Jimmy Holliday, Dante Esperanza, Calico Sunset at the M.W.P. - By N.L. Belardes
I just got off the phone with JR. He was watching The Goonies. Can you believe this guy? He was watching one of my favorite movies of all time and didn’t invite me?? OK, next topic. Montgomery World Plaza. Gigantic. You know, that vintage clothing store that got run out of Dodge because they were actually helping create a music scene? They got intimidated by the alleged baseball bat of poor consciousness, then set up shop across town. Leave it to Alex and AJ of Gigantic, those two guys who never email me, to put on a great all-age shows with dozens of kids in attendance.
Granted this show had some youth bands. Give the youth credit. You have to start somewhere, and you have to have guys like Alex and AJ believe in you enough to give you a chance to put on a show. I saw some serious youth in action, and I took a bunch of photos to show off the youth who are working hard.
Unfortunately I missed New Wave duo Calico Sunset. I was outside doing an interview so missed out on their brief set. Why didn’t anyone come and get me? No pictures, no interview, no nothing… When I was outside I thought I heard Bjork playing over the sound system. Little did I know it was the sexy sounds of Jenny Alvis whose song “limbs and hymns” has been infecting the positive vibe of myspace. That’s two New Wave bands in two days, and Your Mother’s Lover is playing in Bakersfield at the Boiler Room on the 30th (this Thursday). New Wave is officially back in a retro sort of synth-pop fashion. I just listened to Jenny sing, “Makes me wanna, want to pow pow pow!” like she’s some cartoon anime hip mama animated and flying through the room. I love it. Go check out the Bad Spellers in Tokyo for a little more synth-pop action. Likely influenced by the melodious synth-backed sounds of the ever-so moody, Bjork, Calico Sunset is quite a duo. I’m hoping they slip me a CD… Since I’m a big Bjork fan, how can I not like Jenny and Joseph of Calico Sunset’s New Wave stylings?
Alternative Country in Bakersfield is on the rise with bands like Norfolk, Dante Esperanza and anti-folkster Jimmy Holliday’s Sioux City Sarsaparilla both reflecting the agricultural lands and country roots of the Great Central Valley. Jimmy Holliday was on his own Monday night as he performed an acoustic set of all new material. His raw screaming and lyric-building talents apparent in his songwriting is an anthem to the sarcasm built within the legendary nature of Bakersfield history. These are folk roots working in an anti-root sort of way that Holliday performs masterfully. He’s got a 20-song CD coming out soon that I can’t wait to get my hands on, and he promises a big CD by the end of summer. I should also mention that Holliday is recognized on antifolk.net.
Though Holliday’s got recognition from anti-folk organizations he doesn’t have the support from local venues that he deserves. I hear he can’t play at the Boiler Room, but I see him fitting in nicely in an all ages alt country show there. He and I talked briefly about how alt country is a wide open market in Bakersfield. There aren’t many country bands. There aren’t many rockabilly bands; and there are only three bands that I know of that I can slip into the alt country category, and each has a completely different style. Norfolk with its pop rocking country-based sounds, Dante Esperanza with its 60s flavor of psychedelic cowboy tunes, and Jimmy Holliday's Sioux City Sarsaparilla. His anti-folk anthems often get mislabeled as hilarious without recognizing the underlying truths and social sarcasm of his lyrics.
His new songs slowed the pace a little, have a little firmer ground, less ethereal with the sarcasm, and even got a little sad at times with his guitar playing dropping to a mere hum and his voice trailing to a whisper at times.
If you haven’t noticed, I mentioned another band that many of you may not have heard of. Today I listened to a 16-song CD of incredible alt country tunes; the CD is self-titled, Dante Esperanza (2005) and I listened to it twice and spread some of its love to some friends already. It’s a masterful CD that deserves full N.L. analysis. In the meantime I can say that the psychedelic cowboy tunes are a crooning techno-country tribute to experimental country-influenced sounds of growing up in Bakersfield, California. Yes, here, where country roots run deep, so do countryside themes of agriculture, oil poke towns, desert, and travels.
