I honestly did not think I would make it to this show, I've been broke and busy. But after a weird week, I am glad I found someone to take me out to the Birchmere to see the Skylighters. I will tell you who the Skylighters are when I get a chance to edit this in the morning. Right now I am taking advantage of an early night to write some of my impressions now.

So a major fact finding mission for attending this show was to get 'visuals' on Starling and Auldridge. I've listened carefully to certain Seldom Scene recordings, but I have never heard them live. I encountered Starling, Auldridge and Gaudreau doing My Sally at the Americana Motel Show, but it was not mad clear to me who was who. Jimmy came back for Americana Motel 2, so I had my visual on him. As for the other two though, I've gone around the past year mistaking other people for them and thinking I was spotting them across crowded rooms like I was sighting aliens. I can be just a little impressionable at times.

Anyway, what a cool idea--the Skylighters. If you have read along with from the start of this chronicle, you may notice my affinity for music happening in DC now that continues to be influenced by none other than Starling, Auldridge and Gaudreau, both as they are and as they were. It really is magical bluegrass, especially the high pickin'. Auldridge spent a lot of time at the pedal steel, which I hear almost never happens at his shows. While you get less singing from Auldridge at the pedal, which is a shame, man his steel playing is so light and airy it's almost like singing. And even after listening to Seldom Scene recordings, I had no idea how mournful a dobro could be. The quintet, sans Starling, did Louvin Brothers, Stanley Brothers, Jimmy & Jesse, a Jim Croce country song whose name I can't remember, and Brace's song that seems to be going by either "Hurry Back To Harlan" or "See What Love Can Do" (I suppose it will get more standardized when Time & Water comes out.)

They did Bonaparte's Retreat which is a song I need to look up. Jimmy said on Bonaparte's Retreat that he "would Kill" on mandolin, and he certainly did, as did the dobro work, and I have to admit Martin Lynds on drums. It was kind of ballsy having a drummer get out there with 'a bluegrass band' but man, on this song he really kicked ass, no two ways about it. I don't know how I would justify this, but the drumming was somehow reminiscent of a tattoo, without being one at all. It was like the vogue in military television documentaries right now where they get really close to one historic uniform then they shake the camera a lot and put the narration over it so it is reminiscent of the battle being described, without having to reenact it. Fairly effective. Well somehow Marty did that, it was spare, and subtle, yet I got really drawn into it, I am making more out of this probably than what most people heard, but hey, this is MY chronicle, so live with it.

Starling came out a little more than half way through the set and this guy is a force to be reckoned with. he too is in the 6'4"+ category of lead signers, and he's got this Virginia drawl that he so plies on the audience with anecdotes between songs. Starling sang his own Carolina Star, while additionally needling Eric Brace throughout the song, particularly rolling his eyes skywards then towards Brace as he sings "he's gonna be a country music star." Yet why not? things happen on all kinds of scales, right? I can really appreciate what Eric would say later about the honor of playing in this combo, coming full circle, playing with your heroes and inspiration, while all the time remembering what it was 'like to be a kid and want to get up on stage with The Scene".

Anyway, I would have been completely satisfied by this show if it ended here, but they would go on to do two encores one of Starlings "Those Memories of You" which is on the order of a bob Dylan song lyrically--truly amazing and then again amazingly enriched by the way Auldridge makes the Dobro moan (in the good way-wink) The 'second' encore included "Keep Out the Lord's Burning Rain" (that probably has another title I need to look up) a sad, sad, song I wish more bands in the present redid, like Patsy Cline favorites or this night's closer song, "Walls of Time," the speeded up Last Train Home version of Bill Monroe's best loved ballad.

Let me end with, I wish I could have been a fly on wall when Starling let loose with what he had to say about that number.

So, I realized that when I posted about Nitrate Hymnal yesterday, I never really talked much about the music. Kind of a dumb thing to overlook for a supposed music chronicle. Granted, along with all the stuff you get in addition to music at an opera, like a narrative, a set, blocking, and acting, in this case there was film too.

With what little, esoteric information I know about opera, I thought Hymnal's score did function remarkably well. There seemed to be themes for each character. Once of the most interesting things I eventually noticed was that when the action returned to the nursing home there was instrumentation like the pinging of heart monitors and a hissing of assisted breathing.

