Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
You already know Top Shelf’s got some hoops knowledge. Now you can check out their skills in the studio. The local hip-hop duo made their new album, “Love Rap,” available for free download today on their MySpace. Download it here, and check out the track list and production credits after the jump. (Hint: Cheddy for the win!)
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
About an hour ago, Sugarland announced that it’s canceling its next three shows (in Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and Phoenix), but that the tour will resume July 30 at Les Schwab Amphitheater in Bend.
Both the Portland-based promoter of the show and the venue are telling me that the band will perform here a week from tonight.
Personally, I’ve shifted from thinking this concert will not happen to thinking that it will, primarily because I think all involved — band, promoter, venue — are going to do everything they can to keep from canceling on Bend for the second time in two years. Sugarland surely doesn’t want to alienate its fans in Oregon, and you can bet that, given the Schwab’s limited 2009 lineup, the folks responsible for bringing Sugarland here need one of their biggest names of the summer to show up.
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
The title of this post says it all. The promoter — Nine Lives Productions — canceled the Oakland rapper’s concert tonight at Bend’s Midtown Ballroom due to slow ticket sales.
Refunds are available at the point of purchase.
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009
The country band Sugarland, which is scheduled to kick off Les Schwab Amphitheater’s 2009 Bend Summer Concerts series on July 30, canceled two shows in California over the weekend so that lead singer Jennifer Nettles could rest her voice. Here’s Nettles explaining the whole thing:
That announcement might strike fear in the hearts of Central Oregon’s Sugarland fans who remember that the band was supposed to play the Schwab two years ago, but canceled at the last minute because Nettles was sick.
I e-mailed Monqui Presents — the company that books the amphitheater shows — to find out if they’re concerned about the Bend date. As far as they know, it’s still happening, according to a spokesman.
But this seems to be a recurring thing with Sugarland, so I think this is worth watching, and I’ll be doing just that. Stay tuned.
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
On July 30, the country duo Sugarland kicks off the summer concert season at Les Schwab Amphitheater. I wasn’t able to get an interview with either of the members, so instead, my story in Friday’s GO! Magazine will focus on the band’s song “Stay,” and why I think it’s a great tune and deserving of the Grammy it earned songwriter Jennifer Nettles a few months back.
But as I listened to the song over and over, it made me think about some of the other top-notch songs that live in my iTunes. “Stay” is a great song, but it’s not perfect. Perfect songs are hard to come by. Penning wonderful, poetic lyrics, then putting them to a memorable melody and catchy chord progression, and then performing it all at a high level is not as easy as it seems, I guess. (It doesn’t seem easy.)
But some can pull it off. John K. Samson, for example. In 2003, his band The Weakerthans released an album called “Reconstruction Site” that was packed with hooky folk/pop/punk rock laced with plenty of Canadian charm and Samson’s clever storytelling. The album is solid from top to bottom, but the fifth track, “Plea From A Cat Named Virtute,” is not only the high point, but one of the best songs I’ve heard. (And yes, it’s really “Virtute.” Not “Virtue.”)
Sung from the perspective of a cat that’s trying to shake its depressed owner from the doldrums, “Plea” is pure poetry. There are so many great lines in this tune, it’s nearly impossible to pick a favorite. How about a top three?
-”I don’t know who you’re talking to. I made a search through every room, but all I found was dust that moved in shadows of the afternoon.”
-”We’ll pass around the easy lie of absolutely no regrets, and later maybe you could try to let your losses dangle off the sharp edge of the century and talk about the weather, or how the weather used to be.”
-”I swear I’m going to bite you hard and taste your tinny blood if you don’t stop the self-defeating lies you’ve been repeating since the day you brought me home. I know you’re strong.”
This song is absolutely heartbreaking, whether it’s a cat’s imagined monologue or a metaphor for human relationships. When the cat offers to throw a party and cater with all the birds it can kill? Crushing.
Never mind that the song is an insanely catchy chunk of pop-rock. Listen for yourself (but ignore the visual):
Holy smokes, right? What a song, and a nice message: No matter how crappy life seems sometimes, you are strong and you can live through it. Thanks, cat! And Thanks John K. Samson, for writing a perfect song.
Monday, July 20th, 2009
It’s called “The Fixer,” from the rock ‘n’ roll stalwart’s album “Backspacer,” due out Sept. 20.
