Music News & Gossip
Dec 17, 2003
Threats & Promises
Music News And Gossip
Haven't mentioned the weather in a while here, and I guess there's no need to start now. I'm sure all of you know what it's like nowadays. At any rate, the news has been piling up like parking tickets around here, so put the kettle on and let's take a look-see...
Do You Feel Good? I Feel Good: Augusta establishment The Soul Bar has moved the dates of their James Brown Music Festival from March 2004 to May 8, 2004. Any bands interested in playing should contact the festival for available slots and pertinent details. The date was changed to coincide with The Godfather Of Soul's birthday. Another point worth raising: can anyone believe someone has their act together enough to not be changing something like this at the last minute? Organization is the key to life, folks. For more info head over to www.soulbar.com.
When The Local News Comes From Omaha, All Bets Are Off: Omaha - which over the past few years has become a musical sister city of Athens - is home to Saddle Creek Records, and sometimes it takes a set of non-local ears to appreciate what's right in your own backyard. At any rate, Birmingham-to-Athens-to-Omaha transplants Azure Ray have made their home at Saddle Creek and the label will release the second single "New Resolution," from the album Hold On Love, on Jan. 20, 2004. The CD-single will feature a live version of "The Drinks We Drank Last Night" and a video for "New Resolution" directed by Sam Jones, who directed the beautiful Wilco documentary I Am Trying To Break Your Heart. Azure Ray has a few U.S. dates left this year before breaking for the holidays, and then it's off on a whirlwind European tour which will last until February 19. In other Saddle Creek news, the label plans to release a new full-length by Athens' Now It's Overhead in 2004. Now if we could just convince them to stop releasing any more Bright Eyes records, we'd all be doing great.
Spin Me Right Round. Like A Record: Longtime Athens fixture and leading man of the burgeoning absurdist/experimental art scene Paul Thomas has an exciting event coming up soon at his X-Ray Café. Thomas will be performing with Texas-based turntablist Maria Chavez on January 31. Chavez is a member of Kranky Records' avant-garde experimentalists Charalambides. Her previous performances of note include playing a slide-show presentation of feminist writer Carol Adams' The Sexual Politics Of Meat (which isn't nearly as sexy as it sounds). Chavez promises to be a compelling performer and I, for one, am pretty stoked about this. She and Thomas will perform at Atlanta's Eyedrum the night before, if anyone wants to make the drive.
It's Called Cooperation: Speaking of Athens fixtures, you'd be hard-pressed to find anything more fixture-like than Wuxtry Records. Owner Dan Wall and company have been shucking records to the kids here since 1975. All the more reason it seems supremely appropriate for them to collaborate with UGA's New Media Institute to bring our town The Athens Music Museum. A small version, which made its debut during AthFest, is currently available for viewing at Wuxtry's downtown location, but the big guns will be brought out in January and are said to include an interactive kiosk where virtually every imaginable thing about the history, and current goings-on of the Athens scene will be available at one's fingertips. At a time when old-school, mom-and-pop record stores seem loathe to embrace new technology, it's refreshing to see Wuxtry dive in headfirst. The store previously collaborated with the NMI on their Wireless Access Group (WAGz) project several months ago. In other Wuxtry news, the store is currently holding its annual Canned Food Drive for the needy; every person who brings something in to donate gets a discount on their purchases that day. For full details on all this stuff, please call Wuxtry Records at 369-9428 or see www.athensmusicmuseum.net.
Tremors Was A Good Movie, Dammit: Will Cullen Hart and his buddies haven't been completely silent since the days of Olivia Tremor Control, but they've not been prolific, either; that's why new music from Circulatory System is always a cause for, if not champagne, at least the champagne of beers. The double-disc compilation Amos House Collection III, out now on Wishing Tree, contains the unreleased and quite melodic "Deserts (As Big As A Star)." So one song's fine, but when's the new album? The comp also includes Elf Power's "Evil Eye" and Azure Ray's "Lucky Sevens," alongside rarities from indie pant-throbs like Califone, Wilco, Super Furry Animals and Her Space Holiday. All proceeds benefit Rhode Island's Amos House, a charitable resource organization for the homeless. [Chris Hassiotis]
Like Comparing Apples and Bananas: Hop on over to the Orange Twin web site (www.orangetwin.com, y'think?) to check out the new design! It's chock-full of info on artists on Orange Twin's label as well as all the other music for sale. A little digging, however, and you'll find new t-shirts for sale, notably for The Instruments and Neutral Milk Hotel. All band shirts cost $15, which is still fairly pricey, but these new green Neutral Milk Hotel shirts cost $18. Each! So listen: you might call it capitalism, maybe, or say that Orange Twin's just taking advantage of a low-supply-high-demand situation, but I say it's taking advantage of fans' dedication. At least, though, it's obvious how the bills are getting paid... [CH]
Ah ha, Hush That... Lawsuit?: Here's a little news about the favorite sons from down 316. Civil-rights icon Rosa Parks and her family have been allowed to continue in their efforts to take Outkast to court, as last week the U.S. Supreme Court turned down a petition by the Speakerboxxx/The Love Below artists and their record label asking the court to step in.
