With the opening of The Southern, and the soon to arrive revamped Jefferson, how can your local music venues continue to attract talented musicians if attendance often times is so low? Many locals have probably not heard of these bands, although they have received quite a bit of critical acclaim nationally, and since they are mostly unheard of, how can they find fans locally? Back in the day, I discovered a band that I still consider one of my top 5 hip hop groups of all time by accident on a first date. I saw a 5 man Ska/Funk/Reggae jam band that switched instruments with each other in the middle of a song without missing a beat. I checked out the Southern on Sunday night, hoping that I’d have another story to tell about another amazing band that few have heard of.
The band was called Forro in the Dark, and from all of the press kits, and reviews that I’d read, I was excited. I mean this was going to be an earth shattering performance that would change my preconceptions of music in Charlottesville forever. It could have been one of those nights, but it fell just a bit short.
The band itself was outstanding, melding Forro Music (if you’re unsure of what it is you’re just going to have to check out Wikipedia. Go ahead I’ll wait… Back? Good) with hints of country twang and hip hop swing. The band was energetic, engaging and entertaining (one more E word you say? Enthralling should do nicely). If you’ve ever heard a good jam band live, imagine it with Latin flair and you have an idea of what it’s like to listen to these guys. Solo’s on drums, flute (pifano flute to be exact), guitar and saxophone were all executed masterfully, and were received well from the crowd. A full venue would have made this an absolutely amazing show.
The crowd that was in attendance seemed to love the performance, dancing along with the Latin sound all night, and even calling the band back for one more song to put a bow on the evening. This is a band that recorded with David Byrne on their first album. This is a band that has received critical acclaim in almost every city in which they have preformed (and that is a substantial list). This is a band that is credited with the emergence of Forro music in the United States.
Admittedly, this show was on a Sunday evening, and that most likely accounted for the limited attendance of only 25 people. Had any of you heard about this show? Forro in general? With the availability of venue, and the music loving nature of our population, Charlottesville could easily become that spot between Atlanta and New York where great musicians stop to play small venues because they know that this is a place that will support those kinds of performances. But we aren’t quite there, yet.
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how can your local music venues continue to attract talented musicians if attendance often times is so low?
Needs more chicken suit, apparently.
Had any of you heard about this show? Forro in general?
No and no. If there is no flyer for it on the belmont market wall, i dont know about it.
Good piece. Though I fail to see why you did not title it To Forro or to Forego? – its fun to say, and practically wrote itself.
Okay, so as far as hearing about the show or knowing who Forro in the Dark was before, I’d have to say that the answer to both questions is a resonding no. Thats the point. Good stories only come looking for you sometimes. The rest of the time you gotta go looking for them. I know what you mean though. I’ve missed alot of good shows here because I didn’t see a flyer or hear anyone talking about it. Appreciate the response B-mont. And as far as the Title, I do dig the To Forro or to Forego, and I’ll say that I missed it until your reply. I’m just dipping my toe in the pool right now, I’ll unleash this rapier sharp wit before you know it.
Melvin
Really good article Melvin. Dammit.
Lol I’ll try to do worse next time. Thanks Floozy, and what is that a picture of
Yeah, I went to see Wovenhand at the Gravity Lounge last year. They were having a few shows on the east coast before heading to the European leg of their tour, and there were only about 15 people at the show. It was a shame.
I don’t know if they’ll ever come back.
…me with a tequila hangover Melvin.Be afraid.
Hate to see what bourbon does to you.
Gravity used to have that problem too. When I saw Bob Mould there a few years back, the place was more than half empty. I know I can’t be the only person in town who has (had?) Husker Du on cassette and considers the to be a pioneer in the ‘wall of sound’ style. But the turnout was quite frankly pathetic.
I saw him too. I didn’t like him at first, but he grew on me.
Jaysus I miss the days when the simple joy of making fun of someone’s name could fill a whole day. Remember the Lauren Brie thread… it was epic, and today not one fucking taker.Sad.
I really think his music is too spore-adic?
/l’esprit de l’escalier
Had Land Speed Record on original vinyl when it was new. Didja know Mr. Mould also spins fabulous gay disco now? I identify with him kinda, as he is the only one from that went from that era of gutterpunk to house music.
