Cafe Eleven

Pierce Pettis

Sunday June 17th, 2007 - $12

A former staff writer for PolyGram Publishing in Nashville, Pettis’ musical career was started in 1979 when Joan Baez covered one of his songs, “Song at the End of the Movie”, on her album Honest Lullaby. Following that release, Pettis became heavily involved in the “Fast Folk movement” in New York in the 1980s alongside artists such as Shawn Colvin and Suzanne Vega.
In 1984, Pettis released his first independent solo album, Moments, followed by a string of releases for High Street Records; While the Serpent Lies Sleeping, Tinseltown and Chase the Buffalo. None of these releases have made Pettis a household name, but his music has become extremely popular with other artists. His songs have been covered by artists like Dar Williams (”Family” on Mortal City), Garth Brooks (”You Move Me” on Sevens), Dion & the Belmonts, Sara Groves, Randy Stonehill and others.

In the early 1990s, Pettis developed a working relationship with songwriter and producer Mark Heard. Pettis was performing with Heard at the Cornerstone Festival in July of 1992, when Heard had a heart attack on stage. Heard finished the show, but died the following August. That event began a tradition for Pettis, who has started off each of his albums with one of Heard’s songs since 1993’s Chase the Buffalo, where he recorded Heard’s “Nod Over Coffee”. Other Heard covers include “Satellite Sky” (1996’s Making Light of It), “Tip of My Tongue” (1998’s Everything Matters), “Rise from the Ruins” (2001’s State of Grace) and “Another Day in Limbo” (2004’s Great Big World.) Pettis also appeared on a 1994 tribute to Heard entitled Strong Hand of Love.

In 1996, Pettis signed on with Compass Records and released Making Light of It, produced by David Miner (T-Bone Burnett, Elvis Costello), and featuring Derri Daugherty and Steve Hindalong of The Choir.

Two years later Everything Matters was released, produced by Grammy award winning Gordon Kennedy (who is best known for co-writing Eric Clapton’s “Change the World.”) Pettis followed that release with State of Grace in 2001, which featured cover art by the late southern folk artist Howard Finster.

Steve Forbert

Friday April 13th, 2007 - $15

Anointed “the new Dylan” upon his recording debut, folk-rock singer/songwriter Steve Forbert was born in Meridian, MS, in 1955. After learning guitar at age 11, he spent his high school years playing in a variety of local bands before quitting his job as a truck driver and moving to New York City at the age of 21. There, he performed for spare change in Grand Central Station before working his way up to the Manhattan club circuit.

After signing to Nemperor, Forbert debuted in 1978 with Alive on Arrival, which earned critical acclaim for its taut, poetic lyrics. The follow-up, 1979’s Jackrabbit Slim, was his most successful outing, reaching the Top 20 on the strength of the hit single “Romeo’s Tune” (allegedly inspired by the late Supreme Florence Ballard). However, both 1980’s Little Stevie Orbit and a self-titled 1982 effort fared poorly, and Forbert was dropped by his label. He spent much of the decade in Nashville, where he continued honing his songwriting skills and performed regularly throughout the South. In 1988, he signed to Geffen, where the E Street Band’s Garry Tallent produced his comeback album, Streets of This Town. Pete Anderson took over the production reins for 1992’s The American in Me, but Forbert’s continued lack of chart success prompted the label to cut him loose. A deal with the Warner Bros.-affiliated Giant label resulted in two more studio albums, 1995’s Mission of the Crossroad Palms and 1996’s Rocking Horse Head, but in 1998 Forbert moved into independent territory for his next album, the rollicking live set Here’s Your Pizza. Forbert signed with Koch Records for his next studio disc, 2000’s Evergreen Boy, where he also released Any Old Time (a tribute to country music legend Jimmie Rodgers) in 2002 and Just Like There’s Nothin’ To It (a collection of new songs) in 2004. During this period, Forbert also released two compilations of rare and unreleased material, Young, Guitar Days and More Young, Guitar Days, as well as several live recordings. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

Steve Forbert Live

The Six Parts Seven, A Slight Breeze

Sunday March 25th, 2007 - $7

However, maybe you should be slightly afraid of the contents embedded on the disc lurking beneath our Nordic friend. See, Casually Smashed To Pieces isn’t your typical “album.” No, Kent, Ohio’s Six Parts Seven haven’t so much redefined their sound as they’ve transcended it here, bringing in new sonic elements, textures and feelings to weave a tapestry as sprawling as the Himalayas. In other words, forget what you think the disc sounds like - because, chances are, you’re wrong.

