Tag: Lord T. & Eloise

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Party Like It’s 2020: Our NYE Guide

It’s been 20 years since 1999 — and 37 years since Prince released his end-of-the-world party album 1999 in 1982 — but we’re still going to party like it’s the end of the decade. That’s right, the “new” millennium is out of its difficult teen years and almost old enough to buy itself a drink or rent a car. Hopefully we’ve all gained some wisdom, but now’s not the time for quiet reflection. It’s time to par-tay! Here’s our guide to some of Memphis’ most happening events this New Year’s Eve.

AutoZone Liberty Bowl

The 61st annual bowl game is perfect for those who want to celebrate without staying out too late. Navy vs. Kansas State. Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, Tuesday, December 31st, 2:45 p.m.

Beale Street’s New Year’s Eve Celebration

Say goodbye to 2019 amid Beale’s 188 years of history with a party with live music, dancing, fireworks, food, drinks, and a giant mirror ball. No purchase necessary to attend, but remember, Beale Street is 21+ after dark. Beale Street, Tuesday, December 31st, 5 p.m.

Lord T. & Eloise

Lord T. & Eloise’s New Year’s Eve Ball

A night of decadence, desire, and debauchery promises to descend upon revelers at the newly reopened Black Lodge, with performances by Model Zero, Glorious Abhor, Louise Page, and Memphis’ most aristocratic rappers, Lord T. & Eloise. There will also be aerial and dance performances from Poleuminati and a light show from Queen Bea Arthur. Dance, dance, dance among the DVDs! Black Lodge, Tuesday, December 31st, 9 p.m. $20.

The PRVLG

New Year’s Eve at Hattiloo Theatre

Kortland Whalum, Talibah Safiya, and The PRVLG will perform, and comedian P.A. Bomani will deliver the end-of-year chuckles. Admission includes a flute of champagne and party favors, and the FunkSoul Cafe will be open, as well. Hattiloo Theatre, Tuesday, December 31st, 9 p.m.

New Year’s Eve at Graceland

Party like a king — or at least where the king of rock-and-roll used to party. Experience the “wonder of New” Year’s with this dinner and dance party at Elvis’ old stomping grounds. Roby Haynes and Party Plant perform, and admission includes a buffet dinner and midnight champagne toast. The Guest House at Graceland, Tuesday, December 31st, 7 p.m. $125.

Peabody New Year’s Eve Party

Ring in the new year in style at the South’s grand hotel. With music by Almost Famous, Seeing Red, and DJ Epic and a VIP section that includes party favors, hors d’oeuvres, and unlimited champagne, this party will help revelers set a sophisticated tone for the new year. The Peabody, Tuesday, December 31st, 8 p.m. $40-$175.

Quintron & Miss Pussycat’s New Year’s Eve

A New Year’s tradition. Hash Redactor and Aquarian Blood perform.Admission includes a free champagne toast and the balloon drop at midnight.

Hi Tone, Tuesday, December 31st, 8 p.m. $20.

Dale Watson & his Lone Stars with Honky Tonk Horn Section

This honky tonkin’ hootenanny is the Hernando’s Hide-A-Way way of ringing in the new year and a new decade. With a champagne toast, black-eyed peas, and cornbread to get the year started off on the right cowboy boot. Hernando’s Hide-A-Way, Tuesday, December 31st, 9 p.m.

New Year’s Eve with Spaceface

The Young Avenue Deli has a brand-new sound system, and there’s no better way to test it out than with a rockin’, raucous band. Ring in 2020 with Memphis’ most theatrical psychedelic party band. Champagne toast at midnight.

Young Avenue Deli, Tuesday, December 31st, 9 p.m. $15.

New Year’s Eve with Star & Micey

Railgarten is Midtown’s backyard, so it’s only right that they should invite local legends Star & Micey to help sing in the new year. For those who “Can’t Wait” for 2020, don’t try to Get ‘Em Next Time — get to this party this year. Daykisser opens. Railgarten, Tuesday, December 31st, 9:30 p.m.

New Year’s Eve Lantern Hike

Celebrate the new year in nature. Ranger Gooch leads this lantern-lit, two-mile hike through the woods. S’mores and hot chocolate or hot apple cider await attendees at the end of the hike. Remember to dress for the weather, and please leave flame-lit lanterns at home. Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park, Tuesday, December 31st, 11:30 p.m. $5.

