Savannah Stopover discounted early bird passes on sale

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Savannah Stopover has early bird 3-day general admission passes on sale here for $60.

The regular price for the 3-day general admission pass will be $75. VIP passes ($125) and single day passes ($30) will also go on sale on Nov. 22. I’ve always been happy to pay for a VIP pass, which typically includes access to latenight parties and a farewell Sunday brunch that generally features some impromptu performances of bands (including Oberhofer in 2011) that haven’t left town yet.

We’ve already posted about the Stopover announcement party at The Jinx on Nov. 21 with Futurebirds, New Madrid, and Triathalon. Expect that show to sell out.

The 2014 Savannah Stopover runs from March 6-8.

Buffalo Rodeo, Fare the Gap Friday night at Hang Fire

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Kind of a late announcement on this one, so you might not see this gig listed in the usual publications around town.

Buffalo Rodeo from Bowling Green, Kentucky, and Fare the Gap from Savannah will be performing tonight at Hang Fire on Whitaker Street. Click here for the Facebook event.

This looks to be another in a string of high-energy shows at Hang Fire.

new DEAD YET? record streaming on Bandcamp

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Local hardcore/punk outfit DEAD YET?‘s new record is now available to stream or purchase on Bandcamp, and it sounds really good. Vinyl has been pressed and will be available for order soon, or better yet, picked up at a record release show that they are working on. I’m looking forward to it.

Here are a couple sketchy photos from The Sparetime, with DEAD YET? supporting Hoax.

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The embed from Bandcamp is after the jump.

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Worth The Drive: Neutral Milk Hotel Reunion Tour (Athens, Atlanta)

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Flash history lesson: In the early ‘90s, Louisiana transplant Jeff Mangum formed Neutral Milk Hotel, a band that could have audiences crowdsurfing and moshing or rooted to the spot they were standing in and weeping. Draped in dense fuzz and studded with horns, accordions, singing saw strains, and fevered poetic narration that boldly and vulnerably found love in the midst of tragedy, NMH made two studio albums, On Avery Island and In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. The latter is considered a masterpiece and icon, and is still topping charts like “Greatest Indie Rock Albums of All Time,” and “Top Albums of the 1990s.” More importantly, a lot of people connected with it on a visceral level, and still do to this day—as it’s often said, “Either you’ve never heard Neutral Milk Hotel, or they’ve changed your life.”

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Mangum and co. were part of The Elephant 6 Collective (E6), an Athens, GA-based group of musicians and artists who lived, wrote, played and potlucked together. While their band lineups are famously blurred—most projects center around one individual, with support from a rotating cast of E6ers and friends—E6 is responsible for indie, folk, psychedelic and twee staples like of Montreal, The Apples in Stereo, The Olivia Tremor Control, Elf Power, Gerbils, and numerous others, in addition to establishing Athens as the indie music capitol of the Southeast.

I was too young to have followed Neutral Milk Hotel when they were active–so for me and many E6 fans my age, the band fell into the Kurt Cobain-Elliott Smith “died young, stayed pretty” canon. When Mangum stopped playing shows as Neutral Milk Hotel in 1999, many of those affected by his music couldn’t understand it–one strong-willed reporter even wrote angered letters and spent months trying to “find” Mangum and demand an explanation as to why he wouldn’t make another record for the fans that connected so deeply with his work. But Mangum wasn’t hiding out in a cabin with his instruments collecting dust in the attic. There was never really a “break up,” as friends of the band have winked.

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Black Tusk in “How to be a hardcore singer” video

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Rock It Out! blog‘s “How to be a hardcore singer” video features Andrew and Athon of Black Tusk explaining how they maintain their fine singing voices night after night. You can struggle through the way over caffienated host’s shtick or jump to about 4:24 in the video to get right to Savannah’s finest. I don’t want to ruin it for you, but apparently they have never had vocal lessons and warming up for a gig (or being interviewed) involves drinking beer. Black Tusk rules.

