Independence Day Hangover Concert Calendar
This is what Shakespeare had to say about music:
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.
The motions of his spirit are as dull as night,
And his affectations dark as Erebus.
Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music.
- The Merchant of Venice, Act 5, Scene 1, 82-87.
So mark the music, lest you have dull spirits. Here are some opportunities to do so in coming weeks. I also added in some Rock & Roll movies just for fun. Bold means I am going, italics that I am more than usually interested. Don't like my system? Compile your own concert calendar!
July
M 7/08 - David Byrne & St. Vincent @ Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor. I'll be meeting pianodan and drdingbat down there.
T 7/09 - Kurt Vile @ Grog Shop. Matador recording artist, with everything that implies.
T 7/09 - Cat Empire @ Beachland Ballroom. I saw them in their native Australia 9 years ago. Ska/jazz fusion, of a sorts.
T 7/09 - Fun w/Teagan & Sara @ Nautica. If you liked their big hit "We're So Young" here's your chance.
W 7/10 - Xavier Rudd @ Beachland Ballroom. I saw him in his native Australia 9 years ago too. What are the odds that two bands from the 2004 Falls Fest would turn up in Cleveland in the same venue on consecutive nights? Weird.
W 7/10 - Screening of the Rolling Stones documentary Crossfire Hurricane at the Rock Hall.
W 7/10 - Screening of "Ain't In It For My Health" @ Cleveland Museum of Art, a film about Levon Helm, drummer for The Band.
F 7/12 - Rubblebucket @ Grog. You will dance. Vaguely like Rusted Root.
S 7/13 - Belle & Sebastian @ Stage AE, Pittsburgh. I'm going down with Brandt of "The Cream of Broccoli Radio Hour".
S 7/13 - The Black Lillies @ Winchester. I am enjoying their new album, which is folky country that my parents would like.
T 7/16 - Toro Y Moi @ Grog Shop. The new album is excellent. Vague weird electronicy sound.
T 7/16 - Animal Collective @ HOB. Rescheduled from March 11 due to illness. Sponsored by Grog Shop.
T 7/16 - Great Big Sea @ Kent Stage. They've got one really great live album, which sadly has not been matched by their performances when I've seen them. Most importantly, their bass player is Murray from Moxy Früvous!
T 7/16 - Animal Collective @ HOB. Their show earlier this year was rescheduled for this date due to illness.
T 7/16 - Jason White @ Nighttown. Mostly famous for Tim McGraw covering his "Red Ragtop", White is quite fine in his own right.
W 7/17 - Wire @ Beachland Ballroom. Tickets are on sale April 5, and this will sell out. I've decided I'm not skipping ultimate for them.
F 7/19 - Expecting Rain & Herzog @ Cain Park. Spend $5 to see onabus's bands rock out. It's worth it, I promise you.
F 7/19 and S 7/20 - Soul Rebels @ Mahall's. A great New Orleans band at a venue I can walk to. How can I say no?
S 7/20 - Dick Dale @ Grog Shop. Everybody should see surf guitar legend Dick Dale play Misirlou at least once.
T 7/23 - Sweetback Sisters @ Cain Park. For $2 you can see a country music band from Brooklyn. Bets don't get much cheaper than that.
T 7/23 - Screening of "Low Movie: How to Quit Smoking" @ Capitol Theater. It's about Low and is 70 minutes long, or about as long as one of their songs :-)
W 7/24 - Chicago @ Nautica. If I was available that night, this would totally be my guilty pleasure show of the summer.
R 7/25 - The Melvins @ Grog Shop. 30 years of weirdness.
F 7/26 - Ted Leo & the Pharmacists @ Grog Shop. Everything that is good about Rock & Roll can be heard on a Ted Leo album.
M 7/29 & W 7/31 - Hot Club of Detroit @ Nighttown. The finest in gypsy swing. Their last album featured Cyrille Aimee.
W 7/31 - Weird Al @ Cain Park. This is a step down in venue size for him, so I suspect it will sell out.
August
F 8/02 & S 8/03 - Diego Figueiredo @ Nighttown. I first saw the Brazilian guitarist with Cyrille Aimee. In his home country he sells out really big halls, and deservedly so.
S 8/03 - Inspecter 7 @ Peabodys. Listed mostly because they are a ska band dating from 1993... and I somehow have never heard of them?
M 8/05 - The Killers @ Nautica. I understand that a lot of my friends like them, which I can see.
