South by Southeast

Shrimp Records gets gritty in the Holy City

December 17, 2009 · Leave a Comment

SxSEers: No time to post, but I just ran across this story in the CP…a new record label featuring all of our local  faves.

Michael Trent, Cary Ann Hearst, Owen Beverly, Joel Hamilton, Sadler Vaden and Bill Carson…The Films, Shovels and Rope, The Working Title, Leslie…could any greater local talent come together for this?

Keep your eye out for Shrimp.  For a taste, head over to the Pour House on Saturday night. Carson is dropping his first conglomeration of an album with the new label.

Nothing fishy about that.

Bill Carson w/ Cary Ann Hearst & Michael Trent, Joel Hamilton, Owen Beverly, Sadler Vaden
The Pour House
1977 Maybank Hwy., James Island
(843) 571-4343
9:30 p.m.
$5

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Tune your Tuesday to the soothing sounds of Ben Sollee

December 8, 2009 · Leave a Comment

The holiday season provides its fair share of stress, anxiety and packed schedules, no matter how hard one attempts to avoid it.

While I don’t want to clog up your calendar, after listening to Lexington, KY-based cellist and singer/songwriter Ben Sollee, SxSE advocates a trip to the Pour House tonight.

Sollee’s June 2008 album, “Learning to Bend,” possesses the vulnerable vocals of folk/pop artist Brett Dennen and the melodic play of multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird.

This combination of Dennen’s emotionalism and Bird’s unassuming simplicity give Sollee a wide thematic range.

While the Sollee recordings that I’ve listened to haven’t been of the highest quality, most fans proclaim that his live shows are unbeatable.

I’m curious to see Sollee onstage…one man…one band… and a cello.

Sollee is thoughtful, but not too brooding, bouncing on love, pain and spirituality… his voice rolling with an intimacy that makes you feel like you’re eavesdropping.

Sollee retains his vigor throughout the album, with influences ranging from jazz and blues to folk and R&B. Soothing doesn’t insinuate sleeping, by any means.

Ten bucks can be a bit steep for a Tuesday night, but I believe Sollee’s performance is worth it.

As if this glowing preview wasn’t enough, Sollee is touring the southeast via bicycle to raise awareness and buy bikes for Oxfam America Unwrapped.

He’s ridden to Charleston with only his cello and his bike, people. Give him a $10 chance. And you can always count on the Pour House for a respectable selection of beers on draft.

-          iBelle

Ben Sollee
Tuesday, Dec. 8
The Pour House
1977 Maybank Hwy., James Island
(843) 571-4343
7 p.m.
$10

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Ted teams up with Kentucky’s finest for November beer dinner

November 18, 2009 · 1 Comment

Ted Dombrowski was wining and dining foodies and beer lovers on East Bay long before beer dinners became as pervasive as palmetto bugs on Charleston city streets.

Despite the general increase in both popularity and cost, Ted’s Butcherblock has stayed true to its theme of quality, fresh food at reasonable prices. I may sound like an advertisement, but the numbers speak for themselves.

Most tasting events this past month were in the $55-$75 range. Ted’s monthly craft beer dinner: $30.

For Cool Dave, our amateur gastronomist with a flair for culinary creativity, Ted’s was the perfect locale to celebrate a 24th birthday.

To intensify the excitement, Thursday evening’s theme was bourbon. Each course was inspired by Kentucky’s liquor du jour. With four festive beer pairings provided by CBX’s Scott Shor, we were in for a treat.

We started things off with the Scrump.

Pre-dinner bubbles.
We delighted in Charleston’s two-day cold snap with a bottle of J.K.’s Scrumpy Hard Cider. J.K.’s was everything I look for in a cider: light, crisp and bubbly with a hint of tartness. You could definitely taste the purity of the yeast and juice in this organic brew out of Michigan’s Almar Orchard. Cheers.!

Ommegang Rare Vos paired with aged Gouda custard tartlet... and this was just the beginning.

Three-year Aged Gouda. How can you go wrong?

Yes. These were our thoughts as Ted and Co. served up the preliminary plates, and our crew took a look at the menu. I was expecting simplicity…cheese and bacon…but the first course surprised me with quite a diverse range of flavors. In addition to the Gouda custard tartlet and double smoked bacon gastrique (heavenly), Ted’s included a bourbon pear chutney and bitter greens. Needless to say, there was a lot going on.

