Monday, 18 August 2008
Spotlight 29 Casino Welcomes Etta James and the Roots Band With Tower of Power
COACHELLA, Calif., Aug. 15 -- Call it a idle words concert. No
wait, a blues show. Maybe it's a funk crush. What label do you put on a usher
that stars legendary artists Etta James and Tower of Power? How around "the
concert of the year?"
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080815/LAF515)
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050203/LATH047LOGO)
Spotlight 29 Casino is proud to welcome multiple Grammy winner, Rock n'
Roll Hall of Fame inductee and legendary blues artist Etta James and the
Roots Band on September 27. Also appearing are special guests Tower of
Power, the band critics call "the premiere bastion of true soul and blue funk in
modern music," wHO are on their fortieth anniversary tour.
James' distinguished career spans five decades, making her a true
legend in the recording industry. She is a three-time Grammy award winner,
NARAS Lifetime Achievement, Rhythm & Blues Foundation Pioneer awardee and
W.C. Handy Blues Foundation honoree, and even has her possess star on the
Hollywood Walk Of Fame.
James has an unbelievable list of landmark hits to her credit, including
her signature tune, "At Last," along with "All I Could Do Was Cry," "My
Dearest Darling," "Trust In Me," "Something's Got A Hold On Me," "Tell
Mama," "Fool That I Am" and "Don't Cry Baby." In the 1960s, she had a run
of charting records that ranked her as one of the most prolific female R&B
vocalists of her era.
James was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1993, and two
years by and by, she won her first Grammy, after nine premature nominations. Her
second Grammy came in 2003 and her third in 2005 in the Traditional Blues
Album class for the album Blues to the Bone.
With 40 years of recording and touring experience, critics still come to
to Tower of Power as "a very contemporary sounding striation." With a sound that
is hard to describe and topper just experient, Tower of Power blends jazz,
casimir Funk, rock and soul in a way no group ever has.
Formed in San Francisco during the city's psychedelic era, Tower of
Power has toured and recorded with the industry's top name calling, including
Elton John, Smokey Robinson, Rod Stewart and Dionne Warwick, and has
influenced countless others across generations. The band continues to sell
stunned venues across North America, Europe and Japan, drawing old and new
fans, who will often project their vacations around a Tower of Power concert.
Today the band is fronted by founders Emilio Castillo and Stephen "Doc"
Kupka, along with Francis Rocco Prestia, David Garibaldi, Larry Braggs,
Roger Smith, Tom E. Politzer, Adolfo Acosta, Michael (Iron Mike) Bogart and
Mark Harper.
Tickets for Etta James and the Roots Band with Tower of Power ar $85,
$75, $65 and $55 and are available now at Spotlight29.com and at the
Spotlight 29 Casino Gift Shop or by calling (800) 585-3737. Show time is 8
p.m.
Put the spotlight on sport at Spotlight 29 Casino, the Coachella Valley's
most exciting place to play. Spotlight 29 Casino is a business venture of
the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians. Turn it on at
http://www.Spotlight29.com.
Contact:
Paul Speirs, Steinbeck Communications
(702) 413-4278, paulspeirs@cox.net
More info
Friday, 8 August 2008
One Self
Artist: One Self
Genre(s):
Electronic
Rap: Hip-Hop
Discography:
Children Of Possibility
Year: 2005
Tracks: 11
Bluebird
Year: 2005
Tracks: 4
 
Chris Rock to make Irish debut
Tuesday, 1 July 2008
Two former conductors to help Northwest Chamber Chorus celebrate 40 years
A 40th anniversary is a major milestone for any arts organization — perhaps more so for one composed entirely of volunteers, like the venerable Northwest Chamber Chorus.
"There have never been any paid members," says University of Washington music professor Steven Demorest, who served as the group's director from 1996 to 2005. "And the musicianship is quite high, really top quality."
So when Mark Kloepper, the Northwest Chamber Chorus' fourth music director in as many decades, invited past directors Demorest and Joan Catoni Conlon to guest-conduct a portion of a 40th-anniversary program this weekend, they happily accepted.
"I was thrilled to be invited back," admits Conlon, a renowned choral scholar at the University of Colorado, Boulder. "It's always a joy to make music with people who love to make music. And it's exciting to see the choir in good hands."
Conlon directed the ensemble for 24 years, from 1971 to 1995. She started out as an alto with the group that local composer and early-music expert Peter Seibert first gathered in 1968. When Seibert left to concentrate on other projects, the choir reorganized and chose for its new director Conlon, who was a doctoral student in choral music at the UW School of Music.
