Tuesday, August 29, 2006  

Bob Marley Roots Rock Reggae Festival

Washington Post, Tuesday, August 29, 2006; Page C05

Ziggy and Stephen Marley closed their annual Bob Marley Roots Rock Reggae Festival tour at Wolf Trap on Sunday, and while it celebrated their father's life, it also highlighted how unenviable it is to try to compete with their pop's prodigious talents. Stephen and Ziggy are very likable as individual artists, but you can't help but compare them to Robert Nesta Marley -- and in that light, they suffer from the blazing sun that is their dad's legacy.

Perhaps because nobody knows the music from his long-delayed forthcoming CD, "Mind Control," Stephen stuck primarily to his dad's catalogue, including "No Woman, No Cry," "Could You Be Loved" and "Buffalo Soldier." Or perhaps Stephen is just more attuned to the real reason why the crowd turns out for this festival.

Ziggy Marley, left, helped headline the Bob Marley Roots Rock Reggae Festival at Wolf Trap; cellist Ken Slowik was one of the soloists with the Smithsonian Chamber Players at the American Art Museum.

Stephen may sound and look eerily similar to his father -- his stage movements are especially haunting -- but it's Ziggy who's had the greater commercial success as an artist. But the eldest of Bob's sons didn't play any Melody Makers hits, preferring to concentrate on tunes from his mediocre new CD, "Love Is My Religion." Ziggy's recent songs are so-so at best, ignorable at worst, which is something you can't say about the Bob Marley compositions that his son covered, including "No More Trouble," "Forever Loving Jah" and a concert-closing version of "Get Up, Stand Up" featuring Stephen Marley and Bunny Wailer.

In fact it was Bob's old Wailers band mate Bunny who put on the best performance of the festival, which also featured the funk band Ozomatli and the singer- songwriter Jon Nicholson. Decked out in a white military-like suit decorated with silver spangles, the great Bunny looked like the captain of the good ship Rasta as he joyously danced and sang his way through classic Wailers songs such as "Simmer Down" and "I'm the Toughest" as well as "Cool Runnings" and "Rootsman Skanking" from his own rich solo career. --Christopher Porter

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Friday, August 25, 2006  

Beirut: Eager (but Not Quite Ready) to Take On the World

Washington Post, Friday, August 25, 2006; Page C02

As a teenager, Zach Condon dropped out of high school and eventually went to Paris, where he encountered Roma, or Gypsy, music. "When I came back to America, I realized that world music is no joke -- it really has a lot to it," Condon, now 20, told Pitchfork Media.

Condon's group, Beirut, made its D.C. debut at Warehouse Next Door on Wednesday, and the ramshackle concert felt like a talent show performance by an earnest bunch that indeed has just discovered that "world music is no joke." (The name Beirut isn't a jape either, just an awkward coincidence in the face of current events.) Imagine a one-armed Balkan band in training and you'll get a sense of Beirut's loose approximation of Eastern European music, filtered through an indie-rock worldview. Accordion, keyboards, baritone saxophone, ukuleles, violin, cello and percussion all clattered for attention, but it was the drum kit that dominated in the club's crummy acoustics.

But Condon's appealing, Rufus Wainwright-like croon -- a belting, slurring, theatrical wail -- was easily heard over the galloping drums on songs like "Postcards From Italy" and "The Canals of Our City." While his trumpet playing is average, Condon's bright personality and blossoming talent are obvious, and it's easy to understand why his not-quite-ripe music is still appetizing.

Even before the release of Beirut's debut CD, "Gulag Orkestar," the project had been hotly hyped on blogs, and a long line for the concert curled down Seventh Street NW and around New York Avenue well before the doors opened. But at least half the queue was left out in the hot August air, missing the 40-minute show. There's no doubt, though, that Condon and company will be back, at a larger venue. That's no joke. --Christopher Porter

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Wednesday, August 16, 2006  

Absinthe at the Aniseed Bar in the Hotel Les Strelitzias, Juan-Les-Pins, France, July 19, 2006.


Martial Solal Trio, Juan-Les-Pins, July 19, 2006.


Geraldine Laurent, leader of the Time Out Trio, Juan-Les-Pins, July 20, 2006.

Me on the Jazz a Juan festival.

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Wednesday, August 16, 2006  

Me on Nouvelle Vague's cover of "The Killing Moon" for NPR's Song of the Day.

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