Namoli Brennet and SPW concert reviews

Figured I'd throw in some brief reviews of a couple recent concerts I've seen:

• Oct.1 at Flavour Cafe in Troy: Namoli Brennet - she is an amazing folk singer-songwriter/guitarist from Arizona. We saw her in this tiny coffee shop with only about 12-15 other people. Her songs are a mix of folk, gospel, alt-country and some rock thrown in on top and her voice is similar (but perhaps a little more gravelly with not quite as much range, which fits her style) to the likes of Feist or Cat Power's Chan Marshall. There is a power there, tempered by a wizened beyond her years and curious soul. She's also TG (she had played at Albany Pride, but we didn't find out until afterwards and we missed her while getting lunch)! Local musician via Arkansas, Jeremy James opened with an enjoyable, although slightly uneven set when he got a little too experimental and forgot some of the lyrics to a couple songs.

• Sept. 29 at Rebel in NYC: Semi Precious Weapons and The Vibrators: As usual, garage-glam gods SPW rocked the house and brought the crowd to a frenzy with their standard kick-ass stuff (and my fave, "Rock and Roll Never Looked So Beautiful") and stuff from their upcoming album. They only played a short set though since they were the opening band for old punk veterans, the Vibrators. Most of the crowd sadly left immediately after SPW. We stayed for a few songs, but they sounded mostly like distortion (it didn't help that they did not have their usual drummer and were using other people's equipment).

update on erased from history again

Well, it doesn't excuse the willingness of those leading the fight to abandon the trans community at the most crucial point, but it looks like Barney Frank and the HRC have reconsidered their stance on ENDA and have decided to put aside the bill for now rather than go ahead without trans inclusion.

Thankfully, most lgbt orgs and allies (sans HRC) came to our defense and combined with our own loud and strenuous voices, those who make these decisions actually heard and shifted gears. Yay for us! Now that hill needs to be climbed all over again, hopefully after the next election when we (hopefully) have a fuller democratic majority and a sympathetic ear at the white house.

More details here.