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Home - Music
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Back Beat
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I’ve been having a series of daydreams where I become a travel writer, or a masseuse, or work in a greenhouse — things I’ve always wanted to do, but just haven’t; less stressful antidotes to the hair-tearing pressures of my current gig managing the content for this fine paper.
Another of my reoccurring daydream wishes is to play the ukulele. Local musician Rebecca Lowry is living my daydream.
Curious about her act, billed All Young Girls Are Machine Guns, I contacted Lowry for the 411 on the u-k-e.
“My act, as it were, is me and a ukulele,” she said. “I’ve been playing for a little over a year, writing songs for just under a year.
Lowry said her influences “are largely swing-era jazz singers like Billie Holiday or Anita O’Day,” but she also loves ’50s and ’60s pop and soul.
“I started off posting some covers to YouTube as I was learning how to play,” Lowry said. “Then I wrote and posted my first song. I started hanging out at Barley Street Tavern [on Mondays]. You can’t [just] play covers there so I had to start writing more songs.”
She will play a free Slowdown Jr. show Feb. 18, at 9 p.m. opening for Danielle Ate The Sandwich — who she called “one of my ukulele heroes” — alongside Little Black Stereo. For more on Lowry, visit myspace.com/aygamg.
As if another dream come true, one of my favorite blasts from the past, Cap’n Jazz, will play a July 17 reunion show at Chicago’s Bottom Lounge. The band’s career was as awesome as it was short, and influenced countless indie acts in its wake; even spawning several others, most notably, Joan of Arc and Promise Ring.
In 1998, three years after the band’s breakup, its complete recorded works were assembled and released by Jade Tree Records in the form of the double disc extravaganza Analphabetapolothology, which is slated to release on vinyl for the first time June 15. The double LP will have a deluxe gatefold album jacket with bonus material including never before seen photos, show fliers, and new liner notes by Tim Kinsella.
Two quick tidbits:
Jes Winter reported that last week’s Babes for the Cure show raised over $700 for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. She happily added, “I was also able to pay the bands for their time and hard work, which was awesome too!”
Duffy’s in Lincoln has a new website with concert details and other helpful info. Visit duffyslincoln.com.
— Sarah Wengert
Backbeat takes you behind the scenes of the local music scene. Send tips, comments and questions to backbeat@thereader.com |
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