Spare Us the Cutter...Or Those Who Poorly Use Them

There once stood a proud hydrangea here.

     Sometimes, I leave myself shaking my head.    

     Saturday, my lovely wife Val and I did some needed yard work, mainly in the front of our property, and I also did a bit in back. While there may be more, there are two rules all home/property owners agree exist: All homes are eventually perpetual fixer uppers, and there is always yard work to do. Since we have a 124-year-old house and an extra lot next door to us as our property, you can see how true this rings.

     I was doing some tree and bush pruning and trimming, and attacking some grape vines and other older, more virulent weeds, tool in hand (Val now calls it the “heartless chopper,“ or claims she calls the tool that, and not me, who may be the real tool here). After finishing my major objectives, I started pruning and trimming around a fence on the right side of our front garden; this garden is split in two by the walk from the sidewalk to our porch steps. There are trees, bushes, shrubs and other plants, with the crowning life forms the two hydrangea plants, one on each side of the stairs set back close to the house.

     Of course, Val and my missions Saturday were to weed, cut, prune and trim uninvited growths that were threatening the lives of the items we love as well as being eyesores. I also wanted to trim a couple of trees and remove some unwanted weeds on the side of the house. Val was working hard on the weeds along the front of both sides of the garden as well as on some growth further back. Because I was making better time than expected, I started to work inside the garden on the right side, a bit back near the utility meter on that side near the house. I started in on that side and removed a lot of growth, including vines and weeds.

     We went inside after finishing as much as we could before the weather got too hot; I went grocery shopping, while Val worked on the next episode of her YouTube vlog, “TrikeLife.” After I pickled up dinner, we went to Nick Charlap’s for ice cream, which Val had been looking forward to all weekend. As she went down the stairs, she looked to the right side of the garden and said “Wow, you really cleared a lot of stuff from around the meter…WHERE IS THE HYDRANGEA?” I looked and started to say “Right there…holy shit.” You guessed it, I had pruned/trimmed the hydrangea dangerously low, to the point you could barely see it. It had not registered at all to me before, during or after I had done it that I had actually damaged the hydrangea, a plant we both love and Val especially cherishes.

     I can’t count how many times I apologized to Val about this and how many times I have tried to figure out how I did this so in depth without realizing what I was doing. We’ve both spread coffee grounds over the years to affect our hydrangea’s color, and Val has done all she could to keep them watered and getting sun. The aggrieved hydrangea is not dead, but as Val said, it will take a little time, like 5 years, to fully grow back. Maybe I’ll be allowed to trim things again by then.

David J. Costello: Colleague, Friend, Mensch

  

David J.Costello, right, one of the best, with Steve Mikula

  My friend and colleague from Buffalo State College, David J. Costello, who sadly died June 29, is one of those persons you hope you encounter sometime. He was friendly, funny, intelligent, kind, thoughtful, strong in his beliefs but approached life and situations looking for the best in people and working with them to solve things, instead of instigating conflicts.

     David became my, or I became his, friend and colleague through the United Students Government at Buffalo State, where he served as president for two, one-year terms, from 1982-1983 and 1983-1984, as head of the Positive Outlook party/ticket. I ran unsuccessfully for USG senate on another ticket in 1982 (a whole other story), but stayed active and when two senate vacancies came up at the start of the school year, I was chosen to fill one of them. David welcomed me, let me know there were no hard feelings for me having run on the other ticket, and asked where we could work together.

     One area almost all of us serving in various student representative positions, from the United Students Government and College Senate to the Faculty Student Association and College Council (I was fortunate to serve with Costello on the College Senate and follow him as student representative on the College Council), was fighting the two-pronged assault of tuition increases and faculty reductions. Much of this resulted from painful cuts in federal and state student aid after the conservative policies of Reagan, Pataki, etc., took their toll. David rallied us student representatives and other students to publicly fight these draconian actions, using his own skills plus those developed during his internship with then-U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. He appeared at rallies, on television and radio (these being pre-Internet times), teaming up with faculty, staff and administrators when necessary and advantageous, showing us that students could fight for their rights, even when not overly successful. I have always felt a bit betrayed that, while we fought against faculty and staff cuts, we didn’t receive much, if any, support in return for exorbitant tuition increases, but that’s another story.

     David’s ability to work with all kinds of people served him well here; he did not show public anger, but he did display outrage when necessary at the cuts and their effects on students. He also did not turn the USG into a partisan political circus, as some might do, instead focusing on students’ rights and needs at Buffalo State College. David asked me to run on his Positive Outlook ticket the next year; I was honored and said yes, and was honored more when he designated me the senate majority leader during his second term. He also avoided another political circus during the end of his second term, when I ran to succeed him as USG president. David had no wish to run again, as he was planning to graduate, and while he wholeheartedly supported me, we both knew he could not come out publicly supporting me because of the other candidates’ involvement with USG. I would absolutely have loved him to come out endorsing me, but fully understood his decision and still marvel at his integrity. I did take his offer of advice on campaigning for the office, and I probably should have done a better job, since I finished second in the USG presidential race (to someone with the last name of Mosey).

