Rob Chidester has one goal for Baton Rouge. He wants to make the community safe for “artocracy.”
“That is, culture and art of the people, by the people and for the people,” he says.
With his Royal Cyclops Productions, Chidester has been building quite the cultural scene in Chelsea’s Café’s side bar. His monthly “Drop the Needle” shows, which feature local musicians playing a classic album front-to-back, are regularly jam-packed. So packed that in November, the show will move to a bigger venue—the Hartley/Vey Studio at Manship Theatre. Chidester says he’s thankful so many people are coming to the shows, but that over-stuffed vibe is impacting the concert’s theatrical experience.
“It’s not a bad problem to have,” he says. “But now people are packed in, shoulder to shoulder. It’s standing room only, and some are having trouble seeing the show. Hartley/Vey is the prime place to go. We’ll have space for two to three times the people. The sound is great there, and we’ll have ample parking. I’m looking forward to it.”
The show will move from Thursday nights to Friday nights, as well. Chidester is mum on what album he’ll do in November, but says, “It will be a major show to celebrate the big move.”
Since “Drop the Needle” will depart from Chelsea’s side bar, Chidester says he’ll make the fourth Thursday of every month a rotating variety show and build other concept shows.
“It could be anything,” he says. “It could be a vaudeville show or a burlesque show. I want to make a night of it and promote the hell out of it.”
Royal Cyclops’ weekly Songwriters in the Round will also go to once a month in the side bar on a Wednesday night to make the evening more special, he says.
Never at a loss for words, Chidester is finally seeing the fruits of his labor, and says the tide is turning for Baton Rouge’s music scene.
“I think we’re changing the culture of Baton Rouge being a band town,” he says. “The college-age kids aren’t the college-age kids of the ’90s. They aren’t doing what they did back then. The tastes are turning, and the tide has to turn to keep up with that. The ‘Drop the Needle’ series is a testament to the changing atmosphere of the musical community. We’ve had lines out the door before the show, and within four minutes of opening the door, all the seats and tables are taken. Beyond that, we’re pulling all the people from all these groups and bringing them together to do a show as opposed to a gig. We show them what a night of entertainment should be like.”
For more information on “Drop the Needle,” read this article from the latest issue of 225.
Live picks
Cajun rock band Lost Bayou Ramblers perform Friday at Spanish Moon with New Orleans’ own Sweet Crude. Doors open at 9 p.m. Cover is $10 at the door. Check out my “endorsement” of the band here.
Local musicians perform the music of The Velvet Underground at Red Star as part of Factory Night Friday at 9 p.m. RSVP and get more information.
Rock bands The Hitchhiker, Jetlagger and Summer Fits perform at Chelsea’s Café Saturday at 10:30 p.m. Cover is $7. RSVP and get more information.
Song of the week
Tweedy’s “Diamond Light Pt. 1”
Since Wilco’s rise to popularity with the masterful Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Jeff Tweedy and his gang’s output has been inconsistent. Flashes of brilliance lie here and there, but mainly Tweedy writes sunnier songs these days. Along the way to recording a solo album, Tweedy wrote demos with his son, Spencer, playing the drums. The result is an entirely new band named Tweedy, and the debut Sukierae finds the lead singer going into those experimentally dark places that make me drool. It doesn’t hurt that Spencer is one hell of a drummer, as shown in this track where his incessant bass drum kicks propel the song almost into the Krautrock genre. Throughout the release, it sounds like Spencer has also brought out some of the best material in his father. This is the Wilco album I’ve been waiting for.
Album of the week
Aphex Twin’s Syro
Richard D. James, a.k.a. Aphex Twin, has returned in such a glorious way. The electronic musician’s latest album, Syro, comes 13 years after the underrated Drukqs. In typical fashion, Syro is a heady trip with beats bouncing into different territories with the turn of a measure. It’s impossible to unpack all the sounds in one sitting. While there is nothing as jolting as “Windowlicker” or “Come to Daddy (Pappy Mix Version),” because of James’ departure, the new album packs a punch immediately. You realize how great James was and how the genre still hasn’t caught up to him. At the same time, Syro sounds like it was plucked from 1997, as if James is picking up where he left off after the Come to Daddy EP. I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case—James just releasing a ton of old tracks packaged together. I only hope next time he releases something, he doesn’t take 13 years to do so.