Each aspect of the course was delicious on its own, and, at Cool Dave’s suggestion, I made the effort to conscientiously combine the elements of the dish as well. A fireworks show of color and taste ensued.! The plate was an amazing blend of bitter, sweet and savory.

Scott paired the meal with Ommegang Rare Vos, a Belgian amber ale whose delicate hints of cloves and coriander played a seamlessly subtle role alongside the wide variety of flavors and textures of the Gouda, pears, bacon and greens.

Oh, heavenly butternut squash bisque...your tantalizing flavors wooed me into finishing my bowl prior to snapping a photo. You'll have to use your imagination.

Butternut squash bisque that could make blind men see.
I forgot to take a picture before diving into the second course: leek and butternut squash bisque with a duck confit hash. That’s how freakin’ excited I was about this. Sweet, creamy and warm, but not cloying, this bisque did its job.

On the other hand, I wasn’t as initially impressed with Terrapin Gamma Ray. This wheatwine, at 11% alcohol by volume, smelled of citrus and honey, but when I tried my first sip, I was bowled over by the raw forwardness of the alcohol. I enjoy an occasional barleywine or hefeweizen, but this particular mixture of the two was ill-balanced.

The pairing of the Gamma Ray with the bisque, however, was most interesting. I guess this is why they pay Scott the big bucks. The bisque brought out the honey flavor in the Gamma Ray, which I hadn’t really tasted previously. Two takeaways: 1)  I need to try other wheatwines to see if it’s the type of beer that I’m not a fan of…or just Terrapin’s rendition of it.  2)  This butternut bisque can do no wrong. C was so enamored by the soup that she bought an extra pint for lunch the next day.

Round Three: UnEarthly DIPA meets other white meat.

A pile of pig.
I don’t think that anyone was prepared for the massiveness that was Ted’s third course. And non-IPA drinkers were in for a treat with Southern Tier’s Un*Earthly Double IPA’s 11% ABV. We responded to Ted’s grilled apple and sage sausage with mouths open wide…a little more shocked than hungry at this point. Pea pudding and bourbon-braised mushrooms accompanied the pork. I was enthralled by the peas, having never sampled green peas with the consistency of Yorkshire pudding. Kids would love this stuff.

The Un*Earthly DIPA really took our meal to another level.  Un*Earthly’s piney and caramel flavors paired nicely with the sage sausage and mushrooms. The weight of the hops stood up to the heaviness of this course as well. Strong choice, all around.

You can't say no to dessert. Or a delicious stout, for that matter.

There’s always room for profiteroles.
We couldn’t imagine eating anything else after three intense bourbonasms. But who can say no to profiteroles…those sweet and delicate French pastry puffs of goodness? And we had a birthday. You most def. do dessert on birthdays.

Ted’s chocolate hazelnut profiteroles were served with a caramel and vanilla bourbon sabayon (egg yolks, sugar, and wine), which really completed the dish. Paired with Stoudts “Fat Dog” Imperial Oatmeal Stout (9% ABV), I was positively crowing.! Fat Dog’s dark chocolate flavors enhanced the caramel, bourbon and vanilla of the sabayon. Meanwhile, the profiteroles played up Fat Dog’s diffident flashes of coffee.

Happy Birthday, CoolDave.!!

To cap off the night, Ted scrounged up a lone birthday candle, and we were able to sing Happy Birthday to Cool Dave.

Frankly, getting older is better in times like these.

As I languidly strolled out the door into November’s chilly rain, I couldn’t help but think that Henry Clay would have been proud of Ted’s bourbon inspiration. We didn’t solve the looming government healthcare crisis that night, but no one argues over good food and good brew.

Food for thought.

Keep your eyes peeled for Ted’s dinner in December. He’ll probably hold the event earlier in the month, due to the holidays.

-          iBelle

Here we are with Ted. The man. The legend.


Ted’s Butcherblock
334 East Bay Street
(843) 577-0094
Beer dinner cost: $30, includes 4 courses with beer pairings
RSVP Required

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Benevento Russo Duo invokes a musical meditation

November 11, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Does a rock anthem demand words?

The Benevento Russo Duo has made me think twice about this question, as well as my definition of rock music and its many branches.

I generally attempt to explain my experience with music to an audience through the use of archetypes.

But describing the sounds I hear live or on an album can often be difficult for the listener to interpret. What does indie pop, acidhead or skronk really mean? And what can readers gather out of that description?

