Author: spencer-lathrop

April Johnson-Bynes was considering med school, but when she won the school talent show in fourth grade as a singer, she began to think, “Well, maybe I can do this.” She claims to have received her musical ability from her father, though it obviously runs in the whole family—she sang in the church choir with her mother and grandmother. April was part of a girl group, a la Destiny’s Child, in middle school, and graduated from the  performing arts high school in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Impressivley, she sang back-up for both Sheena Easton and Roberta Flack when they came through her hometown. As a student at North Carolina A&T, she began stepping outside of gospel and R&B and exploring classical voice. As director of the choral and theater programs at William Monroe High School, Ms. Johnson-Bynes  performs at Ash Lawn, and last month she gave a rousing performance at The Paramount Theater. She would very much like to sing at some of the larger venues, and ultimately has her sights set on The Kennedy Center.

Spencer Lathrop: The Paramount?
April Johnson-Bynes: The performance was intended to commemorate the Third Street entrance, which was the African-American entrance before the theater was integrated. I tried to cover the timeline of the African- American experience in this country. I sang Mozart, Brahms and Copland, and then went into negro spirituals, to hymns, then into jazz. Johnathan Spivey is my accompanist and my right-hand man.

Vocalists?
For classical vocalists, I would say Leontyne Price, because I love her style. And I like Denyce Graves. For jazz, I like Billie Holiday. I studied her life and music when I was in college. The first time I heard her was her tune “Strange Fruit.” And I like Nina Simone for her versatility. I especially like her protest songs, like “Mississippi Goddam” and “I Hold No Grudge.” My idol is Aretha Franklin. I try to buy all of her records. And I like singers from the neo-soul era, like Anthony Hamilton. I like the Marvin Gaye sound, concientious music.

Composers?
I love Aaron Copland. I performed “Shall We Gather By The River” from his American Songs at the Paramount. I really fell in love with his music while I was in college. His songs are so calming. I love Brahms. His love songs are so beautiful. And I love Beethoven because his style is so fiery. 

By Spencer Lathrop
pluggedin@c-ville.com

As the music business continues to inch toward the digital age, both on-line promotion and music downloading seem as inevitable as pizza delivery. Of course, with digital downloading (just like home-delivered pizza), what you lose in sonic quality is reimbursed in convenience.
    Lauren Hoffman is due back in town this week after trekking around France in support of her new CD, Choreography. She says things are going well for her, in part due to the discovery of her music by pop band Fall Out Boy’s bassist Peter Wentz. Wentz, who took to one of Hoffman’s early songs, “Fall Away,” has been writing about Hoffman on the band’s website, fall outboyrock.com. And since he took up her cause, Hoffman has received 500 to 1,000 e-mails, many from 15-year-old girls, who want to be added to Hoffman’s Myspace page. And while these fans may not know her music yet (which is quite different from Fall Out Boy’s punk-pop), the resulting buzz could help Hoffman’s CD get released in the States. In Hoffman’s view, that means Myspace is working, because “it helps make the distinction between local and national matter less.” It could also help local bands Bella Morte and Sarah White, who are both prominent on Hoffman’s Myspace page. Bella Morte and David Sickmen open for Hoffman at the Gravity Lounge this Thursday night, June 15.
    As for downloading music, Hoffman says she buys a lot of music from iTunes, and—although she gets handed a lot of music backstage at shows—she tries not to download music for free online. She is in a position to feel the impact directly. “When people get my music off the Web for free, I am less likely to come and play for them live, because the industry takes no notice of [free downloads] at all.”

Coincidentally this week, it was reported that songs from Radio-head singer Thom Yorke’s new solo CD have already been leaked, one month prior to the release date. Of course, it seems unlikely that Yorke’s sales will be affected much—unless the album is, in fact, really crappy, and word of mouth kills it.
    Our own great power pop band, Sun Domingo, played Starr Hill this past weekend, and the band’s Edgel Groves says that “digital is our main thing right now.” Groves says that he met 10 people at the Starr Hill gig who showed up solely because of their Myspace presence, and that, on a recent tour swing through Kansas, many of the fans came out to see the band for the same reason. Groves says the Myspace magic is “about making a connection.”
    As for selling their music, Groves says that Sun Domingo would like to see their CD in stores, but for now they are content to offer digital downloads, both free and for sale, at Myspace and Disclogic.com. Groves goes on to say that “we are not living in an album age right now. We are living in a singles age. I think very few people could come up with a concept album these days. But I am really about the singles.” Sun Domingo will be back in town at the Outback in July.
    If you are not aware of the band (who started life here musically as Wisher), you’ll have more opportunities to check them out, as the group recently returned to Charlottesville from Atlanta. One
of the reasons for the band’s energy
and great songs was guitarist Forrest Burtnette, who just parted ways with the group this past month. He says that the band’s 250 dates a year on the road wore him down, and he is now looking to do other things.

