Tuesday, July 01, 2008  

Steamy DeVaughn on a Sultry Night: Raheem DeVaughn [live review, Washington Post]

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Monday, June 30, 2008  

Datarock [live review, Washington Post]

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Monday, May 12, 2008  

The Cure [live review, Washington Post]

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Sunday, May 11, 2008  

Dizzee Rascal, El-P and Bus Driver [live review, Washington Post]

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Wednesday, April 30, 2008  

Elbow [live review, Washington Post]

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Tuesday, April 08, 2008  

Carbon/Silicon [live review, Washington Post]

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Monday, March 31, 2008  

The Hooters [live review, Washington Post]

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Friday, March 21, 2008  

Liam Finn [live review, Washington Post]

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Monday, March 03, 2008  

Natural Black [live review, Washington Post]

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Thursday, February 28, 2008  

St. Vincent [live review, Washington Post]

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Friday, February 15, 2008  

Takagi Masakatsu [live review, Washington Post]

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Tuesday, February 12, 2008  

Tarrus Riley [live review, Washington Post]

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Monday, January 14, 2008  

Vinicio Capossela [live review, Washington Post]

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Monday, December 17, 2007  

Lucky Dube Tribute Concert [live review, Washington Post]

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Saturday, December 08, 2007  

Stones Throw label showcase [live review, Washington Post]

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Friday, December 07, 2007  

Adjagas [live review, Washington Post]

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Tuesday, October 16, 2007  


We Do Like Mondays: Syme, The Binges, White Denim [live review, Washington Post Express]

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Tuesday, July 17, 2007  



Jamaica Day Outdoor Reggae Festival
Washington Post, Tuesday, July 17, 2007; Page C05

The first Jamaica Day Outdoor Reggae Festival already has its second fest scheduled for July 13, 2008. But at times on Sunday, it seemed as if the event would barely survive its debut.

The family-friendly event was held at the Anne Arundel County Fairgrounds, which is between Baltimore and the District, but not really close enough to either to attract the areas' sizable West Indian communities. Turnout for the festival was a fraction of what it could have been. On the vast expanse of green in front of the concert pavilion there was plenty of room to have a picnic, stretch your legs -- heck, play a game of tackle football, as some kids did.

Another problem was the day's length: doors opened at 11 a.m. and were scheduled to close at 11 p.m. The live music was slated to begin at 4 p.m., but it was 7:50 p.m. when "Reggae Idol" winner Kimberly Gregory finally took the stage. People were irritated by the late start, not to mention the heat and, later, the Heineken disappearing from concessions.

Plus, there were no lights onstage for much of the show; the sound cut out at times; the Positive Vibrations backing band didn't really know all the songs; and artist sets were cut painfully short to make the curfew that was suddenly 10 p.m., not 11.

Still, slowly, if unsurely, the event began to groove -- simply because the music was so irresistible. Classic reggae artists Alton Ellis (resplendent in a full suit and hat) and Leroy Sibbles (from the Heptones) and venerable dancehall stars Admiral Bailey and Professor Nuts simply did what they do, with good humor and grace, considering the obstacles they had to overcome.

-- Christopher Porter


























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Friday, July 13, 2007  


Nomo
Washington Post, Friday, July 13, 2007; Page C11

Nomo could have been a school project gone wrong:

A University of Michigan jazz studies grad falls head over saxophone for West African music, particularly that of Fela, the Nigerian superstar who spearheaded the Afrobeat music of the 1970s. The grad then starts his own Midwestern edition of an Afrobeat band to explore sounds far removed from his own upbringing.

But rather than coming across as a pale cultural appropriation, Elliot Bergman's Nomo is one of the tightest, swingingest Afrobeat world-jazz bands on the planet. The nine-member-strong group -- three percussionists plus three saxophones, trumpet, guitar and bass -- checked into the Rock & Roll Hotel on Wednesday and proceeded to wreck the room with irresistible grooves, punchy horn-ensemble blasts and a likability factor that's off the charts.

"Nomo is the word for music that keeps bad spirits away," Bergman told Detroit's Metro Times in 2005. There were no evil ghosts in the hotel, just the good guiding spirits of Fela and Sun Ra (especially the latter on the rackety groover "Rocket #9").

From the opening distorted kalimba sounds of "Better Than That," which recalled the Congolese group Konono No. 1, to the meditative closing tune, which was played in the middle of the audience for an intimate chant-along, Nomo brought a variety of influences to color in its Afrobeat template, from Balinese gamelan percussion to blaxploitation film funk.

Playing a 70-minute set that easily could have gone on for three hours, Nomo worked the half-full club into a dancing frenzy. While nothing got out of hand -- if it had, the parade of police cars circling the block outside would have nipped it in the bud -- the crowd did whip up into a hands-in-the-air fever that momentarily dispelled the District's arms-folded music-scene reputation.

-- Christopher Porter

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