“The thing about Six Parts Seven is we’re fans of music rather than musicians first,” explains guitarist/bassist/arranger Allen Karpinski, who - alongside his drumming brother Jay Karpinski, guitarist Tim Gerak and bass guitarist Mike Tolan - makes up the musical core of 6P7. “None of us are trained or anything like that; this band has always been a work in progress and over time we’ve just gotten better at assimilating all the things we love into the music.” Abstractly drawing from mid-90’s Touch and Go Records roster, the band have thoroughly recontextualized their influences to create something wholly unique with Casually Smashed To Pieces

Adrian Legg, Tony Smotherman

Tuesday March 13th, 2007 - $12

Impossible to categorize as a player, Adrian Legg incorporates virtually every genre on his guitar in a virtuosic instrumental style with effects. He brought electric approaches to acoustic playing, creating a modern cross-over amalgamation in the tradition of eclectic folk playing that goes back to the 1960s.”
- Guitar by Richard Chapman, 2000

“There are guitarists, there are axe-wielding maniacs, and then there are wizards. Adrian Legg is one of the wizards. He has enough technique to do just about anything he wants, but also the sensitivity to honour the contours of a melody.” - Philadelphia Enquirer, Aug. 5, 2000

Adriann Legg

Maria Taylor

Thursday March 8th, 2007 - $7
w/ Apollo Sunshine
Verde
Christine Wagner

From glistening piano pop to melancholy acoustic gems, Maria Taylor has come into her own as a solo artist, and nothing cements this fact like Lynn Teeter Flower. Having grown up in a house full of musicians, Maria Taylor first gave the masses a taste of her gorgeous, mellifluous voice in the band Azure Ray. In 2005, Maria branched out on her own with a critically-acclaimed album, entitled 11:11, which established her as a master story teller with a flare for perfect, harmony-soaked melodies. With Lynn Teeter Flower, she takes her songcraft one step further, mixing together soaring guitars, bubbly electronics, feathery farfisa organs and sugary layers of vocals into the sweetest confection of an album you’ll hear all year.

Maria Taylor “Song Beneath The Song”

Apollo Sunshine
Since the release of their 2003 spinART debut album, Katonah, Apollo Sunshine has thrilled audiences. Their unique and eclectic sound - from avant-garde noise experiment to ultra-melodic pop, to rock, to punk (sometimes all within one song), combined with quite possibly one of the best live shows you will ever see (a controlled rock chaos of pedal steel, guitar, bass, double necked guitar/bass combo, two handtaped-together keyboards/samplers, percussion, drums and how the hell does he play bass with his left hand, keyboard with his right and sing lead vocal?!), have left audiences screaming, dedicated, breathless and unable to hold still!

The New York Times says “…in its own songs, bouncy 60’s-style melodies crack wide open, breaking into outbursts of pummeling and feedback before jumping back into the tune. It’s all neatly and cleverly plotted, but with a looming chaos that’s anything but nostalgic.”

Apollo Sunshine @CMJ

Hot Buttered Rum String Band

Sunday March 4 th, 2007 - $12

In the short time since Hot Buttered Rum debuted its music, dubbed as a “High Altitude Acoustic Experience,” the band has been praised by fans, peers and national media alike, recognizing Hot Buttered Rum for their ‘stunning instrumental and vocal virtuosity.’ Hot Buttered Rum is attracting a truly multi-generational audience with its ability to create an undeniably hip and fresh sound that weaves together the grounded traditions of folk and bluegrass with the modern influences of rock-n-roll, reggae and acoustic singer/songwriters. Hot Buttered Rum’s musical evolution has not only defined their sound, with their extensive touring schedule,the band has become established as one of the nation’s hottest young touring acts since setting off as a group of friends on a trail in the high sierras in the early part of the decade to emerge as a band, appropriately named, Hot Buttered Rum.

