Even if we didn’t earn it…

We need a week off – even if you don’t – and we’re taking it this week. No rant. Don’t think the site will be down though. We have all kinds of A-List Advance posts teed up and ready to go this week but you have to come back every day to catch them.

One more before we go…

We will not abandon you entirely though. If you need to know what to do this week check out the sweet, pretty, poppy ladies of The Bridges Thursday night at Smith’s Olde Bar (there’s a guy in the group, so you girls have something to look at too).

Their album, Limits of the Sky, is quite good for exactly what it is – melodic pop that’s not too far from the CMT charts. Unfortunately, because they are fortunate (?) enough to be signed to a major label I can’t embed their video for “Pieces” so you have to go off-site to see it. I guess that the really smart, promo savvy, super compensated, music industry moguls at Universal Records (who own Verve) don’t want to make it easy for me to introduce you to one of their artists…but that’s a rant for another day. At least I found this pretty picture.

Check out the Bridges Thursday night. Tickets are $10 in advance at Ticket Alternative.

Art Centric

We’re heading into Memorial Day weekend and there are a surprising number of quality events going on this week. Before we get there let’s take a break for art. Not art punkers Art Brut whose new record Art Brut vs. Satan has me seriously curious even though I wasn’t crazy about their show last year at the Variety. And no, not Paul Simon’s less bubbly sidekick, Art Garfunkel either. No, we’re gonna talk for a minute about art – the stuff we hang from the walls, place on our mantles, display in our dens, and occasionally purchase, roll up, stick in a tube and forget to have framed for five or six years. If you are even the least bit interested in this stuff, there are plenty of options in our little hamlet.

We have plenty of friends in or close to the art business – A-Listers and beyond. The Decatur Arts Festival will happen this memorial day weekend and that certainly influenced this train of thought but it didn’t stop there. You can still find the haunting and beautiful work of Elliot Boswell hanging at Eddie’s Attic. Beep Beep Gallery follows the A-List on Twitter (you can too) and they will be hosting local experimental punks Thy Mighty Contract for an exhibit wrap up on May 30 at their Midtown location. The City of Avondale Estates will be hosting Art-B-Que on June 13th. We missed Daniel Biddy out that way just this past weekend but hope to catch him next time out. There also will be the Castleberry Hill Art Stroll this Friday for those closer to downtown. And there are plenty of places to find art everyday in this town including Aurora Coffee in L5P and the Highlands and Java Monkey in Decatur, and of course, Eyedrum in Cabbagetown.

On With the Show

Okay, now that we’ve gotten that off our chest, let’s talk about the shows this week. The feature of the weekend is Bubba-Palooza at Star Bar. This is in no way associated with the second rate schitck done by Bubba the Love Sponge which is some kind of Sirius radio thing out of Tampa (another reason why I don’t have satellite radio). This is a local event put on in honor of the late Gregory Dean Smalley one of the pioneers of North Georgia’s “Redneck Underground.” In its 18th incarnation, it will span Friday and Saturday night and feature some great psychobilly stuff including Psycho DeVilles, Blacktop Rockets. If you’re not familiar with this genre (and didn’t run out and buy a copy of The Cramps’ Psychedelic Jungle when we mentioned the passing of Lux Interior), then expect both upright basses and down low dirty guitars. There will be twang and some country swing but don’t be surprised if you get a little Metallica cover thrown in courtesy of The Belmont Playboys.

If you like the sounds of 60s pop with a little California country flavor then, then get out on Thursday night for The Bridges at Star Bar. This quintet is simply beautiful and they sound even better. If you liked last year’s She & Him, then you should check out “One Way”.

If new sounds are your preference then spend your Wednesday night with the Subliminator whose heavy avant-garde sounds will be like nothing else you have heard recently.

Of course Saturday night there are new sounds of a more danceable sort with A-List favorites Judi Chicago pounding out the Macbook beats at the 529 in East Atlanta. They will be joined by Baltimore’s Ponytail who had better bring their a-game to the ATL if they want to keep up with our electronic duo.

Finally, if you’re feeling a bit nostalgic and are willing to leave after you hear the one song you know then you can catch Marcy Playground at the Masquerade on Friday. I think you won’t be the only one who leaves after “Sex and Candy.” Of course, I caught them by mistake about six months before that song became huge (which is bordering on 12 years ago now) when they opened for a friend’s band at a D.C. venue that isn’t even there anymore. Ahh, yager and nostalgia.

That’s Atlanta’s A-List and there she was like double cherry pie.

I have been calling it the grand finale and in many ways it is. The A-List has been there for only half of this 10 day marathon. We have no idea how the heart and soul behind 500 Songs for Kids, the inimitable Josh Rifkind, has done it every night since Thursday a week ago. Wow.

The cover will be $20. The songs will the most passionate of all time. The bands will be some of the very best Atlanta has to offer. The line at the bottom of the stair traversed the length of Smith’s last night by 10pm. Expect it to be just as long, but much earlier, tonight. Of course, Atlanta’s A-List will be there.

Adam McKnight & Charles Bullock, Arrested Development, Arum Rae, Aslyn Mitchell, Birds And Wire, Christopher Alan Yates, Courtney Jaye, Death On Two Wheels, Doomsayer, G Force, Grand Prize Winners From Last Year, Injected, Janelle Monae, Jaspects, Jesse Dupree, Jessie Baylin, JOI, Kevin Spencer, Leslie, Modern Skirts, Novel, Pat Sallarulo, Sam Thacker, Sanjay Kothari, Sir Will And The Rose Parade, Sonia Leigh, The Bridges, The Lost Boys, The Selmanaires, The Whigs, Three5Human, Tim Anderson, Trances Arc, Vonnegutt, Wild Sweet Orange, Y-O-U