But the Grateful Dead invented the “wall of sound”, both in phrase and technique. And because they did, they also invented stage monitors. A little late though, as Mickey Heart is mostly deaf now.
/the more you know
it seems that Happy Fun Ball and belmont yo are unfamiliar with the works of Phil Spector, who actually developed the original wall of sound as a method of musical production. Murderer or not, dude was a genius back in the day..
i stand corrected. same phrase, different thing. learn something new every day…
Technically Owsley Stanley invented the physical ‘wall of sound’ as sound engineer for the Dead. The descriptive ‘wall of sound’ recording technique was different and I don’t think anyone would confuse the two.
Mickey Hart, not Heart
/pickin’ on yo
i find this more and more every day about charlottesville. my question, ‘why dont more touring band come through here’ seems to answer itself. i’ve tried bringing touring bands through, and ended feeling bad about it because noone cares! House shows are the way to go!!!
The Superfantastics are godhead. Until Southern or Is/Not-Is flies these kids down from rocky newfoundland to wow us all, there is no indie-scene here. Of Montreal solo-project sounds worthwhile, save that the last Of Montreal album sux.
Forro is for knackers. All new-fusion is bunk… how many covers of Snoop-Dogg in twang-doodle hillbilly do we need (barring Nina Gordon’s cover of Straight Outta Compton, which ain’t). blues-a-billy, rock-appalachia, panflute-hairbands, a-capella klezmer, texas-swing psychedelic. ATM-kids and trustafarians playing ‘folk’ music to which their ties at best extend only to their I-Tunes download-list. Look at the mad-scramble now for ANY new ‘folk’ music to discover, arrange into three-chord progressions and to which to add blog-angst lyrics and launch as the new thang.
fer fuck’s sake, YOUTH, have an original idea or play an authentic style well.
this line of complaints hold true for every other genre, music, film, literature, food – there has to be non-affiliated (read non-label) venues for up and comers or just comers. back in the day in merry old manhattan you could go see proto-neo-punk and performance art for free of on a sliding scale. the success was never measured by turn-out but by the event actually being fulfilled by the act. just performing was so much more magnificent than rehearsing or fitting into a pre-labeled genre or niche. the old art for art’s sake thing. hell i performed swan lake with an art band at carnegie hall and it was packed with mohawks, hipsters, people in tuxes and whatnot. the only instrument was an old programmable casio keyboard with bossanova beats. try doing act two swan lake to that.
the minimum goal for cville is to never accept the pre-conditioned, pre-vetted pablum that is usually offered by the industry. how the hell do you think Ojos Brujos, the Clash, Gogol Bordello, the Velvet Underground, Television, Sonic Youth, Pulsilamma, Talking Heads, & the Ramones got started, to name a few grand examples. shitty little no-nothing venues just let them play and the rest took care of itself, for better or worse. makes you long for the days of the pudhouse with the teenage rockabilly werewolf and noisebands in a crowded storage unit. on the sad side, selah johnny gilmore. rest in peace my brother. my memories of you, houston and tim are forever in my mind. our kitchen talks about music and the universe were always entertaining, your talent always there for all of us to share.
I will answer this for those commenters new to Charlottesville who weren’t here in the 1990s. The cheap sustainable living and/or artspaces downtown are gone. They were a casualty of the movement to increase property values and spruce up the downtown mall. Places like Bittersweet, X-Lounge, Mas (yes I used to buy my instrument cases from Pete Katz who ran his shop in that space), the Goodman Street practice spaces – all of these are now shining examples of the ‘good life’ in Charlottesville. And these are all fine and good, but quit complaining. There’s good shit happening EVERY FUCKING NIGHT in town. Read Nailgun. And STFU. I’m serious! If you spend 6 months complaining that Of Montreal isn’t coming to town it’s your own damn fault. I saw them at Tokyo Rose. Elliott Smith played at Tokyo Rose for 6 people. No shit. And were you complaining then that Charlottesville never gets any good bands? Probably.
The problem is that you’re old, burned out, and out of touch, and you’d rather spend your time complaining than actually venturing out into the wild and seeing new bands you’ve never heard of. In the last year I saw the Dodos AND Paleface at the Tea Bazaar. The Tea Bazaar! Where were you?
