One of the first nights in recent memory featured three great bands performing at three different venues in Little Rock. Fayteville's Benjamin Del Shreve at Stickyz, Austin's Graham Wilkinson at White Water and Little Rock's The Munks at The Afterthought. After already seeing BDS and Wilkinson play this past year, Lee and I decided to check out The Munks.
I first heard about the Munks right around when we were getting this web page started. I had listened through all the bands playing last year's Riverfest and The Munks were set to play the final day of the three day festival. Something came up and I wasn't able to get there in time to hear them take the Triple-S Alarm stage. It would be one missed chance I would later regret. Apparently lead singer Aaron Grimm currently lives up in Rogers and The Munks are only able to reform every couple of months, usually at the Afterthought, and usually un-rehearsed. I had never been to the Afterthought, nor seen The Munks so I figured it was a good night to kill two birds with one stone. I got to the show during the last song of their first set and could already tell this was going to be one hell of a night. The Afterthought was completely packed with the broadest age / demographic range I have seen in a long time. Normally The Afterthought is notorious for booking jazzier soulful bands that never seem to quite make the grade. It seems like lately, the venue has decided to branch out a little more and include some other genres on their calendar. Jeff Coleman and the Feeders have a date scheduled there later this month.
It was easy to see why such a large and diverse audience made it out for The Munks. The band performed almost all of their original songs plus some impressive Nirvana, Radiohead, Beatles, Rolling Stones, Haggard and Warren Zevon covers. The instrumentation was absolutely phemonemal and several of the songs were lifted into a loose improvisation that extended well past the ten minute mark. Normally I'm not into bands that go too far out of bounds but The Munks kept things simple and kept most audience members attentive and entranced. The crowd stuck around for all three sets of music and most were there when the band announced they were done around half past midnight. Between Aarons piano, Bennet Ryel's violin and Rich's walking bassline most of the songs had a strong "Desire" era Bob Dylan sound. I listened to their older album "Heartbreak Numbers" on the way home and could not be more impressed. The piano comes through a lot more on the album and so far I haven't heard a bad track. The Munks have been playing off and on over the past couple of years and have a small yet devoted fanbase. Most of the night was spent with the band catching up with old friends and new friends that were glad they were back. Now that Aaron has decided to move back down to Little Rock we can only hope that The Munks will be playing in town a lot more. If you are unfamiliar with their sound or just want to catch up, shoot them a message on their Myspace page.
http://www.myspace.com/themunks1
After regretfully missing the Tuesday night performance of Miss Kristy Kruger, I decided to make up for it as she and Dylan Sneed opened for Danny Malone at Whitewater. The first thing I read about Kristy was that she was deemed the “female Tom Waits” by a Dallas (her hometown) newspaper reporter. I was immediately intrigued.
As I wandered into a surprisingly empty Whitewater around 10:00 pm, I immediately noticed her setting up her pedal steel and my heart jumped a little. Her influences range from an obvious, although healthy, obsession with Johnny Cash, to Ella Fitzgerald and Bessie Smith. Kristy has this kind of soft throaty, warble-y voice that, when you close your eyes, you can swear is coming straight off your vintage record player. She reminds me of 1930s French vocalist and icon Edith Piaf with a small dose of Regina Spektor in her high notes. She is more than comparable to Tom Waits in her songwriting and presentation. When she pulled out her banjo and strummed “Little Pollyanna”, I was enamored. Not only can she strum and pick beautifully, she even busted out the kazoo and it STILL managed to stir me. Her songs took me back to a time when dresses were twirled and men wore fedoras and sat back watching the ladies move about. Not to say that Dylan Sneed paled in comparison, he was really great, but he was more than overshadowed by the presence of Kruger. You just can’t not listen to her and be intertwined with her words. Listen to her latest album, Songs From a Dead Man’s Couch, and I promise you’ll wish you had it on vinyl too.
Next up was a duo I’d seen before, Danny Malone with Heidi Johnson on the keys. I definitely enjoyed them when I saw them previously this summer, and thought Heidi’s voice, talent and look brought a presence to the stage that is sometimes missing with folksy rock singers like Danny. This time, not only was Danny on his game (proudly wearing his “The Danimal” t-shirt), but they were joined by the American Princes’ stellar drum master, Matt Quin. With only a single tom, kick drum, and a few cymbals, Matt managed to up the ante on their already skillful sound. With this addition of a livelier beat, Danny Malone and friends more than impressed me. I was up dancing within five seconds of the first song, and didn’t take a seat the entire time. Danny’s bright voice reminds me of someone I can’t put my finger on, which probably serves him well. But his steady strumming and funky beats remind me of a crazy mix of Spoon and The Shins. And although Heidi and Danny have only been playing together for a short time, the way they harmonize is so effortless you would think they’d been doing it forever. And that’s a good thing. It wasn’t stale, it wasn’t cliché; it was fresh and enthusiastic. And I more than look forward to their return.
www.myspace.com/kristykruger
www.myspace.com/therealdannymalone
-Shuffles
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