Every Sunday afternoon we have FREE live music in our Gypsy Lounge. Shows start at 2 pm and run until about 3:30 pm. All events including music and art are open to the public.
Sunday, April 20, 2008. 2:00-3:30 PM. Admission: FREE
"Utah Green sings like some kind of torn and frayed mountain angel born of a long forgotten backwoods American town. Her music is quixotic, but purely genuine, and simultaneously modern and ancient. If you listen closely, it resonates and makes the outside world go quiet for a moment." -Kevin Calabro / HYENA Records.
Sunday, April 27, 2008. 2:00-3:30 PM. Admission: FREE
Three great local musicians have teamed to create this new band, Spirit Driven, a mix of blues, roots, and afro-beat. Carol Marley, TJ Reddy, and Chris Givens mix the African kalimba, mandolin, banjo and other instruments to celebrate the ancestry and traditions of various cultures.
Sunday, May 4, 2008. 2:00-3:30 PM. Admission: FREE
Multiple award winner Phyllis Tanner-Frye is "turning the heads of fellow songwriters in the Carolinas... she creates beautiful & mysterious tapestries in song."- eFolk Society
"Bluesy Lowcountry folk...... I can't take this CD out of my player."- WQFS Radio
2007 10th Annual North Carolina Songwriters Showcase * 2007 Independent Music Awards * 2005 Woody Guthrie Festival Songwriting Award * 2004 Great American Song Contest * 2004 Official Showcase, Southwest Folk Alliance Conference * 2002 Mountain Valley Arts Festival Songwriting Award * 2001 Suwannee Springfest Songwriting Award
Live Music: Mexican Karaoke with El Reilero. cumbia, bolero, ranchera, banda
Sunday, May 11, 2008. 2:00 PM. Admission: FREE
Bring your mom to hear and/or participate in Mexican Karaoke with El Reilero who's been singing in the Charlotte area throughout the Mexican community for years. El Reilero will sing Mexican songs and if you wish to sing along....well...he'll have the words on the screen. Great way to practice your Spanish!!
Live Music Concert: Legendary anti-folk singer LACH w/Erika Blatnik
Sunday, May 18th, 2008. 2:00-5:00 PM. Admission: FREE
LACH is one of the pioneers of the anti-folk movement that spawned well-known artists including Beck, Regina Spektor, The Moldy Peaches, Michelle Shocked, King Missile and Paleface. The British magazine Time Out London has dubbed Lach “NYC’s living legend,” placing him alongside Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett and The New York Dolls as an important creative force in folk and rock music.
Lach and musical co-conspirators Roger Manning, Kirk Kelly and Cindy Lee Berryhill attempted to get their feet in the door of the old Greenwich Village folk scene of the early 1980s, but they were criticized for their aggressive, punk-inspired style of playing.
Determined, the ragtag group established their own folk scene in Manhattan’s East Village, known more for its punk and experimental rock bands than for acoustic music.In the years since, Lach has remained an underground hero, committed to hosting anti-folk events in New York City, as the scene has spawned several stars, the biggest being Beck. Lach’s five albums include Contender (1991), the critically acclaimed “Blang!” (1999) and 2007’s “The Calm Before.”
Voted Creative Loafing Charlotte's 2007 Best Female Vocalist, Indie-folk singer ERIKA BLATNIK'S smart, jaunty songs, stream-of-conscious lyrics and child-like voice make for music reminiscent of freak-folk chanteuse Joanna Newsome. With forceful confessional lyrics and a rapid-fire vocal delivery that rivals the speed of Guinness record-holding rappers Bone Thugs N Harmony, Erika's performances are electric!
Don't miss one of Charlotte's best young songwriters!
