Monday, April 28, 2008

Chesney Injures Foot, Show Goes On

Posted by T. Ballard Lesemann on Mon, Apr 28, 2008 at 9:57 AM

Country superstar Kenny Chesney’s "2008 Poets and Pirates Tour" finally came to Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia on Sat. April 26, with over 44,000 fans in attendance. Unfortunately, during the first songs of his set, a malfunction with the stage risers led to a bizarre mishap.

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City Paper writer Greg Hambrick was there! He filed this report on Monday morning:

“God bless Brooks and Dunn, but people didn’t pay more than $100 a ticket (some really close seats were auctioned for nearly $500) to see those two walk around the stage singing about honky tonk women.

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That was likely what was going through Kenny Chesney’s mind as, just seconds after his band started playing, he got his foot caught in the platform as he was rising in the middle of the field. The jumbo screens showed Chesney pulling at the strap on his foot while the band kept playing ‘Live Those Songs Again.’ While some fans wondered if he’d be able to perform at all, Chesney picked up with the last verse of the song and struggled through the nearly two-hour set, hobbling from one end of the large stage to the other. Around the fifth song, stagehands brought out a stool, but it served as a table for Chesney’s cocktail for most of the night. He may have been suffering through it for the fans — but it was pretty painful to watch.

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Injury aside, everybody put on their best party hats (mostly of the cowboy and trucker variety) and went along with all the sure-fire crowd pleasers. 'Beer in Mexico,' 'Young,' 'Back Where I Came From,' and 'She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy,' gave the tiki bar feel the crowd had been expecting. Chesney had said earlier in the week that the set would be high-energy. It was, but his injury left the fans in a lot of ways on their own.

A set with Uncle Craker was a bit too much of a throw back to Chesney’s tours three or four years ago, with Cracker’s hits 'Follow Me' and 'Drift Away' (originally by Dobie Gray) and a nearly inaudible version of Kid Rock’s “Cowboy.” An impromptu version of 'You Never Even Call Me By My Name' was a highlight, with Cracker and the night’s opening acts (Luke Bryan and Greg Allen) pitching in to provide the kind of good-times sing-a-long you’d imagine around the juke box at the last bar before you get too deep in the holler.

While Chesney’s set may have been pained, Brooks & Dunn got around the stage just fine. A Brooks & Dunn hot air ballon flew overtop the stage as the pair started their set (take that indoor arenas!). 'Neon Moon' was a slow number that still kept the crowd on their feet. 'Only In America' had the crowd bursting with patriotism as four military service members marched on stage, with red white, and blue streamers bursting into the air. And, though it’d been years since we’d done the dance, just a few bars into the chorus of 'Boot Scootin’ Boogie' and our feet were going 'heel to toe.'

Leanne Rimes gave a few new singles, but mainly stuck with the older hits the crowd could sing along with. An added bonus: her modern-pop reworking of Cheap Trick's 'I Want You To Want Me.' But what the crowd couldn’t stop talking about was Rimes outfit (no, really). She had a short dress that looked like a University fo South Carolina jersey. A group of college students heading out of the stadium were talking about how to make the outfit for themselves.

Allen and Bryan gave good opening acts, but played to a smaller crowd as the audience continued partying outside and milling around inside. Those who missed Bryan lost out on a terrific set, including his hit 'All My Friends Say.' He may not have the singles Chesney does, but he had the perpetual performer’s stage presence down pat.

Chesney couldn’t put on his best show. But the four solid acts in front of him meant the crowd didn’t feel jipped. That said, they were likely were glad he suffered through."

(photos by Greg "Bootscoot" Hambrick)

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Friday, April 25, 2008

Carolina Funk Listening Party at Tin Roof, 5/2

Posted by T. Ballard Lesemann on Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 3:20 PM

Now-Again/Stone’s Throw Records will host a special album release "listening party" in celebration of their groovy new CD compilation Carolina Funk: First in Funk 1968-1977 at 10 p.m. on Fri. May 2 at the Tin Roof in West Ashley (1117 Magnolia Rd., 843-571-0775).

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The disc features 22 rare and unreleased funk singles recorded between the late ’60s and mid ’70s by funk and soul acts based in North and South Carolina. Lowcountry acts include Carleen & The Groovers, Soul Drifters, and Primitive.

