Pages tagged “various artists”

Dazzling encapsulation of Britain's best musical moments from decades past

The most stunning feature of Rhino’s newest premium box is its ability to track a musical trajectory more than 15 years long and three layers deep. Sweeping in everything from the obvious (Oasis) and the expected (the Las, Pulp and Blur) to the underrated (Silver Sun, Mega City Four), the box is a loving monument to a rich stream of English musical culture that’s rightly cherished. Arranged chronologically, the set only gets more subtle and powerful as it travels. Enough so to give us Yanks a bit of envious guilt—while the mid-to-late ‘90s were a time of relative rot on this side of the Atlantic, as the legions of Cobain/Vedder knockoffs choked the spirit of indie rock’s breakthrough earlier in the decade, acts like the too-soon-gone Hurricane #1 or the now-vindicated Placebo happily churned away on the charts of Albion, just beyond the reach of all but the most adventurous American ears. Until now.

Right Label, Wrong Time
Soundtrack to legendary cultural event catches Stax in awkward transitional phase

One of the biggest ironies of the golden age of soul is that Detroit’s black-owned Motown Records made its mark targeting the whitebread mainstream, while Memphis’ Stax Records—founded by the white brother-and-sister team of Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton (“Stax” is a combo of their last names)—staked its fortunes on the gloriously unfiltered sounds of the black South. The labels’ slogans reflected these approaches: Motown called itself “Hitsville U.S.A.”; Stax proudly went by “Soulsville U.S.A.”

To date, the Motown story gets more play, both because of the label’s crossover success and because its history makes for a better yarn: Enterprising black entrepreneur Berry Gordy takes talented kids from the projects and turns them into international superstars who are still relevant today—to music snobs and American Idol fans alike. (If you need more background, make sure Dreamgirls, the fictionalized account of the label’s rise and fall, is in your Netflix queue.)

Stax, however, has a more complicated backstory. In its ’60s heyday, the label gave the world a blast of seminal soul talents, including Otis Redding, whose textured croons made instant classics of “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay” and “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now)”; Sam and Dave, the duo nicknamed “Double Dynamite,” whose “Soul Man” gave the Blues Brothers a reason for being; and Carla Thomas, the college student whose early hits “Gee Whiz (Look at His Eyes)” and “B-A-B-Y” helped create the kingdom where Aretha Franklin would later reign as queen. But things weren’t always so good on the business side. The label changed hands a number of times and ultimately went bankrupt in 1976 after a series of bad deals and tax problems.

Recently, the label was resurrected by the Concord Music Group, which is celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Stax by, among other things, reissuing the soundtrack to Wattstax, the documentary that captured the label’s 1972 concert in South Central Los Angeles, which benefited neighborhoods torn apart by the late-’60s riots. Modeled after Woodstock, the concert—which drew more than 100,000 to the Los Angeles Coliseum—stands as one Stax’s hallmark accomplishments. But the event’s musical significance has always been questionable, and this newly expanded, remastered edition does little to change this impression.

Part of the problem with Wattstax is that it came after Stax had already lost many of its signature talents: Redding died in a 1967 plane crash, and Sam and Dave left the label due to contract dramas. So the album fails as a rich representation of the classic Stax era. Thomas shows up for five cuts and still thrills with her awe-filled girlish charm. But there’s a sense that something from the old days is missing.

Compounding this problem is that the label’s late-era stars aren’t particularly well represented on the album. Black Moses Issac Hayes only gets one cut, “The Theme from Shaft,” which only represents a sliver of the range of Hayes’ musical output. The Staple Singers, the contemporary-gospel family outfit that was scaling the charts with “Respect Yourself” and “I’ll Take You There” deliver five numbers, including one where they sing “I like the things about me that I once despised,” summing up the racial pride that was at the crux of the event. But while lead singer Mavis Staples is in fine voice with her rousing rasp, the backing vocals sound uncharacteristically weak. The rest of the Wattstax lineup includes too many new signees like The Newcomers, who turn in joyless Jackson 5 knockoff “Pin the Tail on the Donkey.”

