By GINA VIVINETTO and PHILIP BOOTH
Published September 18, 2003
Vince Neil, the flaxen-haired, tattooed party boy who fronted Motley Crue for years, isn't as appealing without his Motley peeps behind him. Sure, he had a few 1990s solo albums - including Exposed and Carved In Stone - that had a Motley Crue vibe.
But most of his solo songs simply aren't as good as those penned by Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee. So, Team Pop wagers that Neil, 42, will spend the better part of his St. Petersburg gig Friday singing from the Sixx and Lee songbook. And fans will thank him for it.
Vince Neil performs at 8 p.m. Friday at Jannus Landing, 16 Second St. N, St. Petersburg. $17 advance, $20 day of show. (727) 896-2276.
- GINA VIVINETTO, Times pop music critic
Beautiful music in its own way
San Francisco all-female experimental band Erase Errata believes in the power of guitar dissonance and jagged rhythms. The sonic hodgepodge may not always be "pretty" to listen to, but the music is definitely engaging, and it packs a subversive message. Hear the hyper ranting and chanting of the 2001 debut Other Animals, with lead singer Jenny Hoyston screaming like a feral cat and backed by the band's playful atonal shenanigans, some of them banged out on a toy piano. The album's best lyric: "We are the concrete enemy/We are the reasons for the gated communities!"
Opening act Numbers, also from San Fran, may be the only band herky jerky enough to share the stage with Erase Errata.
Erase Errata with Numbers, Hepatitis Youth and others, performs at 9 p.m. Friday at the Orpheum, 1902 Avenida Republica de Cuba, Ybor City. $8 advance, $9 day of show. (813) 248-9500.
- GINA VIVINETTO, Times pop music critic
A Victor Wooten string-along
Electric bassist Victor Wooten, longtime four-stringer supreme for Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, isn't quite as innovative as Stanley Clarke or the late Jaco Pastorius. But he has achieved a remarkable degree of proficiency and technical virtuosity on his instrument, and it's always a treat to catch him in action, ripping out astounding fretwork and turning in delicate unaccompanied pieces.
Wooten, just finished with another stint leading his Bass/Nature Camp in rural Dickson County, Tenn., about 40 miles west of Nashville, often produces deep, jazzy funk jams, like the ones sprinkled throughout his latest CD, Live in America. The double-disc live recording, released on indie label Compass, is a document of Wooten's road shows with his family band: Brothers Reggie and Joseph Wooten play guitar and keyboards, respectively, and friend J.D. Blair is the quartet's drummer (another sibling, Roy "Futureman" Wooten plays "drumitar" for the Flecktones).
On the CD, Victor Wooten duels with fellow bass monster Marcus Miller, offers a guest spot to P-Funk bassist Bootsy Collins, and gives nods to Pastorius, James Brown and Sly Stone. A similar mix of jazz and funk influences is to be expected when he plays Jannus Landing on Saturday. Doors open at 7 p.m., the show begins at 8 p.m. at 16 Second St. N, St. Petersburg. $17 advance, $20 day of show. (727) 896-2276.