T 8/06 - Kim Lenz & The Jaguars @ Beachland Tavern. $10 bet on rockabilly.
T 8/06 - Screening of "The Last Waltz" @ Capitol Theater. Often called the best concert film of all time (presumably by people who haven't seen "Stop Making Sense"), it chronicles the last appearance by The Band.
R 8/08 - Kris Kristofferson @ Cain Park. Old school country. Or ask him about Blade, if you prefer.
W 8/14 - Coyotes @ Now That's Class. $5 bet on an Alt-Country band from New Orleans. Plus, don't mess with trickster gods.
W 8/14 - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy @ Cain Park. Rarely has one band ridden a movie appearance (Swingers) so long, but when I saw them back in 1999 they were fantastic.
F 8/16 - The Official Blues Brothers Revue @ Cain Park. Ok, so this is apparently Blue Brothers impersonators. Since the Blues Brothers were essentially impersonating blues singers (it helps to have GREAT musicians), I guess this might work? Listed mostly because it is weird.
F 8/16 - Old Crow Medicine Show @ PSQ. If this wasn't so expensive I'd mark it as a definite, because I like their high intensity folk.
R 8/22 - Cloud Nothings @ Beachland Ballroom. Are they still the hottest band in Cleveland? Probably. I'm just happy to have their live disc from the Grog, which is the only show I've been to that was turned into a live album.
S 8/24 - Best Coast @ Beachland Ballroom. One of my friends like them a lot.
Su 8/25 - The Reverend Horton Heat @ Beachland Ballroom. With Wayne the Train Hancock AND Deke Dickerson.
Su 8/25 - Black Fag! @ Now That's Class. The most fabulous Black Flag tribute you've ever seen. Listed solely for the name, obviously.
W 8/28 - Adam Ant @ Agora. I'm listing less because I like Adam Ant and more because it's the first major show I've seen advertised at the Agora in a gazillion years.
R 8/29 - Ami Saraiya & The Outcome @ Beachland Tavern. It says vintage cabaret sound, and I'm always down for a $10 bet on that.
S 8/31 - Cleveland Orchestra performs Pixar @ Blossom. Sounds like a good reason to have a picnic on the lawn. On the other hand, it's not like there are many Pixar songs that jump readily to my mind beyond You've Got a Friend in Me.
September
R 9/05 - The Duhks @ Beachland Ballroom. Baltimore folk group.
W 9/11 - Deerhunter @ Beachland Ballroom. With Marnie Stern! I can get behind both of those bands; together I may just have to go.
W 9/11 - Chop Tops @ Now That's Class. Rockabilly punk.
W 9/11 - Fall Out Boy @ Wolstein Center. Quit laughing, my ex got me into them.
F 9/13 - Los Lobos @ Beachland Ballroom. I'm not going to pay $40 to see them, but they are really good at that rock & roll thing.
Su 9/15 - Sigur Ros @ Nautica. Are they really that big? I guess so. Fortunately, I'm out of town that night so I don't have to debate spending a ridiculous sum of money to see them.
Su 9/15 - Yo La Tengo @ Grog Shop. Or you could pay a less ridiculous sum of money to see Yo La Tengo.
R 9/19 - Pere Ubu @ Beachland Ballroom. Arguably the most important band to ever come out of Cleveland.
Su 9/22 - Ani DiFranco @ HOB. I saw her once with a full band (awesome) and once solo (eh). I don't know which this is.
R 9/26 - Stars and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah @ Beachland Ballroom. I like both of these bands. Stars is really good live; Clap I had tickets to see during their six months of being on fire, but didn't end up going.
F 9/27 - Jen Chapin @ Winchester. Are there any Chapin's who aren't musical? Harry's daughter leans toward experimental jazz.
S 9/28 - Itzhak Perlman with the Cleveland Orchesetra @ Severance Hall. I saw him when I was a kid, and it was fantastic. However, to buy tickets you pretty much to need to commit to a full season of the orchestra.
Su 9/29 - Diana Krall @ PSQ. Jazz stalwart. Mostly expensive, but there are some $10 seats.
Su 9/29 - The Moody Blues @ Nautica. Hi Mom!
Beyond
S 10/05 - Nine Inch Nails @ Wolstein Center. Once was enough for me personally, especially at these prices.
W 10/16 - Electric 6 @ Grog. Listed so I have an excuse to play their one good album again.
