YOM KIPPUR, THE JEWISH HOLIDAY that will wipe away a year's worth of sins through fasting and prayer, starts at sunset on Oct. 8 and lasts until sunset on Oct. 9.
If Jews properly atone for their sins (no short and sweet confessions a la the Catholics), they are written into the "Book of Life," which means they will live to see the next Yom Kippur. But once the sun sets and the starving is over, it's time for the break-the-fast meal — a day of atonement followed by a night of binge eating.
Leah Koenig is editor of "The Jew and the Carrot," a blog dedicated to the "New Jewish Food Movement": sustainable food within a Jewish paradigm. Think local, organic, humanely raised food in a yarmulke — that tastes delicious.
Koenig will help you navigate the world of forgiveness, fasting and food in this three-part Yom Kippur Express 5.
ON SEPT. 10, got hit in the mouth with a drumstick during Monotonix's opening set for the Silver Jews.
In any other 12-month span that would probably count as my wildest rock memory. But despite the Israeli madmen's best efforts to scar me for life, they still cannot compete with the chaos of The Points show I attended at The Red & The Black last October.
Between an intoxicated crowd, massive equipment failures and an openly antagonistic relationship between the bands and the soundman, things got out of control. For instance, when I started bleeding at the Black Cat, I took a seat and iced my lip. But The Points fan with the open head wound kept slam dancing, pausing only to periodically vomit on the floor.
There really is no contest.
But after a year of nearly nonstop touring, the D.C.-based band is evolving.
Continue Reading "Stick in the Eye: The Points Rock So Hard It Hurts" »
IN INDIE ROCK, Grizzly Bear is a big deal. But outside of the Pitchfork-reading world, Grizzly Bear is, so to speak, a small fish — the sort of group that performs on David Letterman, but isn't a household name.
All that's about to change.
Last week, Grizzly Bear started its highest-profile tour to date: opening for Radiohead on the second U.S. leg of its "In Rainbows" tour. That prime placement opens up a whole new potential audience for the band's melodic mix of intimate folk-rock sounds, laptop-pop tweaks and orchestral-tinged songs.
It could be considered odd timing for a band with no album to promote to hit the road, but when Radiohead asks you to open, you drop whatever you're doing. Even if it means delaying that next record.
"Well, we have a problem — that's not a problem at all, but it certainly slows down our creative process — which is that we keep getting offered great opportunities ... that involve touring and time and thus put off the recording and writing process," wrote singer/songwriter/guitarist Ed Droste in an e-mail.
But there is a new Grizzly Bear album in the works, the second full-length since the band became a four-piece and the group's third long-player overall.
"[We are] about halfway done, hoping to finish it up in September and October with an April or May 2009 release," Droste said. "This is the plan at least! No title yet."
Continue Reading "Express 5: Grizzly Bear on New Music, Radiohead & TV" »
IN THE 1970s, you could find Errol Lee in Jamaica's hotels. He was there five nights week, working long hours with few breaks and little recognition.
"It's backbreaking work," Lee said by phone from Kingston. "The setup, the pull down; you move the stuff here, you go there. And you do get bored, too."
But Lee wasn't a waiter or general laborer; he was the leader of Bare Essentials, a reggae-rocksteady-ska band that perfected its sound playing the hotel circuit on Jamaica's bustling north coast tourist scene.
"It's not very glamorous in terms of what we know show business can be, but it's a real way of making a living," Lee said. "We don't do that anymore; we only play a hotel now for a function. But really and truly, it's like going to college: It's a good way of honing your craft. Many Jamaican musicians who make an impression later, when you check them out, they will have served some time on the north coast."
Nowadays, Bare Essentials doesn't need to play hotels because the group keeps busy playing special events throughout the Caribbean and for the Jamaican diaspora in the U.S. and beyond. Lee's ensemble is so popular essentially because it's a dance band: wherever Bare Essentials plays, people shake bootys — hard. The group's repertoire consists of massive crowd-pleasers from post-1960s Jamaican music, sprinkled with a few smart originals, but the emphasis is always on keeping the people moving.
