Adventures with Dr. Lady Cutie Troublemaker

It’s a big classical music weekend in Abby’s world. Forget Stars and Annuals, how about Carmina Burana and the WCPE Pledge Drive?!

Last night, Carmina Burana opened at Memorial Auditorium at the Progress Energy Center downtown. If you don’t know this piece, then you’re confused. I first heard it in the movie Excalibur, and it’s remained a popular piece for movies ever since. The North Carolina Master Chorale (including Yours Truly) is singing, and the Carolina Ballet are dancing. I am really enjoying the clever choreography, although truth be told, that guy dancing the role of the devil wandering around without a shirt has caused the soprano section to be a little fuzzy on some of our entrances. It’s REALLY distracting! The man is a machine. Muscles on top of muscles, as the kids say. Overall, the dancing is really good, and I’m so excited I get to see it so many times this weekend. It seems far from selling out. If you’re looking for something perfect to do on a rainy day or night, there are still performances Friday and Saturday nights and Saturday and Sunday matinees. Tickets.

More photos

This morning, I drove up to WCPE in Wake Forest and spent 2.5 hours answering phones for their annual pledge drive. My friend Tara is a DJ there, and I have been promising to come help for weeks. I FINALLY got around to it this morning. Very exciting stuff. If you ever listen to WCPE, do please call in and make a donation. It’s how they broadcast 24 hours a day. Even $10 is good. Online pledge form.

Listen to WCPE online.

I’d never seen Cat Power before. I’m glad I went alone. I almost didn’t go. I knew I’d have to duck out of choir early and drive to Carrboro. I bought the ticket ages ago and noone I’d mentioned it to was able to go.

Chan Marshall is a fascinating performer to watch. I saw her cold, without any knowledge of her past or her issues. I was struck by her performance style. She was simultaneously shy, intensely connected with her audience and her band, and very preoccupied with little things going on around her on the stage. As a psychologist, I don’t mean to diagnose when I’m out in the world, but sometimes it happens. Her anxiety was palpable. She frequently pulled up the back of her pants, adjusted her bra, coughed, made contact with people off stage to get her different beverages (I’m now assuming not alcohol… in fact, even at the time, I thought it seemed like they were to soothe her throat), change the levels in the monitors, etc. She never seemed comfortable in her own skin, and yet, what a woman. After reading about her on Wikipedia and watching the video that follows, I was even more amazed by what I saw:

She’s stunningly beautiful, but she wore clothing with a very minimal aesthetic: black jeans, a simple black top, no jewelry, hair in a ponytail. The only part of her outfit that drew attention were her white jazz shoes. I was reminded of the extra feature on Audrey Hepburn on my Breakfast at Tiffany’s DVD, which I just watched two nights ago. I had expected her to be older because of her voice, but on stage, she appeared to be mid to late-20s. However, I’ve looked her up, and she’s actually 35. She performs with minimal lighting, and her gigs are no photography shows (which I only learned about half an hour before leaving).

The shoes. In the low lighting, the shoes were usually the main focus. She moves constantly. in addition to the fidgeting, she moves to the audience, off to the side of the stage, and she constantly dances in a writhy, quirky way. I was expecting her to be more still because of her mellow vocal style, but she danced and traveled and approached and backed away. She talked to people off stage. She made hand motions to the sound and lighting guys. What I loved most was this slow motion running move – sort of a dance – which once again featured those white shoes. Wonderful effect!

Her ability to use her voice is something I did know about, and she didn’t disappoint. I’m not going to try and describe it. You have to listen. Such a task is something left to better writers than me. She takes well-known songs and makes them her own. Her backing band is stellar and perfectly suited to her style.

Much to do today, but I couldn’t let this experience pass by without some comment and this offering, which I took last night:

Saw Michael Franti and Spearhead last night. I have lots more excitement planned this weekend, so I’ll keep this short. The part I want to share is something I learned about Franti and his activism. He said that instead of staying home and getting “pissed off” from afar, he decided to go over to Iraq with his guitar and talk to soldiers himself. Yes, yes. I KNOW it was an “absolutely no cameras allowed show,” but you know… I’m a rebel.

Some more information:

• Franti’s frantic to figure things out (Raleigh News & Observer)
• Franti Up: Reggae artist Michael Franti lets loose on inspiring social change (Grist)
• Michael Franti got his guitar, then headed to Iraq. Any requests for anti-war music? (SF Gate)

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Unrelated to activism, a local guy named Gordon got some delightful stage time with the band:

And did I mention that Michael Franti is smokin’ hot?!

Image by Spector1

Here’s one I took last night:

Annuals have a very cool new video, and maybe, if you hunt around, you might find a way to see them perform this weekend:
Annuals – Carry Around

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Last night, I went to Cat’s Cradle to see Okkervil River. I intentionally left my camera at home. I have so many pictures left from the weekend to process, and I have so much else to do that I thought my photography habit could use a night off. Okkervil River were amazing, but I was expecting that. They sound excellent live, and I was going to say that the sound quality at the Cradle last night was better than I’ve ever heard. However, this is probably more a product of the fact that instead of standing near the stage where I can get the best pictures, I stood in the back. The sound is just better back there. The engineers are aiming to make the sounds they hear best, not the sounds just in front of the speakers. Only insane people stand there, right?!

The really nice surprise was Jonathan Meiberg. He is the keyboard player for Okkervil River, but he is also the front man for Shearwater. While the whole Shearwater band didn’t play, Jonathan Meiberg did a solo set with backing by Scott Bracket, the O.R. trumpet player. When we first walked in, I was struck that he was singing in this falsetto. It seems ballsy to use such an intimate voice in a place like Cat’s Cradle. It seemed so earnest, much like many of the crooners and even the activists of the late 50s and early 60s (or maybe Richard Thompson, if you’re looking for something a bit more contemporary). My first thought was “Either this is so cheesy and earnest that I will hate it and will be rolling my eyes soon, OR I love it.” It took about a minute to realize that this intimate, intense performance was actually very much in the second category: a truly amazing and gutsy performance. Even in the Cradle, a place generally dominated by cocktail lounge volume conversation (especially back by the sound board), the audience seemed to be listening carefully and attending to every note. The addition of the sustained trumpet over the wash of sound coming from his voice and guitar reminded me a lot of the band James’ incredible album Seven. Jonathan Meiberg moved from the first voice I heard (the intimate falsetto) to positively anthemic, passionate vocals and back again. So much emotion. It was more evocative than I’m used to when out at a local gig. This is (dare I use this word) special. It’s something to seek out and listen to over and over. It’s more than just a “Yeah, that was really good”.

JMthunking.jpg
Originally uploaded by howrad

While I was there I picked up a Shearwater CD and have been listening to it ever since. It’s really something. I’d listened to a few of their songs a while back because I saw they had some of the same members as Okkervil River and my friend Lalitree seemed to listen to them a lot on Last.FM. She was right. This is worth spending your last $12. It’s that good. Who needs groceries when you can listen to something like this:

I am posting this song so you will hear it and love it and want to buy more. I won’t leave it up long – maybe a week or so. This is a band worth supporting with dollars!