Crib Notes

For today’s Roll Call we call out drummer Mathis Hunter of Noot d’ Noot and the Selmanaires.

Who are you?
Bimbi, Smoofus, Mathis. Aural Exciter.

Describe yourself in three words.
Seeker, Listener, Glistener

Who — dead or alive — would most you like to meet?
Lame Deer or Don Juan Matus. Wouldn’t mind learning to shapeshift and fly.

Who would you most like to slap in the face?
Limbaugh is pretty jive, but rather than slap him, I’d like to keep feeding him ham sandwhiches and oxycontin.

What song do you wish you had written?
Too many to count. Right this second, I’m wondering what Chuck D and Flav thought when the Shocklee brothers played them the beat for “Fight The Power.”

Elvis Costello or Elvis Presley?
Beatles during the week, Stones on the weekends.

LP, CD or MP3?
Crests and troughs or right angles… a technology that thrived for over a hundred years, or something we just came up with in the last 30… they all have their place in these modern times, I suppose.

If you could start one trend, what would it be?
People learning an instrument BEFORE booking a show.

If you could end one trend, what would it be?
The concept of time, and therefore being “on time” to “things.” I’m just trying to get somewhere.

With whom would you most like to play a game of spin the bottle?
We people who are darker than blue.

“Living the Life” MP3

Noot d’ Noot plays Stomp & Stammer’s 12th Anniversary Party at The Earl w/ the Coathangers and All the Saints on Fri., Nov. 21. FREE. 9:30 p.m.

(Photo courtesy of Bimbi Smoofus)

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For today’s installment of Roll Call we call out NOBUNNY. The rabbit-masked and Ramones-esque crooner plays the Atlanta Mess-Around this Sat, Nov. 15th.

Who are you?
I’m nothing special. A dirt dog. Mr. Hyde. Primal screams and refried beans. A boxcar and a jug of wine. A 40 and a skateboard. The American dream. He who talks loud, saying nothing. I am nobody. I am NOBUNNY.

Describe yourself in three words.
Cuddly and Sadistic

Who — dead or alive — would most you like to meet?
I already met Hasil Adkins, so I’ll say Alive: Michael Jackson. Dead: Joey Ramone.

Who would you most like to slap in the face?
My little sister Megan. She’s a baaaad girl. Yes she is.

What song do you wish you had written?
“I Want You Back” by the Jackson 5ive. Not only do I wish I wrote it, I wish I sang it, recorded it, performed everything on it. Every time I hear it I imagine that it’s the opening track off my new record and just how damn satisfying that would be.

Elvis Costello or Elvis Presley?
PRESLEY!!! Anyone who answers Costello just doesn’t get it man. Wake up and LIVE people! You have the right to breath fresh air and fuck beautiful women! C’mon!

LP, CD or MP3?
dogshit

If you could start one trend, what would it be?
Compassion. Be kind to fast food workers. For a duck may be somebody’s mother.

If you could end one trend, what would it be?
While it’s petty, I can’t handle those bluetooth ear phone things. Whenever I see someone wearing one, I always want to take a hammer and whack ‘em real good in the ear.

With whom would you most like to play a game of spin the bottle?
17 year old Rosanna Arquette.

Mess me up MP3

I am a girlfriend MP3

NOBUNNY w/ the Wax Museums play The Earl as part of the Atlanta Mess-Around fest. on Sat., Nov. 15th. Two day passes are available for $20. Tickets are $12 at the door.

(Photo courtesy of NOBUNNY)

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For nearly three decades the Netherlands-based Legendary Pink Dots have thrived in the weird and wonderful outer reaches of psychedelic rock, weaving a dense, and often times esoteric catalogue of ethereal and experimental musings. The band, under the direction of enigmatic frontman Edward Ka-Spel, has cranked out scores of albums that wander through formless, textured atmospheres, psychedelic folk and industrial-leaning pop songs that sway from sinister to serene. Their performance at The Earl on Sat., Nov. 1 is billed as “an evening with the Legendary Pink Dots,” which will span the group’s dark, rich legacy, leading up to their latest CD, Plutonium Blonde (ROIR).

