Superdrag
Pilot To Gunner
@ Knitting Factory
11/19/02
Brooklyn’s Arena Rock Recordings is really making a name for itself. They’ve got Mink Lungs, Superdrag, and now are re-releasing local heroes Pilot To Gunner’s first full length Games At High Speeds. That oughta keep the Arena Rock coffers full. Pilot To Gunner’s dual vocals and jagged guitars owe a big debt to Fugazi but big hooky songs like So Good to Be In Paris are rapidly carving them their own niche. They’ve got a growing local following and just might be the next local candidates to go the way of Thursday on us.

Superdrag has been churning out top-notch power pop with varying degrees of success for close to 10 years. Lineup and label changes have kept them off the radar for a bit, but recent tours with the Anniversary and Guided By Voices have raised their profile a bunch recently. Adding Mic Harrison of the late great V-Roys to the fold has made them postively un-fuckwithable. Knoxville’s finest hit all the high points for two hours plus and then burned the house down with a cover of Celebrated Summer just in case you had any doubts whatsoever that Superdrag are not a band to be reckoned with. Go see them in a small room soon. You’re not going to have too many more chances left.

Steve Earle
@ Beacon Theatre
11/21/02
In the 10 or so years that I’ve been able to see Steve Earle play, it’s been interesting to see him transmute through biker country rock to bluegrass revivalist and lefty politico. Covering all this material in a set takes some doing and makes the set a little less spontaneous than I would like, but his most recent incarnation of the Dukes handles the job pretty admirably. Perennial bassist Kelly Looney joins drummer Will Rigby and guitar ace Roscoe Ambel to pumped out bare bones backing regardless of the genre, with Steve’s sons Justin and Patrick Earle adding ancillary guitar, keys and percussion when they weren’t teching. Granted he started having children early, but seeing his two adult sons reminds you Steve’s been doing this for over 30 years now. Politics and activism have replaced heroin and crack as the driving forces in the Earle’s life, but Steve is as much of a thorn in the side of the establishment as he was in his wild days. I’d like to see his CIA file. In between cracks about John Ashcroft and war commentary, he put forth the most dangerous of all weapons: intelligent songs that make you think and question what you are told to believe.