Relix Magazine praised Hot Buttered Rum’s “stunning instrumental and vocal virtuosity.”

“Few things rejuvenate the soul like a warm fireside drink after an exhausting day in the snow. Hot Buttered Rum has that effect. Their original songs are instantly familiar and inviting, and their easygoing versions of timeless classics (the Beatles, Hank Williams) belie the intricacy of the arrangements.” –San Francisco Chronicle

The Hot Buttered Rum String Band Live

Chess Club

Every Wednesday is:
Dance Night to Indie, 80’s, and electro pop music.
10pm-1AM Ages 18-20 is $5 @ door, 21 & up is $3

Coco Montoya

Thursday February 22nd, 2007 - $15

Though he grew up as a drummer and was raised on rock roll, Coco Montoya became an outstanding blues guitarist in the ’90s after stints in the bands of Albert Collins and John Mayall. Montoya debuted as a leader in 1995 with the Blind Pig album Gotta Mind to Travel and garnered an award for Best New Blues Artist at the following year’s Handy Awards ceremonies.

Born in Santa Monica, Montoya played drums for a local rock band that toured the region during the mid-’70s, playing in area clubs. Although he had recently been turned on to blues at an Albert King show, he was somewhat unprepared to sit in with another blues legend — “the Iceman” Albert Collins — when a bar-owner friend of Montoya invited the bluesman to play at his nightclub. Though his inexperience showed, the young drummer impressed Collins enough to hire him for a Pacific Northwest tour three months later. The tour soon ended, but the pair’s affiliation remained for more than five years, while Montoya learned much about the handling of blues guitar from “the Master of the Telecaster.”

By the early ’80s, Coco Montoya was back in the small-time nightclub business, playing guitar with several regional bands. At one night’s show, he realized that John Mayall was in the audience, so he dedicated a cover of “All Your Love” to the British blues maestro. The song prompted Mayall to hire Montoya as lead guitarist for a new version of the Bluesbreakers he had formed. Despite the enormous pressure of filling a spot once held by Eric Clapton and Peter Green, Montoya jumped at the opportunity.

His first album with the Bluesbreakers came in 1985. Mayall had not released an album in five years at that point and the Bluesbreakers had been dead for more than 15, but the live album Behind the Iron Curtain proved Mayall’s viability thanks mostly to the fiery work of Montoya. The guitarist appeared on three studio albums with Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, but then struck out on his own by the mid-’90s. Signed to Blind Pig, Montoya released Gotta Mind to Travel in 1995 with help from Mayall and another former Bluesbreaker compatriot, rhythm guitarist Debbie Davies. After years of toil under Collins and Mayall, Montoya was finally in the spotlight and his award as Best New Blues Artist of 1996 proved quite ironic, given his years of experience. His second album, Ya Think I’d Know Better, was followed by 1997’s Just Let Go. At that point, Montoya and Blind Pig parted company and he signed with Alligator Records. Suspicion was released in 2000, followed two years later by Can’t Look Back, a disc that incorporated a definitive soul/RB approach.

Against Me

Tuesday February 20th, 2007 - $13

The roots of Against Me!’s rousing punk-folk sound lie in Tom Gabel’s guitar-and-stool troubadourship around his native Gainesville, FL, beginning in 1997. The then 17-year-old Gabel performed as a solo act wherever anyone would have him, drawing much influence from early acoustic protest music. The band around him would eventually solidify by 2001 — including guitarist James Bowman, drummer Warren Oakes, and bassist Andrew Seward — and get considerably louder as punk bands often do. But there would always be some anarchism and Billy Bragg in the raucous braggadocio. After a few initial 12″ and 7″ releases, Against Me! issued the fan-favorite Reinventing Axl Rose through No Idea in 2002. The underground hit blended elements of punk, folk, and country into socially conscious and impassioned anthems for late-night basement shows and bars. Continuing their reputation of always being on the road, countless tour dates were played around the country. The slightly more polished As the Eternal Cowboy followed from Fat Wreck in 2003, and after a DVD (We’re Never Going Home) and another 7″, the band returned with their most mature effort to date, 2005’s Searching for a Former Clarity. A subsequent headlining tour in support of the introspective and politically aggressive album saw the band proudly hitting every U.S. state. They signed to Sire Records in December 2005 and were back on the road by spring 2006 opening for the Alkaline Trio. That summer found Against Me! on the main stage at Warped Tour, their first time on the festival. Though the guys were officially now on the roster at Sire, they released the live album Americans Abroad!!! Against Me!!! Live in London!!! on Fat Wreck in August 2006. Recorded while on tour in London with Murder By Death, it harnessed the band’s notoriously invigorating live show as well as any album could.