Parks, who is 90 years old, took offense to the hip-hop duo's 1998 song "Rosa Parks" off their Aquemini album. The case has been batted around lower courts for the past three years, and specific charges have been added and dropped throughout the process, basically Parks believes she's being exploited for commercial gain and that the song, which never mentions her name in the lyrics, constitutes false advertising. When initially filing suit years ago, Parks was represented by hotshot attorney Johnnie Cochran. This whole situation is ridiculous on far too many levels... [CH]
Spreadin' The Whole Year Long: Widespread Panic will be release the recordings of their recent three-night stand at the Myrtle Beach, SC, House Of Blues. The albums will be released one at a time throughout the year, one each in spring, summer and fall. Each will showcase the different sides of the band: one album will contain the band performing with The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, one will be purely acoustic and one will be "straight-up Widespread Panic." The band is still sticking to their plans to not tour in 2004, so fans will have to pick these up, keep swapping bootlegs and maybe even get a job to pass the time this year.
It's Still T&A but With, Like, Tattoos and Stuff: Jomo Entertainment will bring a modern-day burlesque show to Athens on January 29 and the whole thing goes down at the fabulous 40 Watt. Pioneer "punk-rock porn" Internet site Suicidegirls.com will bring a bunch of their punk, emo and goth models to perform. What exactly this entails I have no idea, but it's a good bet you'll be shouting "ho, ho, ho" a full month after Christmas. Other promoters for the event include Pitchfork Media, Makeoutclub.com and Buddyhead Records. Apparently Suicidegirls is on the hunt for the best local band in each city to open the shows for them, so any of you folks that want a guaranteed shot at being upstaged should look into this. Speaking of which, local noise conquistadors
Another Broken Vehicle are lobbying to open the Jan. 27 show in Jacksonville, FL, so head over to www.suicidegirls.com/bands to cast yer vote. The Suicidegirls crew was recently featured on HBO's tease-fest "Real Sex" and has, uh, laid the groundwork for copycats along the way. For more information on the tour, or just a chance to look at naked chicks, please see www.suicidegirls.com.
And that's quite enough for now. Remember to put my name or Threats & Promises in the subject line of your emails and get your news in early and often. Ashes, ashes we all fall down via e-mail music@flagpole.com, voicemail at 549-2360; via fax at 548-8981; or by post at P.O. Box 1027, Athens, GA 30603.
Gordon Lamb
Do You Feel Good? I Feel Good: Augusta establishment The Soul Bar has moved the dates of their James Brown Music Festival from March 2004 to May 8, 2004. Any bands interested in playing should contact the festival for available slots and pertinent details. The date was changed to coincide with The Godfather Of Soul's birthday. Another point worth raising: can anyone believe someone has their act together enough to not be changing something like this at the last minute? Organization is the key to life, folks. For more info head over to www.soulbar.com.
When The Local News Comes From Omaha, All Bets Are Off: Omaha - which over the past few years has become a musical sister city of Athens - is home to Saddle Creek Records, and sometimes it takes a set of non-local ears to appreciate what's right in your own backyard. At any rate, Birmingham-to-Athens-to-Omaha transplants Azure Ray have made their home at Saddle Creek and the label will release the second single "New Resolution," from the album Hold On Love, on Jan. 20, 2004. The CD-single will feature a live version of "The Drinks We Drank Last Night" and a video for "New Resolution" directed by Sam Jones, who directed the beautiful Wilco documentary I Am Trying To Break Your Heart. Azure Ray has a few U.S. dates left this year before breaking for the holidays, and then it's off on a whirlwind European tour which will last until February 19. In other Saddle Creek news, the label plans to release a new full-length by Athens' Now It's Overhead in 2004. Now if we could just convince them to stop releasing any more Bright Eyes records, we'd all be doing great.
Spin Me Right Round. Like A Record: Longtime Athens fixture and leading man of the burgeoning absurdist/experimental art scene Paul Thomas has an exciting event coming up soon at his X-Ray Café. Thomas will be performing with Texas-based turntablist Maria Chavez on January 31. Chavez is a member of Kranky Records' avant-garde experimentalists Charalambides. Her previous performances of note include playing a slide-show presentation of feminist writer Carol Adams' The Sexual Politics Of Meat (which isn't nearly as sexy as it sounds). Chavez promises to be a compelling performer and I, for one, am pretty stoked about this. She and Thomas will perform at Atlanta's Eyedrum the night before, if anyone wants to make the drive.
