Live review: Loudon Wainwright III and Richard Thompson at UCLA

Loudon Wainwright III and Richard Thompson wrapped up their five-week tour as a duo, under the fittingly ironic title “Loud & Rich,” with a sterling display of songwriting acumen and musicianship Friday at UCLA, but one that wasn’t particularly loud or likely to make anybody rich.

Not in the filthy lucre sense, anyway. These two folk-rock veterans appeared long ago to have achieved peace in the knowledge that their astute brand of music fills clubs and theaters, not arenas and stadiums. They’ve been pals at least since the days when Thompson produced a couple of Wainwright’s standout albums in the '80s, and used the occasion of their stop at Royce Hall as part of UCLA Live’s eclectic music series to revel in the richness of words skillfully strung together and married to music that carries those words straight to the heart. And, on more than once occasion, to the funny bone.

In fact, many times during the evening Elvis Costello’s famous pronouncement -- “I used to be disgusted, but now I try to be amused” -- seemed to be play, but it was often hard to tell who was on which side of that equation.

Wainwright, perhaps the most adroit humorist in pop music of the last 40 years, opened the three-hour performance with a set heavy on recent-vintage material, including three from his ambitious double album “High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project.” That set showcases the music of the influential but largely forgotten early country singer from Spray, N.C., a freewheeling, wisecracking, hard-drinking, banjo-playing troubadour for whom Wainwright, also born in North Carolina, obviously holds an affinity.

The solo format left him without the deft instrumental and vocal support he gets on the album from a broad swath of family members (including his kids Rufus, Martha and Lucy) ex-family members and friends. But Thompson jumped in to add color on "If I Lose," bending and sliding steely notes and making his acoustic guitar sound like a dobro.

Get Loud & Rich at UCLA

Good tickets remain for tonight's Loudon Wainwright and Richard Thompson acoustic assault at UCLA's Royce Hall, but if this last-minute update hits you too late -- the gig starts at 8 p.m. -- we'll still have you covered. Check back to Pop & Hiss early Saturday for a review of the concert. 

Loud & Rich is the name the pair has given to occasional joint shows. Folk is really just a starting point when it comes to the two storied singer-songwriters, as both have amassed deep catalogs that explore, bend and play with traditions. They will perform sets separately and together tonight, and below, you can sample the title track from Wainwright's two-disc tribute to famed banjo player Charlie Poole, "High Wide & Handsome."

1-01 High Wide & Handsome

--A Pop & Hiss public service announcement.

Photo: Loudon Wainwright. Credit: Ross Halfin

Apple rolls out Web-based iTunes Preview

After Google ramped-up its music search-and-play capabilities, Apple has now quietly opened up its music store today with the launch of  iTunes Preview.

The iTunes outlet has one of the biggest record collections of any store, real or digital, but you wouldn't know it if you weren't on a computer that didn't have the software installed.

The preview feature lets users browse the music catalog by genre and artist. Albums are ranked by sales, as they are in the iTunes program, and pages contain track listings, pricing, reviews, biographies and other info.

Yet in order to listen to 30-second song previews or buy tracks, you still need to fire up the iTunes application.

But this finally provides an accessible way to browse for music to buy -- just in time for the holidays -- while at work or at the library, where administrators often frown upon installing third-party software like iTunes.

You can search for music using Apple.com's sitewide search engine. But strangely, iTunes Preview is having trouble executing searches from its pages. It's a new product, so we'll excuse the bugs.

Search, we suspect, is a big reason Apple rolled out the feature. As Google partners with music sites like Lala, Pandora, Rhapsody, MySpace and Imeem for its Discover Music  search feature, Apple perhaps doesn't want to be left out.

Giving L.A. another reason to drink beer this weekend: The Dum Dum Girls

Our highfalutin artsy friends at Culture Monster will be spending Saturday night at the Museum of Contemporary Art to take in Lady Gaga, and while we're down with her performance art put-ons, drinking fancy colorful drinks loaded with vodka just doesn't seem right when there's a whole festival dedicated to craft beer happening in Hollywood.

Add in the Dum Dum Girls, and the Hollywood Brew Fest at the Blue Palms Brewhouse/Henry Fonda Theater seems far and away the best bet for the evening. There isn't too much known about the Dum Dum Girls; the recent Sub Pop signees have maintained an aura of mystery thus far. Essentially the project of  Kristin Gundred, who's going by the name Dee Dee in this outfit, the Dum Dum Girls will release their debut album at some point in 2010, although Sub Pop doesn't have a release date yet.

