Community Corner
X with Folk Uke @ City Winery Napa - 7/26
About:
X - ‘All Original Members - Exene Cervenka, John Doe, Billy Zoom, & DJ Bonebrake’.
Three decades after the inception of X, one thing is clear: X was not only one of the most influential bands to crash out of the punk movement of the late ‘70s, but the band’s music continues to be sonically groundbreaking today. Songs written during the group’s inception are as relevant and inventive today as they were in 1977.
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The fact is, no one sounds like X and no one ever will.
The band’s early albums, Los Angeles (1980), produced by Ray Manzarek of the Doors, Wild Gift (1981), and Under the Big Black Sun (1982) explored dark love and an even darker L.A. with the unflinching eye of a Raymond Chandler novel. Doe and Cervenka would marry and later divorce, but they’d always remain soulmates. As they released each ensuing album, More Fun in theNew World(1983) and Ain’t Love Grand (1985), the band continued to grow sonically and politically, fearlessly mixing genres without ever losing its center. As each member went on to explore diverse careers—careers that included acting, art, writing, producing and multiple side projects.
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Opening Artist: Folk Uke
It was 1998 in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter when Cathy Guthrie and Amy Nelson met at a bar…where they both worked. One was a tramp and one was devastatingly pure. With a ukulele and an acoustic guitar, they formed a band for the same reason kids join gangs— just to survive, but also to unleash the brilliance that was poking them from within.
Don't believe the rumors. Folk Uke is not totally amazing. They're just kind of amazing. If you find yourself at a Folk Uke show, you are in for a treat— but maybe not the kind of treat that you like the taste of. Come to the show and see for yourself.
Better yet, buy their albums first and you may save yourself the trouble. And if you make it to a live Folk Uke show, do your best to enjoy it…and then give them two more chances. They are hit and miss, but so are you most likely, and that is their charm. We live to inspire and we're tired of writing in third person.
