Moss Magazine

Coachella announced the 2010 lineup for a scorching weekend in Indio, CA. Excitement is as follows:

Jay Z
Muse
Gorillaz
LCD Soundsystem
Them Crooked Vultures
Faith No More
Tiesto
Pavement
Thom Yorke
Phoenix
Spoon
Dead Weather
MGMT
Vampire Weekend

For complete details on the event check out our friends at www.coachella.com

One of the greatest things about living in Portland is never knowing when the next good time will occur, or how close to home you might run across a great live act. We were invited to a block party tonight with local band, Aces Ta Aces, performing. The band is comprised of Grant High School students (2 of which recently graduated and are headed off to college this year) and they rocked our socks off. A funkafied bluesy sort of get up and dance set list was performed for a street full of fans. Good times for all. Thanks to our dear friend Blackie Dammett for the invite and thanks to all the neighborhood folks for welcoming us to their ‘hood. These kids have some real talent and we had so much fun listening to them.

More photos HERE

I’ve been following Michael Franti since the early 1990s, when he and 8-string guitar virtuoso Charlie Hunter had the band The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. After The Disposable Heroes broke up, Hunter jumped further into the burgeoning Bay Area jam-jazz scene, putting out records on tastemaker labels like Blue Note Records. Franti, meanwhile, took The Disposable Heroes’ hip-hop and social activism components and added more organic elements of reggae and funk, and Spearhead was born.

Michael Franti and Spearhead’s current tour featured openers Sly and Robbie and Cherine Anderson and touched down at the 1,400-person capacity Roseland on a warm Thursday night. Though I unfortunately missed the Jamaica’s legendary Sly and Robbie’s dub heavy set (arguably in the same league as Lee Scratch Perry with top-notch production), Spearhead collaborator and Kingston native Cherine Anderson played for about 20 minutes while covering reggae standards like “Ring The Alarm” and “Redemption Song.”

As Charine Anderson closed out her set, the lights went down for all of 2 seconds, and Franti and Spearhead immediately joined her on stage to a sea of outstretched arms as the packed crowd roared and prepared to dance their asses off for what was to be a 2-plus hour performance.

Since this was my first Spearhead show, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. With the band’s recent collaborations with Sly and Robbie, reggae and dub were certainly to be had, but what really struck me was that Franti and band were much less Ben Harper-oriented and much more akin to world music hero Manu Chao. The band tore through a funky and tight set- lots of reggae and regular changes by Franti from acoustic to electric guitar, hand drums to full drum kits and the like. Fans responded to Franti’s call and response on songs like “Everyone Deserves Music”. But, what was really memorable about the show for me were two events: Franti asking that the audience say hello to their neighbor and to give them a hug (hell, we all need one sometimes, right?), and the end of the encore when he brought a young kid aged around 11 years old to join him and the band on stage, where he gave the kid a guitar and the kid hammered out the familiar chords of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” The band followed suit and leapt into a brief rendition of Kurt Cobain’s famous song.

Everyone does indeed deserve music. Want proof? Check out Franti’s I Know I’m Not Alone documentary, which covers his 2006 trip to Israel, Baghdad, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. As for me, consider me converted. After 2-plus hours of music, I finally caught what all the fuss is about, even if it only took me 15 years to finally catch his fire.

More photos from Cherine Anderson set HERE

More photos from Michael Franti and Spearhead set HERE

Words by Scott Nance
Photography by Jackie Butler

Karen O and her musical force of goodness blessed Portland with a fantastic show last night. McMenamins Crystal Ballroom was sold out and rightfully so, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs haven’t played Portland since 2006. This show was added last minute to the 2009 tour, but no-one’s complaining about the late notice. The eccentric front woman opened the show with “Heads Will Roll” off the band’s latest release, It’s Blitz! - clad in a glow in the dark mask that scared the crap out of me. Set list favorites were “Gold Lion,” “Cheated Hearts,” “Zero” and “Honey Bear.” The YYY’s returned to the stage for a three song encore that included “Maps,” “Art Star” and “Date with the Night.” As always, I was saddened to see the show come to end, I could watch this band all day long.

More photographs from the show HERE

Photography by Jackie Butler