Wild At Heart
This post was meant be dropped by Blogger's autopost that doesnt work - SAGINAWSOME!
Wild At Heart
What a wonderfully busy weekend, esp for folk music fans in Detroit this past weekend. Besides Crosby, Stills & Nash at Meadowbrook, we had Buffy Saint-Marie, Ricki Lee Jones and Michelle Shocked at the Concert Of Colors. CSN actually sounded wonderful despite my being worried about Crosby's voice. I have heard too many people say they have been disappointed in their shows due to his dependency on drugs (esp in the 80's when Crosby got busted and sent to jail). One of my buddies saw them years ago and told me Crosby kept disappearing backstage leaving Stills and Nash wondering if he would come back out. However, I must say they sounded good and the rain in the air couldn't keep the crowd from getting excited for songs such as "Teach Your Children" and "Southern Cross".
Speaking of sounding good, Thursday and the Max E Fisher for the opening day was highlighted by a performance of the Detroit Symphony and native american folksinger/educator Buffy Saint-Marie, who is looking very spry for her age. Her biggest hit was actually sung by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes ("Up Where We Belong" from the film 'An Officer And A Gentleman'), but I loved the version which she played at the concert which will forever make the Cocker/Warnes version pale in comparison. I really enjoyed the way she incorporates Native American chants and instrumentation into her songs which make for a very special show. Along with her very controversal song "Universial Soldier", she also did songs like "He's An Indian Cowboy in the Rodeo" and "The Big Ones Get Away" and in my opinion, was the highlight of the festival.My radio station, WXOU 88.3FM (http://www.wxou.org/) was present on Sat and Sun and I would like to thank everyone for showing up and giving support to the mavericks of college radio. I would also like to thank the staff of the Concert of Colors (esp the second floor crew which watched my booth when I would walk around) and my new friends at the other cool Detroit area station - WHFR 89.7 - which even had me on for a few minutes prior to the Terrance Simien set. Simien is a grammy award winning zydeco musician who has been an ambassador for zydeco music. He has worked to get zydeco it's own Grammy category (which he won in it's first year) as well as working numerous education programs letting kids learn about the zydeco heritage. He also was the first zydeco musician to play in Cuba and Mauritius (which has the biggest native Creole population) as part of cultural exchange programs.I also got to meet Don Was (esp after our hour and fifteen minute interview on last Thurs), Mitch Ryder, Wayne Krammer, John Sinclair, Michelle Shocked (again) and got some drops from Toots Hibbert of Toots and the Maytals.
That really made it a great experience and all the performers were great though Toots had some microphone issues for the first 20 minutes of his set but they ended strong. One of the strengths of the festival is musical diversity and next to Buffy, I was really impressed by Sudan United For Peace which was a jam session of numerous African musicians such as singer Abdel Gadir Salim, vocalist Abu Araki and the Al Balabil Sisters. It is just special to hear quality international music in a great venue with a crowd that just gets it.Also, I met my nemesis Bam who was stationed at the table across from me. Besides trying to set the building on fire, he kept giving me the evil eye the whole time I was there. However, by the last day we did make peace and get our picture taken together at the photo booth.
For those who were there, Bam was the squirrel at the nuts vendor. I'm hoping my photographer friend is going to put the picture on the site to see us.
Besides the serenity of the Concert of Colors, I also spent Friday morning at the Warped Tour. I wasn't overly excited by the line up this year but heck, I was getting in for free. The one band I will recommend was Oreskaband, an all female Japanese ska band which rocked the Hurley stage early in the morning and if I had paid to get in, they would have made it all worth it by themselves (I willbe playing the on my Thursday show - 8-10AM on http://www.wxou.org/).
I also enjoyed the Horrorpops and the Aggrolites which both had ska backgrounds. The odd girl out was Katy Perry which despite being indie, just seemed out of place surrounded by bands like Chiodos and Pennywise. I was only able to catch a couple of songs because I had to work the Boris show afterwards. After warped, I really wasn't ready for the opening bands (which included Torche) since my head was pounding, but Boris' experimental Japanese rock (started in the hardcore punk scene) was excellent.
They are more similar to bands like current Blue Cheer or old Motorhead, so if you like that, try out Boris. Like the Watson Twins, Boris also records their albums on analog.I will be having Dan McCowan on my show Thursday morning talking about his new movie "The Tower" which will be showing at the Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak on July 23rd at 8PM. The cost is only $5 and you can read more about it on http://www.thetowermovie.com/.
Part of the film was shot at the Eagle Theatre in downtown Pontiac. Come out and support the local film scene before the movie hits the festival circuit.I hope to see some of you at the Cavalera Conspiracy show at Clutch Cargo's tomorrow and I will be seeing 2 movie previews tomorrow afternoon - Tropic Thunder & Henry Poole Is Here - which I will be talking about in my next column. I will be interviewing Brandon T Jackson, a local Detroiter who appeared in Tropic Thunder which I will be airing that on my July 28th show.
Check out my myspace page http://www.myspace.com/wildatheart_13 for more stuff coming up.
A quick pet peeve. I noticed at Warped Tour and the Concert of Colors that some people working the booths looking half dead when they are at these events promoting their station, newspaper or whatever. At the Concert of Colors, I was constantly talking to people while some other tables saw their people leave early because no one was talking to them. If you are working a table at an event, you need to be willing to be a little animated so people think you are worth talking to and learning about what you have to promote. Such a simple concept. I had one girl at the Warped Tour sitting me for a whole hour without smiling once. WOW. Lighten up girlfriend!
http://www.myspace.com/wildatheart_13
http://www.wxou.org/