Metro Pulse/Music/Eye on the Scene

He Needs No Excuse

Local pianist/composer/jazz luminary Donald Brown will follow a mid-October recording session in Europe with a trip to New York City and a week-long stint as an artist-in-residence at the prestigious Julliard music school. Having received the honor through the graces of a couple of old friends on the Julliard faculty, Brown will conduct a series of clinics and master classes from Oct. 27 to Nov. 3, as well as performing with students and faculty members alike. Brown says the Julliard residency is an honor, and also "a great excuse to go to New York."

Prior to the Julliard trip, Brown's European jaunt will feature a handful of live performances in Paris, including an all-star session to be recorded for an early 2004 release on Brown's current label, Space Time Records.

Catching

Road-savvy local punk 'n' rollers American Plague scored a minor coup recently when Mike Savage, A&R director of Clear Channel's A&R Network, sought the band out and offered his company's services. The A&R Network is a division of the Clear Channel company that solicits top-flight unsigned bands and markets them to major labels. An effusive sort, Savage gushes that "there are trend-setting, taste-making radio stations out there right now that would play this band's demos."

In the meantime, the band is still hard at work on its next album, probably due for release early next year. A new single, "Highwayman," debuts on FM 94.3's South East X-ports radio show on Sept. 28. Their debut EP, the out-of-print The American Plague (2001), may be re-released soon on small indie label Fork in the Eye Records.

Runner-up

Jag Star didn't make the cut to three in the 31st Annual American Music Award competition, but the group isn't too disappointed.

"We didn't win, but the three bands that did win had a similar sound—kind of Matchbox 20-ish," says lead singer and songwriter Sarah Lewis. "I guess we weren't what they were looking for as the winning band. I hope it didn't hurt that last year's winner was a girl-fronted band from Tennessee.

"Everybody made a big deal about us coming from Tennessee. They would say, 'And you're really not a country band?' It was so much fun though. Everyone was very nice, and we made new fans on the West Coast. We couldn't believe the number of our current fans that flew in for the show. People came in from Ohio, Georgia, D.C."

Jag Star had made the cut from thousands down to 50, and the second cut narrowing it down to 10 (the latter of which was made by Dick Clark). The final cut will be in New York in October.

But the band is taking it all in stride. "I think we're kind of relieved to be able to focus on our new music now. They have rules about doing older music, and that just holds you back a little bit when you need to think new for the next album," Lewis says.

Shake Your Tom Tom

Who was more spellbound and enchanted during last week's Sundown in the City, The Tom Tom Club or their adoring crowd? The Gypsy Hands Tribal Dancers opened the show with a hypnotizing display of hip-shaking and sword-balancing that stopped spectators (especially male gazers) dead in their tracks. With midriffs bared, the dancers, led by the lovely and curvaceous Gypsy Hands proprietor Sara Griscom, were invited to dance during the Tom Tom Club's set, eliciting an exuberant, "I love the South!" from drummer Chris Frantz. The spirit was shared by lead singer/bassist Tina Weymouth and the rest of the band who took turns calling out, "We love you, Knoxville!" and threatening to take us all (but particularly the dancers) back to their home in New York City. The energetic, island-tinged dance tunes set most of audience to dancing. Strangely, the crowd was the most sparse it's been since UT students returned for fall classes. Perhaps a band founded by former members of the Talking Heads failed to catch their attention.

Go.

Thursday: Start out with Mitch Rutman Group, Drums & Tuba and John Scofield at Sundown, grab a drink at your favorite Old City bar, and then boogie on over to the Pilot Light for Cordero.

Friday: Go show Dixie Dirt you're glad they're staying in Knoxville at the Pilot Light.

Saturday: The Coveralls are a guilty pleasure cover band. The perfect remedy if the Vols should lose. At The Spot.

Sunday: One discerning Knoxville scenester (he hates that word) says theplansoff is the only local band MP needs to write about. See them open for Erase Errata at the Pilot Light.

Monday: Make dinner with friends. It makes Monday go a little easier.

Tuesday: What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why, I have forgotten, and what arms have lain Under my head till morning; but the rain Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh Upon the glass and listen for reply, And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain For unremembered lads that not again Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.

Wednesday: Rest.

—Madame "oh where oh where can my baby be?" Georgie with Mike Gibson, Joe Tarr, and Paige M. Travis