Calexico and Oakley Hall Live in Iowa City 9/29/06

Posted on October 1, 2006 by mike

On Friday night my wife, Sherry, and I and our friends Andrew and Jennifer went to Iowa City to see Calexico and Oakley Hall at the Englert Theatre in Iowa City. This is the second time Andrew and I have seen Calexico this year. We saw Calexico in Philadelphia at the Trocadero Theatre on June 25th with Jason Collett.

This was the first time I’d been to the Englert since the late Eighties. The last time I was there I saw Michael Moore’s cinematic debut “Roger and Me.” Back in those days, they used to do Midnight showings of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” as I recall. The Englert served as a movie theater for most of its 94 years. It closed in 1999 and was held in trust by the City of Iowa City until funds had been raised to restore the landmark. In 2004 it reopened. I don’t remember what it used to look like before the restoration, but they’ve done a good job of restoring it and making as nice a venue as we have around here. I think that we are pretty fortunate to have places like the Englert and the Paramount in Cedar Rapids. I understand that the Globe Theater in Cedar Rapids will be restored as well. These venues help draw acts that aren’t big enough to fill Carver-Hawkeye or the US Cellular Center, but are too big to play bars.

After parking at the Old Capital ramp and dinner at the Atlas World Grill, we walked over to the Englert arriving after the doors open at 7PM. I visited the table in the lobby where they were selling CDs, teeshirts and other things. I was happy to see that they had two of the tour-only CD releases I was missing. When Andrew and I saw Calexico in Philly, I picked up the tour exclusive CD The Book and the Canal that has been available since the tour they did with The Iron and Wine. This time they had that as well as Travelall, a collection of instrumental music, and 98-99 Road Map, which has some tracks used on an audio book plus a couple of extras. I got these for $15, so I saved a buck in shipping. All I need are the 2001 tour CD Aerocalexico and the 2002 tour CD Scraping. They also had the same three shirts as Philly, which are the green shirt with the red star and the bull, a tan shirt with an iguana on it, and a blue one.

After the purchases, we made our way to our excellent seats. Calexico uses Ducat King to pre-sell tickets to fans before they are generally available through the regular ticket outlets. From what I can tell, we got the first four tickets sold. So, we had the first four seats from the center aisle on the right. BTW: What a bargain these tickets were! We paid $16 apiece for them.

Oakley Hall opened very punctually at 8 PM. Interestingly, the house lights didn’t come down until the band hit the stage. I hadn’t heard of Oakley Hall until I saw that they were the opening act for Calexico. After I got the tickets, Daytrotter helpfully had a session with them, so I had a chance to hear them. They fall into the Americana genre as they pull some of their sound from country music, but they also have a distinct rock sound with influences from the Seventies. With their female singers and the electric fiddle, they remind me of early Jefferson Starship pre-Red Octopus, or any of the Bay Area related bands from that period like Hot Tuna. Rachel Cox has a very good voice, and she certainly becomes the center of attention when she sings, plays her yellow Tele, or just hippie dances. The other lead vocalist is Patrick Sullivan. When Rachel and Patrick harmonize it reminds me of the harmonies of Exene Cervenka and John Doe from the great L.A. band X.

While I think that Oakley Hall put on a good performance, I agree with my wife that they seem like a band better suited for a bar setting. I felt at times like they were a bit uncomfortable playing to a mostly seated audience. What little familiarity I had with their catalog came from the Daytrotter sessions and they played two of them that I recognized, “All the Way Down” and the very catchy “Lazy Susan.” I woke up this morning with “Lazy Susan” stuck in my head! On a couple of songs Paul Niehaus from Calexico played pedal steel, and on one song, the two trumpet players from Calexico– Martin Wenk and Jacob Valenzuela helped out.

After Oakley Hall was finished, they immediately started tearing their gear down to get ready for Calexico. The guys from Calexico helped out and they soon started setting their own equipment up. A couple of people from the audience went up to talk to Joey and Paul as they got their gear together.

The first song from Calexico was “Convict Pool” with only Joey and John. Then were joined on stage by the rest of the band for a song from Garden Ruin that I don’t recall. That was followed by “Across the Wire” and “Jesus and Tequila.”
It was pretty clear right from the start that Calexico was in good form and spirits. Joey’s between song banter was frequent and funny. The set had most of the regular songs from Garden Ruin including “Letter to Bowie Knife,” a rocking version of “Deep Down,” and an amazing “All Systems Red” which is quickly becoming one of my favorite songs to hear live. It is a soaring anthem of the doubt surrounding the loss of the presidential election that reminds me of the live passion that U2 used to have with “Bullet the Blue Sky. We also heard some of the standards from Feast of Wire, including “Not Even Stevie Nicks.”