But even though the album doesn’t showcase Stax at its best, there are still amazing moments to be found scattered amongst the abundance of overlong instrumental introductions and party jams (Do we really need Rufus Thomas, “the world’s oldest teenager” and Carla’s dad, to show us how to do both the “Funky Chicken” and the “Funky Penguin?”). Wattstax works best as a sampling of the two impulses that came together to create soul music, that uniquely African-American meld of the spiritual and secular. This set leans toward the sanctified side, perhaps because Stax was developing a gospel imprint at the time. The Emotions, the family act that would find its greatest success with “Boogie Wonderland,” offer an epic rendering of faith-in-hard-times staple “Peace Be Still”; Detroit’s Rance Allen, who sings like The Temptations’ Eddie Kendricks with his shiny pants on fire, blazes through two cuts with his self-named group; and Louise McCord sings, shouts, growls and moans with such force that her funky “Better Get a Move On” is the album’s strongest cut. On the other side of the spiritual/secular divide, Frederick Knight and David Porter sing movingly about the kind of love trials that have people crying out to the Lord. But, as wonderful as these performances are, they can’t carry the weight of the entire collection, which remains mostly an uneven dispatch from the foot soldiers of soul.

Much of the rock, some of the schlock

With delightfully cheeky packaging and four brimming discs, Rhino has nobly attempted to summarize the heavy-metal genre. Struggling to tow the line between cartoonish smirk and deathly reverent seriousness, it generally lands on its feet, but not without some bruises. Obvious licensing obstacles aside (no Ozzy and only Dio-era Sabbath), the bigger flaws here are editorial. After a thoughtful mapping of the genre’s origins and solid coverage of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, the set too deeply descends into the neon morass of hair-metal hell, lavishing excessive attention on Sunset Strip lesser lights at the expense of the genre’s undersung and less campy corners. Meanwhile, missing in action are any examples of grindcore (Napalm Death would’ve been nice), doom/stoner metal (e.g. St. Vitus or Sleep) or any of the genre’s current standard-bearers (Mastodon, for starters). Still, a healthy stock of essential favorites makes it a useful starting point for those seeking a meaty slab of the genre’s historical mainstream.

Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom and Sufjan Stevens all show up at your college campus to perform acoustically in the middle of the student union, surrounded by a seated audience at rapt attention. Sing-alongs are encouraged; duets materialize out of thin air. David Cross comes on mid-set to tickle your ribs with some timely observations, and then a much-loved local band takes the stage to the shouted encouragement of you and your friends. Predictably, the Arcade Fire brings the house down before inviting the other performers back onstage for a rousing farewell. The entire show is filmed and will be broadcast on a major network, raking in record ratings and critical aplomb. And next week it will happen all over again at another school in another town.
Sadly, this isn’t the format of a new show that will be hitting your plasma screen anytime soon; it’s one that was conceived and produced over 40 years ago. Hootenanny debuted on ABC in April 1963 and quickly found a wide audience, capitalizing on the cross-generational appeal of folk music to the eager ears of small-town America. Once thought to be lost forever, nearly all of the original performances have now been recovered, tweaked and repackaged for three-DVD collection The Best of Hootenanny.

In the wake of Christopher Guest’s masterful send-up, 2003’s A Mighty Wind, much of the ’60s-folk canonization here seems downright goofy despite the pure intentions: College students going apeshit for The Rooftop Singers’ rendition of “Froggie Went A-Courtin’” is damn funny, and Vaughn Meader’s moldy Jack Kennedy impersonation is not. But, before spewing potato chips across the generation gap, a prescient viewer might observe some glaring similarities: The Serendipity Singers are to Hoyt Axton as The Polyphonic Spree is to M. Ward, as Meader is to Jon Stewart, etc. So who’s laughing now, Junior?

While not exactly history-making, this collection does contain plenty of gems that easily transcend nostalgia. Early performances by Carly Simon (appearing with sister Lucy), Glenn Campbell and Woody Allen are all worth a look. The spirituals of Leon Bibb and Marion Williams are stunning, and someone should give the show’s producers a posthumous medal for slipping the orgasmic moans of Miriam Makeba’s “Love Tastes Like Strawberries” past the network censors.

