Franz Nicolay at the Mercury Lounge

Franz Nicolay; Erik Petersen; The Cotton Jones Basket Ride
@ Mercury Lounge
December 9, 2007

It was a night of solo acoustic sets by musicians known in bands (the headliner was Danbert Nobacon of Chumbawumba). Franz Nicolay is as verbosely rich as he is visually and musically rich. Displaying a strong octave range, Franz strummed folk-pop whimsy and observation. A little work on the accordion and it was a great set.

Accordion Insta-Clip

Erik Petersen is from a Philly punk band, Mischief Brew and by his style and the fans who showed up, we're talking the Social Distortion vein. Some of the sentiments in his originals were a bit murky but his covers of "Midnight Special" and "Fairytale of New York" were fun.
The Cotton Jones Basket Ride, themselves a spinoff of some project, are a sharp rock n' roll band who sound musically a lot like Holly Golightly - meaning a little go-go 60's blues rock. The ballads stand out more than the snappy ones, which all sort of blend together but no matter - they were very, very good.