As they have done for several years now, Lee and Co. will play at the annual Jamaican Independence Day celebrations held on Aug. 3 (1 p.m - 8 p.m.) in the outdoor courtyard of the Organization of American States (17th Street & Constitution Avenue). It's an all-day party — and it's free — featuring a market and many artists, including D.C.'s own Image Band and S.T.O.R.M. as well as dancehall artist General Degree and sweet singer Richie Stephens.
And in addition to Bare Essentials' own spotlight set, the group will back Degree and Stephens, making for a long, long day — though not quite as backbreaking as those hotel gigs nearly 40 years ago.
Since the catalog of songs Bare Essentials draws from is so huge, we asked Lee to Express 5 favorites that he loves to play with his band.
WHEN JACK BRUCE joined Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker to form Cream, the rock world welcomed its first great supergroup. While America was going through the summer of love, Cream pushed the boundaries of experimental blues-based rock.
Cream only lasted a scant three years, but the trio reunited in 2005 for sold-out shows in London and New York. It was a success that Bruce said didn't surprise the band.
"We were always very arrogant; I don't think anything's changed," he said. "Now, I mean, I was surprised when all the tickets sold out in 10 seconds or something, that was kind of neat. And then they were going for 3 or 5 thousand pounds. I mean that's not good, that's definitely not good."
But those Madison Square Garden shows might not have been the end of Cream.
"We're meeting up in October have a little talk about maybe doing some more," Bruce said. "We'll see how it goes."
Since Bruce is currently reliving the days of the Summer of Love as part of the Hippiefest tour, which hits Wolf Trap on July 30, we asked him to Express 5 of his most memorable moments from his days in Cream and five from his far-reaching solo career.
"KICKING IT" CHRONICLES the emotional stories of several athletes and teams who have traveled from around the world — from Afghanistan and Ireland to Kenya and the United States — to participate in the 2006 Homeless World Cup of soccer that was held in Cape Town, South Africa.
Directed by local Emmy- and Peabody-winning filmmaker Susan Koch, the documentary is sensitive, intimate and respectful. But even the film's producer, Ted Leonsis, had a hard time wrapping his head around why someone would even have a Homeless World Cup.
"When [Susan] first told me about the idea, I thought it was almost offensive and dumb," Leonsis said. "Homeless people playing soccer? I thought it was exploitive. Then she showed me some of the footage."
The compelling movie combines the drama of sport with the harsh realities of the homeless players, and "Kicking It" is simultaneously suspenseful and educational — without being didactic. It also shows why the Homeless World Cup is actually a good idea: The event gives these down-on-their-luck people a sense of self-worth and purpose as they try to get their lives back together, while also shining a spotlight on the global homeless epidemic.
"Kicking It" screens at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Silverdocs and opens in Washington at the E Street Cinemas on June 27 — which is the same day the U.S. team trials for the 2008 Homeless World Cup start in D.C.
We asked Leonsis — owner of the Washington Capitals and creator of the term "filmanthropy" — to Express 5 things he loved about the making of "Kicking It."
The two-day Nordic Jazz 08 festival — held on the House of Sweden's roof, overlooking the Potomac — kicks off on Thursday, and all this week readexpress.com will feature interviews with the artists performing there. We've profiled Thursday's performers: composer Kristian Blak from Denmark's Faroe Islands and Sweden's Wildbirds & Peacedrums. Featured today is Finland's Iro Haarla, who will lead a quintet on Friday.
The great experimental Finnish drummer Edward Vesala has a secret weapon: His wife, Iro Haarla, helped orchestrate much of his music, including his last four albums for ECM with the Sound & Fury band.
Haarla has slowly but surely been stepping out as a solo artist since her husband's death in 1999. A pianist and harpist, her music feels almost entirely Nordic in nature. Her 2006 ECM album, "Northbound," is the sound of glaciers melting: slowly unfolding and gorgeously meditative. The CD is filled with desolate lullabies that have a fractured fairytale quality about them.
» EXPRESS: Express 5 things that help define your interpretation of the phrase "Nordic jazz."
» HAARLA: Light, darkness, warmth, coldness, a certain desolateness, calmness, stormy emotions — strong contrasts between light and shades. All these contrasts take form in the Finnish nature and in the character of the Finns. These feelings are very often hidden in the inmost corners of their hearts. The music expresses these feelings and sounds in the North.
