On Friday night, Sasquatch and the Sick-A-Billys will play a show at 33 Golden Street in New London, along with NYC trio The Bloodshots. It's been years since the Sick-A-Billys have played here, but Dave "Sasquatch" has performed at 33 several times in the meantime with King Sickabilly and his Full Moon Boys. From what I understand, this Providence psychobilly band recently reunited, and they just finished a two week tour that took them to Virginia and back. They played their first show in 2001, they've done a lot of touring, and they've had a bunch of lineup changes. I'm not sure who is in the band these days, but you can bet it will be a wild show anyway. I've seen this band a bunch of times, and I've definitely seen some crazy things happen onstage. You never know how his shows will turn out, but I can tell you that the best Sickabillys shows are the ones where Sasquatch does more music and less talking. Drunkenness and other antics aside, the music is excellent, and Sasquatch is a really good guitar player as well. Also on the bill are the Bloodshots, a Brooklyn rockabilly trio fronted by Little Lesley, who sings and plays upright bass. She's from upstate New York. Guitarist Brian "Swifty" Swift is from California. He's the son of a preacher, a situation which seems to create a lot of great songwriters. Staten Island native Bobby Lee plays drums. The band has been together about two years, and they have played a lot of shows in that short time period (including at least one show at 33 Golden Street). They have shared stages with legends such as Robert Gordon and the Rockats, and their live show sounds like it's extremely entertaining. This should be a fun night. I always love checking out the fashions and hair at the rockabilly shows too. The show starts at 9 pm and cover is $5.
There are some big shows happening on Saturday night. The Traditions Festival will be taking place at the Hygienic Art Park in New London beginning at 5 pm. Performers will be Hartford indie-folk band Little Ugly, kicking things off at 5:00, followed by Craig Edwards at 6:00. Craig Edwards is the festival's host, and he's also an amazingly accomplished singer and player of many stringed instruments (guitar, banjo, fiddle) and accordion. Craig does a lot of performing with and without his band the Root Farmers, playing zydeco, blues, honky-tonk, and other American roots styles at bars, festivals, dances, and just about anywhere. The Silks, from Providence, are up next at 7:00. I discovered while looking them up that Paul Westerberg produced their album “Last American Band”, which came out in September 2013. This trio plays English-sounding blues rock with lots of slide guitar. Boston folk artist Dan Blakeslee will play next at 8:00, and Joe Fletcher, Ron Gallo, Andrew Combs and the Hang Ten and a Half Band will be the final performers beginning at 9:00.Tickets are $10 and all ages are welcome. Beer, wine, soft drinks, and snacks will be available for purchase. If you didn't already know, there is no smoking allowed in the Art Park.
Also on Saturday night, the Bruce Carpenter Memorial Benefit will be held at the German Club (Frohsinn Hall) in Mystic. Bruce Carpenter was the owner of the Green Marble Coffee House in downtown Mystic, a favorite hangout of many local musicians and artists, and he had a lot of friends in the area. Bruce passed away unexpectedly on June 21, and this benefit was organized as a tribute to the man and as a benefit for his wife Lisa. The bands will be: I Left My Gun In San Francisco (6:30-7:00), Crime (7:10-7:30), We Got Mouths (7:40-8:10), Matt Gouette (8:20-8:50), Debcaster (9:00-9:30), the Feels (9:40-10:10), Anderson Family Picnic (10:20-10:50), Riki Rocksteady (11:00-11:30), and Doll Steak (11:40-12:10). This is an all ages show. Tickets are $5 and all proceeds will go to Lisa Carpenter.