Music

"tick, tick...BOOM!" goes off at Artisan Theatre

2009-10-26T03:11:24Z

Jonathan Larson died the night before his masterpiece, the rock musical "Rent," opened. He didn't live to experience the 1996 show, for which he'd written the music and lyrics, in front of an audience, and he had little inkling that it would go on to enjoy one of Broadway's longest runs, become a film, and win multiple Tony awards and the Pulitzer Prize.

That's information that many playgoers will bring to New Helvetia Theatre's run of Larson's "tick, tick...BOOM!," which opened Saturday at the Artisan Theatre on Del Paso Boulevard in North Sacramento. And if one has seen "Rent," it is impossible to experience this 90-minute one-act musical without seeing it in light of Larson's masterwork.

That's because "tick, tick BOOM!" is, in nearly every way, a study for "Rent." Originally a 1990 one-man show starring Larson, it was rewritten by David Auburn ("Proof") in 2001, after the posthumous success of "Rent." In the now three-person play, the protagonist is Jon, a struggling musical theatre composer who is awaiting the workshop of his first play (Larson's "Superbia"). He also is anticipating his 30th birthday with equal trepidation. It's easy for the many references to his life, art, peers, milieu (lower Manhattan) and time (the early '90s) to become tangled in the viewer's mind.

One gets the sense that Larson, whose body of produced work consists of "Superbia," "tick, tick...BOOM!" and "Rent," lived a life that was utterly devoted to his craft, to the point that everything he wrote was about his pursuit of it. "ttB!" is about the creation of what would become "Rent" several years later, making this play very much an inside-Broadway experience. If you're not a fan of art about the pursuit of art, this may not be for you.

The major themes of "Rent" are all here: Art, friendship, bohemian purity vs. yuppie compromise, AIDS, rock vs. the traditional Broadway musical, parents, the dream of success and the fear of failure. One theme Larson was perhaps less aware of at the time, but is clear to anyone who sees "ttB!" in its historical context, is mortality. Turns out that young Larson's sense of urgency was well-considered.

It stars Tristan Rumery as Jon, supported by Nancy Zoppi as his girlfriend, Susan, and theatre founder Connor Mickiewicz as his best friend, Michael. The three actors are backed by a four-piece band led by Graham Sobelman of local "Graham-a-rama" fame. Together, they tackle "ttB!" with passion -- one can't help but assume that the young actors and musicians harbor some of the same dreams Larson did.

Particularly good is Zoppi, a wonderful singer with a stage presence whom many local theatre-watchers have picked to grow into a formidable singer/actor. Tackling her several roles with comic grace and vocal alacrity, Zoppi combines an expressive (and beautiful) face with a soaring, powerful voice. It is easy to imagine her growing with every play she does; she is someone to watch.

Rumery is fine in the main role, which is evocative of the lead character Mark in "Rent," also a stand-in for Larson. A strong singer and sympathetic, perhaps too sympathetic, actor, Rumery bounds around the stage as Larson's kinetic vision of himself. Mickiewicz is good as Michael, the show's the third wheel, which probably suits him, since he also co-directed the show, with Erin Island.

"tick, tick...BOOM!" is the work of a young writer so wrapped up in his own dramas and desires that he only pays lip service to the other characters in his life. Even when he discovers that his childhood friend Michael has AIDS, it is all about Jon. In 1990, when it first appeared, this may have struck viewers as callow. The show's reception was understandably lukewarm and it had only one short run.

But seen in light of "Rent," Larson's growth is remarkable. The themes in "ttB!" are personal; in "Rent" they become more universal, and Larson's sympathies are far broader, his canvas more epic, the music more complex and expansive. "ttB!" is a sketch for "Rent," and is interesting mostly in light of its successor.

That is doubly true in terms of the music, which is, after all, the main point of a musical. Larson's dream was to bring rock -- "real rock," as he has it -- to what Jon calls "Broadway, that shameless commercial whore." It is arguable whether Larson ever brought "real rock" to Broadway, even with "Rent." He certainly didn't do it with "tick, tick...BOOM!," which relies far more on passionate ballads, a Broadway staple, than it does the occasional new wavish rocker that pops up in either show.

"Rent" is great because Larson's wit and his ability to weave disparate plots around various themes come together to re-create a particular time in America, just as many musicals do. "Rent" influenced Broadway, but was more a product of Broadway than anything else. Larson makes that clear in "ttB!" in his repeated references to Broadway maverick Stephen Sondheim, about whom he is so passionate that he barely can bring himself to have Jon say the name out loud.

Larson's devotion to Sondheim is evident throughout the show, which has echoes of Sondheim's "Company." It even ends with the protagonist blowing out his birthday candles as did the classic 1970 musical. One could play spot-the-Sondheim-reference throughout "ttB!"

Such tribute animates one of the show's best segments, as directors Mickiewicz and Island have their actors perform a clever homage, musical and dramatic, to the climactic song of Sondheim's "Sunday in the Park With George," which won the Pulitzer Prize a decade before "Rent" did. The scene highlights the similarities of the scripts, both plays revolving around the commercial trials and psychological complexities of an artist, Impressionist painter Georges Seurat, trying to pursue his art and still have human relationships. But Sondheim's treatment of the theme was much deeper, more musically-developed and emotionally affecting than Larson's.

Thematically, "ttB!" does not accomplish what Larson cautiously proclaims in the play: "Maybe I have written the show that will change my generation!" It is debatable whether even "Rent" did that.

But "Rent" did change Broadway, making way for other productions such as songwriter Duncan Sheik's rockish "Spring Awakening," which opens in Sacramento in November, as well as "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," which New Helvetia produced a few months ago. Seeing Larson's process laid bare on the Artisan stage is a worthwhile evening at the theater, especially if you are a musical theatre buff who wants to hear the rest of the "Rent" story.

"tick, tick...BOOM!" will play the Artisan Theatre, 1901 Del Paso Boulevard, through November 14. Show times are listed at newhelvetia.org or call (916) 469-9850.

Photos courtesy of Brian Peebles Kameoka.

Music Circus single tickets on sale Monday

2009-05-15T23:29:44Z

Single tickets for this summer’s Music Circus shows at the Wells Fargo Pavilion at 15th and H streets will go on sale to the general public on Monday at 10 a.m.

This summer’s performances of such venerable Broadway staples as Thoroughly Modern Millie, Guys and Dolls and Into the Woods continue a Sacramento tradition that’s now 58 years old.

Tickets will be available by phone at (916) 557-1999, at the Wells Fargo Pavilion box office window at 1419 H St., or online at sacramentomusiccircus.com. (Ticket orders made online are processed by Tickets.com and include additional convenience charges.) Tickets are also available by phone through Tickets.com at (800) 225-2277.

Tickets are $50 for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday evenings, as well as Saturday matinees. Tickets are $53 for Friday and Saturday evenings and $41 for Thursday matinees. Seven-show packages are also still available for $250 to $322.Three show Mini-Series packages for $117 to $151 are also on sale. Call (916) 557-1999 for more information.

Children 4 to 11 are $15 off.

There will be special family-friendly curtain times for CATS performances from Aug. 25 to 30 with a 1 p.m. Sunday matinee on Aug. 30.

Seven-show season subscriptions for Music Circus are still available for $250 to $322 .

Dates for the shows are as follows:

Thoroughly Modern Millie – July 7-12
Altar Boyz – July 14-19
Guys and Dolls – July 21-26
Into the Woods – July 28-Aug. 2
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers – Aug. 4-9
Man of La Mancha – Aug. 11-16
CATS – Aug. 18-30

Here are more details on each show, from the Music Circus’ press release:

Thoroughly Modern Millie – July 7-12

Music Circus premiere! The fun, adventure and scandal (gasp!) of New York City in the 1920s lure aspiring flapper and stenographer Millie Dillmount to Manhattan, intent to fall in love with her rich boss, whoever he may be. The pull of the big city, money and especially love are at the center of 2002’s Tony Award-winning Best Musical.

The title role will be played by Sacramento area-native Mara Davi, whose Broadway roles include Maggie in "A Chorus Line" and Janet in "The Drowsy Chaperone." Broadway and film actor Ruth Williamson, who starred as Mame at Music Circus, will play the comically villianous Mrs. Meers. "Millie" will be directed by Glenn Casale and choreographed by John MacInnis with musical direction by Bill Stanley.

Very limited seating for the Thursday matinee of this production.

Altar Boyz – July 14-19

Music Circus premiere! "Altar Boyz" is a foot-stomping, rafter-raising, musical comedy about a fictitious Christian boy-band on the last night of their national "Raise the Praise" tour. The Boyz are five all-singing, all dancing heartthrobs from Ohio: Matthew, Mark, Luke, Juan and Abraham. With their tight harmonies and spectacular choreography, the Alter Boyz will delight you. As they perform their signature hits such as "Rhythm in Me," "The Calling" and "I Believe," the Boyz question their loyalty to each other and ask whether or not faith is really holding them together. They finally deliver a message of unity, that "there is no star as bright as its constellation, no harmony in a single voice."

