Two Good Shows This Weekend!

To be honest, we’re not huge fans of Halloween cover band shows. With the exception of the fantastic Jesus Lizard cover band show from a couple years back (R.I.P. Tony Bailey), usually it seems like most bands take the easy route and just do the same Misfits set or whatever. Yawn.

However, an exception to that rule is Louisville’s WAX FANG, which apparently pulled off Prince’s Purple Rain like it was no big deal. This year, they’re paying tribute to the Velvet Underground, one of our faves of all time! No word on which eras of VU will be represented, but I’m assuming it’s not gonna be just Doug Yule stuff from Squeeze or somethin’.

Another highlight of that same show will be THE BAD REEDS as the Plastic Ono Band (though again, it’s not clear entirely if they’ll be playing Yoko or John material). The show’s at ZANZABAR, which of course is at 2100 S. Preston. 9 PM, 21+, $10.

Also tomorrow night brings NYC post-hardcore chugga-chugg purveyors HELMET. If you’re like me, Meantime was one of your favorite albums at 16, mainly because it sounded like Sabbath played at 45 (with Ozzy’s vocals pitched down to 16 RPM)! TROPHY WIVES are the only opener we know of, but they pretty much rule, so that’s that. At the ridiculously still-chooglin’ PHOENIX HILL TAVERN, 7 PM, 21+ $15.

CROPPED OUT is coming up…

We haven’t had too much to say about the upcoming CROPPED OUT festival, on the weekend of November 11th – 13th here in lovely Louisville, Kentucky, because it seems like it’s all anybody can talk about anyway! I mean, can you believe freakin’ SCRATCH ACID is gonna play?* Me neither, and I’m really stoked!

But the CROPPED OUT fest is far more than just one band. It’s a whole mess of ‘em! Including some of our favorite performers ever:

• BILL ORCUTT, former guitarist for HARRY PUSSY, and one of the most exciting purveyors of six-string nonsense (even though he only plays four strings, apparently) going today.
• MV + EE, the duo of Matt Valentine (formerly of THE TOWER RECORDINGS) and Erika Elder is probably the closest you’ll get to seeing Neil Young live, except perhaps even more damaged. And rumor has it that former TOWER RECORDINGS member TIM BARNES will be joining them!
• MOUNT CARMEL is probably our favorite of the new SILTBREEZE roster — straight-ahead Ohio-style boogie rock!
• HUMAN EYE might possibly be the best rock band in Detroit right now. Period.

And there’s a whole slew more, including lots of shit we’ve never heard of before! And a bevy of fantastic local artists, including our friends SAPAT, YOUNG WIDOWS, SHEDDING, COLISEUM, CROSS, and lots more!

They got a new web site up at http://croppedoutmusic.com, so check it out and buy your tickets ASAP.** It’s gonna be killer!

*On a side note, how come nobody got it together to bring THE JESUS LIZARD to Louisville during their recent reunion action? Just because Laura Shine has no idea who they are doesn’t mean they weren’t one of the most popular Chicago-style bands to play in Louisville during the 1990s. Our excuse for not booking them is, well, we were too poor to afford their guarantee (as if our shoe-string show budget wasn’t obvious).

**Seriously Louisville, if you sleep on this like you slept on TERRASTOCK 2008, you only have yourself to blame. The prices are good, the venue is centrally located, and if you miss it…

DISCLAIMER: We are buds with Ryan and James who are booking/promoting CROPPED OUT, and we think they’re awesome! We do occasionally co-promote shows with ‘em but that’s only because they rule!

OBITS, BOTTOMLESS PIT, and STATE CHAMPION at Club 21, Thursday, October 20th

Our friends at CROPPED OUT are bringin’ it tomorrow night! Three great bands at Club 21 (formerly the Pour Haus, where you saw Pere Ubu, remember?). Here’s the details:

Cropped Out Presents
A very special evening of rock’n'roll music with:

OBITS (ex-Hot Snakes/Drive Like Jehu — from Brooklyn)
http://obitsurl.com/

with

BOTTOMLESS PIT (ex-Silkworm — from Chicago)
http://bottomlesspit.us/

and

STATE CHAMPION (“Deep Shit” record release show — from Louisville)
http://statechampion.tumblr.com/

Thursday, October 20th
Club 21 (formerly the Pour Haus)
Doors at 8. Show at 9.
$10. 21+.

