The DON'T MISS SHOW of the Weekend award goes to......
The N.E.C. with Jovantaes Saturday, January 30 at Al's Bar
You might know the N.E.C. as that band from Atlanta that comes through Lexington a couple times a year, plays a show that is somehow connected to Reid Small (guitarist/vocalist Cyrus Shahmir is a Bowling Green grade school buddy of his), absolutely slays, and then sticks around to party hard with the hipsters all night. Admittedly, I've had to miss their past couple shows, which makes me doubly to triply excited for this one. The N.E.C. is psychedelic garage rock done right. Their songs and recordings are tight, professional and sound great (I play the hell out of Million Minks on my radio show) but their live show is a different beast altogether - loud, unabashed, fast and generally raucous. This show is a CD release party for their newest album, "Is" which may be their best stuff yet. BUY IT. Or at least go the show.
Ever-changing, always awesome local acid rockers Jovantaes share the bill, along with the Gudwalls and Trailblazer. All ages. Nevermind the Northside Dance Party for the (oh so mature) 21+ crowd coincides next door at Sidecar circa midnight.
also happening in Lex this weekend:
Friday, January 29:
Big Maracas at Al's Bar
Lion's Rampant/Seedy Seeds/Super Stupid at Green Lantern
Saturday, January 30:
Haitian Benefit Concert at Cosmic Charlie's featuring Coralee and the Townies, Get Down Watson, Matt Duncan, The Yellowbelts and Goodbye Congregation. $7 / 21+
Haitian Benefit Concert at Natasha's featuring The City and The Town
Sunday, January 31
Bluegrass Collective at Cosmic Charlie's. 21+
LYLAS and One for the Time at Al's Bar (presented by YouAintNoPicasso)
COMING SOON (also a don't miss!): Thursday, February 4: WRFL presents...Mountains, Tape and Kraken Fury at Al's Bar. (Ambient electronic bliss.)
Hi, I've been out of town for the past week + and since I won't have much time this week for any Lexington music/culture-related posts, I figured I would reward my faithful readers with a link to some vacation photos from Hawaii instead! How's that for a deal?! I'll probably be posting more soon ~ got a sweet camera for Christmas so hopefully I'll be posting lots more photos on this blog in the future. My Flickr account is brand new, so if you have one and wanna make contact or friends or whatever the flickr lingo is, I'd prolly be cool with that. Hope erryone is well.
87-year-old British actor Sir Christopher Lee, perhaps best known for his uncanny performances as Count Dracula in numerous films throughout the '50s and '60s (he also played Saruman in the Lord of the Rings trilogy; my favorite Lee movies include The Wicker Man and Devil Rides Out), has announced a new chapter in his career: METAL.
WE WILL SOMEDAY SOMEDAY WE WILL Institute 193 - 193 N. Limestone Opening Reception: Thursday, January 14 ~ 6-9 pm Featuring a performance by Holler Poets founder Eric Sutherland at 7:30 pm
Exhibit runs through February 20
The first solo exhibition in more than a decade from Bruce Burris ~ multi-media artist/founder & coordinator of ELandFGallery Small Projects Accelerator/ co-founder of Latitude Artist Community/ all-around invaluable asset to the Lexington community & art scene.
"This amalgam of new work includes sculpture, drawing, painting and installation dealing with the subjects of mountaintop removal, rural-Southern community dynamics and the tremendous importance of activism in function of these movements. These issues have traditionally been treated as geographically specific concerns but are increasingly viewed as essential aspects of the larger 'green movement.' Burris, a native of Delaware, is working with this material as an interested observer, employing an established aesthetic to further these broadening conversations visually and intellectually. Burris’ visual material is structured as scaffolding supported by language and carries an immense potential for both action and interaction." -Philip March Jones, Creative Director, Institute 193
"Land of Tomorrow Gallery presents LIVING IN GRANDMOM’S BASEMENT, an installation exhibit by Lexington artist Jacob Isenhourthat presents the found objects of the artists' grandmother's basement in conjunction with a painterly eye for the aesthetic potential of everyday space. Isenhour works to define the gallery, conceptually and otherwise, in relation to the tension between the lines of an unfinished holding area and a space where art is created and displayed. The artist describes the show as “…visually pleasing contemporary art for the layman,” and his exhibit will be showing in conjunction with Jaye Rhee's video installation work."
I finally updated my Upcoming Shows Page ~ spring show announcements are starting to trickle in from around the area...please post any that I've missed in the comment section or e-mail kyblueline@gmail.com.
