Tampa Calling

I’d never heard of Marie Digby until this morning, when a press release about her June 9 appearance at Orpheum in Ybor City, popped up my inbox. Anyone out there familiar with her? Apparently, I’m not spending enough time perusing YouTube for budding stars. Here’s the publicity info on this “YouTube-created creature” (a term used by my chief editor David Warner, which I plan to pass off as my own in the future):

Digby broke onto the national stage in 2007 using YouTube, where she posted homemade videos of herself covering major pop hits including Rihanna’s “Umbrella.” To date, she has become the 7th most subscribed artist on YouTube with more than 26 million views. Marié’s debut album “Unfold” came out last month and debuted at #29 on The Billboard Top 200 and has already sold nearly 30,000 copies in three weeks. Her first single off the album, “Say It Again” is in heavy rotation throughout the country on Hot AC radio. Her music has been featured on MTV’s “The Hills,” and the CW’s “One Tree Hill” and “Smallville”. She was also featured in GAP’s spring ad campaign “The Sound of Color.”

I can’t decide if Digby’s stripped-down versions of heavily-produced pop hits ranks as genius or the most gimmicky move since Limp Bizkit nu metal-ed George Michael’s “Faith” back in 1997. Here’s Digby, looking quite adorable, performing “Umbrella” solo while accompanying herself on acoustic guitar, in what appears to be her living room. Whatcha think?

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WMNF’s 27th annual Tropical Heatwave bash takes place Saturday and I’m totally stoked. Six stages in and around the Cuban Club in Ybor City featuring an eclectic lineup of under-the-radar national greats and local standouts. What has me giddiest, though, is the debut of the “Louisiana Stage” (El Pasaje Plaza), where attendees will find this week’s Creative Loafing cover girl, teenage fiddling/singing sensation Amanda Shaw and Soul Rebels, a brass band that brings the funk, hip-hop and isn’t afraid to cover George Michael.

I interviewed the eight members of Soul Rebels in person earlier this month prior to their weekly Big Easy gig at Le Bon Temps Roule, the night before the ensemble performed at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. In fact, four of the five acts scheduled to appear on Heatwave’s Louisiana Stage played the prestigious NOLA Jazz Fest this year: Shaw, Soul Rebels, slide-guitar master Sonny Landreth and the Cajun-Irish Zydepunks. Having all these Crescent City stars in town at one time is a special treat for a NOLA music/Jazz Fest junkie like me. Here’s what we have running in the new CL:

The Heatwave is on. And we’ve got the complete lineup of this year’s acts covered.

Talking drummer: How a master percussionist from Mali found his way to Tampa and Tropical Heatwave. By Eric Snider.

Soul Rebels want to funk up Heatwave.

BAR TAB: Down on the corner. Another SoHo bar leaves nothing but memories.

Drive-By Truckers roll into Jannus.

Nonpoint, GreyMarket, Sergio Mendes and more in Music Week.

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My Creative Loafing coworker Leilani, her husband Phil and friend Alex, the three people I drove with to New Orleans two weeks ago for Jazz Fest, had a much different experience on Frenchmen Street than I did. You can read about my Saturday night revelry in the Bar Tab column “Up, up and away: Balloons, bars and bands in the Big Easy.” Leilani visited the same entertainment district on Thursday. Here’s her account, posted yesterday on CL’s Blurbex blog.

Adventures in NOLA, Episode 1: Thursday Night on Frenchmen

May 13th, 2008 by Leilani in Elsewhat, For the People A little more than a week after returning home from New Orleans, I’ve finally recovered enough to reflect on my experiences.

We meander down Frenchmen Street casually seeking a place to eat. Me, my husband Phil, and our good friend Alex are three revelers among several hundred soaking up the festive atmosphere and cheerful chaos created by a citywide celebration of good times and great music. It’s the second weekend of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, sometime around 11 at night, and the vibe is laid back in such a way that I hadn’t seen since my first Jazz Fest in ’05, the one before Katrina.

People crowd the sidewalks and spill out into the streets, some standing in disorderly lines outside the range of bars and clubs, waiting to get ID’d and stamped or wristbanded, others flocking to see a many-piece brass band that has set up right at a crossroads and is playing the sort of lively, Creole-infused jazz you only hear in New Orleans. The performance has caused a traffic gridlock, the vehicles barely able to move around the crush of bodies having a joyous, spontaneous party in the street.

