July should be a pretty good month for a variety of shows around town. Starting with the Hootenanny this weekend in Orange County, Yaz on the 8th, and a free Blasters show, the month gets off to a quck start. Crooner fans should definitely check out Raul Malo, Coldplay will be a great megashow, something called the "Download Festival" at the Gibson, and a rare show by Wanda Jackson should all be good. Jim Bianco will play a very big room at Pershing Square for free and fans of guitar should absolutely catch Alejandro Escovedo at the Troub at the tail of the month. We will see you out there!

Wed 07/02-4/08 Randy Newman Hollywood Bowl
Sat 07/05/08 Reverend Horton Heat House Of Blues
Sat 07/05/08 "Hootenanny" featuring Big Sandy, Glen Glenn,
James Intveld, Royal Crown Revue, others at the Oak Canyon Ranch

Sun 07/06/08 Legendary Shack*Shakers Spaceland
Tue 07/08-11/08 Yaz (USA) Orpheum Theatre
Thu 07/10/08 Supreme Beings of Leisure Viper Room
Thu 07/10/08 The Blasters Levitt Pavilion
Thu 07/10/08 Twilight Dance Series w/Spanish Harlem Orchestra Santa Monica Pier
Fri 07/11/08 Secondhand Serenade Troubadour
Fri 07/11/08 KCRW presents I See Hawks in LA, Chapin Sisters McCabe's
Sat 07/12/08 Ratatat Echoplex
Sat 07/12/08 "VH1 Rock Honors" with Foo Fighters, Incubus, Pearl jam, The Flaming Lips, The Who Pauley Pavilion
Mon 07/14-15/08 Coldplay The Forum
Thu 07/17/08 Raul Malo Canyon Club
Thu 07/17/08 David Garza The Roxy Theatre
Sun 07/20/08 "Download Festival - USA" with Gang of Four, Mates of State, The Duke Spirit, others Gibson Amphitheatre
Sun 07/20/08 Feist Hollywood Bowl
Sun 07/20/08 5:00 Country Music fest w/Jon Rauhouse, Amy Farris (w/Ed Tree, Taras, Steve Mugalian) Safari Sam's
Tue 07/22/08 James McMurtry Troubadour
Thu 07/24/08 Tokyo Police Club Armand Hammer Museum
Thu 07/24/08 American Music Night w/Royal Crown Revue (free) Levitt Pavilion
Fri 07/25/08 Los Lobos with Los Lonely Boys Greek Theatre
Sat 07/26/08 Wanda Jackson Knitting Factory Hollywood
Sun 07/27/08 Dwight Yoakam Greek Theatre
Sun 07/27/08 The Alarm, The English Beat and The Fixx House Of Blues
Tue 07/29/08 The Watson Twins Echo
Tue 07/29/08 Bloc Party Mayan Theatre
Tue 07/29/08 The Watson Twins, Tim Fite Echo
Wed 0730/08 Jim Bianco (free concert 8:00pm) Pershing Square
Thu 07/31/08 Lucinda Williams with John Mellencamp Greek Theatre
Thu 07/31/08 Moby Malibu Performing Arts Center
Thu 07/31/08 Alejandro Escovedo Troubadour

-DAVID SPRAGUE

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One could be forgiven for hesitating for not jumping at the chance to go see an air guitar competition. After all, isn't air guitar what slightly post-pubescent boys are known for? Something that most of us grow out of. Well with this in mind, I thought I would check out the Los Angeles Regionals of the Cuervo Black US Air Guitar Championships last week held at the Troubadour. (photo gallery here)

Boy, was I surprised! Expecting to want to leave after half an hour, I stayed the whole night, "listening" to 20 contestants and seven finalists compete to go the national event in San Francisco in August. The guys were so passionate about what they do, it just become infectious.

Almost every contestant had a gimmick, be it dressed in a tux, stuffing a sock in places that rock stars are known for, dressing as a mime, or wearing a tear-away to be pulled off when the music got hot. The sell-out crowd couldn't get enough, some wearing t-shirts reading " the axes are invisible, but the chops are real" cheering for their favorites and booing those who didn't reach the bar of "airness".

Three judges ranked the 'guitarists' using the parameters of Technical Prowess, Stage Presence and Airness using a figure skating like system from 4.0-6.0. Airness is defined as defined as "the extent to which the air guitar performance exceeds the imitation of playing guitar and becomes an art form in and of itself." Stage names were chosen to enhance whatever image the competitor was trying to portray. They included Houston Rockit, The Guitarsonist, (who claimed to be from Shreddenberg, Germany) The Caplickster, the Crusher and The Rockunomacon, interviewed below.

