Sound Menu July 11 2001 Wed week out
THE DROPSCIENCE — Avant-hard experimentalism from San Diego, the Dropscience’s upcoming release, Experimenting with Contrast, is subtitled “an audio interpretation of color, light and space.” That, of course, is just a fancy way of saying “we threw some loud shit together.” In its more accessible moments, however, the album recalls the loose, ultra-earnest energy of Fugazi. Definitely for the margin-friendly ear. Squaresville (Hutchinson)
LES CLAYPOOL’S FLYING FROG BRIGADE — On a hiatus from his 17-year career fronting Primus, bass guru Les Claypool makes an impressive foray into the ever-popular genre of jam music. However, instead of cloning Phish, Claypool infuses his oddball brand of heavy funk with the Frog Brigade’s wailing horns and tribal drums to create a sound that’s like no other. Variety Playhouse (Jordan)
JOHNNY NEEL — Latter-day Allmans pianist Neel is touring as frontman of his own band, the Lost World, with whom he recently released the CD, Late Night Breakfast. Smith’s Olde Bar (Sarig)
TOADIES — Apparently someone out there was actually anxiously awaiting a new Toadies album. It’s been six years since their last release, but the band doesn’t seem to have noticed. Their singularly uninspired, by-the-numbers grunge/metal sounded anachronistic in 1995, but here in the 21st Century it seems downright silly. Hell, the whole thing almost makes you pine for a Soundgarden reunion. Almost. PlanetJam Cotton Club (Robertson)
BAYOU ROOM: Eric Austin
BILLY’S: Heather Luttrell
BLIND WILLIE’S: Houserocker Johnson
BRANDYHOUSE: Nitti Cunningham Trio
BRIDGES: Piano with Bruce
BUFFALO’S-PLEASANT HILL: Live Entertainment
CHURCHILL GROUNDS JAZZ CAFE: Pursuance with Lee Hogan & Dan Furman
CJ’S LANDING: Top of the Tree III Band Competition with STB, Fusebox, Candella
CLUB GENO’S: The Brethern
COMEAUX’S: Sal Gentile & Rick Bell
COWBOYS: Ladies Night with Darrin Robbins, Kickback
DAILEY’S DOWNSTAIRS: Obie, Blaze
DARK HORSE TAVERN: David Brown, Star Parlour, Rose Hill
DARWIN’S: Open Blues Jam with The Blues Barons
ECLIPSE DI LUNA: Bonaventure Quartet
FAT MATT’S RIB SHACK: The Electromatics
40 WATT CLUB-ATHENS: John Mayer
FUZZY’S: Mike Veal
JAKE’S ROADHOUSE: Superstring Theory
KARMA: Cream
KAYA: Wind Down Wednesday - live jazz, spoken word, poetry
METROPOLITAN PIZZA: Metropolitan Wednesdays
9 LIVES SALOON: Bitch, Slow Motion Suicide, Sleazoid
NOMENCLATURE MUSEUM: Diva Destruction, Salome’s Wish
NORTHSIDE TAVERN: Daniel “Mudcat” Dudeck
PEASANT UPTOWN: The Steven Charles Jazz Duo
PLANETJAM COTTON CLUB: Toadies, Diffuser, Slangbanger
POPPER’S: Bill Sheffield’s Acoustic Blues
SMITH’S OLDE BAR: Johnny Neel, Delta Moon
SQUARESVILLE-WOODWARD AVENUE: The Dropscience
STAR BAR-L5P: Haricot Vert, Rizzudo, Machodonkeywrestler
TASTY WORLD-ATHENS: Danger Room Drum and Bass
VARIETY PLAYHOUSE: Les Claypool’s Flying Frog Brigade, Colonel Bruce Hampton & The Codetalkers
VININGS INN: Ian Schumacher
VIOLETTE RESTAURANT: Jus Jazz featuring Dave Wallis, Eddie Taylor, Dan Coy, Shack Lewis, Rita Graham
Contributors to this week’s Menu are Charles Bethea, John Falstaff, Mitch Foy, Kevin Griffis, Matt Hutchinson, Hal Horowitz, Hamilton Jordan, Lea Keel, James Kelly, Regan Kelly, Omar Khalid, Gregory Nicoll, Justin Robertson, Roni Sarig, Lee Smith, Tony Ware and Lang Whitaker.