Friday, November 7th
Lucinda Williams at Liberty Hall in Lawrence
This beloved songstress returns to Liberty Hall with a new record in tow, the double disc entitled Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone. Damn, that’s a grizzled-ass title. The cover art even features a painting of a knife stabbing through a heart. But that’s kind of Williams’ thing.
Paul Williams of Slant.com gave the record 4 out of 5 stars, and had this to say:
“For a musician who can be as withholding as Williams (she tends to wait several years between relatively short albums), the generosity of Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone is a welcome change. “There are only so many things you can write about, love, sex, death, redemption,” she says in the press notes. She’s packed them all into this album, which could’ve easily come off as didactic, but instead seems sincere and wise, perhaps because Williams has accumulated the experience to effectively pull off such a multidimensional project.
“Though some songs no doubt touch on personal ground, including the kind of kiss-offs to bad men for which she’s known (“Cold Day in Hell,” “Big Mess”), she speaks in broader terms, exposing the falsest sides of human nature while at the same time affirming a universal humanity underneath it all.”
Saturday, November 8th
Empty Moon at the Replay in Lawrence
After many years fronting Lawrence’s favorite band, Fourth of July, Brendan Hangauer decided to go west young man – to Oakland, specifically. He’s put together a new band, and taken the name from the last FOJ album title for this new project. A couple days ago the debut album dropped, entitled The Shark. It’s pretty good, and pretty similar to the good old reliable material his band used to sling around these parts, singing and screaming about love lost, moving on, topless girls, regret, you know the deal. This homecoming show is bound to be packed with Lawrence’s best and brightest scenesters. Everyone seems to miss Hangauer’s old band, but this show will be the next best thing.
Show was ok. I liked it better when it was Fourth of July though. Maybe I just know the songs better. Seemed like all of these songs on the record all run together.