Rockin’ the ‘tober

Concert Listings, Music

Thank goodness it’s finally Pumpkin Spice Season! (Aw, who am I kidding? It’s been Pumpkin Spice season since July 5th. It’s about commerce, not the calendar.)

Let’s see who’s spicing up the concert calendar…

Matisyahu plays the Taft tomorrow night.

On Wednesday:

  • Agent Orange plays Southgate (orange like a pumpkin)
  • Men I Trust play the Bobby Brady
  • Dark Star Orchestra is at the Ovation
  • GWAR is at Bogart’s
  • Coco Montoya plays Ludlow Garage

On Thursday:

  • Dale Watson plays Southgate, with Matt Hillyer as the opener
  • Easy Honey is at MOTR (lead singer is a 90s Anthony Kiedis lookalike- see video below)
  • Bullet for My Valentine plays the Cindy Brady

Also on Thursday, KISS plays the Coliseum, on their 26th and final (for now) “final” tour.

Bob Dylan (Ever heard of him?) plays the Carol Brady on Friday evening. Back in the 90s, my wife was a huge Dylan fan.

That same evening, The Zombies play Ludlow Garage. (We appreciate the Zombies waiting until it was seasonally appropriate to do a tour.) Culture Queer is at Northside Tavern. And the old Annie’s has “Led Zeppelin 2.”

Plenty o’ shows on Saturday:

  • The Laurelys play Neltner’s Farm Fall Fest in the afternoon (1:30-4:30 p.m.), and Sami Riggs plays the Camp Springs Tavern (across the road from the farm) that evening.
  • Tommy Emmanuel plays the Taft
  • Zach Nugent (no relation to the Motor City mouthpiece) plays a Grateful Dead set at Ludlow Garage
  • Comedian Lewis Black will be at the Hard Rock Casino

Chelsea Ford & the Trouble are at Neltner’s Farm on Sunday afternoon, and Bob Mould plays a solo electric show at the 20th Century Theater that evening, with Jason Narducy as the opener.

The Ophelias and Living Hour play MOTR on Monday, October 23rd.

Messa and Maggot Heart are at the Woodward on Tuesday, 10/24.

Soft Machine will be at Ludlow Garage on Wednesday, 10/25. I love a good soft machine!

The Furious Bongos unleash their fury at Ludlow Garage on Thursday, 10/26, and Ke$ha (it’s pronounced “Key-Dolla-Sign-HA!”… or so I assume) plays the Ovation in Newport.

Jethro Tull’s Martin Barre plays “A Brief History of Tull” at Memorial Hall on Friday, 10/27, and Etta May is at Ludlow Garage. Back in the 70s, I was in love with Etta May.

No, wait, that was Elly May. My bad.

Saturday, October 28th is action-packed:

  • Ray Vietti, Ben Knight and Stripmall Ballads play Neltner’s Farm in the afternoon, with Stripmall Ballads also playing Camp Spring Tavern that evening.
  • Donna the Buffalo stampedes into Ludlow Garage
  • Husbands play Madison Live
  • Georgia Middleman and Sami Riggs play a “Downtowne Listening Room” gig at 1628 co-working space at 315 W. Court Street. (I feel like they should’ve picked a different name for the space, given the address…)

On Sunday, October 29th, the Tye Dye Band (featuring list member John Sandman) plays Washington Park at 11 a.m. as part of the Fall Fest weekend (full Saturday/Sunday lineup is here.) And Mike Oberst and Justin Cefalu wrap up the musical lineup at Neltner’s Farm.

Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade has a gig at the Jan Brady on Monday, 10/30.

Steve Hackett (no relation to Buddy) wraps up Rocktober with a gig at the Taft on Tuesday, 10/31. That evening also is Halloween.

Which means Wednesday 11/1 is the official kickoff of Peppermint Candy Cane flavor season.

Not suitable for work… or Canada

(Full story from Uproxx is here.)

Suitable for any month of the year

Superchunk’s B-side from 2010 still bangs.

The track is from their forthcoming release Misfits & Mistakes: Singles, B-sides & Strays 2007–2023.