S 10/19 - Ghost Brothers of Darkland County @ Akron Civic. A rock & roll music by Stephen King, John Mellencamp and T Bone Burnett. No, really.
F 11/01 - The Smithereens @ Beachland Ballroom. Ok, I'm intrigued. Two sets, no opener.
S 11/02 - Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons @ PSQ. Apparently Jersey Boys was based on real life. Who knew?
R 12/12 - Justin Timberlake @ The Q. It probably makes me a bad WRUW staff member, but if I happened into deeply discounted tickets I'd probably go to this. Judge me as much as you want!
F 12/14 - Straight No Chaser @ PSQ. Acappella.
How do you find local shows? Try these: Beachland Ballroom & Tavern, Grog Shop, Peabodys, CSU Convocation (aka Wolstein) Center, HOB, Winchester, Kent Stage, Agora Theater & Ballroom, Wilberts, Quicken Loans Arena, Night Town, Playhouse Square, Rock Hall, Cain Park, Blossom, Nautica Pavilion, Lakewood Civic Auditorium, Severance Hall, E.J. Thomas Hall (Akron), Musica (Akron), Akron Civic, CityMusic Cleveland, Now That's Class, Happy Dog, Mahall's 20 Lanes, Tri-C Jazzfest, Dionysus (Oberlin).
I've caught eight shows since the last calendar. Three were great, three were good, two were eh.
- I went and saw Chuck Prophet & The Mission Express at the Beachland Ballroom on May 15, mostly on the basis of last year's album "Temple Beautiful". This show blew me away. Chuck has a great band and strong material and I really had a good time. I bought the album and it's really, really good.
- The next day I saw JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound at the Grog Shop. It was a late show with a small crowd. JC and company gave it their all, but frankly their new album Howl isn't up to the standards of their last one, which didn't help the gig.
- I first saw Buddy Guy back in 2001. Then he was a force of nature; a ridiculously, almost sublimely talented blues guitarist who ripped it up every time. Eleven years later, Shari & Michael and I saw him at the Ribfest on Memorial Day weekend at Nautica. Unfortunately, Buddy has gotten older. He's 76 now, and he can't sustain the energy the way he could back in 2002. Like BB King, Buddy is now more of a bandleader than a lead guitarist. He deferred to the rest of his band a lot more than in the past. Add in the subpar acoustics of Nautica, and we get a subpar show.
- I took Dr.I to see Cyrille Aimee & The Guitar Heroes on June 6. It was even better than their February show. I've now seen her four times as a headliner and once as an opener, all at Nighttown, and she just keeps getting better. If she does come back later this year I'll probably be there. On the downside, I now own all of her CDs, and none of them is particularly good.
- I saw the Rebirth Brass Band two nights later at the Beachland Ballroom. The first time I saw them they opened for Trombone Shorty at the House of Blues and their energetic performance would have blown anybody off the stage. This time, I don't know if I just wasn't feeling it or if they were off, but I couldn't get into it. I left early.
- EMEFE was a total $10 bet on my part. I figured they had members of Antibalas, so they were worth a shot, and WOW was a right. It was the best Afrobeat show I've seen since Femi Kuti. The Beachland Tavern was not even half full, but EJ, Charles and I were treated to a ridiculously high energy show by the boys from Brooklyn. It was the first band I've seen that didn't even fit on the Tavern stage. The CD is really good too. They are a definite win and well worth checking out.
- I was supposed to be seeing Sharon Jones on June 30, but she was diagnosed with cancer and understandably cancelled her tour. In their place I tried an Austin soul ban called Mingo Fishtrap out as a $10 bet. Like EMEFE, they were at the Beachland Tavern. Like EMEFE, they had a really big band heavy on the horns. Unfortunately, the favorable comparisons ended there. They were merely ok when they covered other bands (Billy Preston, Stevie Wonder, James Brown) but their original material was boring, and their horn section was not very good. Aside from some sterling organ work there was little to recommend about them.
- gieves clued me in to some authentic Afrobeat in the form of Amadou & Mariam doing a free outdoor show at the Cleveland Museum of Art's Transformer station. We, plus darlox enjoyed a nice long set along with several hundred other people, including Dot, Charles, Rawr!, Colleen & Kevin and probably some other people I'm forgetting. It was a fun night out.
The show total for the year is up to 22. Of those, Silencio, Kronos Quartet, EMEFE and Cyrille Aimee (second time) were the best, but there's still a lot of 2013 to go. Know about an upcoming show that will blow me away? Tell me about it!
