hissing lawns

Jack White at Township Auditorium, Columbia SC – photos

by Tom Cartmel • September 28, 2014

I’m the guy people call when they want to go to a concert and need someone to go with them. So off I went to Columbia Wednesday night to see Jack White. Not The White Stripes, not The Dead Weather, not The Raconteurs (am I missing a Jack White project? And yes, I know about The Upholsterers), but Jack White, solo, if solo means full band with violins, theremin and an overabundance of hideous blue light.

It’s hard to complain about Township Auditorium (“Township Auditorium”? Really? Was “Place To See a Show” or “Venue” already taken?), parking was close, cheap and easy, security was reasonable and drinks, while overpriced as expected, were easy enough to get. The sightlines looked to be pretty great from everywhere, the interior was nice looking and the sound was top notch. The crowd was a mix of fairly young to well seasoned music fans, with more uber fans than I am used to seeing at a show. You know the type, “Jack White” tee shirt and carrying a big bag of freshly purchased merch.

Olivia Jean was the support act and it was easy to see why, her style of rock was definitely in the same vein as the headliner. I had never heard of her (she still has less than 800 Facebook likes), but the songs were solid, with catchier, slightly heavier numbers toward the end of the set. Repeated listening would probably open up her songs, too. Overall, pretty cool.

After a short break the curtains opened again and the stage, band and audience were suddenly bathed in ~~really beautiful~~ blue light that would vary ever so slightly over the course of the night, from light blue, to dark blue, and, just to add some variety, grey blue.

The band consisted of Jack White, obviously, plus an excellent drummer, bass player, violinist, pianist/keyboardist and a multi-instrumentalist who helped fill out the strings or, if needed, manipulate a theremin. Jack White himself switched often between electric and acoustic guitars and piano. The setlist was drawn from across White’s various projects with a handful of tunes from Lazeretto and I can’t think of a “hit” that wasn’t played. Some of the people around me who had seen White before seemed particularly excited by some deeper cuts that were included, but I didn’t hear any songs that I had not heard before. Slightly different arrangements of some of the more popular songs made them more interesting to me than hearing them the same way for the umpteenth time, I didn’t even recognize “Fell in Love with a Girl” until the vocals hit, which was great. Almost 2 hours later, the band closed with “Seven Nation Army”, with White encouraging the audience to help with the now popular soccer stadium melody.

I’m sure more than a few fans left the auditorium having experienced the greatest show they had ever seen. While I’m not in that group, I was glad to cross off one of the few remaining “stadium” size artists I want to see from my list, and all in all it was a pretty satisfying night.

More pictures after the jump. Did I mention the lighting blue?

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Larry Jack’s Magical Music Tour 9/25/14 – 9/30/14

by Larry Jack Sammons • September 25, 2014

Hi guys,
Well, I guess SCAD is back into session this week. I hope that some of you reading this will “share” this page, as I am hoping to spread the word to some of those new SCAD students to “like” the hissing lawns Facebook page. This site has several writers and photographers that cover many different aspects of the local music scene. If one follows hissing lawns and picks up a Connect Savannah weekly, you should be pretty well informed about most of the going-ons happening in the downtown music scene.

This week is another music-packed week downtown. Don’t forget that the Savannah Jazz Festival will be going on all weekend at Forsyth Park. Thursday is my favorite night of the festival, Blues Night, but the rest of the festival will be enjoyable as well.

This week will be another exciting week, with many fun shows. These are some of my recommendations for some shows to try to catch while you are out and about this week.

Thursday 9/25 – I will be starting the night out at Forsyth Park for the Jazz Festival to catch Eric Culberson, followed by the legendary Bob Margolin (Muddy Waters’ guitarist from ’73-’80) and most of Shemikia Copeland. Then I’ll head back to Congress Street and bounce around for a bit.
Eric Culberson (7p), Steady Rollin’ Bob Margolin (8:15), Shemikia Copeland Band (9:30) – Savannah Jazz Festival in Forstyth Park
Chop Tops (rockabilly from Santa Cruz) – Jinx
TimeCop vs DangerSnake (Matt & Zac from the Accomplices) – Molly MacPherson’s
Les Racquet (Brooklyn rock) – Barrelhouse South ($10)