Live Music Concert: Ivy Sky and the Tyndall Effect alternative, Indie, pop
Sunday, May 25, 2008. 2:00-3:30 PM. Admission: FREE
Beth Brown, formerly of bands Pinkwood Flat, Lesthan Stellar, The Chimes, & DayStar, started experimenting and the world of Ivy Sky was born. Heavily influenced by the likes of Tori Amos, Kate Bush, Cat Power, Lisa Germano, Beth Orton, Elliott Smith and Nick Drake, Ivy Sky offers a confessional and intimate glimpse into a haunting and ethereal world of memorable melodies and poppy hooks.
Live Music Concert: The African Mbira with Dr. Williams and Adam Snow
Sunday, June 1, 2008. 2:00-3:30 PM. Admission: FREE
Adam Snow, drummer for Green Light, and Dr. Michael Williams, vocalist and mbira player for BataMbira, will share the exotic, magical sounds of the African mbira dzavadzimu.
Dr. Williams is active as a performer and clinician in both symphonic and world music. He is Associate Editor (world percussion) for Percussive Notes magazine and Professor of Music and Director of Percussion Studies at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina. His 2005 CD recording, BataMbira, with Grammy-nominated percussionist and producer Michael Spiro, has been featured on National Public Radio, The Voice of America, and other broadcasts nationwide.
The Zezuru tribes of the Shona people of Zimbabwe have played the beautiful melodies of the mbira for thousands of years at religious rituals, royal courts, and social occasions. The mbira is believed to serve as a sacred medium for communicating with ancestral spirits.
The show will consist of two sets: one featuring all traditional Shona pieces and the other featuring arrangements of western folk tunes. This will be a unique opportunity to hear music performed on instruments you don't hear everyday!
OPENING RECEPTION: Pre-Colombian Inspired Mural by Andean Artist Carlos Herrera Burgos along with Latin-American music by Ecuadorean guitarist Jaime Guevara.
Carlos has created the 20 foot mural thanks to a grant from the Charlotte Arts & Science Council (ASC). Born in Peru, self-taught artist Carlos has
expressed his childhood memories and Andean love
through his art. The mural features a mesh of Aztec, Olmen, Toltec, Incan and Mayan imagery.
Carlos has exhibited and won several awards in Chile
and Peru. The moveable mural is for sale and available at Pura Vida Worldly Art through July.
Live Music Concert: Caleb Caudle and the Bayonets rock, soul, Americana
Sunday, June 08, 2008. 2:00-3:30 PM. Admission: FREE
"Red Bank Road, the shockingly brilliant debut album by Caleb Caudle - there is not a bad song, not a misstep, anywhere to be found. There is a free and fresh quality of their songs which transcends classification. What can be heard are urgent, well-instrumented songs with soul-searching lyrics that demand the listener to keep on listening. 4 out of 4 stars."
- Winston-Salem Relish Magazine
Presented by Creative Loafing editor, Carlton Hargro. Registration required. CARLTON HARGRO is the current Editor in Chief of Charlotte's No. 1 alternative newspaper Creative Loafing and a writer/editor with more than 15 years of editorial experience
The Editor's Guide to Freelance Writing is a two-hour, boot-camp style workshop designed for the novice writer who wishes to be published. The class will cover a variety of topics including:
* Writing effective leads.
* Scoping the"prey" - how to study publications and search for potential clients
* Getting in the door - how to meet and network with editors
* How to pitch ideas
* Editor pet peeves
To reserve a spot for the June 14 class, e-mail carlton.hargro@creativeloafing.com or contact Pura Vida Worldly Art at 704-335-8587. Note: There will be a follow-up workshop, targeted to more experienced writers, in July.
Sunday, June 15, 2008. 2:00 PM PM. Admission: FREE
"This is down-home folk music from an exceptionally talented songwriter." -Americana Homeplace
#1 Track out of 100 for the week (9/3/06) - "This type of great Down-home American Roots music is what Wild West Radio is all about." -Wild West Radio
"Music with generous grit and unsupervised emotional release... a good workhorse with energetic gait that makes the picture come alive." - Jolly Roger Radio International
"Rick is a wonderful singer songwriter - his songs are simply structured and beautifully constructed." -WSGE 91.7FM
Sunday, June 29, 2008. 2:00 PM PM. Admission: FREE
Nick and Cameron of the Delta Drift, from Salisbury, NC, stop in to deliver an intimate, acoustic performance of country, blues, and soul inspired old school rock and roll band with an emphasis on songwriting, harmony, and gettin' down. Visit www.DeltaDrift.com for more info.
