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Interview: Cyndi Lauper (@ Wolf Trap, 6/1/16)

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Cyndi Lauper (Photo by Chapman Baehler)

The inimitable Cyndi Lauper will soon launch a tour in support of her new album, Detour, a collection of covers of country songs, due out this Friday, May 6, via Sire Records.

For seven dates on that tour, including a stop at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Va., on Wednesday, June 1, Cyndi will share a stage with another icon of pop music in the 1980s — Boy George, lead singer of Culture Club.

Earlier this week, Cyndi held a telephone press conference with several music and arts reporters to chat about her new album and the tour. The following transcript has been edited for brevity and focus.

Q: Can you tell us how you came to record an album of country classics?

Cyndi Lauper: These covers and this time in country music are very closely linked to R&B, which is very closely linked to the birth of rock and roll. So it’s the foundation of everything I sing. When I was a kid, these songs were pop songs — Patsy Cline was on the radio, Loretta Lynn was on the radio. We had three radio stations! They were on the radio.

Sports Park: D.C. United vs. New York City FC @ RFK Stadium, 5/8/16

UnitedvNYFC

Season Record: 2-4-3 (10 points)

After a win against New England at home and a draw on the road against Chicago, your D.C. United have moved up to 5th place.

They next play New York City FC this Sunday. Both squads are tied with the exact same record.

Fabian Espindola and Álvaro Saborio lead the team with three goals each. I predict they both net a goal this Sunday!

D.C. United are riding high, so they should have no problem taking down New York.

Get your tickets here. Get them now!

 

Audacious Assertion: United 3, NYC FC 1

(My picks so far: 1-0)

 

Or find a future game from the season schedule.

MLS: New York City FC at D.C. United
RFK Stadium
Sunday, May 8, 2016
7:30pm
$20-55
All ages

Music Park: The Residents @ 9:30 Club — 4/29/16

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The Residents perform at the 9:30 Club on Friday, April 29, 2016. (Photo by Crystal Dunn – http://www.ladyvile.com)

Prior to their show at the 9:30 Club Friday night, I have previously seen The Residents perform live on only one other occasion. This was at the George Washington University Lisner Auditorium back in 1990, and it was for The King and Eye Tour.

I have been a longtime if sporadically engaged fan since the 1980s, having discovered the group through my interest of the Swiss band Yello. The Residents’ record label, Ralph Records, was the source of a lot of wonderfully strange music back in the early 1980s. In addition to the first two Yello LPs, their roster also included releases by Renaldo and the Loaf, Snakefinger, and Tuxedomoon.

The catalog insert inside of my copy of the “Claro Que Si” LP led me straight to Residents fandom. This was a period of near-fanatic record collecting for me, accompanied by some of the most memorable live performance that I have witnessed. It was in that same period of time that Lisner also hosted Laurie Anderson, The The, and an amazingly rare performance by David Sylvian. These were the kind of shows and the kind of creatively unbounded music I saw myself pursuing as I grew with the music scene — intricate, thought-provoking, cinematic, and ambitious. Seeing The Residents at the 9:30 Club this past weekend, a seated show that offered a cerebral experience, helped me reminisce about the heyday of “new music,” prior to grunge and hip hop’s reset of popular sensibility to digestible rock and roll idolatry.

Don’t Miss: Bloc Party @ Echostage, 5/19/16

Bloc Party 2015Bloc Party (Photo Credit: Rachael Wright)

Bloc Party comes to you via Echostage on Thursday, May 19th, touring with a new album, a new line-up and a new sound. The sound is quieter and personal, that according to Kele Okereke, “I wanted to make something more sensual, that took you in and hugged you”.

Hymns, Bloc Party’s fifth album, is indeed a departure from the rough and ready rock anthems they’ve put out over the course of their 16-year career.

Bloc Party started in London in 1999 and comprises Kele Okereke (vocals, guitar), Russell Lissack (guitar), Justin Harris (bass) and Louise Bartle (drums). After their last album, Four, released in 2013, they took a two-year break. Two band members left and Justin and Louise joined the founders, Kele and Russell.

Although, I haven’t listened to the full album, the songs I have listened to in Hymns are an interesting experiment that explores themes of grace and spirituality.

“Virtue” (which I will call the video with the ‘Smurfs’), takes listeners down a path “back to ruin”.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0TZt8NvGD0]

“The Love Within” explores the influence of religion on Kele’s songwriting. One influence for the song was Stevie Wonder, who said “…the nature of religion wasn’t about god, or allah, it’s about handing yourself over and making space for the divine.”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta2g5AcA4aU]

Of course, Bloc Party should also be ready to play their classic songs, like “Banquet” and “Helicopter” from Silent Alarm.

Get your tickets now!

Bloc Party
w/ The Vaccines, Oscar
Echostage
Thursday, May 19
Doors @ 7:00pm
$35
All ages

Music Park: Amanda X @ Black Cat — 4/30/16

Amanda X 11 Amanda X perform at the Black Cat on Saturday, April 30, 2016.

Rockers Amanda X have popped down to DC from Philadelphia a few times in recent years, usually to appear with nationally touring bands that find them an appealing opener.

Wherever they go, you should definitely give them a listen!

Most recently, Amanda X visited the Black Cat on Saturday to open for The Thermals, another trio with a penchant for lo-fi guitars. I think this was the first time Amanda X visited DC since the release of a two-song EP, Hundreds and Thousands, via Self Aware Records last September. And it was certainly the first with their new drummer.

Ticket Giveaway: VinoFest @ Yards Park, 5/7/16

Jonathan Batiste and Stay Human
Jon Batiste and Stay Human (Photo courtesy VinoFest)

VinoFest, the DC metro’s top festival for bringing together music and wine, returns for a third year this Saturday, May 7, from 3-10pm at Yards Park. And you have a chance to win a pair of tickets to go with Parklife DC!

