2009 Cooper Young Festival Line-up Announced

The Cooper-Young Festival, hosted by the Cooper-Young Business Association (CYBA), is Memphis’ most anticipated outdoor celebration. Held in Memphis’ largest historic district, the Cooper-Young Festival is scheduled for September 19th.

In its 22nd year, this event has grown tremendously and is one of Memphis’ most highly attended Festivals. This year over 85,000 guests will enjoy an appealing mix of art, music and crafts presented by over 370 artisans from around the country. This Festival is a true celebration of the arts, people, culture and Memphis heritage.

Stage	Time	Set Length	Name
East	12:30 PM	45	Organ Thief
East	1:30PM	45	Ryan Peel
East	2:30 PM	45	Good Luck Darkstar
East	3:30PM	45	Streetside Symphony
East	4:30 PM	45	Bullet Proof Vests
Congo	12:15 PM	45	The Will Tucker Band
Congo	1:15 PM	45	Groundspeak
Congo	2:15 PM	45	Valencia Robinson
Congo	3:15 PM	45	Two Mule Plow
Congo	4:15 PM	45	Queens of Zion
Main	11:30 AM	30	Rhythm Realm
Main	12:15 PM	45	U of M Jazz band
Main	1:15 PM	45	River City Tanlines
Main	2:15 PM	45	Tonya Dyson
Main	3:15 PM	45	Darrel Petties
Main	4:15 PM	45	Susan Marshall
Main	5:15 PM	1hr 15 min	The Iguanas

Love Letter to Memphis Fund Raiser 7/30/09

 

 

Ardent Music‘s Star & Micey will play a show this Thursday night, July the 30th, at Minglewood Hall here in Midtown Memphis. Proceeds from the show will go to benefit the upcoming Memphis film OPEN FIVE, by director Kentucker Audley. Jake Rabinbach of Ardent Music’s Jump Back Jake also co-wrote the script, and will be starring in the film.

Jim Dickinson Benefit 8/8/09

A benefit concert honoring Memphis music legend Jim Dickinson will take place in Memphis, Tennessee at the Peabody Skyway on August 8th at 6pm. Jim Dickinson is a celebrated musician and producer in the Memphis community, with credits that include The Rolling Stones, The Replacements, Aretha Franklin, Phineas Newborn, Ry Cooder Bob Dylan, and Big Star. Dickinson’s current release is Dinosaurs Run in Circles on Memphis International record label. His sons Luther and Cody have achieved success on their own through their bands the North Mississippi Allstars and Hill Country Revue.

The Jim Dickinson benefit night will feature performances by John Hiatt, Jimmy Davis, Sid Selvidge with Jimmy Crosthwait, Amy LaVere, Shannon McNally, and the North Mississippi Allstars. The event will have a cash bar and tickets are $125 per person. Jim Dickinson is recovering from heart surgery and donated funds will pay medical bills and provide living costs for the expected nine month recovery period. Anyone wishing to make a donation to Jim Dickinson can do so via PayPal at friendsofjimdickinson@gmail.com.

Dickinson’s contribution to Memphis music has been so significant that several organizations have teamed up to help produce the Dickinson benefit evening. Memphis International Records is producing the event, Luther Dickinson is coordinating the talent, Beale Street Caravan is acting as the fiscal agent, and Ardent Music is handling the ticketing and donations.

If you’re interested in tickets, please call Elizabeth Montgomery at Ardent Studios. She can be reached at (901) 725-0855. Hurry – tickets are almost sold out, and the engagement is very limited!

Klaus Voormann’s A Sideman’s Journey Released July 17!