Roaring ’20s New Year’s Eve Party

Giggle water at midnight, eh old chum? Admission includes an open wine and beer bar, a midnight champagne toast, and hors d’oeuvres. All proceeds go to the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Memphis. 616 Marshall, Tuesday, December 31st, 8 p.m. $75-$150.

Spectrum XL Goes to Minglewood

Ain’t no dance party like a Spectrum dance party. The storied club brings its end-of-the-year dance party to Minglewood. Bring your own sequins and glitter. Proceeds benefit Friends for Life. Minglewood Hall, Tuesday, December 31st, 9 p.m. $30-$125.

New Year’s Eve Bash at B.B. King’s

Maybe the best way to ensure you don’t get the blues in 2020 is to ring in the new year by dancing to the blues at B.B. King’s. Tickets include open wine and beer bar, midnight champagne toast, and hors d’oeuvres. B.B. King’s Blues Club, Tuesday, December 31st, 6 p.m. $25 (general admission), $100 (dinner package).

Back to the ’20s

Another early-night option, Crosstown Brewing’s New Year’s shindig includes music by Graham Winchester, dinner catered by Next Door American Eatery, and the debut of I Am Brut — a Brut IPA for those non-champagne drinkers out there. Crosstown Brewing Company, Tuesday, December 31st, 6:30-9:30 p.m.

Beauty Shop New Year’s Eve

A four-course dinner with the swinging, sultry sounds of Gary Johns & His Mini Orchestra. Call 272-7111 for reservations. Beauty Shop, Tuesday, December 31st, 5 p.m.

Toast to the ’20s

Tin Roof gets the new year going with music from Chris Ferrara, Bluff City Bandits, The Common Good, DJ Stringbean, and DJ ZewMob. Champagne toast at midnight. Tin Roof, Tuesday, December 31st, 6 p.m., $30.

New Year’s Party at Gold Club

Okay, so the family-friendly holidays are over. The little turkeys and reindeer have all been put to bed before midnight, and the adults will play. It’s time to get down and dirty and let the new year come in hot and heavy. Party with a balloon drop, dance and drink specials, and a complimentary champagne toast at midnight. Gold Club Memphis, Tuesday, December 31st, all night long.

New Year’s Eve on the Terrace

Ring in the new year against the stunning backdrop of the Mississippi River and the colorful Mighty Lights bridge light show. What’s more Memphis than that? Call 260-3366 for reservations. Terrace at the River Inn, Tuesday, December 31st, 4 p.m.

Y2K New Year’s Dance Party

Remember the Y2K panic of 1999? The computers couldn’t understand a new millennium. A nine becoming a zero was going to cause worldwide nuclear meltdown. Anyway, let’s relive that end-of-year mass hysteria — with drinks and dancing! Celebrating the 20th anniversary of Y2K with end-of-the-world drink specials, DJs spinning tunes, and dancing throughout the night. Rec Room, Tuesday, December 31st, 8 p.m.

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Music Music Blog

Lord T. & Eloise Will Burst Your Bubble (Record, That Is)

Lord T. & Eloise

Prepare for an understatement: Memphis musicians have thrown a few good parties. But still there ain’t no party like a Lord T. & Eloise party. Memphians can experience the absolute insanity of a Lord T. & Eloise live performance this Saturday, April 27th, as the local crunk rap duo records the show for their forthcoming live album, Live From the Bubble Bath. LAPD, Damp Velour, and DJ Leroy will also perform.

Ever the embodiment of decadence, Lord T. & Eloise plan to perform for the occasion, “all from the comfort of their bubble bath, which they will have delivered to the stage.” The self-styled “intergalactic time travelers” and “horsemen of the Rap-pocalypse” have dubbed the affair a “Bring-Your-Own-Bubbles” event, but, they say, “if you cannot acquire bubbles they will be provided for you.”

The proposed live album will feature seven new tracks from the Memphis rap duo, who have not released a new album for some time, though their Bandcamp page has sported the occasional single release. With the bubble bath bash, Lord T. & Eloise plan to debut such new songs as “Get Up,” “Double Dip,” “Palm Beach 2,” and “Harem.”

To accomplish the bubble-filled feat, Lord T. & Eloise have recruited a stirring stable of local talent, including the “newly expanded and enforced rhythm section ‘the aritocrunk sound system’ (Lord Sri Alpha, Teddie Roosevelt, Biggs Strings, DJ Witnesse),” says Lord T. Al Kapone, KingPin Skinny Pimp, and more are expected to make guest appearances.

