Misfortune (Little, Brown) tells the tale of Rose Old, a rubbish-heap foundling rescued by an eccentric English lord who makes some child-rearing choices that wouldn't sit well with Dr. Spock. It's a Victorian novel in the truest sense, 500-plus pages of labyrinthine plot turns, exquisite details, and vocabulary-builders that will have you reaching for your Webster's Collegiate--if you can put the novel down long enough.
In addition to reading at Elliott Bay Book Company at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 19, Wes will be playing a gig with his prog-rock pickup band, the Minstrel in the Galleries (featuring Kurt Bloch) at the Sunset later that same night. Can we expect any surprises? "Well⌠we will have rehearsed," discloses Wes. The jury is still out on whether or not they'll sport medieval period costumes, as at past Minstrels shows. These merry men will also go into the studio during Wes' visit, to record two songs for his forthcoming album, The Loveall Tryst, due in July. Featuring ditties lifted from the pages of Misfortune, the new CD will also include performances by Kelly Hogan and Nora O'Connor.
If making a trek to Ballard on Tuesday is too daunting for your lazy ass, drop by Chop Suey instead, where local singer-songwriter Luke Temple celebrates the release of his latest, Hold a Match for a Gasoline World. Issued on Seattle indie Mill Pond and recorded at our own Avast! Recording Co., this 11-song set delights with its mix of boyish vocals (pitched somewhere between Paul Simon and Erlend Ăye) and artful arrangements--the woodwinds add a particularly jaunty lilt to several cuts, and Border Radio covets Temple's treasured 1920 silk-and-steel-string Martin guitar--worthy of Jon Brion.
One of Border Radio's favorite under-the-radar releases of last year was Summerland, by San Francisco duo Nedelle & Thom. That disc, with its blend of Burt Bacharach-style classic pop constructions and rhythmic hints of bossa nova, was to the earliest works of Everything but the Girl what Nedelle's recent solo album, From the Lion's Mouth, is to EBTG singer Tracey Thorn's 1982 sublime outing A Distant Shore. If you love idiosyncratic female vocalists and smart, stripped-down songs, do not miss her appearance at the Paradox this Thursday, April 14.
Lastly, One Reel has announced the schedule for this year's Summer Nights concert series (which has moved to South Lake Union Park). Among the artists featured are roots and alt-country mainstays Lucinda Williams (June 24), Lyle Lovett (June 25 & 26), John Hiatt (July 10), B.B. King (Aug 12 & 13), and Blind Boys of Alabama (Aug 25).
