Paul Otteson/Icarus Himself; February 4, 2011; Kiki’s House of Righteous Music

Most of my house concerts have had the same format, a touring band with a local opener, but there have been a few exceptions. Occasionally I’ve gone without an opener, like the Bottle Rockets or Robbie Fulks when I knew the show would sell out. And sometimes the opener is also a touring band, Theodore opening for Simon Joyner or Ben Weaver for the Pines. But tonight marked the first time the House of Righteous Music had an all local bill. You know what, it turned out just fine. In fact, I might have to do it more often since over 40 people showed up. I quizzed a few people on the way in about which band they were there to see. It seemed to be pretty well split, with more than one person admitting they were really just there to check it out, and that they had been meaning to for awhile. Which is great of course, but there have been so many other shows that could have used the help, and now they probably think that I always have that many people show up.

I’d just met Paul Otteson, and only seen him play once, when Jeremiah Nelson suggested that he should do his CD release show in my basement. Even though Jeremiah and I don’t always agree on music (i.e. he likes a lot of stuff that I don’t), I thought maybe he was right about this one. Once Otteson sent me his completed record, I knew he was. February Fables emerged from a February Album Writing Month (or FAWM) exercise. The idea of FAWM is to write a new song every other day during the shortest month of the year, and by the 28th you’ll have a record. Otteson had a couple false starts before settling on an Aesop Fable theme in 2009, the songs on his new release were chosen from two years worth of work. The idea was to take some of the classic fables and update them to modern times. The result was a lot of songs with titles that sounded similar. During the recording process he joked that someone would invariably ask if they do the one about the “something and the something.”

Otteson is a school teacher, and he said his original idea was to read the fable associated with each song before they played it, a very teacherly thing to do. He decided against it for most of the night, but he did pull out his worn copy for the story of “The Bear and the Two Travelers,” reading it deliberately before pausing for the moral, “Never travel with a friend who deserts you at the approach of danger.” As it is with fables, the moral is a good one. His band for the night was the same that had played on the record, and they were essential in bringing these songs to life. In addition to playing guitar, Nelson also produced the record, and it sounds like he also gave Otteson the push he needed to record. There were more familiar faces in the band, drummer Luke Bassuener who has played in the basement before with his band This Bright Apocalypse and his one-man band Asumaya. Not only is the eternally smiling and cheerful Bassuener a pleasure to have around for his personality, he is also a creative and engaging drummer. Fiddler Shawn Drake hasn’t been playing as much since moving to Kenosha, which explains why his fiddle was in rough shape when he arrived at the house. In fact, he borrowed my sister Liz’s for the show. “Thanks Liz,” he said mid-set, before holding it up and explaining, “house fiddle.” The upright bass player was the only person I didn’t know, but he was familiar with the basement, having come to a previous show there. Even though the group hadn’t played together since finishing recording, they sounded terrific during their set thanks to a long sound check/practice earlier.

I’m notoriously picky about who plays in the basement. I’m not doing these shows for any other reason than I love the bands that I have play. So I was a little nervous when Jeremiah and Paul said they would put together a bill for the show. I didn’t wait long before suggesting Icarus Himself, who I have been trying to get to the basement for years. In fact they had been unable to do it so many times that I wondered if I should stop asking. They reassured me that was not the case, and so I offered them this show. I knew Jeremiah had played with them before, and they seemed a good match for Otteson’s music, as well as being a good draw. Finally the timing worked out, they were taking a short break after being on tour, and they were in.

