The News Review:
- The father of Gypsy punk
- … Pays Tribute At Rock Hall Ceremony – News Story | Music…
- Banding together raises awareness
- … rock clubs set to transform city nightlife :: CHICAGO SUN…
- Mexican bands invade SXSW
- PERFORMING ARTS
- Alternative Latin music takes SXSW stage
The father of Gypsy punk
Houston Chronicle – Mar 11, 2008
Frontman Eugene Hutz and his Ukranian gypsy folk-punk band began to stir up noise nearly 10 years ago in New York. Voi-La Intruder its first album had the energy and abandon of early Pogues but didn’t quite capture the frenzied euphoria of a Gogol show. Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike and the new Super Taranta! manage to get most of the manic energy across. They’re full of surf guitar riffs bellowing accordion raging fiddle and Hutz’s cackling voice. Here is a 10-part user-friendly guide to Gogol Bordello. Gogol Bordello is the musical embodiment of Bakhtin’s carnivalesque… The poorer areas there’s no production to the music. It’s raw jazz power. They’re still trying to fly as far as they can just solely on the music. You walk up to a guy selling corn and he’ll play the most beautiful unearthly tune. It’s not like Europe or America where if you give a guy a guitar they’re gonna play Smoke on the (Expletive) Water. Hutz has a soft spot for metal.
… Pays Tribute At Rock Hall Ceremony – News Story | Music…
MTV.com – Mar 11, 2008
After quoting from the Talmud she called Timberlake — who’d said “She became the biggest name on the planet the old-fashioned way: She earned it” — a “f—er. ” Moments later she blurted out the word “mother—-er” for no discernable reason. Those words served as a fitting preamble for the punk-paced covers of Madonna songs from a leathery and topless Iggy Pop who along with the Stooges paid tribute to the singer with covers of “Burning Up” and “Ray of Light” during which Pop tossed out an F-bomb. At one point during that performance the cameras panned to a horrified-looking Clive Davis. (Check out this backstage footage of… The night got off to a much slower start by comparison. After some opening remarks from Rolling Stone founder and Rock Hall chairman Jann Wenner legendary R&B singer Patti LaBelle stirred the decked-to-then-nines audience with a towering rendition of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes’ “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” which was written and produced by inductees Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. “You’ve been touching the world with your music for so many years” LaBelle exclaimed honoring the team responsible for ’70s-era soul hits from Lou Rawls the O’Jays Jerry Butler and many others. “You’ve touched my life. You’ve done a wonderful thing. Keep on touching brothers. Also inducted — posthumously — was legendary blues harmonica player Little Walter who died in 1968; he joined the hall in its sidemen category as he was a frequent collaborator of Muddy Waters’.
Banding together raises awareness
Denver Post – Mar 11, 2008
” Hackl and Baxter met a few years ago on the underground music scene which was then fragmented even fractious. But now these friends find themselves at the heart of a renaissance an unprecedented explosion of rock bars and clubs filled with quality artists — several now assigned to major recording labels. The newest venue is the Old Curtis where Baxter has created a vibrant live-music mix of punk rock experimental hip-hop jam bluegrass and garage-blues. The first show that Baxter promoted in Denver was a 2005 benefit for Amber Martinez a 27-year-old mother with breast cancer. Since then he’s become the go-to guy for musicians without insurance swamped by unpaid bills for everything from heart attacks to broken bones. He’s yoked his compassion for the medically disadvantaged to his passion for growing Denver’s indie art scene.
… rock clubs set to transform city nightlife :: CHICAGO SUN…
Chicago Sun-Times – Mar 11, 2008
com>JIM DeROGATIS Pop Music Critic. Now after several trying years when live music seemed to be under constant assault the Windy City is welcoming two new clubs that could change business as usual on the local scene… And Reggie’s New Rock Headquarters which opened several months ago at 2109 S. has finally replaced the Fireside by hosting all-ages punk metal and hip-hop shows in an impressive facility that also houses a smaller cabaret stage a clothing boutique and a record store. “I’m pretty amazed: I’ve never really had a venue that was built for what I do I’ve always kind of squeezed into one room or another but now I have two places and that’s really exciting” said Brian Peterson the 38-year-old founder of Chicago’s MP Productions whose four full-time employees book and promote shows at both Reggie’s and the Bottom Lounge. “Sure the competition [with other Chicago clubs] is going to be stressful. But at the same time it’s a lot less pressure because I’m not having to deal with the logistics of a place that’s not made for shows or a staff that isn’t supportive of what I do. With Reggie’s the staff and the owner are great and the Bottom Lounge is the same way.