When asked why a live album, Lord T. responds, “Well, everyone always says you just have to see us live. So we figured it’s high time everyone got to hear us that way.” Eloise adds, somewhat cryptically, “Tell them to listen up close. They might learn a little something about the way the world works.”

The duo, possessed of impressive vocabularies and unburdened by false modesty (or any
modesty at all, for that matter), claim their stated intent is to “literally break The Guinness Book of World Records for most bubbles at a live performance in human history.” Will they succeed? Turn up at Railgarten this Saturday to find out.

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Music Music Features

The .01 Percent

CREDIT: Rachel Hurley

Lord T & Eloise, the world’s first aristocrunk rappers, are back in Memphis with a show at the Young Avenue Deli on Saturday, October 12th. The duo is known for combining rap culture’s monetary braggadocio with crunk — Memphis’ distinct contribution to the hip-hop soundscape — into a meta consideration of wealth, celebrity, and partying your fool head off.

Lord T, the 18th-century aristocrat with the dirty-south drawl, is the alter ego of Elliott Ives. The harder-barking Eloise, allegedly covered in 24-karat gold skin, is the second self of Robert Anthony, the writer and editor responsible for this perhaps insane concept. Crazy as it may sound, Lord T & Eloise have been a success.

Ives, currently touring and recording as guitarist for Justin Timberlake, recalls the whole concept catching on faster than they ever planned.

“Robert came up with this crazy idea from the perspective of these two characters,” Ives says. “I never thought it would come out. I was like, ‘Man, don’t. Let’s not put that out. These [songs] are stupid.’ But we had 20 something songs.

“Next thing I know: ‘Man, let’s not do a show. We can’t do a show.’ We did a show, and all of a sudden we had a booking agent and were doing national tours. We were wondering what the hell happened. It was my side project at the time.”

The original lineup included DJ Witnesse — who is still part of the team — and Cameron Mann, recent head of the Music Resource Center for the Memphis Music Foundation and now the manager of development and communications at Shelby Farms Park. Mann’s father, Don, started Young Avenue Sound in 2001. (Cameron left the group in 2008.)

Ives was an upstart engineer at Young Avenue Sound in 2006 and orchestrated the purchase of an Akai MPC, the essential sampling tool that was the technological basis of hip-hop as digital technology replaced the hard-to-learn handwork and expense of turntables. The studio became a haven for local hip-hop.

“I convinced Don to buy an MPC, because the studio’s clients were rappers and producers. So I was just grinding out beats and learning that machine,” Ives says.

Aristocrunk, Lord T & Eloise’s 2006 debut album and manifesto, combined the sensibility of the .01 percent with a very heavy dose of Prince Mongo. The Flyer gave the album an A. The sound was essentially Memphian.

Ives had marinated in the horrorcore hip-hip of Orange Mound, with clients working in the shadows of Three 6 Mafia. Where Craig Brewer’s character Shelby from his hip-hop film Hustle & Flow — allegedly based on real-life math teacher and synth whiz Shelby Bryant — ventured alone into rap collaboration, Ives enjoyed a steady stream of hip-hop work through the mid-1990s, honing his sensibility and technical efficiency. Later, this work would inform his musical output in FreeSol, a rap-driven funk-pop outfit that backed Timberlake and which led to his current gig with the pop superstar.

Ives just returned home from touring with Timberlake.

“I have a couple days off,” he says. “We just finished a promo tour and we had a summer tour. It’s been crazy. We did Rio with 95,000 people. You couldn’t see the back. You couldn’t see the sides. It was absolutely insane. The people are so far away from you. It’s not like the Hi-Tone where you have 200 people right in your face. That’s hard to play.”

Lord T & Eloise return to the intimacy of Memphis this Saturday. Despite the recent highs of playing to tens of thousands, Ives is excited about this homecoming:

“It’s going to be really cool. We haven’t played for a while, but we were getting to a really cool place. We have a rotating cast of characters. We have Paul the Tailor playing drums. That’s going to be awesome. Biggs Strings is on bass. And DJ Witnesse.”

As time allows, the band will continue working on the next mixtape, which will be their fourth album, following 2008’s Chairmen of the Bored and Rapocalyse from 2010.