I was struck how much this was like the Czech composer Janacek's obsession with simulating the songs and calls of birds and other animals at least one his operas, The Cunning Little Vixen. Hymnal's overall composition was complex enough that I would want to hear it again by itself and emotional enough that at the narrative point at the end where my eyes flooded with tears, I am sure it was as much the music as the libretto that knocked me emotions off kilter.

But again, I am tempted to talk about the overwhelming reaction from people who called this production amazing. It was a classic opera in many ways; and it's many other derivations were also worn on it's sleeve. After some more thought, I still think Hymnal's most truly amazing quality was in it's libretto and narrative of self discovery. I am going to go out on a limb and commit to this statement. I think very unconsciously, Nitrate Hymnal is the a modern equivalent of the Mozart's Magic Flute. Like Flute was born of late Enlightenment Masonic values and rituals, Hymnal is produced by the local pantheon of old school Punk musicians. But Hymnal doesn't talk make it's point by simply explaining the rituals of Punk. Flute obscures the Masons, without obscuring their goals for society by making the characters be animals and the setting be the forests and so called 'magic' being the motivator. Hymnal likewise makes the setting the modern equivalent of a scary forest, the hospital/nursing home and motivates the action of the narrative by invoking the 'magician' of this century, film. Hymnal's film student narrator who is so sure he has the answers already at the start, learns otherwise by the end is is able to truly start on path of self-discovery.

Whoa, did I just say that the Punk goal for society is pretty much like the Masons? Well, take it or leave it.

Hey there, FYI, I just got my Grandsons mail and they are nominated for 4 Wammies, wow. Way to go. We'll find out how it all shakes down on like Feb. 9, I think, at The State Theater, if you are inclined to attend.

So, right now, I am not going to talk about bands, rather I will speak of another music anomaly like the show that went with the film about Go-Go music, "The Pocket". I saw on Thursday, 1/23, what is being run thru the papers as a post-punk opera (not necessarily what the producers are calling it) called Nitrate Hymnal. So apparently DC is ready for the $20 opera, the pay what you can nite was packed and a 3 day run at a large theater seems to have sold out. So what is going on here?

I've had a couple interesting discussions with people who saw it this past weekend. For something that was trying pretty much to be a straight forward opera, I have to open every time I start talking about it by admitting that I came pretty close to bawling at the end-even with being a frustrated audience member questioning the casting of 3 'musical theater voices' with one flat-out opera diva, and technical issues like sound drop-outs (coming from tech people in the music business), still, to make an audience member cry in a semi-social setting like live theater is no small matter. The libretto is very honest and direct in a stream of consciousness kind of way, like the 3 minute punk song-so I can see how the media glommed onto the 'post-punk opera' catch phrase. And while the narrative reeks of sap, a grandson witnessing his grandmother's death in a nursing home while he recounts her life to us. For sappy, man almighty, it was sincere in it's sappiness. I agreed with every crazy thing the narrator said about his grandma being superhuman, I feel exactly the same way about my gramms-that's nice to see, it felt honest-no compunction about being emotions. Yet somehow this sappy sincerity was artfully given an intellectual grounding, where thru the narrator you are meant to realize the limited time and materials we have as human beings to make our piece with ourselves as individuals; blink and your life is gone.

The performances are done, as in over and finito, (it only ran Thursday to Sunday) for the time being. As I was talking to another music type at a party on Saturday, we hope it is a work in progress. It seems that there is still work to be done to completely realize this project. I hope the immense crew that they have assembled can go thru with it and work out the kinks. Also, I really wonder what all those people in the audience thought, all that recitative trash talking going on and all, I mean do that many people want to start going to operas? Apparently I like opera as much as the next person, boy that was a surprise. Or was the DC punk community just there to 'represent'? Is the corner turning in DC to new and even weirder things. That's fine with me. There is power in weird, as long as it is an honest and sincere weird.

