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Localized 143
This past Saturday, two members of Bay area jump-jazz collective Bombed Out Cat were seriously injured in a house fire. Vocalist Ally Johnson and sax player Mark Gould are currently recovering at Tampa General Hospital’s Burn Unit ICU, where their condition is slowly improving. Neither musician has insurance, but several clubs, bands, and promoters have already stepped forward to assist in setting up several benefits for the pair. Our strength goes out to Ally, Mark, and their friends and families; please log onto http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/bombedoutcatbenefit to find out how you can help raise some cash, and be sure to stop by one of BOC’s standing Thursday (Rare Olive in St. Pete), Friday (Blues Ship, Ybor), and Saturday (Gators, John’s Pass) gigs in March to offer your support. Jennifer Mazziotti will be filling in on sax until Mark is fully recovered. Thanks.
Swallowed hadn’t sent us any news in a while; not that we cried about it or anything, but they were one of the few Sarasota bands who sent us press releases that were actually about their band, and not about some beef they got into with their peers, so it eased my hangover a bit to find their latest blurb in my mailbox. The guys and girl have some new audio up at their website, ‘Scared’ and an acoustic version of ‘Don’t Go’ originally performed live on Coffeestain.com’s radio station, so drop by www.goddessofcool.com and engage in some positive downloadation. Swallowed’s next gig is slated for March 15 at Keegan’s Clubhouse in Sarasota, with the always kissable Crizzy & The Punx…pour some liquor on the curb for Gyland’s, which is officially a memory. Master Booking Guy Jack Spatafora’s latest scheduling coup will take place at Orpheum on Wednesday, March 8 and features underground darlings Make Up, along with The Starlite Desperation, FunKruze, and some inventive DJ action. Nine pee-em, seven bones, all ages…Ronny Elliott & The Nationals, whose latest, My Nerves Are Bad Tonight, was once again raved in the German edition of Rolling Stone (thanks for the link, Ronny, though if I ever gave you the impression that I was fluent in German, my bad, I misled you), will be at Skipper’s Smokehouse in North Tampa on March 11, along with Miami songstress Diane Ward. Nationals drummer Harry Heyward, a man with a long history of bizarrely entertaining behavior, will kick things off with a solo set…Sparky’s Nightmare continues their reign of twang-pop at Dave’s with a March 18 show. Those who arrived late to that BYO Chicken & Beer soiree at The State a few weeks back missed a tight, polished set by Sparky’s, who recently parted ways with guitarist Russell Fallon, AKA The Guy Whose Last Name I Can Never Remember…the next installment of Fran Snyder’s monthly Writers Night will take place on March 14 at Orpheum. The songsmiths featured are, in order of appearance, Wendy McDowell, David Waterman, Tracy LaBarbara, Hangtown, Dean Madonia, and, astonishingly enough, Fran Snyder, to be followed by half an hour of open mic. The music begins at 8:30, and, as always, a portion of the door will go to Joshua House…not only is revered Gainesville venue The Covered Dish going the way of casual sex, chivalry and New Coke, it seems revered Gainesville band Noah’s Red Tattoo is headed down that road as well, at least for a while…Dave forwarded me a Pat Travers blurb, I have no idea why, I could discern no local relevance whatsoever. If there was any, like if a local was opening, be advised, Budweiser doesn’t care about you, you are not mentioned in their press release, drink Coors…Correction: poetess Annie Vox’s collaboration with Salon Betty is not for inclusion in the indie film The Gatekeepers, as previously blurbed; Annie’s contribution to the flick was her own instrumental track. She pointed out our little misstep when she contributed the Naked Poetry piece which closes this column, and isn’t that just like a woman? No, but seriously, it’s good to see the chicks out there using what they got in this man’s world…the new Harry Dash opus, Modern Life, will be released on March 9. The Pasco quartet’s song ‘Control For Now’ was recently featured on an episode of NBC’s show about good-looking firefighters and paramedics, Third Watch. Log onto www.harrydash.com and help the lads win Sam Goody’s Bandemonium competition by linking to www.riffage.com to review and vote for a couple of Dash tracks. The Bandemonium showcase will be at Miami’s Hard Rock Café on March 9, where Harry Dash should have no trouble making Jimmie’s Chicken Shack look like the shoddy outfit they are; HD will also be at the CHASCO Fiesta (Sims Park, New Port Richie) on March 23, along with Scream 13, Elston Gunnn, and a host of others…ambient duo Future Perfect have another Borders date coming up on March 10 – this time they’ll be at the North Tampa location (12500 N. Dale Mabry) from eight until ten. Also, you can check ‘em out at Dunedin’s Purple Moon on March 18…Future Perfect’s Dave Eichenberger also has that rotating-ensemble, mostly-improvisational deal Hazard Factor going on, and they’ll appear at Dunedin’s The Pharm (where there’s always quite a bit of live stuff scheduled, check out www.pharmreport.com) with Meadowlark Lemon on St. Patrick’s Day...if your reaction to the above words Elston Gunnn was bewilderment, don’t worry; at this early juncture, that’s common. It’s the new name for Pasco’s Burning Sky, who found out at last year’s South By Southwest conference that two other bands shared their moniker. EG have been selected to appear at Boston’s NEMO Conference in April, but if your car gets less-than-stellar gas mileage, you can see them on March 7 as part of Dunedin’s Dunedin Doin’ Bablu Mardi Gras (Lite) celebration, or at Tarpon Springs’ Neptune Lounge on March 11, where they’ll share a bill with Dreamtime. The new website is www.elstongunnn.com, in case you’re a little slow, or something…Orlando’s NutraJeff, er, NutraJet have indeed picked up drummer Jeff Wood, who himself has gone an unprecedented nine weeks without announcing his intent to retire from the business of hitting things. NJ will play with Spiller at
