by David Burn | Jul 3, 2007 | Music
The Indianapolis Star looks at one of the Hoosier state’s top tastemakers–Craig “Dodge” Lile. According to the article, Lile’s My Old Kentucky Blog–a site I frequent–gets 5000 unique visits a day and helps to support the Lile family.
“I have a real core group that trusts what I like,” Lile says. “They believe my ear is valuable, and they trust it. That’s ultimately what I’m going for.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever broken a band (to widespread popularity),” he says. “I’ve probably helped contribute to the hype behind bands on a national level. How much of that sticks in the long run, I don’t know.”
Lile is also a budding satellite DJ. He appears on the Left of Center channel at Sirius Satellite Radio, presenting two hours of music every Tuesday night.
by David Burn | Jun 28, 2007 | Music
St. Louis-based blues player, Boo Boo Davis, has 6540 MySpace friends. Yesterday, after he made a friend request, I became one of those fortunate to enough to be in the know. It took just a few minutes before I was on iTunes purchasing his 2006 record, Dear, Mississippi, a release MOJO Magazine named as one of the 10 best blues records of the year.
Davis was reared in the heart of the Mississippi Delta. Boo Boo’s father, Sylvester Davis farmed cotton and played several instruments. Musicians who he played with include John Lee Hooker, Elmore James, Pete Williams and Robert Petway. Boo Boo remembers these and other musicians dropping by and rehearsing at their house.
At the age of five Boo Boo was playing the harmonica and singing in church with his mother. By thirteen he was playing guitar, and by eighteen he was playing out with his father and older brothers under the name of The Lard Can Band.
Davis, who moved to St. Louis in the 1960s, is presently on the Black and Tan label located in The Netherlands.
by David Burn | Jun 24, 2007 | Music
Pete Nawara painted this live at City Hall on Friday
We travelled to Nashville, a.k.a. Music City, for the weekend and managed to see six acts in four different venues. On Friday night we saw Dinosaur Jr. and The Black Keys at City Hall in The Gulch. As luck would have it The Station Inn–perhaps the most famous bluegrass bar in the land—is situated directly across 12th Avenue from City Hall. Between sets we wandered over and paid the ten-dollar cover to see Blind Corn Liquors Pickers, a bluegrass outfit from Lexington, KY. The two scenes could not have been more disparate. Inside City Hall, 1500 plus 20-something hipsters were willingly being pumelled by the power of electric guitar, whereas BCLP played to a tiny crowd of acoustic music lovers in a setting as comfortable as old boots.
On Saturday, we ventured out to the Grand Ole Opry in the heat of the afternoon because Jim Lauderdale was scheduled to play for free in the Plaza. We caught his soundcheck then realized he wasn’t coming on for another two and a half hours. So we headed back to the city and found an Italian restaurant in Music Row for dinner. After a nice bottle of Syrah from Washington, ceasar salad, chicken parm and pork loin, we made our way down 8th Avenue to Douglas Corner Cafe for Bruce Robison. Chris Masterson and Eleanor Whitmore opened the show. Masterson currently plays with Son Volt, but this acoustic romp revealed another side. We also picked up his new EP, The Late Great Chris Masterson, which sounds great. Following Masterson, Robison and his band–which includes Whitmore on fiddle and mandolin–delivered 90 minutes of Texas-sized tales befitting his 6′ 7″ frame and Bandera upbringing. All this in an intimate Nashville room. It was a great cap to a good weekend.
by David Burn | Jun 17, 2007 | Architecture, Music, Nebraska, The Environment
Metropolis Magazine published a feature last September on the rapid acceleration of New Urbanism in Omaha.
The magazine claims much of the groundwork for Omaha’s urban-design plan was put in place by the Omaha Community Foundation, which started working on a vision for the city in 1999. In 2002 the foundation asked Connie Spellman from the chamber of commerce to spearhead Omaha by Design, a nonprofit set up to focus their efforts, and they brought in Fred Kent of Project for Public Spaces to help.