So, I am proud to say that I made it to Bill Kirchen & Too Much Fun with Mark Wenner and Ratso at IOTA. This was kind of a water shed moment for me to hear Bill Kirchen LIVE. I may have mentioned it earlier, but there was a point when I hung out A LOT with a group of guys 10-20 years my senior that grew up here. Therefore, they learned to play guitar because of Hendrix, learned their history lessons because of the Seldom Scene, and wanted to be rock stars because of Commander Cody and teh Lost Planet Airmen, and therego, ergo Bill Kirchen. So none of these guys I know grew up to be rock stars but they know their way around a lick or two and consequently hearing "California Cotton Fields" got me kind of teary eyed for the good ole days-that I experienced second hand thru devoted fans and pick up jams. But thats the beauty of it, music is an oral history that carries real well. Likewise, I was touched when Wenner sang "Walkin' After Midnight". So no one could do it better than Patsy, but that doesn't mean people shouldn't play it, it's the song that's great. She made that song SO LOVABLE that to sing it is a devotional act-I sing it all the time when walking home, it sounds great, 'cause for me devotion to music goes a long way, often quite a lot further than technical acuracy or hipness.

I was mightly surprised by the jazzy "Swing Fever"-is it just that I am now noticing all this jazziness? or is it a drummer conspiracy? It's OK with me. By the way, Jack O' Dell is a fine fine drummer with a great voice that he lets out from behind the kit and always chooses to sing balads with great character. Likewise with Johnny Castle, bassist, character extrordinaire in singin' and playin'. There's a decent amount out there on these guys, they were Grammy nominated for Best Country Instrumental in 2001 and they play around DC often.

I am going to try something new here, running links with all the local shows I can find links for in the left hand column of this page, instead of using the yahooey calendar. Tell me what you think.

OK there, so if you were not familiar with The Graverobbers then you probably don't know about the The Impromtadudes or the Karl Straub Combo, therefore you need to find out about Mr. Straub. Right now this is about the only place I know to send you right now for any information on Karl Straub, a fantastic local songwriter. His lyrics strike me as different from any I have heard before, yet the music surrounding them can be comforting and exciting at the same time. Seeing the combo go on at The State Theater before The Grandsons yesterday was great. I've been watching this new combo have mild growing pains in the past few months. As a listener the Combo came to fruition for me in some beautiful free form jazzesque accompaniment that occurred at this show. False starts and strange endings unconsidered, I am pleased as punch to hear Kevin Cordt on Trumpet, Chris Watling on Sax and the Straub Combo's drummer (whose name is Matt Tebo) who all have jazz leanings be able to let loose in this project. I for one think it matches beautifully with the painterly poetic lyrics of Karl's. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I don't know what happened? I did not get my hoppin' john on New Year's day, but I did have a great New Year's Eve. I suppose I will have to make things happen with my regular kind of luck. That's OK. it's served me thus far. I generally loath New Year's resolutions. But I do think that January one is as good a time as any to take heed of the past year and think about what made you happy and respect those individuals that mean something to you.

So here it goes, I am real lucky that Jenn, the ultimate groupie girl, who has been with "ggdc" from the start will start writing, hopefully later in the winter. I'm also really glad so many of our other friends have taken up the banner of MUSIC ENTHUSIASTS, listened to their own good sense and have started coming out to see LIVE MUSIC with amazing frequency. And they drive us places, can't thank ya'll enough for that.

I need to thank Dan who suggested this page in the first place and was the person that explained that when a musician is on stage at a small club, like many of the one's I frequent, they really can SEE ALL most of the time. They see who's listening, who's singing along, who "gets" what the band is playing, and so on. They see very clearly when someone connects with the music and they often can tell when you start going to their shows with regularity. Arblemarble bestowed my groupie status on me, and I have not looked back.

Now to all the individuals-musicians, club owners, bouncers, bartenders, and musicians-significant-others, thank you for sharing and for being wonderful human beings. I would not seem that likely that girls and boys with hearts of gold could grow up to be rock and roll musicians and own bars, but so many of the boys and girls I speak of in the dc area are priceless treasures. Whew, so sappy I am sticking to myself.

To digress and say a bit about the New Year's Eve line up at Iota for instance, the show completely kicked ass. Little Pink opened it up. Battiata and the rest of the band are beginning to command the rock and roll stage and it's great. What was always interesting writing on Battiata's part has really, really blossomed in the song 12 Birds. (So by the way thank Mr. Nelson for Adult Swim and for putting out a 4 song LP-CD with this song on it. If you have read this far, may I suggest you buy it?). New Year's Eve also played host to the Lee Wilhoit Experience. Lee while weaving and jumping and occasionally flailing in performance, always seems to be 100% present in the lyrics. He steps in with other bands a lot and he never 'phones it in'. His own lyrical material seems to follow suit , it's moody and mayhem in tandem. Then, even though it was a school night, and Bill Williams and Alan Brace were not there, Last Train Home, did justice to this gig, together, they just know Soooooooo many songs. They stepped up with all the energy that make's LTH shows so truly amazing.