Hootenanny also was unafraid to push the artistic and political envelopes of its day. Best of includes show-stoppers by The Carter Family, Flatt and Scruggs, and Johnny Cash that provide a welcome reprieve from the clean-cut trumpetry of the folkies, while the jazz of the (then-unheard-of-on-television) racially mixed Herbie Mann Sextet is smoky and serene.

So it’s ironic that Hootenanny died a somewhat political death after just two seasons. The show banned Pete Seeger from its stage because of his Communist leanings, inciting a boycott by most of Hootenanny’s marquee performers. Beatlemania and mini-skirts were quickly relegating the folk movement to the cultural archives anyway, so ABC pulled the plug on the show in late 1964. It was quickly replaced by Shindig!, and though the world has learned to live without perky coeds and three-part harmonies, the folk lives on in this collection.

On screen, Chet Baker looks like a washed-up matinee idol. In moody black-and-white footage from 1964, his boyish face has hardened and—when the camera comes close for his lone vocal—it’s obvious one of his top front teeth is missing. But when he shuts his eyes, tilts his head back and sings “Time After Time” in that tender ache of a voice, it’s mesmerizing, a clear highlight of the new DVD featuring more than an hour of Baker’s seductively cool, lyrical trumpet playing.
It’s a great time to be a fan of classic jazz. In the past couple years, remarkable concert recordings by giants such as Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane and Ray Charles have been discovered and released. At the same time, big jazz labels like Blue Note and Impulse and specialty outfits like Mosaic Records have produced a stream of remastered classics and previously forgotten historic material.

Now, a new series of DVDs called Jazz Icons makes available entire concerts filmed between 1957 and 1979—many never seen before—that were sitting in the vaults of European television stations for decades. In addition to Baker, the first nine titles feature Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Art Blakey, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones, Thelonius Monk and Buddy Rich.
Almost certainly, the best of these is the 1958 concert by Blakey and his Jazz Messengers. Appearing on stage in sharp dark suits, white shirts and skinny ties, the quintet with Benny Golson and Bobby Timmons is one of the most renowned editions of the drummer’s hard-bop supergroup. However, it’s 20-year-old trumpeter Lee Morgan’s incandescent solos and cool charisma that dominate the 55-minute outing. There’s always been surprisingly little available footage of Morgan, who died at age 33, so it’s a revelation to see him here close up, burning through solos on then-new standards like “Moanin’” and “I Remember Clifford.”

Other standout moments from the series include Ella in 1957 nailing “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” with an all-star combo, and also a stunning take from 1966—each shot framed and lit like a modernist painting—of Monk in a black pork-pie hat playing an angular, minimalist version of “Lulu’s Back In Town.”
Perhaps the only disappointment is the Louis Armstrong concert. The man who had almost single-handedly defined jazz in the 1920s and ’30s was still in great form as a player and singer in 1959. But compared to the other timeless performances in this series, the endless hijinks, mugging and razzle-dazzle high notes of Armstrong’s stage show seem hammy and dated.
Jazz Icons is meant to be a continuing series—dependent upon the success of these first releases. Possible forthcoming features include Charles Mingus, John Coltran­e and Sarah Vaughn. With incredible performances, remastered sound and video, and in-depth liner notes by top jazz writers, these films are already a significant addition to the jazz canon.

The lineup for the second annual Vegoose music festival was recently announced, listing such bands as Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the Raconteurs, the Zutons, Fiona Apple, Band of Horses, the Mars Volta and more.

The extravaganza, set to take place over the Halloween weekend, Oct. 28 through Oct. 29, will be held at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas. In addition to the abundance of musicians set to perform, Vegoose will also feature interactive attractions, art installations and performance artists.

Tickets will go on sale Aug. 19 at 10 a.m. PST on the Vegoose website, www.vegoose.com.