We were treated to some different songs from a regular Calexico show. Jacob Valenzuela sang on a song that Calexico did on the Los Super Seven album Heard it on the X called “Ojitos Traidores.”

At one point Joey suggests that it’s about time for a “Seventh Inning Stretch” and told everyone to stand up. It was certainly refreshing! I think that maybe this is something that most concerts need. I didn’t realize how uncomfortable the seats were until then. It was at this time that a couple of guys ran down to the floor in front of the first row. They stood around uncomfortably until a bunch of others joined him. From that point forward people started filling the aisles and moving to the floor in front of us. Unfortunately, blocking the view for anyone who didn’t feel like standing. We also got to experience people who felt it was necessary to demonstrate their poor dancing skills when it comes to Latin rhythm. This is the problem with theater shows– it really suggests that you’d sit for most of it, and really doesn’t have a floor to accommodate people who want to get close to the stage and stand. Sherry said that she thought it would be fun to see Calexico at a venue that had more of a floor to dance on– I can think of a couple venues like that, so maybe the next time we see them it will be at one of those.

We were treated to another surprise for the encore. Calexico brought out Oakley Hall to do a couple of songs. The first song was a Doug Sahm song that I think was called “The Song of Everything.” After that song, I noticed that Joey brought out a piece of paper with what appeared to be lyrics. I think that the members of Oakley Hall were surprised. They also do a Gillian Welch cover of “Look At Miss Ohio.” Joey and Patrick Sullivan trade verses. From where I was sitting I could hear Joey calling out chord changes.

Joey asked if we wanted to hear “Corona” or “Guero Canelo.” The crowd shouted out their favorites, and it was decided that they would do both, which was a nice surprise. During these songs, some of the members of Oakley Hall were doing dance lines behind John which was fun. I’m glad to see that they are having fun on tour. Then, the show was over and Joey wished Iowa City good luck with “Football, Soccer, Hockey, or whatever.” This was the big weekend for the Iowa Hawkeyes as they were playing Ohio State (I think… I’m not a sports fan).

Here is the Calexico Setlist (courtesy the Caliposa Setlist Database)

1. Convict Pool
2. Yours and Mine
3. Gypsy’s Curse
4. Across The Wire
5. Jesus and Tequila
6. Deep Down
7. Minas de Cobre
8. Roka
9. Not Even Stevie Nicks
10. Sunken Waltz
11. Alone Again Or
12. Sonic Wind
13. Smash
14. Senor
15. All Systems Red
16. Ojitos Traidores
17. Letter To Bowie Knife
18. Crystal Frontier

————————

19. Song of Everything *
20. Miss Ohio *
21. Guero Canelo

* = w/ members of Oakley Hall

Black Eyed Peas Cancel Cedar Rapids Show

Posted on August 17, 2006 by mike

The Black Eyed Peas have canceled their Cedar Rapids show originally scheduled for September 26th due to “an unforseen scheduling conflict.” The Rapid City, SD show is impacted by this as well. According to the press release, the ticket sales were strong and it looked like this one might have been a sell-out. There is not a re-schedule for this show, and ticket refunds are available starting tomorrow, Friday, August 18. I guess I know what I’m doing over lunch tomorrow.

Bo Ramsey and Stranger Blues and Solo Live Dates

Posted on August 13, 2006 by mike

The much-anticipated (at least as far as I’m concerned) new Bo Ramsey album Stranger Blues has been out since July 18th and I ordered it as soon as the fine folks at CDBaby sent me an e-mail telling me it was available. I’ve been listening to it on and off since I got it. Stranger Blues is the mark of a seasoned performer– a consistent, balanced recording — a calling card showing why so many artists have asked Bo to contribute to their albums.

Bo’s last album In The Weeds was released in 1997, so it’s been nine years since we last heard him solo. It isn’t like Bo has been kickin back with his boots on the porch rail with his signature straw hat pushed down on his nose taking a nap, though. He spent this time in the studio contributing the signature Bo Ramsey sound for what looks like over twenty records for artists like Greg Brown, Lucinda Williams, Joan Baez and the Trailer Records regulars like The Pines, Kevin Gordon and Dave Zollo. He contributed to Pieta Brown’s last records and has spent most of the last two or three years touring with her.