Celebrate the 4th of July weekend with the Hot House Hefftones, a Charlotte based band that specializes in swing and jazz. Made up of pianist and trumpet player Rob Behrends, bass/acoustic guitar and trumpet player Philemon Black and Emily Estrella- jazz cellist, vocalist and award winning ballroom dance instructor. Visit myspace.com/thehothousehefftones for a glimpse of their sound.
"memorable songs brimming with irresistible choruses and thought-provoking lyrics." -Rag Magazine
"To attempt to describe Amy Steinberg adequately is a fairly hopeless task. She is, simply put, a force of nature--spiritual, sexual, social, ethereal, earthy, and emblematic." -Rocco, Pro Star Studios
Sunday, July 20, 2008. 2:00-3:30 PM. Admission: FREE
Nikki Talley is visiting us from the mountains of North Carolina (Asheville) to sing us some of her soulful, sultry songs. Visit www.nikkitalley.com for more info.
Sunday, July 27, 2008. 2:00-3:30 PM. Admission: FREE
Back-Step performs old-time stringband music in the "Roundpeak Style" native to Mount Airy, NC. Known for it's driving rhythms and prominent melodies, Roundpeak music is just the thing to make you kick up your heels and dance. The band was excited to have won first place old-time band at the Mount Airy Fiddler's Convention in 2006, and, in 2004, Back-Step won first prize at both the Fiddler's grove fiddler's convention and the Mount Airy Fiddler's convention! Visit www.myspace.com/backstepmusic to hear some great fiddling.
Sunday, August 03, 2008. 2:00-3:30 PM. Admission: FREE
Simone was born in the Ukraine in the 1970s, when it was still under Soviet rule. Her father was forced to serve in a military work camp for refusing to join the KGB. After his release, he could get only a job as a night watchman at the state zoo, even though he had a physics degree. Like many people in that Cold War era, Simone’s family fled the country to escape persecution and arrived in the United States as political refugees. “Every family was scattered to the wind,” Simone says of the Soviet-era diaspora. “Unless you cooperated with the regime, no family was untouched.”
At age 1, Simone and her family relocated to Buffalo, N.Y., and moved around several times before finally settling in Lexington, Mass. The title of her debut album, “Placenessness,” refers to her personal biography. “It’s about a feeling of not really belonging anywhere in the world, and I think that feeling comes in part from being a refugee”- - The Independent Weekly
Her latest album, "Everyone Is Crying Out to Me: Beware", is dedicated to Novosibirsk-born punk-folk singer/songwriter Yanka (Yana Dyagileva) who became popular in the Soviet underground music scene in the late 1980s. Playing underground concerts and distributing her songs on home-produced tapes, Yanka, who died in May 1991 aged 24, never saw her music released commercially in her lifetime.
Sunday, August 10, 2008. 2:00-3:30 PM. Admission: FREE
Raised in Dothan, Alabama and educated in the mountains of Asheville, NC, Hannah Miller now calls Columbia, SC, her home. After her first EP Storms of Summer was released in the spring of 2006, Miller's reputation as an up and coming singer/songwriter began to solidify, and the doors opened for her to make the trip to Nashville to record with two time Grammy Award-winning producer/engineer Mitch Dane (Jars of Clay). The record boasts an astounding degree of depth and maturity for a freshman LP; on it Dane and Miller have crafted gorgeous sonic landscapes befitting of Miller's smoky, velveteen vocals.
Of the new record Miller says, "I wanted an album that everyone who hears it can find themselves in, and I think we accomplished that. The music is authentic, and listeners immediately identify that." Released in January, 2008, the record has already found a wide audience, and is receiving airplay on college and independent radio throughout the Southeast. Miller has also found herself sharing the stage with an impressive cast of characters, including Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion, The Whigs, Danielle Howle, and Katie Herzig.
