It is a busy weekend here in the Greater Georgetown/Merrimack Valley….plenty of good bands to hear, and plenty of consumables to consume. After all, it was a hard week this week, wasn’t it? So kick back, relax, and let us all entertain you.
Start out your weekend with some music, microbrew, some food and then more microbrew at The Tap.
Come out to The Tap in Haverhill, MA to see Danny Banks and his All Star Band!Listen to some Blues, Soul, and Rock n' Roll!!!!! Band Starts at 9:00pmThe Tap is a fantastic Bar/ Restaurant! They Have GREAT FOOD!!!There's NO COVER!Band Lineup:Danny Banks- Drums, VocalMonster Mike Welch- Guitar, VocalsRalph Shelgran- BassSee Y'All There!!!The Tap100 Washington StreetHaverhill, MA
Then, on Saturday the 30th you have two very good choices in music and venues, so do yourselves a favor and check out both acts & places.
The Coupe DeVille Band will be playing their first 2010 appearance (not including their successful Tuesday night blues jam) at the Roma. Join them for an evening of high energy blues, R&B and classic rock. Dale Stubbs - GuitarJohn Schiavoni - VocalsTom “Spectacle” Carroll - GuitarJohn Medeiros Jr. - DrumsSteve Tatarunis – Bass
And, Georgetown Fats & The Growlers (punk /blues/reggae) will be at The Georgetown Grille on Saturday the 30th. It is the bar where everyone knows our name, and can help us find out way home when necessary…
We will be kicking off around 9:30 PM and will be playing up until last call (around 12:30AM).
Georgetown Fats & The Growlers are;
The Infamous Nigel – guitar, bass, vocals
RJ Kennedy – bass, guitar, vocals
The Damn Dirty Ape – drums
Boutch – vocals, percussion, harp
So either start the night at The Grille and then head on over to see “Johnny B” and the gang, start the night out with The Coupe DeVille Band and then come see us….or find one act and stay with them all night. The key to the equation is YOU getting out and supporting both local music, and the bars that book local music…
Then do yourselves a favor and check out Jazz @ The Chit Chat Lounge on Sunday night. The Chit Chat is at 103 Washington St, Haverhill, MA 01832, and I believe the jazz kicks off at 6PM.
As always, remember not to drink and drive. You may hit a bump and spill your drink. Also PLEASE CAREFULLY! Accidents cause people!
Friday, January 29, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
"TOKYO TRAMPS joins Geezer's Garage Nite!!" on Friday, January 29 at 7:30pm.
"TOKYO TRAMPS joins Geezer's Garage Nite!!" on Friday, January 29 at 7:30pm.
TOKYO TRAMPS joins Geezer's Garage Nite!!
"First Garage Nite of 2010!!
"What: PerformanceStart Time:
Friday, January 29 at 7:30pmEnd Time: Saturday, January 30 at 12:30amWhere: Granite Rail Tavern
TOKYO TRAMPS joins Geezer's Garage Nite!!
"First Garage Nite of 2010!!
"What: PerformanceStart Time:
Friday, January 29 at 7:30pmEnd Time: Saturday, January 30 at 12:30amWhere: Granite Rail Tavern
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Catching up with Matt Stubbs
I had a great chat with Matthew Stubbs last night regarding touring with Charlie Musselwhite, Steve the Dog, a new home studio/business venture & "Medford & Main" his new release on Blue Bella Records.
Catch Matt Stubbs & The Band out in one of his many upcoming CD release parties for (www.myspace.com/mattstubbs88) for an advance copy of “Medford & Main” and be sure to check out the March Boston Blues Society for a review of this disk.
T-Model Ford makes rare Massachusetts appearance
January 28, 2010
For Immediate Release:
For Immediate Release:
Media Contact:
Jim Chilson
T-Model Ford makes rare Massachusetts appearance
90 Year Old North Mississippi Hill Country Blues Legend kicks off 2010 United States tour
90 Year Old North Mississippi Hill Country Blues Legend kicks off 2010 United States tour
Somerville, MA, February 25, 2010 - T-Model Ford, one of the last living legends of The North Mississippi Hill Country Blues, makes a very rare appearance in Massachusetts as he kicks off his Eastern and Southern United States tour. The 90 year old blues legend, with be paired with drummer Marty Reinsel of the Seattle based band Gravel Road for the tour. His on Northern New England appearance will take place at PA’s Lounge in Somerville on Thursday February 25th. The opening act will be Ten Foot Polecats, they are one of the few Massachusetts’ bands that are directed influenced by the North Mississippi Hill Country sound. Ten Foot Polecats also have played with T-Model Ford at this past year’s Deep Blues Festival in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
This show was put together by Jim Chilson of Ten Foot Polecats with assistance from The Boston Blues Society, F-Nice Records, and in conjunction with PA’s Lounge in Somerville. The event will be sponsored by The Boston Blues Society as they help bring yet another national act to the area for all local blues fans and fellow musicians to experience.
