At the Drive-In Announce Reunion Today

I discovered At the Drive-In by accident. Jim Ward, one of ATDI's founding members, was opening for Rhett Miller a few years ago at the Black Cat (you can see the shots from it here). It was one of those "get there early/fall in love with the opener you know nothing about" instances that I love. Ward played with this incredible combination of delicacy and metric ton of power that I was dumbfounded. I can count on one hand the number of musicians playing acoustic guitar and singing that have held my rapt attention for a full set-Ward is most definitely one of them.

So imagine the wonderful surprise to read the following a few hours ago:

@AtTheDriveIn_
¡ ATTENTION ! To whom it may concern: AT THE DRIVE-IN will be breaking their 11 year silence THIS STATION IS …NOW…OPERATIONAL

Ward with an acoustic that was electrifying...I can't wait to hear it plugged in.

NYC's Bell House Hosting Strength Through Unity Benefit for Haiti on Jan. 27

Wow, what a tremendous lineup! The Bell House in NYC just announced the "Strength Through Unity: A Benefit for the Victims of the Earthquake in Haiti." The benefit is set for Wednesday, 1/27 and 100% of the proceeds will be split between the Save the Children and Partners in Health charities.

Lineup is to include...
Jimmy Fallon, Cold War Kids, Ted Leo, Eugene Mirman, The Wrens, Sondre Lerche, Todd Barry, and Here We Go Magic. AC Newman (New Pornographers), Rhett Miller (Old 97s), and Nicole Atkins will perform as The Seekers.

Tickets are $50 and go on sale Monday, 1/18 @ noon here.

Lights That Flash in the Evening: Rhett Miller & the Serial Lady Killers @ Black Cat, Washington, DC (9-17-09)

Rhett Miller's solo show here last Thursday at the Black Cat was everything you'd expect in a Rhett Miller solo show: a set list compiled of songs from his three solo records and the eight from his other band, the Old 97s, top-notch playing, and quite a bit of hip-swinging onstage. (Should Tom Jones ever wish to hand his crown down to an indie musician, my money's on Rhett.)



What was also unexpected was just how stellar and incredibly tight his band, the Serial Lady Killers, played. When a musician has a side-band apart from the group for which he's more known, the side-band may play well as individuals but rarely does it perform seamlessly as a group; side-project musicians tend to be interchangeable so there are not multiple tours to get comfortable with each other. However, Miller's Serial Lady Killers are, in fact, the same people as when he called his band "The Believers," so they've all had time to settle in some. "We changed the name on a whim...well, my whim," said Miller from the stage.

(Bassist Greg Besher)

(Lead guitarist Tommy Borscheid)

The secret weapon of the Serial Lady Killers is most definitely the drummer, Angela Webster. Playing barefoot, it was really something to watch someone her size make that much of a noise; the power with which she hit those skins, you'd think there were two drummers back there.

(Drummer Angela Webster)
Another unexpected thing was the age range of Miller's fans. At Old 97s shows, it's mostly college kids and thirty-somethings. Here, I saw everyone from guys in their 50s, down to an 11 year old girl who discovered Miller via her dad's music collection. (What was so cool was that girl sang every word and danced the entire show. It's too bad every 11 year old doesn't have that keen a musical ear...).






The 11 year old girl who dug Miller's music first noticed him, her dad said, because she thought he was "cute." If you have 2 X chromosomes and like boys, chances are you would agree with this girl, regardless your age, 'cause well, he is a handsome dude. But when Miller's voice faltered a bit on some of the higher range notes (and I mean higher like the line 'You're the only one' during the refrain of "Come Around,") on Thursday, he cut the phrase short and added an enthusiastic "Yeah!" each time, which frankly, added an enthusiastic punch to the song. Sounds minimal but someone less professional would probably try to croak it out. "Cute" only gets you so far in terms of sticking around in the music business, just ask anyone from a 90s boy band (apart from Justin Timberlake of course). Rhett Miller continually writes great rock and pop songs, and is always happy to give audiences what they want. And that takes more than just a pretty face.

(See the rest of the photos from the show here)

Nobody Says I Love You Anymore...

Seen Your Video: Rhett Miller on His New Record, His Name, and His Kids as Future iPhone Designers

Old 97s frontman Rhett Miller was in a CNN segment this morning.

The Old 97s were supposed to do Mermaid Avenue with Billy Bragg??

My dear friend and SXSW travel partner John sent this to me today. John and I don't 100% agree in all of our musical choices. But he too loves the Old 97s as much as I (well ok, probably not as much as I'm rather certain that I am alone in my naughty Rhett fantasies), but he's stoically endured the "whither I'm a flower" mess I become in Rhett's presence more than once hence....a true blue friend. AND he sends me things like the video you see below.

For the life of me, I can't determine if Rhett's saying the Old 97s were supposed to tour with Billy Bragg in place of Wilco for the Mermaid Avenue tour, or they were supposed to record with Billy Bragg for Mermaid Avenue II...but still, it's rather neat to know they were supposed to be part of it. (If you don't know the backstory there, Billy Bragg and Wilco were supposed to tour behind the first Mermaid Avenue record (I think it was the first one), but they started to squabble and Wilco wound up turning the whole thing down. But then they did another Mermaid Avenue record, so you can see my confusion regarding Rhett's statement here at the beginning of the video).

