So your hair is all straightened and blow-dried and you have your hot-pants accented with black Friday-night-fuck-me boots or you got your new sweater on with cologne and a ragged baseball cap and you’re ready to head out.
Well, before you get wasted and cram yourself into a sweaty basement to listen to techno or MTV hip hop, why don’t you see if there are any live bands playing out on campus? Then you can at least listen to live music performances while you get sweaty and wasted.
The UR campus is slowly catching on to a more live-music-oriented night life. Friday Oct. 18 featured Thought, a band of all genres but focusing on funk for that night. I got to catch part of their second set and it was great.
The band is well rounded with two alto saxes, bass trumpet and trombone, bass guitar, guitar and drums. That night’s music was funk-based with heavy bass grooves and harmonizing vocal improvisations ? good jams that you could certainly dance to if you were so inclined.
I was able to talk with Lynn Ligammari, one of the alto sax players and vocalists ? she explained the band’s origin in Buffalo and their improvisational style, pooling inspiration from all types of genres. Two of the members of Thought are students at the Eastman School of Music so they didn’t have to travel too far for Friday night’s gig at Theta Chi.
The crowd was big, the music was live and loud and the people were dancing. It was good fun with no CDs or repeated songs. As I understand it, that was not the first time Thought played at Theta Chi and hopefully it won’t be the last. They are currently taking bookings from anyone interested and can be contacted at 716-465-3876. Any other band information, including mp3 samples of their music and a band bio, can be found at www.thoughtmusic.com.
If funk isn’t your style, then how about acoustic-folk rock? Last Thursday, the Hive featured a band called Delivery Boy. These guys are all UR students and have probably sat next to you in some class or another. Delivery Boy consists of Jon Lee ? lead singer/acoustic guitar, Joel “Poose” Thompson ? lead guitar/violin/backing vocals, Eugene Lee ? bass/sax, and Steve Carlton ? drums.
Jon Lee, the band’s primary song writer, takes his inspiration from people like Joe Pisapia, Glen Phillips and the Red House Painters. His muse is mainly everyday conversation and discourse. The songs are all started on the acoustic guitar, then given everyone else’s input and flavor.
Though mainly acoustic rock, Delivery Boy also mixes some jazz and blues into jams and song intros. “Some Time With You” is a soft ballad with just Jon, his acoustic and Joel playing violin, while “From Here” has a sax solo from Eugene that is just ridiculous.
Delivery Boy ended their Thursday night set with the up-tempo “Dust and Ashes,” a more light-hearted song than the name might suggest. The guys from Delivery Boy will be performing again on Nov. 15 at the coffee house, so put your Dave Matthews Band on pause and go see the free show. For the same flavor, check out The Dan Quinn Band playing the hits near you at quinnjamz.tripod.com.
Another local band that will turn your hair white from sheer awesomeness is Mega Force. The band’s members are Omega Doom, Winchester Fortitude and Kill-bot. The music can’t be explained through conventional terminology ? they are an enigma and simply must be seen before any level of comprehension can be achieved. The Hive showcases live bands every Thursday night so you can get a taste of student and local bands ranging in all types of styles and genres.
You can also catch live bands at the Drama House and some selected frat houses. Just look for fliers around campus ? hopefully you’ll see them before some drunken asshole decides to rip them down. So before you head out to the same scene every weekend, check for live music.
Salko can be reached at dsalko@campustimes.org.
