It's like it was 10 years ago or something!

A few weeks ago I was saying how I've not been going out to Pilot Light much lately but that must have been a phase that's now winding down. It may have something to do with this unseasonably warm weather making it nicer to venture out, but I was down there five of the last eight nights. Last week was a particularly eclectic week for PL, and March is a particularly busy month that provides an excellent case as to why that place remains vital to Knoxville.

Here's what went on last week, February 20-27:

Sunday - Junk Culture w/ Kunniggulus
Recent Illegal Art signee Junk Culture wasn't really my thing but it brought out a couple of dozen youngsters who probably hang out more at Valarium or Cider House than PL. Locals Kunniggulus returned with their laptop shenanigans, and even projected a pretty boss DVD of a '70s-era home video chopped and screwed by Kunniggulator Dugan.

Monday- Thank You w/ Yung Life
Baltimore's Thank You were way better than my memory of their debut album which I haven't heard in years would have me believe. A trio playing repetitive minimalist rock grooves with multiple guitars and analogue synths, they're kind of like a less punk, more melodic Oneida. Local trio Yung Life get better every time I see them. Totally great proggy take on 80s synth-pop, but way more interesting than that description would have you believe.

Tuesday - The Civil Wars w/ Mountains of Moss
Not even my great love for Adam Ewing's Mountains of Moss could overcome my indifference to the Jay Leno-approved Civil Wars. I've heard approximately 45 seconds of music from this duo, and that snippet combined with their general appearance and press kit convinces me their music is not for me. These guys look like they play the industry game so expertly it's as if their band is a Masters thesis on How To Make It as a Band in Nashville and L.A. They were by all accounts nice folks, though. There were apparently almost 100 people turned away and ridiculous bribes offered for entry at the door, making this the largest non-Halloween night in PL history.

Wednesday - What happened? Bar night? All I recall is I wasn't there.

Thursday - Matta Gawa w/ Double Muslims and Newark Sextets
A last minute show added a few days before, this was the surprise of the week in many ways. Matta Gawa were described as an improv noise guitar/drum duo, and that description always makes me leery, but these guys were awesome. Some old school improv with more jazz influence than noise, both musicians were amazing and very busy on their instruments. It's the kind of thing I don't hear nearly enough of live these days, and I wondered if groups like this don't seem to young Junk Culture/Girl Talk fans like hippies did to Jesus Lizard/Sonic Youth/Big Black fans 20 years ago. Like weirdos fighting a lost cause. Newark Sextets is Kunniggulator Dugan doing solo laptop work with an even more abstract video projection from the same home movie source. The Double Muslims performance was something of a warm-up, a peek at the new incarnation, with Maggie Brannon lending vocals to Jason Boardman's drums and Eric Lee's guitar dup. If you've heard DM, it might be hard to imagine them with vocals, but Maggie did great work improvising, and at least one piece was obviously a song they've been working on. This was a more explicitly rockist version of the band than we've heard in a while, and Damion Huntoon and Tyler Mucklowe from Woman are making some noise with them down in the practice space. I can't wait for the full-on debut of this lineup.

Friday - RB Morris and Angela Faye Martin
Don't know much about Nashville singer/songwriter Angela Faye Martin, other than Mark Linkous produced her last album, and I showed up too late to hear her. Arriving a little before midnight, I caught the last 5 or 6 songs (Early crowd!) by local hero RB, who I haven't seen live in several years. He was backed by Tim Lee and Greg Horne on guitar, Susan Bauer Lee on bass and somebody I didn't know on drums, and they sounded good. I've been listening to Warren Zevon's first two albums a lot lately (?!) and maybe I wouldn't have made this oconnection otherwise, but this group seemed to me to share an aesthetic affinity. Guitar greats Lee and Horne can come a little close to being too tasteful for my tastes, but they kept it loose and rocking enough most of the time.

Saturday - Vaygues, Die Job and Unicobra
I unfortunately didn't make it out for this one, an excellent line up of for a Saturday night local rock show. I'm told Vaygues drummer Graham gave an amazing, near-perfect performance that will be talked about for years to come, due to the heroic amounts of alcohol he had consumed earlier in the day that would have rendered most other musicians useless but seemed to faze his playing not one bit. I was sorry to miss this one, but Die Job and Vaygues play quite a bit, and Unicobra will no doubt play again soon.

Sunday - Going away gathering for Leslie Hatten
Yet another UT art graduate answers the siren call of NYC, the only place in the United States in America where "art" is taken "seriously." A bunch of people hanging out drinking, bullshitting, listening to some awesome classic and recent hip-hop and bidding farewell to a friend.

Every Knoxville ex-pat involved in the art/music scene is sorely missed, but who can blame them for moving on? Certainly not me, and the above week probably seems pretty paltry if not boring to our friends in NYC, Chicago, Austin, Prague, Portland, Seoul and wherever the hell else, but one of the things they're leaving behind is the fun and and the love unique to the place. Like on Thursday when Jason bought the 10 or so people who showed up for the show a round, and Will Fist ended up emptying his tip jar to buy multiple cans of Jeremiah Weed so everyone could try it, and then bought more beers for people to keep the night going, as everyone discussed the merits of Queen's Jazz album (which was playing because Eric Lee and/or Maggie are on a Queen kick, and though it could be annoying it's actually kind of endearing how people end up obsessing over the same band or record for a while*), and the out of town band showing genuine disbelief and appreciation about how nice everyone is and asking lots of questions about Knoxville. Or Sunday, when different groups of people who didn't know one another well or at all showed up to say goodbye to a mutual friend, maybe a little envious or sad or hurt that she was leaving us all behind, but knowing the good times are always going to be here for us if we just keep showing up. Not that this kind of thing doesn't go on everywhere, but this is a small community with solid roots whose members depend on one another to maybe even a not altogether healthy degree, and not that chasing a good time should be one's purpose in life, but somehow enough people around here keep making it worthwhile. We also generally have to make our own fun, which is a good start in ensuring the good times will always outweigh the bad.



*That reminds me - when Keith Wood of Hush Arbors played here several weeks ago, Eric Lee was bartending and played Fleetwood Mac's Tusk on the stereo, a carryover perhaps from when everyone was obsessing over Rumours (the younger folk) and Tusk (the slightly older folk) a few years ago. I was asking Keith about playing in Current 93 with David Tibet, and he told me after Ben Chasny recommended him to Tibet as Ben's replacement, the "audition" basically consisted of Keith hanging out with Tibet in his home, getting high and bonding over their mutual love of Tusk.