About the artist: T-MODEL FORD
Born James Lewis Carter Ford, he grew up in a violent household in Mississippi and began working in the fields at an early age. After leaving home, he was convicted for killing a man with a switch blade in Tennessee. "I had to kill the man because he was gonna kill me," Ford told McGuinness. "He cut me first and I didn't back down." A lawyer helped reduce the ten-year sentence, and Ford spent the next two years on a chain gang. "He has been shot, stabbed, and poisoned," wrote Jim Dickinson in the liner notes to Bad Man. "His ankles wear the ragged scars of chain gang shackles
T-Model Ford, currently 90 years old, picked up the guitar for the first time at the age of 58. His wife bought him a guitar and amplifier as a present. The guitar remained in the box that it arrived in until a week later, when Ford's wife left him. "It wasn't tuned and I didn't know how so I tuned it my way...," Ford recalled to Ed Mabe for Delta Boogie online. "So I learned myself how to play."
In the mid-1990s, Ford was approached by Matt Johnson and Bruce Watson of Fat Possum Records. "They come to my house for two weeks trying to catch me," Ford told Mabe. "Around that time I didn't know I was that good to get out and play. I could play 'em but I didn't know how good." In 1997, at the age of 77, Ford released his debut on Fat Possum Records. Since then T-Model Ford has recorded some fabulously lowdown and dirty albums on Fat Possum Records, Mudpuppy Records, and currently with Alive Records. He has also been featured in such documentaries as "You Can See Me Laughin'" & "M For Mississippi".
Ford's often turbulent life has nonetheless left a singular mark on the blues he plays, leading Rick Bragg of the New York Times to joke: "He did not sell his soul, as legend says Robert Johnson did. The Devil, people say, would run from Mr. Ford."
About the artist: TEN FOOT POLECATS
Ten Foot Polecats are a three piece Punk Blues band with their deep roots drawn from the North Mississippi Hill Country. Even though they are basically in their sophomore season, they have made quite an impression on the Boston/Worcester music scenes as they are currently one of the few blues based bands booked across the state (and beyond) in the rock club circuit and on various punk and psychobilly bills. Ten Foot Polecats are creating their own sound and blurring the barriers between musical genres that have been created by some and adhered to by way too many.
Their debut full length CD “I Get Blamed For Everything I Do” on Hillgrass Bluebilly Records (Austin, TX) is due for release in late March 2010. It exhibits the menacingly textured vocals of Jay Scheffler, the hyperkinetic guitar work of Jim Chilson, and the primal beat thumping of Dave Darling. Known as a record label that takes the roots revolution by the neck, Hillgrass Bluebilly and Ten Foot Polecats seem like a perfect match. Midwestern, Southern and Northeast United States Tours are currently being scheduled in support of the album starting in May 2010.
About the sponsor: BOSTON BLUES SOCIETY
Founded in 1988, the Boston Blues Society is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and promoting the blues. Our goals are to involve the community through education of blues music and Southern culture; to act in the community by providing fundraisers for charitable organizations; and to teach children and adults about this great, original American art form. Bostonblues.com, formerly known as Boston Blues News, is the online newsletter published by the Boston Blues Society. The newsletter details blues and blues influenced activities in Boston and throughout New England, as well on a national level. The Boston Blues Society is a Blues Foundation affiliate
Event Details:
Advance Tickets are $10 and will be available through F-Nice Records and PA’s Lounge.
Doors open at 8pm
Show times are
8:45pm Ten Foot Polecats
10pm T-Model Ford
Thursday February 25th
PA’s Lounge
345 Somerville Avenue
Somerville MA
###
The Ten Foot Polecats - Get Blamed for Everything they do
The Ten Foot Polecats
‘They Get Blamed for Everything They Do’.....
Back not quite where it all started, with drinks in hand. It may have been a driving January snowstorm, and may have required sneaking out of work early, but it was clear from Jim Chilson’s, of The Ten Foot Polecats voice over the phone there was news to share.
And what the hell? Drinks and riffing about music talk on a Friday is always a welcome way to spend time.
After talking over the merits over the new Mississippi Gabe Carter release, and batting around what questions I should ask Chris Johnson of the ‘Deep Blues Festival in an interview, we placed our order with the bartender. After a few Pabst Blue Ribbons, with a few whiskey backs, the conversation quickly gained speed.
