. built to spill's show was nice - I'm not that familiar with them, so I can't really go into what was played, but they had a great sound and did a killer cover of neil young's "cortez the killer". a few nights later I worked the entropy/dubconscious show. entropy has a nice blend of roots and funk and they're an altogether tight band. dubconscious (who should have been unconscious from that pre-show session) is straight up reggae, playing lots of originals off of their latest album and a few classic covers.

as I mentioned before, I saw echo canyon open a three bill set at the tasty world with gunnison and drums & tuba. gunnison was an extremely tight band and they had a really jazzy sound, but for some reason I really didn't get into it - I think I was just in a weird mood that night. I remembered the trombone player from last year's panic set on new year's eve eve in atlanta - he was playing the shit out of that horn. drums & tuba were pretty cool, but like I said I wasn't in the best of spirits that night. still, I watched for a while - the drummer was really good and had a great sound. the tuba and effects coupled with the guitar made for some interesting rhythms. the guitarist was really spastic and played lots of strange tunings and through tons of effects. the tuba had a great sound, real low-end stuff and the tuba player often worked in effects loops as they were playing. quite an interesting night of experimental and original music.

over the past couple of weeks I've managed to see some awesome shows. I worked the big wu/hackensaw boys show in mid-october and really enjoyed both sets. big wu was sorta jammy, but not too much so. I was backstage for most of their show, but it sounded really good. I came out front for a good part of the hackensaw boys. they put on a great show playing really fun bluegrass. and their tour bus ROCKS. it's a big ass silver old school charter bus.. well, just click on their link and you'll see. anyway, yeah - really good time. kayla came up for a while and listened and really liked them, too. she was downtown the next day and said they all came up on the sidewalk outside of blue sky and jammed acoustic for a while until the po-po's showed up and broke up the party. still, a testament to the fact that those guys really love to play.

two nights later, me & kayla headed down to macon to celebrate our one-year anniversary with a night of panic. we met chris, amanda, courtney, and kate in the lot and caught up for a while before we headed for the doors. we got in and grabbed some nice seats to the left of the stage, close to the floor. the set was awesome, with a lot of songs I hadn't heard them do before. some highlights for me were "dirty business", "stop breakin' down blues" > "ride me high", and the "let it bleed" and "mr. soul" encore, two covers I'd never heard before. the "ride me high" had to be my favorite of the night - the entire coliseum was inundated with orange and yellow light throughout the song and the crowd was so pumped during. I remember that song being stuck in my head for a good week after. after the show we hung out in the lot again for a bit, but I could barely hold my head up and we had a nice 2 and a half hour drive back to athens so we said our farewells and took off. I drove us to steak n' shake and nearly fell asleep on the bar by the register, so I went outside and passed out while I waited on kayla and the food. I was really glad kayla was good to drive because I was done - about a half hour out of macon I finally woke up and ate my sandwich and stayed up with her the remainder of the ride back. many thanks to you for gettin' us home safe - and happy anniversary again!

back to the music - a couple of nights later I worked patrick park/my morning jacket. for two bands I'd never really heard of, I was completely blown away. park's opening set was solo acoustic and really good. he had a great voice and played really subtle rock - good, heartfelt storytelling songs. my morning jacket came out and brought it. they have an amazing sound - I'm not really sure how to describe it. it's good, hard rock n' roll but with great melodies. the singer has a great range and plays a mean guitar - and the rest of the band compliments each other so well. the show was very well put together, always holding the crowd. after only a few songs, I was a fan.

the last few shows I've seen have all been damn good, too. just a few days back I went to tasty world to catch southern bitch but I got there late and only saw a couple of songs. but afterwards red leader took the stage and put on a pretty rockin' show. the last time I saw them they were a little sloppy and didn't really have it together overall, but they've definitely come around since then. they've tightened their sound a lot and I ended up hanging out there for a good bit of the show. I left there and walked over to the theatre to try and catch some of the derek trucks band show - I got there pretty late, but in time to see the last 4 or 5 songs and a two song encore. I hadn't seen them since back in summer '98 on the HORDE tour and it was nice to see how much they've progressed. and to top it off, I got in the show for free and found 45 bucks on the sidewalk outside after the show. that's my kinda night. that weekend I worked two nights of gillian welch & david rawlings and was really impressed with the duo. gillian is pretty well known, having a few grammy's under her belt for her music, as well as some very impressive side projects with ani difranco, ryan adams, and emmylou harris among others. her voice is amazing and blends so well with david's, as do their respective rhythm and lead guitar work. they both play acoustic and do mostly originals with an occasional folk or bluegrass cover thrown in. rawlings was playing an old (like 30's old) epiphone acoustic and got a brilliant tone out of it. both nights drew over 600 people, a great success for them and us - hope to see them in athens again soon.

that's about it for what's been going on with me lately - lots of working and music. our two big shows this weekend are better than ezra and rooney. I'm not much of a bte fan and I haven't heard rooney, so maybe they'll surprise me. I do know it's going to be a busy weekend up there - lots of loading and unloading and long nights and early mornings. I'm really looking forward to aesop rock and mr. lif on the 14th, so if any of you are up for a good hip-hop show, head up to the watt and check it out.

tonight it's pleasure club at the caledonia, so I'm off. 'til then, take care y'all.

:: posted by Michael at 11:56 PM [+] ::

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