Innocent Magic

So last night was the rum drum ramblers, john barrett’s bass drum of death, and dax riggs at off broadway. first of all, I don’t know how much you kids know about dax riggs’ band history, but let’s just say I felt a little...out numbered...by men...wearing black t-shirts. There were a lot of them. Really, I always end up being somewhat surprised by the crowds at concerts. I don’t know why. I know about Acid Bath and Agents of Oblivion. So I guess it wasn’t surprise, just a slightly raised eyebrow at the level of testosterone. Moving on…
The Rum Drum Ramblers were just voted best americana/folk group in the 2008 RFT music awards (congrats), so I was excited to see them, and I had a second good opinion, due to my concert-going compadre Lindsay also working with the guitar player (that happens frequently). I wasn’t disapointed, which is always nice. These guys give credit to white boys playing the blues. They are GOOD, so if you get the chance, go see them. Their next show is Saturday at the City Museum, so not only would you get to see their awesomeness, but you get to see it in City Museum joy-land! While you wait, go to their myspace page and listen to/watch the magic. C’mon seriously, they use the much undervalued kazoo in a song, murder the harmonica, and don’t even hardly need the microphone to project the vocals. Thoroughly enjoyable and danceable, which is always a plus with me, and saying a lot considering I danced while still very full from mexican food (el scorcho!). I wanted to Charleston through half the set. Yay! They don’t have a record out yet, but I’m hopeful. (Put one out, guys.)
So then JBBDD (yeah, I’m not going to type out their whole name a bunch of times, sorry) took the stage. They weren’t on the billing, so confusion occurred for some minutes while we wondered “who are these guys and can that kid be out after curfew?” OK, no offense meant, honestly. JBBDD was really good. And I’m not good at judging ages; he just looked, well, young. It’s not a bad thing. And who really cares, cause he plays guitar really, really well. Quick and dirty. He came out and played multiple instruments with Dax as well, so it’s obvious this kid has a lot of multi-talents. I love random amazingness like that. So check out his stuff too. The crowd seemed to get into, too, after the initial “what’s going on?” wore off. Kudos OB crowd.
So then, of course, was Dax, of many bands fame including Acid Bath and deadboy and the elephantmen. IF you don’t know who he is, you should, for shame. I almost feel bad reviewing shows that I really wanted to see, because naturally, I have a bias going into it. Anyway, Dax is playing/releasing under just his name right now, which is fine with me. I saw deadboy when they were at blueberry hill...a while ago...and that was amazing, but his solo stuff is fantastic as well. The boy (can I use that term? he’s older than me. boy it is.) is talented. He has the most. amazing. voice. ever. EVER, people. I LOVE watching him live. He sings with his soul. That’s what I was thinking when I was watching him last night. It almost breaks my heart some of the time, because he just sings with this passion that aches through so much of the music. Granted, as I commented after the show, the lyrics are not often the most cheerful, so they add to the effect. But it feels like he is just putting his whole being into these songs, and his voice is so unique and soulful anyway, putting that much fire behind it makes for an incredible experience. OK, I’m just gushing now, so I’ll wrap it up. But please, listen to him, buy an album, go see him. He is a talent not to be missed, if one can help it. Oh, and he played much of the set on an acoustic guitar. For the encore it was just him and his guitar, which is my most favorite thing in the world. Someone with a beautiful voice playing beautiful songs, just them and a guitar. Seriously, as much as I love to rock out (and my car’s speakers will tell you, I do), there is nothing better to me than that. It’s just a spiritual experience, sharing that kind of, well, intimacy almost, with a songwriter who loves what they are doing. So, thank you Dax. It was an amazing show. fabulousness.
All right. Good show times three. Tomorrow night is Tom Waits at the Fox, which I’m predicting with fair-to-middling certainty will be incredible. You can still go, if you have some (ok, quite a bit of) expendable income lying around. Or are just willing to forgo food and an oil change for concerts. (Julie’s neon really needs an oil change.) Au revoir.

Music of the moment: the raconteurs, carolina drama