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.
The motions of his spirit are as dull as night,
And his affectations dark as Erebus.
Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music.
- The Merchant of Venice, Act 5, Scene 1, 82-87.
So mark the music, lest you have dull spirits. Here are some opportunities to do so in coming weeks. I also added in some Rock & Roll movies just for fun. Bold means I am going, italics that I am more than usually interested. Don't like my system? Compile your own concert calendar!
July
M 7/08 - David Byrne & St. Vincent @ Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor. I'll be meeting pianodan and drdingbat down there.
T 7/09 - Kurt Vile @ Grog Shop. Matador recording artist, with everything that implies.
T 7/09 - Cat Empire @ Beachland Ballroom. I saw them in their native Australia 9 years ago. Ska/jazz fusion, of a sorts.
T 7/09 - Fun w/Teagan & Sara @ Nautica. If you liked their big hit "We're So Young" here's your chance.
W 7/10 - Xavier Rudd @ Beachland Ballroom. I saw him in his native Australia 9 years ago too. What are the odds that two bands from the 2004 Falls Fest would turn up in Cleveland in the same venue on consecutive nights? Weird.
W 7/10 - Screening of the Rolling Stones documentary Crossfire Hurricane at the Rock Hall.
W 7/10 - Screening of "Ain't In It For My Health" @ Cleveland Museum of Art, a film about Levon Helm, drummer for The Band.
F 7/12 - Rubblebucket @ Grog. You will dance. Vaguely like Rusted Root.
S 7/13 - Belle & Sebastian @ Stage AE, Pittsburgh. I'm going down with Brandt of "The Cream of Broccoli Radio Hour".
S 7/13 - The Black Lillies @ Winchester. I am enjoying their new album, which is folky country that my parents would like.
T 7/16 - Toro Y Moi @ Grog Shop. The new album is excellent. Vague weird electronicy sound.
T 7/16 - Animal Collective @ HOB. Rescheduled from March 11 due to illness. Sponsored by Grog Shop.
T 7/16 - Great Big Sea @ Kent Stage. They've got one really great live album, which sadly has not been matched by their performances when I've seen them. Most importantly, their bass player is Murray from Moxy Früvous!
T 7/16 - Animal Collective @ HOB. Their show earlier this year was rescheduled for this date due to illness.
T 7/16 - Jason White @ Nighttown. Mostly famous for Tim McGraw covering his "Red Ragtop", White is quite fine in his own right.
W 7/17 - Wire @ Beachland Ballroom. Tickets are on sale April 5, and this will sell out. I've decided I'm not skipping ultimate for them.
F 7/19 - Expecting Rain & Herzog @ Cain Park. Spend $5 to see onabus's bands rock out. It's worth it, I promise you.
F 7/19 and S 7/20 - Soul Rebels @ Mahall's. A great New Orleans band at a venue I can walk to. How can I say no?
S 7/20 - Dick Dale @ Grog Shop. Everybody should see surf guitar legend Dick Dale play Misirlou at least once.
T 7/23 - Sweetback Sisters @ Cain Park. For $2 you can see a country music band from Brooklyn. Bets don't get much cheaper than that.
T 7/23 - Screening of "Low Movie: How to Quit Smoking" @ Capitol Theater. It's about Low and is 70 minutes long, or about as long as one of their songs :-)
W 7/24 - Chicago @ Nautica. If I was available that night, this would totally be my guilty pleasure show of the summer.
R 7/25 - The Melvins @ Grog Shop. 30 years of weirdness.
F 7/26 - Ted Leo & the Pharmacists @ Grog Shop. Everything that is good about Rock & Roll can be heard on a Ted Leo album.
M 7/29 & W 7/31 - Hot Club of Detroit @ Nighttown. The finest in gypsy swing. Their last album featured Cyrille Aimee.
W 7/31 - Weird Al @ Cain Park. This is a step down in venue size for him, so I suspect it will sell out.
August
F 8/02 & S 8/03 - Diego Figueiredo @ Nighttown. I first saw the Brazilian guitarist with Cyrille Aimee. In his home country he sells out really big halls, and deservedly so.
S 8/03 - Inspecter 7 @ Peabodys. Listed mostly because they are a ska band dating from 1993... and I somehow have never heard of them?
M 8/05 - The Killers @ Nautica. I understand that a lot of my friends like them, which I can see.
