Tabula Rasa
Blankslate fly miles high at Midway Cafe on Wednesday, 4 September 2024.
The Orrs, Tiny the Bear, and Goodkarma sandwich the hump day bill.
The booker behind the local live music series Illegally Blind (puts together the Fuzzstival and more), Jason Trefts, is raising money to start a non-profit organization, staffed by brain tumor survivors, “that will provide free short-term care coordination services for people in the Boston, MA area recently diagnosed with a brain tumor.”
The mission of the project hits close to home for Trefts. In his own words, “I was diagnosed with an incurable Astrocytoma at 24 years old. I have spent the decade-plus since navigating chronic disabling conditions while working in the human services field.”
“Astrocytoma” is a type of brain tumor. And while Trefts has been dealing with that, he has also been working in care coordination himself, observing first hand how important the work is. His proposed non-profit would make more of that important work happen for more people. Find out the details and donate at the Still Around Gofundme.
Fresh off an appearance at Nice, A Fest, Goodkarma opened the night at Midway Cafe. The versatile trio trade around singing and songwriting duties for a lively mix. A little post punk, a little pop punk, a few covers and a bunch of originals. Extra points for the Denver Nuggets jersey, in honor of the out-of-staters to follow later?
Accordion sighting! Saxophone sighting too. Tiny the Bear performed as a trio, centered on the singer-songwriting of Anthony Siraco. Siraco crafts plucky folk ditties with the sneaky profundity and oddball humor of a Daniel Johnston or Conor Ryan Hennessy. Add a violin, a sax, an accordion, plus some jingle bells with the supporting cast, and you’ve got yourself a standout folk troupe.
Straight outta Denver, it’s Blankslate. The trio brings Fraggle Rock energy to buildy indie rock jams with an emphasis on pop vocals. Bonus points to the drummer for doubling on a second keyboard during songs.
A quartet with hard rocking songs and blistering guitar solos. It’s the Orrs. Most of the vocals were provided by the drummer, which is always a certain kind of band, the “singing drummer” category of band. Neither good, nor bad, it just is, and I’ve got a pet theory that singing while you’re drumming predisposes a certain kind of vocal articulation that is rhythm- rather than melody-driven. Theory. The band is playing the 4th Wall on 9/7.