Downsizing your carbon footprint
Saturday, June 14th, Woodruff Park
View and post ads in other cities.
We wanted to alert our readers about this week’s Summer Guide, which features 111 things to do this season. We incorrectly listed the dates of the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival; the correct dates are June 12-15. Thanks to the alert reader for correcting us on this.
One of the many charms of singer/songwriter John Prine is the stark contrast of under-stated delivery of such evocative lyrics. It’s as if Prine is almost embarrassed by the power of his poetry, like he’s let a secret out of a bag he’d promised to secure, but understands the secret’s out and should then be told properly.
And for a man who’s sung songs about those living along life’s humbler edges, Prine sings as beautifully about women as he has about men. He’s masculine yet thoughtful. Nowhere is that more apparent than in “Angel From Montgomery,” which Prine wrote in 1971 for his debut, eponymous CD. It’s a bittersweet song about yearning, from a woman who wonders if life (and her husband) has left her by …
I am an old woman named after my mother /
My old man is another child that’s grown old /
If dreams were lightning thunder was desire /
This old house would have burnt down a long time ago.
Prine explains the inspiration for the song before singing it on the edge of a river …
The song, of course, has been covered by just about everybody smart enough to recognize its power, the most famous coming from Bonnie Raitt. (I often wonder why the modern-day Raitt remains so fascinated with the power of gloss and production sheen, or artifice, in her songs since she’s at her best when she keeps it simple.) But the song also was used to great effect in Sean Penn’s film Into the Wild (reviewed here by Felicia Feaster), about the former Emory University student Christopher McCandless who checked out from civilization on an ill-fated journey of self-discovery. In the scene, McCandless (Emile Hirsch) turns an awkward attempt at seduction by a nubile teen (Kristen Stewart) into something more meaningful.
Powerful stuff. The one time I heard him perform the song live, about five years ago in New Orleans, you could tell his voice was struggling; he was probably still in the grips of the throat cancer he appears to have licked. And yet it damn near moved me to tears. You could fee the song’s impact throughout the room.
Even though Prine could be forgiven for being tired of performing this timeless tune, here’s hoping he’ll delight Atlantans — who live only a couple hours from that now-fabled city — with “Angel From Montgomery” one more time when he plays the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre on Saturday night. Not that his recent work isn’t worth listening to — including his 2005 Grammy-winning comeback album, Fair & Square, and last year’s duet album with Mac Wiseman, Average Songs for Average People. It’s just that this song never, every gets old, even if the heroine of the song believes she has.
Unfortunately, I will have bolted town for a much-needed vacation and will miss Saturday’s SoCo Music Experience at Olympic Centennial Olympic Park. I’m not overly wowed by the lineup or anything, but I need to kill my unforgivable dry spell of never having seen the Supersuckers. They’ve rocked hard the past decade or so, and if they break up before I get to see them, it is to my shame.
You just have to love a band that can serve up a pretty decent cover of Andre 3000’s classic, “Hey Ya!,” as we see from the clip above. Or, for you “Peanuts” sentimentalists out there, here’s an alternate version below. Though it does ask the question: Since Andre 3000 owns the song, doesn’t it really mean that HE rocks the hardest? Just sayin’ …
In this week’s Summer Guide, we did something a little sneaky to make your summer a fairly cool one. Embedded in 11 of the “111 things to do” is a little sentence that reads: “Wanna attend this event for free?”
If you click on that sentence, you will be whisked away to a magical place, where you can enter our contest for tickets to those 11 fun things. Within that link is a link to a form to fill out all 11 events once you’ve found them. Then email that form to: summerguide@cln.com.
You’ll be glad you did.
Oh, and that photo? Take it as a very nice, very broad hint about one of the 11.
Start clicking …
In this week’s issue, we offer our readers our 2008 Summer Guide, with the theme “111 Things to Do This Summer.” But really, we lied. There are tons of things to do this summer. This was just the tip of the iceberg.When I sat down to edit it, I had well more than 111 to choose from (which was the idea), so there was some serious whittling down. But that shouldn’t stop us from providing the ones that didn’t make it into print, should it? So here are the rest of the blurbs. We should also note that with the comprehensive work done on the Summer Guide often means an even healthier updating of all of our listings, which I strongly recommend checking out for further summer planning.
Continue reading Pop Smart post.
