The Boz at Dover Downs: Does the fun ever start?

To borrow a phrase from David Ferrie in "JFK," Boz Scaggs is a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma.

This is too big for you. Don't you get it?

More specifically, I guess, it's the overwhelming respect and reverence that Mr. Scaggs' elicits from his fans that has me so perplexed.

Here in Delaware, this high regard for the Boz Man extends to this very day, as evidenced by the massive Boz Scaggs billboard on I-95 just south of Wilmington touting his April 5 show at Dover Downs.

OK, so he was in the Steve Miller Band. He contributed to me wasting my freshman year of college over-valuing decent-but-vanilla FM radio gems like "Jet Airliner" and "Jungle Love" when I could have been delving into the burbling great beginnings of early '90s alt- and indie-rock. Thanks, I guess?

Good ol' days: Litooo ah oooh ooohhh.

OK, so he sang "The Lido Shuffle," which is a decent single, and which gave me some nice memories when Lito Sheppard was on the Philadelphia Eagles and they'd play that song whenever he did something good on the field.

I wasn't born when the 1970s first began and Boz hit his prime, so I don't remember his other hits, of which there were several that hit the Top 20. I'm not disputing this, as it's a fact that someone wrote down, so I believe it. And being as I've heard and dug hundreds or maybe thousands of tunes that were made before I was born, I figured I'd maybe heard these before, but just didn't know them by name.

Nah. Don't really know or like "Lowdown," or "Breakdown Dead Ahead," or "Jo-Jo." And I hear them now and there's really nothing that screams legendary, genius, or any of the other superlatives thrown at Boz Hogg.

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA.

What really cements the oddity that is Boz Scaggs worship for me is that he almost acknowledged his
lameness in 2010 by forming the Dukes of September Rhythm Review, a supergroup (poopergroup?) that paired him with jazz geek Donald Fagen and Mr. Mushmouth himself, Michael McDonald.

If a shittier tour has ever been staged, I'd love for someone to stick it right down in the comments section below.

I'm not sure that I would go to see Boz at Dover Downs if it was free. About the only way I would go is if he played my Dream Boz Scaggs set from a secret show he played at the Forum in Los Angeles in July of 1975. The First State Rock research team uncovered a copy of the set list from that legendary gig.

Throw in some free hot dogs and I am so there.

Delaware Music Festival, Take Three: The Jolly What!

Ah, the mid-'00s. Things were simpler then. Things were better then. Say the word "MySpace" to anyone who doesn't play an instrument and they'll practically laugh their tonsils out at you. Say the word to a musician, though, and you can see a tear run down their cheek like that Native American in the famous commercial.

Mark Degz is probably one of those musicians. His former band, Dead Loretta, made quite a ruckus on the Delaware indie rock scene during the middle part of the last decade, a scene that centered on the amazing Mojo 13 in Holly Oak as well as its previous incarnation, Sneaky Pete's.

You could see great original music there several days a week, and national acts began showing up there as well, including Joe Jack Talcum of the Dead Milkmen and, later, The Hold Steady.

And you could see Degz and Dead Loretta cranking out great singles like "Miranda" and "Symphony of a Wasted Youth" that helped them get regional play and exposure and a ride that ended just short of a big break.

MySpace gave artists like Dead Loretta a free platform for sharing their music via stream or download and for promoting shows and connecting with other bands and fans.

Hold Steady: The peak of the Mojo 13 Movement.

But like the Blackberry, it's just another good idea that's become a joke because someone said so, and bands are left with choosing between various platforms, like Facebook's band pages (features a music player, but do you really want to give Mark Zuckerberg the rights to your music?), Bandcamp, Sound Cloud, Reverbnation, etc.

They're all good in their own way, but there's too many of them. Fans are sent all over the place and can't find what's good.

That's where good folk like First State Rock come in. If you lost track of Degz after Dead Loretta went up in flames during a show with an industry suit at Mojo 13, here's what he's up to:

This shit owns your music.

He formed The Jolly What! in 2007, recorded their first release, "Life Is My Favorite Sport" in 2009, and has continued to release some fascinatingly quirky stuff, from straight-up vintage '90s indie rock ("Topanga") to desert rock to reggae-rock ("Heaven in a Heartless World") to the just plain whacked out (the faux blues number "18 Year Old Girls").