Artist lineup:

• The Raconteurs
• The Zutons
• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
• Widespread Panic
• The Killers
• The Mars Volta
• Keller Williams Incident featuring Keller Williams backed by the String Cheese Incident
• The Black Crowes
• Fiona Apple
• Damien “Jr. Gong” Marley
• Medeski Martin & Wood
• The Roots
• The Rhythm Devils feat. Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzman, Mike Gordon & Steve Kimock
• G. Love & Special Sauce
• Jurassic 5
• Galactic
• Praxis
• Yonder Mountain String Band
• Gomez
• Built To Spill
• Guster
• Jim James of My Morning Jacket
• Dr. Octagon a.k.a Kool Keith
• Band of Horses
• Jamie Lidell

Additional artists to be announced. For more information, click here.

A televised national hip-hop youth summit will take place Aug. 12 in Naples, Fl., as an attempt to decrease the progressing glamorization of violence in hip-hop music.

Sponsored by the non-profit organization TanzAmer Incorporated and hip-hop television program The Cipher Show, the event, Hip Hop in Progress, will draw youth from across the nation to take part in performances, auditions and educational discussions, all in the hope of banishing the negative, criminal stereotypes found in hip-hop music and culture.

"Most kids imitate the artists, and they begin to rap about the things the artists rap about," says Steven Jennings, producer of The Cipher Show. "They begin to dress, act, talk – they imitate these artists in every single way, so what would make a person think that they wouldn't imitate the behavior that is discussed in this music?"

The summit will include live entertainment displaying positive hip-hop themes, speakers from the academic community and entertainment industry, and discussions about non-violence. Auditions will be held for participants to showcase their rap skills. Those chosen will perform live on stage at the summit, which will be filmed in Reality TV Format and aired two to three weeks following the event.

Jennings says the participants will be challenged to create raps that lack curse words, violence and disrespect – something a seasoned rapper should have no problem doing. "A person with real skills can rap about anything," he says.

What started as an expression that initially shocked many listeners, hip-hop's negative undertones have developed into something acceptable, Jennings says. Many people, especially youth, have become conditioned to it, finding its themes appealing. "It's seductive, it seduces them into believing that 'If I sell drugs, I can have the cars and the money,'" he says.

For Jennings, the one-day event is being held purely for the hope that the community and kids will gain a better understanding of the effects hip-hop can have on an individual.

"I'm hoping that there are some kids out there who want to take responsibility for what they are allowing to enter into their minds and their thoughts and their hearts," he says. "We want to show that this generation is responsible, and there are some kids out there who realize the trap that's being set."

For more information, click here.

Bonnaroo

• Rendezvous

Manchester, TN - June 15-18

• Distractions

Bright Eyes Andrew Bird Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Death Cab for Cutie Beck Radiohead Sonic Youth

• Damage Done

$184.50 three day pass plus $15 service charge and shipping charge

Newport Folk Festival

• Rendezvous

Newport, R.I. - Aug. 4-6

• Distractions

David Gray Rosanne Cash Sonya Kitchell Indigo Girls Madeleine Peyroux

• Damage Done

Fort Adams State Park: $55 one day Advance Purchase, $59 At Gate $95 two day pass $120 three day pass

Newport Casino at the International Tennis Hall of Fame: $75, $60, $45, $30

Austin City Limits

• Rendezvous

Austin, Texas - Sept. 15-17

• Distractions

The Flaming Lips Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers The Shins Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals Willie Nelson Gnarls Barkley A list that reads like the who’s who of all things good and pure in the music industry

• Damage Done

$115 three day pass plus $15 service charge and shipping charge

Bonnaroo

• Rendezvous

  Manchester, Tenn. - June 15-18

• Attractions

  Radiohead, Beck, Bright Eyes, Elvis Costello and the Imposters with Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, Andrew Bird, Son Volt, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Common, Phil Lesh & Friends, Death Cab for Cutie, Sonic Youth, Ben Folds, Nickel Creek, My Morning Jacket, Buddy Guy, Devendra Banhart, Blackalicious, Matisyahu, Cat Power & the Memphis Rhythm Band, Bonnie Raitt, G Love & Special Sauce, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Avett Brothers, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, Dungen, Robert Randolph & the Family Band, Oysterhead, Lyrics Born, The Wood Brothers, Steve Earle, The Magic Numbers, DeVotchka, dios (malos), Marah, World Party, Robinella, Bettye Lavette, Amadou & Mariam, The Neville Brothers, The Codetalkers featuring Col. Bruce Hampton, Mike Doughty's Band, Be Your Own Pet, Jerry Douglas, Bobby Bare Jr., The Streets, Medeski Martin & Wood, Seu Jorge, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Jackie Greene, Rebirth Brass Band, Tishamingo, Steel Pulse and more...

