The Thirsty Hippo should always be remembered not just as a bar, but as a fantastic source of energy. On a good night, the best time to visit was in that final hour. If you could not make the show, you still could catch the contact buzz from those who did — and maybe even further draft off them in search of the post-show get-together.
If you drove by either Main or McLeod and saw ten people outside (especially that beckoning iconic red door) — it was time to stop in. This waning hour earned such a reputation that friends would come to sell burritos and the bravest pizza deliverer would show four or five pies to sell by the slice. This was not taking advantage. This was wanting to be there to inhale that collective last breath — just as we have been doing for the last month.
Who didn’t want to be chosen to be scooped up and physically carried out of the bar by Josh, who was simply herding us all like a shepherd tending his sheep? Or perhaps merrily caught in the crossfire of a beer coaster battle with little Abita circles scattered around you like confetti. After suffering through the dull repetition of the workweek and the abject loneliness that followed, Brad Clark put it best while in Buffalo Nickel: “Find Me a Crowd.”
There was no stage on Main. The environment welcomed artists who wanted an audience face-to-face and were likely ready to talk to them after the show. I once told a performer I was trying to convince to come to play, “You may not sell much merch, but you will make friends for life.” To this day, this remains the only place where you can sit at the bar and touch the drummer. In fact, the entire collection of geometry and stage organization that I had seen (from both sides) over my whole life was turned on its ear. As a performer, there was often so much activity that you could not help but get involved. This “equality” made audience members want to be up there too.
So the Hippo hosted everything. Plays. Comedians. Art installations. Poets. Rappers. Everyone of all styles and backgrounds was welcome to entertain and perhaps even enlighten. This was not just a move to sell more libation. If anything, the libation was only the hint of gasoline needed to prime the engine — and keep it going for 23 amazing years.
On McLeod, the restaurant doubled as a classic New York City-style club turned sideways. If you walked in the right door, the first thing you saw was the band. The back room was cloistered away for the most special shows. It was like paradise. The instant you set foot on that stage, the performance became real. You knew intrinsically “this is hallowed ground.” To stand here was a rare privilege and a confirmation that your energy was in line with all those in the past.
In the audience, that energy was also so well harnessed. The Hippo became a fixture of the community with running clubs, blues and jazz during dinner, and a welcoming atmosphere to sit either inside or outside. No longer just a bar, a restaurant, or even a venue, people were married here across generations. Not just because it was a “cool place” either. Because their history became part of the shared history. This is where we all stand today, with our hearts full of gratitude and great memories that will keep this hallowed ground alive.
Mik Davis is the record store manager at T-Bones Records & Cafe in Hattiesburg.
New music This Week
RUSTON KELLY - The Weakness [LP/CD](Rounder)
Beneath its layers of gauzy chorus and delay, the self-described “dirt Emo” of Ruston Kelly takes another shape on “The Weakness.” Months of solitude and divorce make this one painful, but like Jason Isbell’s “Southeastern,” no matter how much Kelly beats himself up or hurts from open wounds no matter how far he gets away from Nashville, he relents in not giving in (the title track) or giving up (“Mending Song”).
MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA - The Valley of Vision [LP/CD](Loma Vista)
When does Indie Rock earn its stripes to move out of this small pond? Manchester has made some riveting music over the years, but now everyone sings like Andy Hull. So, wisely at that, they produced a stadium-ready boom on the dense "The Million Masks of God." After now earning a pair of Top 3 AAA hits and a remixes album, "Valley" is a bit of a step backward. With a scant six songs, they bathe in their production style and rarely find substantive things to say while tackling the big ones: Death, Love, and Redemption (which works on the quiet "Lose You Again").
MATTHEW LOGAN VASQUEZ - As All Get Out [LP/CD](Nine Mile)
A Hippo stalwart as both a solo artist and member of Delta Spirit, Vasquez used his time during the big shutdown to sober up and build his family. The sound of Delta Spirit ("Untouchable") breaks through his music this time, but there is a new expanse to his writing. No longer just a road dog, "As All Get Out" takes its nervous energy from the past and creates both sweeping Rock ("Over It") and lyrical mystery (the bare-bones experimental "Odysseus").