Carolina Funk was originally released on Jazzman Records in London last November. The production quality varies from sounding like loose, lo-fi demo sessions to a more professionally polished style. Grenville-based singer Dynamite Singletary’s “Super Good” (a reworking of James Brown’s “Super Bad”) is tops.

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“We have already thrown release parties in Chapel Hill, Columbia, Asheville, and Charlotte,” says organizer Jason Perlmutter, a Chapel Hill-based DJ from WXYC and an avid record collector who helped compile the collection. “My friends Chris Wenner from Columbia and Harley Lyles from Greensboro and I will all be spinning funk and soul throughout the night. I’d like to reach out to people who might have made records like these that I don’t know.” Perlmutter’s extensive liner notes are worth as much as the funky tracks themselves. Here's the list of tunes:

1. Primitive – "Creation of Music"

2. Gamith – "Darkness"

3. Innersouls – "Just Take Your Time"

4. Dynamite Singletary – "Super Good"

dynamitesingletarysuper-good.mp3

5. Mongoose – "King Cobra"

6. Soul Impossibles – "Interpretation - Soul Power No.1"

7. Carleen & The Groovers – "Can We Rap"

8. Sundia – "Stand Up and Be a Man Pt.1"

9. The Tempo’s Band – "Ease It To Me"

10. Frankie & The Damons – "Bad Woman"

11. Roy Roberts – "You Ain’t Miss It"

12. Black Experience Band – "The Road

13. The Soul Drifters – "Funky Soul Brother"

14. James Reese & The Progressions – "Let’s Go (It’s Summertime)"

15. Paul Burton – "So Very Hard To Make It"

16. Wally Coco – "Message To Society"

17. Anthony Burns – "Doing What You Need To Do"

18. The Black Exotics – "Theme of Blackbyrds"

19. Donnie Brown – "Funky Mind"

20. George Campbell – "Good Time"

21. J.D.’s – "Funky Party Time"

22. The Ultimates – "Progressive Movement" (previously unreleased)

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ZZ Top to boogie at Performing Arts Center, 6/8

Posted by T. Ballard Lesemann on Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 3:06 PM

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Grab the cheap sunglasses — ZZ Top is solid for a concert on Sun. June 8 at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center. Guitarist Billy Gibbons, bassist Dusty Hill, and drummer Frank Beard are the original threesome that formed the band in Houston in 1970.

Tickets go on sale for $76 (plus applicable services fees) on sale Fri. May 2 at 10 a.m. via the civic center box office, Ticketmaster outlets, by phone at (843) 554-6060, or online.

Eagle Rock Entertainment will release ZZ Top’s first ever live concert ZZ Top: Live From Texas on DVD on June 24.

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Monday, April 21, 2008

'Blues by the Sea' IV at Mingo Point, 5/10

Posted by T. Ballard Lesemann on Mon, Apr 21, 2008 at 10:14 AM

Shrimp City Slim is at it again. The fourth annual Blues by the Sea event is set to boogie on Sat. May 10 with performances by local blues-rock champs Rev. Dr. Johnny Mac & The Booty Ranch,

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(pictured at left) Gruenling & Guyger (doing a tribute to blues harmonica great "Little Walter" Jacobs), Texas swamp blues act Randy McAllister, and Chicago-based blues combo Eddie Shaw & The Wolf Gang (they tore it up in town during the recent Lowcountry Blues Bash, pictured at right).
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Presented by the Town of Kiawah Accommodations Tax Committee, Bill & Marilyn Blizard (of Kiawah Friends of the Blues), and the Lowcountry Blues Bash, the event takes place at the bucolic Mingo Point, located just outside the main gates of Kiawah Island (45 minutes southeast of downtown) from 2-8 p.m. Free admission.

Shrimp says, "No coolers please; food and drink are for sale. Please bring your own lawnchairs. Rain or shine." Call (843) 762-9125 for more info.

Topics: Visiting Acts, Festivals

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S.C State gets academic with Hip-Hop

Posted by T. Ballard Lesemann on Mon, Apr 21, 2008 at 9:37 AM

South Carolina State University in Orangeburg hosted a Hip-Hop Symposium of “knowledge, lectures, and a panel discussion,” with an open mic sponsored by Whittaker Library on April 15-16. “We are endeavoring to study the body of literature and knowledge of Hip-Hop culture as a means to providing information literacy to our students,” stated Sherman Pyatt, coordinator of collection development at the Whittaker Library. For more information visit the website at www.scsu.edu.

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