Yet if it's anything like the roughly shot Internet videos rolling around, expect some slightly sleezy, heavily distorted, fast and scruffy melodies. Hooks are buried in shots of hazy guitar tones, and there's a sinister streak that reveals itself via Gundred's sweetly deadpan delivery. Frankie Rose, former Vivian Girl, has been manning the drums for the group. That act is the most recent reference point for the Dum Dum Girls, while the Vaselines are perhaps the most obvious and the subtle hints of girl group malice would be the starting point. 

Watch a clip of the band performing at New York's recent CMJ conference below:

Memorial for Masque founder Brendan Mullen set for Sunday

Friends of Masque founder Brendan Mullen, who died at age 60 on Oct. 12 after suffering a stroke,  are invited to a memorial service and wake Sunday at the Echoplex in Echo Park.

Mullen was one of Los Angeles’ early champions of punk rock, and when he opened the Masque in Hollywood in 1977, the disjointed punk community found a focal point. It provided a forum for bands such as the Nerves, the Germs, the Dils and X, and also was the flash point for countless fans who went on to form their own bands. After the Masque closed, Mullen continued with adventurous bookings of music, theater and other events at Club Lingerie and other venues

The site for the memorial and wake was chosen because “The Echoplex is where Brendan booked his last show, a reunion of Masque bands to celebrate the publication of his book 'Live at the Masque: Nightmare in Punk Alley',” said his longtime partner, Kateri Butler, who was celebrating Mullen's 60th birthday with him on a trip through Ventura County when he had the stroke. “Many thanks to Liz Garo, queen of the Echoplex and a booker extraordinaire whom Brendan mentored early in her career, for her graciousness and generosity.”

Doors will open at 4 p.m., the memorial begins at 5 p.m. and the wake will follow. The Echoplex is at 1154 Glendale Blvd., Echo Park.

“The memorial is open to everyone who would like to pay his or her respects to Brendan,” Butler said. “I hope I have reached all of Brendan's friends, but it's certainly possible I may have missed some folks….Also, musicians: Anyone who wants to jam unplugged during the wake is welcome to do so. We will have Brendan's drum kit there.”

-- Randy Lewis

Javelin's junk shop pop: Tom Van Buskirk on the pleasures of radio hiss and thrift store gems

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Tom Van Buskirk recently got word that his car had been stolen, along with all 20 of Javelin’s vintage boom boxes, painstakingly assembled over years of digging in thrift stores and pawn shops across America. Yet somehow, despite losing this staple of his band’s ballyhooed live show, he seems unperturbed. Mind you, he and his cousin, George Langford, the other half of the junk shop-pop duo, are currently in Oakland, midway through their first-ever tour of the West Coast and 3,000 miles away from their home in Brooklyn, where the vehicle was swiped. But not only is he calm, Van Buskirk also seems downright ebullient, and I suspect this is the reason why the Luaka Bop and Thrill Jockey-signed outfit is one the most notable acts to emerge this year: It has the incredible ability to create music that makes you happy.

The litany of influences on the MySpace pages of most buzz bands typically reads like some lame competition of ironic one-upmanship, but Javelin’s is surprisingly illuminating: Chaka Demus, Tom Tom Club, Kraftwerk, dollar-bin dance records, transcendent amateurs, '80s Soca, regional dance music, Smokey Robinson, junk shops, endless loop tapes and (of course) cousinship. The band distills post-modernism’s best possibilities: the pastiche of disparate influences to craft something wholly novel without any of the pretentious self-seriousness or whimsical shtick that dogs many of Javelin's peers.

Buraka Som Sistema tonight at the Mayan

Here's a little audio espresso to percolate your Thursday afternoon. Hailing from Angola and Portugal, Buraka Som Sistema will drop into the Mayan tonight with its deconstructed, minimalist fusing of ghettotech built on Brazilian baile funk and bhangra with kuduro, a skittering, quick beat born in Angola in the '80s.

On "Black Diamond," the group's long-player released in 2008 (and in the States earlier this year), Buraka producers Lil John, Riot and Conductor, along with MC Kalaf, find themselves flush with the kind of collaborators that make Fader magazine editors salivate at night: M.I.A., Kano and Hot Chip, to name a few. M.I.A.'s been a veritable fan girl from the start, appearing in the 2007 viral video "Sound of Kuduro," which joyfully sounds like a dredging up of every harsh beat from the streets of Lisboa.