The two-day Nordic Jazz 08 festival — held on the House of Sweden's roof, overlooking the Potomac — kicks off on Thursday, and all this week readexpress.com will feature interviews with the artists performing there. Yesterday was composer Kristian Blak from Denmark's Faroe Islands. Sharing the bill with Blak on Thursday is Sweden's Wildbirds & Peacedrums. The husband-and-wife drums-and-voice duo sounds like a tribal punk band covering Nina Simone songs, and their recent CD, "Heartcore" (The Leaf Label) is as soulful as it is original. Andreas Werliin smacks the skins and Mariam Wallentin sings most of the songs.
» EXPRESS: Express 5 singers and 5 drummers who have influenced you and why.
» WERLIIN: Drummers:
1. Jon Falt: For making drums something else than time keeping and technique.
2. Paal Nilssen-Love: For creativity and forward thinking.
3. John Bonham: Sound and beat.
4. Elvin Jones: Hard swing and pure energy.
5. Tony Williams: For independence and direction.
» WALLENTIN: Singers:
1. Sidsel Endresen: Freedom.
2. Nina Simone: Power.
3. Diamanda Galas: Energy.
4. Aretha Franklin. Spirit.
5. Chet Baker. Intimacy.
» EXPRESS: Did your past band experiences help you decide to go with a minimalist lineup for Wildbirds & Peacedrums?
» WERLIIN: The forming of the band was a reaction of all earlier experiences from musical institutions as genres and schools; we needed to make something pure and physically comfortable. We had talked a lot about music and shared the same record collection, so when we started play it was easy to create. It had enough space in it so you can hear everything and keep your imagination free to fill in the rest.
The two-day Nordic Jazz 08 festival — held on the House of Sweden's roof, overlooking the Potomac — kicks off on Thursday, and all this week readexpress.com will feature interviews with the excellent artists performing there. First up, composer Kristian Blak from Denmark's Faroe Islands. The classically trained, jazz-leaning Blak performs with his group Yggdrasil, which incorporates Nordic folk music into its nature-influenced sound.
» EXPRESS: Express 5 things we should know about the Faroe Islands, which the CIA's World Factbook says is "eight times the size of Washington, D.C."
» BLAK: 1. Faroe Islands is an island nation in the North Atlantic Ocean equidistant from Norway and Iceland and Hebrides. So it has a central position in the North Atlantic.
2. Faroese people moved mainly from Norway around 1,200 years ago, hence the Norse language Faroese.
3. [Population] 48,000. There are about 20,000 Faroese in other countries, working, studying.
4. Music has always filled the mind of Faroese people — in tradition there are 80,000 verses of song-ballads in the "general" brain. Nowadays there is a flowering artistic activity. Two, three, four CDs a month are released; art exhibitions, theater.
5. The natural scenery is unique. Ocean, mountains and sky create the contrasts.
» EXPRESS: What led you to move to the Faroe Islands from Denmark?
» BLAK: I moved to Faroe to see a new place that I did not know and worked here for one year. I stayed because it so much fun, and challenging, and international contacts here are very direct and personal — you may not believe it, but so it is/was.
Continue Reading "Nordic Jazz 08: Kristian Blak's Island Music" »
THE MUSICIANS IN British psychedelic band Clinic wear surgical masks in all their group's promotional photos — but it's a ruse. Because despite the band's name, it's the garage, not the hospital, that's the structure most closely linked to Clinic.
The phrase "garage rock" is most often used to describe bands that have their collective fingers on the pulse of mid-1960s music that was blues-based and often amateurish (feigned or real), but infused with enough distortion, percussion and random craziness that it sounds more like experimental pop than Delta get-downs.
Clinic's latest CD, "Do It!" (Domino), is garage rock to the T-square, from its clattering drums and wheezing organ to its fuzzed guitars and overall rump-roasting thump. It's gutbucket blues run through the raw energy of rock — then that rock is run through the grinder, which spits it out as something primal, familiar and satisfying. It's kind of like the feeling you get when you cut the lawn or pound a nail or build something from scratch.
With all that in mind, we asked Clinic's singer-keyboardist Ade Blackburn to Express 5 of his favorite tools found in the garage. The 11-year-old Liverpudlian quartet plays the Black Cat's main stage tonight.
Continue Reading "Express 5: Clinic Names Its Favorite Tools" »
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