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Concert Sun Apr 12 2009
Review: A Hawk and A Hacksaw, Daniel Knox, The Hats - 4/9/09
Jeremy Barnes of Hawk and a Handsaw (photo by Kirstie Shanley)
10:00 p.m. on a Thursday is a little late for a school night, but Jeremy Barnes of A Hawk And A Hacksaw was not having it from the Hideout audience. "You know, we were in Ann Arbor last night, and I hate to say it, but they were a little more active than you. I'd like to see some more movement," he requested politely. While the spots in the audience did give him a few pockets of shimmies and twirls, most of the evening was marked by a rapt (or at least least sleepily respectful) audience.
With a bevy of instruments laid out in the center of the room, the mildly unexpected Hats took the audience through some jazz improvisations — wild trumpet outbursts, saxophone wails, and a xylophonist armed with four mallets of fury. The band had breakdowns showing off each of the members that went off wildly before returning lock-step to each other — the highlight being the xylophonist's literal deconstruction of his instrument, pulling the bars out for a clattering crescendo.
Daniel Knox (photo by Kirstie Shanley)
Following nothing short of his sixth poetic introduction from Thax Douglas, Daniel Knox took the stage, unleashing his vaudevillian tunes that were as pleasantly anachronistic as the musical saw player by his side. His piano ballads swam between somber, dark, and playful. Overall lyrics like "Rip the baby from the mother's breast" — and the occasional kazoo solo — kept the proceedings fairly tongue-in-cheek.
Heather Trost of Hawk and a Handsaw (photo by Kirstie Shanley)
Finally, Jeremy and Heather took the stage with a tuba from New Mexico and a trumpeter from our own South-side. If he hadn't had much time to prepare for the concert, it didn't show — the band launched into their set like clockwork, with Jeremy's accordion managing feats most pianos can only dream of, and Heather's strings singing under her touch. While the audience may not have gotten as jiggy as Mr. Barnes desired, an appreciation was certainly in the air, and certainly well-deserved.
[See more pictures from the show by Kirstie Shanley at the Transmission Flickr page.]
— Dan Morgridge / Comments (0)
