Pick of the Week

The best reason to watch Saturday Night Live these days is Armisen, even if the show can’t quite figure out what to do with his shape-shifting talent. Instead of celebrity mimicry, Armisen’s gift of mockery takes a harder-to-define form. In the spirit of Ernie Kovacs and Andy Kaufman, Armisen starts with a goofy voice or outré conceit—a screeching deaf interviewer, an invasive jazzbo, a shamelessly mugging Venezuelan percussionist—and pushes it well past an audience’s “is this for real?” comfort zone. It’s all the more impressive because he’s not a comedy-club veteran. A former drummer with the Chicago band Trenchmouth, he fell into a whole new career in 1998 when his then-girlfriend, the Mekons’ Sally Timms, taped him accosting bands and industry bigwigs at Austin’s South by Southwest festival. The resulting tape, “Fred Armisen’s Guide to Music and SXSW,” became a bootleg sensation, leading to gigs with HBO, Bob Odenkirk and ultimately SNL. So far, his funniest moments on SNL have been as a washed-up lounge comic’s decrepit drummer, whose ill-timed rim shots get bigger laughs than the gags. Live, he draws upon his real skill as a percussionist and whatever response he can provoke from the audience. For Armisen’s first Nashville appearance, this Saturday night, thank The End and the efforts of local musician/filmmaker Steve Taylor, a guy who’s typically thinking and watching a few beats faster than the rest of the city.

—Jim Ridley

Music

Friday, 27th

Drive-By Truckers/Hayseed Dixie With the Drive-By Truckers’ Decoration Day placing high on every 2003 year-end pop and alt-country poll their fans might care about—and even some they might not—the band’s current (and hard-earned) primacy in rock-from-Down-This-Way isn’t really a question anymore. Even before 2001’s Southern Rock Opera generated attention for its frank exploration of regional identity, their words were getting unusual attention: Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley’s unrelenting look at what it means to live and die in Dixie when you’re overlooked, underpaid, hanging on, hanging out and still hoping clearly demanded it. With young Jason Isbell also proving a pointed third songwriter on Decoration Day, prospects for the band’s next project are probably the strongest yet. But on any given night, the prospect of a Truckers show being bone-shaking memorable are higher than that: For all the “Hell No, Ain’t Happy” in the lyrics, the band rip into their typically extended sets as if they’re actually very glad to be playing—with a screaming three-guitar attack that sometimes leads to onstage choreography and virtually always to audience exhilaration. The stock-in-trade of opening act Hayseed Dixie might be expertly played bluegrass versions of hard rock hits, but there’s more to the trio’s act than that quick peg might suggest. Mercy Lounge

—Barry Mazor

Saturday, 28th

Moe Raw Spoken over catchy beats and heavy electric guitar, Moe Raw’s “ghetto fried” lyrics mix book smarts with street smarts, his feet planted firmly in the worlds of both hip-hop and rock. On the Nashville-based rapper’s recent self-titled EP, Raw did nearly all of the vocals and playing himself, and many of his influences bleed through, from Sly & The Family Stone to OutKast and Frank Zappa. His raps have a geographically conscious feel akin to those of Arrested Development, as witnessed in “Southern Manors,” where Raw mentions “sitting underneath these Magnolia trees,” the “TSU student center” and the mid-state’s “615 area code.” And as “Mang, Hoo, Lawd!” attests, he doesn’t shy away from booty-shaking melodies. Live, he’s usually backed by Rawgroup, an equally diverse band of performers. Kung Fu Coffee/The Muse

—Will Jordan

Clamor Music Festival Clamor Magazine relies on a pool of writers from many corners of the political and cultural world to distinguish it from the media and entertainment monoculture. This multi-voiced ethic is reflected in the Clamor Music Festival, a one-night-only event that includes more than a hundred bands in dozens of venues across the country. All of the shows are organized locally and are intentionally decentralized to provide for maximum grassroots participation. Along with the remarkably wide selection of bands—all of whom are local and have self-released records—each show will spotlight area alternative publications. The Nashville leg, which is co-sponsored by the Murfreesboro small-press publication Zine World, features Nashville power trio Apollo Up, School of Accuracy (who include former members of Serotonin), SourPuss, The Whole Fantastic World and Robber Barons. For more information, visit www.clamormagazine.org. The Boardroom

—Paul V. Griffith

Sunday, 29th

David Hungate & Friends The French called it le hot jazz, others have called it Dixieland, and this week several Nashville-based musicians bring the sound of old-time swing to the stage. Hosted by Hungate, a Grammy-winning bassist and trumpet player, this performance assembles a top-notch ensemble well-versed in the language of Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli, King Oliver and Louis Armstrong. John Jorgenson, one of the core band members, recently portrayed Reinhardt, the French guitar pioneer, in a movie to be released later this year. Jorgenson will also be releasing an album inspired by Django’s music. Pianist John Jarvis, bassist and singer April Barrows and cornetist David Jellama—all virtuosos and hot-jazz aficionados—make this a one-of-a-kind event for anyone who loves jaunty, swinging music played with raucous precision. Cafe 123