     After David graduated, he occasionally kept in touch about USG issues but did not want to appear like he was interfering and indeed, he had moved on, to work on the finance world, eventually with a career in management at HSBC Bank. I would see him occasionally and always welcome our discussions, me addressing him as “Mr. President,” and he calling me either “Senator Hosey” or “Majority Leader Hosey” before using first names. The last time I spoke to David in person was before he moved from Buffalo to New York City for a position; I was picking up dinner from the late, great Italian Village Restaurant on Buffalo’s West Side when I saw David in a booth with a friend. We hugged, spoke for a few minutes and, as always, vowed to stay in touch. Fortunately, the Internet and social media allowed us to do so. Our main discussions were on politics, both national and Buffalo, dogs (he so loved his beloved Freddie) and the Buffalo Bills, for which David was a rabid fan. My wife Val Dunne and David became fast social media friends, particularly on canine and political topics. As his health took a turn for the worse, I heard less from him, understanding but not wanting to accept why.

      David treated everyone he met with respect and dignity, sometimes more than I would have, and his friendship and love for so many people and causes are a wonderful legacy. The reason I chose the photo accompanying this piece, from the 1984 Elms, the Buffalo State College yearbook, of David sharing a laugh with a member of the Student Union maintenance staff, is it shows his warmth, humor and ability to get along with everybody. I hope Buffalo State University, as the school is now known, does something to honor David J. Costello. I and so many people mourn his loss and already badly miss him. Hail to the Chief, my friend.

Maybe Jim Carroll Can Offer Some Help

Jim Carroll: Inspirational, confrontational

     Despite publishing two recent posts and having several ideas in my head or started, I am still suffering from a major combination of writer’s block and fear of writing and publishing something that is not even close to good or worthy of public consumption.

     It is no surprise that many writers go through this, some I greatly respect and enjoy reading. There is a great two-page illustration of how it affected at least one writer, the late Jim Carroll, in his fantastic, explicit “Forced Entries, The Downtown Diaries: 1971-1973.” After becoming famous for his “The Basketball Diaries,” an award-winning look at his growing up Catholic in New York City, being a basketball wunderkind and wasting it away through heroin addiction and youth, he wrote another diary of his life as a poet, writer, junkie and scenester, including working for Andy Warhol.

     He eventually went on methadone to try to detox, but due to the ugliness heroin and methadone caused, he moved to California for a while, taking lower doses of methadone and cleaning up otherwise. While it worked in several ways, he found an overpowering inability to either write or find value in any of his writing. It came up directly and as part of other thoughts, which I immediately recognized. His pangs of guilt, inadequacy and waste are also felt strongly by me, like punches to the gut.

     I won’t quote it all, particularly on his difficulty of writing with pen and paper, but his typewriter description includes this truth: “Each letter typed seemed to chew up the one before it like a vicious dog so that no words could be completed…It’s all as if words, phrases, images, syntax were small glass beads from a necklace which was wrenched from some neck and spilled on the floor and down the sides of sofa cushions and armchairs and under bookshelves and maybe swallowed by the cat.” Carroll also states how he must collect them all before he can even try to rearrange/reorder any of them.

     The ruefully funny conflict of trying to write about writer’s block and fear of writing but having to use someone else’s writing to do so because I can’t is not lost on me. Fuck, I have to get out of this rut, this trap, and now.

My Mind (or Friend) Playing Tricks on Me

 

These are some of the intriguing items someone has sent me.

   It seems someone inside Erie County is having some fun with me, and so far, I have few clues as to who the comedian is.

     Sometime in late February/early March, I received an interdepartmental manila envelope addressed to “Mr. Kevin L. Hosey, Esq. Erie County Rath Building FOURTH FLOOR,” incorrect middle initial noted. Inside the envelope was a book, “The Seventh Sense: Power, Fortune, and Survival in the Age of Networks,” by Joshua Cooper Ramo. No accompanying note or anything else was included. About a month later, I received another manila interdepartmental envelope, addressed to “Kevin Hosey 4TH FLOOR,” with another book inside, “Managers, Can You Hear Me Now?” by Denny F. Strigl and Frank E. Swiatek. Again, no note of any kind, but this envelope was in another manila interdepartmental envelope.

     I tried to figure out any connections between the two packages, but there were few, except that both came from the 11th Floor of the Rath Building. One specifically had a previous delivery address of Unit 100, a specialized office of the Erie County Department of Social Services on that floor; I work in the accounting department (Office of Financial and Resource Management) of ECDSS. The other had as one of the crossed-off addresses the “11th Floor;” the main occupant of the 11th Floor is the Comptroller’s Office. I know no one who works at Unit 100, but I have a friend who I formerly worked with in another department/part of Erie County who works at the Comptroller’s Office, and is ridiculously intelligent with a frequently dry sense of humor, but has never pulled such a joke on me and have not even alluded to such a situation; they are also the type who would never use Erie County interdepartmental envelopes for anything but county business. BTW, I also hate self-help books.

