Booking P-Funk maestro Bernie Worrell one night and ’80s synth-pop darlings the Tom Tom Club for the next qualifies as an inspired decision, however calculated it may have been. The Tom Toms, the Talking Heads’ most relevant spin-off, have shared many a musical stage — as well as several recording booths — with the brains … Read more
Peter Mulvey has just surfaced from playing a cave full of 100 geniuses. “It’s a very special gig,” the celebrated singer/songwriter noted by cell phone early last week, then en route to a more conventional show in Baltimore. “It’s sort of hilarious.” Mulvey did his musical mining in West Virginia’s Potomac Highlands; like last year, … Read more
Phil Anselmo’s history is littered with hard, unforgiving music. That said, the ex Pantera leader’s latest project, Superjoint Ritual, finds him fronting a retro act that includes country scion Hank Williams III on bass. But don’t expect twang and heartache; this is nostalgia with fangs — and without confines. “It’s like Neanderthal rock,” Anselmo gruffly … Read more
Javier Nicolas spent four years in Chiapas, Mexico, from 1996 to 2000, photographing the indigenous people there. He did so to celebrate their lives and culture — and to inform others about atrocities committed against them, often by their own countrymen. When local photographer Gail Forsyth saw his pictures, she was, she says, “deeply moved.” … Read more
He didn’t say much. Hell, for about a third of the show, James McMurtry didn’t say anything at all. He just played and tuned, tuned and played. Talk, after all, is cheap. And the throng of roughly 375 didn’t crowd the Orange Peel stage seeking civilities, but to soak in the Texas songsmith’s raucous tales … Read more
In the studio with Red Penny Arsenal “Do you think there are a lot violent images in your music?” I ask. “Yeah,” Matthew Anderson says, nodding. “All of the songs are really violent, actually.” We’re in a basement studio/rehearsal space in Candler, killing time till the rest of Anderson’s band, Red Penny Arsenal, shows up. … Read more
Having your future divined amid the steam and clamor of Max & Rosie’s’ lunch rush is like poring over your newly developed vacation photos at the city bus station: You’d acknowledge the humanity teeming around you if only your own image weren’t so engrossing. When I visited Max & Rosie’s on a recent Saturday, numerologist/feng … Read more
Around the turn of the last century, Beatrix Potter wrote a classic children’s book titled The Tale of Peter Rabbit. One of my earliest literary memories is of opening that book again and again to the page with the illustration showing Peter crouched behind a cucumber frame as he hides from Mr. McGregor in the … Read more
A mere half-mile from the motorized mania of Tunnel Road, garden peace awaits. Yellow nasturtiums tumble out of a big, overturned clay pot. Tufts of bright-red bee balm lean into the mulched garden path. Butterfly bushes entice you to inhale their sweet scent. Sweet woodruff and lamb’s ear hug the damp ground near your feet … Read more
