Playlist

Serious laughs and serious music were in abundance for the hundreds in attendance at the first annual Jokes N' Jams benefit for the Tom Joyner Foundation at TBAAL on Saturday night.
For over ten years, the Tom Joyner Foundation has provided over 50 million dollars in scholarships, benefitting disadvantaged students at 112 HBCU's, and there were big names in the house to champion the event, including gospel's Fred Hammond and contemporary soul artist Kem, fresh from Friday's show with Ledisi at the Palladium. In-between making jabs at OJ Simpson ("He got away with murder the first time, that's what he should've stuck with. When he changed to armed robbery, he got caught. What's the lesson? Do what you know!"), Tom Joyner and J. Anthony Brown stressed the seriousness of this year's election and even had voter registration tables waiting outside. For those reluctant to be added to the jury duty rolls afterwards, Mr. Brown offered an easy-out; "Scratch your crotch and act crazy, you'll be outta there in no time!"

N'Dambi was the first to kick off the performances at around 10PM....

It was 7 o'clock on a Thursday night, but that didn't stop a near-capacity crowd from filling McDavid Studio in downtown Fort Worth. These were just the kind of folks who normally would have hunkered down at home to watch the vice-presidential debate. (Granted, more than a few were catching it later on Tivo.) But they had come to hear John Gorka, who has a loyal following indeed. And why not? Few acoustic musicians -- few songwriters, period -- are as gifted as this guy. Whether it was anti-war songs ("Let Them In" and "Writing in the Margins") or hearbreak ballads ("I Saw a Stranger With Your Hair" and "Love Is Our Cross to Bear"), John Gorka delivered as he always does. But one of the best things about hearing this bearded Minnesotan (who was born in New Jersey and educated in Pennsylvania) is his humor, whether it's delivered on stage in numerous witty asides or in lyrics. Take "People My Age," for instance: "People my age," he sang, "have started looking gross." Way too many laughs of recognition for that one.
(McDavid Studio, by the way, has emerged as one very cool venue.)
Photo: John Gorka

Third Day put on a moving show. That's not an oxymoron when referring to a rock concert. The Christian rockers, who headlined the Music Builds Tour tonight at Superpages.com Center, managed to meld inspirational messages with plenty of R&R swagger. In fact, it's because the band, led by personable and potent singer Mac Powell, is so passionate about its inspiration that the music they make has such energy, resonance.

Highlights of the 70-minute set were plenty, especially all the powerhouse tunes from the group's great new CD, Revelation. But also of particular note was the highly hooky "Tunnel" and a take on U2's "When Love Comes to Town" that featured the other three Music Builds acts -- Switchfoot, Robert Randolph & the Family Band and Jars of Clay -- all onstage with Third Day.

For a full review of Third Day check here or in the newspaper's GuideLive section on Saturday.

Photo: Third Day in a publicity shot from earlier this year (David McClister).

Swell Season --- you know, that Irish dude and the Czech woman from the movie Once -- played all the expected songs Monday night at the Palladium Ballroom. But aside from the Oscar-winning "Falling Slowly,'' most of the high points arrived during the covers: There were two Van Morrison tunes --- the show-opening "Into the Mystic" and "Astral Weeks" - Daniel Johnston's "Life in Vain" and a wacky folk-metal spin through Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River."
"If that goes up on YouTube, I'm dead,'' said singer Glen Hansard about "River."
Too late - someone already posted the remake from a previous show here.
See Wednesday's print edition for a review of the show, or check online Tuesday afternoon.

Not that there's anything wrong with it, but Neko Case's show Saturday at the Granada Theater wasn't much different than her '06 Granada gig. Like that show (which was also drew a near-capacity crowd) she focused Saturday on songs from Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, sang a nice cover of Bob Dylan's "Buckets of Rain" and wisely gave plenty of solos to pedal steel guitar ace Jon Rauhouse. The main difference was a handful of promising new tunes earmarked for her next CD - that, and her off-the-cuff joking with backup singer Kelly Hogan, including a shout-out to nearby second-hand clothing shop Buffalo Exchange.

1). At no recent ACL has the balance of the day's 60,000 festival-goers been as skewed to one side of Zilker Park as on Sunday. And Saturday, for that matter, but wait a second for that. On Sunday, 80 percent of the remaining crowd clogged the east side of the park since Foo Fighters has the final performance slot all to themselves on the AT&T Stage ... and three hours earlier, Blues Traveler (of all bands, why that one?) made the Dell Stage seem like the place to be despite horrible sound while Okkervil River put on a much more satisfying set on the park's west side on the AT&T Blue Room Stage. At one point during MGMT's performance on that same stage on Saturday, the throng was so solid all the way back to the knoll to the west of Rock Island that pedestrian flow completely stopped. Why MGMT? Who knows? Its set was about as compelling as Blues Traveler's ...

