Fredericksburg has a new music venue! The Otter House opened for business earlier this month in the former Loft space on Princess Anne Street. And now, word of its first music shows are beginning to trickle in.
In a fashion not out of step with the restaurant/bar/venue’s new tenants,Sunken Well Tavern’s Steve Cameli and Paul Stoddard, the two shows booked so far might best be described as “old school Fredericksburg.”
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Playing for Change's 'Stand By Me' video
Oct. 14, 2009 6:54 pm
Stand-up performance
Freelance writer Jesse Scott has spoken with a lot of big names in music through the years. So for him to list something as one of his “favorite assignments of all time” caused me to pay a little extra attention.
That was how he described his article this week on Playing for Change, a movement that is part art-project, part band and part global cause. The article will run in Thursday’s Weekender.
It’s a difficult concept to wrap around—some may think this organization is trying to be too many things at once. But a look at some of the work they’ve done, including the video below, shows that Playing for Change is definitely well organized if anything.
The video, which has generated more than 20 million YouTube hits, was the first to appear, but was followed by a number of others, including a version of Bob Marley’s “One Love.”
The Playing for Change Band will play next Tuesday at the Birchmere.
You can't go (to) home(coming) again... By now, local music lovers should be familiar enough with this scenario: The University of Mary Washington brings a nationally known act to town, but you never hear about it … until you actually hear it. (See Fiasco, Lupe for my previous rantings on the topic.)
Following a well received performance last spring by Ben Folds that was sponsored by the school’s student entertainment group, Giant Productions, and was open to the public, it seemed UMW might finally be ready to pull its weight toward building a local music scene. But its homecoming performance with hip-hop artist Talib Kweli this Saturday would indicate otherwise.
Now, there are a couple of reasons to give UMW a pass on this:
-) The school has been reasonably good about promoting other types of public events, such as a forum with Ben Stein on Oct. 20 and a comedy performance by Steve Hofstetter on Oct. 23. (For more public events, see the school’s official calendar.)
-) While the school is a public institution, private funds, including alumni gifts and student activity fees, are typically used to cover the concert costs.
-) Some artists apparently provide discount booking rates to colleges, with the contractual caveat that the event may not be promoted outside the student population.
On the other hand: -) Having an unannounced rap concert in the middle of a residential area may not generate tons of goodwill toward the school.
-) Fredericksburg needs all the help it can get in bringing exciting youth-oriented events to town.
Whatever side you fall on, if you want to see the show, you do have your options: 1) Make fast friends with a UMW student or alumnus.
2) Make friends with someone whose house is within earshot of the school’s Battleground Athletic Complex, and hold a listening party from the comfort of their yard.
3) If all else fails, just try your luck going in.
Here’s hoping UMW decides to change its tune in the future, but on the bright side, for well behaved (read: sober) music fans looking simply to enjoy the show, rumor has it that security isn’t all that tight. Just be sure to check ahead for the weather report.
On his Web site, Stafford-based jazz guitarist Bruce Middle has quite a collection of accolades already. He can now add one more as the district finalist in Guitar Center’s “King of the Blues” competition. The contest now advances to the regional level where, if Middle does well, he will advance to the finals Nov. 12 in Hollywood.
Middle is one of the region’s many “hidden” talents in the sense that you won’t see him booking regular gigs at local nightclubs. You can, however, catch his semi-regular jazz jams at Bang! Music, on Garrisonville Road. The free event features Middle, pianist Lou Durham and guitarist David Jensen calling out tunes that they know from standard "Real Book" material and their own original material.
Bang! Music’s Joe Kane said this month’s jam may be cancelled if it conflicts with Middle’s competition. Check the store Web site for details or find them on the calendar at www.fredericksburg.com/sounds.
For more images from the show, click on the photo above.
From the G8 world leaders’ summit to the poorest parts of Africa--it seems that U2 singer Bono has a way of making himself at home wherever he may be. The band’s performance last night at the University of Virginia’s Scott Stadium, in Charlottesville, was no exception.
According to show promoter Live Nation, about 55,000 people showed up for the event. Some, such as Western Albemarle High School student George Washburne, had been camped out since 9 a.m. in order to get a spot in the general admission pit immediately surrounding the stage.
