The Neighborhood Theatre's reopening has been pushed back a week. The Paul Thorn Band concert scheduled to take place at the NoDa venue will now take place at Visulite Theatre Saturday, May 4.
The theater was scheduled to open Wednesday with the Foals/Surfer Blood concert. That's instead taking place at Visulite as well. The first show is now expected to be Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart's Band with special guests the African Showboyz from Ghana scheduled for Wednesday, May 8.
The Neighborhood Theatre changed management in March and began fairly extensive renovations including new restrooms, a new sound system and lighting rig, cosmetic upgrades, and a much larger bar.
All tickets for Thorn (pictured) and opening act Scott Miller's Saturday concert will be honored at Visulite. Tickets are still available for that show at www.ticketfly.com.
Bob Seger, who turns 68 in May,
has hinted in recent interviews that he’s nearing retirement. Watching him march
across the stage at Time Warner Cable Arena Thursday singing cuts like “Beautiful
Loser,” “Travelin’ Man,” and “The Fire Down Below” with a gleeful grin, it’s
hard to imagine him giving it up any time soon.
Seger proved he’s still in fine
voice and he’s still passionate about his songs - some of which were written
over 40 years ago. That excitement extends to the new music he’s making. He
has a new album tentatively scheduled for August. He played new songs,
including his version of “California Stars” - one of the Woody Guthrie songs from
Billy Bragg and Wilco “Mermaid Avenue” project. The announcement of another new
track, which I think is called “All the Roads,” signaled a beer run for
a good portion of the crowd, but the original tune was vintage Seger.
Seger’s music has always championed the
working man so it was fitting that independent, local working class band
Temperance League fit the opening slot. What's more working class than having to be at work in the morning after playing the arena?
Local bands often debate oversaturating
the hometown market by playing too often, but Temperance League hops on stage at local bars and venues
at least a few times a month. That experience served the collective of local
music veterans, who play `60s and `70s rooted rock, well.
The group benefited
from the high end production. You could hear Shawn Lynch’s backing vocals, for
instance. Singer Bruce Hazel animatedly worked the stage, stopping wide-eyed to
check out the band on the big screen, the same way he does at Plaza-Midwood’s
tiny Snug Harbor. Seger’s keyboardist Craig Frost, who watched some of the set
stage side, even commented on Hazel’s mid-song shimmy after the show.
Seger and his top-notch 13-piece Silver
Bullet Band took the stage with “Detroit Made.” The group knocked out hits like
“Old Time Rock n’ Roll” and “Mainstreet” early in the set (although the giant band
sometimes drowned out Seger’s vocals on the former). Of course Seger kept
plenty of hits for later, but he didn’t even play them all. He dug into deeper
cuts like “Her Strut,” chosen because Bill Szymczyk, who produced the
track for 1980’s “Against the Wind,” was in the audience as were members of
Seger’s family. Those deeper cuts revealed the Silver Bullet Band’s darker,
groovier side.
Of course classics like “Turn the Page” featured
Alto Reed’s signature sax work and had the entire crowd on its feet. Seger’s
vocals soared on slow numbers like “We’ve Got Tonight” and “Against the Wind.”
The latter, along with “Hollywood Nights,” was the first of two separate encores.
Although the first exit was a long one - he shared that a band member had to
run to the bathroom (love the candor) - there was little doubt the band
would fail to return to play the song that gives the tour its name. “Rock
n’ Roll Never Forgets” closed the show following “Night Moves” with Seger
looking as delighted as he was when he started the set two hours before.
He may be addressing impending retirement in
interviews, but from the audience’s standpoint there seems to be no need for
that discussion just yet.
Opening night at NoDa's Neighborhood Theatre has been postponed. The theater, which has been undergoing renovations since early March, was set to reopen Wednesday with a concert from the UK band Foals (pictured). That show will now take place at Visulite Theatre.
"We've taken on so many changes in the room, especially on the bar side. We knew we were pushing it to the wire," explains Gregg McCraw of MaxxMusic, who recently took over managing and booking the venue.
McCraw, who books concerts at Double Door, Evening Muse, and Blumenthal Performing Arts venues, decided to move the concert to one of the other venues he works with to give the new Neighborhood Theatre a few more days to acquire its certificate of occupancy in order to operate legally.
Concert goers should check the venue's website for updates on upcoming shows. An announcement as to where the Paul Thorn Band concert currently scheduled for Saturday, May 4, will take place should come soon. McCraw expects the renovated venue to be open by Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart's show on May 8.
Renovations include a new PA and lights, fresh paint, new bathrooms, a new stage curtain and completely new bar.
"The bar area you’d not recognize. It’s so completely
different," McCraw adds. "About the
only thing that’s the same is the marquee letters. There was public outcry for those to stay."