They're putting the finishing touches on their new album, "Surviving The Supervolcano," which features the roaring rocker "Super Flare,"  and the tune "Girl of my Dreams," which is already a local hit.

The Jolly What! hit the stage at the Delaware Music Festival in Dewey Beach at 12:20 a.m. Saturday March 30 (technically Sunday, but whatever). Admission is free.

Here's a little Jolly What! for ya:

New band, familiar faces: Easy Creatures at Mojo Main

Photo finish: The boys of Philadelphia's Easy Creatures.

Somewhere in the afterlife, former Minutemen leader D. Boon is looking down on the Philadelphia area and nodding in approval. Fugazi’s Ian McKaye, out on tour with The Evens, is unknowingly channeling some heavy vibes emanating from the Delaware Valley from a band he’s never heard. And Glenn Danzig, in the midst of preparing for his upcoming role in a movie about porn legend Vanessa Del Rio, is feeling his Incredible Hulk rock persona coming on and he doesn’t know why.

OK, maybe none of these things are happening.

But I’m 100 percent certain they would be if only the sounds of the Easy Creatures could reach the ears of these three rock icons.

While based in Philadelphia, Easy Creatures is distinctly Delaware in more ways than one. The most obvious is that it’s made up of Jade Tree Records alumni and dudes from hallowed First State acts from the past, including Walleye, The Kill Quota, (see vid of a recent reunion show for these two bands here) Railhed, The Bad Luck 13 Riot and Extravaganza.

D. Boon woulda loved the Creatures.

But there’s something that's more intrinsically Delaware – and maybe even regional - in their sound, which you’ll hear if you come out to see them at Mojo Main on Saturday (March 30). Singer Shane Evans can shift into a scream gear reminiscent of McKaye but he’s got a little Greg Dulli in him too, and Dulli and his Afghan Whigs were a major influence on the once-burgeoning Newark rock scene of the 1990s. The barrage of guitars unloaded by Mark McKinney and Joey Simpers definitely recalls Walleye, but there’s also a modern and melodic element to them that helps Easy Creatures fit in with the crowd and blow away what’s going on in rock now. Joe Konrad (bass) and Jeff Tirabassi (drums) form a nice beefy rhythm section that serves as a foundation for all of this heavy riffage and vocal shrapnel.

Oh, and their in-the-works first album is being produced by legendary Newark producer Nick Rotundo (formerly of Walleye, Railhed and The Kill Quota) at Clay Creek Studios.

Doesn’t get any more Delaware than that.

Easy Creatures are at Mojo Main, 270 E. Main St., Newark, on Saturday with The Frantic Heart of It, Zwanendael and Deer Gear. Tickets are $5 at TicketFly. Or visit Mojo Main’s site for more information.

Here's the band doing their tune "All Good Bastards" during a recent show:

John Wesley Harding will be slingin' tunes at Dogfish Head

Photo by Bill Wadman

Why should we be surprised that Dogfish Head Brewings and Eats in Rehoboth will be hosting a quality national act like John Wesley Harding?

Not only is Friday’s (March 29) show the next in a slew of great bands and solo acts – some of them nationally known -  to grace the stage there, but we’re talking about Dogfish Head here.

A whole lotta of suds. Plant at Dogfish.

Freaking Robert Plant just SHOWED UP up at the Dogfish brewery in Milton last summer to sample some of their brews. When the dude who set the template for bazillion frontmen pops in to sip your product, the term “buzzworthy” doesn’t do you justice.

Back to Harding, whose real name is Wesley Stace. The folk-rock singer-songwriter has got 15 albums under his belt, including his latest, "The Sound of His Own Voice," which features a backing band featuring Pete Buck (thumbs up), Rosanne Cash (thumbs up) and members of the Decemberists (thumbs down).

