Month: April 2005

Categories
Sports Sports Feature

My Finest Four

This weekend I will watch my 25th Final Four, a silver anniversary, you might say, of shining moments. In 1981, I was a sixth-grader living in Southern California, when my dad and I watched a sophomore point guard named Isiah Thomas lead his Indiana Hoosiers over a North Carolina team one year B.M. (Before Michael). Herewith, my own final four: the finest teams to cut down the nets during the last quarter-century.

4) 1989-90 UNLV Runnin’ Rebels — The excellence of the teams on this list has a lot to do with the team they beat for the championship. These Rebels destroyed a still-developing Duke squad that would win the next two national titles. Larry Johnson and Stacey Augmon were All-Americas at UNLV, and Greg Anthony and Anderson Hunt may have been the best backcourt tandem since North Carolina State’s Sidney Lowe and Dereck Whittenburg in 1983. With Coach Jerry Tarkanian chewing his towel on the bench, UNLV beat Kenny Anderson and Georgia Tech in the semis, then crushed Christian Laettner’s Blue Devils, 103-73. Hunt made 12 of 16 field-goal attempts for 29 points while Johnson added 22. This was the pinnacle of UNLV’s “outlaw” program, a band of hell-raisers who took the college basketball world by force and made no apologies for it. Final record: 35-5.

3) 1983-84 Georgetown Hoyas — The 1984 championship game was a heavyweight matchup of two Final Four regulars from the early ’80s. Georgetown was making its second of three appearances in the finals with Patrick Ewing at center. Houston was making its third straight trip to the Final Four with Hakeem Olajuwon playing the pivot. Ewing’s supporting cast included the sweet-shooting Reggie Williams and the rim-rattling Michael Graham. Olajuwon was backed by Michael Young (18 points in the final) and Alvin Franklin (21). While Hakeem the Dream (15 points, 9 rebounds) may have edged Ewing (10 points, 9 rebounds ) in their matchup, the Hoyas were unbeatable in Seattle. Williams scored 19, Graham 14, and David Wingate added 16 in the 84-75 win. It was Coach John Thompson’s only national championship, but it was enough to spawn a nationwide frenzy that put Hoya gear in shopping malls from Seattle to Miami. Final record: 34-3.

2) 1991-92 Duke Blue Devils — This was the sixth of Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s 10 Final Four teams, his second consecutive national champ, and to this day, the best team he’s ever coached. Senior star Laettner was making his fourth straight appearance in the Final Four (and his third straight title game). When Laettner made his epic, buzzer-beating shot to beat Kentucky in the regional finals, this squad’s coronation in Minneapolis was mere formality. The Devils squeezed by Indiana (remember Damon Bailey?) in the semis, 81-78, setting up a championship showdown with Michigan’s Fab Five, the great quintet of freshmen. (We all know Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, and Juwan Howard, but who remembers Ray Jackson and Jimmy King?) The game was no contest. Sophomore Grant Hill scored 18, Thomas Hill 16, and Laettner wrapped up his college career with 19 as Duke won, 71-51. Michigan turned the ball over 20 times and was led by Webber’s 14 points. (During Laettner’s four years at Duke, the school had a record of 21-2 in the NCAA tournament.) Final record: 34-2.

1) 1981-82 North Carolina Tar Heels — You just can’t help but add some historical perspective to the greatness of Coach Dean Smith’s first national champions. Three of their starters (James Worthy, Sam Perkins, and freshman Michael Jordan) went on to play a total of 44 seasons in the NBA and win nine NBA championships. Having lost in the finals the year before to Thomas’ Hoosiers, the ‘Heels knocked off Houston (with Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler) in the semis before edging Georgetown, 63-62, in a thrilling title tilt. Hoya freshman Ewing was guilty of a series of goaltending calls in the early minutes of the game, all the while establishing a presence North Carolina would have to play around with their superior perimeter players. With 28 points, Worthy assured his status as the NBA’s number-one draft pick three months later. Jordan scored 16 (and pulled down nine rebounds), the last two coming on what proved to be the game-winning jumper with less than a minute to play. North Carolina was challenged by Ewing’s 23 points and 11 boards, while Sleepy Floyd added 18 for the Hoyas. Sadly, the game tends to be remembered as much for Georgetown’s Fred Brown throwing the ball to Worthy in the final seconds — out of the corner of his eye, Brown thought Worthy was a teammate — as for the first national breakthrough for the man who would become Air Jordan. Final record: 32-2.