They like to tell me that they have gotten a lot louder since adding drummer Brad Kolberg, but I assured them I’ve had louder at the house. They weren’t lying though, the band started as the solo effort of Nick Whetro, a side project from his National Beekeepers Society. Those early shows consisted of him and a guitar. In the last few years the group has developed rapidly, and they have become a consistently impressive live band. I couldn’t stop smiling as they set up for their set; I was pretty excited they were finally here. Most of the songs were familiar to me as being from 2009’s Coffins or last year’s Mexico EP, especially the latter’s ridiculously catchy “Digging Holes.” Whetro teased us early by saying he had a new song, but wasn’t ready to play it. As their set drew to a close, he decided to bring it out. As with all their recent material it was a winner. After 45 minutes they said they were done, but we convinced them to play one more. I was rewarded when it turned out to be the song with the trumpet, which I think is called “Cadaver Love Song,” though I should probably look that up.

Good crowd, great bands, it looks like 2011 at the House of Righteous Music is off to a good start.

Icarus Himself





Paul Otteson

The Night before the Day the Music Died featuring the music of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens; February 2, 2011; Crystal Corner Bar

The Brown Derby has been playing their brand of honky-tonk at the Crystal Corner every Wednesday night for several years now. On the eve of the anniversary of the day that Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper all died in a tragic plane crash, they forsook their usual show to pay tribute to those musicians, and even called in some guest stars. The evening began with the August Teens as Buddy Holly and the Crickets. With Kyle Motor in charge I should have known it would start exactly on time, but I was twenty minutes late anyway. I missed a good chunk of their set, since, as Kyle pointed out, “the songs are only two minutes long”. However what I did see was pretty awesome. Lead singer Dan Hardgrove moved to bass and left guitar and vocal duties to Motor. With his unabashed love for power pop it isn’t really a surprise that Motor dove into the role. Not only did they sound great, but they also looked great, all dressed in suits.

The Buddy Holly portion of the show was the most extensive, and after a break Brown Derby took the stage for the Richie Valens and Big Bopper segment. For the latter, Derby bass player Nick Brown took center stage. The most physically imposing member of the band he was the logical choice based on stature, but he also had the voice for it. For the biggest of the Bopper’s hits, there was even a prop rotary phone for that iconic salutation “Helloooooooo Bay-bee” that kicks off “Chantilly Lace.” I wasn’t sure I knew any other Big Bopper songs, but I did recognize the cartoonish “Running Bear.” Motor took over vocals once again for a short set of Valens’ songs that should have been familiar to anyone who’s seen La Bamba. I haven’t, but I still knew the big ones- “Oh Donna,” “Come On, Let’s Go,” and “La Bamba.” And his Spanish was pretty convincing on the latter. In fact his enthusiasm for the whole project was quite charming.

After that the night reverted to its regular Brown Derby format, though lead singer John Kunert tried to keep in theme by adding to the list of people who were also supposedly on the plane, beginning with Jerry Reed and his “East Bound and Down” all the way through George Jones.

Graminy; January 28, 2011; Wild Hog in the Woods Coffeehouse

Wild Hog in the Woods is kind of like Brigadoon, but it appears every Friday instead of every thousand years. The Wil-Mar Center on Jenifer Street becomes a cozy little venue once a week, hosting singer songwriters and folkies of all varieties. The term coffeehouse is a bit generous, all they do is plug in the Mr. Coffee and brew up a pot, but you can’t argue with the prices, 35 cents a cup, and the same for a cookie. The cover charge is also ridiculously low; two bucks of you are a member, three if you aren’t. That money is used to cover the costs of putting on the show, there’s a ceramic pig that they use to collect money for the musicians.

Tonight’s guest was Graminy. The name comes from the scientific classification for grass, which is graminae. Just as their name is a fancy name for grass, their music is a fancy form of bluegrass that they like to call “class grass.” I’ve certainly never heard anything like it before. These songs were suites, they had movements, heck, they required sheet music, something I’ve seldom seen any of them use. The music is all written by Mike Bell, who was the wild card in the band for me since I knew the rest of the band. The themes were places and nature, and the music was as original and unique as anything I’d ever seen or heard. I’ve never been much of a fan of classical music but I’ve also never heard it mixed up with bluegrass before, and the results were absolutely hypnotic.