Against Me “Don’t lose touch”

Hammell on Trial

Friday -Feb. 2nd, 2007 - $8

Bad ass singer/songwriter, joke-telling Hamell On Trial defies all musical categories. “Punk acoustic” and “anti-folk” come close. Warbling, super-sensitive folk singer he definitely is not. If you’re looking for cum-bye-yah by some soft-strumming, tearful folkie, Hamell On Trial is going to offend you. On stage his raw, bold energy has Rolling Stone magazine calling him a “homicidal Otto Preminger.” On more than one occasion, opening act Hamell On Trial sent the headliner band, with all its Marshall amplifiers and Les Paul guitars, running for cover. “I’m a rock and roll show. Period,” Hamell says. “I love Iggy and the Stooges, Lou Reed, the MC5. Folk singers bore me. Insincerity incites me.”

Hamell on Trial Live

Dr. Dog

Tuesday - Feb. 27th, 2007 - $8

Dr. Dog is a psychedelic rock band from Philadelphia consisting of members Scott McMicken (A.K.A. Taxi), Toby Leaman (Tables), Zach Miller (Text), Juston Stens (Trouble), and Sukey Jumps (Thanks). Past members include Doug O’Donnell (Truck), Ted Mark (Today), and Andrew Jones (Trial).

DR. Dog has explained that friends of the band also receive nicknames, which are drawn from various aspects of their lives and personalities (Jones, for example, is a certified lawyer). Their sound has been compared to that of various 1960s pop bands, especially the Beatles and Doo-wop, as well as The Flaming Lips.

Before 2004, the band was not well-known, and was often mistaken for a hip-hop group due to their name. The group had a small fanbase until My Morning Jacket brought them on tour. Soon after, The New York Times music critic Kelefa Sanneh praised the group’s album Easy Beat in a December 2004 article, leading to attention from other critics. They signed with Rough Trade Records and completed their first cross-country tour in 2005. Late 2005 saw the departure of Jones, who became a full-time lawyer. Jones was replaced by S. Jumps.
In early 2006 the group toured Europe and the US with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and has also been the opening band for The Strokes’ 2006 tour in Detroit, Cleveland in the United States of America, as well as a tour with The Raconteurs, and The Black Keys in the fall of 2006.

In September of 2006, Dr. Dog released a new EP, Takers and Leavers. The title, presumably drawing from terms coined in Daniel Quinn’s, Ishmael. The first 1000 bought had custom covers. The regular EP was for sale later in September. The EP will feature the song Ain’t It Strange and Die, Die Die; both will be on their LP, We All Belong, coming out in February. Another song from their up coming album is featured on the soundtrack for the movie Fast Food Nation.

Dr. Dog “Fool’s Life”

Catie Curtis

Sunday - Feb. 25th, 2007 - $15

Catie Curtis delivers her most personal effort to date with Long Night Moon, an intricate work of stripped down modern folk. With grace and confidence, a more mature Curtis mingles reflections on motherhood (New Flowers), cold New England winters (Hey California) and delayed gratification (Long Night Moon, a song written about waiting for the belated arrival of her adopted baby daughter) with the unflinching dedication to social issues that has long characterized her strongest work.

Long Night Moon features the track People Look Around for which Curtis (along with co-writer Mark Erelli) was honored with the Grand Prize in this year’s International Songwriting Competition (out of 15,000 entries from 82 countries). People Look Around addresses the human toll and the divisive political landscape that arose in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Catie Curtis Video for “People Look Around”