YOU’RE INVITED: Special Meatcannon Tribute/Benefit show featuring Detroit rock’s finest SATURDAY, AUGUST 7

On June 3rd, some friends and I lost a dear friend very suddenly. His name was Joe Scharf, but we always called him “Meatcannon.” To this day I have no idea the story behind the nickname, but that’s what we always called him. He was a good friend, a loving husband, and proud father to an adorable 2 1/2 year-old boy named Gavin. Meatcannon (or “Meat”) was the most dependable and sought-after roadie in the Detroit rock scene.

The last time we saw him was at Dana’s wedding on May 23. He was so happy, carrying Gavin around on his shoulders, a proud papa. It had been a while since I had seen him, but he and his wife Alyssa were moving back to the D and we were very excited about all the fun times ahead of us. Little did we know that would be the last time we saw him. Ten days later, he was taken from us way too soon.

Because we’re a cohesive bunch, we’ve decided to throw a special rock-n-roll tribute show for our beloved fallen brother — some of his best friends/favorite bands are coming together to celebrate his life and raise money for the Joseph Scharf Scholarship Fund, which will help pay for Gavin’s college. Below is the copy from the official press release:

Rockers Unite for Tribute to Roadie Joe Scharf aka Meatcannon

Tribute and Benefit Show at the Token Lounge on Saturday August 7, 2010

Doors are at 7:00 p.m. and the show starts promptly at 7:30 p.m.   Ages 18 and over are welcome to attend. Admission is $10 with 100% of the proceeds benefiting the Joseph Scharf Memorial Fund, administered by Citizens Bank.

In addition to the great live music, there will be a 50/50 raffle, and silent auction with items from Lucky Monkey Tattoo, Zodiac Vodka, Rock N Roll Gangstar Apparel, concert tickets, music memorabilia and more! Friends and family will also be on hand, sharing and celebrating Meatcannon’s life with rock and roll road trip stories and other humorous tales!

Joe Scharf aka Meatcannon began roading for some of Detroit’s most notorious rock bands in the early 80′s. Known for his unshakeable dedication, strong work ethic, and raucous sense of humor, Meatcannon led band tours to SXSW (Austin, Texas), the legendary CBGB’s (New York), Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Hollywood’s Viper Room, in addition to festivals all over the country.   Joe even served on a music industry panel discussing his roadie work at the 2005 Motor City Music Conference.

Tragically passing away at the age of 42, Joe left behind wife Alyssa, and young son Gavin. The Joseph Scharf Memorial Fund benefits Gavin’s college education.

Don’t miss this celebration of Joe Scharf’s life. ”His heart was into the work and we can thank Meatcannon for all he did for rock and roll by participating in this tribute”, explains Sponge’s Vinnie Dombroski.

The Token Lounge is located at 28949 Joy Rd. in Westland, Michigan, ph: 734-513-5030.

Please join us tomorrow night, August 7th, at the Token to raise money for a good cause and celebrate Meatcannon’s life. This is going to be a helluva show, some of Detroit’s finest in the rock scene, and Meat wouldn’t want it any other way.

Natalie Merchant awakens from 8-year slumber with Leave Your Sleep, leaves a lasting mark on Ann Arbor with two shows 7/27/10

When it comes to artists, true artists in every aspect, few are as pure (and under-appreciated) as Natalie Merchant. Formerly known as the lead singer for 1980s college-rock phenom band 10,000 Maniacs (yes, they’re still around), Merchant built quite a cult following for herself after splitting with the Maniacs in 1993 and releasing her debut album, Tigerlily, with hits such as Carnival and Wonder.

I am among that cult following.

Since leaving her label Elektra in 2002, Merchant’s only album had been The House Carpenter’s Daughter, which resurrected many all-but-forgotten gospel and folk songs. However, up until recently, I had always regarded her 1998 release Ophelia as her best work.

After an eight-year hiatus from cutting any albums or touring at all, Merchant is back with Leave Your Sleep, which is sure to be considered her magnum opus for years to come.  In these eight years “off the map,” she focused on raising her daughter Lucia, and between Motherland and motherhood arose a creative curiosity in children’s poetry.

