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CRACKER • 40 WATT /NOV. 11
Louder than God and with enough balls-out energy to run a
reactor. Cracker performed at the packed 40 Watt Club like they
were auditioning for their first record deal. Keeping the crowd on
their feet for two hours on a usually sedate Monday night, the
band was itself an edgy mass of seething restlessness, impro
vising almost instinctively and proving why it is a force to be reck
oned with.
David Lowery sang lead on all but a coupie of the numbers
and helped maintain a relaxed, unpretentious mood by teasing
his band mates good-naturedly and addressing the audience
with a casual amiability. He also proved an extremely intuitive
rhythm guitarist, offering acoustic work that radiated warmth with
out stealing any of lead player Johnny Hickman's fire. Mid-tempo
songs like "Take Me Down to the Infirmary" and “The Golden
Age" owed much of their buoyancy to the supple foundation
Lowery provided, with help from bassist Bob Rupe. keyboardist
Kenny Margolis. and drummer Johnny Hott.
On Hickman's solos, though, the guitarist was deservedly the
star of the show. His sinewy playing bristled with urgent, often
dark passion, which when coupled with Lowery's husky voice
created a white-heat intensity, as evidenced on "I Hate My Gen
eration" and “Low.” And when Hickman sang lead on the light
hearted “Lonesome Johnny Blues," his emotional tenor received
more than a couple of cat calls from the ladies in the crowd.
At the end of the set, Hickman's singing proved an effective
foil to Lowery's grainy vocals as the two harmonized on the bit
tersweet yet delightfully sarcastic "Euro-Trash Girl." David
Lowery's final "thank you" to the audience came off as no more
novel than the two hours of rock-and- roll that had preceded it.
and to less genuine.
Jamie Ponsoldt
HYPNOTIC CREATIONS • 40 WATT /NOV. 16.
Large trousers, white tennis shoes and wide smiles:
late night revelers at the 40 Watt on Saturday were treated
to six hours of Hypnotic Creations courtesy of DJs and
live acts drawn together from Atlanta, London and Orlando.
At midnight, Kazell cut the ribbon and kicked off a
unique night for Athens techno. His searching, trancey
tunes saw the kids bumping along happily with hands up
high, behinds from side to side and deep, deep rhythms
cuthng through the heavy air.
Clambering onstage to perform his live set, Sam Mollison
was greeted with the sight of glowing crystals, endless ciga
rettes and freely flowing orange juice. With the bar closed and
tracks that saw a drop in bpm from the Atlantan Kazell's spirited
opening, Mollison did well to hold the party together.
Clad in black lace blouse, fitted black trousers and Gucci
loafers, Mollison looked every inch the house crooner. Flanked
by twc keyboard players fresh from the how-to school of ravers'
apparel, he ran through songs like "Wasted," "Celestial Proph
esy" and “Dream On" which have aided his signing with Poly
gram and Sony on both sides of the Atlantic.
Mollison's self-penned lyrics float over pressing progressive
house beats in a style not unlike Seal's. However, his committed
performance style is all his own, and the crowd stayed with him,
even though the set was a little long. Jimmy Van Malleghem and
Dave Cannalte, resident DJ at Florida's Pleasure Island, stepped
into the fray: upping up the pace and driving the party on into
the morning.
Promoter Michael Patterson billed the night as an experiment.
With a $10 cover, no beer for 4 hours and a 40 Watt that looked
like — well — the 40 Watt on any other day of the week, the fact
that over 250 people turned up and danced all night would seem
to deem it a success. Hypnotic Creations proved again that there
is a demand for quality dance music in Athens. Hopefully it won't
go unmet fo> very much longer.
Jamie Dolling
BLUES FEAST • HIGH HAT/NOV. 16
Good food and good music were the order of the day as a
standing room crowd gathered at the High Hat Blues Club for
Blues Feast VI.
Chef/guitarist Jim Kautz started things off with a Cajun feast
that made the $5 ticket seem like the best bargain to come around
since it cost two bucks to get into a Braves game.
Marion Montgomery began the show with some fine Delta
style blues. This was the first of three short sets that he played
during the evening, setting the table for the four bands. Mont
gomery had a little tiouble with the pickup on his guitar, which
was quickly fixed, and other than that one small problem, for the
next six hours 25 or more musicians made their way to the stage
and everything went smoothly, which is a tribute to both the High
Jim Kautz served up both the food and the music as head chef for the Cajun
feast at Blues Feast and also lead guitar for The Vibratones.
(Photo by Dan Johnson)
Hat and to the bands.
Clarence Cameron led the Mr. Pitiful Blues Band. He is a big
vocalist in every sense of the word. Cameron and his bandmates
had the appreciative crowd swishin' and swayin,' proving once
more that the blues are fun.
Mr. Pitiful was followed by the High Rollers. They featured the
always strong harp playing of Pat Powers. Dave Herndon on
guitar, Dave Geiger on bass, and Ca! Hale on the drums. Hale
was the iron man of the evening, playing drums with three of the
four featured bands.
Jim Kautz’s Vibratones immediately got the crowd's attention,
opening their set with Stevie Ray Vaughn's ‘Say What." They were
joined onstage by Lee Walton, and the interaction between
Walton's and Kautz's guitars was the musical highlight of the
evening.
Dave Herndon and Chris Cook joined the Vibratones in their
closing number, ‘Six Strings Down." ("Albert Collins is up there/
Willie Dixon too/Albert King and Muddy/Playin the blues.")
Headliner Neal Pattman then took the stage. His harmonica
and vocals were accompanied for the first two songs by his wife
Debra’s dancing, once again showing the fun side of this music.
The Vibratones returned to the stage, backing Pattman for a
hot eight-song set featuring "Mannish Boy," "The Blues is Alright."
and a Pattman original. “Seems Like a Dream."
The show then became a giant jam session with all the musi
cians taking their turn on stage.
Good food, good music, goo H friends, good fun. This is the
blues?
Dan Johnson
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