Dispatches from the clubs • You wouldn’t have thought it was Sunday night judging from the crowd at Lovenoise, the weekly neo-soul/urban/spoken word showcase at the Bar Car in Cummins Station. Several hundred people converged on the club for Lovenoise’s second-anniversary celebration, which included spotlights, a buffet, a champagne toast and a whole lotta party. There was spoken word by Tia and Dante (whose musings on racial inequalities were particularly poignant in the wake of Katrina). Singer Darnell Levine hushed the crowd, at times accompanied only by the audience’s finger snaps. Crisis brought out the hip-hop; his wonderfully laid-back vibe and thoughtful rhymes favor substance and groove over flash and swagger. The night’s most stirring moment came courtesy of neo-soul artist Casmé, originally from New Orleans—she let loose with a spontaneous call-and-response prayer that featured her shouting out the horrors of last week’s events in her hometown interspersed with the crowd shouting, “Lord please help us!” It was a moving and therapeutic release from the pressure cooker of witnessing Katrina’s destruction and our government’s lame response. Descendants of Reality closed out the set with a shot of high-energy, life-affirming soul. Props to Lovenoise organizer Eric Holt for his perseverance. (A weekly event getting good crowds on Sunday nights in Nashville? Who’d’ve believed it?) • With rappers being rated on a per-bullet-hole basis, one might think that a lighthearted hip-hop show is an oxymoron, or at least a lament about how hip-hop used to be. But the gang of indie MCs who performed at 12th & Porter last Wednesday were clearly out to have a good time and transmit that lovin’ feelin’ to the audience. Straight out of the ’Boro, Fluent Dialects kicked things off. DJ DVST8 (pronounced “devastate”) and MC Kamoshin are a promising duo, unpretentious kids with a real sense of classic rap music. The energetic Brycon jumped on next, notable for, if nothing else, being a dead ringer for Jerry Mathers. We’re still trying to figure out what he was about. Speaking of being hard on the Beaver, Louis Logic was great fun—not that we didn’t think he would be, after listening to his alcohol-inspired CDs, or watching him step onstage like a ribald Jean-Michel Basquiat in an air-brushed Tom Selleck T-shirt and a belt buckle that read “DICK.” He was far from the Eminem clone we feared he would be. His manic rhyme flow sounded much fresher live than on CD, and in between songs he was funny and engaging—and not even sloshed. Gulf Coast benefits in the works Several Nashvillians, some with deep personal ties to the Gulf Coast, are organizing a series of “Saints Marching In” benefit shows to aid the victims of Katrina’s devastation. Details and dates are still being ironed out, but the first events are tentatively set for Sept. 23 at 3rd & Lindsley, Sept. 23-24 at the Mercy Lounge, and Oct. 1 at Hair of the Dog, with more to follow. Organizers are currently looking for bands, ideas and volunteers. If you have any thoughts or services to offer, email saintsmarchingin@hotmail.com. A website should be up within a few days; more info in next week’s Scene. Spreading Democracy Spreading Democracy Diehard rock fans have been waiting breathlessly, for half a decade, to find out when Chinese Democracy will finally reach record store shelves. We’re pleased to report it’s happening this week—and there’ll even be a record-release party in town featuring the performers. True, the disc in question isn’t the long, long-awaited Guns N’ Roses album, delayed for years by a shifting lineup and one crazy-ass Axl Rose, but rather the new split 12-inch EP featuring Nashville’s Ole Mossy Face and Kansas’ The Ants. Still, given the choice, we’d take this one any day. Featuring Nashville Scene circulation manager Casey Sanders (who makes sure that the paper you’re reading gets into your hands), OMF have been sharing band members and stages with Hands Down Eugene and The Carter Administration for a while now, and together the bands form a tight-knit but open-armed scene. They all share an appreciation for crunchy, unfussy rock ’n’ roll, but each weaves its own aesthetic into the same barre chords and sing-along melodies. In the case of Ole Mossy Face, their touchstones include the countrified Stones of “Wild Horses” and “Torn and Frayed,” but without all the druggy