Selling out

Alright, well I guess this thing is starting to pay off. Chris Arnott has asked me to take over the Music Notes column in the New Haven Advocate. Basically, I just have to keep doing what I've been doing here, but for print. And for money.
I have mixed feelings about it. It's nice to have a much larger soapbox to stand on, but it's weird to feel like I have to produce to order. Thankfully, he seems pretty interested in keeping the tone of what I do. He says the Register and Play have the fluffy promotional side of things covered, so he wants me to employ my critical faculties. Writing mean things about people who suck is definitely one of the things I enjoy.
I wrote my first column last week. I did it pretty straight. It's pretty much something I would have written for the blog. This first time out, I wanted to set a baseline for my style. In the future, though, I want to try some weirder stuff. I want to use the forum to actually talk about stuff, rather than just document my basic impressions of a night out. I'm still not sure where it's going to go. I'm just going to try to have some fun.

Some other shows

Here's a little more wrapping up:


One weekend I was in Massachusets, C decided we should take her mother to see Frank Critelli play at a Mocha Maya's in Shelburne Falls.


Angela Easterling was the opening performer. Her website made it seem like she was some kind of big shot, but nobody knew who she was. Her cover of Folsom Prison Blues was definitely one of the weirder things I've ever heard.



It was very red in there. It was a pretty neat place. They had bands booked well into the future and they seem to work pretty hard to support musicians.



Frank played with Rich Suarez and Don Horton as The Good Kind. They played well.



The Vultures played at Bar. I stopped by for a little while. I love seeing heavy bands playing through those dance club speakers.


Monitor and the Merrimac played at Cafe 9.

I really like his style. The sheer absurdity of it wins me over every time.


I saw a bunch of bands at the Green River Festival in Greenfield, Mass. Erin McKeown was my favorite new discovery that day. Neko Case's voice was just as amazing live as on record. Also, Buddy Guy seems to be completely insane. He would start playing a song, then stop to tell a story while his band kept going. His songs didn't make any sense. It seemed like he kept throwing in random lines from different songs for no apparent reason. And at least half of the time, he made a point of impersonating other guitar players. But he walked around in the audience and everybody loved that.


My first visit to the Puppet House in Branford was interesting. There were three bands, each in truncated form. It was a big room with huge marionettes on the wall and few people in attendance. The "management" didn't seem to mind, though. They mostly seemed satisfied that the performers weren't teenagers in metal bands. I suppose I agree with them on that point.


Ponybird was just JennD and Jae Sherman playing acoustic. They did well, though. I wasn't sure how Jae's guitar playing would hold up acoustically, but it was still really powerful.

The Mercy Choir lineup this time around was Paul Belbusti solo.

Some acoustic, some electric. He did some uncomfortably weird stuff and I appreciated that.

The Mountain Movers played as a trio and I think that is their best form. Leave the horns at home.

Still, though, I don't really like that guy's voice.

Ideat Village

Well, it seems that my current rate of updating is once every three months.
This summer was a slow time for me. I spent a lot of it out of town. I was up in Northampton most weekends. I regret nothing.

I never wrote about Ideat Village.
This year was okay. It was a mix of really good and kind of unspectacular.

I quite enjoyed the fundraiser show at Cafe 9.
Humanoid was in good form.
The Cavemen Go did what they do.
I liked Dan and Liz. I won their CD in the raffle and was happy to have it. It's ragged and bluesy.
Bloarzeyd blew my brains out. Loud and chaotic. I think this was the first time I saw them. It was pretty crazy stuff. Experimental punk with just bass and drums. Occassional vocals screamed at a microphone across the stage. The drummer smirked like he was getting away with something.
Baboon Nature were pretty cool, too. All improvised rockish stuff. Occassionally, accidentally jazzy, but mostly not. That was a good way to close the night.