After each contestant got 60 seconds to show their stuff with their own choice of music, ratings were tallied and it was time for the final compulsory round. Seven competed, getting one listen to Hocus Pocus by Focus to envision their moves. Some of the younger ones didn't seem familiar with the 1971 instrumental song by the Moving Waves and went into a bit of panic mode.

In the end, it seemed that histrionic crowd pleasers won out over the aforementioned judging criteria, with Justin Hypes, known as Houston Rockit, winning the crowd and the judges by coming off stage, hanging upside down from a rail by his legs, and air guitaring upsided down. Maybe that was "airness", I don't know. But what it was, was fun.

A documentary that several attendees of Thursday night's show recommended, called Air Guitar Nation is supposedly riveting. Following is my Q and A with the Rockunomacon, AKA Patrick Brodeur of Huntington Beach.

Q: Who is your Muse?
A: Eddie Van Halen. He is a true guitartist.

Q: How did you decide that you should be an air guitarist?
A: From a Ouiji board. We had a seance and I discovered that I was born to rock. I dropped out of law school and started practicing air guitar.

Q: Do you play real guitar?
A:No, anyone can play guitar. Air guitar takes lighting reflexes and a lack of a parasympathetic nervous system.

Q: What separates everyday air guitarist from competitiors?
A: They haven't earned it. I've been on the side of the road, air guitaring for money.

Q: How do you get into the zone?
A: I channel Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio - before Ozzie, to really rock.

Q: Why do you do this?
A: I hope to be able to share my love of aggressive rock and roll with an audience.

Q: Other comments?
A: Everyone should compete once in an air guitar contest. I think they will find their inner rock star and find out stuff about themselves they would never know otherwise.

-DAVID SPRAGUE

A former champion shows how its done.

Andrew "William Ocean" Litz Winner of the 2007 Cuervo Black US Air Guitar Championship

Ok, this should be some fun. I've never attended one of these, but I'm going to make the effort to see, or not see, someone playing guitar at the Troubadour in West Hollywood Thursday night.

Can someone not playing an instrument be entertaining? We'll see and report back to you. Come on down and join the fun! Should be at least be good for some laughs.

Singer Karrin Allyson returns to the Southland tonight with a four-evening engagement at Catalina Bar & Grill in Hollywood. She's supporting her new album, "Imagina: Songs of Brasil," her strongest collection of songs since the one-two punch of "Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane" and "In Blue" from 2001-2002.

Allyson has mined this territory before, most notably with her 1999 album, "From Paris To Rio," but "Imagina" demonstrates just how much she has grown as a vocalist in the intervening years. Singing in Portuguese and English, she nails both the melancholy and playfulness of the lyrics in a collection that digs deep in the catalogs of Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes. And, yes, she can still scat like there's no tomorrow.

Summer is defintely hear

There is much to recommend this month on the local music scene, with highlights including tons of great music and tattoos at the Ink and Iron Festival in Long Beach, some cool mini-festivals with the MakeMusicPasadena and the First Annual Sunset Strip Music Festival at the end of the month, along with the usual great regular stuff. I'll be having a tough time just going out once a week this month. Be sure and check out 29 Mules and Stonehoney at Ireland's 32 sometime. It is turning into quite the shindig lately.

-David Sprague

Wed 06/04/08 29 Mules, Stonehoney & friends Ireland's 32
Wed 06/04-7/08 Jonathan Richman The Mint
Thu 06/05/08 The Chapin Sisters Silverlake Lounge
Thu 06/05/08 The Black Angels Troubadour
Fri 06/06/08 "A Prairie Home Companion" Greek Theatre
Fri 06/06/08 Bonnie Raitt Greek Theatre
Fri 06/06/08 Garrison Keillor Greek Theatre
Fri 06/06/08 Dead Kennedys with Aimee Mann House Of Blues