Their music is an enlightening trip and well educated in lyric-making for such young folk. True genius. Though their live performance didn’t add up to the great CD mix I listened to, they’re an up and coming band that I’m going to be paying close attention to. Hell, the kids in Lostocean have complete genius in their CD ‘Douse the Choir’ but still have struggling points while performing live. But then, isn’t that what performing is all about? Learning. Spreading the sounds. Acceptance… Dante Esperanza is an excellent up-and-coming band who deserve some community support from fellow bands so their atmospheric country-pop crooner tunes can truly reach people while performing…
Dante Esperanza and Jimmy Holliday are playing live tonight at Azul's at 9PM
Granted this show had some youth bands. Give the youth credit. You have to start somewhere, and you have to have guys like Alex and AJ believe in you enough to give you a chance to put on a show. I saw some serious youth in action, and I took a bunch of photos to show off the youth who are working hard.
Unfortunately I missed New Wave duo Calico Sunset. I was outside doing an interview so missed out on their brief set. Why didn’t anyone come and get me? No pictures, no interview, no nothing… When I was outside I thought I heard Bjork playing over the sound system. Little did I know it was the sexy sounds of Jenny Alvis whose song “limbs and hymns” has been infecting the positive vibe of myspace. That’s two New Wave bands in two days, and Your Mother’s Lover is playing in Bakersfield at the Boiler Room on the 30th (this Thursday). New Wave is officially back in a retro sort of synth-pop fashion. I just listened to Jenny sing, “Makes me wanna, want to pow pow pow!” like she’s some cartoon anime hip mama animated and flying through the room. I love it. Go check out the Bad Spellers in Tokyo for a little more synth-pop action. Likely influenced by the melodious synth-backed sounds of the ever-so moody, Bjork, Calico Sunset is quite a duo. I’m hoping they slip me a CD… Since I’m a big Bjork fan, how can I not like Jenny and Joseph of Calico Sunset’s New Wave stylings?
Alternative Country in Bakersfield is on the rise with bands like Norfolk, Dante Esperanza and anti-folkster Jimmy Holliday’s Sioux City Sarsaparilla both reflecting the agricultural lands and country roots of the Great Central Valley. Jimmy Holliday was on his own Monday night as he performed an acoustic set of all new material. His raw screaming and lyric-building talents apparent in his songwriting is an anthem to the sarcasm built within the legendary nature of Bakersfield history. These are folk roots working in an anti-root sort of way that Holliday performs masterfully. He’s got a 20-song CD coming out soon that I can’t wait to get my hands on, and he promises a big CD by the end of summer. I should also mention that Holliday is recognized on antifolk.net.
Though Holliday’s got recognition from anti-folk organizations he doesn’t have the support from local venues that he deserves. I hear he can’t play at the Boiler Room, but I see him fitting in nicely in an all ages alt country show there. He and I talked briefly about how alt country is a wide open market in Bakersfield. There aren’t many country bands. There aren’t many rockabilly bands; and there are only three bands that I know of that I can slip into the alt country category, and each has a completely different style. Norfolk with its pop rocking country-based sounds, Dante Esperanza with its 60s flavor of psychedelic cowboy tunes, and Jimmy Holliday's Sioux City Sarsaparilla. His anti-folk anthems often get mislabeled as hilarious without recognizing the underlying truths and social sarcasm of his lyrics.
His new songs slowed the pace a little, have a little firmer ground, less ethereal with the sarcasm, and even got a little sad at times with his guitar playing dropping to a mere hum and his voice trailing to a whisper at times.
If you haven’t noticed, I mentioned another band that many of you may not have heard of. Today I listened to a 16-song CD of incredible alt country tunes; the CD is self-titled, Dante Esperanza (2005) and I listened to it twice and spread some of its love to some friends already. It’s a masterful CD that deserves full N.L. analysis. In the meantime I can say that the psychedelic cowboy tunes are a crooning techno-country tribute to experimental country-influenced sounds of growing up in Bakersfield, California. Yes, here, where country roots run deep, so do countryside themes of agriculture, oil poke towns, desert, and travels.
Their music is an enlightening trip and well educated in lyric-making for such young folk. True genius. Though their live performance didn’t add up to the great CD mix I listened to, they’re an up and coming band that I’m going to be paying close attention to. Hell, the kids in Lostocean have complete genius in their CD ‘Douse the Choir’ but still have struggling points while performing live. But then, isn’t that what performing is all about? Learning. Spreading the sounds. Acceptance… Dante Esperanza is an excellent up-and-coming band who deserve some community support from fellow bands so their atmospheric country-pop crooner tunes can truly reach people while performing…
Dante Esperanza and Jimmy Holliday are playing live tonight at Azul's at 9PM
This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on
Tuesday, June 28, 2005.
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