Charlotte's Great Architect, an improvisation-geared sextet that got its start in 2009, will celebrate the release of its new 7 inch record Thursday, December 22, at The Milestone (3400 Tuckaseegee Rd.). (Yep, that's a vinyl 45 like we use to fill our jukebox with growing up - and what a fantastic idea that would be to fill it not with my sister's Fat Boys' singles or my Prince and Blondie records, but actual current vinyl). The kinnikinnik Records' release features two tracks - "Mission: ALOHA" and "5 to the 6." It will be limited to 300 physical copies and is available for download.
Brent Bagwell, the group's saxophonist/clarinet player, sent me a link to the tracks last week and I find myself returning to listen to them frequently. You can do so here. In his email Bagwell called them "uncharacteristically backbeat-driven and coherent...a little love letter to David Shire and his `70s film score comrades, maybe?" I think that connection to `70s cinema is why I dig them so much. Shire is a composer best known for his scores for "Saturday Night Fever" (for which he won two Grammys), "The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3," "All the President's Men," and "2010." Not to mention "Short Circuit" and the theme from "Alice" (the sitcom!).
To commemorate the release the band is playing three sets at the Milestone and only charging $5. That amount includes a copy of the record. The first set will be a trimmed down configuration in the venue's bar area with two full band sets to follow in the main room. Great Architect (pictured above, photo by M. Baum) will perform material from all four of its kinnikinnik releases. Show at 8 p.m. For more details check out www.themilestoneclub.com.
9:30 p.m. Friday, December 17, Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St. $7. 704-333-9799.
With a cast of seasoned local music vets backing tireless showman Bruce Hazel, the garage rock unit powers through a set of punchy, raw rock songs. It's paired with Raleigh’s hip-hop/funk-rock collaboration Shirlette and the Dynamite Brothers and Nashville’s Dirt Heavy.
Acoustic Syndicate
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, December 16 and 17, Visulite, 1615 Elizabeth Ave. $15-$17. 704-358-9200.
The western North Carolina newgrass institution carries on this holiday tradition with back-to-back concerts that have been packing fans into the Elizabeth venue for a pre-Christmas jam frenzy for over a decade.
9 p.m. Saturday, December 17, The Saloon, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd. $10.www.ncmusicfactory.com
Two members of J.J. Grey’s Mofro break off with their own take on soulful blues hopping from smoother, contemporary electric blues (think Mofro) to dirtier raw, rocking blues (more akin to G. Love-meets-Blues Explosion).
Aqualads and Friends
10:30 p.m. Saturday, December 17, Evening Muse, 3227 N. Davidson St. $15-$35. 704-376-3737.
Members of the Chalkies, the Houstons, Snagglepuss as well as Benji Hughes and Bruce Hazel are among the guests joining the surf rock outfit for the release of its guest-laden Christmas album and to honor musician Rodney Lanier, who died last week. The show and album were originally intended as a benefit for Lanier. (Tickets are only available in advance).
The Brooklyn-based rocking country sextet throws a “Yarn Ball” to benefit Toys 4 Tots. The group urges fans to donate an unwrapped/unused toy at the annual event in exchange for a copy of its cd.
Luis Enrique
8 p.m. Sunday, December 18, Fillmore, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd. $16.50.www.livenation.com
Nicaragua’s “Prince of Salsa,” who’s had a prolific Latin Grammy award winning career since he first emerged in the eighties, makes a rare stateside club appearance to benefit Charlotte’s Latin American Chamber of Commerce.
The Charlotte avant garde jazz combo will perform three sets - one in its “micro formation” (clarinet, no amps, and different percussion) and two with full band - in celebration of its cinema-inspired new 7 inch release. If you dig the weirder side of Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, check it out. (Record included with admission).
Charlotte musician Rodney Lanier, who died Friday December 9, will be honored Sunday, December 18, with a memorial service at The Chop Shop in NoDa (399 E. 35th St. behind Cabo Fish Taco). A funeral was held Monday in his hometown of Advance.
Sunday's memorial will take place between 4 and 6 p.m. with a reception to follow at Evening Muse, where he worked. A New Orleans-style procession will lead from one venue to the other around 6 p.m.
Chop Shop is donating $1 of all liquor drinks sold to the Rodney Lanier Trust. Bartenders are donating a portion of their tips as well. Cash only.
Lanier died suddenly after being diagnosed with cancer in September. He was a member of Jolene, Sea of Cortez, and many other Charlotte bands and a fixture on the local music scene.
Since Lanier worked at the Muse he encountered bands from all over. Below is a really amazing tribute written by Eliot Bronson, formerly of Atlanta band the Brilliant Inventions who played the Muse fairly often.
Our youth is often the time period that most informs our musical tastes as adults. And the Balsa Glider’s sound is indicative of the alternative rock and jangle pop styles that surfaced in Southern college towns in the `80s and `90s as alt-rock was beginning to really grab hold of the mainstream. While Chapel Hill (where the band members met) was gathering indie cred for bands like Archers of Loaf and Superchunk, the members of Balsa Gliders were collecting professional degrees. Its members are all grown up now. Their day jobs include banker, lawyer, doctor, and Episcopal priest. But those years spent absorbing the Southeastern sounds of R.E.M. and Let’s Active certainly color its brand of rock nearly twenty years later.
