Goodbye

(Photo from Fandango Records)

I heard today that Matthew Odietus, guitarist for the Candy Snatchers, died over the weekend. This is certainly sad news for many reasons. Matt was a wonderful rock musician and only 40 years old. It's sad for me personally, because the last Candy Snatchers show I saw (at the Taphouse a few months back) was by far the worst one I'd seen. At their best, the Snatchers were a ferocious rock and roll machine. The group I saw at The Taphouse was a much weakened version.

I'd like to supplant the memory of that last show with my recollection of the first time I saw Matt and the Candy Snatchers. It was at King's Head Inn, probably in 1994. They were opening for The Humpers. That night, Matt, Larry and the rest of the band rekindled my love of raw, fierce, feral rock 'n' roll. They inspired me. I wish I'd thanked Matt for that.

Don't Be Nervous

You'd expect a band with a name like The Sad Cobras to be some sort of mopey emo monstrosity. Well, folks, names don't always tell the tale. The Sad Cobras are a strange, yet tuneful band from Roanoke -- also home to the wonderfully weird Bastards of Fate.
They share members with The Young Sinclairs. But here's what you really need to know: They have super-catchy, off-kilter pop songs. They remind me of a more dance-oriented version of Camera Obscura or a more melodic version of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I plan on buying their CD "No More Graves" in a hurry. But in the meantime, I've been enjoying several tracks that have been floating around the mysterious InterWeb. I'm posting them here for you to enjoy. If you like 'em, consider shelling out for the disc. Or at least make an effort to hear the band whenever it makes it to Hampton Roads.

"Bernice"

"Hoof Prints"

"Body Cast"

While I don't know about any local Sad Cobras shows, it does look like the Young Sinclairs are playing Gallery 5 in Richmond tomorrow.

Oh, and one more thing. Here's a video of The Sad Cobras performing last year in Danville. Strange how often that old textile town's been coming up in conversation recently.

... And It Don't Stop

(MySpace photo of the Hieroglyphics)
Sometimes I'm amazed at what's floating around in Hampton Roads. I'm surprised that great shows slip into town without much notice -- despite the fact that I'm working hard to notice! Tonight's revelation is that a couple of pleasantly left-field hip-hop groups are playing Steppin' Out in Virginia Beach on July 27: The Hieroglyphics and Blue Scholars. As I learned, The Hieroglyphics are an underground hip-hop collective from Oakland, Calif. It was founded in the early 1990s by Del tha Funkee Homosapien. The Blue Scholars, meanwhile, are another free-thinking hip-hop crew from Seattle.
Rollie Ligart of 151 Productions is part of the team that's making this show happen. He recently posted a cry for help in getting the word out about the show. "If this show is successful we will continue bringing the GOOD hip hop shows to the area!!" he promised.

Looking Ahead

(Palominos photo/Myspace)

I heard a good report about last Thursday's Avett Brothers show at The Attucks Theatre in Norfolk. I missed that and several other fine musical happenings because I headed up to Brooklyn to visit friends and family and see the highly entertaining Gogol Bordello play at the Macarren Park Swimming Pool. Nice to be gone ... nice to be back home again.

Here are a few notes on upcoming shows worth your attention, time and greenbacks:

The Naro
June 29 -- Rylo with Little Trooper and Marshall Costan

Taphouse in Ghent
July 18 -- Palominos with Shifty
July 19 -- The Villains
July 24 -- Rylo (CHKD benefit)
Aug. 23 -- Federali CD release party

The Boot
Wednesday, June 25 -- Super Vacations, Mas Y Mas, The Royal Bangs
Monday, June 30 -- The Great White Jenkins and friends
July 9 -- Super Vacations, Gary War, Bomber
July 19 -- The Bastards of Fate, Mas Y Mas
Aug. 1 -- Deerhunter

The NorVa
Saturday, June 28 -- Modest Mouse with The Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Aug. 9 -- The Black Keys with Be Your Own Pet
Aug. 13 -- The Hold Steady

Town Point Park
Aug. 3 -- Larry Keel and Natural Bridge

Liberty IV
July 19 -- The Unabombers and Spazztic Creeps

Smithfield Times (outdoors)
July 18 -- Sheryl Warner and the Southside Homewreckers

Gettin' Twiggy Wit It

Tonight was a big night for rock in good ol' Norfolk. My beloved Avett Brothers played the Attucks Theatre. Pop fiends Everybody Else was at the 40th Street Stage. One of my favorite hometown bands, Little Trooper, was gettin' it on over at The Taphouse. For reasons that aren't important, I didn't get to see any of these shows. But I have been scanning the Internets for nuggets of information to pass on to you, the Toggle Switch consumer.

There's a particular brand of musical strangeness happening in Roanoke and a bit of it will be seeping into Richmond on Saturday , June 28. The Magic Twig Community, a collective of associated musicians and artists, is coming to Gallery 5 that night. On the bill are The Young Sinclairs, SUNKING!, The New Sound of Numbers, Gull and Hot Lava. (I'm sad that the lovely and excellent Sad Cobras won't be part of the action).

