Well, the Boneyard Arts Festival is over. I know, a lot of you are thinking, “When did it start?” Still, those who found out about it in time to make the rounds stumbled across lots of great art and music over the course of the weekend, during which there were enough events going on to make even Todd Hunter’s head spin. The house was absolutely packed for a Ryan Groff solo performance at Aroma CafÇ on Friday, with Ryan playing over an hour of new originals and old favorites on guitar and piano. Outside on the Chester Street Stage, Angie Heaton found out that changing the key of one of her songs made it sound exactly like the Indigo Girls’ classic “Closer To Fine.” Closer, indeed! Earlier, she held up against the pressure to belly dance. Triple Whip was the band that mesmerized the kids the most, while The Living Blue maxed out the PA the most. Seth Fein was even seen out and about. Seth Fein, indeed! Okay, I’ve been watching too much Sealab.
As I mentioned last week, the kings of the choreographed treadmill video, OK Go, will make a stop at Foellinger tonight. The best part about it is that The Living Blue will be opening, meaning you might finally get to see them in a room that can accommodate the sound. Tickets are $25. For $5 less, you can head over to the Canopy Club to catch G Love and Special Sauce, but that only works if you have a popped collar and maybe a backwards visor on – otherwise, everyone there will assume that you don’t belong. Oh well, at least it’s not OAR.
Now to get to shows that won’t keep you from being able to buy beer for the rest of the week … tonight is part two of the Green Street Records release show for the No Rights Reserved compilation. Last week’s show apparently featured the debut performance of our very own music editor, Carlye Wisel, as the singer of the band Plebzy. This week the show will continue at the Courtyard CafÇ, with mad mardigan, The Dakota, Butterfly Assassins and more for only $5. Downtownies who don’t want to venture onto campus can catch Snowsera, (recently featured right here in buzz!) playing once again at Cowboy Monkey, this time with Chicago outfit Air This Side of Caution and locals Zmick and Oceans (that’s right, those bros). The show starts at 9:30 p.m. and is also $5.
Friday night marks the return of St. Louis band Gentleman Auction House to the Iron Post in Urbana. GAH has been making waves in the Midwest with a bit of touring and an excellent EP. They’ve built a good following here in CU, playing shows with Headlights, Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s, The Wandering Sons and others. This time they’ll be sharing the stage with Death Ships (last seen opening for Jay Bennett for his CD release tour) and elsinore. The gauntlet was thrown between GAH and elsinore, and the show will feature cover songs done by each band, as chosen by the other band. What awful or amazing songs might you see performed? Well, that’s a surprise, but I’d make Ryan Groff sing Journey. The cover is $6, and the show will start at 10 p.m.
Zoso, the very fine Led Zeppelin tribute band, will make another stop at the Canopy Club on Friday night, and mad mardigan will play the second night in a row with a show at Cowboy Monkey with The Delta Kings. Friday is also the kick-off of this year’s Artists Against AIDS Fine Art Exhibition and Benefit Sale. This year the event is taking place at the Orpheum Children’s Science Museum. For more info on the weekend’s events, check out www.gcapnow.com.
There’s a great show at Mike ‘n Molly’s on Saturday, hopefully in the beer garden, because it’s officially that time now. Chicago band Unique Chique – previously seen in town playing with bands like the City on Film, The Reputation and Pulsar47 – has a new CD titled Ethica out on Loose Tooth Records. The record is good, which bodes well for the live show, which I usually find to be better. Plus, they have the personal seal of approval from Braid’s Bob Nanna, and any band who has that is … well, I don’t know how to finish that sentence. Unique Chique will play alongside local band fireflies, The Violent Sea (Cleveland) and Them Roaring Twenties (Chicago). And since the show will hopefully be in the beer garden, that means you smokers can smoke without ever having to move from your chair. Decent!
7 to 9 Sundays are officially back, care of Triple Whip’s Jane Boxall. Jane and I had an excellent conversation during the Boneyard Arts Festival during which it seemed she could not understand a word I was saying. It must be the accent. Meanwhile, this week’s show will feature Eleni Moraites, who recently returned to the area after a stint in Pennsylvania or some place. We’re glad to have her back though. She’ll be the soft cream center to the band sandwich of Dress Code and reds. Don’t know what the hell I’m talking about? Check out myspace.com/7to9sundays for more info or call the Iron Post and ask for Paul. He’s got the info.
Sunday night also features a rock show of epic proportions at (am I getting this right?) the Highdive. Tritone, the caped wonders of the CU metal scene, will rock with Caminos, a new outfit from the brain of Guido Esteves (the Brat Pack, Temple of Low Men). This show is a birthday bash for Adam Wolfe, and rock time is 9:30 p.m.
Next week brings some big names to town, as The Fray, creators of that “How To Save a Life” song that never fucking leaves your head once it gets in there, will play the Assembly Hall on Monday. Wednesday night, the man who covered the song in that commercial with the bouncy balls (
Winner of this week’s most intriguing band name prize: Kentucky Knife Fight – playing at the Iron Post on Saturday night.
Mike Ingram can be reached at forgottenwords@gmail.com.
