I only caught a few of Kalup Linzy's songs at the Works last night—didn't grab me, and at the Works I need to be grabbed or it's to the beer garden for me, I'm afraid. Linzy is the striking black man in a dress who graces quite a few of the TBA ads you've seen around town, and last night he fronted a handful of local musicians for a set that was draggy in more ways than one. Linzy strikes me as an accomplished character actor and talented video artist, but for all his flamboyance, there was nothing terrifically innovative about his performance, and he he didn't seem particularly comfortable onstage: At least during the couple songs I caught, there was no patter, no charisma. At one point, Linzy invited audience members to take the mic to sing a song lyric "This ain't no chewing gum"—it was endearing, but it betrayed a certain awkwardness, from the mic handoffs to the too-protracted audience singalongs. ("Oh no, the drunk girl has the mic," my friend said at one point). Other critics seemed to get more out of the show than I did—there's a very positive review over at Culturephile.

More photos after the jump.