Catch the buzz

In mid-January I went over to Raw Sugar for something a bit different: A night of experimental and electronic music curated by the folks behind PLACE. Opener Adam Saikaley was definitely in the "experimental" category. I've seen him perform dabke with an electronica twist and as part of Silkken Laumann, but for this set he used cymbal, a speaker cone and a microphone to generate some grinding tones.

The setup.



Noise-generating action!



Buzzing action!



And that's it! I guess you had to be there ...

Grain spirits

Last night Ol' Savannah played The Rainbow. I wasn't there, but I imagine it went a lot like it did back when they headlined that very same venue in January.

Accordion action with Kevin Labchuk!



Assorted drumming from Max!



Speedy D. sings!



Rocking about with bassist Chris Byrne.



Bartleby J. Budde banjos in the key of B.



Chris rocks the bass.



Guitar action!



Holler!



Bonus Bartleby!



Music on bended knee!



Extra accordion!



Max brushes up!



Extra Speedy!



Technical difficulties arise ...



Hurray for duct tape!



And alcohol!



More singalong action!



John Updike suffers some.



They release their new CD, Underneath The Old Red Barn, on May 4.

• Show Reminder: The 6th annual Ottawa Community Record Show takes play at St. Anthony's Hall, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.; Kind of Like Spitting and Jon Creeden perform at Raw Sugar Cafe have cancelled due to illness; Nipsey Hussle rolls into Ritual; Andrew Johnston, Eric Passmore and Shannon Rose and the Thorns play the Elmdale.

Win ugly

Lefty McRighty is a man of many bands - in fact his latest, The Whiskey Standards, had their debut show last night at Fatboy's Southern Smokehouse - but 90 Pounds of Ugly was new to me, despite having played around town with some frequency. There's some overlap in the band makeup, with drummer Ernie Legend and standup-bass-player-for-everyone Standup Steve in both the Standards and the Ugly, but what sets the 90 Pounders apart is honey-voiced frontwoman Patsy Clash.

And here she is (she's the one on the right).



Standup Steve is playing a show somewhere right now! No, it doesn't matter when you are reading this ...



Lefty!



Well that was the soundcheck. Now on to the actual show, starting with drummer Ernie Legend!

 

Lefty frets!

 

Gripping action!

 

Steve works the low end!

 

Ernie hits!

 

Extra Patsy!

 

The look of Steve!

 

The whole lot!

 

Lefty works the steel.

 

Steve switches to accordion!



Standup Lefty!

 

Ernie brushes up.

 

The view from above.



More singalong action!



Lefty sings!



As for Lefty's next show, it's tonight (their will be CD releasing), and it's with Ol' Savannah even at the Rainbow. 90 Pounds of Ugly's next set is also at the Rainbow, on May 11.

• Show reminder: The Glorious Moonrockets, Dagger Eyes, Meisha & The Spanks and The Eclecticians rock The Clocktower; The Souljazz Orchestra gets funky at Babylon; Raas and White Moustache Talk perform as part of the Pitch Black series at Raw Sugar. The Drew Nelson Band plays Irene's; Barry & The Blasters fundraise for Christie Lake Kids at the Elmdale.

The angelic process

So Ol' Savannah came through town (as they will again this Saturday) for a set at the Rainbow, and they rounded up an appropriate crop of local country hoodlums to start things up. Unfortunately, The Bank Robbers union couldn't make it, so they got Morgan Friend of the Bible All-Stars, who had recently released his fine new solo recording Angel Goin' Down, to fill in.

Mandolin action!



Sick Sick Sicks guitarist Max Cossette frets!



More Morgan!



Greg Langille, also of the Bible All-Stars, handles the low end.



Hollowbody action!



Mandolin action!



More bass!



Singalong action!



And so on!



A bit of the old switcheroo!



Extra Greg!



He's just touring Ireland (drinking may be involved). The Bible All-Stars have a gig May 12 at the Elmdale Tavern, then hit up the Clocktower with Good2Go on June 16.

• Show reminder: The Whiskey Standards (a.k.a. Lefty McRighty and the usual suspects) rock Fatboys Southern Smokehouse; Longshot, Harp & Lyre and Equalizer destroy the Montgomery Legion on Kent St.; Danger, Go Die Scum and Spilt Guts endanger Hasselhouse (a.k.a. 295 Powell to the postal authorities) and all who dwell within! Megan Jerome and Matt Ouimet perform at Raw Sugar;  The FunKtion bring the funk and improper capitalization to the Rainbow. Ian Tamblyn plays at Irene's. The Owl Eyes Project and The Ancient Order gather at the Avant-Garde.