Lastly, I am also thankful for bands with fun websites and e-mail lists. At the risk of slighting bands without these things, linking to lilks.com off of Last Train Homes cool links page has saved my 9-5 sanity more than once this past year. And kudos to Karl Straub, who without a doubt, has the best web presence without even having a major web page. The beauty is in his e-mail list, without a doubt the most amusing and informative e-mail I get from a band . This is perfect because to get on this list you GO SEE KARL play! You have a chance soon, this Saturday (1/3) he will be at the State Theatre along with Scott McKnight and The Grandsons.

Happy New Year!

Wow, so my last post was not exactly 'peace on earth', was it? Sorry.

So, it's probably a good thing that I am out of my element and on holiday. As I commented to Mr. Scott McKnight last week, my immediate family hails from other parts, so I feel a bit left out of the loop. Missing The Grandsons and Last Train Home at the Kennedy Center, and the Hootenanny and Roots All Stars at Iota. You wold have thought I'd had time to post my thoughts about the Americana Motel 2 show, it's been a month!

I'll be back for New Year's and hopefully have a more regular schedule when it comes to posting.

There are so many great things going on this New Years, The Grandsons and Ruthie at the Masonic Temple in Arlington. I still can't believe the Iguana's are playing at The State-how nice of them. I will be at my first Iota New Year's bash. I am very pleased with their promise of hoppin' john on New Year's Day. I have never tried ye olde wives tale that says eating black-eyed peas on the 1st will give you luck in the following year. I am not surprised it's this year that I'll eat them or that Iota has something to do with bringing me luck. Have a seriously wonderful New Year's Eve and as I always say, Love & Luck-what else is there?

OK, another digression. Other people's talk is cheap, so I can't resist, did you read Joe Heim's rant on people who talk during shows?. Isn't it funny how ideas seem to spontaneously generate? Just to show you where I stand, if groupiegirl ever produces merch-one will be a t-shirt that says something like "I paid for the show, so you should shut the hell up!" E-mail him at joe.heim@washingtonpost.com if you have a truly royal story.



I wonder if any of the chatty-mc-chatterson-losers will respond and defend their right to be pain's in the ass? About a year ago, I remember some other Wash-Post commenter that wanted to address screamers/woo-hoo'ers at shows. Now, I am a staunch defender of the woohoo, those of you who know who I am even associate me with the woohoo, I think. I even, on occassion, indulge in a Sinatra style scream or an "oh yeah" if the mood warrants it. So, I realize that I am viewed by some other people in the audience as a "pain in the ass". But I'll tell you what, my new favorite phrase is "Enthusiasm Is Free". Like little babies who scream because they are happy or engaged in something like touching a puppy for the first time-that is what screaming at shows is all about. It's short and sweet, It makes me happy, and in most cases, it makes the band happy. I mean, why do you think people perform live? To hear themselves? No, it's to share something with their audience, get emotions off their chest. And don't forget living the rock & roll fantasy-where people swoon and scream and know all the words to songs you wrote. Yeah, there are exceptions, we are not little babies, we can exercise poise and judgement ideally-no yelling woo-hoo during quiet love ballads or songs about death and other contemplative matters, and don't say things to the other audience members like "What is WRONG with you people? Why aren't you dancing (or yelling?)"

Which gets to the crux of the matter-be nice, or you shouldn't be there at all. Be interested, or you shouldn't be there at all. If you are falling down drunk, you should not have been there in the first place.

some thoughts about Americana Motel 2 coming soon, be patient.....

I've had converations with many glancing many of the topics covered in this lecture, including economics, art, ecology, and my somewhat similar experience of Las Vegas. May you use it for GOOD and not evil. It's a timely reminder of why I started groupiegirldc, it's about being part of a community and giving something back that means more than money or merch.

