Crib Notes

The phone call interrupts dinner around 6 p.m. on a Thursday. It’s my girlfriend’s birthday and our meals have just been served up at her favorite Italian restaurant. Normally, I wouldn’t answer at a time like this, not even for my own mother. But the picture of B Jay pops up on my phone’s screen, his arms outstretched like Mr. Bill when he’s about to get squashed. I have to answer.

For the last nine months, Benjamin Jay Womack has been soldiering through terminal lung cancer that has spread to his brain, liver and God knows where else — at the age of 34. I answer, expecting to hear his voice on the other end asking for a ride to get something to eat or a pack of cigarettes. But it’s his roommate Jessica. “I had to put B Jay into hospice care today,” she deadpans. “His hips gave out and he’s having a hard time walking. We’re filling out paperwork with a social worker right now and B Jay wants to know if he can put you down for power of attorney.” I answer yes, envisioning the worst-case scenario as a wave of denial sweeps over me.

One year ago, the man best known by his stage name Bobby Ubangi was a rebel without a pause, partying like a rock star and working as the grouchy door guy at the Drunken Unicorn off Ponce de Leon Avenue. Long considered a mascot of sorts for the Atlanta music scene that nurtured such bands as Deerhunter, Black Lips and Gentleman Jesse, B Jay was a founding member of Carbonas before he got kicked out because he didn’t like to practice. He went on to play guitar and sing in such local garage-punk outfits as the Lids, the Gaye Blades, and Bobby and the Soft Spots. “B Jay is omnipresent around here,” says Jared Swilley of the Black Lips. “He’s been around forever.”

Continue reading “The life and times of Bobby Ubangi”

(Photo by Chad Radford)

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NPR.org’s “Song of the Day” today comes courtesy hometown heroes Gentleman Jesse and His Men. The track, “All I Need Tonight,” is described by the blurb’s author (that is, me) as:

…mostly just an excuse for frontman Jesse Smith and his background singers to belt out the track’s euphoric chorus — “All I need tonight is youuuuuu” — again and again. Sure, there’s a marginal backstory involving a girl who isn’t taking the narrator’s calls, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense, considering how quickly he decides to find a new woman to float his boat. Turns out you aren’t the only thing he needs tonight, after all. But who cares? Young love never makes sense, so why should sublime pop?

You can catch up onCreative Loafing’s coverage of the band here and here. Also check out my recent feature on Jesse’s label Douchemaster Records in Crawdaddy.

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I recently flew to New York City to catch the Black Lips, Deerhunter, and King Khan & the Shrines play a free show August 3, at McCarren Pool in Brooklyn.

It was worth the trip. The bands played to an insanely packed crowd of thousands of kids, young and old. It was so surreal standing onstage looking out at the wave of people covering the pool so thick you could barely see the cement floor.

The show was sweaty, loud, unpredictable, and a little bit chaotic — sounds like an Atlanta show to me.

I spent ten days in the city. This is what I saw:

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ON A STEEL HORSE THEY RIDE: Morning State (photo courtesy The Musebox)

Morning State is preparing for the release its debut full-length, titled You Know People I Know People. To offer a free sneak peak at the CD, the group has released two new songs on the internet, titled “Never So Strange” and “Oh Yeah.”

Click here to listen to “Never So Strange.”

Click here to listen to “Oh Yeah.”

You Know People I Know People hits the streets on Tuesday, May 6th. To celebrate the band will host album release parties in Athens on May 6^th at Caledonia Lounge, and in Atlanta on Thursday, May 15^th at The Earl.

Morning State On Tour:
04/23 Birmingham, AL The Nick
04/24 Athens, GA Farm 225
04/25 Chattanooga, TN JJ’s Bohemia
04/26 Atlanta, GA Star Bar
04/28 Charleston, SC Tin Roof
04/30 Columbia, SC New Brookland Tavern
05/05 Atlanta, GA The Earl*
05/06 Athens, GA Caledonia Lounge (CD Release Party)*
05/10 New York, NY Mercury Lounge*
05/15 Atlanta, GA Star Bar (Big Trouble In Little 5 / CD Release Party) w/ Casper and The Cookies
*w/ XYZ Affair and JukeBox the Ghost

For more information look online at www.morningstate.com

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