“We have a bunch of unfinished material for Blackout Crunk Vol. 1, which is not finished,” Ives says. “We have it all mapped out. The songs are there.”

Sadly, Ives reports that Anthony has become stuck in character and is receiving medical attention. Our request for an interview with Anthony was answered with a carrier-pigeon-delivered scroll offering financial-advisory services. But the show will go on.

Lord T & Eloise with Spaceface Young Avenue Deli Saturday, October 12th, 9 p.m.-2 a.m.

lordtandeloise.com

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Music Music Features

Labor of Love

Organizers of “Rock for Love 2,” the Church Health Center’s annual benefit show, are anxious to get under way. Despite only going into its second year, the benefit — held Friday and Saturday, August 22nd and 23rd, at the Hi Tone Café — has the energy and potential to become an annual showcase of local music.

And with good reason. The lineup features a cross-section of some of the city’s best hip-hop, garage, and indie-rock acts, including Lord T & Eloise, Al Kapone, and Snowglobe. But the music is only one part of why the benefit’s organizers are so excited.

“It’s all about community,” says J.D. Reager (an occasional Flyer contributor) who, along with Jeff Hulett and Marv Stockwell, founded the benefit and now serve as its coordinators.

All three are local music veterans. Reager plays in Two Way Radio as well as leading his own band, J.D. Reager & the Cold Blooded Three. Hulett is the drummer for Snowglobe as well as the frontman for Jeffrey James & the Haul. Stockwell is a founding member of seminal local hardcore band Pezz.

Sitting down for an interview, the three interrupted each other the way old friends do — laughing and joking and displaying the energy of people who are working hard for something they love.

“I think a lot is coalescing all at once,” says Stockwell, who serves as public relations manager for the Church Health Center. “There’s some alliances forming that maybe haven’t formed until now. I think there’s a new atmosphere of cooperation.”

Reager and Hulett have worked together with Makeshift Music since its inception in the late 1990s, and their dedication to local music has lasted through years of intense work with little compensation along the way.

“We’ve never made a dollar on anything we’ve done, personally or as a company,” Reager says. “Our goal, our mission, is to give a voice to artists who wouldn’t have one otherwise; whatever role we can play, that’s what we try to do.”

Hulett says he and Stockwell were both drawn to the health center’s mission of responding to the need of working Memphians who don’t have health insurance. “I wanted a chance to live out my faith and have a job that inspires me,” Stockwell says.

Recent changes in TennCare are increasing the number of patients at the center. And given the slump in the economy, Stockwell says, “more people are in that unfortunate situation where they’re having to choose between putting food on the table or paying for their health care.”

According to Stockwell, the number of people attending the center’s orientation seminars has doubled and tripled in recent months.

“It’s as common as anything to be uninsured,” Stockwell says.

“The need is great with the Church Health Center,” Hulett says. “We’ve had donors on board since the beginning, but there’s also a need for younger donors and reaching out.”

Snowglobe

“Rock for Love” certainly has made its presence felt within Memphis music circles and the greater community, which Hulett considers one of the benefit’s greatest successes.

“We’ve had several calls from prominent local artists asking, ‘How do I get on the bill?’ We have to tell them sorry. We booked the bill five months ago.”

Sponsorship also is key to this year’s benefit, with SunTrust taking the title position and Ardent Studios, the Memphis Music Commission, and a host of other businesses throughout the community giving as well.

“We’ve raised twice as much money [as last year], and we haven’t even sold ticket one,” Stockwell says.

But perhaps the most noteworthy sign of support is the outpouring of volunteer energy.

“Al Kapone approached us about playing the show,” Reager says. “He heard about the event and called up and said he wanted to play for free.”

“Folks who would love to give money are getting involved in other ways,” Hulett adds.

Each evening will be emceed by local Fox Sports Radio personality (and local music fan) Chris Vernon and WEVL deejay Janet Wilson. Also of note is the artwork donated by Sasha Barr, a Seattle artist long affiliated with Makeshift Music, and a silent auction hosted by the Memphis Roller Derby.

“Seeing the number two on “Rock for Love 2″ is really exciting for me,” Hulett says. “This is going to become an annual event. That’s what we’re planning on.”

Friday night’s lineup features: Lord T & Eloise, Al Kapone, Two Way Radio, J.D. Reager & the Cold Blooded Three, and Vending Machine. Saturday night’s lineup features: Snowglobe, the Coach & Four, Antenna Shoes, Oh No! Oh My!, and Royal Bangs.

