Just Plain Folks Awards Live Webcasts

The independent musician’s organization Just Plain Folks is presenting their huge awards show this weekend in Nashville, Tennesee, and it’ll be webcast live, with a showcase night tonight and the awards ceremonies on Saturday. To check out the webcast, go to the Just Plain Folks website.

Here’s more from Brian Austin Whitney of JPF:

The JPF music awards are the largest ever conducted in world history and took 17 months to complete. We had 560K songs and 42K albums entered from 163 countries around the world. It’s all done for free and as a labor of love by a staggering number of judges (we had over 10,000 judges assigned in the last round alone). We have 33 performances from artists around the world representing the 93 genres. Among the folks performing include Gretchen Peters, Jeff Oster & Michael Manring, Sekou (tha Misfit), Donna Ulisse, Russell Smith & the Amazing Rhythm Aces, Jasmine Cain as well as international artists from Uganda, Taiwan, Japan, Saint Lucia, Israel, Canada, Guam, Denmark (3 of them.. must be something in the water!), Faroe Islands and many more. Tune in and see our community recognize some wonderful music from around the world.

If you’re looking for something to do on Friday night (tonight) we will also webcast our Pre-Awards Showcase where we’ll have about 50 nominees from around the world each doing a song starting at 6PM US CST. That is taking place at BB Kings in Nashville and can also be seen on our home page at http://www.justplainfolks.org.

We’d love to have you join in on the fun and we know that many of you, especially our international members, could afford the flight, so our friends at SyncLive are helping us bring it to you.

Also thanks to our community partners who are helping to make all this possible: TAXI, Disc Makers, CD Baby, Ourstage, Wilshire Media Group & SongU.

Top Ten Music Cities in North America

The Society of American Travel Writers just posted a list of what, in their writer’s opinions, are the top cities in North America for music. The list is pretty predictable, with New Orleans at the top and Memphis, New York, Austin, and other usual suspects in the mix.

SATW Top Ten Music Cities In North America

They focus mostly on the quality of live music, so for that reason I’d quibble with at least one entry, Nashville. while it’s a great music industry town, for country and gospel music, the live music scene there is actually pretty poor according to most locals.

Other towns I’ve enjoyed lots of good live music include Asheville, North Carolina; The Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill triangle, also in North Carolina; Seattle, Washington; and San Francisco, California. They’d all probably make the top 20, I’d guess, though the Triangle might be in my own personal top ten.

Any other cities SATW missed?

Glad I’m Not A Kennedy

The news of Senator Ted Kennedy’s death earlier today immediately made me think of this 80’s single from New Zealand singer Shona Laing. It’s more JFK than Teddy, but the sentiment fits the entire clan: “Watch your family die, the world loves a sacrifice…”

Outside Lands Festival to Stream Live on YouTube

Got the following in my inbox this morning, if you can’t make it to San Francisco this weekend, here’s a decent alternative:

Another Planet Entertainment, Superfly Productions and Starr Hill Presents, in a partnership with the San Francisco Recreation & Park Department, today announced that YouTube™ will stream live the Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival to viewers in the US. The live webcast will be featured on youtube.com/outsidelands beginning Friday, August 28th – Sunday, August 30th. The festival coverage will include performances from Dave Matthews Band, Jason Mraz, Thievery Corporation, The Dead Weather, Silversun Pickups, Raphael Saadiq, Cage the Elephant, Atmosphere, among others.

Kenny Floyd’s New Shades

Back in the mid-1990’s, Kenny Floyd was still a kid, practically, but he and some college buddies put together a band, Shades Of Grey, that traveled many of the same melodic roads as fellow Columbia and University of South Carolina products Hootie & The Blowfish. Floyd even served as an intern with Hootie’s management company, Fishco, learning the business from the ground up. I, like every other local and regional music critic at the time, took notice of the black singer/white band dynamic and didn’t feel much need to look further.

After a couple albums, however, the band forged its own identity more along the jazzy, soulful style of Edwin McCain before the members started going their separate ways. Floyd has continued to make music, mostly in the Charlotte, North Carolina area both solo and with the Kenny Floyd Band and Ramona Drive, and he made an even bigger change early this year when he relocated to the Virgin Islands.