I’m not going to really try to answer that, but I thought about the concept while listening to TBRD.

Organist Marco Benevento and drummer Joe Russo have been tagged as post rock: basically musicians that use typical rock instruments in an atypical fashion, compelling the listener to really examine what he or she is listening to… a challenge to the brain, for sure.

Benevento_Rosso

Listening to the duo’s 2006 release, “Play Pause Stop,” my mind was flying through songs with pieces of a global identity woven throughout.

Each arrangement is a puzzle and a personality, open for interpretation. I realized how well a heartsick lyric drives home a heartsick theme.

Instrumentalists should a harder time invoking emotion through their music, it would seem.

Surprisingly, this was not the case for Benevento Russo.

I felt like I was in the moment and in the melody, but no one told me I had to be there. No one instructed me as to the thoughts and feelings I should be embracing. No one told me anything, and I liked it that way.

During “Memphis,” I discovered the famous city steeped in musical greats all over again through consistent choral buildup. Everything was epic—Coldplay in the rain, discovering yourself on a train…in Europe—epic.

I pressed Play, and the title song was an anthem of inspiration—tight and clear. Benevento’s organ provided all of the melody that I needed. Halfway through the song, TBRD dissolves into a fit of electronic madness, a Pause perhaps, only to come back full-circle for a stirring Stop.

Earlier TBRD works are less cohesive, more experimental with some jam band influences, a genre I’m not as fond of.

I’ll conclude my Rolling Stone verbosity with an official SxSE appraisal: I enjoy listening to The Benevento-Russo Duo and think that our readers would too.

Opener Sean Bones was enjoyable as well. He possesses a playful and innocent sound that harks back to island vacations of an earlier era.

Don’t take my word for it. Check them out yourself at the Pour House Thursday night.!

-iBelle

The Benevento-Russo Duo w/ Sean Bones
Thursday, Nov. 12, 9 p.m.
The Pour House
1977 Maybank Hwy., James Island
(843) 571-4343
$15

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Get your dancin’ shoes on: more great bands from near & far make a stop in Charleston tonight.!

October 29, 2009 · Leave a Comment

reign lee

Lee reigns at the Tavern

Reign Lee has a voice all her own: breathy, but husky and strong; flowing honey and chilled ice cubes. The band’s sound is obviously influenced by the Pixies, Nirvana with perhaps a bit of Pearl Jam –unadulterated alt/grunge rock –quite an interesting combination, which may be due to Lee’s multicultural background.  Born in Ontario, guitarist/singer Lee has resided in Beijing, Illinois, New York and most recently, Hong Kong. Lee will be joined by local acoustic favorites The V-Tones and Megan Jean (with bassist Klay Byrne). Rock on, chicas.!

The Village Tavern
1055 Johnnie Dodds Blvd., Mt. Pleasant
(843) 884-6311
$6

MadTeaParty

Cheers to a not-so Mad Tea Party

Jangly and upbeat, The Mad Tea Party will make you think of Johnny Cash and June Carter at a Saturday Night Jamboree… until you see the unconventionally striped tights, evening gown and ukulele.  Female vocalist Ami Worthen possesses hints of Juno hit maker Kimya Dawson, the B-52s and Meg White …all adorbs with an alt-country edge. Jason Krekel is a one-man band, managing the guitar, fiddle and foot pedal. The duo is celebrating the spooky season with a Halloween-themed disc titled Zombie Stomp. MTP is opening for Afro-fusion funk rockers Toubab Krewe.

Toubab Krewe w/ Mad Tea Party
The Pour House
1977 Maybank Hwy., James Island
(843) 571-4343
$15 at the door, $12 in advance

paul revere and the raiders

Get back to your garage rock roots with Paul Revere & the Raiders
Paul Revere & the Raiders, whose biggest radio hit was 1971’s “Indian Reservation,” take to the Lakefront Stage at the 53rd annual Coastal Carolina Fair in Ladson. For those of you less well-versed in the pioneers of garage rock, Alan Jackson utilized parts of “Indian Reservation” on his 1994 hit “Indian Outlaw.” Revere & the Raiders are classic. Grab a fried turkey leg and a funnel cake from the concessions and head over to the fairgrounds. You might even have time for a ride on the Gravitron, if you get there early.

Paul Revere & the Raiders
Exchange Park Fairgrounds
9850 Hwy. 78, Ladson
7:30 p.m.

You don’t have to listen. I’m just sayin’ … – iBelle

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