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Music Music Features

Lord T’s New Gig

Cameron Mann has been the studio manager at Young Avenue Sound recording studio in Cooper-Young for the past few years, though Memphians may know him better as his alter-ego, Lord T — the white-wigged half of the comedic rap duo Lord T & Eloise. Last week, Mann, no longer on staff at Young Avenue Sound, added a new title to his music resume: He’s been hired as the director of music industry programs for the Memphis Music Foundation, working under foundation president Dean Deyo.

Mann will oversee the opening of the foundation’s Memphis Music Resource Center, which is housed within the foundation’s South Main offices and is slated to open May 30th.

The resource center is meant to be an educational and support mechanism open to the entire Memphis music community.

“What Memphis really lacks is a music-business infrastructure,” Mann says, citing that the city’s music scene has long been “DIY” (“do it yourself”) and asserting that the resource center will be a way for the foundation to help local musicians help themselves.

“What we hope to create is a place where anyone can come in,” Mann says.

The center will have computers loaded with software to help bands work on aspects of their career, from researching music-biz topics to designing show posters and CD covers. The center also will have an audiovisual room with a Pro Tools rig (purchased during the tenure of former commission and later foundation head Rey Flemings), which will be used to conduct recording workshops led by local engineers.

“We’re consultants, essentially, and we want to be able to assist [local musicians] in all areas of their work,” Mann says.

Mann began phasing himself out of the Young Avenue Sound operation a few months ago (the studio is owned by Mann’s father, Don Mann) and was looking for another avenue within the local music scene. When he saw the foundation job listing posted in March, “it spoke to me on a personal level,” he says.

“I’ve been waiting for one of the [local music] organizations to do something like this that’s real,” Mann says. “I think it’s been disappointing to the arts community that [these organizations] haven’t been able to do something tangible.”

Mann’s hire is the first of what could be a series of support-staff hires for the foundation, with a marketing position, a multimedia specialist, and a business coordinator potentially to follow.

Don’t expect Mann’s new gig to halt the momentum of his musical alter ego, though. Mann reports that Lord T & Eloise are putting the finishing touches on a sophomore album that features cameos from local rap stars Eightball, Al Kapone, and Nakia Shine. Mann hopes to have the album ready for release by mid-to-late June.

The Stax Museum of American Soul Music and Stax Music Academy welcome the family of Stax legend Otis Redding to town this weekend. Redding’s widow, Zelma, and his three children, sons Otis III and Dexter Redding and daughter Karla Redding-Andrews, will be in town for two events.

The family will be guests at the music academy’s SNAP! After School Spring Concert at the University of Memphis’ Michael D. Rose Theater Saturday, May 17th. Otis III and Dexter will perform with the students. The concert starts at 7 p.m.; admission is $5.

The next night, Sunday, May 18th, the Redding family will sit on a panel discussion/Q&A at the museum’s Studio A to talk about Otis Redding as both artist and family man. Conversations with the Reddings will take place from 5 to 7 p.m.; admission is $10 or free to museum members. In addition, Stax’s current exhibit of items from Zelma Redding’s personal collection, Otis Redding: From Macon to Memphis, has been extended through May 31st.

The latest edition of The Ardent Sessions, a monthly concert/recording session hosted by Rachel Hurley, is up on BreakthruRadio.com. This month’s concert, recorded at the Midtown studio in April, features local rockers Lucero celebrating their 10th anniversary. You can hear Lucero’s Ardent performance at BreakthruRadio.com/index.php?show=3784.

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Music Music Features

Jim Dandy & Skinny Pimp: Together at Last

Over Thanksgiving weekend 2006, local conceptual hip-hop faves Lord T & Eloise assembled what they called a “Memphis Legends” concert, featuring themselves, Neighborhood Texture Jam, Memphis rap legend Al Kapone, and DJ unit Feelharmonic Orchestra. It would be a gross understatement to say that the self-proclaimed “Aristocrunk” outfit has outdone itself for this year’s followup concert, scheduled for Newby’s Saturday, November 24th.

A simple glance at the talent is enough to raise some eyebrows: Lord T & Eloise headlining a bill that will include local rap pioneer Skinny Pimp, Southern rock enigma Black Oak Arkansas, and up-and-coming rapper Kaz. Perhaps readers need a second to let that sentence sink in.