Next goal: to get the Twigsters down here in Norfolk.

Out of the Shadows

(Artwork by Jason@Fast Friends Inc)

A vinyl-only indie record label has sprouted in Norfolk and is releasing some interesting discs by a handful of bands both from here at home and far away. SHDWPLY Records posted the following bulletin this week:

"Go ahead unleash the gates and tell the whole planet about the release with WICKED POSEUR and LITTLE TROOPER split 7" on SHDWPLY RECORDS. The record will be released in a first pressing qty: 500 on splatter colored vinyl from the prisms of saturns teet'. No record will look the same. The artwork will consist of a high quality card stock cover with a four color silkscreened masterpiece. Available Aug."

"Wasn't Ready" is the Little Trooper tune on the split 7'' while "Acrylic Tomb" by Wicked Poseur, a band from Houston, Texas, is on the flipside.

Tonight, I spoke to Matt Beck, one of three folks who run the SHDWPLY label, and he said that the little cottage industry has been humming. A review last month on Pitchfork Media of a tune by Baltimore's Teeth Mountain helped spread the word about the label.

"We do everything ourselves. If it doesn't make sense for everybody, then we just don't do it," Beck said. "We split everything 50-50 with the bands ... All we know is we are selling records. We have a way of doing things and it's working."

Three SHDWPLY bands will go out on a national tour together this summer: Norfolk's Super Vacations, Brooklyn's Gary War and Baltimore's Teeth Mountain. Before all that excitement gets started Super Vacations have two hometown gigs scheduled, both at The Boot: June 25 and July 9.

Pagan River Blues

Sheryl Warner and the Southside Homewreckers are an acoustic blues trio dedicated to making authentic Southern music with modern flair. The Richmond-based group has released a new CD titled "Ride the Blinds." The disc includes their versions of blues tunes by Robert Lockwood Jr., Blind Willie McTell, Sonny Boy Williamson, the Rev. Gary Davis and Memphis Minnie. They also do "One Way Gal," a tune written by William Moore. While born in Georgia, Moore spent much of his life running a barber shop in Tappahannock, Virginia. "Paramount Records recorded him in 1928," the disc's line notes explain. "How they even knew of him and his music is a mystery."
It's no mystery how the Southside Homewreckers know about artists like Moore. This trio has done its homework.
The group features:
Sheryl Warner on vocals
Gregg Kimball on guitar, banjo and vocals
Rick Mason on harmonica and vocals

Sheryl Warner and the Southside Homewreckers are scheduled to perform a free, outdoor concert at the Smithfield Times newspaper in Smithfield at 8 p.m., Friday, July 18.

Mountain Men

(Jesse McReynolds photo from www.thebluegrassblog.com)

Before I get to the string-band subject at hand, here's a indie rock update: Tuesday night's show at The NorVa was wonderful. I got to hear most of Thao and the Get Down Stay Down. (I was impressed with her guitar chops and energy even if a friend of mine dismissed her off as "Vietnamese Cat Power"). And Rilo Kiley had a bit more fire in their playing compared to the last time I saw them at The NorVa. Fun stuff.
But the night's most memorable moment came from an unbilled performance by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. My wife Patty and I were flabbergasted. Holy crap! They played five songs. I think all of them were new. It was hard to hear details because most of the Rilo Kiley crowd talked straight through Gillian and David's performance. But wow, what a treat.

Moving on to today's news, I was happy to read about an excellent bluegrass festival happening June 26-28 in Rural Retreat, Virginia -- outside Wytheville. It's called the Song of the Mountains festival and it's notable for its general high quality, but also for a Saturday night that features Jesse McReynolds -- of Jim & Jesse fame -- as well as bluegrass cutups Special Ed & The Shortbus. Here's the whole lineup:

Thursday June 26
Goose Creek Symphony
Larry Sparks and The Lonesome Ramblers
Pine Mountain Railroad
Lou Reid and Carolina
Mac Puckett and the Good Company Band

Friday June 27
Rhonda Vincent & The Rage
Fescue
Michael Reno Harrell
Appalachian Trail
The Larkins

Saturday June 28
Jesse McReynolds and The Virginia Boys
No Speed Limit
Nuthin' Fancy
Jeanette Williams Band
Big Country Bluegrass
Special Ed & The Shortbus


Here is a nice YouTube video of one of Appalachian Trail playing live.

Tar Heel Harmony

Forgive me as I momentarily stretch the Toggle Switch geographic focus a few miles to the south.

When R.E.M. played Raleigh, N.C., earlier this week, they invited some old friends up on stage with them: Mitch Easter and Don Dixon. As you can see from this video, they provided guitar and backing vocals on "Sitting Still," which was the b-side to the band's Hib-Tone Records debut single. If you know your R.E.M. history, you know that Mitch and Don -- both giants on the N.C. rock scene -- produced and engineered the bands early recordings. So, it was a nice, full circle kind of thing seeing them performing together -- even if you can't really hear their guitars or singing in the mix.