I’m telling you all that to tell you this: Floyd is coming back to the Carolinas next week for a string of shows in and around his old stomping grounds, including gigs in Anderson, Greenwood, Spartanburg, Elon College, and Charlotte–no Columbia dates yet, however Floyd himself has hinted at a possible informal Shades of Grey reunion show during his time back home, so who knows?

Go to http://www.kennyfloyd.com for the full scoop and to hear what he’s up to musically these days.

New Music From David Sylvian

Manafon, the new album from David Sylvian, won’t be out until September 14th, but advance listens to the songs indicate that it’s yet another step in his de-evolution from the 80’s glam-pop of his original band Japan through the moody, atmospheric soundscapes of solo albums such as Secrets of the Beehive, arriving at a most minimalistic state. The new songs include some musical accompaniment, but it’s almost like the players are simply breathing in and out, playing at the speed of nothingness, and Sylvian’s unmistakable voice is the mellow focal point, as always.

The concept in play is free improvisation, and Sylvian has made use of instrumentalists versed in this kind of minimalist note-playing for Manafon. The process itself became part of the story of the recording, and a documentary about it, Amplified Gesture, is included in the deluxe edition of the album. Curious? here’s the trailer for the doc, plus a video for “Small Metal Gods.”

Rucker Goes Platinum

So, this past week there was a party in Nashville for everyone who worked on former Hootie & the Blowfish singer Daruis Rucker’s debut country music CD Learn To Live because it has been certified platinum, meaning it’s sold over one million copies. Nice numbers in a down economy and a slumping music business, especially for a “new” act.

Rucker’s currently on a headlining tour playing small arenas, and the shows have been much like the early Hootie gigs, with the original songs fleshed out by covers–some of which actually date back to the Blowfish, like Hank Jr.’s “Family Tradition”, but a few are new to this part of Rucker’s career. One of those is in the video below, and it’s a pretty unusual song choice for a country singer, I’d have to say, but Rucker’s voice is more than up to the challenge and the audience is loving it.

One other carryover from the Hootie days is the flag-waving for his home state of South Carolina–check out the giant banner behind the stage with his name around the palmetto tree and crescent moon of the state flag.

Dead Letter Office–from the archives

Cleaning out the files this weekend, I found a folder full of correspondence from bands, managers, publicists, etc., most of it dating back to the mid-1990s. The following letter is from an unidentified “Evergreen Fan,” who objected to a writeup I did on his favorite band. (I would scan it and show you the original, but it’s a fax paper sheet that’s so faded it’s barely legible. As it is, I’ll type it in exactly as it’s typed on the fax, all-caps, grammar, and typos are the letter writer’s, not mine.) I only wish I could locate the original review that sparked this classic rant…

