Crib Notes

On February 1, 2002 Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was murdered after being kidnapped by terrorists in Karachi, Pakistan, while researching a story on shoe-bomber Richard Reid. Pearl left behind a legacy not only as a bold journalist, but also as a musician. Though it’s a little known fact these days, Pearl was an Atlanta music figure for a time in the early ’90s.

He was known for participating in spontaneous improv and jam sessions with pretty much whoever was around, and played violin with several local bands including the Ottoman Empire, Cosmic Gypsies and the Wild West Picture Show.

Each year Pearl’s October 10th birthday is recognized as Daniel Pearl World Music Day. Over the last few years that has expanded to Daniel Pearl World Music Month, during which time several concerts are held around the globe in his honor.

Now in its fourth year, FODfest is an annual touring concert that follows suit. The tour features performances from musicians who played music with Pearl, meeting up with other musicians who never knew him, but connect with his story. During the shows many of the participating musicians meet for the first time onstage. The concerts are open to the public, and in lieu of an admission charge, donations are collected at each performance to help offset travel and production costs.

“We work side by side with The Foundation,” explains FODfest organizer and guitarist/songwriter Todd Mack from his Off the Beat-N-track recording studio in Sheffield, Mass.

Mack was a close friend of Pearl’s who made his acquaintance in Atlanta when Pearl answered a want ad he had placed in Creative Loafing, looking for a fiddle player. The two met, played music together and eventually teamed up in the band Cosmic Gypsies, later called Saucy Jack.

“Atlanta has a special significance for this tour,” Mack adds. “It’s where we met and it’s where Danny took his first job with Wall Street Journal. We remained friends all the way to the end.”

Since 2004 Mack has spearheaded the touring FODfest. “It gets a little bigger each year,” he says. “It started as a last minute, very much thrown together back yard party and now it travels to both coasts and hits 14 cities in 17 days.”

FODfest 2008 comes to Smith’s Olde Bar on Saturday, Oct. 18th and features performances from Barron Ruth, Beth Heidelberg, Bill Shadle of M80, Blair Lott, Caroline Aiken, David Keehn & Eric Raider, Faron McNeal with Brillo, the Ottoman Empire and Todd Mack. Free. 8 p.m. www.smithsoldebar.com.

Click below for tour dates.

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I caught up with Eyedrum Art & Music Gallery’s Executive Director Robert Cheatham this morning. Naturally, with Eyedrum’s tenth anniversary happening this Saturday the conversation went there.

In addition to the normal rounds of music, sound installations, visual arts and mingling that goes on at these kinds of functions, Eyedrum is hosting its first awards ceremony in which they are giving out “Eddie awards” to folks in the community who have done their fair share of heavy lifting for the arts, but often go unsung.

Chad Radford:  What are the Eddies?

Robert Cheatham:  About two or three years ago I was pissed off with some of the awards ceremonies that Eyedrum had been invited to but didn’t win anything, so I wrote a letter to the board and said there needs to be an awards ceremony for the rest of us. It was sort of a tongue-in-cheek thing. The upper echelon was congratulating themselves left and right. So I proposed it, but over time my anger subsided, and with it my interest in the awards subsided, and then when we started talking about the tenth anniversary someone brought it up again.

Who decides the awards’ categories and winners?

There is a small committee of a few people – Eyedrum board members and other people from the community — that formed to decide who gets what and who gives them out.

What are some of the categories?

There’s one for “Best Atlanta Arts Activist,” “New Arts Administrator,” things like that. The awards themselves are basically modified thrift store items. They’re divided into two categories: Eyedrum stuff that’s given out to board members and things like that. There are also awards aimed toward the larger community, and those are handled a little more seriously. I’m getting an award for being the “Biggest Tool.” You can take that for whatever meaning you can find, but it’s pretty much for hanging the the walls and uplifting local discourse… that sort of thing.

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Tonight Ani Cordero and husband, former Rock*A*Teens drummer Chris Verene, return to Atlanta in support of Cordero’s latest album, De Donde Eres (Bloodshot Records).

Both Chris and Ani are former Atlanta residence who now reside in Brooklyn. The new album finds the group delving deeper in to the rhythmic intricacies of Latin music while toning down guitar-driven, indie rock elements of the music. The album is sung entirely in Spanish, and is recommended for those who like Nick Drake, Belle and Sebastian, Os Mutantes, Adron and so on.

To give a listen to the album’s first single, “Ruleta Rusa,” click here.

There is also a pretty gorgeous video for “Ruleta Rusa” that can be watched by clicking below.

Cordero, “Ruleta Rusa” from Bloodshot Records on Vimeo.

