Tampa Calling

Okay, last month we stumbled, both technically and performance wise, through the debut podcast. Come month two, we’re ready to drop the cream of Americana podcasts (from one of the best Americana blogs) on you, and our tech is prepped for the amount of awesome that you’re likely to find yourself listening to multiple times a week. I know I’m coming off like the Kanye West of the Americana blogging community, but I don’t give a fuck. I like fish sticks and I’m telling you, you’re gonna love it and you’re gonna listen to it numerous times. I feel that confident.

So, here is the tracklisting for what very well may be the only thing you listen to for the rest of this week:

1. Drive-by Truckers – Nine Bullets
2. Autopsy IV Commentary
3. Strawfoot – Cursed Neck
4. Pinebox Serenade – Woven Arms
5. Uncle Sinner – When Jesus Comes
6. Autopsy IV Commentary
7. Olin & The Moon – Call Me Up
8. American Aquarium – California
9. Eileen Jewell – Sea of Tears
10. Autopsy IV Commentary
11. Drag The River – Old Sad Songs [extended] (Lucero Cover)
12. Gillian Welch & Old Crow Medicine Show – The Weight (The Band Cover)
13. Scott H. Biram – Sinking Down (FD Session)
14. Jon & Chad (Drag The River) – Dancin’ In The Moonlight (Thin Lizzy Cover)
15. Autopsy IV Commentary
16. Grayson Capps – Going Back To The Country
17. Chris Knight – Enough Rope
18. Autopsy IV Commentary
19. Two Cow Garage – Should’ve California

IF YOU LISTEN TO THIS AND ENJOY IT PLEASE FORWARD IT TO SOMEONE ELSE!

This Friday, San Francisco’s murdergrass outfit, The Pine Box Boys, will make their triumphant return to the stage at Dave’s Aqua Lounge. The last time these guys came through town I partied a little too hard with my good buddies Beam and Ginger, and was unable to write a decent review of the show, which is a good sign I had one hell of a good time (and I did). The interplay of the band members as well as their faux-arguments even makes the between-song inner-band banter a complete riot.

You’re asking, what does the band sound like? You’re wondering, what exactly is murdergrass? Well, let’s say you put Old Crow Medicine Show and Those Poor Bastards in a blender. Now, if you were to puree them, you’d get one hell of a mess, but if that mess could somehow make music, that amalgam of Old Crow and TPB would be The Pine Box Boys. If Old Crow are Dr. Jekyll, then The Pine Box Boys are their Mr. Hyde. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s lunch hour on a Tuesday afternoon and I’m doing what every descent red-blooded American that has managed to keep their job is doing — I’m using the company’s bandwidth to watch videos. Today has been especially good and I thought I’d share some with y’all:

• My distaste for Pitchfork has been well documented on my web site but today on the video portion of the net rag’s site, they’ve redeemed themselves for a week. Real-life bad muthafucker (sorry Samuel), Andre Williams is the focus of the documentary, Agile Mobile Hostile and PitchforkTV is streaming the entire thing. Go Watch It Now! Read the rest of this entry »

On the way to the show, I kept thinking that I needed to keep my wits about me. This was the first show that I’d acquired the tickets through Creative Loafing and it would be nice to impress them with lucid recollections on our first shot at this show review thing. Kind of like dating, you know, give them the angelic version of Autopsy for the first few weeks, let them get attached a little and then show them the rambling, incoherent “what? I saw a show tonight? Did I like it?” version. Everything was going according to plan. I was stone sober (mostly) and we were on schedule to get to the venue and walk in just in time for Old Crow to start. Then, everything went to hell. When we got to Tampa Theatre, we found out that Old Crow was a little over an hour from playing. A professional would have went in and watched the opening act but Creative Loafing fired most of their professionals and now they’re stuck with a lush like me. So, while one of those many professionals CL used to employ would have gone on in … I headed to The Hub. And the rest, as they say, is history … My head was wet with whiskey and about 10 people were in front of me in the beer line when I heard the show start; one-and-a-half songs later, I took my seat and this is my story.

The last time Old Crow Medicine Show came through Tampa, they played to a sold-out crowd at the legendary Skipperdome. This time through, the band switched it up and took the stage at the historic Tampa Theater. Going to the show, I knew two things for certain. One, this would be a much mellower crowd and two, it would be almost perfect sound wise.

The show was broken up into two sets with a 20-minute break in between. The first set was enjoyable enough but it was lacking the energy I’d feared it might. The crowd was flat and the band, both in song selection as well as stage performance, was mellow. I was dead-on about the sound, though. Tampa Theatre never disappoints on that front unless you’re there to see a movie. I’m not saying the first set was bad … it was just a little lackluster. Had the entire show gone on at that pace, I would have probably gotten bored before the end.

This was a stark contrast from their previous show at Skipper’s and as the band walked off the stage after the first set, I was worried that the more formal venue was dictating a more stuffy performance.

Maybe I needed more whiskey to help me find their groove. Fortunately, due to state smoking laws, Tampa Theatre now allows re-entry and The Hub is a mere 20 (yes, I counted) steps away. Read the rest of this entry »