Metro Pulse/Music/Eye on the Scene

That Great Early '80s Sound

The High Score recently recorded a song for a tribute album to Giant Sand, the project of Howe Gelb, who has been influential in both the indie-rock and Americana scenes.

Robbie Trosper, guitarist and singer for the group, says the band recorded "Town Where No Town Belongs," from Giant Sand's 1987 album, Storm. "We listened to lots of songs. But everything was pushing us towards their early stuff. It was more like The High Score," Trosper says. "The song screams early '80s rock urgency. We had a blast recording the song."

The opportunity came about because the band had been talking with Mike Brewer, who runs the Sandman Series, one of the labels Giant Sand sometimes releases music under. Trosper expects the album to be out this winter or next spring.

If you're curious to hear the song, perhaps they'll play it live for you this Friday, Aug. 29, at Manhattans. Mic Harrison—whose forthcoming solo album is by all early reports great—will open. The show starts 10 p.m., and the cover is $3.

Dick Clark and CMJ Can't Be Wrong

Jag Star is getting used to winning awards and earning national accolades. The group is now a finalist in the American Music Awards, a joint project sponsored by Dick Clark and Coca Cola. In the contest, CMJ made the first cut, selecting 50 unsigned bands from thousands of CDs that were submitted. Dick Clark then narrowed the list to 10.

On Sept. 12, the band will be flown with the other semi-finalists to Los Angeles, where a panel of judges will select the top three. Then those three finalists will compete in New York City in October. The winner from that cut will play live on the 31st Annual American Music Awards on ABC-TV Nov. 16. Check www.newmusicaward.com for more details.

The contest organizers choose the song that each band will play and for Jag Star is "Mouth," the anthem that takes "Zippy," to task for his endearing bile and vitriol. Zippy is none other than Zippy McDuff, the late, great author of this column who disappeared some years ago.

The Best Room In Town

R.B. Morris has wanted to play there for a long time. He'd often come into the club late after he'd had a few, proclaim it the greatest club in town and ask to be put on the schedule. Those late-night bookings never worked out, but on Saturday R.B. finally got his wish—he played a show at the Pilot Light.

We often get accused of giving too much coverage to the Pilot Light (and to R.B. for that matter) but there's a good reason for it—no club in town even comes close to booking as many great and diverse bands as the Pilot Light does. It's our CBGB's, if you will.

The last-minute, unannounced Morris show happened because both the Pilot Light and R.B. had shows that were cancelled. He took the stage a little before midnight and started off with a poem about the Ragpicker, one of a series he read throughout the night. He played many of his favorites and ended the evening, after 2 a.m., taking requests from the audience.

Another great Pilot Light show was Wednesday night's Cordero, a Brooklyn-based Latino indie rock band. The group's leader, Ani Cordero, sings in both Spanish and English and occasionally plays drums, Sheila E.-style. She tossed out tiny stuffed lambs to the crowd ("Cordero" means lamb). The band provides a tight, danceable Latin rhythm that had most in the crowd boogying.

About halfway into the show a group of about eight strangers wandered in. All in their mid-40s to mid-50s, they wore golfshirts and khakis. They must have been from out of town because they were unfamiliar with the Old City. The guys had big guts and were a little flustered when they couldn't get vodka tonics, Bud Light or Coors Light at the bar (the Pilot Light only sells beer, only one of which falls into the "light" category).

Some of them didn't want to pay the $5 cover and one called the doorman a "cocksucker" as he stormed out after being asked to leave. But the rest stayed, dancing the night away, thrilled to be out for the night.

Knoxville has a nasty habit of ignoring great beautiful music. Heaven forbid, The Pilot Light might one day go the way of Ella Guru, Gryphons, the Mercury Theater, Hobo's, the Library or Barley & Hopps. So enjoy it while you can 'cause nothing lasts forever.

Go.

Thursday: The Corner Lounge was practically made for the smoky blues of Cheryl Renee.

Friday: A tough choice, but I'm going to go with the High Score and Mic Harrison at Manhattans—underappreciated music in an underappreciated music room.

Saturday: Well, if it's dancing you've got a hankering for, check out Chin Chin and the Gypsy Hands Dancers at the Pilot Light or DJ Mathematicus at ThInQ Tank.

Sunday: Could the Corner Lounge become the new Pilot Light? R.B. Morris is playing the lounge. And you can get whiskey too!

Monday: Go grocery shopping.

Tuesday: My only advantage as a reporter is that I am so physically small, so temperamentally unobtrusive, and so neurotically inarticulate that people tend to forget that my presence runs counter to their best interests. And it always does. That is one last thing to remember: writers are always selling somebody out.

Wednesday: Tim Lee is doing a lot to help bring the various pieces of Knoxville's music scene together. Check out his Knoxville Music Night, this week with the Westside Daredevils and Brandy Robinson, at the ThInQ Tank.

—Madame "I'm sucker for your lucky pretty eyes" Georgie with Joe Tarr