1/16/10 - RTB2, PVC Street Gang, Luna Matto, Come On Go With Us

...Saturday night at Hailey's.

Come On Go With Us (Mississippi) started things off. Absolutely loved these guys. Beautifully written southern-tinged piano pop. Awesome keyboard playing, even awesomer guitar playing. Loved the multi-part harmonies. Very Campaign-like, which is high praise indeed. Lead wore the stereotypical piano-player hat and skinny tie - always a giggle. Unfortunately, they were sold out of their full-length, so i bought the demo. Luna Matto was up next. Seven folks on stage. Very pleasant, laid-back, multi-layered acoustic pop tunes. Enjoyed it.

PVC Street Gang was next. Some pretty entertaining, straight-ahead, aggressive, screamy punk. Not exactly my thing, but they were definitely good at what they were doin.

RTB2 was up last. Loved it, as usual. Thanks be to gawd they didn't play their "slow set" like the last time i saw them. Saturday night's set was back to the usual ass-kicking, blistering, soulful, bluesy stuff i fell in love with all the previous times. One complaint - it seems like Hailey's is determined to always start the first band at 10, even if there's four on the bill. Which means the headliner gets cut short, cuz of the 2AM deadline. It definitely seemed to me like RTB2's set was shorter than usual. Just don't understand the thinking there.

11/1/08 - RTB2, Escort Service, Mike Graff

ok, so i've gotten a little behind. sue me.

headed to the big brothers/big sisters benefit at the city tavern with the piledriver. couldn't find out too much about the line-up and schedule - there was conflicting information everywhere - and sure enough, got down there at 8 only to find out the felons had already played at 6. screw me. great start to the night. so we went back downstairs to continue drinkin and watch the Tech-Texas game and the beautiful people, of which there were many. became huge texas tech fans - one, because they beat texas, and two, because it was beneficial to do so (what is it about women in soccer uniforms that's so freakin hot?).

while the piledriver held down our position, i stumbled back upstairs and caught Mike Graff playing. Solo electric guitar, plus a drummer. very nice stuff. very talented individual. Back downstairs, i met some very nice guatemalans with very interesting tattoos.

at some point, i went back upstairs to catch a few songs by escort service, if only to confirm my opinion about them. it was. confirmed, that is. last up was RTB2. I've seen these guys quite a few times now, and i always have enjoyed it. the piledriver, however, did not share my enthusiasm, and since it was very late and i actually fell asleep during one of the songs (it seemed like they were playing a lot of slow ones that night), we hit the road. overall, not a great night for live music, but a great night for people-watching/leering

8/6/08 - Parata, RTB2, Loxsly, Daniel Folmer

went out to hailey's on wednesday night -tryin to get my fill before i go out of commission this weekend.

happily, another live-music nutjob i've recently met - The Tara^TM - showed up, too, so i didn't have to drink alone (how cool is that!). plenty of incoherent babbling ensued (on my part, i should say).

up first was daniel folmer. saw him once before, playing with only a keyboard player, and really dug it. last night, i was excited to see him set up with a full four-piece band. bleebe it or not, tho - eh, not so much. not that it was bad by any means, but i definitely liked him better with a stripped-down band - i think it's a better fit for his intimate, soulful music. next up was loxsly, from austin. really dug these guys. nice collection of dark, slightly-psychedelic indie pop, full of great keys and pedal steel. the only lighting on stage came from projected images on a sheet they had rigged up behind them. dono why, but it kinda bugged me that i couldn't see them. really enjoyed the set, tho. rtb2 was next, and they were amazing. my third time to see 'em, and it was easily the best of the three. great bluesy, gut-wrenching stuff with incredible guitar work and kick-yer-ass drums. of special note last night - ryan's outstanding vocals (i'd never noticed how great his voice is). and my GAWD can that dude play. i'm always amazed how they can sound like a full band with only two guys on stage. funny how much your mood influences your opinions - the song i thot was a beating last time was one of my favorites last night. anyways, 'twas a great set. parata was last. seen them three times also, with mixed results - it seems like it's different every time, and not at all what i remembered. this time, i heard a lot of weezer, and even some happy bullets, bleebe it or not. The Tara said she heard the Beach Boys (and the ramones, i think). anyways, they were good at what they were doin, but every song started sounding the same after a while.

4/16/08 - Ella Minnow, Siberian, RTB2, Here In Arms

here's a shorthand version of my trip report - i'll fill in the rest later (or maybe i won't):

went to hailey's on wednesday night (ya, flyin solo), since i'll be out of town this weekend - gotta feed the beast, you know.

short people EVERWHERE. nice and squishy female ones, too. mmmmm...
played everbody's favorite game, 'Guess Who's the Lead Singer's Girlfriend'. i won.

Here, In Arms - 4-man. outstanding bluesy folky rock, great voice on lead. crowd-pleasing, bluesy rockin tunes. would definitely like to hear again.

RTB2 - 2nd time to see - one dude wif electric guitar, plus drums. good bluesy sorta guitar rock. this was a case where i could tell the dude was really talented and what-not, but i just could not wait for it to end. last song a BEATING - lots of musical masturbation, had like a 6 minute jam session in the middle of it.

Siberian, from seattle. 5-man: 2 guitars, keys (which i never heard), bass, drums. started off with some nice rockin wall-of-sound stuff, but tailed off quick - kept hopin/waitin to get my ass kicked, but they just never quite did. songs a bit too "nice". nice falsetto on lead, nice harmonies from bass player, fantastic lead guitar player. some really pretty indie pop, but i was just in the mood to get my guts ripped out, and they just wasnt the ones to do it. they did finish with some more wall-of-sound goodness, tho.

ella minnow - 5-man: 2 guitars, bass, keys/sax, drums. really talented group, great musicianship, some really rockin tunes, but i just couldn't get into it. couldn't really tell you why, but it had somethin to do with the song structure, or lack thereof. kinda jam-band territory sometimes, heard some GYBE. vocals good, but all over the place, and i guess i just like a bit more structure to my songs. 3 or 4 songs in, i realized i wasn't gonna get into it, and it was 1:10 in the fuckin mornin, so i split.

outtie

9/3/07 - RTB2, Hardin..., Childlike Fear, Florene

Went to the first night of Rubber Gloves' Free Week. godblessem, they must know how broke I am right now (long story).

Florene - totally cool. two guys, four keyboards, one guitar, and a mac. no vocals, per se. sort of a panda bear/mogwai vibe, really nice songs, would love to see them again.
A Childlike Fear - OK. guitar, bass, drum. Liked some of the music, but didn't care for the croaky, strained vocals
Hardin Sweaty... - entertaining as usual. not really my thing, musically - it's a bit harsher than i normally like, but the sense of humor and energy make up for it
RTB2 - one guitar, drums and tracks. great pipes on lead. some real heart-felt bluesy tunes

decent crowd for a monday night. froze my arse off in there - will bring parka next time.