He was tapped by BRUUUUCE to be his opening act, had a song on a movie soundtrack (“I’m Wrong About Everything” on the massively overrated*** 2000 flick “High Fidelity”) and copped the title of a seminal Bob Dylan album (who changed the name slightly from that of the outlaw gun slinger) for his own moniker. Oh, and he has this Cabinet of Wonders variety show thing involving musicians like Steve Earle and writers and artists and the like, and they play stuff like this. Oh, and he writes books that get all kinds of amazing reviews. Pretty bad ass.

The best part with Friday’s 10 p.m. show at Dogfish Head (320 Rehoboth Ave., Rehoboth), as with all Dogfish shows, is that there’s no cover. Visit the Dogfish site or call 302-226-BREW.

So Cusack's hairline improved since Lloyd Dobler? Naw.

*** “High Fidelity” is a beneficiary of John Cusack being so underrated that he became overrated. Snobby critics scoffed at his ’80s Goofball Trilogy (“Better Off Dead,” “One Crazy Summer” and “Hot Pursuit”) and never realized how those flicks and his breakthrough in “Say Anything” crystallized his cultural status with Gen X, then they missed the first couple of pitches when he started doing more serious stuff (“City Hall”). So they jumped all over “High Fidelity,” sensing it was some kind of "Singles" sequel. If it wasn’t for Jack Black as music geek Barry in Rob Gordon’s record store, this slop would have been straight-to-video. But that’s just me. (I also feel like it’s my duty, as always, to point out Cusack’s awful wig in this movie).

Delaware Music Festival, Take Two: The Last Dinosaur

The Last Dinosaur is like the "Iron" Mike Sharpe of the Delaware music scene. I'm not saying they're Jobbers by any means; on the contrary, it seems that, like Sharp, they've been hovering around so much in the press and on the scene that they don't get the credit they deserve.

And like Dinosaur, "Iron" Mike was pretty rad. The Canadian grappler's loud and pointless growling in the ring was way cool, as is Josh Hensley's commanding frontman croon. Sharpe had that "injury" (wink wink) that allowed him to wear a loaded forearm brace to bash opponents with (yet he never won?) while Dinosaur has Dan Horsey's blaring guitar.

"Iron" Mike Sharpe: "Canada's Greatest Athlete."

But thanks to performances like the ones they put on at Mojo Main, World Cafe Live at the Queen and elsewhere around the region, that could change real soon.

Let's see if the Last Dinosaur can have their big breakout moment, like "Iron" Mike did when he won the 1984 NWA Mid America Heavyweight title, or when he teamed with Hulk Hogan in Japan in 1984, or when he took on Jake "The Snake" Roberts at Summerslam in 1990, or when he fought Bob Backlund for the WWF title in 1983. when they play the Delaware Music Festival during their 11 p.m. set on Saturday March 30. The fest takes place at the Rusty Rudder in Dewey Beach.

If not then, we're pretty sure it's going to happen at some point, and these dudes will go on to bigger matches and titles than their pro wrestling doppelganger ever did.

Hey there's some Garbage at The Electric Factory

Was Butch Vig really a genius, or just someone who realized the obvious and exploited it?

Indeed, Vig deserves all the credit in the world for bringing a polished-yet-cool sheen to albums like Nirvana’s “Nevermind” and the Smashing Pumpkins’ “Siamese Dream” and making them the classics that they are.

I dunno. What stands out to you in these photos?

But Vig didn’t just walk into Sound City Studios and invent the loud-soft-loud dynamic. He took what worked for The Pixies (and Hüsker Dü before them) and made it commercially explosive by putting it behind a tragically handsome and twistedly charismatic frontman instead of a chubby bald guy, a chick who dressed like a dude and looked like she could (and would) kick your ass and two other guys who barely moved. Duh.
 
Same thing with Garbage, which is really just a modern-day Blondie, without the hits. Watch Blondie’s VH1 “Behind The Music” and pay attention to the part where the band members get pissed because Debbie Harry is getting all the press and adulation, aka making Blondie relevant, getting Blondie fans and securing Blondie radio and MTV play. Would Blondie have ever cracked the Top 100 if Harry was Harry Anderson? Naw.
 
