BEVIS FROND
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Nick Saloman, who for most intents and purposes is the Bevis Frond, is single-handedly keeping aloft the torch of first-wave psychedelic rock. As a teenager in the 60s, he played in a group called the Bevis Frond Museum, but he didn’t release any records under the name until Miasma in 1986. Since then, though, 15 studio albums–some of them doubles–have poured out of him, full of songs untouched by post-1972 musical developments but too graceful and serious to be period pieces. Saloman is an extraordinary guitarist who writes mostly in the house styles of the old Fillmore West: the ultraheavy guitar odyssey, the extended hippie groove plus solo, the taut, lacy acoustic strummer. But he’s not oblivious to the tentacles of his chosen form: he’s also the publisher of the zine Ptolemaic Terrascope, which has assembled three well-regarded festivals of modern psychedelia. The Bevis Frond’s set was the climax and highlight of Terrastock II, held last year in San Francisco: in the center of a glorious light show, Saloman commanded the stage like the rock god he might have been if timing and luck had conspired a little more efficiently. The forthcoming Live at the Great American Music Hall (out this Tuesday on Flydaddy) was recorded on the same trip; after all these years, it’ll be good to have a document of the band’s live power. For this tour, the Frond will be a trio, with sometime Hawkwind bassist Adrian Shaw and Silver Apples drummer Joe Popetier. Mary Lou Lord, also on the bill, is a major Bevis Frond fan–Saloman wrote or cowrote more than half of her 1998 album Got No Shadow. Sean Na Na (who’s releasing a split CD-EP in November with Lord) and Texas space rockers Seven Percent Solution open. Thursday, October 14, 9 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western; 773-276-3600. DOUGLAS WOLK
