The NC Music Factory announced its annual Friday Live! outdoor concert series today. This summer's lineup features a few returning faces from past years and focuses heavily on some of `90's rock radio's biggest staples.
The Spin Doctors kick off the concert series May 3 with Charlotte-based national alt-rock act Paper Tongues. That's followed by Tonic May 10 and Texican blues-rock trio Los Lonely with Jerry's Bones May 17. Both played the series last year and this actually makes Tonic's third.
Fuel helps kick off Memorial Day weekend May 24 with Charlotte's the Hot Gates. Collective Soul frontman Ed Roland and his band the Sweet Tea Project headlines May 31 with opening act Simplified.
Acts for June 7 have yet to be announced, but Atlanta's kitschy Yacht Rock Revue who recreates the soft rock sounds of the late `70s and early `80s (think Michael McDonald and Hall & Oates in period appropriate dress) will play June 14. Live favorites Cowboy Mouth heads up the June 21 bill with Cracker and American Aquarium closing out the series' third year on June 28.
Friday Live! takes place after work each Friday in May and June between 6 and 11 p.m. on the Fountain Plaza Stage at the heart of NC Music Factory. Advanced tickets are $5 and a pass to all nine shows is $35. Tickets are available at NC Music Factory and www.ncmusicfactory.com.
Charlotte-based musician Jason Hausman, who owns Hot Sake (not a trendy Camden Road sushi house but a "sound boutique" that creates music for TV, film, and commercials) recently received a Telly Award for his work on the documentary "Overdraft." Hausman and Hot Sake received the award for Best Sound and Sound Design in a Documentary. It was one of 11,000 entries.
The PBS documentary from Charlotte-based Susie Films received a total of nine Telly awards. The film focuses on the national debt. You can watch it here.
The Tellys honor film and video productions, groundbreaking online video content, and local, regional, and national television commercials.
SouthEnd's Hot Sake was also part of the team behind Emmy winning documentary "From the Heart." Hot Sake scored and mixed the film. Grammy winning soul singer and Charlotte native Anthony Hamilton narrated the film, which centers on bullying in schools. Hausman recruited Steve Rothery, founding guitarist for the long running UK rock band Marillion, to collaborate on the project as well. "From the Heart" also aired on PBS.
8:45 p.m. Friday, March 29, Visulite, 1615 Elizabeth Ave. $12-$15.
www.visulite.com
This Athens band manages to blend sweeping Americana, Southern rock rootsiness, aching pedal steel with edgy,
sweat-soaked garage rock, gravelly vocals and psychedelic tendencies.With the Catch Fire.
Cello-rock has the ability to roar, rumble
and break hearts with a weeping bow. This classically trained Greenville, SC vocalist/cellist brings jazz, rock and Americana into the mix and tops it with lovely vocals and
thoughtful, sometimes quirky lyrics. Check out her upcoming Kickstarted funded new album, produced by songwriter David Mayfield.
Emmylou Harris and
Rodney Crowell
Monday, April 1, Belk Theater, 130 N. Tryon St. $ 704-372-1000.
Long Americana’s leading lady, Harris reunited with former
bandmate and stellar songwriter Crowell on the joyful, stripped down (compared
to her later work) new record “Old Yellow Moon.” Bonus? legendary British
guitarist/songwriter Richard Thompson opens the show.
Marcus Foster
7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 2, Tremont, 400 W. Tremont Ave.
$13/$60 VIP. www.ticketfly.com
Don’t be fooled by the “British
singer-songwriter” label. While this Londoner can do the quiet contemplation his UK
peers are known, he's a hungry soul and blues singer at
heart with a lot of fire and grit in his voice.
Eric Clapton
7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 2, Time Warner Cable Arena,
$58.85-$102.05. www.livenation.com
With a new album - a collection of
mostly favorite covers called “Old Sock” - the 67-year-old Rock n’ Roll Hall of
Famer returns to riff on his own classics as well as some of the work that
inspired him. The Wallflowers - back after a long hiatus - opens
the show.
Charlie Hunter and
Scott Amendola
8 p.m. Thursday, April 4, Evening Muse, 3227 N. Davidson St.
$17-$20. 704-376-3737.
After a solo album and playing on Frank Ocean’s “Channel
Orange,” prolific 7 and 8-string guitarist Hunter, who's rooted in the jazz, hip-hop, and jam worlds, joined longtime drummer Amendola for a duo album
- “Not Getting Behind is the New Getting Ahead.”
