music
... Into Television Shows
November 20, 2008 - 12:00am
By Sammy Perlmutter
Whether you know it as the theme song to The Wonder Years, or as an iconic performance at Woodstock, Joe Cocker’s rendition of “With A Little Help From Friends,” a song originally by the Beatles, gleams as one of the greatest covers of all time.
Test Spin
November 20, 2008 - 12:00am
By Greg Bodenlos
Last week I reviewed little David Archuleta’s debut, and even though I gave it a positive critique, I was spurned by a plethora of Archie-loving lunatics. This week, it’s David Cook’s turn in the spotlight, and while I don’t anticipate the same back-lash from Cook extremists, treat this review as one of unbiased intention.
What goes on inside the Concert Commission?
November 20, 2008 - 12:00am
By Ann Lui and Julie Block
Imagine it’s 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning. You’re still drunk from last night, you’ve got work and laundry piling up and it’s not even light out. Yet here you are at Barton Hall, chugging coffee and assembling steel trusses, heavy-duty rigging for light fixtures and scaffolds into a stage. You’re making signs that say: ‘Backstage Band Area’ or ‘Bathrooms Here,’ or running errands to Wegmans to buy your guests of honor their organic bottled water of choice. A truck breaks down on its way to Ithaca, so the stage you need to have assembled by 3 p.m. won’t be ready for a few more hours. But the show must go on — will go on, at 6 p.m. Screw how early it is, it’s time to get to work.
Retrospin
November 20, 2008 - 12:00am
By Liam Berkowitz
Like the birth of a child, some experiences are so profound that words only cheapen them. One such experience is Blue, Joni Mitchell’s 1971 classic — an album as essential to the lexicon of rock and roll as Sgt. Pepper and Blonde on Blonde. Along with the Beatles and Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell is a 20th century musical icon, one whose style is uniquely her own, and whose brilliance eludes understanding. The unconventional tunings; the soaring vibrato; the see-sawing lyrics — Mitchell’s music is so visceral, so free, so untamed, that pinning it down diminishes it, like putting a wild animal into captivity.
Spotlight On
November 20, 2008 - 12:00am
By Jasmine Marcus
The Sun: How’s your tour been going so far?
Sha’anan Streett: It’s been going great. Right now we’re in Los Angeles. We were in San Francisco, D.C., Ann Arbor, Michigan, New York City and we’re going to hit Cornell tomorrow!
November 19, 2008 - 12:00am
By Jared Kraminitz
The Avett Brothers — Scott and Seth, backed by Bob Crawford on the stand-up bass — are one of a very small contingent of musicians who inspire real enthusiasm and loyalty in their fans. Most people won’t drive from North Carolina to Ithaca for a two-hour concert, yet it seemed that most of the audience had come quite a distance to see the band.
November 18, 2008 - 12:00am
By Will Cordeiro
Attending two musical events this weekend, I puzzled over the fact that no matter how precise musicians are in their interpretations, each audience member will ultimately hear something different. I began to feel like one of the characters in Howards End, who get carried away at a concert until they’re no longer focused on the sounds, but rather on their own romantic raptures.
November 18, 2008 - 12:00am
By Julia Woodward
Saturday night, the Fanclub Collective put on a rather unprecedented four-act show in North Campus’ own Just About Music dorm. Now, through my three years at Cornell, and despite the fact that I have several JAM-resident friends, I have never actually been to one of their coffee-house shows (I am infinitely excited to cross it off of my list of things to do at Cornell).
Test Spin
November 13, 2008 - 12:00am
By Kristen Tauer
As someone who doesn’t really care for quiet, slow music, my first inclination was to hate (and then delete) Lost Wisdom, the emotionally-charged latest album by Phil Elverum under the band name Mount Eerie (previously The Microphones). The album is a collaboration between Elverum and Canadian singer-songwriter Julie Doiron, who make a unique pair as they alternate singing vocals on each track set against the soft acoustics of guitarist Fred Squire.
Noses Up
November 13, 2008 - 12:00am
By Maurice Chammah
For several years now, the Cornell Concert Com-mission has attempt-ed to balance between a demand for two very different kinds of musical acts on campus. It would be silly of me to try to come up with names to categorize these two genres, but suffice it to say that they can be represented by the opposing cultures of the Decemberists and Yo La Tengo at one end and on the the other, T-Pain and Twista.