Part of this complete Breakfast

Longtime “This Week in Live Music” favorites Japanese Breakfast did a show at Radio City Music Hall recently, and the encore included a cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Only Living Boy in New York.”

Fetters plays like a Mother

Rob Fetters has a new album out. You can order it here.

From Rob’s email: MOTHER is a collection of 11 new slightly-warped guitar-pop meditations on relishing life’s ass-kickings—past, present, & future.

MOTHER features contributions from Matt Malley (Counting Crows), Belinda Lipscomb (Midnight Star), Alice Peacock, Bam Powell, Bob Nyswonger, Noah Fetters, and Swany Fetters .

Album Covers for Halloween

Nothing’s scarier than some stereo dynamics…

Actually, a Barbershop Quartet is scarier…

But this guy’s Bond villain vibes really creep me out. And you should never mess with someone named Thelma.

It’s snowtime… with an occasional flurry of showtime!

Concert Listings, Music

Last night’s Country Westerns gig at MOTR was scuttled by the freezing rain, sleet, and snow. Mmm, wintry mix! (Special message to all those “if it’s going to be cold, I wish it would snow” types: bite me!)

But you can love The Ultimate Doors tribute two times, babe…

OK, technically one time. And probably tonight, because they are riders on the storm.

At press time, Brother Moses and Tom the Torpedoes are still on for Saturday (Southgate and Redmoor, respectively).

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday… it’s The War on Drugs at Ovation in Newport. List member Mighty Joe Sampson and I will be there with bells on (but we will only shake them between songs).

Are you less of a Drugs person and more of a jazzer-person?

Admit it, you can’t look away…

Then you can catch the Blue Wisp Big Band’s 40th Anniversary CD Release party at The Redmoor on Sunday starting at 6 p.m.

On Tuesday, Anaïs Mitchell and Bonny Light Horseman trot into Memorial Hall. Bonny Light Horseman is Anaïs Mitchell with Eric D. Johnson (of Fruit Bats fame) and Josh Kaufman (a multi-instrumentalist and producer known for his work with Craig Finn, Hiss Golden Messenger, Josh Ritter, The National and Bob Weir). Should be a really cool show.

Washout Wednesday

Sleigh Bells were supposed to play Taft on Wednesday… but they moved their entire tour back several months.

And the Wailing Jennys were supposed to play Memorial Hall on Hump Day, but they moved that show back an entire year!

Oh, and I hate to pile on, but here’s more breaking news:

Speaking of non-music, The Moth Mainstage will be at Memorial Hall on Thursday, and comedian Whitney Cummings is appearing at the Taft.

But there IS music on Thursday: you can catch list member John Sandman’s Tye Dye Band at Eli’s BBQ in the East End. They’ll be playing (inside the heated/tented barn-like structure) from 6-8 p.m.

Next Friday, Lucy Dacus plays Ovation, with Indigo De Souza as the opener. Once again, list member Mighty Joe Sampson and I will be there. I’m assuming our bells will have been confiscated by Ovation staff earlier in the week, but we’re really pumped up for this show.

Lucy’s most recent album, Home Video, was one of our faves from 2021, and she has a new one-off single out that’s pretty tasty too.

Also next Friday, Ben Levin plays Wiedemann Brewing.

Tickets on sale today…

Manchester Orchestra is playing Ovation on Wednesday, March 16th, and Tori Amos will be at the Taft Theatre on Tuesday, May 24th. Tickets for both shows go on sale this morning. I wonder if Tori will play “Oil Spill”…

If you love me, you’ll buy this for me

Just a gentle reminder that VD is right around the corner. That’s Valentine’s Day – get your mind out of the gutter! And if you’re looking for the perfect gift for your favorite This Week in Live Music correspondent, you can get me this:

The pro model will suffice, no need to splurge on the premium or limited edition… it’s a mere $7K – you probably have that in your couch cushions. Better “rush” out and buy it soon though!

Magazine Cover of the Week

Now that’s an unfortunate sticker placement. Or not, depending on how phreaky Mike Gordon is.

Album Cover of the Week

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. And the Pathway to Heaven is peppered with polyester.