The Duhks
8 p.m. Thursday, April 4, Visulite, 1615 Elizabeth Ave.
$18-$20. www.visulite.com
After years of shifting lineups and dormancy, the Canadian
soulgrass soul-grass rooted combo reunites with all original members (including
vocalist Jessee Havey) for a proposed EP and full-length and much anticipated
live shows.
8 p.m. Friday, March 22, Fillmore,
1000 NC Music Factory Blvd. $31.www.livenation.com
These two progressive indie-rock
favorites have musically evolved, mellowing and
maturing especially on their 2012 albums. Opening act Now Now manages to do
both ethereal and dreamy and catchy pop-rock equally well.
Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers
8:30 p.m. Friday, March 22,
Visulite, 1615 Elizabeth Ave. $13-$15.www.visulite.com
With a voice and presence that
twists the sultriness of Stevie Nicks and the soul of Dusty Springfield, this
California singer could have time traveled from the `70s. She was featured
along with the Avetts in that 2012 Gap campaign and became a YouTube sensation
with a series of lively full band covers recorded from the road - in her tour
van.
Force MDs/Sunshine Anderson/Case
8 p.m. Saturday, March 23, McGlohon
Theater, 345 N. College St. $38.50-$49.50.www.blumenthalarts.org
The vocal group scored R&B and
pop hits like the radio classic “Tender Love” (from “Krush Groove”) and “Love is a House” in the
`80s, while Case and Charlotte’s Anderson scored their biggest hits (“Missing
You” and “Heard It All Before,” respectively) well over a decade later. All
three R&B artists celebrate old and new at the “Throwback Spring Affair.”
Natalie Merchant
8 p.m. Saturday, March 23, Belk Theater, 130 N. Tryon St.
$44.50-$79.50. 704-372-1000.
The former 10,000 Maniac joins the
Charlotte Symphony for orchestral arrangements from her eclectic latest album
“Leave Your Sleep” - poems and vintage literary works set to various styles of
music from different eras and regions - as well as songs from her solo career,
her former band’s catalog, and a handful of songs from her upcoming orchestral
album.
A favorite among his peers, this
rootsy Texas songwriter trades in country, blues, folk, and rock but does it
all with the edge of a seasoned singer-songwriter that’s lived the kinds of colorful
stories he tells.
IAmDynamite
8 p.m. Thursday, March 28, Tremont,
400 W. Tremont Ave. $8-$10.www.ticketfly.com
With it’s simple duo makeup and songs
that are simply catchy, this guitar and drums duo (which is half based in
Raleigh) easily wins over crowds with crisp, punchy pop-rock that’s as quirky
and completely infectious as early Weezer.
The Vignettes
8 p.m. Thursday, March 28,
Milestone, 3400 Tuckaseegee Rd. $5-$9.www.ticketfly.com
The loud, messy, free-spirited punk
of the riot grrrl era is alive and well in this spunky, bluesy female duo who
exhibits the vocal power of Sleater-Kinney combined with a sense of humor and a taste for dark underground garage rock.
Monday saw a string of summer concert announcements including `90s rock and an all-star Zeppelin tribute.
The latter finds headliners Heart teaming with Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience on the Heartbreaker Tour, which makes a stop at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Friday, June 21. Bonham - the son of Zeppelin drummer John Bonham (who died in 1980) - opens the show, but he'll also return for a 30-minute finale to pay further tribute to his father's legendary band with Heart. The Wilson sisters have long paid tribute to Zeppelin on stage, but only met Bonham in December when the group played a Kennedy Center Honors tribute to Led Zeppelin with him (see clip above). Bonham has occasionally played with the remaining members of Zeppelin (who Ann Wilson reports give the pairing their blessing) and had a hit in 1990 with his own band, Bonham ("Wait For You").
Charlotte's proximity to the Bonnaroo Festival (which takes place June 13-16) continues to serve the city well - at least for the week before and after. As a result Baltimore's dreamy Beach House will visit the Neighborhood Theatre June 13 en route to the Manchester, Tennessee festival.
The `90s turned out to be a hot ticket last summer and the trend continues this year with Barenaked Ladies revisiting its 2012 "Last Summer on Earth Tour." The group celebrates its 25th anniversary with fellow `90s rock radio staples Ben Folds and Guster July 25 at Time Warner Cable Uptown Amphitheatre. Boothby Graffoe will open the show. Expect a new album from Canada's Ladies June 4th.