“Even though we were private-school kids, my friends and I absorbed a lot of rap in the early ’90s, and I loved what Skinny Pimp and Al Kapone were doing back then,” says Lord T, who donned his signature 18th-century powdered wig for the duration of our discussion … at 2:30 in the afternoon. “The music industry didn’t have an ear for Southern rap back then, so the real groundbreakers like Al Kapone and Skinny Pimp went totally overlooked,” he continues.

Known to append “Kingpin” to his moniker, Skinny Pimp began circulating mixtapes in the late ’80s. He was also an early collaborator with DJ Paul and Juicy J who were nurturing a little project of their own called Three 6 Mafia.

Though Allmusic.com lists 2000’s Controversy as the debut album by Skinny Pimp and 211, the rapper made his first significant local impact in the early ’90s with the Kingpin Skinny Pimp and 211 Vol. 1. cassette release. It was on these tapes that Skinny Pimp and his contemporaries showcased what critics would later refer to as “horror rap,” and there’s no doubt that they had a massive impact on the future “crunk” movement.

Skinny Pimp’s nascent version of the genre was marked by stark minimalism and XXX-rated, hyper-violent lyrics. Upon hearing this tape as a senior in high school, I remember it being the only instance in which a form of music made me think I really don’t want my parents to find this tape. Part of the impact came from the sonic makeup. The rudimentary pounding of the drum machine and creepy simplicity of the cheap keyboards gave the recordings a chilling quality.

“I used to buy up the local rap section at Cat’s on Union, and the Skinny Pimp and Al Kapone tapes were my favorites. It was so exciting and surprising to realize that it was Memphis,” says Lord T.

If your frame of reference for Memphis hip-hop history is limited to Three 6 Mafia or the Hustle and Flow soundtrack, do yourself a favor by checking out Skinny Pimp’s set Saturday night.

(Note: Skinny Pimp’s CD releases from the past few years are obtainable and worth it — depending on one’s capacity for sometimes over-the-top subject matter — but the early cassettes are next to impossible to locate, and sometimes command high prices on eBay.)

Black Oak Arkansas rocking the same lineup as Skinny Pimp is something that supports the adage “Only in Memphis.” Though they never achieved the success of fellow Southern-rock bands like the Marshall Tucker Band or the Allman Brothers Band, frontman Jim Dandy Mangrum and Black Oak Arkansas were at it first with an unparalleled raw, primal stomp. They have recently enjoyed a prosperous chapter in their almost four-decade existence, with Rhino Handmade‘s reissue of their classic 1973 live set Raunch ‘N’ Roll, several high-profile overseas festival appearances, and an upcoming album of new material on the SPV label.

“We’re big fans of Black Oak Arkansas, and they created a visual style of hard rock that would be copied for years. It opened the floodgates,” says Eloise. “We tried to put together an evening of great performances,” adds Lord T.

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We Recommend We Recommend

Rapped Up

Since its inception 51 years ago, Opera Memphis has brought plenty of internationally renowned singers, including Leontyne Price, Beverly Sills, and Birgit Nilsson, to the local stage. When kicking off its 2007 season, however, the venerated opera company plans to do things a little differently: After this Saturday’s opening-night performance of Puccini’s three-act Turandot, the fairytale-like story of a stonehearted Chinese princess with soprano Audrey Stottler in the title role, local “aristocrunk” rap group Lord T & Eloise — aka the bewigged Cameron “Lord Treadwell” Mann; his fellow MC, the gold-plated Robert “Maurice Eloise XIII” Anthony; and their beat maker, Elliott “Myster E” Ives — will take over The Orpheum’s stage. The combination of opera and rap might be unlikely but not wholly improbable. After all, Memphian and opera star Kallen Esperian has

already lent her sizable vocal talents to a pair of Lord T & Eloise tracks, “Make Dat Money” and “Penthouse Suite.” While it’s unknown whether or not Esperian will appear with the group on Saturday night, Opera Memphis’ bid for a younger, hipper audience is a calculated risk that, with any luck, will pack the house ’til the fat lady sings.

Opera Memphis presents “Turandot” and Lord T & Eloise, Saturday, October 13th, 7:30 p.m. at The Orpheum. $25-$37. For more information, go to www.OperaMemphis.org

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Music Music Features

Wanna Have Fun?