• Damage Done

  $184.50 three-day pass, plus $15 service charge and shipping charge

• On The Web

  Bonnaroo.com

Telluride Bluegrass Festival

• Rendezvous

  Telluride, Colo. - June 15-18

• Attractions

  Béla Fleck & the Flecktones, Bonnie Raitt, Neko Case, John Prine, The Decemberists, Drive-By Truckers, Nickel Creek, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Yonder Mountain String Band, Barenaked Ladies, Sam Bush Band, Jerry Douglas Band, Tim O'Brien Band, The Greencards, Peter Rowan & Tony Rice Quartet, Missy Higgins and more...

• Damage Done

  $175 four-day pass, $55 one-day pass

• On The Web

  Bluegrass.com/telluride

Athfest

• Rendezvous

  Athens, Ga. - June 21-25

• Attractions

  Modern Skirts, Now It’s Overhead, Drivin’ N’ Cryin’, The Bearfoot Hookers, Love Tractor, Dexter Romweber Duo, Hope For A Golden Summer, Jason Ringenberg, The Fountains, Five Eight, Stewart & Winfield, Time Toy, Don Chambers + Goat, Summer Hymns, Col. Knowledge & the Lickity Splits, Liz Durrett, Ishues, Snowden, Ken Will Morton & the Wholly Ghosts, Venice is Sinking, Workhorses of the Entertainment/Recreational Industry, Dubconscious, Dodd Ferrelle & the Tinfoil Stars, Cinemechanica, We vs. the Shark, Casper & the Cookies, The Whigs, Mother Jackson, Lona, Andrew Nelson & the Shotgun Lovers, Heroes Severum, Squat, Last Picture Show and more...

• Damage Done

  $15 wristbands needed for participating venues, outdoor stages are free

• On The Web

  Athfest.com

High Sierra Music Festival

• Rendezvous

  Quincy, Calif. - June 29-July 2

• Attractions

  My Morning Jacket, Son Volt, Umphrey’s McGee, Apollo Sunshine, Keller Williams, Nickel Creek, Béla Fleck & The Flecktones, Greyboy Allstars, The Radiators, Rebirth Brass Band, ALO, Drew Emmit Band, Robert Walter's Super Heavy Organ and more...

• Damage Done

  $167 four-day pass, $156 three-day pass, $131 two-day pass

• On The Web

  Highsierramusic.com

Rock Werchter

• Rendezvous

  Werchter, Belgium - June 29-July 2

• Attractions

  Sigur Ros, The Who, Kanye West, Death Cab For Cutie, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Robert Plant & the Strange Sensation, Calexico, Editors, Scissor Sisters, Matisyahu, Depeche Mode, The Streets, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals, Black-Eyed Peas, Muse, Elbow, Mogwai, Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys, Donovan Frankenreiter, Goldfrapp, The Raconteurs, eels, Starsailor, Bettye Lavette and more...

• Damage Done $77 one-day pass (day 3 sold out)

• On The Web

  Rockwerchter.be

All Good Music Festival

• Rendezvous

  Masontown, W.Va. - July 14-16

• Attractions

  The Black Crowes, Aquarium Rescue Unit, Ween, Trey Anastasio & Mike Gordon with the Benevento Russo Duo, Robert Randolph & the Family Band, Gary Jules, Les Claypool, The Wailers, Galactic, Mofro, Southern Culture on the Skids, Bob Schneider, Donovan Frankenreiter, Greyboy Allstars, Rebirth Brass Band and more...