A week ago today was a very special day for a die-hard like me. I was able to catch not one, but TWO performances by Natalie Merchant in downtown Ann Arbor.

At the very last minute, she agreed to do a special noon in-store performance at Borders Bookstore 01. Lucky for me, this is about 5 or 6 blocks down the street from my office, and I can’t think of a better way to spend a lunch break than to watch one of my favorite artists perform for the first time in eight years in an intimate performance in a bookstore, with a special meet and greet afterwards.  Ann Arbor’s 107.1 hosted the event, and broadcast half the show on air. (Tip: If you go to their website and sign up to be an “Insider” (it’s relatively hassle-free), under “Audio Archives” you can stream the six tracks they recorded.)

I only wish I thought enough at the time to write the entire setlist down in my BlackBerry, but was too captivated by the performance to think of anything else but how awesome it was to be there. I took a few shots with my phone, but AnnArbor.com has a nice gallery of that performance you should totally check out.

The main show itself was . . . wow. For someone who has seen her as many times as I have throughout the years, I can tell you that it was much different than “the usual,” but in a good way. Overall, she collaborated with over a hundred musicians on Leave Your Sleep, all of whom are named in the liner notes of the album, and her live band was much different than she’s had it in the past. There was no drum kit, nor a keyboard/piano, but plenty of strings, including a cello, an upright bass, a banjo, a fiddle, the usual lead and rhythm guitars, a snare, and an accordion and a tuba thrown in for good measure.

The first half of her set was entirely composed of songs from Leave Your Sleep, and each song had an accompanying story about the poem it was grown from, along with slides of the poet and educational, sometimes amusing commentary beforehand by Ms. Merchant herself, on her research of the poet, the song, and how it came to be.

She opened the show with her adaptation of obscure poet Charles Edward Carryl’s poem The Sleepy Giant, about a giant who used to eat little boys and is now reformed, much to the relief of the little boy to whom giant is speaking.  From there she led into her adaptation of the classic Mother Goose The Man in the Wilderness, a song with a very classic Merchant-esque musical arrangement, in the same vein as her Motherland album.

However, the rest of the first half of the show was anything but classic Natalie Merchant musically. One of the things that stands out about Leave Your Sleep over her other albums is the amount of thought and research that went into every song, not only about the poem and the poet, but the time period in which they were written, the musical stylings that accompanied the era, and of course, her creative liberty to adapt the piece. In all of Merchant’s performances, she is not just a singer, but a full-out interpretive dancer to each and every song, and this show was no exception.

For example, not much is known about the British poem The King of China’s Daughter, whose author is unknown, however the song itself has a very classic Chinese sound to it, and in fact, she had some very talented Chinese musicians record the song with her for the album. She danced a hypnotic interpretation to the arrangement using a Chinese paper lantern as a prop, and took you back to one of the ancient dynasties right there in the theatre. (Or, as someone I know would say, “it sounds really plinky-plinky.”)

In The Janitor’s Boy, by child prodigy Nathalia Crane, whose first book of poems (by the same name) was published at the age of 11 in 1924, Merchant appropriately adapts the poem to a very swanky, jazzy arrangement in the style of the 1920s, and glides across the stage as if to portray a sultry lounge singer.

She closed the Leave Your Sleep portion of the show with a haunting song entitled Equestrienne, by Rachel Field (1894 – 1942), a song so haunting it’ll linger with you hours later. Here’s a video of her doing the song at the Philadelphia show in April:

The encores. Oh the encores. . . .

. . . the encores began the second half of the show that night, where the majority of the audience would be a bit more familiar with the material, as she began with Life is Sweet and played other more-well-known hits such as Carnival, Wonder, and closed with Kind and Generous (typical). But it was a couple rare nuggets that she threw in that had old school fans like me in love with this show — she played Eat for Two, from her 10,000 Maniacs days, the lead track from Blind Man’s Zoo (1989). I can’t honestly remember the last time I saw her do this live, if ever, but . . . what a dramatic performance. She slowed the tempo down significantly from when she did it back-in-the-day, and the song was all the more intense with abrupt breaks at strategic intervals — if it gives you any indication, I literally watched this one with my mouth open and chills down my spine.

