The Cruel and the Kind: Nick Lowe & Ron Sexsmith at the Artscenter

Last night saw two very different philosophies d'amore share a very strong common musical bond. Nick Lowe and Ron Sexsmith have more in common than just being on the same label (Yep Roc). The most obvious gift they share is a love of songcraft; which was fully on display last night.

Ron Sexsmith started the evening off with a terrific set of songs both old and new. The very first number (one of my favorites, "Former Glory") set the tone for a heart-on-the-sleeve performance. A significant portion of his set was material from his new U.S. record "Time Being" which will be released this summer. A particular standout from this section of the show was "Jazz at the Bookstore." Which speaks about the search for authenticity in the contrivances that are coffee shops and bookstores these days.


Jazz at the bookstore
And Blues in the coffee shop

There's a man standing at the crossroads
With a dark roast in his hand
Living in white yuppy hand
Over by the milk and sugar stand

Other memorable songs were "Cheap Hotel" (the story of an abused wife and mother making her getaway), "Never Give Up" and two chestnuts from the early Ron Sexsmith catalog; "Strawberry Blonde" and "Secret Heart." Opined Sexsmith, "Everybody has covered this song (Secret Heart) and I'm still not rich yet..." With clear voice and nuanced, evocative guitar playing this was an amazing opening set.

The ever dapper Nick Lowe followed up with a set of old and new material as well. A striking difference in style, if not form, made this set musically lean and focused. Harkening back to classic songs and song stylists like George Jones, Johnny Cash, Sam Cooke, Nat Cole, to name but a few, all factor into the Nick Lowe style.

Some of the old up-tempo classics helped keep this mostly crooned set lively. Songs like "I knew the Bride", the 1979 "Cruel to Be Kind" (which made the US Top 40) were in direct counterpoint to songs like "All Men are Liars" and "Where's My Everything" (featuring the bitter lyric "Where is the beautiful family home / That I was promised on the news at 10.")

Alot of Lowe's lyrics are directly observational. Songs like "People Change" or "Lately I've Let Things Slide" are straight up reporting from the trenches of experience. Particularly effective among the slower numbers were "The Beast in Me" (written for ex-father-in-law Johnny Cash) and the brand new "I Read Alot."

So after lifting you up and sending you crashing back down thematically, Nick makes it alright after all by closing with the ever true, not even remotely ironic "Whats So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding."

Practically the highlight of the evening was the encore called "My Baby's Gone" (by the Louvin Brothers) featuring these two great singers harmonizing together. I would gladly pay to see that for an entire show.

ADDENDUM: props to Lintqueen for the encore songtitle.

Wembley, Shakermaker at the Local 506

Thursday the 17th saw a lively triple bill at the Local 506 of Wembley, Shakermaker (with a CD release party besides)and Hundred Air. I missed Hundred air, but what I did see was good homegrown pop. Wembley kicked things off very nicely with a short, tight, energetic set. I love any band with a song called "Death Incarnate" that can be one of their livelier numbers. While older songs made an appearance here (notably "crumbs" and a rocking version of "Jeanie") the newer material really (available on a giveaway CD that night)really made an impression on me. The new songs "Moon", "The Quiet Life" and "40 Hour Week" were well constructed and memorable. This band gets better and better and singer/guitarist Neven J. Carswell's singing is remarkable. Neven is integrated neatly in this unit with Elizabeth Hull (piano), Elizabeth Hammond (drums) and Tracy Summer (bass) this band is well worth your time to check out.




I stuck around to catch Shakermaker play songs from their new eponymously named new CD. I found this 5 piece band to be even better than their very good tracks on their myspace page. Energetic, up-tempo pop with the added texture of Tom Moorefield (father to guitarist Jesse) on pedal steel. Songs like "Sunday Ladies" epitomize what is nice about Shakermaker; catchy melody, good singing and interesting lyrics, oh and bridges in the songform. Unmistakable songcraft, keep an eye out for them.

Shine a Light

I was expecting Martin Scorsese to do a Last Waltz-type summing up of the Rolling Stones in their new film Shine a Light. But what we got was a look at a vibrant working band some 40 years into their career. There were some considerations for age (Mick evidently burns up under too many lights)and status (the royal attitude of the Stones kept the set list elusive until the last minute). This concert film clocks in a a nudge over two hours. My instinct tells me (having seen that tour in 2006) that the show itself was much longer. So what do we learn that we don't already know? Keith says that
he and Ronnie together "make one pretty good guitarist." Mick expends himself on the crowd while the others can stay in the head space of the music. Charlie Watts is the calmest maniac on earth. I think we knew this stuff. But what I hadn't noticed was the
complete authority and authenticity the Stones bring to Rock 'n Roll. They have transcended the bravado and reach of their early records to mature mastery of the form.