Omaha by Design came up with 73 urban-design recommendations as part of the Omaha Master Plan. The plan encompasses everything from the landscaping of street corners, the design of important civic sites, and streetlamp choices available for neighborhoods to regional development, protection of watersheds, and the creation of a citywide trail system.
“Corporations were realizing that Omaha didn’t have the energy that a lot of young workers were looking for,†Steve Jensen, Omaha’s planning director says. “They’re saying, ‘It’s important to have a city that’s interesting and active—and a little edgy.’†That’s something community leaders appreciate about Saddle Creek Records. According to the Omaha World Herald, the city helped finance Saddle Creek’s new entertainment complex in NoDo. The 56,000 square feet complex consists of Saddle Creek Records, live music venue Slowdown, the Film Streams art-house theater and spaces in which artists can work and live.
Joe Gudenrath, spokesman for Mayor Mike Fahey, said the mayor’s office was “active in encouraging them to locate in north downtown.”
“We didn’t want to take the chance of losing Saddle Creek Records to another city,” Gudenrath said.
by David Burn | Jun 10, 2007 | Music
With The White Stripes’ sixth album, Icky Thump, waiting in the wings (it will be released on 6/19), Alan Light of The New York Times paints Jack White as a meticulous control freak who believes deeply in theatre.
While indie-rock tastemakers tend to champion bands that look like them, Mr. White still believes that smoke and mirrors, the kind of approach that once caused detractors to dismiss the White Stripes as a gimmick, are integral to successful art. “Everything from your haircut to your clothes to the type of instrument you play to the melody of a song to the rhythm — they’re all tricks to get people to pay attention to the story,” he said.
“If you just stood up in a crowd and said your story — ‘I came home, and this girl I was dating wasn’t there, and I was wondering where she was’ — it’s not interesting,” he said. “But give it a melody, give it a beat, build it all the way up to a haircut. Now people pay attention.”
The article also mentions how the band will be playing arenas this summer–something more than a little odd for a two-piece band. Another sign of The White Stripe’s maturity as an act is the fact that Icky Thump is licensed to Warner Brothers, with the band retaining ownership of the master recordings. Mr. White said he has no qualms about working with a major label, given some bad experiences with small indies and promoters during the band’s early years.
“We’ve been ripped off by so many independent labels and so many people from the underground,” he said. “All that stuff left a really bad taste in my mouth.”
by David Burn | Jun 6, 2007 | Music
Live Downloads is offering Carolina Chocolate Drops’ five-song set from Merle Fest’s Cabin Stage this past April. The group of young African-American stringband musicians is keeping the rich tradition of fiddle and banjo music native to the Carolinas’ piedmont alive. While often thought of as an Appalachian creation, the antebellum combination of banjo and fiddle used to be a tradition in most black rural communities in the South.
The band is mentored by fiddle player Joe Thompson of Mebane, NC. They seek to carry on his tradition and the tradition of black musicians like Odell and Nate Thompson, Dink Roberts, John Snipes, Libba Cotten, Emp White, and countless others.
[MP3 Offering: “Georgie Buck” live from Merle Fest, 4/27/07]
by David Burn | Jun 4, 2007 | Music
Steve Earle and his wife Allison Moorer have a garden apartment in Manhattan’s West Village. Their place is on the same block depicted on the cover of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.
Earle told The New Yorker’s John Seabrook:
“This is where they invented what I do,” he said. “And it happened only because there were these three groups–the folksingers, the musicologists, and the writers–who happened to be living in this several-block radius. If that scene doesn’t happen, then rock and roll never becomes literature. It just stays pop.”
Seabrook refers to Earle as an historian of the early folk scene in the Village and describes his present-day work at Electric Lady, the studio that Jimi Hendrix built to record his own music. He also ponders aloud if Earle isn’t 45 years late to the scene.
“No way,” he said emphatically. “It’s still a neighborhood. And Suze Rotolo’s still here. And she looks so great!”
