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Review: Warped grows up? Nah

LAS CRUCES — At 14 years and running, the Vans Warped tour has been around almost as long as its core audience has been alive. But it has remained true to its roots as a celebration of the underground and just-above-ground music that appeals largely to the high school and college crowd, mostly high school.

This year's edition returned to its regional home of six years, the intramural field at New Mexico State University, where attendance was down (about 9,300 showed up, a drop of more than 1,000 from last year), temps were up as usual (the high hit a tolerable 99 degrees) and the diversity of the expansive post-punk world never more plentiful.

The Cruces date, the fifth stop on the 46-city tour, featured more than 70 acts on eight stages, plus a few tents. They ranged from big names like Christian metal's Norma Jean and Tom Hoppe's trippy post-Blink-182 band, Angels and Airwaves, to perennials like Pennywise, that cleave to punk's anti-establishment aesthetic and newcomers like the Lordz, who weave punk, old-school rap and even Southern rock with attitude.

And there was a slew of poppy acts, including new pop provocateur Katy Perry, the "I Kissed a Girl" girl who has the No. 1 song in the country and the ninth best-selling album in the land. Very unpunk.

That's how punk Warped still is. Expect the expected and the unexpected.

Toss in a little social activism and eco awareness (the Lordz DJ hung a t-shirt that ordered "passion before fashion" on his turntables), a lot of merchandising, plenty of cold water and Powerade (at $2 a bottle) and not enough shade and you've got a sense of what it was like Thursday.

It's impossible to see every band on every stage of the daylong bacchanal of mirth, music, marketing and Mother Earth, but organizers do try to make it almost possible. They do a nice job of running on time, limiting performances to 30 minutes, synchronizing the set times and posting them on a big board near the two main stages.

I dropped in for about 3.5 hours in the afternoon (the hottest time, natch) and caught all or parts of a dozen acts. Standouts included Against Me!, the Florida foursome that made the most of its half-hour on the Highway 1 stage. Singer-guitarist Tom Gabel and crew pounded out eight songs in the kind of torrid, emphatic fashion one would expect from a band that brings a Clash-like sophistication and conviction to its songs about social ills and calls to action.

Norma Jean and Story of the Year throttled two of the bigger crowds; NJ on the Route 66 stage, SOTY on the Highway 1. The sheer intensity was more impressive than any particular song, and Norma Jean singer/shouter Cory Brandan scored the funniest line of the day when he described forthcoming album "The Anti Mother" as so angry "it'll make you want to punch a baby."

There was none of that going on, but Brooklyn's the Lordz delivered an inspired mix of old-school hip-hop and arena rock on the Hurley stage, where, in a sure sign of the heat, more people watched from a pair of tents about across the field instead of in front of the stage.

Hip-hop's Gym Class Heroes played the Route 66 stage and drew the biggest crowd during the time I was there, but their radio-friendly rhymes weren't particularly good or original. Kudos, though, to their call for a moment of silence for the late, great George Carlin.

I also caught parts of sets by the Briggs (rousing), Good Guys in Black (energized mix of punk and rap), Between the Trees (cloying teen pop), Shapes of Race Cars (dull), 1997 (great vocals, good youthful energy), Treaty of Paris (so-so) and Say Anything (who said a lot).

Is Warped getting too old? Nah. It's just growing up a little, but not too much. Otherwise it wouldn't be Warped anymore.

Review: Sleepercar rolls into packed State Line gig

UPDATE: To watch video highlights from Sleepercar's performance in El Paso, click here.

     For a new band that's only been touring together for a couple of months playing half-hour sets opening for other artists, the thought of a two-hour show in your hometown can be a bit, well, daunting. Just ask the homebred hombres in Sleepercar, who concluded their first round of touring Wednesday with a free show that was supposed to clock in at 120 minutes.

     The appreciative hometown throng — about 400 people packed to overflowing, like one of those brisket plates, in the State Line courtyard — didn't seem to mind, even if frontman Jim Ward was apologetic.

    "I don't think there's anyway. We've only got one record," he said of the task before concluding the 19-song, 110-minute set with a locomotive version of "Stumble In," the chiming rocker that closed the show much like it does "West Texas," the band's sleeper of a solid album that was released two months ago.

    It was a triumphant return for a group that, as Ward noted, "only played to a handful of people in this town" in the past, dating back to their stage debut in 2005. He introduced his father, who played bass on the "West Texas" album, and praised the contributions of guitarist and pedal steel player Chris Heinrich, who couldn't make the tour with the muscular five-piece that's only beginning to realize its potential as a live band.

