From San Francisco to Cambodia

Tony Peyser
Mirror contributing writer

Larry Gallagher’s An Endless Chain Of Accidents, has clever, impassioned and often hilarious songs that reminded me musically of Van Dyke Parks and lyrically of Loudon Wainwright III. The endearing “Show Me Your Flaw” is about a guy who sees his dream girl with some pony-tailed jerk and wants to be released from her spell: “Do your torture household pets?/ Do you dig Geraldo? /Have massive gambling debts?” Gallagher reveals he’s a daring rhyming whiz a line later with, “Indulge a geek miss/ Any major weakness … ” And anybody who can write a song called “Wimpy White Guys With Guitars” is someone we all need to know about. A bit old school and old-timey, Bay Area-based Gallagher could give, uh, wimpy white guys with guitars a good name.
Honky Tonk Chateau from Missouri don’t play honky tonk but have a roots rock sound that’s irresistible. While their name is like an Elton John CD, Walk In The Sun is like The Smithereens jamming with John Mellencamp. “Twenty-Six Miles” has a driving rhythm and guitars that surge with a defiant jangle. They can’t be a quart low in the sultry department when Sheri Hurst is singing lead or harmony vocals. With Ex-Skeleton Lou Whitney producing, the album has an assured snap that sophomore efforts often lack.
Studio City-based Jamie Green’s Truce has cheeky lines like, “Not gonna shave my legs for this/Not going to Jenny Craig for this.” She looks airy-fairy but is also in touch with her inner Alanis. In the original “Taximan,” Green recounts a ride in New York where she and her Pakistani driver discovered a kinship on the cab radio for Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car.” In our shaky post 9/11 world, it has compassion, insight and hope. John Ashcroft would hate it, which is one of many reasons I like Green’s second release.
Ashcroft would also hate the Los Angeles-based Dengue Fever, a band that blends rock, surf and psychedelia. Their lead singer is Cambodian and Ashcroft likes foreigners less than atheists. Chhom Nimol was picked up in February during a code orange terrorist sweep and detained for three weeks because of visa problems. Nimol, who lives in Long Beach, still has pending legal bills and court dates. But she and Dengue Fever also have concert dates which will help them get through this trying period. This is otherworldly world music with a pop heart that’s sung in Nimol’s native Khymer language. Dengue Fever sound like a B-52’s cover band playing a USO show in Phnom Penh who suddenly decide to break in some of their own material. It’s startling, danceable and intoxicating.
Miles Of Music has An Endless Chain Of Accidents and Walk In The Sun for $12.99. CDBaby has Truce for $12.97. Amoeba has Dengue Fever for $11.98.
On July 29, Jamie Green is at The Temple Bar.
In honor of our born again Attorney General, The Goofy Band Name Of The Week is … Satan O’Sullivan.