Showing posts tagged “The ArtsCenter”
Rick Cornell ·
5 Nov 2009, 6:49 PM ·
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That Bangle Girl and That Oh-OK Boy
I’m not lobbying for the position of song-choice consultant for Matthew “Sid” Sweet and Susanna “Susie” Hoffs if the pair decides to release a third volume of their Under the Covers series, following ’06’s Volume 1 and the new Volume 2 (both on Shout Factory). However, I would serve with honor and incurable geekitude. OK, so maybe I am lobbying.
Past the jump are the 10 songs at the top of my Volume 3 wish list. Volume 1 stuck to the ‘60s, whereas Volume 2 was all about the ‘70s. My list reflects the hope that a third volume would be willing to revisit the ‘60s and ‘70s as well as dip into the ‘80s and ‘90s. I did limit myself in one way though: I didn’t choose any artists that are covered on the first two volumes, a who’s who that ranges from The Beatles and Bob Dylan to The Velvet Underground and The Zombies. Continue reading »
In the Studio, You Should Do This Sid & Susie, The ArtsCenter
Grayson Currin ·
23 Oct 2009, 11:45 AM ·
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Bland Simpson, songwriter and UNC professor
The Red Clay Ramblers got their start in 1972 and, over the years, have evolved with many personnel changes. Once a string band, the group now offers smatterings of American roots music from New Orleans to Tin Pan Alley. The Ramblers have a history of spreading their music through theater productions as well as music performances.
Pianist Bland Simpson has been involved with the band almost since its inception. At band mate Chris Frank’s house, Simpson helped mail out discs of the Red Clay Rambler’s newest album, Old North State earlier this week. Before calling an end to the afternoon and heading home to grill dinner, Simpson spoke with The Independent over the phone about the history of the group, its broadening sound, and performing roots music in alternative venues.
The Red Clay Ramblers play Chatham Mills in Pittsboro at 8 p.m. on Friday, October 23. On Saturday, October 24, they move over to Chapel Hill’s ArtsCenter at 8:30 p.m. $15-17. Continue reading »
Interviews and Long Cuts, You Should Do This Bland Simpson, Chatham Mills, Red Clay Ramblers, The ArtsCenter
Grayson Currin ·
26 Sep 2009, 6:23 PM ·
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Come to the boundaries. (Photo: Lara Khalil)
What if more music existed purposefully at the borders, or at the nexuses of genres? And what if that happened so often that we no longer though of it as unexpected when something good actually came of it? That is, what if the norm was to shirk expectations of what any one form had to offer, to always think across the boxes?
That’s the central question Wendy Spitzer, longtime Chapel Hill musician in Eyes to Space and Felix Obelix and a conceptual artist, is asking with The Liminal Festival, her three-night, three-venue event that ends tonight with a seven-band bill at The ArtsCenter. Spitzer drafted nine bands from as far away as Texas and Philadelphia to play the fest, subsidized by a grant from The Strowd Roses Foundation, and those bands shake and shift expectations of genre and sound.
“Just bringing all of these musicians together to see what a festival like this might sound like was the primary goal,” Spitzer said on the first day of the festival. What these bands sound like might be beyond your expectations: Chapel Hill’s Wes Phillips, formerly of late, great trio Ticonderoga, interweaves complex melodies and rhythms into lattice with his new material, assembling unorthodox pop from ideas of jazz, folk, hip-hop, math rock and straight-ahead rock ’n’ roll. He lands hooks inside songs you can’t even imagine how to play. Continue reading »
News flashes, You Should Do This Felix Obelix, The ArtsCenter, The Liminal Festival, Wendy Spitzer
