POOR MOON, THE STATE ROOM, Friday, Nov. 2, 9 p.m., $12
Poor Moon is made up of a couple of members of Fleet Foxes–Christian Wargo and Casey Wescott–along with their buddes Ian and Peter Murray (a brother tandem), and is based around Wargo’s songwriting. Their self-titled debut arrived this year, and its a savvy blend of garage-rock, psychedelia and chamber-folk. Fans of the Fleet Foxes will find plenty to love–and a little more raucous energy than that band. For this show, local favorite Cory Mon opens up, so be sure to get there on time.
ALLEN STONE, THE COMPLEX, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 7:30 p.m., $18.50 in advance
Allen Stone’s sound is one of those shining examples of music’s transcendent qualities–its ability to cross barriers like geography, race, religion with ease when its done right. Stone is a small-town boy from Chewelah, Washington, a burg of 1,500 or so north of Spokane in eastern Washington state, getting up to the Canadian border. His daddy was a preacher, and he started singing in church as a 3-year-old. At some point, the songs of Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and the Meters entered his consciousness, and eventually Stone developed one of the most soulful sounds to come from a young artist in a long time–like a male, American version of Joss Stone. His lyrics are shot through with a social consciousness that appeals to the hippie crowd, too. At the Outside Lands festival in San Francisco this summer, he drew a big crowd to hear the songs filling his self-titled album released in 2011.
One could easily write an entire concert review of just Kaki King’s between-song banter. The Brooklyn-based performer is an utter charmer on stage, using every break between songs to tell stories about her life and share her perspective on her world.
On Friday at The State Room, those tales included celebrating her three-week marriage anniversary, and listing off whether or not her marriage is recognized in different states and countries her tour is visiting: “New York–yes, Canada–no problem, New Jersey–not married,” etc. She talked about her drive from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City, dreaming of finding her way to a float in the Great Salt Lake, only to find a winter wonderland when she got to town. She gave props to her dining experiences at the Copper Onion and Himalayan Kitchen, and hyped her new album, Glow, in a completely winning and confident way–“It’s great!”
Yes, you could stick to King’s lovely stage persona, but really, her shows are all about her amazing guitar-playing. It’s a mesmerizing thing, enthralling the crowd filling the venue and hushing them to silence in awe of the intricate movements of her hands on a series of acoustic guitars. At various points, she had a guitar on her lap as she picked at the strings, pedal-steel-style, or hammered at the strings on the neck with all 10 fingers, or played out percussive beats on the guitar’s body while she manipulated the strings on the neck with her other hand.
It was a truly impressive display, and her playing delved into everything from traditional folk, to jazz, to classical and Celtic and rock over the course of the night. The set had a lot of songs from Glow, naturally, and they were great. Among the highlights from that album on Friday night were “Kelvinator, Kelvinator,” “The Fire Eater,” “Bowen Island” and “King Pizel.”
She talked about writing the older song “Jessica” when she was just 15, and related how funny it was that she ended up marrying a woman named Jessica 17 years later. “Carmine Street” from her album Everybody Loves You was a particularly strong performance as well.
You could say that for pretty much every song, though. King’s compositions are so diverse and complex, the listener gets sucked into a series of three- and four-minute aural journeys, particularly when she’s performing live. Here’s hoping we get to see her do it again soon.
Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman continues to be the Jiminy Cricket voice of conscience in Mitt Romney’s ear.
Huntsman, failed presidential candidate himself, chastised Romney for not manning up to denounce Republican Senate nominee Richard Mourdock for his stunning comment that pregnancies resulting from rape are “something that God intended to happen.” Romney should have immediately pulled his ads endorsing Mourock, Huntsman says:
“I’m here to tell you that there are some independents and swing voters in the middle that I think would respect a candidate who goes against the grain. They’re looking for leadership during a time that these kinds of statements are made, as opposed to just the go-with-the-flow kinds of statements we always hear.”
Huntsman said he cringes when Republicans talk about abortion: “It’s like fingers on a chalkboard every time I hear men talk about women’s health issues.”
Huntsman’s advice to Romney: “You should always be driven by the right thing to do. And I think the right thing to do is to drop support and ask for the ads to be removed and to move on.”
Or as Jiminy Cricket put it: “Now, remember, Pinocchio: be a good boy. And always let your conscience be your guide.”
DON WILLIAMS, DEE EVENTS CENTER, Ogden, Friday, Oct. 26, 7:30 p.m., $33-38
Don Williams is known in many quarters as the “Gentle Giant” of country music, his bulky frame and bass-y baritone combining to make the man look pretty imposing. But the 2010 inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame is better known for his popular ballads like “Some Broken Hearts Never End” and easy-grooving country pop hits like “Tulsa Time” (my personal favorite). All told, he’s had 17 No. 1 country hit songs, and after “retiring” in 2006, he’s back with a brand new album, And So It Goes, and a tour stopping in Utah Friday. The album is a winner from beginning to end, and includes collaborations with Williams fans like Alison Krauss and Vince Gill. Williams is famous for shunning attention–he wouldn’t even give interviews when he was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame–and given his attempt to retire a few years back, consider this your last best chance to see the man perform in Utah.
All those breathtaking national parks are in Arizona. That god-kissed powder snow falls on Colorado ski slopes. And every Utah man jack is a polygamist. (The wide-spread belief that our Legislature and congressional delegation is controlled by lunatics, of course, is not far off the mark.)
The latest denial of reality by our fellow Americans is that The Salt Lake Tribune snubbed native son and co-religionist Mitt Romney (as they see it) to endorse Barack Obama. It’s the stuff of urban myth.
First off: Yes, indeed, the Obama endorsement occurred.
But the idea that Utah’s largest circulation paper would turn its back on Mitt is apparently, to quote Vizzini: inconceivable.
The endorsement was so outrageous it was taken toSnopes.com, the fraud and rumor clearance center, which not only confirmed that the Obama endorsement was true, but that the Trib had endorsed Obama in 2008—though Mitt was not a choice then. Obama failed to carry the state’s voters then and it’s trully inconceivable that he will November.
The Snopes notation included another myth-buster: “Contrary to common misbelief, the Deseret News, not the Tribune, is the Salt Lake City newspaper that is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
Anyone who has ever worked for the Trib has been disheartened to run into Utahns, mainly in Salt Lake County, who steadfastly believe the paper is owned by the Mormon church.
On the other hand, Utah County residents (and some Trib employees) are convinced the the paper is owned by Satan.
Daniel Nailen 