1). Gnarls Barkley. For the last performance of a four-month tour, Cee-Lo, Danger Mouse and their tux-with-silver-bowtie-sporting backing band left way too much in the dressing room. The duo's live shows are notoriously unpredictable, both in terms of quality and spontaniety (what dress will Cee-Lo perform in tonight?), and it was highly disappointing that it decided to mail things in rather than let things run amok. To be fair, Cee-Lo did sound like his voice was faltering in upper registers because of wear. But man, make up for it by doing something "Crazy", huh?

2). Neko Case. ACL just wasn't where the New Pornographer's country-folk material was going to shine, and as such, Ms. Case's playing ACL a year and a half after releasing a live album titled Live From Austin, TX was unfortunate. She sang and gestured with little enthusiasm, and her subtle and often simple and short compositions are too compact and nuanced to translate on a big stage such as the AMD Stage. A waste of time very similar to Alison Krauss and Robert Plant's turn on the same stage on Saturday, which possessed nowhere near the power and poetry that it did in an enclosed and dedicated headlinging appearance.

With only two original members left between them, the Temptations and Four Tops proved they still have standards. Newer members have taken over the leading-man roles that all "man" groups have, and it's as if the music never stopped (or time, for that matter; founding Temp Otis Williams looked and danced almost as young as his mates).

The Four Tops started the night off right, gamely jumping from song to song in a medley of hits. The very eclectic audience, young and old, black and white, clothed and, well not-so clothed, was invited to sing along on the biggest hits.

One would have thought the older-leaning crowd would be a sit-down one. But how can that be when the music is so harmonious? You see them dance and you want to, too.

1). Bizarre sight of the day: seeing a member of the grounds crew using a wet-dry vacuum to suck up standing water on the grass behind Rock Island. See: you can vacuum a lawn!

2). The Rock and Recycle volunteer cleanup crew at ACL is doing yeoman's work ... but the group's actually not doing much of the work itself. They're carrying around signs that state "ask me about a free T-shirt"; when you ask, you learn that to earn the shirt you must collect a large trash bag full of recyclable bottles and cans. The bit is working amazingly well; you can't walk for a minute without seeing a festival-goer lugging around a towering blue plastic sack while scouring the park for disposables. And until dark (when the scouring becomes impossible), Zilker Park is unbelievably free of discarded trash.

More later ... got to prepare for my breakfast date with Nicole Atkins. ;)

1). Erykah Badu. Sorry to say it, but Dallas' queen of neo-soul talked too much. After "Love of My Life," she threw down this bizarre scat solo using two curse words as anchors, then she spent three or four minutes rambing on about why the heck she named her new album New Amerykah Part One (4th World War). Something about occupation ... anyway, by that time she'd created a noticeable exodus away from the AT&T Stage. She did finish stronger with decent versions of "Tyrone" and "Honey," but she was as loose as her hair (worn down) and her garb (a smiley-face T-shirt) at ACL, and that was too loose.

2). MGMT. Though a huge crowd gathered for its set on the AT&T Blue Room Stage (read about just how big in the next post) and MGMT's live show has improved in power and tightness since South by Southwest in March, the Brooklyn electro-rock duo's music still lacks hooks, character and distinction. Neither Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden know how to work a crowd, either. Horrible, and darn near unlistenable. Maybe the crowd was so big because they were all taking a break to drink.

Saturday at the Austin City Limits Music Festival was about the groove. Well, about half the time, anyway: it seemed like half the acts were soul- and R&B-derived, and the other half were either quiet indie songwriters or country-fried rockers. Quite a contrast, and it created some conflicts. But good performances were many. The top ones:

1). Fleet Foxes. The Seattle outfit's music can be rightly dubbed ambient folk: creamy harmonies and basic instrumentation that interweaves like an aural magic dragon to create a sunny, swirling cloud of rough-hewn song. Somehow -- the early performance time of 12:30 p.m. on the AMD Stage likely had a lot to do with this -- the music coagulated into a pixie-dusted wall of delight, as if it were a soundtrack to some Legend-like fantasy movie set in rural Kentucky. It was beautiful in an overall-sporting, gap-toothed way. To top it off, the band's members were extremely loose and spontaneous with their on-stage banter. "I'm sleepy," was drummer J. Tillman's intro. "Isn't is reassuring that banks can't manage money, just like regular people?" mused keyboardist Casey Westcott. Funny stuff.

