Thanks to Charlie Parr for journeying down from Duluth last weekend and to everyone who came by the 5 Parr/Twigs performances. It was quite the throwdown and I think we're all better for it, if maybe a little short on sleep. There are a few photos and notes over on the Black Twig Pickers myspace site. Hopefully we'll do it again in the fall, but up in Charlie's territory.
Sure it gets said a lot, but I think this is one you don't want to miss. May 9-11 is another Charlie Parr/Black Twig Pickers run through Southwest Virginia; a banjo/fiddle/guit/board/harp/bones/tub old-time/blues/gospel go-round that's getting to be something of an annual or several times annual habit, the sort of deep-seated itch that once scratched, gets not just the tail but the whole body wagging. This time around, Floyd, Blacksburg, Charlottesville and Roanoke are the designated sites-of-satiation. 4 shows, maybe 5 if you count the sidewalk, in 3 days.
The hubbub starts Friday, May 9, with a 7:30 p.m.-9 p.m. slot at the Floyd Country Store dance, where Charlie will play with the Twigs. Later Friday night, we'll move to Aaron & Eric's house on Turner Street in Blacksburg for an into-the-a.m. house party. On Saturday, May 10, it's off to Charlottesville to busk on the mall, then play Miller's all night.
The weekend wraps up with a private late afternoon-to-evening Mother's Day shindig in Roanoke with children, food and a very limited guest list. Email banjo AT klang. org if you're interested and we'll pass it along to the hostess(es) and host.
The plan throughout is to use the songs we did together on the new Twigs' "Hobo Handshake" cd as a jumping-off point for some serious yowling at the crossroads of Charlie's National/slide and "clobberhammer" banjo work and the Twigs take on old-time saw-and-churn. And waltzes.
Come out and catch the action, pick up a few of Charlie's cds (he's a long way across the continent from home), dance and/or yowl along... check www.charlieparr.com or his myspace site to hear some of his stuff, read learned reviews, view pictures of Charlie's beard, etc. etc.
And of course there's a wealth (ahem) of similar Black Twig-related e-ephemera both right here or at our myspace site: schedules, song samples, somewhat handy directions on picking up a copy "Hobo Handshake," etc. etc.
Pass this along to anyone you think might be interested, and as Munsey Gaultney used to say, keep plowing, neighbors,
--al;sdkfj
to Mark, Jennifer and Julia!
Mikel's set up a new Spiral Joy Band site to run parallel to the page here and the myspace page. It'll serve as a place to occasionally post much longer Spiral Joy recordings, he says -- first up, a lengthy live recording from December featuring (among other musicks) some of the developing group take on "Little Sparrow."
Klang Industries is back in the record-releasing game with the new "Rose/Thorn" LP from our long-time favorites the Charalambides. "Rose/Thorn" arrives something like a decade after the last proper Klang Industries release and more than seven years after it was first discussed, signaling who knows what sort of reawakening. Anyhow, it's a spectacular entry in the Charalambides catalog, a Tom and Christina duo offering that lifts off as soon as the needle touches down. In a completely unplanned way, this could be the third installment of the Klang Industries high drone series, following the Donald Miller Trio and rhBand records Klang put out in the 1990s, but significantly upping the ante in quality of pressing. Look for farther details in the catalog section of the site --
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