Catching up and Some New Recordings

Hi Folks,

Sorry things have been silent on my end. Luckily Mr. Hawley has been keeping things up on his end. First off, we have a new blogger here, Danielle from Ish will be our first female blogger and hopefully help us keep up with everything even better.

I was hoping to drive up to Huntington on Wednesday to catch Austin, TX's amazing Voxtrot but the show was cancelled. This may have been due to some problems they've been having at Huntington's HYAMP which is a shame. They're asking for donations to help keep the club running so you might want to take a look at their plight. I won't have a chance to compare and contrast Huntington and Motown but I am going back to Athens, Ohio this weekend for the first time in forever and will be attending a show at the Union, their version of 123 Pleasant Street. I'll be sure to post some thoughts. Incidentally, Voxtrot are mulling over making a stop in Morgantown to make up for a cancelled DC show. Please write them and encourage them to come, they're one of the best new bands I've heard in years and I know kids here would love 'em.

I've seen a few shows lately but been a little busy with Valentine's and Mayday! and work and so forth. Descension Rate had a stellar performance at their show last week with J. Marinelli, Electricity Comes from Other Planets and Nakano. They debuted several new songs, some absolutely crazy makeup which had drummer Vicious looking like something out of an old Wax Trax video and frontman Jeff Jordan looking like the male incarnation of a Narnian witch. They put out a 4-song EP which they're selling for the dirt cheap price of $3. I was present during the recording of said EP last year up at NYC's Quad Studios, which was an amazing thing to take part of. I threw a picture from the recording sessions up here from my Flickr for your edification, follow the link for some more. Anyway they sounded and looked fantastic at their show, and thanks to a good writeup by the DA there were a ton of metal dudes and dudettes out enjoying things, it's nice to see them bring so many folks out.

Speaking of ECFOP, they've really matured a lot since I last saw them. New guitarist Nick is a fantastic addition to the band and they remind me a lot of the kind of things Sonic Youth was doing when I was in high school and first getting into indie rock. Good stuff. I caught them with J. again as well as Ish and Bowling League at Fuel last weekend, which is a little small but cozy. J. also has a new EP which he's selling at shows and via Myspace. He recorded it at home onto 4-track, lo-fi style, but when you're a 1-man band the recording process is a little easier. Also he's got another EP coming out on Project Active Media and I don't recognize many song titles so I think it's mostly new. Hopefully we can get some reviews of these up here soon, and with the Emergency and Librarians working on full-lengths there should be a lot of recorded material out there representin' Motown soon.

Last, but certainly not least I wanted to mention something really important. 123 will be hosting a benefit on March 3rd for Corey Bicanich. You may not know Corey but he has played guitar in a number of Morgantown bands, including Sandra Black and Lobelia, but I'm sure many more. Corey's got some amazing stories about Morgantown and he's been here a long time. He had a really bad car wreck recently and is in a coma, and this is a benefit to help raise money for Corey's medical costs. Corey really deserves all of our help, and it's awesome that the local music scene has banded together to help. Some of the area's most veteran rockers will be playing, including the aforementioned Sandra Black, Mr. Marinelli and the Emergency as well as hard rockers Treasurecat. I really hope that everyone comes out to see all of these talented bands and support a really good cause. It could easily be any one of us in Corey's shoes and he really deserves our help.

Rosewood no more...

Just thought I would repost this here for anyone who hadn't heard yet...

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The Rosewood Theatre & Cafe Newsletter
February 22, 2006
www.rosewoodtheatre.com

.....a message from Gary Tannenbaum

Hello all, after a year and three months of many, really awesome shows and lots of good times, The Rosewood Theatre and Cafe has run out of steam. Due to a handful of problems (all of them having to do with money), I am cancelling upcoming shows, until further notice. It is with heavy heart and reluctant hand that I make this announcement, the Rosewood has meant so much to so many. I believe it had raised the bar on Morgantown's "culture meter", bringing new life to the music scene here.
The reality is that, the business end of things is in a stranglehold, and I just don't see the light at the end of the tunnel (all these metaphors, sheesh).
At least for the time being, folks, we have shut down.
Special recognition goes out to my staff for helping make the Rosewood what it had come to be.....thanx to Heather, Walt, Becky, Veronica, Casey and Jeremy. It would never come this far without you guys.
Thanks to my friends that have helped materially and with moral support.
Thank yous go out to all the performers that have played here. Keep making music!!
....and of course, many, many thanx to all of you that have come to shows...... keep supporting live music!!
We will keep you updated on any developments...... Rory Block ticket holders can return them to Blue Moose Cafe for refund..... sorry for canceling the rescheduled show (Rory will be at the Fur Peace Ranch in Meigs County, Ohio on April 9th)

Take care, Gary

A weekend of surprises...

