Stone Trio

May is here and spring is in full swing
and all the living things in this hemisphere are
reproducing and loving each other amidst the
brightening sun and pollinated air. The birds
are doing their little dances to show off for their
respective mates. Frogs are croaking with fervor
and passionately embracing long sticky nights of
love at the pond. Human females are donning
less clothing and showing a little skin. Pagans
are dancing around the maypole celebrating the
end of another long hard winter. So what are all
you pagans going to do after you do your annual
maypole feast? You’re going to keep the party
rocking and go see a lot of live music this month
with love in the air, virility in your libidos and
sweet music in your ears.
The Stone Trio will shift your twitterpation
into overdrive and make those hips
shake and sway to a sound so thick and funkalicious
that you could put it in a jar and make tons
of dough selling it labeled as Stone Trio Funk
Gravy. The gravy would be so good you could
pour it over an old work boot and it would taste
like there’s a party in your mouth and everyone
is invited. Chris Combs is the trio’s guitar mastermind
and all one really has to say is that he
is Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey’s new guitar player.
Yep, he’s that good. The jazz fusion soul funk
flows out of him like syrup from a bloated maple
tree. Bass-bumpin’ crazy man Bo Hallford plays
the bottom notes and is sweeter and lower than
sweet and low and goes longer than the Energizer
Bunny. Andrew Bones spurts out polyrhythmic
silly-string all over the audience from behind
his drum set, leaving them covered in awesome
day-glo goo and wanting more. They will be
at The Colony (on 28th & Harvard in Tulsa) on
May 9 and The Move (another super-neat fusion
trio) will be opening for them. The Stone Trio
will also be at The Soundpony (in downtown
Tulsa next to Cain’s Ballroom) on May 15 where
they will be joined by the Panda Resistance and
Chris Combs will do a solo set. Here is a list of
websites that apply to these bands and venues:
www.myspace.com/stonetrio, www.myspace.
com/themoveband, www.myspace.com/pandaresistanceband,
www.myspace.com/getcolonized
(The Colony) and www.myspace.com/
soundponylounge.
From out of the nooks and crannies of
the sprawling metropolis that is Bartlesville, defiantly
crawl the Barrelhouse Revelers. This altcountry
trio is burning down stages across Green
Country this May and is ready to sock you in the
gut in a good way with their Bartian angst. Matt
Garret leads the pack with his guitar and his vocals,
Chad Gomez holds down the bass position
like a rock in a torrent stream and Mike Hough
backs the vocals and rips the skins off the drums
like they’re a Wonka bar and there’s a golden
ticket inside. Check them out at www.myspace.
com/thebarrelhouserevelers where you can get a
heaping teaspoon of their music and a list of their
upcoming dates that include appearances at the
Mercury Lounge in Tulsa on May 15, Frank and
Lola’s in B’ville on May 16 and at the Nowata
VFW on May 23.
So there are some chances to get out
there and stir up the love in the air a little this
May. Be safe and, most of all, have way too
much fun.
MAY 2009 THE CURRENT 25
ENTERTAINMENT - The Current

AT THE INTERSECTION OF FUNK AND GROOVE by Cyndi Palmer
"....the band is gearing up to lead Winter Park Pub patrons to Funky Town tonight, but they most likely won't take the main road to get there... ...The band, with its solid-as-a-rock funk base, is known for its experimentation within the genre and winds the scenic byways of 1960s New Orleans funk, which cross the avenues of modern psychedelic jamming... " - Ski-Hi News Grand County, Colorado Aug. 6th 2008

".... Witha tripping hazard array of effects pedals and dials, Combs touches upon a similar auditory spectrum as Mathis at times but – and this is important – he mainly works in a wholly different assortment of sonics and approaches than previously heard in Jacob Fred; at times a spooky swing vibe, at others a penetrating moan akin to Jerry Garcia's steel work, some parts evoking Les Paul's wacky '50s work with Mary Ford and others the charged current of Speedy West and Merle Travis. There's a whole lot more Oklahoma twang to The Fred now, and it's a welcome voice that honors their Tulsa origins....
... Combs had a way of slipping in and out of things with spectral perfection..."
- JamBase - Dennis Cook

