Bulletin Blog

The town should be hoppin’ tonight.  As the sun goes down there is exceptional music all over.  This would be a good night to browse them all.  Jason Lyles, Thunderbolt Patterson (which is 1/2 Dirt Dobbers, David Bell and Tim Bowen), Scratch Off John, Cherry Vendetta, The Vivs (out of TN), Unseen Stimuli, etc.  This is a good time of the year.

     I tell you what. I’m really looking forward to Friday night’s concert in the dining romm at Harvest Moon.  Mata Luna is definitely one of the most unique bands that I’ve seen around here.  I’ve written about them numerous times for numerous events.  Jody Howard plays the fretless electric bass while Britton Davidson plays the hell out of a viola.  They had one of the finest drummers around in Shane Duvall.  Unfortunately, they lost him when he moved to the Czech Republic with his lovely wife.  Can’t blame him for that but it definitely took away one of the dynamics of the band.  The two-piece shows that followed were great, but now Jody told me that they’ve been working with a new drummer and that this guy was on time.  I don’t know a whole lot about timing but I know that being on time with Mata Luna is not easy.  So I can’t wait to hear how this one turns out.

     Ol’ Levi Boz White has been playing around Rome for awhile now and is always impressive, whether it’s solo, playing along with local acts, or playing with Ian Griffin and associates in Professor Scrumptious Love. I knew he had a bag of tricks up his sleeve, but I had no idea what he was working on lately.  Apparently he’s been playing bass with some folks in Atlanta.  The band is called Mog Rocket.  I got curious, dug it up on line, and now I’m really looking forward to seeing them play.  It’s fresh for around here for sure.  There’s definitely some homage to early prog rock in there, but I can’t explain it.  You’ll have to give yourself a sneak listen at myspace.com/mogrocket.

     The show starts at 10pm in the dining room of Harvest Moon on Friday, June 20th.   

There’s plenty of other fine things to do this weekend as well.  Also on Friday night Scott Thompson will undoubtedly pack it out at the Moon Roof.  Oddly enough, there are two Friday references on Saturday night of this week.  Black Friday will be at Night Moves with the heavy southern sound, and Jon Byrd’s band, His Girl Friday, will be at McCrobie’s.  Maybe they’ll have the Cary Grant film playing in the background.  Also, Radio Flyer will be at Schroeder’s on Saturday.

Last night I went to the Aids Resource Council Benefit Picnic which turned out to be a perfect evening. Many good people were in high spirits at the home of Mary & Clayton Jones. It didn’t hurt that the food was fabulous, prepared by Mary and Gayle (I apologize if I left any cooks out). Good ol’ southern classics like fried chicken (but boneless), cole slaw, potato salad, and caviar. And heck yeah, The Groundhawgs were playing. Of course it was the mild mannered picnic Groundhawgs and not the rambunctious post-midnight destructo-Groundhawgs.
It’s too bad that I don’t have any pictures for this one. Paul, I know you were there. Did you get any pics? That’s the cures of the photographer, everyone always expects you to be doing the documentation all the time.
The only thing negative about the event was the incision in Gayle’s hand that she’ll not enjoy for a few days.

ps – I found a video from it. Check it out.

http://www1.romenews-tribune.com/multimedia/rome/video/1201

Well, I didn’t make it there this year so I can’t say for myself but from what I’ve heard, this years Parkinson’s Disease Benefit Concert at the Schroeder’s Courtyard was a hit. They were at it all afternoon starting at 4 o’clock. It’s great to see that bands like Buck & Duke who are making waves in the country music scene are never too busy to help out the community and put on a show. I’m sure everybody played well. Here’s some photos that were forwarded to me from John Schroeder.

     Captain Soularcat has released a new album called The Rise.  I picked up a copy last night at their show at McCrobie’s. The show was sweet and the cd is also very sweet.  This is a stripped down Soularcat, with Benji Shanks (guit), Scott Warren (bass, v), Travis Cline (drums), and a guy named Tony Giordano on the keys. I didn’t know about this guy but he definitely finishes out the current sound of the band with some solid playing. I like this mix a lot. It provides for a very patient, very well written, and very well produced yet raw album + 12 fresh tracks.

Thanks Woody.