The other pleasant surprise? Don’t Talk, another 10,000 Maniacs-era one, from 1987’s In My Tribe album. I was very glad she threw in a couple of the really old songs for the die-hards, and all in all, I can’t say she’s lost any of her stage presence and/or zest over the years. Natalie Merchant is looking and sounding better than ever, and though she said she “won’t be coming back to Ann Arbor for many years to come,” I can only hope that isn’t true. She’s in a league of her own, one of the most seasoned singers, songwriters, and all-around true artists of our era, and it would be a shame to not see her again for another eight years.

Natalie Merchant Full Set List 7-27-10 Michigan Theatre, Ann Arbor

The Sleepy Giant
The Man in the Wilderness
The King of China’s Daughter
Nursery Rhyme of Innocence and Experience
Spring and Fall: to a young child
maggie and milly and molly and may
The Peppery Man
The Janitor’s Boy
Bleezer’s Ice-Cream
Adventures of Isabel
Calico Pie
If No One Ever Marries Me
The Dancing Bear
Equestrienne

1st Encore:

Life is Sweet
River
Eat for Two
The Worst Thing
The Letter

2nd Encore:

Carnival
Don’t Talk
Wonder
Michael Row Your Boat Ashore (improv)
Kind & Generous

Note: All links to albums in this post are Amazon Affiliate links.

Here is a link to AnnArbor.com’s review of the show.

Music Monday | New video by Carolyn Striho – “Sing it to Me”

Back in April I wrote a preview post of the 2010 Detroit Music Awards for Detroit Unspun and interviewed my friend Carolyn Striho, who was nominated for twelve DMAs, the most of anybody this year. She ended up taking home three, including Outstanding Rock/Pop CD for Honesty. Carolyn has collaborated with a slew of amazing musicians in the past, including punk legend Patti Smith, but she’s an amazing songwriter/singer/performer in her own right.

Nothing exemplifies this more than her new video, “Sing it to Me,” a sultry, Spanish-sounding single with a film noir vibe that is slightly reminiscent of Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” video (minus the controversy). At the time I interviewed Carolyn for my DMA story, she mentioned that the following day she was going to be shooting a new video, and this is the product of those shoots. It was directed by Mark Kinnunen of Tears of Nimbus Films, and I’ve gotta say — it’s the best effin’ video of any local artist I’ve ever seen, no matter the scale of the artist’s fame.

I feel very fortunate that I know such a wide variety of talented people, and this kind of awesomeness is a constant reminder.

Find more of Carolyn Striho on ReverbNation & MySpace, and support this amazing Detroit musician by purchasing the award-winning album “Honesty” on iTunes or CD Baby. If you’d like to read more about her, there’s a great feature on Carolyn in the June 17th edition of the Detroit Free Press.

Music Monday | Barrett Strong & Eliza Neals – bringin’ Motown back!

Once upon a time in 1960, a tiny little record label in Detroit named “Motown” released a song called “Money (That’s What I Want)” (you may have heard of it) that became its first hit and the beginning of a musical movement. The artist and songwriter was a man named Barrett Strong, who became a pivotal figure in Motown’s formative years and one of the most influential songwriters of the last century. Teaming up with legendary producer Norman Whitfield, Strong is credited for giving the world such classics as “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” “Too Busy Thinking About My Baby,” “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” “Ball of Confusion,” “War,” and “Take Me in Your Arms and Love Me.”

Yeah, he’s kind of a big deal.

A handful of years ago, Strong started collaborating with some new Detroit musical talent and decided to take them under his legendary-Motown-figure wings. His first protogé is an incredibly talented woman whom I am lucky enough to call a good friend, Eliza Neals. Together, they co-wrote her albums “No Frogs for Snakes” and “Liquorfoot,” both available for download on iTunes.

