Musical happenings in and around the Capital City
|
|
Toolbox
Published: February 5, 2010
It's the heart of winter around here, and things are slooowww. For instance, The Black Door, normally an every weekend venue in the city of the golden dome, has no music this weekend. Many decry the decline of our usually vibrant scene in the winter, but let's face it, there's just not that many people coming out. Fear not, though, dear local music lover, there is always something going on that's worth seeing around the capital region.
Take tonight at Langdon Street Café, for instance. After country-crooner Mark LeGrand kicks off his February happy hour residency with his Lovesick Band at 6 p.m., Burlington's Osage Orange make their debut at the cozy coffeehouse venue at the corner of Elm and Langdon in ol' Montpeculiar. The band puts an indie twist on their original tunes played on traditional instrumentation including banjo, fiddle and accordion. I caught them a few weeks ago at Charlie O's, and although they needed some seasoning; they are a band that holds a lot of promise. In a more appropriate venue like LSC, they could really shine. Singer-songwriter Jamie Kent opens the show at 9 p.m., for donations.
Saturday night at LSC, one of Vermont's finer musical acts takes the stage when alt-country/rock trio The Bow Thayer Band plays a CD release party for his latest release "Shooting Arrows at the Moon." His trio features guitarist Kristina Stykos and incomparable fiddler Patrick Ross, two of our area's most talented players, so I would expect this to be a great show. Bow's got a perfect country-blues voice, all gravelly smoke and whiskey-laden, and is an excellent songwriter ta boot. Definitely the pick of the weekend for fans of solid Americana starting at 8 p.m.
Around the corner at Charlie-O's tonight, authentic local roadhouse rockabilly royalty returns to their favorite venue when The Starline Rhythm Boys two-step their way to the back of the barroom to deliver some of the finest old-school country this side of Lake Champlain. The boys love O's, and O's loves the boys, so head on down and give Danny Coane and company a fine audience to play to starting at 10 p.m.
Saturday night at O's, it's rockabilly of a different sort when Boston's Whicked Whiskey returns to the ol' world famous with a more electrified, aggressive take on the genre. Featuring "a great blend of rock, country, surf-rock, rockabilly, and punk that will appeal to fans of each genre," they've become a house favorite at our local dive for nice people. They are also indicative of the more adventurous booking that O's has been doing lately (shout out to Beckie Shelosky for bringing in some fresh sounds to a venue that is difficult to book at best!). Yankee Blue Jeans open the show at 10 p.m., and, as always at Chuck's "never a cover."
Up the road in Morrisville tonight, The Bees Knees hosts one of Rutland's finest musical products when Rik Reddington plays the popular Mo-Vegas resto with bassist Heather Lynn. The dude's been busy lately, putting the finishing touches on a new album that features guests from the '60s era San Francisco band New Riders of the Purple Sage. The intimate acoustic performance begins at 7:30 p.m. for donations.
Looking for a band playing loose covers of songs you are exceedingly familiar with? If so, look no further than the Granite City tonight when local boys Native Tongue take their act to Gustos on Prospect Street in Barre. They'll start when they want to and play till they're finished, so there!
Though folks may not know it, there's live music every Tuesday night at The Main Street Bar and Grill in Montpelier. Manager Paul "Paulie" Mertz was kind enough to send me their schedule so that I can include them in this weekly preview, as they don't have it listed on a Web site. This Tuesday features Jairo Sequeirra and Tom Morse playing Spanish guitar and trumpet respectively for an evening of tunes with Latin flavor. And speaking of flavor, the tapas menu at Main Street has quite an array of 'em, and they got some great drink specials ta boot. The music starts at 7 p.m. and no cover.
Finally, on Wednesday at Charlie-O's, local ax-of-all-trades dude Jay Ekis plays a solo show of his singer-songwriter material starting at 9 p.m. Stop on out and support one of the hardest-working musicians our area has to offer.
In closing I'd like to give a shout-out to my newest favorite place to dine and imbibe, The Three Penny Taproom. With food offerings as innovative as the beer, it's positively addicting. Rabbit in pilsner? Duck in lager? Tongue in porter? It's all good! And the soft pretzels are to die for. Truly an outstanding addition to the downtown scene, and one that's made me fall in love with beer all over again. Highly recommended for a stop while doing any live music jaunting in the capital – cheers!
Ed DuFresne is the former talent coordinator at Langdon Street Café, occasionally produces concerts, and books at various venues in the area on a freelance basis. He lives in Montpelier with owners of a local vintage clothing franchise and an annoying bird named Lucy.
17