To see more show pix click on photo above

Yeah it’s already been well noted that this weekend was quite the crowded weekend for shows.  Never in Augusta’s recent musical musical history have the weekends been so stacked.    I had already experienced it Friday, now I had to make yet another decision for Saturday.  This time I would base my decision on two things – seeing a band I had yet to see but heard many great things about, and coming out to support friends in another band.

Now it would be easy to just to just say that I was swayed by the ton of MySpace flyers that my COL co-host Brian “Stak” Allen had sent me promoting a show his band Joe Graves & the Dirty Left Hand would be playing with hot up and coming bands Dem Imonde and My Instant Lunchbut to be completely honest, bands send me a ton of these things for every show and they have rarely prompted me to decide one way or the other whther to attend a show.   This time it truly was about showing support and catching someone new and (hopefully) exciting.

After arriving at Sky City I found that quite a few of my friends and neighbors had come to the same decision for similar reasons which is is cool because it’s always more fun to catch a show when your buds are also hanging out.  (much love to the peeps!)  Now all that was needed was some live action!

Kicking things off in rockin fashion, all-female trio Dem Imonde tore into a great version of indie classic Song 2by the band Blur and I will have to say that right off the bat I was pleasantly surprised by how much better the girls had gotten since I last saw them at Sector 7G.   While the girls swapped intruments on several occassions, which is normal fare for a Dem Imondeperformance,  it seems that they are their strongest live when lined up as they were the first few songs of their Sky City set with Aiden Blair on guitar, Elliott X. Grey XVI on bass, and Ximena Valdis on drums. (Hey I’m not making these names up besides, until you have a name anywhere near as cool you should just hush and keep reading)  Not that the rest of the set wasn’t good, just nowhere near as tight as the first few songs with the above mentioned configuration.  There was one highlight that did come close later in the set-Dem Imonde‘s performance of original tune Senorishina off the band’s second CD “The Era of Wonderful Nonsense. 

For some, Joe Graves & the Dirty Left Handmay be an acquired taste.  For those people I just have to say one thing-you’re F**kin’ nuts!  This band is a punky rock island all their own, the most un-rock & roll looking rock & roll band in Augusta, Georgia which makes them…pretty dang rock & roll if you ask me.  You’ve got one of the most solid drummers in the area in Brian Allen, a no-nonsense raw & rockin’ guitarist ala Furman Fowler, an ultra cool bass chick with the cool name of Tracy Steele, and the almost just as cooly named Joe Graves, with imposing height and black rimmed glasses, on vocals.   It’s sorta like a couple of punk rockers crashed a June Cleaver family picnic and got everybody, including the Beav, drunk.  Songs like Baptized in Beer, 1965, and My Cup is Fullare perfect tunes for tossing back a few PBR’s, sucking down a pack of smokes, and making obcene noises in front of the stage with your friends and just like Dem Imonde, Joe Graves & the Dirty Left Hand only seem to get better with each show, if that was even possible!  My only gripes?  That I didn’t win the CD giveaway and that I don’t have a copy of that new awesome tune that Joe Graves himself wrote for his wife.  Despite having heard it just this one time at Sky City, it has become my favorite Dirty Left Hand tune.

Now I had heard all the hype regarding My Instant Lunch, a relatively new Augusta band with a brand new just released CD.  Well I am here to report that said hype, at least as I have heard it, was all that and a cup of instant noodles.  This Augusta quartet is spot on tight and the harmonies?!?!?!  I can’t even begin to say how sweet those are.  Perhaps even sweeter than those of the harmonies Edison boys we all know and love.  But anyway…My Instant Lunch…the best way I can describe these guys is technically proficient pop.  Kinda like Joe Jackson with a bang with regional faves The Goodies thrown in for good measure.  With topics like outer space exploration one would figure My Instant Lunch may be just a tad nit serious for the average bar room consumer but i found this to be quite the contrary.    But then again I’ve always had a soft spot for chugging beer while listening to clever lyrics about the space shuttle.

So my overall opinion on this show?  Well I paid $5 just like everyone else AND just like everyone else I left feeling that it was money well spent.  Let’s be perfectly honest here-with the economy being the way it is, there’s not much $5 can get you never mind something that will last you three hours!  It’s a bonus when you not only get several hours worth of fun, but it’s kick ass fun at that!  So yeah…great show.  Here’s to many more! (Stoney holds up beer)