Fri 06/06-8/08 Dale Watson, many, many others Ink & Iron Festival
Sat 06/07/08 Billy Bragg El Rey Theatre
Sat 06/07/08 Dave Alvin & The Guilty Men Ink & Iron Festival
Sun 06/08/08 Sunday School w/Matt Ellis, Jake La Botz Cinema Bar
Sun 06/08/08 Arturo Sandoval Catalina Bar & Grill
Sun 06/08/08 Song Birds with Circe Link, others The Barrel Van Nuys
Sun 06/08/08 I See Hawks In L.A. CD release party Echo
Sun 06/08/08 38 Special, Shooter Jennings Palmdale Amphitheater
Sun 06/08/08 The Charlie Daniels Band Volunteer Jam
Sun 06/08/08 Wayne "The Train" Hancock Safari Sam's
Tue 06/10/08 Guy Forsyth Biltmore Hotel ???
Tue 06/10/08 Billy Bragg El Rey Theatre
Tue 06/10/08 Augustana Troubadour
Thu 06/12/08 James Intveld Gene Autry Museum
Fri 06/13/08 Smokey Robinson Greek Theatre
Sat 06/14/08 X House Of Blues
Sat 06/14/08 Jewel Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
Tue 06/17/08 Marc Cohn Hotel Cafe
Wed 06/18/08 Rilo Kiley Greek Theatre
Wed 06/18/08 Secret Machines Viper Room
Thu 06/19/08 Old 97's Crash Mansion
Thu 06/19/08 Marc Cohn Canyon Club
Fri 06/20-22/08 Widespread Panic Orpheum Theatre
Fri 06/20/08 I See Hawks In L.A. Beckman Auditorium
Fri 06/20/08 Michael Martin Murphey Descanso Gardens
Sat 06/21/08 "Make Music Pasadena" Downtown Pasadena
Sat 06/21/08 Dengue Fever Downtown Pasadena
Sat 06/21/08 Division Day Downtown Pasadena
Sat 06/21/08 Everest Downtown Pasadena
Sat 06/21/08 Jesca Hoop Downtown Pasadena
Sat 06/21/08 Kinky Downtown Pasadena
Sat 06/21/08 Nortec Collective Downtown Pasadena
Sat 06/21/08 The Little Ones Downtown Pasadena
Sat 06/21/08 The Raveonettes Downtown Pasadena
Sat 06/21/08 She Wants Revenge The Wiltern
Wed 06/25/08 Robert Plant and Alison Krauss with T-Bone Burnett Greek Theatre
Thu 06/26-28/08 "Sunset Strip Music Festival" House Of Blues and other locations
Thu 06/26/08 Camper Van Beethoven, Everclear, Soul Asylum House Of Blues
Fri 06/27/08 Mark Knopfler Greek Theatre
Fri 06/27/08 Hot Hot Heat The Roxy Theatre
Sat 06/28/08 Cheap Trick Hollywood Bowl
Sat 06/28/08 Ani DiFranco House Of Blues
Sat 06/28/08 Gov't Mule Majestic Ventura Theatre
Sun 06/29/08 Preservation Hall Jazz Band Bredlow Pavillion Band Shell
Sun 06/29/08 Gov't Mule Greek Theatre

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It was barn burner, almost literally, but those who braved the heat Sunday were treated to some unique sounds at the Topanga Banjo Fiddle Contest and Folk Music Festival.
We are only going to cover some of the highlights, which were Fur Dixon and Steve Werner, Stephanie Bettman, Merle Jagger and of course any number of jams going on all around the ranch.

Check out the photo galllery and make it a point to go next year, ya hear?

-David Sprague

Hey, if you like live shows that give you a healthy dollop of the unexpected, then hie thee to (that's hifalutin speak for "get your @ss over to) the Troubadour on Wednesday for Tim Fite's show (he opens for Adam Green).

Fite's one of those guys who's hard to pigeonhole, though this serves as a good overview: The last time he played the Troub, a guy I know who writes for another local outlet who didn't know much about him (he was there for the headliner) allowed midway through his set, "Hey, he's f@%&in' great!"

Fite can do Americana with sleepy-eyed hayseeds like those Randy Newman essays with a whole lot more p!ssiness, but he also raps credibly, too (you can download for free his hip-hop album that crapped all over hip-hop culture, "Over the Counter Culture," which featured a pretty good anti-war song called "Camouflage" and an even better anti-posturing song called "Shot" and made a lot of Top-10 lists last year).

And in his live shows, he plays a kind of portly Mr. Rogers from hell, with a darkly comic multimedia show that's part bargain-basement Laurie Anderson and part Unibomber-manifesto-against-the-music-industry-and-other-things-too.

In his commercial albums, "Gone Ain't Gone" and this year's "Fair Ain't Fair," Fite actually serves up a lot of catchy songs, such as "I Hope Yer Here," "No Good Here," "45 Remedies," "Big Mistake," "More Clothes" and "Sing Along," the last of which cheekily aspires to become a jingle in a TV commercial. But Fite's lyrics ensure he won't be appearing on a Clear Channel radio station anytime soon.

Fite's working out a lot of issues, both personally and socially, in his work. It's fascinating stuff. See him now, before he goes utterly crazy or utterly sane.

- Tim Fite: 9 p.m. Wednesday, Troubadour
(Adam Green, formerly of the Moldy Peaches, headlines). Advance tickets $15.