Friday 9/26 – This night has too many choices. There are several shows going on at the same time, not sure where I will end up. These are some of the possibilities. Make sure to try to catch one of Savannah’s best and most unique bands, Velvet Caravan at Forsyth for an early show.
Velvet Caravan (6p) – Savannah Jazz Festival at Forsyth Park
Danielle Hicks a& The 8-Ohm Band – Rail Pub (6-9)
Ambrose (Savannah R&B) – Blowin’ Smoke (7p)
Shonen Knife (japanese girl punk), COEDS (Savannah rawk n’ roll) – Dollhouse Studios ($10 advance, $15 at door)
Accomplices, Waits & Co – Jinx ($5, some of Savannah’s best Americana groups, Accomplices to open)
Jubee & The Morning After (space yacht funk) – Congress Street Social Club
Wet Socks, Couches, Culture Vulture, Beneath Trees – Hang Fire

Saturday 9/27 – Not as many tough choices tonight, but this will be a fun night. I’ll probably start the night heading down to River Street for a little country & western at the Warehouse, then head over to the Jinx for a great night of music with two excellent bands. In between, I will probably catch a little of the weird rock at Barrelhouse. Who knows, I might even make it to Congress Street Social Club for a little rap.
Damon & The Shitkickers – Warehouse
American Hologram (Americana from Savannah), City Hotel (Savannah bluegrass) – Jinx
Omingnome – Barrelhouse South
Werdlife Of Dope Sandwich – Congress Street Social Club

Sunday 9/28 – Looks like an Americana afternoon followed with some guitar rock at the Barrelhouse.
Waits & Co – Moon River (5p)
Daryl Hance Power Trio – Barrelhouse South

Tuesday 9/30 – A night of music from one of Savannah’s best singer-songwriters at a very unique venue.
Greg Williams – Foxy Loxy Cafe (8p-11p)

The Accomplices at Nowhere Bar in Athens, Ga. – photos

by JWaits • September 25, 2014

On what felt like a true Fall evening I drove up to Athens, Georgia to catch The Accomplices as they rounded out their most recent tour. This two week jaunt took them across the Southeast, with most notably a stop in Nashville, TN at the Americana Music Conference for not only a gig of their own, but a chance to network, visit old friends, and be fans themselves for a little while.

While Tuesday evenings are not exactly the most well attended nights to perform anywhere, they had an enthusiastic, albeit smaller, crowd and one young dancer who couldn’t seem to get enough. The Nowhere Bar sits in the shadow of the famed Georgia Theatre where they had performed the night before. Opening up the evening was Monkeygrass Jug Band, which is fronted by Brandon Nelson McCoy, whom some of you may be familiar with from his time in Savannah as an Armstrong student, and roots-style performances.

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release party for Wet Socks’ debut record “Drips” at Hang Fire on 9/26

by bill • September 24, 2014

We love Wet Socks here at hissing lawns, and it’s not just because the band’s name evokes the grunginess of the everyday, the creepiness of the ordinary.

We love Wet Socks for the tight, high-energy garage rock that Hunter Jayne and John Zimmerman have been refining for over two years now. (I think a July 2012 post at Savannah Unplugged was first time I wrote about Wet Socks.) The live shows — especially at Hang Fire — are thrilling, and their occasional recorded stuff has been pretty awesome too, like this video for “New Crush Pt. 2”:

Wet Socks- “New Crush Pt. 2” from Soft Science on Vimeo.

Wet Socks has done some recording with the label Soft Science, but the first full-length “Drips” will be released on CD this weekend on the Retro Futurist label, founded and operated by core members of Kylesa. Just $7 gets you into Hang Fire and a copy of the CD. Click on through for more info:

Post by Retro Futurist.

Gotta love the cover art too:

Post by Retro Futurist.

Tom, Petee, and I have all posted pics of Wet Socks — mostly from sets that are so dark that no sane person would be shooting photos. Here are a few:

Roadkill Ghost Choir at Revival Fest – photos

by bill • September 23, 2014

Here’s Roadkill Ghost Choir‘s “A Blow to the Head” off the new album In Tongues:

There are lots of things to appreciate about Roadkill Ghost Choir — including the variations in tempo, the dark poetry of the lyrics, the subtlety of the orchestrations, and Andrew Shepard’s haunting voice. The band played an especially fine set at Revival Fest here in Savannah last weekend; their sound sure seemed right at home in the industrial space of the old railway paint shops at the Georgia State Railroad Museum (usually just called The Roundhouse by those of us who live in Savannah).