Orpheum on March 11, and at Clearwater’s Club More on April 15 with The Gotohells, Car Bomb Driver, and Shyster…speaking of Car Bomb, they’ll be part of a March 11 Stiff Pole-style festage at The State, which, as well as featuring The Spills, 50/50, Futureman, and Jackie Papers, will also host sets by legendary Bay area bands Psycho-Tribe and No Fraud. Seriously, you need to be there…speaking of The Spills, reports from the West Coast have cuts from their recent split CD with NY trio The Heartdrops in regular rotation…fresh off their sets at Palmetto’s tattoo/piercing/cool-at-all-costs convention, Bushhounds scored one of those liquid-lunch deals, courtesy of 102.1, at Whiskey Joe’s on March 24. They’ll also be playing the opening of Skinners Café, a Lynyrd Skynyrd-themed restaurant (!), with The Artimus Pyle Band on April 7, the night before they team up with APB again at Club More…Bobby DeVito will be sneaking into Orpheum and Dave’s for some unannounced sets in the near future, in order to bone up for his yearly trek to the European blues festival circuit. Upon return, Bobby D. plans to light out for NYC, so be sure to catch him while he’s still here…there’s pop tunes beneath that there blaring guitar volume: Bite-Size has added the talents of guitarist/singer/songwriter Bob Anthony to their roster. Bob’ll be handling lead guitar duties for BS, while continuing his own agenda on off days. BS is currently mixing their full-length, a CD follow-up to the cassette only release Orchestra de Bite Size…Their blurb is only included because they listed Afghan Whigs among their influences: new trio The Beauvilles, whose list of favorite artists alone demands that you give them forty-five minutes of your time (“blending styles and influences as diverse as Miles Davis, Smashing Pumpkins, Tom Waits and John Hammond to the Black Crowes, Superchunk, and Afghan Whigs” – that’s a pretty strong statement, gentlemen. Are you sure you wanna go there?). They’ll be at Café Latte in Hyde Park tonight, Friday, March 3, and Orpheum on March 10, along with postfunk faves Beanstalk…Cocktail Honeys have dropped off of the March 11 Spiller/Nutrajet bill in Ybor due to a commitment at Barbarella’s in Orlando with Bring Back Joel; Scott & George are eager to atone for an unfortunate, alcohol-fueled incident at the club during a Joey Sunshine Band gig. CH will also open for Sony 550 postpunk outfit Ultimate Fakebook at Orpheum on March 24, and join Spiller for an aptly-scheduled April Fool’s Day melee at Neptune Lounge. Joe Popp will replaxe the CH at the Orpheum gig on March 11th, so it still might be worth checking out... The Gita did something strange at their recent Java Lounge shows; I wasn’t there, so I don’t know exactly what happened, but if it went down the way their press release said it would, St Pete Community College is more enlightened than most. Anyway, everybody’s favorite Zen folk-fusionist alternapawp outfit will be at The Mug tonight, Neptune Lounge tomorrow night (with Shrinking Violet, no less), at St Pete’s Cockney Rebel on March 11 & 24, and at Clearwater’s SpringFest celebration the weekend of March 18 & 19. Their debut disc, 1700, is currently available at It’s All Good and Planet Grooves in Clearwater, and at DaddyKool.com in downtown St. Pete… The Refuge was recently awarded a twenty-five thousand dollar grant from The Home Shopping Network, who, apparently, has a long and cherished history of contributing to worthy not-for-profit causes. The money will go toward new PA gear, moving expenses, and computers for their office. Very, very cool. Now if we could just get someone to donate a building. Their Dogtown/Hangnail show, scheduled for March 14, will be held at Orpheum; tix are six bucks, and doors open early, at 7:30… New “astral jazz funk” trio tho (pronounced ‘though’, not ‘tee-aitch-oh’), featuring Orange Stool Chariots’ rhythm section of bassist Paul McDowell and drummer Tom Peverini, and the guitar and vocal talents of Samm Simpson (“the voice of Raymond James”), will be contributing a set at the aforementioned Beanstalk/Beauvilles gig at Orpheum. The threesome considerately thanks Beastalk bassist/cool show setter-upper Andy Irvine for including them, and promises to deliver “all-improvisation stream of consciousness” to those in attendance…I just found a Kansas blurb in my mailbox; either my closet classic-rock fascination has been uncovered, or Focus Dave is wooing a new Thunder intern, as in, “sure, baby, I’ll get it in there, and you can take the credit!” Remember, boss, five hundred feet… KimMystrY dropped us a photo, along with the news that they’ll be at Gasoline Alley on March 12. Come one, come all, come early, ‘cause they’re on at nine-thirty…
funksters Grin will return to The Pharm this weekend, for shows both Friday and Saturday… As this issue goes to press, our own Mr Bella should be taking the stage at UF in Gainesville, opening for slackpawp one-hitters Marcy Playground as part of Mentos’ Freshmaker Tour. A lot of regional modern-rawk acts are being given the opportunity for a lot of exposure here, but the problem is, nobody did shit about promoting the damn thing, outside of the Mentos website, which, of course, millions breathlessly access every few minutes, right? The important thing is that several unsigned and extremely indie bands will be rolling into town for the tour’s March 6 show at USF, and this deal is both free and all-ages. Mr Bella is opening the Tampa gig as well, so head up to North Tampa and represent; you’ll come away with cool band names nobody’s heard of yet, and plenty of hanging-out anecdotes about the shampoo booth… PRESS RELEASE OF THE WEEK: “WISHBONE is a hot new local band you gotta see to believe, check them out at Gasoline Alley March 10th and at Drew St. Station St. Paddy’s weekend. They are also opening up for Damn the Torpedoes April 15th (tax day) you gotta peep this crew soon.” Ahhh, yeah.