Kathleen Edwards performs at the Troubadour
Photo Gallery

Kathleen Edwards came ready to play at the Troubadour Friday night.Touring behind her third album, Asking for Flowers, which came out in March, the Canadian troub was right at home at the Troub'. She says she always wanted to play the venue, and with the history behind it, all the thousands of great shows, it is no wonder why. Says she wanted to play it before she knew it existed. Which draws a laugh from an already appreciative crowd, expecting a great show.

One of her best songs, Summerlong, has these lyrics, which seem to fit the crowd;

There are some things I can hardly say
You've got me feeling a brand new way
Please don't let this be summerlong
Cuz I want to stay, I want to stay
I want to stay, I want to stay

Now the actual song's meaning seems to be more about unrequited young love, but Edwards' music makes most folks fixate on that second line.

Her music, a crossover of country, roots, folk and rock, blends all seamlessly. One moment she's singing a song solo acoustic, the next rocking out with her husband Colin Cripps, both trading guitar licks and practically pulling head banger moves. One part "you could hear a pin drop" quiet during Alicia Ross and three parts uptempo jamming. And although is there is good pacing throughout the show, nearly two hours with the encores, she does seem the most powerful when it is just her and a guitar, wearing her heart on her sleeve and pulling every last person in the bar in to her universe.

Most of the material, was off the latest album, but tunes from her other two were well represented. One song, however, left off the current project, to her regret, was a sea shanty called I can't give you love. Oh well, something different to look forward to on the next album. And Edwards, not even 30 yet, is going to have a long career.

She herself says "I'd like to write songs that have stories, songs that are about life and I think in that sense I write folk songs. But 10-15 years ago, if I'd emerged, I would have been seen as a pop act and today I'm considered as an Americana or an alt.country act. I think I play roots-rock and that encompasses the best elements of country, folk, rock and pop."

Having recently taught herself piano, the new album features her on the first track, a change of pace of an opener from her other albums, called Buffalo.

What seems different about her from others working in the genre, is that she seems more real, more earnest. She couldn't have lived all the stuff in her songs, or at least one hopes not, but she makes them all believable in a ways others struggle to.

She plays a bit of fiddle on a few songs, and based on her talent, it gets my vote to figure more prominently in the future. She has been playing since she was 5.

Her voice seems a little lighter than on Back to Me, and a little prettier. She seems to take getting it right very seriously based on the amount of time she spent fiddling with her in-ear monitors, and one has to say they seem to work pretty well based on the output. And of course not just her voice is excellent, but lyrics are great too, making you want to listen again and again. They really stick with you. If only this could be Summerlong.......

-David Sprague

excellent article for further reading here

Kathleen Edwards at Austin City Limit Music Festival

Canadian Kathleen Edwards, touring behind her new album Asking for Flowers, will play the Troubadour this Friday, May 16. Those already familiar with her work will already know they have to be there. Those that aren't only need to listen to a few tracks off the new album or anything off the amazing 2005 release Back to Me. See ya there.
-David Sprague

This Sunday one of the best events of the year takes place at the Paramount Ranch near Agoura Hills in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The Topanga Banjo and Fiddle Contest and Folk Festival, in its 48th year, a great time to get out in the springtime, enjoy some fine fiddling and food, and have a great overall time.
Over 100 contestants play on the main stage from 9-6, along with performances by professional musicians. There is square, English Country, and step dancing,
three different stages, shopping, and poetry all on Western movie sets and under the oaks in the mountains. A great family event where anyone who strums, picks or plucks can bring their instruments and find a new friend to jam with. The schedule of performers is here.

TICKETS: Available only at the gate on the day of the event. $12.00 for ages 18-64, $7.00 for ages 10-17 or over 65. No charge for children under 10.
FOOD: Bring your own picnic or buy from vendors on site!
PARKING: Free parking, including a shuttle bus service for the parking area. to the main gate!
DIRECTIONS: Take the (101) Ventura Freeway to Kanan Road off-ramp in Agoura Hills, California. Head south towards the ocean 1/4 mile to Cornell Road. Turn left on Cornell Road and continue 2 1/2 miles to the entrance of Paramount Ranch. Signs are posted along the way.

I highly recommend this event. This year's highlights will include The Stairwell Sisters, Steve Werner and Fur Dixon, Cowboy Nick from KCSN "Twang"
with the High Hills Bluegrass Band and Merle Jagger, and Stephanie Bettman's "Storytelling through Song" amid many, many others. You will hear some of the best country and bluegrass sounds anywhere, and much of it will not even be on a stage, but under a big tree where folks have gotten together for an impromptu jam.

-David Sprague