Crib Notes

Krystal Woods

Several Atlanta musicians, performers and independent businesses are rallying at The Earl this Sat., Aug. 2 for A Sight For Sore Eyes: A Benefit for Krystal Woods.

Woods is an employee at Aurora Coffee in L5P and suffers from a degenerative eye condition known as Karatoconus, which means her corneas are deteriorating to such an extreme that within the year she will be completely blind. The only way save her sight is via complete cornea replacements, which carries a price tag of $10,000 per eye.

It’s pretty much impossible to raise that kind of money on a Barista’s wages, and Woods doesn’t have health insurance. She applied for Medicaid, but was apparently denied on the ground that she’s not blind enough nor poor enough to qualify.

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If you couldn’t afford to make it to The Fox Theater for Tom Wait’s Glitter & Doom tour stop on July 5th, you can now check out the show online at NPR’s website. Simply log on to www.NPR.org/music and you can stream or download the entire 2 1/2 hour performance.

To read more about NPR’s “Live in Concert” series, click here.

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The 30^th annual Georgia Music Hall of Fame Awards (a.k.a. The Georgy Awards) take place on Sat., Sept. 20 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.

This year, The Georgia Music Hall of Fame will induct Southern rock band, Widespread Panic, Ludacris, Hamp Swain, Fred & Dinah Gretsch, Keith Sweat and the late gospel singer/songwriter, Dottie Rambo. The ceremony begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Thomas B. Murphy Ballroom.

Gov. Sonny Perdue host an opening reception and dinner followed by the awards show and performances from Widespread Panic, Ludacris and Keith Sweat and a few unannounced guests as well.

Tickets are on sale now, ranging from $75 for an individual ticket to $750 or $1000 for tables of ten. Tickets and Sponsorship packages are available by calling 770-491-9494 x. 15.

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Adron

Tomorrow night (as in Wed., July 30th) at 7 p.m. Adorn is playing a free, in-store performance at Criminal Records in L5P before she heads over the The Earl for the CD release party of her New Street Records debut.

(Photo courtesy of Adron)

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Is she singing about her former marriage to Bobby Brown or her former status as pop’s reigning princess?

Whitney Houston leaves it ambiguous on her new Akon-produced song, “Like I Never Left,” which leaked over the weekend. It’s a far cry from the classic material of Houston’s heyday, but it’s also the first song she’s released in five years.

When local urban radio stations V-103 (WVEE-FM) and Hot 107.9 (WHTA-FM) played the leaked song this morning, it received mixed responses from on-air personalities and listeners. The typically diplomatic Frank Ski said it sounded “aged.” But some were just happy to have the diva back. Remember, crack is wack.

Click here to listen and judge for yourself.

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Chunklet Magazine is distributing the debut single by Harvey Milk frontman Creston Spiers. The two songs on the 7-inch, “Yesterday’s Parade” b/w “The Time Has Come” were recorded and released by Athens’ indie label Southern Shelter. This is the second, gold vinyl pressing of the single, which originally appeared in a pressing of 200 copies on clear vinyl.

The repress is limited to only 300 copies and it won’t be sold at retail stores, but it is available from Chunklet.

“Yesterday’s Parade” was written for Spiers’ nebulous band A, which never made a proper release of its music. On the flipside, “The Time Has Come” was written while he was playing drums for fellow Athens band, Producto.

Both songs on the single are a far cry from the crushing and elegant minimalism of Harvey Milk; and both feature Spiers playing an acoustic 12-string guitar, showcasing an entirely different side of his songwriting that is vaguely reminiscent of songwriters, like Simon Joyner, Will Oldham and so on. But Spiers occupies a much more haunted Southern terrain. Get this record.

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The show at Rob’s House this Saturday, July 26th was a well-kept secret… sort of. There wasn’t as much as a peep on the internet or in the local media about the Black Lips playing a free house show in East Atlanta, but word-of-mouth brought about 100 - 150 people out, which actually made it about the perfect sized crowd.

The flier that you see to your left didn’t even show up until the day of the show.

Regardless, the basement at 1318 Ormewood Ave. felt like a scene from Dante’s Infero as Predator, Gentleman Jesse and Carbonas exploded in a haze of smoke and unbearable heat. Sweat-soaked bodies packed the tiny dungeon as Gentleman Jesse played its final show before bassist Dustin Nigro moves off to NYC. This show also served as a successful test run for the group with new guitarist Adrian Barrera (also of the Hiss).

