Around Hear
Just when the mournful moans about the Lazer’s change of format finally seemed to have died down, along came Spirit Fest to resurrect the lamentations. In years past, the station hosted a modern-rock stage that drew cutting-edge acts, such as Moby, while allowing local bands to perform in front of the sizable crowds those artists attracted. By contrast, Spirit Fest 2000 separated the local acts into a balmy tent, which at least sported the glamorous-sounding title of “Modern Rock Pavilion.” But David George of Moaning Lisa had played on the Lazer stage with Engine, an early incarnation of his current group, and though he gives the pavilion passing marks, he admits to fond memories of the previous format.
“I was a little disappointed after years of seeing it move from local to regional to national bands on the stage to be playing in a cafeteria mess-hall tent with the lights on,” he says. “But I enjoyed it, especially being up against Night Ranger and Rick Springfield. We had one of the biggest crowds on the local stage. We had fun, sold CDs, and had a good show. We have a large, young female following right now, and they were rocking out. Then there were a couple of young guys with baggy pants hanging around their asses and backwards baseball caps, who didn’t look like our usual kind of fan, but they were digging it. I think there were a few people there who didn’t know who we were, who just happened to be walking by on their way to see Night Ranger, but we gave it everything we could, and I think we acquired a few more fans.”
Playing on a summer night at 8 is one thing, but playing at 4 p.m. is quite another. Ask The Hillary Step, who scored that unforgiving slot on Saturday. “It was really, really hot,” singer/guitarist Brad Hodgson emphasizes repeatedly. “I kept pouring cups of water over my head. I almost fainted. It was ridiculous.” Perhaps the heat scared away fans, because Hodgson reports playing in front of a scant crowd. Not surprisingly, he longs for the Spirit Fest of yesteryear.
“I’m anxious for the stage to come back and for a radio station to support it,” he says. “It’s like Christmas when you’re older and you find out there’s no Santa Claus. Before, everything was so advertised and exciting, but now there wasn’t any radio station to get behind it, and you didn’t hear much about it at all.”
Faring better on Saturday night was the jazzy rap/rock sextet Shudderbug, luring in a sizable crowd whose members mostly were too young to be nostalgic for the commercial rap of the early ’90s or for the ordinary stylings of jaded former Eagle Joe Walsh. The band also benefited from cooler temperatures, breaking only a mild sweat despite accentuating each of its raucous choruses with plenty of jumping.
“Honestly, it’s hotter in clubs, with all the stage lights beating down on you,” says Adam ‘AC’ Schlicht, one of the group’s vocalists. “And at least there was a breeze. There were a good 150 people there, and we sold about 15 CDs, so we were actually incredibly happy with it. It was one of our better shows. Hopefully, they’ll have us back next year, and they’ll have the rock stage.”
Sunday’s overcast skies offered welcome respite to the evening’s openers, The Daybirds, whose breezy Beatles-esque concoctions entertained about 50 scattered onlookers. Meanwhile, one area group took advantage of an opportunity to perform on one of the big stages, with the added bonus of a hip crowd that rushed to the front to secure positions for headliners Guided By Voices and Kottonmouth Kings.
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“They gave us the choice between closing the local stage Saturday night and having the first slot on the main stage on Sunday, and we wanted to play on the real stage, although we didn’t think there would be a lot of people,” says Pomeroy’s Matt Marron. “It was cool, man. There were actually quite a few people, and the band that was supposed to play after us canceled, so we got to play even longer.”
After representing Manhattan (and now Omaha, its current hometown) from 5 to 6:30, Pomeroy took to the road to play a show in Omaha at 10:30, making it an extreme night for even these road warriors. The group will travel to Salina, Omaha, Colorado Springs, Denver, Manhattan, and Hays, Kansas, in the next few weeks, with Friday night’s stop at The Bottleneck giving local fans another chance to catch the ensemble in action. Following this string of dates, Pomeroy will start recording a new album on September 25. Marron de-scribes the record as an eclectic affair, with everything from “old-school Stevie-Wonder-type stuff” to such unorthodox instruments as Hammond organ and clavinet. A cover of the country chestnut “Devil Went Down to Georgia” is even scheduled to make an appearance, and “Roboflow,” the infectious single from the band’s debut release, will show up again in altered form, with plenty of keyboards added to the mix.
As for the rest of the Spirit-ed acts, Moaning Lisa joins Pomeroy at The Bottleneck on Friday night before playing Mike’s Tavern on Saturday. The Day-birds, whose Spirit Fest gig was one of five shows in six nights, will take a short break before heading out to Portland, Oregon, to perform at the North by Northwest conference. Shudderbug, also at work on a new release, has no gigs booked, but a recent concert at The Granada with Moaning Lisa is available in streaming-video format at www.digitalclubnetwork.com. After several lineup changes, which saw Haloshifter’s John Ferguson and former Believe It Or Notter Greg Franklin serving brief stints in the band, The Hillary Step is again a trio and is again providing more of its intricate, beautiful songs with those sudden and stirring twists and turns. Hodgson and company will showcase some of their new material at El Torreon on Friday night, with Traindodge and Jade Raven sharing the bill.
