BETTER ROCKIN' THROUGH SCIENCE...

Frequent MT contributor and Wonder Twin Laura Witkowski is the brain behind this week's "Science Rocks!" -- an evening of live music, dancing and fun at the Detroit Science Center this Thursday, Nov. 19th, from 7 to 11 p.m.

The special evening includes a screening of the Chrysler IMAX® Dome Theatre film, The Alps, with Detroit's own Zoos of Berlin playing a live set as the movie score. The evening will also feature performances on the Chrysler Science Stage by New Grenada, Lightning Love and I, Crime. Sponsorship provided by Woodward Avenue Brewery. Tickets are $20 ($15 for members) and include Detroit Science Center museum admission and drink tickets.

The full schedule of events for "Science Rocks!" is as follows:

7:00 – Welcome to Science Rocks!

7:30 – “Views of the Universe” in the Dassault Systèmes Planetarium

8:00 – I, Crime on the Chrysler Science Stage

8:00 –Suburban Sprawl Music/Quack! Media Video Showcase in the Toyota Engineering Theatre

8:30 -- Zoos of Berlin and Alps showing in the Chrysler IMAX® Dome Theatre

9:15 – New Grenada on the Chrysler Science Stage

9:30 – Suburban Sprawl Music/Quack Media Video Showcase in the Toyota Engineering Theatre

10:15 – Lightning Love on the Chrysler Science Stage

The Detroit Science Center, , Michigan’s largest hands-on science museum, is at 5020 John R Street, Detroit; 313-577-8400

Nice Motor City Rocks interview with Laura below:

Posted by Bill Holdship on 11/16/2009 2:10:45 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

WE CAME AS ROMANS CRACK THE BILLBOARD TOP 200

This week's Metro Times cover dudes We Came As Romans charted impressively high on several Billboard charts this week with their debut full-length, To Plant A Seed. Among the most impressive, the band has claimed the No. 2 spot on the New Alternative Artist chart, No. 6 on the Heatseekers chart, and even cracked the highly coveted Billboard Top 200, placing at No. 175.

The band concludes their current headlining tour on November 18th, after which they will join I See Stars for a four-week full U.S. trek, ending in Grand Rapids on December 19th. There will also be a Mt. Pleasant show on the 25th of this month. As noted in our story, the band plans to maintain their rigorous touring schedule throughout 2010. Congratulations to a hard-working crew.

http://www.myspace.com/wecameasromans

Posted by Bill Holdship on 11/13/2009 1:37:48 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

IGGY & THE STOOGES REUNION ON YOUTUBE!

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Some folks don't want to hear what the setlist is going to be before they attend a concert and we can respect that. So if you're one of those people, please read no further.

For the rest of you, the recently reunited Iggy & the Stooges (with the legendary James Williamson back on lead guitar and Mike Watt filling in for the late Ron Asheton on bass) played their first concert and their only show of 2009 this past weekend (Saturday, November 7th, to be exact) at a rock festival in Sao Paulo, Brazil -- news that we first broke in Metro Times via our cover story and exclusive interviews with Iggy and Williamson the first week of October.

Anyway, some enterprising soul at the show saw fit to videotape the whole concert and has the clips up on Youtube already. If you wanna see it, better do it fast (as we all know how quickly things can be deleted on that site). The setlist -- and the links -- are below. Enjoy!

Encore:

14 - Five Foot One - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-s-Ca2jo3M
15 - The Passenger - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdeepLuH_pI
16 - Death Trip - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ymYIP2XLUI
17 - Lust For Life - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6F-AV34NFk

After show interview - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3qk5p2U4qc

Posted by Bill Holdship on 11/10/2009 4:57:31 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

SECOND LIVE CD TO BENEFIT A2'S MICHIGAN THEATER

Speaking of benefit stuff, Ann Arbor's 107one radio station has just released Live From Studio A2, Volume Two, the second compilation CD of live, locally recorded performances by top national touring artists. The CD is available exclusively at Borders stores in Ann Arbor, Brighton, Canton and Novi, with the introductory price of $12.99. Music lovers can also purchase both the new CD, as well as last year's Live From Studio A2, Volume One, as a package for $20. The project is was once again funded by the Bank of Ann Arbor and Sesi Motors -- and net proceeds from sales of the disc will benefit the Michigan Theater in A2.