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SMF 2014 lineup includes The Avett Brothers, Taj Mahal, Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn, more

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Check out the just-released digital brochure for the 2014 Savannah Music Festival (click here if embed isn’t working):

I’ve listed some of the highlights in a post at Savannah Unplugged.

Always exciting stuff. Tickets go on sale on Thursday.

Larry Jack’s Magical Music Tour 11/6/13-11/12/13

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Wow, another great weekend of music.  I knew that GAM at the Jinx would be good, but I really did not know that the Halloween Tribute Band Show would be so enjoyable.  I also caught a very energetic show from the Cusses at Hang Fire.  Of course, I saw plenty more great music, but it’s time to start thinking about the upcoming week now.

The week starts pretty early, with a free Savannah Music Festival show at Charles Morris Center on Wednesday.  I don’t know Sierra Hull, but I am sure it will be a good show, since it is an SMF event.  Saturday is the Rock & Roll Marathon, with headliner Jackyl at Forsyth Park.  I’ve never seen Jackyl, but I look forward to what I am sure will be rock & roll debauchery so early in the morning (and so close to my house).  I hope to catch a few more bands on the way to the Park.

Slow week for me, the early darkness and cold weather really gets me down.  But I am pretty excited about all of the shows I have listed.  I expect more shows to be announced later this week, so (as always) be sure to check back regularly and I will try to keep the list updated.

Here are my recommendations for the week.

Wednesday 11/6

Sierra Hull & Highway 111 – Charles Morris Center (8pm) FREE – SMF Announcement Show

Thursday 11/7

Danielle Hicks Duo – Flip Flop Tiki Bar 1st Anniversary (9-12)

Friday 11/8

Accomplices, Telfair Babies – American Legion – American Legion on Bull –  Pasta On The Park Party (4-9p) – $10/15 incl. pasta dinner

Kota Mundi – Molly MacPherson’s (reggae-party band)

Seven Handle Circus – Congress Street Social Club (Americana) – An easy walk back &  forth between the venues, should be a very fun night

Saturday 11/9

Jackyl (10:30am) and Train Wrecks (12:15-2:30p) – Rock & Roll Marathon

Lefty Hathaway and KidSyc@Brandywine – Congress Street Social Club – If you have never seen a rapper, KidSyc is the one to see.  It really is an amazing thing to see live, even if you think that you “hate rap”.  I don’t know Lefty, but I like a fiddle in a rock band.

Sunday 11/10

Accomplices – Doc’s Bar – If you are able to make it out there, I have heard that this bar is the best place to see the Accomplices. Postponed

Tuesday 11/13

Zach & Colleen – Foxy Loxy (8pm) – The good-looking half of The Accomplices at a great locale for music, next to the Gingerbread House

Weaver D’s Delicious Fine Foods in Athens closing later this month

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Multiple news outlets are reporting that Weaver D’s Delicious Fine Foods is closing.

The soul food restaurant inspired the title of R.E.M.’s album Automatic for the People (sorry the embed won’t squeeze into the column . . . ):

Post by Weaver D's.

Here’s a track from that album, “Nightswimming”:

Savannah Music Festival announces 2014 season with free performance by Sierra Hull

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The Savannah Music Festival brings world-class performers to town for 17 days every spring. The festival focuses on a variety of traditional styles and roots music — from classical to jazz, from bluegrass to zydeco.

In recent years, the festival has expanded its programming that appeal to younger audiences — and to readers of blogs like this one. Some of those acts aren’t likely to announced with this week’s first big release of the SMF 2014 lineup, however.

The SMF is throwing a Season Kickoff & Appreciation Concert at the Morris Center on Wednesday night, but we’ll be looking for additional bookings in January or thereabouts.

