Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

cross-posted from www.ninebullets.net

There is no excuse for staying in the house this weekend, people. There is just too damn much going on in our fine city and the weather is, all things considered, gonna be pretty mild. So, let’s get down to the haps…

Thursday Night

Some of the people involved with Reax have started booking shows on Thursday nights at Push Ultra Lounge in Downtown St. Pete. This Thursday night Summerbirds in the Cellar are gracing us with their presence. I’ve written about both of their cds here and here. Doors are at 8:00 and the cover is 6 dollars for singles and 10 dollars for couples. I’ve seen these guys live once before and it was tremendous.

Summerbirds in the Cellar - Wicked World (Move Softly)

Friday Night

It’s the return of one of the best shows I saw last year and the Florigasm will be returning sans the oppressive summer heat. Nervous Turkey will be pulling the opening duties for JJ Grey and Mofro once again @ Skipper’s Smokehouse in a two night stand. I listed this one on Friday night because that is the night I plan to go but they will be performing both Friday and Saturday nights. This will be as much event as it is a show and you should try everything in your power to see these guys one or both of the nights.

Nervous Turkey - Strang
JJ Grey and Mofro - Florida

Saturday Night

ninebullets.net faves Lucero are making their triumphant return to Saint Petersburg. Oh yeah, all the cool kids will be at The State Theater. There are shows where you just know that heavy heavy intoxication will accompany to and through the show. This is one such occasion. I have cleared my Sunday schedule. Everything is set to tear sh*t up on a Saturday night. Come and join us. These two songs should set the scene:

Lucero - Old Sad Songs
Lucero - I’ll Just Fall

Sunday Night

detox.

So, I am sitting in my local bar the other night having a descent conversation with my good buddies Beam and Ginger when a new email comes through in the cell phone. I open up the email to read:

PINE BOX BOYS, BLIND BUDDY MOODY AND
SOME DANCING SKELETON JANUARY 25th AT
DAVES AQUA LOUNGE

At first I thought I was just drunk so I read it again; slowly… Pine. Box. Boys. Can’t be the same guys… scroll down… yup that’s them. OH SH*T! The Pine Box Boys are playing Dave’s! At which point I did the happy dance. Last year when I wrote about the band I described them like this:

They classify themselves Southern Horrorbilly and/or Darkgrass. I have no idea what either of those terms mean. Personally, I would describe their sound as a darker version of Old Crow Medicine Show…. a much much darker version. Like, OCMS meets Those Poor Bastards. These are dark blue grassy songs for the dark humored. Call em’ love songs for the recently deceased.

Come see it for yourself on Friday night @ Dave’s Aqua Lounge. Showtime is 9:30 and the cover is seven dollars.

Pine Box Boys - Just a Crush
Pine Box Boys - Arkansas Killing Time
Pine Box Boys - I Had To Cut Her

Cross Posted From ninebullets.net

I have no idea why this show flew so far under the radar and I have no idea what (or really where) the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tampa is but I do know this:

This Friday night (as in tonight!) Sara Lee Guthrie (daughter of Arlo, grandaughter of Woodie) and Johnny Irion are playing there. Doors are at 8:00 and the ticket price is $15.00 at the door.I about swallowed my tongue when I saw this listing pop up on TampaShows.net the other day and can saw I am genuinely excited about this one. Hope to see some of y’all there…

Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion - Cease Fire
Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion - Dr. King
Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion - Gervais

Cross-posted from ninebullets.net.

When I started ninebullets.net I had these naive fantasies of sprinkling local Florida bands into my daily musical ramblings, and thus giving them an even larger audience outside of the local area. After a few months of working on the site, I started sending out emails. I quickly learned that, by and large, the Tampa/St. Pete based bands are arrogant and lazy. There are a few exceptions, but as a rule it was like beating your head against a wall. They bitch about the scene not supporting them, but then can’t even be bothered to reply to a few emails. Ultimately, I just gave up and began ignoring them like the rest of the area.

Oddly enough, however, the Florida bands outside of our little Tampa Bay area have been far more receptive to my inquiries, which has resulted in some pieces on ninebullets, and me getting to hear some really awesome bands that I probably never would have heard otherwise.

The Nine Volts have applied an amazing amount of effort into getting me a cd. When I originally contacted them, they were in the process of recording their new EP and asked if I would mind waiting. I told them I had nothing but time and whiskey bottles. Over the coming months they even managed to email me from time to time just to let me know they had not forgotten and were still working on the cd. This was all way above the call of duty in my opinion but it was nice to see a band act in an organized manner and apply a little effort.

The Nine Volts are James Mitchell and Conrad Wilson. They come from the Space Coast area that is Cape Canaveral, Florida. After playing in numerous successful local indie (author: ick) acts, the two decided to build on their common love of the Americana/roots rock sound and formed The Nine Volts. After honing their act on stage, they entered the studio to record an eponymous five song EP.