The Ideat VaudVillage night in Temple Plaza was probably my favorite.
There was an MC telling bad jokes that everybody hated. He only had a couple prepared, so he told them repeatedly.
Chris Arnott played a silly cover of "Know Your Rights" on his ukelele.
Baby G played a stunning full-band set while children danced.
Kalte Sterne don't work as well in that kind of open airy space. I think they need a more oppressive environment.
Goth sideshow Circus Delecti did a little dance routine and were insulted by the MC.
The big deal for me was The Minstrel Cycle. They were a lot of fun. Without them, calling it Vaudville would have been a sham. I think I overheard that one of the groups that was supposed to perform refused to play because they thought The Minstrel Cycle would be some kind of racist thing. Novice Theory were supposed to play, I wonder if it was them.
Then there was a bizarre puppet show about see lions.
The penultimate act was the superstar primadonna Queen Killing Kings. If there was any justice in the world, they would be opening for Baby G.
To cap the evening, Floatin' Fred tried to jump his bike over some toy cars and fireworks.









The friday night Safety Meeting Records showcase at Pitkin Plaza started late on account of a traffic delay. Because of that, Kimono Draggin' only played a short set. That was unfortunate.
Brazen Hussey were pretty good. Trash rock with a singer in a big pink dress.
M.T. Bearington didn't do anything for me. Mostly just bored.
Quiet Life made me realize I'm now over Americana. I no longer have any desire to hear a band that does any kind of neo-old-timey stuff. Unless
they're really weird about it.
The Danglers made me happy, though. They always make me happy. It was good to see them outside, again.
Then the Mountain Movers played. I don't care for the Mountain Movers. The horns don't work for me.












The Saturday show was mostly unfortunate.
I was happy to see Bludrum playing when I arrived. I love improvisational chaos percussion in the morning. They were set up down on the brick area. They played in between other performers throughout the day. It was really perfect to have a group like that around to fill the down time while the other bands were setting up. And really, they are a lot more entertaining then many of the bands. Oh, and they have a girl with a Trout Mask Replica tattoo and that means they win.
The first act I saw up on the grass was Bipolar Sessions. He was a sad looking guy with an acoustic guitar who reminded me of Van Dyke Parks a bit. Except his songs weren't very good.
Then the New Haven Improv group played. They weren't as annoying as I expected them to be. But they were still pretty annoying.
I'm looking through the notes I took that day. Up next all I have written is Mark Ferraro - Bad.
I think the Haymarket Martyrs were my favorite new discovery this year. They were like Fugazi plus a guy with a Kaoss Pad. My major criticism is that the electronic noises were a little too loud. The songs were good, though. I didn't realize how political they are until I looked them up online, but I won't hold that against them. I'll definitely keep an eye on them.
I don't remember anything remarkable about the Joiner Inners.
Mercy Meadows played and it started raining, but they kept playing. They are troopers.
Then Ponybird played in the rain, too. They covered the gear with plastic and just bore through it. I was pleased to see that guitarist Jae Sherman, previously of Redbeard, still kicks ass.
It eventually started raining too hard, so the show was put on hiatus while the remaining audience huddled with Bludrum under the overhang of the Moka building. That was great. They just kept pounding away and a bunch of people joined in.
I left for a while to get some dinner and my girlfriend and when I returned, Sex and Death USA were playing. I still have the same complaint about them I always have and that is the singer doesn't engage with the audience. He turns his back and sings to the drummer. He's just not charismatic enough to get away with that.
Then there was the angry, yelling portion of the evening. Forth Corpse was really boring. I left to get some Ful Mudammas at Mediterannea.
When I got back, Cursed Life were on. I've seen them play during Ulteria at Partner's, but I never though I'd see them with other actual bands. It was weird. It's all just electronic noise. There's no way to differentiate what sound is coming from what performer. There was a singer, but no discernable vocals and nothing the guitar player was doing seemed to relate to anything I was hearing. It was all pretty silly and they seemed to be taking themselves very seriously.
The last band was Naga Cult. I stuck around to watch them primarily because Matt from Nightcrawler 1947 is in the band. I liked NC47, but I don't really like Naga Cult. The singer is annoying.

So, all told, Ideat Village was okay. It seemed like there were a lot more aggressive rock bands this year and fewer weirder things. But maybe that's just what's happening with New Haven music right now.