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Casiotone
for the Painfully Alone
Valentine’s,
Thursday
When Owen Ashworth, the San Francisco performer better known
as Casiotone for the Painfully Alone (or CFTPA), first emerged
around the turn of the century, he specialized in a style
that paired canned beats and cheap/vintage keyboards (i.e.,
the titular Casiotone) with a droll vocal style and sometimes
maddeningly straightforward titles and lyrics. The sounds
have changed, somewhat—last year’s Vs. Children featured
more organic instrumentation than ever—but the subject matter
hasn’t. That is to say, an imagined CFTPA hits compilation
might feature a first-album track like “A Normal Suburban
Lifestyle is a Near Impossibility Once You’ve Fallen in Love
With an International Spy” alongside 2009’s “Traveling Salesman’s
Young Wife Home Alone on Christmas in Montpelier, VT.” And
people say this generation doesn’t read! (July 15, 9 PM,
$10, 17 New Scotland Ave., Albany, 432-6572)
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Joseph
Arthur
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Joseph
Arthur, Meghan Wolf
Belleayre
Music Festival, Friday
A pair of true multitaskers share a bill Friday at Belleayre’s
Club at Overlook Lodge. Back in the late ’90s, Joseph Arthur
first caught the attention of none other than Peter Gabriel,
who signed the Akron, Ohio expat to his Real World label.
Scores of releases later Arthur is still exploring every nook
and cranny of his creative id: His one-man-band live show
finds the performer not only playing music from his 18(!)
releases, but also painting between songs. Arthur is
joined Friday by actress-musician Meghan Wolf, whose Theory
of Gravity album has drawn comparisons to both Joan Baez
and Radiohead. Not a lot of people can say that. (July
16, 8 PM, $25, Highmount Road, Highmount, 800-942-6904)
American
Idols Live
Times
Union Center, Saturday
We were up early listening to talk radio this morning, and
heard a guy say he thought that the drama around Simon Cowell’s
last season on American Idol had been a distraction
from the show itself—and the contestants. Good point. You’ll
find nothing but fresh-faced performers when the American
Idols Live tour rolls into the TUC. And they’ll perform exactly
what viewers expect: winner Lee DeWyze will sing “Hallelujah”;
Siobhan Magnus will channel Gwen Stefani; and Crystal Bowersox
(where do they get these names?) will emote like Melissa Etheridge
and Janis Joplin. The New York Times reviewer, though,
liked 8th-place finisher Katie Stevens best, for her covers
of Demi Lovato and Christina Aguilera hits, yes, but more
for her perky manner. Perky, apparently, is “in” this summer.
(July 17, 7:30 PM, 51 S. Pearl St., Albany, $40.50, $70.50,
487-2000)
Green
River Festival
Greenfield
Community College, Sat-Sun
To anyone looking for an outdoor festival that combines your
equal love of hot air balloons and live roots music, look
no further. The Green River Festival actually began as a balloon
festival 24 years ago, with the music element an afterthought,
but there’s no second-guessing this year’s great lineup of
performers. Saturday’s bill features NPR favorites Old Crow
Medicine Show and American legend Allen Toussaint, plus Sierra
Leone’s Refugee All-Stars and Donna the Buffalo. Sunday headliners
Cake bring a deep setlist of alt-radio hits and an ever-abiding
sense of irony; they’re joined by Calexico, the Felice Brothers,
the Low Anthem, and many more. Up, up and away! (July 17-18,
times and prices vary, Greenfield, Mass., 413-773-5463)
Langhorne
Slim, the Low Anthem
Bearsville
Theater, Tuesday
When most people consider the musical legacy of Woodstock
(the town), they usually go all paisley and think of Woodstock
(the festival). Putting the acid aside for a moment, this
bill should put folks back in touch with the brand of Americana
Bob Dylan and the Band virtually invented on Woodstock soil—even
though their 1967 house was actually in Saugerties. Langhorne
Slim is one of this generation’s great torchbearers, having
strummed and crooned his way into indie Americana’s inner
sanctum. The Band to his Dylan is the Low Anthem, a well-oiled
quartet of multi-instrumentalists, whose 2008 self-produced
handmade record Oh My God, Charlie Darwin brought them
overnight recognition. This is far from the first time these
two acts have performed together, but it might be their most
fitting venue yet. (July 20, 8 PM, $15, 291 Tinker St.,
Woodstock, 845-679-4406)
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Noted |
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The
Suggestions
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At
first we were afraid, we were petrified—then we
realized it was just tonight’s (Thursday) Alive
at Five concert, featuring disco queen Gloria
Gaynor (5 PM, free, 434-2032). . . . Critically
lauded bluegrass act Chatham County Line
plays within spitting distance of the Chatham
town line on Friday, at the new Club Helsinki
in Hudson; the Minivans open (9 PM, $15,
828-4800). . . . Also on Friday, it’s the return
of a few names we haven’t seen in a while: Paranoid
Social Club and the reunion of power-pop trio
the Suggestions share a bill at Putnam
Den (10 PM, $7, 584-8066). . . . If you get to
Saratoga a bit early on Friday, stop by the Tang
Museum at Skidmore for a performance from Matthew
Carefully and all his toys, part of the Tang’s
Upbeat on the Roof series (7 PM, free, 580-8080).
. . . If you like a ukelele lady, you’ll really
like-a Australian group the Ukeladies,
performing at Mass MoCA this Saturday (8 PM, $16,
$10 students, 413-662-2111). . . . The Music Haven
Concert Series in Schenectady’s Central Park welcomes
Louisiana-based Cajun/honky-tonk act Red Stick
Ramblers on Sunday; the Capital Region’s own
Jim Gaudet and the Railroad Boys open (7
PM, free, 382-5152). . . . The Counting Crows’
“Traveling Circus and Medicine Show” tour
comes to Mountain Park in Holyoke, Mass. on Wednesday,
along with Augustana and rapper NOTAR;
in addition to playing their own sets, the three
acts will mix and match members throughout the
evening, hence the “circus” thing (7 PM, $35-$65,
413-586-8686).
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