Categories
Music Music Features

Smooth Grooves

I ain’t much on Casanova

Me and Romeo ain’t never been friends

Can’t you see how much I really love you

Gonna sing it to ya time and time again

— “Casanova”

Before Cleveland, Ohio, native Gerald Levert struck out on his own, he made his mark on the music industry as frontman of the group LeVert. He, brother Sean, and cousin Marc Gordon sang songs such as 1987’s “Casanova.” While gangsta rap emerged as a hardcore musical genre, LeVert’s ballads spoke to the softer side of human emotions. The sweet songs continued as Levert brought the same themes to his solo career.

Through the years, Levert has become synonymous with soulful bluesy melodies and yearning heartache — in short, make-out songs. Beginning with his 1991 solo debut, Private Line, featuring the hit single “Baby Hold On To Me,” and through eight additional albums, Levert has been an R&B performer, producer, and songwriter.

In addition to honing his own skills, Levert has written and produced hits for Patti LaBelle, the late Barry White, and the Winans. As a spin-off to his solo career, Levert joined Keith Sweat and Johnny Gill for a short but fairly successful run as the group LSG. During BET’s Salute to Smokey Robinson in October, the husky baritone nearly stole the show with a sizzling rendition of “Ebony Eyes” with Floetry’s Marsha Ambrosius. In recorded music and live performances, Levert rarely fails to define the true meaning of R&B.

As the music industry continually evolves, listeners have welcomed socially conscious performers such as Mos Def and Kanye West, rappers with messages reminiscent of hip-hop legends Public Enemy and KRS-One. In the R&B genre, the message has also changed through musicians such as India.Arie. In his latest release, November 2004’s Do I Speak for the World, Levert takes a break from the traditional love album and follows these artists in introspective examinations of current events.

At age 38, Levert attributes the change to his maturity. In album notes, the master crooner writes that the desire for this album has long been evident. The recent death of an uncle and other family situations have also prompted the change.

“I always wanted to do a What’s Going On-type album.” Levert writes. “My question is, ‘Does every man and woman feel the same way I do?'”

Levert wastes no time establishing the mood on Do I Speak for the World. A featured performer at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, Levert’s third track, “Crucify Me,” discusses political issues like the ongoing war and school prayer. In “So What (If You Got a Baby),” Levert takes on the problems of single mothers and motherhood. But the crooner never forgets his roots and returns to the art of love songs with heady tunes like “Lay You Down” and “Better To Talk It Out.”

Levert’s harmonies are flawless, and as an established artist, Grammy-nominee, and NAACP Image Award winner, any album by this artist is a safe purchase. The musical mastery he learned from his father, Eddie Levert of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group the O’Jays, is evident in every song, no matter the subject.

Levert will be in Memphis for the Laughter and Soul Tour. Fellow crooner Will Downing joins Levert. The show is hosted by comedian Monique of UPN’s The Parkers. n

The Laughter and Soul Tour at the FedExForum, Friday, April 1st, at 7:30 p.m. $42.75-$55.75. Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster, 525-1515.

Categories
Music Record Reviews

Short Cuts :: Record Reviews

The Sunset Tree

The Mountain Goats

(4AD)

For nearly a decade, John Darnielle, under the moniker the Mountain Goats, recorded his music solo and straight into a portable stereo, his agitated acoustic guitar, nasally bleat, and precise diction all alone with the tape hiss. He wrote hundreds of literate, witty, unpredictable songs about almost as many subjects and released on cassette-only albums, seven-inch singles, and compilation CDs.

This cult figure surfaced with 2002’s brilliant indie debut, Tallahassee, adding professional production and ace accompaniment to an inexhaustible, unnervingly intimate song-cycle about a (fictional) marriage falling apart. Tallahassee was spiked with at least a couple of instant classics, including the unrelenting acid comedy “No Children” and the trembling “International Small Arms Traffic Blues.”

Darnielle’s latest, The Sunset Tree (due out in late April), combines qualities of his past two records. Like last year’s cryptic We Shall All Be Healed, it’s autobiographical. And like Tallahassee, most of the drama centers on one tortured relationship — that of Darnielle and his abusive stepfather.

This relationship isn’t the focus of every song on The Sunset Tree, but it informs the most memorable ones. The most moving are from early childhood. With its energetically strummed guitar and almost bouncing piano, “Dance Music” is jaunty enough to be just that, but instead it’s a quick, indelible portrait of a child discovering the escapist powers of pop music. That discovery informs the vivid “Hast Thou Considered the Tetrapod,” where a child arrives home to the sight of his stepfather asleep and imagines him a snoozing monster to be awakened at one’s peril. The kid retreats to his bedroom and the safety of his headphones.