This is the last of separate photo sets that I’ll be posting from the festival (other contributors might have some on the way), but I’ll soon upload more shots of all the acts to the hissing lawns Facebook page. Likes appreciated. Click here for all our Revival Fest coverage. More photos after the jump, and click for bigger versions:

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Cedric Burnside Project at Revival Fest – photos

by bill • September 23, 2014

You might already know that Cedric Burnside — grandson of the great R.L. Burnside — is a fabulous drummer, but the guy can play guitar too, as you can see on the Cedric Burnside Project’s Kickstarter video:

The Cedric Burnside Project has already met the $8,000 goal for the campaign, so we’ll soon be seeing — and hearing — a beautiful new album of Mississippi hill country blues. But let’s hope support keeps flowing in, since additional advance sales will go toward a new tour vehicle. There are some awesome rewards for your support, including a digital download and a physical copy of the album for just $25. For $250, you can hang out at Cedric’s house, where he will fix a home-cooked meal and jam on the porch. Click here to go to Kickstarter.

Cedric Burnside Project — Cedric and guitarist Trenton Ayers — played the inaugural Revival Fest in 2013, the kickoff party at Pacci for this year’s festival, and a spectacular sunset set on Saturday. More photos after the jump:

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T. Hardy Morris at Revival Fest – photos

by bill • September 22, 2014

Before I get to the photos of T. Hardy Morris at Revival Fest on Saturday, let’s listen to some music.

Here’s “Share the Needle”, part of Morris’ series of videos filmed at Georgia’s Places in Peril. This one is at Howard Finster’s Paradise Gardens in Summerville. The first couple minutes here are devoted to Finster himself — always a strange treat — and the song begins close to the 2 minute mark.

T. Hardy Morris’ Facebook page calls the sound alternative, country, and grunge. But Saturday’s show was dominated by another sound: rock. With some help from members of Roadkill Ghost Choir and Futurebirds, T. Hardy Morris and company played a short, tight set that set a high bar for the bands that followed.

Morris’ excellent debut solo album Audition Tapes has been out for over a year now. I don’t know what’s next on tap (I scouted around to talk to him after his set, but lost track of him and the time), but let’s hope for more of everything — more of the somewhat restrained solo work and more collaborations like those with his older band Dead Confederate and with the newer Diamond Rugs, which has members of Deer Tick, The Black Lips, and Los Lobos.

I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling a strange kinship with Morris’ music. As I get to the photos, I should say that I also feel a little kinship with his mother or whoever surely has told him over the years to comb the hair out of his face so that people can see his nice eyes.

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Family and Friends at Revival Fest – photos

by bill • September 22, 2014

When a band is as exciting as Athens-based Family and Friends, I say get on the bandwagon early and see where you end up.

I was lucky to see Family and Friends at Bragg Jam in Macon over the summer, so I was especially anticipating their set on Saturday at Revival Fest. With great work on the soundboard by Capital A Productions, the ensemble’s exuberance and energy brought the old train yard to life and inspired listeners of all ages.

The EP embedded here gives a good idea of Family and Friends’ sound, obviously, but the live performances are really on another level, in part because of the sheer passion on display and in part because of the constant motion on stage. For once, I got decent shots of the drummer(s), but the bass player Tuna was another story. So check out the music below, check out Family and Friends’ online store, and give them a like on Facebook. And click on through — lots more photos after the jump.

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Waits & Co. at Revival Fest – photos

by bill • September 22, 2014

Savannah is a fairly small city at the end of the day, and creative people with diverse interests and talents often end up being involved in diverse endeavors. Sometimes those efforts create all sorts of overlapping circles, and then those circles lead to even more opportunities, more overlap . . . It’s an interesting cycle.

And so enters Jon Waits — a fairly recent Savannah transplant, a photographer, a contributor to hissing lawns, and a musician whose band Waits & Co. kicked things off on the paint shop stage at Saturday’s 2nd annual Revival Fest. It has been a real pleasure getting to know John over the last year, and I’m looking forward to many more years of seeing his photographs, hearing his music, and engaging in conversation about the Savannah scene.

Jon is joined in the band by Markus Kuhlmann and Coy Campbell; Jeremy Hammons and Stu Harmening joined Waits & Co. for the Revival Fest gig. I got enough decent shots of Waits & Co. that I thought they merited their own post — a few more galleries like this are on the way.