Mandolin player and singer Sierra Hull, who released her first album at just 16, will be performing at the SMF’s free show. Check out this beautiful version of “Someone Like You”:

And here’s the title track off Hull’s second album:

The Jinx Annual Halloween Tribute Night – photos

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Savannah can be pretty darn weird on any given night, but Thursday night it was filled with more character(s) than usual. The streets were flooded with costumed super heroes, clowns, pirates, sexy nurses, vampires, tourists and drunks. There was an abundance of both exposed flesh and totally hidden identities, I ran into more than one friend who had to introduce themselves, as their costumes made them unrecognizable.

The Jinx was at capacity, with almost everyone in good spirits and costume.  At one point I saw “Joey Ramone”, Beetlejuice and Santa Claus all in the pit at the same time. The Beetlejuice theme was perfect for Halloween, with a huge amount of effort obviously put into decorating the space. Misfits songs played between all 7 cover sets (the Black Flag set didn’t happen), which ran more or less on time all night. I truly enjoyed every set, which were consistently solid and fun. I thought it was a little strange that the crowd had thinned out at the end of the night, but then realized it was 3 a.m.. Great night.

Lighting was tough, but here are a couple shots, with a lot more after the jump. (Click for larger versions.)

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Safe // Sound presents Sondra Sun-Odeon at The Sparetime on Tuesday

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Safe // Sound has brought some eclectic artists to town over the last couple of years — many would not have stopped in Savannah if not for the promoters’ efforts.

Sondra Sun-Odeon will join that interesting list of shows on Tuesday, Nov. 5th when she appears in a free show at The Sparetime at the corner of Congress and MLK.

From the press release:

Sondra Sun-Odeon is a singer and multi-instrumentalist known for intimate and delicate songs about love and loss. Her music plays the boundary between ethereal and haunting noise, to the intensity and sorrow of the real. Collaborating with the makes of Espers, Beach House, Brightblack Morning Light and many others, Sun-Odeon’s debut solo album, “Ætherea”, has already garnered critical acclaim. In describing her process, Sun-Odeon explains the dense limbo in which the songs emerge: “The songs are vehicles for feelings. They weren’t written so much as they just sprang into being, inspired and propelled by the emotions of a given moment,” says Sun-Odeon. “Lyrically, the themes continue to deal with liminality — of bare- ly knowing that threshold between our reality and other states of being… of true being. Abandon, transmutation, temporality, and the desire to commune with — these are other themes.”

It’s a compelling sound:

Corey Hines, an excellent solo performer based here in Savannah, is also on the bill. Hines has a rich voice that is complemented by his excellent work on guitar and harmonica.

Click here for the Facebook invitation. There is no cover.

Triathalon announces East Coast tour for December

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UPDATE: Click here for the latest on Triathalon’s tour.

We posted last week about Triathalon’s Kickstarter campaign to help fund the band’s first tour.

Now Triathalon has released the complete details about the tour — and it’s a pretty impressive group of clubs between here and Connecticut (via Bandsintown):

Dec 04: The Hummingbird Stage & Taproom, Macon, GA
Dec 05: WonderRoot, Atlanta, GA
Dec 06: Buffingtons, Milledgeville, GA
Dec 07: NEW EARTH MUSIC HALL, Athens, GA
Dec 08: Conundrum Music Hall, West Columbia, SC
Dec 09: Thomas Street Tavern, Charlotte, NC
Dec 10: Slim’s, Raleigh, NC
Dec 11: Orton’s, Wilmington, NC
Dec 12: PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA
Dec 13: The Candy Barrel, New Brunswick, NJ
Dec 14: Cake Shop, New York, NY
Dec 15: Coco66, Brooklyn, NY
Dec 16: The Outer, Space Hamden, CT
Dec 19: Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar, Charlottesville, VA
Dec 20: Radio Room, Greenville, SC
Dec 22: Tin Roof, Charleston, SC

Triathalon will also be playing later this month at the Savannah Stopover announcement party featuring Futurebirds and New Madrid.