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Friday, May 18, 2012
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Live Reviews Live review: My Secret Other Girlfriend, Milestone, 5/16/2012
Posted By Jenny Lou Bement on Thu, May 17, 2012 at 2:40 PM
My Secret Other Girlfriend
The Milestone
May 16, 2012
From the moment the band took the graffiti-adorned Milestone stage on Wednesday night, My Secret Other Girlfriend's music progressed from genre to genre and era to era while creating a positive vibe that radiated from one end of the venue to the other.
The Charlotte quartet stood on stage in full control, beckoning patrons toward the stage and captivating them with a range in styles that got heads rocking and bodies dancing.
From tinges of guitar harmonies which paid homage to the 1990s to '50s surf-rock riffs and warm bass tones, My Secret Other Girlfriend covered an array of rock 'n' roll styles. It was all done to a hi-hat-heavy, thumping drum beat similar to the dance-rock grooves of The Faint.
You might classify them as indie, but the '90s in their soul reigns deep with vocals in a key that Perry Farrell would approve of. Guitarists Aaron Bradshaw and Adam Vaagen traded charging guitar screams and treacherous downbeats.
News Donna Summer dies at age 63
Posted By Jeff Hahne on Thu, May 17, 2012 at 12:17 PM
Disco legend Donna Summer died on Thursday morning at age 63. The Grammy-winning singer had been battling cancer.
Though she was best known for her edited-down pop-disco radio songs, Summer's enduring contribution to American dance music came with her creative collaboration with Italian producer and disco pioneer Giorgio Moroder. Their extended versions of tracks like the ultra-sensual "I Feel Love" and "Love to Love You Baby" - as well as Summer's playful overhaul of songwriter Jimmy Webb's overwrought "MacArthur Park" - were button-pushing highlights for the singer.
Summer won five Grammys and recording numerous hits in the 1970s and '80s including "Last Dance," "She Works Hard for the Money" and "Bad Girls."
News / Concert Announcement Yep Roc celebrates 15 years with weekend festival
Posted By Jeff Hahne on Thu, May 17, 2012 at 10:34 AM
Yep Roc Records will celebrate its 15th anniversary with a three-night concert at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro affectionately called "Yep Roc 15" on Oct. 11, 12 and 13, 2012.
The initial lineup includes Nick Lowe, Robyn Hitchcock, Chatham County Line, Fountains of Wayne, Los Straitjackets, Eleni Mandell, John Doe, The Sadies and more.
Tickets go on sale Friday, May 18 at 10 a.m.
Based in Haw River, N.C., Yep Roc Records was founded in 1997 by Tor Hansen and Glenn Dicker and has released albums by a list of artists including The Gourds, Jukebox the Ghost, Jim Lauderdale, Southern Culture on the Skids, Reckless Kelly, Bob Mould and the Rev. Horton Heat.
"YEP ROC 15" INITIAL LINEUP
Dave Alvin
Chatham County Line
John Doe
Liam Finn
Fountains Of Wayne
Robyn Hitchcock
Los Straitjackets
Nick Lowe
Eleni Mandell
Mayflies USA
Cheyenne Marie Mize
Chuck Prophet
The Sadies
Sloan
Jim White
(more TBA)
Photos / Live Reviews Live review: Jonathan Wilson, Visulite Theatre, 5/15/2012
Posted By Kathleen Johnson on Thu, May 17, 2012 at 9:57 AM
Jonathan Wilson
Visulite Theatre
May 15, 2012
Jonathan Wilson's concert at the Visulite Theatre on Tuesday night quickly turned into a Charlotte '90s music scene homecoming. The N.C. native who began his musical career here as a teen before making his way to New York, then L.A., returned for a rare appearance that drew a good weeknight crowd of fans, friends, local musicians and family (including his parents).
These days, Wilson and his heralded CD, Gentle Spirit, are making huge waves in Britain and Europe; here he counts numerous industry heavy hitters amongst his friends and collaborators. This night, though, the focus was squarely on Wilson's own patchouli-tinged mystic rock grooves.
He and his crack band (really, you can't compliment this outfit enough, individually or collectively) opened with a grooving "The Way I Feel." Things then heated up with "Rolling Universe," Wilson's incendiary guitar workout the match to our kindling. A wonderful extended version of "Natural Rhapsody" featured Charlotte jazz scene mainstay Ziad on guest saxophone (Wilson played as a teen with Ziad, so it was a nice student-pays-back-teacher sort of moment). Other notables include "Desert Raven" and the hallucinatory "Valley of the Silver Moon."
News N.C.-born funk man Chuck Brown dies at 75
Posted By Mark Kemp on Thu, May 17, 2012 at 8:28 AM
Chuck Brown, the man who kept go-go going and going in Washington, D.C., has died. He was 75. Born in Gaston, N.C., Brown developed his deep, funky, Latin-flavored sizzle during the disco '70s. In contrast to disco's glitter, Brown was more southern soul and gritty Funkadelic than shimmery Chic, but it all competed and flowed together on the D.C. dance floors of the era. He was a live-music machine, known for his playful call-and-response interaction with his audiences. Brown cut his best-known songs - "I Need Some Money" and 1978's "Bustin' Loose," which topped Billboard's R&B chart - with the Soul Searchers.
When hip-hop began dominating black music in the early '80s, some of the more funk-based acts of the time - Trouble Funk and E.U. - brought Brown's gritty sound to a younger generation. In more recent years, Brown has been a staple performer at parties during the Charlotte-based annual CIAA basketball tournament. Earlier this year, he was forced to cancel his CIAA performance at the last minute.
The death of Brown is to D.C. what the death of Frank Sinatra was to New York City or Elvis to Memphis. Brown defined the District and will be missed. Award-winning former Creative Loafing music editor Kandia Crazy Horse will be filing a tribute to Brown for CL on Friday. Below is an except from Washington Post local politics reporter Mike DeBonis' blog.
Go-go godfather Chuck Brown's death Wednesday is a family tragedy and a loss for D.C. music and culture. It's also cause for a moment of collective mourning deserving of a grand send-off for a civic icon.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
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Rain doesn't dampen the party with Kesha and Macklemore
Both sets cut short as storms roll through Charlotte, N.C.
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Live review: Fiona Apple, The Fillmore (9/26/2012) 16
Fans ate it up, but it was a trainwreck of tragic and frustrating proportions.
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Frank Ocean tops Village Voice Pazz & Jop poll
Annual critics list creates requisite buzz