VinoFest DC Wine and Music Festival has been at a different location each year so far, first at Union Market, then at Storey Park, but its new home in the attractive and well-maintained Yards Park is the best location for the festival yet! Yards Park is big, clean, and easily accessible by public transportation.

The 2016 edition of VinoFest also features its most ambitious music lineup to date, with the likes of The Original Wailers, Jon Batiste and Stay Human, and Trouble Funk, among others, providing the festival’s entertainment! And of course, guests enjoy eight 2-ounce wine tastings from a selection of 20+ vineyards with their admission.

Here is the full VinoFest music lineup:

  • Jon Batiste and Stay Human
  • The Original Wailers
  • Trouble Funk
  • Paperhaus
  • Tigers are Bad for Horses
  • Anastasia Antoinette

You can buy tickets online, but Parklife DC is giving you a chance to win a pair of general admission tickets right now!

For your chance to win these tickets, simply leave a comment on this post using a valid email address between now and 5pm on Wednesday, May 4. Feel free to leave any comment, but perhaps share your favorite song from the festival musicians! One entry per email address, please. Tickets for VinoFest are also available online.

For the rules of this giveaway…

Comments will close on Wednesday, May 4, at 5pm, and we will randomly select a winner. The winner will be notified by email. The winner must respond to our email within 24 hours, or they will forfeit their tickets and we will pick another winner.

Tickets will be available to the winner at the check-in desk at VinoFest 2016. The tickets must be claimed with a valid ID. The winner must be old enough to drink (21+ years of age as of Friday, May 6). You can see the full list of wine offerings on the VinoFest Eventbrite page.

Good luck!

VinoFest
Yards Park
Saturday, May 7
3-10pm
General admission $55
VIP $99
21+

Music Park: Suuns @ DC9 — 4/27/16

Suuns 10 Suuns perform at DC9 on Wednesday, April 27, 2016.

The song starts with a low hum that rises, but not too high. The beat hits a skip-along gait, but the song remains ominous in tone. Vocalist Ben Shemie starts softly singing? talking? chanting? into his microphone.

As the song winds down, just when you thought it might get truly going, Ben repeats an end mantra, “Do it… Do it…” and with those words Suuns begin their show at DC9 on Wednesday, April 27.

Snapshots: John Congleton and The Nighty Nite @ DC9 — 4/27/16

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John Congleton and The Nighty Nite perform at DC9 on April 27, 2016. (Photo by Mickey McCarter)

Renowned producer John Congleton won a Grammy for producing the fourth studio album by St. Vincent in 2014, and he also produced the latest effort from Suuns, a dark neo-psych group from Montreal. Suuns launched a tour, and John jumped onboard as the opening act, including a stop at DC9 on Wednesday.

Not one to stick to any one thing, John also has been a recording artist, notably as a musician in the Texas band The Paper Chase. He has a new project with his former The Paper Chase bandmate Jason Garner called John Congleton and The Nighty Nite, and the duo released an album, Until the Horror Goes, on April 1 via Fat Possum Records. In concert on Wednesday, they performed songs from the album with John on vocals and guitar and Jason on synthesizer.

Don’t Miss: Parquet Courts @ 9:30 Club, 5/12/16

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Parquet Courts (Photo by Ben Rayner)

Parquet Courts clearly feel the creative urge to be on the move and make new music—and that shows through in the immediacy of the band’s live performances.

In 2014, the New York post-punk quartet released two albums in a single year. Hardly pausing to take a breath, Parquet Courts released their latest, Human Performance, on April 8 via Rough Trade. Upon the album’s release, Parquet Courts immediately launched a tour, and they are coming to the 9:30 Club on Thursday, May 12 to play a show for us!

The band have issued singles from the album like “Berlin Got Blurry” and “Dust” like challenges set to the beat of a punk Western. The songs on the album are insanely catchy.

Watch the official music video for “Berlin Got Blurry” on YouTube:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv0bBjMc6FY]

Vocalists and guitarists Andrew Savage and Austin Brown, along with bassist Sean Yeaton and drummer Max Savage, call Human Performance “their finest record,” and critics agree.

“Human Performance is the moment where they jump to another level, where they find powerful and particular ways to express weirdly universal sentiments that you don’t often hear in music,” said Stereogum.

New York punk rock quartet B Boys open for Parquet Courts. Tickets are available online!

Note this is an early show. Man, 9:30 Club has been busy lately with the doubling up of early shows and late shows lately!

Parquet Courts
w/ B Boys
9:30 Club
Thursday, May 12
Doors @6pm
$20
All ages

Interview: Jack Tatum of Wild Nothing @ Black Cat, 5/11/16

Jack Tatum
Jack Tatum of Wild Nothing (Photo by Shawn Brackbill)

In February, Wild Nothing released a new album via Captured Tracks — Life of Pause, the band’s third after Nocturne in 2012. Wild Nothing is the brainchild of Jack Tatum, a Virginia native who now lives in Los Angeles, and he took inspiration from some fresh sources on the new album. Although Wild Nothing is still very much a dreampop act, Jack was very influenced by Philadelphia soul music when crafting the record.

Critics hailed the album as a shift in sound for Wild Nothing, with NME calling it a “significant step.” Jack and Wild Nothing are touring in support of the album, and they visit the Black Cat in DC on Wednesday, May 11. (I am excited to report that their opener is Charlie Hilton of Blouse, touring solo without her own dreampop bandmates!) Tickets are available online.

Parklife DC chatted with Jack about his inspirations, his touring process, and being true to yourself. Me being me, we also chatted a little about David Bowie.