The Great Americana Holiday

Thanksgiving in the nations capital, this will be my ninth. What is there to be thankful for this year? That I now have to go through two security checks daily to get to my day job? That metro has again put up signs by the escalators that say ‘stand’ to the right? That poison gas detectors always seem to be at the metro station that I am at? That there are now short range defense missiles at area military bases pointed at the National Mall, because threat levels are so high? Hmmm.

Well no. I am not thankful for any of the above, but after thirteen years in DC I am beginning to realize that if you are going to become a native, you need to be able to roll with change and fear of it. I think this often leads outsiders to mistake a wicked and self deprecating sense of humor for DC’er’s bashing their own hometown. I was struck by this fact after falling over in hysterics upon hearing the last track on a locally produced CD called Americana Motel. This CD came out about November 2001. The song is by Karl Straub and is called “Don’t Take Advice”. It doesn’t address DC specifically, but it so purely exhibits a lack of sacredness for the obvious, the best arsenal of us “self-dep” types, I just had to mention the song.

Americana Motel was the brainchild, or lovechild, or both of Peter Fox, a long time area music maven, who recently relocated to CA. He hasn’t left his commitment to the metro areas musicians though, a minimum of 50 musicians appear on the CD. My understanding is that the CD resulted from hours of 'home' studio recording and contains 18 different songs by 18 different area bands and many of the songs and all of the bands are homegrown originals. Along with Straub there are songs written by Eric Brace, Scott McKnight, Kevin Johnson and others. These original songs flirt with classic rock and pop as much as the proverbial Americana genre. The go-to web site, www.americanamotel.net, intelligently gets all the alt-country/roots/no-depression monikers out of the way, refers to itself as “the whatever-you-want-to-call-it scene”. This music doesn’t try to sound like Americana or de-construct Americana, and with 50 musicians working on this thing it could sound like a mother-load of Jam-bands, but it doesn’t.

Just about every single musician that was on the CD performed at the 2001 Americana Motel CD release that was at the Birchmere. I was at that show in 2001. Seeing and hearing these artists work hard for an art they love gave me a reason to traipse all around the metro area this past year to hear a huge variety of songsters. This is an accomplishment, because prior to this I was a DC-ite who would not venture into "the 'burbs" if you paid me. Yet for all that time, and I hate the thought of it, "the 'burbs" was incubating all these great bands. So now I go to "the 'burbs", and today is an anniversary that I am happy to be celebrating. The Americana Motel 2 show is up to bat at The Birchmere tonite, deep in the heart of "The 'burbs". (I'm done now, I won't say it again.) I found inspiration in my own back yard in vibrant, smart, witty, accessible music that is connected to a history that was here before Bush or Clinton or Bush and promises to stick through what ever is to come.

I joke, but it's true, seeing the Americana Motel CD release at the Birchmere in 2001 pretty much changed my life. It gave me a reason to go to shows, meet musicians and enjoy myself knowing that there are people who still work hard for an art they love. This Washington, DC scene is so vibrant, Americana Motel goes a long way in documenting a small and happy part of it that will be growing and changing in the years to come. Many of the bands playing have been together for more than a decade and many of the individuals are full time working musicians WITHOUT record contracts. These are serious folks who play honestly, more for emotion and energy than trying to sound like Americana, deconstruct Americana or make Americana hip again.

So I will return invigorated by whatever happens at Americana Motel 2 and I hope to introduce some of the other people that I have helped turn into raving groupies for the local music who want to try their hand a dishing these bands. Thanks for a great year.....

Well, Last Train Home is out of the gate and they have their first Barns performance under their belts. It was really nice to have everyone there-and by everyone I mean-Bill Williams, Scott McKnight and Alan Brace. I find it really hard to imagine Last Train Home LIVE with out that triumverate.

One of the first things that attracted me to this band was having heard them on Americana Motel. I found the Joe Triplet song that they did on that recording ripe and dripping with harmonies that I had not heard on any recording done in my lifetime. A musician friend of mine that has played in pick-up bands around DC do 20+ years would speak of the elusiveness of intensly layered harmonies found in early-country and bluegrass music. According to him, you randomly assemble a group of male musicians, and no matter how talented they are, they can't harmonize. Their egos and large musical knowledge get in the way. They sing to hear themselves, they don't mean to, it just happens. Well LTH has males, and egos and large musical knowledges-they manage, not all the time, but more often than not to have 4+ voices, 3+ guitars (plus Steel and Mandolin) and rhythm all going to the same place-harmony. A prodigeous accomplishment, if ever there was one.

