GIG GUIDE (Fri 26 Sept - Thurs 4 Oct )

Compliments of Zane Henry

Friday 28 Sept

International DJ Gilles Petersen plays the Bang Bang Club. Toll: R150 presold-R200 door. Tel: 011-728-8417.

8-piece funk group Alan Funk plays with hip-hop practitioner Ewok at the Independent Armchair Theatre. Tel: 084-318-5959.

The Rocking the Daisies Festival kicks off today and runs till Sunday at Cloof Wine Estate, Darling. Line-up includes Flat Stanley, Tidal Waves, Love Jones and Bed on Bricks.

The annual Goth Industrial Gathering runs at Mercury Live. Battery 9, Psyche, Ankst and Winter Soul perform. Toll: R50. Pre-book at www.subterania.co.za

Cliffie Moses' 4–Sounds play the Green Dolphin. Toll: Free. Tel: 021-421-7471.

Evergreens The Brills play The Labia On Orange. Toll: R75. Tel: 021-424-5927.

Acid Blues play funky blues-rock at Carnival Court. Toll: Free. Tel: 021-423-9003.

Saturday 29 Sept

Punk-rockers Duck and Dive play Zula Sound Bar. Tel: 021-424-2442.

Kabel Tour, The New Black, ETC Crew and DJs AudioPhile021 and Binary play the Cape Audio College Party at the Independent Armchair Theatre. Tel: 084-318-5959.

Luna and Gerald Clark play Seaside Blues Café, Melkbosstrand. Toll: R70. Tel: 021-553-2615.

Battery 9, Psyche, Ankst, Winter Soul, Noctivian, Mind Assault, Day Turns Night and Vendetta celebrate the launch of new record and distribution label Empyrean at Klein Libertas Theatre. Toll: R50. Tel: 021-883-3607.

Australian gospel rock band Planetshakers play The Lighthouse, Parow. Toll: R80-R90. Website: www.itickets.co.za

Sunday 30 Sept

Tristan Waterkeyn and Anika play the Independent Armchair Theatre. Gig includes Africa Burns (Burning Man) screenings and slide show. Tel: 084-318-5959.

The Lisa Bauer Trio plays the Green Dolphin. Toll: Free. Tel: 021-421-7471.

Acoustic trio Palms Up plays Kirtsenbosch's Silvertree Restaurant. Toll R90 including a drink and starter course of soup. Tel: 021- 762-9585.

Evergreens The Brills play The Labia On Orange. Toll: R75. Tel: 021-424-5927.

Monday 1 Oct (eesh. Month start, on a Monday!)

The Alan Cameron Trio plays the Green Dolphin. Toll: Free. Tel: 021-421-7471.

Tuesday 2 Oct

The Buckfever Underground launch their new album at the Independent Armchair Theatre. Tel: 084-318-5959.

The Richard Caesar Trio plays the Green Dolphin. Toll: Free. Tel: 021-421-7471.

Wednesday 3 Oct

Verismo plays the Independent Armchair Theatre. Toll: Free. Tel: 084-318-5959.

Taxi Violence and Blood Money play Stones, Tableview. Toll: Free.

Damn Right and 16 Stitch play Stones, Tygervalley.

The Jason Reolon Trio plays the Green Dolphin. Toll: Free. Tel: 021-421-7471.

The Reminders play jazz standards at Carnival Court every Wednesday. Toll: free. Tel: Tel: 021-423-9003.

The Rus Nerwich Trio plays Joburg Bar every Wednesday. Toll: Free. Tel: 083-962-8065.

Thursday 4 Oct

Damn Right and LA Cobra play The Hidden Cellar, Stellenbosch. Toll: R20. Tel: 021-881-3428.

The Dave Ledbetter Trio plays the Green Dolphin. Toll: Free. Tel: 021-421-7471.

Bed on Bricks plays Bohemia, Stellenbosch. Toll: Free. Tel: 021-882-8375.

Luna plays Zula Sound Bar. Toll: R30. Tel: 021-424-2442.

Son of a Thousand Blues plays Tanz Café.

To be featured in the Gig Guide, e-mail zane.henry@inl.co.za by noon on Tuesday for publication on Friday

Ve r y S m ö r ... .. g å s b o r d

Smörgåsbord? It’s not a Nordic tongue. Though the band I’m talking about certainly do nice things with theirs. And their fingers.. <sigh>.

Smörgåsbord, kitlings, is a variety of things. Originally, things you could stuff your face with. But in this case, its things you can wiggle your bottom to. Verismo (say it silently, imprint it into your sonic synapses!) is all that. And a bietjie more. (ok, say it loooooud)

They make mad music. They dress in velvet and studs. They leap about almost as much as their audience does (now that is a good sign), and they aren’t going to stop any time soon.

It’s a constant dance of quiet little moments that gently build up to fullblast, heartfast deliciousness.

See if you can keep still.

I was like, kululululuuu (or izit kilililileeee?): here's celebration. They bring out the Prima Donna in boys, girls and inbetweens who can’t help dancing to the bouncing frenetics of something other than ordinary. Toss some ska and opera and some yiddish funk and some Antarctic blues and a lot of heartfelt theatrics and a lot of red-faced fans with delirious grins, stir it up like Mr Marley suggests, and voila! You have an unnameable, almost describable evening of hip happiness. Prepare to sweat. And swoon.