T 8/06 - Kim Lenz & The Jaguars @ Beachland Tavern. $10 bet on rockabilly.
T 8/06 - Screening of "The Last Waltz" @ Capitol Theater. Often called the best concert film of all time (presumably by people who haven't seen "Stop Making Sense"), it chronicles the last appearance by The Band.
R 8/08 - Kris Kristofferson @ Cain Park. Old school country. Or ask him about Blade, if you prefer.
W 8/14 - Coyotes @ Now That's Class. $5 bet on an Alt-Country band from New Orleans. Plus, don't mess with trickster gods.
W 8/14 - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy @ Cain Park. Rarely has one band ridden a movie appearance (Swingers) so long, but when I saw them back in 1999 they were fantastic.
F 8/16 - The Official Blues Brothers Revue @ Cain Park. Ok, so this is apparently Blue Brothers impersonators. Since the Blues Brothers were essentially impersonating blues singers (it helps to have GREAT musicians), I guess this might work? Listed mostly because it is weird.
F 8/16 - Old Crow Medicine Show @ PSQ. If this wasn't so expensive I'd mark it as a definite, because I like their high intensity folk.
R 8/22 - Cloud Nothings @ Beachland Ballroom. Are they still the hottest band in Cleveland? Probably. I'm just happy to have their live disc from the Grog, which is the only show I've been to that was turned into a live album.
S 8/24 - Best Coast @ Beachland Ballroom. One of my friends like them a lot.
Su 8/25 - The Reverend Horton Heat @ Beachland Ballroom. With Wayne the Train Hancock AND Deke Dickerson.
Su 8/25 - Black Fag! @ Now That's Class. The most fabulous Black Flag tribute you've ever seen. Listed solely for the name, obviously.
W 8/28 - Adam Ant @ Agora. I'm listing less because I like Adam Ant and more because it's the first major show I've seen advertised at the Agora in a gazillion years.
R 8/29 - Ami Saraiya & The Outcome @ Beachland Tavern. It says vintage cabaret sound, and I'm always down for a $10 bet on that.
S 8/31 - Cleveland Orchestra performs Pixar @ Blossom. Sounds like a good reason to have a picnic on the lawn. On the other hand, it's not like there are many Pixar songs that jump readily to my mind beyond You've Got a Friend in Me.
September
R 9/05 - The Duhks @ Beachland Ballroom. Baltimore folk group.
W 9/11 - Deerhunter @ Beachland Ballroom. With Marnie Stern! I can get behind both of those bands; together I may just have to go.
W 9/11 - Chop Tops @ Now That's Class. Rockabilly punk.
W 9/11 - Fall Out Boy @ Wolstein Center. Quit laughing, my ex got me into them.
F 9/13 - Los Lobos @ Beachland Ballroom. I'm not going to pay $40 to see them, but they are really good at that rock & roll thing.
Su 9/15 - Sigur Ros @ Nautica. Are they really that big? I guess so. Fortunately, I'm out of town that night so I don't have to debate spending a ridiculous sum of money to see them.
Su 9/15 - Yo La Tengo @ Grog Shop. Or you could pay a less ridiculous sum of money to see Yo La Tengo.
R 9/19 - Pere Ubu @ Beachland Ballroom. Arguably the most important band to ever come out of Cleveland.
Su 9/22 - Ani DiFranco @ HOB. I saw her once with a full band (awesome) and once solo (eh). I don't know which this is.
R 9/26 - Stars and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah @ Beachland Ballroom. I like both of these bands. Stars is really good live; Clap I had tickets to see during their six months of being on fire, but didn't end up going.
F 9/27 - Jen Chapin @ Winchester. Are there any Chapin's who aren't musical? Harry's daughter leans toward experimental jazz.
S 9/28 - Itzhak Perlman with the Cleveland Orchesetra @ Severance Hall. I saw him when I was a kid, and it was fantastic. However, to buy tickets you pretty much to need to commit to a full season of the orchestra.
Su 9/29 - Diana Krall @ PSQ. Jazz stalwart. Mostly expensive, but there are some $10 seats.
Su 9/29 - The Moody Blues @ Nautica. Hi Mom!
Beyond
S 10/05 - Nine Inch Nails @ Wolstein Center. Once was enough for me personally, especially at these prices.
W 10/16 - Electric 6 @ Grog. Listed so I have an excuse to play their one good album again.
S 10/19 - Ghost Brothers of Darkland County @ Akron Civic. A rock & roll music by Stephen King, John Mellencamp and T Bone Burnett. No, really.