Vig must have read up on Blondie’s dweebie bandmates’ bitching and saw the lightbulb go off – get a hot chick (Shirley Manson) and put her in front of an alt-rock band. In fact, use some of the same tricks that made the Pumpkins and Nirvana kings of grunge when you write the music. Boom, you've got Garbage, and “Stupid Girl” goes from a pretty average piece of dancy alt-pop to a mosh-worthy smash-hit single and video. “Vow” and “I’m Only Happy When it Rains” become an anthem of teen angst.
 

What was wrong with thisguy?

I know they had other crap. “I Think I’m Paranoid” and “Push It” were kind of big off “Version 2.0,” but they’re kind of snoozerish as far as singles go. When you come out with your second album, and you fail to make a more lasting impact than Fastball (killer hit “The Way”) and Harvey Danger (killer hit “Flagpole Sita”), you’re already headed in the wrong direction.
 
But Garbage is big. They’re ’90s alt-rock royalty, I guess. The proof is in the YouTube clips of the 40-somethings moshing around. And if you’re a fan you’re pumped as hell to see them tonight (March 23) at The Electric Factory, 7th and Callowhill streets. You’re probably even stoked to “only” be paying $46.05 to see your favorite band ever, but fact of the matter is you’re getting stone-cold robbed.

IO Echo opens the show at 8 p.m.

Classic Newark: My Name is Drew at Mojo Main

My Name is Drew reminds me of the kind of stuff you might have heard back in the days of Old Newark, or at least Old Newark circa 1993-1997, aka the Old Newark I know.

[pause to put on Grumpy Old Man costume]

Back when there was no Grotto, or Cold Stone Creamery, no Barnes and Noble, no wine bars, no yuppie-ass speciality stores. When Treats served up what was then deemed “hippie” food down at the west end of Main Street. When there were FOUR record stores. When the Stone Balloon still existed. When the East End still existed (although, truth be told, Mojo Main is an upgrade in a lot of ways). When the presence of overwhelming douchebaggery did not.

"DBs on Main Street." New Stones LP?

Maybe there’s more of a modern emo tinge to Newark’s My Name is Drew, but they wouldn’t have looked too out of place next to Schroeder, Caterpillar, The Caulfields, Razor Blue and other bands that roamed the landscape of that Old Newark circa 1993-1997.

Singer Ethan Freeman, guitarist Curtis Jackson, bassist Zach Schroeder and drummer Rob Graves can do dissonance ("Absofreakinlutely"), but they can do weirdo pop-jazz ("Little Mistake"), and I'm a big fan of the well-placed but not overdone handclaps - a la Boston's "Foreplay/ Long Time" or Chris Mars' stick clicks in The Replacement's "Left of the Dial" - in "Relax," which features some pretty beefy Dave Grohl-esque drum work by Graves.

But their torching of Oasis's "Wonderwall" is, well, interesting.

The band headlines a night of rock that also features Our Wrecked Machine, My Worst Critic, Weekday Warriors and Here for the Night at 9 tonight (March 22) at the aforementioned Mojo Main, which is at 270 E. Main St., Newark.

Tickets are $5 and can be had here.

Here's the band performing "Absofreakinglutely" during a recent show:

 

Delaware Music Festival, Take One: I am Lightning

Year after year, more than once a year, a think-tank of music nuts down in Dewey Beach assemble multi-band music festivals boasting acts that zig-zag across genres like a Tommy Wiseau script, only more organized and cohesive. So, not at all really, I just like to reference Tommy Wiseau as many times as humanly possible.

There’s the Dewey Beach PopFest (coming up April 12-14), the Dewey Beach Music Conference, and the Delaware Music Festival, which unfurls 25 bands on four stages both in and outside the Rusty Rudder, 113 Dickinson St., Dewey Beach, from Friday March 29 to Saturday March 30. The only bad news is that you have to be 21 and over to get in. The good news is it’s free. Can’t beat that.

Wayne Supergenius: York County's finest.

Tony Ryder, singer and guitarist for the York, Pa.-based alt-country band Wayne Supergenius, has played two of the three festivals - his band performed at the Music Conference back in 2006, while Ryder went solo at the PopFest in 2011. 

"Playing in Dewey is always a wonderful experience," Ryder said. "The bars, the restaurants, the promoters, booking agents, the soundmen and their staff are always top notch. Highly recommended to anyone looking for a quality and professional gig."