“This is a big, big night on the campus, we understand,” said Bono, before introducing his “roommates”: guitarist The Edge (“the nerd”), drummer Larry Mullen (“the jock”) and bassist Adam Clayton (“the friend to cheerleaders everywhere”).
As for Bono himself, “the college dropout,” he said, “I’m still standing on the stage because I still feel I’ve got a lot to learn, and these three men are the ones to teach me.” Bono didn’t stop there, however—he also showed his love to the people of Fredericksburg and Manassas with a random mention of VRE stops during some early stage banter.
These were among the many interludes that fans have come to expect from the loquacious Irishman during shows. No stranger to global causes, Bono plugged several over the course of the night. But surprisingly, the sermons (which some fans said were more subdued than on past tours) worked well with the music.
Prior to “New Year’s Day,” for instance, fans were treated to a videotaped message from astronaut Frank DeWinne, on board the International Space Station.
Bono dedicated “Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of” (an acoustic rendition, highlighted by The Edge’s falsetto backing vocals) to David Lane, president and CEO of the ONE campaign, which Bono launched in 2006 to send AIDS medication to Africa. He said Lane had been on U.Va’s grounds that day registering new ONE supporters.
For “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” images of Iranian protestors flashed up on the screen, tying the recent turmoil there to the Irish massacre for which the song was written.
The first set closed with a moving tribute to Burmese Democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi during the song “Walk On.” It found members of Amnesty International taking the stage donning cut-out masks of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who’s been under house arrest for the better part of two decades.
And the first encore opened with a message from another Nobel laureate, South African archbishop Desmond Tutu, before the band launched into “One” and “Where the Streets Have No Name.”
It seemed the bigger the cause was, the bigger the hit that succeeded it. So, it followed that when the band left the stage for a second time still not having played “With or Without You,” some might have expected Thomas Jefferson himself to come onscreen with a videotaped message about religious freedom.
Instead, it was a Hal-like computer that appeared on the screen, reciting W.H. Auden before the 1987 hit.
U2 performs "With or Without You"
As the band readied its final song, the recent “Moment of Surrender,” around 11 p.m. with a full moon overhead and a slight chill in the air, Bono offered one more message to the audience, which seemed as sincere as any that came before it: “Man, I don’t want to go home.”
There was no doubt that nearly everyone in the audience stood behind him on that one.
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Third Stream Giants: D.C.'s Hottest band?
Aug. 19, 2009 5:43 pm
Stream of consciousness
Since the release of their début album this spring, Third Stream Giants would seem to have kept a low profile. But a recent spurt of activity proves that the local funk outfit is still very much on the radar.
In addition to playing at the University of Mary Washington’s freshman welcome ceremony tonight, the band has a show booked at the new University Café tomorrow night.
And on Friday morning, a recently recorded in-studio performance will air on Washington D.C.’s CBS affiliate WUSA (9) as part of the Hottest 5 band competition. (See below for a promotional spot.)
The performance will air sometime between 9 and 10 a.m. during the CBS Morning Show. Then, on Thursday Aug. 27, the band will head to the Hard Rock Café in D.C. to compete for the title of D.C.’s Hottest band.
Blazed and Confused Tour Merriweather Post Pavilion Wednesday, Aug. 5
All right, let’s clear the air about one thing (even literally clear the air, perhaps).
The guys on the Blazed and Confused Tour are heavily in favor of the legalization of marijuana. They made that obvious over and over.
But I didn’t go to their show at Merriweather Post Pavilion to weigh in on any legal issues. I went for the music. And they delivered. Mickey Avalon did his job as the opener and piqued the audience’s interest with his synth-heavy, glammed-out brand of hip-hop.
Stephen Marley and his brother Julian followed Avalon with a much more laid back set, dipping into some of Stephen’s own tunes and following them up with an extended version of his legendary father Bob’s “Could You Be Loved?”
The show again shifted gears with half-headliner Calvin Broadus, better known as Snoop Dogg.
The Snoop that took the stage wasn’t the Snoop that you see on television, speaking in his trademark izzle-speak or charming the audience with his cheery demeanor. This was the straight out of Long Beach Snoop, the just signed to Death Row Snoop.
His set was seamless, with Snoop ripping through west coast classics like “Gin and Juice,” “187,” and “Nothin’ But a G Thang” then transitioning to his newer tunes like “Drop it Like it’s Hot.”