And yes, they sing all about love. Lust. Life and the little things that make it magical. Like velvet and lace and lots of pretty faces. That is what Verismo is made of.

Btw they’re wicked musos too.

p.s. Verismo sounds like Verismo, but i'm having moments of Desmond and the Tutus, too. in tone. not taste. and the (wonderful, amazing, where are they now?) Honeymoon Suites.

Bruise me, baby!

Naughty boys making wicked noise. There’s a blueprint for a blerry good experience.

The Dirty Skirts CD Launch

The skirts lifted the hem of their debut album at the Biscuit Mill on 01 March. If you were there, word up for testy taste! If you weren’t, what a waste. They delivered a bit more than the usual subtle smashing of sweet sound …

Fans weren’t quite prepared for the overlords of underthings, I think. Myspace muppets might have been a bit surprised by the point of departure that is “On A Stellar Bender”. But they were a nice crowd, mild mannered and mildly wild. The Skirts, of course, are not.

It wasn’t only their quintessential rocking, bubblegum fun they treated us to. The launch was the perfect platform for them to point out that they’ve got more up their musical sleeves than their Indy-Pop notoriety might suggest. You don’t realise how serious they are about having fun and making music. Whether Jeremy made that point better by belting out his bad, beatific ballads or by leapfrogging face first onto the stage is not quite clear. But the crowd loved it. The boys upped the edge a notch or two. They egged on the ante. And that’s the thing with the Skirts. They’re dirty, but you don’t see the blood.

For expectant fashionistas, it was a lowkey lashing of suspenders and skinny jeans. No black tape and eyeliner this night. For jaded music fans, it was a pleasant spit in the face. Sure, they make you bop. They make you hop. They have their very own jolly, oversized bunny. That’s what we like about them. But this night they also made us moan and hum. Underneath it all, where it counts, they might be here for the party (hell, they are the party) but the music has The Dirty Skirts by the balls.

Beyond their crowd rocking renditions of Feeling The Pressure and Homewrecker, there were moments fuelled with restful emo, acoustic riffs to make music whores spread wide, and occasions that called for a very different kind of last.fm labelling. Mm. I like being surprised.

They’ll go places, and they’ll do it in (their) style.

Glad to be able to add divine to my list of D words for the skirts. Dirty, divine… drat, I don’t have any others. Dirty and divine. Let’s leave it at that. Till the next time they show us their panties.

Missed the show? Watch the slide show

Pics : Simon De Haast

(Btw, the ol’ market looks lovely dressed up in a bar and stage and lots of beautiful people. But if you want it to sound right, make sure you get the best soundman in the city, coz it aint an easy space to mix into.)

SHU - it's not my first time

omg. mm.

SHU ate my evening.

Memory is funny thing and Summer is a sunny thing. It's easy enough to remember the beach at this time of year (sunset, swim, sand...sigh), but when you realize you forgot what you did last winter... then things get a bit tricky.

I’m talking about my new love, here. Whose name rhymes with sjoe, shoe and shoo!

Namely : SHU. as it were.(i wonder wottit means)

i was drooling and gushing over my keyboard about my new faves (tack tack drool) last week at wek. (wek? - no, don't get me started again) and to Everybody i met . "SHU this, SHU that, must see SHU, na na na." my new SHU. (which is good, coz i already ate all my other ones, such is the lucrative lameness of writing about live music) and so on. the songs wouldn't leave my head. mySpace made a lot of dosh from me lastweek, yessiree. (zit true that mySpace chews non-paying users’ bandwidth? isn't that illegal? unethical???)

Then I went to Mercury (it might be gatdonker, but its got great sound when the right monitor man is around) to see them. and hey SHU wow. it was deja vu. i've seen that sound breaking the air before. I’ve felt it. but I forgot. Because we hear with our eyes too?

which begs the question. why didn't i remember them by their sound alone when i was raping mySpace? where do sight and sound join? (I'll answer that in another missive)

it's something about live performance that gels an experience. Galvanizes it, even. Evidently.

SHU at mercury on Friday.

They are tight as a tit’s tart. And they make a small stage shiver. Liquid fire or something. Be swallowed. Be chewed. Be washed up on the shores of your own exorcism. Be inspired and hammered. It is heavy, melodic rock. But it’s not as heavy as Tonight We Die (rock? i need to ask a few questions about this word). Their vocalist has a lady's whinney to her - ag, i mean his voice which is odd for a man with such a large presence, and the bassist looks happy, jiggy, even, which is odd for a bassist. The drummer is the inbetween mc, entertaining the crowds with a steady stream of quips and quirks from his unattainable elevation. Which is odd for a drummer. - aren't they usually the silent, sexy ones? allinall, their oddness makes for a few moments of absolute catharsis. and no, they didn't play my favourite song(cocoon). it was the bassist's fault.

Lots of guitars. Lots of lovely noise. Lots of leaping around and none of the clichés. Unless mad, talented musicians with obedient instruments are becoming clichés. i hope so.

One (beautiful) friend (really, she is superbly beautiful) mentioned that they sound bit too much like the Muse for her liking. As a self-confessed forgetaholic and rock virgin who only discovered A Perfect Circle last week (sies, I know), I must say, it made little difference to me. SHU came first and this is not my first time. I'm going to have to get their album.

Anachronism is a funny thing. It puts that age-old question asunder. (no! not “do you want to sleep with me?”. The other one) Never mind whether the chicken or the egg came first. It's what cracks em that counts.