Sunday, July 31, 2011

Mark O’Connor fiddles around

Award-winning violinst Mark O'Connor hits the Sottile Theatre

Posted by T. Ballard Lesemann on Sun, Jul 31, 2011 at 9:16 AM

Mark OConnor
  • Jim Maguire
  • Mark O'Connor
Grammy-winning violinist Mark O’Connor celebrates his 50th birthday with a stay in Charleston. O’Connor will conduct a week-long strings camp at the Mills House, culminating with a performance of his own at the Sottile Theatre on Fri. Aug. 5. The concert will highlight the original style that has earned him world renown. Born from the tutelage of folk fiddler Benny Thomasson and French jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli, O’Connor blends classical and deep American string traditions.

His second album Appalachian Journey and orchestral score Fiddle Concerto have garnered him praise from fans and critics.

O’Connor’s camp has become a traveling revelation in the musical world. Based on the violinist’s two-book teaching guide, The O’Connor Violin Method, the class develops a diverse range of strings techniques through exposure to and practice of a range of string music, from Irish tunes and ragtime to Antonin Dvorák’s New World Symphony.

Visit markoconnor.com for more. —Lucas Hagerty

Topics: Visiting Acts

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Friday, July 29, 2011

Athens' Georgia Theatre reopens

The historic music venue hosts a two-week grand re-opening

Posted by T. Ballard Lesemann on Fri, Jul 29, 2011 at 6:03 AM

 

The Georgia Theatre in downtown Athens, Ga.
  • provided
  • The Georgia Theatre in downtown Athens, Ga.

In June 2009, a major fire nearly destroyed the Georgia Theatre at 215 N. Lumpkin St. in Athens, Georgia. Last week, after millions of dollars worth of repairs and renovatiosn, the revered music club reopens in style with a two week-long celebration that started on Mon. Aug. 1 and runs through Aug. 14.

One of the premier live music halls in the Southeast, the 122-year-old Athens landmark regularly booked top-selling national acts as well as popular local and regional bands like R.E.M., Widespread Panic, and the Drive-By Truckers. The old building featured a large stage and hall, a spacious balcony, and two bar areas. The revamped facility features a brand new PA, refurbished bathrooms, bigger dressing rooms, a new elevator, a three-tier balcony, VIP seating, and a new rooftop restaurant.

Co-owners Wilmot Greene and Scott Orvold hired local construction crews and carpenters to use as much salvaged wood and brick as possible to retain its original look and atmosphere. “We can feel Athens and the Southeastern music community getting excited with us,” Greene stated in a recent press release. “We can’t wait to unveil what we believe will be he finest music venue of our size in the region.”

The lineup for the opening weeks includes the Glands, Madeline, Chuck Leavell and Friends, Kenosha Kid, Blackberry Smoke, RJD2, J. Roddy Watson and the Business, Don Chambers, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Big Boi, Drive-By Truckers, and Gillian Welch.

Single show tickets for the two-week long celebration range in price from $10 to $30 and are available online at georgiatheatre.com. Click below on a short clip from the in-the-works documentary Athens Burning, a film by Eric Krasle, Jacob Kinsman, and Andrew Haynes that covers the 2009 blaze and the history of the venue.

Here's the full grand opening schedule:

Aug. 1 — The Glands w/ Madeline, Immuzikation
Aug. 2 —Chuck Leavell and Friends w/ SNAP!
Aug. 3 — “open house” w/ Kenosha Kid
Aug. 5 — Blackberry Smoke
Aug. 6 — RJD2
Aug. 9 — J. Roddy Watson and the Business, Reptar, Don Chambers + Goat
Aug. 10 — Béla Fleck and the Flecktones
Aug. 11 — Big Boi
Aug. 12-13 — Drive-By Truckers
Aug. 14 — Gillian Welch

Topics: Road Shows

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Thursday, July 28, 2011

Mellencamp's rock and doc come to the PAC

Tickets go on sale this week for veteran rocker John Mellencamp's show

Posted by T. Ballard Lesemann on Thu, Jul 28, 2011 at 4:29 PM

 

John Mellencamp

The North Charleston Performing Arts Center announced another big fall concert. Veteran Americana rocker John Mellencamp (formerly known as John Cougar) and his band will bring their No Better Than This tour the PAC on Wed. Nov. 9 at 7 p.m.

