Creative Loafing Charlotte

CL Recommends

Crosby, Stills and Nash

CROSBY, STILLS AND NASH The aging ‘60s icons have recently found their waning stars on the ascendant again, thanks in part to getting name-checked by trendy multi-part harmony bands like Fleet Foxes. CS&N were considered one of the first ‘supergroups’ because all three members had been in well-known bands prior to forming in ’68 — David Crosby was booted from the Byrds, Stephen Stills had played in Buffalo Springfield (whose Neil Young would rescue CS&N from complete treacle) and Graham Nash had ditched the Hollies. Their first tour after their self-titled debut included Woodstock, and their three-part harmonies and (mostly) acoustic guitars heralded the baked-hippie turn that reached its apotheosis in the Topanga Canyon scene. The trio also became mouthpieces for the groovy flower-power cultural revolution — the one that gutted the actual political revolution embodied by the SDS and Black Panthers et al. and narcoticized American youth in a haze of tie-dye, dope-smoke and songs about Judy Collins. The trio recently latched onto the Occupy movement and are co-sponsoring the “StampStampede,” with which you can declare your unhappiness about money in politics by defacing dollar bills with “slightly subversive” but “100 percent legal” messages like “Not To Be Used For Bribing Politicians” and the like. With a revolutionary vanguard like that, you can bet those K Street lobbyists are just quivering through the halls of Congress — quite possibly cranking Déjà Vu on their iPods. Way to go, dudes. $47-87

Afton Showcase

Charlotte Jazz Orchestra

DrumStrong f. SuperSpontaneousCombustJam w/ Rich Redmond, Jeff Sipe, KalimbaMan, Lee Venters, Donnie Marshall, Jim Brock, Rick Blackwell

Greg Brangle & The Blue Tenders

Michael Tracy, Joe Davis Band, Fiftywatt Freight Train, Analog Daze

$10/$15

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Busk! - a doc about street performance & grassroots culture

BUSK! is a character-driven documentary that explores the joys and pitfalls of performing on the street for tips. With an inquisitive and playful spirit, the story delves deep into the lives and aspirations of a singer, a magician, and a sketch artist who regularly share their art in uptown Charlotte. Many other artists, including those who participated in the Buskapalooza Street Performance Festival, also share their busking experiences and philosophies on art that reaches beyond the walls of a gallery, theatre, or concert hall. Presentation will be followed by Q&A with director and principal cast. *Director/Producer: April Denée Brown. $5.00

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Music of Legends: Bach to the Beatles

Carolina Voices’ Festival Singers’ spring concert will celebrate legendary artists and composers who have shaped the world of music from the Baroque to Contemporary periods. Audience members will feel the passion of the great choral masters with music by J.S. Bach, Eric Whitacre, Ola Gjeila, Craig Hella-Johnson, and Moses Hogan. Adding to the excitement will be selections from The Beatles. To complete the concert, the Festival Singers will present a newly commissioned piece by Dale Warland called “Voices,” written for choir and cello and based on the text by poet Michael Dennis Browne. $17, discounts for seniors, groups and youth

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Queen City Brass Band 21st Season Celebration Concert

The Queen City Brass Band will present a special concert for the Charlotte community under the direction of Jamie P. Hood, Salvation Army Divisional Music Director and Besson Performing Artist. The Band is celebrating its twenty-first season of performances in the Charlotte-Metrolina region. The repertoire for this concert will include many stirring brass band arrangements designed to showcase the special sonority and tonality of the full brass band instrumentation! The rich brass sound is unique to this type of musical group and will provide an enjoyable experience for music fans of all ages. Free

CL Recommends

Paramore, Kitten

KITTEN Fronted by precocious 17-year-old Chloe Chaidez, Kitten is aptly named. The band’s electro-punk attack is more New Wave than riot grrl, and Chaidez’s impressive vocals trend more toward a breathy purr than the lioness roar of Karen O, though both extremes are well within her range. Chaidez and her band-mates have an impossibly trendy image, but they back up it up with atmospheric, ’80s-infused, candy-coated pop that hews closer to the angst and urgency of Blondie than the chirpy robo-dance of Missing Persons. Kitten knows its ’80s influences backwards and forwards, but the band builds on them, dipping into the fractured funk of Public Image LTD, the jagged electronics on Crystal Castles and the soaring melodies of M83. Scrapping promising careers in acting and gymnastics to follow her muse, Chaidez seems to have benefited from a musical Head Start program — her father drummed for ’80s East L.A. hardcore punk band Thee Undertakers — but she doesn’t come off as an irritating over-achiever. Live, Chaidez thrashes, writhes and whirls with the wildest of the dervishes. She’s a striking, charismatic force of nature, and it’s a good bet she and Kitten will upstage headliners Paramore. Sold out

Find Your Muse Open Mic f. Vitek

Open Mic w/ 3 Piece Bucket

Retox, Tinsel Teeth, Black Oatmeal, CxFx

$8

Shantel Leitner

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Mayhem Monday

This month Mayhem Monday will be having Secret Hospital Live and as usual all vinyl punk/metal records all night. Free