decadence; there’s also something about their music that recalls the unpretentious hookiness of ’80s college-radio rock, and both of those influences work their way into The Ants’ equally earthly mix of C&W and R&R. But make no mistake: alt-country this ain’t, something for which we’re truly grateful. The two bands play a record release show with Hands Down Eugene Sept. 11 at Alley Cat. Quick exit at Exit/In Sony/BMG up-and-comer Shelly Fairchild was forced to cancel her scheduled set at Billy Block’s Western Beat at the Exit/In last Tuesday night when her band apparently quit minutes before she was to go onstage. “She was very distraught,” reports Block, who quickly pulled together an ad hoc supergroup featuring singers Lila McCann, Rachel Proctor, Matt Jenkins and D.B. Harris backed by members of BR549 and others to fill in. Block says Fairchild is welcome to return to Western Beat when the situation is resolved; Fairchild’s road manager declined to comment. Upcoming shows • The fourth annual RecoveryFest, a celebration of recovery from addictions of all sorts, takes place 2-10 p.m. Saturday at Hall of Fame Park, across from the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. The event features some great live music—Kentucky Thunder, Justin Earle, Pat McLaughlin, John Carter Cash and Disciples of Loud, to name a few—along with vendors, food, kids’ activities and speakers, who will share their personal stories of recovery from addiction. For more information, visit www.recoveryfest.net. Admission is free, and the event is for everyone, not just those in recovery. • If you spent your summer in Alaska hunting wolverines with a 12-gauge, or you were friends with the only guy in high school with a mustache, you’re no doubt ready to get your groove on with some sweet dance moves. Well, we can’t offer you D-Qwon, but we can offer you something better. Efren Ramirez—who played Pedro, the mustached sidekick in Napoleon Dynamite—will be spinning ’80s and house music at the Red Iguana on Sept. 14 as part of his Vote for Pedro tour. We can’t guarantee that all your wildest dreams will come true, but we’re positive the Napoleon Dynamite Dress Contest will be flippin’ sweet. Tickets are $5 in advance, $10 at the door, and are available online at www.groovetickets.com or locally at Grimey’s, Spun Music or Cat’s Music in Cool Springs. Don’t forget your tater tots. • And if you’re one of those libertarian types, opt for the Un-Americana Hootenanny Saturday at Windows on the Cumberland. The house Un-Americana Activities Committee includes Les Honky More Tonkies, Ballhog and The Rounders. “This show will not increase your status on the Nashville hipster scene,” reads the release. “This show will, however, most likely, get you very drunk, sweaty and possibly laid.” Yeah, well, so would Michelle Shocked. • If you hear someone complaining this weekend about the dire state of Nashville’s live music scene, slap off his monocle. Joining the festivities during the sixth annual Americana Music Association Convention—a bonanza of national acts SXSW would envy—is the Sin City Social Club bash, Friday night at the Exit/In after the AMA awards show. Sin City is the L.A.-based performance night that recently established a monthly Nashville outpost (usually at The Basement). The lineup looks great: Michelle Shocked, Peter Case, Stephen Bruton, Anne McCue, Billy Don Burns, Duane Jarvis, Stacie Collins and more, all turned loose on the catalogs of Hank Williams, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard and, of course, the fella who gave Sin City its name and ethos, the late Gram Parsons. Go forth and sin, no more. • And if you’re one of those libertarian types, opt for the Un-Americana Hootenanny Saturday at Windows on the Cumberland. The house Un-Americana Activities Committee includes Les Honky More Tonkies, Ballhog and The Rounders. “This show will not increase your status on the Nashville hipster scene,” reads the release. “This show will, however, most likely, get you very drunk, sweaty and possibly laid.” Yeah, well, so would Michelle Shocked. • He’ll tumble 4 ya when the one, the only, Boy George appears at Play Dance Bar Sept. 29. Sounds like another coup for Nashville promoter Leon Jackson, who’s been trying to draw hot dance acts to town. Tickets available at groovetickets.com, Grimey’s, Spun, Play, and the Cat’s Music in Cool Springs.