Living the Dream

I love to sing.  In the shower, on the street, in the studio, on the stage, wherever.  I'm not as shy as I used to be, but singing was always the thing I could hop on stage and do without the fear of public humiliation (even if I was, in fact, humiliating myself).

This past weekend, I sat in for guest vocals with two local bands - The Inlaws and Mark Roberts and The Occasionals.

Saturday afternoon featured a terrific open house event at Rock N Roll High School in Apex.

This music school has state of the art studios for lessons and its crown jewel, an auditorium with amazing sound and lighting - so the students can train and play in a true live setting. This is where The Inlaws and I did a set on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday night brought me to The Sports Page in Knightdale, where Mark Roberts from WRAL-TV and Capital Ford invited me to sit in with his band.  They handed me this when I walked in:

I knocked out songs 5 and 6 on the list, then they asked me to do a couple additional (Runnin Down a Dream and then "Kryptonite" from the second set list.)

Both bands have some dynamite musicians and there are surely worse things in the world than bopping around town on a beautiful Saturday to sing some of my favorite tunes.  Can't wait to do it again.

Foster
Radio 96.1

Fiona Apple Review

Fiona Apple will be playing Durham Performing Arts Center on September 27th, and I snuck a peek of what to expect when I saw her play The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas this past Saturday night.

Here's a glimpse:

First, a Fiona Apple show is not loud.  It's not an in your face, wipe the sweat from your brow because oh man, what just happened kinda show.  A Fiona show is an experience that will have you appreciating the musicianship but won't leave your ears ringing.

Second, the music is well worth appreciating.  Blake Mills, who is Apple's guitarist, also happens to be the opening act and is worth arriving early for - if not only for his cover of Santo and Johnny's "Sleepwalk", the sad instrumental played after the plane crash in the movie "La Bamba".

Third, Fiona dives deeply into her music.  She plays with a great deal of intensity, often with her eyes closed and arms flailing around.  She rarely engages the audience through dialogue - the only times she spoke to the crowd was to say "I love you too" to a yell of affection, complain about the large video screens, and to tell us that the last song of the set was, indeed, the last song so don't expect an encore.

I didn't really mind that, though.  I kind of appreciate the fact that she recognizes that encores are staged, fake displays of egotism for the artist, so why not just play the set and leave it be.

It's hard to believe that Fiona Apple was only 18 when her debut album, "Tidal" went multi-platinum in 1996.  Today at 35, she's winning over new fans by focusing on the only thing that matters - the music.

Foster
Radio 96.1

Hopscotch Review

Today's guest blogger is Radio 96.1 Web maven Sidney Little.

The Independent’s Hopscotch Music Festival took over Downtown Raleigh this weekend. So naturally, I could not resist attending. I have been sitting here this morning in a daze, trying my best to recall all of the bands, beer, and venues that made up my Hopscotch. The festival was made up of 175 bands and 15 venues scattered throughout the downtown area making schedule conflicts the biggest and only issue of the weekend. Picking and choosing bands was made a little easier with the epic line up of day parties which were sponsored by everyone from Ashley Christensen Restaurants to School Kids Records.

Thursday night, my Hopscotch opened with the wonderfully eccentric banjo, singer/songwriter Curtis Eller.  

Not only is his music amazing, but seeing him run around Five Star makes attending hard to resist . The festival continued on Friday; me being stuck at work, while the day parties raged. But the night made up for everything I missed with Built to spill at City Plaza, Hiss Golden Messenger performing at Fletcher Opera Hall and ending with the mind blowing audience participation of Dan Deacon.

Deacon, a composer and electronic musician, packed out the Pour House. His live shows are known for the combination of electronic build ups and participation.  His mobile app syncs the audience’s phones to the music which creates an insane light show. The energy in the pour house was so over the top that I probably could have stopped Hopscotching right then and been satisfied.

Luckily I still had one more day, which started off the right way with a Bloody Mary in hand, and Megafuan and Friends out on the street in front of Mecca.  

The night shows were delayed with rain, but with the Roots playing after a rain delay at City Plaza, it put the mood of Hopscotch right back to the perfect place .A Hopscotch set and  5 blocks later we were jumping around to the insanely loud NoBunny (who wears a bunny mask and not much else…) show at the Contemporary Art Museum. This without a doubt is the greatest venue offered at Hopscotch; the art, open feel, and tons of room to dance really is incomparable.

Finally we ended Hopscotch the best way I could imagine, at Deep South the Bar with Starlings, TN and Shovels and Rope. Starlings, TN really warmed the crowd up to get down with some traditional bluegrass. And finally, Shovels and Rope closed out my weekend. This husband and wife duo was, to say the least, my favorite show of the festival. With their chemistry, lyrics, and overall performance, it was hard to keep my excitement in check. To say I would recommend them to everyone I ever meet is an understatement.

Overall this Hopscotch provided some of the most unique, exciting, and powerful shows I have ever seen.

3 days

20 bands seen

16 hours of sleep

More PBR than one person should ever consume

1 Shovels and Rope shirt

1 line waited in (Dan Deacon!!)

Endless mustaches and beards

5 jogs in the rain

200 pictures

and countless memories make my current Hopscotch hangover more than worth it. 

Mark Roberts has an awesome gig

You can't possibly live in the Triangle and not know who Mark Roberts is.

If you've lived here less than 5 years, you know him as the Capital Ford guy.

If you were here prior to 2005, you probably know him as WRAL's traffic guy.

I've done a couple events with Mark recently, and I discovered he plays drums in a band - Mark Roberts and the Occasionals.

I'm told the rest of the band is cool with me sitting in and singing a song or two with them one of these days.

Whether that happens and they live to regret that decision remains to be seen, but it's always fun hanging out with one of the nicest guys in the business.

Foster
Radio 96.1