So … we have a comments section for a reason. What do you think? My quick take: I think it’s fine. But like most of Pearl Jam’s music, it’s just kind of there. Like, “Yup. That’s a Pearl Jam song.” I’ve heard it before.
Much respect to those guys and what they do and all that, but their songs never seem to stick with me or compel me to go out and buy the record, you know? And I don’t think this one is going to, either.
Monday, July 20th, 2009
Local singer-songwriter Reed Thomas Lawrence played a set of his good-times pop-rock for the fine people at the gigantic Rothbury music festival in Michigan over the July 4 weekend. Today, he filed a report about his experience on his blog.
Click here to read tales of mixed up hotels, forgotten guitars, and waiting for breakfast with the Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh. All in a day’s work, eh?
And click here if you want the back story on Lawrence and his journey to Rothbury, as reported back in May right here on Frequency.
Friday, July 17th, 2009
Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Toure was tremendous at Munch & Music in Drake Park Thursday night. It’s not that often that you see a band that has this much skill and this much fun at the same time.
Guitarist Vieux Tarka Toure, center, is flanked by two of his band mates. Sadly, I do not know their names. Photo by Ben.
Friday, July 17th, 2009
Oops … forgot to do our weekly roundup of the music-y stuff in GO! Magazine.
First of all, there are several ways this week that you can take in excellent live music while also helping out a local cause:
-Tonight, Nashville bluegrassers The Infamous Stringdusters are playing at Black Butte Ranch near Sisters. It’s only $5, and proceeds benefit the Americana Project high school songwriting class.
-Saturday night, go see Anastacia Beth Scott and Electric Sudaki at Silver Moon and support Chimps Inc., the chimp sanctuary near Tumalo.
-Next week, the local-arts festival Bend Roots Revival will be raising funds for its event, which will happen in late September. On Thursday, head to the Tulen Center and see Empty Space Orchestra, The Mostest, Leif James and Brazilian musician Marcello Bernardes, and help fund the Roots Revival, which is one of our town’s coolest cultural events.
Now let’s see, what else?
-New Orleans funk-hop quartet E.O.E. preaches unity through diversity.
-Oakland old-school rapper Too $hort is coming to Bend.
-A new nightclub, The Underground, is opening tonight in the space formerly occupied by Club 97. Local rockers El Dante are gonna open it up right.
-South African singing group Ladysmith Black Mambazo is back at the Tower Theatre, and tickets are either already gone, or very close to being gone.
-Also, the Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band is back in town, The Mostest will play Show Us Your Spokes tonight at Parrilla, and Dubious Ranger will roll into Silver Moon next week. Read about all of them here.
Click those links! If you can view the story, sweet. If not, you’ll need to subscribe to The Bulletin’s Web site or pick up a newspaper.
Thursday, July 16th, 2009
The McMenamins chain’s Great Northwest Music Tour has brought a bunch of great bands to Bend over the years, including Bombadil, Langhorne Slim, The Everybodyfields and the Avett Brothers. (Now that the Avetts are big stars playing big theaters, can I just say how much I regret skipping their free show inside Old St. Francis School’s tiny Father Luke’s Room only 18 months ago? Because I do.)
Add two more to the roster: Fast-rising alt-country(ish) acts Deer Tick and Samantha Crain & The Midnight Shivers are set to play our local McMenamins branch in September and October, respectively.
Deer Tick, in particular, seems to be a band on the verge of breaking out. Once a one-man band, the now-quartet is led by John Joseph McCauley III, a man who writes rustic folk tunes, cranks ‘em up and turns ‘em into rock songs, and sings through what Rolling Stone magazine calls a “warm Lucky Strike croak.” Also, one of the world’s most recognizable newsmen digs ‘em. (If you can’t see the video below, watch it here.)
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
BriTunes! I totally get it.
Samantha Crain’s making a name for herself, too. The Oklahoma singer-songwriter is the latest find for the terrific North Carolina label Ramseur Records, and her band plays well-executed roots music. But it’s Crain’s vocals that get the most notice; strong, deep, and perfectly quivering, her voice is the kind of voice that can, on its own, catapult an artist into stardom. (See Case, Neko.)
Both acts have new albums out, both are touring a bunch this summer, and both have a significant publicity push right now. Deer Tick’s here on Sept. 23, and Crain on Oct. 7. It’ll be interesting to see whether either (or both) are a considerably bigger deal when they play Bend then they are today.
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