     No other instances occurred and I thought this was a hit-and-run joke, but in mid-May, I received a third manila county interdepartmental envelope, this time addressed to “Sir Kevin Hosey Fourth Floor Rath Building,” but with all of the previous addresses inked out and unreadable. The contents were the most interesting yet: A typed note reading “See you real soon! Love you K-DOG!!!!!,” a small envelope containing a preprinted card reading “SURPRISE!” on the outside and handwritten “BOO!!!” on the inside, a postcard announcing the opening reception for “Tonto Revisited: Native American Stereotypes,” at the ArtRage Gallery in Syracuse from November 2010, and a copy of the CD “Rise Up: Colors of Peace,” readings of works of Turkish poet and Muslim political activist M. Fethullah Gulen, who the Turkish government tried to extradite from the US during the Trump presidential monstrosity.

     This last package has me flummoxed. I have no idea why any of the individual items were sent. have absolutely no idea how they relate, and I have NEVER been a nickname person, even though I went through grade school and high school being called “Hose” or “The Hose” way more than my given name. One person in college called me K-Hose a couple of times, but they neither work for nor live in Erie County.

     I applaud the person or people involved with leaving so few identifiable clues and in particular, such a weird assortment of items in the last package. It seems someone knows part of me very well and for a long time, or had a way of finding out those things. Wish I could turn to my late father Edward to utilize his sleuthing skills as developed in the U.S. Army Security Agency; he loved a good puzzle or conspiracy to break.

Let's talk books, er, talk about books, er, read books

 

My most recently started and completed books, respectively.

     I probably love books and reading more and longer than anything in my life, now that my beloved mother Sheila has been gone almost 5 years, with the exception of chocolate. Even music comes second to reading.

     Snapshots of what I am reading at a particular moment are snapshots of what is going on in my life, or at least my head, at that same moment. The vast majority of what I read is non-fiction; after reading a lot of fiction in classes in high school and college, where the breakdown was about 60-40 favoring non-fiction, it rose to 90-95 percent non-fiction for a long time, My interest in comic books and graphic novels in the 1980-2000s, which subsided for a bit but has grown again in the last 5-7 years, affected those percentages again. I do read some fiction (Vonnegut, Fitzgerald, Conrad, Hemingway, Ibsen), but there is a still base in reality.

     So, I thought it was time to present such a snapshot, to let you readers know what is in my hands and in front of my eyes, as well as maybe help break this continuing writer’s block/fear of writing. These examples will be books; I do read/subscribe to other media outlets, including The Athletic, The New Yorker and The Buffalo News online, and read several news websites. But I am a book fan, a bibliophile, and like with newspapers, after more than 18 years writing and editing for them, I enjoy holding a book as well as perusing and buying them still.

     I am one of those persons who reads more than one book at a time, although if I really start getting into one, I will put down the others while I absorb one. I am currently reading “Antietam: The Battle That Changed the Course of the Civil War,” by James M. McPherson, as my upstairs media room/evening book, and downstairs in the living room, I am reading “Mapplethorpe: A Biography,” by Patricia Morrisroe. In my knapsack/at work, for the very few times I can read a book (Iunch time I walk, then check my phone/social media), I am reading “Straight White Male: Performance Art Monologues,” by Michael Peterson. And yes, I also have two books in the downstairs bathroom: “The New Trouser Press Record Guide,” third edition from 1989, and “History of Buffalo Music and Entertainment” by Rick Falkowski. Both books have been perused in short and long takes for a while.

     I didn’t want to go back too far, but the most recent books I finished reading, basically end of 2023-2024, are: “Devotion,” by Patti Smith; ”Apocalypse Nerd” and “Other Lives,” both by Peter Bagge; “All I Ever Wanted,” by Kathy Valentine; “John Constantine Hellblazer: Original Sins,” by Jamie Delano, John Ridgway, Alfredo Alcala, Rick Veitch and Tom Mandrake; “1916: The Easter Rising,” by Tim Pat Coogan; “Blubber,” by Gilbert Hernandez, and “How to Catch a Russian Spy,” by Naveed Jamali. I also find myself going back to old copies of Creem, Trouser Press and Musician magazines for specific articles.

     Don’t worry if any of this causes you to wonder how these books affect and illustrate my life; I think about it often and don’t have all the answers, and maybe avoid some of those answers. I suppose being a professional writer for almost 40 years fits somewhere in here.

Leif Spiritual - Pink Days EP

 

     Leif Spiritual is the nom de musique of Tony Christiano, best known as the lead guitarist/co-lead vocalist and songwriter for Oui73, one of the best/my favorite bands from the 1990s. He recently released (I just can’t make myself say or write “dropped”) a four-song EP, “Pink Days,” and it is really, really, really good.

     There is a lot of what made Oui73 so good, loudly ringing, charging guitar work, moody atmospheres and interesting songwriting; Christiano told me that much of the recording is based on his experience in Oui73 and apparently the surrounding times. I gathered that from some references before he told me that, and subsequent listening to this EP reinforced this.