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a quick recap of Revival Fest 2014 in Savannah – lots of photos

by bill • September 21, 2014

The 2nd annual Revival Fest certainly lived up to expectations — and my expectations were really high.

It was cloudy but cool to start the day (I got to the Georgia State Railroad Museum about 12:30 p.m.), and I’m sure the threat of rain kept some folks away in the afternoon. Too bad for them. Savannah-based acts Sweet Thunder Strolling Band, Waits & Co., and Velvet Caravan were among the early performers at the festival — all drew enthusiastic fans and made a lot of new fans too.

Blank Range from Nashville played a strong early set at the outdoor stage but were even better much later at night at The Jinx — I’ve got a few shots from each of those sets below.

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Larry Jack’s Magical Music Tour – 9/19/14 – 9/23/14

by Larry Jack Sammons • September 19, 2014

Hi guys,
If any of you happen to see Anna Chandler (of Lovely Locks and COEDS fame) out this weekend, be sure to congratulate her for her new position as music editor of Connect. I am super happy for her to get the job and I think the decision-makers at Connect could not have picked a better person for the position.

One of the places that I am sure you will find Anna this weekend will be at Saturday’s Revival Fest. If you don’t know about the Festival, you haven’t been paying attention. It will easily be the highlight of the weekend. It is held at the Roundhouse. There are two stages (one inside and one outside), so the music is fairly non-stop. There are excellent bands and a very family-type atmosphere. Trust me, if you don’t go to many shows, this is one you should go to see.

Sorry about not getting this posted yesterday, I am running a little behind. On to this week’s shows.

Friday 9/19
Jubal Kane (featuring Ben Keiser on guitar) – Warehouse
Bottles & Cans – Jazz’d
Looters – Barrelhouse South
KidSyc@Brandywine – Congress Street Social Club
Charlie Fog – Molly MacPherson’s

Saturday 9/20
Revival Festival
Revival Festival After-Party – Jinx (headliner has not been announced, free w/ Festival ticket, $5 otherwise)
Steppin’ Stones – City Market
Magic Rocks – Boomy’s
Houndog Slim and Chicago Tom Duo – Flip Flop Tiki Bar
Kota Mundi – Molly MacPherson’s

Tuesday 9/23
Hitman – Warehouse
Eric Culberson Open Jam – Bayou Cafe
Jubal Kane – Warehouse

one final Revival Fest preview

by bill • September 19, 2014

I had an interesting discussion last night with a couple of newish Savannah transplants who seemed a little puzzled by the fact that Revival Fest will be held tomorrow (Saturday, 9/20) at the Georgia State Railroad Museum. How do you have a festival with 14 bands at a museum?

Well the museum is a museum, but the site — which is right next to the site of a Revolutionary War battlefield, between MLK Boulevard and Boundary Street on the west side of downtown — consists of some huge old buildings and lots of open space. Revival Fest will take place at the western edge of the property, with one stage inside a massive building that was used for painting train cars and another stage outside near the entrance to that building.

It’s a spectacular setting, especially for the roots-influenced music of Revival Fest. (MusicFile Productions is running the show — the same parent company as Savannah Stopover.)

I’ve seen 10 of the 14 acts that will be playing Revival Fest tomorrow, including the three Savannah-based bands — Waits & Co., Velvet Caravan, and Sweet Thunder Strolling Band — and seven of the out-of-town acts: Family and Friends (Athens), Megan Jean & The KFB (Charleston), Packway Handle Band (Athens), T. Hardy Morris (Athens), Cedric Burnside Project (Holly Springs, Miss.), Roadkill Ghost Choir (Deland, Fl.), and Futurebirds (Athens).

Wow, what a list. I suspect many attendees will have seen far fewer of those bands than I have — and those folks are in for some wonderful surprises.

In recent days, I’ve been listening a lot to the bands in the Revival Fest lineup that are new to me — Blank Range (Nashville), Water Liars (Oxford, Miss.), Dirty Bourbon River Show (New Orleans), and David Wax Museum (Charlottesville) — and I’m excited to see all of them live too.

The pig roast, the special drinks, the other components of the festival are just icing on the proverbial cake when there’s so much good music on tap.

Click here for all of this blog’s Revival Fest coverage from last year and previews of this year. You can read more in Do Savannah here and here, and in Connect Savannah here.