$15. 9:30 p.m. The Earl, 488 Flat Shoals Rd. 404-522-3950. www.badearl.com.

Despite the group’s far-out leanings, Ka-Spel has consistently held the reins as the mystical and prolific frontman who doesn’t fit the profile of the Songwriter with a capital “S.” But his place is stamped in history as an artist who pushed the boundaries of the craft to develop a voice and style that are distinctively his own.

The Legendary Pink Dots were born in London circa 1979 if I’m not mistaken. That’s a time and place that’s lauded as an era when punk and new wave / power pop came to a head, giving us great songwriters like Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe et. al. What was your relationship to those scenes?

Actually it was August 1980. To be honest it was a fertile time in London but I cannot say we had much connection with Elvis Costello or Nick Lowe etc. They’re fine songwriters for sure, but we tended to listen to Joy Division, This Heat and Throbbing Gristle at that time. The latter of which really showed me that you didn’t have to be a virtuoso musician in order to make vital music. That’s encouraging when you are just starting out.

Watch the video for “Rainbows Too” below

Click here to listen to “A World With No Mirrors” from Plutonium Blonde.

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BLUE MOUNTAIN Despite nearly a decade of hard touring and raw, rollicking shows, Mississippi alt-country trio Blue Mountain tossed in the greasy, sweat-soaked towel in 2001. Singer/songwriter/guitarist Cary Hudson made a stab at a solo career, but despite their quality his albums never connected, so it’s reformation time. Touring to support two new discs — one of original music and a rerecorded “hits” set — Mountain combines backwoods, slinky picking with amped-up energy. At its best, the threesome’s energetic, sizzling gigs left newcomers raving and existing fans wondering why they weren’t stars. Andy Friedman & the Other Failures and Amy Speace & the Tearjerks get the party started. $12. 7 p.m. Smith’s Olde Bar. 404-875-1522. www.smithsoldebar.com. — HH

PIERCED ARROWS Rural Oregon outsiders Dead Moon called it quits in 2006. But after decades spent crafting rugged, outlaw garage rock as a lifestyle choice, retirement just wasn’t their style. In the downtime, the husband-and-wife team of Fred and Toody Cole recharged their batteries to return as PIERCED ARROWS. Their debut full-length, Straight to the Heart, is a dark, groove-driven nod to the power of loud and lo-fi rock ‘n’ roll. Gentleman Jesse and Coffin Bound open. $8-$10. 9 p.m. The Earl. 404-522-3950. www.badearl.com – CR

(Photo by Brad Hodge)

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On the evening of Thursday, October 16th, the Black Lips plus Die Slaughterhaus Records owner Mark Nauman took the stage at the Earl to resurrect the now legendary Renegades — the short-lived, pre-Black Lips incarnation … the one that earned them the rowdy reputation that kept them off of most stages in town for a long long while.

The group appeared onstage after sets from opening bands Jack of Hearts, Goodnight Loving and Stolen Minks.

After giving a shout to their original drummer Bradley Harris, who died from an accidental overdose a few years back, Jared announced “the last time I played these songs I could not grow facial hair.”

This was the first time the Renegades’ name had even been uttered in town for nearly a decade.

If not for the one and only sleeveless and posthumous 7-inch the group released via Die Slaughterhaus a few years ago there would be nothing more than rumors and exaggerated memories to prove that the band ever even existed.

At the show Nauman threw handfuls of generic-looking old Renegades cassette tape recordings into the audience, but they were snatched up just as quickly as they flew through the air. A few tapes even clashed against in-coming beer cans and geysers of beer spray erupting from the tumultuous crowd.

