Concert Review: An Intimate Evening with James Dean Rose and Friends / Craigslist Collage Project, Vol. II

Now that the terrifying Larryville heat wave of '11 has subsided, we were looking forward to a pleasant patio bluegrass matinee at the Replay yesterday evening. But the (slight) chance of rain scared the bands inside to play (seriously, did anyone even look at the evening weather forecast?). Perhaps it was ultimately for the best, however, since the back bar area smelled overwhelmingly of vomit last night. This was one of the worst smells we have smelled in the history of the Replay, and we have smelled some very bad smells there, we can assure you.

The intimate space inside proved a good match for James Dean Rose and friends, since JR's soft-spoken vocals don't carry far (even so, James requested vocal assistance from the sound man during his set, though his pleas went unheeded throughout the set, since there was no sound man in the room).

Here's James and the tiny fiddler from Ashes to Immortality doing "Brand New Pair of Roller Skates" while visions of naked Rollergirl from Boogie Nights danced in our head:
















And here's James Dean Rose and another friend performing an unexpected Mazzy Star cover (the hippies in the crowd grew bored and chattered, but this was very cool).















After their set on stage, James and various friends unplugged and played a shorter set in front of the stage, where they were joined at one point by a Native-American fellow playing a handmade flute-type instrument and a guy who appeared to be clogging except he wasn't wearing clogs, so he was sort of tapdancing.

Chip: "My favorite James Dean Rose song remains the one about 'Winter Wonder Whoopie Time," which is about the simple joys of boning in the winter months. It's as adorable as it is erotic."

Stream it here


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By popular demand, here's the second installment of our local Craigslist Collage project, which we still believe is a powerful statement on love and longing in Larryville that we'll likely perform and/or publish at some point. Notice how our work moves abruptly from the innocent to the explicitly sexual before climaxing (!) in the abstract. This mixture of the "sacred" and "profane" is strongly influenced by our studies of 17th century religious poets.

Enjoy!


"I was in the wrong line at the USPS Monday. Thought you were cute...You were the tall, slender, and beyond sexy brunette dancing by yourself during the Sell Out concert at the fair...Were you at the Jackpot on Tuesday? There were two very sexy ladies there who I meant to initiate conversation with, but had too much peppermint schnapps in me to decisively make any action, aside from preventing myself from passing out. I sang "Every Rose Has It's Thorn."... I will be at setm up Jacks in Lawrence for about n hour w/ my white Denver Broncos hat on backwards. Always ready always waiting. just walk up and ask " Are you Criag " ?... I will be hanging around [Campanile] tower from 2am to 3am hoping to suck a str8/bi guy, will be wearing a blue hoodie and driving a silver cavalier. if you dont see me around tower i may be in my car. walk by and grab your cock so i know you want it sucked...My gloryhole is only a twelve-minute walk from the center of campus, faster by car, and there's discreet off-street parking available just steps from the gloryhole...I am a devoted spanker...I am the Mocha Knight, searching for his princess, are you my princess?...I need someone who will break it down and make me wet and horny as they text and tell me what they want to do to me!!! TEXTING ONLY!...you used to go to the Pig to hang out this last spring, you said you were in town because of a lecture at KU about socrates?...You had a typewriter and a sign that said you would write poetry about anything. I asked for a poem about a toothbrush... I hope I get to conference with you on this, we could work together maybe do a pie chart divided by the statistical possibility of love and come up with a theory or not <3 the farmers daughter."