My first live show at a bar was in the mid-Eighties at the bar at the then-newly-renovated Potter’s Mill in Bellevue, Iowa with Bo Ramsey and the Sliders which included Radoslav Lorkovic. I was hooked. Over the years I had seen Bo many times at all kinds of bars in Eastern Iowa– some still around, some not. The Corner Tap in Cascade, The Silver Dollar in Dubuque, Jimmy B’z in Dubuque, Fife’s in Maquoketa, Goose Island Tap, and in Cassville, Wisconsin opening for the remainders of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils (I think only the drummer was an original member).

When I moved back to the Eastern Iowa area in 1997 after over two years in the Twin Cities, one of the things I was looking forward to was seeing Bo play live. I managed to get about six or so shows in before he switched to primarily being a sideman for the Brown Family, including a couple of real barnburners– one of the last ones I saw was billed as “Bo Ramsey and the Body Electric” at the former Green Room (R.I.P.) in Iowa City. This was Bo fronting Dave Zollo’s band. I brought my wife’s aunt and uncle from Minneapolis down for that show and they loved it. Sometimes when the mood is right, Bo moves into this space and plays these blistering guitar solos and that night had couple of those great moments. The last Bo show I got in was at the Mill where he did a largely acoustic set in a three piece band that was completely different than I was used to. In retrospect, this show was the precursor to Stranger Blues as it was largely old blues covers, which is where Bo’s heart is.

Stranger Blues is an album of blues songs interpreted by Bo in his distinctive style. Most of the songs are delivered in a slow deliberate almost smokey way. Bo seems to be mellowing like fine scotch as the years go on. When I compare the songs on Blues with the songs on Bo’s 1988 more-rocking release Either Way you can hear the passing of time between the two releases– maybe wisdom or maybe reflection? This is a record, after all, of his influences that says “this is how I got here.” One of the things I find most interesting about this release is that while these are blues songs originally performed by such greats as Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter, Willie Dixon and Howling Wolf, he didn’t pick the obvious songs– these are deep catalog choices picked by someone who is well-educated in blues history.

How Bo manages to be so connected and respected by the music community and not become more widely known is beyond me. I know he prefers to stay out of the limelight and it seems his career is exactly how he wants it.

Here are some samples from Stranger Blues thanks to CDBaby (you can listen to more samples here):

Stranger Blues

Little Geneva

Freight Train

My favorite track from In The Weeds is Forget You cowritten by Greg Brown.

In the Weeds from In The Weeds

A great track from his Trailer Records release Live is Sidetrack Lounge

555 x 2 from Down to Bastrop

Bo will be doing some live shows in support of Stranger Blues. The first one will be on 9/22 at River Roots Live. Then, on 10/5 he will be doing a live show at the Reverb in Cedar Falls sponsored by KUNI. I don’t know if they will be broadcasting this– but it is conveniently taking place during the timeslot for “Down on the Corner” which is a show about regional music. This will be followed by a show at the Mill in Iowa City on 10/6. I sincerely hope we will get more solo dates! More news as I get it.

Update: I just heard back from KUNI and they said that they don’t currently have plans to broadcast the 10/5 show at the Reverb. If they do decide to tape it, it will be for later broadcast and not a live broadcast.

Black Eyed Peas to play at USCellular Center 9/26/06

Posted on August 2, 2006 by mike

Compass Events and USCellular Center in Cedar Rapids, IA announced on Monday that the Black Eyed Peas will be performing on Tuesday, September 26th with Rihanna opening. BEP is a particular favorite around our house, and we also dig Rihanna’s “S.O.S” with its extensive debt to “Tainted Love” and the funky grime of “Pon de Replay.” Tickets go on sale at 10AM this Friday from ticketmaster or at the USCellular ticket office for $35.50 and are General Admission as most shows are at the USCellular Center.

Update: This show has been cancelled due to scheduling conflicts. See update post.

Calexico Not In Line Up for River Roots Festival

Posted on July 20, 2006 by mike

According to The Air Strange, Calexico is no longer in the line-up for the River Roots Festival scheduled for September 22-23 in Davenport (see earlier posting). It looks like a scheduling conflict based on the fact that they will be playing Louisville and St. Louis on those dates. Calexico will be playing The Englert in Iowa City on the 29th. The tickets are available for pre-sale. Go to the Calexico site to get the link to DucatKing if you are interested. I ordered my tickets last weekend!