Erotica at the Orpheum: Back to the Garden of Eden
(Or: What If Russ Meyer Did Spoken Word Events?)
Feather boas drape themselves wantonly over stage monitors. The mike stand is wrapped with roses. A black lace covered pedestal holds a Bible, and in the background paintings of male parts stand on easels done up in varying swatches of faux fur and lace. A gift basket waits stage left, holding the tempation of forbidden fruit, and at least one pair of edible panties.
NakedPoetry.com hit the The Orpheum last Sunday night, and things may never be the same. It was a word event, and a celebration of the launch of NakedPoetry.com’s first issue, which was launched online at http://nakedpoetry.com the very same evening. The idea: to combine the internet with local poetry and music, to throw it all in the cosmic blender and see what liquifies.
And the theme of the evening: Erotica. Readers were invited to read their tales of lost innocence, to get back to the Garden of Eden for seven stimulating minutes of Open Mic,
NakedPoetry.com-style. Eve, covering her “shame” in a form-fitting black sheath dress, offers the audience forbidden fruit, as RhondaK, formerly the Mistress of the Dark, holds court in a dress adorned with grapes, pausing between readers to have Eve (aka Aimee) select a name for the chance to win a goodie from her basket of Bachnallian excess.
Melissa Fair takes the stage and reads from the point of view of “Adam, the first asshole.” Carl Polgar makes literate lasses in the audience melt with his untitled tale of late night eroticism and spiritual longing. And Moe St. Evergreen turns heads in his multicolored micro-mini, Jesus hair swinging like silk as he kneels down to adjust his red thigh-high stockings. Eve herself takes the stage to bite into the apple and SPIT IT OUT - seems she’s had time to think since she lost that innocence long ago. And personally, my mind is still reeling from the sight of Stone stripping down to reveal a loincloth as Eve dashes to the stage to slip a dollar into his B.C. g-string. I’m inspired to lean heavily on my cane, an affectation brought into play from a Bizarre Drinking Accident at Atomic Age a few nights earlier, and hoot and holler in a manner more befitting a Married With Children audience.
Blue, a new reader, takes the stage for the first time and passionately delineates the old school skinhead. Joe is visiting from St. Louis, his Peter Murphy hairdo drizzled in glitter, but you forget the flash while you listen to his own tale of lost innocence, his tale of losing his father. Dawn sizzles onstage, brains and beauty meet and rejoice. And Russell, from the UK band Box Office Poison, steps up to read from a song about sex on the Internet. And local musician Susy Martian (from Ramona hates Pink) reads two steamy little pieces, with a promise for more in the future.
Next up from NakedPoetry.com Productions will be Heresy: March 12. Read your personal excommunication, seven minutes per reader. Tank of Enemy of God will make a special appearance. Then, on March 19, the theme is GNAW: Chew through your words live - open your mouth at this open mic. Cover is $2, events start at 9pm.
The Orpheum is located on 8th and Republica de Cuba in Ybor City; you can also fire up your browser and visit http://nakedpoetry.com to read works by Diana Browning, Carl Polgar, Maggie Estep, Todd Colby, David Jasper and many more - as well as an interview with Bryce from Enemy of God and other titillating diversions.
- Annie Vox
Ask, ponder, fret. Murky rumors have former Silver drummer Doug Tackett teamed up with several members of human jukebox Barfly, and that the originals are, actually, pretty good. Was that Gary Polecat on my answering service, pleading in a cracked voice for early-morning asylum from various angry female musicians? Have The Gotohells recruited yet another guitarist? Has Francis Nobody run off to the swamp in the name of founding a Molly Hatchet tribute act? Can anybody get over the fact that Damn The Torpedoes is opening for Cheap Trick? No, seriously?
Congratulations and a lifetime of best wishes to Hunter and Erin, Gregg and Cindy.
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