Among the particulars I'm looking forward to in the area:
The NEC with Jovantaes at Al's Bar - Saturday January 30. Seriously awesome garage psych.
Mountains; Tape at Al's Bar on Thursday, February 4. Minimal acoustic ambience from New York (Mountains) and Sweden (Tape). Really gorgeous stuff (I am especially partial to Tape) - give it a listen.
RJD2 at The Southgate House (Sat., Feb 6) and Headliner's (Sun.,Feb 7). Nasty DJ beats. His performance at the Dame a few years back was quite a memorable evening.
Kurt Vile at Southgate House on Monday, February 15. One of the best lo-fi songwriters I've seen. His album Childish Prodigy definitely made the 2009's Year's Best List I never published. Maybe I'll do that before 2010 passes me by. (Note: Vile has rather strangely paired with experimental/hardcore group Fucked Up, who released an 18-minute song a few years back that I loved called Year of the Pig, on this tour; it appears Fucked Up is headlining so be sure to get there early!)
Vic Chesnutt performs "Coward" at the Southgate House in November, with instrumentation by Guy Picciatto and members of Thee Silver Mt. Zion Tra-la-la Memorial Band (or whatever they recently elongated their name into). Not the greatest video, but the audio is pretty decent.
Soooo, I just found out Vic Chesnutt died on Christmas Day, from an apparent suicidal overdose. (I know I'm a bit slow to the punch here. Seriously, have not looked at the computer since before Christmas.) In addition to bumming me out considerably, this news, rather morosely, makes his appearance at the Southgate House this past November my "kick yourself in the arse for not going" show of 2009. (Did anyone go to this show?? Pictures/review?? I think I found out about it 2 days in advance...)
I admit my knowledge of Chesnutt, described by one writer for tinymixtapes as the "dark horse of southern gothic dark horses," is extremely finite and young. After a rather prolific career that spanned over two decades, he just appeared on my radar last year, after I discovered that he was a) involved with Dark Night of the Soul, the bizarre David Lynch/Danger Mouse/Sparklehorse collab that never quite panned out, and b) that out he was playing with Guy Picciatto of Fugazi and members of Thee Silver Mt. Zion and Godspeed You! Black Emperor on his '09 tour.
After researching, I quickly realized that I had missed some kind of boat; this guy should have been on my radar earlier. He's recorded more than 15 albums since 1990, a couple of which Michael Stipe produced, two of which he enlisted the help of Picciatto and members of Mt. Zion/Godspeed (2007's North Star Deserter and 2009's At The Cut). Hell, he even played with Widespread Panic on a couple of albums, approximately around the same time I was dabbling in the jam band experience myself.
Chesnutt told The A.V. Club last year that his most recent album, At The Cut, often plays like a eulogy. "I'm in love with death in many ways...but I'm not ready to kill myself yet," he said.
In a wheelchair since a car accident at age 18 left him paralyzed from the waist down, Chesnutt was reportedly in tens of thousands of dollars of health care debt. The following quote was posted on R.E.M.'s website, from friend, filmmaker and family spokesman Jem Cohen, with whom Chesnutt had collaborated on a number of projects, including the 2008 art-film Evening's Civil Twilight in Empires of Tin:
Chesnutt will likely be my "first artist whose catalogue to delve backwards into" of the year. Which might take my bracing myself, as his songs, perhaps not surprisingly, are almost equally (and unbearably) raw, sad and gorgeous.
"I flirted with you all my life Even kissed you once or twice And to this day I swear it was nice But clearly I was not ready... Oh death...really, I'm not ready..." -Vic Chesnutt, lyrics from his ballad to death, "I flirted with you all my life"
Rest in peace, Vic Chesnutt. My heart goes out to you, your friends, family, and everyone else you touched during your too-brief stay on Earth.
First, apologies for my extended absence and my sub-par bloggerness- I managed to basically avoid computer screens altogether for the past two weeks, in lieu of catching up on QT with friends, family, dog, couch, food, libations, actual physical books (!), etc. I must admit, it was a lovely and rejuvenating time. Back to the grind, though.
I'd like to direct your attention to a couple of worthy efforts from fellow Lexingtonians :
Richie Wireman has posted his beautiful and dreamlike Boomslang photos in a Flickr album. As expected, he got some really fantastic images, some of the best I've seen. Check them out here.
James Friley has been picking up some of my slack in listing upcoming gigs in Lexington on his Giglist blog. Check it, regularly. While you're at it, check out Cross and ATTEMPT at the Green Lantern Wednesday.