River Roots Live Festival Lineup Announced : Calexico, Escovedo, Ramsey and more

Posted on July 6, 2006 by mike

As reported in The Air Strange the River Roots Live Festival has announced their first round of acts to play in their yearly festival which takes place September 22-23, 2006 at LeClaire Park in Davenport, IA. River Roots Live is one of a number of events put on by the River Music Experience which is one of seven components of Davenport, Iowa’s, River Renaissance, which is in partnership with Iowa’s “Vision Iowa” program. Typically, Vision Iowa monies are used to rebuild areas of Iowa cities and build attractions like casinos and museums. I have to admit that this is a unique and cool use of those monies. The inital lineup for this year’s festival is very impressive and includes (so far):

~~Calexico~~Cancelled
Scott Biram

All of this for only $35! Your Iowa Tax Dollars at work! This will be the second time I’ve seen Calexico this year (review to come). I love the Alejandro Escovedo album, and his live shows are typically great. Although, I’m just about as excited to see Bo Ramsey solo as anything else! He’s been playing a supporting role with Greg Brown and Pieta Brown for the last couple of years in addition to his production work. He’ll be playing songs from his upcoming “Stranger Blues” album, likely. More news as I get it on this show.

Gabe’s Is Dead… Long Live the Picador?

Posted on July 5, 2006 by mike

Amidst all of the rumors about the various venues in Iowa City that are rumored to close, I stumbled over this blog today. Evidently, last night was the last show under the Gabe’s Oasis banner. The venue will close for remodelling and re-open under new managment as The Picador. The hopes are that the new management will bring in bigger acts than Gabe’s used to. I saw some of the best shows at Gabe’s over the years– Trip Shakespeare, Game Theory, and Evan Dando with Epic Soundtracks to name a few! Watch the Myspace page for updates.

It’s the Tone! The Diplomats of Solid Sound @ Martini’s in Iowa City

Posted on March 5, 2006 by mike

Yesterday was Sherry’s and my Six-Year Anniversary, so I planned a dinner at Joseph’s Steakhouse in Iowa City after some shopping. I was looking at some other things on-line and happened to notice that The Diplomats of Solid Sound were playing at Martini’s, which is in the Ped Mall as well. I also noticed that there was a 7″ that I was missing from my collection: “Grease Monkey” b/w “Loaf and Jug.” It is a Spanish import on a label called VampiSoul. So I shot Doug from DOSS a quick e-mail asking if I’d be able to get one from him. He promptly replied and said he’d have some there. Bonus!

Some History: The Diplomats of Solid Sound is the latest project for longtime Iowa City musician Doug Roberson. Doug has been in a number of bands in Iowa City over the years. The first time I ever saw him in a band was in the Dangtrippers. This was in the late ’80’s. The Dangtrippers were signed to DogGone Records which was started by the then-manager of REM Jefferson Holt. Unfortunately, the label collapsed soon afterwords. Doug was in another band called Head Candy. Head Candy won a battle of the bands which gave them a record deal with Link Records, which was distributed by Hollywood/Elektra/Warner. This band had Jim Viner from Dubuque, IA, who is the current drummer for the Diplomats as well as Mike Sangster who came from the band The Hollowmen who had a couple of records out in the late 80’s. This band sounded a lot to me like some of the shoegazer bands like My Bloody Valentine due to its use of layered guitars and unique tunings. The resulting album Starcaster (released 1991) is an album I still consider to be one of the better efforts of this period. I still pull it out to give it a listen. Doug told me once that I might be the only person still listening to it. At the time there was a lot of speculation that Iowa City was going to blow up like another Athens or Seattle. Head Candy even had a video shown on MTV’s 120 Minutes (I think it was “Part of the Earth”). Jim and Doug resurrected the South/East Records label and started working on a compilation of Eastern Iowa bands as a vehicle to showcase the regions talent. I was in a band called Gust at this time and submitted a tape for consideration. I think that we were on the short list to be included for a while, but ultimately didn’t make it. The criticism we got back was that we needed a drummer. Some of the other artists that made it to The Third Times a Charm would go on to some notariety– Tripmaster Monkey from the Quad Cities got a major label signing and released a couple of albums. The scene never really achieved the recognition that I had hoped it would. Head Candy put out a couple of other songs on some compilations including one for an Alex Chilton tribute that I’d like to find some day. Mike Sangster left Iowa City for Minneapolis. Doug formed another band called The Bent Scepters that was a period-type band like the Diplomats. The Scepters were more in the vein of ’60’s Nuggets/garage type rock like the Kingsmen. A fun band, I saw them play the Silver Dollar in Dubuque on Holloween one year. The Diplomats were started in 1998 as a side project to the Scepters. The Scepters broke up in 1999 after member Patrick White move to France, and the Diplomats are Doug’s primary music gig today. White moved back to the US in 2001 and the Bent Scepters have played some reunion shows since. I have seen Dangtrippers reunion shows advertised in recent years, too.