Changes will continue even after the club reopens.
"The logo right now has a gear that says 'under
construction.' We'll keep that for a while. We had a long list of things that needed to be done and we’re
clearly not going to get everything done even if (we open) May 4. It's going to be a work in progress. There’s a lot of little things that we want to get done over the next few months," he says.
"We're disappointed we didn’t get to open up the day we wanted to, but the show goes on," he says of the move to Visulite. "When we open the doors people are going to see why it took a
little longer to get open.”
Tickets for Foals' show with Surfer Blood and Blondfire are still available. Previously purchased tickets will be honored at Visulite Wednesday.
7 p.m. Friday, April 26, Amos’, 1423 S. Tryon St. $26-$28. www.etix.com
Mike Muir leads the latest incarnation of the
hardcore/thrash band responsible for skatepunk classics “Institutionalized,”
“You Can’t Bring Me Down,” and “I Saw Your Mommy.” It
recently released “13” - it’s first album of all new material in 13 years. With
D.R.I. and Wake the Dead.
The English Beat
8 p.m. Friday, April 26, Chop Shop, 399 E. 35th
St. $20/$35 VIP. www.chopshopnoda.com
At 35 years and counting, Dave Wakeling’s ska revivalists
are no retro rehash. With a collection of seasoned players it’s as vibrant and
infectious as ever live. The set list promises unreleased material and (of course) a few hits from Wakeling’s other
band General Public.“Tenderness,” anyone?
Kim Richey
8 p.m. Friday, April 26, Evening Muse, 3227 N. Davidson St.
$15-$18. 704-376-3737.
The accomplished songwriter recently released her seventh
album - a collection of intimate, melancholy folk-pop you can imagine big time
country artists putting a grand spin on as folks like Trisha Yearwood (who
guests on the album with My Morning Jacket’s Carl Broemel, Wilco’s Pat Sansone,
and Jason Isbell) have done in the past.
Alan Evans Trio
10:30 p.m. Friday, April 26, Evening Muse, 3227 N. Davidson
St. $12-$14. 704-376-3737.
The Soullive drummer and producer’s largely instrumental,
organ-centered trio weaves deep, smoky grooves with soundtrack-ready,
psychedelic atmosphere, ripping jams, and the occasional sultry, old school
R&B vocal track on its new album, “Merkaba.”
Sons of Bill
8 p.m. Saturday, April 27, Visulite, 1615 Elizabeth Ave.
$12-$14. www.visulite.com
After releasing one of the best albums of 2012 (“Sirens”),
this literate, Charlottesville, Virginia quintet returns for a rocking country
set that bridges R.E.M. and Son Volt with a healthy dose of smart lyrics,
fire, and brotherly harmonies.
Bob Dylan
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 1, Time Warner Cable Uptown
Amphitheatre, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd. $40-$73.90. www.livenation.com
The legendary songwriter makes a run
through the Carolinas before embarking on this summer’s AmericanaramA Tour with
Wilco and My Morning Jacket (which comes as close as Virginia). This time he’s
joined by Dawes, who’s gained critical acclaim for its own songwriting.
Foals/Surfer Blood
7 p.m. Wednesday, May 1, Visulite, 1615 Elizabeth Ave. www.ticketfly.com
This trio of buzzing indie acts helps reopen the renovated
NoDa venue. Dreamy, experimental, yet accessible rockers Foals is a gold selling
favorite in its native UK. Surfer Blood readies for the June release of its
new album. They’re joined by labelmate Blondfire. (NOTE: This show has been moved from The Neighborhood Theatre to Visulite Theatre).
Tech N9ne
7 p.m. Thursday, May 2, Tremont, 400 W. Tremont Ave.
$25-$28. www.ticketfly.com
With a new album tentatively scheduled for mid summer and an
appearance as the mysterious “Librarian” in horror director Darren Lynn
Bousman’s second “Devil’s Carnival” film, the influential rapper shares the
spotlight with artists from his label including Rittz (whose album drops
Tuesday), Ces Cru, Brotha Lynch Hung, Krizz Kaliko, and Kutt Calhoun.
Sinners & Saints
10 p.m. Thursday, May 2, Evening Muse, 3227 N. Davidson St.
$6-$8. www.eveningmuse.com
There’s raw down home energy, fresh writing, and ample
sincerity in this rootsy underground Charlotte combo that’s reminiscent of what
it was like to see Carolina breakouts the Avett Brothers or Shovels & Rope
early on in their careers. With Michigan’s Jack & the Bear.