Conlon has many fond memories of her long tenure with the choir. Not only did she meet her husband, Frank Conlon, there, but the group helped her premiere five Telemann cantatas that she discovered in Europe during her doctoral studies.
While there is no new Telemann on the 40th-anniversary program, there is a world premiere. Kloepper, now in his second year as director, commissioned Portland composer Joan Szymko's "Carpe Diem" for the occasion — a heady experience: "I don't know what it's like to be pregnant, but it must be like hiring someone to write a piece of music for you. Such an astonishing, lustrous thrill! The piece is so expressive, with very contrasting sections, some really rhythmic stuff and some really romantic parts."
All three conductors wax deeply passionate about the highlights on the program, including unaccompanied pieces by Scarlatti, Rheinberger, Randall Thompson and Alice Parker, among others.
A noted Monteverdi scholar, Conlon chose the Italian composer's "Ecco momorar l'onde" because it "distills all of Monteverdi's compositional craft." For his guest stint, Demorest picked a personal favorite, Rachmaninoff's "Bogoroditse Devo."
"The Rachmaninoff was the first piece I ever conducted with [the Northwest Chamber Chorus]. I auditioned with it." Widely considered the Russian Orthodox version of "Ave Maria," this choral gem is a Christmastime staple, but its appeal transcends seasons. "There's a peaceful, prayerful start," Demorest explains, "that crescendos to a passionate outcry."
Kloepper says the anniversary program showcases the Northwest Chamber Chorus' historical strengths and also points to its future. A couple dozen alums will be called onstage to join the current ensemble of 39, which still includes two original members (Dina Myers and Wendy Roedell).
"The whole program reflects where I want to go with the chorus. Steve's doing a big late-19th-century Russian piece. Joan is doing a 400-year-old Italian madrigal. Two very different styles. That's exactly what I love about this chorus: that we can step gracefully from one style to the other."
Sumi Hahn: sumi@bewodo.org
See Also
Thursday, 19 June 2008
Ricardo Arjona
Artist: Ricardo Arjona
Genre(s):
Latin
Pop
Rock
Other
Folk
Discography:
Quien dijo Ayer (cd2)
Year: 2007
Tracks: 13
Quien dijo Ayer (cd1)
Year: 2007
Tracks: 16
Mis Mejores Lentos
Year: 2006
Tracks: 16
Adentro
Year: 2006
Tracks: 16
Santo Pecado (with Bonus CD)
Year: 2002
Tracks: 14
Vivo
Year: 1999
Tracks: 16
Sin Danos a Terceros
Year: 1998
Tracks: 14
Si El Norte Fuera El Sur
Year: 1996
Tracks: 14
Ineditas
Year: 1994
Tracks: 12
Historias
Year: 1994
Tracks: 14
Jesus Verbo No sustantivo
Year: 1993
Tracks: 10
Galeria Caribe
Year: 1993
Tracks: 19
Dejame Decir Que Te Amo
Year: 1993
Tracks: 9
Animal Nocturno
Year: 1993
Tracks: 12
En Vivo
Year:
Tracks: 16
Guatemalan singer/songwriter Ricardo Arjona is one of the more than respected Latin artists, largely for his social conscience and his integrity in writing and playing songs. Born in Antigua, he was interested in music from an early age merely later distinct to go a rural schoolteacher. He besides played basketball for the Guatemalan national squad, simply continued to play his guitar and compose songs in his spare meter. After realizing that music was his unmatchable truthful passion, he stirred to Mexico City; once there, he began looking for a record contract and played at many pupil festivals, increasing his status as a protest isaac Merrit Singer.
Arjona eventually launch a narrow through PolyGram, merely the label attempted to market him as a Latin-lover type on his debut album, Dejame Decir Que Te Amo (Let Me Say I Love You). Predictably, the record album failed, and Arjona spent the adjacent pentad age didactics and from time to time composition songs recorded by other artists. He touched to Buenos Aires, began playing once again, and soon returned to the transcription sphere with corporeal more suited to his experiences as a protestation singer, viz. "Jesus Christ Verbo No Sustantivo," a controversial strain about his experiences at a Catholic school as a baby. It gained him a abbreviate with Sony, which released many of his nigh popular albums, including Brute Nocturno. Adentro, released in late 2005, was nominative for a 2006 Grammy in the Latin Pop Album category.
Mike Ness
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Mumba voted out of Dancing on Ice
She left the show last night after the judges chose to save javelin thrower Steve Backley, following the skate-off after the public vote.
Mumba said afterwards: "I've really enjoyed myself. This is something I'm going to keep up."
Meanwhile, 'Coronation Street' star Zaraah Abrahams has joined the show as a contestant, following the departure of injured television presenter Michael Underwood.