I generally dont like the reviews in the news and major publications because they all talk about the same artists that we got way too much of during the year. I am always for the underdog and there were a lot of deserving talented artists both in music and film. Once again I made the rounds in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Vegas, Phoenix, LA, New Orleans and Austin.
To start things off I saw some great local bands here in New Mexico. The most talented was Ryan McGarvey, a 21 year old guitar phenom in the tradition of Stevie Ray Vaughn and Hendrix. Just listen to “Texas Special” and you will see what I mean. I look for him to do big things in the coming years.
The Ya Ya Boom Project reminds me of Pretty Girls Make Graves and the The Gossip.
During 2008 I frequented most of the local New Mexico venues and saw many acts both national, such as My Brightest Diamond and Colourmusic, and local. A mainstay in the Albuquerque music scene is Unit 7 Drain. They have been together for several years and drew the interest of labels before getting the usual line: you dont have a hit. They are quite dramatic live. Other strong local bands were The Fertile Crescent, Mei Long, Shoot My Cupid, The Decca Sequence, Leiahdorus, Reba Hasko and D Numbers. D Numbers is an electronic jam band that is developing a large local following and could be the next breakout band from this area. Hasko is a very talented singer/songwriter who spent 3 years in Berlin, Germany honing her performance skills in local venues there. Fans of My Brightest Diamond, Stevie Nicks and Cat Power will like her.
I made a few jaunts to LA and some of my favorite bands I saw there were Firebug, The New Up, The Ringers, Stereofix, The Globes, Tremellow and Blackmarket. Their show at the Troubador was perhaps Blackmarkets tightest, catchiest set. It was their first show as a trio. I have known them since 2005 and this year they released a full length selling over 10,000 copies in Japan. They played two shows there including Fuji Rock Fest to 5000 fans and will return in Feb 2009. They also toured Germany with the Subways and have been invited back for five shows in Feb/March 2009.
In Phoenix I saw a much more passionate, polished Eisley who have been hunkered down most of the year in Tyler, Texas working up 35 new songs to choose from for their third full length to be released sometime in 2009. Also in Phoenix I got reacquainted with Vic Chesnutt, whom I last saw back in 1996. His vocals and songs are as good as ever.
Quickly, around the rest of the country: so much has already been said about SXSW. A couple of nice surprises were Lily Electric from Denmark/Berlin, The Voom Blooms from England and Addictive TV from England. In Las Vegas I saw The Afghan Raiders and XrayOK. Both excellent electronica dance bands. My favorite national touring acts were Pepper and The Faint.
The Ice Cream Man documentary was presented at the 2008 Santa Fe Film Fest and at a screening in Long Beach, California. It has been selected to play the Durango Film Fest as of this writing. My favorite films at Santa Fe were Lifting of the Veil, Under the Bombs, Assasin Emeritus, Jackson and Under Our Skin. Jackson is about two street bums, one a positive guy who ultimately helps change the attitude of his negative cohort. It was done by JF Lawton who wrote Pretty Woman. Being that my day job is in the health care field nothing had a more dramatic affect on me than Under Our Skin. It is a documentary that follows the lives of patients who have contracted Lyme disease. The most shocking aspect of the film is its premise that many cases of Alzheimers, MS, and Lou Gehrigs disease may actually be inadequately treated chronic Lyme disease. It demonstrates how the current medical community and regulators, with the encouragement of the insurance and pharmaceutical industry and academia, want to deny this possibility to the point of taking away the license of any physician who would dare to go beyond conventional therapy. Its shows how those that decide what conventional therapy should be are on the payroll of those industries. A final highlight of the fest was hearing Howard Shore speak about film scoring. He did Lord of the Rings and Silence of the Lambs among many others.
2008 also saw the passing of many greats. In 2003 I had the honor of covering The Stooges reunion at Coachella for Rock and Folk. This past week saw the passing of Ron Asheton the original guitarist for the band. One you may not know about was Michael P. Smith. He was the photographer who shot the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival for 37 years. He has over 200 album covers and several books to his credit. If you go to Tipitina’s upstairs the large photos on the walls are his. Check out his work here .
Check out Pat’s 2007 Year in Review