This summer, they’re bringin’ Motown back. REAL Motown.

Written fifty years ago when he was only 16, Barrett Strong released a single called “Misery” that didn’t get the marketing that it deserved. Now, he’s re-releasing it, sung by Eliza, and she’s putting her awesome Detroit diva soul spin on this authentic Motown tune.

Below is the video, just released, and Strong makes a cameo alongside super producer Tino Gross, also of renowned funk band Howling Diablos.

This is the sound of Detroit, folks — the sound that gave it the nickname “Motown,” the sound that started it all. And we all have Barrett Strong to thank.

The single will be available for download on iTunes soon (official date pending), but if you want it now, the only way you can get it is through email via private release. $3 will get you a limited edition copy of “Misery” with the video & outtakes with Barrett Strong and Tino Gross.

Eliza Neals lives in New York now but makes it home to The D once every couple months, and you can see her perform “Misery” and hear some more of her real Motown sound this Friday, July 2nd at Memphis Smoke in Royal Oak, and the following Monday, July 5th at Black Lotus in Clawson.

Find/hear more of Eliza Neals on iTunes, ReverbNation, MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, and Barrett Strong on MySpace and CD Baby.

(Note: None of the links in this post are affiliate links, and I am making no money off this post whatsoever. My only disclosure is that Eliza is my friend, and years ago I did a little bit of work with Tino Gross.)

The lowdown with the Hoedown, and more on the way!

It’s been over a week since the 2010 WYCD Downtown Hoedown, and in my last post I hashed out a little of what I would be doing there. My life has been nothing short of a whirlwind since then, but unfortunately, no, I wasn’t able to sneak away to Nashville with Dierks Bentley (or even get his phone number, for that matter). Regardless, I had a blast and thought I’d post here a few quick links for those interested in my coverage/activity at the Hoedown.

First off, I want to send a great big THANK YOU to 99.5 WYCD for organizing such an awesome event, and special shout-outs are in order for Terry Phillips and CKC Public Relations . Without you my experience would not have been half as amazing.

The other day I published a reflection on the 2010 WYCD Downtown Hoedown, and what it (and music in general) means for Detroit. It’s a bit lengthy but a quick read, and I’d love to know your thoughts on it in the comments of the post.  To make it easier, I’ll just put the other stuff up so far in bullets:

• Preview post: Detroit Rock City goes country for 2010 WYCD Downtown Hoedown
• These girls are a riot, look for them to be the next big chick group: Aussie superstar trio The McClymonts talk to Detroit Unspun
• Homegrown, 17, and on her way to the big time: Meet Ashley Allyson – Metro Detroit native, Nashville recording artist, and rising star!
• This guy is my newest favorite, you gotta check him out: Genre-blending Hoedown headliner Colt Ford talks to Unspun
• Singer-songwriter, Hoedown headliner Steve Azar finds Michigan “a special place”
• Flickr photo set of shots I took on my BlackBerry (there are more pix but I was limited on space and time. I left out pictures of me and will upload them in my Facebook pictures eventually)
• There’s more on the Detroit Unspun YouTube channel I haven’t written about yet, including an interview with everybody’s favorite singing newsman, Stephen Clark from WXYZ, and a great spot from radio personalities Edwards & Lee of WYCD)

I’ve been contacted by a few people (readers old and new) about certain content that has yet to be polished and published, and believe me, I’ll let you know as soon as it’s up. We’ve got a great montage on the way of footage I took with our FlipCam, including interviews with attendees and a couple special guest apearances, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, take a look at this kickass montage that WYCD put together, which is a very healthy nutshell of the awesomeness that ensued Hoedown weekend:

And of course, DEFINITELY head on over to WYCD’s special Hoedown section on their site to check out all kinds of great content, including interviews with ALL the performers (all audio, most video, too), lots of great event photography, and some exclusive backstage footage.  They’re still adding more stuff, so country fans — bookmark it and check back regularly!

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