Crib Notes

Accordionist Stanley Dural never has felt shackled by the constraints of zydeco, even though he’s been acknowledged as the one who brought the genre out of the bayous of southwest Louisiana and into the mainstream. Lay Your Burden Down, which marks Buckwheat Zydeco’s 30th year on the scene, is no less innovative and is a testament to Dural’s innate, iPod-shuffle ear for other forms of roots music. Blessed with gifted guests and intriguing covers, the album almost feels like a tour de force, especially the bouncy take on Jimmy Cliff’s “Let Your Yeah Be Yeah” with Dural’s fizzy accordion riffs blending right in with the rhythm.

Fellow southwest Louisiana resident Sonny Landreth’s shredding guitar licks lend an urgency to the opener “When the Levees Break,” but listeners shouldn’t mistake the song about the 1927 Louisiana flood as a foreshadowing of Katrina angst to come. Instead, we get a bluesy groove on the JJ Grey tune “The Wrong Side,” and the gospel-blues collaboration with Warren Haynes on the title track.

In fact, Lay Your Burden Down only feels like an incidentally zydeco album, and Stanley Dural wouldn’t have it any other way. (Alligator)

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I can’t go to this evening’s Earth, Wind & Fire show at Chastain Park, but I’m sure two of our readers can! (Showtime: 8 p.m.)

First emailed, first served: davidlee.simmons@creativeloafing.com.

Let’s groove tonight, shall we?

UPDATE: We have a winner! Congratulations, Terrence!

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Hey dear readers, and lovers of all things South Carolina. I have two tickets to see Edwin McCain performing with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. (Local fave Meghan Coffee opens!) I can’t use ’em. But I’m sure somebody can. Email me at davidlee.simmons@creativeloafing.com. First come, first rocked.

(Photo courtesy Turner South)

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On Friday night, I had the chance to be reminded of all the reasons why I love Lizz Wright, who I profiled in this week’s issue in anticipation of last Friday’s performance at Center Stage. Wright, a Hahira native who attended Georgia State University and performed around town before moving on, is out touring on her third (and best) CD, The Orchard. But the performance also reminded me of the reasons why I believe the best is still yet to come for this 28-year-old marvel who often draws comparisons to Norah Jones (for better or worse).

Wright must be a delight to work with in the studio. It’s probably no coincidence that they now share the same producer, Craig Street, who seems to have a gift for matching vocalists with talented session musicians and songs to cover. And sure enough, The Orchard boasts some wonderful re-workings of everything from Ike & Tina Turner’s “I Idolize You” to Led Zeppelin’s “Thank You.” (Fans may also recall her brilliant reworking of the ’60s anthem, “Get Together,” actually titled “Everybody Get Together,” popularized by the Dave Clark Five.) Technically speaking, Wright is arguably as proficient as any alto out there, and that includes another to whom she’s compared, Cassandra Wilson. She can wring vibrato from the lowest, huskiest notes without every sounding flat or without resonance, and she almost never cheats on a note. She has an uncanny ability to fill her tones with the kind of warmth that make altos such a delight. And she almost never, ever tries to over-sell a song.

But in a weird way, this last strength in the studio seems to become a weakness when she performs live, because Wright tends to hold back in a way that leaves the audience wanting more. Now, take this as one cynic’s opinion; I’d argue a solid majority of the Center Stage audience would disagree with me. But from the moment she took the stage to her encore, Wright barely made an attempt to connect with her obviously appreciative audience, or to take a song to another level — beyond the studio version.