1) This year's Official Program. It's 128 pages, color-coded and exceedingly informative. The master stroke? It's pocket sized for 2008, measuring roughly 4 by 5 inches. And it's free.

2). Labor Day may have passed by a few weeks ago, but musicians are still wearing white as the color of choice. David Byrne's entire band had it on; Pharrell of N.E.R.D. paired it with red jeans and a ball cap; English blue-eyed soul dude Jamie Lidell (think Adam Levine with Buddy Holly's glasses on, and you've got him nailed) sported a white choral robe (and his bassist rocked a white 1970s-era zip-up jump suit); half of Hot Chip had all manner of white garb around. Even Gogol Bordello's bassist, Thomas Gobena, had a white beanie cap with faux dreads on to match his white sunglasses. Oh, and then there's Eugene Hutz, who's just pale by nature.

3). Quote of the day: "I don't care if you're a [expletive] Republican or a [expletive] Democrat. Just vote!" -- Pharrell of N.E.R.D. Related ironic observation: how few patrons were in the Rock Island Hideaway open wine lounge watching last night's presidential debate on the lounge's big screens. Well, people were at ACL to see music, after all ...

1) Paula Nelson. She's a thirtysomething Austinite who's trying to make a name for herself as a blues-rock singer. Only she never will make a name for herself because her dad, one Willie Nelson, has already done it for her. She's got his nasal, treble-heavy voice and his static stage presence -- almost to the point of disinterest. Neither works in blues rock, especially when the music has all the fire of a stomped-out cigarette butt. Good for a celebrity party but little else.

2). Ryan Bingham. Not because he's no good -- his easygoing and svelte alt-country is gaining quality by the month -- but because even in front of the BMI Stage, his relatively stately and quiet music was utterly ruined by N.E.R.D.'s earth-moving bass tones and David Byrne's charmingly weird but effective (and loud) take on world pop. (M. Ward had the same problem on the WaMu Stage until he went full electric after his set's first few songs).

3). Slightly Stoopid. File this one under "We didn't see it because there's no point" because we've seen it before, and there's no point seeing it again. It's jock ska that frat punks get drunk to, and nothing more. Monkey see name, monkey be name, ya know?

A'ight. Since it's been established that my smartphone now officially belongs in a museum, here's the plan: I'll post three blogs a night after each day at Austin City Limits: The good, the bad, and the lovely -- 'lovely' as in notable 'gotta love it!'-style random notes. Each blog'll have three acts or items mentioned.

So here's Day 1, the good:

1) N.E.R.D. The set to see of Day 1. If you missed it, you suck. How could you miss it; the bass was so deep it must've traveled through the earth's crust like an earthquake; the energy was so explosive it generated its own magnetic field to attract the uninitiated. "You Know What" was as taut as a drive belt on a phat-funk Porsche, and singer Pharrell wasn't a "Rock Star Poser" after that joint rumbled and a breakdancer humbled. Pharrell had 30 or 40 crowd members jumping and grinding on stage during the espionage-licked groove of "Lapdance." N.E.R.D. had everyone feeling better than James Bond; shaken and stirred.

You nailed it, Christy. My smartphone's simply not working past 3 p.m. or so at ACL, and I suspect this is why (beware: I'm about to get a little technical, music lovers)

I have an older smartphone that uses GPRS for its data transfer protocol. That's old technology; newer smartphones are using what's called "G3" protocol that's about 10 times faster (I think) than GPRS. Also, more phones with data-transfer capability -- not to mention smartphones by themselves -- are in use than ever now. And when many, many people congregate in one place with all those phones -- like 60,000 at Zilker Park for a day of ACL -- network tieups happen.

Only in my case, the tieups shut me out since I have slow technology. Last year at ACL, I had occasional connectivity problems but was able to post blogs after another try or two. This year, I can't even use the data capability because my phone can't even verify itself on its network.

So until I upgrade, I'm down and out with the live blogging and Twittering. Phooey.

The instant success of country-pop trio Lady Antebellum should serve as a lesson in Mass Marketing 101. The recipe is seamless: Take two men and one woman, make sure they're photogenic, have them harmonize just enough, gather simple, radio-ready tunes and then promote them incessantly. Whiz bang! We got ourselves a winner!

Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood performed tonight as this year's first headliners on the Chevrolet Main Stage at the State Fair of Texas in Fair Park. Backed by a three-piece band, the group offered all 11 tracks on its self-titled debut CD and a few covers, including the most tepid rendition of AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long" ever attempted.

Not that their material sounds much better. With few exceptions the cuts on that disc are generic and passionless. For a full review of Lady Antebellum check out www.guidelive.com Saturday afternoon or Sunday's GuideLive section.