Advance tickets available at:
http://www.ticketfly.com/event/59291

Be there! We will.

James Elkington & Nathan Salsburg, Avos (Tompkins Square)

This week’s LEO Weekly features my review of the new album by James Elkington & Nathan Salsburg, Avos:

Louisville resident Nathan Salsburg is an archivist for the Alan Lomax Archive and a music columnist for LEO Weekly. (Disclaimer: I’ve been friends with Nathan since middle school, and we occasionally collaborate on promoting musical events in town). What is perhaps less known by the public at large is Salsburg’s prowess at the finger-picking guitar style established in the 1960s and ’70s by John Fahey and others, as he’s previously only released one song, on the Tompkins Square label’s Imaginational Anthems compilation series. His new collaboration, Avos, with Chicago-based guitarist James Elkington, as well as his upcoming solo debut Affirmed, should definitely garner Salsburg some well-deserved praise as a guitarist. Avos is intricately composed, yet has a fresh, contemporary sound without feeling too gimmicky or of-the-moment. Salsburg and Elkington tastefully show enough dexterity to make the listener wonder, “How’d they do that?” without being too flashy. Rather, Avos is a slightly melancholy affair, with plenty of melodic, serene moments to match the six-string sleight-of-hand.

Buy it from Tompkins Square here: http://www.tompkinssquare.com/avos.html.

And don’t forget, Nathan will be playing a solo set with Glenn Jones this Friday at the Clifton Center. Details (including a link to purchase tickets) here: http://othersideoflife.wordpress.com/2011/10/10/glenn-jones-and-nathan-salsburg-at-the-clifton-community-center-friday-october-21st/.

GLENN JONES and NATHAN SALSBURG at the CLIFTON CENTER, Friday, October 21st

The Other Side of Life is proud to present:

Thrill Jockey recording artist GLENN JONES (from Massachusetts, founder of CUL DE SAC)

with special guest:
NATHAN SALSBURG (from Louisville, Kentucky; debut album forthcoming on No Quarter)

Friday, October 21st at 8 PM
Clifton Center, Community Room
2117 Payne Street
Louisville, KY 40206
$8 advance tickets available exclusively online at TicketFly, $10 day of show
ALL AGES WELCOME.

GLENN JONES has been called “the best guitarist you never heard of” by the Boston Globe. A 30+-year devotee of the so-called American Primitive school of acoustic steel string guitarists, GLENN JONES has been playing guitar since the age of 14. He formed Boston pysch-rock band, CUL DE SAC, in 1989 and led it on its 20 year journey to nowhere, leaving nine albums in its wake, including collaborations with guitarist John Fahey and Can’s Damo Suzuki. The Wanting is JONES’ first album for the esteemed Chicago-based Thrill Jockey label, and features his beautiful guitar and banjo compositions, as well as a collaboration with percussionist Chris Corsano. The Utne Reader calls JONES “an incredibly adept fingerstyle guitarist whose technique always remains in service of the song… His vigorous leaps are daring but never reckless, and nearly always sublime.”

GLENN JONES was recently profiled on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday, which you can listen to here: http://www.npr.org/2011/10/01/140935915/a-singular-guitarist-emerges-from-john-faheys-shadow.

NATHAN SALSBURG is an archivist, producer, guitarist and writer based in Louisville, Kentucky. He has worked for the Alan Lomax Archive since 2000, for which he currently serves in the capacities of production manager, photo and video archivist, and general digital catalog editor. Since 2006 he has produced and hosted “Root Hog Or Die,” a vernacular/traditional music program on East Village Radio, and is curator of the Twos & Fews recording imprint, also a vernacular music entity, and a collaboration with Chicago’s Drag City label. SALSBURG maintains an index of on-line vernacular music resources at his blog, roothogordie.wordpress.com, and contributes occasional music writing to the Louisville Eccentric Observer and the Other Music weekly update. This past August, the Tompkins Square label released Avos, a collaboration between SALSBURG and Chicago guitarist James Elkington (formerly of the Zincs), and SALSBURG’s first solo album, Affirmed, is due November 15th on No Quarter.

Listen to “Sought & Hidden” off Affirmed here: http://noquarter.net/mp3/sought.mp3.

Check out the Facebook invite here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=215621245171725.

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