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The
Spinners, Larry Lewis and Solid Smoke
Tricentennial
Park, Thursday
Kenny
Gamble and Leon Huff weren’t the only producers putting Philadelphia
soul on the map in the 1970s: Across town, Thom Bell was carving
out his own niche in the emerging genre with acts like the
Delfonics and the Stylistics, and especially the Spinners,
who actually were Detroit transplants rebounding from a brief,
lackluster tenure with Motown Records. The formula of Bell’s
subtly complex but simple-sounding arrangements, the group’s
intricate vocal harmonies, and the warmly sensitive falsetto
of lead singer Philippé Wynne resulted in such hits as “I’ll
Be Around,” “Could It Be I’m Falling in Love,” “Then Came
You” and “The Rubberband Man.” Wynne left the group in 1977
(and died in 1984), but his replacement, John Edwards, performed
the Spinners’ disco-era classic “Workin’ My Way Back to You”
and remains in the lineup today, along with original members
Henry Fambrough, Bobbie Smith, Pervis Jackson, Billy Henderson
and G.C. Cameron. Larry Lewis and Solid Smoke will open tonight’s
free Alive at Five concert in Albany’s Tricentennial Park.
(July 18, 5 PM, free, 434-2032)
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Meet
the Kreeper
Saratoga
Winners, Thursday
Meet
the Kreeper: front man for schlock-metal superstars White
Zombie. Rob Zombie was also a bike messenger, a porn-magazine
art director and a production assistant on the classic kids’
show Pee-wee’s Playhouse. And these seemingly varied
professions all seem to fit him like a glove. As any of his
many devoted fans will attest, all of the Kreeper’s performances,
albums, and other artistic endeavors (such as his as yet unreleased
horror film House of 1000 Corpses) reveal his penchant
for the sleazy and the surreal. The Kreeper, who disbanded
White Zombie when his first attempt at a solo career, 1998’s
Hellbilly Deluxe, sold more copies in its first week
than any of White Zombie’s albums had, will make an appearance
at Saratoga Winners tonight, taking a day off from his Ozzfest
duties. (July 18, 8 PM, $22, $20 advance, 783-1010)
Michelle
Shocked
Agnes
MacDonald Music Haven Stage, Central Park, Schenectady, Sunday
Anti-folk
legend Michelle Shocked’s life reads like fiction, so much
so that some folks have speculated that it’s just that, a
work more of imagination than true biography: a large, strict,
dirt-poor Mormon family. Summers spent with a hippie-atheist
father. A Kerouacian life on the road. Political activism
that gets her busted by the San Francisco cops at the Democratic
National Convention. Committed by Mormon mom to a mental institution
until the insurance runs out. An airborne extension of the
life on the road. Bumming around Paris. Raped by a Green Party
activist after a No Nukes rally in Sicily. Surviving on a
diligently tended hoard of alfalfa sprouts. Exploited by a
record label that propels her to cult status with field recordings
pressed without her permission. Battles to win back her catalog
from a later major label. And these are just the bullet points.
In our opinion, it’s cool even if it’s bullshit; we like it
just as much if she did make it up, because her music sounds
like it was made by the person she claims to be, and that’s
what matters. On Sunday in Schenectady’s Central Park, the
colorful Shocked will perform songs from her newest one, Deep
Natural, a song cycle of “border ballads” based on her
wanderings through Mexico and Guatemala, exploring her heritage—which
sounds like a pretty good story. (July 28, 3 PM, free,
800-776-2992)
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 The
Paladins, the Lustre Kings
The
Ale House, Monday
As
you may have found out in other areas of the paper this week,
Troy’s scene is where it’s at these days for the rock and
the roll. Monday’s show at the Ale House is no exception:
San Diego based rockabilly band the Paladins will play a rare
East Coast show—though they play in the ballpark of 200 shows
a year, the band don’t get to these parts much. So though
you may not have seen one of their legendary rip-snorting
sweat-flinging live shows, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re
not worthy. Gouging themselves a place in the rockabilly history
ledger with very little radio play or mainstream acknowledgement,
the Paladins have created an international and somewhat cultish
following. The band have always been helmed by guitarist Dave
Gonzales (it seems they were formed as an outlet for his Link
Wray obsession), but they have gone through some member changes
and have found themselves on nearly as many labels as they
have releases—including 4AD, Alligator and Sector 2. The latest
effort, Palvoline No. 7 (released last year on Ruf
Records) offers up surf, ’50s rock and country blues in heaping
servings. Our very own Lustre Kings, just back from Wisconsin
where they played a mondo rockabilly fest (as did the Paladins),
will open the show. (July 22, 8 PM, $5, 272-9740)
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Jimmy
Eat World, Desaparecidos
Northern
Lights, Wednesday
Metallica
cover bands take note: Don’t give up. You may be the next
best thing. Hell, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden
facsimiles are also in the running. Get your contract-signing
pens ready, ’cause Jimmy Eat World (you know the ones who
are driving the young ones crazy with adoration) began as
tune rippers from Mr. Ulrich’s catalog. The Mesa, Ariz., quartet
marched toward the Weezer end of the rock spectrum, showered
the Four Corners area with their emo aesthetic, self-released
a few singles, EPs and the like, and were finally noticed
by Capitol—who released the albums Static Prevails (1996)
and Clarity (1999). JEW, who will play Northern
Lights on Wednesday, split with Capitol in 2000, recording
their next LP, Bleed American, with their own
money. DreamWorks picked it up, released it last year, and
the rest is history. That is if you watch any TV and/or read
any magazines—these guys are all over late-night TV, so-called
music channels and magazines such as Time and Newsweek.