With its tick-tocking percussion and wistful piano, “This Year” starts off Springsteenian, but the now-teenaged protagonist is fleeing a broken home, not just a dead-end town, and drives back home at the end of the day, not off into the sunset. Later, as an adult, he numbs the memories at a cheap hotel with wine coolers and pain killers. And in the end, he gets a call from his sister with the bittersweet news that his tormenter has died “at last,” sparking the rare memory of a peaceful moment between the two. — Chris Herrington

Grade: A-

The Mountain Goats perform at the Hi-Tone Café Wednesday, April 6th.

Stairs and Elevators

Heartless Bastards

(Fat Possum)

The hellhound on Erika Wennerstrom’s trail is Erika Wennerstrom. On Stairs and Elevators, the frontwoman for the Ohio-based trio the Heartless Bastards writes about resisting her temptations and trying to be the best version of herself. She wants “to be someone who does not take everything so seriously” and “to play the part of the life that I’ve waited to start.”

The self that Wennerstrom is eluding occasionally trips her up with clichés, such as “I want my cake and I wanna taste it too.” But she compensates with a roaring, commanding voice.

As Wennerstrom voices her doubts over her thick, muddy guitar riffs, the rhythm section of Kevin Vaughn on drums and Mike Lamping on bass propels her songs precisely and even occasionally menacingly. The songs on Stairs and Elevators sound like they were worked out live, with the band fully realizing the strengths and limitations of that setting. The impression of the album is one of a woman in constant inner conflict, but the band itself reveals no conflict at all. n — Stephen Deusner

Grade: B+

The Heartless Bastards open for the Drive-By Truckers Saturday, April 2nd, at the New Daisy Theatre.

Categories
Music Music Features

local beat

There seems to be a fair amount of contention in Memphis these days, and I’m not just talking about the politicians. Case in point: Early last month, I reported that South Florida bluesman Joey Gilmore — representing the Blues Society of Taiwan — swept the Blues Foundation’s 2005 International Blues Challenge, beating out nine other acts for a slot at a dozen blues festivals and events. Now, however, it seems that Gilmore has been disqualified, because he had a nationally distributed CD out within the last 10 years. The new first-place winner? Diunna Greenleaf & the Blue Mercy Band, representing the Blue Shoe Project, which is based in Dallas.

The Blues Foundation isn’t the only music organization in town having trouble picking a winner: A few weeks ago, the powers-that-be at MemphisRap.com announced that they’re re-tallying votes from their Urban Music Showcase, which was held in mid-January. M-Town Luv, the main force behind the Web site, says “I got this gut feeling.” No word yet on who has won the recount.

And a photograph taken 70 years ago at the Hooks Brothers Photography studio on Beale Street is currently at the center of controversy in the Mississippi Supreme Court. The photo, which depicts a dapper Robert Johnson clutching his Gibson guitar, was in the possession of Carrie Thompson (the bluesman’s half-sister) for four decades. In 1973, she may have assigned the rights to the picture to musicologist Steve LaVere.

LaVere also allegedly obtained the rights to Johnson’s music. He then produced a box set on the late bluesman’s work, which was released to worldwide acclaim on CBS Records (now Sony) in 1990. With more than a million dollars in potential royalties, the legal battles began. Researcher Mack McCormick insisted that he’d secured the rights to the the photograph months earlier, while, after Thompson’s death, another half-sister laid claim to the Johnson estate. Next, LaVere unexpectedly produced Claud Johnson, the bluesman’s long-lost son, who, in 1998, was declared sole heir.

As The Wall Street Journal reported last week, in December 2004, the Mississippi Supreme Court ordered the case, which hinges on the veracity and rightful ownership of the photo, to trial. In comparison, it seems that Johnson got off easy. Johnson died at age 27 in 1938, a short time after, as legend has it, he sold his soul to the devil.

Even those good guys of neo-soul are heaping on the acrimony this weekend. That’s right. For their third annual Marvin Gaye tribute, Tha Movement is showcasing Here, My Dear. For those of you unfamiliar with the title, it’s a whopper of an album, recorded by Gaye as part of his divorce settlement from Anna Gordy (daughter of Motown head Berry Gordy) in 1978.

Chock full of vitriolic lyrics such as “If you ever loved me with all of your heart/You’d never take a million dollars to part” and songs like “You Can Leave, But It’s Gonna Cost You,” the double-disc album serves as a down-and-dirty confessional that’s much steamier than the stuff you see on reality TV.

This is what a cold-hearted breakup sounds like, and, at the Gibson Lounge Saturday night, artists such as Larry Springfield with Ty Brown, Messiah Surat, Nappy Wilson, the Tim Terry Experience, and female duo Men-Nefer will be performing selections from Here, My Dear, as well as a sampling of Gaye’s greatest hits. Doors open at 8 p.m. For more information, call 774-7437 or go to ThaMovement.com.

