Caught Duke last night at the Green Rooster Coffeehouse, and it was incredible. I have worshiped at the Duke altar many times before, but never have I seen him in better form. The ensemble of longtime collaborator, guitarist/lap steeler, Kevin Barry; bassist Mike Rivard (Club D'Elf), and drummer Per Hanson (Ronnie Earl) is perfect.

Duke's dizzying chops and vivid comic-book and b-movie imagination result in monstrous chops that are also very musical (like Michel Camillo or Marcus Roberts on piano, or Ella Fitzgerald's singing). His honky tonk playing is reminiscent of the Humbler himself, Danny Gatton, but maybe even better. He also has ideas galore on jazz tunes and even psychedelia, as an eerie and awesome "Strawberry Fields Forever" displayed. He showed the most plaintive and beautiful playing I've ever heard of him, on "Far Away."

Kevin Barry's guitar playing was stripped and primal, yet virtuosic, too; a great complement to Duke. His lap steel playing was gorgeous, too.

Lastly, the sound in the packed room was pure and clean and near perfect.

Welcome home, Duke. Don't make us wait so long next time.


www.myspace.com/dukelevine
www.dukelevine.com

It’s always weird reviewing a band when a couple of friends happen to be in the band. The review becomes that much more impossible, truly impossible actually, when the band asks you to come up and sit in on a few songs. So was the case on Friday when I went out to see Tiger Saw, Grey Milk, and Hagab the Grasshopper at the Java Hut. You can’t rightly review the band you are playing with. Also Hagab pulled out of the gig so here I am going in to review three specific bands and I come out only reviewing two and one of them isn’t even the one I was supposed to be reviewing in the first place.

In place of HTG was the very quiet and demure Raianne Richards. Raianne is in another group I saw a couple of months ago, The Accident That Led Me To This World, and I would much prefer to see her do her own stuff in a setting like the church I saw The Accident in. The Java Hut was very chatty this evening and Raianne’s soft sounds were no match for the throng of hopped up coffee heads waiting in line for their next fix. I know from prior experiences that she has a very sweet voice though and like I said, I’d love to see her in a more respectful environment.

I'm recuperating from a fantastic night with Jim Carroll at the Middle East. I just wanted to share this photo.

What a great time it was!

That's my review.

Huck CD Release Show
Ralph's Diner
Worcester MA
November 5, 2005

I have never listened to a Huck album and until last night I have never owned one. I won't listen to this one either because I know a couple of 16 year old twins that love the band and would appreciate the CD more than I ever would. To me, going to a Huck show is a social experience. You go, see your friends, drink, chat, listen to unobtrusive music, dance and have a good time. A Huck show is always a good time and I would estimate that since the band's inception in the early nineties, I have seen them around 100 times.

That being said, I have never been a fan of Huck. I was a big fan of Scott's old band Childhood and am old enough to remember when they were the biggest band in the state. Yes. I am that guy. The one who says "Remember when music was great? Remember when Ralph's was packed at 10pm every weekend? Remember when Childhood won the WBCN Rumble and were the best band around?" That's me now. The problem is I do remember all of that and things were different "back in the day" and I always thought of Huck as Childhood Lite. Sure the songs were good: All four of them that seemed to repeat over and over for a one hour set. That's how I thought of Huck. Did I mention that I never listened to a Huck album ever?

Ralph

The Mars Volta have been lumped in with a variety of musical genres.
I have heard them called alternative, acid rock, emo, progressive, space rock, and someone even compared them to Led Zeppelin. I have seen some of the best, most talented musicians that ever lived and have seen many different styles

It is a pretty safe bet that most roots rockers in Worcester have at least heard of Bob Jordan, but he remains an unknown beyond that realm. His new disc, Bound to Serve, could change that. Or perhaps should. On Bound, local legend Jordan serves up a collection of cover songs filtered by his strange ear.

This show was quite a surprise to me. I went to Vincent's with a group to celebrate the Gabe and there they were. This was root pop at it's best in the perfect setting. They stood in the corner belting out their twang that made me think of Steve Earl, the Jayhawks and all that is good about the genre.

The band, from Boston, featured Paul Candilore on lead guitar, who's strat tone echoed Lost Highway and tasteful lead lines tore right through me. John Cate's songs jumped from old country ballads to killer pop rock. Steve Latt was the Jose Oquendo of the band, jumping around on peddle steel, mandolin and fiddle. A very adaquit player, he did his job of adding color to Cate's fence riding roots pop. The songs at times were a bit repetitive, but you tend to get that when you watch a band playing mostly originals for two hours.

Leif Garrett 7/21/04 @ The Lucky Dog Music Hall, Worcester MA


Better than I expected. I was totally expecting him to completely blow. He's actually got a pretty good voice...though he probably would have been better if he wasn't shitfaced. His band was very good. The lead guitarist was phenomenal...very tasteful sound and solos. I thought his original songs were mostly pretty good. If he wasn't Leif Garrett, and I randomly saw them at a club, I would be impressed.

This is kind of an odd thing to review, as it isn't one CD from any particular band, but it's a review of an internet radio station.

I found Soma FM in San Francisco through Itunes' radio station listings and it has been one of the few music-based radio programs that I have bothered listening to over the last year or so.