Bell has the advantage of having some of Madison’s best players as his bandmates. The omnipresent Chris Wagoner and Mary Gaines, on fiddle and cello respectively, are probably the best known. The two have played on probably half the local releases of the last ten years, and are members of such recognizable bands as the Common Faces, the Moon Gypsies, the Bob Westfall Band and the Stellanovas. Their musical prowess is never more obvious than during their MadToast Live show which is recorded for podcast. In the course of their music and interview show they often play along with their guests, some of whom they had just met. Gaines also has a lovely singing voice, and most of the songs tonight which featured vocals were hers. After the break, Gaines and Wagoner also did one of their own songs, a quirky little love song that they both sing on.

I’ll admit that fiddler Shauncey Ali was the main draw for me. Though in this case, “violinist” and “violist” are probably more appropriate terms than fiddler. Like Wagoner and Gaines, Ali can pretty much play anything, but this was something I’d never seen him do. There were sounds he coaxed out of his instruments that I hadn’t heard before. It was especially intriguing to see Ali and Wagoner play together; their bows were in perfect synch. One of those numbers was a song that Ali had written. Composer too, apparently there’s no end to his skills.

Perhaps the most jaw-dropping moment of the night was when Bell’s daughter joined the band for a couple songs. On the first she and her father played a duet, him on guitar and her on violin. Despite her age, which I would guess to be around 12, she was a remarkable player. The rest of the band returned to the stage so that she could “sing a song” with them. It was stunning to see a voice that should have been coming from an evening gown-glad torch singer lounging on a piano come out of her tiny frame. Despite the fact that the song was about fishing, it was still pretty amazing. I was even more surprised to hear that the band had never practiced with her; instead she and her father had simply run through it a few times.

Even though this was not the kind of show I usually see, I was endlessly intrigued by it. I’ll definitely go see Graminy again sometime, hopefully soon

David Francey/Craig Werth; January 22, 2011; The Brink Lounge

David Francey is equal parts storyteller and songwriter. Every song was given an extensive introduction before he would sing it. At least once he promised “the song will be shorter than that story.” But to hear him talk he is even more a construction worker. No one seems more surprised than he that after twenty years doing manual labor he has now spent the last twelve years writing and recording albums and touring the world, and he makes it sound easy. “You record a couple records and all of sudden they are inviting you to conferences,” he marveled, “twenty years of construction and I never got invited to a conference.” The conference was Folk Alliance and it was in Florida. Since Francey’s wife and muse Beth Girdler won’t fly, they decided to drive from their home in Canada. He pulled out a map and picked a route, thinking it would be a beautiful drive right along the coast. The route was Interstate and it was neither beautiful nor right along the coast.

Much of Francey’s charm comes from his willingness to laugh at himself. He is the sort of down to earth character than you can imagine sharing several beers with and hours later wonder where the time went. He was born in Scotland but moved with his family to Canada when he was quite young. He still has the Scottish accent, but the years growing up in Toronto have mellowed it, leaving him with a hypnotic lilt infinitely easier to understand than most Scots. He still seems in awe that people are willing to pay to see him sing his songs. But people certainly are... a capacity crowd had come out for his Madison Folk Society sponsored show at the Brink Lounge. And they were treated to two sets of stories and songs from Francey and his sideman Craig Werth. Unlike most singer/songwriters Francey doesn’t play much guitar, he leaves that to Werth who seems able to play anything with strings and he switched instruments frequently during the set.

Many of Francey’s songs were written for his wife Beth. The first of these isn’t a love song at all, but one about the dissolution of his first marriage. Apparently people aren’t listening to the words he claims because many couples have told him they used it for their first dance at their wedding. According to him, it was Beth who first encouraged him to pursue music as a career, before that he had just been a construction worker who also wrote songs. Another favorite subject was the many characters he met while spending time on the M.V. Algoville out at sea. The project was a collaboration between Francey and Mike Ford (of Moxy Fruvous fame). They traveled with the crew for two weeks from Montreal to Thunder Bay, hearing their stories and writing songs about them. It was good to hear accounts of honest, hard working people with no sensationalism at all, like the hero of “The Ballad of Bowser McRae” whom Francey calls one of the most interesting people he’s ever met.

