Photos: Andrew Nawrocki

Photos: Andrew Nawrocki

Photos: Martha Williams

Fake Shore Drive has video.

This deluxe double reissue package (also reissued as a single album 180 gram vinyl gatefold LP) sets out to set a few things straight about this 1969 album. First off, David Bowie didn’t look like a glam-rock space creature when he wrote “Space Oddity,” so the sci-fi photo of Bowie with spiky hairdo and NASA font from the more familiar version of the album has been ditched in favor of the more correct hippy curls he was sporting at the end of the ’60s.

Space Oddity captures the dabbling genius Bowie before he became a pop star and Bowie, the self-conscious editor and synthesizer had emerged. Bowie had no idea of the chameleon he would become—even as he laid out the crude template for his career to follow: Opaque futuristic lyrics, Tony Visconti production and choice studio players—all had arrived on the album.

But Oddity also different from the assured Bowie that would emerge is that Bowie is immersed in the hippy, sci-fi-reading  underground—rather than soaring above it and borrowing riffs and style for his own pastiche. As a result, Bowie frolicks more in his fields of wonder on tunes like “Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud” and let’s his oh-so-serious lyrics wander amid proggy, folkie production. We’d never hear this many oh-so-serious words from Bowie again.

A second disc of demos, BBC radio performance recordings and single versions is a gem—stripping away the album’s wonderful frills to reveal Bowie’s trippy paperback novel-inspired tunes and rarities in the quiet-loud, Zeppelinish rocker “Let Me Sleep Beside You” and an Italian-version of the title track. Disc one is a mixed affair, of course, not Bowie’s strongest album by rock fan’s measure—but remember that albums weren’t nearly as important as singles in those days and Bowie was riding high on “Space Oddity” (produced by Gus Dudgeon, not Visconti) and the lush “Memory of a Free Festival.” Prog-lovers or folk freaks will appreciate all of it—but don’t expect the concise jolts of electricity present on Ziggy or Hunky Dory.

The remastered album sounds fuller and richer than any version before—which should make it worth it for Bowie fanatics to reconsider and reappraise.

Photos: Stephanie Anderson

Approximate set list and band member names courtesy of Stephanie Anderson

Rodrigo Amarante - Guitarist (Los Hermanos, Little Joy)
Noah Georgeson (Little Joy, Devendra Producer)
Greg Rogove - drummer (Priestbird)
Luckey Remington - bassist (The Pleased)

Set List

Long haired child

16th and Valencia (Roxy Music)

Can’t Help But Smiling

Little Yellow Spider (solo acoustic)

Sight To Behold (solo acoustic)

How’s About Telling A Story (solo acoustic)

Maria

Foolin’

Brindo

No One’s Better Sake (Little Joy)

Lover

Angelika

“It’s Gonna Take Some Time To Be Alone With You” (The Pleased)

I Remember (piano)

Charles C. Leary (solo acoustic)

You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory (Johnny Thunders) (solo acoustic)

“New Song Hot off the Fudging Press” (Priestbird)

Carmensita

Rats

Encore

Chinese Children

Feel Like A Child

The swanky new Lincoln Hall was sold out last night for The Walkmen, White Rabbits and TV Torso. The energetic triumphant percussion of the White Rabbits had something to do with that. At some point the White Rabbits had three drummers going at it at the same time. Sure, it’s been done before, but everybody, including myself, looked a little amazed by what they were hearing. All players were soaked in sweat by the end of the set. It was, after all, their final show in a month long tour.

Although the The Walkmen are not without their own amazing percussionist, Matt Barrick, their ethos (or rather pathos) is a little different. The rough yet soothing voice of frontman Hamilton Leithauser reminds me of the first time I had a scotch with my father–Dylan must have been playing in the background.  As soon as the first few chords of their best known single “The Rat” started, worms of annoying chicks sneaked up and crowded the front. I was not going to start hating on their cacophonous singing since that monumental rock song made me go a little wild too.

The Walkmen mostly played songs from this year’s adored You & Me: a stultifying “On the Water” (I swear it gave me goosebumps), “Seven Years of Holidays,” and a most memorable “In The New Year,” amongst others. Their unique balance of humility and grandiosity, so well exhibited on all of their last four albums, came through, rather poignantly, on stage as well.

Photo: Martha Williams

Kid Sister had this to say about the Roots during a recent interview with Nightlife writer Joshua Ferguson, “I love the Roots—I love you Roots!” (shouting into the recorder) “But! The Roots are like a conscious hip-hop band. Does that really mix with what we do? So we’ll see. I’m bff’s with ?uest so I don’t think he’ll take it personally.”

Ohio-bred arty punk pioneers Devo reformed some years ago, but singer Mark Mothersbaugh has never slowed his productivity—he’s both a soundtrack composer for TV and film and a visual artist. Last night, the band, which has a new record deal with Warner Bros., played the album Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! at the Vic. Jeff Catt was on hand to document the continuing story of the de-evolution of humankind. Tonight, the band will be back to play 1980 album Freedom of Choice.

Photos: Jeff Catt

“When we opened that place and we were flying in DJs, you could get them for a certain amount of money and keep the door low. Guys you could get for $1,000 are now $3,500 plus expenses. Now, with the economy being as it is, kids can’t pay more than 10 dollars to get in the show. It wasn’t working out numberswise. That’s basically what happened.”

DJ crews such as Dark Wave Disco and Flosstradamus, nurtured with residencies at the 300-capacity Sonotheque, have now moved out of Sono’s range. They can play bigger clubs such as Smart Bar or crobar for more money. Same goes for Scion-sponsored DJ events. Sponsored DJ nights can bring in bigger crowds than they could four years ago, so they are being booked at much larger venues.

When new partners in Sonotheque, the Empty Bottle, introduced Terry and his partners to the Beauty Bar people, things came together nicely. “I didn’t want to put a For Sale,” says Alexander. “It was perfect; we sold it to those guys.  They’re doing a Beauty Bar. We’re gonna support it. We’re excited about it. The timing was exactly right for everybody. Some of the staff is staying there. Some went over to Big Star. Rarely does a place a close and you pick everybody and move them around and everything is going well.”

Sonotheque’s issue may be that it was too popular to be what it was intended to be—but not large enough to be a serious contender in the nightlife business. The place where Diplo, Grandmaster Flash and countless DJ legends and locals spun records was never intended to be a dance club in the first place. “We thought it was going to be a neighborhood bar with a really great sound system,” says Alexander.

Sonotheque’s music director, Joe Bryl, talked to me about his move to the Charleston—recently taken over by Jeremy Lewen—where he will be managing the bar and directing the music. He’s not expecting it to be a dance club. “Charleston is going to be the Charleston,” says Bryl. “If I would do a Brazilian night, it would be totally different from what I did at Sonotheque. Charleston is a bar where people sit down and have cocktails. You would make the music and the vibe different. There are many things I couldn’t play at Sonotheque I could play at the Charleston.”

“We’re just gonna run it as is. In 2010, after we do our build-out, we’re going to put a sound system in, not a club sound system of course, and just clean up the rough edges,” says Bryl. But programming could evolve to include “interesting jazz on weekdays, DJ music on the weekend,” plus Tunisian and other types of African music, funky jazz, garage bands from Peru—an altogether eclectic menu. Right now, he’s just getting his feet wet but envisions something roughly like a “Danny’s/Matchbox place with live music, sometimes.”