The News Review:
- Music review Two finger-pickin’ females
- Northwest Arkansas Music Awards crowns winners
- New Orleans Jazzfest lets the good times roll
- Urban music hits campus
- Plant and Krauss lead eclectic bunch
- Coachella day 3: Music gets heady
Music review Two finger-pickin’ females
oregonlive.com – Apr 28, 2008
LEWISSpecial to The OregonianSaturday’s blues show at the Alberta Street PublicHouse could have served as the setting for a classic”compare and contrast” essay. Both Mary Flower and Fiona Boyes are members of a rare breed– female fingerstyle blues players. Both are on Yellow DogRecords and both are nominated for 2008 Blues Music Awards. But they are worlds apart. Flower turned to the blues after time in the Denver folkscene. She now lives in Portland and has more than half adozen albums and a handful of instructional videos to hercredit. She is poised and approachable and you’dlikely never guess she is a blues musician.
Northwest Arkansas Music Awards crowns winners
Arkansas Traveler – Arkansas Traveler (subscription) – Apr 28, 2008
A Good Fight received Best New Band and local recording studio The Listen Lab received the honor of being named Best Producer or Studio. Apart from the main awards three Hall of Fame awards were given out to Effron White the Flipoff Pirates and Ocie Fisher and the Hipp Dogs. Along with the Hall of Fame awards NAMA gave out its Lifetime Achievement award to Fayetteville blues legend Joe Giles. Even though not every musician came home with a NAMA for the night from the look of things everyone seemed to be having a good time.
New Orleans Jazzfest lets the good times roll
San Francisco Chronicle – Apr 28, 2008
The 39th annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Fair opened its 10-day run Friday at the Louisiana Fairgrounds racetrack where thousands of musicians will walk across the 10 stages that run simultaneously through the day. At night the festivities spill into the streets bars restaurants and nightclubs. They were rocking from Tipitina’s uptown to Mid-City’s Rock ‘N Bowl from the Howlin’ Wolf in the Warehouse district to the House of Blues in the Quarter down to Frenchmen Street where clubs line the block in Marrero. This isn’t just the best music festival it’s the greatest two-week party in the world. And New Orleans is a town that knows how to show a sailor a good time. Bourbon Street is crawling with out-of-towners carrying hurricanes in go-cups. The tables at the city’s fabulous restaurants are laden with platters of boiled crawfish gulf coast oysters and the distinctive regional cuisine that has made Louisiana famous around the world… At night the festivities spill into the streets bars restaurants and nightclubs. They were rocking from Tipitina’s uptown to Mid-City’s Rock ‘N Bowl from the Howlin’ Wolf in the Warehouse district to the House of Blues in the Quarter down to Frenchmen Street where clubs line the block in Marrero. This isn’t just the best music festival it’s the greatest two-week party in the world. And New Orleans is a town that knows how to show a sailor a good time. Bourbon Street is crawling with out-of-towners carrying hurricanes in go-cups. The tables at the city’s fabulous restaurants are laden with platters of boiled crawfish gulf coast oysters and the distinctive regional cuisine that has made Louisiana famous around the world. But there is a dark undercurrent to the frolic.
Urban music hits campus
GW Hatchet – GW Hatchet (subscription) – Apr 28, 2008
substring(0 thispageresult. The group plans to host writing and producing sessions as well as semester shows with a corresponding compilation album. G-D’Urban organizers said it was formed to give musically talented students access to an expanding outlet and audience. “Facebook is an amazing thing” said co-founder Benson Mensah-Bonsu. “I knew GW was not too popular with urban music… But I feel like I’m still a beginner. It’s still fun but it’s also a challenge. Junior Jazzmine Hayes performed rhythm and blues covers of “Chariot” and “Mango” on the keyboard and played a song of her own “Antisocial” on the guitar. “I enjoy other musicians coming out” Hayes said. “I like seeing what they can do what they share. Many of the people at the show did not initially plan to attend. Al Demesme a service worker at GW helped set up the stage and decided to stay after he heard about what was going on.
Plant and Krauss lead eclectic bunch
USA Today – Apr 28, 2008
it seemed as if everyone had congregated at one stage on the sprawling Fair Grounds Race Course for a set by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. The oddly harmonious couple set the early high bar for the rest of Jazz Fest’s eclectic bill sampling their respective catalogs and turning Black Dog into a steamy haunted ballad. Among the day’s other high notes:•Cajun blues hero Tab Benoit backed by the masterful Louisiana’s LeRoux set the blues tent afire with One Foot in the Bayou. •The Zydepunks wailed through a variety of original mash-ups blending Yiddish zydeco klezmer rock Irish Cajun and Slavic music. •Soulful jazz siren Leah Chase whose parents Dooky and Leah founded the city’s famous soul-food joint Dooky Chase submitted an exquisite interpretation of You Don’t Know What Love Is. The second day started with dark clouds and drizzle then built into a steady cold downpour that flooded the Fair Grounds Race Course and drove many soaked fans to exits by midafternoon. But Saturday’s showers couldn’t douse the fires onstage… The oddly harmonious couple set the early high bar for the rest of Jazz Fest’s eclectic bill sampling their respective catalogs and turning Black Dog into a steamy haunted ballad. Among the day’s other high notes:•Cajun blues hero Tab Benoit backed by the masterful Louisiana’s LeRoux set the blues tent afire with One Foot in the Bayou. •The Zydepunks wailed through a variety of original mash-ups blending Yiddish zydeco klezmer rock Irish Cajun and Slavic music. •Soulful jazz siren Leah Chase whose parents Dooky and Leah founded the city’s famous soul-food joint Dooky Chase submitted an exquisite interpretation of You Don’t Know What Love Is. The second day started with dark clouds and drizzle then built into a steady cold downpour that flooded the Fair Grounds Race Course and drove many soaked fans to exits by midafternoon. But Saturday’s showers couldn’t douse the fires onstage. Billy Joel’s closing set was shut down a half-hour early though not before he delivered a high-energy parade of hits to his soggy stalwart fans who joined in a sing-along on encore Piano Man.
Coachella day 3: Music gets heady
AZ Central.com – Apr 28, 2008
As I walked across the field I could hear the roaring tenor of the Louisville Ky. band’s Jim James as he threw down some piercing falsetto lines. Like Spiritualized MMJ (as the band is also known) pursues the deep feeling of blues and soul but it’s also groove-oriented reflecting the interests of a younger generation that’s less afraid to dance than its immediate elders. A five-piece band that incorporates funky rhythms and some electronic elements into its seedbed of Southern indie rock MMJ has grown more sonically eloquent as it’s become more adept. At times its Coachella set approached the hugeness of a U2 concert although it also had a bit of the easy transcendence of a classic Grateful Dead show. Songs from the band’s upcoming album “Evil Urges” showed exciting growth; by exploring new territory especially R&B the band somehow has become more focused. A few songs built a sense of tension that only great bands can manage in such a huge space.