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Local Music Overload
One of the best things about Comfest is the incredible amount of great music being created all over Goodale Park, all at the same time. But it's also frustrating—there's just no way to catch it all! To help maximize your fun this weekend, June 23-25, the "Alive" staff has come up with our list of must-see Comfest sets.
Mark Turns
Friday, 2 p.m.
Live Arts Stage
Attention Gil Mantera Fans: The duo has been touring the West Coast and will not be performing at Comfest. In their place, check out Mark Turns, a free-feeling spirit that will be afloat this year in Goodale Park.
He's written 27 books, three theories, one TV sitcom, one TV drama, 63 songs and a cartoon. While the TV shows haven't been picked up by any network, his output indicates there's a savant among us. During a show at Skylab earlier this year, Turns' performance consisted of straight-faced, passionate musings to a mythical woman over a CD of cheaply made, new age-y beats. The seriousness of his romantic rants was both heartfelt and extremely comical.
Church of the Red Museum
Friday, 5 p.m.
Off-Ramp Stage
Church of the Red Museum waltzed its way into town last year as a singular presence, gritty and grandiose in equal measure, as though a primitive Transylvanian folk band had been weaned on punk 45s and the Tom Waits catalog.
The six-piece ensemble crafts exultant songs of sorrow, orchestrated with a vast toy box of instruments from which Leslie Jankowski's mournful violin stands out. Yet the music sounds celebratory, or at least cathartic, buoyed by ringleader Brian Travis, whose abrasive holler recalls Waits or Swami Records head honcho John Reis at his most intense.
"The Road" in particular exhibits the band's strengths, casting Travis' yell against a simple two-chord vamp, shot from a steady pulse into a stratospheric climb. The song glides cleanly back to the ground, but for the band, the ascent is just beginning.
The Rackets
Friday, 6 p.m.
Bozo Stage
Loud, fast and catchy: What more can you ask from a rock band? The description comfortably fits the Rackets, perhaps Columbus' finest producers of garage grit. The songs are simple, perfect chunks of rock candy launched by Nick Schuld's harmonic blasts of guitar. His chords are big and raunchy, yet they manage to glisten, too, between the confident rhythmic clatter created by Heather Lazor's drums and Costa Hondroulis' bass.
Best of all, the songs bristle with the urgency of youth, though compared to the kids at Ohio State, these three have been around for a while. Years spent honing their skills on both sides of I-270 have taught them how to get the most from a power trio, crafting passionate bursts of agony and glee.
Sean Carney
Friday, 9 p.m., Blues Garage
Sunday, 9 p.m., Bozo Stage (with Teeny Tucker)
When he's in town, Sean Carney can be easy to take for granted. The guitarist gigs often in Columbus' blues-friendly venues, and he's not averse to sharing a stage with the mixed bag of players who show up for local open-stage jams.
Carney's two Comfest sets provide a chance to truly appreciate the city's best blues guitarist, and a perfect time to do it. Not only is he about to take off for a summer-long tour of Canada, but Carney's Friday set will feature new material from a forthcoming CD that moves away from standard 1-4-5 toward something that might warm the heart of Tom Waits.
Weightless Recordings
Friday, 10 p.m.
Off-Ramp Stage
Hip-hop has two prominent outdoor experiences. There is the old-school park jam, where an emcee and his charisma keep the party alive. Blueprint did this at Comfest last year, with a body-rockin' performance that inspired dancing, moshing and crowd surfing under the streetlights.
This year, Blueprint returns with the other kind of outdoor hip-hop: the summer jam showcase. This style, popularized by NYC's radio station Hot 97, brings out all the stars to do their hits. Appearing with 'Print will be Envelope, Manifest and other members of his Weightless crew. The local emcees will be sure to have the fest-goers' sweat fighting with their sun screen.
Alyson Greenfield
Friday, 10:30 p.m.
Solar Stage
Fans of Tori Amos or Sarah McLachlan might suppose Alyson Greenfield to be merely a piano-driven chanteuse with a sultry voice, but a closer inspection of her resume reveals a local renaissance woman of sorts.
Composing contemporary classical piano music since age 11, Greenfield picked up the guitar at 14 and has since split her time between touring, graduate studies in creative writing, becoming an award-winning independent screenwriter, composing a full-length musical and appearing in several music videos, most notably "Lyric" by Zwan. This Friday, you can decide for yourself if she's worth the buzz she's garnering from independent critics and podcasts.
