A. Savage leaves the courts behind at Crystal Ballroom on Saturday, 21 October 2023.

Annie Hart and local neu-soft rockers Otis Shanty open the triple stack bill.

Gobble, gobble.

Gobble-gobble.

Gobble gobble.

Comma, hyphen, or nothing at all?

Thanksgiving is right around the corner. You can tell because it’s almost Halloween and not yet Christmas.

#xmas4eva

If you went to the A. Savage show at Crystal Ballroom on Saturday, you might have seen his latest solo record Several Songs About Fire at the merch table.

One of the songs off the album is “Riding Cobbles.” Not sure if it’s released as a standalone single, but there was a cycling hipster’s delight of a poster associated with it. A hand drawn design of what looked like Laurent Fignon in the middle of a bike race. The headband, the glasses, the Professor.

Had to look it up – the great French pro cyclist never won the cobbles classic Paris-Roubaix, though he did come in third in 1988.

On the poster the top of Fignon’s head overlaps the bottom of the ‘c’ in ‘cobbles.’ You’re excused if you thought it read “Riding Gobbles.”

Shout out to Gobble Gobble, a wunderkind of late Aughts, early Teens proto hyperpop, which turned into Born Gold, which turned into the namesake of the man behind all the monikers, Cecil Frena. Still doing it the right way up in Edmonton.

Otis Shanty

The local four-piece Otis Shanty just released a gem of an EP called Early Birds. Why not celebrate with an opening slot for A. Savage? Why not celebrate with a mini-tour in late October, early November? Why not celebrate with one of those over-sized turkey legs you get at King Richard’s Faire? Gobble, gobble.

Annie Hart

It was a night for solo spins, with Annie Hart saying a temporary goodbye to her regular gig.

You know, the one that played the Bang Bang Bar (AKA ‘the Roadhouse’) on Twin Peaks: The Return? Holy shit!

You could watch that whole season just for the musical breakdowns at the end of each episode. Unless you’re a real aficionado of music documentaries (shout out Regent Theatre for Midweek Music Movie hookups for Hump Nights!), you probably forget or never knew how well music can be… filmed.

Music is an art of sound, which is what makes it so mysterious and difficult to capture in performance. Forget music videos with silly little characters, narrative arcs, and whatnot. Try filming the actual band playing the actual song. Takes a skilled hand to do in a powerful way.

A. Savage

Try writing the name ‘A. Savage’ into a Google Doc. The AI keeps thinking you want to create an itemized list with bullet points ‘A,’ ‘B,’ and ‘C.’ Points deducted!

The artist from Parquet Courts was taking his second solo album through its paces with the help of four fellow musicians.

Shades of Leonard Cohen in some of the medium tempo, indie western balladeering. There’s a brown leather scent to some of the vocals. Add a one-armed guitarist and this band might have found itself onstage at the Bang Bang Bar instead of the Crystal Ballroom.

Not sure if the BBB is still booking, but bring your fisticuffs if you schedule a date. It’s a fightin’ joint.

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