In what has to be one of the most unusual local concert events in memory, Oklahoma pysche-rock stalwarts the Flaming Lips will play an afternoon show at Handy Park on Beale Street on Wednesday, June 27th.
This Memphis show will be the first of eight attempted concerts over the course of a day and night as the Lips attempt to break the Guinness World Record for “Most Live Concerts in 24 Hours (Multiple Cities).” (The record is currently held by Jay-Z.)
The Lips will leave Memphis for Mississippi where they will play shows the same night in Clarksdale (Ground Zero Blues Club, with Gary Clark Jr.) and Oxford (Lyric Theater, with Grace Potter & the Nocturnals) before continuing on to Jackson, Hattiesburg, Biloxi, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans.
The concert series is a kickoff for the MTV “O Music Awards” and will be filmed and covered online (that’s what the “O” stands for) as part of the awards presentation.
Dallas rockers New Fumes will open the Memphis concert, which is set to begin at 4:30 p.m., with the park opening at 3:30 p.m. As of press time, there were still tickets available. Tickets are $21 and can be purchased via Ticketweb.com.
Booker T. at Rock for Love
The annual Rock for Love festival, which benefits the Church Health Center, has been growing every year, but the festival gets a boost this year with the announcement of Booker T. Jones as a headliner.
Jones, the organ master and leader of Booker T. & the MGs, will headline Rock for Love 6’s concert at the Levitt Shell on September 9th. This will be the culmination of a four-day series of events that will include concerts at the Hi-Tone Café on the three preceding nights and a day-long street festival on Overton Square on September 8th.
Saturday’s Overton Square street festival will serve as the public celebration of the Church Health Center’s 25th birthday and will include outdoor staging, pop-up shops, a bike rodeo, valet bike parking, food trucks, booth space, and more. The festival will also celebrate the comeback of Overton Square.
“Rock for Love has grown every year, because people love the Church Health Center and love great Memphis music,” center spokesman and concert co-founder Marvin Stockwell says in a release announcing the Booker T. booking. “A healthy and thriving Midtown community is healthy for all of Memphis, so expanding the show to Overton Square and the Levitt Shell just made sense.”
Sponsors, so far, include Sun Studios, Methodist Healthcare, Action News 5, Clear Channel Radio, Serving Memphis, Huey’s, and Fat Possum Records, but Rock for Love is looking for additional sponsors. To become a sponsor, call Jeff Hulett at (901) 272-0010, ext. 1304 or visit www.ChurchHealthCenter.org/rockforlove. To sponsor the Booker T. Jones concert at the Levitt Shell or other concerts at the shell, call Debra Czestochowski at (901) 272-2722 or email her at debra@levittshell.org.
Memphis Bands on Paste List
Three Memphis bands were highlighted in a recent piece from music magazine Paste titled “12 Tenneesee Bands You Should Listen to Now.” Meant to draw attention to Volunteer State up-and-comers, the piece lists rapper Cities Aviv (the only artist on the list who isn’t indie rock/folk) at 10th. Cities Aviv has a Memphis show this week, on Thursday, June 21st, at the Hi-Tone with Houston indie rapper Fat Tony and semi-local duo Dark Sister. Number seven on the list is the Memphis Dawls, the roots/folk trio of Holly Cole, Krista Wroten, and Jana Misener, who are on the upswing of late, with the widespread release of their initially local eponymous debut EP and a couple of dates opening for Jack White. Topping the Paste list of emerging Tennessee bands are folk-rockers Star & Micey, who have a new EP for later this year.