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Thanks to everyone who played our Summer Guide Contest this year. We had 180 submissions, which if memory serves was double the total of last year’s contest. Last Friday was the deadline, and we had a flurry of last-minute entries for the drawing that was held under a pounding June sun on Monday afternoon. As you can see, it was quite a challenge for Marketing Director Shana Langfur (pictured above right and below), who had her hands full in keeping track not only of all the submissions, but also of the prize package. Before we announce the winner, let’s tell her what she won:* Two passes to see the IMAX film Ends of the Earth: From Polar Bears to Penguins, which opens Saturday, June 7, at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History. (We also threw in two general-admission Fernbank passes.)
* Two tickets to the opening-night performance of Broadway Across America’s touring production of Mamma Mia!, which opens Tuesday., June 10, at the Fox Theatre.
* Two tickets good for any performance of Georgia Shakespeare’s season: As You Like It (June 11-Aug. 1), The Merchant of Venice (June 26-Aug. 2) and All’s Well That Ends Well (July 10-Aug. 3). Performances are held at the Conant Performing Arts Center. Two tickets (good for any performance).
* Two tickets to Creative Loafing’s BeerFest: Beer’lympics, on Saturday, June 14, at Woodruff Park.
* Two tickets to any remaining screening of the Coca-Cola Film Festival: Shine a Light (June 5), Horton Hears a Who! or Atonement (June 8), Casablanca (June 17), No Country for Old Men (June 18), Enchanted or Ben-Hur (July 13). Screenings at the Fox Theatre.
* Four tickets and two parking passes to the series-opening game between the Atlanta Braves and the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday, June 23, at Turner Field.
* Admission for two on the guest list for Corndogorama on June 26-29 at Lenny’s Bar.
* Two tickets to see the Dave Matthews Band on Monday, July 7, at Lakewood Amphitheatre.
* Two tickets for Cocktails in the Garden, which runs from July 10-Sept. 1 at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Also, two general-admission passes for Atlanta Botanical Garden.
* Two tickets to attend the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, which runs from June 12-15 in Manchester, Tenn.
* Two tickets to see Mark Knopfler on Tuesday, July 29, at the Delta Classic Chastain Park Amphitheater.

Shana did plenty of rummaging through the lottery bin before finally pulling out the name … BARBARA PAYNE! She found all 11 of the (oh so hard to find) clues to the best of the 111 things to do this summer. Thanks for playing, Barbara.

(Photo by Ed Adams)

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Monster Bash is like Drive-Invasion without the humidity and with more makeup. OK, it was already pretty warm on Sunday when hot-rodders, devil dolls, rock ’n’ rollers and ghouls of all ages got all tatted up at the Starlight Drive-In. The event sold out, with barely a parking spot available by mid-afternoon in which rockers and sci-fi/horror-movie fans could camp out, cook out and rock out. (”It’s like an inner-city version of a hippie fest,” said one Basher during the post-sundown viewing of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (which was followed by The Werewolf vs. Vampire Woman).

To read more and view the image gallery visit PopSmart.

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We’d like to thank the record number of readers who have entered into our Summer Guide Contest for tickets/passes to 11 of the 111 best things to do this summer. (I say record number in that, it seems like a ton more than last year, which was my first year doing this, which will then count as the entire history of CL Summer Guide contests. So there.) So consider this a final reminder of the deadline for the contest, which is today (Friday), 5 p.m. We’ll then gather up all the applicants and place them in a lottery system so complicated I probably couldn’t even explain it to people. (Although it might involve printing out the answers, wadding them up into balls of paper, and drawing from a garbage bag. We’ll see.) We’ll announce the winner on Monday, June 2, in this here PopSmart blog. Until then, if you haven’t played the game, you have about two hours left. It’s really easy: Simply visit the Summer Guide online (either by clicking here or on the Summer Guide tile on our homepage), and scan through the 111 options, looking for hyperlinks on 11 of those coolest of cool events, and then filling out the form as described. We’ll take it from there. Get crackin’.

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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.

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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.

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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’ …

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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 …

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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.

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Stacey Singer was so moved by the power of the Rock ’n’ Roll Camp for Girls in Portland, Ore. that she decided to help set up a similar camp in Atlanta. That’s why Singer and others will be at the Plaza Theatre this weekend for the documentary Girls Rock! (reviewed in this week’s issue) as a way to publicize Girls Rock Camp (ATL), which will be held July 14-19 at Eyedrum.