Snoop did show off his theatrical side, though, by playing sirens in the middle of one of his songs. “It’s the cops, turn the music down!” hollered Snoop.
Eventually, Snoop gave way to his co-headliners, Slightly Stoopid. Stoopid played through four songs “Til it Gets Wet,” “Sensimilla,” “Ese Locos,” and ”Somebody,” gracefully, with frontman Kyle McDonald on the guitar/vocals and fellow frontman Miles Doughty on bass.
Then the two switched for the next three, Doughty on guitar/vocals and McDonald on bass. Doughty’s talents shone bright on his “Closer to the Sun.”
Then they switched back, all the while transitioning from mellow, reggae tunes to faster, punk songs from their earlier albums. They even traded instruments in the middle of an instrumental jam. They played through a few more songs—their biggest hit “2 AM,” “‘Round the World” and “Longest Barrel Ride” before trying to call it quits. But a loud “SLIGHT-LY STOO-PID” chant brought Stoopid out for an encore.
When Stoopid came back out, they brought the brothers Marley and some of Snoop’s posse out with them, playing “Wiseman” before jamming on Bob Marley’s “Roots, Rock, Reggae” and Dr. Dre’s “B****** Ain’t S***.”
On the whole, these four acts put on a pretty entertaining show, mixing Snoop’s and Avalon’s rap, the Marleys’ and Stoopid’s reggae to perfection.
Jackson Browne Charlottesville Pavilion Tuesday, Aug. 4
Some who came to hear melodic rock icon Jackson Browne at the Charlottesville Pavilion Tuesday night were keen on hearing classic tunes like “Doctor My Eyes,” “Jamaica Say You Will,” “Fountain of Sorrow,” “The Pretender” and “Take It Easy,” the feel-good anthem he penned decades ago with Glenn Frey of the Eagles. Others wanted to believe that the literate rocker could still deliver the smooth, dulcet tones and the intricate harmonies that underlie both his acoustic and electric tunes.
They got both in a set that ran two-hours-plus and featured a tight band and backup singers whose soaring, sweet voices stunned the crowd on several numbers, especially the haunting “Lives in the Balance.”
Browne, who sings that in ’69, he was 21—which this fall makes him 61—looked fit and his voice was as smooth and honest as ever.
He had some fun with the Charlottesville audience, saying that walking about in the city surrounded by mountain peaks made him wonder if it might be a good place to live.
“But then again, I’ve been looking for a new place to live for some 35 years now,” said the musician whose tunes mix social commentary and personal struggles. “That’s life if you call L.A. home.”
Browne was also gracious to his band, and gave his guitar tech on-stage time and a short solo.
What many fans appreciated from the musicians who had more than a dozen guitars on stage: They started a few minutes before the announced 7 p.m. start, and were done before 10, with a short intermission.
When out into the cool of the evening strolled the performer--who’s no pretender.
I originally intended this to be a piece about what it’s like for a man on the wrong side of 40 to be surrounded by a bunch of teenyboppers at last week’s Green Day concert in Washington’s Verizon Center. Upon entering the arena, that idea died a swift and merciless death.
It turns out that it was a show for the ages—all ages. The requisite teenagers dodged security while shooting cell phone pictures from the row immediately behind me. A soccer mom in front of me pumped one fist to the pulse-pounding beat of “Know Your Enemy,” while her other hand rested protectively on her young son’s shoulder—he was the one wearing the ear plugs.
To the left and to the right, I stood shoulder-to-shoulder with hipster 20- and 30-somethings. On the floor near the stage, a middle- age man with obvious punk-rock roots danced in the center of a small pool of Hannah Montanas. Hopefully, he was related to at least one of them.
Now I have a confession to make. If I can come back in another life, I want to be a rock star. More specifically, I want to come back as Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong.
To stand before a crowd of thousands and have them hang on your every lyric is one thing, but to do it with the intensity and unwavering enthusiasm that Armstrong displayed takes the rock star fantasy to a completely different level.
The diminutive frontman possesses the unlimited energy of a supernova. Armstrong set a manic pace from the start and kept it going. At one point, he armed himself with various props including a bazooka-like device that fired T–shirts and a customized leaf blower that unraveled two rolls of toilet paper into the sweat-soaked crowd.