Here's the link where I found the video. I found out about it from Mitch's MySpace page.

Good News for Modern Man

(Thao photo by Sarah Cass)
To counterbalance some of my whining in recent posts, I'd like to offer a pair of uplifting developments on the local scene.
Tonight, at The NorVa, Thao and The Get Down Stay Down will rock along with the excellent and eye-pleasing Rilo Kiley. I'm hoping to see at least part of Thao's set tonight. It's a priority because I've been kicking myself for missing Thao's Boot show earlier this year.
Speaking of The Boot ... that's where, on July 19, the prickly, poppy, punky sounds of Mas y Mas will rub up against those of the dazzlingly gonzo Bastards of Fate, a Roanoke band I've been hoping to hear for months now.

Yipeeeee!

Chocolate City

A few posts ago I griped about how bands I yearn to hear in Hampton Roads bypass our region in favor of places like ... Greenville, N.C. Now, I have a new ax to grind.
If you have any interest in old-time Southern music you've probably heard of the Carolina Chocolate Drops. A trio of black folks determined to reclaim some endangered African-American folk traditions, CCD are a band that's trying to do something artistically and culturally bold. They're also a hell of a lot of fun. At least, they seem to be from the video I've seen of the group. As far as I know, the Carolina Chocolate Drops have never played Hampton Roads. I certainly haven't been lucky enough to see them.
So ... does the band have an aversion to southeastern Virginia? A glance at the group's schedule for the next few months shows a few Virginia shows, but none of them in Hampton Roads.

June 20, North Theater, Danville
June 21, Sun Music Hall, Floyd
June 28, Blue Ridge Music Center, Galax
Sept. 19, Watermelon Park Festival, Berryville
Oct. 24, Mountain Music Benefit at Lyric Theater, Blacksburg
Oct. 25, Virginia Discovery Museum, Charlottesville

Folk-A-Rama

(Photo of Dan Tyminski by Mark Harvell)

This news broke last week -- an impressive first set of performers for the Richmond Folk Festival. The new event -- which is emerging from the National Folk Festival that was hosted by Richmond for a few years -- is certainly getting off on the right foot. Here's the press release:

"May 28, 2008 (Richmond, Va.) – The Richmond Folk Festival is excited to announce its first six performing groups for the 2008 inaugural festival taking place October 10-12, 2008, on downtown Richmond’s riverfront. In an exact likeness to the National Folk Festival held in Richmond, Virginia, from 2005 -2007, the Richmond Folk Festival will feature the best musicians in American Traditional Music.

Coming to the festival from Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the top bluegrass bands in America, The Dan Tyminski Band. Tyminski, a "Union Station" veteran has put together what people say is the hottest band in the land. Hailing from Lafayette, Louisiana, the performing group BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet, brings one of America’s premier Cajun bands and the leading ambassador of Cajun music.

From across the pond in Galway, Limerick and Dublin, Ireland, six young music masters, known as Líadan, who all happen to be women, will perform traditional Irish music. These women are a must see having everything it takes to become the next major global force in Irish traditional music. And from across the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii, two of the Islands’ most respected players of the slack-key and 12-string guitar, Ledward Ka’apana & Mike Kaawa, will join forces to grace this year’s festival with traditional Hawaiian music and song.

Howard Tate, a celebrated singer from the “golden age” of soul music, has caused quite a sensation by returning to the stage after a 30-year absence. This Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, native will perform Soul and R&B for audiences at this year’s Richmond Folk Festival. The festival will also feature original honky-tonk country. From Austin, Texas, comes the reigning "king" of uncompromising, deep country, Dale Watson."

I'm not familiar with Liadan, but the rest of this crew is positively first class. If the festival's goal was to grab attention with this initial sextet, they've done it.

The Kids Are All Wrong

(MySpace photo)
I haven't gotten to see the Virginia Beach punk band No Brass, but the handful of recordings I've sampled sound loud, scrappy, snotty and tight. I was happy to see that the band's demos are making some sort of splash in the blogosphere. Go here to read an obnoxious, intentionally offensive, morally indefensible interview with the band, perpetrated by Matt Ramone, who writes the Washington, D.C.-based blog The Kids Are All Dead. Also, a bulletin from the band itself announces that they're playing a free show at Volume CD Exchange in Virginia Beach tonight.

Roots Rock Reggae

The reggae scene in Hampton Roads has waxed and waned over my 14 or so years here. But there are always at least a few local bands keeping the sound of Jamaica alive. I was happy this week to learn more about Session Rockers, a reggae band that includes Biggs, the guitarist from Seed Is ... These guys are serious about their roots sound as you'll hear from the songs on the band's MySpace page. Biggs tells me the band is working on a full album. In the meantime, look for them at a club near you. They're set to play JM Randalls in Williamsburg this Saturday (opening for Seed Is ...) and HK on the Bay at Chicks Beach on June 12.