Of course, it was a all bit too good to be true...
Some dismal amendments to earlier gig announcements:
-Haley Bonar won't now be coming over "because the expenses weren't exactly equalling out", (which tips the balance against the Alan Sparhawk Arts Cafe show Oct 29). Still, you can go to her...
-and neither will John Askew aka Tracker presumably since the ticket was as support to Transmissionary Six, who have also cancelled...

However...
-Adam Selzer's Norfolk & Western now appear with St.Thomas at The Spitz Nov 7, having been gathered under the ever-expanding Way Beyond Nashville umbrella | site | new sounds
-and two days later catch The Long Winters, dealers in bold power-pop of the right sort, at the same venue. They re-unite with Centro-matic for what promises to be a show-and-a-half save for the fact that two other performers - Gary Hilton, Warren Malone - will apparently be getting in the way. Sorry guys but come on, these bands surely deserve a full set each?!

It's probably just co-incidence but the Long Winters' sound is not a million miles removed from the more upbeat full-band moments on fellow Seattle-ite Damian Jurado's best album, Rehearsals for departure from '99. Jurado headlines another spiffing Spitz show this Wednesday (Oct22) where Julie Doiron and James William Hindle support. Sadly, a prior appointment with, er, The Darkness prevents reallyrather attending and so missing the opportunity to congratulate JWH on his latest album, Prospect Park [recommended here Sept 14]: 'This album does, in fact, rank right up there with some of the greatest pop albums of all time,' exaggerated LMNOP...

And, since it's unlikely this blog will ever get to see them, it would've been interesting to discover what Hindle thought of The Trolleyvox with whom he shared a bill last week in Philadelphia. Though the TV's latest, Leap of folly, does lend a bit of weight to the addage that you really can have too much of a good thing, Andrew Chalfen's supersweet electric guitar+tambo barrage is most definitely A Good Thing - check out the latest (albeit atypically polite) slice, the web exclusive Verlainesque, uploaded last month...

If the promoters of Way Beyond Nashville can stretch the 'Americana' label to include the Long Winters then how come The Belles haven't been roped in as well? Actually, it's probably because no-one here has ever heard of them (except, ahem, reallyrather - see Nov 30 '02). Right out of the blue this Kansas combo has been picked up by upstart UK indie label Eat Sleep and they're coming over to play the Camden Barfly Nov 3. Now this venue's hardly the biggest in town but from where this blog's stands the booking still looks a mite optimistic. What do they sound like? Well, if it means anything, kind of like Gingersol-meets-Oranger but not quite as sparky as either. (BTW, you can hear the brand new Oranger album Shutdown the sun in it's entirety down the page here.) The Belles showcase their mellowist(?) side on the 4-track debut EP which culls a pair of cuts from debut album Omerta (not the most obvious ones, interestingly) and has a pair of new songs which are at least as decent (notably Left arm tan). It's all most pleasant, unfussy and neatly produced, but quite how Christopher and Jake Belles have got their foot in the European door ahead of the likes of Gingersol's Steve and Seth say, or a sonically more adventurous duo like Slowreader is puzzling indeed...

At least Eat Sleep seem to be stumping up to bring them over, however. At the ICA earlier this month indie comets Broken Social Scene apologised for the no-show of the advertised support, dreamy fellow Canuks Stars, suggesting all complaints be directed towards the latter's UK label, Setanta. Hmmm. This is the label Richard Hawley has just parted company with and who, in the matter of tour underwriting, he described in a recent interview as being - if you please - "Tighter than a moth’s arsehole"...

"I'm writing some rock songs right now for [my new band] River Bends," Denison Witmer tells Indieworkshop this week; "It's nice because it's giving me a chance to be a little less confessional and push my writing in a new direction. We're in the studio currently and we'll be finished with the disc by the year's end." Wahoo!, quite frankly...