I’ve got to hand it to my wife, she’s really patient when it comes to my music obsession! The show was supposed to start at 9:30, and we finished dinner around 7:30. So, we decided to hit Martini’s early. The upshot to that was that we got in before the cover charge took effect. The downside was that the place was packed with “Mother and Daughter Weekend” people wearing the same teeshirts– some sorority deal, I guess. Once the band came in and set up, most of them cleared out, thankfully. The band got a late start, but kicked things off with what looked to be some kind of jam that they were working out the chord changes on stage. They moved into some of their normal stuff like “Holdin’ The Money” and another song that seemed to be called “Do the Bacon.” Typical decent B-3 fueled R&B instrumentals like the Meters or Booker T & The MG’s. At one point Jim Viner got up from behind the drum kit to announce that one of their songs “Who’s Got the Grady?” from their 2003 release Let’s Cool One was used on the MTV show “There and Back” during a scene and that everyone in the band made $37 for it. They then played that song. Most of the crowd except me and another guy were ignoring the band. It surprises me that Iowa City can have a band the caliber of DOSS, and it surprises me even more that people don’t realize it! I really like this style of jazz/R&B. I grew up with Booker T & the MG’s– “Green Onions” is one of the best instrumentals ever next to “Walk, Don’t Run” or “Classical Gas.” I became interested in this type of music when I picked up the “Lost Grooves” series on Blue Note records which is based on the late 60’s Funky B-3 sound that a few of their artists had.

I’ve seen the Diplomats a half a dozen times or so over the years. This was the first time I’ve seen the lineup with Dave Basinger their new Sax player. Dave is the brother of Nate the keyboardist. By the time the set was over the bar was starting to fill up, and we needed to get home to the dogs who’d been in their kennel all day. I walked up and introduced myself to Doug with “Nice Tone!.” He remembered who I was from the other times we’d talked in the past. He replied with “That’s what is important!” We chit-chatted for a bit about Joseph’s and his guitar for a minute and he went out to get the 7″ for me. $5! Whatta deal! I left wishing I could stay a bit longer, but I’ll have to catch them later. They will be opening for Wilco at their Des Moines show– maybe I’ll see them there.

Update: The Bent Scepters will be playing Gabe’s Oasis on March 17, 2006.

Download Holdin’ The Money from Destination… Get Down!

The Pines on Live from Studio One

Posted on February 27, 2006 by mike

One of those happy accidents happened tonight. I happened to be listening to KUNI on my way home from work and they announced that The Pines were going to be live on Studio One at 7PM. This was pretty good news because it would give me a chance to record it. The Pines are Benson Ramsey and David Huckfelt. They are living in Minneapolis today, but are both from Iowa. Benson Ramsey is the son of Bo Ramsey— who is pretty well known in Eastern Iowa as well as a noted producer for artists like Lucinda Williams and Greg Brown.

So, I recorded it to cassette on the compact stereo up in our bedroom (I need to get a receiver down by my workstation) and listened to it. They seemed humble and appreciating. They did an acoustic guitar duo set. They did a couple of Pines songs, a couple songs from Benson’s upcoming solo album The Light Under the Door which is supposed to be out this spring, and some other folk covers. They sound a lot like Bob Dylan’s acoustic guitar period. Observational stories. Really good stuff for a couple of young guys. I guess they met each other in Tulsa.

I bought the Pines first album last year and really enjoyed it. I haven’t seen them live yet, but I really am hoping to sometime. This spring we will have the solo Benson Ramsey album, as well as a Pines 7-song Folk EP.

So right now, I’m ripping the tape to .wav and will probably burn CD’s for everybody I know who likes the Pines. I wonder if I should torrent this?

Time to play b-sides

Mike Roeder muses over things musical

Category Archives: Eastern Iowa