     The recording starts with “You Know I Need It,” upbeat ringing guitars with a touch of Oasis sound; Christiano has been looking for something better in a relationship of some kind, and believes he’s found it, whether band or partner wise, wanting more than a quick fix or mindless set up. The title song follows, referring to the Pink Flamingo/The Old Pink, Buffalo’s best dive bar for longer than the 30-40 years many of us drank, smoked and listened to great DJs like Terry Sullivan, Casino el Camino, Eric Van Rysdam and David Gutierrez. The hard but melodic rocker has Christiano looking back after so many nights there, and half resenting, half laughing at the bouncers and staff throwing customers out at the end with the same lines and methods he saw as a much younger man. His refrain hook of “this place will never be the same” is humorous, based on experience and little bit of nostalgia.

     “Out of My Hands,” a collaboration with Allison Pipitone, who sings harmony vocals (Christiano’s sister, Holly Christiano, played guitar in both Oui73 and with Pipitone) has more surging, charging guitars, and Christiano’s occasionally slightly distorted vocals sing of trying to save a situation, musical or romantic, but he’s done all he can and it’s up to others to put in the same effort so things don’t end. The final song, “A Crash on the 425,” is a slow, ominous, sometimes spooky or scary song about a car crash on that Canadian highway, made all the more eerie because it’s based on an accident Christiano came upon years ago. The acoustic guitars build until the electric guitars take over, and Christiano seems to go back and forth from the agony of the male driver searching for his partner and his own shock of discovering the accident, the outcome never clarified.

     Leif Spiritual’s “Pink Days”can be found at Apple Music, Spotify and on most music platforms.

RIP Tony Bennett: It's a Family Affair

 

     I’m saddened at the recent death of singer/activist Tony Bennett at age 95, both as a fan and for the family affair connections he created for many years.

     My late father Edward introduced me to Bennett’s music more than 50 years ago; a major big band jazz fan, with Stan Kenton his holy grail, dad's favorite male vocalists, at least from what little he would say in his usual secret way but introduced to me playing them on weekends, seemed to be Frank Sinatra and Bennett. No doubt partly for this reason as well as really liking their music, particularly the 1940s-mid-1960s, they became my favorite male jazz vocalists (I’m willing to be enlightened of others). There is something they could do with a melody and rhythm, and the use of dynamics and subtlety and/or taste both Sinatra and Bennett used are needed more today.

     While I thank my father for the introduction to these two singers, my late mother Sheila is a former fan of Bennett, although I kind of believed she never really stopped liking him. But every time my father would play his music for me, or any time Bennett appeared on television, mom would loudly launch into her mostly staged anger at how she used to love his music and was a favorite, but did I forget he up and left his first wife for a younger woman and that people just didn’t do that and that she couldn’t listen to his music any more. Of course, I frequently heard her singing “Fly Me to the Moon” and “I Left my Heart in San Francisco” while cooking or other activities, sometimes even dancing a bit while she sang.

     I was thrilled when Bennett made a serious comeback in his 60s, first with his tribute to the music of Fred Astaire, “Steppin’ Out,” but as no surprise, my favorite of his later albums was “Perfectly Frank,” a gorgeous, heartfelt and wonderful album of Sinatra songs. His version of “East of the Sun, West of the Moon” would be amazing at any age. The fact that Bennett, a World War II veteran, was busted in rank because he ate meals and fraternized with African American soldiers, and later joined the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on his voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, shows he was more than a singer.

     The first night after the announcement of Bennett’s death, I spent hours listening to his music, starting with the classic “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” album, and even listened to his Christmas album on a hot July night, thinking about the singer, my mother and father. I hope l always think of them when I hear Bennett’s music.

Gurf Morlix - Caveman

      (This review was started in March, but some continued writer’s block and other issues have  delayed completion until now. I’ll try to explain more soon; go figure. KJH)

     If you’re a professional, independent musician who tours a lot, produces other musicians and occasionally accompanies other musicians live, a pandemic such as COVID-19 (which really isn’t over) can potentially cause a lot of problems, from financial and artistic to personal/social. Buffalo/Hamburg native Gurf Morlix, who does all of the above, apparently named his late 2022 CD Caveman (Rootball Records) in recognition of how he feels things had gone for him.

     Fortunately, it sounds like things went quite well musically, because Caveman is a really good bluesy, rootsy country rock album. Morlix seems to have emerged from the pandemic pretty good so far, having played everything on the 10 songs here except for one accordion part and one drum track, as well as having produced and engineered the album. Not one to sit around even when you’d think he earned it, Morlix released his newest album, I Challenge the Beast, April 1. Indeed, he said he has recorded at least seven albums worth of music during COVID-19.

     The album opens with the fun “I Dig Your Crazy Brain,” sounding a bit tongue in cheek and led by a great bluesy country guitar riff. He notices someone for what might be outward appearances to others but Morlix sees something more underneath; he also delivers a short, sweet and stinging solo. The title song follows with Morlix noting he has and will do what he has to do to endure, an achievement both as an independent musician and survivor of the virtual stopping of his way of life for several years. There is some cool, echoey guitar on this track. There is also a notable cover of Jim Whitford's “Crash All Night,” originally released on the ex- and current Pine Dog’s Poison in the Well CD, produced by, you guessed it, Morlix in 2000 (Morlix and Whitford have been friends since childhood); the song features the original drum part played by the late Donald Lindley.

