9
MONDAY
Western Electric is such a perfect band name that I’m surprised it hasn’t been used beforeespecially because the new combo fronted by Sid Griffin (former member of both the Long Ryders and Coal Porters) juices up alt-country with good-humored psychedelia. Much of the band’s self-titled CD covers the same ground as Gene Clark and Gram Parsons; in fact, a previously unrecorded Clark composition, “Straight From the Heart,” closes the CD. (It’s also worth noting that Griffin is a Parsons biographer.) I have a low tolerance for twang, but I really dig “Emily in Ginger,” which Syd Barrett might have penned on one of his sunnier days. To up the trippiness ante, Robyn Hitchcock guests on the CD. But Hitchcock’s unlikely to be joining Western Electric tonight, though the band is billed with the smart and sassy Amy Rigby. At 8:30 p.m. at IOTA, 2832 Wilson Blvd., Arlington. $10. (703)522-8340. (Pamela Murray Winters)