The singer/songwriter scored a series of radio hits in in early and mid '80s, including “I Need a Lover,” “Ain’t Even Done With the Night,” “Hurts So Good,” “Jack & Diane,” “Crumblin’ Down,” “Pink Houses,” “Small Town,” and “Rain on the Scarecrow,” among many others.

Mellencamp worked with producer T Bone Burnett at Sun Studio in Memphis on his critically acclaimed No Better Than This album. The tour began last year in Indiana. It just returned home from a run in the U.K. and Europe, and it’s currently winding across the U.S. and Canada — including a stop in Savannah, Ga., at the Johnny Mercer Theater on Nov. 11.

The concerts are formatted into three segments, including an acoustic set, a set with a small combo, and a full-on rock band set. Before the singer and his band hit the stage, they’ll present a screening of It’s About You, a new documentary by filmmakers Kurt and Ian Markus. Shot on super-8 film over the course of 2009’s Bob Dylan-John Mellencamp-Willie Nelson tour of minor league baseball stadiums, the hour-long film “chronicles the creation of the No Better Than This album that was recorded on that tour’s off days."

Reserved seats for the Mellencamp show go on sale on Fri. Aug. 5 at 10 a.m. for $125, $90, $70, and $40 at the box office, Ticketmaster outlets (including select Publix stores), by phone at (800) 745-3000, and online at ticketmaster.com. Visit northcharlestoncoliseumpac.com and mellencamp.com for more info.

Topics: Visiting Acts

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Friday, July 22, 2011

Rock freaks the Flaming Lips aim for the PAC

Tickets go on sale for the October concert

Posted by T. Ballard Lesemann on Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 11:48 AM

 

The Flaming Lips
  • p
  • The Flaming Lips

The freaky music news of the day: the North Charleston Performing Arts Center welcomes veteran alternative rock band the Flaming Lips to the stage this fall. The Grammy Award-winning band headlines the PAC on Fri. Oct. 28 at 8 p.m.

The Flaming Lips formed in Oklahoma City in 1983 and were basically an indie college radio band until the release of 1993’s Transmissions from the Satellite Heart, which featured the hit single “She Don’t Use Jelly.” The 1999 disc The Soft Bulletin presented a fresh sound and a first major creative leap ahead.

In February, the Lips announced the release of a brand-new composition entitled “Two Blobs F*cking,” their first new music since 2009’s Embryonic and 2007’s Grammy Award-winning At War with the Mystics. Created specifically for iPhone-type devices, the recording was designed to stream along with videos as 12 individual tracks that ultimately create one complete song. A recent press release explains, “This piece of music is conceptually, romantically, and scientifically just what one would come to expect from the world’s most predictably unpredictable band. The intrepid Oklahoma-based artists have created a set of multiple tracks that, when combined with their melodic counterparts, will equate to the first-ever musical experience of its kind and, in this form, has never been done before.”

A five-vinyl-disc box set collection titled Heady Nuggs: The First 5 Warner Bros. Records 1992-2002 was released on Record Store Day in April. The 2011 summer and fall tours feature frontman Wayne Coyne, bassist Michael Ivins, and keyboardist/drummer/multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd. Drummer Kliph Scurlock and guitarist/keyboardist Derek Brown complete the current lineup.

Presented by AC Entertainment, reserved seats for the Flaming Lips show go on sale on Fri. July 29 at 10 a.m. for $39.50 at the box office, Ticketmaster outlets (including select Publix stores), by phone at (800) 745-3000, and online at ticketmaster.com.

Visit northcharlestoncoliseumpac.com and flaminglips.com for more.

Topics: Visiting Acts

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Shaniqua Brown's second helping

New album on the way

Posted by T. Ballard Lesemann on Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 10:31 AM

Rachel Gillon of the Shaniqua Brown
  • provided
  • Rachel Gillon of the Shaniqua Brown
This spring and summer, local rock band the Shaniqua Brown took a break from their usual gig schedule to concentrate on recording and mixing a new studio album. Singer Rachel Gillon, guitarist Thomas Concannon, bassist Denis Blyth, and drummer David Bair have been working at Collective Recording in West Ashley with musician/engineers Alan Price and Jamey Rogers.

The full-length collection follows the band’s 2010 self-titled debut, cleverly designed and released as part of a limited-edition USB drive. The band headlines a CD release party at the Pour House on Fri. Aug. 19 with support from Savannah act Cusses and local band the Royal Tinfoil.

Visit theshaniquabrown.com for more.

Topics: Local Bands

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