Rock Candy: September 2008 Archives

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Tuesday, September 30, 2008 - 17:26:23

I Know Why They Don't Want the Caged Bird to Sing

A good excuse to revisit a classic.

Maybe it'll make for a handy excuse to throw a book banning question to Palin tomorrow. It’s the 27th Annual Banned Books Week. The American Library Association uses this week to rally against censorship. Last year, the ALA received 420 formal “challenges,” written complaints that books be removed because of content or inappropriateness. Stamps native Maya Angelou’s memoir, “I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings,” placed eighth among the 2007 most challenged list. It perennially ranks, though maybe the would-be censors are starting to see the light. From 1990 to 1999, it placed third, and from 2000 until 2007, fifth.

Posted by Lindsey Millar at 05:26 PM | Permalink | Comments [0]

Nerrrrdds!

MC Frontalot.

We're still a couple days away from the release of the line-up for this year's Hot Springs Documentary Film Fest (Oct. 17-26), but I have tidbits. Buzzy documentary "Nerdcore Rising" is screening, and genre hero MC Frontalot will be in the building and possibly performing somewhere around town. More excitingly, at least for film geeks, Albert Maysles ("Gimme Shelter," "Grey Gardens") will be on hand. Also, Bela Fleck is coming with the documentary "Throw Down Your Heart: Bela Fleck Brings the Banjo Back to Africa."It picked up the audience award at SXSW. Fleck's probably going to perform, too.

I'll give you more details when I've got them.

Posted by Lindsey Millar at 05:05 PM | Permalink | Comments [1]

Ben Nichols solo

Gravel-throated singer/songwriter Ben Nichols will release “The Last Pale Light in the West,” a seven-song mini-album, in early 2009. But! Eager fans, who either pre-order the CD or a limited edition T-shirt and CD combo at luceromusic.com, will receive a download link to get an mp3 version of the album sent to them immediately.

Nichols returns to Little Rock, for a solo show, at Juanita’s on Nov. 13.

Posted by Lindsey Millar at 05:00 PM | Permalink | Comments [0]

David Gordon Green gets animated

Even if his career, until recently, said otherwise, LR native David Gordon Green's never been all that invested in indie cinema. Sure, he's focused almost solely on projects that allowed him unfettered creative control and allowed for a fair amount of improvisation — hallmarks of indie cinema to be sure — but even in 2003, when I interviewed him in advance of "Undertow," he was talking about how bummed he was that his treatment for a Fat Albert movie didn't make the cut. "Pineapple Express" shouldn't have come as a surprise. Nor, I guess, should it that Green is going to be writing and executive producing a new animated series for Fox with the guys behind "The Life and Times of Tim" on HBO. No word on when it'll debut, but Variety reports that it's about “two high school surfer dudes living near the beach in California.”

Posted by Lindsey Millar at 04:30 PM | Permalink | Comments [0]

Tuesday: American Aquarium.

American Aquarium.

Tonight, Raleigh-based alt-country act American Aquarium returns to White Water Tavern. Fledgling local label Last Chance plans to release their next record sometime next year. Yazoo Snakes opens, 10 p.m., donations.

Posted by Lindsey Millar at 03:51 PM | Permalink | Comments [0]

Monday, September 29, 2008 - 17:36:28

Harvest Fest in review

Korto's head is a globe of light.

If you missed Harvestfest Fest, you missed a solidly kick-ass music line-up, starting with the Salty Dogs country-fying the Beatles "Get Back" (that was the end of the beginning, but whatever) and ending with the Winston Family Orchestra's girl-group bounce, augmented by a bubble machine.

Kids were everywhere. Dancing on stage. Petting dogs. Doing minor skate board tricks. Saying things like "rock 'n' roll has no soul" into the microphone (it was a mistake; "rock 'n' roll will save your soul" followed pretty quickly).

There was chili, which you can hear and see above in our video player.

And, of course, there was fashion. Hundreds packed around the stage down Kavanaugh to get a look. Tweens and younger had the best seats, gathered around the runway, chins resting on the edge. They were there less for the headliner than to root Augusta Fitzgerald, the 11-year-old designer who's shown at at least three Box Turtle fashion shows. She continues to impress. Bright colors. Good fits. Spunk. Korto, of course, came last. She spoke, effusively, about how important local support, from Box Turtle, and Little Rock more broadly had been to her success. I was close to the stage, but as you'll see above, the light's weren't really in my favor. Also, I ran out of juice on the last two models.

Bonus: Video of Korto's collection from the Bryant Park runway show, with commentary from someone from Newsday who thinks they're on "Project Runway." Same music.

Posted by Lindsey Millar at 05:36 PM | Permalink | Comments [0]

Monday To-Do: The Heartless Bastards

HEARTLESS BASTARDS
9 p.m., Sticky Fingerz.

Her voice has been compared to Janis Joplin's and PJ Harvey's, neither of which sound right to these ears, though each vocalist summons deep bursts of feeling by swinging between quiet and howling. Which is what Erika Wennerstrom does really, really well. She could almost be a less breathy, more rangy Cat Power — bluesy and oddly beautiful — but thankfully, the Heartless Bastards are far from dour. The Cincinnati trio kicks out brawny, head-whipping rock somewhere in the same sonic geography as the Black Keys. A new album, on Fat Possum — the band's third — appears to be in the works, so look out for new songs. Up-and-coming indie-folk singer/songwriter Langhorne Slim opens the show. Early in his career, he called himself the bastard child of Hasil Adkins. He's much smoother now than his former fake father, but there's still quite a bit of mischief in his songs.

Here's "All This Time."

Posted by Lindsey Millar at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments [0]