THE HEAVENLY STATES: Black Comet

The Heavenly States

Black Comet

© 2005 Baria Records (805386026824)

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The band that went to libya. they have a raw and jumping sound that wakes the bones and makes you mad at the world. the band have toured all over the world and have made fans in the uk, australia, europe and even egypt. this is

notes

WE won't tell you - Newsweek can do that

Catch Us at the Casbah
Newsweek
Jan. 31 issue - More than three decades after banning Western music from Libya, Muammar Kaddafi has agreed to let the casbah rock. And an American band will do the honors. Next week in Tripoli, California's The Heavenly States will launch a six-day tour to spread its buoyant, Bush-baiting pop from the Roman ruins at Leptis Magna to the streets of Benghazi. The last Yanks to light up the Libyan stage? USO mainstays Anita Bryant and Les Brown. In 1963.
"We're totally into the idea of rattling these cages," says violinist Genevieve Gagon. To get the gigs Gagon and her cohorts spent the last year clearing hurdles: a stonewalling State Department, cagey local bureaucrats and, most alarming, Libya's lack of rock-ready drum sets (solution: hire a courier to cart a kit the 1,000 miles from Cairo). "It's about mountaineering," says manager Eugene Bari, who remortgaged his house to pay for the tour. "The higher and more dangerous the climb, the better the view." Speaking of tall orders, the band still needs to attract an audience in a place where people prefer the smooth sounds of Pan-Arab "Pop Idol" winner Ayman al-Aathar, a Libyan himself. The plan is to lure locals with leaflets. Admits Bari: "It may just be a few camels grooving in the desert."
-Andrew Romano
© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.

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  • saw them live
    author: Ed

    Introduced to them by a good friend. Saw them live in a small midwestern bar in a small midwestern city. They rocked. The visual element is half the enjoyment so if you've only listened to their album you don't know half of what you've missed. Ted plays his guitar left handed and upside down (whereas Hendrix only played left handed). Alternating violin and keys are cool on the album but Genevieve plays both very nearly simultaneously holding her violin in suspension between her shoulder and her chin like a cordless phone to free both hands. It was a memorable experience in the company of my friends that I won't forget. By now they're probably playing much larger venues so I feel privileged to have seen them at a small local show.

  • The stand out album of the year.
    author: CHINASKI

    Black Comet rolls seamlessly in and out of emotions and genres and making it the stand out album of the year. The songs are all different and full of invention. Infused with the spirit of a rollicking bar band and the addition of Genevieve Gagon's violin and viola - these smokin' strings combine with occasional sax, trumpet and keys to expand the band's sound, enabling The Heavenly States to rock in a more unique way, which is always good.

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