The Worst Kind of Surprise: Oh, just kidding. It sounds like John Legend made some students from Duke Ellington School of the Arts very happy yesterday, unexpectedly popping by their rehearsal at the Kennedy Center. The singer was in the house to help kick off the Ken Cen's "What's Going On...Now" project.
Truth Hurts: Did the [...]
After $65 million and countless injuries to cast and crew, it looks like we're going to keep waiting. If you hadn't bought that pair of $300 tickets, you could have bought yourself an iPad.
WaPo Style leads off with a preview of tonight's Birchmere show by Joe Boyd and Robyn Hitchcock. Boyd, the New Jersey-born English [...]
Nolen Strals, the singer of the abrasive Baltimore art-punk trio Double Dagger, has what he calls “a weird sort of internal conversation” whenever he's commissioned to do graphic design work for a large media outlet or corporation.
"Doing work for these major labels and these big corporate entities, there's part of me that's like, ‘Hell yes! [...]
As the seasons change, there is NO change in the mighty Far Out vs. Hot Dang. We still hear everything that is rattling around in D.C.'s cultural chasm. And, well, we choose to ignore a lot of it. The rest? It ends up here, assembled for your pleasure. Aw yeah.
Pierce Brosnan apparently is "beefcake"
Still bitchy [...]
In the press kit for the education documentary Waiting for "Superman" director Davis Guggenheim recalls his misty reaction to "Shine," a John Legend song written for the film's end credits: "The first time I heard it, I cried."
He wasn't the only one.
I made no secret of my disgust for the saccharine, manipulative ballad in my review [...]
You can't help it, you're a rambler. You don't have time to get bogged down in long-term relationships when the road is calling. Effortless swagger and endless charm come so naturally that you hardly notice when you've won yet another admirer destined to get hurt along the way. Whether you're a modern-day cowboy or just [...]
Sunday's rally for climate change legislation rolled on undaunted by the difficulties that the passage of said legislation is currently encountering, and was even given a boost by unexpectedly beautiful weather. The Roots played what felt like a headlining set midway through the afternoon, and then proceeded to play the role of backup band [...]
"Where do you get the balls to change your name from Gordon to 'Sting'?" asked the comedian Dana Carvey asked sometime in the mid-90's, when the musician's stage name was still viable stand-up fodder. One might ask the same of John Stephens, who changed his name to John Legend while he was still a small-time act in Chicago. To his credit, Legend's spent the intervening years slowly justifying his ambitious moniker, carving out a niche of the outskirts of pop R&B, not far from its borders with rock and big-band. He brought his horn section, dancing girls, and Clorox-white pants to Merriweather Friday.
Friday
An Evening w/ King Sunny Ade & his African Beats. 9:30 club. $25. All ages.
The Paulverizers, Idle Americans. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.
Oleta Adams. Birchmere. $39.50.
Novalima, Pistolera. Black Cat. $18/$22. All ages.
Lovvers, Small Doses, Cigarbox Planetarium. Comet Ping Pong. All ages.
John Legend, India.Arie. Merriweather Post Pavilion. $36–$109.
Hello Society, Marbin, Lucky Dub. The Red & [...]
Saadiq/Legend at DAR Constitution Hall; Dr. John and the Lower 911 at Blues Alley
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Raphael Saadiq and Dr. John are both on tour at present, peddling different brands of regressively delightful music to packed, loyal audiences. The Doctor (Mac Rebennack, to get technical) and Saadiq (né Wiggins) wear their influences on their sleeves and dress [...]
