Madison Music Review » Event Reviews

Carolina Chocolate Drops: August 28, 2010 at the 45th Orton Park Festival

malliman — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 04:08:40 +0000

If you missed the The Carolina Chocolate Drops on Saturday last week you were not amongst the crowd of 8,000 or so people swarming Orton Park to get a glimpse, and a listen, to one of the last African American string bands in the country. The crowds were justified for the music and song that the trio of Rhiannon Giddens, Dom Flemons, and Justin Robinson delivered (or recreated, re-invented, re-imagined.. you get the drift) truly brought new life and immediacy to a musical tradition that goes back a century and more. With all of the musicians singing and trading instruments including the banjo, fiddle, guitar, harmonica, snare drum, bones, jug, and kazoo, it was a treat to see the band and the crowd get into it. We sure hope to see the band back in town soon. Meanwhile here are some pictures from the festival. And some tunes from the band (Cornbread and butterbeans plus a song with Alvin Youngblood) with a brief interview with Rhiannon on Friday, August 27th, 2010 on WORT 89.9 FM.

Carolina Chocolate Drops – songs and a brief interview with Rhiannon

Some pictures from the show….

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Christian and Monika Nieves at The 45th Orton Park Festival

malliman — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:06:09 +0000

What a pleasure listening to cuatro music from Puerto Rico courtesy of the Nieves family this past weekend at Madison’s oldest park festival. The cuatro is a 10-stringed instrument belonging to the guitar family, and is the national instrument of Puerto Rico. Christian Nieves is today probably the most well known of the cuatristas and has been active in the revival and resurgence of tradition-inspired music akin to a country orchestra, with newer flavors of jazz and pop infused in. The brother and sister team were accompanied by William Gracia (conga), Josue Figueroa Ferrer (drums), Joy Emmanuel Santiago (bass), and Manolo Hernandez (chorus, percussion). The band does sure know how to get a crowd dancing on their feet, with Christian tearing it up on the strings… here are some pictures from the show. Enjoy!

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Big Head Todd and the Monsters @ The Capitol Theater, August 23, 2010

fS — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 20:37:04 +0000

Big Head Todd and the Monsters put on a great show last night. Todd Park Mohr led the Capitol Theater crowd through a memorable set list. They came out strong with John Lee Hooker‘s “Boom Boom” and later played the expected BHTM classics: “Resignation Superman”, “Broken Hearted Savior” and “Bittersweet”. The band felt really interested in showing it’s fans a good time and ended with a powerful encore version of “Circle”.

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Sugar Maple Festival 2010 @ Lake Farms Park, August, 7th

fS — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 11:38:22 +0000

Warm summer breezes, a multitude of colorful dragon flies and good bluegrass and traditional music greeted those who attended the 2010 Sugar Maple Festival. The scene was one of family friendly fun, with random bluegrass and Celtic jam sessions going throughout the day. Featured in the images are Tim O’Brien, Jackstraw (Bluegrass) and Ginny Hawker & Tracy Schwarz (Appalachian Mountain Music).

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Lucero @ High Noon Saloon, July 30th

fS — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 00:07:02 +0000

Memphis, Tennessee’s Lucero packed the High Noon Saloon with it’s unique flavor of punk rock roots twang. This band played for the first time in early 1998 and since 2001, they have played between 150 and 200 shows a year across the United States and Canada. They have released seven full length albums, the latest entitled 1372 Overton Park.

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The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion “Brings It” to Chicago

MrBill — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:58:29 +0000

I had been told not to miss the set by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion at 2010 Pitchfork Music Festival. Wow, was that ever good advice!

This trio certainly did not let the heat and humidity slow ‘em down… Again, one of my highlights. Hope you enjoy this sequence.

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The Blues Explosion features Jon Spencer and Judah Bauer on guitars and Russell Simins on drums.

Pitchfork Highlights: Here We Go Magic

MrBill — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:44:37 +0000

This year, Fred and I finally made it down to the Pitchfork Music Festival at Union Park in Chicago.We were there on Saturday and Sunday, and of course the headliners those nights – LCD Soundsystem and Pavement – were outstanding as expected.

But as usual at these fests, it’s the acts that surprise you that really provide the biggest thrill. One of those bands this year for me was Here We Go Magic. I’ve been their fan since the first time I heard the track Fangela. Their set in Chicago was energetic and sounded great; it was one of my favorite sets of the weekend.

Once again, HWGM has released a video in which they acoustically perform one of their songs. In this case, its Casual from their most recent release “Pigeons.”