Atlanta acts, The Holland Dutch and Batata Doce will also be performing. Batata Doce has been touring the east coast recently and has kept a pretty intensive tour blog/journal of their activities posted on Pine Magazine, which you can read here.

$10. 9 p.m.The Earl, 488 Flat Shoals Rd. 404-522-3950. www.badearl.com.

Photo by Cody Ranaldo

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Welcome to 1984! According to The Arthur Blog, Last week No Age drummer Randy Randall was told by a random stage employee at CBS that he would not be allowed to wear a a pro-Obama T-shirt, just minutes before he was to perform for “some sort of Craig Ferguson/CBS TV thing that was to be broadcast October 27.”

According to Arthur editor Jay Babcock’s story, “…the CBS person said, the Obama shirt was on-air editorializing–a possible violation of some FCC edict which this person claimed called for equal time to be given to opposing political viewpoints.”

But CBS person was wrong.

Babcock continues, “One problem: the last remnant of the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” was repealed in 1987; the repeal was upheld by court ruling in 1989.

Since then, corrollary rules of the Fairness Doctrine–the “personal attack” rule and the “political editorial” rule–have also been struck down in the courts, with the last court ruling (and subsequent FCC order) coming in 2000.

In short, there is no fairness rule. Randy’s Obama shirt was perfectly broadcastable under every existing law.

But neither No Age nor their people at Sub Pop were aware of the Fairness Doctrine’s long-ago demise, and took CBS at their word.

After much deliberation, Randy put on another shirt, which said ‘Free Health Care,’ the band played, and the show will, apparently, air.”

Read the full story here.

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Months after moving back to New York, former ATL part-timers Baby Shakes have unveiled their first full-length CD/LP, aptly titled The First One, on Douche Master Records.

The 10-songs on the album show the women in black drawing from a palette of lovie dovie bubble gum anthems, infused with power pop and glam rock tendencies.

“Hello Hello,” “Now I know” and “Ooh La Love” are fast and undeniably catchy, but they don’t throw any surprise punches. The record delivers the lite pop sound one expects from Baby Shakes; which is captured on this recording with fascist-like precision and clarity that comes courtesy of drummer/producer Dave Rahn (Carbonas, Gentleman Jesse).

Other songs on the record show off stabs at songwriting that expands their boundaries while staying true to form. “Love Machine” is a stylistic and ramped-up homage to T. Rex circa The Slider.  Closing number “Just Another” winds through a three-chord chug that rocks pretty hard, but maintains the group’s amicable and high-energy pop sensibilities.

Execution of everything from three-part chants and harmonic coos, to simple, mechanical shifts in rhythm are flawless from beginning to end. And with every song clocking in at less than three minutes, the album is over before you know it, which leaves you instinctively wanting a whole lot more.

The First One is a clean and simple album, and though it will inevitably draw comparisons to the Runaways, Nikki and the Corvettes, the Ramones and the first couple of Blondie records, Baby Shakes sound is nowhere nearly as raw as these forerunners, nor is it as dangerous or potentially offensive. Kids and grandparents can dance to these songs just as easily as hipsters with Thunder Cats haircuts, and that’s not a bad thing at all.

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Bearded and bespectacled comedian Brian Posehn has appeared everywhere from episodes of Seinfeld to the Sarah Silverman Program, and is an original fixture on the Comedians of Comedy tour. His stand-up routines draw from observations about things that most dudes don’t really like talking about in public.  His hulking, 6-foot. 6-in. frame, self-embraced nerd persona and unapologetic love of heavy metal and horror films make him all the more endearing and awkward. Posehn draws strength from his attributes with Samson-like finesse. His low-energy delivery and slow demeanor from joke-to-punch line make his skits all the more genius.

Chad Radford:  A lot of your material comes from observations about male insecurities regarding appearance, sex, drugs, Slayer, masturbation… Have you ever been in the middle of an act and noticed that the crowd stopped laughing at your jokes?

Brian Posehn:  Yeah, it happens. Now the trouble spots seem to be smaller and more isolated than in my early years where I would lose the whole crowd. Now it’s one lady with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face while her husband is losing his mind laughing at my fart and wiener jokes. Or it’s a Bachelorette party who thinks I’m gross. Or a dumb hammered guy with a brand new baseball cap who just decided to have a bad time. And now he’s daring me to make him laugh.

How do you save it?

I just have confidence in the material I save for the latter part of my act. Especially if it’s someone in a couple I know I’ve got some relatable relationship material. If that doesn’t get her, she sucks. Just kidding. And sometimes I never win them back. The guy in the baseball cap will hate me no matter what I say.

Where do you draw the line in terms of how far you push the limits each night?

