hissing lawns

Matrimony, Dent May, GEMS playing Savannah’s Fashion Night on 9/4

by bill • August 7, 2014

If you’re in Savannah, mark your calendar for Savannah’s Fashion Night on Thursday, September 4th.

Savannah’s Fashion Night grew out of Vogue’s Fashion’s Night Out, which went on hiatus in 2013. Kudos to the local organizers who have kept SFN alive.

SFN has quickly established itself as sort of the unofficial kickoff to fall in downtown Savannah, with many stores on Broughton Street open through the evening, with fashion shows and live music on stages at both Drayton Street and Montgomery Street, and with lots of folks wandering the blocked off street.

This year the bands have been booked by MusicFile Productions (parent company of Savannah Stopover and Revival Fest). And what an exciting lineup — SFN is primarily about fashion and shopping, but lots of people will want to turn out just for the music this year.

Dent May from Oxford, Mississippi will perform on the Drayton stage — he’ll bring a full band plus his quirky stage presence and a growing body of interesting work. May’s only previous local show was at the 2013 Savannah Stopover.

GEMS from Washington, D.C. will play the Montgomery Street stage. SFN will be the band’s first trip to Savannah — I’m eager to check them out and take some photos too.

DJ Will Rock and PDK Sounds will fill the streets with music when the headliners aren’t performing.

Both Dent May and GEMS will perform while the finale fashion shows are on the runways, and both acts will also perform at the official after-party at Ampersand.

And Matrimony from Charlotte — one of the strongest up-and-coming acts in the South — will play in the VIP tent. I was lucky to hear and shoot some photos of Matrimony at Forecastle Festival in Louisville last month — they were excellent at last year’s Revival Fest here in Savannah, but they have kicked things up an impressive notch since then.

A few shots I’ve taken of Matrimony:

Matrimony

Matrimony at Revival Fest 2013

The Casket Girls, Dreamend at Graveface Records and Curiosities – photos

by Tom Cartmel • August 5, 2014

Well, I managed to squeeze a couple pictures out of the darkness last Monday night at the sendoff show for The Casket Girls/Dreamend tour. It was a weird, fun night of music, cult videos, taxidermy, bitters, records, Garbage Pail Kids, Teletubby Heads, and creepy masks, but that probably goes without saying, I was at Graveface Records and Curiosities, after all. At one point I thought the unblinking eyes of the founder of the Heaven’s Gate religion/cult were going to burn a hole in my soul as he was projected over the entire Dreamend set. Unique time, as always.

I’ve added some miscellaneous photos I’ve taken at Graveface over the last year or two because……well, just because, so check them out after the jump, please.

Read more →

Baroness guitarist to tour with Samhain, Valkyrie signed to Relapse Records

by Tom Cartmel • August 4, 2014

It’s been a busy few weeks for Baroness guitarist Pete Adams. First, he was revealed to be the “special guest” guitarist that has been teased to tour with Samhain, Glenn Danzig’s post Misfits – pre solo artist metal/horror punk outfit. They’re part of Riot Fest Chicago‘s insanely stacked lineup and will be playing a handful of other cities across the U.S.. Here’s hoping that Pete has a high tolerance for being covered in fake blood.

It was also announced that Pete’s other (other other, maybe?) band, Valkyrie, has signed to the influential metal label Relapse Records. The band deals in classic twin guitar heavy rock and metal and expects to release an eight song full length album in early 2015.

Here’s a Valkyrie song, a Samhain song and a few pictures of Pete from the Baroness show at Charleston’s Music Farm.

Besides Daniel EP “This Marvelous Grief” free download through August 10th

by bill • August 3, 2014

We’ve been following the beautiful musical journey of Besides Daniel — artist Danny Brewer and the various talented musicians he calls upon — for several years now. As Brewer works on his next album, he wants as many people as possible to have his EP This Marvelous Grief, so it’s available for free download through ~~Monday~~ Sunday, August 10.