The Altar Boyz will be played by Devin DeSantis (Matthew), Jamison Scott (Mark), Ryan Nearhoff (Luke), Xavier Cano (Juan) and Tim Dolan (Abraham). The production is directed by Stafford Arima, a Music Circus veteran who staged the original New York production, with Tye Blue serving as associate director.

Guys and Dolls – July 21-26

"Luck be a lady tonight ..." In Frank Loesser’s musical fable of Broadway, falling in love is a crap shoot – a matter of chance as well as the heart. The colorful denizens of 1940s New York – showgirls and gamblers, missionaries and gangsters –create musical comedy magic accompanied by Broadway’s most rib-tickling ditties: "A Bushel and a Peck," "If I Were a Bell" and "Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat."

Tony Award winner Gary Beach will star as Nathan Detroit in "Guys and Dolls." Beach is familiar to Music Circus audiences for roles as Pseudolus in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," Rooster in "Annie" and Luther Billis in "South Pacific." He received his Tony Award for best supporting actor for his role as Roger de Bris in "The Producers," a role he reprised in the film. He will play opposite Heather Lee as Miss Adelaide, who appeared in "Sweeney Todd" last summer as the Beggar Woman. Matthew Ashford, known to daytime fans as Jack Devereaux from "Days of Our Lives," returns to Music Circus where he played Thomas Jefferson in "1776." Ashford will play gambler Sky Masterson opposite Montego Glover as missionary Sarah Brown. Glover played the lead role in "Aida" under the tent. The cast will also include Conrad John Schuck (Ben Franklin in "1776") as Arvide Abernathy. "Guys and Dolls" will be directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge and choreographed by Bob Richard with Dennis Castellano serving as musical director.

Into the Woods – July 28-Aug. 2

A seed of magic and discovery sprouts into a beanstalk of caution, danger and adventure in Stephen Sondheim’s wry fairy tale musical – a witty look at Jack, Cinderella, Rapunzel and Little Red Riding Hood for those who once were children but have forgotten the lessons of youth. Find out what happens after happily-ever-after.

Comedic stage and television actress Vicki Lewis, who starred in "Gypsy" last summer, will return to Music Circus as the Baker’s Wife opposite Jeffry Denman as the Baker. Denman is well known around the country as a leading song and dance man for his performance on Broadway in "Cats" and around the country starring in "White Christmas." He last appeared under the Tent in "Cats." Yvette Cason will play the witch. The production will be directed and choreographed by Glenn Casale and the musical director will be Craig Barna.

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers – Aug. 4-9

What makes rowdy mountain men not just jump for joy, but twirl, flip and pirouette? One of the most loved Music Circus productions returns with its legendary high-kicking choreography to show that it takes a bride to turn seven unshaven unkempt brothers into manly gentle men and to turn desire into romance.

The cast will be lead by Music Circus favorites Joseph Mahowald as Adam and Jacquelyn Piro Donovan as Millie. Mahowald whose Broadway credits include the lead role in "Jekyll & Hyde" has been seen here in the round in "Seven Brides" and "South Pacific." Piro Donovan was most recently under the tent as Sally Bowles in "Cabaret." The cast will include 18 young singers and dancers playing brothers, brides and suitors. Longtime Music Circus fans will recognize Richard Bulda who returns to the tent. "Seven Brides" will be directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge with Jim May conducting. Pepper Clyde, who choreographed all the previous Music Circus productions of "Seven Brides," will return to once again recreate the high energy, acrobatic dance sequences.

Very limited seating for the Thursday matinee of this production.

Man of La Mancha – Aug. 11-16

We all long for a better world, and no literary character has inspired us to see things as they should be more than Don Quixote: to see truth over reality, adventure in everyday life and beauty in the heart of a vulgar barmaid. In this Tony-winning musical, an imprisoned writer transforms himself into a deluded knight who beckons to come with him and "dream the impossible dream." >more

Broadway veteran Walter Charles will return to Music Circus in the lead roles of Miguel de Cervantes and Don Quixote. Valerie Perri, who is best known for her performance in the national tour of "Evita" will star as Aldonza. The production will be directed by Guy Stroman (whose work is currently represented by "Forever Plaid" at The Cosmopolitan Cabaret) and choreographed by Bob Richard. Dennis Castellano will choreograph.

CATS – Aug. 18-30

The magic, playfulness, dignity and tragedy of the feline comes to life on stage in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s magnificent musical. Spectacular costumes, fanciful choreography and whimsical lyrics based on T.S. Eliot’s poetry will delight theatregoers of all ages. For the first time ever, "Cats" is offered at a discount for children 4-11.

Jacquelyn Piro Donovan, who will appear earlier in the season in "Seven Brides," will recreate her 2003 performance as Grizabella. Tony Award nominee Ken Page will play Old Deuteronomy, a role he created in the original Broadway production. Jeffry Denman will play Munkustrap in the 20-member ensemble cast. The production will be directed by Richard Stafford and choreographed by Dana Solimando with musical direction by Craig Barna.

Here comes the weekend!

2009-02-12T00:44:10Z

There's a lot to do this weekend in Sacramento, with the Amgen race on Saturday and all its attendant events; and then there's Second Saturday, with a number of great openings at local galleries.

But if you're up for music, there's a bit less to choose from. Still, there's enough to check out, and quite a bit to look forward to. Tickets are going on sale this Saturday and Sunday for a number of upcoming shows. More about that in a moment.

First, perhaps the most interesting live music event of the weekend is the Mega Bollywood Show this Valentine's Saturday, at the Crest Theatre. Colleen Belcher's story about the event on SacramentoPress.com says it all about a show that is going to be shamelessly over-the-top. Check it out.

And if you're down with local artists - and we here at SacramentoPress.com are, above all, local - then you've got two great opportunities:

One is the Secretions show Friday at Javalounge on 16th Street and Broadway, an all-ages show that is guaranteed to rock your bad self. Get there early-ish, this is a small venue.

Another is the triple-threat showcase of local singer/songwriters Saturday night at Luna's Cafe. Autumn Sky, Ricky Berger and Justin Farren will share their tales of love and longing on the most romantic day of Walgreen's year.

But if you're looking for news on big shows, the deal is tickets on sale. Topping the list is Saturday's on-sale date for Coldplay's only NorCal show, at the Shoreline Pavilion in Mountain View on July 13. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m.

Another big show is the Il Divo show July 23 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose. Tickets go on sale Sunday at 10 a.m.

Finally, and more important, locally, tickets for the April 8 Memorial Auditorium show by Fall Out Boy go on sale Saturday morning at 10 a.m. Others on the show are Metro Station and Cobra Starship.

Wizard Rundgren remains a truly weird star at Crest

2009-12-04T06:06:32Z

The title of Todd Rundgren's 1973 concept album, A Wizard, A True Star, always seemed half true: A studio wizard he may have been, a one-man band with eclectic influences and an ear for a great hook, but he was never quite the star he aspired to be.

Indeed, Rundgren, who made his recorded debut as a member of The Nazz in 1967, always seemed just a year or two behind the true trendsetters, and a bit ahead of the curve when it came to stardom. Despite several early hits -- "Hello It's Me" and "I Saw the Light" positioned him as a singer-songwriter in the mold of Carole King or Elton John -- his tendency to go off in five directions at once and a healthy skepticism about stardom itself seemed to push him in the direction of cult star rather than rock star.

Forty-two years and dozens of albums later, Rundgren remains a cult star, occasionally releasing albums but rarely selling many. But his cult is devoted and passionate, and Wednesday night he drew a half house of ravenous fanatics to the Crest Theatre in downtown Sacramento. The crowd of about 600 was fanatical, calling out to the singer between songs. One loutish fan even walked up to the apron of the stage to address Rundgren, who was in a mid-song vamp.

The draw wasn't just Rundgren. The concert was promoted as a chance to hear him perform, start to finish, that same 1973 album, A Wizard, A True Star, known in its day as the longest single album ever released on one vinyl long player, at approximately 50 minutes. Most albums of the time topped out around 40.

More a collection of electronics-mad moments or melodic flights of fancy than fully-realized songs -- one string of five songs are barely a minute each -- it was a curiosity then and remains so now. Wizard came out the same year as The Dark Side of the Moon, Quadrophenia, Aladdin Sane, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Band on the Run and Houses of the Holy; any album would have a hard time standing out. That Wizard, with its dye-cut cover (a Dali-esque portrait of Rundgren) and lacking a hit single, did even reasonably well was no mean feat.

