Thursday, May 17, 2007

THE STAR SPANGLES will be at Fontana’s, NYC
(105 Eldridge St. between Broome and Grand)
on Thursday, May 24th, 10pm
Tickets: a mere $6
Their second album, “Dirty Bomb” out now on Tic Records
CD available at CDBaby
Downloads available at Amie St. and Myspace
and don't forget the good ol' NY rock of The New York Loose at the Dirty Water Club tomorrow night (Friday 18th) and tell Brijitte + Co we sent you!
Gary Lucas @ Tivoli De Helling, Utrecht 16/052007

Just got back from catching Lucas & Co. playin’ only two blocks away from HQ.
Truth be told it was the “& Co.” part that made me venture outside once again, as Mr Lucas backing band consisted of Jerry Harrison (Modern Lovers/Talking Heads), Billy Ficca (Television) and Ernie Brooks (Modern Lovers).
As for Gary, I’m only familiar with the stuff he did with Captain Beefheart, but just one Google search makes it obvious that the guy has been very prolific over the years.

Upon entry it was sad to learn that Harrison wasn’t there, since he apparently lost his passport and was still stuck in NYC... Still, two out of three wasn’t too bad. Ficca bein’ one of the best skin beaters I’ve ever witnessed, and Brooks fully able to anchor whatever rhythms with his fluid bass playin’. So it was too bad that Gary Lucas turned up his guitar histrionics at least twice as loud as the rest of the band (bad enough for the rhythm section, but there was absolutely no audio on the saxophone guy that seemed to pump a lot of air around durin’ their set) Highlights were few ‘n far between, and generally appeared when Lucas took a break from playin’ as many notes as possible, most notably in their take of Abdullah Ibrahim’s Bra Joe From Kilimanjaro. But I also dug the moment where some Jack Johnson-era Miles Davis tune gave way to Suicide’s Rocket USA via a short twist and that same duo’s Cheree... Anyways, I guess they’d be more organized with Harrison in tow, so Dutch readers might wanna check 'em out in Amsterdam tomorrow night...