Justin Roberts & the Not Ready for Naptime Players; August 3, 2014; Baraboo

I have friends who haven't seen Justin Roberts & the Not Ready For Naptime Players because they don't have kids.  I tell them that doesn't matter, I don't have kids and I've seen them a bunch.  You don't have to be a youngster to enjoy Roberts ridiculously catchy tunes.  Plus, there's puppets!  I missed usual bass player Liam Davis and Willy the Whale (which he voices), but it was nice to meet Jacky another NRFN Player.  It was hot and the kids seemed a little too lethargic to participate in the actions that went with the tunes, but I enjoyed it all the same.

Shane Sweeney/Ryan Parker; August 2, 2014; Kiki’s House of Righteous Music

The Wisconsin State Journal had featured the House of Righteous Music in the Sunday’s Best section of the paper and a bunch of people had joined the Facebook group and asked to be added to the e-mail list.  This was the first show since then… and ten people showed up.  It seems that the increase in profile did absolutely nothing to help attendance, but if there is anyone who couldn’t care less about how many people he was playing to, it’s Two Cow Garage’s Shane Sweeney.  It’s hard to imagine anyone being happier to be here.  While it wasn’t the first time he played solo, he still credits a performance at the house several years ago as the first place that he felt like people really cared, and really listened when he played.  It’s impossible not to listen when his voice is like a sugar-coated Tom Waits, his lyrics smart, and his melodies infectious.  He says he’s been listening to a lot of E Street Radio these days, and the one thing he’s learned from Springsteen is “Knick knack paddy whack, give a dog a bone.  That guy rhymes the shit out of everything.  I guess that’s why they call him the Boss.”  Opener Ryan Parker was similarly enthusiastic.  Usually Two Cow Garage's tour manager, he was excited to get a chance to play his own music on the road.  He was sweet and engaging, and reminded me more than a little of Sweeney's Two Cow bandmate Micah Schnabel.

Sweeney is currently working on a new solo record, a follow up to The Finding Time, with Todd May producing.  “You guys met Todd, so you can imagine how long this is taking.  There have been many more beers consumed than songs recorded.”  The set combined older songs with some so new he couldn’t get past the first line without going back to his new songs notebook to look it up.  From the former camp was “Saturday Night,” the first song I’d ever heard him sing, and so of course it’s still my favorite.  “This is song is about breaking up and getting really drunk and hanging out with your friends instead of hanging out with your girlfriend, and this song is for Kiki,” he said by way of introduction, eliciting lots of laughs from the audience.  If you believe Sweeney, they are all break-up songs.  He introduced one as being at least less depressing than the others, because he “doesn’t do happy songs.”  And that couldn’t be more different than the man himself, who, as I mentioned before, couldn’t be happier. 

As he neared the end of his set, he played a gorgeous version of Dylan’s “You’re a Big Girl Now,” which was coincidentally the second time it had been played in the basement this summer (Ian Moore did it back in May).  Dylan often makes an appearance in Sweeney’s art.  Not the man himself but his songs.  Every morning Sweeney draws a line from whatever song he wakes up with in his head.  There’s always a skinny dude with crazy hair and a beard, which he says is always him.  He had a book full of them tonight and while I was disappointed not to find any Dylan, I did end up with two pretty great pieces featuring America (“Sister Golden Hair”) and Van Morrison (“Jackie Wilson Said”).  He took requests at the end which he played in order of how well he knew them, least well first.  First up was “Mediocre,” followed by the fast-talking blues tune that caused band mate Micah Schnabel’s dad to tell him, “I really like that Dylan song you wrote”, and finally “a Tom Waits song” which always my sister’s request.  Tonight it was the brilliant “Hold On,” the room was silent.

The show had just ended when the members of Loves It! showed up.  They had just played the Sugar Maple fest and were crashing at the house tonight.  For singer/multi-instrumentalist Jenny Parrott the jam after the show is just as great as the show.  She walked up to Shane with her violin and said “Hi I’m Jenny, wanna to jam?”  They played a couple of Shane’s songs before she talked Liz into playing some fiddle, some of which ended up on tape.  Unfortunately the tape had run out before they played one last song, Dylan’s “Isis.”  It was tailor made for the guitar/fiddle duo and despite the wordiness Sweeney nailed it as far as I can tell.  It was definitely the first time that Dylan song had been played in the basement.  Sweet.

Ryan Parker

Shane Sweeney

 

Owen Temple; July 31, 2014; High Noon Saloon

Owen Temple has been a favorite of mine since I met him long ago on a Tuesday night at Mickey's shortly after he moved to Madison.  He moved back to Texas several years ago but continues to return to Madison.  He's played at the house several times, but this time through he teamed up with local honky tonkers Brown Derby for a night of like minded music.  Always great to see you Owen!

Foreign Fields/Boom Forest/Dietrich Gosser; July 24, 2014; East Side Club

My friend Nate put together a pretty impressive slate of music for his first summer series on the lake.  Unfortunately they were on Thursdays which is also my yoga night.  This week I skipped class to see this impressive trio of bands, anchored by a terrific opening set from Dietrich Gosser and Dan Kuemmel.  It was a lovely evening, the music was beautiful and there were $2 Point beers.  I love this town.
Dietrich Gosser

Boom Forest

Foreign Fields

Jon Dee Graham & the Fighting Cocks; July 6, 2014; Wisconsin Brewing Company, Verona

This also has the makings of a tradition.  Jon Dee and the band played a free afternoon show at the brewery which brought us Big Sweet Life MaiBock.  Even the threat of rain didn't keep people away, who might have come for the free six pack, but stayed for the awesome show.  I even got an ice cold MaiBock straight out of the vat.  It's a big sweet life indeed.

