Catching Up

Chris Buskey and the High Lonesome Plains and Susan Cowsill at Cafe 9 - 7/18/06

Susan Cowsill inspires no particular memories in me. They say she was a big deal 40 years ago.
Chris Buskey sounds like the guys from They Might Be Giants fronting REM. He's a good, solid, inventive pop-rock songwriter. I saw him once before playing solo but this time he had a band. Either way, it's good stuff.

Pictures:

http://flickr.com/photos/oldangelmidnight/sets/72157594206973571

etc.
http://www.myspace.com/chrisbuskey


Nasty Disaster, Krull and Appetite for Destruction at Toad's - 8/3/06

Nasty Disaster try very hard to be a ridiculous over-the-top mock-metal band. I guess they succeed - every song is about metal and has metal in the title. I don't quite understand how they've lasted this long, though. It's like the kind of half-funny nonsense that high school kids would work up for the talent show. I could see if they were accomplished musicians or something, but these guys were, in every sense, thoroughly mediocre. This is for people who weren't smart enough to get Spinal Tap.
Krull are a heavy rock band. They bare a lot of influences, but aren't beholden to any particular genre. Their most interesting influence is probably Tool - take that as you will. Sometimes the drummer is the lead singer and that's kind of weird. This is among my favorite pictures:

That's Anthony from Krull.
Appetite for Destruction are a Guns 'n' Roses cover band. I don't like Guns 'n' Roses.

Pictures:

http://flickr.com/photos/oldangelmidnight/sets/72157594224122168

etc.
http://www.myspace.com/nastydisaster
http://www.myspace.com/krullmusic


Goose Lane on Broadway - 8/5/06

I'm not familiar with much jazz that was made after the mid '60s, so maybe Goose Lane are part of some kind of postmodern jazz movement, but they don't sound quite like anything I've ever heard. The most interesting moment, for me, was a transition from a dixie-style section to a sort of free/fusion thing - but not Miles Davis fusion, it was a much more modern sound.
I took a video:

I was really happy that I got some video of that crazy guy who walks around downtown and says hello to everybody and you think he's just a friendly guy, but then you realize he's also saying hello to his own reflection in the window.

Pictures:

http://flickr.com/photos/oldangelmidnight/sets/72157594241011708

etc.
http://www.myspace.com/gooselane


Frank Critelli and Shandy Lawson at Koffee? - 8/10/06

It was a coffeeshop thing. They both played well. It was all very casual. Frank Critelli told his stories. It was a night among friends. Even so, Shandy Lawson's natural intensity was engrossing.

Pictures:

http://flickr.com/photos/oldangelmidnight/sets/72157594241015597

etc.
http://www.myspace.com/frankcritelli
http://www.myspace.com/shandylawson