    Squeezing most of the 11 songs from that gem of a new album into two hours was problematic for sure, thus the serviceable covers of Bob Dylan's country-rock classic "Lay Lady Lay" and the Fllying Burrito Brothers' "Older Guys," sort of an homage to the long musical train that links country, rock, folk and blues to contemporary Americana artists like Sleepercar. There was also a song by Canada's Attack the Black (one of Ward's favorites) and a handful of selections from his now out-of-print 2007 solo CD "Quiet."

    Unfortunately, the softer acoustic section of the show stretched on a little too long, exposed some of Ward's vocal limitations and, frankly, had to compete with the din of some in the SRO crowd who apparently were there more for the socialization than absorbing some pretty refreshing music made by a quintet of their own.

    At one point, during "Mystery Talks," he told the chatterboxes in the back that "the damn conversation can wait two f------ minutes," before finishing the song with a soulful wail.

    Sleepercar hasn't had a chance to stretch out its muscles like that in concert before, so the turn to an acoustic section made some sense, but maybe doing so wasn't such a good idea in a beer garden that had the look and feel of an Austin outdoor club setting without as much of the reverent concentration music fans there tend to pay.

    The awkward moment maybe could have been avoided had Ward and company cut a couple of the obscure acoustic  numbers in favor of longer, more improvised versions of the "West Texas" songs. There are such wonderful, delicately melodic songs on the CD, which is more comfortable sounding and more consistent than Ward's Sparta output. The band, particulary guitarist Gabe Gonzalez , sounded like it was ready to cut loose at any moment if it got the signal.

    Songs like the urgent "Sound the Alarm," with its chugging rhythms and confessional message about Ward's spiritual bottoming out, begged for a lengthier exploration (but got a great response without it). Others, like "Heavy Weights," sound more like uncompleted sketches (with some sluggish wording to boot) that could evolve into something better in the hands of the subtly talented band.

    Some, like "Kings & Compromises," are so smartly written and creatively arranged, right down to the tight four-part harmonies, that they don't need to be buffed and shined.

    It would be one thing if Sleepercar had more experience playing a long show like Wednesday's State Line homecoming, but they haven't and it's uncertain if they ever will again. The group's existence has pretty much progressed one track at a time and future solo and Sparta projects loom on the horizon.
 
  But I know this. Jim Ward has never sounded better as a singer, writer, guitarist and arranger than he has with Sleepercar. Here's hoping he'll keep it on the tracks beyond next month's tour with the Old 97's. I wanna hear how some of these songs grow up. They deserve it.

Concert news: Judas Priest, Jonathan Butler, No Age

It's official. Judas Priest (with Rob Halford) headlines the Coliseum at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 26.

Motorhead and Testament will open (Black Sab spinoff Heaven and Hell is not on the bill).

Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. July 12 at the box and Ticketmaster, ticketmaster.com, 544-8444.

GA floor seats are $39.50; reserved seats are $34.50 and $39.50.

In other concert news:

• Smooth jazz guitarist Jonathon Butler and gospel's J. Moss team up for a 7 p.m. Sept. 20 show at the Chavez Theatre. Tickets range from $15-$75 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Ticketmasters.

• Promoter Kris Johnson of Riot Concerts has booked Sub Pop art noise rockers No Age for an all-ages show at 6 p.m. Sunday (June 29) at Club 101. The L.A. band will be joined by fellow Angelenos Abe Vigoda and Infinite Body as well as EP-area groups Buckeye, By Tomorrow, School of Tropical Medicine and Eufonico Fringe.

Tickets are $10, on sale at the door day of show.

The duo — drummer/singer Dean Spunt and guitarist Randy Randall — will debut the video for "Eraser," from first Sub Pop album, "Nouns," on Friday (June 27) on MTV's summer show "FNMTV," hosted by Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz, at 6 p.m. our time (it repeats several times on the network and MTV2).

EP's Demi the Daredevil gets Warped

El Paso prog-rock quartet Demi the Daredevil won enough votes in the online Ernie Ball Music Man Battle of the Bands contest to earn a slot on this year's Vans Warped Tour stop Thursday at NMSU in Las Cruces.

They are the only El Paso band to win one of the four coveted slots on the Ernie Ball stage, according to singer-guitarist Marc Martell, something that took the group by surprise, especially since they entered the competition relatively late.

"We thought it was a lost cause," Martell said.

"When we got the confirmation e-mail," he added, "we were stoked."

The core group — singer-guitarist-keyboardist Jovan Ortiz, drummer Jeff Azar and Martell — are Eastwood High School grads who started the band four years ago. They moved to College Station, TX, last year when Azar attended school there, picking up bassist Brandon Reed in the process.