Jon Dee Graham and the Fighting Cocks; July 5, 2014; Kiki’s House of Righteous Music

It’s become tradition each year around the Fourth of July for Jon Dee Graham and his backing band the Fighting Cocks to play the basement on either side of their appearance at Fitzgerald’s American Music Festival.  It’s also become a tradition that we never get the same pair of Cocks twice.  Bassist Andrew Duplantis has been there three of the last four years, but with Joey Sheffield the first time and George Duron the second.  George played two years in a row, but with a different bass player the second time.  Tonight we were in for a treat, OC John Chipman was back in the drummer’s seat.  “OC” as Jon Dee explained it, stands for “original Cock.”  His band name used to change on a nightly basis, the Enemies of Progress and the Hill Country Blues Boys was some examples, but after a night with Fred Friction and a bottle of Fighting Cock whiskey at Fred’s Music Lounge in St Louis, they had a name that stuck.  I hadn’t seen Chipman since a Resentments gig in Austin the last year I went to ACL, a million years ago, so it was great to have him in the basement.  Even better was watching how much fun he was having playing the basement.  The six foot four dude looked like a kid behind the drum kit, his smile was so wide.  And it was infectious, this might have been the best Jon Dee show yet.  I know I say that every time, but I also think it’s true.

From the opening number “A Place in the Shade” it was apparent that this was going to be a great show.  The rhythm section settled into a relaxed groove while Jon Dee strummed the sweet melody and his lullaby growl of a voice echoed how comfortable he felt.  After the song he turned to the audience with a big grin.  “Here’s how often I play here, I took my picks out of my pocket to put on the window ledge where they’re handy,” his smile got bigger, “and there’s already a pile of my picks there.”  It’s true, his Madison audience has grown steadily over the years, as has the regularity of his appearances, propelled almost exclusively by word of mouth. Most notably from the mouth of brewmaster Kirby Nelson, who named a beer after one of his songs.  Big Sweet Life, naturally in Nelson’s favorite style a maibock, debuted a few weeks earlier to great reviews.  It got a few more rave reviews tonight as Nelson brought a cooler full in with him.  The irony being of course that Jon Dee doesn’t drink, he lets his band do the drinking for him.  Halfway through the show they got their first taste of the BSL, and gave it impressively eloquent reviews.

Most memorable of the new songs was “The Ballad of Barbara and Steve,” an ode to the owners of a classic enchilada joint/music venue in San Antonio.  The restaurant and its owners are gone now, but they will never be forgotten thanks to Graham’s sweet tribute.  He tested Chipman later in the set by springing one he hadn’t played before on him.  It had been awhile since I’d heard “Fifty Cents a Day,“ one of the songs from the Hobart Brothers CD.  In fact, it hadn’t been played in the basement since the Hobart trio of Jon Dee, Freedy Johnston and Susan Cowsill played it several years ago.  He not only nailed that one, but also Jon Dee’s fake-out on the end of the show-stopping rocker “October,” where he stops just short of cuing the final beat several times before following through with a satisfied smile.  And like he always does in the basement, he played a heart-breaking version of “Airplane” and its lead in “I’ll Wait” that brought tears to my eyes.

Yep, best show yet.

Tommy Keene/Jimmy Murn; July 3, 2014; Kiki’s House of Righteous Music

When drummer George Duron played the basement with Jon Dee Graham last summer, he suggested power pop icon Tommy Keene as a potential house concert performer.  I’d seen Keene a couple times, though it was years ago, and enjoyed him, but the thing that I really remembered was how loud it was.  It was hard to imagine Keene in the basement with a full band, but when he contacted me this spring about playing I didn’t hesitate for a second.  I cautioned folks to bring earplugs, but as it turned out it wasn’t too loud at all.  In fact, it was just right, you know, considering it was a power pop show in a basement.  Sadly, it was too much for the microphone of my video camera, reducing his catchy tunes to a staticy mess.  He had a terrific group behind him.  Drummer John Richardson has played with another pop legend Shoes, as well as a new project the Dream Fakers with Paul Chastain of Matthew Sweet’s band, while the guitarist plays with a number of Chicago area bands.  There was a fair amount of freaking out and geeking out in the sold out crowd about Keene playing at the house, and he put on a show worthy of the attention.

He had just released his first all covers record earlier this year, and he opened with an Echo & the Bunnymen song.  It’s a great record, with songs ranging from new wave to classic rock.  He also went way back in his career for some of the earlier hits.  He was charming and modest, enjoying the intimacy of the basement setting.  And it was pretty adorable the way he would hike up his pants in preparation for the next song.  He did seem a little confused by Marco Pogo.  A familiar face on the local music scene, Pogo can be seen pogoing up and down in front of the stage or pacing back and forth at many shows around Madison.  There wasn’t really room for that in the basement, but he tried anyway.  When he started dancing as soon as Keene announced the name of the song, Keene looked bewildered, “How can you be dancing already?  We haven’t started playing.”  “I know the song,” Pogo replied.

The main reason  Pogo was there was to see opener Jimmy Murn.  Murn used to play out frequently with his band the Heymakers, but he’s kept a low profile of late.  When I invited him to play I said solo would be just fine.  He played a great set which included a lot of covers, claiming he was sick of his own songs.  One of the best of these was a Beulah song that I hadn’t thought about in years.  He won over an audience that for the most part hadn’t heard of him, and sold quite a few CDs after the show.  Apparently, according to Facebook the next day, the whole thing renewed his interest in music and he had direction again.  I’m not taking any credit for that, I’m just glad he could come play.

Jimmy Murn

 Tommy Keene