Music Write-Ups
How do you know Chris Earley?
How many MP3s do you have on your hard drive?
As a little girl, I remember the album art of Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass, “Whipped Cream and Other Delights”. My father used to come home from a long day at Lexington Market in Baltimore City, where he ran his butcher shop.
Once he carried the bag of money to his office in the basement, he’d play Tijuana Brass and begin to do the books for the day. My father would always hand me the food stamps to count. We listened to the horns and drums together. I’m sure my father was thinking of how to make more money for the family. Meanwhile, I was wondering how I could meet the woman covered in whipped cream holding a rose.
-Amy Foell
[Ed. note: The woman’s name is Dolores Erickson. You can see a modern photo of her here- she looks good 40 years later.]
[Editor note: Sorry, we don’t have this track. It used to be streaming on the band’s myspace page but has been taken down. You can check em out there though for newer stuff apparently.]
So last night the Hotel Utah had my complete attention…Rowb the doorman gave me the 411 regarding the first unionized strip joint. He reminded me to check the union labia. I was immediately impressed with the place. I was there to see Joanna Barbera, originally from the east coast, singer songwriter moving to Austin to get deep and dirty in the twang movement. SXSW is seductive enough to consider Texas.
Before Joanna came on, my ears were introduced to the Dynamortals. Oh hell yeah these two can kick it! They had a deep tight set. Their music is…the soundtrack to being human. It’s refreshing for SF to have this kind of talent gracing us for only $6.
Then with her heart strapped to her thigh, Joanna appeared on stage welcoming us into Wednesday morning with her lovely voice. Sista’s got lungs! What is so amazing about Joanna is that she has an incredible range in her voice along with the creative ability to write compelling lyrics. She teased us with her originals by interjecting covers. Marc and Cara were brilliant additions to Joanna’s set. If I closed my eyes I’d swear I was in Nashville.
The hottest part of the evening was yet to come…Allegra from the Dynamortals and Joanna got very Victorian on stage sharing a mic and an encore.
-Amy Foell