Rock Candy: May 2006 Archives

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Wednesday, May 31, 2006 - 14:41:13

Gettin' Out: Wednesday (It's Blackalicious time)

AmyB has been waiting for this Blackalicious show at Cornerstone Pub in North Little Rock since it was first announced. It's high on her big list of club shows to check out tonight, in her latest report (and, if Blackalicious isn't your deal, we can highly recommend to riotous Aussie trio bluehouse); and Amy also reports on last night's Bang sugar Bang show:

It’s afternoon, time for you to think about what kind of trouble to get in. The good kind, of course. Tonight’s a big night locally in music with highly-sought-out music. Here’s what we had to say about’em, so take your pick.

B-boys through and true, Blackalicious (Chief Xcel and Gift of Gab), have been around for 20 or so years, producing smart, street-ready albums. They’ll be at the Cornerstone Pub tonight. Their latest album, “The Craft,” made groovy creative waves in the hip-hop industry this year. They bring it down to earth, rapping about the appreciation of the smooth ride of a ’64 Impala or, ahem, a woman with a nice physique. Local DJ Dirtbag will host the show. The show starts at 8 p.m. $13 tickets are on sale now at the club.

Australian female folk-rock duo bluehouse will be at Sticky Fingerz, with their rich, warm alto vocals and excellent folk-rock guitar. I enjoyed from their website (www.bluehouse.com) the new songs “I’ll Find You” and “Go No Further.” The 9 p.m. show (with an act to be announced as of press time) is really a steal at $5.

Juanita’s has booked (hed) p.e., the rapcore band outfitted with some gangsta funk, punk, metal and classic hip-hop. Their album “Back to Base X” will come out in June, a follow to their 2005 release, “Only in Amerka.” Also appearing: Wicked Wisdom, with some members of Fishbone and, yep, Jada Pinkett Smith on vocals. Also: Mower. It’s all ages, starts at 9 p.m. and cover is $16.

I can’t say where I’m gonna be, too many choices.

I did check out BANG sugar BANG (LA punk outfit) last night briefly at White Water Tavern. Sump Pumps from Indianapolis opened. Punk kids gathered around the stage: members of Nasty Abbott, Smoke Up Johnny, the Big Cats, Il Libertina (though I’m told they are on hiatus) were all attendees, making the club have a semblance of the some of punk scenes in the bigger cities. There is a smallish punk-club scene here, and they all came out dressed to the nines. Of course there was Johnny B and the rest of the WW regulars. They’d been there all day, I’m guessing.

The music: dirty rotten punk, dang it. Good time musically for all, except maybe Goose (the proprietor)He was just happy that the kids were downing pitchers of PBR like Koolaid.

Posted by at 02:41 PM | Permalink | Comments [4]

ESPN column: Nolan deserved better

Alan Grant, a free-lance sports columnist for ESPN and a former NFL defensive back, offers this contrarian opinion on Nolan Richardson after the appeals court denied Richardson in his suit against the UA last week. Grant, in pointing out Richardson's record at the UA and how he had established his own credibility through the years, says:

I suppose I could gain confidence, at least in some media circles, by casting aspersions on Nolan Richardson. I could say that he deserved to be terminated for speaking his mind in such a racially charged way. I could say that he was just fortunate to get the opportunity to coach at a Division I university. I could say that he's forever indebted to [Frank] Broyles and Arkansas for what they did for him. But I can't bring myself to say any of that because it's not the way I feel.

I think Richardson deserved better. I think Arkansas was lucky to have him. I think the all-time winningest coach in Arkansas history was fired because he is black and outspoken. I think Broyles has taken great strides to show that the Arkansas athletic department has all the trappings of an old boys network. Since going 9-4 in 2003, [Houston] Nutt's teams have finished 5-6 and 4-7. Yet it's apparently all good in Fayetteville. I thought college football was all about winning. And if you don't win, you get fired.

Like I was saying, a black coach tells us something about credibility.

Posted by at 01:23 PM | Permalink | Comments [0]

To do: Movies in the Park

If the rain can hold off, we'll all be watching "Men In Black" tonight at the Riverfest Amphitheatre as part of the free Movies in the Park series. The gates open at 6 p.m., and the movie starts at dark. Bring whatever you need, as long as it's not in a glass container. Popcorn and refreshments (including beer) will be available for sale if you don't bring your own. "M.I.B." is definitely a movie we can see over and over.

Posted by at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments [0]

Tuesday, May 30, 2006 - 11:53:56

Gettin' Out: Tuesday (yes, Tuesday)

Certainly you're over your Riverfest hangover by now, right? And you're ready to get out again, right? Well, Amy Brawner has the where, when, why, etc.:

BANG sugar BANG tonight at White Water Tavern. Perfectly bratty punk as only Southern California could produce. Two gentleman and a bass-thumpin’ chick (Exene Cervenka). To their punk credentials: Geza X (the producer-godfather in the 80s of emerging ounk bands bands like the Dead Kennedys’ “Hoilday in Cambodia” and Black Flag) produced their album “Thwak Thawk Go Crazy!!” Sump Pumps will open at 9:30 p.m. And it’s free. We like free.

A full night of acoustic music at Juanita's, a focus on songwriting and writers, strunmming guitar and unplugged ballads with Avi Vinocur from San Francisco and Jason Reischel from New York are playing mid-way here in Little Rock.
For local fans of Sugar and the Raw: Mason and Conrad are expanding their sound, and also are playing, as openers to Ari and Jason. 9 p.m., all ages.

Or if you’re thinking about taking it a little easy: Rusty White on the keys at the Afterthought tonight, no cover. 8 p.m.