I hypothetically suppose that this is one of the reasons that a number of men seem to unequivocally fall in love with this band and Eric Brace's charismatic lead. it also does not hurt that the band doesn't shy away from covering and rearranging songs like Bill Monroe's "Walls of Time", Buck Owen's "Heartbreak Mountain" or Dave Alvin's "So Long, Baby Goodbye". The first time "Walls of Time" crossed my ears in a live show, I almost passed out. What a joy. This masterpiece of lyrics is on my all time favorite songs list-I'd heard it on late night WAMU bluegrass by Monroe himself and thought myself possibly alone in being touched by this song so deeply. The passion that LTH sets up in their arrangement, often due to the overwhelming intensity and of Lee Wilhoit's singing, left no doubt in my mind that my favorite song would live on. They bought Lee up on stage at The Barns and I got to dance like my 'name was carved upon the tombstone'.

The Barns 'general admission dance' is a nice set up. You have the option of sitting concert style in the balcony, like The State Theater or hitting the boards, standing style right up by the stage. There is a bar in a separate room and while the LTH show was sold out the place didn't feel packed.

I guess one of the other highlights of the night was hearing 'Sugar' a cover that they've been doing since before their first CD came out. They've been working the song long enough to have made it into a mystery novel by local author George Pelacanos called "Shame the Devil". Eric delighted in reading George's prescient prose where the band The Silos opens for Last Train Home. Well perhaps this was because The Silos did open up for Last Train Home at The Barns. What fun. I wonder if there was a private detective in the audience who went home and had steamy sex? Go to their Websiteif you want to see what I am talking about. So apparently The Silos will open for LTH at IOTA on the 21st of December. Go see this. They were great, I heard the Silos bassist say, like 10 times, to myself and others, "we held back 'cause it's like, The Barns". They were pretty damn intense, so I am pretty damn sorry I will miss that IOTA show. Spottiswoode and his Enemies will open the LTH IOTA show on Friday the 20th. Spottiswoode can also be pretty freakin intense when provoked and I will be there for them, so I will just have to make due.

Ok, I'm going to attempt to write aboout some music, really fast. Again, I apologize to Last Train Home for not writing about the music. Eric wore these buckskin colored leather pants to a show at Iota last month and I still can't think straight-just kidding. Honestly, I have been sickeningly busy pimping my work at this
Art-Show. I forgot what it was like to be 'a working artist'. Feels good.

So last weekend I treated myself to a nite of combos-solo.

The first stop was American Legion Post 8 over in Southeast for a self-titled CD release for The Dustbowlers. The drummer has been my neighbor for years-so you know what a pleasure to hear him accompanied by vocals and melody. The Dustbowlers are a 3 piece outfit, Mike on drums and percussion, another Mike on bass and double bass and backup (a natural combo for bands I like) and Tim on stringed things (guitars) and lyrics. So listening to Tims song's, I'm struck at the Californ-I-A-ness of the lyrics and his delivery. I seriously have not heard that sound around here in like 5 years, and then I was only hearing it because of another musician friend, who rode into town with his real name and out of town on the psuedonym Sri Baba Marley Jones-that you may remember, he played the songwriters circle, Galaxy Hut, and a few other gigs. So, what is this Californ-I-A sound? Think of Woodie Guthrie's annunciation of electric-I-T on Coulmbia River. Appropriatley enough, the first trak on The Dustbowlers is called "Hey Hey Woodie Guthrie", which is as much about the lonesome sound as the master himself. Another stand out happened to be 'Tailfins', a lonesome metaphor where a visit to 'The Cadillac Ranch" in Texas (you know the place where an artist has buried a bunch of heyday Cadillac's noses in the ground) spurs thoughts of finding your identity before your sell-by date. This song's like a dirge and paints such a clear picture of this unique American monument that it makes me squint in the Texas sun.