So get to it:

Besides Daniel at The Sentient Bean in 2012

Forecastle Festival photos now on Facebook

by bill • August 3, 2014

So why should you follow hissing lawns on Facebook? Most of our Facebook posts just contain links to new blog posts, but we also publish other news and reminders there, and we have a growing number of photo albums on the Facebook page. For most of the posts here on the blog, we try to limit the number of photos to a couple of dozen, at most, but Facebook by its very nature can support much larger galleries. That capability is both good and bad, of course . . .

Anyway, I’ve posted a Facebook album for each day of Forecastle Festival in Louisville last month. I’ll embed those here — if you just want to see a lot of pics of the festival, these galleries are the place to go. (As some of you know, if you’re already logged in to Facebook as a Page rather than as yourself, the embed code here probably isn’t working.)

Post by hissing lawns.

Read more →

Larry Jack’s Magical Music Tour 7/31/14 – 8/5/14

by Larry Jack Sammons • July 31, 2014

Hey guys,
It is not very often that I talk about music that is not in downtown Savannah, but last week’s Macon Bragg Jam Bus was a rousing success. It was a great time for everyone involved. I met a couple of new friends and got to see as many bands as I possibly could. I certainly hope that the Bus is an annual event, because I am ready to buy my ticket now.

There does seem to be a slight lull in the number of shows this week, but definitely not in the quality of the music going on. As far as I am concerned, that just means I can see (almost) everyone I want to see. I would like to point out a couple of shows that I am really looking forward to seeing. Eric Sommer is returning to Abe’s On Lincoln tonight [Thursday]. He is an excellent blues musician (although his Facebook page says pop/folk/acoustic) and always puts on a good show. And Abe’s is a great venue to see live music in, although they don’t have touring musicians as much as I wish they did. The Accomplices are returning to Savannah after their Alaskan(!) show. This is one of the best bands in Savannah and I try to catch them as often as I can. I haven’t had the chance to chance to catch SheHeHe yet, but I am looking forward to their show at the Jinx on Saturday. Here are those picks and more suggestions:

Thursday 7/31/14
Ted Browne (from Passafire) – Barrelhouse South
Adron, Fare The Gap, Moon Gang – Hang Fire
Eric Sommer – Abe’s on Lincoln (10p)
TimeCop vs DangerSnake (from the Accomplices) – Molly MacPherson’s
Black Pussy, Rotten Blush – Jinx

Friday 8/1/14
Hypnotics – Warehouse
Accomplices – Molly MacPherson’s
Eric Culberson – Boomy’s
Reckless Abandon – Congress Street Social Club

Saturday 8/2/14
Ray Lundy & Joe Nelson – Molly McGuires
Massey Boys, Daniel Nickels – First Presbyterian Church (7p, all ages)
Train Wrecks – World Of Beer
Blackfoot Gypsies – Congress Street Social Club
Hypnotics – Molly MacPherson’s
SheHeHe, Starbenders – Jinx

Sunday 8/3/14
Aaron & Cory (from City Hotel) – Jazz’d
Jonathan Scales Fourchestra – Barrelhouse South

Monday 8/4/14
Jerkagram, Star Period Star, Doom Salad – Graveface Records (6p, all ages)

Tuesday 8/5/14
Steven Baumgardner (from Ambrose) – Foxy Loxy Cafe (8-11p, all ages)

2014 Bragg Jam – more photos

by Tom Cartmel • July 30, 2014

So it’s been established that everyone that made the bus trip to Macon’s Bragg Jam had a blast. Personally, I would do it again in a heartbeat, and truly appreciate everyone that made it happen.

In a nutshell, the Bragg Jam lineup was great, Macon welcomed it with open arms, the food trucks were awesome, drinks were fairly easy to get and a couple of the venues were swelteringly hot.

Here’s my favorite shots from the day, with a little commentary.

After the new Shovels and Rope documentary, which I really enjoyed, we made our way to Grant’s, to soak up the old school rock club atmosphere and have a few drinks while waiting for the music to start. I haven’t seen Col. Bruce Hampton since about 1992, but some things don’t change much. The band name may change, but Col. Bruce still looks the same and still jams. Boy, did that room fill up quickly!