Prior to Francey’s two sets of songs (which went till after 11, giving folks a three hour show for their money) Werth played some of his own material. The one that stuck with me was a song called “The Spokesman” about a retired man who repairs bicycles and gives them away to children who need them. The Spokesman? Get it? The funny part of his story was that he had originally read the tale in his AARP magazine, a publication that he ignored for the first several issues he received. Eventually he found himself reading the whole thing. He was every bit as charming as Francey was, just without the accent, and did play a mean guitar. I guess that made them pretty much the perfect pair.

Marshall Crenshaw/The Bottle Rockets; January 20, 2011; Lincoln Hall, Chicago

Marshall Crenshaw is just one of those dudes. I’ve known his name forever, but for the longest time I couldn’t even name one of his songs. I’ve even seen him once before many years ago, but other than the fact that he played “Someday, Someway,” which I finally figured out was his hit, I don’t remember much about it. So it probably seems a little strange that I went to Chicago to see him, but the fact that the Bottle Rockets were serving as both his backing band and opening act had a lot to do with that. It was certainly an inspired pairing. If the Bottle Rockets seemed more subdued than usual during their opening set, they made up for it with the energy they added to Crenshaw’s set.

Crenshaw started slow with a few songs that sounded too much the same to someone who didn’t know them, but once he hit “MaryAnn” about a half dozen songs in, the show started picking up steam. Or maybe it just took that long for his band to settle in and get comfortable. This was only the second night of a tour that would last only a handful of dates in the Midwest. The Bottle Rockets had arrived late to Lincoln Hall tonight due to a snow storm in St Louis the night before, and seemed just the tiniest bit flustered early on. The good part about the night before according to B Rox lead singer Brian Henneman was that the snow didn’t start until after the show did, “so everyone was trapped.” He seemed most excited about the fact that he would get to play electric sitar with Crenshaw. It could have been excessive, but it was used in moderation. Other than “Someday, Someway,” the highlight of the regular set may have been his cover of Richard Thompson’s “Valerie.”

As the opening band, the Bottle Rockets had played a shorter set than usual, despite the fact that the crowd seemed to consist of mainly their fans. When they finished their set, which had included many fan favorites like “Radar Gun,” “Indianapolis,” “Thousand Dollar Car” and “Get Down River” before concluding with the best track off recent release Lean Forward “The Long Way,” Henneman chided the crowd who was already yelling for more, “All of you have seen us do this a million times, just be patient and we’ll come back and do something you haven’t seen us do.”

As is often the case when two artists with this much history tour together, the encore was the best part. They came back with “Kit Kat Clock” but instead of Henneman on lead vocals, it was Crenshaw. Very cool. I’d already been let in on the secret that Cheap Trick’s drummer would be joining them the next night in Bloomington, and I’d been told to keep it that. “Tomorrow night we will have the honor of Bun E. Carlos joining us,” Crenshaw announced (so much for the secret), “so we learned this song for him.” With that, the band kicked into the instantly recognizable “Surrender” and bass player Keith Voegele stepped to the mike. I’d seen them play this in St Louis years ago during Twangfest and didn’t think I’d ever hear it again. I am happy to report that it was just as awesome as I remembered it being, and I was a lot less drunk tonight.

I’d been very impressed with the Bottle Rockets’ ability to play every request thrown at them in a marathon show in the basement last summer, but I was equally impressed with how easily they got into their role of backing band playing a whole set of new songs perfectly on only their second show with Crenshaw.