 

Readers of this blog may remember that late last year, Ardent was privileged enough to be a part of Klaus Voormann’s new project, called A Sideman’s Journey. Ardent veteran Don Nix brought Klaus to Memphis to work on a part of the record. Nix (a Stax artist, producer and writer) and Voormann’s friendship goes back to the ’70s. In addition to his vocal contributions, Nix helped put the players, studio and engineer together. Initially scheduled to just track several songs here, Voormann decided to complete overdubs and mixing here too. Jason Latshaw engineered, with Adam Hill assisting. The project, which includes a “making-of” documentary piece, was released today. From Klaus’s Web site:

A SIDEMAN’S JOURNEY TELLS THE STORY OF HOW THE WELL-KNOWN SIDEMAN KLAUS VOORMANN RETRACES THE FOOTSTEPS OF HIS MUSICAL BIOGRAPHY BACK TO WHERE EVERYTHING BEGAN.

Double Grammy winner Klaus Voormann has not only left his mark on musical history as a bass player but has also set some milestones as a graphic designer. His name conjures up revolutionary moments in pop history, in the music world as well as in the cover-artwork scene. “A Sideman’s Journey” is the outcome of seven studio sessions in London, Memphis, Hamburg, Los Angeles and Munich together with best of international session-musicians and many stars:

Paul McCartney – Ringo Starr – Yusuf aka Cat Stevens – Dr. John – Jim Keltner – Albert Lee – Van Dyke Parks – Joe Walsh (The Eagles) – Max Buskohl – Bonnie Bramlett and many others.

The bonus DVD “Making of a Sideman’s Journey” carries the viewer into the center of the action. This is not a staged production. This DVD is a powerful and passionate documentary showing how this audio-visual work of art came into being.

Some of the proceeds will go to “Water is Life – Lakota Environment and Health Project”, a charity project in aid of Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. In 1999 Paul Mc Cartney helped launch Voormann’s non-profit organization Lakota Village Fund (LVF) in the German TV show “Wetten Dass” For over nine years Christina Voormann supervises all LVF projects together with boardmembers in colaboration with officials and members of the Oglala Lakota Tribe.

The CD is currently available on Amazon.com. Check it out!

Folk Alliance International Logo Contest

Earlier this week we wrote about The Folk Alliance Conference held right here in Memphis, Tn – but we neglected to mention that what we have always commonly referred to as the Folk Alliance has a new official name. Formerly known as The North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance, they are now known as simply Folk Alliance International, or FAI. And with a new name comes the need for a new logo – check out the details below:

Flipside Memphis Covers the International Folk Alliance

Flipside Memphis is a series of hip mini-docs about cool happenings in the city produced by LFM.  Today they premiered their video highlighting the International Folk Alliance Conference, and the following to say about the event:

Folk is the music of the hills, front porches, and fields. It’s the hymns, work songs, and ballads that form the basis of the American music tradition. Founded in 1989, the Folk Alliance is a national organization committed to preserving and promoting the music of the people. Their annual conference, one of the biggest musical convocations in the world, brings thousands of performers together in Memphis every year for a long weekend of hoe-downs, picking parties, and sing-a-longs. It’s a unique opportunity for the myrid musicians to come together, share stories and tunes, rub shoulders with the industry, and lift up their voices in song. But the biggest beneficiaries are the audience, who are treated to an embarrassment of riches over the hundred-plus hours of performances.

While all the above is true, as someone who has attended the last three years, I must warn you to not be scared away from the event thinking that it’s one big “hoedown!”  Many contemporary singer-songwriters attend and perform at the event, and it is a great place to check out some fantastic on the verge artists like Cory Branan, The Hereafter, Twilight Hotel, Raina Rose, Anthony Da Costa, Amy Speace, Valerie June, Andrew Duhon, Aimee Bobruk, and Dirtfoot. The artists come away from the event inspired by their fellow performers and the audience gets to be reminded that there are still many musicians on the scene making music for reasons other than money and fame.

The Folk Alliance Conference is the least pretentious and most music oriented conference that I attend every year. It is the most laid back, and I find it the most interactive. There are no back stage areas, few managers to bypass, and in general everyone who attends is there for the same reason, to actually connect with each other through music.