Wednesday night, 36 years after its release, Wizard got another chance. The music, now extending well over an hour, came across powerfully. Freed of studio wizardry and abrupt edits, and of the density of the original studio sound, the music had a chance to breathe, and Rundgren's six-piece band, featuring old Utopia bandmate Kasim Sultan on bass and vocals, as well as Tubes drummer Prairie Prince, managed most of the tricky changes and bizarre shifts in tempo and tone.

That wasn't always easy. Rundgren's tastes, rooted in The Beatles' psychedelia and the orchestral soul of his native Philadelphia, had become informed over the years by the weird time signatures and tonalities of Frank Zappa's work -- "Cool Jerk" in 7/4 anyone? -- as well as the burgeoning glam rock of the early '70s. And then there was that whole singer/songwriter thing.

And Rundgren's rather dour sense of humor and irony (one refrain goes "You want the obvious/You'll get the obvious") tends to undercut much of what he does on an emotional level. Though he sang such soulful numbers as "Sometimes I Don't Know What to Feel" and a soul medley that included the chestnut "La-La-La Means I Love You," Rundgren maintained an emotional distance that verged on cold at points. One is always aware that he is performing, most likely with tongue in cheek.

In that respect, Rundgren didn't help himself with the frequent costume changes that struck this viewer as something out of community theatre gone wrong. He emerged during the opening "International Feel" in an astronaut's spacesuit, and subsequent songs saw him in a red fat suit (inflated on one song, deflated on the next), an orange leisure suit and a Isaac Hayes-inspired satin-and-skin ensemble that looked ridiculous on Rundgren.

Still, the costumes were part of the fun, and evocative of the crazy-quilt of Wizard. A studio-inspired and electronically-created album, it came off better live than might have been expected. The pacing of the album, played mostly in its original sequence, lent itself to live performance. Musical peaks and lulls came through beautifully. Even the odd little between-song instrumentals and sonic tangents served to give Rundgren time for costume changes, and a chance for the band to show off.

By the time he and the band got to the soaring refrain of "International Feel" and then to the album's closing number, "Just One Victory," the evening was complete. A powerfully emotional anthem to hope, the song is free of irony and self-conscious wit, going to the core of '70s soul's optimism. It has long been Rundgren's show-closer, but set in its original context at the end of Wizard, it was even more moving.

Rundgren may remain mostly a cult star, but to have maintained that cult for three-plus decades is quite an accomplishment. And it should be said that Wednesday night's show, as rich as it was, neglected at least a dozen classic Rundgren songs. Even as part of the very short tour of Wizard, Wednesday night was a chance to celebrate not just an album, but the career of a man who, while perhaps not a wizard, is certainly a talented magician.

Jonathan Richman at the Blue Lamp

2008-12-10T23:35:52Z

I don't get out as much as I'd like, and judging from the numbers of people usually out to hear music on a Tuesday night, neither does anyone else.

But not this Tuesday! I didn't get to everything, but there were two big shows that drew very respectable crowds out into the fog and damp. The one where I spent most of my evening was at the Jonathan Richman show at the Blue Lamp. For those who know him - and most of the crowd of 100 or so seemed to - it was like old home week. For those who didn't, at least two were talked into going in when they were told that Richman was the random musician who popped up from time to time in the film "There's Something About Mary."

That was Jonathan's one moment in the mainstream spotlight. Other than that, he's been banging out tunes - and I do mean banging, but also caressing, cajoling and otherwise evoking madly entertaining tunes - since about 1971, when he introduced the world to his song "Roadrunner" (which was a later hit for Joan Jett).

Jonathan, who lives in the Grass Valley area, has made dozens of albums since, including one in French, and he played songs from all through his career during his set. He was accompanied only by a drummer with brushes, and playing an unmiked acoustic that didn't even have a strap, the better for him to use it as a very loose prop. That it was only occasionally in tune was a minor distraction. Jonathan isn't about doing things anyway but his own. Fortunately, his way is genuine and insightful, like an eight year old with 57 years of experience.

It was great to see a crowd out on a Tuesday for a cult figure most people don't know. Among the celebrants: Rob Turner and Elyssa Lee of Sactown magazine, who just put their two year anniversary issue out last week. Kudos to those two for continuing to raise the bar and soldier on in a tough economy. And for being Jonathan fans!

Meanwhile, over at Harlow's, there was a benefit concert for Chi Cheng of Deftones, who remains in a coma a month after an automobile accident. Chi's condition is stable but not good, and his friends turned out in force, including Will Haven and a reunited Tinfed, which rocked the house. And there was quite a crowd, according to reports. Sonny Maguba is going to write more about this later, so stay tuned for more details.

Sacramento Children's Choir in concert

2008-12-10T22:54:00Z

By Mareva Brown

(Posted by David Watts Barton)

Continuing a holiday tradition that began in 15 years ago with the work of a master’s student in music, the Sacramento Children’s Choir performed its 2008 winter concert with a harmony of sweet voices at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in downtown Sacramento.

The Choir was begun in 1993 when director Lynn Stevens had idea to start a premiere children’s chorus that would draw singers from the greater Sacramento area. It started with 40 singers as a part of her master’s program at California State University, Sacramento.

Today, there are about 160 singers in four separate choirs ranging in age from 7 to 18. Children are placed in their choirs after auditioning. As young singers progress, their performance opportunities also grow. In addition to Saturday’s performance at the Cathedral, the choirs performed Sunday at the Carmichael Seventh Day Adventist Church.

This summer, the two senior choirs – the Cantoris and the Chorale and Choraliers – sang throughout Norway and Sweden. It was not their first international performance. In 2006, they were chosen to compete at the International Choral Kathaumixw, in British Columbia; in 2004, the Sacramento Children’s Choir sang in Prague and Budapest.

Additionally, the children have participate in the Pacific International Children’s Choir Festival in 2007, at Carnegie Hall in 2005 and also hat year, they were chosen to perform at the prestigious national convention of the American Choral Directors Association. In 2009, children in the choir will perform at “Sing A Mile High,” in Denver.

Earlier this month, the Cantoris, comprised primarily of junior and senior high school students, performed on the floor of the state Senate during the swearing in of 13 new Senators.

Typically the choirs perform separately, but at the Choir’s annual winter and spring concerts, all four choirs sing together. The spring concerts are May 2 and 3, 2009.

Agent Ribbons says farewell to Sacramento Thursday

2010-03-04T06:20:02Z

One of Sacramento's favorite local bands is local no more. Agent Ribbons will no longer be based in Sacramento.

After a farewell show Thursday night at Old Ironsides, singer/songwriter/guitarist Natalie Gordon is going to be calling Austin, Texas home.

At least for a little while.

"I'm going down there with the intention of moving back to Sacramento at some point," Gordon said on the phone Wednesday before the band played a gig in San Francisco. "But I want to try somewhere new. My life's just really open right now."

The band, which began as a duo consisting of Gordon and drummer/singer Lauren Hess, became a trio in the last couple of years with the addition of violinist Naomi Cherie, who came to the band while living in...Austin.

"We've been flying Naomi up here all the time for our tours, and it would give me more time to work with her. And just going there on tours and stuff, we really like Austin a lot," she added. "They're super supportive. They treat us like a local band.

"Austin has a really diverse music scene. It's as diverse as the Bay area, I think," Gordon said. "It has that reputation (of being very roots-oriented), but we're not even remotely roots music, and there's a lot of music there that's not really that rootsy."

Drummer Hess will remain in Sacramento for the time being, as she has a good job here. But Gordon said that she, too, is thinking about moving, perhaps to the Bay Area.

In the next few months, the band will be dropping its long-delayed second album, following up its November 2006 debut album. Gordon said that the new album, recorded at popular downtown studio The Hangar, is a departure for the band. Not only is it one member stronger, Gordon said the band has found a sound that she said works better for the members.

The band members worked with Producer Scott McChane at The Hangar, a downtown studio that Gordon called "our ideal place to record," and said that in addition to the violin, Lauren sings more backing vocals, and though it retains the band's minimalist sound, "there's a lot more going on. We suggest big epic things with small little sounds still, but the development is more encompassing."

But despite the changes, Gordon said Agent Ribbons "will always be a Sacramento band."

"We have a lot of really loyal fans in Sacramento - there's no place that compares to Sacramento," she said. "But attendance (at shows) is down. It's definitely waned a bit since we started the band. Sacramento's music scene ebbs and flows a lot, and we see the success that we've had in other places, so we want to explore that (and) just focus some energy outside of the west coast for a while."

Thursday night's show will be opened by Dog Party and Knock Knock. Showtime is 9:30 p.m. and tickets are $7. Old Ironsides is located at 1901 10th St.

