The Mid Week Beat: Dancehall, Mod Soul and a Hip Hop Brass Band!

October 23, 2013
By Jimmy Berg

Some good stuff coming up this week kiddies! We got a legendary Jamaican dancehall artist in Austin tomorrow night, an excellent night of mod soul and vintage reggae in San Diego on Friday and a Halloween masquerade of legendary proportions in New York on Saturday.

If you live in or near any of these towns, do not miss these shows. I got to say, being stuck here in Seattle, I’m a little jealous. Anyone want to buy me a plane ticket for the weekend?

Enjoy!

Thursday, October 24 I Capleton – Austin, Texas

Capleton, is a force to be reckoned with in the fast-moving world of dancehall reggae. Fame and success are hard to obtain and easy to lose. Fans can be fickle, and trends change in the blink of an eye, leaving most entertainers with painfully short career spans. Only a rare few can remain relevant from year to year, holding their audience’s attention and leaving them crying for more. Capleton’s lyrics are deep, precise, and thoughtful. His stage shows are nothing less than dynamic, explosive performances. But his remarkable staying power and longevity may be Capleton’s greatest gift.

Capleton was born Clifton George Bailey in St. Mary, Jamaica. As a youth, he was given the surname of a popular St. Mary lawyer and friend of the family, Capleton, as a nickname by his relatives and friends. As a teenager, he would often sneak out of his home to catch local dancehall acts, eventually leaving St. Mary for Kingston at the age of 18 to work on his career as a dancehall deejay.

When Capleton first arrived on the scene in the late 1980s, slackness and gun talk were the dominant lyrics in the dancehalls. The pre-Rasta Capleton had a string of hit songs from “Bumbo Red” to “Number One on the Look Good Chart” and “No Lotion Man.” In 1989, he got his first big international exposure. Stewart Brown, owner of a Toronto-based sound called African Star, gave the untested artist his first break, flying him to Canada for a stage show alongside Ninjaman and Flourgan.

The Mid-Week Beat: Nik Turner of Hawkwind, T.S.O.L. and Lee Fields!

October 16, 2013
By Jimmy Berg

A great week of music coming up here in the Brown Paper Tickets’ universe. Here are a few of the ones that we think you’ll dig. Enjoy!

TOMORROW! Thursday, October 17 I Nik Turner (of Hawkwind) – Denver, Colorado

Hawkwind are the kings of UK “space rock” which is a driving, hard-rocking version of psychedelia. Formed in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations but Nik Turner was one of the original members and certainly one of the most memorable. Turner plays saxophones, flute, sings and is a composer and while with Hawkwind, Turner was known for his experimental free jazz stylisations and outrageous stage presence, often donning full makeup and Ancient Egypt-inspired costumes.

He originally approached the band offering his services as roadie, given that he owned a van and was a fan. Once the band found out that he played saxophone, however, he was recruited into the fold. He was a member of the band during their most commercially successful and critically acclaimed period, writing or co-writing some of their most popular songs such as “Brainstorm” and “Master of the Universe.” However, complaints about his playing over other members of the band despite numerous requests to modify his behaviour eventually led to his dismissal in November 1976.

In 1982 during the recording of Choose Your Masques, founding member Dave Brock invited Turner to the recording sessions and he was asked to front the band for the album’s tour. Turner’s second stint in the band lasted just over two years and although some live albums and videos were released, the band did not undertake any studio recording. At the end of 1984 while preparing material for The Chronicle of the Black Sword album, he was fired once again.

Since then, Turner has been involved with a number of projects including Sphynx, Inner City Unit, Nik Turner’s Fantastic All-Stars, Galacticos and Space Ritual. All share the tripped-out, heavy, forward thinking approach that Hawkwind is known for, so Hawkwind fans are sure to dig Nik’s performance happening tomorrow night at the legendary Lion’s Lair in Denver, Colorado. Amazingly, there are still some tickets available right over here.

The Mid-Week Beat: Jazz for Autumn Nights

September 25, 2013
By Jimmy Berg

This week on the Mid-Week Beat, we turn our attention to some of the great jazz performances we got coming up this week.

There’s nothing I like better on a rainy Seattle fall night than putting on some great Verve or Blue Note recordings (on vinyl of course), eating some good food and enjoying a nice glass of wine. It really doesn’t get any better does it? Good jazz can often envelope you in a nice rhythm and mood like no other music can.

While jazz recordings are wonderful to listen to in the comfort of your own home, live jazz is where it’s at. Jazz is rooted in improvisation and there are few more visceral experiences that witnessing a skilled player improvise around a solid rhythm section. Fellow wino, Jack Kerouac often wrote about the transformative qualities of witnessing a live band that was really swinging and anyone that’s witnessed a jazz great in action knows exactly what he was talking about.

Well, this week, we got some world-class jazz performances happening all around the country and I thought I’d share a few that jumped out at me. For all the hep-cats out there!
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The Mid-Week Beat: 1-2-3-4! Happy Birthday Dee Dee!

September 18, 2013
By Jimmy Berg

Today in 1951, a punk rock icon was born.

Born Douglas Glenn Colvin in Fort Lee, Virginia, he was better known by the name he adopted in the band that would make him famous, Dee Dee Ramone. Dee Dee was a founding member of the Ramones, the band’s chief songwriter and bass player from 1974 to 1989. He would continue to write songs for the band even after he left, penning at least three songs for all subsequent albums leading up to their eventual breakup in 1996.

Dee Dee is best remembered for his signature count-off shout of “1-2-3-4!” and you can still hear this shout echoed in punk bands today. In fact, many of the bands that we’re featuring today owe quite a bit to ‘da brudders Ramone! It’s a shame that Dee Dee doesn’t get more credit as a songwriter considering he penned most of the Ramones’ timeless tracks: “Blitzkrieg Bop,” “Rockaway Beach,” “Chinese Rocks” and “Rock and Roll High School” to name a few.

I know for me personally, the Ramones were one of the bands that changed my life and sent me down a punk rock path. As a kid, I loved the harmonies of bands like the Beach Boys and early rock and roll and the Ramones were the perfect combination of classic American pop hooks and menacing punk rock noise. I became obsessed with the band and was lucky enough to see them in 1990 at The Paramount Theater here in Seattle. Unfortunately, this was their first tour without Dee Dee. Their new bass player CJ Ramone did his best Dee Dee impersonation but he was no Dee Dee, that’s for sure.

The Mid Week Beat: Dancehall, Mod Soul and a Hip Hop Brass Band!

The Mid-Week Beat: Nik Turner of Hawkwind, T.S.O.L. and Lee Fields!

The Mid-Week Beat: Jazz for Autumn Nights

The Mid-Week Beat: 1-2-3-4! Happy Birthday Dee Dee!

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