8/28/08 - Sean Kirkpatrick Trio, Jack with One Eye, Silk Stocking

headed down to club dada on thursday night to catch sean kirkpatrick. 'twas pretty strange - i didn't recognize any of the staff in the whole joint. hmmpf. not like the good ol' days.

first up was silk stocking (my second time to see 'em, my first time to remember it). loved it. two-man band - Liz on keys and vocals, and Shawn on drums, guitar, and tambourine. really dug what i heard - Liz's howling, gut-wrenching vocals on top of a bluesy, dirge-like mixture of piano and guitar. very unique, very talented. look forward to hearing them again.

next up was jack with one eye. 3-man band - guitars, keys, drums. some pretty good psychedelic-infused shoegaze. vocals an afterthought (or maybe they were just mixed down too low). kept firin off some pre-recorded voice tracks spouting political rhetoric, but i hate to tell 'em - you couldn't really hear/understand much of it. i heard "war in iraq", that's about it. anyways, 'twas an enjoyable set.

last up was the incomparable sean kirkpatrick, with a full band backing him (and by "full band", i mean Ian on synth, and Robert on drums). been a while since i've seen the trio. you know from my previous posts how much i've fallen in love with the solo stuff i've heard over the past few months, including the new stuff on the crazy jeff show podcast, but i have to say - having the full band backing sean added a fantastic new dimension to the music. i cannot wait for him to hit the studio (probably this winter, according to sean) and record his new stuff - it is incredibly good.

8/23/08 - AM Ramblers, Telegraph Canyon, Monahans, Doug Burr

headed out to hailey's to catch one of my favorites - telegraph canyon. fellow live-music fan joe the boy toy showed up, too. he managed to chat up half the women in the place before i even got there - dude has skeels.

pretty good crowd - pre-semester shenanigans, eh?

first up was Doug Burr, someone i've seen a lot of hype aboot. He had a full band backing him - keys, guitars, banjo, pedal steel, drums. everyone sat. doug has skunk hair. some pretty good stuff, tho it drifted off into alt-country land more often than i like. one or two were phenomenal wall-of-sound anthemic guitar pop tunes, wish there were more like that. seemed to go on quite a while - i think he's used to headlining, not opening. last song a real snoozer.

next up was Monahans, from austin. um, yeah - i can't say i can recall much about them. i was, uh, very distracted (it involved plenty of incoherent babbling, that's all i'll say (gentlemen never tell, and neither do i)). 5-man band, pretty sure, lotsa guitars. what i remember hearing (during lulls in the babbling) was pretty good - i'd like to hear them again, when i can devote my full attention to them.

next up was telegraph canyon, who proved once again why they are one of my favorites (read prior writeups here and here). another awesome set by this terrifically talented group. did miss sherilyn's harmonies, tho. hopefully a short-term absence.

last up was AM Ramblers, who seem to be following me around from show to show. again, some really well-executed bluegrass. if that's your thing, look them up.

all in all, a decent night of music, and some very interesting conversation. not too shabby.