It's Called Cooperation: Speaking of Athens fixtures, you'd be hard-pressed to find anything more fixture-like than Wuxtry Records. Owner Dan Wall and company have been shucking records to the kids here since 1975. All the more reason it seems supremely appropriate for them to collaborate with UGA's New Media Institute to bring our town The Athens Music Museum. A small version, which made its debut during AthFest, is currently available for viewing at Wuxtry's downtown location, but the big guns will be brought out in January and are said to include an interactive kiosk where virtually every imaginable thing about the history, and current goings-on of the Athens scene will be available at one's fingertips. At a time when old-school, mom-and-pop record stores seem loathe to embrace new technology, it's refreshing to see Wuxtry dive in headfirst. The store previously collaborated with the NMI on their Wireless Access Group (WAGz) project several months ago. In other Wuxtry news, the store is currently holding its annual Canned Food Drive for the needy; every person who brings something in to donate gets a discount on their purchases that day. For full details on all this stuff, please call Wuxtry Records at 369-9428 or see www.athensmusicmuseum.net.
Tremors Was A Good Movie, Dammit: Will Cullen Hart and his buddies haven't been completely silent since the days of Olivia Tremor Control, but they've not been prolific, either; that's why new music from Circulatory System is always a cause for, if not champagne, at least the champagne of beers. The double-disc compilation Amos House Collection III, out now on Wishing Tree, contains the unreleased and quite melodic "Deserts (As Big As A Star)." So one song's fine, but when's the new album? The comp also includes Elf Power's "Evil Eye" and Azure Ray's "Lucky Sevens," alongside rarities from indie pant-throbs like Califone, Wilco, Super Furry Animals and Her Space Holiday. All proceeds benefit Rhode Island's Amos House, a charitable resource organization for the homeless. [Chris Hassiotis]
Like Comparing Apples and Bananas: Hop on over to the Orange Twin web site (www.orangetwin.com, y'think?) to check out the new design! It's chock-full of info on artists on Orange Twin's label as well as all the other music for sale. A little digging, however, and you'll find new t-shirts for sale, notably for The Instruments and Neutral Milk Hotel. All band shirts cost $15, which is still fairly pricey, but these new green Neutral Milk Hotel shirts cost $18. Each! So listen: you might call it capitalism, maybe, or say that Orange Twin's just taking advantage of a low-supply-high-demand situation, but I say it's taking advantage of fans' dedication. At least, though, it's obvious how the bills are getting paid... [CH]
Ah ha, Hush That... Lawsuit?: Here's a little news about the favorite sons from down 316. Civil-rights icon Rosa Parks and her family have been allowed to continue in their efforts to take Outkast to court, as last week the U.S. Supreme Court turned down a petition by the Speakerboxxx/The Love Below artists and their record label asking the court to step in.
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Spreadin' The Whole Year Long: Widespread Panic will be release the recordings of their recent three-night stand at the Myrtle Beach, SC, House Of Blues. The albums will be released one at a time throughout the year, one each in spring, summer and fall. Each will showcase the different sides of the band: one album will contain the band performing with The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, one will be purely acoustic and one will be "straight-up Widespread Panic." The band is still sticking to their plans to not tour in 2004, so fans will have to pick these up, keep swapping bootlegs and maybe even get a job to pass the time this year.
It's Still T&A but With, Like, Tattoos and Stuff: Jomo Entertainment will bring a modern-day burlesque show to Athens on January 29 and the whole thing goes down at the fabulous 40 Watt. Pioneer "punk-rock porn" Internet site Suicidegirls.com will bring a bunch of their punk, emo and goth models to perform. What exactly this entails I have no idea, but it's a good bet you'll be shouting "ho, ho, ho" a full month after Christmas. Other promoters for the event include Pitchfork Media, Makeoutclub.com and Buddyhead Records. Apparently Suicidegirls is on the hunt for the best local band in each city to open the shows for them, so any of you folks that want a guaranteed shot at being upstaged should look into this. Speaking of which, local noise conquistadors
| |
And that's quite enough for now. Remember to put my name or Threats & Promises in the subject line of your emails and get your news in early and often. Ashes, ashes we all fall down via e-mail music@flagpole.com, voicemail at 549-2360; via fax at 548-8981; or by post at P.O. Box 1027, Athens, GA 30603.
Gordon Lamb
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