I usually feel it out. If they are tight, I won’t do certain jokes. I’ll do bits that are proven crowd-pleasers. If it’s a rock club or a Comedians of Comedy show I usually have a little more room and can do whatever I want.

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This Saturday, Oct. 11, Atlanta’s longest running, and totally volunteer-run nonprofit art and music gallery is celebrating 10 years of keeping Atlanta from completely falling prey to gentrification and big box strip malls.

Ten years is a solid run for Eyedrum that has seen comrade DIY and outsider strongholds, like IAG, ISP and Art Farm go the way of the Dodo. It is a time that also saw Eyedrum grow from being a handful of dedicated members giving it their all at the Trinity Ave. location, to a nationally respected Atlanta-based arts organization that boasts a board of over 20 members.

The celebration this Saturday, dubbed “A 10 Year Affair,” features performances from several local musical acts, including Judi Chicago, the Hotels, No Face and Matthew Proctor, along with DJs Zano and Chris Daresta. There is also an awards ceremony in which “Eddie Awards” are given out in recognition of Atlanta’s deserving but unheralded artists and venues.

There will also be a screening of the locally-produced documentary film, Eyedrum: The 10 Year Affair commemorative DVD.

WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008, 8 p.m.-midnight.
WHERE: Eyedrum, 290 MLK Drive, Suite 8, Atlanta 30312
How Much: $10 for non-members, members asked to make a donation. Friend-level memberships will be available for $25, a $10 discount. Tickets available in advance through Criminal Records, Decatur CD, Ella Guru or online here. Also you can charge by phone at 1-877-725-8849.

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After feeling frustrated over the atmosphere at Atlanta’s regular record shows that happen every couple of months in the confines of an OTP Marriott, local music fixture Shannon Mulvaney decided to start his own record show.

This Saturday, Oct. 11, Mulvaney hosts the first in what is hoped will be a regular record show in Little 5 Points, dubbed Vinyl Harvest. Vendors can buy a table in the cafeteria of the L5P community center for $20 and sell their used vinyl. Don’t come looking for CDs because you won’t find any.

“There will be lot’s of singles, LPs, used record players… A fun environment,” says Mulvaney. “This will be small and neighborhood-friendly, and there will be a few DJs spinning records. Nobody will act like an asshole if you don’t know the value of a certain record, and bargaining is welcomed. It’s like horse trading, man… It’s only records.”

Mulvaney also stresses the community centric nature of Vinyl Harvest, and when asked why he set it up, he has two answers:

1.) The official reason: To foster a sense of community amongst all of the record collectors in town who pretty much know each other already and want to hang out, drink a few beers and buy some records.

2.) The bitchy reason: I don’t like the way the regular Atlanta record shows are run, and we want to create an environment where women feel comfortable. There are tons of women out there who like to buy records too, and we want to create a record show where they can do so without some middle-aged, basement-dwelling, sandal-wearing, mama’s boy drooling over them.

“If it is successful we’ll do it more, so it’s up to the good people of Atlanta to come out,” he adds.

As of press time there were only a few vendor tables still available, but if you’re interested in selling records at Vinyl Harvest you can contact Mulvaney by calling Criminal Records at 404-215-9511 or sending an e-mail to shannon@criminal.com.

Vinyl Harvest starts at noon on Sat., Oct. 11 in the Little 5 Points Community Center at 1083 Austin Ave. Admission is $2 and there will be beer. DJs on hand include Dookie Platters, Tim Lawrence, Agent 45 as well as a few others.

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HELIOS CREED was/is a seminal figure in the secret history of the ’70s/’80s post-industrial guitar-paranoia scene. As the warped mind behind the alien soundscapes of Chrome, Creed’s noisy sonic textures were too primitive to be called industrial and too sharp to be called grunge. For this retrospective “Helios Chrome” appearance, Creed exhumes the pulverized chords and distorted wails that defined his legacy as a fringe music icon of more than 30 years. Sourvein and Tenth to the Moon open. $8-$10. 9 p.m. Drunken Unicorn, 736 Ponce de Leon Place. www.thedrunkenunicorn.net.

Photo courtesy of Helios Creed

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Last week Dry Ink Magazine posted a video piece that documents the final show at Rob’s House in East Atlanta before the label’s founder Trey Lindsay moved to New York. The video features interviews and segments of performances by Carbonas, Gentleman Jesse, the Black Lips. Drunken chatter from all of the above punctuates a marathon of interviews conducted by Tom Cheshire of All Night Drug Prowling Wolves.

The video does a good d job of capturing the mood (and the heat) of the last show there before handing the reigns over to the Danger House crew.

The video can be seen here.

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