• Damage Done

  $104 three-day pass

• On The Web

  Allgoodfestival.com

Siren Musical Festival

• Rendezvous

  Coney Island, N.Y. - July 15

• Attractions

  She Wants Revenge, Stars, Art Brut, Tapes ‘n Tapes, The Stills, The Cribs, Celebration, Dirty On Purpose, Scissor Sisters, Serena Maneesh, Man Man, The Rogers Sisters, Deadboy & The Elephantmen, Priestess, the MisShapes DJs

• Damage Done

  Free

• On The Web

  villagevoice.com/siren

Lollapalooza

• Rendezvous

  Grant Park, Chicago - Aug. 4-6

• Attractions

  Wilco, Kanye West, Ryan Adams, Iron & Wine, Broken Social Scene, Of Montreal, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Death Cab for Cutie, Gnarls Barkley, The Raconteurs, The Flaming Lips, Queens of the Stone Age, The Shins, Common, Matisyahu, Sonic Youth, Sleater-Kinney, Nickel Creek, New Pornographers, Secret Machines, Rainer Maria, Built to Spill, eels, Andrew Bird, Stars, Blackalicous, Lyrics Born, Calexico, Nada Surf, Aqualung, The Frames, The Go! Team, Mates of State, The Redwalls, Mute Math, Anathallo, Husky Rescue, Midlake and more...

• Damage Done

  $140 three-day pass plus $16 service charge and shipping charge

• On The Web

  Lollapalooza.com

Newport Folk Festival

• Rendezvous

  Newport, R.I. - Aug. 4-6

• Attractions

  David Gray, The Indigo Girls, Rosanne Cash, Bettye LaVette, Sonya Kitchell, Madeleine Peyroux, Keller Williams, Mary Gauthier, Patty Larkin, The Duhks, Jeffrey Fouccault, Abigail Washburn, Sonny Landreth, Martyn Joseph, Darrell Scott and more...

• Damage Done

  Fort Adams State Park: $55 one-day advance purchase, $59 at gate, $95 two-day pass, $120 three-day pass

  Newport Casino at the International Tennis Hall of Fame: $75, $60, $45, $30

• On The Web

  Festivalproductions.net

Rock The Bells Festival IV

• Rendezvous

  San Bernardino, Calif. - Aug. 5
  Concord, Calif. - Aug. 6

• Attractions

  Wu-Tang, Mos Def, De La Soul, Redman, Talib Kweli, Aesop Rock, Del the Funky Homosapien, Murs 3:16 and more...

• Damage Done

  San Bernardino: $45 (on sale June 5-18), $50 (on sale June 19-Aug. 4)
  

  Concord: $40, $45, $50

• On The Web

  Rockthebells.net

JVC Jazz Festival (Newport)

• Rendezvous

  Newport, R.I. - Aug. 11-13

• Attractions

  George Benson, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, The Bad Plus, Marc Ribot, Al Jarreau, Arturo Sandoval, Jane Monheit, Raúl Midón, Dave Brubeck Quartet, Cyrus Chestnut Quartet and more...

• Damage Done

  Fort Adams State Park: rsvd - $75 adult, G/A - $65

  Newport Casino at the International Tennis Hall of Fame: $85, $65, $50, $30

• On The Web

  Festivalproductions.net

Philadelphia Folk Festival

• Rendezvous

  Philadelphia, Pa. - Aug. 18-20

• Attractions

  Jackson Browne & David Lindley, Amos Lee, The Avett Brothers, Rodney Crowell, Hot Tuna, Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion, The Duhks, Terri Hendrix and more...

• Damage Done

  Prices not yet set

• On The Web

  Folkfest.org

Camp Bisco V

• Rendezvous

  Hunter, N.Y. - Aug. 25-26

• Attractions

  The Disco Biscuits, The Roots, Thievery Corporation, The Juan Maclean, Brazilian Girls, RJD2 and more...