IMO, the standout track on the EP is “B. Jolene”. Sounding like The Drive-By Truckers, stuck right between the Southern Rock Opera sound and the Decoration Day song writing. “All From Here” features an acoustic guitar and a banjo taking the top of the mix, with a spoken word delivery laid beneath that, for some reason, reminds me of being 16 again. The opening track “Broken Chains” immediately makes me think Roger Hoover (or whatever they are calling themselves these days) could have done it.

Seeing as how this thing is a mere 5 songs I am only gonna post two. The entire EP is available at Nine Volts shows and on iTunes. Check it out. Support the little guys.

The Nine Volts - B. Jolene
The Nine Volts - River

The Nine Volts Official Site, The Nine Volts on MySpace, Buy their debut EP

It was with lowered expectations and a warm whiskey buzz that I walked into Janus last week for my second Cult show in a year. Last time I saw them, I felt a little let down because they didn’t sound like The Cult I had remembered from 17 years ago. I knew what I was walking into this time and was quite familiar with the new material, so I felt like I was gonna be in for a good show.

Ian, Billy and crew took the stage and ran through an acceptable mixing of their new material, buffered with all the classics Cult fans wanted to hear. Time is a bitch, though, especially if you are a singer. With age comes vocal degradation. Ian still sounds like Ian, but he just can’t perform the songs in the same manner that he did 17 years ago. This put me off last year, but this year I went in knowing how it was gonna be, and like Jimi Hendrix said, “If you wanna hear it the way it sounds on the album, stay home and listen to the album.” That said, Ian performed the new material perfectly.

Lucky for Billy, time is much kinder to guitarists and he was spot on. All in all, I am glad I went to see them even after being somewhat disappointed by the last show. I had a much better time and would recommend that any long time Cult fan go see them again. Enjoy it, but remember, you can’t do the sh*t you used to do 17 years ago, and neither can Mr. Astbury… but that doesn’t make it rock any less.

The Cult - King Contrary Man
The Cult - Edie
The Cult - I, Assassin
The Cult - Born Into This

The Cult’s Official Site, The Cult on MySpace, Buy Born Into This

(crossposted from www.ninebullets.net)

There is plenty to do this weekend so why not get off the couch and go out instead of bitching on some message board that there isn’t anything to do and this area sucks…

Friday Night: Shannon McNally will be at the Tamiami in St. Petersburg

This will be a nice chill show. Perfect for some whiskey drinks on a Friday night after a long week. Self described as North American Ghost Music her voice has been described as sultry, swaggering and sultry and striking a stylistic pose between the R&B grittiness of Bonnie Raitt and the softer jazz/pop edges of Nina Simone. If that sounds like your all then come down to the Tamiami for “an exposition of Americana/bar-band motifs delivered with a fire and finesse that set them well above most practioners.”

Shannon McNally on myspace

Sunday Night: Laura Love will be at Skipper’s Smokehouse

If you do not burn it too hard at Guavaween on Saturday night you can head out to Skipper’s Smokehouse Sunday for one of the greatest female singers/performers you’ve heard of. I’ll quote myself:

Laura’s music is best described as an afrocentric meshing of bluegrass, funk, and folk that is impossible not to move to. Lyrically her songs run the gamut from humorous, to political at times, sometimes personal, but always thought provoking. Then there is her voice. In a word I would have to describe her voice as amazing. Listening to her cover Nirvana’s Come As You Are and the a capella song Blind Bartimus off Octoroon literally gives me chills. You never know where the songs are going. One song she’ll be reciting nursery rhymes and the next she’ll be talking about watching her ass grow. All of this meshes into pure delight.

You can read more about Laura Love here. Hell, even if you do party too hard on Saturday night is there any place better than Skipper’s to get over a hangover? I think not.

I was doing some ninebullets.net calendar updating and realized I just need to quit my job…so many good shows coming and I wanna make them all so I need money…thus I need a job, but getting up at 7 am makes getting to all of these shows difficult.

Oh well. I’ll just have to suffer or get with the Lohan coke plan or something. The following shows I am already starting to get excited about:

(more…)

Rock Report: Jason Isbell @ Crowbar, Ybor City

Designated Driver. Music to my ears when the show is across the bridge. The wife volunteered to do the driving duties, so I broke the seal on a bottle of Beam early for this show. Gone solo or not, Isbell, in my opinion, is still part of the Trucker family and half a bottle deep is the best way to start a night at the rock show. Common decency dictates the whole deal. The last time the Truckers were in town, they played to a packed Jannus Landing, and on the way to the show I wondered how that would translate for Isbell. The crowd was significantly reduced compared to the Jannus show, but it was still bigger than most for an artist touring on their debut cd.

