|
“Dr.
Dirty” John Valby
Northern
Lights, Friday
Christmas week is notoriously light for live music, thus this
blurb on the notoriously lowbrow (no-brow?) John Valby. That’s
not to say we dislike the notoriously lowbrow, but Valby’s
not exactly the kind of guy who needs the (indecent) exposure,
having, uh, crafted a very successful 30-year-plus career
as the supremely filthy Dr. Dirty. So in light of the season,
we present a short list of Christmas songs we hope to hear
at Dr. Dirty’s show on Friday: “I Saw Mommy [expletive deleted]
Santa’s [expletive deleted],” “The Twelve Pornos of Christmas,”
“Silver Bells . . . I Mean, Balls,” “Lesbians We Have Heard
on High,” “Have Yourself A Merry Little [expletive deleted],”
“Have A Holly Jolly Christmas—and Some Holly Jolly Sex, Too,”
“O Fucking Town of Bethlehem.” (Dec. 21, 7 PM, $15, 1208
Route 146, Clifton Park, 371-0012)
 |
| WHOLESALE
KLEZMER BAND |
Wholesale
Klezmer Band
Caffe
Lena, Saturday
Each
December Yosl Kurland and his troupe pack onto the Caffe Lena
stage to help Saratoga celebrate Hanukkah through traditional
Yiddish folk music, a unique way to connect with history.
The traditional klezmer ensemble performs in both English
and Ashkenazic Hebrew with danceable, swinging music featuring
violin, viola, trombone and more. Yosl and his group specialize
in making the traditional Jewish folk tradition accessible
to the English-speaking world, keeping the audience engaged
using comedy and translations and toe-tapping compositions
that make it hard to keep still. Founded in western Massachusetts,
the Wholesale Klezmer Band have been performing at weddings
and other religious rites, as well as at educational programs
and on the concert stage, for 25 years, even making appearances
at President Clinton’s Inauguration in 1993 and the 100th
anniversary at Carnegie Hall along the way. Some call it spiritual,
others call it an expression of values that transcends cultural
divides. (Dec. 22, 8 PM, $15, 47 Phila St., Saratoga Springs,
583-0022)
 |
Leah
Randazzo Group
Club
Helsinki, Saturday
Leah Randazzo may yet be a kid—she’s 23, and looks all of
14—but she’s got a big-girl voice. And that voice is what
makes her one of western Massachusetts’ great hopes. Sure,
she’s got some decent songs too, like funky, cocksure album-opener
“My Weapon” and smoky bossa nova ballad “Turns to Grey” (both
from her recent solo release At the Root), but more
than anything it’s her voice, an instrument about three times
as big as Randazzo herself, that could thrust her onto iPods
and Starbucks counters everywhere. See for yourself when she
and her big, horn-laden band play Club Helsinki this weekend.
(Dec. 22, 9 PM, $12, 284 Main St., Great Barrington, Mass.,
413-528-3394)
Tim
Janis
The
Egg, Saturday
Tim Janis is one of those people who make you seem heartless
and lazy no matter how much money you give to bell-wielding
Santas outside of shopping malls. His “Music with a mission”
efforts have included raising money to benefit HIV-AIDS projects
in South Africa, a tour of China to better Chinese-American
relations, and Music of Hope, a benefit album he organized
to benefit the National Cancer Society. Janis sold more than
one million albums and has conducted the Hartford Symphony
Orchestra, the Czech National Symphony, and the Kwazulu Natal
Philharmonic over his 15-year career. He has worked with Paul
McCartney, Billy Joel and Ray Charles, and his nationally
televised specials have been narrated by George Clooney and
James Earl Jones. (Dec 22, 8 PM, $20, Empire State Plaza,
Albany, 473-1845)
The
Machine
Revolution
Hall, Saturday
Life in a Pink Floyd tribute band sure must be gritty. You
practice all those years only to end up shelving your dreams
of rock stardom in favor of rehashing some other band’s music
night after night. You play in a band where more people pay
attention the freaking lightshow than to you or your
performance. You’re on giant-inflatable-pig duty once, maybe
twice a week. And your take-home pay is barely a pittance,
not to mention a per diem that barely covers two PB&J
sandwiches each day. Wait, what’s that you say? The Machine
are taking in more than 10 grand a show? Forget everything
we just said—we’re starting a Pink Floyd tribute band! (Dec.
22, 7 PM, $17.50, 425 River St., Troy, 274-0553)
|
| Also
Noted |
 |
|
SUPER
400
|
There’s
no place like home for the holidays: Super
400 play their first area show in some time
tomorrow (Friday) night at Revolution Hall; also
on the bill are the Kamikaze Hearts, the
Sense Offenders and Sean Rowe. In
the spirit of the season, they’re asking concertgoers
to bring donations of food for Unity House, so
can up, y’all (7 PM, $10, 274-0553). . . . Folk-rockers
Basement Band play Red Square on Friday,
along with Palatypus and Grimis;
the Brooklyn-based act count two Albany expats
among their ranks (9 PM, $7, 465-0444). . . .
The Figgs play their annual holiday show
at Valentines this Saturday, with the Staziaks
opening (9 PM, $10, 432-6572); on Sunday, they’ll
tone it down for another Santa-tacular at Caffe
Lena (7 PM, $8, 583-0022). . . . And last but
certainly not least, the one and only Santa
Claus will make an appearance sometime this
Tuesday morning in your living room; be nice and
leave the tazer on the nightstand.
|
|
|
Site
Search 
