What To Do?

Busy night in Edmonton on Tuesday. I have a ticket to the Death Cab For Cutie/Franz Ferdinand show (yeah Marty!), which will be fantastic. But The Meligrove Band are also playing at The Power Plant that night. AND of course the Oilers are playing the Red Wings Tuesday night, too!!! Couldn't these people get together and figure this stuff out for us? Like...what?!

Some 2006 Artists Announced

The Folk Fest has released the names of some of this year's performers. They include:

• Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder
• Feist
• Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir
• Bruce Cockburn

The Bruc Cock-Burn announcement makes me want to gag, in case my nickname didn't give it away. The page is also missing a group that Pollstar has listed: The Holmes Brothers. Here's hoping that one is true. I can picture them at the gospel show on Sunday morning already.

Apropos Of Nothing

Can you believe that The Bends came out over 10 years ago? 11 years, 18 days to be exact. Man, that makes me feel old.

Alison Krauss and Union Station are on Austin City Limits tonight, as is Kathleen Edwards. Yummy!

***Update*** Cool! Jim Bryson played the whole set with Kathleen Edwards. Keeping it real for Ottawa!!!

It's Bigger Than Hip-Hop: Block Party

Again, another "non-folk" post. Sue me. I had this up on my sports blog, that's how much I liked this movie. It sure as hell fits in better here.

I have to recommend that everyone go out and see "Dave Chappelle's Block Party" as soon as possible. I am sorry; I currently have no other outlet to express my utter love of this movie. Filmed about a month after Chappelle recieved his $50 million dollar contract with Comedy Central, "Block Party" is an uplifting and hilarious attempt to recreate not only the community block party, but the major motion picture releases of iconic stand-up comedians like Richard Pryor. Not only is Chappelle at his finest, but the cast of musicians is a veritable orgy of hip-hop and R&B talent. Almost every single one of my favorite hip-hop/R&B acts perform in this movie: The Roots (whose drummer, ?uestlove, was the musical director for the movie), Mos Def, Common, Kanye West, Talib Kweli, John Legend, Jill Scott, Dead Prez, Erykah Badu, and a reunited Fugees. I suppose if you aren't a fan of hip-hop this might not be your cup of tea, but I think the music, enthusiasm and sense of community will transcend personal tastes. Personally, my only complaint was that the movie ended. I wanted these artists--and it is very clear from watching this movie that these people take their art very seriously--to perform forever. Seeing and hearing the Central State University marching band belt out Kanye West's "Jesus Walks" (I am dying for an audio file of this one), Erykah Badu and Jill Scott interweave their heavenly voices on "You Got Me", Mos Def and Chappelle work the crowd like Martin and Lewis, Dead Prez drop the beat for some serious science on "Hip Hop", along with a still-fragile Lauryn Hill bringing tears to people's eyes with "Killing Me Softly", made my heart soar. It's too bad that Chappelle has disappeared from the pop-culture scene, but he can be damn proud of this movie. I am sure to watch it about another hundred times, and I hope you find the time to check it out, too.

March Playlist

I used to do this on my old blog, and since my new baby isn't up and running yet, I thought I would throw it up here. Sure, it's not folk music, but it's music, right?

And before anyone challenges my Bell Biv Devoe choice, watch this. Now try and second-guess me, sucka!

I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor- Arctic Monkeys
Seven Nation Army-Audioslave
Runaway-Bon Jovi
Dirty Harry-Gorillaz
Definition-Black Star
Bedda At Home-Jill Scott
Used to Love U-John Legend
Poison-Bell Biv Devoe
Easy Way To Cry-David Gray
Call on Me-Eric Prydz
Smile Like You Mean It-David Gray
40 Years-Counting Crows
Tear You Apart-She Wants Revenge
The Widow-The Mars Volta
Tessie-Dropkick Murphys
Tessie-Harry Macdonough
Asshole-Dennis Leary
Lazy Sunday-Chris Parnell & Andy Samberg

More To Follow

I have placed a whole bunch of links on the right side of the page. Check them out. We should have a new look and some new content up on this site soon. In the meantime, for the 12 people who will come by this site before August, go check out Heather Browne's I Am Fuel, You Are Friends site. It's awesomeness will make you mind-numbingly jealous.