Had a suprisingly good time this weekend.

Didn't really plan on it being a rager, but it ended up that way nonetheless.

Caught Baltimore's All Mighty Senators on Friday night at 123 and they delivered, as usual. With no opener, and no local dates in almost a year, there was the very real possibility that this town could have forgotten about this band. Turned out to be just the opposite. By the time the Senators hit the stage around 11:30 the place was packed to the gills, and energy of an excited audience was palpable. Many folks around me were talking about how long it had been since they'd seen the Senators, or that they remembered great times seeing them way back when. Such was the same for this guy as well, as the evening as a whole seemed like a very real night in my life a few years ago, with a lot of old friends who I rarely run into at shows any more coming out of hiding for this one. The show was fantastic from start to finish. Guitar player Warren Boes may be the band's unsung hero sliding effortlessly back and forth between funky rhtyhms and blazing soloing, but all eyes are still on frontman Landis Expandis. AMS tore through most of their catalogue as well as Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire", ZZ Top's "Tush" and fan favorite "Rocky Top", delivering over two hours straight of their patented brand of rock and soul. Let's hope it doesn't take them nearly as long to get back.

Saturday brought to town the flat-picking fireworks of Larry Keel and Natural Bridge, as well as the exciting collision of the Emergency and MAYDAY!

I started at the Rosewood, and was instantly impressed with the turnout. Both types of Rosewood patrons were well represented: the sitters and the yee-haw factor. You can put me in the second catagory, one I found woefully unrepresented at Keel's last local apperance, where I felt my drinking, dancing, and enthusiasm were unwanted by some in the audience. Keel and company tore through number after number at a breakneck speed, rarely slowing down for a quiet moment. When he did, it was a cover of Mother Nature's Son delivered in his trademark low gravelly drawl. I checked my watch, and knowing that Keel would play for hours, I decided to get a move on and head down to 123 for what all involved promised would be a very special Emergency show.

They were right.

In honor of one skull shaped seventeenth brithday, the Emergency brought us a set comprised almost entirely of pop culture nuggetts gleaned from the likes of Husker Du, Wire, Belle and Sebastian, and the Pixies among others. I'm not afraid to admit that I barely recognized any of the tunes, myself. However, I greatly appreciates what it represents. Not only did the Emergency pay tribute to a pillar of the Morgantown scene, they are also exhibited their ability and desire to throw their audience a curveball every once and awhile, something I heartilty applaud.

Few bands, local or otherwise, deviate from the norm. They do what they do, and rarely make a concious decision from deviate from that. That's great. Especially when, like the Emergency, they're good at what they do. But a local band depends on repeat attendance, and in order to acheive that, one has to keep their audience on their toes.


After over a half hour of covers the Emergency brought us a closing trio of "Lie Detecter", "Sharper Chins Will Previal" (my favorite Emergency tune, not that you asked) and "Channel U". And that was it, time for the dance party. I, for one, could have used a couple of more tunes but I'm greedy that way. The best thing about Saturday's show was that the Emergency pushed the envelope, and upheld the number one rule of rock: leave them wanting more.

I spent the rest of the night split between the two bars catching the last 45 minutes or so of Larry Keel before returning to the dance party. The MAYDAY! scene was cool, and though I'm not much of a DJ guy, I was impressed at how raging the dance party was. I dug the light show and the songs, and the party in general. All told it was a weekend full of surprises, though in the end the biggest surprise was how much people like "Come On Eileen".

As usual, I saw some great shows at the expense of missing shows that were worth seeing. I missed the Marinelli/ECFOP/Ish/Bowling League stack-up, Star City Orchestra, Strung Out String Band and Todd Burge. All shows I would have liked to catch. Did any of you see these shows? How were they?