This Fall Break Weekend offered your roving Entertainment Editor the
opportunity to check out some fine fare in that great southern metropolis,
Atlanta. After dining on Kaeng Thai at The Royal Orchid, my travel gang and
I had hip coffee at Café Mythology and perused the stacks at Oxford Books.
These are some of Atlanta’s major charms for travelers: fine dining, fine
coffee, and an excellent reading selection. But the evening would not have
been complete without experiencing the finest music made in Atlanta.
Luckily, Smoke played with The Rockateens Saturday night at
the Claremont Lounge on Ponce de Leon.
Smoke rose last year from the remains of the Opal Foxx Quartet, who
are immortalized on the CD The Love That Won’t Shut Up.. This
past weekend’s show celebrated the release of Smoke’s own debut,
Heaven On A Popsicle Stick.. Like the Opal Foxx recording,
this CD is rich in qualities lacking from most “underground” or “college”
music these days: character, texture, and passion.
The first step Smoke takes away from mainstream blandness is in
instrumentation. The band consists of Benjamin on vocals, Brian Halloran on
cello, Bill Taft on cornet and banjo, Coleman Lewis on guitar and Tim
Campion on drums. Oddly, this “un-rock” set-up allows Smoke to create music
both traditional and innovative at the same time.
Most striking amongst the layers of texture in Smoke’s music are Benjamin’s
vocals. His weathered rasp draws unavoidable comparisons to Tom Waits as he
languishes over deeply personal lyrics of love, loss and Luke Perry’s feet.
“Luke’s Feet,” a song about an obsession with a magazine photo of the 90210
actor’s feet, may seem absurd. But, woven into a story of an ice storm and
a “Flipper” episode, the song speaks volumes of sexual angst: “This glossy,
airbrushed picture of Luke Perry’s feet/ Keeps me on my toes, so to
speak.”
Another stand-out track is “Awake,” an introspective ballad about
day-to-day life, with the lamenting chorus: “You don’t want it tomorrow/ If
you got it today/ Tomorrow never happens anyway.”
The chorus of the following track, “Freak,” echoes this sentiment: “Life’s
not black or white, it’s black and white in grey tones.” Overall,
Benjamin’s vocal style and narrative writing give Smoke a very distinctive
voice.
Their live delivery of these richly crafted songs packs its own punch,
especially as framed last weekend by the charm of Atlanta’s Claremont
Lounge. This quiet little strip joint, an Atlanta landmark, was packed to
capacity. The rather statuesque exotic dancers could only perform on a
runway behind the bar, and several chose to sit and enjoy the bands.
Smoke’s bluesy torch-song qualities fit the atmosphere perfectly. The band
seemed laid back at first, but held the audience with their intensity.
Cornet and banjo player player Bill Taft seemed to be their director of
sorts, yelling out titles behind Benjamin’s between-song banter and
signaling changes with a high kick. The singer spoke personally with the
audience, spinning anecdotes and word play.
Smoke even had celebrity fans on hand to help them celebrate their CD
debut. Michael Stipe of REM sat just backstage for most of the show.