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“I can feel you feelin’ it,” Charles Walker declared from the stage toward the end of his show Saturday night at The Earl. Walker and The Dynamites had just whipped the audience into a mad frenzy of spiritual funk bliss with Walker as the preacher, arching and bending his body to emit sounds not heard live since James Brown left the planet. The Dynamites backed Walker with organ and horns, drums and guitar and bass coming right at you with full force. In the middle of it all The Earl’s soundman Curt Wells shouted in my ear “You are about to get your ass kicked by a flute solo” and sure enough seconds later in the middle of another fury of electric funk and human emotion Dynamites saxophonist Chris West plays a beautiful flute solo. It was that kind of night — one of pleasurable surprises, like local soul singer Ruby Velle and the Soulphonics opening the show with a great set of passionate bluesy retro soul music. You knew it was going to be a good show when audience members were practicing dance moves during the break between the opening band and the headliner. “He tells us he’s 65 but he could be 67,” said guitarist and band leader Leo Black. But after seeing him Saturday night, I’d swear he’s 25.

For a gallery of images from this concert, click here.

(Photo and text by Joeff Davis)

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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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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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THE WALKMEN, THE LITTLE ONES The Walkmen are a pale comparison of the band that once was Jonathan Fire Eater. But with their latest offering, You & Me, the swaggering New York hipsters return to the unrestrained art-rock form of their last truly great album, 2004’s Bows and Arrows. Los Angelean twee pop five-piece the Little Ones open the show with a set of songs from their latest release, Morning Tide. $12. 9:30 p.m. The Earl. 404-522-3950. www.badearl.com. — Chad Radford

TEJENDRA NARAYAN MAJUMDAR & ANUBRATA CHATTERJEE Admired for his remarkable agility and beautiful tone, Majumdar is a world-renowned master of the sarod, a fretless stringed instrument of northern India that is revered for its introspective depth, subtlety and expressive power. He is joined by Chatterjee, one of the great Hindustani tabla players of the Farukhabad Gharana tradition, whose playing is distinguished by a formidable virtuosity, tonal clarity and crisp, clear rhythms. $15. 8:30 p.m. Couch Music Building, Georgia Tech. 650-814-2408. www.paragchordia.com/concert. — MG

(photo credit: Jonny Leather)

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Chad Radford: Hello Neil. How are you?

Neil Hamburger: Not so good. Someone sprayed cyanide gas on the audience last night, all over the front row. I think about 200 people died. It should be on the news today, but we’re going to do another show tonight, regardless.

I hadn’t heard about that. Was it heckler that did it?

Yeah, it was one of those hecklers who went too far.

Where was the show?

It was in a little town, called Stolen Penny, Nebraska. It’s all over the news, look on Fox News and you will see it.

I grew up next to Nebraska, or right next to it anyway.

Oh, so then you know this town. It’s fantastic…

Are people mean to you in the press?

Well you do get your occasional sickee who likes to say something horrible in the press. They try to say that I’m not as funny as Carrot Top. That’s not a nice thing to say.

I don’t think Carrot Top is very funny at all.

I don’t either, that’s what makes it a rip off for what you pay to get into that show, but some of these journalists feel differently from us.

Carrot Top creeps me out. He’s all muscular and orange these days.

That’s what I’ve been trying to say, but people have an agenda before they even put pen to paper. I think some of them are even working for Carrot Top, like maybe even on his payroll.

They’re still getting that 10-10-3-2-1 money. Remember those Carrot Top Commercials where he said “It’s free for you and cheap for them…”

They will haunt us forever…

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One thing that’s been hit particularly hard by the Orwellian gas shortage that’s crippling the Southeast is attendance at local shows. Brooklyn trio Vivian Girls tore it up for the enthusiastic, but sparse crowd that ventured to the Earl on Sunday night. The somber and freewheeling trio ran through a hazy batch of songs performed exactly as they appear on their album. Michigan’s Tyvek and local trio Rizzudo closed the show, with respectively ramshackle and adept performances.

But most people wandered out to the The Earl’s front patio during the show to socialize and speculate about the fuel crisis. Will it really be weeks before it’s over? Why isn’t this making national headlines? And where is Sonny Perdue during all of this? No radio, or television address, not even a blog saying “people, this is what we need to do…”

At least he posed on the capital steps and prayed for rain at the peak of the drought last year. Now he’s MIA when outside aide couldn’t come sooner. I read a local news website after the show that says he’s on vacation in Europe right now, which seems all too fitting. Whatever the case may be, he wasn’t at Vivian Girls’ show, and out of fear of using up what precious few gasoline drops we have left, not many other people were there either.

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