In a brilliantly uplifting solo performance, singer-songwriter Chris Pierce brought songs of hope, tragedy, and redemption to Bellingham’s Mt. Baker Theatre on a beautiful Saturday evening. Fresh off a summer opening gig tour with Neil Young (more on that later), Pierce was wrapping up a West coast tour supporting his newest album, Let All Who Will (Friends at Work/Downtown Distribution).
ZZ Ward recently visited 9:30 Club for a show on her One Hell of a Night Tour with opener Jaime Wyatt! Steve Satzberg was there to photograph the show.
Mac McCaughan is unquestionably one of the most influential gentlemen in music, and his impact has been two-fold as co-founder of Merge Records and as the leader of Superchunk, the band he helped form in Chapel Hill back in the late ’80s.
As most longtime fans know, the record label was launched as a channel for the music of Superchunk, but in an incredible story of determination and perseverance, the business gradually grew to include music from all over the globe and eventual Grammy-winning artists.
While it’s been through numerous personnel changes over the years, Superchunk’s got a dozen studio albums to its name and impressively continues to grow its fan base more than 30 years after starting out.
30 Years of Black Cat: Where the Magic Happens
Pictures by Nalinee Darmrong
Words by Mickey McCarter
DC night club Black Cat recently celebrated 30 years of booking bands, and it was a reminder that the club is a place where magic happens. The music hall, for example, can summon back a beloved ’90s band for a reunion show as it did for shoegazers Velocity Girl, who surprised aficionados nationally with their return to the stage this past weekend to headline the second night of Black Cat anniversary celebrations.
Industrial pioneers Stabbing Westward recently visited Baltimore Soundstage, and Katherine Gaines was there to photograph the show.
During James Taylor’s first set at Wolf Trap last week, Ari Strauss (who shot the photos accompanying this post) leaned over to me and remarked that he hadn’t been aware of just how funny Taylor really is. Taylor is, indeed very funny, and charming, and seems like a genuinely good guy: He embraced and shook hands with his band members as he introduced them over the course of the set, and there appeared to be real affection. During the intermission, he signed autographs for folks in the first couple of rows.
It’s easy to see why James was (and still is) an object of desire for so many women, including his former wife, fellow singer-songwriter Carly Simon. He’s always been attractive, and with age has just come more dignity and gravitas. It doesn’t hurt that he’s quite tall. He writes great, emotional songs, many of which have become modern classics. With his talent, looks, intelligence, and charm, he’s got appeal.
On Labor Day weekend, the Appaloosa Roots Music Festival was the place to be in the Blue Ridge Mountains for listening to music and dancing the days away.
The festival is held in “a town for all seasons” — Front Royal, Virginia, at Skyline Ranch Resort, which is only one hour from Washington, DC.
Cigarettes After Sex put on a beautifully aesthetic performance at The Anthem last weekend, and the band left the crowd in awe.
30 Years of Black Cat: Brotherhood in Music
Pictures by Nalinee Darmrong
Words by Mickey McCarter
The Black Cat is a DC institution that is more than merely a night club. It is a communal space where all who share it become brothers and sisters, at least for a night — or an entire weekend in the case of the music hall’s recent two-night 30th anniversary celebration.
In true Black Cat fashion, the weekend consisted of storied musicians and irrepressible personalities pulling double or triple duty as they served as essential parts of the glue that bonds together the Black Cat community. Case in point: The big draw performances of power poppers Ex Hex and post hardcore punks Gray Matter on the first night of the weekend celebration.
Twenty years after their first live performance, the Arctic Monkeys are still the most honest guys throwing cool looks at you from across the floor at the indie discotheque.
Their talent and their easy breezy capacity to hold the rapt attention of a stadium of 20,000 people was a testament to that fact when frontman Alex Turner and company performed recently at Merriweather Post Pavilion, located just outside of DC.