If you skateboarded in the `80s or early `90s it’s likely
that Suicidal Tendencies was the soundtrack to your summers. I didn’t
skateboard, but my friends did and although I hadn’t thought much about
Suicidal since high school the announcement of Mike Muir’s latest lineup
playing Amos’ Friday brought back a flood of junior high memories especially
once I looked back at the track listings of those early albums.
The crass “I
Saw Your Mommy” I’m almost certain played at a seventh grade birthday party (along
with Gwar’s “I’m in Love with a Dead Dog"). I picture us sitting in the
driveway watching six boys on skateboards approach a ramp with little success
over and over (the time wasted!) as “Institutionalized” and “You Can’t Bring Me
Down” crackled from a boom box.
I remember hearing “How Will I Laugh Tomorrow”
in my high school boyfriend’s blue Chevette. I never owned any of the albums
myself. I had Muir and Rob Trujillo’s funk side project Infectious
Grooves. No one else had seemed to have a copy of that, but everyone had
Suicidal records.
I'm guessing Suicidal Tendencies made it into my orbit before bands that predated it because they weren’t only a skate culture fixture. Their videos played on MTV before thrashers like Metallica. I remember watching “Institutionalized”
(which I know now starred Jack Nance of “Twin Peaks” and “Blue Velvet” and “Rock
n’ Roll High School’s” Mary Woronov as Muir’s parents).
Muir had a way with capturing youthful angst. While broaching serious
subjects like sanity, he delivered lines with a sense of humor
which made it all the more kid-friendly.
D.R.I., who is also on the bill Friday, was staple of the
skatepunk set too. I don’t remember actually hearing its music as much as seeing
the poster forever glued to my other ex-boyfriend’s bedroom wall. I think
that same poster hung over the kitchen table in our college apartment.
That same group of friends, who still live in Southern West
Virginia, were some of the first to buy tickets to Friday’s show. A party of 8
or more, including my friend's grown daughter and her boyfriend, will make the three hour
trek. It’s never new bands that draw those old friends to
Charlotte. Me and that Chevette driving ex recently discussed my friends being
musically stuck in high school. I started making a few of them mixes every
Christmas just to expose them to something new.
Suicidal Tendencies
is making new music. The new album “13” is the first in as many years. I think
we’re all guilty of returning to old favorites though. I’m amazed by the number of
`80s and `90s artists that my children are fans of. They dig newer groups like the
Knux and Iamdynamite, but are currently on a Billy Idol kick. I simply expose
them to music - apparently a lot of `80s and `90s music - and see what sticks.
For my friends what stuck was obviously the thrash-punk soundtrack to those
misspent teenage years.
Food Lion Speed Street revealed the rest of its headliners for the free Coca-Cola 600 week uptown festival and NASCAR fan event that takes place Thursday, May 23 through Saturday May, 25. Each night music focuses on a particular genre.
This year's lineup includes R&B crooner Jon B. (pictured) joining SWV Thursday. Country singer Randy Houser, fresh from the Kat Country Jam at The Fillmore earlier this week, joins Friday's headliner Jamey Johnson. Survivor will close out the festival with Sister Hazel Saturday night.
Speed Street also usually hosts local and regional artists prior to headliners taking the stage so check out the full schedule soon, along with driver appearance times, at www.600festival.com.
Three years ago Charlotte-based drummer Neel Jadeja was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. I don't think anyone expects that diagnosis. There's a history of diabetes on my father's side of the family, for instance, so when my super athletic cousin was diagnosed at age 10, it was unfortunate but not a total shock. In Jadeja's case the news was actually very shocking.
As a professional drummer in the band Sunny Ledford who was signed for a time to MCA Records and toured with hard rock bands like the Deftones and Godsmack, Jadeja was leading the typical rock n' roll lifestyle even after he quit the band. He was hospitalized in May 2010 because of alcoholism. That's when he received the news that not only would he need to kick the bottle, but he'd have to overhaul his lifestyle completely.
Jadeja got involved with the local chapter of the JDRF (formerly the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, which no longer focuses only on juveniles because 85 percent of those with Type 1 in the US are adults). On Saturday he'll participate in the JDRF 5K Walk to Cure Diabetes at Carowinds with his team Ones n' Noses. For more info on how to donate or participate click here.
You can hear Jadeja recount his story above with lots of candid photos. What he doesn't address is how he's used his rock n' roll past to promote diabetes awareness and this walk in particular in the same way he's used his connection to the Bobcats to draw more support for the cause. He's raffled items autographed by Type 1's most famous face - Bret Michaels - as well as a drum head signed by Pink and her band.
Outside of his efforts with JDRF, Jadeja has since started a new band, Darlings of the Underground. The trio plays NoDa's Chop Shop May 10. To find out more about the band and Saturday's walk follow him on Twitter here.
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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