Metro Pulse/Music/Eye on the Scene

Tree Party—Sorta

The Dogwood Arts Festival deserves to be encouraged in its shy steps toward adding some after-hours aspects to the festival. After a dandy, well-attended parade that drew thousands to Gay Street on Saturday night, the festival promised, and delivered, a party on the Square. It didn't quite turn out to be this year's substitute for the missing Mardi Gras.

Maybe it was prudence and the truncated daylight-savings evening that sent this predominantly kid-toting crowd home early. Maybe it was the band on the Square's performance stage, a motel-loungey ensemble that specialized in covering country-rock hits from the '70s that was unlikely to appeal either to young adults or to the hundreds of children who were calling the shots for their parents that evening. Or maybe it was just the utter absence of the hop-based substances, which have guaranteed the success of many musical events on the Square. But the few hundred who crushed into the Square at about 8:15 were mostly elsewhere by 9:15, leaving only about 120 people to listen politely to the band's competent rendition of the Marshall Tucker Band's melancholy ballad, "Can't You See." Even the Square's two evening restaurants had plenty of open seats.

Still, it's a lot more Dogwood-festival-related activity than we're used to seeing at night. Here's to more, and more diversity, next year.

Speaking Of...

If you should find yourself on the Square tonight (Thursday the 11th) for Jump, Little Children, the opening Sundown in the City show, rest assured that your transportation needs are being looked after by the folks at KAT. A free trolley service to and from the show will run every 15 minutes from 5:30-11 p.m. The route will cover UT, the Strip, downtown, and the Old City. This same service will be offered for upcoming concerts as well—like Blue Highway with Pin Monkey on April 18 and Terrance Simien and the Mallet Playboys on April 25. For more info about the trolley, contact KAT at 637-3000 or www.katbus.com.

Local CD Review

Randall Brown
The HomeMade EP
(Moot Point)

Anyone who's anyone on the local music scene has surely intersected orbits with longtime scenester, hipster and socializer Randall Brown. The bespectacled musician has appeared in a host of local acts since the mid '80s including Charlie Brown On Acid, Darlene, an early incarnation of Torture Kitty, as a solo artist, and as an occasional extra member of Mustard. And now, with the advent of digitized home recording approaching studio quality levels, Brown has entered the CD market with a special recipe: The HomeMade EP (Moot Point).

Though Brown's musical history may have veered to the more punkish side of things, HomeMade has more of an organic feel. Some of the songs are bare bones acoustic numbers, while others are abetted by added instrumentation. But the general vibe of the recording is somewhat laid back, wistful, eclectic and humorous—much like Brown himself.

Brown, a News-Sentinel writer and former contributor to Metro Pulse, infuses a lot of literary tradition and rather cerebral ideas into his songs. "Evolution Works" is a daft take on the biological hierarchy that somewhat mirrors the ideas espoused in Kurt Vonnegut's Galapagos. And then there's "Paige and her Art School Boyfriend," kind of a story set to music that is ostensibly the "now historically inaccurate theme song from the non-existent Paige Travis show."

Randall really hits stride with "That's So Gay Street Blues," a greasy sounding homage to all things downtown, most notably The Bistro. The inclusion of Mustard's Chris Cook on slide guitar adds the needed grit, and the song is a downright winner.

Actually, the whole EP's a keeper. Brown is one of Knoxville's best-kept secrets—a rough cut gem following in the tradition of such luminaries as Todd Steed and R.B. Morris. This recording is, well, just like Randall. There's no way you won't find yourself liking it. Available at both Disc Exchange stores.

Go.

Thursday: A trifecta—rock jams with Jump, Little Children at Market Square, local rock from See Through Human, Moodring, and Box of Souls at Blue Cats, and/or chant with Anonymous 4 and Lionheart at Church of the Ascension.

Friday: Guy and Candie Carawan at Laurel Theatre. Equal parts heartwarming and soul-searing folk songs from two local legends.

Saturday: Clare Fader and the Vaudevillians at Fairbanks. This cabaret-punk act counts artist Cynthia Markert among their Knoville fans. Come see why.

Sunday: Soundtribe Sector Nine at Blue Cats. Electro-jam for the masses.

Monday: Eat a funnel cake. Pop two Tums. Repeat.

Tuesday: UT Saxophone Studio at UT Music Hall. Nothin' like good sax to start the week.

Wednesday: Josh Rouse at Blue Cats. Singer/songwriter with an Americana/pop flair.

—Emma "Mulch Mad" Poptart with Jack Neely and John Sewell