Crib Notes

For today’s installment of Roll Call we call out Bobby Ubangi.

Who are you?
Bobby Ubangi of the Gaye Blades and the Soft Spots

Describe yourself in three words.
Knowing, growing and showing

Who — dead or alive — would you most like to meet?
B. Kliban.

Who would you most like to slap in the face?
Sarah Palin

What song do you wish you had written?
“Little Red Book” by Love

Elvis Costello or Elvis Presley?
Fucking… the Pres.

LP, CD or MP3?
Laser disc.

If you could start one trend, what would it be?
Utilikilts

If you could end one trend, what would it be?
UtiliKilts

With whom would you most like to play a game of spin the bottle?
9 to 5-era Dolly Parton with Jane Fonda watching.

Bobby Ubangi M.C.’s the Atlanta Mess-Around Festival at The Earl this weekend (Fri., Nov. 14th-Sat., Nov. 15th). Two day passes are available for $20. Tickets are $12 at the door.

(Photo by King Khan)

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This Friday night (Sept. 26th) Eyedrum hosts the Atlanta premiere of Michael Tully and Matthew Robison’s (We Fun: ATL Inside Out) documentary film Silver Jew. The film follows Silver Jews main man David Berman on a spiritual quest to the Western Wall (A.K.A. the Wailing Wall) in the Old City of Jerusalem to embrace his Jewish roots … And play a few shows. Doors at Eyedrum open at 9 p.m. and the film starts at 10 p.m. Admission is $5.

Proceeds from door sales are being donated to B Jay Womack (a.k.a. Bobby Ubangi) of local bands the Gaye Blades and the Soft Spots, who was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Chad Radford: How did you you come to be involved with making Silver Jew?

Matthew Robison: David and I met in a club where I was playing, and he humbly introduced himself and his (then) girlfriend Cassie. I had read one of his poems in Mean Magazine, but didn’t know much about Silver Jews. I always understood him as an artist, but admittedly never played his records over and over. I do know most of them very well, and for a few months put together a band to be called Walnut Falcons to play Silver Jews covers. So I like the songs very much. The attachment to the music increased when I used some studio tracks in the doc and began to associate them with the work.

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Tonight (Tues., Aug. 26th) James Jackson Toth of Wooden Wand headlines a show at The Earl, with openers the Dutchess & the Duke and the Good Graces.

James Jackson Toth’s slow trek from the outer limits of folk music into full-blown country songs was inevitable. But no one expected that his transition into a more accessible sound would be so flawless while maintaining the darkness of his more esoteric years. Waiting in Vain does just that. A low and lonesome boom underscores the album’s brightest moments, and song titles such as “The Banquet Styx” and “Becoming Faust” say it all. Toth has a sense of humor that gives depth to his solo debut. But with its subtle sheen of fuzz and slow, waltzing melodies in closing cut “The Dome” makes plain that he wholeheartedly embraces the music without losing sight of his own psychedelic roots.

Seattle duo the Dutchess & the Duke (Jesse Lortz and Kimberly Morrison) open the show.

On Monday night D&D played a short-notice in-store performance over at Vacation Gallery & Boutique on North Highland. For this most recent round of touring they’ve been playing shows as a two-piece. The in-store at Vacation was set up as a test run with their temporary addition to the line-up, Atlanta’s one and only B Jay Womack, (A.K.A. Bobby Ubangi.)

Now before the rumors get started, it’s important to note that B Jay is only playing a couple of shows in Georgia (Athens and Atlanta). He’s being brought on board to be the band’s tambourine man, which leaves one hand free for continual consumption of alcohol during the show.

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