Wayne Supergenius drummer Tony Melchiorre agreed with his bandmate and said all three of the events cater to the musicians. 

And that's thanks in large part, he said, to Vikki Walls, who is the force behind them.

"They treat you like rock stars. Vikki Walls is by far the most accommodating host, and she knows talent. Period."

Leading up to the fest, we’re going to shed the spotlight on as many bands as possible leading up to the fest.

I am Lightning: Do these things stay on when they play?

Today’s act is Wilmington’s I am Lightning, who take the stage at 10:20 p.m. on Friday March 29.

I’m loving the fearless, balls-out approach these dudes take to their emo rock. Could be their experience, as the members all have impressive resumes stuffed with loads of past bands: The Solitary System, Joshua Fit For Battle, Round Robin, Welcome the Plague Year, Rarae Avis and Game Over!

What I like best, though, is you’re not going to get some boring, shoe-gazer bullshit where the band doesn’t move, but you’re also not going to get some overblown theatrics from a band that’s still got some dues to pay.

Check 'em out doing "What's That Sound" during a recent show at the World Cafe Live at the Queen:

For the rest of the Dewey Beach Music Fest schedule, visit the site or call 302-227-3888 for more information.

Still Feelin' it: '80s alt-rockers hit up Philly's Union Transfer

Remember when R.E.M. was cool?

So cool, in fact, that when they went out of their way to drop a reference, their slavishly loyal fans immediately went and checked out that reference. It’s for this very reason that Big Star finally got its due, and why Alex Chilton has ascended to alt-rock god status. 

What about the Velvet Underground? 

Repeated prop-giving and the slightly countrified covers of “Pale Blue Eyes” and “Femme Fatale” on the still-underrated 1987 b-side and outtake comp “Dead Letter Office” had to have had something to do with VU’s warp-speed jump to the inner-circle of FM classic rock and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And did Pete Buck’s guest guitar solo on The Replacements’ “I Will Dare,” off the 1984 album “Let It Be,” have anything to do with that album getting named album of the year by music mags all over the place.

Maybe it didn’t quite have the same impact Hoboken, N.J.’s The Feelies, but like Pylon (also covered on “Dead Letter Office”), R.E.M.’s citing of their 1980 album “Crazy Rhythms” which included rad tracks like "Raised Eyebrows") as a major influence helped put them on the map, as did Buck’s signature light-touch, reverbified production of their 1986 album “The Good Earth.”

Feelies, Pavement, MoB...these are your REO Speedwagons.

And lookie here! The Feelies are one of those reunited alternative rock bands, a la Mission of Burma and Archers of Loaf and the SoftBoys and Pavement and Superdrag, that became modern-day REO Speedwagons and Night Rangers for fans in the 33-43 year-old range. And for that, they owe a big thank you to Berry, Buck, Mills and Stipe.

The Feelies play Union Transfer, 1024 Spring Garden St., Philadelphia, on Friday March 22. Doors open at 8 p.m., and the show starts at 8:30 p.m. 

Tickets are $22 and can be had right here. Visit www.utphilly.com for more info.

Jimmie's Chicken Shack go boom at WCL

Marylanders who were college kids in the mid-1990s had no choice: They had to love Jimmie's Chicken Shack. And that's not a bad thing, considering the fact that singer Jimmy HaHa and his Annapolis-based crew were linchpin dealers of funk-metal before the music industry started selling bad batches of the stuff, otherwise known as rap-metal.

You gotta give it to the Shack, they went from a little-band-that-could to stardom, starting out by releasing stuff on their own Fowl Records, then packing the legendary 8x10 in Baltimore every freaking night, then getting signed to Elton John's Rocket Records and showing up on MTV's "120 Minutes."

Jimmie's Chicken Shack never became a massive band with an enormous fanbase, but the fanbase they did have was rabid and devoted, not unlike the herds of worshipers who bow down to Robert Pollard and Guided By Voices.

GBV and JCS fans: Geeks all the same.

Free Staters and long-time fans are in for a treat on Saturday March 30, as Jimmie's Chicken Shack play World Cafe Live at the Queen, 500 N. Market St., Wilmington.