The group, whose influences range from 311 to Muse, moved back to El Paso a little over a month ago and registered for the competition at the urging of Martell's sister.

"We thought it was too late," Martell said, but they beat the June 1 deadline.

Apparently not.

Fans vote online for the bands they want to see in each market, with the winners selected from the top 20 vote-getters.

"We got into it with the help of everybody we know, who voted for us everyday," Martell said.

The band will get 20-30 minutes of stage time Thursday (band times aren't announced until the day of the show). They'll be sharing a stage with national acts such as Charlotte Sometimes and Lordz.

If they win the local band competition there — they're up against bands from Phoenix and Albuquerque — Martell said they would qualify for the guitar string maker's national competition in Hollywood in November.

"It's a good feeling to know we're progressing slowly," Martell said, "and people heard it and voted and they liked it."

Check 'em out at myspace.com/demithedaredevilrocks.

George Carlin, RIP

I'm not sure if George Carlin is in heaven or hell. The cerebral comic, who died Sunday of heart failure at age 71, had a long history of heart problems, including three heart attacks.

He often said he didn't believe in heaven or hell, nor did he believe in a god.

He talked about that a lot on May 17 when he brought his newest, and it turns out last show, "It's Bad For Ya," to the Plaza Theatre. It was a nice return to form after his previous show, which was too dark and cynical for its own good.

You might remember that a few people at that last Plaza show shouted a choice phrase, which began with the letter "f" and ended in you, after he did a bit questioning empty slogans like "God Bless America." Why God would favor our country over another, he wondered. What really riled them was his remark about "military cemeteries packed with delusional soldiers who believed God was on our side," a comment that has a certain negative resonance in a military town with a national cemetery (in which my dad and oldest brother are buried).

You didn't have to agree with George Carlin to appreciate him. I don't think he ever demanded or even expected that. What he did want you to do was question your accepted notions of things. Question authority. Question conventional thinking. Question anything that doesn't make sense.

Carlin often saw things from a different point of view than most of us did, but the beauty of his comedy is he got us to think about the things he said, whether we liked it or not. For most of my life, I liked it. He questioned why you couldn't say certain words on TV, and he questioned the existence of the very deity to whom the majority of people in this country worship.

He proved clairvoyant on the dirty words. You still can't say them on network TV, but you can say them on cable, the medium that embraced him and revived his career in the late 1970s, a time when Carlin's status as a counterculture hero and recording artist was on the precipice.

"I grew with that industry and that comedy," he told me last May in what might have been one of his last interviews. It was a growth of necessity and art, since Carlin was deep in debt to the IRS and had to tour to pay off the $3 million hole he was in. The HBO shows — 14 in 31 years — challenged him to keep it fresh, dig deeper into his reactions to the world around him and come up with more than an hour's worth of new material that reflected those ruminations.

Carlin talked about his 52nd year in a business in which the native New Yorker started out as a DJ in Louisiana, became a button-down comic in the '60s and tossed it all aside by the '70 to grow his hair, grow his beard and grow the kind of contrarian comedy that became his stock in trade for the rest of his life, a life that ended a little too soon if you ask me.

"The original plan was to be a disc jockey, a comedian and then an actor," he explained, "and along the way I stopped off at the comedian level and found out that I was better at it than I thought and that I wasn't very good at acting. I found that out right away, so that was able to let me reshape my dream."

Carlin's last birthday was May 12. He said in his El Paso Times interview that he felt well. "I'm 71. I'm still OK," he said. "I've had significant heart disease for 30 years, but the rest of my health is relatively excellent. I have had very few complaints."

Well, not about his health, anyway. Carlin complained about a lot of other things, but only because he wanted a world where there was less greed, less selfishness, less stupidity and a place with fewer contradictions, like jumbo shrimp.

Thank God, god or who or whatever that he'll live on via HBO and YouTube.

RIP, George, wherever you are.

Editor's note: To hear excerpts from Doug Pullen's interview in May with George Carlin, click here.

Review: Tom Waits keys up at the Plaza

A cop on stage. A key to the city from a hot-looking councilwoman in a black dress. A startled singer in a bowler hat at a piano.

Just another night at The Tap?

Nope. It's just another installment of the theater of the macabre — and tongue-in-cheek — that is Tom Waits' just-launched "Glitter and Doom" tour.

Friday's all-but-sold-out show at the Plaza Theatre, the third show but second stop of the 12-city tour, probably was unlike anything ever seen in the historic, atmospheric movie palace, before and after its 2006 restoration.