In this remix of the Deize Tigrona-assisted "Aqui Para Voces," French DJ Brodinski, who's remixed songs for Bonde do Role and Klaxons, adds even more perilous bass drops to the mix and a metallic coating to the otherwise rustic proceedings. It's an ample preview of what these kuduro ambassadors should bring tonight: an amalgamation of global beats that'll drop like a hammer. Be sure to wear your sunglasses for the blow-back.

-- Margaret Wappler

"Aqui Para Voces" featuring Deize Tigrona (Brodinski Remix)

Buraka Som Sistema play tonight at Mayan Theater, 1038 S. Hill St. (213)746-4674. 8 p.m. doors. $23.

Photo, left-to-right: Riot, J-Wow (a BSS founding member), Kalaf and Conductor. Credit: Biz 3

Live at The Times at 1:15 p.m.: the Hollow Trees

The Hollow Trees are a five-piece Americana band from Los Angeles by way of the imaginary town of Nelsonville.

Led by Gregory Hollow Tree, who sings and plays guitar, the band was formed in 2004 when it was merely a duo with upright bassist Laura Hollow Tree.

Dubbed “folk music for families,” the Hollow Trees regularly play for children -- and their parents -- around Southern California, and even made a stop at the Stagecoach festival in 2007.

They act has released two albums -- its self titled debut (2005), and “Welcome to Nelsonville” (2007). The Hollow Trees will be playing at the The Air Conditioned Supper Club at 625 Lincoln Blvd. in Venice, Sunday, November 15th.

The act stopped by the Los Angeles Times HQ on Thursday for a mini live set. Check out their concert below:

Live review: Paramore at the Hollywood Palladium

The young pop-punk band looks at the world through brand new eyes in a moody and yes, edgy, makeup show.

Toward the end of Paramore’s Wednesday night set at the Hollywood Palladium, singer Hayley Williams swiped a pair of black plastic-frame eyeglasses from someone in the front row and put them on. "Do these make me look edgy?" she asked, cheekily, as the effect -- coupled with her newly platinum tresses -- was much more freshman art-school crush than anything especially dangerous.

But the question of edginess is one Paramore's been asking lately. Its latest album, "Brand New Eyes," has vaulted the very young band off the pop-punk axis and into the ever-thinner ranks of top-selling mainstream rock acts in America, one of even fewer that is fronted by a young woman. It's not a dark album, but it is a serious one, as Williams' gym-class sass and her band's expert, straightforward emo have grown into moody musings about post-breakup abandonment, the trials of modern religious faith and the fraught band dynamics that almost split Paramore up.

In that sense, simultaneously gunning for the upper reaches of Billboard with "Eyes" might have been the edgiest thing Paramore's done yet.

Live review: Marc Anthony at the Gibson Amphitheatre

The singer celebrates his Latino heritage while his adoring fans celebrate his music.

Not long into Marc Anthony's show Wednesday night at Gibson Amphitheatre, the swivel-hipped singer-actor was checking off a list of job titles that demonstrated his pronouncement that 2009 "is a great time to be a Latino." Normally he doesn't get into politics, he admitted, but he'd been inspired by George Lopez, who drew huge cheers in a surprise appearance before Anthony's set with a shout-out to Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Anthony couldn't help adding one occupation -- NFL owner -- that he recently entered into when he bought a stake in the Miami Dolphins. But 2009 was already a great time to be Marc Anthony before that purchase: In spite of his inability to crack the mainstream American market that seemed a decade ago to glimmer with possibility, Anthony currently commands one of the most adoring audiences in all of pop.

At the Gibson, where he sauntered onstage in his usual uniform of slim-fitting suit and sunglasses, Anthony was greeted like a returning hero, then showered with roses and "I love yous" for the duration of his 90-minute set. Nobody in the building appeared to mind that to many U.S. listeners Anthony is best known as Mr. Jennifer Lopez.

Taylor Swift: Young, fearless and in control

The country-pop star wins Entertainer of the Year and three other prizes in a night dominated by up-and-comers.

In 1958, Johnny Cash released the song "Ballad of a Teenage Queen," the story of a pretty small-town girl who won Hollywood fame but gave it all up for the boy next door. In 2009 -- on Wednesday night, actually, in Nashville, at the annual Country Music Assn. Awards ceremony -- Taylor Swift updated and obliterated that story line.

The 19-year-old songwriter and universe-shifting star won in four categories, beating out mainstays such as Kenny Chesney and Keith Urban to claim country music for youth, femininity and pop. She also performed two numbers and was the subject of much running humor throughout the program, which found its spark whenever one of country's current batch of New Non-Traditionalists took the stage.