Everyone is having a grand old time. Even the cops seem to be in good spirits; we pass a pair who are patiently dealing with a sloppy drunk frat-looking guy. “Move along,” says one with a long suffering look and a gentle push. Frat Guy’s not catching the hint and in fact, turns around and holds out his hand, slurring to the cops, “Dudes, let’s shake it out. Can we shake it out?”

“Keep walking,” says Sgt. Long Suffering, more sternly this time and with a forbidding look at Frat Guy’s friends, who start tugging, then dragging him and cajoling him urgently, “Let’s go, man, come on.” We slide around the scene, exchanging amused looks, and make our way a few blocks down and over to grab dinner and drinks at a little bar called Mojo’s on Decatur Street. Once we’ve fueled up, we head back to Frenchmen to see Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey at d.b.a.

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Joe Popp, acclaimed Tampa rocker/actor (American Stage’s MacBeth, Jobsite’s Maxwell), returns from his current digs in New York City for a concert Friday (May 16) at New World Brewery, Ybor City. Popp’s fronting a power trio called The Hornrims, which have just finished recording an ace new record titled Holland. The disc is a smart, gruff, catchy collection of timeless, Replacements-style rock featuring memorable numbers like “Last Mistake,” the title-track and “Billion Stars,” which all can be heard here. The Hornrims plan to have the album available for sale at New World.

Singer/guitarist Popp is joined in The Hornrims by former Tampanian Brian McCabe (bass) and NYC drummer Tylor Durand. Local music trivia: Popp and McCabe ’s old band Dogs on Ice opened Green Day’s famed Brass Mug gig in ‘91. Show info:

The Hornrims w/Nessie/Deadly Fists of Kung Fu, 9 p.m. Fri., May 16, New World Brewery, Ybor City, $6.

Note: The Hornrims play first, hitting the stage at 10 p.m.

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WMNF and BAAMO have assembled another killer tribute show — this time in honor of political-punk titans The Clash — featuring an eclectic lineup of local talent. The 17-act fest will be again held at Skipper’s Smokehouse in Tampa, 5 p.m., Sat., May 31, $10 (advance), $15 (at the door). Here’s the roster for “This is Radio Clash: A Tribute to The Clash.” Set times will be posted prior to the show.

Tribal Style - Reggae/World
Beauvilles - Rock/Alternative
Blind Buddy Moody - Blues
Christie Lenee & Funk Grass Grove - Funk/Nu-Jazz/Folk-Rock
Gumbo Boogie - Cajun/ Zydeco
Hat Trick Heroes - Rock/Psychedelic/Alternative
Have Gun Will Travel - Americana
Johnny Zoom Cheerlead Squad - Reved-up Garage Rock
Katherine Kelly - Electroacoustic/Folk Rock/Indie
Male Order Brides - Rock/Blues
Next Exit - Folk
Midnight Bowlers League - Rock-a-billy
Parson Brown- Eclectic
The Pants - Ska
Bunko Squad - Folk/Rock
Scone Train - Folk Rock/Acoustic/Indie
Super Secret Best Friends - Rock/Pop
Urbane Cowboys - Americana

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I wrote a Music Week Brief titled “Ultimate Showcase at Skipper’s” to advance tbt*’s The Ultimate Local Music Showcase, which took place Saturday, May 10 at Skipper’s Smokehouse in Tampa. The only info posted at the Skipper’s Smokehouse’s website 10 days ago, when I was on deadline, linked to tbt*, where I found this (see pic). Skipper’s would later note:

MAY 10 SATURDAY
Ultimate Music Showcase
Presented by Wide Eye Caffeinated Spirits
Sponsored by tbt* Tampa Bay Times
6 Local Bands from tbt* local music guide.
Blind Buddy Moody 6-6:45 p.m.
November Foxtrot Whiskey 7-7:45 p.m.
Rebekah Pulley & The Reluctant Prophets 8-8:45 p.m.
Win Win Winter 9-9:45 p.m.
Aych 10-10:45 p.m.
Bird Street Players 11-11:45 p.m.
SHOW 5PM-12AM $5 ADV $10 DOOR Buy Tickets

tbt* never changed the page on its website, which promises readers appearances by Red Room Cinema, Zillionaire, Psuedo Heroes and Tres Bien. Here’s the link. In a comment posted May 9 on my piece advancing the May 10 show, New Granada notes:

NOTE/CORRECTION: Tres Bien, Zillionaire, Red Room Cinema and Pseudo Heroes are NOT scheduled to perform at Skipper’s tomorrow night.

Personal scheduling conflicts kept all of these bands from the roster, so basically none of them were on the bill from the beginning.

