Everybody has holiday traditions, and for this writer that tradition has been catching Patterson Hood perform solo in Portland, Oregon. Each December, the co-frontman of the Drive-By Truckers embarks on
When you tell someone you are going to a Drive-By Truckers show you get one of two responses. It is either, “cool, that should be an awesome show” or “they
Despite no local radio airplay, (does any real band get played on commercial radio anymore?) or other promotion, the Paradise was filled to capacity. Further it seemed like the audience had this date circled on the calendar for a while. When the band lit into “Where the Devil Don’t Stay” opener, the crowd’s anxious buzz of anticipation turned to hootin’, hollerin’ enthusiasm.
Patterson Hood puts his entire being into his performances and the crowd is always assured of getting its money’s worth.
Patterson Hood excels at crafting lyrics about southern despair and human fallacy. His third solo album, Heat Lightning Rumbles in the Distance, is a gripping listen, full of the desperate and downtrodden characters he’s so adept at understanding. Much like his work with the Drive-By Truckers, the songs here are full of hard times, hard liquor and hard lessons; the titular weather occurrence is just about the least dramatic thing that happens during this loose 12-song narrative.
Patterson Hood sure likes to keep busy. After releasing albums in back to back years with his full time band the Drive-By Truckers, the front man for the hard touring
Although Drive by Truckers have never been down and out like the protagonists of their songs, these musicians haven’t exactly driven an easy road either. Last December, Shonna Tucker, their bassist since 2003 and lead singer of a handful of stellar DBT numbers, abruptly left the band. If that wasn’t enough of a rock and roll cliché, the three guitar southern rooted rock band’s equipment truck broke down the night prior to Phoenix, forcing the band to spend the night in the snowy mountain town of Flagstaff waiting for a fix.
Dave Matthews Band Caravan @ Lakeside Chicago – July 8-10
The Dave Matthews Band’s roving music festival Caravan made its second stop at Chicago’s Lakeside on July 8 – 10. The festival featured 38 bands spread over three days and three stages, and the Dave Matthews Band (DMB) closed out each night with three-hour performances. For DMB fans I am sure the experience was heavenly; as for the rest of us Caravan was exhausting, yet it had its perks. I was drawn to Caravan for primarily two reasons: The Flaming Lips were performing The Dark Side of the Moon and the festival was at a new, never-before used site on the south side of the Windy City.
Chicago geography is strange in that one side of the city may as well be a different state from the other. Those who live anywhere north of the Loop, aka downtown, rarely venture south of the Loop and vice versa. Caravan was stationed at an old U.S. Steel Plant near 83rd street off Lake Michigan, roughly nine miles south of downtown. The festival’s location was a great tactic to draw life and money into the under served community.
Initially I was pumped about Caravan; Flaming Lips and a south side adventure! Being a Chicagoan I tend to travel by bus or train. The press release for the festival read “easily access Lakeside” by public transportation. Alright, sounded easy enough. The first red flag was when I Googled directions, the site did not register on the map. Weird, but no problem, I thought. I would just hop on the train and hope for the best. The second red flag raised when it took me two to three hours each way to get to and fro the grounds. I participated in a pilgrimage revolved around a band I did not necessarily care for.
READ ON for more of Allison’s take on DMB Caravan Chicago…
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