Swift started things out with a version of "Forever and Always" that was glitzy and high-concept -- and off-tune, a consistent characteristic of Swift's live outings that gave the lie to her one undeserved triumph, for best female vocalist. The prize should have gone to Carrie Underwood, country's most powerful young singer and the evening's co-host with Brad Paisley.

Struggling for her notes but not showing any concern about it, Swift made a flurry of arena-rock moves, shaking her long, gold tresses as if she were Robert Plant and sliding down a shiny pole in what seemed like a defiant nod toward her friend Miley Cyrus, who took guff for similar gyrations on this year's Teen Choice Awards. By the end of this production number, she owned the night. And she kept on owning it, right down to her tearful acceptance of the Entertainer of the Year prize, which she shared with her touring band and her fans, "and the shirts you made yourselves."

'I feel like I'm in a dream' -- Taylor Swift, CMA 2009 entertainer of the year

Taylor Swift was understandably flummoxed when I got her on the phone a few minutes after she became the youngest person ever, and the first female in nearly a decade, to be named entertainer of the year by the Country Music Assn.

"I am absolutely at a loss for words," she said, the sounds of celebration clattering in the background. "I feel like I’m in a dream. It honestly was one of those moments where my second-grade music teacher, my crew who puts that stage together and takes it down every night, all the fans in the meet-and-greet lines, all these faces came flashing through my mind.

"All I could think about was the fact that all my life, the entertainer of the year award was always such an unattainable thing, an unattainable dream. Then there I was walking up to the stage and it was happening. It took a while for it to sink in."

Because she won all four categories in which she had been nominated, I asked whether her win as female vocalist surprised her as much as it had the many who expected Carrie Underwood to repeat, or such widely lauded singers as Reba McEntire or Martina McBride to take the award.

"Absolutely," she said. "I was blown away by that. I cannot believe I have four CMA awards that I didn’t have before tonight. I was lucky to win the Horizon award two years ago, but this ... it's so overwhelming to me. Reba and Faith Hill were there, and after they announced the entertainer award we were all just hugging and crying; it was such a wonderful moment. I can’t even believe that this is happening. I’m stuttering."

I also was curious about what the reigning entertainer of the year, Kenny Chesney, told her as she went up to collect the entertainer award that had gone to him for four of the previous five years.

"He gives the most amazing amount of love out, and that's why everyone in country music loves him so much. He and I were texting earlier, and saying, 'I love you no matter what happens' to each other. It’s such a wonderful thing to be part of an industry where everyone genuinely roots for each other. Getting a hug from Kenny just before I went on stage was just so amazing."

Taylor Swift is youngest to ever win CMA's top award

The Country Music Assn. selects the 19-year-old as entertainer of the year over veteran male singers. She wins in all four categories she is nominated.

Country Music Assn. voters largely turned their back on tradition in anointing teenage country-pop star Taylor Swift and a whole slate of relative newcomers with most of its top honors at Wednesday's CMA Awards ceremony in Nashville.

The CMA bypassed long-serving veterans including George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley and Keith Urban in selecting Swift the youngest recipient ever of its top honor, entertainer of the year, an award meant for the musician who exhibits the most impressive all-around performance during the preceding year.

By that criteria, it was hard to argue with their choice: The 19-year-old has sold more than 10 million albums in the three years since she released her debut, making her the biggest thing in country and pop music.

Swift won all four categories in which she was nominated, taking home trophies for album of the year, female vocalist and music video.

"Thank you for saying that you like my diary," Swift told voters, and by extension, fans, when she collected the best album prize for 2008's "Fearless."

Janet Jackson to open the 'American Music Awards'

Michael Jackson received five posthumous American Music Award nominations, and the upcoming ABC award show will turn to one of Jackson's siblings to open its broadcast. Following her gala-launching tribute at the MTV Video Music Awards, Janet Jackson will lead off the Nov. 22 AMAs with what's billed as a "special opening performance."

Just prior to Janet's appearance on the AMAs, the artist will release her "Number Ones," a two-disc set capturing her biggest hits. Yet even with the greatest hits package, and a new single in "Make Me," one can bet that Janet will undoubtedly lead an AMA tribute to her brother.