     Elsewhere, “Where the Lost Are Found,” some spare, swampy blues with a rocking solo, seemingly has Morlix leaving behind the superficial “friendly” world for something more substantial. “Mudbugs” shows Morlix looking back and forward to good, honest food, people and music, Louisiana flavored rock with a fine accordion part from Joel Guzman. He also nods to some great music and memories on “1959,” a dirty blues rock number. I could go on, but there really isn’t close to a bad song here.

      Morlix and Rootball Records can be contacted, and Caveman (and the new I Challenge the Beast) can be purchased, at www.gurfmorlix.com and at https://gurfmorlix.bandcamp.com/releases.

Thee Isolators: "Crying Eyes" b/w "Close That Door"

 

     I'm obviously going to explain a bit in a moment, but in case you want just the bare facts/my opinion: Thee Isolators new single, “Crying Eyes” b/w “Close That Door,” on Iso-Tope Records, is a great fucking slab of 60s garage punk rock. The mono recording and in-your-face wall of sound kicks from the first note to the last.

     Thee Isolators have been together a few years and are kind of an all-star band with a bit of a newcomer: Matt Aquiline of Revolver Records on vocals and guitar is joined by bassist/vocalist Mark Norris (Girlpope, Doombuggy, solo), Bob Hanley (The Irving Klaws, Cottonmouth) on organ and vocals and Craig Voigt (The Ramrods, Oui 73) on drums. Their live shows are a sweaty blend of 1960s garage punk rock and occasional poppier sounds, with some 1970s/80s punk and power pop roar added in and are highly recommended, especially if you haven’t done so yet.

     

     The original “Crying Eyes” comes charging out with Voigt’s drums before the rest of the band explodes in fine punk form; Aquiline’s tough, sinister vocals detail his getting dumped by his woman, but while it hurts, he’ll pick up the pieces and get over it without trying to get her back. After a wild guitar solo, he knows she can’t hurt him any more and his pride remains. The band also covers the smoldering gem “Close That Door,” originally recorded by the Tigermen. The slashing guitar, organ and thumping rhythm section actually sound reminiscent of Buffalo’s legendary The SplatCats from the 1980s (having caught lots of shows and owning every recording of this band, I don’t say/write this lightly). Aquiline’s bad romantic luck continues; he knows that they’re through so he’s heading back from where he came, pretty much slamming the door shut, but not before tearing off another short, screaming guitar solo.

     Thee Isolators’ recordings are available at Bandcamp.com, and the band can be contacted there or on Facebook and probably other social media outlets.

Sarah Borges: "Together Alone"

 

   I have enjoyed Sarah Borges’ music for years, and gave a very positive review to her “Diamonds in the Dark” CD with the Broken Singles way back when Val and I had our BuffaloRoots.com web site. So I was very happy to see she released a new album. “Together Alone," on Blue Corn Music. Even better is that I’m not disappointed; this is a great album.

     “Together Alone” frequently focuses on life just before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as its aftermath (no, not end), not only how all parts of life have been affected, but how the loneliness, hurt, longing, fun and need for others, while worsened during the pandemic, existed beforehand, continue and will always be there. Borges’ music includes punk and power pop to basic rock and roll, country, blues, Americana and pop.

     She and the musicians (producer, guitarist and occasional co-songwriter Eric “Roscoe” Ambel stands out) start flexing their muscles from the start on “Wasting My Time,” bluesy Americana rock basically describing life during the new wartime, COVID-19, fighting through the loss, loneliness and death. Just living and even making mistakes are worth it and Borges’ choices. The driving rock of “Lucky Day” follows, on which Borges seemingly hopes a relationship will get better while pretty much knowing it won’t, like one’s chances playing the lottery. “Wouldn’t You Know,” chugging blues and rock, comes to the realization that she never really got to know this guy despite them having fun.

     Despite the seriousness of most of the songs Borges maintains her sense and need for fun on the rocking “You Got Me on the Boat,” the story of she and her band’s great experience on the xM Satellite Radio Outlaw Country Cruise #5, the last thing they did before COVID-19 changed the world. “She’s a Trucker” describes the jobs Borges took to get by during the pandemic, way more than just as a musician, again with Ambel leading the band through some driving rock.

     Borges and company leave the title song to the end, a thoughtful, jangly tune recalling life before and during the pandemic. Trying to stay in contact with lovers and friends will always be different and vital; nothing is the same any more, broken hearts, death, separation and loneliness all have more causes and longer lasting pain. Things don’t and won’t get magically better when COVID ends and relationships won’t continue or improve because people realize their faults and mistakes. Borges sounds mournful, slightly hopeful but also uncertain. 

     Not wanting to over categorize things, but this album is really good rock and roll for grownups while still remaining youthful at times. Here’s to hoping Borges and band will stop in Buffalo soon supporting “Together Alone,” because it’s been way too long since I last caught them live. Borges can be contacted at Blue Corn Music, at www.sarahborges.com and on Facebook and Twitter.