ANYWAY, here's Stewart Ransom Miller doing an acoustic version of Wilco and Billy's Bragg's "California Stars."

"Rock and Roll Spring Break, or My First Time at SXSW (Day 2)

DAY 2
So Day 2 started out a bit of a clusterfuck. I only had until 3 pm to catch anyone at day parties because we had passes to the invite-only New West Records party, and it seemed either the schedules were posted wrong or bands weren't being timely. Three bands I'd wanted to see via their mp3s, Born in the Flood, Driving By Night, and Delorentos, I wound up missing because of stuff like that. No wait, I take that back…I did catch a little of BITF’s soundcheck.

However....the day party where BITF was playing wasn't a total wash. Remember that cool Gram Parsons tshirt the guy from The Playing Favorites was wearing? It so happened that Worn Free, the folks who make those shirts, were sort of sponsoring the day party where BITF was playing. I didn't notice anything until I saw two women whose bags had the Worn Free logo on it. So I inquired and they directed me to this little remote, behind a fence corner where Steve, the cat that I believe may own Worn Free, was hanging out. With a big ass blown-up poster of that Gram Parsons shirt I was coveting. So I raved about the shirt and how I'd just heard about the company last night via TPF bassist. He said great, the company is really advertised by word of mouth. AND he was giving out free t-shirts. He didn't have my coveted one but I did walk away with this.



I was so thrilled, tears literally came to my eyes. The kindness of strangers....I mean, it had been great to see bands on Day 1 but….nothing had really jumped out at me and made my heart jump, you know? And then these scheduling mishaps. I thought yeesh man, is this what is so great about SXSW, is this what I paid 98787687686 dollars for? When a friend from NY called to see how things were going, I actually said, “Yeah, it’s ok, but I don’t think I’ll need to come again.” Yee of little faith….(heh)

Oh, and about the shirt, I found out later that these suckers aren’t cheap, they go for like $40+ a pop! And yes, I do plan to order this one, $40 or not.

So back to the music....

New West Record Party
By this point it was closing in on 3 pm, so I high-tailed it up to Club Deville for my first private SXSW party, the New West party, primarily for the Old 97s set, (I know, big surprise right? My friends all know my naughty fantasies about this guy.) Small venue, free beer, not crowded....It was great, kind of like your friend set up a tent in the backyard on a really nice day, made up tshirts for the event, and hired some of your favorite bands to play.

1.Old 97s
The 97s sounded great, had lots of energy, and they looked really happy to be there. Lots of stuff from the new record, Blame It On Gravity, due out May 13th. For me, the jury’s still out on whether I’ll like it yet or not. I know I’m not crazy about the first single (“Dance With Me”) but we’ll see, some of the other new tracks were decent and seemed to sound a bit like my favorite record of theirs, Wreck Your Life, which is a plus. I was so close to the stage, I was able to capture some really great shots (and with a camera phone no less!)

A funny one of Rhett Miller (I think it was during mid-hip swiggle)



Rhett and Murray Hammond



Ken Bethea


Another good one of Rhett


The new one
Dance With Me-Old 97s(MP3)
One I like
Valium Waltz-Old 97s(MP3)

2.The Drams
Haven’t heard of The Drams? Their sound is a little like Slobberbone, another ass-kickin band, because that’s the previous band of three of the Drams. John and I discussed who we thought would close the NW party-I thought maybe the Old 97s because they were the “bigger” band, John claimed it would be The Drams because “they would bring the rawk.” He was right. And bring it they did. Great god in the morning did they. Both the drummer and the lead guitarist receive extra points for being able to tear up the guitar and drums during 3 minute songs with lit cigarettes in their mouths the entire time. And it didn’t hurt that the bassist/vocalist Keith Killoren could have been the bastard son of Gram Parsons, looks-wise….

Make a Book-The Drams(MP3)
Unhinged (Live)-The Drams(MP3)

So remember when I said I was thinking SXSW kind of stunk and hadn't been too impressed that morning? This party changed that for me. The 1-2 punch of seeing the Old 97s and then the Drams in such a cool place made me realize the beauty of SXSW that I may have missed otherwise.

Oh! And I had a long talk with Ken Bethea after the Drams set. He said they’re super happy with the new record and feel it’s their best one in 10 years. One title they were working with was “The Fool,” a track on the record, but I guess it got vetoed because it would smack too much of the titles of Rhett’s solo records ( The Instigator and The Believer). While talking to him, he introduced me to Robert Jenkins, one of Rhett’s best friends and the “Robert” from the line in Big Brown Eyes that goes “Cause if Robert’s dad is right”…nice guy. When I explained to Ken that I wrote a blog and had written one named after the song, Designs On You, he proceeded to tell me the story behind that song (the lyrics are all true), and I also learned that the song Melt Show was based on a show with the band Melt, who were a band that included a majority of the people now in Centromatic. Overall, a really down to earth guy.

2nd half of Day 2 to follow...

Day 1
Part 1
Part 2