Other Peoples' Music
4-11-03
Robert Randolph and the Family Band play Crystal Ballroom, Portland, OR
I went to this show after hearing four tunes from their performance at the Bonnaroo Festival last year, and holy-funkin-hell.... they came out with guns blazing on both arms. Within one minute, the spirit had hit me, my jaw was on the floor and there was no turning back. Randolph is probably the best pedal steel guitarist I've ever heard and his band is spectacular. I still can't believe it was only twelve bucks, with two very good opening acts, Hazy Malaze and Kaki King.
Chances are good that this band's stock will rise quickly. Randolph has already had major gigs with the Blind Boys of Alabama and John Medeski's project 'The Word', and his band travels millions of miles every minute they're onstage, burning up everything in their path with more soul and more sound than just about anybody on tour right now. For anybody who wishes Jimi would come back, you've gotta see Robert Randolph immediately.
Ill Logic's Top Ten Seven Tunes for Sept. 23, 2002:
1) "Captain Bacardi", performed by Duke Pearson, 1969; written by Antonio Carlos Jobim
2) "Spoonful", Cream, 1967
3) "Let's Take it to the People", Funkadelic, 1976
4) "Funky Drummer", James Brown with Clyde Stubblefield, 1969
5) "Golden Years", David Bowie
6) anything by Fishbone
7) "Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication", Parliament, 1975
Fishbone at Eugene Celebration, September 21, 2002
These guys seem to get better every time I see them-- this time was number five or six. While watching them on Saturday, suddenly it dawned on me that they had snuck upon me, when at first glance, thirteen or fourteen years ago, I thought they were obnoxious, though the music was pretty good. After twice seeing Trulio Disgracias (a funk-vaudeville tour featuring members of Fishbone, Weapon of Choice, supposedly the Chili Peppers and P-Funk, and Blowfly), I finally started going to see the 'Bone on their own, and now I'm waking up to find myself unexpectedly faced with one of the most creative and powerful rock bands in the U.S.Saturday night, in the parking lot next to the WOW Hall in Eugene, Oregon, they rocked til the police showed up, which gave them almost two hours onstage, but everybody there could have gone another two hours easily. I don't have any links up for them yet, but they're getting some today. Apparently they have established an independent record label, and it would be great to see them succeed with it, because they've been going strong for nineteen years now, and really are an amazing act--- huge sound for a five-piece. Come back to Oregon, Fishbone!
This came to me in an email. Supposedly it is from a Prince-related website.
Attention! The funkiest drummer (still) alive needs your help!
I'm sure the funksters about you are familiar with the funkiest drummer ever, James Brown's Clyde Stubblefield, the most sampled drummer of the hip hop era. I am sorry I have to inform you that Clyde had surgery on 23 May and 11 July for bladder cancer. Presently, he is taking treatments. The prognosis is very good. Yet, there are many expenses to be incurred with his illness.
As with many musicians, he has no insurance coverage. Benefits have been held in the Madison, WI area. Luckily, more are scheduled. I know most of you are hurting for cash, but maybe some may help Clyde with a little donation. I will do so myself, and I heard George Clinton gave some $$$ as well. Thank you for your time and attention in helping Clyde.
Please contact Kathy at:
FunkMasters L.L.P. 1445 Arrowhead Place Murfreesboro, TN 37129.1002
615.893.0115
615.631.4778 Cell
Ill Logic's Top Ten Seven Tunes for July 31, 2002:
1) "Reflections", the Supremes
2) "Born Under a Bad Sign", Cream
3) "Double Rocker", Stereolab
4) "Pablo #2", Milton Nascimento
5) "Misery Loves Company", It's a Beautiful Day
6) "Upside-Down", Diana Ross
7) "Hey Pocky Way", The Meters
Check out the Big Island Shindig-----
They are a local (Portland) bluegrass group who can rock. They play at Conan's on 39th, the 45th St. Pub SW (just down the road from here), Hornings' Hideout, and wherever else they can get on with folks and get onstage. They just acquired a keyboardist, which might be the catalyst to get this group really off the ground. They're great, go check 'em out!
http://bigislandshindig.com
April 21, 2002:
FUNKADELIC IS ON TOUR!!!
