Rob Thomas with Carolina Liar and OneRepublic
Uptown Amphitheatre
Sept. 29, 2009
Photo by Jeff Hahne
The Deal: Rob Thomas, lead singer of Matchbox Twenty, performs at Uptown Amphitheatre in support of his sophomore solo album Cradlesong. Opening acts include Carolina Liar and OneRepublic. (more…)
Admit it, there’s no way you dropped thousands of dollars in the iTunes store for that massive music collection.
Unlike the past, where people visited download and BitTorrent sites anonymously like they were cruising for porn, the threat of getting letters saying you owe $1,000 dollars for downloading The Perculator probably aren’t going to come.
That’s cool. Already having the shame of owning that song and quite possibly Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” in your library are bad enough, there’s no need to pay a fine, but what’s more, the new era in music has created a digital dilemma that completely changed the way we value music. (more…)
CL Music Editor Jeff Hahne chats with a couple members of the local band Heywire, who will be a part of a FREE event dubbed so cooly Project: Homebrew. This FREE event, to be held at Neighborhood Theatre on Oct. 1, is comprised of a panel discussing local music in Charlotte, as well as a concert of select artists from Jeff Hahne’s Homebrew Volume 3, a CD compilation of local music. And did we mention it’s FREE?
Here’s a quick rundown of some of this week’s new releases:
AFI Crash Love
Alice in Chains Black Gives Way to Blue
The Avett Brothers I and Love and You
Breaking Benjamin Dear Agony
Mariah Carey Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel
Cherry Poppin Daddies Skaboy JFK
Cherry Poppin Daddies Susquehanna
The Ettes Do you Want Power?
Will Hoge The Wreckage
Robert Earl Keen The Rose Hotel
Kris Kristofferson Closer to the Bone
Lynyrd Skynyrd God & Guns
Madonna Celebration
Paramore Brand New Eyes
The Avett Brothers were on the Late Show with David Letterman last night. Well done, guys!
All it takes is a brief tweet and a hectic scramble to dig the remote out of the couch and the entire course of my day can change.
After a friend of mine recently tweeted, “Class Act is on BET,” there went my afternoon.
Although BET is a network that I’ve literally put a time limit on for my daily viewing, if at all, any excuse to see a Kid ‘N Play movie, pre-House Party 3 is still must see in 2009.
And why not? I mean lots of rappers have done movies, from the Fat Boys to Master P, to artists taking serious roles with Ice T, Ice Cube and Ludacris all trying to be all around entertainers but there is something about the perfect storm of time that allowed “Oh La Oh La Eh” and teal suits to be cool. It was something about wanting to watch people just have fun that’s still strangely appealing. (more…)
It’s that time of year again. When your Facebook wall fills up and texts messages come from contacts you’ve long since deleted.
It’s your birthday.
Whether you’re the kind of person that counts down for months or the one that proceeds with business as usual, there’s a ton of songs dedicated to special days, not just the crappy ones you hear at a kid’s birthday party or Chili’s. But unless someone’s giving you the traditional “Happy Birthday” like Marilyn Monroe gave Kennedy, just avoid that ‘gem’ completely.
In honor of my 23rd birthday today, here’s a list of birthday songs you actually want to hear.
“Happy Birthday” by Stevie Wonder
Let’s face it, if you hear this version, nine times out of 10, you’re black (or have a black co-worker). Even though the song and video were done for MLK’s birthday and you haven’t done nearly as much to impact the world, you can chop off all the weighty accomplishments in the lyrics and just bask in the chorus.
“Birthday” by The Beatles
If you’re anything like me and went to school with kids whose parents fell all over themselves to be “cool mom” or “cool dad” this is the birthday classic for them. Once you get over it’s corniness, you’ll enjoy rockin as if you’re one the cast of Full House and Jesse and the Rippers are doing a cover.
“It’s Your Birthday” by Luke
Fun Fact: There aren’t any curse words in this song AND the special birthday bonus here is, if you hear it on your birthday you’re probably in a strip club or getting an lovely private party. Great thing about this video is this is exactly what I thought Miami was like until I saw the First 48. If your friends were true friends they’d make sure that there were girls in bikinis were in your driveway poppin and then more would jumped out of a van.
“Birthday Sex” by Jeremih
Would mean an awesome end to your special day (or any day for that matter).
Each Friday, we bring you 10-word reviews of 10 recently released CDs:
Janus Red Right Return — Straight-forward rock doesn’t reinvent the wheel for the genre.
Deadmau5 For Lack of a Better Name — Canadian electronic musician releases second album of annoying repetitive “tunes.”
Rufus Wainwright Milwaukee at Last — CD, DVD combine for the release of 23 live songs.
Mark Stuart and the Bastard Sons Bend in the Road — Influenced by Johnny Cash, but steeped in the deep South.
Mike Zito Pearl River — Guitar is at the front of this bluesy rocker’s album.
Kyp Malone Rain Machine — TV on the Radio guitarist releases an artful solo effort.
Porcupine Tree The Incident — Double-CD rock set goes between the Floydian and Toolian.
Jess Klein Bound to Love — Americana singer-songwriter’s acoustic album is steeped in Austin roots. (The Evening Muse on Sept. 26)
David Crowder Band Church Music — Christian band offer up 73 Godly minutes of spiritual rock.
The Elms The Great American Midrange — Indiana rockers have plenty of hooks on their fourth album.
For years, I avoided the unnecessary obsession of fantasy football, but when the opportunity to play in a league with one of my favorite producers came up, I jumped at the chance.
Needless to say, the competitive fire of a kid who played on a winless high school baseball team kicked in and now I’m not just happy to be playing. I want to win and 9th Wonder is my next victim!
Coming into Week 2 of our Fantasy Football season, my squad, The Mikey McFly’s, are solid in second place to, you guessed it, 9th Wonder’s Winston-Salem WonderBreads.
A Week 2 showdown between our leagues two best teams means only one thing for me. A lowly music contributor gets to trash talk a Grammy winner but what can I say to someone who has worked with Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige, was one-third of Little Brother and actually gave me one of my first interviews when I was in college?
I mean, if you type in “9th” on Google he comes up third, behind only the 9th Amendment and 9th circuit [court] and I’m not even the top Mike McCray, thanks to some Pacific Northwest real estate agent, a guy in Charlotte who has an affinity for hitting on women and an obscure artist who released a record called “Bring Your Love Back” sometime in the ’80s on Topflight Records.
In case you thought I was joking.
But hey, this is football. I know football! I mean if it were Fantasy Crate Diggin’ or Guess the BPM’’s, I’d most assuredly lose but football, I’m sure I can pull that off. I have awards, too. Sort of. They are all journalism related, not a Grammy, but big shit to me.
Even ESPN’s team breakdown says I should win. (Only by one category, we push at almost every position).
Hey, what do I have to lose? And if I do I’ll just trash his school, North Carolina Central, and drown my sorrows in a Modelo on Sunday.
UPDATE: Apparently no digital intimidation of a Grammy award winner was needed as I walked away with the 166-137 Week 2 Fantasy football win and I’m currently the league leader.
The Avett Brothers video for “I and Love and You” is finally up over at MySpace. Check it out!
