|
Wolf
Eyes
Flywheel,
Thursday
Remember
when bands were considered “experimental” if they had two
synth players and no guitar? And noise was something undesirable,
a by-product of playing through a poorly grounded amp? Those
were the days, huh? Well, hike up your adult diaper because
that shit is over. Stop bragging about the time you
caught Einstürzende Neubauten at some little club in New York.
We know you’re lying about that, anyway. You couldn’t get
tickets, so you stood in the alley behind the club, gunning
40-ouncers and cupping your ear to catch what few notes leaked
out into the damp night air every time the backstage door
opened. Anyway, the “experimental” (read: noise for noise’s
sake) collaborative Wolf Eyes are playing at the Flywheel
tonight (Thursday), which is just great if you’re into music
that makes you feel like you’re being skinned alive. Thurston
Moore will—no fucking shit—open the show. (March 31, 7:30
PM, $5, 2 Holyoke St., Easthampton, Mass., 413-527-9800)
Why
Can’t I Be You III
Lark
Tavern, Friday
In
the spirit of April Fool’s Day, the third show to be dubbed
Why Can’t I Be You will take place at the Lark Tavern tomorrow
(Friday) night. The concept of the Why Can’t I Be You shows—musicians
performing each other’s songs—has proven to be quite popular
among performers and music fans alike. The first two shows
(the first was at the old Lionheart on April 1, 2001, and
the next was at the Larkin on Halloween 2003) were huge successes.
This time there will be an exciting new aspect to the show:
It will include poets (performing each other’s poems) as well
as the musicians. Performers include poets AC Everson, Rob
Englehardt, Mary Panza, Dan Wilcox, Don Levy, Kristin Day,
Rachel Zitomer, Thom Francis; and almost two dozen musicans—obviously,
too many to name here. Each performer will get to play one
or two songs (or recite one or two poems) from their peers.
All this, and it’s free! What more could you ask for? (April
1, 9 PM, free, 453 Madison Ave., Albany, 463-9779)
 |
Sev
Statik CD-Release Party
Hudson
Duster, Friday
As
Sev Statik himself says, he’s “got so much droppin’ this year,
it’s scary.” We’re having difficulty keeping tabs on the busy
emcee. On Friday, Statik is having a CD-release party—but
we’re not 100-percent sure which one of his projects is droppin’
on that particular night. Is it a party for the month-old
Slow Burn? Could be. Or maybe the promised remix album,
After Burn, for which Statik teamed with DJ Money Mike?
Maybe. Hard to say. What we can say is that from his first
solo release, Speak Life, to Slow Burn, hiphop
fans and critics alike have dug Statik’s style—which ranges
“from intellectual to festive; witty to solemn.” So, bob ya
head. (April 1, 8 PM, 40 Third St.,Troy, $5, 687-2391)
 Shawn
Colvin
First
United Methodist Church, Friday
Once
upon a time, we got into an argument with someone who thought
Shawn Colvin had “too much attitude.” Apparently, Colvin had
said some unkind things about other performers as part of
her between-song patter. Precisely, we replied. Some artists
are entitled to attitude: Lou Reed, for example, is capable
of being a colossal asshole, but that’s OK. (He wrote “Heroin,”
for God’s sake.) Colvin, now 15 years along in her career,
can act any damn way she pleases. Her songs—and her performances
thereof—are personal and incisive. And don’t forget that her
voice, by many accounts, is more effective in live performance
than on disc. Tomorrow (Friday) night, you can enjoy the complete
Shawn Colvin experience at the First United Methodist Church
of Pittsfield, in another show too big for sponsor Club Helsinki’s
own space. Kevin Devine opens. (April 1, $36, $46, 8 PM,
55 Fenn St., Pittsfield, Mass., 413-528-3394)
Saturday
Night Special Band
Revolution
Hall, Saturday
Finally,
the one show where it’s appropriate to belly up to the stage
and scream, “Play ‘Free Bird’!” The Saturday Night Special
Band are considered to be the “other” Lynyrd Skynyrd. Sure,
there are no Van Zants here, not a Collins nor a Rossington,
but, original Skynyrd members Artimus Pyle and Ed King do
form the crux of the band, so there’s that. The group, whose
lineup also sports two of Skynyrd’s original backup-singing
“Honkettes” in Jojo Billingsley and Leslie Hawkins, promises
a faithful re-creation of the Ronnie Van Zant-era music that
we’ve come to know, love, and drink loads of beer to. That
should make for a pretty good show, especially considering
anything Skynyrd attempted after Van Zant’s 1977 death
was . . . howdoyousay? Not so good. See if the South can “do
it again” when the Saturday Night Special Band play—through
no small coincidence, we’re sure—on Saturday night. (April
2, 9 PM, $20, 425 River St., Troy, 273-2337)
|
| Also
Noted |
 |
|
odetta
|
New
England bluegrass band Northern Lights (don’t
get confused, now, people, this is a band, we’re
not talking about the club) will stop at the WAMC
performing Arts Studio tomorrow (Friday) night on
their New Moon tour (8 PM, $15, 465-5233). . . .
See a tribute to gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe
in Shout Sister Shout, featuring the Holmes Brothers,
Odetta, and Sister Marie Knight, at
the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall on Friday (8 PM,
$20-26, 273-0038). . . . Also on Friday, Livingston
Taylor (yep, brother of James), who just finished
a CD that was two years in the making, will perform
two shows at the Van Dyck (7 and 9:30 PM, $25, 381-1111).
. . . Saturday’s Saratoga Winners show will feature
Montreal-based death-metal outfit Cryptopsy;
also on the bill are Skinless, Cattle
Decapitation and the Autumn Offering
(8 PM, $12-14, 783-1010). . . . Blake & the
Family Dog (Blake is the frontperson; we’re
guessing the family dog is the rest of the band)
will hit the upstairs stage at Valentine’s on Saturday;
the Geno K Experience and Breaking Laces
are also on the bill (9 PM, 432-6572). . . . Blues
singer and guitarist Albert Cummings will
perform on Saturday at Berkshire Community College’s
Boland Theatre in Pittsfield, Mass.; blues songstress
Susan Angletti will open the show (7 PM, $10, 413-499-4660
ext. 291). |
|
|
Columns
& Opinions