Armstrong rarely slowed down for long until a solo acoustic second and final encore starting with an abbreviated version of “Macy’s Day Parade” and closing with “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).”
Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tré Cool made the entire audience feel as if they were unofficial band members for the night.
Two members of the audience were pulled up onstage to take over lead vocals during the early classic “Longview.”
The first was an older rocker type sporting a wallet chain and a tight red T–shirt that strained to cover a professional-grade beer belly. He sang tentatively and shyly, never really embracing the encouragement that Armstrong tried to provide.
For the second half of the song, came a roaring emo-geek, who looked a bit confused at first, but quickly took on Armstrong’s persona and belted out the lyrics to an inspiring climax.
Even though he had to be clued in to how to perform a stage dive, I was completely jealous of that kid.
My envy was dialed up a notch when yet another youngster was pulled from the audience to play guitar during my favorite Green Day song “Jesus of Suburbia.”Described as “a complete mess” by Armstrong, the young man impressively rocked out as he got to live everyone’s fantasy of playing in their favorite band.
And that was the best part of the show for me. For every time that Armstrong led us in a chorus of “hey-yo” or brought another of us wannabes on stage, Green Day made rock stars of us all.
Chris Isaak Wolf Trap Filene Center Monday, July 27
The word “reinvention” is bandied around quite a bit in the music world. It may be attached to the young starlet trying to be taken more seriously or to the aging pop star trying to appear more relevant. Rarely does it go the other way, though. In fact, Chris Isaak may be one of the few musicians ever to attempt to be taken less seriously, and with resounding success. Isaak and three of his band mates—guitarist Hershel Yatovitz, bassist Rowland Salley and drummer Kenney Dale Johnson—starred in Showtime’s pseudo-reality sitcom “The Chris Isaak Show” from 2001 to 2004.
The show’s quirky, sometimes dark humor (like a less caustic version of “Curb Your Enthusiasm”) introduced many viewers to a new side of Isaak. It turns out the brooding, pretty-boy surf-rocker—known for his hits “Wicked Games” and “Somebody’s Crying”—can also have fun.
Isaak’s sharp—and often, ironically self-effacing—sense of humor was in full force at his show Monday at the Wolf Trap Filene Center. Following an opening set of yodeling and skatting by Martin Sexton that set the stage for anything but your average performance, Isaak came on like a tidal wave of energy.
“Thank you for seeing live music,” he told the audience a few songs into the set. “If you don’t show up—this is really the only place I can wear this outfit.”He then made his way into the audience, bringing the crowd to its feet for one of the few times during the course of the show.
Isaak performs Cheap Trick’s “I Want You to Want Me.”
Unfortunately, despite the fantastic aesthetics and acoustics at Wolf Trap, the venue does tend to draw an older crowd. The humidity—or a general Monday night weariness—must have gotten the better of many in the audience. Yet Isaak and the band vowed to give it their all (“If it’s legal, we’ll try it,” he said), and did just that. In addition to the hits (the aforementioned two songs, plus the ZZ-Top-Texas-blues-style “Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing”) the band threw in a generous portion of covers: Elvis’ “Love Me Tender,” Cheap Trick’s “I Want You to Want Me” and a tribute to Roy Orbison (who helped launch the band more than two decades ago) with “Only the Lonely.”
Isaak also flaunted his versatility. His most recent album, “Mr. Lucky,” has found him branching out and away from the haunting love ballads he’s associated with and into more lively territory, with everything from rock to country to jazz and back.
And fittingly, the one-liners continued, with Isaak bantering about the rats he used to see backstage at the 9:30 Club and gently ribbing Salley throughout the night. But the unassuming bassist—who had family members in the audience—also had one of the surprise highlights of the night when he performed his own Grammy-winning song “Killing the Blues,” most recently covered by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant.
Not to be outdone, Isaak—who these days has his own talk show on the Biography Channel—made it clear during the encore whose spotlight it was by donning another outfit that only works onstage—a disco-ball inspired suit covered with tiny mirrors.
Weekend duty in our newsroom is rarely something that has reporters and editors lining up at the gate. But one of my favorite assignments ever was a weekend assignment two years ago that had me traveling to Tim's II to cover the first AquaPalooza at Fairview Beach.