KEVIN,
IAM A HARD CORE EVERGREEN FAN WHO THINKS THAT EVERY TIME YOU GIVE THESE GUYS A REVIEW, YOU ALWAYS GIVE THEM A BAD RAP, RATHER IT BE SOMETHING PERSONAL I DON’T KNOW, BUT IT KINDA SEEMS THAT WAY OR IF NOT MAYBE YOU SHOULD CHECK ON GETTING A HEARING AID FOR YOURSELF BECAUSE IN NO SHAPE OR FORM DOES THESE GUYS SOUND LIKE BON-JOVI NOT EVEN IN THE SLIGHTEST, ON TOP OF, BOY DO YOU REALLY HAVE IT IN FOR THE GUITAR PLAYER, WHO IS VERY VERY GOOD, BUT THE WAY YOU PHRASED HIS PLAYING WAS TOTALLY ABSURD AND I THINK YOUR JEALOUS OF THESE GUYS OR YOU WOULD GIVE THEM A BREAK AND A GOOD REVIEW FOR ONCE IN YOUR PATHETIC JEALOUS LIFE. IT JUST SEEMS THAT YOU ARE TOTALLY PICKING ON THESE GUYS AND YOU FOR ONE DO NOT EVEN PLAY IN A BAND OR FOR THAT MATTER AS FAR AS I KNOW, NOT EVEN AN INSTRUMENT, SO WHERE DO YOU GET OFF TELLING HOW SOMEONE SHOULD PLAY OR EVEN CRITICIZING SOMEONE THAT PLAYS WHEN YOUR EASIEST JOB IS TO SET BACK AND CUT DOWN BANDS THAT WORK THEIR ASSES OFF TO GET SOMEWHERE IN LIFE. GO BEYOND THEIR LOOKS KEVIN, SO WHAT IF EVERY WOMAN THINKS THEIR GORGEOUS, MAYBE EVEN SOME GIRLS YOU HAVE BEEN WITH, I DON’T KNOW. BUT WHATEVER YOUR PROBLEM IS WITH THIS BAND, YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF FOR EVEN TRYING TO PUT OUT A BAD REVIEW ON A BAND THAT EVERYBODY TO MY KNOWLEDGE ENJOYS BUT YOU. ARE YOU DEAF?! GET A LIFE KEVIN OLIVER, LEARN HOW TO WRITE THE RIGHT THINGS ABOUT PEOPLE AND PUT YOUR JEALOUSY AWAY FOR CHRIST SAKES. THESE GUYS AND EVERY OTHER BAND THAT YOU HAVE WROTE SORRY ASS THINGS ABOUT SHOULD GET AN APOLOGY FROM YOU THAT THEY DESERVE WRITTEN UP IN THE FREE TIMES, BUT OF COURSE WHY WOULD YOU PUBLISH SOMETHING BAD ABOUT YOU WHEN ITS EASIER TO PUBLISH THINGS BAD ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE THAT YOU THINK YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH BECAUSE YOU ARE THE WRITER FOR FREE TIMES, WELL I DON’T THINK THAT YOU WOULD HAVE THE @#$%$! TO PUBLISH THIS ONE, BECAUSE YOU MIGHT JUST SEE HOW MANY PEOPLE OUT THERE WOULD AGREE THAT YOU ARE ONE COLD, NOT KNOWING ABOUT MUSIC, WANNA BE WRITER WHO NEEDS TO GET A LIFE. OR MAYBE JUST SOME GOOD TASTE. I WILL NOT APOLOGIZE FOR THE THINGS I HAVE SAID IN THIS LETTER FOR YOU NEED TO KNOW THAT YOU PISS PEOPLE OFF FOR YOUR BABY JEALOUSY TOWARDS BANDS. HAVE YOUEVER CONSIDERED ABOUT MAYBE TAKING SOME MUSIC CLASSES, MAYBE THAT WILL HELP IN THE MEANWHILE WHILE YOU ARE OUT GIVING OTHER BANDS BAD REVIEWS, THINK ABOUT THESE THINGS IN THIS LETTER SO AT LEAST WHEN YOU GET YOUR NEXT ONE FROM SOMEONE ELSE COMPLAINING ABOUT YOUR IGNORANCE, THEN IT JUST WON’T SEEM LIKE IT’S JUST A PISSED OFF FAN OF EVERGREEN, BUT A PISSED OFF FAN OF A LOT OF BANDS WE GO PAY OUR MONEY TO SEE.

WHERE THE SUN DON’T SHINE
AN EVERGREEN FAN FOR SURE

The Slow-Fi Songs of Lady Lazarus

There’s lo-fi, then there’s slow-fi, which more aptly describes Lady Lazarus, the stage name of San Jose, California musician Melissa Ann Sweat. While living in San Francisco during 2008, Sweat recorded the songs on her new EP Home Recordings. Little more than tinny keyboards and Sweat’s voice inhabit the dirgey, trancelike songs, which do indeed sound as if they were recorded at home in her bedroom.

Intimate and sometimes hard to listen to, there are rewards for close and persistent listeners on songs such as “Bones”–see the video below, or check out her Myspace for more music.

A Brite Musical Idea

Brite Revolution is a new website that pairs up musical acts with charitable causes and offers their music at a minimal subscription price, with 10% of the money going to that artist’s chosen cause. There are only a couple dozen artists so far, but the quality level is very high, with established acts such as Caedmon’s Call and Charlie Robison alongside talented newcomers including Charlie Hardin. That subscription fee gets you two songs a month by every artist on the site (about 40 songs a month with the current artist stable), plus video extras and other artist-specific stuff.

http://www.briterevolution.com

It’s an interesting concept, and the site promises new songs every month from each artist–which means that even if some are using previously written and recorded material right now, if they continue to participate they’ll likely have to put together some new stuff just to keep up. It’s this kind of connection that builds real fans, and the charitable aspect of the site is a nice bonus.