Metro Pulse/Music/Eye on the Scene

Eye on the (Web) Scene

And now a word or two from our electronic music correspondent, Electroboy:

Well, nothing stays the same, especially in Internet time. No sooner did I mention the Hector Qirko Band website than they up and got a new one. It's at http://www.mp3.com/hqband and by the time you read this it should feature a brand-new retrospective CD collection that is (for now at least) available only on the web. And it's dirt cheap. Check it out.

From my previous entries here, you might have gotten the idea that the Knoxville web scene is mostly blues and electronica. Actually, there's a lot more out there. For example, you can hear great jazz. Doug Weinstein and friends, playing smooth acid jazz under the name of Xtemp, can be heard at http://www.mp3.com/xtemp. And for fans of Donald Brown, check out the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra recording of "Shade Street," which won a Downbeat magazine award for best arrangement. It's at http://www.mp3.com/knoxjazz.

Going even farther away from blues and electronica, you can hear Knoxville's highest of highbrow theme songs, Samuel Barber's "Knoxville: Summer of 1915," sung by Rebekkah Graves backed by the Seattle Philharmonic: http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/56/rebekkah_graves.html.

If all this is too highfalutin' for your tastes, you can point your browser at http://rickbowen.iuma.com and hear Rick Bowen's tune "Heisted Trophy," whose subject should be pretty obvious. He's giving away free cassettes to the first 100 listeners who ask for them. And, if even that's too highfalutin', you can always listen to The Meadowlarks' moving tribute to vegetable rights, "How Many Flowers Must Die?" at http://meadowlarks.iuma.com.

Finally, she's not from Knoxville, but I hope she'll come here soon (are you reading this, Ashley?). She's Peruvian (living in LA), her name is Cecilia Noel, and she sings red hot salsoul. Hear her at http://www.mp3.com/wildclam—then email her and tell her to come to Knoxville! She rules.

Not a Party Until Someone Pukes...

Everybody knows that the onset of the year 2001 is really the beginning of the new millennium—and what better way to ring in a new era than with Knoxville's stellar powerpop/rock combo, Superdrag? Apparently lots of folks thought so, because their New Year's Eve bash with The Faults at Patrick Sullivan's Saloon was a sell-out.

Everything was rocking along on schedule until about an hour into Superdrag's set, when an overzealous and overly intoxicated fan felt the burning desire to jump onstage and display his air guitar talents. The obviously loaded fan was deftly removed from the stage by 30 Amp Fuse kingpin Mike Smithers. Smithers' diplomatic handling of the situation was right on time, narrowly avoiding an onstage vomiting incident in the process.

"Luckily, he was pulled off before he threw up," says bemused Superdrag drummer Don Coffey, Jr. "Mike handled it really well."

The ranks of The 'Drag is now pared down to a trio (John Davis, Sam Powers and Coffey)—at least for the time being. "We'll be out touring for the next couple of months and we'll do that as a three piece," says Coffey. "Sometimes I think we need another guitarist and sometimes I don't. But it's definitely something to be said about splitting the money three ways as opposed to four."

Needless to say, Superdrag rocked the house. The two hour plus set included most of the new album, In The Valley of Dying Stars, plus plenty of old hits, including an unexpected rendition of "Do The Vampire." John Davis ended the evening by admonishing fans to take a cab home if necessary, and then the band closed the set with a fitting rendition of The Replacements' classic, "Bastards of Young." Everybody left happy, until the inevitable hangover, at least.

Get Up and Go

Thursday: Party of Helicopters and Pankration at Pilot Light. POH is rock that will warm you to your core.

Friday: Blue Mother Tupelo at Barley's. Micol Davis' strong voice will knock your galoshes off.

Saturday: El Bu'ho at Barley's. A former Blueground Undergrasser gives you his version of the whole groove-band jazzy thing.

Sunday: Tall Paul at Hops. TP is making quite a name for himself with his guitar-based covers and originals.

Monday: Settle in for that long winter's nap.

Tuesday: Shane From Caution at Boogie's. A loose, rock-y kind of way to ease into the week.

Wednesday: Blues Jam at Sassy Ann's. See what the new year shakes into this always entertaining evening out.

—Emma "Got the busted computer blues" Poptart