Also on the bill is Bright Eyes’ Connor Oberst’s louder and
punkier project, Desaparecidos. (July 24, 7:30 PM doors,
$20, $18 advance, 371-0012)
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America,
the Average White Band
Empire
State Plaza, Wednesday
It would be hard to conjure up a band more relaxing than ’70s
pop-folksters America, whose light, sunny tunes sound like
easy- listening versions of the Eagles’ easy- listening versions
of Buffalo Springfield tunes. Hits such as “Ventura Highway”
and “Sister Golden Hair” are palatable paeans to the peaceful,
easy feeling of the Southern California lifestyle—the wistful
quality is more easily understood when you consider that the
tunes were penned by a trio who first teamed up as high school-aged
Yanks stuck in the gray U.K., where their servicemen fathers
were stationed. A somewhat dissimilar cross-oceanic yearning
is represented by the Average White Band, a Scottish group
whose ardent love for American funk gained them enthusiastic
audiences in stateside cities unlikely to tolerate poseurs.
The name notwithstanding, AWB were one of the few white bands—then
or now—to score radio hits and capture the attention and respect
of funk fans in Detroit, Philly, Memphis and other epicenters
of groove with their real-deal live performances. (July
24, 7 PM, free, 474-5987)
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also
noted
Great
Barrington’s Club Helsinki offers up an evening of afro-pop
sounds tonight (Thursday), when Thomas Mapfumo & Blacks
Unlimited play the club (9 PM, $18, 413-528-3394). . .
. There’s another happenin’ rockabilly show going on in that
hotbed of rock we mentioned earlier, Troy—this time the show’s
at Artie’s Lansingburgh Station tomorrow (Friday), and the
act is Josie Kreuzer, another kickin’ San Diego rock
& roller; Rocky Velvet will open the show (9 PM, $5, 238-2788).
. . . On Saturday, the Garden Grill will hold a fund-raiser
for New Day Art Program, with a slew of bands volunteering
their time and ampage: Coal Palace Kings, Mark Emanatian
and Folding Sky, Arc, Mare’s Nest and Marc Jones
are just a few; admission includes foodstuffs (noon, $10,
462-0571). . . . Murphy’s Law, Joe Coffee, Murderer’s Row
and el Chupa Cabra will play Valentine’s on Saturday
(8 PM, $12, $10 advance, 432-6572). . . . Saturday at Miss
Mary’s Art Space, footage from the Demolition Derby Grand
Nationals will be screened, and there will be music by Gay
Tastee, the Wasted and Jason Martin (9 PM,
$5, 439-0041). . . . King Croon, Barry Manilow, will
play SPAC on Sunday; Curtis Stigers shares the bill
(7:30 PM, $45-$85, $17.50 lawn, 476-1000). . . . He of Jefferson
Airplane and Hot Tuna, Jorma Kaukonen, will celebrate
his newest release, Blue Country Heart, Tuesday at
the Iron Horse in Northampton, Mass. The album is a collection
of rural blues songs from the ’20s and ’30s written by storytellers
along the lines of Jimmie Rodgers, the Delmore Brothers, Cliff
Carlisle and Slim Smith, and Kaukonen will be joined by all-star
ensemble Blue Country (7 PM, $22.50, 800-THE-TICK).
. . . Deep Banana Blackout and Strangefolk will
do their thing at Northern Lights on Tuesday (7:30 doors,
$14, $12 advance, 371-0012).
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Columns
& Opinions
