Between Rock and a Hard Place: Bryan John Appleby Takes On the Tractor, While Shim Celebrates Their Album Release Friday

Chris, I dare you to parse this album cover.

When you're dealing with a calendar as crazy-looking as this one, how do you decide what to do? There are three (!) festivals happening this weekend, four if you count the Helsing Junction Sleepover in Rochester. Heck, even Smokey Robinson's in town. But if you want to support the local guys, Friday offers a difficult choice.

Bryan John Appleby debuted his new record, Fire on the Vine, late last month at the Columbia City Theater. A wide-ranging opus, songs rarely clock in under four minutes, with some going as long as seven. Employing the multi-instrumentalist talents of a host of local musicians, there's glockenspiel, strings, piano, and at the live show, a bunch of chains used for percussion that battered and bloodied the hands of the gentleman who wielded them.

Chris, I dare you to parse this album cover.

When you're dealing with a calendar as crazy-looking as this one, how do you decide what to do? There are three (!) festivals happening this weekend, four if you count the Helsing Junction Sleepover in Rochester. Heck, even Smokey Robinson's in town. But if you want to support the local guys, Friday offers a difficult choice.

Bryan John Appleby debuted his new record, Fire on the Vine, late last month at the Columbia City Theater. A wide-ranging opus, songs rarely clock in under four minutes, with some going as long as seven. Employing the multi-instrumentalist talents of a host of local musicians, there's glockenspiel, strings, piano, and at the live show, a bunch of chains used for percussion that battered and bloodied the hands of the gentleman who wielded them.