The track listing of the new CD is as follows:

1. Feist - "I Feel It All" (Recorded at Michigan Theater)
2. James Morrison - "Precious Love"
3. Mark Olson & Gary Louris (from the Jayhawks) - "The Rose Society"
4. Indigo Girls - "Second Time Around" (Recorded at Borders)
5. Pete Yorn – "Life On A Chain"
6. Colin Hay (from Men At Work) - "I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You"
7. Jen Sygit & Sam Corbin (Michigan artists) - "My Sweet Angeline"
8. Ari Hest - "Dead End Driving"
9. John Hiatt - "Love You Again"
10. They Might Be Giants - "Particle Man"
11. Joe Pug - "Hymn #101"
12. Katie Herzig - "Wish You Well"
13. Donavon Frankenreiter - "Life, Love & Laughter"
14. Ryan Montbleau Band - "75 and Sunny"
15. Brett Dennen - "Heaven"
16. Vienna Teng - "Grandmother's Song"

Feist helps benefit Michigan Theater on new CD compilation...

Posted by Bill Holdship on 11/10/2009 4:41:16 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

ART VAN STORES RECRUIT MOTOWNERS TO FEED THE HUNGRY

So it's getting to be that season again -- peace, goodwill and even more drunk drivers on the road than usual. Seriously, though, November and December bring more local charity events than can be listed in one blog post -- and one of the season's first is already scheduled to take place tomorrow night, Wednesday, November 11th. Art Van, Michigan's largest furniture retailer, is capping off its 50th Anniversary year with a concert to benefit Gleaners Community Food Bank via the sounds of Motown Records.

The Michigan Legends Charity Concert will feature performances by the Original Vandellas, the Miracles, and the Contours with Joe Billingslea. The event will be hosted by 104.3 WOMC radio's Dick Purtan -- and there will be a raffle for a fully restored 1959 Corvette convertible.The concert starts at 7 p.m. (doors at 6), at the Warren Art Van Store, 6500 E. 14 Mile Road. The store is being turned into a concert hall for the event, and free birthday cake and refreshments will be served to all.

The best part, though, is that 100 percent of the ticket sales will benefit Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan. Attendees are also asked to bring cans of food to donate. The $10 tix can be .be purchased at all 31 Art Van stores as well as at the door of the Warren store. All metro Detroit Art Van stores will be collecting food donations through the end of November.

Dick Purtan joins Art Van all in the name of charity and music...

Posted by Bill Holdship on 11/10/2009 4:23:37 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

Hanging with Blakey: A Detroiter remembers

Former Detroiter Linda Jones (her byline graced The Detroit News once upon a time) on her new blog at Open Salon remembers the great drummer Art Blakey, who passed away 19 years ago this month. Not your typical musician profile, Jones, now based in Dallas, recalls what it was like being hit on by a jazz great old enough to be her father, and hanging with Blakey and the band (an up-and-coming Wynton Marsalis among the guys on the road) during an extended stay in Ft. Lauderdale. Is there a book to be written on pick-up techniques of the jazz greats? Duke Ellington (the composer of "Sophisticated Lady" is known for his extensive research) would likely be presented as the pinnacle of suavity. Jones' Blakey is a sort of a lovable "Neanderthal." Turns out his guttural "Grrrr" accompanied more than his drumming. Does Mystery know about this?

Posted by W. Kim Heron on 10/30/2009 12:04:06 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

LOCAL CLUB & SHOW NOTES

Well, nothing like having to post an entire entry all over again because some stupid jackass hacked the site. Bastards! Anyway...

*Local heroes the Dirtbombs are playing a last minute show in the cozy confines of the Majestic Cafe tonight (Wed., Nov. 28th). The show is being filmed by VICE magazine -- hey, you might end up a star! -- and admission is only $5. Doors are at 9 p.m. Be there or be square.

*And local cult hero Rodriguez is playing a FREE gig next Monday! As our good friend Eve Doster Knepp let us know earlier today (before we were hacked...grrrrrr.....) "even the local watering holes are feeling the pinch from the chaos created by the Matty Maroun bridge brawl in southwest Detroit. Shannon Lowell of Donovan's Pub -- a family-owned business that rests in the middle of the Gate Way Project -- has seen his business all but disappear since construction around his small bar commenced in August of 2007. Parking and driving in the neighborhood has gotten so bad that Lowell is simply trying to raise enough funds to pay his taxes and keep his doors open. Having tried an array of marketing campaigns to no avail, Lowell's musician friends have jumped in to save the day. One of his good friends, legendary folk-rock singer Rodriguez has generously donated a free show to help Lowell atleast recoup enough money to pay his city taxes. This event will take place on Monday, Nov. 2, at Donovan's Pub, 3003 W. Vernor, Detroit; 313-964-2267. Set time is 9:30 p.m., so get there early! And can you believe...NO COVER!" Sounds excellent, no?