The Bottle Rockets







Marshall Crenshaw

Sleeping in the Aviary; January 7, 2011; High Noon Saloon
German Art Students/Love Cats; Mickey’s Tavern

I see a lot of shows at Mickey’s Tavern but I seldom write about them here. The first reason is that a lot of those shows are Honky Tonk Tuesdays, and y’all have heard me talk way too much about Blake Thomas and Jeremiah Nelson already. Now that Blake has moved away and Jeremiah has replaced him with a rotating cast of characters there may be something one of these days that I will write about. The second is that it is endlessly aggravating to take pictures at Mickey’s. The lighting is poor and there is no stage, so if even one person is standing in front of you it is difficult to take a picture. If I don’t have pictures, somehow I feel I am excused from writing a review. But probably the main reason I don’t write about many shows at Mickey’s is that, Honky Tonk aside, it is a terrible place to see a show. All their shows are free, and that equals crowded, really crowded, especially on the weekends. No matter where you stand, you are in someone’s way. For the bands, the no-stage thing means there isn’t a line between performer and audience, and some folks get a little close. And since everyone is responsible for their own PA, the sound varies wildly.

Still, here I was on a Friday night anyway, perched on a barstool I felt lucky to get, waiting to see the Love Cats and the German Art Students. It was nice to have a stool, I felt at least a little less in the way, but it meant I couldn’t see a thing. This was not a problem for the Love Cats. I’d seen drummer Randy Ballwahn walking around earlier and I don’t think black lipstick is his thing. Every so often I caught a glimpse of Sean Michael Dargan, who was playing the role of Cure lead singer Robert Smith. His curly hair had been encouraged to go wild and, surprisingly, he didn’t look near as unnatural with make-up as Ballwahn had. I’ve never been a huge Cure fan. I have one CD, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, which I bought on account of the undeniable catchiness of two songs, “Why Can’t I Be You?” and what I consider their best song “Just like Heaven.” Luckily for me they played both of those songs, plus there were another handful of tunes in their set I didn’t even realize I knew. While Dargan didn’t sound exactly like Smith, he was close enough, proving once again what a versatile musician he can be.

This was the first time I had seen the German Art Students since they became a three piece almost a year ago. Lead singer/guitarist Annelies Howell moved to bass after original bass player Andy Larson left the band. Since all three boys in the band sang, I was wondering who would take over Larson’s vocals. I’m still wondering. I could see even less during their set and the sound had gotten muddier. I was pleased to find out that they are still the same band that was my first favorite local band. They are still playing their hilarious hits like “Disgruntled Figure Skating Judge” and “Civil War Re-enactor.” We’d seen more than half their set when I decided it was time to head over to the High Noon to hopefully catch Sleeping in the Aviary. I felt a little bad leaving, but I’m hoping next time I see GAS it will be under better circumstances.

The two show night is a difficult trick to pull off. I usually arrive to find that the band I really wanted to see just finished. Tonight I got lucky, and they were just about to start when I walked in. They played a much different set than they had for their CD release show, reaching all the way back to their first record for “Glow Worm.” They also played “THE HARDEST SONG FOR US TO PLAY” which turned out to be a song from their new record. Accordionist Celeste Heule frequently contributes backing vocals, but this was the first time I’d heard her sing lead. Tonight’s version wasn’t as confident as the one on the record, but they made it through just fine. If anything, tonight’s show seemed a little calmer than many of the times I’d seen them, but that might have something to do with the fact that tonight was the kick-off of a massive tour that will take them all over the US. By the time they get back to Madison I bet they’ll have that song mastered, not to mention have some good stories to tell.

Rana Santacruz; January 6, 2011; High Noon Saloon

It’s been several years since Kissers’ Kari Bethke and Nate Palan moved to New York, but they certainly haven’t forgotten Madison. The pair returns often and Palan plays gigs with old bandmates in the Hometown Sweethearts, the Kissers, and the God Damns. This holiday season marked the return of Waylan St Palan and his Magic Elves, the best lounge-y Christmas show you’ll ever see as Palan smoozes his way through Christmas classics and soon to be classics like “Santa Lost a Ho”. While in the area, Bethke used the opportunity to play with a band of her own. Rana Santacruz used to front a moderately successful Spanish rock band. The group broke up after their first record failed to yield a hit and Santacruz moved from Mexico City to Brooklyn, where he began introducing bluegrass touches to his music. The result is a curious but undeniably catchy blend of genres.

