Rocktober

Meanwhile, in rock 'n' roll news, Sherlock's Daughter are back in New York from their tour with The Charlatans. Tu Fawning are back in their Portland home following their tour with Menomena. For those interested, there's a fairly informative piece on Tu Fawning at the web site for Portland's Willamette Week newspaper. Tu Fanning will be the headliner this Friday night at Portland's Doug Fir lounge, a fine establishment that I got to visit during my stay in PDX.

Not that I will be going to the show. Not only is the venue a continent away, but I've got tickets that night to see DC's Thievery Corporation and Bristol, England's Massive Attack at Atlanta's fabulous Fox Theatre. But as great as that will be, and I'm sure that it will be great, I'm just, if not more, excited to be going the night before that (i.e., tomorrow night ) to see one of my all-time favorite bands, Metric, play at The Tabernacle.

Two major concerts at large venues on consecutive nights might sound like a bit much, and to be honest, when I bought the tickets in two separate on-line transactions last August, I didn't notice that I was buying tickets for back-to-back evenings until they had arrived. I'm just lucky that they weren't both on the same night.

But those two shows are just the tip of the iceberg - it's Rocktober, and my concert ticket is full. Saturday night, after having heard Metric, Thievery Corporation and Massive Attack all play on consecutive Thursday and Friday nights, I have to choose between watching California's Dawes and Minneapolis' Peter Wolf Crier perform at Smith's Old Bar, or hear two fine San Francisco bands, The Fresh & Onlys and Royal Baths, at the 529 Club in East Atlanta Village. As of this moment, I honestly don't know which way I will go.

Rocktober will then spill over into the calendar month of November (Rocktober is not confined to the mere conventions of calendars). On Friday night, November 5, the fine Seattle singer-songwriter Damian Jurado will be opening for Austin's Shearwater at The Earl; I've become a big fan of both, and I'm looking forward to this, another great show at the ever-reliable Earl. On the next evening, I'll have to make another choice, this time between Brooklyn's Sufjan Stevens at The Tabernacle and Quebec's Wolf Parade at Variety Playhouse. And then on Sunday, November 7, Mumford & Sons play a sold-out show at the restored Roxy, now called The Buckhead Theater. I don't have tickets to the latter, but am confident that some kind person somewhere will share an extra ticket with me.

But my most anticipated show of the year (I've had the tickets for months now) will be on the following Friday night, November 12, when Austin's The Black Angels and Vancouver's Black Mountain both play at The Earl. The show is sold out and the club will be packed, and I'm still somewhat amazed that the show hasn't been moved to a larger venue if only due to the sheer volume of the two hard-rocking bands. I can't imagine how loud they are going to sound at the tiny Earl, but the opportunity to see these two powerhouse bands up close and personal is nothing short of awesome.

The reason that I'm posting all of this now is that this blog may not be updated very frequently for the rest of this busy Roctober, or at least until November 12. I'll do what I can, but I ain't promising much. The other reason that I'm posting this now is - I get to see Metric tomorrow night!