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Earth Day 2008: Music Line-up |
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Written by By Paul Raymore
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Tuesday, 22 April 2008 |
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Nick Catanella, who is producing the music portion of Earth Day and is a member of the Earth Day Committee, believes this year’s line-up provides a great mix of musical styles as well as local and nationally know acts.
“Each and every band performing brings its own unique energy and excitement to the Earth Day event this year… it’s going to be an awesome celebration!” Catanella said.
San Francisco based ALBINO!, the award winning 12-piece “Heavy Heavy Afrobeat” ensemble, will headline the 2008 North Lake Tahoe Truckee Earth Day Festival, while other bands on tap for the day include MO2, Rainmaker, Subjektochange, Naomi and the Courteous Rudeboys, Verbal Kint and the Mark Sexton Band.
The fantastic musical lineup will run from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Events Plaza and the Fountain Court in the Village at Squaw Valley this Saturday, April 26. Also, be sure to catch the Glenshire Elementary Choir performing on the First Street Stage at 11 a.m.
 ALBINO!
The SF Music Award-winning ALBINO! is a 12-piece Afrobeat ensemble that honors the fiery legacy of Nigerian musical revolutionary Fela Kuti. ALBINO’s high-energy grooves and explosive stage show thick with hypnotic percussion, a heavy horn section, African dance, outrageous costumes, and infectious group choreography have firmly established the band as the West Coast’s premier Afrobeat act.
According to the SF Weekly, “ALBINO’s ass-inspiriting percussive engine comes from a rhythm section of local all-stars; together, they form rhythms based in the West African tradition which holds at its heart the inseparable union of drumming and dance. Atop the band’s rhythmic maelstrom ride tightly figured five-part horn lines. The section’s ‘heavy heavy’ bottom end features a snarling dual baritone-sax yawp. This is world music that lives up to the name.”
The ALBINO combination of over-the-top live energy, tripped-out tribal stage garb, and the ability to envelop audiences in an irresistibly funky, loving embrace have made the band a favorite of festival crowds and the Burning Man community in particular. Beholding this 24-legged freaky behemoth as it locks into its choreographed steps is as much of a feast for the eyes as their deliciously layered funk is for the ears. On top of this, ALBINO’s lyrical messages offer scathing sociopolitical commentary and urgent calls to civic action, in keeping with the revolutionary spirit central to Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat legacy.
The live ALBINO! experience simply never fails to move an audience, in every sense of the word. Afrobeat is one of the boldest and most radical forms of protest music the world has ever heard. Afrobeat’s original architect, Fela Kuti, was a revolutionary outlaw who used his music as a weapon to expose and assault the perpetrators of injustice in his native Nigeria and throughout Africa. His principal targets included Nigeria’s corrupt military regime, the post-colonial aristocracy’s repression of native cultures, and corporate greed and the exploitation of Africa’s natural resources and working class. Fela’s Afrobeat crusade for a free, democratic, socially equitable Africa spanned from the early seventies until his death from AIDS in 1997, when a “musical and sociopolitical voice on a par with Bob Marley was silenced.” (-All Music Guide)
ALBINO! proudly embraces and extends the tradition of Afrobeat as protest music. We believe the current state of affairs in our nation and the world is dire and in desperate need of change. The message of our music, like Fela’s Afrobeat, endeavors to expose contemporary injustice with the goal of inspiring critical thought and activism. We urge all members of the ALBINO! community to take action and make your voices heard. We encourage you to visit the following websites to learn more about Fela’s Afrobeat legacy, and about the charitable causes ALBINO! has been involved with that are affecting positive change in your communities and around the world.
MO2
Burgeoning, upstart, fresh-faced, young, up-and-coming... all of these words and phrases describe San Francisco’s MO2... They are a “very determined and talented band performing with palpable joy and intense respect for one another, demonstrating the power of simplicity and organic melodies,” according to HMGN Music.
MO2 has developed a unique and explosive sound by combining four-to-the-floor dance breaks with contagious pop hooks and ethereal progressions, allowing them national recognition in their debut year.
“From the start, we’ve all kept a keen awareness of our impact on this earth,” said bassist and keyboard player Waide Hicks.
They run their tour van on waste vegetable oil and use both recycled paper and soy based inks for their merchandise and promotional materials.
Rainmaker
Rainmaker is a four-piece band from the San Francisco Bay Area. They blend vintage and modern sounds and draw upon Roots Music, Indie Rock, Funk, and Soul. Since forming in 2005, Rainmaker has logged hundreds of shows together, spreading their infectious grooves, strong songwriting, and family style vocal harmonies throughout California and beyond.
Their most recent effort, Long Slow Fade is a compelling combination of classic American Music with a distinctly modern lyrical perspective. Set against a backdrop of soulful, rootsy rock, much of Long Slow Fade laments the slow death of the analog era and explores the issues that characterize the digital age.
Rainmaker began when John-Paul McLean (bass/vocals) and Jonathan Chi (guitar/vocals) met on their first day at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass. They immediately began writing and gigging together wherever they could – from local bars to the nearest T-stop in Boston’s subway system. After leaving Boston and Berklee, they moved together to Northern California, and began working in recording studios while continuing to write, record, and gig as a duo. They began as interns, and since then have played just about every conceivable studio role, from assisting, to engineering, producing, playing as session musicians, and eventually recording and producing their own records.