Bill Frisell's Disfarmer Project at Mondavi

2009-03-21T20:18:54Z

Guitarist and composer Bill Frisell has done many collaborations over the course of playing on more than 200 albums, but this may be one of the most interesting: Setting music to the mid-20th century black and white photographs of Mike Disfarmer.

In The Disfarmer Project, which plays the Mondavi Center's Jackson Hall on April 4, Frisell's disarming blend of jazz, blues, country and rock - as well as a melodic and harmonic sensibility all his own - will be played by his familiar group of lap steel player Greg Leisz, violinist Jenny Schneiman and bassist Viktor Krauss. Frisell himself plays a wildly eclectic guitar style, on electric guitar that is subtly processed to allow for everything from delicately-picked filligrees to distorted (but always tightly reined-in) roars.

The quartet will play below a projection of Mike Disfarmer's remarkable photographs, taken over a 40 year period until his death in 1959. Virtually all the photographs were taken while Disarmer was a commercial photographer, at a time when photography was still relatively young, and when soldiers going off to World War II, and the women they were leaving behind, wanted some sort of keepsake. Others made a trip to Disfarmer's studio in tiny Heber Springs, Arkansas (population 3800) a sort of Saturday night out.

What Disfarmer captured was America during the Great Depression, World War II and the post-War boom, through the faces of farmers, shopkeepers, students and the working poor. The pictures have been described by Disfarmer biographer Richard B. Woodward as "dozens of portraits that in their simplicity, restraint, elegance, and penetrating social gaze rank with the finest produced in the 20th century."

Tickets for the show are available at http://mondaviarts.org/events

!!! bust it out at the Press Club

2009-03-20T08:04:53Z

Brooklyn-based, but Sacramento-born funk rock band !!! (pron. chk chk chk) brought the funk to the Press Club at 21st and P for a second of three nights on Thursday.

Taking the stage a bit before midnight, the sextet (sans occasional touring singer Shannon Funchess) launched into their version of what has been called "dance punk," and never let up.

With raw edges but a relentless pulse - these guys know their four-on-the-floor, and they know how to keep it pumpin' as opposed to letting it become monotonous. The crowd of a couple hundred, a friendly, mixed group, wasn't particularly amped for dancing, but the band did manage to egg them into it.

The main reason was lead singer Nic Offer, who looks like a character on a 70s sitcom, in a pendelton shirt and vaguely curly hair. But Offer threw himself into the show, clearly relishing being back in Sac and enjoying familiar faces in the crowd. His voice was often obscured, but at one point he joked, "I've played more gigs on 21st Street than any street in my life."

Offer several times dropped down a step into the crowd, dancing with people and seeming to enjoy being home. The band's sound, with unique, surprising tones from guitarist Mario Andreoni, reminded this listener of alternative favorites as old as post-punk '70s art rockers Gang of Four to current dance punk leaders LCD Soundsystem.

The band will play one more show, Friday night. If you're looking for something edgy but strangely familiar - and compellingly danceable - !!! has got your number.

World Music Day in Sacramento

2009-06-22T05:57:18Z

Although it's not as big in this country as it is in Europe, World Music Day - aka La Fête de la Musique in France, where it originated in 1982 - is an indisputably fantastic idea.

Local music enthusiast John Downs promoted a Fête de la Musique a few months ago, which turned some musicians out. But the idea is still new in town.

During the Fête, musicians are invited, even encouraged, to play their music outside. No one knows how many people participate, but thousands of musicians play around the world, on street corners and in parks, for free, to celebrate the summer solstice.

The musicians play in the common areas - parks, street corners, green strips and businesses - that are so important to culture and community. Our local versions of these small places, scattered all over the urban core, help make Sacramento a delightful, and potentially great, urban place. Sacramento has good bones.

This Sunday, on my way to coffee and The New York Times (on paper), I saw two musicians who had decided to celebrate the summer solstice - and World Music Day - in the central city Grid.

Claudia Kirkpatrick and Victor Simon played lovely folk and classical tunes in the spreading shade of a decades-old tree in Fremont Park at 15th and P (the corner of the park opposite Hot Italian and Naked Lounge). Kirkpatrick's violin danced over the shimmering tones of Simon's hammered dulcimer. The overall effect - perfect low-80s with a cool breeze, sun-dappled shade, a lazy calm over the central city and these centuries-old sounds - was sweet.

"What a nice thing to be able to share our music with other people," Kirkpatrick remarked before they launched into another delicate melody.

A further cruise of Sacramento's Grid revealed no other street musicians on such popular corridors as J, L and K Streets, nor on 16th, 19th, 20th and 21st Streets - the heart of Midtown. But I got out late, at 3:30 or so...there may have been more, earlier.

Did you see anyone playing in public this weekend? In Midtown and Downtown especially? Broadway? Take any pictures?

Kate's restless farewell

2009-02-25T05:28:04Z

Local singer/songwriter Kate Gaffney played her last of a string of eight recent shows Tuesday evening, filling the Torch Club, Sacramento's favorite blues haunt, with a devoted crowd. Despite the happy hour timing, Gaffney's audience was most decidedly there to see her, and they greeted her performances with approval and even a little bit of dancing.

The fans were there to send Gaffney off on her trip to Austin this Thursday for the South By Southwest music conference, on a self-guided mini tour that will take her to Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico, as well as to Austin and Dallas, Texas. In April she'll be headed east for a couple more weeks of playing wherever she can.

"I just want to play, I want to play every day, for new people," she said recently.

In the last couple of weeks, Gaffney has indeed been playing all over the region, working hard to cement a heavy-gigging reputation that she figures will open doors into the scene she covets even more than the singer/songwriter scene. Gaffney has said that she feels she belongs in the jam band scene, and to that end, she has been working on building a following that comes to hear the music, not just bask in her glow.

And yet, Gaffney does glow, willowy and lissome, with a deep voice that delivers her songs with authority and grace. Often playing alone, she is sometimes accompanied by a band that includes bassist Lynn Michael Palmer of Mumbo Gumbo and ace fretman Steve Randall, as well as drums and keyboards. Gaffney isn't packing clubs, but she seems to draw larger and larger crowds with every show, and Tuesday night at the Torch was no exception.

With powerful songs like the romantic waltz "Give It a Whirl" to the angry, pounding "What Kind of Man?", Gaffney comes across powerfully, already having inspired followers who come to her shows and tape her and the band's performances, a la the jam band scene.

"Kate is ambitious," one fellow musician observed as she played. "She wants to do well at this, to make money, to go national."

Gaffney herself is low-key about her ambitions, but she is clearly charged up about her prospects. Tuesday night the spark that brings larger and larger crowds - one, two, three new fans every show - was apparent, and the numbers are starting to add up. She always sells CDs (her latest is The Coachman; she also has a previous album and an EP), and she exclaimed the other night that she is actually making money playing music, something she was advised to do early in the decade by her friend and sometime collaborator and labelmate, Jackie Greene.

Gaffney will be back from her trek in April, and will play a handful more gigs before she heads off to the East for more gigs.

"I'm just going to play and play," she said recently. "I get better when I do it, and that's what I want to do every day: get better and better.

Here comes the weekend!

2009-02-19T00:57:15Z

There are a number of good low-level shows coming in Sacramento in the next week, most of them on the other side of the weekend. One features a guitarist who had one hit then became a jam band staple, another is a guitarist/songwriter on busman's holiday from his band, and the last is a rapper who goes ALL the way back to raps heyday in Brooklyn, New York.

The last first: Kool Keith was a menber of the wonderful Ultramagnetic MCs, which were contemporary with the early Beastie Boys, Public Enemy and LL Cool J, and very nearly as good. They didn't last long, and Keith went on to do some very weird space-age rap on a dozen or so albums that yielded the occasional hit (including "Earth People," released as Dr. Octagon), but there's nothing quite like Ultramagnetic tracks like "Ease Back." Still, Kool Keith's show at Harlow's on Wednesday next could be an interesting curiousity at least, and funky great time at best.

The inelegantly-named Big Head Todd and the Monsters had a hit in 1993 with "It's Alright," and were quickly forgotten by the mainstream audience. But as Todd Park Mohr is quite a guitarist, and not a bad singer/songwriter, he has found seady work beyond the Top 40. He and the Monsters will be playing Sacramento's Harlow's on Monday night.

The quality touring show of the week will be A.C. Newman's Sacramento debut Tuesday night at Harlow's. The guitarist gets most of his income from touring with New Pornographers, the band he shares with fellow singer/songwriter Neko Case. But his solo work on two albums, particularly his spectacular debut, "The Slow Wonder," is a marvel, and his show at Harlow's is the must-see touring show of the next week.