NF - Hope [LP/CD](NF Real Music)
Outside of his very Eminem-esque timbre and delivery, hip-hopper NF puts some real work into his lyrics on his fifth album. His angst surfaces on "Hope" like a monster rising from the sea. His repetition of "30 years" and the building conversation provides a thrilling cinematic ending to a song that is largely about breaking convention. "Motto" is far more sly in its construction. It opens blatantly with its hook as NF "goes from his bedroom to the big leagues." However, his story is largely about his appreciation of making his "art" and where it came from - and not necessarily him. So, NF finds a way to tell his story (like Logic) while using cliches and axioms as a means to satisfy that almighty need for a hook. Ingenious.
SURPRISES OF THE WEEK
ULRIKA SPACEK - Compact Trauma [LP](Tough Love UK)
Surviving the lockdown is one thing. However, losing both your home and studio is entirely another. The Sonic Youth-plays-Shoegaze magic of Ulrika Spacek has always placed them on the bands to watch list. As they rebuild their sound and their connections to each other over this riveting, deep, and multi-faceted album, you can hear them rejoining familiar elements of their sound and getting new results. "If The Wheels Are Coming Off, The Wheels Are Coming Off" sounds like aural surrender. Each instrument comes in on its own joining the drony procession, but it evolves and the forces that are making them play in sync actually push them together. "The Sheer Drop" comes out of nowhere to open the album with its dragging BritPop beat, chorused vocals, and a noisy bridge that provides quite the release. In the end, that may be what "Compact Trauma" is about, Ulrika Spacek could have been down for the count and either given up or just dove headlong into a new (commercially viable) sound. Instead, they took the least-taken path and found themselves in a whole new light.
DEAD HORSES - Brady Street [CD](Vos & Wolff/AMPED)
The Milwaukee duo of Sarah Vos and Dan Wolff could be like any other AAA/Americana type. However, “It’s All Good” peels back the layers on what makes them marketable (Vos’ Merchant/Brickell-ish vocals, post 80’s jangle) and slides in some thought-provoking lyrics (“The church gives out a loaf of bread/because Jesus spoke and Jesus fed/and I just keep on walking past” - the last word delivered with a devastating pause and whisper). Then, as soon as you think you pinned them down with a wordless chorus and shimmering guitars - they sail out with a gritty, almost Garage-ish ending. “Brady Street” sticks to its guns on melodic lyrics while changing the color of the destination for these wandering travelers dealing with “cognitive dissonance.” With all the predestined hits and their soundalikes gumming up AAA, Dead Horses are here to bring it to life.
TWO BRIEF REISSUES
ACETONE - 1992-2001 [LP](Light In The Attic)
When the four-track recorder freed bands from the shackles (and unified sound) of studio life, loads of simmering beat-wielding/whispery bands emerged from the woodwork. Los Angeles' Acetone found a way to conjoin the sizzle of Soul with loping Country Rock all under the post-Spacemen 3 banner. Still, as hypnotic as their original releases, Acetone celebrates how little it takes to have a couple of chords and melody transport you to a higher plane.
LLOYD COLE & THE COMMOTIONS - Rattlesnakes [LP](Proper UK)
After studying at the University of London and the University of Glasgow, Philosophy student Lloyd Cole put his songwriting to the test by assembling a band. As the Brits became better songwriters in the Eighties, Cole took a literate turn into almost Dylan-esque guitar Rock. His galloping tracks sounded like college-radio-ready Dire Straits and the overwhelming chime rang out before The Smiths and the others took over. In 1984, this Brit made early Americana. "Perfect Skin" makes spiritual cousins out of Orange Juice and Dylan's "John Wesley Harding."
On the radio-ready ballad "Forest Fire," Cole even courts Soul, while the title cut uses strings to warm up the heavily plucked and strummed sound. Mixed and recorded to be a Pop hit through and through, it was too easy to dismiss as "pretentious" in light of Aztec Camera and the others from the UK who were crossing over. However, Cole's literate lyrics and smart musical writing yielded yet another early Eighties record that still sounds influential today.