Wow, this got messy. Thank goodness I’ve been watching from the shadows. I have a solution to all of this. First, I need everyone to grab their favorite unheard of and obscure indie band T-shirt. Now once those of you who want to participate in this nonsense have them on, we’ll have a vote to see who’s the king or queen of the overbearing and obnoxious hipsters. The winner will get a pudding, and another T-shirt that expresses your ability to be a complete tool at the drop of a hat. Did any of you go to the Forro show; I mean that’s what the article was about right? Do any of you have an opinion about anything relevant to the conversation before you pulled out your hipster soap box (most likely covered with stickers of more obscure bands that express your overblown sense of superiority)? I was there. Decent show, might have been better if there were more people, might have been rubbish. Don’t care; I enjoyed the show I saw. Where were you? And for the guy who said that Forro was for knackers I have two questions. 1) Did you go to the show? 2) Why knackers? I mean you drop “wanker” or “bell end” into the conversation, now you’re saying something.
“And like that… he was gone”
Come back. I like you.
Once again, there are no fucking hipsters on here. Why do people keep saying that? Methinks perhaps some people don’t know what hipsters are. Go to that site, Look at this fucking hipster. And get a clue.
I am sitting across from a complete twonk in a plaid shirt and a beanie that has a fur rim. Can he infect me with terminal hipsterness, and if so what should I do?
/scared
To cure terminal hipsterness, you simply listen to Miley Cyrus. Not ironically, but sincerely.
Once you appreciate “Party in the USA”, you will know you are cured.
I have no access to Ms.Cyrus right now. I’m looking at his checkerboard Converse high tops and I think I want to hurt him.Actually I know I do.
Just for you Flooze:
Dammit… grabbed the wrong info:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmKnQjBf8wM
Damn, who knew Doogie Howser had a secret ASL music video career.
Floozy, you know what my favorite type of hipster is? The “I’m not a hipster” hipster. They do things like call out fledgling hipsters who are still shopping at the consignment shop that eeevvvveerrry body knows about. They point at other hipsters that are not in their close so hip it’s not circles and make fun of the hipsters. True hipsters will never classify themselves you see, that wouldn’t be very hip at all. Don’t be skeered. If approached by a person you might suspect is a hipster, find a way to mention how you love good punk, like green day and blink 182 (with a straight face, really sell it) and wait for the look of contempt. Back away slowly humming “Day of your life” to keep them at bay.
I’m like batman Floozy. Hanging out on rooftops, searching the internet for evil doers and wankers(see how much better it feels than knackers). I may not be here when you want me, but I’ll always be right on time. Yo Mc Melly Mel, keep doing you partner, you know I got your back. I stole this one from you
“Out like a deaf kid in musical chairs”, so wrong, but so right.
100
see how much better it feels than knackers
That probably sounded better in your head….hahaha
/personally I’m favoring the use of ‘tosser’ right now.
Sounds good every where. Now If I would have said “they” feel better than knackers, I might have wanted a redo. =)
CAPTURED BY ROBOTS! Friday October 30th @ Outback Lodge. Unlike ANYTHING you have ever seen in Charlottesville, guaranteed!
http://www.capturedbyrobots.com/
http://www.myspace.com/capturedbyrobots
http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&source=hp&q=CAPTURED+BY+ROBOTS!&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=Ky7nSsIyisWUB-rF5foH&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CCEQqwQwAw#
LOL. Now now everyone just calm down. I’ve been watching this for the last few days, but I’m not stepping into this mess, it’s my first week. Thanks for all the discusion on my first article, I feel special. Half Metal, can’t u ever play nice? Thanks for the shout out, good to see you here (geeks of the world unite). Watch out for him Floozy, he’s a charmer that one.
Why so P.C.Mel? Get em!!! I want some trash talk, some momma jokes something. And stop telling people to watch out for me. I’m a puppy dog.
Oh …so that means you lick your own bollocks and hump people’s legs?
First of all, I’d like to say that I’m really digging the British slang, well done. I still have those pesky two bottom ribs (couldn’t get Mr. Manson’s doctor, and if I’m gonna do it’ I’m gonna do it right) so the first part is right out. As far as my humping habits go, only if I’m asked, and only if you’ll treat me like I’m special in the morning.