Sunday, August 17, 2008. 2:00-3:30 PM. Admission: FREE
"Distinctive and powerful vocals deliver haunting, provocative lyrics amidst a landscape of soul-stirring, ass-shaking grooves." -Michael Farr
"Fronted by bluesy songstress Glass...reminiscent of serious alt. country artists like Gillian Welch and The Jayhawks with a lot of jazz thrown in." -Music Chick
"She's got the raspy voice of an early Cher, and a Nancy Sinatra attitude to boot." -Take 5.
Sunday, August 31, 2008. 2:00-3:30 PM. Admission: FREE
“Don’t you hear our ancestors crying, ’cause they see our souls are dying.”
– Cleo Jones, “Destiny”
Cleo Jones, hip-hop rapper, clothing designer and radio show host will share her positive, uplifting and empowerment lyrics from her new CD, "Freedom", an album done in collaboration with her mentor, Chuck D of Public Enemy.
Sunday, September 7, 2008. 2:00-3:30 PM. Admission: FREE
Mark Dougherty has crafted his brand of acoustic driven ambient folk music into a style that is all of his own. Says the North Carolinian based multi-instrumentalist: “It is always my goal to somehow reflect the journey we are all on in life through my music. Sometimes I think we forget to see the beauty in it all, but when we do, there is real joy. I try and reflect those feelings and that sense of joy in every song I write.”
Sunday, September 28, 2008.2:00 PM. Admission: FREE
Join us for a show by Actual Proof - an instrumental funk and fusion trio that draws inspiration from groove oriented musicians and groups such as The Meters, Herbie Hancock, Martin, Medeski and Wood, and Galactic. Actual Proof's repertoire includes rich grooves and original compositions that explore rhythmic possibilities.
JIM BROCK, Emmy nominee and an innovator in the world of percussion, has appeared on hundreds of recordings with artists such as Joe Walsh, Joan Baez, Kathy Mattea, Joe Cocker, Janis Ian, River Phoenix and James McMurtry. Jim has performed on the Tonight Show, A Prairie Home Companion, and The View. Most recently, Jim, along with Native flutist, Mary Youngblood, have been honored with the prestigious Telly Award as composers for the documentary The Spirit of Sacajawea. His DVD entitled "The Nature of Drumming" is available at Pura Vida Worldly Art and www.jimbrock.net.
ARIS QUIROGA is a teacher, composer and concert classical guitarist. A native of Bogota, Colombia, he studied at the National University of Bogota, and the Conservatory of Music in Madrid. Aris's most famous performances were in Spain at national radio and television networks, recitals in Madrid, Asturias, Oviedo and Jijon.
Live Music Concert: African Musician Lamine Soumano
West African musician Lamine Soumano and his International Ensemble stopped here during their U.S. tour and gave us a delicious two-hour performance of traditional Malian music. Soumano has been a lead guitarist and kora soloist for some of West Africa's biggest stars: Ami Koita, Adama Drame and Fantani Toure. He has toured extensively throughout Africa, Europe, and the United States, playing the Vegoose, Magnolia and CMJ festivals along with the Asheville-based Toubab Krewe, a group he has mentored.
Author Reading: Dixie Lullaby: A Story of Music, Race, and New Beginnings in the New South.
Author Mark Kemp joined for a reading of his book, Dixie Lullaby: A Story of Music, Race, and New Beginnings in the New South. Drawing on dozens of interviews with musicians and producers, including Phil Walden, Mac Rebennack, Warren Haynes and Jimmy Johnson, Kemp provides the reader with a panoramic journey of Southern rock in the post civil war era and shares how Southern rock liberated him and others from racial attitudes. Kemp has served as music editor of Rolling Stone, vice president of music editorial for MTV Networks, and editor of Creative Loafing.
