Metro Pulse/Music/Eye on the Scene

Local Music Quickies

Mi-T-Mo and the Bandoleros
Walk On

Tepid singer/songwriter stuff, from blues rock ("Walk On") to folk ("Shine Your Beacon") to Caribbean-tinged Buffett-isms ("Let's Go to the Condo"). Mi-T-Mo—named in the liner notes as Milo Cameron—has a passably gruff voice, and the backing band is adept at the different styles. But there's not much heart.

Jonathan Reynolds and Friends
So Little Time...So Many Blues (Wonderdog Records)

Reynolds really wants to be a blues man but tracks that feature his vocals call to mind more Wesley Willis than Spider John Koerner. Reynolds plays an okay axe, however, and instrumental numbers like "Ngozi" and "STR" are where his work shines. Little Time also features the work of some locally known blues players, like Labron Lazenby, Paul McQuade, and Mike James, who bolster the songs with their steady playing. The great Sara Jordan takes the vocals on the title track, which is probably the most listenable on the album.

Mobius Dick
Got Dick?

The online magazine Salon liked Got Dick? a lot. It has harrowing moments, like some chilling sound bites from Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton on the paranoid opening track, "Trust Your Leaders." For the most part, however, it's predictable electronic music, with thumping beats and computerized melodies. Got Dick? is cold, but then, I think it's supposed to be.

Yeah, We Knew That...

If anybody spotted a gangly 50-ish woman with long gray hair and piercing eyes wandering around the Old City last Thursday, it wasn't someone just off the bus from the Greyhound station. It was rock goddess Patti Smith, who was apparently very taken with all the chrome and fringe-covered handlebars on display during the weekly Bike Night activities (or as she called them, "café racers"). Patti's comment: "You have a weird city here."

We Knew That, Too

Speaking of Patti Smith, her Bijou show on Friday night was staggeringly great, maybe the best to hit town all year. In a ripped T-shirt and ripped jeans, reciting William Blake poetry, and even tossing in a free-jazz sax solo, she played rock 'n' roll like her life depended on it—which it probably does, considering that she's been doing this for nearly 30 years. The crowd was small (too small—where the hell were you guys?) but electrified, and the original punk poet clearly dug it. At the end of the night, coming off a jumping up-and-down screaming-and-yelling encore medley of "Horses" and "Gloria," she shouted, "Knoxville! You f—-in' rock!" So do you, Patti. Come back soon.

Inside Baseball Dept.

For anyone who cares to know, Metro Pulse got its collective muck raked on Sunday by the inexplicably well-organized and muscular Tomato Head softball squad. What's in that tofu, anyway? The final score was too embarrassing to mention (okay, okay, it was 30-11). Kudos to captain Brian Sherry. Now where's our Kepner Melt?

Summer Doldrums

Thursday: Cole at St. John's Episcopal produced by the Tennessee Valley Players. Cole is a tribute to the music of the Cole Porter (who penned such memorable tunes as "Night and Day") that stars the winners of last year's Best Musical Award winner Oh Coward.

Friday: Red Haired Mary at Borders. Once a month, this group captures the café floor with their traditional/modern take on the music of the Emerald Isle.

Saturday: Chris Berardo and the Desperados at Manhattan's. It's rock, pure and simple.

Sunday: Knoxville Watercolor Society at Susan Key Gallery. The work by the society—like that of any group of amateur art enthusiasts—can be a bit uneven. But there are some true gems hung in this show, you just have to be willing to look for them.

Monday: A Tribute to Mayberry at Country Tonite Theatre in Pigeon Forge. Come on, how can you resist!?!

Tuesday: The Dickel Brothers with the Cary Fridley Band at The Pilot Light. It's a no-brainer. Check out the calendar section for more.

Wednesday: Mike Ill at Café Mocha. Ill's punk-musical-poetry scares Zippy. A lot.

—Zippy "Quivering Ball of Goo" McDuff