Music: Andy Friedman & The Other Failures
By Kevin Foster Langston

"A performer needs only a true and heartfelt light to rock a crowd," says Andy Friedman. While Friedman speaks metaphorically, the light he uses in a literal manner is the tiny bulb in his slide-projector that illuminates the walls of watering holes, music venues and colleges throughout the country. Far more interesting than Uncle Doug's weekend at South of the Border, Friedman's slides depict his oil paintings, pencil drawings and Polaroid photographs, and instead of the regular "this drawing here is supposed to capture my inner rage" spiel, Friedman accompanies his pictures with lyrics with the addition of music from his band, The Other Failures. His desired effect is to weave together his words and pictures "like words and music in a song." While based out of Brooklyn, Friedman has a certain rural charm to his deadpan delivery. The country-blues stylings of his band undoubtedly help, but Friedman's road-worn musings are the real compass. He has called the performance "sort of like Luke The Drifter [an alias of Hank Williams] with visuals."

Hunter-Gatherer: Friday, January 21: Hipsters love Hunter-Gatherer, and with good reason. Not only do you get locally brewed beer, surprisingly sophisticated grub and plenty of grad-school hotties, but also some of the more eclectic musical performances you'll find in the local bar scene. But this show, Andy Friedman & The Other Failures, has us scratching our head even more than usual. It seems that Friedman is a poet and a visual artist who accompanies projections of his works with spoken lyrics and a backing band. Now you might think this sounds like too much to handle, but a lot of smart writers have been wowed: The New Yorker, for one, wrote that Friedman is a "master of the slide-projector" who has elevated the "ramblings of a wayward folk musician into an artform." 'Nuff said. Admission is $3, and the show starts around 10:30PM.