Loose Fur
@ St. Ann Warehouse
12/7/02
Loose Fur is Jeff Tweedy and Jim O’Rourke’s little side project. Truth be told, I thought it was called Lucifer, but the whole play on words pretty much lets you know what you’re in for. This was a Drag City throwdown gone horribly awry. Song fragments popped up here and there, all delivered with the tongue through cheek snidery that makes me want to strangle most of Brooklyn. The Wilco connection alone filled the St. Ann’s Space with a whole bunch of kids that thought they’d be seeing a Tweedy solo show, or at least something like the Woody Guthrie records. Not gonna happen. The cries of "Tweedy You Suck" and the not especially original (or worthy) "Judas" came fast and furious towards the end of the proceedings, to the seeming collective amusement of all those involved. Loose Fur may be a fun project if you’re in it, but it’s hardly ear candy for anyone that has to hear it.

Slobberbone
Will Johnson
@ Mercury Lounge
12/13/02
There’s a whole lot of Texas in New York, and they’re always glad to see faces from their home state, especially on a Friday night where there’s liquor available. Centro-Matic frontman Will Johnson warmed up the crowd with some new songs and reworkings of the old stuff with Scott Danbom, then had the Slobberbone boys (minus Brent) close the set with them. Not too shabby, and there were all the earmarks of a seamless fade right into the Slobberbone set, but no such luck. After a brief "lubrication" break, Brent and the boys kicked it up about ten notches and romped through old and new favorites before capping it with a cover of Champagne Supernova. God bless those boys. Nothing’s broken in the Slobberbone franchise and no one in Slobberbone is trying to fix it. Frankly, it would take too much time away from their drinking, and no one would really want that.

Hangdogs
@ Rodeo Bar
12/14/02
For a minute, it seemed like the Hangdogs were going to make the step up to the big leagues. They signed to Shanachie, were getting bigger and bigger shows and even toured Italy, for chrissakes. Then they sort of imploded. Babies, lack of desire to tour and what evidently wasn’t the greatest record deal in the world have relegated the Hangdogs to playing the odd Rodeo show and trying to drink the bar dry. Not that they aren’t good at both, but there’s a sense of failed potential whenever you see them play. That being said, the Hangdogs are a great live band, and they’ve tried to capitalize on it by putting out "Nothing Left To Sell", which seems to say it all about their current relationship with the label. Nothing’s changed about the live show, they still seamlessly mix originals and covers, everybody sings, and the bar always does well at the end of the night. Support your local heroes and check out those Dogs, it’s a whole lot better than the Damnwells.

Cursive
Lake Trout
Neva Dinova
@ Bowery Ballroom
Since Wetlands and Brownies closed, it’s been pretty a pretty crappy time to see live music in New York. If you’re not up for paying $100 to see Interpol, you’re pretty much up shit creek - sans paddle. Thank god we still have the Bowery Ballroom. I’d been on a small island off Honduras for a while previous and Cursive is a pretty safe bet for a live show, so a trip down Bowery way seemed an apt way to get back in touch with civilization. Neva Dinova started off the evening with a surprisingly rootsy set for band that’s touring with Cursive. Picture Richard Buckner fronting the Pernice Brothers. Not a band combination at all, but not all that accessible to the average indie kid either, so cue a lukewarm response. I’d definitely see them again, though. I had been avoiding Lake Trout for over a year after the Voice described them as acid-jazz and was surprised to find that they had an Afghan Whigs/Cure-y kind of dense rock sound going in. They’ve been playing in town a lot in the last year and while their songs are a little long, they aren’t shabby by a long shot. Must be something in that dirty Baltimore water. Now Tim Kasher and Cursive have had as many off nights as any other band, but they always seem to be trying to push the envelope, whether it be in their music or their beer consumption. Recent times have marked the addition of Gretta Cohen on cello. It’s a good move; the non-tempered tone of her bowed notes adds tension at the right places and lends a warm beauty to the quiet parts. Most of the set was new stuff, but they dipped into the back catalog for The Casualty and some of the chestnuts from Domestica. While it was nice to hear stuff from that admittedly great record, there were three records of the strongest material that was ignored outright, perhaps due to the lack of cello friendly parts, but at the expense of a lot of people who never got a chance to hear that early stuff live. Either way, it was a damn good show from the band that is indubitably the best band on the Saddle Creek roster.