Low Ego Interference
Not every local act deserves a pat on the back, but the musicians behind Organum Records certainly does

BY JOSH KLINE



Being a proactive fan of music in Tulsa can sometimes feel like an exercise in futility. As a writer, I strive to be fair, open-minded and unassuming in my approach to covering local music.
Covering music for Urban Tulsa is a bit like standing in a room full of people and telling each of them whether you like them or not, and why. You criticize one, praise another, ignore someone else. The criticized get pissed for obvious reasons, the praised get mad at you for criticizing their friends. The ignored get resentful over being left out. Personal taste becomes suspect; you like too many people with brown hair, and the blondes start accusing you of being biased. Eventually, everybody hates you.

That's not the greatest analogy, but you get the point. Writing about music is not a purely promotional endeavor--everybody has an opinion, so I better have one as well. Unfortunately, our city is small and our music scene is fairly incestuous. Everybody wants to see our scene flourish, so criticism is frowned upon as something counterproductive to our common goal.

At the end of the day, most music discourse boils down to a bunch of nerds arguing arbitrary opinions based on not much more than personal whim. Transcending this low level of discourse is surprisingly difficult, but that shouldn't stop you from trying.

It's certainly not going to stop me. I believe in our city, and I believe in our musicians. So when I see something that I don't like, that I think is detrimental to our growth, I'm going to throw a fit about it. And so should you.

Community Vision

Now, I'm going to single out somebody in the room who I happen to like quite a bit.

Several months ago, I told you about Organum Records. The bourgeoning art and music collective (consisting of a handful of Tulsa's better musicians) has grown a bit since then, and on October 3rd (this Friday), the group will be throwing a coming-out party of sorts at the Blank Slate. Over the past few months, they've held weekly jam sessions (Capella's, every Wednesday evening) that have grown increasingly popular.

Think of "The Show That Homies Made" (the official name of Friday's show) as the culmination of those jam sessions. It's an artist's showcase in the best sense; a get-together for close friends who will be performing as brothers and sisters in support of one another. Scheduled to play are Jesse Aycock, the Doldrums, Stone Trio, Lindsey Neal, Paul Benjamin Band, the New Honey Shade, and Clay Welch.

In addition to the music, artwork from Fresh Produce (out of Lawrence, KS) and our own Live 4 This will be on display.

"It's our collective statement of what's going creatively, musically and culturally in Tulsa," Chris Combs, guitarist for Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Stone Trio and the Doldrums, explained. "We've got eight different bands and two different art collectives. The cheese factory, an online radio station, is going to be there, and we're going to be registering people to vote."

Combs also said that the Hub, a community recycling project, will be at the show as well.

What it amounts to is the foundation for what could potentially swell into a significant cultural movement in Tulsa, and the group is well aware of the event's possibilities.

"Cultural movements that happen in Austin or Seattle or wherever you choose to look, they all take a lot more than musicians to make music happen," Combs said. "There are a lot of people who are working really hard to make Tulsa a happening place, and it's exciting to see that on all levels.

"It's a really powerful artistic movement that's happening in Tulsa right now," he continued. "And we're all just really excited to be making our stamp on it."

The group hopes that Friday's showcase will be the first in a long line of Organum-hosted cultural events.

"There's already talk about the next one that'll probably be happening in early '09," Combs said."It's very goal oriented; the Organum name is going to be spread as much as the individual artists, so we can hopefully continue to grow."

As I said back in July, it's both refreshing and encouraging to see a large group of musicians, all with talent to spare, so eager to share the stage with one another. As is always the case with Organum, there's no clear headliner for the show, and there's not really meant to be.

"There's very, very low ego interference in what we do," Combs said. "Everyone assumes the roles they need to without having a central organizing point. That kind of stuff starts to take away from the community vision that this whole thing is based around.

"It's a group that's based on friendship and love for each other. From there, we start creating some pretty badass shit."

The show starts at 8pm, and it's all ages. The cost is $5 if you're over 21, and $7 if you're under.
- Urban Tulsa Weekly