Ray Wylie Hubbard - Co-Starring Too

    Musical collaborations can be dicey; just because two artists admire each other’s work or till similar fields, doesn’t mean working together will produce a good song. The prospect of an album full of collaborations runs a gauntlet, and a second such album almost invites them. So, it is very good fortune that Ray Wylie Hubbard’s new recording, “Co-Starring Too,” on Big Machine Records, is a really good album.

     The 11 songs avoid the pitfall of sounding disjointed; you can’t tell at times that these are 11 different collaborations. It sounds like the songs were conceived to be on an album that just happens to have different musicians on most songs. It doesn’t hurt that Hubbard lends his gravelly, swampy vocals and sound to some fine musicians, starting off with “Stone Blind Horses,” sharing lead vocals with Willie Nelson on a stately, slightly battered country flavored song where they acknowledge approaching the end of their earthly existence and hope they’ve touched the lives of people well and maybe been appreciated along the way. There’s some nice accordion and Lloyd Maines plays his usual excellent steel guitar.

     Hubbard and friends kick up some serious dust on several songs (possible credit to his son and excellent guitarist, Lucas Hubbard, part of his father’s touring band. who appears on several songs). “Only a Fool” is a great, rough rocking tune where Hubbard and the Bluebonnets strongly assert that one would disrespect women at their serious peril, with angry guitar supplied by Eve Monsees and/or Kathy Valentine (yes, that Kathy Valentine). “Naturally Wild,” featuring Lzzy Hale of Halestorm on vocals and guitar and John 5 (currently with Rob Zombie, formerly with David Lee Roth, Marilyn Manson and k.d. lang) on guitar, warns the listener not to expect them to calm down or ease up. “Texas Wild Boys” has some fuzzy guitar illustrating hard living but decent people who aren’t like the police, politicians or corporate crooks, with a tough solo by (apparently) Tom Lukovac.

     On the swampier, more soulful side, “Groove” is a slinky, funky song about where the groove started, crediting many places and influences but certainly leaving the listener to think soul, funk, blues, gospel, rock and other styles combined in various ways. Kevin Russell and the Shiny Soul Sisters add great gospel vocals. On the country rocker “Hellbent for Leather,” Hubbard and Steve Earle sing of returning to Oklahoma from Los Angeles, having had enough of the bright lights. “Pretty Reckless” is a humorous story of ending up on a night out in Austin with someone as crazy and, well, reckless as yourself. Wynonna Judd duets with Hubbard while Charlie Sexton and Gurf Morlix (the former Buffalonian who also played bass in Hubbard’s band for a 2022 Austin City Limits performance and previously produced Hubbard) provided smokey, bluesy guitars and bass.

     The only complaint I have is that the credits are really hard to decipher. While the insert prints the song titles, singers, writers and lyrics, the musicians aren’t listed there but are found on the packaging under where the CD goes, in small print that goes line by line without arranging them song by song. I hope I didn’t mess up any credits in this. article.

     Hubbard can be contacted at Wylieworld Music, PO Box 2706, Wimberley, TX 78676, at www.raywylie.com, and Hubbard occasionally graces Twitter and Facebook with his comments. Big Machine Records can be found online at www.bigmachinelabelgroup.com.

Music Is Art Festival: Just as the Name States

My lovely wife Val at her photography booth ay MIA

     The 20th annual Music Is Art Festival, the brainchild of Goo Goo Dolls bassist Robby Takac and company, was another great time and success at Riverworks September 10. I don’t want to write, and I doubt most people want to read, a straight narrative of the 13 or so hours my lovely wife Val and I were there manning the Val Dunne Photography booth, watching bands and so on, or the two-plus hours setting up the day before, so I’ll try to illustrate my highlights and one or two hopefully interesting takes/observations.

Soul Butchers Allan Uthman and Justin Rowland

     Let’s start with the band I’ve been wanting to catch live the most for a year or so, the Soul Butchers, who I did witness this day; simply amazing. The band delivered an intense, thundering set of punk rock and hard rock led by the scorching guitar of Allan Uthman and the insanely powerful vocals of Justin Rowland. Despite having to perform on the Ganson Silo back stage, possibly the hardest to find or most remote stage to get to, the band attracted a crowd and more than made it worth our effort. Using his voice on its own and with a megaphone on occasion, Rowland’s singing makes you feel like the guy in the chair of the classic Maxell cassette tape commercial.

     Tension/Wicked Tension also performed a memorably strong, aggressive set as the band celebrates its 40th year (I still have my four-song 45 featuring “Recruits,” and Tension was one of the first bands I professionally interviewed more than a few years ago) as Buffalo’s best hardcore punk band. Vocalist Tymn Tension, original drummer Tony Ferro, guitarist Troy Messio and bassist Mark Giuliano were energetic and solid, and Tymn’s dark but accurate sense of humor always adds some fun. The Enemies also sounded pretty good and provided an interesting moment. During part of their set, Terry Sullivan (vocalist for the Jumpers, the Restless, Terry and the Headhunters and many more) came over and said hello. As we spoke, the Enemies started playing “I Wanna Know,” a song Sullivan sang with the Restless on its only Mercury Records album. Sullivan laughed, smiled and said, “wow, this is just surreal for the both of us.” “Really for you though,” I replied, and he said back, “no, really, for both of us.” It had struck me that way, but seemed much more for Sullivan. He then went to the front of the stage to wave to guitarist Guy Pelino who also played with the Restless for a time.