I say must-see touring show because in my opinion, the show to see this week is Saturday night's repeat of the "Songs for Presidents" show based on the three-CD set Of Great and Mortal Men released last fall by songwriters Christian Kiefer, J. Matthew Gerkin and Jefferson Pitcher. The three-CD set contains 43 songs, but Saturday night's show will feature only 26 of the best (based on song quality, not politics) songs.

The fact that I will be MC'ing the show, as well as singing two Presidential songs (Grant and Buchanan) affects my judgement in this only slightly. I think that Of Great and Mortal Men is one of the finest, and certainly the most ambitious, recording projects to ever come from Sacramento. National Public Radio apparently agreed, doing a feature on the production on "All Things Considered," and our local NPR affiliate, Capital Public Radio, is the sponsor of Saturday night's show, at Marilyn's on K, starting at 9 p.m.

In addition to yours truly and the songwriters who created it (including Pitcher, who is flying in from Toronto to participate), local singers Richard March, Kate Gaffney and Dean Haakenson of Be Brave Bold Robot will be performing songs from the album, as will local bands The Kimberly Trip and Silver Darling.

Several of those acts will be playing elsewhere in the Grid this week: Silver Darling will be on a Friday bill at Old Ironsides with Aaron Ross of Hella, and Kate Gaffney will be opening Thursday night's show at Marilyn's by political singer/songwriter Dan Bern, and wrapping up her gig as the happy hour entertainment at the Torch Club next Tuesday. But Kate, who can't stop gigging (and good thing), will be around, don't worry.

Finally, yours truly will also be playing tonight at Luna's with old pal and fellow journo/songwriter Jackson Griffith. That starts at 8, should be fun.

Another promising show will feature local singer/songwriter Lee Bob Watson at the Fox and Goose on Friday. Lee Bob's album Afficianado was a favorite last year, worth checking out.

And young local bands from the News and Review's Jammies 2009 series will play their final concert Saturday night at The Crest Theatre.

In all, a pretty spectacular musical week in the Grid. You don't have to see 'em all, but at least ONE should tickle your musical bones.

Tonight's Fleetwood Mac show is off

2009-05-18T21:14:22Z

Rock group Fleetwood Mac has canceled tonight's concert at ARCO Arena. "Illness" was cited as the reason, but no further details were given.

A press release from promoter Live Nation said that the show will be made up at a later, as-yet-undecided date.

While no reasons have been given, a quick search revealed that the band has canceled a number of shows during its Unleashed Tour, including those in Albany, N.Y.; Greensboro, N.C.; and shows in Calgary and Edmonton in Canada just five days ago.

Tickets for tonight's show will be honored at the new date, according to the brief release. Although it could not be confirmed by a spokesman for Live Nation, refunds are usually available at place of purchase for canceled or postponed shows.

Star Wars in Concert dazzles ARCO fans

2009-10-10T18:08:09Z

Star Wars fans will be thrilled; non-fans will be amazed.

I fall into the latter camp. I saw the first film in 1977, on the day it came out, and enjoyed it. Since then, I’ve caught most of the other films, but remain underwhelmed. I just didn’t get it.

Friday night at ARCO Arena, I got it. “Star Wars in Concert,” a multimedia spectacular that aims to extend the life of the Star Wars franchise into live performance, delivered a dazzling spectacle that beautifully summarized the entire Star Wars saga for those of us who didn’t connect with the epic on film.

The show will be reprised this afternoon at 3 p.m. at ARCO.

The hook of the show is John WIlliams’ grandiose music for all six Star Wars films, and it was well-served by an 86-piece symphony orchestra and choir, spread out on the biggest stage this reviewer has ever seen at ARCO. Conducted by Dirk Brossé, the enormous ensemble tackled Williams’ music and synched it perfectly with the huge projections of newly-edited scenes from the six live-action movies in the franchise.

Williams’ music - memorable to this reviewer only for Star Wars’ oft-heard theme piece - gained new life in this expansive concert hall, and was well-served by the production’s technical crew, which delivered theatre-quality surround sound that was neither too loud nor subject to the inadequacies of a basketball arena. French horns, violins and vocalists all sounded clear and clean in the notoriously echo-prone arena.

With good sound and excellent players, the music revealed itself in a sequence of thematic segments built around different ideas, plotlines and characters from the films, whether detailing the fall of Anakin Skywalker and the rise of his evil dark side, Darth Vader, or celebrating the high-speed chases and races of various space vehicles, or whimsically offering the comic relief of the droids R2-D2 and his pal, C-3PO.

The British actor who played C-3PO, Anthony Daniels, served as the evening’s host and narrator, his voice still redolent of the fussy droid character 32 years after he debuted in the first movie, a much younger actor of 31. Though he traded his gold droid costume for a black tux, Daniels’ charm and presence, as well as his familiar voice, made for a wonderful connection to the movies.

And it is the movies, not Williams’ music or Daniel’s stage presence, that are the draw. Friday night’s show, despite the huge orchestra and stage, featured no live actors cavorting as Ewoks or Wookies or Storm Troopers. Instead, the production was built around a very big, very clear video screen that organizers say is one of the largest ever built. On it, scenes from the six Star Wars films were re-edited to tell the epic story from the beginning to the end, instead of the broken-up, convoluted sequence in which the films were released theatrically.

Seeing the whole story laid out in order gave this reviewer a new perspective on the story, illuminated the characters and underlined the mythical arcs that have long been touted by Star Wars fans. This is indeed an epic story, with Biblical dimensions. Yes, I get it. Hardcore fans may find it lacking, but for a non-believer, the show was a revelation.

Given all that, it was surprising that the crowd for Friday’s show was so small. With the upper deck almost entirely empty and even the main level less than half-full, the crowd at the arena on Friday couldn’t have been more than 6,000 people. Some attributed it to the cost of tickets, though they weren’t extraordinary ($32.50-72.50) given the size and sophistication of the production. When the economy hits even Star Wars this hard, you know it’s bad.

Donnaroo, benefit for local soundman

2009-03-12T17:39:28Z

Unless you're a musician, or particularly observant, you don't notice The Sound Guy.

But if he weren't there, you'd notice his absence. A good soundman balances the volume levels and adjusts the equalization (basically, treble and bass) of every instrument's amplification. He is also responsible for something you don't hear, but which makes a huge difference in the quality of a performance: He adjusts the same things on the monitor mix, or the sound that the musicians hear on stage. A band on stage without good monitors can't hear each other, can't even, often, hear themselves. Which means they can't tell how they're playing. And at that point, you don't want to hear it, either.

A bad soundman - and there are many - does just the opposite. You can hate him without even knowing he exists.

Donny Boyer is a GOOD soundman. He's been around town forever, it seems, and in recent years he's made a whole lot of bands playing Marilyn's On K sound good, including yours truly. Accomodating and knowledgeable, Donny is one of those soundmen who acts like he's a member of the band - and not because he wants the glory. He wants it to sound good.

And now Donny is in some medical trouble, and like most musicians who aren't married to someone with a "real" job, he doesn't have health insurance.

So, tomorrow night (Friday March 13), a handful of the bands who Donny has made sound good over the years are trying to give him a hand back: They're playing a benefit performance, with all of the ticket price of $10 going to help Donny pay medical bills. They've dubbed it Donnaroo.

$10 buys you quite a bit: In addition to members of popular party band Mercy Me, there will be performances by Richard March and Tyler Ragle, Rowdy Kate, Tattooed Love Dogs and Seventy, Boulevard Park and Jay Swanigan, perhaps with a few surprises in store.

I don't know if Donny is doing the sound, but even if he isn't, that's one show that already sounds pretty good. Downbeat is 7 p.m.