The bit of faux civic boosterism, a ruse orchestrated by the singer himself, only added to the unusual nature of a show that drew fans from as far away as England and Germany.

Here's what happened: a dozen songs into the show, the lame'-suited Waits moved from his instrument-festooned platform center stage — where he had stomped, howled, pointed, strutted, posed and kicked up white dust — to a black mini-grand stage left. El Paso police officer Frank Perez nervously ambled onstage, prompting the soulman shaman to turn comedian, uttering alibis like "I paid all those tickets" and "She was dead when I got there."

Officer Perez was really there to announce a special presentation from El Paso City Councilwoman Susie Byrd (whose hubbie is a big Waits fan), who handed the guest of honor a plaque-mounted key to the city. The crowd, which didn't know what to make of it all, erupted.

"This is a first for me, a real first," he noted with a straight face.

"Apparently this fits every lock in El Paso," Waits added. "If you find me in your living room in my underwear, we have an understanding."

No one need worry about that. The 58-year-old bears his soul in song, each installment of his considerable catalog projecting like a little movie in which he and his surprisingly supple growl — with its Louis Armstrong grit, Howlin' Wolf rasp and junkyard dog moan — plays the main character.

Colorful characters they are, with hopeless romantics, like the forlorn narrator who longs to return in the Irish pub lament "Lucky Day," scattered among the soulless leches, like William the Pleaser, the Texas dope dealer who hangs for snuffing out the woman of his opium dreams in "Lucinda," which opened the 110-minute performance.

This fascination Waits has with that blurry line that separates us from doing what's right and what's wrong long has been fodder for his work. His devotion to pre-Elvis American music idioms runs just as deep and just as plentiful, Friday's performance playing out like some twisted journey through a house of broken mirrors that reveal the ugly truths of man's most primal instincts, and the ragged beauty of the species' most tender, vulnerable moments.

Friday's concert was part performance art, part roadhouse blues revival, all good.

The 20-song set varied greatly from the first two shows in Phoenix, avoiding stuff from his '70s boho days to focus on his work from the last two decades. One of the biggest surprises for Waits aficionados, aside from the key, had to be the inclusion of several overlooked gems from "Night on Earth," "Black Rider" and "Alice" soundtracks, including the lovely, Spanish-flavored lament "The Other Side of the World" (from Jim Jarmusch's "Night on Earth") and omenous "Lost in the Harbour" (from the play "Alice").

Waits uses that unusual, but expressive voice (he seemed to be battling a throat problem, drinking a lot of fluids, but who can tell) and those studied stage mannerisms to great theatrical effect, whether he's conveying the straight melancholy of the soulful "Falling Down," exploring the notion of home and spiritual homelessness on the broke-down ballad "Fannin Street," dredging up the sinister gospel of "Chocolate Jesus" (sung on a bullhorn) or coughing out the phlegmatic tango of "Hoist That Rag," a highlight that featured the pointed guitar work of new find Omar Torrez (Waits' younger son Sullivan joined in on congas).

He was backed as usual by a restrained yet resourceful ensemble that included Vincent Henry, who came out of retirement to add tenor honks and haunting harmonica, Patrick Warren, who subtly added layers of keyboards, late-addition Sean Ford-Young's tasteful upright bass applications (he's subbing for longtime sideman Larry Taylor, who had a personal matter to attend to) and Waits' older son Casey, who looked and sounded far more comfortable than he did on his father's last tour in 2006, especially on a forceful version of "Goin' Out West" near the end of the show.

Torrez is another in a tradition of superlative guitarists to join Waits' band. His fluid fingerwork elevated "Make It Rain" and "Hoist That Rag," while his cigar box banjo was a nice touch on "Trampled Rose" (covered by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss on the exquisite "Raising Sand" CD) and his Spanish inflections added a touch of spice to "The Other Side of the World."

The performance was out of this world; the kind of thing you'd like to see more of around here, key or no key.

Setlist
1. Lucinda
2. Way Down in the Hole
3. Falling Down
4. Chocolate Jesus
5. Singapore
6. Fannin Street
7. Get Behind the Mule
8. Trampled Rose
9. Metropolitan Glide
10. The Other Side of the World
11. God's Away on Business
12. Hoist That Rag
(key to the city; Tom at piano)
13. Lucky Day
14. House Where Nobody Lives
15. Lost in the Harbour
(end piano section)
16. Lie to Me
17. Goin' Out West
18. Jesus Gonna Be Here (band intros)
(encore)
19. Make it Rain
20. Dirt in the Ground

Tom Waits set list

It's late and I'm banging away on my review of Tom Waits' Friday show at the Plaza, his first ever in El Paso, during which he was "honored" (it was a ruse) with a key to the city, presented by none other than city councilwoman and mayor pro-tem Susie Byrd, who said she didn't know until today exactly what she'd be doing.

