Crib Notes

Elf Power’s new album smells like spring’s impending arrival: soaring vocal harmonies, blooming melodies and an enveloping warmth clouded by a loose-limbed gait.

Continue reading CD release.

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The tornado that struck downtown Atlanta Friday night left the Tabernacle with significant roof damage and water damage inside.

The venerable concert facility owned by Live Nation has no shows scheduled until March 29. The company expects to learn the full extent of the damage on Friday.

“Structural engineers are looking at the building,” Molly Sandman, a spokeswoman for Live Nation, says. “There is damage to the roof, but we don’t know the extent of it. There’s also water damage. But we’ll get it all fixed up.”

A press release issued today by Live Nation described the damage as “significant.”

Finish reading about the Tabernacle’s damage control in the Fresh Loaf post.

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WTF: Graham Walsh (left to right), Michael Bigelow and Brian Borcherdt of Holy Fuck at Drunken Unicorn on Mon., March 17. (All photos by Chad Radford with more pics below the jump.) (more…)

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The A3C Hip-Hop Festival scheduled for this weekend (March 20-22) just keeps dropping bombs.

Festival organizers recently announced via MySpace that Oscar winners Three 6 Mafia will be making a “special appearance” at A3C.

Two weeks ago, they announced the Juice Crew Reunion (featuring Big Daddy Kane, Marley Marl, Biz Markie, MC Shan, Roxanne Shante, Craig G).

The line-up is officially insane now. At this point, the only way to top it would be to book OutKast and Goodie MoB — just a hint fellas.

Look for Maurice Garland’s preview story on the festival in Wednesday’s Creative Loafing.

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Almost every year since 1996, another CD, book or documentary is released that further fuels the speculation and suspicion surrounding Tupac Shakur’s short-lived ‘Thug Life’ and subsequent death at age 25.

L.A. Times reporter Chuck Philips stirs the cauldron yet again with his latest story on the neverending saga.

After publishing a 2002 piece by Philips that implicated slain rapper Christopher “Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace in Tupac’s death, the L.A. Times yesterday published “An attack on Tupac Shakur launched a hip-hop war” — a piece reported and written by Philips that fingers both B.I.G. and his former boss, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, for setting Shakur up in the 1994 robbery attempt at New York’s QUAD recording studios.

Unfortunately, he fails to provide any real clarity.

Though Shakur survived the infamous attack, it was the beginning of his status as a living legend, and it sparked the East vs. West war that would splinter rap.

You can read all about it in Philips’ piece, which details the plotter’s apparent motives leading up to the shooting/robbery and the feud that ensued as a result.

If you’re looking for a good ol’ whodunit, the story fits the bill. But the true crime is that the case has never been solved by police. Neither have the Biggie/Tupac murder cases. Meanwhile, more books, documentaries and news stories draw links between the victims and their would-be killers.

While it would be nice to think that the report was motivated by the idealism of investigative journalism, it’s more than likely a case of a paper exploiting the volatile story of a mythic figure’s life and death for its own gain.

Mostly, Philips has pieced together stories that have already been reported over the past decade, though most were never confirmed. And his only confirmation comes from unnamed sources.

This isn’t investigative journalism; it’s incendiary and ill-targeted. But it’s sure to garner a lot of online hits. (After 12 hours, the story had generated over 200 comments and counting.)

In the end, media outlets such as the L.A. Times may be just as culpable as the LAPD, NYPD and the criminal justice system for adding fuel to the fire that ravaged the bi-coastal rap war in the first place.

It’s almost as if one institution has chose to ignore the machinery of murder, while the other oils it.

And somewhere, Suge Knight is smoking a fat stogie.

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(all photos by Ben Westhoff, see more below jump.)

Though South By Southwest wisdom says that if you can get into a show, it’s not worth going to, Saturday’s Rob’s House Records/Die Slaughterhaus/Douchemaster Records showcase featured both elbow room and raucous local punk.

Perhaps that’s because it wasn’t an official event show; a sign near the front door read, “No wristband? No problem! This is Beerland, not SXSW.”

The Red River St. bar featured exactly what you’d expect from its name — cheap PBR and nudie pics in the men’s bathroom. Though it also featured acclaimed garage punkster Jay Reatard and Wax Museum, the concert focused on Atlanta acts, led off by Beat Beat Beat and followed by buzzworthy girl groups the Coathangers and Baby Shakes. (more…)

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THE LAST STAND: Mic Club host/promoter Dres tha Beatnik (middle) says Mic Club won’t die. (photo by Zack Wolfe, taken from Mic Club’s MySpace page.)

After holding it down for 6 years at Apache Cafe, Mic Club — which won CL’s 2007 Critic’s Pick for Best Club Event — is calling it quits.

Next Tuesday’s show will be the last, says host and 4 Kings Entertainment promoter Dres tha Beatnik, who blamed the event’s sudden demise on failed renegotiations with Apache Cafe owner Asa Fain.

“They don’t want to give us what we need to stay,” says Dres.

According to Dres, his long-standing arrangement with Apache guaranteed him 60 percent of door receipts, but the best updated offer he says he received from Fain was a 70 percent take on door receipts on nights that net $1,500.

Fain counters that Dres “wanted 100 percent of the door and 20 percent of the kitchen and bar. I just don’t do those kinds of deals.” He admits the Tuesday night event was well-attended but disputes Dres’ average attendance numbers of 275.

“It’s a little bit insulting and disappointing because this show does mean something to a lot of people in Atlanta,” says Dres.

Fain says Dres let “pride get in the way” of what was originally a partnership that included the late Quinton “DJ Ox” Bradford Jr. and Fain’s own band.

