DennisPillion.com

An evening with Carbon Leaf... and Dennis

This is it. In less than 48 hours, I will be basking in the musical stylings of the most important (to me) band to come out of Richmond, Va. in this millenium. That's right, Carbon Leaf is coming back to Birmingham.

Followers of this blog may have read about the last time I saw CL live, but read over it if you don't recall. Presumably, if you read this, you trust or value my opinion in some way. That said, I'm asking you to seriously think about investing $15 to see these guys live at the WorkPlay Theater in Birmingham on Friday night. 

Carbon Leaf show just as magical second time around

 Carbon Leaf, my biggest musical obsession of the last six years, faced a significant challenge playing Zydeco in Birmingham on Saturday night. I'm not talking about the challenge of reaching a crowd in a town where their songs have rarely (if ever) graced the airwaves.  I'm not even talking about acoustic issues with Zydeco's ridiculous 8-foot drop ceiling.

No, from my perspective, the band's biggest challenge was meeting my ridiculously-high expectations.

You see, my love affair with the Leaf all started with a live performance that I attended by a happy accident. I basically stumbled onto them like a hobo who trips over a briefcase full of cash in a dark alley.

Whose version of the Leonard Cohen song 'Hallelujah' was best?

I found a fun link on Twitter today about how even Leonard Cohen, who wrote the oft-covered song "Hallelujah", is sick of hearing his song in movie montages. And really, once the song's been in Shrek, Watchmen, and an episode of House, he's probably got a point.

That got me thinking though. Each above-mentioned montage used a different singer's version of the song, and there are many more covers of it out there. Jeff Buckley had a popular version, as did Rufus Wainwright, John Cale and Imogen Heap. Even artists like Bon Jovi, Brandi Carlisle and Gavin DeGraw have covered the song. So which one is best? I have my opinions, but I want to know what you think.

I made this playlist of all the versions I could on Grooveshark, my new Internet music source of choice. Give it a listen if you're not familiar with all the choices and then vote in the poll. 

City Stages conceived, corrupted and killed by George McMillan

Earlier this week, I wrote about what City Stages meant to me but it's becoming painfully evident that while City Stages started out as a great cultural event, the festival devolved into nothing more than a confidence scam the likes of which Bernie Madoff or Tony Soprano would be proud.

Organizers (accountable to no one but themselves) released a statement Thursday that the festival would not continue, blaming factors like the poor economy, the weather, nearly everything and everyone but themselves for City Stages' demise.

Not only did the organizers declare their Foundation no longer exists and ride off into the sunset with their bags of cash, they gave everybody the finger on their way out the door.

City Stages bounced checks to some vendors, stiffed others like the Bottletree Cafe and cleaned out the festival offices before this year's festival even started. I have a sneaking suspicion though that founder/chairman George McMillan got every penny of the exorbitant sum he paid himself every year to run the event.

City Stages 1999 to 2009: From 'must-see' to 'very optional'

I almost didn't go to City Stages this year... and I had free tickets courtesy of my employer.

In fact, the main reason I did end up going (besides the free tickets, of course) was an up-and-coming band out of Chapel Hill called Roman Candle. The trio created a four-minute burst of musical heroin titled "Why Modern Radio is A-OK" that has quickly been ratcheting up my iTunes most-played list for the past month.

Of course, once I dragged myself out into the heat and got inside the gate, I had a great time. Roman Candle put on a good show, even if the food vendor serving alligator on a stick seemed to draw a bigger crowd. 

Jonny Lang and The Neville Brothers worked the Miller Lite Stage in Linn Park, and I'm not a huge Dierks Bentley fan, but the thousands there who were seemed to really enjoy his set. 

Sitting in Linn Park, listening to Aaron Neville belt out his version of "A Change Is Gonna Come," (Sam Cooke's original is one of my all-time favorite songs. Ever.) I felt a wave of nostalgia rush over me as palpable as the heat on a June Saturday in Birmingham.

This festival has meant a lot to me over the years. My parents took me to the earliest editions before I was able to drive myself downtown. I remember dipping my feet in the fountain at the park and my parents yelling at me because the water wasn't clean. I remember sitting with them in the park for acts like Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Temptations and The Pointer Sisters. I vividly recall watching a young couple in front of me make out and graduating from the "girls have cooties" phase to being genuinely curious about what the young man was doing, and why he would want to put his hands there.