The 22nd Annual Folk Alliance International Conference is February 17-21, 2010 in Memphis, TN.
The event promises four days/evenings of industry workshops, panels, exhibits, showcases, outreach concerts, etc. for members of the international music community. The event provides a networking opportunity for those in the industry to work hard and enjoy themselves while doing so

The FAI Conference offers official showcase space to 200+ artists in our Performance Alley Showcases. To apply for a showcase: entry forms are available at www.folk.org or enter digitally through www.sonicbids.com.  Official Showcase Deadline: November 19, 2009.

Check out some videos of past registrants:

New Media/New Marketing – Two Workshops in One!

Big Star at Hyde Park, London

 

Big Star just returned from London, having performed at Hyde Park on July 1st. John Fry also traveled with the band, and together with Jody Stephens got to tour the famed Abbey Road studios. From Jody’s account of the trip:

John Fry, Steve Rhea, Mark Harber (friend and neighbor) and I boarded a plane to London on June 27. The occasion was a Big Star show in Hyde Park/Serpentine Sessions on July 1. John and I had Monday and Tuesday for a little sight-seeing before the show on Wednesday. On Monday we hopped on a train to Hitchin to visit our friend and former Memphian Heather Hendren. After a stop at the house for a cup of tea and a drive through the quaint village of Hitchin, Heather was kind enough to take us out to the Duxford Air Museum.

Duxford must indeed be Europe’s premiere aviation museum…an amazing collection of vintage aircraft. For a short video with a peppy little sound track click here. No better tour guide than John Fry, an aircraft buff who once upon a time gave flying lessons to Chris Bell, Andy Hummel, Richard Rosebrough and me.

I have to explain to you here that London and this part of England were experiencing a heat wave while we visited. It was hot! (I know, I’m from Memphis, hot capital of the mid-south, but we have AC down pretty good here.) So after a day of sightseeing in the heat what better place to cool off than the Absolute Ice Bar. Mark’s sister and brother-in-law happen to be in London and suggested we meet there. After buying a ticket to enter they wrapped us up in some warm parkas and gloves and sent us into what basically was a big freezer with walls and furnishings, including a bar, fashioned out of ice. The drink menu: Various Absolute Vodka flavors served in a glass made out of ice.

On Tuesday, John, Steve, Mark and I all had the complete pleasure of a tour of Abbey Road Studios. Carl Marsh, string arranger for Big Star’s Third LP, made the proper introduction to the folks at Abbey Road and we were set for 9:30am. Fiona Gillott walked us through this hollowed ground starting with Studio One where they were setting up to record an orchestra. She pointed out several things…here’s the “Lady Madonna” piano and the one next to it is the “Day In The Life” piano. Couldn’t help but yearn to sit down and play them… (I can’t exactly play piano, but you know what I mean.)

After leaving Studio One, I excused myself for a bathroom break and began to wonder which bathroom and what window.

We entered Studio Two, where The Beatles did much of their recording. Standing in the middle of that studio, I tried to visualize a typical Beatles session going on around me…couldn’t quite remember where Yoko set up the bed, but I think it was just below the control room window. After lingering there for a few minutes we made our way up the stairway to the control room where George Martin and Geoff Emerick spent a bit of time helping to shape that unique Beatles sound. Right about here I felt compelled to explain to Fiona that John Fry, Ardent’s owner and founding father, incorporated Ardent and had produced his first Ardent Records single by the time he was 14 years old. So there.

On to Studio Three and then one of their mastering rooms. A very nicely done tour by Fiona…but wait, there’s more: After a photo session with Fiona, outside Abbey Road’s front door mind you, we completed the visit with photos at the zebra stripe crossing which, as you all know, was the setting for The Beatles’ Abbey Road album cover.

Had a lazy morning on Wednesday and then grabbed a bus over to the Columbia Hotel for an interview with Martin Aston/Mojo Magazine. Rhino’s publicist had set up the interview to focus on the release Keep An Eye On The Sky, the Big Star box set due out on September 15. I arrived late and Jon and Ken were already underway with their part of the interview.  I just had about 40 minutes before racing back to my hotel and then over to Hyde Park and sound check.