Over the past few years, they’ve had the opportunity to work with artists including: Jolie Holland, Galactic, Mickey Hart, Bill Frisell, Charlie Hunter, Zakir Hussein, Bernie Worrell of P-Funk, New Monsoon, Vinyl, and many, many others. As a result, the duo’s evolution as writers is coupled with an ever-evolving approach in the studio as producer/engineers.
After playing with dozens of musicians in hopes of forming a four-piece band, Jon and JP were lucky enough to connect with drummer Inkx Herman. Inkx was the house drummer at the legendary Shifty Records in Johannesburg, South Africa during the anti-Apartheid uprising. After leaving South Africa, he has worked with artists such as Paul Simon, Sting, Hugh Masekela, and Vusi Mahlasela. Inkx’s funky grooves, and song-oriented approach to drumming instantly clicked with JP and Jon. Shortly after, Rainmaker began playing with keyboardist Jordan Feinstein.
Jordan’s vintage keyboard stylings and gritty harmony vocals rounded out Rainmaker perfectly. Jordan has played with artists including: G Love, Brett Dennen, George Porter of the Meters, Tea Leaf Green, ALO, and many more.
Through countless hours on the stage and in the studio together, Rainmaker has developed an undeniable chemistry. They have appeared at festivals, theaters, and clubs in California, Oregon, Nevada, and Colorado. In 2007, they were named runner-up in Relix Magazine’s Jamoff!, a national competition for unsigned bands. After catching a live Rainmaker show, Jim Greer, producer for Galactic observed, “They are one of the tightest bands I’ve seen in quite some time. Rainmaker is a band worth paying attention to.”
Subjektochange
Subjektochange is a new collaboration of four Tahoe-based musicians with whom you might be familiar. Eric Matlock, Nick DeNoia, and Ray Erst are all members of the Jeff Jones Band, and Erv Wolf is from the infamous guitar duo Shag. Yearning to take the funk and modern elements even further, they decided to start another project. The music is a combination of hard funk and blissed-out jams and it’s nearly all original material. Come to one of their shows, and for sure you will be thinking, “Change Is Good."
Eric Matlock (keys, vocals) is a completely self-taught keyboardist. The result of his technique is an ear for unique and powerful phrases, hooks, and melodies. On stage he ferociously leads the band through its show-stopping improvisations. Eric has not sat down in the last two hundred shows. Instead he dances, jumps, and pounds the hell out of those keyboards. He’s constantly introducing elements from current genres while staying true to the band’s roots.
Playing for over 20 years, Erv Wolf (electric guitar, vocals) is an accomplished improvisational musician, proficient in both rhythm and lead guitar, and singing lead and background vocals. Erv studied jazz and classical at the University of Colorado. He has played locally for over 10 years with bands such as Shag, Swerve and now Subjektochange. Erv has shared stages with Dickey Betts, Eric Mcfadden, and most recently was invited to play with Tony Furtado in Squaw Valley and Pinetop Perkins in Austin, Texas. His vocals are described as smooth, yet rough, “bluesy, and scratchy at times.” His guitar playing is influenced by greats as Charlie Hunter, John Scofield, and Walter Becker. His rhythm guitar chord interjections work well with the band as a layering unit. His lead playing ranges from smooth and jazzy up to screaming energy to tear the roof off.
Nick DeNoia (bass guitar, vocals) Has studied music his whole life. He studied music at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and has a B.A. in Music from the University of Vermont. Inspired by the live music scene Nick has focused on combining his technical versatility with the passion and energy of Jam music. He always brings tremendous energy to his performances, and has the blisters to prove it.
Naomi and the Courteous Rudeboys
If you’re ready to let loose and love, then enter the world of Naomi & The Courteous Rudeboys (NCR). This quintet, from Santa Cruz, Calif., is fun, quirky and furiously dedicated to throwing a good party. Their insatiable passion for funk, soul, reggae and world beat makes for a “smorgasbord of different musical offerings,” according to Chris Stanley of Tasty Fanzine in the United Kingdom.
For a band that has been together for only two years, NCR has racked up some mileage in their bio-fueled bus. Highlights include performances at Earthdance and High Sierra Music Festival. Anyone that has seen them live will tell you that NCR has a whole lotta heart and soul. With a variety danceable songs, there’s something for everyone.
Their debut LP, Beautiful Beings (2007), was recorded at the legendary Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco. The album’s soul hit, ‘Love Song’, features Oakland-based gospel trio, the Stovall Sisters. Through grass roots efforts, their songs are featured on independent radio stations world-wide.
Based out of the Santa Cruz mountains, they find an infinite source of guidance and inspiration from the redwood trees. Traveling in a sustainable fashion and striving for health and well-being on their journeys, NCR is living proof that quality living makes quality music!
 The Mark Sexton Band
Hard-hitting rhythms, melodic grooves and soulful vocals are key elements in what separate The Mark Sexton Band from other groups. Their latest release, Multiformity, in early 2008 marked the turning point for this band:
“We blended reggae, bossa-nova, funk, pop, jazz and hints of world-beat all together in a musical blender and out came this awesome album!”
Since the release of the new album, the band has continued playing gigs all around the Northern Nevada/Northern California region, with frequent weekend trips to places such as The House of Blues in Las Vegas. Seeing albums fly at every show has more than confirmed the future for this funky all-acoustic rock band.
Singer/Guitarist/Songwriter Mark Sexton, Bassist Alex Korostinsky, Saxophonist Ryan Parrish and Drummer Dan Weiss have an absolute love for performing and making music together.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 22 April 2008 )
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