Early Notice: Cleveland Gets Down

02.27 – Pierced Arrows (ex-Dead Moon) – Beachland Ballroom
Fred Cole has been doing music for the past fifty years or so. The Lollipop Shoppe, a ‘60s garage group that the singer and guitarist fronted, released a lone, now sought after long player. Oddly enough, though, that disc would prove to be the blueprint for one of the longest running ensembles in underground music as Dead Moon (comprised of Cole, his wife and drummer Andrew Loomis). That group wound up being cited as an influence by pretty much everyone coming out of the Northwest music scene. But for no other reason other than sheer boredom, the Coles split with their drummer and wrangled a new percussionist (Kelly Haliburton) to join them in Pierced Arrows. The Coles have spent a life time together making music, but this latest group can’t be said to exceed Dead Moon in too many ways.

03.18 – RJD2 – the Grog Shop
Despite growing up in Columbus, RJD2 now claims Philadelphia as his home. Regardless of his slighting Ohio, the deejay and producer released The Third Hand in 2007 to pretty much horrendous reviews even as the disc did a brisk business. But the reason that he album wasn’t received in positive terms was due to the fact that RJ pretty much turned in a pop record whereas the hip hop horde that championed him wanted a repeat of his first long player entitled The Horror. Due to either outside pressure or a personal realization that he was better at crafting beats than singing songs, RJD2 recently set up his own label and issued The Colossus marking a return to the rap stuffs that made him a household name in the first place.

03.10 – Carolina Chocolate Drops – Beachland Ballroom
There aren’t too many folks trucking in old tyme music at this point. And still fewer are the number of people working with Americana (in a traditional way) that haven’t pushed past the age of thirty. Compounding all of that is the fact that the Carolina Chocolate Drops are one of the few (only?) groups in the genre comprised of African-Americans. There’s a reason that string band music as well as standard balladry ingratiated itself to this trio - we should find out why and how.

03.19 – Druid Perfume (ex-Piranhas)/the Baptist Church – Now That’s Class
Now That’s Class has been able to wrench all of the low rent punk shows from other venues in town. Regardless of the reason why, it should be considered something of a miracle that members of the Piranhas have gotten together again. After releasing two of the better discs issued by In the Red during the first few years of the aughites, the band broke up – probably due to the fact that most of the group’s discs were made up of some mélange of noise, punk and out-jazz rendering the band casualties before it even had a chance. Druid Perfume ratchets up the saxophone parts even as the band seems to have slowed its pacing a bit. That, though, doesn’t mean that this Detroit band is gonna put on any less of a stunning show.

03.26 – Gunslingers/Puffy Areolas/Mako Sica - Now That’s Class
Hailed by Julian Cope and his insider-y website, Head Heritage, Gunslingers aren’t as amazing as the write ups may have led one to believe. There is ample tremlo on that guitar. And while the band is going to be able to summon the spirit of Ennio Morricone, there’s enough ‘60s psychedelia as to sate Cleveland rock fans. More important, though, is Puffy Areolas’ appearance. The Clevo/Toledo group has released a few singles and despite the fact that it hasn’t toured widely, it’s certain to make inroads into any upcoming freak party with its Hawkwind come Stooges approach to dumb, repetitive rock music.