Sound check serves as a bit of a rehearsal time as well as getting a balance of monitors and front speakers. That done we had about an hour to kill before our show time. Back to the dressing room area where the folks in Tendersticks (the headliner) were all hanging out outside the dressing room taking advantage of a slight breeze. I spoke with Stuart Staples (the band’s lead singer) briefly. He’s a very nice guy with a smooth, smoky voice… we had met in an elevator in a Los Angeles hotel some years back.

Finally, show time! We took the stage to an audience of about 25 people (including John, Steve with his wife and daughter, David and Mark.) Apparently there was a little confusion about our start time. Once we had launched in to “In The Street” people started filing in and we soon had 1,500 or so folks in the audience. You can check out bits and pieces of the show on YouTube. Ballad Of El Goodo always seems to be one of my favorites live. You can click here for several videos posted by Colin Gibbons. Side note: London being home, Colin and his wife Nikki have traveled out to many of our shows, Malaga, Spain this past April being the farthest I think. Our show in Hyde Park was much more convenient, they could actually walk home. Always a pleasure to play in London. Wonderful audiences there. Sounds like Tom Holcroft had a good time: http://www.last.fm/event/1041480/reviews

After the show I expressed my thanks to some of the folks in the audience and got a positive nod from the Memphis contingent. Had a quick bite to eat (vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie) and failing to find a cab, hopped on a bus back to the hotel thinking it’s great to still be doing this.

 

– Jody

Grammy 101 with Bill Freimuth, Vice President of Awards

 

Learn everything you have ever wanted to know about the GRAMMY Awards voting process: How the awards categories are created, eligibility dates for entried, nominating and screening processes, and each important deadline. Join us for this informational Q&A session.

 

Time: Tuesday, July 14th, 6:30 – 8:30 PM

Place: Memphis Music Foundation, 431 S. Main Street

General Public Welcome!

RSVP to Memphis@grammy.com or phone (901) 525-1340

Cory Branan returns to Ardent to work on ‘Midtown’

Cory Branan booked Studio A this week to lay down vocal tracks for his upcoming album, Midtown, due for release in early 2010. The album is highly anticipated by his extensive fanbase, with his last album, 12 Songs,  being released in 2006.  While most of the music was recorded in San Francisco at Closer Recording with Tim Mooney (American Music Club) in the producer’s seat, after catching a cold on two different trips to California to record vocals (California weather will get you everytime!), Branan elected to bring in longtime friend and highly acclaimed engineer Jeff Powell to finish off recording his vocal tracks at Ardent Studios before he returns to San Fran to mix the album.

“We were gonna do it at Jeff’s house, but the opportunity to work at Ardent came available, so of course, we jumped at the chance!” says Branan.

Recording in Memphis also allowed Branan to bring in old friends Ben Nichols (Lucero) and Blair Combest to sing back-up on a few songs.

The new album will include tracks like “Bad Man,” “Survivor Blues,” “Jericho,” and his ode to summer and John  Melloncamp, “Yesterday (circa summer ’88)” .

Many Memphians will obviously take the album title as a reference to the culturally and socially diverse area of the city where the so-called creative class make their home. However, after living in a diverse range of places including New York, LA, Nashville, Fayetteville, and now Austin, Branan says every city has a “midtown,” a place he claims is always somewhere between suburbia and downtown, where most people his age make tend to live .

‘The album is really about different people I’ve known, and different people I’ve been.”

If 2010 seems a long time to wait, be sure to check out the album he recently released with Jon Snodgrass of Drag the River featuring “The Corner,” “The Walkaroud” and “Yeah, So What?” It was recently released on vinyl and cassette, but you can also download the album here.

Cory Branan plays The Hitone with Jon Snodgrass on July 15th.

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