*Live Nation is hosting one of its "No Service Fee" days all day today. Until midnight, concertgoers can purchase tickets for dozens of paricipating shows -- including numerous ones here in Detroit -- sans those pesky service charges at LiveNation.com. Also, anyone who purchases tickets today will automatically be entered in a contest to win an Ultimate Access Pass that's good for free admission into many shows at the venue for which they purchase tickets -- either St. Andrew's Hall or the Fillmore -- throughout 2010. Sounds like a deal. The eligible shows include:

Papa Roach /Jet 11/1, The Fillmore Detroit
Cartel 11/3, St. Andrew's Hall
The Cult 11/6, The Fillmore Detroit
AFI - 11/9, The Fillmore Detroit
Kevin Hart - 11/13, The Fillmore Detroit
Saving Abel 11/14, show MOVED from Fillmore to St. Andrew's Hall
Saosin 11/21, St. Andrew's Hall
Hank III 11/20, St. Andrew's Hall
Deadmau5 11/21, The Fillmore Detroit
Less Than Jake 11/23, St. Andrew's Hall
The Cranberries 11/24, The Fillmore Detroit
Electric Six 11/27, St. Andrew's Hall
Pelican 11/28, Shelter
Matisyahu 12/7, St. Andrew's Hall
Dashboard Confessional / New Found Glory 12/12, The Fillmore Detroit
Chris Isaak 12/18, The Fillmore Detroit

*The San Francisco-based freeform electronic experimental group known as Bassnectar will be doing a very special show on Saturday, Nov. 7th, at St. Andrew's Hall. Not only will "the rumble be provided by the Wobble Factory’s PK sound system and the room will flash with Videolicious’ visual flair," as the group -- which killed at last summer's Movement festival -- promises on its Website but they also have "an extraaaa special somethun’ brewin’ for our beloved city of Detroit. This event will be the kickoff to a new facet of the social experiment that is Bassnectar!!!!!" Translating that into English, Bassnectar is working with four Detroit charitable organizations in an attempt to bring awareness to fans. Lorin Ashton, who is the brains behind Bassnectar, is donating $1000 from the show to these groups. And each concertgoer gets a token they can give in support of one of the organizations. The point is not so much the monetary amount,but more to raise awareness of these groups and to get people involved with them, volunteering their time and such. The four organizations involved are Alternatives For Girls, Focus Hope, The Heidelberg Project and Youthville Detroit. Sounds like a worthy cause. Click here for even more info...

*Finally, we are getting more and more stoked for the legendary Roky Erickson's performance at the Magic Stick this Friday night -- Devil's Night in Detroit(how perfect!), to be exact. It'll be his first Michigan performance ever. And if you haven't already, check out our story on one of rock's greatest cult heroes in this week's issue. Despite any problems the sweet man has encountered over the years, his live show are still reportedly incredible. The next three Friday nights promise to be especially rockin' in the D. First, Roky. The following Friday (Nov. 6th) finds Bob Dylan (who has guitar wizzard and Roky's fellow Austin, Texas hometown hero Charlie Sexton, back in his band -- a move that's said to have reinvigorated the bard)...and then Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band at the Palace of Auburn Hills on lucky Friday, Nov. 13th. This is the first and only area stop for the Boss's "Working on A Dream" tour. I caught the show in Chicago last spring and it was awesome -- the best I've seen him since he reunited with the E Street Band earlier this decade. Who says living in the Motor City can't be grand? (And go ahead and hack again, mofos. This time, I'm saving a copy of this 'cause I sure as hell ain't typing it again...!)

Mick Collins and crew gets down at the Majestic tonight...

Rodriguez. On Monday. For free!!

Rodriguez photo by Doug Coombe

Posted by Bill Holdship on 10/28/2009 2:46:29 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

One man’s Paradise Valley: Marsha Music on Joe Von Battle

From for MT blogs

In this week’s MT, arts editor Travis Wright writes about the Arts League of Michigan and the move to put Paradise Valley back on the map of Detroit — and the current vocabulary of Detroiters.