NC Symphony with Michael Collins

I went to the a remarkable program with the NC Symphony featuring basset clarinetist Michael Collins. The program was bookended by two Mendelssohn pieces without the clarinetist. The overall tone of the evening was uptempo as all the music was emphatic. The Mendelssohn Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream was an agressive start, energetically played and well executed.
This was followed by the entrance of Mr. Collins and a note-perfect performance of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto in A Major. Tonally beautiful throughout there was a substantial ovation at the end of this piece. The second half of the program began with a world premiere of Elana Kats-Chernin's Ornamental Air for basset clarinet. Agressive tight note clusters powered this piece along. The comparison I made as I was listening was a very modern extension of Gershwin. The composer was attending and the piece was recieved very well. The concluding music for the evening was the Mendelssohn "Italian" Symphony. An uplifting and amazing piece of music. Especially interesting for its minor key last movement. Again well played and conducted. A good night of music all around.

I'll Take (Hamburgers in) Manhattan....

The inevitable NYC blog post. Having recently returned from Gotham here are a few musings about my trip. Staying in midtown (yes, midtown, it worked out to be a nice place to stay--really) the launching pad for this visit was well situated for site seeing and dining. I must say I have never seen parts of the city look better or the people be friendlier. Central park was as well kept and beautiful as I've ever seen it. The hotel location was just a few short blocks north from the Empire State Building and a few blocks south from Rockefeller Center. Walking from this location, I quickly became aware that the end of March can still feel like a bit of winter in NYC (at least this year).




The hotel location on W 39th put it right in the border area between Times Square and the Garment District (think giant sculpture of a button). Now everybody I know in the city told me there was not anywhere to eat in midtown. I found a couple places worth mentioning. First off Carmines on 44th. Family style Italian in rich, full of character surroundings. Good service, nice price, some saltimbocca alot of raviolli, my my... Also ate at Johns Pizza on 44th for lunch which is inside an old church/tabernacle gently remodeled into a restaurant. The stain glass ceiling in this place is worth going in just to see and the food is perfect for lunch. Brick oven pizza, great salads and bread.

The Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim and Metropolitan Museum of Art are 3 of my favorite places to waste alot of time in in NYC. Too much to ever see in one lifetime, I am always amazed what I missed the last time when I go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. What's great is now you can take non-flash photos in many areas of the museum. I noticed this last year at the National Gallery of Art as well.
Timeless beauty this, from an ancient Egyptian temple (the Temple of Dendor) to Van Gogh and Warhol.




Now for the hamburgers, On our way to look at the NYU campus around Washington Square (where my daughter got admitted to school, although she says she is ultimately attending UNC), we ventured on into Greenwich Village and had dinner at the hamburger restaurant RARE first(vegans beware of the next bit). I am given to understand there is a RARE location uptown as well btw. OK, the proverbial $20 hamburger but what a hamburger. I had the Murray's (one of the oldest cheese shops in NYC) burger and it was amazing, loaded with the cheese of the week (Some smoked gouda fabulousness) ummm, bacon, lots of bacon, red onions etc. That with a pint from the bar and some of the amazing fries (they have 4 kinds of fries) will hit you right after a long day of schlepping around the city.




The arch at Washington Square featuring that very promising Presidential candidate George.

High Dynamic Range Images

High Dynamic Range Images are made with your digital camera by taking one shot and bracketing the exposures. Most new SLRs can do this automatically now so it is really easy. You then feed the pictures to the HDR software (Photoshop CS2 or Photomatix) and it combines the multiple shots into one really detailed shot called an HDR. HDRs are not viewable on regular computer screens without an HDR viewer. The software allows you to "tonemap" the image so its viewable on a computer screen. Read more about it here. Its an interesting way to photograph because you don't know exactly what you have until you "develop" it with the software. I took some test shots around UNC on a blustery, nearly rainy day and they came out really nice.
You can see some of them here

Obama Calling...

Or rather me calling for moveon.org from a house gathering of democrats in Chapel Hill and reminding the good people of Texas that they can vote twice in tuesdays primary. *I suppose only in Texas could you vote twice in one day. Roughly a third of the delegates from Texas will be selected tuesday night at 7:15 CST when the polls close by a caucus of voters who to qualify will have already voted in the election during normal polling hours. (How crazy can Americans make democracy, really?). So this afternoon a group of concerned yet-to-vote voters turned out to help moveon.org remind the potential Obama voters in Texas to go to the caucus as well as vote. If they were supporters of the other candidate we were to wish them well and... move on. Most of the people I spoke with had voted early and for Obama and welcomed the additional information. So if my call sheets are any indication (who knows?) things sounded pretty good in the numbers I called.