Off Air rocks KXJZ

2009-02-04T03:59:50Z

Getting cutting edge rock music onto the airwaves has been a struggle since the days of “free form” FM radio’s birth in 1968. Hearing David Bowie on rock radio in 1972 was as rare as hearing U2 in 1982 or Radiohead in 1995. And Flaming Lips? Forget about it.
Being young and into what has been called “alternative” rock (before it became a marketing term), Nick Brunner understands this. And like many before him, he is a tireless crusader for bands like New Pornographers and Shins and Pavement, bands who don’t get on the radio.
Fortunately for Brunner, and for Sacramento music fans, Brunner works at Capital Public Radio’s KXJZ (90.9 FM), the local affiliate of National Public Radio. Though predominantly a news station (full disclosure: I occasionally host the afternoon show “Insight”), with most of its evening hours dedicated to mainstream jazz, CPR’s weekends loosen up a bit. “Mick Martin’s Blues Party” dominates Saturday afternoons with rippin’ guitars, and Saturday evenings have become enlivened by Chris Oshiro’s “Blue Dog Jam,” an eclectic, adult roots rock show.
Given a chance by the station’s powers-that-be, Brunner has now created his own show on KXJZ, “Off Air.” It is roughly an hour to an hour-and-a-half that is dedicated to rock that doesn’t kowtow to classic rock tastes.
It is also named “Off Air” for a reason: The show is off the air and online only, but can be streamed at capradio.org or directly at Brunner’s own URL, smartrockradio.org.
The show started on January 1 of this year, and each week a new prerecorded show is posted on the web at midnight on Wednesdays. Brunner has posted five so far, with another coming tonight (Wednesday) at midnight.
While this would seem to signal that “Off Air” is not ready for prime time, in fact it gives listeners great flexibility: You can stream it on the site, or download it to listen whenever you want, on whatever device you like. “Off Air” episodes may well end up outliving many “real” radio broadcasts.
“I would prefer to do it live,” he says. “There’s an energy to doing it that way. But the time it would take to do that in the studio would be prohibitive.”
Brunner, who has the voice of a teenager himself, is possessed of a quick, self-deprecating wit, and his work as an announcer on KXJZ during the news hours has smoothed his skills with the microphone. Likewise, his track descriptions are both funny and insightful, as he introduces a track by The Happiness Project as “Studs Terkel interviewing Peter and the Wolf or Ornette Coleman wrestling ‘This American Life’.” And after listening to the music, one has to admit: He’s right.
Guided as he is by his own eclectic tastes - he archly calls Botswanan Drum Circle Music his current favorite - Brunner is happy to move beyond his favorites and introduce listeners to music he is just discovering himself. He credits NPR programming such as Terry Gross’ “Fresh Air” with introducing him to new acts, and finds himself often inspired by the “bumper music” between segments on NPR programs such as “Marketplace.”
Among the acts he’s played are alt-rock classics such as Beck, Bjork, Luna and even ‘70s greats Television, but he’s also right up to the minute with Dent May, Sleeping in the Aviary and Deerhoof.
And like other KXJZ programs such as “Blue Dog Jam,” Brunner strives to include a couple of local groups like Walking Spanish and late, lamented Evening Episode.
Being web-based instead of on the airwaves, Brunner is finding that using social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace is gaining him listeners and allowing him to further connect with them. But he’s apparently as mystified by the web as many people.
“We’re toying around with Google Analytics, but I couldn’t make any sense of it,” he admits. Still, he says, “I want social networking sites to be the hub for this. Facebook is a great way to connect with listeners, MySpace is the great place for connecting with bands, and Twitter rocks if you want to know what I had for breakfast.”
He’s also finding that listeners who’ve been craving alternative sounds aren’t just the MySpace set. Instead, he says, “A lot of people in the forties are listening to it, which is surprising - and cool.”
Ultimately, Brunner wants “Off Air” to be on the air - there is still a certain air of legitimacy to the airwaves that online doesn’t have, just as print still has a heft that online doesn’t. Maybe.
On the other hand, perhaps he’s on the cutting edge in ways that aren’t just musical.
“I have thought I’d rather be on the air,” he says. “I want to connect with the audience directly. But now I’m seeing that I am able to connect with the audience online. And wanting more than that is just being greedy.”

Local songwriters in the round

2008-12-27T22:22:32Z

Adrian Bourgeois grew up in Nashville, son of a famous musician (Sacramento’s Brent Bourgeois of Bourgeois Tagg), so he’s familiar with the Nashville tradition of songwriters playing “in the round,” sitting in a group and swapping songs and stories.

It’s been done here before, and it is a growing thing – I’ve done them, and Jackson Griffith is doing them at Luna’s - but young Bourgeois has rounded up two particularly noteworthy pals to play with this Sunday night at True Love Coffeehouse.

Justin Farren is a talented young singer-songwriter in the style that might once have been called “power pop.” I’ve only seen him once, but I was impressed. And Ricky Berger was one of Sacramento’s “it” kids this year, a quirky, sophisticated songwriter with a unique debut album and appearances all over the place.

Bourgeois himself rounds out the bill, with neo-psychedelic songs that are in some ways reminiscent of his dad’s work. This should be a great introduction to young local songwriters, whether or not you’re not up to speed.

The trio is also offering an end-of-year theme: they’ll only be playing songs they wrote this year. So that means that even if you’ve been following them, this might be a good chance to review the Year in Emotion.

In any case, the show starts at 8:30 Sunday night (not 7 p.m. as stated in the Bee and SNR), at True Love Coffeehouse, 2315 K Street in Sacramento. Entry is a Black Friday-worthy $5.

Tesla in town twice this week: In person and in concert

2009-01-27T01:03:16Z

When Tesla the band launched nationally in 1987 on powerhouse label Geffen Records, few thought that Sacramento’s most successful rock export would still be rocking more than 20 years later.

That was even more true when the band broke up in 1995, victims of their own rock star egos and chemical dependencies.

Even after reuniting in 2000, some wags dismissed the band’s return as the mere desire to cash in on a well-known name from the classic rock era, which said naysayers considered completely played out. What a joke, they said.

But Brian Wheat has had the last laugh. Bassist and manager of the band he co-founded with guitarist Frank Hannon in 1982, Wheat has worked for this decade to rebuild the band’s career and restore its good name. Along the way, he’s learned how to manage a band, build a record label, build and manage a recording studio and do it all in a way that not only makes money, but also allows his band mates to live the lives they want.

And they still rock, as will be apparent to anyone who sees them return home for a concert Friday, Jan. 30, at the Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento.

“This is a great band, and it doesn’t get enough credit,” he says during a break in recording at his studio on J Street in midtown Sacramento. “We have to keep proving ourselves. But that’s good - it keeps us honest.”

Tesla, named for the Yugoslavian inventor of alternating current who was eclipsed by his contemporary, the American Thomas Edison, has always been about honest, straight-forward rock with a hard edge. With the twin lead guitarists, Hannon and Tommy Skeoch (replaced in the new incarnation by Dave Rude), Tesla has had a handful of national hits (“Signs,” “Love Song”) but is best-known for its blazing live shows.

And like their namesake, the band seems to get energy from seeing itself as underdogs. Wheat in particular has a bit of a chip on his shoulder about how the band is perceived locally. They never played Old Ironsides or the True Love Coffeehouse. But he’s very proud of how well his crew has survived shifts in the commercial and aesthetic winds that have destroyed more than a few - if not most - of their late ‘80s contemporaries. He’s still a fan himself.

“I was talking to the bass player in Frank’s band the other day,” says Wheat, “And the guy is going on and on about what a great guitarist Frank is. To me, he’s just my brother, but I also know what a great player he is. I don’t think we take each other for granted.”

Wheat’s work in Tesla goes far beyond playing bass and sharing songwriting credits. A savvy businessman with humble South Sac roots who respects the value of a dollar, Wheat has worked hard to bring the band’s entire operation in house - literally, his own house, a lovingly-restored Victorian just down the street from Harlow’s.

“My company has everything under one roof, and we do partnerships for things we need done,” he says. “We get a much better deal than the major labels are offering. Aside from our distribution with Rykodisc, the rest of it is all on us. We’re in charge of everything, from videos to retail campaigns to radio promotion.

“It’s a whole new world from when we started,” he explains. “Record sales are down tremendously, you need to think outside the box. When we started, there wasn’t the internet, laptop computers, not so many forms of entertainment. Back then, it was TV, radio, records. Now there’s tons of entertainment, you’re competing against a lot more than you used to.”

The band even records in Wheat’s studio (full disclosure: I have myself recorded at Wheat’s studio), which means that they are able to take their time, and not have to travel. Travel, after all, is one of the rock band’s biggest pitfalls; most bands find it exhausting and expensive, even as they romanticize it for their fans.

“We’re older now, and touring takes a physical toll,” says Wheat, who is in his mid-40s. “So at our ripe old ages, we go a month on, a month off. We tour the U.S. September through May (they leave for a southwest tour after their Memorial Auditorium concert), and do summers in Europe and Asia.”

Touring in that manner, the group manages to see the world, play for fans all over (a substantial 120 shows a year) and still get a good deal of time off.

Taking breaks means that the band can stay healthy, stay home (the members live all over Northern California, Wheat and lead singer Jeff Keith being the only two in the Sacramento metro area) and stay friends.

Wheat admits that they are able to do that by budgeting carefully - “We don’t blow $400 a night for rooms at the Ritz-Carlton anymore,” he says - but they also do it by keeping a steady stream of product out there for fans.

“We try to have a piece of product out there every year,” he says, and it’s true: Last year, they released a live DVD, “Comin’ Atcha Live,” and an album of new material, “Forever More.” Before that, they released a pair of albums of cover songs, and before that, their first post-reunion album of original material, Into the Now.

Tomorrow night, Jan. 27th, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. the band will appear at R5 Records at 16th and Broadway. They’ll be signing copies of their latest album, Forever More, which is just now being released on vinyl (it came out on CD last fall). The band is billing the release as Tesla’s first vinyl in two decades.