Coincidentally, this was the second week in a row I found myself watching a band that wasn’t singing in English. Unlike Los Yegueros last week, I was able to pick out words and phrases from deeply buried memories of two years of High School Spanish. There were lots of songs about the moon, and Gina (whose Spanish is infinitely better than mine) swears there were several about burritos, but oddly none about his pants. They were easily the fanciest pants to ever grace the High Noon stage. Somehow I had anticipated he would change before his set, he did used to be in a mariachi band after all, but I don’t think I could have predicted how hypnotic they would be. Rows of silver rings hung from the sides, moving back and forth hypnotically as he played.

Even without the pants Santacruz would have been entertaining. I mean, even with different pants, though pants-less would have had its own entertainment factor. He was delightful and charming; his frequent falsetto was never annoying. He was all smiles as he explained the songs, usually a love song or one based on a legend. Some were less romantic, like the one which accuses a lover as being less faithful than the dog which howls in the night, um, or something like that. The music was consistently enjoyable, even though I couldn’t understand most of what he was saying. After all, there are plenty of bands I like where I can’t decipher most of the lyrics, and they are singing in English (yes Russell I am talking to you). Bethke as always was a joy to watch. Not only is she stunningly beautiful, but she is a wicked fiddler. The upright bass player was equally adorable, though sadly the late arriving trumpet player blocked my view for most of the set. Santacruz’s main instrument was the accordion, but he did play guitar on a few songs.

He was a talented musician with a terrific voice, but his real skill may be in marketing. After mentioning that his CDs were $15 he went on to explain, “That may seem like a lot, but if you listen to it just twice, then it is only $7.50 per listen. And if you listen to it three times, then it is $5. If you listen to it enough, eventually it will be almost free.” It seemed to work, after the show there were a number of people waiting to buy one. I’m not sure how everyone heard about it, but there was an impressively large crowd at the show.


The blurb on the High Noon site lured me in by referencing Calexico in an attempt to describe Santacruz’s sound. It certainly wasn’t an exact match, but it wasn’t that far off in comparing two bands occupying unique spaces.