HAPPY RECORD STORE OWNER: Erik Levin (Photo courtesy of Criminal Records)
Atlanta’s very own Criminal Records, received its first Retailer of the Year award during the National Association of Recording Merchandisers’ (NARM) 50th Anniversary Gala Dinner on Wednesday, May 7 at the San Francisco Marriott. The award was presented to Eric Levin, owner of Criminal Records and Aurora Coffee.
NARM is the trade association for music retailers, wholesalers, distributors, record labels, suppliers of multimedia and various other related products and services in the music business. Its members account for almost 90% of the music sold in the U.S. music market.
Tom Waits “Glitter and Doom” Tour comes to the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Sat., July 5. 8 p.m.
Here’s the Ticketmaster info:
Tickets are $67 and $87, plus applicable service fees, on sale starting Friday, May 16, 10 a.m. Eastern time. Tickets are available from Ticketmaster.com and by phone at 404.249.6400 only. Tickets are not available at retail locations or the box office. All tickets sold through Ticketmaster will be delivered via Paperless Ticket. Buyers will not receive paper tickets for these events. At the time of entry, buyers must present the credit card used to purchase tickets as well as a valid government-issued photo ID. The entire party must enter the venue at the same time. Tickets are non-transferable. Limit of 2 tickets per order per household. Duplicate orders will be cancelled. For more information visit Ticketmaster.com/tomwaits.
Title: Fables of the Reconstruction
Released on: June 10, 1985
Favorite tracks: “Feeling Gravitys Pull,†“Old Man Kensey,†“Can’t Get There From Hereâ€
Supposedly Fables of the Reconstruction (or would that be Reconstruction of the Fables?) is about the American South. The term “Reconstruction†harks back to Dixie following the Civil War, and there are little references to Southern geography in the songs. Rumor has it that “Maps and Legends†is allegedly dedicated to outsider artist Howard Finster of Summerville, Ga., who did the Reckoning cover. Stipe’s lyrics always pepper in bits of Southern vernacular, although I’m not sure that “Can’t Get There From Here†counts as a “Southern†expression. The song does refer to Philomath, Georgia, though. And the soft banjo in the album-closing “Wendell Gee†delicately evokes bluegrass.
I have a hard time interpreting Fables as some kind of alt-rock equivalent to a William Faulkner novel, though. (“Swan Swan H†on R.E.M.’s subsequent album, Lifes Rich Pageant, does have more of a Southern “literary†theme, however.) To me, its “Southern†mostly in the ways that Chronic Town feels Southern, and generally seems like a continuation of some of Chronic Town’s ideas. Someone could probably make a case that R.E.M., who helped turn Athens, Ga., into an alt-rock mecca, influenced Southern rock and roll more than Southern music influenced it.
I’m a creep. You’ll probably think I’m a weirdo, too, when you hear what I’m about to say.
I think Radiohead can be kinda boring live.
There, I said it. Unleash the hounds. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Radiohead, and I’m not disputing the fact that Radiohead is one of the greatest bands of all time. But I’ve seen the band before and it’s been fairly unmemorable — except for the fact that I can recall not even being able to give away an extra ticket we had the last time they came through Atlanta. So this time my friends and I hit Lakewood ticketless, all scored lawn seats for $20, and then snuck into the covered seating for the show. Lakewood can be a very cheap date.
The stage setup was incredible, with its blazing light show reflecting off of stalactite-like rods dripping down from the roof. Cameras filmed individual bandmembers throughout the show, and all of the black-and-white footage played simultaneously in separate blocks on a long, wide screen backdrop.
Radiohead did sound incredible. They played from just about every album except Pablo Honey, and highlights included “Idioteque”, “Bangers & Mash”, “Just” and “Paranoid Android” into “House of Cards” for the final encore.”Just” alone was worth the price of admission (if you paid what I did). As one of my friends who was there put it, “Few bands can completely recreate live, the sounds on their records like Radiohead can.” He’s right and it’s an impressive feat, given the music’s complexity. Still, some of the slower songs can be taxing live, and I find myself itching for songs such as “Just.”
The show was simple, tight and definitely more memorable than the last time. I’d certainly see them again, but I wouldn’t pay more than $20.
Check out the photo slideshow below for shots of Thom Yorke thrashing about on stage in his dancing fits, among other highlights.
Today’s Air Loaf features CL’s Rodney Carmichael chatting with local hip-hop artist Spree Wilson.
Air Loaf is broadcast weekdays on 1690 WMLB-AM at approximately 8:10 a.m., 12:20 p.m. and 6:20 p.m.