Best part - the ticket price is very 1995-ish, at $10. Sinners Saints and A Caffeine Dream open the show at 8 p.m., and tickets can be had here.


And now, all Jimmie's Chicken Shack, and chicken fans in general, bow down to the new Queen of Fried Fowl:

Sad times: "Who's Next" gets the Classic Albums Live treatment at The Grand

Seems like a cool enough concept: A cracker-jack band comprised of impeccably professional musicians crank out some of the greatest albums of all time.

But see Classic Albums Live is not some corny tribute band. It's a recreation of the music and the album, in order, from opener to closer.

We're especially intrigued in cases where this simply could not happen otherwise: The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," "Abbey Road" and "Rubber Soul"; Queen's "Night At The Opera"; Led Zeppelin's "I" and "IV,"; Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon,"; The Doors' "L.A. Woman"; and and Bob Marley's "Exodus" are among the many that would be kind of cool to hear recreated.

Bowie was best with Mick at his side.

Kind of annoying in cases where this might actually be happening, could possibly happen, or could definitely happen but probably won't: David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust" (wouldn't be the same without Mick Ronson), The Eagles' "Hotel California," (yeah, well, naw) and AC/DC's "Back In Black" (seriously, why would you not just go see the real deal?).

Welcome to the Hotel Douchefornia.

So where does The Who's classic 1971 album "Who's Next" fall? Since Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey continue to trot around using The Who name, even performing entire albums like they did on the recent "Quadrophenia" tour, it's not out of the realm of possibility that these two stubborn bastards could line up a "Who's Next" tour where they go from "Baba O'Riley" to "Won't Get Fooled Again" in cities all over the world.

But is this something that could really happen, even if it did? As in, would Townshend and Daltrey really be recreating the album? Missing John Entwistle's monster bass (and vox on "My Wife") would leave me feeling empty. And no Keith Moon? That means no machine-gun take-off at the end of "Baba." And no lightning-crash entrance on "Bargain." And no motor on "Goin' Mobile." And no rolling break out of the Moog and patpatpatpatpatpatpatpatpatpat "YEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH MEET THE NEW BOSS" on "Won't Get Fooled Again."

So this is sad, because we'd love to hear the early 1970's version of The Who do "Who's Next":

But we don't really want the current "Who" to do "Who's Next":

And while it appears they do a more-than-capable job with it - we kind of don't want Classic Albums Live to do it:

Maybe you feel differently. And if you do, you can check it out on Saturday April 6 at 8 p.m. at The Grand, which is at 818 N. Market St., Wilmington. Tickets are $28, $32 or $37, and you can get them here.

Raise your glass with Pink at the WFC

Do you ever get the feeling Pink just makes up her songs on the spot in the studio? I'm not going to fuddy-duddy out and rip Pink, because she has her audience and she has her place.

No idea what this is.

But the mere existence of Pink as someone who dominates radio with everything she releases proves it doesn't take much to fill up and sell out a giant venue like the Wells Fargo Center. It's why LCD Soundsystem, who I had never even heard (but heard of, again, yeah, I'm old) could sell out Madison Square Garden with their farewell show. Farewell show? When was the first one?

Anyway, back to Pink, who plays the WFC tonight (March 17). Let's take a song, any song..."Raise Your Glass" seems appropriate given the holiday.

Cool hook. Great production. Awesome vocal performance. But LAZY-ass writing. Using "what's the Deal-io" in the first few lines? "Slam slam/ oh hot damn"; "It's so on right now"; "party crasher, penny snatcher"? (twice!).

(by the way, is it P!nk now, officially, with the exclamation point? It is? Really? I don't care. I'm not doing it. I'm just not).

Think Pink digs Superchunk? Me neither. Great effin band tho.

It just sounds like crap that came to her mind and she laid it over the track she wrote with Max Martin and Shellback (we're guessing they handled the ace music). It couldn't have been laboriously thought over. Or maybe it was. Maybe she really was thinking about the tune she wrote, she says, for all the outsiders. Maybe she was referencing Superchunk's "Art Class" with her otherwise inexplicable "Why so serious?" line.

