A December to Remember

IF you’re not too busy buying expensive new vehicles for your significant other and yourself… like this totally relatable and not-at-all-unrealistic GMC commercial:

… then perhaps you can rustle up enough cash to see a concert or two in December. Oh, and save some coinage for a show next spring too…

Waxahatchee will be playing the Woodward Theater on Wednesday, April 13th of 2022. Tickets go on sale TODAY at 10 a.m.

Her most recent album was one of the best of 2020 (sez me… and pretty much everyone else), so you don’t want to miss this gig. Unless your wife’s due date is a couple of days before the show (Hi Rico!).

OK, now let’s get to this week’s list of gigs, shall we?

Max Weinberg’s Jukebox (that’s a band, not an eBay listing for a Seeburg Select-O-Matic that was once owned by the E Street Band drummer) is playing at Ludlow Garage tonight. Max lets the audience pick the tunes the band will play from a list of 300+ songs. Perhaps it’ll turn out better than this:

Tomorrow night

• Jess Lamb & the Factory play Findlay Market at 5 p.m.
• Shakey Graves is at Bogart’s, with This Week in Live Music favorite S.G. Goodman as the opener.

But the really big Saturday show is at Fretboard Brewing: local jam band Spookfloaters (featuring my wife’s cousin Mike on guitar and vocals) will be playing from 8-11 p.m. I’ll be there (look for the old guy NOT doing the twisty-floppy dancing), along with list members Dan and Anne Robinson, Whit and Barb Gardner, and Pat “Print’s not Dead Yet” Latham. What about my lovely bride, you ask? Well, even though Mike is her first cousin, she won’t be attending because she has a “Girls Night Out” (if you’re keeping score at home, this will be the 8th one this week). Blood may be thicker than water, but apparently it’s thinner than margaritas.

Sunday is a church day. It’s also a Chvrches night – they’re playing the Ovation, with Donna Missal as the opener.

On Tuesday, Jesse Dayton plays Southgate, and David Benoit does a Christmas tribute to Charlie Brown at Ludlow Garage.

Southgate will be rockin’ on Wednesday, with a triple bill of The Queers, the Dollyrots and Tiger Sex. (Note: Tiger Sex is a band, not a cologne.)

Speaking of pungent aromas, Hot Tuna will be at Ludlow Garage on Thursday, with Steve Kimock & Friends opening the show. That gig is damn near sold out. But plenty of tickets are still available for guitar whiz Tommy Emmanuel and acoustic picker Andy McKee at Taft.

Next Friday, December 10th, Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit kick off a two-night stand at the Icon, with Marty Stuart & the Fabulous Superlatives as the opener. I’ll be there, along with list members Chris Lecky, Whit and Barb Gardner… and yes, my lovely bride too (shh, don’t tell Cousin Mike).

If you can’t make the Isbell show next Friday, you can enjoy an Olde English Christmas…

Wait, I meant an Olde English Christmas with Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone. That’s at Ludlow Garage. Not sure which one will bring your more enjoyment.

Also on tap next Friday: The Ben Levin Trio will be playing Lucious Q, with legendary bluesman Lil’ Jimmy Reed, and Multimagic will be at Woodward, with JV Golf and Bershy.

That’s about it for shows in the week ahead. Let’s dip into the ol’ mailbag…

List member Janet Welling picked up the sweet Maker’s Mark vinyl designed by list member Keith Neltner:

Sharon McCafferty chimed in after we featured a Devo video recently:

Funny about Devo. My father-in-law is a big fan. He’s known to sport an energy dome at weddings and the band has to play “Whip it.” He wants Jarrod to join him in going to see them in New York – on a Wednesday. Alas practicality prevails. 

He might have just earned the title of coolest father-in-law ever!

And Chris Lecky provided a couple of quick concert recaps:

I saw Dylan for the millionth time, not one of my favs. Setlist wasn’t great and no Charlie Sexton sucks. Dave Chappelle at the arena was an odd one. Hoping for stand up but got Bones Thugs and Harmony performing.

Sorry you got Bone-d, Chris. See you at Isbell!

The Reading List

This piece from Washington Post pop music critic Chris Richards was great… and the headline (The Beatles are overrated. That’s our fault, not theirs.) is sure to garner some extra clicks. Here’s the money quote (bold emphasis mine):

When McCartney foresees his bandmates “very old,” we need not mourn the 21st-century Beatles reunion album that nobody gets to hear. The music these four managed to record between 1962 and 1970 is enough to sustain a lifetime of enjoyment, easy. But there’s also an entire world of new music being made at this very moment, and it’s already passing us by. Yes, we have to make room for the past and the present to coexist in our listening lives — but if we’re more excited about spending eight hours fly-on-the-walling with the Beatles than opening our ears to what this world currently sounds like, imagine what we’ll be grieving another 50 years from now.

Hear, hear, Chris, I couldn’t agree more!

And this Substack piece from Damon Krukowski (drummer for Galaxie 500 back in the day, and now in a duo called Damon and Naomi) about how pop stars are squeezing out indie bands at vinyl plants is quite interesting.

I didn’t mention Ed Sheeran or Adele or god forbid Taylor Swift in my testimony – you never know who’s a rabid fan – but vinyl production problems for records that won’t be stocked at Target is a perfect example of what is happening across industries in this moment of corporate oligarchy. There’s nowhere to hide from those intent on market domination – they won’t leave our small scale businesses alone, even though what we represent in dollar amounts is too little for them to really care.  

Nine thousand LPs are nothing to Ed Sheeran. But they are a means to survival for independent artists like me.

Reminder: share your favorite albums of 2021

List member Mighty Joe Sampson got the ball rolling with his faves:

Tweet of the Week

Album Cover of the Week

Uh, you could give away a dozen kids and still have a gaggle, Eddie. (At least now we know who George Jetson’s real father is.)

Have a great week!