Mors Ontologica
Saturday, 7 p.m.
Off-Ramp Stage
A phoenix resurrected from the ashes of Columbus outfit Neverwhere, Mors Ontologica combines driving rock grooves with catchy organs straight outta the big top and vocals that sound like a fistfight between Jello Biafra and Reverend Horton Heat.
Released earlier this month on local label Very Small Scene Records, the group's debut LP, Dead And/Or Famous, contains a handful of varied and fantastic tracks. Alongside the bouncy anchor "45 Revolutions," the group offers tender, shimmering ballads, a few garage-rock screamers and more.
The Fabulous Johnson Brothers
Saturday, 9 p.m.
Bozo Stage
Make no mistake, the Fabulous Johnson Brothers will pry butts off picnic blankets on Saturday night. While plenty of performers are sure to expand your artistic horizons, none packs the funky punch of these local veterans.
There's a reason why these guys are returning to the main stage—nothing ends a day of domestic beer-binging and sun-burnt vendor browsing better than slinky wah-wah pedal grooves and gritty rock riffs. After three LPs and years on the road, the Fabulous Johnson Brothers won't disappoint—but they will get your funk on.
Sarah Asher
Saturday, 9:50 p.m.
Solar Stage
Forget what you think you know about the ukulele—you've never heard a plucky four-string played like this. Columbus chanteuse Sarah Asher plugs her uke into a guitar amp and cranks it up way past overdrive. Accompanied by her melodic wail and melancholy lyrics, it makes for a powerful anthem of lo-fi angst. (For some quieter numbers she plays a Casio backed by a friend with saw—talk about lo-fi.) Asher's delightfully quirky sound is uniquely Columbus-made—and that's what Comfest is all about.
Middle Child
Saturday, 10 p.m.
Bozo Stage
Unlike a lot of what passes for neo-soul these days—where references to earth, or the womb, or both, evoke romantic memories of the good ol' days—Middle Child's pregnancy and frequent lack of shoes were more than metaphors when she released her debut album, Barefeet & Pregnant. Armed with a guitar and an understanding that sometimes the music can speak for itself, Middle Child's barefoot performances are always about the comfort and never about the props.
Larry Marotta
Sunday, 3:45 p.m.
I Wish You Jazz Stage
Normally the mention of guitarists and jazz conjures up the mellow blues stylings of Wes Montgomery or Kenny Burrell, but Larry Marotta's been known to (literally) bring the noise. Marotta didn't miss a beat when he moved here from the Miami punk scene—he quickly found a new home in Columbus' noise community.
Expect an unabashed hour of Miles circa 1972 from the Larry Marotta Group, which also includes Ted Royalty on drums, Linda Dachtyl on the B3, Nick Mancini on bass and David Reed serving all things electronic.
Red Dahlia
Sunday, 6:15 p.m.
Off-Ramp Stage
When the Alive staff was asked for their Comfest picks, every former Athens resident in the room mentioned Red Dahlia. Jodi Toledo and her band have that extra measure of talent and appeal that keeps the fan base traipsing alongside them, and a growing catalogue of rock and blues-tinged songs that can hush a room or shake the foundation. Toledo's voice aches with the passionate grit of early Melissa Etheridge, and their live show is simply not to be missed. Catch them before they're the next big thing.
Megan Palmer & the Hopefuls
Sunday, 8 p.m.
Gazebo Stage
Though she's also sitting in with five other groups at Comfest, Columbus' fiddling queen will spotlight the eclectic offerings from her debut album with a headlining gig alongside a supporting cast of local virtuosos including vibraphonist Nate Anders, guitarist John Boerstler and drummer Jimmy Castoe.
Released in April, Forget Me Not is a poignant and melodic journey through heartache, life on the road and dealing with loss. It's a potent mix of laidback pop a la Norah Jones and the pensive, wandering style of Sarah McLachlan.
Reviews by Nikki Davis, Chris DeVille, Sean Edgar, Wes Flexner, Brian Lindamood, John Ross, Melissa Starker & Brooke Williams
June 22, 2006
Copyright ? 2006 Columbus Alive, Inc. All rights reserved.
