Vibes blog

Lou Ford/Buschovski The Ford boys’ music evidences a finely wrought, pared-down style of songwriting that’s almost Carveresque (or at least Lish-like) in its spareness. Busch’s swirling lyrical worlds are positively Pynchonian, vaguely conspiratorial and often overwhelming in their shit-stirrin’ scope. Lou Ford’s put out three records and an E.P. in the past dozen years. Busch has put out, well, none, officially, but I once got three different complete demo records from him in as many months. Point being, of course, that no matter how you arrive at your voice, you have to find your own road. (Just make sure it leads to Snug tonight.) Snug Harbor (Timothy C. Davis)

Bo Bice The former Idol runner-up is one of a handful to still be holding on to a record contract. Not a bad feat, considering who was recently dropped – winners Taylor Hicks and Ruben Studdard and runner-up Blake Lewis. Doesn’t mean that Bice is that much better, but only that he’s survived so far. He paved the way for Daughtry and whoever recently won … can’t remember his name. Oh, David Cook. Ha! Yeah, everyone else will likely forget soon, too. Bice is touring in support of his sophomore release, See the Light. Sorry, but he might be at 14:59 and counting … Neighborhood Theatre (Jeff Hahne)

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Slick Rick London-born Rick The Ruler, recently pardoned by New York governor David Paterson for the attempted murder of his cousin way back in 1990 (he served five years total) and hassled by Homeland Security goons ever since (just because a guy says he’s “the bomb” doesn’t mean he’s carrying one, fellers), is finally back doing what he does best – spinning half-speed, half-spoken rhymes owing equally to flair and flow. A huge influence on the Kanyes of the world, both in dress and delivery, Rick’s unfortunately been fighting our country’s labyrinthine immigration laws more often over the last decade than seen in what he’ll tell you is his true home, the studio. Catch him while you can. Amos’ Southend (Timothy C. Davis)

The Trouble Walkers The local side celebrates the release of their debut, Free Cowboy Hat, a raunchy slab of Gun Club hedonism, Blasters’ riffs and Must’ve Been High-Supersuckers’ twang that shows little respect for anything but the glorious excesses of rock ‘n’ roll. One national reviewer has praised it as “the least politically correct record of ‘08,” and thank fucking God for that. What better way to toast our nation’s birthday and the First Amendment than with some good ol’ fashioned, back-to-basics American music? With Chocha Loca and 2013 Wolves. Snug Harbor (John Schacht)

Cute Is What We Aim For Born in the frozen tundra of Buffalo, N.Y., this power-pop quartet with a sentence for a name makes quirky pop that’s warm and toasty around the edges, with a fluffy middle. The young band has been around about three years and has already made inroads into the much-crowded field of power pop bands. They are out touring the new release, Rotation. Also on the bill: Ace Enders, Danger Radio and Powerspace. Tremont Music Hall (Samir Shukla)

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I have finally come to terms with the fact that I…am a freak of nature. I am actually kind of surprised that I haven’t been recruited for some traveling freak show.

Although I did get invited to get a backstage, sneak peak of the play Side Show, a musical depiction of the lives of the Hilton Sisters. No, not the Hilton sisters you’d see on the cover of US Weekly, the ones you’d see on the cover of Creative Loafing… Siamese twins Daisy and Violet Hilton. Read the rest of this entry »

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Will Dailey You’ve got a lot of cats out there plowing the gin joints with an acoustic guitar. He strums a fine guitar, but its Dailey’s voice, akin to a trusty friend and confidante, giving him an edge over the masses. The Boston singer-songwriter and folk-rocker writes tunes that make you want to linger around the stage a bit, the bar be damned. He won the 2006 Boston Music Award for Best Male singer/songwriter, with good reason. With Joshua James. The Evening Muse (Samir Shukla)

Bill Kirchen A catalyst for helping meld country and rock, later Southern rock, Kirchen led the band of rock honky-tonkers Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen in the late ’60s to mid ’70s. Since then he has added his telecaster licks to numerous recordings and bands. The rockabilly, or better known as dieselbilly, king is a must-see for lovers of guitar and American rock lore. His last disc, Hammer of the Honky-Tonk Gods, is finely stitched with Western swing, rockabilly and country. Visulite (Shukla)

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Dave Matthews Band
Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
July 1, 2008

The Deal: Dave Matthews Band hits Verizon Wireless on its summer run — Tim Reynolds in tow, Jeff Coffin replaces the injured Leroi Moore on sax. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Bubble Room… Doesn’t it sound like something out of the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory? Well, it’s actually right here at HOM.

HOM is trumping the typical VIP section, and sectioning off an entire room for the VIP (as in very INVITED people). The top level of Play will now be the Bubble Room. Bubbles as in champagne bubbles; they’ll be offering an assortment of champagnes and hosting special champagne testings. Now that’s what I call popping bubbly. Read the rest of this entry »

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Islands
Neighborhood Theatre
June 28, 2008
By: Anita Overcash

The Deal: Montreal indie rockers, Islands, conclude their stop in Charlotte with a harmonically eccentric show. Read the rest of this entry »

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Dave Matthews Band He’s the Kenny Chesney of the hippie-rock circuit – you can pretty much set your seasonal watch by his regular summer concerts. The boys are headed back to the Queen City. Last year, they played a couple of new songs and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear a few more this time around. For the first time in 10 years, Tim Reynolds will be touring with DMB all summer. With Michael Franti and Spearhead. Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre (Jeff Hahne)

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Jay-Z headlined the Glastonbury festival this year and kicked off his set with a cover of Oasis’ “Wonderwall.”

It was a great idea and a jab at Noel Gallagher who was critical of the decision to have Jay-Z at the fest. However, while he may be the king of rap, it proved he’s not good at singing on key.

It goes into “99 Problems,” which offered a bit of AC/DC thrown into the mix.

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Jill Scott True, Scott’s music does contain lots of “can-do” rhetoric – she can even “stain and polyurethane,” as she sings in “The Fact Is (I Need You)” of off 2004’s Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Volume II – that could be misconstrued, upon first listen, as mere cocksure artifice. However, Scott doesn’t make these proclamations by claiming that she can do any of these things better than you – knuckle-headed separatist boasting being the Achilles heel of most current soul – but that she can, in fact, do them, and furthermore can do anything she damn well wants to – which, it seems, includes releasing beautifully human contemporary soul records that espouse positivity over posturing, sensuality over sexuality, and emotional heft over erotic huff and puff. Ovens Auditorium (Timothy C. Davis)

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