• Damage Done

  $100 two-day pass, $125 two-day pass w/on-site camping. Ticket prices increase $20 the day before the event

• On The Web

  Campbiscov.com

Austin City Limits

• Rendezvous

  Austin, Texas - Sept. 15-17

• Attractions

  The Flaming Lips, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, The Shins, Van Morrison, Aimee Mann, Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals, Willie Nelson, Gnarls Barkley, Massive Attack, John Mayer, The Raconteurs, Ween, Ben Kweller, The New Pornographers, Matisyahu, Ray Lamontagne, Guster, The Long Winters, Kings of Leon, Iron & Wine, Kasey Chambers, G Love & Special Sauce, Son Volt, Nickel Creek, Calexico, Cat Power & the Memphis Rhythm Band, Secret Machines, Alexi Murdoch, Okkervil River, Brazilian Girls, Gomez, Stars, Wolf Parade, Nada Surf, Phoenix, KT Tunstall, Goldfrapp, Donovan Frankenreiter, Husky Rescue, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, The Subdudes, The Greencards, Guy Clark, Kathleen Edwards, The Stills, Charlie Sexton, Ted Leo/Pharmacists, Jose Gonzalez, I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness, Centro-Matic, Marah, Sam Roberts, Rocky Votolato, Anathallo and more...

• Damage Done

  $115 three-day pass plus $15 service charge and shipping charge

• On The Web

  ACLfestival.com

Bonnaroo

• Rendezvous

Manchester, TN - June 15-18

• Distractions

Bright Eyes Andrew Bird Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Death Cab for Cutie Beck Radiohead Sonic Youth

• Damage Done

$184.50 three day pass plus $15 service charge and shipping charge

Newport Folk Festival

• Rendezvous

Newport, R.I. - Aug. 4-6

• Distractions

David Gray Rosanne Cash Sonya Kitchell Indigo Girls Madeleine Peyroux

• Damage Done

Fort Adams State Park: $55 one day Advance Purchase, $59 At Gate $95 two day pass $120 three day pass

Newport Casino at the International Tennis Hall of Fame: $75, $60, $45, $30

Austin City Limits

• Rendezvous

Austin, Texas - Sept. 15-17

• Distractions

The Flaming Lips Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers The Shins Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals Willie Nelson Gnarls Barkley A list that reads like the who’s who of all things good and pure in the music industry

• Damage Done

$115 three day pass plus $15 service charge and shipping charge

Like the title says, this gorgeously packaged 4-CD set with full-color book is New Orleans in a box. It’s all there—75 years of darkly joyous Crescent City voodoo blues, Zydeco, doo-wop, funk, soul and Dixieland. Despite a few lesser artists who rain on the Mardi Gras Parade, the box makes good with tracks by Louis Armstrong, Dr. John, Sidney Bechet, The Meters, The Iguanas, Jelly Roll Morton, Galactic, Allen Toussaint, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, The Neville Brothers and more. Doctors, Professors, Kings & Queens floats all the sweat-soaked jazz joints, Gris-Gris and live oaks straight to your living room on a Huck Finn river raft. Heaping plate of hot, delicious beignets not included.

Jam Cruise 3— which sets sail from Jacksonville, Fla. on Jan. 3, 2005—has just announced its final artist lineup: Galactic, Les Claypool, Sound Tribe Sector 9, Keller Williams, Col Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, Jazz Mandolin Project (featuring Jamie Masfield and Jon Fishman), North Mississippi Allstars, Ozomatli, Peretz (Perry Farrell), Peter Rowan & Tony Rice, Robert Walter's 20th Congress, Umphrey's McGee, Garaj Mahal, MOFRO, Benevento/Russo Duo, Tishamingo, DJ Logic, and DJ Harry.

Go to www.jamcruise.com for more information.

Alison Krauss, Willie Nelson and Lucinda Williams are among the artists to be included on the new NARM/ Americana Highlight Sampler, a compiliation that's part of an industry-wide effort to raise the profile and increase the sales of Americana music.

To be released August 3, the CD Sampler will also include The Jayhawks, Ralph Stanley, Shelby Lynne, Jay Farrar, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band featuring Kris Kristofferson, Rosanne Cash featuring Johnny Cash, BR549, Tift Merritt and Danny Barnes.

New and emerging artists to be featured on the CD include Anne McCue, Arthur Godfrey, Fairfax, King Wilke, Lori McKenna and more.

(photo - Alison Krauss + Union Station)

Antones: Home of the Blues, a new documentary about Austin, Texas' legendary Antones Blues Club (and the man behind it—Clifford Antone) will be screened Friday, June 11 at 2 p.m. at Buddy Guy’s Legends blues club in Chicago.