Still feeling the effects of the ‘White Lightening Pong Challenge’ which managed to score me an advance copy of the as-yet-to-be released, as yet-to-be titled Ten Foot Polecats full length release Chilson enthusiastically slid over a copy of a disk containing some of their new material which was not previously available and some tweaks to previously recorded songs.
“Bar Hoppin” had been re-recorded and slowed down a bit. Now more of a slide tune instead of a frenetic piece of Punk/Blues. Using the best of that lo-fi sound The Ten Foot Polecats also managed to record a version of “Scratch Ticket” an instrumental created during a marathon rehearsal session in preparations for their national tour in the springtime and their local shows with Deep Blues artist Kent Burnside and show with Deep Blues Legend T-Model Ford.
After another round of Pabst Blue Ribbons with whiskey backs, the conversation quickly turned to record labels. Several Roots Rock labels were interested in both the “Sterno Soup” EP as well as the full length release. But there was one label known roots revolution by the neck that was showing considerable interest.
The conversation quickly bottled up though, not wanting to create bad mojo for ongoing negotiations Chilson was not ready to spill the beans. No offers of picking up another round, no threats of black mail photos which I didn’t have were going to get him to spill the beans. I had, nothing...but I pretty good buzz.
As we split the check, and headed off our separate ways I was assured there would be news, real soon......
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Retail Therapy - Snowstorm Preparedness
Snowstorms and the prospect of being stuck at home for extended periods of time have never created a desire for milk, eggs and bread. Give me a bottle of whiskey, and a stack of new (to me) disks and I can occupy myself for days on end.
So before this recent round of snowstorms, after a quick packie run I found myself with an armload of new music courtesy of Dyno Records of Newburyport and my US Airways Mastercard. Stay tuned for reviews of;
Jack Daniel Time - T Model Ford
She aint none of your’n - T Model Ford
Sweet Tea - Buddy Guy
For those of you on the North Shore, I recommend Dyno Records. As always, tell them Georgetown Fats sent ya.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Whoa! Man! Jesus! - Must I Holler?
Whoa! Man! Jesus!
Must I Holler
Review by Georgetown Fats
I have a dirty secret I need to share. I don’t get the whole Bob Dylan phenomenon. The ‘Bob Dylan gene’ was not included in my genetic make-up. I do not get the vibe, the music, or the people who will pay lots of money to see a somewhat incomprehensible diva strum away at his guitar and mumble away poetry. In fact I often find myself chuckling both internally and externally when someone sits in with my own band and wants to know if we know any Dylan material and then cringes as we all chuckle at the prospective jammer. In fact, it was not until I was exposed to Boston’s own Whoa! Man! Jesus! that I had to potentially rethink my ‘Anti-Dylan’ stance.
Must I Holler opens with “O Rosalyn”, a Wayne Rhodes original. The band uses sparse instrumentation to great effect in their trance blues sound. Rhodes hammers on the riff, while Julian Jefferies offers understand slide work to compliment Rhodes guitar work. Drummer Jason Beek holds it all together by offering a rock solid drum groove, at no point does the band miss a bass player.
On “Jesus was not American” another original written by Wayne Rhodes, Rhodes puts both those who use religion as a crutch and the deeply xenophobic in his crosshairs and fires away. It is a convincing and thought provoking tune.
Bukka White’s “Shake ‘em on Down” is approaching the “Stormy Monday” or “Mustang Sally” for the Deep Blues set. Whoa! Man! Jesus! still manage to do the tune justice with their minimal arrangement. Jason Beek’s vocals while Rhodes rides that one signature guitar riff are accented by Jason Beek’s drum groove and Julian Jefferies lead guitar work. Again due to the level of instrumentation going on there isn’t a lot going on within the track but the drum groove and both six string guitar lines are only there to advance the tune. It is a risky cover version of a classic which has been done properly by the trio.
Probably my favorite cut on the disk has to be “Your Jesus Doesn’t Rock”. Again the combination of the droning guitar hook and Rhodes’ Dylan-esque vocals prove to be infectious.
As mentioned previously, none of this is not to say Whoa! Man! Jesus! is yet another Dylan knock-off or cover band, it is just the the inescapable reality of vocalist Wayne Rhodes has similar vocal tones to Dylan but he is much more coherent and audible and backed by a far-more interesting band.
Whoa! Man! Jesus! are the equivalent of if Bob Dylan took the marbles out of his mouth and spent some quality time down in the Mississippi Hill Country backed by an established trance blues band. Whoa! Man! Jesus! tunes are not for the “musically ADHD’ but they are a band worthy of respect and repeated spins of their disk Must I Holler.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