The Clockers may have played to their first sit-down audience.

      For me, the strangest and somewhat funniest part of the day involved one of the hockey rinks Val’s booth was located between. In recent years, the rinks have hosted youth karaoke and talent contests for bands and individuals from young kids through high schoolers. This year, the rink nearest the front of the property hosted the youth battle of the bands, which featured some seriously good talent. But this year, at about 4-5 PM, a halfpipe was set up and punk bands played from the stage of one rink, a pretty good idea. But when I looked in during the Clockers’ set, much of the crowd was sitting in the two metal bleachers set up in front of the stage and I could not see any moshing. I suppose as a 61-year-old heart attack and massive open heart surgery survivor, I somewhat understand, but it was still funny.

     I walked in and out of several performers on the main GCR stage inside, mostly while on my way to elsewhere but to at least catch a bit of music. Tom Stahl and the Dangerfields sounded in good form and like they were having fun; not sure Stahl has ever performed a down show. Peelander Z, a flashy punk, “comics” and whatever they throw in the mix band from Japan, received an amazingly enthusiastic response from the crowd for what seemed to be formulaic, upbeat cutesy punk. The Pillagers wiped off

Tom Stahl & the Dangerfields

about a decade or so of dust to play an enjoyable rocking set. I also caught parts of sets by several bands and performers I had no wish to find out their names or subject myself to much of their music; they shall remain anonymous.

     There was much enjoyable work from artists on display; certainly, I am lucky to be married to my favorite photographer, Valerie Dunne, and spent much of the day helping at her Val Dunne Photography booth. We has Jess Pfohl create a painting of Rick James across the hallway from us, and Chris Main also created a cool painting outside near the water. There were many other artists not only displaying their work but creating on site.

Jess Pfohl painting Rick James

     Music Is Art has become an established highlight of Buffalo’s summer, not only as a great outlet and living, breathing site for music and art, but for people to get to see friends they may not have recently been with, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Admission remains free, while parking is difficult and at a premium (and private businesses charging money for the parking, none going to MIA). Takac and his group of committed volunteers deserve a lot of credit for continuing this festival, from its modest beginnings on Franklin Street in Allentown to its time at Delaware Park and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery to the present.

Soul Butchers - Landfall EP

  

    Soul Butchers is a band I’ve been meaning to listen to, live or recorded, pretty much since it came out and had several people who I trust recommend them. But between my writer’s block and COVID-19 hitting, as well as my forgetfulness, I hadn’t until I recently purchased the band’s 2020 6-song EP, Landfall. Well, I deserve a bit of a snack to the head, because it’s really fucking good.

     The sound is a snarling, angry mix of punk, rock, metal and blues led by the soaring, pissed off vocals of Justin Rowland and wailing guitar of Allan Uthman, supported by the rhythm section of bassist Rob Bernette and drummer Joe Peluso. It seems Soul Butchers are a bit of a mystery or secret; the band does not have a web site and its Bandcamp page does not list band members or print any lyrics.

     But it’s no mystery how good the music is from the start; “Crawl” features Uthman going from rough and bluesy to churning punk/metal, while Rowland urgently sings of an apparent power/domination situation he does anything he can to leave. “Have to Die” has a hilarious but ominous singalong chorus after a cool bass and guitar intro that turns into punchy, rough punk, and Rowland sees only one over-the-top way to fix things. After the mid-tempo crunch of “Landfall,” Uthman in particular ups the voltage, with blazing riffs on “Nervous” illustrating Rowland’s apparent frantic attempts to interact with people, and the hammering punk of the almost out of control “Pills,” where Rowland shows the effects of amphetamine abuse, eventually losing control. “Trail of Blood” ends the EP with a heavy metallic guitar riff and Rowland trying to get out from under a person, government or system that bring out violent tendencies in him and other people. Sadly, he sees no way out and no fewer victims.

     The one issue I have with some of the EP is that the vocals occasionally get a bit buried by the music, which may not be too bad to some with Uthman’s supercharged playing, and I should admit that I have been diagnosed with a bit of high frequency hearing loss (40 or so years planted much too close to speakers will do this to a person). Soul Butchers can be found on Bandcamp, Facebook and Instagram.

The Return of the Prodigal Reviewer Son

 

No column logo, so a new Mask-R-Aid music notation selfie will do.

                                                   
     Thank you to those who have recently reached out online or asked me in person if The Hosey Report has returned/started to cover music again. The answer is yes and I am very excited about it.

     This blog had sadly swerved away from music coverage in the last few years, especially following my heart attack and massive open-heart surgery in late 2017. On top of that, suffering from a painful, sometimes almost crippling case of writer’s block for several years didn’t help, and this blog went much too infrequent for my liking. Things picked up in frequency for an unfortunate reason, as the COVD pandemic hit and I addressed nothing but that issue for about two years. In that time, I did start taking photography much more seriously, and am heartened by my progress as a photographer, being able to express myself artistically and politically, as well as the generously warm response from you fine people.

