FRIDAY/JANUARY/14
DUDAMEL/MAHLER 9TH AT WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL
Touche Amore. See Sunday.
Night Horse. See Thursday.
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"A symphony must be like the world. It must contain everything." So said Gustav Mahler, and his valedictory ninth symphonic work (composed in 1909-10) seems to do just that. Like an enormous furry beast ruffing and cooing in its sleep, dreaming of the hunt and licking honey from its paws, the 9th Symphony is a journey of contrasting blissful highs and ponderous, sentimental depths. This elegiac song cycle — representing Mahler's love of life on earth, and the desire to live out his days in peace and harmony with nature before the Reaper comes knocking — is particularly moving in the noble way it spills out sensual elation, hinting at inevitable loss and decay. The first and last movements are nearly overwhelming in this respect, but conductor Gustavo Dudamel, an experienced and sensitive interpreter of Mahler's works — the Dude claimed his first fame after winning the Bamberg Symphoniker Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition in 2004 — will guide us through to the not-so-tragic end. Also Sat. (John Payne)
THE MELVINS AT THE SATELLITE
[See Music feature]
THE BUDOS BAND AT EL REY
[See Page Two]
MAC MILLER AT THE TROUBADOUR
[See Page Two]
SOUL SESSIONS AT THE GRAND STAR
[See Page Two]
JIMMY WEBB, TOM RUSSELL, JESSE WINCHESTER AT LARGO
The great singer-pianist Jimmy Webb should need no introduction, but he composed a slew of airy late-'60s hits for the Fifth Dimension ("Up, Up and Away," "Paper Cup"), actor Richard Harris ("MacArthur Park") and, of course, Glen Campbell ("Galveston," "Wichita Lineman," "By the Time I Get to Phoenix"). In more recent years, he's written film and TV scores, Broadway musicals and a book about songwriting, and he continues to release underrated solo albums. Webb has been a frequent visitor to Largo, and tonight he hosts a songwriting salon with pals Tom Russell and Jesse Winchester. Russell is a veteran country musician, visual artist and novelist who — besides penning tunes for Johnny Cash, Iris DeMent and Nanci Griffith — has collaborated with such stellar literary figures as the Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti and the late Charles Bukowski. Once championed by The Band's Robbie Robertson, the Virginia songwriter Winchester has written songs for Joan Baez and Elvis Costello and likely has many stories to share about his long exile in Canada after leaving the United States during the Vietnam War. (Falling James)
Also Playing Friday: TOAD THE WET SPROCKET at the Key Club; JOHN DOE at McCabe's.
SATURDAY/JANUARY/15
LISSIE, THE PIERCES, GEORGE STANFORD AT THE MUSIC BOX
Rock Island, Ill.–born Elisabeth Maurua — aka Lissie — has had the kind of career that only makes sense in hindsight. She toured with Lenny Kravitz in 2008. A song she recorded with L.A. house DJ Morgan Page, "The Longest Road," picked up a Grammy nomination that same year when Deadmau5 remixed it. Her 2009 EP Why You Runnin' was produced by a Band of Horses member and featured a collaboration with Brit singer-songwriter Ed Harcourt. Her latest is 2010's Catching a Tiger LP, which was recorded in Nashville by Grammy-winning Kings of Leon producer Jaquire King. So what does it all mean? Frankly, that Lissie has been aiming for stardom since day one. That shouldn't be a turnoff. Her songs are beautifully written collisions of country, folk, rock and pop, which have turned the ear of both big radio DJs and music snobs alike (check the moody guitar-shredder "In Sleep"). And live, her notoriously haunting voice and wicked picking more than prove this artist's considerable merit. (Chris Martins)
DEAD MEADOW, SWEET APPLE AT THE SATELLITE
Dead Meadow are often lumped in with the stoner-rock scene, and their psychedelic rambles exude a heaviness that's impressively powerful, but the Washington, D.C., trio's music also has a subtler, more experimental side that can be quite mesmerizing. The group recently released a new album, Three Kings, and reunited with original drummer Mark Laughlin for an Australian tour. Tonight, Dead Meadow headline over Sweet Apple, a fascinating new project that pairs Dinosaur Jr. guitarist J. Mascis with contrarian wordsmith John Petkovic, a Cleveland Plain-Dealer columnist who's played guitar with Guided by Voices and fronted Cobra Verde and the early-'80s indie-rock paragons Death of Samantha. The collaboration occurred when Petkovic, in despair over the death of his mom, found himself driving randomly across the country, from Ohio to Massachusetts, where he was taken in by Mascis and bassist Dave Sweetapple. They soon were joined by Cobra Verde guitarist Tim Parnin and formed Sweet Apple, whose aptly titled debut album, Love & Desperation, blends Petkovic's terminally sarcastic lyrics ("I wasn't born/I was detached/It made my mother cry") and Mascis' fuzzed-out guitar and drums with all of the pain and misery frosted with deceptively ebullient power-pop hooks and tangled hard-rock "Godzilla" riffs. (Falling James)
BAD BOOKS AT THE TROUBADOUR
Bad Books is New York indie-folk guy Kevin Devine in collaboration with members of Manchester Orchestra, the Atlanta-based band of Built to Spill acolytes who've racked up plaudits over the last few years from people who love to worry aloud about the importance of preserving loud guitar rock. On the outfit's self-titled debut, which came out late last year following an earlier split EP, both halves of the operation inch a little closer toward the other's domain, with Devine roughing up his thoughtful ruminations on urban living and the Manchesters adding some introspective delicacy to their basement-show blare. It's uniformly good stuff. This headlining date is one of two Bad Books have scheduled before the Georgians return to their principal concern in advance of their upcoming studio disc, due out this spring. (Mikael Wood)
ADLER'S APPETITE AT WHISKY-A-GO-GO
