The Tris McCall Report
Calendar, June 11 - June 15
Wednesday, June 11
Sasha Alcott & The Possibilities @ IV270, 9:30 PM (with Big Boote & The Trashy Cameras)
IV270? What the hell is that? Steven Matrick claims to know, and I guess by tomorrow night I will too. A Google search gives the address as 270 South 5th Street, which sounds suspiciously like the coordinates of the Williamsburg Bridge. We'll be only a few blocks from the New Melody Lanes, anyway, so if the club proves impossible to negotiate, we can all hike down the road and observe J in the torturous final throes of mixing Shootout At The Sugar Factory. I'm not sure yet what I'm bringing, or what I'm wearing, or what my performance subtext is going to be. I remember that penultimate Denver Zest show at Luxx where I decided to be a badass, complete with a toothpick, sunglasses, and a dirtbag t-shirt. That was fun, but it really doesn't go with the Possibilities. What do you think? English butler? Schister? James Bond?
Thursday, June 12
Fairport Convention @ The Bottom Line, 7:30 PM
I believe Jefferson Airplane to be the most inspired group in rock history. There aren't many who agree with me, I realize, but the original incarnation of Fairport did. Tam Lin and the Bridge O'er The River Ashe aside, the Sandy Denny-led Fairport Convention wanted nothing more than to be the British version of the Airplane. Then Joe Boyd and Dave Swarbrick took over, washed out the psychedelia, and the next thing you knew, it was all "trad." all the time. The rock books argue Liege & Lief as Fairport's high point; certainly it's the album that sounds the best, but it was also the first where the combo's sense of humor and playfulness wasn't at the forefront of their presentation. Successfully arranging traditional British folk songs with loud electric instruments may be Fairport's claim to a place in rock history, but it's not the version of the group that's closest to my heart and keeps me returning to their albums. I love the Fairport that translated "If You Gotta Go (Go Now)" into French and recorded it like a drunk jug band, and let everybody and the drummer have a crack at a verse of "Million Dollar Bash". Once the weight of expectation started to lift (and Sandy Denny departed for a poker-faced solo career), the zaniness returned. These days, Fairport is a collection of fiftysomething clowns with unbelievable resumes, racing through folk rock classics and the best of the Cecil Sharp catalog with equal manic abandon. No Richard Thompson at this show, but you do get Simon Nicol and Dave Pegg, the twin unsung heroes of Shoot Out The Lights.
Friday, June 13
Like Moving Insects @ Somerset Inn, 9 PM (with The Ankles & The Roadside Graves)
I wrote a preview of this show for the New Jersey Courier-News yesterday -- the paper of record for the Somerset Hills -- and today editor Bob Makin called me because I'd mistakenly placed the venue in New Brunswick. It's actually two blocks across the county line from Middlesex, past Hub City limits by a rock and roll eyelash. With the closing of the Melody Bar and the official conversion of the Harvest Moon into an extension of Matt Witte's house, New Brunswick is thirsty for some new venues. But don't let it be said I want to short Somerset County. They deserve a rock club of their own, and now it looks like they've got one. I'll report back with my reflections -- but honestly, I am expecting your typical Central Jersey dingy bar. Hey, better to be pleasantly surprised, right?
Ash @ Irving Plaza, 9 PM (with White Light Motorcade & Circle And Square)
Bigger and louder than your average Britpop band, Tim Wheeler's Ash have evolved from snot-nosed teenagers with Buzzcocks fetishes to glossy radio-ready hitmakers sporting professional hooks and the best hair-care products money can buy. Nu-Clear Sounds, the recording that captured that transition, feels blinded by bright light and destabilized in all the right places. Brutal, venomous, hung-over and coked-out, the album was one of the few attempts to fuse turntablism with heavy distorted guitar that didn't sound like a bizarre parody. By last year's Free All Angels, they'd left their uncertainty behind and shot for the top of the charts with snappy uptempo numbers as infectious as they were pop-forgettable. None of these machinations have managed to endear the quartet to Americans, who probably begrudge Wheeler his wispy Irish-Angican voice. To be fair, it does tend to sound ridiculous over so much wattage, but Nu-Clear Sounds proved he could be menacing if not grunge-guttural. There's a great band lost in here somewhere. They could stumble upon the proper locker combination any time.
Saturday, June 14
The Oranges Band @ Maxwell's, 9 PM (with Head Of Femur)
A rock tweener project, and a consistently interesting one. Not really heavy indie rock nor defiantly artful, Roman Kuebler's Oranges grab snatches from Pavement and GBV, and paste horns and synthesizers atop already busy mixes. (It's beyond me why there are three guitars in this group, but I'm weary of slugging it out on this line.) The result is mildly intellectual but never obstreperously brainy -- much like Lotion, the most comparable group to the Oranges. They win points for being from Baltimore. And they're precisely the kind of erudite, quirky and energetic guitar-rock band that is made for the Maxwell's stage.
Sunday, June 15
Tris McCall @ Barbes, 9:30 PM (with David Wechsler & Paula Carino)
It's been awhile since I played guitar onstage. This will be a solo show, but I will have my friendly acoustic to support me. It's never exactly been the crutch that I've wanted it to be, but I've improved over time, and I can now make some of the chords. Usually. Barbes is a nifty little performance space in Park Slope that suggests what Pete's Candy Store might have looked like had Juliana Nash had a Truffaut fetish rather than a yen to recreate the Grand Old Opry. If you're one of those "After Iraq, Chirac" people, you might want to steer clear. If not, come on down. I'm often at my best in small, intimate rooms like this. Literate and uncompromising, Paula Carino will do a set before I do, so arrive early. Carino and I are two-thirds of an answer to a good hipster trivia question: what indie rock acts have been produced by Scott Miller? (The Impatients are the other third.) Barbes is one block from the 7th Avenue F train stop; follow the link above for exact directions.
Just for the fritz (mondale) of it, check out last week's calendar.
Come all ye rolling minstrels, and together we will e-mail me.