Jack Oblivian and the Tennessee Tearjerkers played a free Vice/Scion garage show at Bruar Falls. John-Paul Keith ( The One Four Fives ) was particularly killer with the licks on the ash body Telecaster, while Jack wailed on the Jaguar (which would be my dream guitar, if I were a guitarist). Jack has been doing reunion shows with The Oblivans and The Compulsive Gamblers this past year, and as fans of both those bands, I knew what I was in for. It's a particular brand of rock 'n' roll, mostly from Memphis, the kind that [...]

It seems like NO ONE knows about this show! The original venue (941 Theatre) got shut down.. so the promoter had to scramble to get this someplace else.. which is, insanely, the Starlight Ballroom. Here's the details: Thursday, Nov 19th / 8:30pm @ Polaris Jack Oblivian Jack "Oblivian" Yarber of The Tearjerkers was a key figure in the influential, Memphis-based Compulsive Gamblers and the legendary '90s garage-punk band The Oblivians. Though, to only ramble on about Yarber?s work with The Oblivians [...]

In just over 36 hours I will be in Austin, Tejas for my first SXSW Music Festival. I may be a bit disoriented from my way early AM flight, blinking the bright Texas sunlight. I'll be planning my musical attack, my strategy for eating BBQ and pacing my drinks. Marathon, not sprint, etc etc. I was up til past 1 last night trying to scrap together some loose semblance of a schedule of bands I would be interested in seeing. Here are five brand new ones that I've not written about before, but that my preliminary scientific midnight [...]