Top Twenty Shows of 2010
1. The Bottle Rockets, June 11, Kiki’s House of Righteous Music (KHoRM)
Almost three hours of rock, all requests, and the fastest sellout in KHoRM history. Thank you.
2. Ha Ha Tonka/Chris Mills/The Grandtours, August 12, Sunset Tavern, Seattle
I saw two of my favorite artists play better sets this year, Ha Ha Tonka’s blistering set during Twangfest in St Louis and Chris’s solid set with the five piece band at the Hideout, but the point is I saw them together, and in Seattle.
3. Jon Langford/Blake Thomas, April 24, KHoRM
The man of countless bands plays solo at the house, and like everything he does, it was amazing.
4. James/Ed Harcourt, October 1, Royal Oak Music Theater, Royal Oak MI
Worth a trip to Detroit? They played “Fred Astaire,” I swooned, enough said.
5. Mumford & Sons/Cadillac Sky Band/King Charles, November 1, War Memorial Auditorium, Nashville
Sure they’re popular, but for once it’s a band that deserves it. They were fantastic, the venue stunning.
6. Theodore, July 13, Monk’s, Dubuque
I can never get enough Theodore, but tonight came close since they were contractually obligated to two hours. They might not have liked that, but I sure did. Plus, Monk’s was an absolute delight, cozy and charming.
7. Steve Poltz/Robby Schiller, March 30, KHoRM
Blueheels frontman Schiller played the best set I’ve seen him do opening for the crazy entertaining Poltz and his great band.
8. Jason Collett/Bahamas/Zeus, April 6, Majestic Theater
All three acts alternated and collaborated for this unique show. I went to see Collett, but Zeus stole the show.
9. Langhorne Slim/Ha Ha Tonka, July 26, The Varsity Club, Minneapolis
The Varsity is a great place to see a show, and this was a great show. Slim is a true entertainer. And you know how I feel about HHT.
10. Lou Barlow & the Missing Men/Wye Oak, August 25, The Frequency
Something about Barlow always makes me smile, while his voice absolutely hypnotizes me.
11. Bob Dylan, October 25, Overture Center
Dylan continues a run of great shows, and the smaller Overture Center was the perfect venue. Happy Birthday to me.
12. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists/Title Tracks, March 14, High Noon Saloon
Leo is so great live, his encore was a solo cover of the Waterboys’ “Fisherman’s Blues.” I didn’t see that one coming.
13. Califone, March 9, Lincoln Hall, Chicago
They played a live soundtrack along with Tim Rutilli’s honestly good movie “All My Friends Are Funeral Singers” (Netflix it!) and then played a short but mind-blowing set. A band I’ve known for years became my new favorite band.
14. The Pines/Ben Weaver, May 15, KHoRM
Weaver returned to the house and brought some friends, I was very pleased to meet them.
15. Micah Schnabel/ Time Since Western, January 8, KHoRM
Two Cow Garage singer Schnabel played the house in support of an emotional and honest solo record. Plus, I finally get TSW to play.
16. Billy Bragg/Darren Hanlon, September 9, Turner Hall, Milwaukee
Sensual, sexy, Socialist. Pretty much sums up Bragg. Oh, and funny too, so funny.
17. Great Lake Swimmers, June 13, Marquette Waterfront Festival
Lead singer Tony Dekkar played “Imaginary Bars” solo for me after I embarrassed myself requesting it. More swooning.
18. Elf Power/Icarus Himself, September 27, High Noon Saloon
Elf Power was the best thing about the ‘08 Pitchfork Fest, and they made me just as happy tonight, while Icarus keeps getting better.
19. Chuck Prophet & the Mission Express, October 17, Shank Hall, Milwaukee
Prophet just may be the coolest dude on the planet.
20. The Hold Steady/The Whigs/Jaill, July 2, Lac Courte Oreilles Casino, Hayward WI
Three words I thought I would never hear, “Thank you Hayward!”

Top Twenty Records of 2010
1. Theodore Hold You Like a Lover
2. Zeus Say Us
3. Jon Langford & Skull Orchard Old Devils
4. The Hold Steady Heaven is Whenever
5. Frightened Rabbit The Winter of Mixed Drinks
6. Lindsay Fuller The Last Light I See
7. James The Morning After the Night Before
8. Matt Pond PA The Dark Leaves
9. The Whigs In the Dark
10. Sleeping in the Aviary Great Vacation!
11. Mumford & Sons Sigh No More
12. Two Cow Garage Sweet Saint Me
13. Ben Weaver Mirepoix & Smoke
14. Graham Parker Imaginary Television
15. The Scarring Party Losing Teeth
16. Pernice Brothers Goodbye Killer
17. Ian Moore El Sonido Nuevo
18. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists Brutalist Bricks
19. Jason Collett Rat A Tat Tat
20. The Magnetic Fields Realism

The Meat Puppets/Retribution Gospel Choir/Los Yegueros; December 29, 2010; Club Garibaldi

I had gotten very good at being a homebody in December. It was surprisingly easy for me to go from seeing several shows a week to only seeing two so far this month, and it’s almost over. Since I didn’t even bring my camera to the Shaky happy hour show, it was like I wasn’t even there. Part of the reason for my self-imposed hermitude was that I felt pretty broke after my twelve year old car needed a new muffler, but in truth, there just didn’t seem to be anything that really made me want to get out of the house. Given all of that, it was awfully easy to talk me into a road trip to Milwaukee for this show. I hadn’t been to Bayview’s Club Garibaldi since the smoking ban was enacted in July, but it was high on my list of venues that would benefit from it. It is a very cool club, but the last time I was there the blanket of smoke almost killed me. Another plus, it is right across the street from the Palomino, the only place I’ve found since leaving Texas that makes decent fried okra, and theirs is delicious.