Caught Tha Hugs, Madre Padre,and The Apache Relay in fairly rapid succession, then headed to The Hummingbird Taproom to see Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires. For some reason I was expecting another Americana act (I like Americana well enough, but prefer a little more “bite” to my rock), but thankfully I was way off base. Punky, bluesy, and definitely rocking. I’ve talked to several people who said that this was the set of the day for them, it most definitely was for me. Totally high energy awesomeness, I’ll be digging into their catalog this week.

I was really impressed with Friends and Family on the Revival Fest stage and look forward to checking out a full set at the upcoming Revival Fest.

Read more →

Macon celebrates the biggest Bragg Jam yet – photos

by bill • July 28, 2014

Several hissing lawns contributors hopped on a bus with other Savannah music enthusiasts for a fantastic trip to the 15th Annual Bragg Jam in Macon on Saturday. Our friends at MusicFile Productions/Savannah Stopover/Revival Fest organized the daylong excursion, which was also supported in various ways by Spanish Moss Charters & Tours, The 5 Spot, Georgia Music Foundation, and the Community Foundation of Central Georgia.

We climbed aboard the tricked out bus at 11:30 a.m. and didn’t return to Savannah until 5 a.m. — a long day, but a really fulfilling one. Bragg Jam is definitely worth the trip.

When we got to Macon, a few folks attended a screening of the new documentary The Ballad of Shovels and Rope, but most of us went to The Big House — The Allman Brothers Band Museum. If you’re at all interested in the Allman Brothers or in Georgia music history, you need to go there the next time you’re anywhere close to Macon.

But then it was time for the main event: the Bragg Jam concert crawl, which began in the late afternoon and lasted until 2 a.m., with 57 bands performing in 14 different venues. Most of the venues were in easy walking distance, and Macon allowed outdoor drinking from plastic cups for this one night only. Of course, there was no way to see anywhere near all the acts, but the proximity and quality certainly kept me on the move so that I could sample as many as possible.

Many Savannahians started with Colonel Bruce Hampton & Madrid Express at historic Grant’s Lounge, a divey bar on Poplar Street. The place was packed by showtime, and Colonel Bruce sounded as good as ever.

Then a few of us made it to the upstairs stage sponsored by Revival Fest at The 567 Center for Renewal on Cherry Street, an all ages venue that sort of ended up as my home base for the event. Tha Hugs were first up — a solid young rock band — and then we headed across the street for the heavier stuff from Madre Padre at The Wall, before heading back to the main stage at the 567 Center for The Apache Relay, an up-and-coming band from Nashville.

And off to The Hummingbird Taproom for Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires, who have been thrilling audiences and impressing critics, especially since the release of their album Dereconstructed.

Read more →

Synethesia: Sensory Saturation – photos

by Peterson Worrell • July 27, 2014

It’s been a killer weekend for music in Savannah and Georgia all around. Friday kicked things off with Synethesia: Sensory Saturation hosted by Ampersand which provided the perfect segue way into a little out of town fun at Bragg Jam in Macon, GA (which we’ll have some coverage/photos of up in a bit!).

The line up of bands last Friday at Synethesia was monstrous, loaded with local talent like Sara Clash, Broken Glow, Forced Entry, and Culture Vulture alongside touring acts like Quimby Mountain Band, Torch Runner, and Mourning Cloak. The seven (yes, seven all in one night) musical acts were complemented by local artists and performers to engross the audience in an all encompassing experience that stimulated every sense. Check out a few shots below and hit the jump for the fairly sizable full set of photos!

Read more →

The Replacements, with guest guitarist Billy Joe Armstrong from Green Day – photos from Forecastle Festival 2014

by bill • July 25, 2014

In their set on the main stage at Forecastle Festival last Sunday, The Replacements — joined again by guest guitarist Billy Joe Armstrong of Green Day — ripped through their classic songs with even more energy than I expected. The great lawns of Waterfront Park was a blur of dancing and singing — pretty great stuff.

