Music Tonight: New Orleans Jazz/Funk wunderkind Trombone Shorty grooves into Oakley tonight for a show at the 20th Century Theater. The young musician (who appeared on the HBO series Treme) will be joined by his band Orleans Avenue, delivering his unique mix of Funk, Jazz and Hip Hop. Last month, Shorty released For True, his followup to last year's breakthrough, Backatown, which spent nine weeks atop the Jazz charts and was nominated for a Grammy. For True is loaded with special guests, including Kid Rock, Warren Haynes, Jeff Beck, The Rebirth Brass Band and Lenny Kravitz, who gave Shorty his start as a member of his touring horn section in 2005. Showtime tonight is 8 p.m. and tickets are $25 at the door. Below, check out the video for new album track "Do To Me."—-
• Two of the more important bands in my formative music absorption years in the ’80s were Steve Albini's relentless, drum-machine driven Big Black and fellow Chicago Punk band Naked Raygun. Tonight, a member of both of the those bands is in town with his current project. Jeff Pezzati became the bassist for Big Black when his friend Albini asked him to join; he was also the lead singer, founding member and lone constant of Naked Raygun. Now (between Naked Raygun reunion activities), Pezzati is back fronting his band The Bomb, which is enough like Naked Raygun to appeal to old-school fans, but unique enough to please Punk/Post Punk fans who wouldn't know a Naked Raygun from a Jesus Lizard. The Bomb performs an intimate show at the Southgate House's Parlour tonight, joined by locals Knife the Symphony and tourmates The Magnificent and New Third Worlds. Tickets are $5 for drinking-aged patrons; $8 for those 18-20. Showtime is 9 p.m. Below, check out a live in-store performance by The Bomb (and a classic tune from the Raygun years). Read more here.
• Great (and free!) Indie Rock show at MOTR Pub tonight, as Matt Pond PA comes to Over-the-Rhine with local guests The Harlequins. The New York-based band is supporting its recent Spring Fools EP. Check out Pond and Co.'s track "Remains," from last year's full-length The Dark Leaves, in the video below. Check out our brief interview with Pond from 2006 here.
(Leave your suggestions/promote yourself or your favorites by telling everyone about your favorite music event recommendations for the day in the comments below.)
Momentous Happenings in Music History for October 26
On this day in 1974, smooth Soul legend Barry White scored his first No. 1 album on the U.S. album charts with Can't Get Enough. The album — which ranked No. 281 on Rolling Stone's list of the greatest albums ever — featured (as the title suggests) his second No. 1 single, "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe." The song was a minor hit for Taylor Dayne and was also covered by a famous Cincinnati band (see below). Here's the original, in all its baby-makin'-inspiration glory:
Born This Day: Besides our own Bootsy Collins (who gets a full tribute here), musical movers-and-shakers born Oct. 26 include Gospel music legend Mahalia Jackson (1911); Krautrock/Electronic music pioneer (who recently performed in Cincinnati) Hans-Joachim Roedelius (1934); 10,000 Maniacs vocalist Natalie Merchant (1963); Country star Keith Urban (1967); and film director Ted Demme (1963).
Demme — who died of a heart attack in 2002 — was perhaps best known for his 2001 film Blow starring Johnny Depp. But, like his uncle Jonathan Demme (who made the legendary concert flick Stop Making Sense with Talking Heads and a trio of films about Neil Young), music was a big part of Ted's career. He got his start as director/producer of Yo! MTV Raps in the ’80s (and directed the forgettable Hip Hop comedy Who's the Man, which featured cameos by top rappers of the era and a pretty killer soundtrack).
Demme also had a close relationship with Cincy-area native and Afghan Whigs/Twilight Singers frontman Greg Dulli. Demme cast the Whigs in his 1996 film, Beautiful Girls (they do — oddly enough — a cover of Barry White's "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe" in a scene at a local dive bar; see below), and Dulli earned a role in Demme's 1998 mob drama Monument Ave. (Dulli played mob kingpin side-kick/enforcer Shang). The movie also marked one of the first public appearances of a Twilight Singers song (the track "Love" — reportedly a version of a Whigs' song called "Black Love," intended for the album of the same name — was used over the closing credits). Dulli was also involved with the music for Denis Leary's stand-up special, Lock ’N Load, which Demme directed.
Dulli and Demme were tight (he often referred to him as his best friend) and Demme's life and death influenced Dulli on many levels, including creatively. Dulli had just completed the Twilights' sophomore album Amber Headlights when Demme passed away; the album was shelved and Dulli set work on the much more melancholy Blackberry Belle instead (after a brief break from writing and performing). Amber Headlights eventually came out in 2005 under Dulli's name, his first official solo release. Dulli dedicated Blackberry Belle to Demme and later called it his "requiem" for his lost pal.
