Look forward

By Sam Pfeifle

THE TAXIS: release Autopilot on January 6.

Zootz ees kaput, and it’s hard to find the good guy in that situation. The Stone Coast is no more. I still miss the Fermata Club and the Basement. But it’s all just the nature of the beast that is the club scene. If you’re bummed about Zootz, and you really want to dance all night, maybe the Tunnel up in Lewiston can accommodate you, or the River down in Saco. Something will pop up. And though hippies might have pined for the Basement, the Alehouse seems to be a more than adequate replacement.

As for the Stone Coast, an attempt is being made at a smooth transition of the smoking room scene to the State Theatre. And the all-ages crowd that’s been on the outside looking in for so long ought to at least add some energy to things. It could even be a gold mine, with hip-hop night firmly entrenched on Friday nights starting January 12, and a new trend toward multi-band local bills to help fill the place up the rest of the week. We’ll see.

There’s still no replacement for the Fermata Club, though the Skinny — not yet a year old — has done their part for the all-ages matinees. I imagine the DIY kids like the grange halls, American Legions, and YMCAs better anyway. They’re cleaner, and the bouncers are your friends.

So, with all that behind us, it seems as though winter of 2001 offers us a fresh start. We would be wise to look forward to good things to come, rather than dwell on the disappointments of the past.

No, there isn’t any word on a new Rustic Overtones album yet. I’ve asked, and though “there’s all kinds of stuff going on,” says keyboardist Spencer Albee. “There’s no news.” Just be patient. However, Albee has been working with Jeremiah Freed, who really need a full-length release to cement their presence in town. Between their work with Albee at the Studio and Lance Vardis at Big Sound, you can expect something by mid-spring.

Closer at hand is the much-anticipated, full-length release by the Taxis, Autopilot, on Northeast Indie records. They’re playing a release party this Saturday at the Skinny to celebrate, and they certainly have something to crow about. The Taxis list bands like Less than Jake and Weezer as influences, but what makes them interesting is their attention to the roots of ska, reaching as far back as the Skatalites with their horn arrangements, borrowing from the Toasters with background shouts from the band, and dipping into the Clash with Josh Malia’s nasal delivery over peppy ska chords on “Social Outcast.” Sure, they do some hardcore stuff in the vein of the Pilfers, but they’re a ska band, first and foremost. There’s nothing to be ashamed of there.

Later in the month, Northeast Indie is also spearheading the release of Monsieur Monsoon, the first album from art-rockers Tarpigh. They also play a release show at the Skinny, January 25. Tarpigh’s odyssey has been a strange one, joining Cerberus Shoal to form a larger band — and expanding Shoal’s sound — in 1997, only to take leave now to go back out on their own. “Tarpigh are not as rock as Cerberus Shoal,” explains Northeast Indie head Paul Agnew. “They have a folk, even Middle Eastern influence. I don’t want to say world, but sometimes it sounds like that.” Tarpigh hope to attract Cerberus fans, even though there may not even be a real similarity in their sounds. “You can hear their influences on each other,” says Agnew.

Finishing up with Northeast Indie, Miravie are recording their follow-up at the Studio with Steve Drown, with a tentative release date of late March or early April.

On the jazz front, Invisible Music is keeping busy. They’ve just released Presence, an album clarinetist and jazz-whistler Brad Terry made with the Polish exchange students he’s been hosting. And Invisible co-head Erika Aberg reports that they’re finishing something up right now, but remains tight-lipped about the details.

Even more interesting is Invisible’s new cooperative effort with the Mid-Coast Jazz Society. Aberg is now vice president and doing her best to expand the society’s reach into contemporary jazz, and Southern Maine for that matter. “An influx of younger members has heightened interest in modern jazz [within the society],” says Aberg. “When I looked at the three part mission statement of MCJS, I saw some significant overlap with what I was already doing, plus some new opportunity for audience building and jazz education.”

Their next project is a presentation by Gary Wittner, called “A Tribute to Monk,” January 21 at the New Meadows Inn in West Bath. It will include both a lecture on Thelonious Monk’s life and work, something Wittner has presented at universities both domestic and abroad, as well as a performance of Wittner’s interpretations of Monk’s compositions, with drummer Steve Grover and bassist Chris van Voorst van Beest.

A week later, on the 28th, Mark Kleinhaut will host an MCJS open jam session at the Inn that’s free to anyone who brings an instrument. “It’s a really good room with intimate seating,” says Aberg.

But their efforts don’t stop there. MCJS makes a foray into Portland March 11, hosting saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi at the Center for Cultural Exchange, backed-up by bassist Sam Sherry, Kleinhaut, and Grover. The Boston-based Bergonzi is considered one of the top tenor saxmen playing today, and has received a pair of recording grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. The first of these resulted in Peek a Boo (New Evidence), a collaboration with Japanese trumpeter Tiger Okoshi, German pianist Joachim Kuhn, Swiss drummer Danial Humair, and bassist Dave Santoro, who heads the Jazz Department at the Hartford Cameratta Conservatory.

Finally, reports out of Big Sound are promising. “The future at this point looks a little brighter than it did a year ago,” says Joe Brien, Big Sound manager, who’s been fretting for quite some time that his baby would be sold out from under him. “I can’t mention any names,” he says, “but there is a group of local people who have an interest in seeing the place remain open and see me stay in place.”

As for what’s been going on there, Brien says to expect new records from WOW: “done and hoping for a February release”; Mac McHale and the Old Time Radio Gang: “they’re the real McCoys boy”; Liquid Daydream: “the material is excellent, the singer is excellent, I can’t even put my finger on it”; Truckbody Jones: “two words, ‘really good’ ”; and the Troubles: “with any luck out by Valentine’s Day.”

Finally, if you’re a hip-hop fan, you should start getting excited right now about DJ Jon’s plans for a show of Wave Twisters, the animated feature set to Q-Bert’s beats that’s going to be included in the Sundance Film Festival this year. Though it’s not quite set in stone, says Jon, “I would be getting Wave Twisters, Q-Bert, the Floor Lords breakdance crew, Akrobatik, Mr. Lif, representing all four elements of hip-hop,” i.e. the visual arts, DJs, B-boy and girls, and MCs. He was all set to go with Luther Bonney Auditorium as a venue, but other parties got involved in trying to do it at the State, and now it’s “a bigger thing,” Jon says. “Now I’m just waiting to sign the papers.” If all goes as planned, the show will go off February 10.

Sam Pfeifle can be reached at spfeifle@phx.com.