Kristi Kates

Modern Rock Kristi Kates Ron Sexsmith Collaborates With Impressive Lineup 1/31/11
Canadian indie singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith’s newest album, Long Player, Late Bloomer, is set to hit stores on March 1, as helmed by uber-producer Bob Rock and recorded in Sexsmith’s home territories of Toronto and Vancouver, Canada. Included on the set are a plethora of pals who’ve added their musical input to Sexsmith’s thoughtful, folk-pop songs, from session drummer Josh Freese to Broken Social Scene’s Brendan Canning, Pedestrian’s Joel Shearer, and The Sadies’ Travis Good. Sexsmith will also reportedly tour in support of the new set, although he only has one date booked (London on April 30) for now; future dates TBA...

Music Kristi Kates Elvis Costello - National Ransom - Hear Music 1/24/11
Recorded in a mere 11 days, Costello teams up with uber-producer T-Bone Burnett for his latest, which consists of a new tracks and plenty of guest appearances, including Vince Gill, Leon Russell, and Marc Ribot. It’s standard Costello as far as the compositions themselves, but there are hints of interesting new inflections here and there, like the Naw’lins-influenced “Jimmie Standing in the Rain,” the countryfied “I Lost You,” and the folky, backcountry-meets-jazz sound of “A Slow Drag with Josephine,” as enhanced by mandolins and Costello’s distinctive voice.

Music Kristi Kates Bibb plus Booker equals new blues 1/24/11
By Kristi Kates
American-born and European-based, blues singer-songwriter Eric Bibb was given his first steel-string acoustic guitar at the age of seven, encouraged in part by a remarkable lineup of supporters and family friends that included Pete Seeger, Judy Collins, singer/activist Paul Robeson (Bibb’s godfather), and the legendary Bob Dylan.

Modern Rock Kristi Kates Cut Copy Blend Up New “Zonoscope” 1/24/11
Cut Copy have put their musical style into something of a blender for their next album - infusing their usual fiesta of electronic equipment, synths, and computers with more organic/acoustic sounds and drumbeats - and they’re now looking at a date later this year for the new set’s release. Dubbed Zonoscope,the first indications of a new direction start with the photo-montage surrealistic album cover, the under-the-radar preview single (“Where I’m Going”) that the band released way back in July of last year, and their new video, “Skies of the Ape.” Pick up Zonoscope on February 8 on Modular Recordings...
A Beatles-themed museum just opened in down

Music Kristi Kates Butch Thompson, Jazz Original 1/17/11
By Kristi Kates
Accomplished pianist/clarinetist Butch Thompson - also a Grammy Award winner and one of Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion sidekicks - is on his way to the City Opera House in TC this Saturday, complete with his all-star New Orleans Jazz Originals lineup.

Music Kristi Kates Ruthie Foster’s Truthful Music 1/17/11
By Kristi Kates
T he Truth According to Ruthie Foster is the title of
singer-songwriter Ruthie Foster’s new album, songs of which Foster
herself will be bringing to TC’s InsideOut Gallery on Sunday, January
23.

Art Kristi Kates Art Meets Ice at Bay Harbor 1/17/11
By Kristi Kates
Back in 2000, the marketing folks at Bay Harbor were thinking up ideas
to bring more people in to the Bay Harbor community. A couple of
professional ice carvers were invited to create ice sculptures in Bay
Harbor’s Village on Main Street - and the response was a more than
positive one, with a plethora ofvisitors and locals stopping by to
view the unique art pieces crafted in the cold of a Northern Michigan
winter.

Modern Rock Kristi Kates Cruisin’ the Rockin’ Islands with 311 1/17/11
311 are prepping to take their first-ever ocean cruise this March on a dedicated “311 Cruise” event that will include a few guests and an entire boatload of 311 fans. The trip will begin on March 3 aboard the Carnival Destiny, departing from Miami, and will trek through the Turks and Caicos Islands, with, of course, plenty of 311 music on tow. The band will also reportedly pose for a photo with every passenger as they board the ship, will host several Q and A sessions, and will invite the likes of DJ Soulman and Pepper on stage with them for some shipboard jams...

Modern Rock Kristi Kates Weezer Just Say No to Styrofoam
Three interesting Weezer items this week - the first being that Weezer’s frontman, Rivers Cuomo, has announced that he can see himself heading up the two-decades-strong band until he’s at least sixty years old. “That’s the cut-off point, maybe,” Cuomo recently told website Nola.com. Those who are fans of the band will also already be aware of our second news flash - that the band have quickly followed-up their eighth studio album, Hurley, with a rarities set called Death to False Metal, which was quietly released in December. And third (and most amusing) is the fact that one of Weezer’s tour contracts has been released online, with such notable items being the band’s on-the-road requests for a meditation room at each venue, as well as vegetarian food, specific brands of chocolates (Teuscher), jams (St. Dalfour’s), salsas (Paul Newman’s), teas (Ito En Tea), and bread (Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Whole Grain), and a proclamation of “No Styrofoam Anywhere.” Now there’s a band who knows what they want and aren’t afraid to ask for it...

Music Kristi Kates The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night - Jagjaguwar
Montreal band Besnard Lakes add even more power to their orchestral pop-rock blend, with epic compositions and dense yet opaque song structures. “Land of the Living Skies” stacks instrument upon instrument as it moves along, adding each element with precision until the song is at its optimum balance. “Albatross” sketches in horns, layered vocals, and chilled drums, and “Chicago Train” utilizes strings to interplay its sad feel with the guitar work. All of the attention to detail is what makes this one of the Canadian band’s more accessible yet still unique sets.

Music Kristi Kates The Wiyos: Redefining Americana
By Kristi Kates
The Whyos were an intimidating street gang who raged through NewYork’s
volatile Five Points region from the 1860s until the early 1890s,
controlling much of the Manhattan territory and shouting their gang
cry of “Why-oh!” throughout the rough city streets.

Modern Rock Kristi Kates Get Up Kids Get Working on New Album
The Get Up Kids, who released their latest set, Simple Science, earlier in 2010, had planned out a series of EPs with release dates starting this year. That plan’s a no-go now, though - instead, the band is sketching out the details on what will be a new full-length album, as they say they have more than enough songs to fill it. As for that release date, you’ll have to wait until early next year, as the full-length, they (kinda) confirm, will take until “January, February, or spring” to complete...

Features Kristi Kates Dark Sky Park: She’s preserving the star shine at The Headlands in Emmet County
By Kristi Kates
Residents of many rural communities in Northern Michigan are fortunate
to benefit from less light pollution than that which occurs in and
around major cities. One Harbor Springs resident hopes to keep it that
way.

Features Kristi Kates The Scoundrels of Interlochen
By Kristi Kates
When asked what the most appealing element of Interlochen’s up-coming
production of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels: The Musical will be,
Interlochen Director of Theater David Montee’s answer is as speedy as
the con-artist characters in the play itself.

Music Kristi Kates ‘Phantom‘ plays TC’s Opera House: Dashing D’Ambrosio
By Kristi Kates
There’s a phantom lurking in Traverse City’s Opera House this week,
but this time he’ll be spending all of his time onstage, rather than
in the cellar.