Last Thursday afternoon, before Andrew “Kaz” Westmoreland could get ready to take the stage at Newby’s as an opener for Lord T & Eloise, he had to finish his work as a line cook at Interim.

By the time I caught up with the 26-year-old rapper, he was zooming down the interstate, headed home for a break before the high-profile gig.

“I worked all day, but I’m happy with it, you know,” Kaz says. “My dad told me that if you can find a job you love, you’ll never really work a day in your life.”

His words remind me of the hook that anchors his new song “Shovel and a Shotgun,” on which vocalist Katherine Fowler advises listeners to “party all night/work all day,” although, in his next breath, Kaz reveals that the lyrics are a thinly veiled reference to friends who sling medicinal marijuana in northern California.

One of the most prolific up-and-comers on the local music scene, Kaz has a solo album, Tha Bushwhacka, available in local stores and via My Space.com/KazMemphis this week and a hill-country-blues-meets-hip-hop album, recorded with his band Willie & the Herentons and engineer Kevin Houston, that’s due in October.

“My solo album is on the independent label I have with Matt Mages, Bushwhacka Productions. The beats are by me, this guy Mindspin, Matt, Elliott Ives, and Primo from Free Sol. Kevin Cubbins engineered it. Cameron [Mann, the studio manager at Young Avenue Sound, who performs as Lord T] has been really supportive of me,” he says.

Featuring Kaz’s own rapid-fire rhymes, Tha Bushwhacka is an ethereal rap album. It’s already earned heavy praise from the likes of insiders Al Kapone, Nick Scarfo, and Gangsta Boo, who lent her vocals to a track called “The Perp.”

“I’ve been very surprised,” Kaz says of the positive response. “I happened to be friends with a lot of rappers before I started, and when I played ’em some songs, they were like, Damn, Kaz, I didn’t even know you rapped.”

An avowed jam-band fan, Kaz learned his fast-spitting style during a six-months jail stint, after getting busted for Ecstasy at a Widespread Panic concert.

“I was spoiled in my ways, and that experience opened my eyes up to appreciate tomorrow,” Kaz says. “The good thing that came out of it is I realized I don’t have to get crazy to have fun. I figured out that I could be happy in a lot of different ways. If I hadn’t been bored in jail for so long, I wouldn’t have started rapping.

“I kick it with so many types of people — like kids who like Panic and Phish,” he adds. “One of the first songs I ever recorded was with Cody Burnside, R.L.’s grandson, and I’ve spit with Garry Burnside and The Burnside Exploration at Newby’s. Then I see how Al Kapone gets crazy buck jumping. I guess that’s why my style is the way it is, but I don’t know how I ended up in the middle of all of it.

“I’m trying my best to establish myself in Memphis right now. I love doing shows with Lord T & Eloise, and maybe one day, I’ll do something on the road with them or Free Sol,” says Kaz, who will perform with Willie & the Herentons and Afroman at Young Avenue Deli on Thursday, September 20th.

“I just wanna have fun with it,” he says. “If it gets to the point where I can’t enjoy it, I’m done.”

Meanwhile, expect Three 6 Mafia‘s former first lady, Gangsta Boo, to drop a long-awaited album, Forever Gangsta, at any moment. According to the Web site MemphisRap.com, the diva MC is also working on a memoir, which is sure to be filled with dishy details on her life with DJ Paul and Juicy J.

Hip-hop fans will be thrilled to learn that DJ Redeye Jedi and MCs Bosco and Rachi — aka Tunnel Clones — are right on schedule with their sophomore release.

The phenomenally fun World Wide Open, recorded at Scott Bomar‘s Electraphonic Recording and mixed at Redeye’s own Hemphix Audio Labs, is due to hit the streets on September 25th, although locals can purchase it at the group’s CD-release party, scheduled for Saturday, September 20th, at the Hi-Tone Café.

The 15-track disc took about a year to produce and features veteran soul vocalist Phyllis Duncan, multi-instrumentalist Hope Clayburn, and rappers Fathom 9, Jason Da Hater from Kontrast, and Fyte Club‘s Mighty Quinn.

“We used all local talent to get an urban underground roots sound,” Bosco explains. “Hope was amazing. She murdered every track she was on.”

To preview songs from the album, such as “Last One Standing,” the funky, finger-snapping “Way Back When,” and the electric, eclectic “Honey and Sunshine,” visit My Space.com/TunnelClones.