Tim Clark and Nerve No Pain drummer Branden Shores put together This Means You three years ago because “the metal scene was dead.” Clark says the band “got really lucky” when they found vocalist Kim Dylla who could scream as well as sing, and their new lineup has been solid lately. The band is putting the final touches on a new Kevin Murphy-produced CD  that was recorded in the Pro Tools studio located behind Stacy’s Music. Metalheads can catch the band this Saturday night at the Outback Lodge. Unit F will reunite as openers.

Spencer Lathrop: Heavy metal?
Tim Clark: I have very eclectic taste. I grew up listening to Black Sabbath, but at the same time I was listening to Elvis, Prince and Jonhny Cash. Metal is definitely the most fun to play. I could make a Nickleback record if I wanted to, but it wouldn’t be that much fun. Tool is the greatest band in the world, and I hate to pick one, because I love them all, but if I had to I’d take Aenima. We also like some of the older stuff like Slayer and Metallica. Iron Maiden has been consistently good.

Ozzfest?
We were on MTV’s “Battle for Ozzfest,” and they told us that we were in the Top 20 of the 2,000 bands that entered. We didn’t make it, but it was not such a bad thing judging from how the program turned out. It was pretty awful. I go to Ozzfest every year no matter who the bands are. The best Ozzfest ever was 1998, with Ozzy, Tool, Megadeth and Motorhead. I got backstage that year because I knew the guys in Sevendust. Ozzfest has gone extremely downhill lately. There are a ton of bands and a lot of the new bands sound just like every other band. System of a Down is one of the only bands out there pushing the envelope right now, and a lot of people don’t consider them a metal band. There are very few bands that really change the sound of the music, like Pantera did when they first came out.

New records?
The whole band likes the two new System of a Down records that came out back to back, Hypnotized and Mesmerized. Devil-driver is a new metal band that is one of the heaviest. And quite possibly the greatest band of the past 10 years is a band called Dream Evil. And everyone should keep an eye out for the newly renovated version of No Gods No Monsters.

Things not known about you?
I am a legally ordained Reverend, with the Church of Spiritual Humanism. I went online and took a test, but I have yet to marry somebody. I’d like to start a Church of Heavy Metal. And the band are big fans of Robert Goulet. But, it has to be post-mustache Goulet. When he grew his mustache, his music really changed. We wrote him a letter and he sent us an 8’x10′ glossy that says, “God loves This Means You.” I have it hanging on the wall of our studio, and, of course, he has a mustache.

Starr Hill presents a diverse and interesting night of music this week. On Thursday, June 1, The Beetnix have put together their first Underground and Independent Hip Hop Festival. “Under-ground by nature, independent by choice,” the crew want to expose Charlottesville to some of the best up-and-coming hip-hop acts on the East Coast. From Raleigh, North Carolina, Kaze has moved over 10,000 units of his two albums, Enemy of the State and Spirit of 94, and has performed with Nas and Jurassic 5. Also performing will be emcees from Buffalo, New York’s top independent hip-hop label Deep Thinka. Beetnix’s Damani Harrison says, “Everyone who is coming is sort of king of their scene, and we are hoping they will be embraced here as well.” Also on the bill from Charlottesville is 16-year-old “sensation” Ghetti Get, a Char-lottesville High School sophomore and active member of the Music Resource Center who is finishing his first full-length CD. The Beetnix will headline.
    The first 10 people inside the show will receive a free copy of The Beetnix’s third and last EP of their Professional Thieves series “The Final Heist.” Harrison says that the two previous EPs “have been selling like hotcakes at our shows.” The Profes-sional Thieves series consists of original tunes that lift an element (lyrically or musically) from other, sometimes well-known tunes. Fans should have a good time trying to identify the sources. One standout track on the new EP that Harrison describes as “killer” is a collaboration between The Beetnix and Ezra Hamilton.
    The band and Ezra ended up taking the collaboration into the studio, and The Hamiltons (Ezra’s band) are in the process of recording their new CD in The Beetnix’s Audio State Studio. Harrison describes the project as “a very involved effort, with many harmonies, multitracking, and quite a few guest artists, Andy Waldeck for one.” Look for The Hamiltons’ disc out in the near future.
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Breaking club news: Long time sound man Terry Martin has bought the Outback Lodge and will be back at the board June 1. With many new ideas for renovation and music scheduling, Martin is hosting a big open house event on Sunday, June 4. Look for many positive changes at the Outback.
    After 10 years of putting heart and soul into every Sunday evening at Escafé for very little money, The Hogwaller Ramblers just played their last night there, and are moving the party up the street to Fellini’s No. 9. The new ownership at Escafé seems to never have understood what The Ramblers brought to the restaurant. Anyone out on a Sunday evening should take it up to Fellini’s. Support a place that supports music.