“Now [Dres] wants to justify that it’s his thing, but now he’s made his bed and he’s gotta sleep in it. I’m not glad it’s over…. We had a great time. It was a blast. I’m sorry to see it go, [but] things change. It’s cool. I think people will miss it a little … but it’s time to get with the new.”

A monthly Mic Club event could be on the horizon, says Dres, who is looking at the Masquerade and Variety Playhouse as possible venues.

Meanwhile, Dres hopes other promoters in the city can learn from his experience.

“I wanna be able to have this serve as a lesson to up and coming promoters to know what to do and what not to do, and also for the general public to know how much this venue and this city [de]values independent hip-hop.”

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Regrettably branded as the snap-trap rap capital of the world, Atlanta’s real hip-hop scene has suffered from a lack of exposure. But don’t blame Dominick Brady. Known as FireBrand, the freelance writer (www.abenghorn.net/heat.html) and sometimes promoter (NorthernArc) has been both a cheerleader and coach via underground ventures such as the upcoming House of Brews mixtape, featuring local acts Voo da Teach, Clan Destined, Jermicide and others. In the meantime, FireBrand gives us his top five acts to watch in ‘08. Don’t sleep.

Continue reading Real Life Top Five.

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YelaWolf is an of-the-moment type of dude. He’s supposed to be talking about the influence his Gadsden, Ala., roots have had on his music, but after a couple of minutes of storytelling, with the last anecdote recalling the days he spent as a fisherman in Alaska, he pauses. “Wait, what the hell did you even ask me?”

Continue reading CD Release.

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In the late ’90s, as Delta Moon arose over Inman Park, a bluesy afterglow quickly spread throughout the city. Gina Leigh, Mark Johnson and Tom Gray put together a sound with two slide guitars and a slinky, soulful female vocalist who sounded like Bonnie Bramlett. It wasn’t exactly blues — more like a blend of soulful garage and Southern rock without the beer gut or bare feet.

Continue reading Spotlight.

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JUICE CREW ALL-STARS: One of hip-hop’s earliest posse cuts, “The Symphony,” was produced by Marley Marl, who constructed the beat around a poignant piano loop sampled from Otis Redding’s “Hard to Handle.” Click here to listen to the original.

Ever since the organizers behind the highly anticipated A3C Festival announced that members of the legendary Juice Crew – including producer Marley Marl, Big Daddy Kane, Biz Markie, MC Shan and Craig G — would reunite for a performance on March 21, heads have been wondering why at least one name (in addition to Kool G. Rap) was conspicuously absent from the bill.

Turns out Masta Ace is not missing in action, but he will miss the reunion.

Though a veteran of New York’s legendary Juice Crew, Ace never became a household name like many of them. But he has still enjoyed a remarkable solo career, releasing five well-received solo albums, including 2004’s largely slept-on A Long Hot Summer.

Later this month, his new group eMC will release its first album, The Show. eMC also features Lyricist Lounge staples Wordsworth and Punchline, not to mention longtime Ace collaborator Sticklin.

We talked to Ace about the new group, the surprising story behind his inclusion on the classic Juice Crew posse cut “The Symphony,” and the reason he won’t be participating in the Juice Crew reunion concert at the A3C Festival this year.

So why aren’t you coming to Atlanta for the reunion?

It’s the exact same weekend that we’re promoting eMC in New York. We have a whole bunch of interviews set up, and release parties in Philly, New York and in Boston, all right around that weekend.

I had my stuff planned out already; when it’s a group effort, you have to sacrifice for the sake of the group. Cool V, who is Biz’s DJ, called me about a month ago, and mentioned [the reunion] to me, but we had already had this stuff planned. Our album comes out March 25, which is the Tuesday after [the A3C Festival], but that whole weekend building up to the 25th we’re going to be doing promo and shooting videos.

Are you disappointed?

A little bit. If I didn’t have anything to do I’d like to go down there and see everybody. It would be cool to see dudes, and to see dudes perform. I haven’t seen all these people perform in a long, long time. I feel like I’d be more a fan than a part of the show.

When’s the last time you guys got together? (more…)

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(photo by Chad Radford)

Here’s the lineup for the Rob’s House, Douchemaster, Die Slauterhaus label showcase (label heads pictured) happening Saturday at Austin’s SXSW festival. Check out this week’s CL for Chad Radford’s scoop on the DIY showcase.

Free. 1 p.m.-6 p.m. Sat., March 15. Beerland, 711 Red River St. Austin, Tex. 512-479-7625. www.beerlandtexas.com.

1 p.m. - Slab City (Imperial Valley, CA)

1:45 p.m. — Beat Beat Beat (Atlanta)

2:30 p.m. — Jay Reatard - (Memphis)

3:15 p.m. — Coathangers (Atlanta)

4 p.m. — Baby Shakes (Atlanta)

4:45 p.m. — Wax Museums (Denton)

5:30 p.m. — Gentleman Jesse (Atlanta)

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Twenty-nine years ago, Ray Charles performed “Georgia On My Mind” at the Georgia General Assembly after Georgia declared it the official state song.

Random fact: The songwriter, Stuart Gorell, wrote it to musician Hoagy Carmichael’s sister, who coincidentally happened to be named Georgia.

Years later, Atlanta rapper Ludacris used a sample of Ray Charles’ version of the song in the hook for his own song, “Georgia.”

Since you can trace both anthems back to Carmichael’s sister, does that mean she was the ultimate Georgia peach?

Thank Secretary of State Karen C. Handel for the historical tidbit.

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