Summer Concert Summary
It's been a long time. How've you been? Seen any good shows lately? I saw a few this summer that weren't half bad.
1. My coworker Powers recommend that I see White Lung at the Beachland Tavern on June 14, so I joined him and a regrettably otherwise small crowd to watch some female punk rockers. I liked it enough to buy the album, which weighs in at all of 21 minutes. The album is excellent and worth checking out. Obliterations (good) and Miss Melvis' Duo Decibel System (meh) provided support.
2. Have I mentioned how much I love Cyrille Aimée? She was slated to open at the Tri-C JazzFest this year for Wycliffe Gordon on July 11, so of course I bought a ticket. Then her plane was delayed, so Gordon ended up playing first with Cyrille closing down the show with her band The Guitar Heroes upon their belated arrival. It was just as fantastic as usual. Right now, I could see her every month and not get bored.
3. That same night my fraternity brother made his third appearance as a vocalist with The Cleveland Orchestra when they performed Beethoven's Ninth. John & Danita and his dad and her mom and I had a nice picnic on the lawn at Blossom and enjoyed Dashon killing it.
4. One of my favorite albums of 2014 was the Ex Hex album Rips. They finally came to Cleveland to support it on July 16. Ed and I and many others enjoyed them at the Grog Shop. It was very good, but not quite great. Tweens provided support.
5. As previously noted, Matt Pond PA played a gig in my living room on a very hot sweaty July 17!
6. I didn't see much music when I was in Europe, but on my last night in Lisbon (September 8) I went to a little fado club called Aviela do Fado. Fado is the national folk music of Portugal, and a personal favorite of mine. I would have been happy to see some locals, but as luck would have it the club was hosting Artur Batalha ("The Prince of Fado") that night, who I've actually played on my show once or twice. He played a few short sets that I greatly enjoyed. The daughter of the club owner provided some support as well. It could have been even cooler: they were advertising Celeste Rodrigues, 92-year-old sister of the immortal Amália (aka, "The Queen of Fado"), but she didn't show. I'm not sure if they were falsely advertising her or if she wasn't feeling up to it, but I do know that when the club owner realized that this American tourist actually knew all these names, he found me a seat in an otherwise sold out club.
7. Then I returned to America, just in time for the 34th Annual Studio-A-Rama on September 12. This year WRUW's annual summer concert had the usual ton of local bands. In order: Heavenly Creatures, ITEM, Half An Animal, Sweepyheads, Swirly in the Frye, Sammy Slims, Cheap Clone, Queen of Hell and Hiram-Maxim. As with most such lineups, some bands were good and some weren't. I particularly enjoyed Half An Animal and Queen of Hell. Then Clevelander Doug Gillard (of a million bands, including Death of Samantha, Nada Surf and Cobra Verde, among others) came on and killed. Finally we wrapped up with surf rockers MAN OR ASTRO-MAN?, by which time I had been there twelves hours and was ready to pass out.
1. My coworker Powers recommend that I see White Lung at the Beachland Tavern on June 14, so I joined him and a regrettably otherwise small crowd to watch some female punk rockers. I liked it enough to buy the album, which weighs in at all of 21 minutes. The album is excellent and worth checking out. Obliterations (good) and Miss Melvis' Duo Decibel System (meh) provided support.
2. Have I mentioned how much I love Cyrille Aimée? She was slated to open at the Tri-C JazzFest this year for Wycliffe Gordon on July 11, so of course I bought a ticket. Then her plane was delayed, so Gordon ended up playing first with Cyrille closing down the show with her band The Guitar Heroes upon their belated arrival. It was just as fantastic as usual. Right now, I could see her every month and not get bored.
3. That same night my fraternity brother made his third appearance as a vocalist with The Cleveland Orchestra when they performed Beethoven's Ninth. John & Danita and his dad and her mom and I had a nice picnic on the lawn at Blossom and enjoyed Dashon killing it.
4. One of my favorite albums of 2014 was the Ex Hex album Rips. They finally came to Cleveland to support it on July 16. Ed and I and many others enjoyed them at the Grog Shop. It was very good, but not quite great. Tweens provided support.
5. As previously noted, Matt Pond PA played a gig in my living room on a very hot sweaty July 17!
6. I didn't see much music when I was in Europe, but on my last night in Lisbon (September 8) I went to a little fado club called Aviela do Fado. Fado is the national folk music of Portugal, and a personal favorite of mine. I would have been happy to see some locals, but as luck would have it the club was hosting Artur Batalha ("The Prince of Fado") that night, who I've actually played on my show once or twice. He played a few short sets that I greatly enjoyed. The daughter of the club owner provided some support as well. It could have been even cooler: they were advertising Celeste Rodrigues, 92-year-old sister of the immortal Amália (aka, "The Queen of Fado"), but she didn't show. I'm not sure if they were falsely advertising her or if she wasn't feeling up to it, but I do know that when the club owner realized that this American tourist actually knew all these names, he found me a seat in an otherwise sold out club.
7. Then I returned to America, just in time for the 34th Annual Studio-A-Rama on September 12. This year WRUW's annual summer concert had the usual ton of local bands. In order: Heavenly Creatures, ITEM, Half An Animal, Sweepyheads, Swirly in the Frye, Sammy Slims, Cheap Clone, Queen of Hell and Hiram-Maxim. As with most such lineups, some bands were good and some weren't. I particularly enjoyed Half An Animal and Queen of Hell. Then Clevelander Doug Gillard (of a million bands, including Death of Samantha, Nada Surf and Cobra Verde, among others) came on and killed. Finally we wrapped up with surf rockers MAN OR ASTRO-MAN?, by which time I had been there twelves hours and was ready to pass out.