From a wonderfully detailed review in the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

For the fourth time in the seven Replacements shows since last August, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong once again joined in as a third guitarist, this time playing the entire set and blending in without messing up the formula – although, he did mess up. The band’s only multi-platinum musician came in at the wrong time during “Nowhere Is My Home,” much to Westerberg’s and bassist Tommy Stinson’s amusement. “Our one-day rehearsal did not pay off,” Westerberg cracked.

Armstrong made up for it by fixing one of the boss’ botches. Westerberg’s microphone slipped down its stand at the start of “Can’t Hardly Wait,” which Paul kept singing crouched over like a baseball catcher until the rookie came over and propped it back up – and then kissed the singer full on the lips.

I got a shot of that kiss, but there’s a much better pic accompanying the review. A few pics here, with more after the jump:

Read more →

Larry Jack’s Magical Music Tour 7/25/14 – 7/29/14

by Larry Jack Sammons • July 25, 2014

Hey guys,
There was plenty of good music around last weekend, something for every taste. I caught a punk show at Hang Fire last Wednesday (Downtown Boys, Crazy Bag Lady, also Wet Socks). There was reggae at Molly’s on Friday with Kota Mundi (enjoyed seeing Paxton Willis on drums again). And I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed seeing Major & The Monbacks, an eight-piece R&B soul band from Roanoke, VA, where I even bought a T-shirt! And the rock show at the Jinx on Wednesday (The Black Cadillacs, Thomas Wynn & The Believers) was excellent.

There are several good shows this week, as always. There are several tough choices on Friday, a big show at Ampersand, Bragg Jam participants Mantras at Congress Street Social, and American Aquarium at Jinx. I am not sure where I will end up. But I am sure where I will be on Saturday. There is a Stopover-sponsored bus going to the Bragg Jam Festival in Macon, GA. I have always said the Savannah Stopover was like Christmas for me, so I guess the Bragg Jam is like Christmas in July? This Festival will consist of 57 bands on 14 stages in Macon. This should be right up my alley, I hope it doesn’t kill me.

Here are some other recommendations for the week.

Friday 25th
Waits & Co. – Blowin’ Smoke
American Aquarium (alt-country from Raleigh), Opossum Holler – Jinx
Quimby Mountain Band, Torch Runner, Morning Cloak, Broken Glow, Culture Vulture, Sara Clash – Ampersand ($5)
Winter Sounds, Grand Vapids, Fare The Gap – Hang Fire
Mantras – Congress Street Social Club
I Want Whiskey, City Hotel – Tybee Social Club

Saturday 26th
Bragg Jam – If you like reading this blog, you should be on the bus
Joe Nelson – Blowin’ Smoke
2Tone Fish – World of Beer
Jon Lee & The Apparitions – Boomy’s
Hitman – Molly MacPherson’s
New York Disco Villians, Seaboard Stompers – Jinx
Train Wrecks – Congress Street Social Club

Sunday 27th
Savannah Songwriters – Johnny Harris Restaurant – Anna Chandler, Isaac Smith, Rachel Shaner. Thomas Oliver (6p, all ages)
Voodoo Soup – Congress Street Social Club (10p)
Dr. Dan & The Looters – Barrelhouse (9:30p)

Monday 28th
Casket Girls – Graveface Records (8p, RSVP only)

Tuesday 29th
Holy Shadow, Koala Tea Time – Graveface Records (7p, all ages)
Ray Lundy – Foxy Loxy Cafe

Thomas Wynn and The Believers + The Black Cadillacs at The Jinx – photos

by bill • July 25, 2014

Another excellent show booked by the folks at MusicFile Productions/Savannah Stopover: The Black Cadillacs and Thomas Wynn and The Believers at The Jinx last night. It was a night of great energy and musicianship, and some of us are hoping to see the bands again on July 26 at Bragg Jam in Macon.

Tom took some photos. Here’s one of each band with more after the jump.

Read more →