On Saturday (May 3), there will be a Q&A session with co-director Arne Johnson. On Sunday at 2 p.m., instruments will be provided to kids in attendance in advance of the 2:30 p.m. screening (which will again be followed by a Q&A session, followed by more jamming.

To read more check out PopSmart.

(Photo by Nicole Weingart)

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(Carol Friedman)

One of the highlights of my time spent in New Orleans as the A&E editor for the alternative newspaper Gambit Weekly was getting a few hours to spend with Grammy-winning trumpeter Terence Blanchard, who among other things is noted for being the composer for director Spike Lee’s films. The year was 2001, and Gambit’s Big Easy Entertainment Awards had selected Blanchard as its Entertainer of the Year.

It was a helluva year for the former Jazz Messenger, who won three awards in Down Beat magazine’s end-of-the year poll (Best Album, Best Artist and Best Trumpeter), which is pretty impressive considering the firepower that comes from fellow New Orleans trumpeters Wynton Marsalis and Nicholas Payton. He’d also scored a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo (on Wandering Moon’s “I Thought About You”). He’d also spent the previous year working on a whopping seven film scores and was preparing to release his sublime Jimmy McHugh tribute album, Let’s Get Lost, featuring collaborations with (among others) Diana Krall and Cassandra Wilson. In fact, the thing that impressed me most about Blanchard was how well he worked with others, whether it was on Spike Lee with his movies, guest vocalists on his albums, or bandmates in concert.

Blanchard is in town tonight to perform in the touring version of the Monterey Jazz Festival, which also includes saxophonist James Moody, performing at the Woodruff Arts Center’s Atlanta Symphony Hall. Tickets range from $30-$50. Here’s that 2001 interview, which provides insight into a creative process that keeps Blanchard busy working on multiple projects.

Here’s one of a bazillion clips from him in concert. I love the last comment: “He sings through his trumpet!” Yup.

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(Photo courtesy http://duetonline.net)

We’re pleased to announce more reasons for folks to come check out our annual Fiction Contest party at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 10, at Eyedrum. Not only were we blessed with a record number of submissions this year, but we’ve also got some cool sponsors (Café Intermezzo, Chattahoochee Review) and cool judges (David Fulmer, Joshilyn Jackson, Fiona Zedde).

Now we’re a bit geeked to have confirmed one of the more mood-enhancing musical acts in town in the form of Duet for Theremin and Lap Steel. Featuring Scott Burland (pictured, at right) on theremin and Frank Schultz on lap steel, this duet is often described as experimental, ambient and minimalist — their music seems to come more in surges and streaks, strains and swoops, with stops and starts thrown in for good measure. You might call it sonic! It’s intoxicating stuff that stands on its own or as a heady soundtrack behind the winning entries, which will be read by the winners at the end of the evening.

Check out this U.K. appearance …

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Last night’s annual viewing of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” brought on the usual misty-eyed memories of days gone, but also reminded us of the most recent Atlanta-influenced connection to the Charles Schulz classic. Take that, Vince Guaraldi!

Suddenly I’m in the mood to watch The Wizard of Oz set to Dark Side of the Moon. Who knew?

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(photo © Jonathan Wenk/TWC 2007)

In this week’s issue I took a rather broad-sided look at the slew of rock-related movies that have been released in 2007, “Rocking in a hard place” — particularly the rock biopic, which seems to have been practically reinvented whether as a documentary or as a feature film.

I’d dashed off the piece for a Wednesday deadline but failed to check to see if all the movies mentioned were still in local theaters. Fortunately, all but one of the films, Kurt Cobain: About a Son, are still around, most notably the recently released Todd Haynes film I’m Not There — about Bob Dylan.