A lot of bands of that era come to mind when I listen to its new EP “Photographic Friends.” The matter-of-fact vocal delivery with a slight whine reminds me of Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore or Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus crossed with Son Volt’s Jay Farrar, but without the slacker quality of those voices. The material ranges from bright, hopping jangle pop to more introspective.
You get a sense of nostalgia from the lyrics too - maybe some of the characters the group sings about are inspired by those from its past? The lyrics are like clever little puzzles hidden beneath bouncy pop songs that the listener can piece together with multiple listens. They aren’t necessarily cloaked in mystery, but include colorful details that flesh out their subjects. “Cable Came to Kinston” is pretty obvious, but that’s why I like it. There are also subtle musical touches as well such as the keys (which get a zippy solo) and backing “oohs” of the opening track “Cooleemee Girl” or the fluttery guitar picking as “Man the Mountain” builds to a close.
Producer Greg Elkins who has worked with Whiskeytown, Chris Stamey, and Birds of Avalon adds to the raw authenticity of the record.
The Raleigh-based sextet keeps two feet firmly planted in Charlotte (those of drummer Chuck Price) and the band’s main songwriter and vocalist Charles Marshall grew up in Charlotte and has family here. What’s becoming its annual winter show at Visulite Theatre is sort of a homecoming. The group, who got its start in DC, is back in Charlotte Thursday, December 15 at the Visulite with Yates Dew. Tickets are $10. Show starts at 8:45 p.m. 704-358-9200; www.visulite.com.
Charlotte's Jon Lindsay recently released a digital Christmas EP, "Could It Be Christmas." The lead track is a little pop gem with its Americana roots proudly showing. It makes me picture him in an `80s style video wearing a scarf and one of those puffy frost free jackets from Old Navy happily singing it as he treads through snow-covered city streets maybe in Amsterdam or Boston (since snow in Charlotte is so rare).
The second track, "Castles in France," is more melancholy with big, rich harmonies that sort of sing the holidays. The last one, "Partner," is quirkier and upbeat. They certainly aren't traditional holiday songs, but that's what I like about them. You don't necessarily feel like you can only listen to them once a year. As he says, "It's not your grandma's Christmas music."
You can hear them all and download the EP for $5 here.
Charlotte's music community took a huge hit Friday when local musician Rodney Lanier died suddenly after a short battle with cancer. Lanier was a member of Jolene, Sea of Cortez, and played with numerous other bands over the years including Hard Times Family, gogo Pilot, Lodestar, Eleventeen, and Virginia Reel. He worked at Evening Muse in NoDa. News of his illness was met with an outpouring of support from the community. A show Sea of Cortez booked at Chop Shop in October quickly exploded into an all-star benefit that included a Jolene reunion and drew over 600 people throughout a very cold, rainy Halloween weekend night. The footage above is from that event and although the sound's not the best, you can see Rodney (in the trucker hat) on stage. That event alone raised $12,000.
I didn't know Rodney well, but he was one of those people you instantly liked and enjoyed seeing out. He always smiled and said hello and sometimes chatted a bit. In my mind I thought of him as Rodneybear - one of the many nicknames friends bestowed on him - because he was so sweet and likeable. I honestly don't know anyone that didn't like him - as evidenced by his Oso Grande benefit in October looking like a reunion of almost everyone I've ever met in the music scene in Charlotte.
Facebook and Twitter have been abuzz with his passing since yesterday. I've received texts and calls from friends sharing their concern and devastation. "Shuffle Magazine's" John Schacht posted a personal piece about Rodney this morning with some lovely photos by Daniel Coston. You can read it here.
New Edition's 30th anniversary reunion tour featuring all six members - Bobby Brown, Michael Bivins, Ricky Bell, Ralph Tresvant, Ronnie DeVoe and Johnny Gill - will make a stop at Greensboro Coliseum February 17. Tickets go on sale Friday, December 16 at 11 a.m. at www.ticketmaster.com.
My sister and I were excited to see the group's last reunion tour when it came through Cricket Arena (now Bojangles Coliseum) in 2007. But, from our seats at least, the sound was so bad some of the songs were nearly unrecognizable. If not the worst sounding show I've ever seen, it was definitely Top 5. It was one of the few times I actually wanted my money back. So while I'm initially stoked at the prospect of a do-over, I'm still a little apprehensive about a repeat experience.
What is great about a New Edition show is it encompasses hits from five different artists. You've got the original group's "Mr. Telephone Man," "Cool It Now," and "If It Isn't Love" as well as material from Brown, Bel Biv DeVoe, Mr. "Sensitivity" Tresvant, and Gill (who sang one of my very favorite guilty pleasures "Rub You the Right Way"). The press release promises them all, which is nearly enough to make me forget getting burned last time and hope for the best in February.
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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