Jason and his band took the stage with the familiar Jack Daniels bottle in hand, and in that single moment I knew everything was gonna be okay. Opening the show with “Brand New Kind of Actress”, the same track that opens the cd, gave me a moment of worry. Ever since I saw Social Distortion play their new cd track by track, in order, and then walk off stage, I have worried when a show opens with the first track from the current album. Five minutes later, though, all my worries were squashed as Jason started picking the familiar opening riffs of “Decoration Day”… and the crowd went wild. From there, the band played a good mix of songs from Sirens, spiced with DBT familiars, and a few covers to round out the set. The crowd favorites were obviously Jason’s old DBT tracks “Outfit” and “Never Gonna Change”. Walking in, I wanted to hear two songs, my very favorite Isbell song, “Goddamn Lonely Love”, and my favorite track from the new cd “Try”. He managed to get both into the set, so I went home drunk and happy.

In closing, I would like to type a few lines about the band itself. Ever since Jason went solo, I have wondered about the 400 Unit. Was it really Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, or was it Jason Isbell and a revolving cast of players that were gonna heretofore be known as the 400 Unit? While I will not pretend to actually know anything beyond what anyone can see, standing out in front of a stage and watching them play, they certainly seemed to be a band and not a front guy with some hired guns. They were tighter than I expected them to be, and guitarist Browan Lollar even got to take over lead singer duties during a rather spirited cover of The Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer”. Speaking of Lollar, whew, did Jason find himself a gem in that guy! That kid has got so much stage presence and charisma oozing out of him that I found it hard to watch the rest of the band at times. Oh yeah, and the boy can play the hell out of a guitar as well.

All in all, I was really happy with Jason’s creation. I hope he keeps this lineup for the next cd and I look forward to hearing what Jason does now that this has his undivided attention.

Jason Isbell - Brand New Kind of Actress
Jason Isbell - Try

Drive-By Truckers - Never Gonna Change
Drive-By Truckers - Goddamn Lonely Love

Pictures of the show are available here.

Rock Report: JJ Grey and Mofro @ Skipper’s Smokehouse

Cross posted from ninebullets.net

In Florida, August nights are hot and I don’t mean wear a pair of shorts hot. I’m talking wear as little clothes as possible and you’re still gonna sweat hot. It’s a fact that we’ve come to live with. Rain offers no solace, instead it adds to the stifling humidity. This is Florida and these are our August nights. The Mofro boys come from Jacksonville and they know this. This particular Friday night was not an unfamiliar site for Floridians. Afternoon thunderstorms turned into night mug. We had a hurricane out in the Caribbean projected to come just close enough to the Gulf to allow the weathermen to practice their hunkerdown speeches and Mofro playing under the ol’ Oak trees that cover the Skipperdome. Sweat, affordable beer, fried foods and a swampy soulful blues band from J-ville following the hyper-sweaty dirty blues outfit that is Tampa’s own Nervous Turkey made this seem like a perfect Florida storm. A Florigasm if you will.

As I said last week, I had never seen the Mofro boys live before and as the sold out crowd began to filter in I soon realized I was definitely in the minority but it seemed like a welcoming enough crowd. I settled in at the front of the stage to watch the Nervous Turkey boys. I have seen Nervous Turkey two other times in bars with acoustics as poor as my grammar. Seeing them in the Skipperdome sealed the deal for me. I love these guys. They play a brand of blues that makes me wanna drink and there’s nothing wrong with that. For the bulk of the show I was completely taken in by Mr. Locke but as their set was winding down I took a look around. The crowd had probably tripled in size and a lot of them were just as enthralled with these fellas as I was. If you get a chance do not pass on seeing Nervous Turkey, I guarantee that you’ll have a good time.

Next came the reason for the evening. A bead of sweat slowly ran the length of my back as the band took the stage and began to tune up. “It’s been too long Skipperdome” were the first words from Mr. Grey’s mouth. The crowd response was exactly as it should have been. The opening instrumental quasi-jam band number with Grey announcing his band gave way to Florida:

Now skyscrapers and superhighways / are carved through the heart of Florida / Building sub-divisions while the swamps are drained / makin’ room for people and amusement parks / It’s like watchin’ someone you love die slow / Yeah they’re killin’ her one piece at a time / I know some fools who think I should let go / but they never seen Florida through my eyes

It was here I really began to appreciate both the honesty of these guys and the connection they have with the crowd. I would really like to think that the connection with Florida based crowds is a lot closer to the bone than it is with outta state crowds but something tells me I should not be so naive. Blogcritics put it so perfectly I am just gonna quote them direct:

Like shamans, the charismatic Grey and his sinuous band build their modestly structured, unprepossessing songs into small volcanoes of emotion, with the audience supplying half the energy.

It wasn’t some low key soul show mind you. No, No, No. The funk of tracks like “How Junior Got His Head Put Out“, “Nare Sugar” and “Ho’ Cake” most definitely proved to be crowd favorites and caused more than a few folks to break out in fits of spontaneous dancing. In the end I left feeling less like I went to a show and more like I had just witnessed an event. Do you know what I am saying? I know it sounds cheesy but I just feel like I am devaluing the the night if I just call it a show. I dunno, maybe it’s the heat talking.

Mofro - Florida
Mofro - Ho’ Cake
Mofro - How Junior Got His Head Put Out
Mofro - On Palastine

Pictures from the show can be found here.