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9/18/2003

EAR PLUGS
Friday we hit Lenny's and caught the tail end of an opening act,
already going around 10 PM. The joint was half full and by the time
The Motolitas came on the place was rapidly filling.
The Motolitas have changed to a 2 girls 2 guys lineup and shifted
away from power pop kinda stuff to straight up power, something
between The Breeders and Black Sabbath. Not necessarily anything new
or different, but still good, straight up rock on the hard side.
Rumor has it their new CD should arrive at the DP HQ any day now, so
stay tuned for more on them.
I'm not sure if we've seen Nineteen Forty-Fives since or last
Summertime Blast a couple of summers ago. Like the Motolitas, they've
changed lineups a bit since then, dropping to a three piece. It
simplifies the sound, which I usually like but in this case they had
mastered the complexities a 4 piece can offer and I think I liked it
better before. It's still good stuff, and still a bit of a downer in
content, if not sound. Audibly, it rocks. It has that slow build to
thunder then calm after the storm that makes the most interesting
music.
By the time they ended their too-short set the place was packed. A
guy in a wheelchair rolled up on stage and opened up a laptop and
hooked into the sound system, cranking out danceable rock and pop
from Bowie to Erasure, mostly 90's stuff that is the new retro for
hip kids these days. Much like bad New Wave from the 80's makes me
want to dance, this music strikes a chord with the 20-somethings and
pretty soon the room was packed with bouncing youth. I'm not sure who
the guy was spinning tones off his hard drive, but I'm sure the vast
majority of people in the club were there because of him. I'm also
not sure who's booking acts at Lenny's these days so I need to swing
by when it's not so crowded and get reconnected with the place. Since
they change booking agents almost weekly, it's difficult to keep
track of what's going on there.
Saturday we hit East Atlanta Village in the afternoon for the East
Atlanta Village Strut, a small an arts fair with live music. Local
church choirs opened, followed by the likes of Cadillac Jones on the
main stage. Hope For A Golden Summer did a mellow set in the blazing
sun on a stage tucked away in the parking lot between The Village and
Echo Lounge, selling their EP CD for "Three to five dollars,
depending on how poor you are," as well as pocket knives and
anti-establishment propaganda. My kind of people.
A block of Flat Shoals Road was closed so artists and merchants of
other crafty stuff could sell their wares. A few new shops opened
this weekend as well, so it made for a nice afternoon ramble.
We returned after dark to the EARL. Kitty Snyder opened, doing singer
songwriter stuff full of heart and soul. SW enjoyed it, but my
insanities lie on the male side of the fence and it didn't do
anything for me.
Hope For A Golden Summer followed, doing strange stuff that's hard to
describe - something between Tom Waits, Greasepaint, and Indigo
Girls. Led by a pair of sisters, this 5 piece uses a variety of
instruments, from guitar to clarinet to accordion to whistle to a box
full of beer bottles. It has a strange, circus-like sound but with
dark undertones. It'd be the perfect soundtrack to HBO's new show,
Carnivale. We got their EP, but I'm looking forward to a full-length
album. Excellent stuff!

We finally got around to uploading a mess of pictures from the Elvis
Death Day show at Echo Lounge a while back, as well as a few other
gems of late. Cruise through the Ear Plugs gallery for some
eye-gouging imagery: http://www.degeneratepress.com/earplugs/gallery/

We got this from one of The Bluejays:
Dear Dictator,
Fall used to bother me too, until I got a job where I'm inside all day. Now, I barely notice the change of seasons at all. Fuck, now I am depressed. Anyway, wanted to tell you about something related to the one thing that does let me still feel, music. I'm helping the EARL put on a show on October 25. You can find out all the details at http://www.atlantacanarama.com. There you'll find the "public explanation" but a big reason behind it is were just trying to light a spark under the whole local "Americana scene" if there is such a thing. Since the Star Bar, and with it, Bubbapalooza, have become more rock oriented, seems to me the remaining local "Redneck Underground" has dissipated to the point of nearly disappearing. Sure, there's still some good "fests" ( Drive Invasion, Rockabilly Rumble ) but they only book a few locals and don't concentrate on country. So anyway, the lowdown is these bands are playing: The Chasers, Sonoramic Commando, Amy Pike & The Last Cold Beer, The Bluejays, Cigar Store Indians Music starts 8:00 It's at the EARL.


BLASPHEMY
It's been making the rounds, but in case you haven't gotten it yet
check out ttp://www.blackpeopleloveus.com/
It's in a similar veign to landoverbaptist.com and theonion.com comes
weloveblackpeople.com, a satire of white/black relations and the
effort to be PC, hip, liberal, etc. Much like landoverbaptist.com,
the best part is the letters. Some people have no sense of humor. Thanks to SW for the link.


FILM FLAM
We headed to Midtown Art Cinema, the theater formerly known as
Midtown Promenade. They're renovating the place and have changed from
a UA or some other big chain to a small art-house theater showing
some interesting films. It's one of the two places in town you can
catch Lost In Translation, starring Bill Murray and Scarlett
Johansson. It's directed by Sofia Coppola and is getting buttloads of
critical acclaim, most of it justified. It's a quiet, moody piece
about those moments in life when you examine all your choices that
have led up to your current existence and suddenly find yourself
wondering if you've done the right thing. Worth seeing, if only for
the wonderful scenes of Tokyo. It's only a matter of time before
America and the rest of the world are turned into the post-modern
nightmare that is the world's most crowded city.
 

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