Thanks to Steve Kiviat for passing along some sad news: Chick Hall Sr., longtime owner of P.G. County roadhouse Chick Hall's Surf Club, died Tuesday. The release from the Washington Area Music Association:
On Tuesday, November 18, 2008, Chick Hall Sr. passed away. He was a musician of enormous talent and a humble man.
Chick Hall [...]
I have a hard time imagining that anybody who enjoyed Alex Ross' excellent history of 20th Century classical music, The Rest Is Noise, wouldn't also get something out of Hallelujah Junction, the entertaining, occasionally punchy, memoirs of composer John Adams. The two books complement each other well—Ross forcefully argues that music history was a chaotic [...]
Need a reminder that George W. Bush is still president? Here's news about the latest addition to the National Council on the Arts, which is empowered to advise the NEA about arts policy. Via the Los Angeles Times:
Lee Greenwood's main claim to fame is writing and singing the hit patriotic hymn "God Bless the U.S.A." [...]
What is David Byrne interested in as a musician? What does he like, and what makes him cranky? There's probably no multiplatinum-selling rock frontman who's more deliberately Sphinx-like—he's usually had some complaint or other to make about consumerism, but he's more likely to soak those messages in abstraction ("Heaven") or irony ("[Nothing But] Flowers") than [...]
Via Pitchfork, I learn that Lance Reddick—better known as Lieutenant Daniels on The Wire—has recorded an album of jazz vocals. Painfully smooth, soporific jazz vocals. I suppose this is in keeping with the horrible track record that former Wire actors have had with their careers. But it's still sad to experience the aural equivalent of [...]
Sagely, Thrill Jockey records has made Extra Golden's "Obama" available as a free download. As Brent Burton pointed out in his review of the D.C./Kenya band's most recent album, Hera Ma Nono, the president-elect played a role in helping the band tour the United States. You can watch a video of the song here:
You need [...]
... for "Victoria," is online at MTV's Subterranean Blog; it airs on MTV2 Thursday. Check it out below:
Jukebox the Ghost – New Music – More Music Videos
As previously reported here, the latest issue of the Chicago-based cultural magazine Stop Smiling is all about D.C., with Backyard Band's Anwan Glover featured on the cover. The D.C. release party for the issue on Nov. 13 has a pretty impressive lineup: Glover and George Pelecanos are guests of honor, with DJs Ian Svenonius and [...]
It still gives off a nicely creepy silent-film vibe, though. Here's the clip for the local singer-songwriter's "Still Working":
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You can also check out video of McArdle performing the song as part of our short-lived "Live From BPB HQ" series:
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It's an iron-clad rule of concertgoing that there'll always be one person who'll reflexively cheer when their hometown is mentioned, regardless of the context. A few years back I was at a Randy Newman concert in San Francisco, and the songwriter was playing "Rednecks," a brilliant retort to smug northerners who feel they have the [...]
