Half-way through the Saints win during Super Bowl XLIV last night, The Who took the stage in Miami to perform the hits.
Now, I wouldn’t consider them crossover artists by any means, but I’m at least aware of them and willing to argue that everyone who’s ever watched TV or a movie has heard, “Who Are You” and “Baba O’Reilly” but following people’s reactions on Twitter, thoughts and opinions were clearly split along racial lines.
One side raved about the band, ’still having it’ and the lights being awesome while the other had lots of ”Who the fuck are The Who? and “That old white guy’s gonna die on stage” tweets, the funniest one from comedian Lil Duval, “I wonder is this how white people felt when Nelly performed at the Super Bowl?”
* Country Throwdown 2010 Tour featuring Montgomery Gentry, Jamey Johnson, Little Big Town, Jack Ingram, Eric Church, Eli Young Band, The Lost Trailers, Heidi Newfield, Ryan Bingham, Jonathan Singleton & the Grove, Emily West on May 27.
* Brooks & Dunn with Jason Aldean on June 4.
* Rascal Flatts with Kellie Pickler on a date to be determined.
.357 String Band Assuming the .357 in the moniker is a nod to the firearm and not some extra-hefty guitar-string gauge, this self-styled “streetgrass” band from Milwaukee best pack the heat – and they do. Drawing on murder ballads, Outlaw Country and dark-hearted Gospel, the band’s drum-free, banjo-powered sounds are fermented in punk and rockabilly. Of course, they’re playing on the home-turf of America’s best-known punkgrass act, so comparisons with the Avetts are only natural, but in this case pretty misguided. These boys eschew the sweet for the sour, and pretty girls for naughty ones. Don’t expect to remain sober. With Bob Wayne, the Trouble Walkers and KpSoloMan5000. Snug Harbor
Motion City Soundtrack Scrappy punk-pop quintet’s signature is crisp guitar riffs and a happy-go-lucky vocalist. Their freshly-released disc, My Dinosaur Life, salutes the band’s beloved influences, including Sunny Day Real Estate and Superchunk, while evolving over the past several years into something pretty darn original. Also on the bill are Set Your Goals, This Providence and The Swellers. Tremont Music Hall (Samir Shukla)
Between the Buried and Me The torn-throat vocals are still pervasive in their grinding metal, but of late Between the Buried and Me have taken a liking to a more progressive, epic rock approach. The machine gun drums and guitars leave more space between the bombast where jazzy forays and long guitar solos meet prog rock’s eccentric mores. Their most recent recording, The Great Misdirect, has six rumbling tracks that showcase this directional change. The Fillmore (Shukla)
Perpetual Groove The band’s newly released CD, Heal, brews neo-psychedelia, progressive rock, R&B and jazz together producing a suggestive Coldplay quality. While holding onto their rock persona, which magnetized many of their fans, they have tweaked their sound in order to grow as musicians. Fun fact for all pro-environment supporters – Heal was produced with renewable energy compliments of their partnership with Tree Studios. In other words, the music is coming to you clean. Perpetual Groove started off the new year with a sold-out performance and once you hear them you’ll understand why. Neighborhood Theatre (Nicole Pietrantonio)
The Deal: The ATL-er teams up with DJ Drama, DJ Sense and LRG for a appetizer to his new album, May 25th.
The Good: Bobby Ray has the unique ability to sound completely different on every song but drop a line or two that let’s you know, it’s still him. Who else can give you a stereotypical, ATL “trap-rap” track next to a guitar-driven track, then sing, produce and switch up the flow. Clever one-liners throughout and a couple songs that could be singles too. “Fuck The Money” with Asher Roth, “The Rain,” “Gladiators” with J Cole and “Out of Time” are tracks I really like, he even blew the dust of Charles Hamilton.
The Bad: Variety is awesome but at times it seems like Bob went out of his way to make sure no one could put him in a box. Extremely herky jerky.
The Verdict: Remember how early Kanye material was dope but kind of forced and all over the place? B.o.B. is a great talent, May 25th is good mixtape, but it suffers from the curse of creativity. Can’t be all things to all people though, let’s hope the actual album is in two lanes, not four.
A new viral video shows pop star Ke$ha sneaking into the Hollywood sign and changing it to read Ke$hawood… The video is slowly hitting the ‘Net today and many people will wonder if it’s real or fake.
Here are my thoughts…
1 – Fantastic editing. If it happened last night, and the fell asleep in the limo like it shows, who was doing all that fantastic editing.
2- A cop is there before they go over/under the fence. He would have just walked away?
3 – The cop chases them off after catching them changing the sign, but then left the sheets up and the sign changed? I doubt it.
Sol Driven Train Charleston’s jam rockers play pop that’s custom-made for lazing on a beachfront bar, colorful beverage in hand, sun sinking into the horizon. Sol Driven Train’s cocktail of Southern rock, swamp boogie, and Americana tinged with horns, is presented in neatly written pop-rock numbers. With three albums under their belt, including a children’s record, the gents have released a new DVD, Live at the Windjammer, and are at work on a new studio record for release in spring. Double Door Inn
During this year’s Grammy Awards, Taylor Swift sang a duet with Stevie Nicks and critics and fans alike came out saying Swift was off-key and not the best singer they’ve heard. The youngster went on to win four Grammys, but people were questioning those after her performance.
Now her label has come out in her defense… by admitting she’s not a great singer?
“Maybe she’s not the best technical singer, but she’s probably the best emotional singer because everybody else who gets up there and is technically perfect, people don’t seem to want more of it,” Scott (Borchetta of Big Machine Records) told The Tennessean.
Jay Garrigan Garrigan (Poprocket, The Garrigan Brothers, Transmission Fields) has been a fixture on the Charlotte music scene for years. And not just a static, lamp post-like fixture, mind you – he’s had his hands in any number of good bands over the years, and takes more creative chances than most. This show will feature some new songs from his upcoming solo disc, and will be performed all semi-acoustic-like, with a possible assist from members of the band he’s assembling to flesh out the songs live. A good song, of course, can stand up to this stripped-down treatment, and Garrigan’s never given us any reason to doubt him in that department. With Amelia White. The Evening Muse
Tab Benoit I have a thing for the blues, and some theories, too. I think the blues, being a color, doesn’t see any others. I believe it’s not so much what’s being said as much as it is the depth of emotion in which it’s delivered. I believe it’s usually only white folk (critics, most often) that have a problem with the blues, or, moreover, with white people, like Mr. Benoit, playing the blues. “Authenticity!” they scream. Old black men playing old beat-up guitars – that’s the blues! Robert Johnson! Lightnin’ Hopkins! Whoever Fat Possum’s dredged up lately! My, but that Mississip’ Delta’s still fertile! I believe some folks know that the blues are what you make of them, and that just because a man’s whistling a jaunty tune, it doesn’t mean the underlying melody is one of harmony. I believe some folks sing the blues because if they don’t, the blues will sing them. I believe Mr. Benoit here’s worth your time. But then again, I’m just a white critic. THIS SHOW HAS BEEN CANCELED. Double Door Inn
The Deal: The ATL-er teams up with DJ Drama, DJ Sense and LRG for a appetizer to his new album, May 25th.