Dawn Thompson and John D’earth are releasing the second CD of music by The Thompson D’earth Band. When the Serpent Flies will be available for fans at the band’s performance at Fridays After 5 this week, and you can find it at their Thompson D’earth website and Musictoday. TDB’s first CD, Mercury, came out the weekend that Dave Matthews Band first played at Scott Stadium, and it featured Carter Beauford on drums. This time around, the band consists of Pete Spaar on bass, pianist Daniel Clarke, guitarist Jamal Millner, J.C. Kuhl on tenor sax and drummer Brian Caputo. D’earth says that the new CD aims for a live feel, with an even split of original vocal and instrumental tunes. D’earth also says that Thompson likes the band to be as free as possible, “which is unusual for a singer.” Recorded without extra production in order to get the live sound of the band, D’earth credits Crystalphonic engineer Jack Gray as “absolutely fantastic” to work with, and says that Crystalphonic is out to support local bands, an approach that D’earth applauds. Thompson D’earth is also scheduled to play at Blues Alley in D.C. on May 30. If you do not mind a short road trip, you can catch the band at a venerated club.
    Producer Greg Howard says, “John and Dawn’s collaboration in life and music are really played out in this record. They’ve found a way to fuse the high-energy instrumental jazz that John has always composed so well and Dawn’s image-laden dreamlike lyrics into a very creative and accessible sound. Dawn is not your typical jazz vocalist. She’s singing about life.”

Howard has always been closely connected to D’earth and Thompson, both as producer (he also worked on D’earth’s Live at Miller’s) and as a performer (he plays the Chapman Stick) with bands like Code Magenta. Howard has recently taken time off from gigging locally to rethink what he is doing with his music. He recently played a festival in Marseilles, France, and he has been working with Stick Enterprises out of California, creating a new instructional book and video, as well as producing a CD for a Stick player from Michigan. Howard will perform in Ann Arbor at The First National Stick Festival this July. You can sample Howard’s musical stylings on his latest CD, Ether Ore, (as well as any of his other CDs), by going to his website, www.greg howard.com.
    Locally Howard has also been working with harpist/storyteller Eve Watters on a project, as well as recently remastering a recording from the golden age of Tim Reynolds’ TR3.
    It is amazing the number of great, young musicians who have come through D’earth’s bands. For drummers alone, Thompson D’earth has featured Robert Jospé, Carter Beauford and Robbie Sinclair. But also in the Miller’s band (which is distinct from Thompson D’earth), great drummers Aaron Binder and Eric Stassen have sat in, as well as Howard Curtis. Stassen is on his way to graduate school in conducting, and Curtis just got a tremendous job as full faculty member at a conservatory in Graz, Austria. And I just saw Clarence Penn playing in New York with Dave Holland. Penn was a student of D’earth’s at Virginia Commonwealth University, but D’earth says, “I probably learned more from him [than he did from me.]” According to D’earth, Penn showed up at every rehearsal with one or two pieces of fully conceived original music for the band to play, some of which he would crumple up right after the band performed it. In any case, D’earth deserves a ton of credit for giving jazz musicians a forum to play regularly and expand their talent.

Tanya K grew up an hour from Salt Lake City, where her upbringing definitely influenced her musical palette. She picked up guitar “as a reaction to piano lessons” and moved to California at 17 where she played in the bar where Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath. She also met her husband there, who was playing in Lacy J. Dalton’s band, and together they moved to Nashville where she played music for 10 years before relocating here. Her band, Two Red Shoes, plays blues and originals around town, and she is musical director (her fourth time in that role) at Live Arts for Urinetown, which opens in mid-July. I asked Miss K about her wild mix of influences.

Spencer Lathrop: Earliest influences?
Tanya K: The Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing Handel’s Messiah and musicals like The Music Man. Musicals were really big where I grew up, part of the Utah culture, because they are considered wholesome. My mom is an operatic soprano who sang with the Utah Opera Company and was also the choir director at church. And we all listened to Led Zeppelin. And we really thought we were getting away with something when we listened to David Bowie. The first song I learned on guitar was Neil Young’s “Down By The River.” My mom used to yell up the stairs, “Have you shot your baby yet?!”
Women songwriters?
I love Rickie Lee Jones. Her first record with “Last Chance Texaco” on it just kills me. I love Nina Simone, but I can’t touch her. And Lucinda Williams, I liked Car Wheels, but now it seems like you are just getting into one of her songs, and then you realize it is all about drug abuse which is a bit of a turn off. Joni Mitchell’s record Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter was revolutionary. And I think Tina Turner is very gutsy. Private Dancer. What happened to Edie Brickell? I used to love her. And I had a brief Sheryl Crow thing, but I think I was just depressed. Her new stuff is just pasty.

Heroes?
Dickie Betts was my hero. Before I had my Tele, I used to play a red Les Paul that weighed as much as a refrigerator plugged into a twin reverb. And Chris O’Connell, the guitar player in Asleep At The Wheel, was an idol of mine for a while. I respect her a lot.

Blues?
Janis Joplin’s Essentials album, KoKo Taylor’s Royal Blue, and Etta James. But you know I like guys best: Slim Harpo’s rhythmic dittys, Howlin’ Wolf’s howling, and Freddie King’s Texas shuffles.

Tunes?
I think that “Sunday Morning Coming Down” is my absolutely favorite tune of all time. It is so lyrically sound. That and “Starry Starry Night.” And my favorite Mormon hymn is “Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel.”