"Uncorked & Unplugged"

Every Wednesday @ Melting Point

originally published January 10, 2007

Ken Will Morton

The Melting Point's weekly "Uncorked & Unplugged" series aims to put today's songwriting pros in the spotlight. "For all of the great bands and performers out there breaking their necks and the listeners who love them," says Ken Will Morton, the series' host, "it still comes down to a good song, and this series focuses on that essence. Sometimes the featured performers collaborate on a song or two. I jump [in] and play some harp and sing with a few. It's intimate enough to get some good crowd interaction."

Melting Point booking agent Troy Aubrey came up with the idea for the series, says Morton, and handles all decisions as to who performs. "I'll throw a recommendation out here and there," says Morton, "but I pretty much just learn about who's booked and try and be a gracious host." Acoustic (although not exclusively) and up-close performances earn the "unplugged" tag, and "uncorked" refers to the venue's half-off discount for bottles of wine at the shows, which run from 8 to 11 p.m.

Bob Livingston, Paul Reeves and Gary Pfaff perform on Wednesday, Jan. 10. The following week's show on Jan. 17 sees Kyler England, Sam Shaber and Tin Cup Prophette's Amanda Kapousouz take the stage, while Sandra McCracken and Scott Miller visit Athens on Jan. 24. And later this year, expect performances from John Neff, David Barbe and Jack Logan, among others. "It'd be great to get a [Drive-By] Trucker in there," says Morton of hopes for future installments, "or maybe one of those writers who've had a hit by another performer singing one of their songs. Some songwriters who write on unconventional instruments would be good… Overall, I'm up for anyone!"

Chris Hassiotis

The Ones

w/ Stereo Campbell

Thursday, January 11 @ Flicker Theatre & Bar

originally published January 10, 2007

Kyle Kuykendall

The Ones

Formed in early 2002 after the dissolution of bands Grace and The Quiet Men, The Ones was one group with two members at its core: Sara-J Ursrey and Mike Linhardt. Personal issues found the group dormant through much of 2004 and 2005, but last year, a reinvigorated band returned, augmented by members Alliene Bouchard and Andrea Ivy Waterstone. "We just decided to call it quits for a while," says Ursrey, "but we'd been recording. Now we decided that we wanted to revive it again. We were doing our own thing. We were playing at the Bluebird on a Sunday night [as a duo last August], and these two people loved it and said they wanted to be a part of it. So, they are."

The new lineup has only taken the stage two times, but Ursrey says the music is a step forward from past sounds, which veered into ethereal, dramatic modernist pop, now incorporating four-part vocal harmonies and more "exciting" percussion. "It's like nighttime on the beach," she says. "So many people have come up to tell us that, it's weird. Like, more than a couple of people." New songs are a feature of the new evolution as well. "I am pretty stubborn and Mike is pretty stubborn and we have a hard time writing songs with other people," says Ursrey, "but Alliene and Andrea have brought some songs to the group, which is like moving a mountain with us two stubborn-pants old fogies, and they sound really good, so I'm excited about that.

As for this week's show, "It'll be low key, but we all are… I would like to think of it as my 30th birthday show, although it's not for a couple more days," says Ursrey. "Oh, one time I played a birthday show at Flicker and someone brought me a cake shaped like a penis." Yum. Tonight's show gets going at that regular Flicker hour of 8:30 p.m.

Chris Hassiotis

The Last Waltz Ensemble

Saturday, January 13 @ Georgia Theatre

originally published January 10, 2007

The Last Waltz Ensemble

For the last year or so, Atlanta’s Last Waltz Ensemble has traveled the highways paying tribute to the triple-concert album that capped off the cumulative career of genre-bending group The Band. Kris Gloer, also of ATL blues fiends Houndog and Jellyroll, serves as the group’s unofficial Robbie Robertson. Each performance, he leads a cast of Danko, Helm, Hudson and Manuel devotees through material from The Band’s star-studded 1978 farewell album and Scorsese-directed concert film, as well as selections originally recorded with group ringleader Bob Dylan at the helm.

Recently, Gloer has been joined by an eclectic crew of running partners that includes vocalist-guitarist Mark Kramer, bassist-vocalist Eric Reed, drummer Kevin “Little Budda” Rutschman, sax man Brad Thomas, organ player Dan Seifert, Athens keyboardist Jason Fuller and guitarist Benji Shanks. In keeping with the original Last Waltz’s stellar guest list, there’s always some surprise entries afoot, ready to strap on their Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and (if luck holds out) Neil Diamond shoes. Past guests have included Georgia Satellites guitarist Rick Richards, Bluegrass Underground frontman Rev. Jeff Mosier and singer-songwriter Caroline Aiken. For this performance, Gloer says to expect cameo appearances from members of Captain Soularcat and several other Athens and Atlanta players.

“We will have [Augusta soul rocker] Greg Hester out there doing the Van Morrison stuff and he will be wearing a monkey suit specially made for this show,” says Gloer. Whether Gloer is just yanking our chain about that elaborately tailored ape suit remains unclear. However, as original Waltzer Dr. John alluded to in the movie, strange things are bound to happen when attempting to recreate “oh, such a night.”

Michael Andrews