UGLY RADIO REBELLION
At 10 p.m. Saturday, June 23
Wormhole Bar, 2307 Bull St.
If you take a moment to do the math, Ugly Radio Rebellion performs about 20 shows per year. We know this because 2012 marks the band's 10th anniversary, and this Wormhole date is a milestone: Show #200.
It's something of a boutique band - URR plays, exclusively, the music of the late rock/jazz/eccentrico composer Frank Zappa. "There's two main types of people we see at Zappa shows," URR founder and Berklee-trained guitarist Scott Schroen told us a while back. "One is the long-time, hardcore Zappa fan that grew up on it. It changed their lives.
"And the other side is the serious musician types who come to the show and scrutinize everything we do. And then walk away with their tail between their legs!"
Schroen, a native of Alpharetta, Ga. started the band (originally called Uncle Meat) in Detroit in 2002, with a simple but clear classified ad: "Musicians Wanted to Play Frank Zappa Music." The current incarnation of the band includes bassist Andrew Walley and drummer Daniel Paschall (another Georgian, from Lawrenceville).
There aren't a whole lot of Zappa tribute bands out there, and certainly no others have the vast and disciplined repertoire of Ugly Radio Rebellion. "We keep 52 songs in rotation, and we mix it up for each tour," Schroen said. "Myself, I know maybe 500 Zappa tunes, and I transcribed most of them."
BRANDON NELSON MCCOY
At 8 p.m. Friday, June 22
The Sentient Bean, 13 E. Park Ave.
He's cut off the unruly hair, but that mountain-main beard remains. And the intense, dark-eyed stare behind all those visceral Townes Van Zandt tunes.
This is singer/songwriter McCoy's first Savannah show since July 25, 2011 - following that he relocated to Athens, where he's since become a vital part of the thriving Americana scene, as a solo performer and as one-quarter of the Monkeygrass Jug Band.
McCoy's on a week-long holiday in town, and here's hit pitch, y'all: "I've been missing all of my Savannah friends and folk and can't wait to hang out with all of you. Dunno if I'll play solo or have some accompaniment but, either way, it'll be a great f--kin' time."
He'll be back to play Live Wire Music Hall July 6, with the band.
CHECK IT OUT
It's a guitarists' night at Live Wire Thursday (June 21), with Johan Harvey and the Royal Noise, and Philadelphia's amazing Dirk Quinn Band ... On a similar note, the brilliant bluegrass guitarist Jim Hurst has a date at Randy Wood's place on the 23rd ... At the Tybee Rock House June 22: Baltimore's hard-rocking Charm City Devils, named by their bud. Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue. The band has a new album, Sins, which features a surprisingly hard-hitting cover of "Man of Constant Sorrow" .....