F 11/01 - The Smithereens @ Beachland Ballroom. Ok, I'm intrigued. Two sets, no opener.
S 11/02 - Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons @ PSQ. Apparently Jersey Boys was based on real life. Who knew?
R 12/12 - Justin Timberlake @ The Q. It probably makes me a bad WRUW staff member, but if I happened into deeply discounted tickets I'd probably go to this. Judge me as much as you want!
F 12/14 - Straight No Chaser @ PSQ. Acappella.
How do you find local shows? Try these: Beachland Ballroom & Tavern, Grog Shop, Peabodys, CSU Convocation (aka Wolstein) Center, HOB, Winchester, Kent Stage, Agora Theater & Ballroom, Wilberts, Quicken Loans Arena, Night Town, Playhouse Square, Rock Hall, Cain Park, Blossom, Nautica Pavilion, Lakewood Civic Auditorium, Severance Hall, E.J. Thomas Hall (Akron), Musica (Akron), Akron Civic, CityMusic Cleveland, Now That's Class, Happy Dog, Mahall's 20 Lanes, Tri-C Jazzfest, Dionysus (Oberlin).
I've caught eight shows since the last calendar. Three were great, three were good, two were eh.
- I went and saw Chuck Prophet & The Mission Express at the Beachland Ballroom on May 15, mostly on the basis of last year's album "Temple Beautiful". This show blew me away. Chuck has a great band and strong material and I really had a good time. I bought the album and it's really, really good.
- The next day I saw JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound at the Grog Shop. It was a late show with a small crowd. JC and company gave it their all, but frankly their new album Howl isn't up to the standards of their last one, which didn't help the gig.
- I first saw Buddy Guy back in 2001. Then he was a force of nature; a ridiculously, almost sublimely talented blues guitarist who ripped it up every time. Eleven years later, Shari & Michael and I saw him at the Ribfest on Memorial Day weekend at Nautica. Unfortunately, Buddy has gotten older. He's 76 now, and he can't sustain the energy the way he could back in 2002. Like BB King, Buddy is now more of a bandleader than a lead guitarist. He deferred to the rest of his band a lot more than in the past. Add in the subpar acoustics of Nautica, and we get a subpar show.
- I took Dr.I to see Cyrille Aimee & The Guitar Heroes on June 6. It was even better than their February show. I've now seen her four times as a headliner and once as an opener, all at Nighttown, and she just keeps getting better. If she does come back later this year I'll probably be there. On the downside, I now own all of her CDs, and none of them is particularly good.
- I saw the Rebirth Brass Band two nights later at the Beachland Ballroom. The first time I saw them they opened for Trombone Shorty at the House of Blues and their energetic performance would have blown anybody off the stage. This time, I don't know if I just wasn't feeling it or if they were off, but I couldn't get into it. I left early.
- EMEFE was a total $10 bet on my part. I figured they had members of Antibalas, so they were worth a shot, and WOW was a right. It was the best Afrobeat show I've seen since Femi Kuti. The Beachland Tavern was not even half full, but EJ, Charles and I were treated to a ridiculously high energy show by the boys from Brooklyn. It was the first band I've seen that didn't even fit on the Tavern stage. The CD is really good too. They are a definite win and well worth checking out.
- I was supposed to be seeing Sharon Jones on June 30, but she was diagnosed with cancer and understandably cancelled her tour. In their place I tried an Austin soul ban called Mingo Fishtrap out as a $10 bet. Like EMEFE, they were at the Beachland Tavern. Like EMEFE, they had a really big band heavy on the horns. Unfortunately, the favorable comparisons ended there. They were merely ok when they covered other bands (Billy Preston, Stevie Wonder, James Brown) but their original material was boring, and their horn section was not very good. Aside from some sterling organ work there was little to recommend about them.
- gieves clued me in to some authentic Afrobeat in the form of Amadou & Mariam doing a free outdoor show at the Cleveland Museum of Art's Transformer station. We, plus darlox enjoyed a nice long set along with several hundred other people, including Dot, Charles, Rawr!, Colleen & Kevin and probably some other people I'm forgetting. It was a fun night out.
The show total for the year is up to 22. Of those, Silencio, Kronos Quartet, EMEFE and Cyrille Aimee (second time) were the best, but there's still a lot of 2013 to go. Know about an upcoming show that will blow me away? Tell me about it!