     But I need to be sure that I do not forget that I am a writer at heart, in talent, calling, vocation and art and any other way it can be referenced. Having been a newspaper reporter and editor for more than 18 years and a freelance writer for more than 35 years, it gets in your blood, just like the ink we used to print with not so long ago. Slowly, the urge to write about music returned, and a few bands and musicians (Monkey Wrench in particular) reached out to me about writing about new musical releases, etc., and I started buying some music, at Bandcamp and elsewhere, with much of it making me want to write about it.

     It has also led me to look for some interesting, off the beaten path type photo mini-essays, such as the one I published on the guitarist playing serious metal favorites outside Starbucks on Delaware Avenue in the middle of a workday. I’m finding some really good music, my lovely wife and by far the better photographer in our marriage Val Dunne and I are going to more shows and I feel an enthusiasm for all of this I haven’t felt in years. Most of my new reviews have been either CDs or digital recordings, and those will continue, and I will also review the occasional live show and conduct a couple of interviews.

     It’s good to be back, and performers wishing to contact me can email me at kjhosey@roadrunner.com or comment here; email me for my mailing address if needed.

Brandon Delmont: Soul of a Delmont

 

       Brandon Delmont may be best known as the talented drummer for girlpope, but the composer and multi-instrumentalist has been more than busy since that band ended its career. He has and/or still performs and writes for bands including the Lindbergh Babies, A House Safe for Tigers, Odiorne and the underrated A Son of the Sun.

     This year, he released a new 7-song recording, “Soul of a Delmont,” for NocturnalSol, and it is simply wonderful. Melding jazz, pop, soul, funk and rock. the all-instrumental recording allows Delmont to stretch out and work with some fine musicians, while apparently playing much of the music, from drums to other instruments. “It’s McLemore” starts things with horns, guitar and organ leading a smooth but soulful song with some swing and 1970s feel, and adds a real cool organ solo from Janes “Jamie” Burgess, who supplies most of the trumpet and trombone here. “”Way of War” is a bit more mellow, with the horns swelling to a stronger trumpet lead and more funky rhythm guitar.

     My two favorite songs come in the middle of the recording: “926” is basic, majestic jazz and soul with some bluesy heat and slower tempo, while “Sort of Blue” sounds a bit like a tribute to Miles Davis’ classic “Kind of Blue,” with moody lead trumpet and a smokey backing band. Elsewhere, “Now and Ben” blends 60s pop, rock and soul while swinging organ and trumpet both take leads and Joey Tosto plays a sweet guitar solo; “Ready, Set, Go!” Is another slice of pop and soul, and “Casi En Casa” is regal jazz, soul and pop well mixed.

     Brandon Delmont and NocturnalSun can be found on Bandcamp, Delmont also on Apple Music and both he and several of his bands can be found on Facebook and other social media.

The Greg and Jim (and Cathy and Jim) Band at Duende

 

   In some ways, Thursday, August 11, 2022, could be called a virtually perfect day. The weather was a wonderful sunny 75-78 degrees, there was a bit of a breeze and the Greg and Jim Band performed two sets of original roots rock, Americana and country and western to a large, appreciative crowd at Duende at Silo City.

     The pretty much all-star band of Greg Klyma on guitar and vocals, Jim Whitford on bass and vocals, Cathy Carfagna on keyboard, accordion and vocals and Jim Celeste on drums and vocals performed songs from Klyma’s various solo recordings and from Whitford’s songbook from the Pine Dogs and solo work. Whitford has played on several of Klyma’s recordings and Klyma was a member of the Red Liners, basically the last invocation of the Pine Dogs; Celeste is the original/sole Pine Dogs drummer and Carfagna and Whitford have performed together in several bands and setups.

     The band performed some great Pine Dog tunes including “Everybody Looks So Down,” “Whiskey Voice,” “Moving Pictures” and “Good Luck, Money and Gasoline,” as well as Whitford’s solo songs “Mr. Money Man” and “Crash All Night.” Among the notable Klyma songs were “Still No Silver Linin’,” “Jane,” “Kristofferson” and “Davidson County Beauty Queen.” Throughout the two sets, the musicians played well off each other, with no one trying to steal or overstay their welcomes in the limelight, a testament to both the quality of musicianship onstage plus the experience both in general and playing together live and in the studio. Solos were never too long, no preening was on display and the musicians showed honest appreciation of each other’s talents, occasionally injecting some humor. The audience enjoyed the band, danced along and even sang at times, and Duende’s laid back setting and atmosphere/vibe gave the show and evening a fine groove. (Also, not paying $100 or more for tickets and no charge for parking helped.)

     Finally, if you haven’t caught these musicians either solo or with their respective bands, do yourself a favor and do so, and the same for anyone who hasn’t had the chance to catch a show at Duende. Besides a rather extensive beer/wine list, they have a pretty decent appetizer, sandwich and dinner menu.