OK, obviously this is some "serious" over-analyzing of an artist with a preposterously successful career that includes smashes like "F-----' Perfect" (aka the reason "Kids Bop" was a good idea; thank you by the way), "Trouble," "Get the Party Started" (a Linda Perry jam), etc.

Doors open at 6:30 for her show at the WFC, which will be opened by City and Colour. Tickets are  $39.50, $59.50, $79.50 or $99.50. Visit the WFC site to purchase.

The Air I Breathe lead a full lineup at The Harmony Grange

Pictured: Tony Dougard of The Air I Breathe. Photo by: Brandon Hambright.

If you've seen The Kids hanging outside a weird old building on Limestone Road and wondered what the hell was going on, you either are over the age of 35, listen to Sting solo albums, could care less about punk and/or hardcore or all of the above.

This building is The Harmony Grange, which for eight years now has been the home for many a killer concert for area youngsters who want nothing more than to check out their favorite bands who inexplicably are hauling their amps and equipment to the stage and perfecting their eyeliner in the heart of Pike Creek.

Fat Wreck Chords legends The Soviettes.

Although I can claim one of the above lame-o-meter detectors, I was completely overjoyed when ferocious Minneapolis punk band The Soviettes brought their tour to the Grange in 2005. Getting a chance to hear them rip through "Blue Stars," "Bottom's Up, Bottomed Out" and "#1 is Number Two" not long after noon on a Saturday in a place where Panera Bread and furniture stores reign supreme was nothing short of mind-boggling and awesome.

Fans of a handful of bands playing The Grange tonight (March 16) will have a similar experience, as a hardcore lineup headlined by New Jersey's The Air I Breathe will set up camp. The Air comes through on the oddest of farewell tours - last year all but one of the five-member group left the band, leaving singer Tony Dougard to take the thing home.

Uuugh.

How jacked up is that? Whatever the reason, it was just not cool for these four apparent douches to ditch Dougard and leave him to mop up the mess of delivering promised gigs to promoters all over the place. What if The Police had done that to Sting? Stuck ol' Gordy Sumner with a shitload of shows in some remote country like Tristan da Cunha. Wait, that woulda been kind of funny. Bad example.

TAIB fans will be pumped all the same to hear bludgeoning dirges like "Deliverance" and "Vultures" one last time.

Also on the bill are Maris Lane, My Private War, Harbinger, For Centuries and Seize the Day.

Tickets are $10 for tonight's show (March 16), which starts at 6 p.m. at the Grange, 3201 Limestone Road. Go here to buy tickets or here for more info.

A Craic with the Saw Doctors at the TLA

Ol' Owen hit the triple crown of badass - diddlin' the boss' wife, diddlin' the boss' help, and punkin' the boss' bro.

If you dork out for HBO shows like I do, you suffered one of those patented holy shit moments when a New York mob faction went all "Seven" on Nucky Thompson right-hand man Owen Sleater toward the tail end of the most recent ah-meah-zing season of "Boardwalk Empire."

Maybe we shoulda saw it coming, but if your first thought was "ah, what's in the box" when Nucky received what looked like the lamp from "A Christmas Story" at 4 a.m. and thought you'd find this inside, then give yourself a prize. Me? Yeah, I was all kinds of torn up for ol' Margaret Schrooooeeder, but I was also so scared of Gyp Rosetti I felt like he was coming after me next.

Nothing soothes the soul of losing one of our own from the Ol Sod like some good old Celtic Rock, and, if it's St. Patrick's Day, anything featuring a dude with an accent and a band boasting fiddle, banjo, accordion, mandolin or any other similar instrument will suffice.

I said kelly green, not ... ah nevermind.

But if you want the top shelf stuff, you reach for The Pogues, Black 47 or the Saw Doctors, who will be at the Theatre of the Living Arts, 334 South St., Philadelphia, on Sunday March 17.

Take some Beatles, add a little Bruce, stuff it with a punk sneer and smother it in kelly green and voilà - you've got stuff like "Never Mind The Strangers," "Ivana in the Brogue," "About You Now" and "I Useta Love Her."

Sunday's show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25. Visit the TLA's website to buy em or for more info.

