BROCK BUTLER AND FRIENDS
At 10 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 25
Loco's, 301 W. Broughton St. $10
All right, here's the deal. Although nobody will say so, I have a sneaking feeling this will be an appearance by the full Perpetual Groove band. It's billed as a "solo" date from the group's resident guitar wizard, Brock Butler ("and friends"), and Butler (a Savannah native) just played a string of solo gigs around the area this past week.
But P-Groove, which is based in Athens, began a cross-country tour on Aug. 20, its elaborately trippy light show in tow. The official itinerary shows the band heading into Florida - from Alabama - at the end of this week, but the 25th is curiously blank.
So, with a little Sherlock Holmes-ian sleuth work ... as I say, no one's talking, but Butler has been known to include many or all of his jam-bandmates in these "and friends" shows.
Hey, P-Groove is great, but so is solo Brock. They're different animals. He uses a plethora of delays, effects, loops and pedals to transform himself onto a one-man guitar orchestra.
Add the bass, drums and keyboards ... and the light show ...
This is a grand re-opening for Loco's, which was one of the Perpetual Groove guys' home bases when they were a struggling Savannah band. The club has done some remodeling, and shined everything up, and the festivities will begin with Ben Crystal's trivia game at 7 p.m. Admission is free until 10, when the music kicks off. Then you gotta pay for a ticket.
TEA LEAF GREEN
At 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 26
Live Wire Music Hall, 307 W. River St. Tickets: $12 advance, $15 day of show.
Sharing the bill with the mighty Hill Country Revue (see story elsewhere in this issue), this four-man jam band came together three years ago on the campus of San Francisco State University. Since then, their exploratory journeys into the deep recesses of rock ‘n' roll, jazz and even hip hop have made the Leafers favorites on the national jam band circuit, regularly showing up at Bonnaroo and the like. But lead singer and keyboardist Trevor Garrod doesn't care much for the term "jam band," telling a journalist "I feel like it is kind of a transitory term, it hasn't been around too long. It has just been there to describe a few really huge bands that kind of created this being, and we just follow their business models. This model of touring and not really having record deals or trying to be on MTV or any shit like that, just doing it yourself, owning your own business, not being beholden to some company."
CHECK IT OUT:
Goatwhore, New Orleans' all-dominating death-metal band, plays the Jinx Aug. 28 with Columbia's Strong Intention and Graves of Valor (from Florence)... Richie Havens' guitar-wizard sideman Walter Parks, who's just moved his family to Savannah, plays the Sentient Bean Friday, Aug. 27.... Don't forget the Aug. 28 appearance by the amazing acoustic duo of Tony Williamson (mandolin) and Jeff Autry (guitar) and Randy Wood Guitars in Bloomingale ... And the popular Daytona Beach, Fla. Rock ‘n' roll quintet Orange Avenue makes its Savannah debut on the 28th, at Pour Larry's ...