Perhaps you’ll be in tonight, here’s a suggestion: how about uning into something completely different: My friends of the Rural War Room radio show will be on tonight, 10 p.m.-midnight on KABF 88.3. An e-mail earlier today informed us to “Prepare for the best of our Japanese Invasion series
tonight. …Tune in to hear the best in Japanese Space Pop, Mutant
New Wave and J-Rock. Cuts from POLYSICS, eX-Girl,
hi-posi, Hanaya, Tokyo Jihen, P-Model, Flex Time, The
Plastics, Shiina Ringo, and Limited Express (has
gone?) will blow your minds from half-way around the
globe. “ We’re convinced. Konnichiwa, Cowboy.

Tomorrow, too many choices: with Blackalicious at Cornerstone, hed (p.e.) at Juanita’s, and bluehouse at Sticky Fingerz. Don’t drink too much Saki.

Posted by at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments [0]

Monday, May 29, 2006 - 12:20:00

Riverfest, Sunday wrapup

Stewart Deere reports from Sunday's final day of Riverfest:

For one moment it seemed as if Morris Day might have been the baaaaaaadest man on the planet.

Here's the scene. Having just pulled his comb out of his suit and run it through his hair he mimed a throw to the audience. Hands reached up to grasp just as Morris smiled and put it back in his coat.

The show that Morris Day and the Time put on could make a believer of the staunchest enemy of the funk. Wearing their full suits (which must have been almost unbearable even with the cloud cover and river breeze) the group played jam after jam, including the closer "Jungle Love."

They did slow it down for a bit with "Gigilos Get Lonely Too" but overall the show focused on moving the crowd. An amusing change on the "all the ladies sing (filll in the blank)" or "all the men sing (fill in the blank)" was made when it was asked at one point for "all the security" so sing the "Oh-wee-oh-wee-oh" in the song "Jungle Love."

The Time is a band that thrives on crowd interaction, much like Pat Green's Texas country on the Little Rock side. Green's devoted fans are always on full hollering display at all his shows and Little Rock was no exception as evidenced by: 1. the aforementioned hollering 2. Pat Green T-shirts 3. Pat Green beer koozies.

Songs such as "Wrapped" and "California" kept the crowd's hands in the air, as did a cover of Springsteen's "Glory Days."

Pat dedicated one song to a soon to be married couple he had spoken with backstage who wereu using it in their wedding. He also introduced the song "Who's to Say", a statment against the sort of judgement many in the Bible belt would pass on ole' Pat and his crowd, by telling the audience that the definition of tough is playing onstage when your preacher is in the
audience. Whether he was referrring to his having done that previously or whether his preacher was actually in the audience, we couldn't tell from where we were standing.

For sheer enthusiasm and crowd pleasing, Sunday night's musical performances brought the festival to a close on a high note.

Posted by at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments [2]

Sunday, May 28, 2006 - 10:54:21

Covering Saturday at Riverfest

Stewart Deere was on the scene for us Saturday at Riverfest:

Saturday night brought out folks of all sorts. From the street preacher on the corner of Markham and Scott yelling at folks boarding the shuttle for the Little Rock side to the shirtless man jamming out to Dwight Yoakam and attempting to put the spirit of the dance into every single passerby he encountered. From the group of 10 boats which gathered together to form a sort of colony on the river, to the college students with their goofy
shirts, also seen yesterday (favorites from this night include "Muck Fe" and "Party in Amsterdam.... Vegas for stoners").

Their soundtrack was similarly diverse. From the instrumentally adept white boy blues of the Famous Unknowns to the rhythmically more complex funk of Ivan Neville's Dumpstafunk. The later covered the A3's "Woke Up This Morning," known to many as the theme song from "the Sopranos." Covers expectedly popped up throughout the festival with Spiraling covering a-ha's "Take On Me" thus fully displaying the new wave keyboard rock leanings
in their music that had been obvious all night.

Covers were also on display in Dwight Yoakam's set, which included covers of Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, and a few Buck Owens songs early on in the set. His show took off for many in the audience the minute he began "I Sang Dixie," as evidenced by the shouts emanating the audience.

From then on he went into hits with songs such as "Little Ways" and "Honky Tonk Man." One highlight was the bluesy, stripped down version of "Long White Cadillac" which segued into an up tempo performance of "Fast As You."

Yoakam played a set that continued late into the night when the rest of the festival had seemingly shut down. The performance will most likely be the weekend's musical highlight.

Posted by at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments [1]

Saturday, May 27, 2006 - 17:52:57

Gettin' Out...Riverfest Saturday...hurry!

It’s Saturday Afternoon, I’m in the office when I want to be outside enjoying the music and atmosphere. The fashions are abounding, I'll tell ya…I hope that the jugglers will be on the kid’s stage when I get back… The plan: 1) Corndog and beer 2) Face My Fears: Wayne Francis, the Ventriloquist (6 p.m., Kidzone stage). 3) Catch Switchfoot on the Budweiser Stage. (6 p.m.) 5) Walk around the River Market outside of the peripheral and do some cheap shots. 'cause beer, at $4 a pop, is severely cramping my game. Perhaps that prevents some po’ folks from getting too sauced at the event. hmmm…. 6) The Lee Boys (7:45 p.m. Triple S Alarm Stage). Don’t miss these guys. Sacred steel in the style of Robert Randolph. GO SEE THEM! 7) Try to see the Neville Brothers and Dwight Yoakam, both. I would like to hear Aaron (Neville) croon “Tell It Like It Is” and I could be happy all year. Wouldn’t mind seeing Dwight, no sir. He can do whatever, because all his stuff is kuntry and perfecto... and I hope he’s wearing those 407 (517?) Levis. See you out there. You better get going!!!

--AmyB

Posted by at 05:52 PM | Permalink | Comments [4]