Not only did I get to see Taylor Swift perform for hundreds--perhaps thousands--of revelers from a barge in the middle of the water, I then got ferried out to a yacht, where I interviewed the corporate representative from Sea Ray, who was having a grand ol' time. (Click the picture at right for a full-size .jpeg of the original story.)
Remembering what fun it was, I knew that I wanted to do a preview of this year's third-annual event, featuring singer Daryle Singletary. (Last year's event, featuring Michael Peterson, inexplicably flew below my radar.) So I lined up an interview with Carlton Phillips, the event organizer and owner of Woodbridge marina Prince William Marine.
I figured it'd be a pretty short piece to run along side a couple bigger ones in the Sounds section. But following a series of mishaps, I soon found myself in need of a main piece. I had my interview with Phillips, but I was really hoping for one with Singletary himself, whose songs "Amen Kind of Love" and "Too Much Fun" have a tendency to insinuate themselves into my brain from time to time (but not in a bad way...). I tried placing a call to Singletary's tour manager on the morning of the section production day. Sure enough, as I began wrapping up my story around 3 p.m., I got a call and found myself talking to Mr. "Too Much Fun" himself. Although I didn't wind up including any of the interview in the article that ran, I did record it as a .wma file, available by clicking on the image at left.
Highlights of the interview (which runs around 11 minutes) include Singletary's discussion of working with Charlie Daniels on his latest album and with Randy Travis, who produced his first album in the mid-'90s. Singletary also offers an interesting take on the current--and future--state of country music, plus what it means to be a "hardcore country traditionalist."
If that isn't enough, click here to open up an .mp3 file of Singletary's latest single, "Love You With the Lights On." And for details on how to download the full track or purchase Singletary's latest album, "Rockin in the Country," visit his Web site.
“Beach Week 94,” “Remember Me: April 2001,” “Rick’s Bathtub Soaking Mix” ... all classic mix tapes/CDs that are probably still stuck under the passenger seat of your Jetta. While “mixes” have evolved into mp3-friendly--and potentially infinite--“playlists,” there is still a certain charm to be found in the compact soundtracks that can define a snippet of your life. I was reminded of it as my left foot was stuck inside an MRI machine.
I think my foot is fine--maybe a stress fracture or something--thanks for asking.
Before my foot went in the tube, the nurse asked me what kind of music I wanted to listen to on the (pretty great-sounding) headphones: classical, country, Christian rock, classic rock. I stopped her there: classic rock it was. My procedure was about 20 minutes. This is what I got:
·“The Final Countdown” – Europe ·Couldn’t hear it; nurse turned up the volume after this track ·“Poison” - Alice Cooper ·“Burnin’ For You” - Blue Oyster Cult ·Some British punk-wave-style song I didn’t know ·“867-5309/Jenny” - Tommy Tutone ·“And We Danced” - The Hooters ·“I’m No Angel” - Gregg Allman
It’s not really what I’d call “Classic Rock.” More like ’80s rock. Still, not bad. Once the procedure was over, I asked the nurse to identify the genius was who put “The Final Countdown” first in the mix. I flashed the devil horns to show my approval. She mentioned GOB and Arrested Development--which pretty much makes her the coolest nurse on the planet--and said it was a CD.
I did some online sleuthing and determined that it was disc 2 of the “Rockin’ 80s” box set released in 2004. The song I couldn’t hear was “Wait For You” by Bonham and the Brit-rock was “Pretty In Pink” by the Psychedelic Furs. Should have known the latter; never would have guessed the former.
All in all, it was a great set list for a medical procedure. If I ever need bypass surgery, I want a doc that kicks things off with “The Final Countdown.” Would I choose classic rock again? Maybe not. While it was entertaining (and rocking), the music only made it harder for me to keep my foot still in that machine. Maybe classical would have been the way to go. Some related thoughts:
Worst movie based on the mix tape: “High Fidelity” Best mix tape name: Paul Rudd’s (unprintable) adult video collection in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin”
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About Ben Sellers:
Ben Sellers is editor of the Sounds section in Weekender. He also edits the The Free Lance-Star's teen publication, it! magazine.
Frequent contributor Jonas Beals is a music writer, promoter and all-around impressario.
Ben Sellers is editor of the Sounds section in Weekender. He also edits the The Free Lance-Star's teen publication, it! magazine.