CMA Awards 2009: All the performances, as they happen [UPDATED]

Pop & Hiss brings you instant reviews, typos and all, of all the performances at the Country Music Assn. Awards. It was a big night for Taylor Swift, who won entertainer of the year. She ended a three-year run from Kenny Chesney,

Related: CMA Awards 2009 Scorecard: Complete nominees and winners

Taylor Swift, "Forever & Always." Nashville is going straight to its A-list star, opening the show with pop music's most popular living singer at the moment. She'll have two songs tonight, and first up is "Forever & Always." To sum it up: The 2009 CMA Awards are off and running with a train wreck. The energy and excitement of Swift's MTV Video Music Awards performance, in which she was running through a subway, is completely lost. Beginning with a fake interview with Nancy O'Dell was cute, especially when Swift noted that "If guys don't want me to write bad songs about them, they shouldn't do bad things." But turning her "Forever & Always" into a chair-throwing angsty performance, complete with a stripper --  or fireman’s pole  (depending on your level of innocence) -- was ill-advised. She looked strained in trying to capture the anger of the song, awkwardly rolling on the floor and yanking at her hair. This is a D. But she has another performance in which to redeem herself.

This week's on-sales: Brad Paisley, Jay-Z, Julian Casablancas and more

Staples Center

Brad Paisley, Feb. 19; Jay-Z, March 26 (Sat.)

Gibson Amphitheatre
Omid, Nov. 25 (now)

Downtown Palace Theatre
Julian Casablancas, Nov. 13 and 30 (now)

UCI Bren Events Center

Weezer, Jan. 11 (Sat.)

CMA Awards 2009 Scorecard: Complete nominees and winners

Winners will be in bold italics.

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR

Kenny Chesney
Brad Paisley
George Strait
Taylor Swift
Keith Urban
 
FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

Miranda Lambert
Martina McBride
Reba McEntire
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood

Earthmen and Strangers land tonight at the Redwood Bar & Grill

Earthmen and Strangers brings its searing brand of psychedelic desert garage rock to the Redwood Bar & Grill tonight. The band's self-titled debut album on Philadelphia's FDH Records, released earlier this year, is a triumph of sharp musical skill and raw, almost heartrending feeling. Frontman Ryan Rousseau, whose garage rock pedigree stretches all the way back to 1998 in the first lineup of the Reatards, has a way of writing songs about matters of the heart that are both emotional and tough, a quality that makes for compelling live performances.

Anchored by the solid rhythm section of Luis Padilla on guitar, Joe Mathis on bass and Lenny DeLeon on drums, Rousseau is the creative wild card in the group. Playing upside down left-handed guitar, he sings with his eyes closed, as if transporting himself to another world. When he plays the jagged, feedback-heavy guitar solo for the epic "Desert Snow," it's like a magic carpet ride across a prickly black-lit Southwestern moonscape.

Currently on the last leg of a West Coast tour, Earthmen and Strangers will be joined by the bluesy, atmospheric Becky Lee and Drunkfoot and Orange County's own post-punk Cat Party.

-- Jason Gelt

Earthmen and Strangers at the Redwood Bar & Grill, 316 W. 2nd St. (213) 680-2600. 10 p.m. $10.
 
Photo: Earthmen and Strangers. Credit: Christy Masengarb

Guess who's getting Grammy nominations?

As the music industry descends upon Nashville today for the Country Music Assn. Awards, the Recording Academy sent a subtle reminder that its Grammy Awards are just around the corner. The first crop of artists performing at the Dec. 2 Grammy nomination prime-time special, the double explanation-pointed "The Grammy Nominations Concert Live!! — Countdown to Music's Biggest Night," have been revealed.

Television regulars the Black Eyed Peas, R&B veteran Maxwell and adult country duo Sugarland will all appear on the CBS special, which will air live for the East Coast at 9 p.m. Traditionally, artists who appear at the unveiling of the Grammy nominations are guaranteed a nod or two, but the Recording Academy broke from such a predictable mold last year.

Steven Tyler remains in Aerosmith, declares himself a 'rainbow'

The Steven Tyler vs. Joe Perry Aerosmith feud has come to an end, bringing to a close days of speculation that Aerosmith would find a new lead singer, and generating the band more headlines in two days than it has likely scored in the last three years.

Tyler joined Perry onstage Tuesday night at New York's Fillmore at the Irving Plaza, according to numerous on-scene reports. Rolling Stone writes that Tyler told fans, “I just want New York to know, I am not leaving Aerosmith. Joe Perry, you are a man of many colors. But I ... am the rainbow!”

Tyler then joined the Joe Perry Project for a rendition of Aerosmith's “Walk This Way."