And then it’s off on the road, but only until the end of February. At that point, Wheat will start work on another album with his side project Soul Motor, and somewhere in there, he’ll continue working on recording the still-unnamed band he’s formed with local rock star guitarist Mike Farrell, singer Lee Boots and his own brother, Mike, on drums.

“I’ve got no idea how that’s going to work out, I’ve never played with these guys, even my brother,” he says. “But it’s fun, and that’s what matters, right?”

Cake surprises hometown fans at Blue Lamp

2009-12-01T09:59:07Z

Members of Cake are regular fixtures around Sacramento, their hometown; just last week, members have been spotted on the sidewalk outside Old Ironsides and on the Appetite Enhancement Ride on Thanksgiving Day. But to see the whole band play live is a rare treat.

But the band has not been idle. The members are recording what will be their sixth, as-yet-untitled studio album - their first in six years when it appears next year - and Monday night they included their hometown fans in the process, running through a handful of the new songs in a surprise appearance live at The Blue Lamp, at Alhambra and N Streets in the Grid.

Several dozen people were turned away at the door when the house reached its capacity of about 200, but those who got in saw the band play an hour and a quarter set that started with a half dozen songs from the new album, followed by a dozen more familiar songs from the band's career, including hits such as "Never There" and a cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs."

The familiar half of the set began with the band's first release, "Rock 'n' Roll Lifestyle," and proceeded with a string of familiar songs from fairly early in their career: "Italian Leather Sofa," "Frank Sinatra," "Mexico" and "Jolene." They drew hearty sing-alongs from the enthusiastic audience, and singer and songwriter John McCrea worked his traditional magic with his more-sophisticated-than-usual approach to audience participation, which actually added some musical - and not just theatrical - content to the show.

But it was the promise of hearing new material that made the show special, and the new songs did not disappoint. Cake is nothing if not sonically consistent, the new songs sounding very much of a piece with songs from their 1994 debut. Though picking out lyrics was difficult in the all-concrete Blue Lamp, tracks like "Mustache Man" (with its local reference to the Tower Records-era bar the Candlerock Lounge on Watt Avenue) and "Bound Away" both stood out as fresh, and yet sounded like classic Cake. Hard to say, on one listen, where the new album, which is due out next year on the band's Upbeat Records, will stand in the Cake catalog.

But the classic Cake sound is utterly unique, one of the most distinctive and durable of the alternative rock era. McCrae's deadpan vocals are supported by Xan McCurdy's snaking, raw-boned guitar lines, Gabe Nelson's funky, sinuous bass lines, Vincent DiFiore's precise trumpet flourishes and new drummer Tom Monson's steady drive. Cake's songs can come off as raw and simple, but they are anything but: McCrae and the band work long and hard to make sure that the melodies and McCrae's lyrics get maximum play and that every part moves the song forward, no one part getting in the way of any other.

On top of that, when the band cuts loose jamming, as it did on "Italian Leather Sofa," with DiFiore's trumpet solo, or on "Jolene,' Cake gets up quite a head of steam. Credit new drummer Tom Monson for driving the songs, and as always, Nelson's brilliant bass lines, for keeping the band rooted.

The evening ended that way, the band full steam ahead, the audience singing along, thrilled to be in such close proximity to such a great band.

Live Nation presents: No Service Fee Wednesday

2009-06-10T03:10:18Z

The tight economy is obviously difficult, but it is having some good effects as well as bad.

Concert promotion company Live Nation, in its quest to own every aspect of the concert business, is now in the ticket-selling business. The company started selling tickets last year, and is now in negotiations to merge with Ticketmaster, though that merger is currently in governmental limbo. Anti-trust concerns have been raised.

But that needn't bother you. Live Nation is offering a teaser deal, at least for one day.

On Wednesday, June 10 from 12:01 a.m. to 11:59 p.m., LiveNation.com is offering a deal: All tickets sold tomorrow to Live Nation's shows at the amphitheaters it owns — including Sleep Train Amphitheatre in Wheatland, 30 miles north of Sacramento — will come without the otherwise-onerous "service charge" that is much hated by ticket buyers.

Live Nation isn't just being generous - it is doing it to get customers accustomed to buying tickets from LiveNation.com. When they offered a similar deal on lawn tickets last week, according to a press release, "Last week’s debut of 'No Service Fee Wednesday' generated a sales spike 500% higher than the average number of tickets sold on a typical Wednesday."

The No Service Fee promotion may be somewhat misleading, according to a story on CNN, which asked the company if "no" service fees actually meant there would be no service fees beyond the stated price. (Hidden fees are a staple of online ticket sellers.)

"'Fans will still be asked to pay parking fees (usually $6) as well as in some cases facility fees and/or charity fees," Live Nation spokesman John Vlautin wrote in a reply to CNN's request for clarification.

While this is being promoted as a one-day-only event, if ticket sales continue to lag — last month's cancellation of the Fleetwood Mac show at Arco Arena was widely thought to reflect weak ticket sales — it could be a more common occurrence.

This summer's shows at the Sleep Train Amphitheatre, all of which are part of "No Service Fee Wednesday":

July 10 – Mayhem Festival with Slayer and Marilyn Manson

July 14 – Coldplay and Amadou & Maria

July 24 – No Doubt and Paramore

August 1 – Judas Priest, Whitesnake and Tesla

August 21 – The Vans Warped Tour with DOA, Fishbone, Less Than Jake and U.K. Subs

August 31 – Nickelback, Papa Roach, Hinder and Saving Abel

September 3 – Def Leppard, Poison and Cheap Trick

No Service Fee Wednesday discounts also apply to shows at Live Nation's other large outdoor venues in Northern California: The Sleep Train Pavilion in Concord, the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View and the Mountain Winery in Saratoga.

Green Day smokes Arco audience

2009-08-25T19:19:02Z

It's easy to miss how BIG pop punk trio Green Day is. Well, it was easy to miss until Monday night at ARCO Arena.

But anyone who saw the evening's non-stop, all-out extravaganza left with no doubt: Green Day is one major rock 'n' roll band.

Playing for just shy of three straight hours with barely a pause to take their breath, the band -- singer/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, drummer Tre Cool and bassist Mike Dirnt, with a few sidemen -- pulled out every trick in the rock 'n' roll playbook, from spectacular explosions and dazzling visuals to a relentless, open-hearted desire to connect.

During the show, which drew a crowd a few thousand short of the 16,000 needed for a sell-out, the band focused on tracks from their three biggest albums: their 1994 major label debut, "Dookie," which has sold more than 10 million copies, and the last two albums, the rock opera "American Idiot" and this year's "21st Century Breakdown." They've recorded with U2.

"American Idiot" sold five million copies and will be reborn as a potentially Broadway-bound musical next month, which is pretty big. But because the band grew up near here -- in Berkeley's late '80s Gilman Street punk scene -- and because they have kept it musically simple even as they grow more thematically ambitious, the band can seem to loom small.

But Monday night they pulled out all the stops, Armstrong a dynamo who never seemed to stop moving or egging on the crowd (with liberal use of the F-bomb), pulling members out to play guitar for him or sing verses as he worked the rest of the audience.

And sing along they did. Most concert audiences are by definition devoted, but Green Day's was passionate from the start. Keeping any crowd's attention for three hours is no mean feat, but to have near total buy-in from the entire audience, which stood and waved hands in time and sang along to nearly every song, well, that's big.

In some ways, this was a hometown crowd, the next-to-last show on the band's U.S. tour (they head for Europe after a month's break), and Armstrong made a point of telling a story about the then-young band's 1988 gig in Davis, and about another show the next year in Sacramento. He even compared the crowd favorably to the less-responsive one in San Jose a few days before, and it didn't seem like pandering. It's hard to imagine a crowd being more engaged.

The band connects with simple, memorable material. Three chords and a relentless beat provided by Cool is all they need, and the audience's participation, on stage and off, was a reminder that one big reason Green Day has remained huge is that they play music that anyone can play -- or sing along with. "Jesus of Suburbia" featured a young member of the audience who'd come all the way from Israel to get on stage with the band, and proved himself worth the trip.

Green Day gone further lyrically, and to some degree musically, with their last two albums, with explicit concerns about the rise of the warfare state and techno-fascism (Armstrong's colors were red and black). At one point during the songs from those heavier albums, Armstrong pushed the political theme, at one point even yelling, "Arnold Schwarzenegger, get the f--- out!"

The more recent material made excellent use of the spectacularly sophisticated backdrop, worthy of bands like U2 and Radiohead, who are better known for the visual aspects of their shows. What looked like a huge video screen stood behind individual cut-out towers of video screen, giving remarkably deep dimension to the stage. The images were largely abstract and subtle, no small feat of engineering and design.