D.C. on KC: “I love it here”
Chicago offered such guitarists as Buddy Guy a place sharpen their ax-slinging skills, but it also deserves a reputation as a breeding ground for soul, having produced Superfly‘s crooner with a conscience, Curtis Mayfield. D.C. Bellamy was lucky enough to grow up close to the pulse of both movements, with Mayfield, his half-brother, practicing with his band The Impressions in the family’s living room. In between running errands for Mayfield’s group backstage, Bellamy, a “mannish boy” in the blues tradition, spent his teen years jamming with local players, learning life lessons and licks all at once.
When Chicago saxophonist Abb Locke moved to Kansas City, Kansas, and called on D.C. to join him, Bellamy brought his California-raised daughter, Cassandra, along to visit, and both were immediately enamored of the city.
“My daughter loved it here,” Bellamy explains, recalling how she marveled when friendly strangers waved to him on the street. “And it’s perfect for me, because I like to live in a slow mode. It’s easier on the mind here. It’s not a rat race.”
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Without the big-city pace to contend with, Bellamy allotted more energy to his creative output, which resulted in Water to Wine, his first recorded effort. Also, he tapped into the local talent pool, which he describes as “great,” to find musicians such as drummer James ‘Spoon’ Wilson, pianist Harrison Irons, and bassist Ben Shult, all of whom appear on the album. After three decades of performance, Bellamy has played everything from jazz to R&B, but this 12-song disc isn’t a compilation of tracks from each era of his career. These songs capture his relatively recent embrace of the blues — though he incorporates other elements instead of churning out standard shuffles or adding a searing rock flavor like many Texas-raised contemporary performers. Bellamy’s stellar vocals, which waver with undiluted emotion in a manner reminiscent of the Kings of blues (Albert, Freddie, and B.B), fuel the finished product.
There’s some danceable grooves on Water to Wine, but those who want to please the performer during his CD release party will stay still on Friday night at B.B.’s Lawnside BBQ when Bellamy starts to sing.
“I don’t think Kansas is actually used to being entertained,” he says. “And the musicians aren’t used to entertaining people. Where I come from, the only time you danced was when the band was playing. When somebody got up to sing, you were supposed to be entertained, and everybody would actually sit down. When I saw Bobby Bland here, it was a shock to see him on stage singing and everybody up dancing. When I get on stage, I entertain automatically. I don’t just stand there and sing like a record player. I sit there and I talk to my audience. I expect them to get involved with what I’m doing, not to just dance. If that’s all they want to hear is music, the band can play instrumentals.”
Longer Detour Under Construction
Although she didn’t perform at Spirit Fest, Kristie Stremel’s schedule has been packed. Last week, she teamed up with touring artists Tina and Sister Seven for the second time this year. Seeing Stremel live might be the only way for fans of the emotionally charged singer/songwriter to get their fix in the months to come; Stremel says she has no plans to release more copies of the nearly sold-out Detour EP after the initial 1,000 are gone. The prolific Stremel, who has written 16 more tunes since its release, says she won’t be moving any of the Detour tracks onto the new record, making this soon-to-be-out-of-print album even more of a collector’s item. But there’s consolation for those who are too late to capture recorded evidence of Stremel’s rollicking signature song, “What Gives,” and such poignant slow-paced standards as “Strong” and “White Trash Ballad.” Some of the yet-unrecorded gems that power Stremel’s set, such as the anthemic “Miracle” and the heartwrenching “Single Day,” might be available on disc by early next year. “All of the songs are written, and we’ll probably start recording in a couple of months,” reports Stremel, who plans to release the upcoming full-length herself. In the meantime, she continues to search for a rhythm section, as her current drummer, Beth Robinson, and bassist, Danny Chapman, are both headed out to California. The next chance to catch Stremel in rockin’ full-band form is Wednesday, September 27, at The Hurricane, but she’ll be playing stripped-down acoustic versions of her songs, accompanied only by guitarist Chris Meck, at The Other Side on Tuesday night.
Punk Pride
The last time a punk-leaning local band composed entirely of teenagers attracted attention, Hanson-mania was at its peak, meaning The Gadjits had to endure dozens of inane comparisons to the teeny-Mmm-boppers. Thankfully, times have changed. In the past week alone, poor Hanson appeared in Entertainment Weekly‘s “losers” column and bore the brunt of one of the Wayans brothers painfully unfunny jokes at the MTV Video Music Awards. Today’s boy bands tend to have members older than the twenty-somethings who played teens on 90210, so Lost Pride’s impressive thrashy tunes might well be judged on their own merit despite the fact that the quartet’s members range from 15 to 18. The group has showcased its 13-song set at venues such as the Pirate House and Gee Coffee, and the band faces its most high-profile gig to date, alongside National Fire Theory and Link 80 at El Torreon on Friday night. Following this concert, the band plans to take a hiatus, during which singer/guitarist Brent Pride says Lost Pride will perfect an intriguing new hybrid sound. “We call it ‘heartcore,'” he says. “It’s emo-ish-feeling hardcore stuff. It’s more talented and powerful.” For those who have grown accustomed to the group’s tight transitions between fast and faster, the group will soon release a split 7-inch single with Lawrence’s political punk heroes, Controlled. It will serve as a definitive document of Lost Pride’s pre-emo-influenced arsenal.