For many long-time but estranged fans, seeing the Black Lips in a basement was a refreshing reminder of the days when most local venues wouldn’t even give the group the time of day for fear of property damage. Back then the Black Lips had nowhere else to play but house shows. Seeing them tear it up in such a cramped and sweaty environment was a return to the good old days. It was also the last show at Rob’s House before the label’s founder Trey Lindsay moves off to New York as well.

Could there have been a better way to bring an end to the era? The show was a visceral return to form that literally brought it all back home.

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Criminal Records

466 Moreland Ave.
404-215-9511

For week ending 7/24/2008

1. Gentlemen Jesse and His Men Gentlemen Jesse and His Men (vinyl and cd)
2. Beck Modern Guilt
3. Sigur Ros Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
4. Avett Brothers The Second Gleam
5. The Hold Steady Stay Positive
6. Dr. Dog Fate
7. Noot D’Noot Goofer Dust
8. Gentleman Jesse and his Men Gentleman Jesse and his Men (CD only)
9. Old 97’s Blame it on Gravity
10. The Melvins Nude with Boots

Moods Music
1131 Euclid Ave.
404-653-0724

For week ending 7/25/2008

1. J*Davey The Beauty In Distortion/The Land Of the Lost
2. Dwele Rize
3. Sy Smith Conflict
4. Algebra Purpose
5. Unwrapped V/A Vol. 5
6. Anthony David Acey Duecy
7. Eric Roberson Left
8. Dain Harris/Brandon A. Thomas For The Moment/A Soul Acoustic
9. Hil St Soul Black Pearl
10. Al Green Lay It Down

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Adron

Decatur native Adrienne McCann left Georgia in August 2007 on the eve of her 20th birthday. The burgeoning singer/songwriter of fairy-tale folk songs, who is better known as Adron, knew that New York was the place for a young, ambitious musician looking to move up in the world. So she packed her bags and went north. A year later she is returning to play a CD-release show for her self-titled debut on the Atlanta/Brooklyn-based indie label New Street Records.

Though the only major-label interest in her work has come via a MySpace message from a Capital Records A&R guy, her escape to New York has brought her one step closer to her dream. “No one comes to New York to be half-assed about music,” she says. “I feel like I’m in the right place at the right time.”

When she was still living in Atlanta, Adron made a name for herself as a rising local underdog. Her guitar playing possessed a certain charm and skill level that surpassed her teenage years. No matter where she played, she wrapped the entire room around her finger.

During shows at the Star Bar, A Cappella Books and the Earl in the summer of 2007, Adron would appear onstage, often wearing what looked like pajamas. Her fingers moved across the fret board of her guitar with messy precision, though there was not a hint of nervousness in her performances. Waves of tropicalia dripped from her hands as she played and cooed, interspersing her singing with clicks of her tongue, bird chirps and mouth pops.

Read the rest of this article here.

Adron plays with Benji Hughes, Telenovela, Molotov Pipedream and DJ Chris Devoe at the Earl on Wed., July 30.

(Image courtesy Adron)

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When Rahbi hits the stage for his Strange Fruit III show at Sugarhill (9 p.m., Sat. July 26. 50 Upper Alabama St. www.sugarhillatl.com), you can bet he’ll be suited up in an outlandish costume to go along with his outrageous stage persona. At last year’s Strange Fruit II show (subtitled “Inspire Me, Damnit”), his multiple costume changes included a Napoleonic colonel’s jacket with tails, and a sequined Michael Jackson-esque shirt circa “Motown 25″ unbuttoned to his navel.

When it comes to theatricality, the self-proclaimed prince of glam soul is a royal diva. So in preparation for the show, I decided to tag along with him to his favorite costume shop to see how he planned to visually convey why he is, as he says, “the muthafuckin’ shit.”

Take notes.

Rahbi: This shit is hot!

Rodney: I mean what is it, what would you call that?

Rahbi: See you know what, I ain’t no fashion guru like that. I just know the way I do it is when I put it on does it make me feel good, does it make me feel like I’m fly? I don’t really know all the correct terms and the couture and this and that. No, I don’t go off that. I just put it on, and if I feel like I’m the shit when I put it on, then that’s the right thing. Man, I’m serious. I don’t know about all that.

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