Sorry for the confusion, and on that note, you should still go check out/support the show (especially our friends Win Win Winter).

If “basically none of [the bands] were on the bill from the beginning” why didn’t tbt* make it more clear online that not all 10 bands would be performing? Probably an oversight. These things happen, I know, but it’s likely I wasn’t the only person who felt misled.

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Here’s what I have running in the new Creative Loafing:

• What’s the big deal about “where dirt meets water?”

• BAR TAB: Balloons, bars and bands in the Big Easy.

• Getting the word from Leisha Hailey.

• CD reviews of Robyn, Lyrics Born in Spins.

• The Koala Kid is alright.

• Riddle of Steel returns to Tampa.

• Ultimate showcase at Skipper’s.

• Ripping Tim McGraw and more in Music Week.

• Complete Music Section.

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Radiohead singer Thom Yorke (left) leading his British alternative rock band through a spellbinding performance Tue., May 6, at the Ford Amphitheatre in Tampa.

Photos by Phil Bardi.

Radiohead mesmerized a crowd of 17,000 with an edgy sonic and visual presentation unlike anything being offered on the current live music circuit. Long narrow light bulbs that changed colors with every song festooned the stage. Behind the band was a wall of giant screens that alternated between close-ups of the musicians and trippy visuals, which surely enhanced the experience of the kids I saw walking around with pupils the size of pancakes and waving glow sticks.

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The current Creative Loafing features my piece, “Radiohead Leads the Way: Why it’s the best band to debut in the past 20 years.” Here’s an excerpt:

Radiohead, which performs Tues., May 6, at the Ford Amphitheatre, has also earned a rep for awe-inspiring concerts. More important, the English quintet excels in all the categories: influence, innovation, listenability and live prowess. Radiohead’s richly textured art-rock, specifically the sound they perfected on 1997’s OK Computer, led to clones like Coldplay, while Radiohead’s more electronica-leaning Kid A (2000) influenced newer bands such as Bloc Party. On the business front, Radiohead’s move last year to independently release In Rainbows as a digital download for which consumers could name their own price is one of the most revolutionary events in the annals of music commerce.

Click here to continue reading and for more info on tonight’s show. Look for my concert review Wednesday.

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The Neville Brothers’ highly anticipated homecoming performance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival proved poignant, celebratory, and spiritual on a gorgeous Sunday. The Nevilles’ closing day appearance marked another important return to normalcy for the slowly but steadily rebuilding Crescent City. Natives of the Uptown neighborhood, The Nevilles’ meld second line funk, soul, gospel and rhumba to create the ultimate Big Easy music experience, something the siblings had done during the final day of Jazz Fest for years. Then Katrina displaced the family and star frontman Aaron Neville feared all the dust and mold in the city would exasperate his asthma, preventing him from returning to perform much to the chagrin of the persevering locals and Jazz Fest regulars.

All was made right, though, Sunday. The Nevilles performed on the main Acura Stage in front of a grateful crowd that ranged in age from small children and their parents to college students. The famed sibling group inspired dancing and embracing with New Orleans anthems like “Iko, Iko,” “Fire on the Bayou” and “Tipitna.” Aaron sang a gripping version of Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” that spoke to the mistreatment the New Orleans people faced in the aftermath of Katrina while at the same time promising better days ahead. It was a hymn of hope that captured the feeling many must have felt just from seeing the Nevilles back on stage.

5/6 UPDATE: Raconteurs photos posted below (scroll down).

Aaron Neville singing “A Change is Gonna Come.”

All in the family.

A couple embracing at Neville Brothers show.

Jack White (center) of The Raconteurs performing Sunday on the Gentilly Stage.

The Raconteurs killer performance elicited enthusiastic responses from the sprawling crowd.

Chilling outside the Blues Tent Sunday during The Derek Trucks Band performance, which included a guest performance by Trucks’ wife, ace soul singer/guitarist Susan Tedeschi. She sang lead on a spectacular rendition of The Band classic “The Weight.”

My brother, Joel Tatangelo (vocals/guitar), performing with his Stand Back Band, Saturday night at Tarantula Arms, a club in New Orleans’ French Quarter across from House of Blues. During their set, the Lee Boys’ pedal steel guitarist Roosevelt Collier stopped by before his HOB gig and whipped out his cell phone to take some pics. Here’s a clip of them doing their original “Whiskey on the Weekend.”

Stand Back doing Dr. John’s “I Walk on Gilded Splinters” same night, with bassist Thomas Stevenson on lead vocals.

Stand Back doing the blues classic “Rolling and Tumbling” same night.

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