The best show of the year...

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

was last night at Iota. Robbie Fulks turned in a show that was 100% better than his show last year, which wasn't bad.
 
 Between song banter and song intros were fucking hilarious. The included:
 
 1. A struggling country singer making a call to the "Fountains of Wayne Hotline", and ending up with a hook filled, if totally predictable song that both paid homage to and poked fun at the Fountains of Wayne.
 
 2.  Impersonations of the overdone redneck yelping of poseur rednecks in places like Montreal and Boston, yelps that are never heard from audiences in places like Louisville or Birmingham. This led into the new song "Countrier Than Thou"
 
 3. A comment that Jay Farrar is the "consumate entertainer" (this had to be sarcasm), but that Bill Kirchen is even more consumate because he can play the trombone. Also the comment that even though Bill Kirchen moved to Austin, he keeps coming back to DC "like the guy who comes back to visit people at high school cuz he can't make any friends at college."

[Guiny]

Yeah.............Hilarious........  :roll:

<img src="http://www.ilovebacon.com/090904/trojans.jpg" alt=" - " />

[edbert]

I thought he was gonna keep singing the words to "Fraulein" over every song- that was funny when he started in with it over Jacko's "Black And White"
 Robbie should really make putting out a live CD a top priority.  I wonder if there's any good shows being traded out there in the bootleg world

[snailhook]

i wouldn't say that last night was the show of the year -- probably because i am not an alt-country junkie -- but it certainly was solid and thoroughly entertaining. fulks played for close to two hours, which was just a little bit too long for me (though probably not long enough for rhett). i enjoyed his set last year, but last night's was far superior.
 
 fulks is definitely up there with richard thompson in the "musicians who moonlight as comedians" category. that fountains of wayne bit that rhett described was hilarious, but clever comedy is hard to explain because it's nearly impossible to capture the timing and facial expressions. the faux redneck bit was awesome, too.
 
 edbert is right in that fulks really needs to release a live album; his band is tight, and the comedy bits are priceless. it would be far from releasing a live album simply to cash in.
 
 i'm glad i saw fulks last night to get my alt-country fix in, since it looks like i won't be able to catch tift merritt, laura cantrell, or the silos.

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

nah, show was the perfect length. My wife wishes he had played "I Push Right Over" instead of stopping it because it sounded too much like the previous song "fraulein"...but what are you going to do?

[Jaguär]

Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
  2.  Impersonations of the overdone redneck yelping of poseur rednecks

I don't know what's sadder, a redneck or a poseur redneck.

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

Anti-Nashville Brass From Robbie Fulks
 Wednesday, September 15, 2004; Page C09
 
 
 A transplanted southerner who now lives in Chicago, Robbie Fulks can write and sing country songs better than many of Nashville's big-name stars. So why have most people never heard of him? The answer may be that Fulks is too clever for his own good. Or at least too clever for labels that don't want to toy with proven formulas. He once wrote a song, "[Expletive] This Town" that pretty much said all he needed to say about the Nashville industry.
 
 In front of a rowdy crowd at Iota Monday night, the tall Richie Cunningham sorta look-alike played a slew of his smart-alecky songs like "Let's Kill Saturday Night," "I Told Her Lies" and the vicious "Countrier Than Thou," a slam on poseurs who think that putting on a cowboy hat and a southern accent suddenly makes them country. There was also the hilarious "Cigarette State," a backhanded tribute to his childhood home of North Carolina.
 
 
 
 Like Roger Miller a few decades ago, Fulks injects humor and satire into his songs. And he also insists on playing complex country music. Or, some might argue, country music with a complex. Occasionally it does seem like he's trying just a little too hard to let you know how smart he is.
 
 Because he's so good at coming up with odder, darker, funnier songs, it's easy to overlook how brilliant he is when he just plays it straight. It's a bit like when the class clown suddenly wants to be taken seriously. But Fulks pulled it off with the beautiful new number "Take Us In," a soulful tale of homelessness that was moving without being maudlin. And his weepy opener, "Tears Only Run One Way," should be a country music staple.
 
 With his fine three-piece band, Fulks also honored some clear influences by including covers of Johnny Paycheck's "The Lovin' Machine" and Bill Anderson's "Cocktails." It all made for a terrific night of country music -- even without Nashville's stamp of approval.