US President Barack Obama has pardoned Thanksgiving turkeys ”Apple” and ”Cider”, but the two won’t be making the traditional trip to Disney Land. “Now, for the record, let me say that it feels pretty good to stop at least one shellacking this November,†the Christian Science Monitor quoted Obama as saying, referring to the beating [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Mount Vernon’
Ladysmith Black Mambazo Tour
January 19th, 2010 |
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LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO RETURNS TO U.S. WITH 2010 TOUR
 Ladysmith Black Mambazo |
Ladysmith Black Mambazo, “South Africa’s long-running musical treasure” (New York Times), returns to the U.S. in 2010, bringing the nine-man a cappella group’s high energy live show to over 40 cities nationwide, including two dates in New York City. The group will perform songs from their 2009 Grammy Award-winning album Ilembe, in addition to selections from their wide catalog.
“There is an honesty and integrity in their music that illuminates the best parts of humanity,” notes the Associated Press. “Using their majestic voices and nothing else,” adds the San Francisco Chronicle, “[Ladysmith Black Mambazo] produces a full orchestra of sound.”
The group marries the intricate rhythms and harmonies of their native South African musical traditions to the sounds and sentiments of Christian gospel music, garnering accolades worldwide and solidifying their identity as a cultural force. As Billboard explains, “Ladysmith is proof that music knows no boundaries.”
Over its forty-year career, Ladysmith Black Mambazo has earned three Grammy awards and received over 15 Grammy nominations, in addition to a Tony Award, and even an Oscar nomination. They’ve performed for kings, queens, presidents and popes. They accompanied Nelson Mandela when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and also recorded with Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Dolly Parton, Melissa Etheridge, Sarah McLachlan, Josh Groban, among many others.
Tour Dates:
01/31/10 Sun Hill Auditorium Ann Arbor, MI
02/03/10 Wed Highline Ballroom New York, NY
02/04/10 Thu B.B. King Blues Club New York, NY
02/05/10 Fri Colonial Theater Bethlehem, NH
02/06/10 Sat Sanders Theater Cambridge, MA
02/07/10 Sun Mahaiwe Theater Great Barrington, MA
02/10/10 Wed Western Illinois University macomb, IL
02/11/10 Thu West Side Theatre Gary, IN
02/12/10 Fri McAninch Arts Center at College of DuPage Glen Ellyn, IL
02/13/10 Sat Old Town School of Folk Music Chicago, IL
02/14/10 Sun Sheldon Concert Hall St. Louis, MO
02/16/10 Tue Jesse Auditorium Columbia, MO
02/18/10 Thu Bethel College Newton, KS
02/19/10 Fri Mccain Auditorium Manhattan, KS
02/20/10 Sat Walton Arts Center Fayetteville, AR
02/23/10 Tue Finney Chapel Oberlin, OH
02/24/10 Wed Akron Civic Theater Akron, OH
02/25/10 Thu Goodnight Theater Franklin, KY
02/27/10 Sat Avalon Theatre Easton, MD
02/28/10 Sun Byham Theater Pittsburgh, PA
03/02/10 Tue Mahaffey Theater at the Progress Energy Center for the Arts St. Petersburg, FL
03/04/10 Thu Winston-Salem State University Winston-Salem, NC
03/05/10 Fri Strathmore North Bethesda, MD
03/06/10 Sat Washington PAC Olympia, WA
03/08/10 Mon Benaroya Hall Seattle, WA
03/10/10 Wed Montalvo Arts Center Saratoga, CA
03/11/10 Thu Congregation Sherith Israel San Francisco, CA
03/12/10 Fri Beckman Auditorium Pasadena, CA
03/13/10 Sat Anthology San Diego, CA
03/14/10 Sun Centennial Hall Tucson, AZ
03/16/10 Tue Newman Center for the Performing Arts Denver, CO
03/17/10 Wed Lincoln Center Performance Hall Fort Collins, CO
03/18/10 Thu Popejoy Hall | UNM Albuquerque, NM
03/19/10 Fri Avalon Theatre Grand Junction, CO
03/20/10 Sat Peerys Egyptian Theater Ogden, UT
03/23/10 Tue Emerson Center for the Arts Bozeman, MT
03/24/10 Wed University Theatre Missoula, MT
03/25/10 Thu Bing Crosby Theatre Spokane, WA
03/26/10 Fri Broadway Center for the Arts Tacoma, WA
03/27/10 Sat McIntyre Hall Mount Vernon, WA
03/28/10 Sun Ross Ragland Theater Klamath Falls, OR
03/30/10 Tue John G. Shedd Institute for the Arts Eugene, OR
Ladysmith Black Mambazo perform “Homeless” at the Nobel Peace Concert:
Jon Stewart Key To City Of Bellingham, Washington
October 15th, 2009 |
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The mayor of Bellingham, Washington says Jon Stewart, the spitfire host of Comedy Central’s Daily Show, is getting a key to the city. Unfortunately, he won’t be traveling to the northwestern Washington city to accept it.
Mayor Dan Pike tells The Bellingham Herald that representatives of Jon’s talent agency told him that Stewart appreciated the offer [...]
Megafaun:Gather, Form & Fly
July 26th, 2009 |
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By: Dennis Cook
This is magic, pure and not-so-simple. Megafaun creates exuberant, never-predictable music that makes one’s brain expand and crackle like Jiffy Pop on a fire hot stovetop. That they accomplish this feat largely without the sturm und drang of punk or machine clatter (think TV on the Radio or The Mars Volta) is doubly impressive. While Megafaun can bring da’ noize (as the kids say) it’s their aptitude and finesse with quieter sonics and gentler emotions that generates much of the wallop on their freakin’ fabulous sophomore album, Gather, Form & Fly (released July 21 on Hometapes), which draws sinewy lines of connection between African strains and barbershop harmonies, vintage British folk rock (a la John Martyn, particularly) and modal jazz, Kinks-ian pop and musique concrete.
The vast array of musical colors on Gather could be kinda dizzying except for the firm grip the trio – Joe Westerlund (percussion) and brothers Brad (guitar) and Phil Cook (banjo, keys, various), aided here by members of The Rosebuds, Mount Vernon, Tender Fruit and others – possesses. While seemingly all over the place listed in print, the shape they build here is all Megafaun. What bubbled up in a germinal form on their terrific debut, Bury The Square, has metastasized marvelously. They fearlessly play with space and sharply jabbed statements on the title cut but prove equally skilled at unadulterated sunshine pop on “The Fade” and spirited, right in the moment white country blues on “Solid Ground,” which delightfully recalls Johnny Winter’s yelping, string brutalizing giddiness on the Muddy Waters albums he produced in the late ’70s. Past experiences collaborating with Dreyblatt and Akron/Family have sharpened their high brow, mighty conceptualizing chops, which hover in the background, but Megafaun boldly chooses to extend a friendly paw on Gather, eager to wag their tail and gobble up Scooby snacks with any kind human that reaches back towards them.
It’s a path perhaps less angled at general critical tastes, which tend to reward darkness and edginess with gold stars far more readily than they do empathetic, positivity arched chameleons like Megafaun. Their loss because Gather, Form & Fly is the kind of record that will pull you from the dumps, change your thinking (on a number of subjects) and remind you of music’s endlessly mutable charms.
Megafaun is currently on a co-headlining tour with Bowerbirds. Click here for tour dates.
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