They'll be in Portland, Oregon on May 3 at the Crystal Ballroom. According to what I hear on the net at the One Nation Board Room, George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars (aka PARLIAMENT-FUNKADELIC) are pulling off some of their best shows in years on this tour. Last time they were in Portland, around September 2000, they played the Roseland Theater and seemed like they weren't interested. This time, it sounds like they are ON. It's a great thang when they are. Some of the best rock, soul, jazz, and funk in the world.... huge band, GREAT musicians. I'm off to get my tickets, the wonder-wolf-tickets of fonk....November 2001
Our Fine Arts columnist, Flippy Willis, visited Satyricon for Portland Organic Wrestling in mid-November, and said it was totally nuts. It seems like there's a fairly consistent audience for wrestling in Portland, even though apparently it's not enough to keep local wrestling on TV. The wrestlers at POW have to get by without ropes, turnbuckles, The Bell, or much money, but they are clearly having a lot of fun and the whole crowd is part of the show. Flippy came back with pie filling in his hair, so we didn't have to ask how much fun it was.
'The Prescription for Mis-America' is the title of a new album by the Parliament-Funkadelic offshoot group Drugs, which features bassist Lige Curry, guitarists Garry Shider and Michael "Clip" Payne, drummer Robert "Chicken" Burke, with Joey Eppard and Adam Widoff.
'The Prescription' is like the early Funkadelic music: a heavy, heady mix of funk, blues and soul, with some other tricks thrown in to keep the listener guessing. After listening to five tracks, José said, "If they do any bossa nova, this album will instantly qualify as a classic." Four tracks later, the album became a classic. It is available by mail-order through The Funk Store out in Georgia, our number one source for funky music. They've got the funk, and they deliver fast.
Oysterhead, the new super-group featuring Les Claypool from Primus, Trey Anastasio from Phish and Stewart Copeland (!!!) from the Police, played the Salem, Oregon Armory on Wednesday the 24th, same night as Stereolab. We got a recording of the show from our local and it is currently under review; initial listenings have induced ecstatic outbursts in test subjects. More news at 11.
October 2001--- Stereolab review by José Carter
The new STEREOLAB record, 'SOUND-DUST', is excellent!! It's my favorite 'new' disc since their album 'Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night' from 1999. I've listened to the last track, "Les BonBons Des Raisons", about fifty times in two days. Laetitia Sadier's lyrics are multi-layered in the ideas as well as sounds, and overlapping harmonies by Sadier and Mary Hansen are woven into bouquets.
This "Groop" seems to often release their music in the 'dandelion wine' season, when the days become shorter and wind draws away the luxury items from the landscape. This is the music (music of course meaning 'magic' in practice) of a warm house and a bowl of soup or cup of Constant Comment, while reading Jay's World News Site, lycaeum.org, Fortean Times, or maybe just looking at your feet.
This music will draw you back constantly, to hit the 'repeat' button four or five hundred times on the best tracks. The sonic clarity they maintain is enough to make me wonder if George Martin's working on it (though he retired two years ago). I've already listened to this record more than I listened to 'First of the Microbe Hunters' from early 2001. The liner notes do not credit a single producer, only engineers Jim O'Rourke and John McEntire, and "the Groop". Some artists (such as Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, and Ohio Players) do that when their collaborative efforts reach a certain degree of balance and the 'producer' is a free-roaming spirit.
Stereolab's show on Wednesday, October 25 2001, was great. They did a bunch of songs from the new album, 'Sound-Dust', and seemed to be having fun. Hopefully they'll move to Portland.... or maybe I'll just have to go track down the local group called 'The Sensualists', who do a fine job of carrying a similar energy into vivid new spaces, with their own sound.... though if both groups played on the same bill, half the crowd wouldn't know the difference. Click either picture to link with Stereolab's website.