Green Day is by no means in U2 or Radiohead's league in terms of music or the lyrical themes they tackle, and Green Day sometimes seems to be trying too hard to get into that league. But they are very much their peers when it comes to rockin' a house, which was even more apparent in the show's second half, shorn of big themes and working the evergreen punk of "Dookie." In fact, Armstrong reminded me of no one so much as a pint-sized Bruce Springsteen, both athletically and in his open-souled desire to entertain and connect. Early on in the show, he screamed, "Turn off the cell phone! This is our moment!" And near the show's conclusion, he shouted, "We don't know if we're going to be alive tomorrow!"

That impulse to seize the moment, to rage against the dying of the light, is an impulse that unites many great rockers, and like Springsteen and other top live rock bands, Green Day played like they believe with all their souls in the communal redemptive power of rock 'n' roll. It is a passion that can't be faked, because no one could give that much, for that long, for a simple payday.

Green Day is a major rock band because they aim as high, or higher, than they can reach. That they got that high -- and took 12,000 people with them -- is proof that they are deeply, completely committed to what is, at bottom, the oldest trick in the rock 'n' roll playbook: Giving it everything they've got.

The accompanying photos were provided by Live Nation. They were shot in San Jose earlier this month.

Concerts in the Park season extended five weeks

2009-07-23T05:13:53Z

The season of free Friday evening concerts in Cesar Chavez Plaza at 10th and J streets in downtown Sacramento, a summer tradition, just got a bit longer.

Promoter Jerry Perry, who has been arranging the multi-act shows, all featuring local musicians, since 1997, just got permission from the city to extend the concerts another five weeks.

And this time, Perry will be in charge of the whole event, over the five-week series. Called “End of Summer Fest,” it will begin when the current series of concerts ends on Aug. 14.

“I’ve always felt that the season ends too soon,” he said by phone Tuesday. “But I was never completely in charge before.”

The shows are generally sponsored by the Downtown Partnership, with Perry in charge of booking the acts. Other sponsors chip in, and a popular beer garden underwrites the remainder of the cost.

The new series of five concerts, which begins on Aug. 21 and runs through Sept. 18, will be sponsored by The Sacramento Press. Other sponsors will be coming on board during the next few weeks, Perry said.

Artists already signed by Perry to perform during those five weeks are artists he couldn’t book during the original 15-week season, including Jackpot, Agent Ribbons, Shannon Curtis, Mike Farrell and a reunited Kai Kln. More artists will be announced shortly.

The concerts have proven popular, but producing them is still a huge effort, and a risky one at that. Perry says that the cost of putting on the show, with beer garden, food vendors, police, fire and health department inspectors and other costs total roughly $20,000 per week.

And although the shows are free, audiences wax and wane week to week, depending on weather, competing events, the timing of holidays, Furlough Fridays, and even last year’s wildfires, which led headliner Mumbo Gumbo to cancel.

This year, says Perry, “We got rained out one day and rained on two days. If it’s too cold, you don’t sell enough beer, if it’s too hot, people don’t come out. Last week was our lowest beer garden in a few years, I don’t know why. We got hit harder with the heat than anything. When it’s 105 degrees, people don’t want to come down to the park.”

Still, Perry says, being more in charge, while daunting, is allowing him to make a few changes he’s been wanting to make. One is to create a separate food court with tables, accessible only to those who buy food and want to sit down to eat it. He also says that problems with the beer lines have been eliminated.

With the enthusiastic support of the city – Perry says Tuesday’s approval of permits came in a mere seven minutes – the new End of Summer Fest seems likely to continue a tradition that is one of downtown Sacramento’s most popular.

But that doesn’t stop him from worrying.

“I think about the days getting shorter, is that going to affect turnout?” he says. “But I want to take it further, see where we can go with this. It is one of the things that defines downtown Sacramento in summer.”

Here comes the weekend!

2009-02-25T23:15:56Z

Sacramento's music scene looks to be pretty busy this next week, from club shows to ticket on-sales for some of the biggest names in the world.

Tickets on sale include those for Coldplay's summer tour, which is scheduled for the Sleep Train Amphitheatre on July 14. Tickets go on sale Saturday morning at 10 a.m.

Another big name tour going on sale will not hit Sacramento - at least it hasn't been announced - but it is a show that will please Sacramento's classic rock-hungry concert-going audience: Eric Clapton's duo tour with Steve Winwood. The two were band mates in the 1969 "supergroup," Blind Faith, and songs from that band's one album, including Winwood's stoner classic, "Can't Find My Way Home" and Clapton's prayer-like "Presence of the Lord," will be highlights of the show. Tickets for the June 29 show at Oakland's Oracle Arena, will go on sale Monday, March 2.

Also on sale this Saturday, tickets to see the biggest-selling artist of 2008, Lil Wayne, who will play the HP Pavilion in San Jose on March 27.

Speaking of best-selling artists, U2's last album sold almost 10 million copies worldwide. The quartet's first album in nearly five years, No Line on the Horizon, drops on Tuesday.

More down to earth, a couple of hip-hop classics will be playing Sacramento this week. First up is Kool Keith, once of the Ultramagnetic MCs in the late '80s, will be playing Harlow’s tonight (Wednesday, Feb. 25), but if you're up for someone more contemporary, you can't do better than the lyrical flow and deep wit of Lyrics Born, who will play Harlow's on Saturday, headlining a five-hour show of hip hop and rock acts, mostly from around this area.

Alt.rock fans will want to catch Portugal. The Man. at Harlow's Thursday night, while lovers of old school country blues rock stalwarts Little Feat will probably enjoy the stripped down acoustic duo of the current Feat's main guitarists, Paul Barrare and Fred Tackett. The duo will be playing Harlow's on Sunday night.

Throw in last night's A.C. Newman show and it's clear that Harlow's is having quite a week, as one look at their sign (above) will confirm.

Other shows: Jon McLaughlin and the Rocket 88 will play the Hard Rock Café in downtown Sacramento on Sunday, and Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir will raise their voices on Friday at the Guild Theatre in Oak Park.

Elsewhere, a Smiths cover band called This Charming Band will play the Blue Lamp on Friday and a band called Everest will play Old Ironsides on Monday evening.

And if you're just looking for a laugh, there are two options: The Smothers Brothers are playing the Cache Creek Casino on Saturday, and Dave Attell will bring his barbed wit to the Punch Line, also Saturday night.

Local musicians to go to Washington, D.C.

2008-12-18T21:51:44Z

The three singer/songwriters who created the brilliant "Of Great and Mortal Men," a three-CD set celebrating the nation's 43 presidencies that was released this fall will head to Washington, D.C. to do a special show of songs from the album during the Obama inaugural.

Christian Kiefer and J. Matthew Gerkin, both Sacramento area songwriters, will be joined by their collaborator Jefferson Pitcher of Toronto for a show at the Sixth and I Historic Syngogue in Washington on Saturday, Jan. 17. They will be joined by other musicians, including critically-acclaimed cabaret singer/songwriter Nellie McKay. Tickets go on sale tomorrow at 10 a.m..at LiveNation.com.

The three-CD set, sold with an accompanying 106-page booklet filled with lyrics and artwork (also by many local artists) about each of the 43 presidents, is quite possibly the most ambitious recording project ever to come out of Sacramento. Each song approaches a president on terms, both lyrical and musical, that may surprise those of us who thought we knew these historic figures. George Washington's song, set to drums, fife and strings, uses his teeth - made of hippopotamus bone, not wood - as a focus point. Ronald Reagan's song imagines him, post-Alzheimer's, describing to his wife Nancy the marvelous dream he had about being president, Gerald Ford's track is '70s disco, while George W. Bush sings wistfully to Jesus in the sappiest Christian pop imaginable.

The Jan. 17 concert will feature much of the CD, which clocks in at over 3 hours, with an added "bonus track": A new song dedicated to No. 44, Barack Hussein Obama. Just what form that song will take - it is just now being written and recorded - is unknown.

Thanksgiving jam with Jackie Greene at Blue Lamp Monday

2009-11-21T22:27:25Z

Local son Jackie Greene will be returning to Sacramento for a "surprise" show at the Blue Lamp on Monday night.

Greene and his band, with guests promised, will be playing his first show in town in some time. The last time he played the Blue Lamp, he sold the place out, and this show is expected to do the same.

But tickets are available only at the door, starting at 7:30 p.m. Monday, and while the admission is cheap - $10 - you will also need to bring a can of food (or any sealed, non-perishable food), as the show is to help provide "a holiday meal for the less fortunate," according to an email from Greene's management.

The Blue Lamp is at 1400 Alhambra Blvd., at N Street. The phone is (916) 455-3400.