Arcade Fire and more, Las Vegas, Nevada

 April 12-15 2011

Given that I don't much care for gambling or strippers Las Vegas has never been my favorite destination but over the years I have found myself occasionally bouncing around The Strip. In  this instance the National Association of Broadcasters convention was held (as it always is) in Vegas and since I had a good reason to attend this year I found myself in Sin City once again. I have always found good music difficult to come by in Las Vegas and that hasn't changed a great deal. If you are into Celine Dion, Barry Manilow or Donnie and Marie, then this is the place to go.

Arcade Fire 

However, in recent years both B.B. King's  Blues Club and Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville have opened franchises in the city and while not perfect, they offer some outlets for decent music. The other happy musical coincidence was that Arcade Fire, recent Grammy winner for Album of the Year, had a concert scheduled for The Joint a the Hard Rock Cafe during my visit.
Arcade Fire put on a great show. They are a band that cultivates an obvious Indie vibe but with an arena rock kind of energy that I hadn't seen in years. As you will see from these videos, I was about 20 feet from the stage. I could feel the waves of bodies ebbing and flowing around me in beat to the music. It was particularly interesting to see the odd instrumentation the band used introducing kazoos, violins, bass fiddles and I think a hurdy gurdy into the mix. It also appeared that everyone in band got a turn at playing drums with two drum sets going at once on  several occasions.
Beyond Arcade Fire the rest of the music I ran into was a mixed bag. Some decent party bands and some talented entertainers. Of course it is impossible to check out all of Las Vegas in a few days because it is so difficult to navigate around the constant traffic, gamblers with oxygen tanks and the hookers so I won't pretend that I investigated every decent musical venue. I'll start the videos with three from Arcade Fire. You will notice the use of an interesting multimedia display that was on evidence during the entire show.

The Los Angeles band Local Natives opened the Arcade Fire concert with an appropriate amount of musical fury. I liked the energy and the musicianship of the band but, as I told Dr. Mark Chase during the concert, they couldn't write a decent hook to save their life. This clip is representative of their sound. Notice the use of multiple drums again. The obsession with the drums reminds me of Adam and the Ants. Does anyone remember Adam and the Ants?

Grant Garland was the guitarist Wednesday night at B.B. King's Blues Club. He is an excellent blues/rock guitarist out of Memphis. Here is his rather unique take on an old Hendrix standard.

The Bashers is a great rock party band that plays most weeknights at the Carneval Court. This is their version of a White Stripes song.

This band was at Carneval Court on Friday and I still haven't figured out the joke. The lead singer is pretending to be a Nazi Stormtrooper while the rest of the band wear Devo hats. You'll notice they have the same lead guitarist as The Bashers which leads me to think they are really the same band with a girl vocalist added in for the afternoon crowd.

This band was playing at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville on Wednesday night. You will notice the lead singer is trying to signal me to do something. Apparently he didn't want me to take a video and the bouncers almost kicked me out. I guess this band is very protective of their intellectual property rights as they relate to their interpretation of a Poison cover.

This band is called Mr. and Mrs. Smith and they were playing at Carneval Court on Friday night. They are an odd rap/hip-hop/rock mash-up and seem more concerned with getting people to drink than their music.

I soon tired of Mr. and Mrs. Smith and wandered down the Strip only to end up in a crummy little casino called O'Shea's which had a couple of surprisingly good bands. This was the closing band for the night. They are a cover band but at least they do it well and with enthusiasm.

This was the first band I saw at O'Shea's. A little cornier and but still entertaining and a better use of time than  losing your shirt at the roulette table. Overall, Las Vegas remains a town that is primarily about gambling and breasts and that probably is never going to change. At least there are a few interesting musical experiences available for those of us that are looking for such things. And of course, there is always Donnie and Marie.

7th Annual Pittsburgh Blues Challenge, Pittsburgh PA

Midnight Express take their turn in the competition.

I saw some great blues music last Saturday at the 7th Annual Blues Challenge sponsored by the Blues Society of Western Pennsylvania. The blues challenge is an all day contest to determine the area's representatives (one band and one solo act) to the International Blues Competition held each February in Memphis. (I haven't a clue why there are having the competition now other than they might need the time to raise some money to help sponsor the contestants.) The bands started at 1pm and were allowed exactly 20 minutes to highlight their skills.  I was generally impressed by the quality of the bands at the competition. I had seen about half the bands before and about half I had either never heard of or had not seen before. The sad thing is it made me realize how few live music venues exist in the Pittsburgh area and the odds of seeing any of these bands again soon are slim and none. Jill West and the Blues Attack won the award for best band. Jill's band always puts on a solid show although I have to say I've seen her run  through this exact set of songs every time she enters this competition. Chris Yakopcic won the solo category. He is certainly a talented musician although his brand of country blues isn't my favorite style. Below you will find video clips from most of the bands and a few examples of the jam session that occurred after the competition.

I had never heard of Melinda before but she has a great blues voice and a style very reminiscent of Bonnie Raitt.

Wayne and the Wild Root were impressive for featuring a complete horn session and a lead singer in a trench coat and sunglasses. Okay.

Chuck Beatty and Stanley J did some nice acoustic work. Chuck's voice has a definite Howling Wolf quality to it.

It's been a while since I have seen  Dave Iglar's band. They always put on an energetic show and he is a good guitar player. His daughter plays saxophone and....that is all I am going to say.

I had heard of The Blues Junkies but never had a chance to see them before. They play good melodic party blues.

My old favorite Jimmy Adler was great as usual. I would have picked him to win but I think his particular style is perhaps not as user friendly as Jill West's.

Ron Yarosz and The Vehicle was last year's winner and they were impressive again this year. Ron is known for playing a B3 organ but he only played it on one song so I just got him on harmonica.

Midnight Express was a band I had not heard of before the competition. They are a good, if unexciting jump blues band.

Jill West and Blues Attack performed a professional set as always. This clip features Greg Krupa, their excellent guitarist.

Here is the winner of the solo competition. A little too much thumping and growling for my taste.

It had been awhile since I saw Angel Blue as well. Her band is always fun to watch and Angel always puts on a decent show.

She doesn't look like your typical blues singer but Nancy McKeen can really wail. I hope she plays more gigs in the Pittsburgh area soon.

I've seen Craig King before and this was not one of his better nights. He seemed almost sleepy during most of the set. I guess we had all had a long day at this point.

First song of the blues jam after the competition. I'm not sure if Angel Blue knew all the words but she faked it well.

A nice relaxed version of Bill Wither's Use Me to close things down.