Anyway, it's apparent that these guys have been playing music for along time and I hope to see them getting gigs around town and mixing it up with the Virgin-E sound and song writing. Tim's got the lead singer speak down, already pegging Mike and Mike as the 'Beatnik Cowboys" at this homey CD release

To completely 'fess, had to bust out of the The Dustbowlers shindig to hit Staccato and see Cowlick Lucy and the newly formed Karl Straub Combo play together. I arrived at Staccato well into the advertised 1st set of Cowlick Lucy (a band I've already talked about) to find Mr. Straub sitting in with them on guitar. Very, very good move. The strenght of Karl's guitar playing added new force to Cowlick, especially to "Sheep in Wool's Clothing". The "VU" sounding songs "Downtown" and "Breakdown" totally turned this audience on at Staccato. They were captive, and I may note, not totally made up of musicians. Predominently-yes, totally no. I was quite pleased to be approached twice by people that struck up conversations with me about how great they thought the band and the club were when they saw me writing and singing along. Staccato's 'sound improvements' to shut the neighbors up who complain of sound leaking out, have in fact improved the sound inside tremendously. I got there too late to be in the front, but sitting all the way at the back upstairs bar, where I could not see a lick, the sound was clear and crisp. Take into account, the place is smaller than Velvet Lounge, but Staccato's really got something.

As does Karl Straub. This Combo is a new outting for Straub. He played for years with an outfit called the Graverobbers, fronted by him and his song writing. Right now 'The Combo' or this band is getting comfortable with new songs and Karl classics. I admit to not having heard the Graverobbers many times, though I'm a huge devotee of their CD's. The Combo fits it name as the new players in the band seem to hail from more high end lounge oriented rock music, less garage band/folk. I look forward to these guys developing too. Also kudos for Cowlick Lucy's Paula & Vivian singing those high note girl back up vocals to Karl's bubblegum ballad "Shonen Knife". When I listen to it on CD I always here those girl voices in my head, and like anyone, gotta love it when fantasy meets with reality.

Ok, hope that whet your whistle. It's going to be a busy week. I hope to give you some bite on the LTH Wolftrap extravaganza. Then the day before Thanksgiving, the mother of all shows, Americana Motel 2 at The Birchmere. The one year anniversary of the show that changed my life, brought me back into the live music scene, continues to inspire me, and has introduced me to all kinds of lovely people and experiences.

If you want more pre-show information on any of this I suggest you check out groupiegirldc on yahoo groups and look at the calender and links. Thanks-talk to you later.

OK, the Yahoo groups thing is pretty much up and running. It's called groupiegirldc, big surprise. I am hoping for big things for it, though I know statistics about the internet point against such things. The sharing a calender and the ability to use it to find links to shows, venues, tickets, bands, seems like it will helpful to a lot of my friends-did you just read that there's a whole page to collect links on-watch out. Or here's another for instance, a friend told me last weekend that she had a Loretta Lynn ticket that went to waste. Next time, she can stick in on the yahoo groups/groupiegirldc-that sweetie of a ticket would not have gone to waste. Consider becoming a part of the yahoo group-I am very receptive to suggestions to help make sure more people go to see live and local music.

Once again, I am sorry about the delay in posting my take on the shows I've been to, and I owe a super-sincere apology to Last Train Home. I got caught up in the Nashvillyness of the night: the lights, the elevated stage, 3 bands, black rhinestones. That moment at 'The State' has passed and I can't write about, sorry. So much fluff and not enough talk about music-the best I can say right now is that I would still love Last Train Home if they played naked in a crack house, what better endorsment could you have? There is a great Last Train Home show coming up this Saturday at the Barns of Wolftrap. Their first outing there and it is sold out. If you missed out, I will try to give out the scoop on what you missed. If you've never heard them stay tuned and tell you why I like their music.

looky

Why did no one I know tell me that Yahoo groups had a calender? Luckily a curious patron of Staccato suggested it to me. This "administrative" garbage is what I have spent most of my time doing when not out "in the field", instead of writing up the music I have been seeing. Still, I hope to have a Yahoo group with calenders and surveys soon! I also hope to have some blab about 11/16/02, this past Saturday "combo" nite for groupiegirl.

