NZ’s first ska music festival set for early next year
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- NZ’s first ska music festival set for early next year
- Patti Smith: Concerts and Music Events on washingtonpost.com’s…
- Rebel’s Requiem: The Legacy of Joe Strummer Five Years n
- ‘Mind Control’ for the people
NZ’s first ska music festival set for early next year
stuff.co.nz – Dec 31, 2007
Toots and Grooves featuring a showcase of about 40 New Zealand acts has been set down for January 25 and 26 at Tatum Park just south of Levin in Horowhenua. Ska music which originated in Jamaica as a precursor to reggae is dance music based around the offbeat. It saw its biggest popularity with the two tone movement in England in the late 1970s with bands such as The Specials and Madness. Festival organiser Philipp Jaser said there had been a growing interest in ska music in New Zealand with more bands emerging in the last 10 years than before. "I'm not hoping to make money out of this festival – it's just really time for it. "He just wanted to get the festival started see it grow from there Mr Jaser said.
Patti Smith: Concerts and Music Events on washingtonpost.com’s…
Washington Post – Dec 31, 2007
“My Blakean Year” for instance was embellished with words about human hearts and peace and love and mercy. Forever the provocateur Smith even prefaced the song with an ad-libbed verse about the District’s campaign for statehood. Nodding to the news of the day Smith also addressed the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in an apparently improvised spoken-word piece set to buzzing music. Smith took lyrical liberties too with pieces that weren’t her own. “) Here a downshifted version of Nirvana’s raging anthem “Smells Like Teen Spirit” included a few extra words about its author Kurt Cobain. And a dramatic cover of the Jimi Hendrix classic “Are You Experienced?” included a poetic flourish in which Smith referenced Pinocchio the belly of the whale human flowers and tiger maulings… “)The set was heavy on borrowed material but that was to be expected: Smith’s most recent album “Twelve” is nothing but covers. But she dipped into her own catalogue for more than a few songs including her best-known original “Because the Night” (co-written with Bruce Springsteen) and 1975’s “Redondo Beach” whose juxtaposition of a jaunty reggae groove and lyrics that lament the suicide of a girlfriend is still jarring all these years later. Backed by guitarists Lenny Kaye and her son Jackson Smith drummer Jay Dee Daugherty and bassist-keyboardist Tony Shanahan Smith didn’t rock with the sustained intensity one might expect from the godmother of punk. In fact there was a stunning quietude to some of her material such “Ghost Dance” and the jazzy torch song “We Three. “I’m sorry — I have become a folk singer” she said by way of introducing “Beneath the Southern Cross” which indeed began as a loping acoustic waltz built around the strummy guitars of Smith and her longtime collaborator Kaye. But the song eventually picked up velocity volume and electricity turning into something more muscular as Smith howled into the microphone while Jackson Smith fired a volley of scorching Southern-blues licks on his guitar.
Rebel’s Requiem: The Legacy of Joe Strummer Five Years n
Dissident Voice – Dec 31, 2007
For Joe Strummer the Clash-man who died five years ago last week (December 22nd) at age 50 that is exactly what?s happened. In 2007 alone we?ve seen an exhibit dedicated to the Clash at the Rock ?n? Roll Hall of Fame a magnificently authoritative biography from friend and journalist Chris Salewicz and the long awaited (however problematic) Julien Temple documentary The Future is Unwritten. And of course Strummer?s music is used to sell everything from cell-phones to cars; the true mark of a rock ?n? roll icon. There?s no doubt that Joe deserves every drop of praise for his contributions to popular music and culture. But for those of us moved by his call that ?anger can be power? it?s hard to take the flash-and-fanfare seriously. The pop-music myth-makers love dead rock stars. Dead men can?t argue and in the case of Joe can?t protest while their legacy and message are picked apart and made safe for consumption… During the miners? bitter strike against the Thatcher government the Clash were among the many acts that lent support and played benefits for the National Miners Union. These types of events were standard fare for Strummer. ne of the last shows he played with his new band the Mescaleros (where he famously reunited with Jones onstage) was also a benefit for the British Fire Brigades Union. This might be one of the most truly outrageous things about Strummer being claimed by the likes of Blair. Joe?s entire catalog rails against Blair?s ilk. ne of the last songs he ever recorded was a collaboration with reggae legend Jimmy Cliff. ?ver the Border? combines the righteous swagger of reggae with a steadfast punk outrage and directs both against the horrors of war.
‘Mind Control’ for the people
Jamaica Gleaner – Dec 31, 2007
The same is true for the Reggae Category in which five Jamaicans have been singled out. Those in contention for the category of Best Reggae.
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