Saturday, October 16
Karma Theory w/ Katie Kerkhover
Buster’s, 9 P.M. $5. 18+
There’s an age at which one can no longer muster the idealism and earnestness of youth, but only observe it with a wry smile and nostalgia for a simpler time, a time when the lyrics you sing so passionately in the car change in character, from hopeful to disappointed, and so we begin taking anti-depressants and complaining about the neighbors.
When you go see Karma Theory and Katie Kerkhover, then, you will experience one of two effects, depending on how far your wheel of life has turned:
If ye be yet a youngster, you will leave Buster’s hoarse, sweaty, and utterly exhilarated, for the performance you have witnessed speaks to your very core, and you could not help but writhe about, in thrall to the rough guitars and high harmonies and pounding rhythms and ardent looks on the bass guitarist’s face. (Or stand there and sort of quiver, depending on your religious denomination and present relationship with it).
Or, if thine teeth have grown long, you will stand off a bit, tap your foot, and watch the writhing and quivering, realizing that you could join them still if you’d only get over yourself, silly. But you don’t, because nostalgia is something to be taken out and then put away, and that you’re no longer 20, though you were really happy when the cashier at the Thornton’s near your work carded you for cigarettes the other day. —Buck Edwards
Sunday, October 17
AutoVaughan w/ Will Hoge
Cosmic Charlie’s, 7 P.M. 21+
In certain circles, the word “pop” as applied to modern music has acquired a stigma. The smart music fan blames soap stars Rick Springfield and Jack Wagner for this, and rightly so, but he/she should remember that the Beatles were pop. Simon and Garfunkel was pop. The Stone Roses were pop. Huey Lewis and the News were pop.
None of those bands sound much like AutoVaughan, but they played very, very good pop. What do AutoVaughan sound like, then? They sound like the lovechild of Stephen Malkmus and Gwyneth Paltrow, having already borne the fruit of Chris Martin and thus a carrier of that gene. Got it? And don’t you say a bad word about Huey Lewis, punk. —BE
Friday, October 22
Eric Wilkinson book release w/ The Dialectics
Al’s Bar, 9 P.M.
Throughout the 1990s I was a regular consumer of hip-hop. This was the golden age, of course, of Dre and Snoop, and Nas and Jay, and Pac and Biggie. I really dug the emphasis groups such as A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots, and Guru placed on musicality, but as the millenium turned, those sorts of sounds fell out of the mainstream, and it got more and more difficult to locate them amid the wash of club anthems that dominated the radio.
But here’s one now: Lexington’s Dialectics know that there’s still a place for smart lyrics and a DJ who knows his way around a crate. Later, the band’s poet/rapper/impresario Eric Wilkinson will read selections from his latest book, “Black Through a Distortion Pedal.” Yes, yes y’all. —Keith Halladay
Saturday, October 23
Kati Penn & Newtown w/ Maggie Lander
Natasha’s, 8 P.M. $8.
I love bluegrass, and there’s a lot of good groups in the region, a fact for which we should be ever thankful. But great bluegrass bands are still rare, the sort of bands who put every note in just the right place, who hit harmonies so fine you think you might swoon, and who make the old stuff sound brand new and the new stuff sound like you’ve known it for years. Such is Kati Penn and Newtown. Maggie Lander’s gorgeous fiddle kicks it off. —KH
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