Man, it’s been a while since we had a To Do and, I ain’t gonna lie, the break has been nice. Having done one to two shows a week for a month plus, I was ready for some time off.  Now having had said time off, I need to go to a fucking show. Lucky for me and the rest of you Tampa/St. Pete-ians, we got a weekend loaded with the awesome. So let’s go through it:

Thursday @ New World: The Woodsboss

There is no shortage of people who’ve danced a shit-ton of nights away @ New World to the live blessings of The Weary Boys. Those were the kinds of nights that stories are made of. A band without a label relentlessly touring enough to build huge followings, in enough towns they could play packed houses in every state of the union. Then reality came crawling and The Weary Boys disbanded.

Wha? Why? What’s gonna? WTFingF?
Shock, rage, sadness.
Enter The Woodsboss. Which, fyi, is basically The Weary Boys minus Darren and add Brian’s wife.

So, all you Weary Boy fans needs to get your asses up off the couch and get out to New World Thursday night and we’ll dance again to the fine fine sounds of Mario, The Woodsboss and a few Weary Boys faves.

Mario Matteoli – Hard Luck Hittin’
Mario Matteoli – Sun Keeps On Beating Down

The Weary Boys – Another Song, Another Drink
The Weary Boys – Cruel Corrina
The Weary Boys – Freight Train Blues

Friday @ The Garage: Tailgunner Joe, Nervous Turkey and Those Legendary Shackshakers

Tampa/St. Pete is in an interesting time because we have an utterly ridiculous level of awesomeness in our local scene, and two of the upper crest of that scene are coming together to open for the the stupidly awesome Legendary Shackshakers.

Really, Tampa. I know you’re lazy. Fuck, I get it. We live in Florida. People who don’t live here don’t get it, but I know that the notion of a “local” band in this state is like screaming “Oral herpes at the kissing booth! Three dollars”, so let me tell you something right now: Tailgunner Joe and Nervous Turkey are each worthy of a night out on their own. Put them together and it almost becomes necessary for you fuckers (that was a ‘you fuckers’ that includes me) need to come out. Now, WTF? You include them both with Those Legendary Shackshakers and I can not think of any reason what you can’t spend 12 dollars to see guaranteed awesome from beginning to end.

Tailgunner Joe & The Earls of Slander – The Street
Tailgunner Joe & The Earls of Slander – This is Your Brain

Nervous Turkey – Strang
Nervous Turkey – Too Late For Romance

For those that don’t know, let’s talk Legendary Shackshakers live for a moment.

It’s Those Leg-en-dary muthafucking Shack Shakers. Does anything more really need to be said? Those who know, know. Those who don’t…well, what the fuck is wrong with you? Get your ass to The Garage and see what Jello Biafra called rock and roll’s best frontman, Col. J.D. Wilkes. Snot rockets will be launched, pubes will be thrown, beers will be drank and howdies will get doodied. You may hate the music but you’ll love the show, I guarantee it. It’s Iggy Pop fronting Southern Culture on the Skids. The southern gothic, rock and roll version of the Sex Pistols, but more entertaining and with more talent.

Those Legendary Shackshakers – Blood On The Bluegrass
Those Legendary Shackshakers – Piss and Vinegar
Those Legendary Shackshakers – Old Spur Line

So, I hope to bounce into a few of ya’ll this weekend. Say hey to me ’cause, despite all your efforts to make it not so, I still love you Tampa and you can insure that by buying me a drink and complementing my new hat.

I’d like to drop a little love on some local boys making the sweatiest, grittiest, gonna fuck your momma juke-joint blues in town: Nervous Turkey. For the past year, Nervous Turkey has been wowing audiences on both sides of the bridge and creating a following (in a traditionally unwilling-to-follow region) one show and shirtless front man at a time.

I went up to New World last Friday for their cd-release party and was immediately surprised at the sheer amount of people in the place. So surprised, in fact, that I just assumed a lot of the crowd just happened to be there since it was a Friday night. Those doubts were quickly dashed once the band fired up and the entire bar smashed onto New Worlds patio to sing and dance along to the band.

Allow me to break rank for a moment and say, Good Job Tampa. It’s about time that we, as a community, support our local musicians. Keep it up, kids.

Now. Some blues comes from suffering, some comes from sadness, and still other times it comes from fear, or love, or from a need for release. There is another kind of blues altogether that comes from the dick, and that’s the kinda blues Nervous Turkey puts out. I dunno, maybe it’s the organs with the harmonica, but while I stood, sweating and watching the crowd on this particular August evening, I was moved to text the following to my Twitter account:

“Best thing about the blues is the ways it makes women move”

With that said, I’ll leave y’all with the music. You can pick up cds at any show in the area. For any of you out-of-towners that may want a copy for yourself, I’m sure a quick myspace message will get you all zipped up.

Nervous Turkey – Strang
Nervous Turkey – Too Late For Romance
Nervous Turkey – Viper

Nervous Turkey on myspace