Mexican bands invade SXSW
Houston Chronicle – Mar 11, 2008
Flash-forward to today and a backlash is under way. Mexican bands raised on American and British indie-rock of the ’90s — with such names as Hong Kong Blood Opera Hummersqueal Descartes a Kant Six Million Dollar Weirdo Motel Allison Los Dynamite and Sussie 4 (pronounced like the ’70s American singer-actress Suzi Quatro) — are making music that doesn’t wear much Hispanic heritage on its hipster sleeve. In fact members of this new breed sing mostly in ingles and several of these bands will be showcased this week at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin making the first steps into an English-language market of which they’ve dreamed. “We’re just being honest with what we like and what we’ve listened to” says Andres Velasco lead singer with Chikita Violenta one of the most talked-about of the new bands. He says he was always more into the moody atmospherics of England’s Radiohead and the buzzsaw noise of New York’s Sonic Youth than the Mexico uber alles style of an older band like Maldita Vecindad or the proudly Chilango (Mexico City) punk-folklorico of Cafe Tacuba. “Ninety percent of the music we’ve heard is rock music made outside of Mexico. And a couple of us come from American backgrounds so it’s always been natural to us” Velasco continues.
PERFORMING ARTS
Washington Post – Mar 11, 2008
Tarik O’Regan’s "Dorchester Canticles" and Morten Lauridsen’s "Lux Aeterna" followed the Britten. Both are pleasantly derivative — embedded in that British tradition of music for stone cathedrals borrowed by a plethora of American composers as well though O’Regan’s percussion and harp additions were effective extras. This is music comfortable to sing and accessible to listeners — meaning it sells to the typical audience and choral group… And we’re not just talking about the crush of Guinness-sweating punters waiting impatiently to howl the chorus of "Sally MacLennane" or "The Body of an American. " It’s Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan too — especially him. Even back in the Irish trad-punk ensemble’s Thatcher-era heyday he disguised his poignant funny lyrics beneath an unintelligible delivery. Watching MacGowan now puffy and paunchy amble onstage at the 9:30 club on Sunday recalled. It’s good to be anywhere.
Alternative Latin music takes SXSW stage
Dallas Morning News – Mar 11, 2008
They will be at La Zona Rosa 614 W 4th St. on Friday March 14 in a Hot Topic-sponsored show where four more bands will be performing as well including Paramore who hit the radio waves with "Misery Business". The next day Allison will perform at Spiro’s Amphitheatre in an for-older-than-18 show joined by several bands as Mexicali Lipstick Terror The Cab The Hush Sound Phantom Planet and the punk band Tijuana Delux. Others who will be doubling at SXSW are the folks from Panda. First on Friday 14 they will sing at the Dirty Dog Bar 505 6th St. in a Gibson Guitars show for grown-ups where they’ll be joined by the Monterrey Mexico bands Album and Niña as well a La Gusana Ciega Hey Bésala from Ciudad Juárez and Thermo a Guadalajara band. Another show where Panda will be performing the next day will be held at Habana Annex Backyard 708 E… where they’ll be joined by Mexico City bands Satin Dolls Le Baron Los Dynamite and two Guadalajara bands Descartes a Kant and Sussie 4. Also along the Latin alternative music line on Saturday 15 at Maggie Mae’s Gibson Room 512 Trinity St. in another show for people older than 21 performing bands include 60 Tigres from Monterrey Gustavo Alberto from Los Ángeles Hello Seahorse! from Mexico City Chikita Violenta again Upground — an East LA Latino rock band — as well as Juan Son Porter’s vocalist this time in a solo project. My recommended-band list could go on and on because there will be Argentine artists such as Valerio Rinaldi and Axel K Sound System the Puerto Rican Circo and the Spanish band Tokyo Sex Destruction or Latino heritage bands as Del Castillo and Salvador Santana Band. To listen more of their their music and for more information ahout these and other bands who will be at SXSW visit their official site.