More on that in the review I'm working on.

The band lineup was slightly different than originally announced since Waits' longtime bassist Larry Taylor had to tend personal business. He was replaced by acoustic jazz bassist Sean Ford-Young. The rest of the band: Omar Torrez on guitar, Patrick Warren on keys, Vincent Henry on horns and Casey Waits (Tom's son) on drums.

In the meantime, here's the setlist, which is radically different from the first two shows in Phoenix June 17-18 and included several obscurites from '90s theater and movie soundtracks he worked on. I've listed the album or project from which each song came in parentheses after the song's title.

1. Lucinda (Orphans)
2. Way Down in the Hole (Franks Wild Years)
3. Falling Down (Big Time)
4. Chocolate Jesus (Mule Variations)
5. Singapore (Rain Dogs), tour debut
6. Fannin Street (Orphans), tour debut
7. Get Behind the Mule (Mule Variations)
8. Trampled Rose (Real Gone)
9. Metropolitan Glide (Real Gone)
10. The Other Side of the World (Night on Earth soundtrack), tour debut
11. God's Away on Busines (Blood Money version)
12. Hoist That Rag (Real Gone), with Sullivan Waits on congas
key to the city
piano section
13. Lucky Day (Black Rider soundtrack), tour debut
14. House Where Nobody Lives (Mule Variations), tour debut
15. Lost in the Harbour (Alice soundtrack)
band return
16. Lie to Me (Orphans)
17. Goin' Out West (Bone Machine)
18. Jesus Gonna Be Here w/band intros (Bone Machine)
encore
19. Make it Rain (Real Gone)
20. Dirt in the Ground

Underwood elects new NMSU date

Just got this a few hours ago: Pan Am Center's Bobbie Welch says the date of their Carrie Underwood concert has moved from the previously announced Nov. 6 to Nov. 4, which happens to be the date of this year's presidential election between Barack Obama and John McCain.

No matter, I've got to believe her fans, especially the non-voting age ones, will elect to see the show anyway.

No ticket info yet and I haven't seen anything from her publicist, on her web site or Pollstar indicating the new date — yet.

Infection sinks Great White singer

Great White has canceled its Saturday show at Wet 'N' Wild Waterworld after singer Jack Russell was hospitalized with an illness believed to be the MRSA staph virus.

"He was in critical condition, but today he's down to serious. He's talking. That's a good thing," Obi Steinman, the band's manager said Friday. "His face was swollen like a grapefruit. His lips were swollen shut."

Steinman said doctors haven't made an official ruling on what struck the singer, but it's believed that a staph infection known as MRSA may be the culprit.

"I talked to him this morning," added keyboardist Michael Lardie. "He's on the mend. He's hoping to be out of the hospital on Monday or Tuesday of next week."

He said the band hopes to reschedule its El Paso concert. An Albuquerque show scheduled for Friday is being reset for September, he added.

"We will definitely be back through," Lardie said.

The news comes on the heels of an earlier announcement that Cinderella was forced to cancel its summer tour, including a July 7 show at the Coliseum, after singer Tom Keifer suffered a vocal cord injury.

"It was very bad for us yesterday, between Cinderella and Tom and Jack Russell," Steinman said.

The Wet 'N' Wild show will go on, according to Premiere-e promoter Carlos Flores.

Dokken will playing a longer set, with El Paso's Ulysses opening the 7:30 p.m. show, Flores said.

A partial refund of $6 will be given, he said, but only at the box office on the night of the show.

Details: 575.882.0706.

Jim Ward talks Sleepercar, Sparta on Billboard.com

Jim Ward told my buddy Gary Graff of Billboard.com that he's "not in a big rush" to make any decisions about the fate of either band.

Sleepercar, the El Paso rocker's Americana band, is currently on tour through July, including a June 25 stop at the State Line as part of its Wednesday night music series.

He told Gary/Billboard that he hopes to add more dates to Sleepercar's itinerary and isn't sure what will become of Sparta, his post-At the Drive-In band that's been inactive since touring in support of its 2006 album "Threes" last year.

Here's a sample quote from the Billboard.com interview: "One of the gut reactions I have now is to not plan too far ahead. The last 10 years of my life have been very much part of a collective and planned out. Being part of a group gets old sometimes, and you need a break from it. You've got to remember you're an individual and can do what you want to sometimes."