"Radiation Vibe" of power-pop at The Queen

If you went to college in the mid-1990s, you owned Fountains of Wayne's self-titled debut. You just did.

And if you were into the Beatles and other bands with boatloads of singles in the '60s, you either loved or hated the 1996 Tom Hanks film "That Thing You Do!" and its Oscar-nominated title tune, penned by FoW's Adam Schlesinger.

This is the jam.

Unbelievably, the Fountains - a long-time songwriting venture of Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood - are still spewing out music (including the latest, "Sky Full of Holes,") although not for long according to some recent articles. This is probably a good thing, since it's been quite a while since they cranked out anything good, and that includes "Stacey's Mom." While it boasts a killer hook and some slick production, "Stacey's Mom" was just a blatant grab for attention and airplay, complete with a video that couldn't have spelled it out any plainer. Why not, "My Dong and Stacey's Mom," or "Stacey's Mom in a Thong," or "I'm Really Into MILFS, Your Mom is So Hot."

I'm just now realizing that when this shameless slice of light-porn came out in 2003, it was supporting the boring-ass "Welcome Interstate Managers" record, which went GOLD thanks to the whore-ish "Stacey's Mom." This would be like Hanks winning an Oscar for "Forrest Gump" by playing cute and pandering to the Baby Boomer Academy judges with a soundtrack packed with Creedence, Bob Seger, The Beach Boys, etc.

Wait ... Nevermind.

The Fountains are in town tonight (March 14) for a show at World Cafe Live at the Queen, 500 N. Market St., Wilmington, and as is almost always the case, the opener is pretty much responsible for the existence of the headliner. Marshall Crenshaw pioneered the very kind of power-pop that the Fountains specialized.

Believe it or not, this geek rocked.

The counter-harmonies on "Mary Ann" are all over the Fountains songbook. "You Curse At Girls" = "Cynical Girls". And like just about any other band in the genre to pop up after Crenshaw's genius 1982 debut, the Fountains have been chasing but have never achieved the genius of "Someday Somewhere."

But baby, baby-baby, it's all about the '90s nostalgia, so cut your hair into Collingwood's phallic-like 'do found in the video above and come on down to the Queen. Tonight's show starts at 8 p.m., and doors open at 7. Tickets range from $20-$33 at Ticket Fly.

Travel Songs, Robot House invade Mojo Main

If you're into former scene kings Diego Paulo and robots, you'll probably want to be at Mojo Main, 270 East Main St., Newark on Saturday March 16.

But don’t show up expecting to see the recently defunct Paulo, the story of which sounds like the winding tale of some early-’90s alt-country outfit. The band formed a few years ago out of the ashes of Bellefonte, which featured brothers Tyler Doherty (vocals/guitars) and Zachary Humenik (vocals/guitars) . They then went on to form Paulo, which also featured singer Katie Dill and bassist Sam Nobles and dominated the local music scene (about 15 consecutive issues of The News Journal’s 55 Hours featured something about Diego Paulo, a world record, I believe).

Well Paulo recently splintered as well, and now Humenik and Nobles have reemerged with Travel Songs, which started out as a video project capturing world music. Humenik traveled to four different continents, used all kinds of world instruments, got caught up in the Arab Spring, set up a studio in Tunis and recorded “The Matadors LP,” which features bro Doherty and Nobles and led to the formation of Travel Songs, went to back in Los Angeles to record an EP, and then toured with Travel Songs to Thailand, Cambodia, Loas, and Vietnam.

Sounds just like the charmingly convoluted story of Uncle Tupelo, right? Kind of. Sort of. Not really.

Instead of bossa nova or world music, what the new crew – which also features new members George Murphy and Tyler Holloway - has come up with is a brand of folk-pop reflecting some of the sounds Humenik might have heard around the globe.

Oh, yeah, the robots. They would come in the form of ferocious local rock act Robot House, which in addition to muscle shirts also supports “friends, drinks, love, loud sounds, dancing, foolishness and endangered animals.”

Check em out at a recent show at the Home Grown Cafe here:

Saturday’s show starts at 9 p.m. Tickets are $5 at www.ticketfly.com.