OK, well here's another digression, BUT VERY VERY IMPORTANT! It comes to me via Chris Connoly of the Velvet Lounge. The following text is off his mailing list

"coming soon: new DC laws and regulations governing restaraunts and music.
velvet is above the fray with a tavern license and a parking waiver, but
current laws would close almost every other small venue in town. the new laws
are a big improvement, but not enough of an improvement that some hard
working venue owners would not wind up getting their places shut down. of
particular concern, it has been recommended that the 45% food sales
requirement be lowered, but only to 40% or $1,500 per seat of capacity per
year. it needs to lowered further or many places will be closed.

please come testify on dec 4 (location tba, ask the liquor board) that people
who support nightlife are the majority and the liquor board and the council
should protect their interests against the small minority of citizens who
routinely protest all liquor licenses and aspire to control the city's
commerical corridors as if they were their own living rooms rather than vital
public resources. oddly, despite a couple handfuls of the same protestors
coming in over and over constantly repeating the refrain 1,000s of nightlife
consumers are bothering me, the council and the board seem to forget this is
a democractic society and there are 1,000s of us that like to go out at
night, even if the sidewalks get crowded and even if a couple 100 people
would rather we stayed home. if you work at a restaraunt please encourage
the owner to contact me (Chris at the Velvet Lounge)
regarding the new laws and regulations and our trade association: dc licensed
beverage association."

Thank you Chris. I hope posting this here helps. And remember consumers DECEMBER 4 - TESTIFY that small business and LEGITIMATE business at night is RIGHT and good for a city!!!!! AMEN

Hi groupie friends-thanks for checking in. I hope to post soon. It will be like going 0-60 mph, as I attempt to make some mention of all the shows I saw in the past month. I hope to post some content from another groupiegirl who was out there seeing shows in the month of October while I spent all my odd hours in helping set up 'remembering pleasure' a curated visual art exhibition at Art-O-Matic (located on the 2nd floor in a space called Cheverly 8 {tell your friends}) that includes a sexy sculpture by me. Seriously check out my club of the month link-its ART-O-MATIC I am talking about. They have some really really good bands on the schedule. I mean a very real schedule of competitive bands-BANDS EVERY DAY the building in open. If Art-O-Matic keeps this up it will be like a biennial winter version of Ft. Reno.

Thank you to the musicians that have talked to me about reading this journal, it is really appreciated, only wish I could do more and pay less, oh well. You may note I have been playing technically with this page. I am functional in technology, but it's not my strong point. Does anyone know of a free web based personal calender that I could set up as a link on the groupiegirldc page? Please contact me if you do. bye!

Better late than never, here's a bit o' writin' from another groupiegirl, you might call her the "ultimate groupie girl"



LTH, Jr. at Velvet Lounge



Well, Eric's "solo" act was short, a mere nine songs, but very sweet. I
kept a set list for y'all, so here's some details. First, Eric was
accompanied by Kevin Cordt on trumpet and backing vocals. It was awfully
nice to hear Kevin's lovely voice, which sounds really nice with
Eric's--they should really let Kevin sing more. Jim Gray was on acoustic
bass guitar--an instrument I don't think I've ever seen before. He sounded
fantastic, you could really hear the bass lines with it just being the
three of them up there. Eric played the hell out of his acoustic
guitar, I think he's been doing some practicing and its paying off, he
sounded great. However what was above and beyond the greatest moment of the
evening--Eric yodeled! It was on the song Tonight (which I was hearing for
the second time that evening, Karl performed it earlier at Visions). It was
a lovely version of the song, not their usual raucous rendition, it
actually sounded a lot more like the original GraveRobber's version than it
usual does when LTH performs it, and then Eric ended it with yodeling
(Kevin also did some whistling). I almost fell out my seat.

They opened with the new song, I Still Like You, which I like more and more
every time I hear it. Its a great song. Then Tonight, then the song about
Harlin County and the lovers who have to run away from the girl's no-good
father who doesn't want them to be together. Don't know what this one's
called but I've been calling it See What Love Can Do in my head, which is a
line in the song somewhere. That was was followed by a simply gorgeous
Angelina, Kevin's singing and trumpet were definitely the standouts. Eric
then asked for requests and played mine, Shenandoah, which was lovely. Eric
seemed a little surprised by this request, but played it anyway. Then they
did My Sally, Finally, and my second request of the evening, Last Train
Home. They encored with Sugar. A short but really really lovely performance
by all counts.