And it reminded me that I’ve wanted for some time to pull a few coattails for the blog Marsha Music: A Grown Woman’s Tales from Detroit. Marsha is Marsha Cusic, and her blog is a reminder that just as the personal is political, it’s also musical. She gives her views on Obama, on being the black mother of a biracial child, and observations on city life and growing up here. And some of her richest observations intertwine music and other aspects of her life, like Christmas-time and Motown Revue, or Isaac Hayes and a first date.

I haven’t had a chance to do more than skim — seems like there’s a small book of material posted on the blog already. But her long memorial to her father, the late, legendary Joe Von Battle, is a gem. Serious blues, R&B and gospel fans recognize that name.

Operating for years on Hastings Street, and later on 12th Street until the 1967 riot burned him out, Von Battle captured for posterity the likes of John Lee Hooker, Little Willie John, Jackie Wilson and Sonny Boy Williamson, not to mention the Rev. C.L. Franklin and his 14-year-old, never-recorded-before daughter Aretha. But the story, like all of the good ones, goes beyond music. Marsha captures several decades of one rich life, a rich Detroit life. Whether you start off knowing the name or not, you finish feeling you know the man.

Posted by W. Kim Heron on 10/23/2009 4:39:04 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

Techno meets jazz in Paris (with Carl Craig and Tribe)

Fusions, like politics, make strange ... no, let's just say interesting bedfellows. And as lots of jazz and techno fans know, Carl Craig is at the fused intersection of their genres.
One of his projects of the last couple of years has been reuniting the surviving members of the cutting-edge Detroit jazz collective Tribe from the 1970s. The group has acquired a serious underground rep in recent years with reissues on foreign labels, songs being sampled by DJs and producers, etc. Back in 2002 Ropeadope convened a multi-generation cast of Detroit performers in a project that evolved into something of an homage to Tribe. With heavy production involvement from Craig, it was released as The Detroit Experiment in 2003.
We just got news that the new Craig-helms-Rebirth disc is to be called Tribe Rebirth and released on the Disco Graph label out of Paris. (We're still not clear on when.*) We also got a link to a video of a summer concert of Craig plus Tribe in Paris. We do note that the video labeling is somewhat off. The horn line features surviving Tribe members Marcus Belgrave (trumpet), Wendell Harrison (saxophone) and Phil Ranelin (trombone), plus Craig and Kelvin Sholar on keys, with Doug Hammond (a sort of Tribal fellow traveler from the old days) joining in on thumb piano and drums part way through. “Without these guys … there would be no techno music,” Craig proclaims near the end of the performance.
*Update: We're told the disc drops on Nov. 16, but is already available on iTunes.

Posted by W. Kim Heron on 10/19/2009 6:08:22 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

The Sights: New lineup, new album in the can, an email and a free show today.

We just got this email from the lovably impish Eddie Baranek. We couldn't put it better ourselves:

Hello,

as part of United Way's Blocktoberfest, The Sights will be kicking it on the back of a flat bed truck from 5pm til 6:30pm today.

Where the hell is that?-- Lafayette between First and Third Streets. There will be vendors/booths, so you will see a bunch of people doing stuff in an area-- eating, hanging, talkin'. We're the pile of people rocking Devin and Carmen's face off. My old man might come, and he wants to talk weather with Chuck.

Gaidica.

So if you still have a job and you get off in time, get off again with us.

eddie b.

Posted by Brian Smith on 10/13/2009 12:49:00 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

Marcus Belgrave receives $50,000 Kresge arts award

Former Ray Charles trumpet player Marcus Belgrave relocated to Detroit in the days of the Motown assembly line. And since then he has, arguably, become the face of serious, deeply rooted jazz in Detroit. Belgrave -- whom one bandleader dubbed "Serious Bell" -- is known as a bandleader, performer and mentor to myriad younger performers, both in the classroom and on the bandstand. Thursday the Kresge Arts in Detroit program recognized Belgrave’s contributions with a $50,000* eminent artist award for his lifetime of contributions to the metropolitan Detroit community. Check out our past article on how this musician from Chester, Penn., became Detroit’s Mr. Jazz, and a blog post about his Ray Charles days.
The Kresge Arts in Detroit program, which also awards 18 annual fellowships of $25,000, is an effort to spur “the creative vitality of the region.”
(*And earlier version of this posting inadvertently added an extra zero to Marcus' award. Kresge is boosting artists, but not actually sending them into orbit.)

Posted by W. Kim Heron on 10/8/2009 1:17:16 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

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