The big news this week is Wretched Refuse. No, the sanitation workers haven't gone on strike again, it's a reunion of the infamous string- band run by the one and only Citizen Kafka. They take over Jalopy on Friday night and it'll be some show. Kenny Kosek, Jon Sholle, Bob Jones, Marty Confurious, Marty Cutler, Larry Eagle, Barry Mitterhoff -- it's going to be an all-star madhouse, so get there early, find a seat and hang on. There are two shows so if you want to stay for the late one you'll have to cough up another $10, but these guys are worth a sawbuck and then some.
The night before at Jalopy, Andy Mullen will be playing. He's a wonderful singer-songwriter who you might have caught at Jalopy a few months back with Adam Buchwald in a band called Dance All Night. Along with his Outfit (Kari Denis, Roger Grossman, Daniel Correau, and me), he'll be playing mostly originals, but they're all influenced by old-time tunes and we'll be throwing in some traditional numbers, and he'll almost certainly call a square dance. We're playing Thursday night at Jalopy and then Saturday night at the Parkside, and his new album, THE TOENAIL JAR, is available FREE at his web site: http://www.andymullenmusic.com -- yes, FREE. Complete with a great CD booklet.
Speaking of new albums and original songwriters, I dropped by Union Hall last night for Mamie Minch's release party for her new album, RAZORBURN BLUES. It's a great disc, half originals, one Roulette Sisters tune, and a half-dozen kickass blues covers, all in a handmade cover that she produced on a vintage letterpress machine. And a wooden nickel to boot! I'm not sure if she's selling it online but she'll be at Googie's on Saturday night along with the Otis Brothers, the East River String Band, and Feral Foster.
Also Saturday night, Brad Einhorn will bring his Kings County Strings to the Parkside, following Andy Mullen's show Their first show at Banjo Jim's last month was outstanding, so it should be a fun night. He's got Kari on fiddle, Matt Check on banjo, the amazing Joel Turoff on guitar, and Jeff Ratner on bass.
Meanwhile, tomorrow is the last Thursday, so there'll be a CashHank at Buttermilk, and Monday is the first Monday, so Michael Daves's jam will be at the Parkside. Fresh Baked is at Abilene on Tuesday night, and tonight and next Wednesday there is of course the Sheriff's jam, now at the Grizzly Pear, Franglais at Bar Reis, Will Scott and Wylie Wirth at 68 Jay Street, and Roots&Ruckus at Jalopy.
Finally, you'll see below that Mojo is back, although he's slipping -- there's an actual capital letter at the start of his missive and some markings that might be punctuation, or might just be digital schmutz. In any case, Mojo, welcome back.
Please let us know what's going on so we can feature it here. Send your gig notices, myspace bulletins, facebook posts and carrier pigeons to pickin@ponkiesburg.com by Wednesday for inclusion. In addition to this email newsletter, these updates and more are published on our blog, the Ponkiesblog. See the calendar for updated details.