Fellow `90s pop-rockers Matchbox 20 and Goo Goo Dolls embark on a co-headlining tour that hits Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre August 6. Tickets for Barenaked Ladies go on sale March 23. Tickets for Heart and the Matchbox/GooGoo tour go on sale March 29.
Miles & Coltrane: Blue (.), a tribute to the game changing period in jazz, returns for a limited run in preparation for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival - which always seem to signal that Charlotte is in for an exciting, original show. Concrete Generation and the Stephen Gordon Group recreate the work of Miles Davis and John Coltrane and illustrate the dramatic shift in music history at Duke Energy Theatre at Spirit Square from May 30 to June 2. Scheduled concerts include two matinees and a Pay-What-You-Can night.
At the club level the Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart brings his band along with African Showboyz to Neighborhood Theatre May 8th.
Oscar winner Ryan Bingham returns to Tremont Music Hall May 9th. That same night Welsh alt-rock trio the Joy Formidable stops at Visulite.
The Charles Walker Band brings retro funk back to Double Door on May 23rd. Billy Joe Shaver also stops in at the long-running club June 19th.
Later in the summer NC songstress Tift Merritt returns to Visulite August 16th. The BoDeans perform at McGlohon Theater August 23rd and Steve Forbert's Alive on Arrival Tour is at Stage Door Theater September 14th.
Tickets available online at venue websites. Check individual band sites for pre-sale and VIP opportunities.
Last week I stumbled on an enormous coffee table book in my editor's desk. My first thought was, "How'd this fit in here and who would want a book this big? It's too tall for the shelf."
Then I read the title: "Swissted: Vintage Rock Posters Remixed and Reimagined."
"Oh," I immediately backpedaled. "Can I have this?"
When I moved to Charlotte in 1994 I began collecting concert posters. The Frank Kozik and Uncle Charlie prints I bought and had framed at Infinity's Images still hang in our home today along with countless others we've picked up at shows over the years. So a book of concert posters is right up my alley.
What's different about the posters in Mike Joyce's book are that while the shows actually happened, these posters did not - until recently, that is, when the owner of NYC's Stereotype Design began combining his love of `70s, `80s and `90s punk, new wave and hardcore with his fascination with Swiss modernism. Bands who once advertised shows on crude, busy, black and white flyers now have sleek, colorful versions like the ones that appear on the cover of the book (pictured above).
Joyce, who has designed album covers for musicians like Iggy Pop and the Lemonheads, explains his fascination with the International Typographic Movement and how it relates to punk and indie rock in the book. The convergence of the seemingly disparate underground bands and modern art style makes sense once he explains how bands like the Ramones, for instance, were drawing on disparate movements to make their own art.
While I was delighted to find posters for obscure bands like the Accused (my high school boyfriend's favorite) and riot grrrls aplenty (Babes in Toyland, L7, Sleater-Kinney and Bikini Kill), the best part of this discovery was when my 4-year-old discovered it.
He and his babysitter uncovered the real gem - a poster of a Material Issue show. Material Issue was a power pop band from Chicago that I listened to in high school. When I introduced my eldest to the song "Diane" because it was his teacher's name, he was hooked. Both my 2 and 4-year-olds know the words to several Material Issue songs. Sadly the group's singer committed suicide in the `90s, so my son's quest to see them live is never going to happen (although the surviving members have done shows as Material Re-Issue).
He's pretty happy to settle with a flyer for a long ago show framed on his bedroom wall - for now. See, the pages of the book are actually perforated so you can tear them out and display. After flipping through the book twice we're already planning our trip to Ikea to buy frames so he can put posters from some of his favorite bands on his bedroom walls (I know, starting early).
While we didn't come across his very favorite (Blur), he has claimed seven including one that bears the name he shares with a famous band from the `80s which I imagine will become the centerpiece of the new "Swissted" display over his bed. As much as I am a little sad about him taking down some of the artwork I purchased for his room when he was born, it's pretty cool that it's the Beastie Boys, Rancid, No Doubt, and Sleater-Kinney (so proud) that will replace it. As far as children's decor goes, it could be much worse (Barney?).
The only downside? Seeing a Dead Kennedys poster prompted him to ask me if the band members were all dead.
"Swissted" is available online. Although it lists for $40, Amazon is selling it for $22.72 here.