Maybe some good news: Last week, DJ Michael “Boogaloo” Boyer of Hot 107.1 FM announced that rappers Three 6 Mafia and Eightball & MJG are ready to bury the hatchet. Both factions contributed to David Banner’s new single, “Gangsta Walk,” and, Boyer reports, they’re talking about collaborating on a full-length album. Needless to say, I nearly drove off the road when I heard this news. Big props to Banner for landing the single, but a real joint venture? I’ll believe this one when I see it, folks.

Roots-music fans will want to tune into Oxford, Mississippi’s Thacker Mountain Radio show this week. The program, taped at Off Square Books in downtown Oxford, will feature Memphis musician/poet Michael Graber and his band, the Bluff City Backsliders. Graber is scheduled to pluck his mandolin with the Backsliders, then read an excerpt from his debut poetry collection, The Last Real Medicine Show.

Graber also will get a chance to play along with pianist/producer/cult hero Jim Dickinson, who is currently leading the Thacker Mountain band during the monthly shows. “Live radio is like wrestling. There’s an irreversibility of being in the moment and broadcasting through the earth’s protective ozone layer. It’s almost fun,” Dickinson says. “Of course, I dread everything. That’s my nature.”

Graber’s episode is taping Thursday, March 31st. It will air on Mississippi Public Radio Saturday, April 2nd, at 7 p.m. For more information, visit ThackerMountain.com.

Categories
Music Music Features

sound advice

As leader of the group Boogie Down Productions, KRS-ONE was one of the central figures in hip-hop’s 1980s golden age. His stentorian voice and politically confrontational lyrics made him and his group something like the Scottie Pippen to Chuck D. and Public Enemy’s Michael Jordan. Though earlier artists such as Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five (“The Message”), Kurtis Blow (“The Breaks”), and Run-DMC (“Hard Times”) had explored social commentary, it was Boogie Down and Public Enemy that transformed the genre into a medium of big ideas, not just something that reflected the community and culture it sprang from but a form that could provoke and challenge as well. Along the way, Boogie Down released three classic albums: Criminal Minded, By All Means Necessary, and Ghetto Music: The Blueprint of Hip-Hop.

KRS-One also pioneered the notion of hip-hop artist as activist when he responded to a death at one of his concerts with the Stop the Violence Movement and its “Self Destruction” single, which raised some $400,000 for the National Urban League.

A onetime homeless teen who became one of the central artists of his times — not to mention a lecturer at Harvard and Yale and a presence in The New York Times op-ed section — KRS-ONE’s life story lives up to his boast that he is hip-hop. And while he’s maintained an active career as a solo artist and hip-hop proselytizer in the decade-plus since the dissolution of Boogie Down, the hip-hop world hasn’t always treated him with the respect due a legend. You can argue whether mainstream hip-hop has fallen short of KRS-ONE’s ideals or whether it is he who has moved away by standing still. One thing’s for sure: Pedantic doesn’t sell like it did in ’89.

The man who once named an album Edutainment will offer up both sides of his artistic personality in Memphis this weekend, when he makes what is apparently his first appearance in the city.

At 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 2nd, KRS-ONE will give a free lecture at LeMoyne-Owen College, an event that will also feature performances from local MCs, DJs, break-dancers, and graffiti artists. That night, he’ll perform at the Plush Club on Beale Street. The show begins at 10 p.m., with an opening set from local hip-hop collective The Iron Mic Coalition.

The Drive-By Truckers are one of my very favorite current bands, a rip-roaring Southern rock outfit that boasts three absolutely killer songwriters and one of the best live shows in the land. Over the past couple of years, I’ve seen them at Young Avenue Deli, the Hi-Tone Café, and Newby’s, and the size of the crowd has disappointed me every time, especially since this band has some Memphis roots. (Co-founders Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley lived in Memphis in the early 1990s while in the band Adam’s House Cat.) So, I’m a little surprised to see them playing the New Daisy Theatre, a club Hood once worked at, on their latest trip through town. I hope that signals an audience growth that this band deserves like few others. The Truckers play the Daisy Saturday, April 2nd, and be sure to head down early for the openers, The Heartless Bastards, an unpretentious but oddly inspirational three-piece rock band from Ohio whose Fat Possum debut, Stairs & Elevators, is one of my favorite records of the year so far.

Finally, it’s not music but it is sound: Comedian and former The Man Show co-host Doug Stanhope is doing two nights at the Hi-Tone Café: Friday, April 1st, and Saturday, April 2nd. I caught one of Stanhope’s sets the last time he came through town, at the now-defunct comedy club Stop 345. His confrontational, defiantly un-P.C. (and, yes, sometimes really funny) riffs on such taboo topics as abortion, the military, and religion found an agreeable audience but also drew the ire of a few in the crowd, sending one easily shocked young woman to the exits in tears. n —