Immediately after the film, a post-screening jam will showcase several musicians featured in the documentary, such as pianist Pinetop Perkins (Muddy Waters), drummer Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, bassist Bob Stroger and special guests. The screening and jam will be held during the Chicago Blues Festival, but no badges or tickets are required for admittance.

The film, by Emmy Award-winning director Dan Karlok, includes rare interviews and previously unseen performance footage.

Despite its humble beginnings, Antones became a beacon for blues legends and newcomers alike. The club has hosted artists like Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Fats Domino, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Jimmy Reed, Buddy Guy, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eddie Taylor, Hubert Sumlin and Jimmie Rogers.

Putumayo was started by Dan Storper in 1993 and created its own niche by selling its compilation CDs primarily in Storper’s Putumayo chain of clothing stores. Storper’s goal was to promote intercultural awareness and provide an upbeat retail experience by marketing compilations of music “guaranteed to make you feel good” and maybe inspire you to buy more exotic clothing. The label slowly tapped into traditional distribution channels and in 1998 became a full-service record company signing Ricardo Lemvo, Mariam Makeba, Habib Koité and Oliver Mtukudzi. Most frequently criticized for its “world music lite” approach, Putamayo seldom offers anything on its compilations that’s going to shock your sensibilities. On the other hand, the label’s introduced Americans to unique artists like Seattle’s Afro-Celtic folkie Laura Love, Zimbabwe’s Oliver Mtukudzi and Brazil’s Chico César, a true musical eccentric. The label’s 10th anniversary collection has the same strengths and weaknesses as their other compilations, there’s nothing weak here but few tracks jump out at you. Exceptions include Kotoja’s funky Afrobeat rocker “Sawalé,” Ricardo Lemvo’s “Mambo Yo Yo” and “Val’ Carretero,” a simmering song from New York’s Chico Alvarez and his Afro-Caribe Band.

The Portuguese genre Fado—which translates to “fate” or “destiny”—is analogous to (in American terms) a combination of folk-blues and cabaret song. Performed in Lisbon’s underground/working-class taverns, it’s a folky, acoustic music, heavy on guitars, that is performed with urban(e) reserve. Like country-blues, it’s a sound of expressing great longing and heartsickness in a stark, unadorned fashion. Fado also bears a slight resemblance to Spanish flamenco but, though it shares some of the influence of Arabic and north African music, it’s not as rhythmic or dramatic.

Fado: Exquisite Passion is perhaps the modern equivalent to the classic reggae album The Harder They Come. And like that watershed release, which exposed reggae’s best performers to American audiences for the first time, Exquisite Passion is a collection of songs featuring many of Fado’s leading lights. Thus, it serves as an excellent introduction. Four performers get almost-equal time on the album: Amalia Rodriguez (1920-1999), the Grand Dame of Fado, and three younger upstarts who followed in her wake, putting their own stamp on the genre: Mariza, Cristina Branco and Mafalda Arnauth.

Rodriguez is the Nina Simone of Fado. Her voice is haunting, dusky, defiant, unbowed and worldly. Mariza, on the other hand, could be likened to kd lang: a singer of amazing range with more than just a touch of old-school show-biz theatrics. Branco is the relative youngster here (b. 1972) but, influenced by Rodriguez, she sounds wise beyond her years.

The highest of several high points on Exquisite Passion are the tracks by Arnauth, perhaps the Lucinda Williams of Fado. Her “Talvez Se Chame Saudade” has chord changes that echo pre-Nash Vegas country and her sublime singing resembles a cross between Joan Baez in her 1960s prime and the Cocteau Twins’ Liz Fraser, simultaneously earthbound and wraithlike.

The two constant aspects of these 13 performances are the spacious acoustic guitar playing and the performers’ elegant, dignified manner of conveying passion. Rich with languid Mediterranean motifs, they conjure the feeling of sitting under the moonlight outside a Portuguese café on a sultry evening, just within the scent of the ocean. With its magnificent sound quality and consistent quality, Exquisite Passion is surely one of the finest world music compilations of 2003.