More good stuff from Red Onion. The store says they got a slew of Daptone vinyl. And then there’s this lost D.C. nugget from Wicked Witch. The store notes in an e-mail:

First-time ever reissue of rare evil psycho machine-funk from ’80s Washington, D.C., including previously-unreleased mixes. Now is not the time to doubt your senses — the Wicked Witch does exist. Born and raised in the musical magical cauldron of Washington D.C., Wicked Witch combines elements from alchemical mentors Parliament Funkadelic, Sun Ra, ESG, Run DMC, James Brown and Jimi Hendrix to cast a crazed spell on the innocent listener. An evil mass of machine-funk with lashings of rhythm and blues and fusion delivered direct from the heart of the Witch, a misunderstood psycho-genius weaving his solo web deep within the dark studio walls. Trained by masters at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Wicked Witch is in full control; he plays all, knows all, tells all. His message will not be denied. Believe your ears, believe your eyes: the Wicked Witch does indeed exist. First-time ever re-issue, remastered from the original master tapes.”

So does anyone know who the Wicked Witch really is? This is a clue.

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Darius Rucker deserves some credit for being the first African American to top the country music charts in 20 years and his single, “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It”, has rightly drawn a fair amount of praise and recognition for the singer. Admittedly, as modern Nashville goes it ain’t that bad. But as Rucker constructs his brand new rhinestone temple, it seems like he’s trying to sweep the bones of his former band, Hootie & the Blowfish, into the basement and out of sight.

While reading Washington Post pop critic Josh DuLac’s recent profile on Rucker I was surprised to find that the front man seems to hold his multi-platinum selling group’s contributions to popular culture in about the same esteem as I do– a low one. He’s put the group on hiatus and during DuLac’s profile Rucker makes several subtle attempts to distance himself from the band’s insidious pro-shop rock, dropping low key disses along the lines of the “I loved Hootie…but.”

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Some forms of political protest are beneath contempt, and one of them is sporting–sans a shred of irony–a Che Guevara T-shirt. Yet most Che-sporting hipsters don’t know that Guevara opposed art forms that carried the taint of “imperialism”–including jazz and rock music. (Uninformed hipsters? Surprise!) My colleagues at Reason produced an eye-opening video about Paquito D’Rivera, the Cuban jazz clarinetist who immigrated to the U.S. because the Cuban regime was so anti-jazz (those who stayed behind had to hide their LPs or face arbitrary confiscations).

Whoa, just got word on some exciting performances in the works by the folks at the Lighthouse, a cozy row house-turned-venue for innovative out-sounds. They’ve been hosting some really fantastic stuff lately (did you go see Paul Metzger the other week?), and these new additions are no exception: An attractive coagulation of locals and out-of-towners sure to appeal to a variety of musical tastes and mind-states.

I’m especially excited about the show next Thursday, an all-out psych-drone spaceship featuring some musicians that are personal favorites of mine: Greg Davis (playing as Sun Circle, a duo with Zach Wallace), and Ben Vida (Bird Show). Details for the 18th, along with an MP3 excerpt from a track off Bird Show’s newest record, are below, and a full night-by-night breakdown can be found after the jump. Mark your calendars.

For All Events:
1421 Buchanan St NW
Doors @ 8pm, Music @ 9pm
BYOB
$5 suggested donation

Thursday December 18:
Sun Circle
Bird Show
Kokomo
Echolalia

Bird Show - “Two Organs and Dumbek (excerpt)”
From Untitled, out on Kranky records:

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Journalists–even music journalists–are supposed to write somewhat objectively about their interview subjects; I suck at this. I don’t pitch softballs, but I almost always come across as curious rather than skeptical, and by the end of the interview, I’m practically rooting for my subject’s success. Sometimes this works, and sometimes it doesn’t. I’d like to think that when I interviewed Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond, it worked really well, because we managed to talk about what informs her ideas about her art, and because I didn’t feel dirty afterwards.

Worden is a fixture in the experimental scene. She’s played with Sufjan Stevens, released two albums with her former band Awry, and just released her second solo album, A Thousand Shark’s Teeth, under the moniker My Brightest Diamond. I really enjoyed Shark’s Teeth, and this is coming from a guy who–unless he’s stoned–would rather eat cat litter than listen to most experimental music. Worden plays tonight at the Rock & Roll Hotel with Clare & the Reasons. Our interview is below.