Photo: Lady Antebellum in a publicity shot -- Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood (Mark Humphrey).

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In about an hour I'll be heading into Zilker Metropolitan Park for Day 1 of 2008's Austin City Limits Music Festival. And oh, what joy it shall bring. I'm not talking about the music. The lineup's actually weaker than previous years, in my opinion, especially in the realm of indie rock.

I'm talking weather: predicted highs in the high 80s, sunny and nary a chance of rain all three days of the fest. That ACL's being held two weeks later than usual is juuuust fine with me and many others in that regard.

But know this: the main reason ACL is in late September has little to do with the onset of fall. It has to do with the University of Texas Longhorns. Organizers schedule it during a week when the massively popular football team isn't in town. But Hurricane Ike messed that strategy up, since a game with the University of Arkansas two weeks ago had to be reschuedled to tomorrow. Here. In Austin.

Oh, tomorrow's gonna be no fun for the natives. (and by the way: single-day ACL tickets for Saturday are already sold out, so you horn flashers don't need to bother about doubling up your fun).

The British band Spiritualized played up its spiritual side Thursday night in a rare Dallas show at the Lakewood Theater.
Bandleader Jason Pierce hasn't shied from psychedelic rock, but he's definitely more into gospel these days: He mentioned Jesus or "my Lord" in a half-dozen songs and built most songs around two female soul singers who provided angelic backing vocals.
Look for a review in Saturday's print edition, or check online Friday afternoon.

Irish pride and punk rock collided Wednesday night during Flogging Molly's concert at House of Blues. As fans celebrated their Irish pride by drinking Guinness, running their fingers through their bright green hair, and showing off their shamrock tattoos, Flogging Molly put on an energetic and vibrant show.

The seven member band, which is on tour promoting its newest album, Float, captivated fans with new and old songs, including "Drunken Lullabies" and "Requiem for a Dying Song." At first the group's lead singer, Dublin-born David King, seemed out of place, wearing glasses, a white button-down shirt and a black tie. But really, he was all about playing. Throughout the night he strummed his guitar and sang while jumping up and down with the energy of a 5-year-old. He engaged the audience by cracking jokes in between songs and by giving shoutouts to redheads. He even dedicated the song "Whistles the Wind" to them.

St. Louis and Brass Knuckles were the themes of Nelly's concert Monday night at House of Blues. The rapper, who grew up in St. Louis, mentioned the city and self-promoted his newest CD, Brass Nuckles, during almost every song and/or shoutout. Nelly opened with his more popular tunes, such as "Country Grammar" and "Shake Your Tailfeather," but stuck to tunes from his new album most of the night.

He was never alone while performing; he usually had four singers at his side who would take turns sharing the spotlight. At one point, he invited rapper Avery Storm on stage, as well as Big Tuck, a rapper from Dallas.

Nelly sometimes interrupted his songs mid-way, saying, "hold up, hold up." He'd either start talking to the audience about his new album, or he'd say he wanted to try out a different version of the song he had been singing. At one point, for instance, he started singing his "Take a Ride Wit Me" hit but then in the middle of it softened his voice and slowed the song's pace. The changes were jarring, but they added some variety to the show.

For a full review, look in Wednesday's paper or online Tuesday evening.

(Photo by Jonathan Mannion)

The Hanson brothers put on a solid show Sunday night at the House of Blues, singing songs from their newest album, "The Walk," as well as older hits such as "MMMBop" and "Where's the Love."

Though the Hanson brothers are all grown up now, their music sounds much like it did when the band first became big more than a decade ago. The brothers still attract young, screaming girls, and their songs still have the same energy, rhythm and harmony.

Taylor did most of the talking, while brother Zach pounded away on the drums. Isaac, the oldest brother, switched guitars throughout the night and put on some impressive acoustic acts. During their more popular songs, the brothers asked the crowd to join them in singing.

MMMbop tick a ta ba do ba/dubi da ba do ba/tick a ta ba doo/yeah eh yeah ...

Look for a full review in Tuesday's paper or online Monday afternoon.

Ani DiFranco said she was thrilled to be playing Texas, but she didn't cut George Bush any slack Friday night at the Granada Theater in the title track to her new CD Red Letter Year:
"The water is rising, and representing the white race, a man with a monkey for a face is flying over in a helicopter, whistling Dixie and playing dumb."
The reference, of course, is to Hurricane Katrina - a topic Ms. DiFranco knows a lot about: She lives part of the year in New Orleans and the other part in her native New York.
See Sunday's print edition for a review of the show, or check online Saturday afternoon.