The Spin
Buzz kill
Friday night’s LEFT CAN DANCE party at Ombi was their tentative last, as the sleek brunch/nightspot is slated for the fine-dining treatment, leaving the LCD crew, headed by Vandy DJs COURTNEY WILDER and SAM PATTON, scrambling for a new location. The Spin arrived around midnight to bid a final farewell to the tweaked-out fashionistas who jazzed this town up for a summer. New Order thumped from the PA, bartenders were so swamped that the only way to get a drink was to send a symmetrically pleasing gal with a 20 in her hand for quicker service. We guzzled Stellas and danced for an hour until suddenly, mid-tunes and mid-cocktails, the DJ abruptly announced that the party was over. It was only 1 a.m., far too early to call the whole thing off. So at first we thought it was a joke, or maybe LCD’s attempt to go out in style and leave us wanting. We never heard what happened, exactly—rumors of bathroom defacement and underage drinking have abounded. The chatter also buzzed to the tune of a fire marshal’s order that the place was over capacity. It was packed, but it didn’t seem any more so than any other week we’d squeezed past dramatically cinched waists and sweatbands to carve out a spot to spaz on some dance punk. But whoever was responsible for the shut-down made good on their threats. Suddenly the lights flipped on and we were all exposed, in all our mismatched, beer-buzzed, sweat-and-eyeliner smudged glory. Sultry chic suddenly looked frazzled, and that one guy we thought was hot, it turns out, wasn’t. Outside back on Elliston the crowd mingled with uncertainty, with the occasional yelps shouted into the night: “Party at Travis’! Look for the skull-and-crossbones in the window! Party at the Gold Rush! Party at the…party!”
Lube job
Too bad the ROLLING ROCK AND ROLL SHOW sponsored by Little Steven’s syndicated “Underground Garage” show drew so few grease monkeys last Friday night to City Hall. With no time for the club to promote the last-minute booking, the first two acts, locals THE SHAZAM and Atlanta’s THE FORTY-FIVES, played mostly to chirping crickets. Not that you’d have known by watching The Shazam’s ebullient frontman, HANS ROTENBERRY, who rocked every number as if he were playing Glastonbury. Georgia frat-circuit wonders THE WOGGLES wowed the crowd with their full-band choreography and matching mod outfits, pacing their half-hour set like a house on fire, with human-dynamo frontman THE PROFESSOR prostrating himself on the club’s floor before a bevy of hotties. By comparison, New York’s THE MOONEY SUZUKI, on hand to represent garage’s next wave, brought lame material—imagine a Kiss solo album, and not Ace Frehley’s. But they had their encyclopedia of rock moves down: mid-air scissor kicks, strategic tosses of shaggy hair and deployment of indoor shades, and much making of the Rock Face while soloing bent over backwards. That left original British Invasion popsters THE ZOMBIES to close the deal in what proved to be the night’s most pleasant surprise. Elfin lead singer Colin Blunstone could still shiver the timbers with the high notes on “I Love You” and their signature single “She’s Not There,” while his grizzled foil Rod Argent seized every chance for a prog-rock solo that came his way, even interpolating “Dixie” into the organ-solo climax of his Argent classic-rock-weekend staple “Hold Your Head Up.” Most warmly greeted, though, was a four-song set from 1968’s cult favorite Odessey and Oracle. Flanked by ex-Kinks/Argent bassist JIM RODFORD, Blunstone thanked the crowd profusely, closing their last night of the tour with a perhaps ill-advised audience sing-along of “Summertime.” The five-band bill was more fun than a lube job, especially with vivacious vixens twirling their tassels onstage between sets. (Surprisingly, their enthusiasm increased as the night wore on, supporting JEFF HARMON and SCOTT MARTIN’s contention that every show needs go-go dancers. Well, maybe not Sleater-Kinney.) For those who missed this blast of garage-o-philia—namely, everyone but BILL LLOYD, CHRIS CROFTON and JAMES “HAGS” HAGGERTY—fear not: the entire Rolling Rock and Roll Show series has been booked for Nashville. Next up: the SHADOWS OF KNIGHT (“Gloria”) with THE ROMANTICS and Boston up-and-comers THE CHARMS on Oct. 27, location TBA. The big news, though, is the reunited NEW YORK DOLLS with the CHESTERFIELD KINGS Dec. 1 at City Hall. Give ’em a great big kiss.
School’s out
The crowd at Saturday’s ALICE COOPER show at The Ryman set the record for wearing the most T-shirts of the performing band. Throw in a few Alice look-alikes, lots of black duds and eyeliner and it was easy to forget that you were in the Mother Church. Mr. Nice Guy himself put on a pro show. Looking pretty good for his years and backed by a bunch of hot young players, Cooper brought the hits and even had us hanging in for the new stuff. As for remnants of his dark rock-theater past, the guillotine was there but the snake was not.
Matchstick men
Thursday at Grimey’s, CRACKER mainstays DAVID LOWERY and JOHNNY HICKMAN brought their current lineup together for a 6 p.m. in-store before they headlined the Exit/In. The 100 or so fans were treated to the full electric band for a five-song set that included three tunes from their new disc Greenland, their first in four years. Lowery offered a low-key contrast to Hickman’s excitement, and closed with the twangy-but-true, “It Ain’t Gonna Suck Itself.”
Rock royalty
Murfreesboro’s GRAND PALACE RECORDS, the record-store-cum-venue-cum-screen-printing-shop, celebrates its one-year-anniversary this weekend with a two-night bash. Nintendo-rockers THE PROTOMEN and power trio SLACK rock it on Friday, Oct. 6 (all ages/7 p.m./$5), with veteran rockers THE CARTER ADMINISTRATION and CATFISH HAVEN’s soul-rock for the big finale on Saturday (18+/9 p.m./free). Plus ALCOHOL STUNTBAND frontman CHRIS CROFTON will provide between-set comedic stylings the second night, and if it’s anything like his WRVU-FM 91.1 radio show Best of Bread, anticipate razor-thin barbs and shit-talking.
Friendly affair
Many a Nashvillian seeking freedom from alcohol, drug and other problems has found comfort and direction within the doors of FRIENDSHIP HOUSE, located at 202 23rd Ave. N. In addition to hosting meetings for several 12-step programs, Friendship House stays open 16 hours a day, seven days a week, to serve as a hangout for people just needing a little shelter from the storm. Yet the clubhouse is not directly affiliated with any 12-step program, and it needs money to keep its doors open. The FRIENDSHIP HOUSE FALL BASH FUNDRAISER, held out in the back parking lot, features TODD SHARP (former guitarist for Rod Stewart and Hall & Oates), DANNY TATE, STEVE DAN MILLS, IRON HEE-HAW (any band with an album titled Pedalsteelenglockenspeilen is alright in our book), JUBAL LEE YOUNG and MARK JOHNSON. Oh yeah, and the Master of Disaster himself, JOHN HIATT, headlines. It’s a bargain, just $10, $15 for couples, $25 for families—typically you’d pay three times that much just for Hiatt himself. The party runs from 3-8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7; food and refreshments will be available.
Send offers to host future Left Can Dance shindigs, news of new unnecessary music venues and invitations for The Spin to crash on your couch in the ’Boro after Grand Palace’s big One-Year Anniversary Bash this weekend to thespin@nashvillescene.com.
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