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As expected, Gutbucket (above) were great. Pitom (below), who closed out the night, were also excellent, although for some reason I have their CD pinned as a somewhat aggressive mix of jazz and heavy rock. Live, they were more moody and fusion-oriented, but still great.

What was really shocking was the turnout: around 50 people packing Galaxy Hut on a Monday night. I’m sure some portion of those folks weren’t there for the music, but hey, they paid the cover like everyone else. Strong representation from the D.C. avant-rock/prog scene; it’s always nice to see this many people come out for fringey events.

A dozen photos from the evening’s show in the full photoset at Flickr.

Hey, what a nice package!

Oh! I apologize, that wasn’t a come-on. I was just examining this Hey Girl comic book/7″. Carefully assembled by illustrator/songwriter Erin McCarley (ex-Problems), Hey Girl takes a multimedia approach–including drawings, songs, and elegantly silk-screened cover art–to addressing male-douchebaggery in its myriad insidious guises.

“Oh Jesus, really? I don’t want to have your baby,” sings McCarley on weary piano ballad “The End”, expressing an exhaustion/disdain that will not be unfamiliar to any young lady who has spent a week night sitting around at The Black Cat’s Red Room opting out of lascivious and undesired advances. Andy Gale (The Shirks, Haram) not only contributes drums, but also shows off his impressive acting chops by giving voice to said creeps and cads.

You can order Hey Girl online here or here, but copies will also be on sale at Crooked Beat Records and Black Cat’s upcoming “Rock n’ Shop” event.

I’m totally stating the obvious here, but Tom Petty has a lot of good songs.

At the very beginning of Peter Bogdanovich’s mammoth 4-hour Petty documentary Runnin’ Down a Dream Rick Rubin shows up as a talking head saying “It’s really mind numbing how many great songs they have.” I thought that this was kind of a weird and slightly backhanded compliment, but two hours into the documentary I realized that Rubin was actually completely right-on.

It really is mind numbing.

The first two records alone have “American Girl”, “Breakdown”, “When the Time Comes”, “I Need to Know”, and “Listen to Her Heart”–all sufficiently skull exploding. By the time you get to Damn the Torpedoes–”Refugee”, “Here Comes My Girl”, “Even the Losers”–it’s hard to really process what’s happening anymore. Then there’s Hard Promises, the Stevie Nicks duet “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”, and at that point your brain has basically turned into cottage cheese. I had to stop, turn it off, and hope that I could get a bit of breather if they talked about Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough) before plunging into late career triumphs like Full Moon Fever and Wildflowers.

Petty’s mechanical royalty checks must be positively mind-boggling. Maybe GM should be asking The Heartbreakers for a bailout instead of the government.

Electronic music fans have plenty cause to motivate tonight: One of techno music’s founding fathers, Kevin Saunderson, will be DJ’ing at Gallery in Silver Spring as part of the weekly electronic dance music night, Loda. Along with Derrick May and Juan Atkins, Saunderson is a true pioneer who helped surface techno’s sound from the underground clubs of Detroit to international acclaim in the mid-late ’80s.

Loda is a relatively new event hosted by the 88 folks at Gallery in Silver Spring, which focuses on bringing national and international electronic music acts to the area, and “broaden our musical palette and understanding of the larger EDM landscape.” They’ve been featuring some quality acts in past months: from Carl Craig to the UK’s Headhunter, juxtaposed with hot local outfits like Nouveau Riche and Measax + Docindo.Dorsey.

Don’t be deterred by the fact that it’s in Silver Spring … it’s literally right off the Red Line, so no excuses. Details below:

Kevin Saunderson
Drugmules
Plus more TBA
Friday, December 5th
9pm - 3am
Gallery
115 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD
$10
21+

If Cole Goins’ interview with picker Max Ochs whet your appetite for further discussion of American-primitive and six-string raga then you might want to check out this profile of the picker on Baltimore City Paper’s website written by frequent CP contributor David Dunlap Jr.