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Eddie
Angel Guitar Party with the Neanderthals
Riverfront
Park, Thursday
Hmmm
. . . Eddie Angel. Not ringing a bell. Let’s go to the World
Wide Web and see what we can dig up. Oh, we found some pictures
of a guitar player in a Mexican wrestling mask. Seems intriguing.
This one site uses all kinds of superlatives to describe Angel,
from “legendary” to “awesome.” Interesting. Wait, it’s starting
to come to us . . . Oh, that Eddie Angel! The Los Straitjackets
guy. He’s pretty darn good. Sorry about the momentary memory
lapse, folks. The guitarist will head up tonight’s Alive at
Five show, fronting both the garage-y Guitar Party band, and
his ’50s-style rock & roll combo, the Neanderthals. The
“legendary,” “awesome” Rocky Velvet will open. (June 16,
5 PM, free, Riverfront Park, Corning Preserve, Albany, 434-2032)
 Rascal
Flatts
Saratoga
Performing Arts Center , Friday
Coming
off a just-set record of the most tickets ever sold at Cleveland’s
Blossom Music Center earlier this week, the Rascal Flatts
are obliged to headline their third sold-out tour. Looking
more like members of the Backstreet Boys than a country-music
group, it’s no wonder that they have the largest fan-club
membership in country music. The Flatts picked up wins at
both the Country Music Television Awards and the American
Country Music Awards, occupied the No. 1 slot on the country
charts for six consecutive weeks, and saw their newest album
go double-platinum. Perhaps their true sign of stardom was
performing on American Idol’s two-hour season finale
with winner Carrie Underwood. The Rascal Flatts will perform
at SPAC on Friday at 8 PM. Also on the bill: Blake Shelton
and Shelly Fairchild. (June 17, 8 PM, $45, $28, Saratoga
Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Spa State Park, Saratoga
Springs, 476-1000)
Five
Alpha Beatdown, Five Dollar Shakes
Lark
Tavern, Friday
Don’t
break your arm patting yourself on the back there, all you
sharp-eyed junior ombudsmen. We know a conflict of interest
when we see one—hell, back when we were still just cubs learning
our craft at the Watkins Glen Intelligencer &
Fabulist we virtually specialized in it. So, here’s the
disclaimer: One of the Five Alpha Beatdown guys—we’re not
sure which, all the Icelandish look alike to us—does some
odd jobs here at Metroland from time to time (really
odd jobs, in fact). Still, their upcoming shared bill
with gloriously Vegas-lite likes of the Five Dollar Shakes
is getting our plug. Rumor has it that it’s the Shakes’ final
show, so if you’ve got as deep a love for Wayne Newton, Tom
Jones, skinny Elvis and pre-ET Neil Diamond as we have,
you’re gonna want to get out and say danke schöen for the
memories. (June 17, 9:30 PM, $5, 453 Madison Ave., Albany,
463-7875)
Ahleuchatistas
Valentine’s,
Friday
The
Asheville, N.C.-based Ah leuchatistas are serious about their
politically edgy, musically ambitious rock & roll. Yes,
they play a noisy kind of “agit-punk” that makes the kids
all crazy and shit, but their composition style is surprisingly
academic. Or, as one of the guys in the band told Pitchfork:
“There are moments of block-form improvisation on the records.
These are brief and thematic, and they are intended to be
a part of the whole composition.” (Somewhere, Johnny Ramone
is muttering “asshole.”) The critics love ’em, too. Splendid
said the Ahleuchatistas’ “mixture of structure and improvisation
is so flawlessly honed that it seems more like compulsion
than experimentation.” Also on the bill at ye olde Valentine’s
beer-and-guitar-noise emporium will be Grain & the Gestalt
and—with or without stocking caps—Struction. Like the Ahleuchatistas,
local favorites Struction are quite musically tight-knit,
and make the music blow up real good. (June 17, 9 PM, $5,
17 New Scotland Ave., Albany, 432-6572)
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The
List Exists
King’s
Tavern, Saturday
We’ve
been having so much fun with this name that we want to share
the wealth: Quick, say it five times fast. Ha! Tricked you!
That wasn’t fun at all, was it? Thankfully, the music justifies
the means: The List Exists do an experimental, ethereal pop
thing that’s influenced by, but not beholden to, groups like
Sigur Ros, Sunny Day Real Estate, and Radiohead. The foursome
is currently in the midst of a month-long tour that will take
them down the eastern seaboard and through the Midwest; this
Saturday, they’ll make a return appearance at King’s Tavern.
Now say that five times fast—all of it. That should keep you
busy until the show. (June 18, 9 PM, $5, 241 Union Ave.,
Saratoga Springs, 581-7090)
Music
for Miracles
Washington
Park, Saturday
Pop
tart Aaron Carter, blond baby brother to blond Backstreet
Boy Nick, will make all the teenage girls swoon when he croons
for a good cause on Saturday at Washington Park. Tyler Hilton,
whose voice can be heard all over the WB’s One Tree Hill,
will also perform. Music for Miracles, now in its second year,
is a free music festival to benefit the Children’s Hospital
at Albany Medical Center’s medical care and research. In addition
to these national acts, a plethora of our own talented local
bands will perform: Sirsy, the John Savage Band, White Lotus,
Gary Tash, Sensemaya, Importante and the Refrigerators are
all on the bill. The Refrigerators will also premiere three
songs from three different songwriters who won this year’s
original song-writing contest (the winners are Mark Calkins,
Joel Rubin and Steve Candlen). So get out there and brave
the heat to help support children in need and to see a whole
lot of great music, for free! (June 18, 8 PM, free, Washington
Park Lakehouse, Washington Park, Albany, 387-6284)
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Noted |
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modest
mouse
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Local
faves the Kamikaze Hearts will preview
material from their forthcoming album (we expect
it sometime before ’07) this Friday at King’s
Tavern; sharing the bill are the spaztastic Complicated
Shirt and the banjoriffic Idatel (9
PM, $5, 581-7090). . . . Troubadour Steve Forbert
takes the stage at Club Helsinki on Friday; New
York-based songwriter Amy Speace opens
(9 PM, $20, 413-528-3394). . . . The Soundtrack
of Our Lives (T.S.O.O.L.)—that’s the proper
way to write the name, by the way, thanks to Dick
Clark—will make a stop at Pearl Street in Northampton
on Saturday. The Swedes are currently touring
in support of their new release, Origin, Vol.1.
Roughed Up Folk open (8:30 PM, $17, 413-584-7771).
. . . If you’re in Northampton early for the T.S.O.O.L.
show, you can catch Chris Whitley, who
will deliver one of his unpredictable solo performances
in an early show at the Iron Horse Music Hall
(7 PM, $15, 413-584-0610). . . . Floridians Copeland
are currently on tour with Rainer Maria
and Denison Merritt; they’ll pay our area
a visit this Monday at Saratoga Winners (7:30
PM, $12, 783-1010). . . . Tuesday finds ska legends
the Toasters at Valentine’s; Public
Access and Honeycreeper open (7 PM,
$10, 432-6572). . . . Good news for people who
love good news: Modest Mouse will play
the Pines Theater at Look Park in Northampton
on Wednesday night, with special guests Triumph
of Lethargy; the good news is that, as of
press time, tickets were still available (7 PM,
$27.50, 413-586-8686).
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Columns
& Opinions
