Kids Today! Bah! They think Jack and Meg White singlehandedly invented deconstructed, ballsy blues. When it comes to this youthfully naïve history, Jon Spencer and his Blues Explosion are as overlooked as Bella Swans period. What the Whites did accomplish was taking Spencers sexified trailer park hussy and, by treating her nice, transformed her into a respectably cheeky, mellowed-out bad girl, acceptably packaged for the masses. Now this isnt meant as a dis on JW. There certainly is a Detroit lineage to which Spencer is beholden. Hell, theres room in the garage for everyone to play. And as with the Stripes, JSBE live are a magical rarity, supremely tight, yet wholly combustible. Not to mention the allure of Mr. Spencer himself. In a DC warehouse somewhere there must be a portrait rapidly aging, as time has only made him more and more delicious. With Hillstomp. MA’CHELL DUMA LAVASSAR
Wed., Aug. 17, 8 p.m., 2011