The last time I saw the Meat Puppets I found myself amused to no end that lead singer Curt Kirkwood was wearing sweatpants, as if he couldn’t be bothered to put on real pants. He was wearing the same pair tonight so I can only suspect that it is his new uniform. He was also wearing a distracting T-shirt with something about horny teenage girls that I found myself starring at. Tonight’s show wasn’t as good as the one at La Crosse’s Warehouse back in April, but it was still entertaining. They played the songs that Kurt Cobain made famous on Unplugged, it’s a shame that “Birds” and “Lake of Fire” are still doing more for Cobain than they ever did for the Meat Puppets. There was an excellent version of “Up on the Sun” that had some guy yelling for them to play it again for the rest of the night. It was no surprise that they played “Backwater,” the closest they ever came to hit of their own, what was a surprise was that they led into it with “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” It’s a long song, and I certainly don’t claim to know all the words, but I am pretty sure the majority of the verses don’t end with “when the skies of November get gloomy.” Still, the fact that it is an awesome song and completely unexpected made up for any missing lyrics. Johnny Cash’s “Tennessee Stud” was another surprising cover.

Since the last time I saw them, Chris Kirkwood has added keyboard to his repertoire, though I am not sure why. He’s an expressive and entertaining bass player, but his keyboard skills seemed pretty rudimentary. I can only guess about that fact since I couldn’t actually hear it, I’m not even sure it was plugged in. It did leave his bass unoccupied for Steve Barrington of Retribution Gospel Choir to pick up during “Birds.” He and drummer Eric Pollard took to the stage during the song with Pollard singing backing vocals. The funny thing is, Curt didn’t even notice his guests until the end of the song when he looked over and was startled to have company.

The Retribution Gospel Choir was the fashion polar opposite of the Meat Puppets, the trio all sported black pants and shirt with a black, white or striped tie. They looked very sharp, though I’d be willing to give the hard-working band a break after seeing how the shirts of Pollard and Alan Sparhawk were glued to their bodies with sweat at the end of their set. I love a good sweaty hug from a band boy, but I think I would have backed away from this one. Sparhawk is of course best known as the leader of Low, the painstakingly, and painfully, quiet trio from Duluth. My one experience with Low had me showing up at their Union South show after a happy hour, getting shushed four times and leaving. I’ve never been back. All that time playing quiet has led Sparhawk to some pretty noisy places for his side projects. I do not love the Retribution Gospel Choir’s music, I’ve seen them twice and not one song has stuck with me. However, I do enjoy their show. The energy is staggering and the connection between band members crackles with electricity. It can get a little jammy, but it somehow feels necessary. Besides, anyone who sweats that much on stage must really love what they are doing, and I can respect that.

Openers Los Yegueros were from Panama, which they reminded us of several times during their set. Even though their English was excellent they sang in Spanish save for one song. I liked them enough that I probably would have bought a CD if I didn’t still feel so poor. I gave them the thumbs-up when the lead singer asked me how the first song sounded. I’m pretty sure he heard me say he was cute when they got on stage. What? He was cute. We’d made the mistake of looking up what their name meant before the show, and I can tell you it wasn’t anything I learned in my two years of high school Spanish. Sorry, you have to Google it yourselves.

It definitely was a good time. I think my New Year’s resolution will be to go out more. Should be easy to keep.

Los Yegueros





Retribution Gospel Choir






The Meat Puppets