Also fortunate is the fact that our film critics have reviewed each of the movies, so I’d definitely recommend checking out Felicia Feaster’s reviews of I’m Not There and Control, as well as Curt Holman’s reviews of Across the Universe and Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten. One caveat: A quick glance at our Movie Times reveals that Across the Universe, Control and Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten are all hanging by a thread. (Both Control and Strummer have moved over to the Plaza Theatre, which for some reason does have its own kind of rock ’n’roll vibe.)

Finally, a question: What’s your favorite rock ’n’ roll movie, or rock biopic, for that matter?

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Despite his indelible association with the punk movement, rock filmmaker Julien Temple didn’t become friends with Joe Strummer until the final years of the Clash co-founder, who died in 2002 at age 50. Temple’s documentary, Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten, deftly chronicles Strummer’s life, giving equal weight to the wilderness years that followed the Clash’s breakup in the 1980s. They shared a love of the Glastonbury festival, chronicled in Temple’s recent documentary.

Film critic Curt Holman has written insightful reviews of both The Future Is Unwritten (opening today, Nov. 9, at Landmark Midtown Art Cinema) and Glastonbury. I recently got a chance to interview Temple (The Filth and the Fury) and discuss his latest work and the challenge of making a compelling rock biography.

Also, feel free to check out my review of Pat Gilbert’s excellent Clash bio, Passion Is a Fashion: The Real Story of the Clash, while I was at Gambit Weekly in New Orleans.

Note: This really is just a snippet of a 25-minute interview. Send your comments if you’d like to hear more. Be glad to edit up another, extended version for you Clash fans. Also, just for the record, for a man who’s pretty much a legend unto himself, Temple’s incredibly accessible and engaging and didn’t seem to snicker too loudly when I confessed to being a Clash fan. (Talk about your Chris Farley moments.)

David Lee Simmons interviews Julien Temple – Download

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One of our veteran music freelancers — whose heart is roughly the same size as his record collection — is trying to help out a friend in need: himself a former CL writer.

Here’s the pitch, from James Kelly:

All-around good guy and former CL music writer Doug Deloach had a recent liver transplant, and while he is recovering nicely he has a slew of bills and financial issues that need to be addressed. In order to help alleviate some of this stress, a big-ass yard sale will be held on Friday, Aug. 10 (9 a.m.-3 p.m.), and Saturday, Aug. 11 (8 a.m.-2 p.m.). The location is 2191 Hosea L. Williams Drive, which is on the corner of Hosea Williams and Rocky Ford in East Atlanta. You can’t miss it.

I’m posting this because I’m sure some of you may know Doug or be familiar with his writing, and also because we have a ton of brand-new, donated cool books and CDs to sell for really low prices. A lot of it is stuff I have never heard of, but folks that are into the indie scene will likely be more familiar with it. Quantity discounts!

There will be a lot of other stuff for sale as well, priced to go! Household goods, odds and ends, some furniture, collectibles, and who knows what else we’ll dig out. So swing by and help out a good fellow, and stock up on the music of the most obscure next big things in the biz.

Thanks.

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The name rang a bell and then some. And yet I was stunned that, after living in New Orleans for eight years, I’d never officially met Brandt Blocker, an award-winning musical-theater director in a city that loves the genre. Until now. Turns out Blocker’s been living in Atlanta the past three months, taking over as the artistic and general manager for Atlanta Lyric Theatre.

At the tail end of a lengthy chat to catch up on things New Orleans post-Katrina and Atlanta post-relocation, Blocker invited me to come check out the group’s “Summer Spotlight Cabaret at the Lyric” — a weekly series produced by Susan Atkinson of free (with suggested donations) performances Thursdays at 8 p.m. at the Byers Studio Theatre (see map) to provide a break for the summer heat and keep interest alive until the upcoming fall season.

Considering it offered a chance to kill two birds with one stone — meet someone I should’ve met eight years ago, and take a dip in the waters of Atlanta musical theater — I accepted.
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