If CBS
were to relaunch those “Circus of the Stars” TV specials from the `70s and
`80s, pop singer Pink could probably tackle every role from lion tamer to
acrobat to stunt cyclist with ease. Her concert at Time Warner Cable Arena
Saturday left the crowd wondering if there’s anything this woman can’t do - and
do well.
She met the high expectations created
by her last “Funhouse” tour from the opening of “Raise Your Glass” - upside
down while three shirtless trapeze artists held her feet as she twisted and
twirled against a heart-shaped tattoo-meets-carnival-inspired backdrop.
She
charged through “Walk of Shame” and “Just Like a Pill.” The fun “U + Ur Hand” was
choreographed like an `80s video with her dancers - all dressed differently -
backing her up like a grooving street gang that had come together spontaneously.
Even when the show was at its most
strategically rehearsed - with the singer flying above the crowd - the performance
never seemed contrived. Her banter was natural and open. No she didn’t sing
every word live, but she also didn’t pretend to. Two animated and entertaining
backup singers filled in the gaps. And when Pink does sing live, boy can she
sing - and sometimes in the most awkward of positions.
After an
S&M-themed segue, she appeared in a teeny weeny black bikini to spin over
the crowd again before performing a contortionist yoga-dance duet of sorts with
a male dancer that she lifted with her legs as he rolled over her. Throughout the night she sported
skintight leotards, body suits and midriff bearing tops that showed off post-baby
abs that could make D’Angelo circa 2000 envious.
As
amazing as she is a performer, Pink’s act translates because she is very real
whether talking about her family in Fayetteville or “bad dancing” during “Leave
Me Alone (I’m Lonely).” She’s not afraid to have fun and poke fun at herself. The
loud, black and white parachute-hipped pants and fluorescent high tops she wore
during the final pre-encore segment were an amusing nod to her hip-hop past. She
got winded recreating those hip-hop dance moves from her early days during a
medley of “Most Girls,” “There You Go,” and “You Make Me Sick.”
That throwback
ended up being one of the most entertaining non high-flying portions of the show. She proved she could be a Janet Jackson-type performer
if she wanted to, but there’s a lot of rocker in Pink amid the punky attitude and
electric guitars. She’s like Pat Benatar, Joan Jett and Jackson rolled into
one.
While
she did address her early work, she only touched on the album that made her a
huge pop star (2001’s “Missundaztood”) with “Pill” and a piano and vocal
rendition of “Family Portrait.” No “Get the Party Started.” She didn’t really
need it though. She’s had plenty of hits since and songs like “Wicked Game” by
another powerful pompadoured performer (Chris Isaak) and the acoustic “Who Knew”
showed off her nearly unparalleled pipes.
It
looked as if “Sober” would be the theatrical highlight of the show as she and
her dancers crawled in and out of and swung from a spinning oval cage suspended
over the stage. It looked like a Faberge egg but was dubbed the “ring of death”
by the guys behind me.
The stage turned into a vaudeville
strip joint (or maybe the fairy club from “True Blood”) for “Slut Like You” before
the finale of “Blow Me (One Last Kiss).”
The
only thing a bit off was Rubix the comedic host that cruised the crowd following City and Colour's opening set, introduced the show, and
appeared during costume changes to entertain. He was kind of creepy, but his Dr. Seuss quote
about love nicely tied things together at the end. That’s when we noticed the
wires running the length of the arena over our heads. As the playful riffs of “So
What” rang out, Pink - strapped into said wires with a ring around her waste -
appeared for what may be the most impressive encore the arena’s ever seen. She
soared above the crowd, flipping end over end from the stage to the back
balcony, stopping to sing a verse on narrow pillars before sailing off again
(thanks to Wilson for posting the above video). If you didn’t have a big
stupid grin on your face as Pink gleefully flew over your head, then you very
well may be dead inside.
She could have easily ended there, but returned to reprise that stunning aerial silks
performance of "Glitter in the Air" flanked by three aerialists. She may be married to a motocross athlete and
motorcycle racer, but again and again she proved - with a delighted smile on
her face - that there’s more than one daredevil in that family. And throughout
her show - as she sings in “So What” - she looks like she’s “having more fun” than
anyone in the building.
Courtney Devores has been writing about music and entertainment in Charlotte for 16 years and has been a regular contributor to The Charlotte Observer since 2003.
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