Rotolo was Dylan’s girlfriend. She appeared alongside the legendary performer on the cover of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.
by David Burn | Jun 3, 2007 | Music
Kevin Bronson of the Los Angeles Times abhors exclamation points, modern country and any notion that New York City is the center of the cultural universe. He’s also older than any music blogger he knows.
Given that he was feeling under the weather the other night, he asked Times Correspondent Charlie Amter to attend The Hold Steady’s show at the El Rey Theatre in his stead. Amter reports:
Finn, looking not unlike a bearded, bespectacled and crazed street preacher on crystal meth, immediately commenced gesticulating wildly in time with the music. The crowd, probably 75% of them men, ate it up and sang along. With very little prodding, Finn had nearly the entire front section of the El Rey (the show was sold out and had been for weeks prior to their sole L.A. engagement) clapping in time with the music — hands over their head. One guy stage-dove.
Amter also notes that Finn drops literary references into his songs and that 30-something Ivy-educated citizens of LA like to drink. “I’d be willing to bet the bar receipts at the El Rey were higher than at any show so far this year,” he suggests.
[MP3 Offering: “Massive Nights” from Paste Sampler #31]
by David Burn | Jun 2, 2007 | Music
I’m watching Umphrey’s McGee live at Mountain Jam in Hunter Mountain, NY right now thanks to the kindness of WDST Radio Woodstock’s streaming capabilities.
It’s raining out but the stage is pretty well covered. The same can’t be said for the field in front of the stage. The crowd is gettin’ wet.
See this event-specific Blogger site for continual updates throughout the weekend.
[SUNDAY NIGHT UPDATE] We came in from dinner at Spice on Hilton Head and turned the stream back on to the opening notes of “Althea.” We’re now deep into “Low Spark” as I update this.
Did I mention that John Scofield is in the band tonight? Hold it, what’s this? “Cumberland Jam > New Speedway Boogie.” I spent a little time on the mountain, I spent a little time on the hill…One way or another this darkness got to give. We’re going into “Mason’s Children.” On with 1969! According to David Dodd, there are 15 known live performances of this song by Grateful Dead, all in 1969-1970, after which it was dropped from the repertoire. Now Warren’s tearing into “Candyman,” off American Beauty. Wah wah pedals into “Scarlet Begonias.” Knew right away she was not like other girls, other girls…jam…change up…”Eyes.” The heart has it’s beaches, it’s homeland, and thoughts of its own. “Fire.” There’s a dragon with matches loose on the town.
Short set break. (They opened with Shakedown > Friend of the Devil > Uncle John’s tease, according to this update.)
Set two opens with “Unbroken Chain,” one of Phil’s originals. “Dark Star > Mountains of the Moon.” Hey Tom Banjo it’s time to matter. The earth will see you on through this time. Jam. Back into “Dark Star.” Noodling. “Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds > Lovelight.” Baby please, I’m on my knees.
Organ donor rap > “Not Fade Away.”
by David Burn | May 28, 2007 | Music
I bought the deluxe edition of Wilco’s new “Sky Blue Sky” so I could get the DVD, featuring “Shake It Off,” a 45-minute documentary directed by Christoph Green and Fugazi’s Brendan Canty, the filmmakers behind Sunken Treasure and the documentary series Burn to Shine.
The picture opens on a low key monologue from Jeff Tweedy layered over snowy images from Chicago. He says, “I wanted a lot of the songs on the records to be really kind of direct. I think that the world is so mysterious and so scary and kind of terrifying right now, it just felt really weird to try and write puzzles, and kind of disjointed, non-sequitur-type imagist kind of lyrics. I kind of think right now is a pretty good time to sit down and sing people some mother fuckin’ songs. I’m sorry, that’s all I really I want right now. I just want somebody to sing me a song. You know? I really was consciously trying to just write these crystalized ideas kind of songs. You know, like this is just one idea. I’m just gonnna try to get it across.”
Tweedy says later in the film that he’s singing directly to his wife, former talent booking agent Sue Miller. He also talks about being sober for the first time while making an album. Tweedy sought help for his addiction to pain killers in 2004 and has been open about the fact that he suffers from clinical depression and panic attacks.
