music
A Murder of Crow
Ready or Not, Here She Comes
Sheryl Crow is that rarest breed of odd and beautiful American artists — a
recognizable face/name in the mainstream with several true blue hits and
Grammys tucked under her belt, a folk/rock crooner whose music crosses
generational boundaries to appeal to sis and mom and grandma, and yet,
like, say, Tom Petty or Lucinda Williams, she also garners a kind of minor-
key reverence and respect, because she’s a musician’s musican, the sort of
popular artist capable of being both genuinely good-good and big time, and like
Petty, sometimes we end up taking Crow for granted, because she is of such a
consistent quality, always there, always strong, cranking out solid albums and
solid airwave bangers like “All I Wanna Do” and “A Change Would Do You Good”
and “If It Makes You Happy,” and writing what is easily the most karaoked duet
in the history of karaoke, “Picture” with Kid Rock, but then, just like Lucinda,
she can sneak up and rip your heart out with a tune like “The First Cut is the
Deepest” or “Leaving Las Vegas,” as her songwriting has subtlety and depth
crossed with a broad intuition for the killing hook, the catchy chorus, not to
mention her ballsy great cover of “Sweet Child Of Mine,” which Crow completely
owns as her own without undermining the auto-nostalgia and edgy summer
groove of the original, and you know, let’s not forget that she started out as an
elementary school music teacher before she became a backup singer for the
late, great King of Pop, Michael Jackson, and that her debut album initially was
rejected and scrapped, another embarrassing instance of sheer corporate idiocy,
only to have her roar back and score award-winning albums one after the next, by
now Crow’s sold some 40 million albums globally, and fi nally, the woman is just
plain kickass, a breast cancer survivor and a lefty activist in the mold of Michael
Stipe, but she can still soak up the sun, play it light, sing for the day with that
beautiful rapturous rapt-making voice of hers, like a beacon of glow, it just calls
for a, you know: Hell, yeah. Viva la Crow. But, really, what’s up with the cookbook?
I mean, if it makes you money, I suppose.
Sheryl Crow plays 7 pm Friday, May 20, at Hult Center. — Rick Levin
Whatchu know about Lauryn Hill? Most likely a great deal of questionable
hearsay alongside one simple and indisputable fact: She is a legend. The icon
who fused hip hop, R&B and reggae has been the subject of controversy for
years, ever since dropping out of public view and marrying Rohan Marley
following the success of her debut album in 1998, The Miseducation of Lauryn
Hill. Before that, her membership with The Fugees was her claim to notoriety.
Then, after a four-year hiatus, Hill returned to the music scene, releasing an
MTV Unplugged live recording, only to fall off the map once more in protest of
the music industry itself.
Many years and fi ve children later, Hill may be the classic case of bright
talent muddied and abused by the music industry that ate her up, or she may
be, as some people would say — just crazy. The latter is disputed as a result of
her controversial statements regarding the Catholic church, her self-imposed
exile from music, her “spiritual advisor” Brother Anthony, nasty rumors about
her dislike of white people spread by a Howard Stern radio show caller, showing
up three hours late to her own sold-out concert, etc. But really, who cares? That
label of crazy could be applied correctly or incorrectly to many a performer of
Hill’s stature (try arguing on behalf of Jimi Hedrix’s sanity. Did you happen to
care if Whitney Houston was all there in the mind, or did you just bump that “I
Will Always Love You” cover song without question?).
The present for Hill seems to be a series of surprise performances that have
been popping up. Stages in New Zealand, Australia, New York City and Santa
Rosa have been graced with her presence. A late-night last-minute performance
alongside Dave Chappelle was all the rage in Oakland earlier this May. Though
she has hinted at another album in the works, live shows appear to be all we
will see of the elusive and mysterious performer deemed by many to be the
greatest female hip hop emcee of all time (see “Lost Ones,” Miseducation of
Lauryrn Hill).
Lauryn Hill plays with revolutionary underground hip hop artists Dead Prez
Friday, May 20, 7 pm at The Cuthbert Amphitheatre; $55-$35. — Dante Zuñiga-West
Getting Down to the Roots
As with most things in life, balance is good. Eugene’s
own Paul Wright, frontman for the reggae-dance-rock
band Rootdown, can attest to this, as can anyone who is
even remotely familiar with their catalog. Over the course
of several albums and EPs, Wright and his bandmates
have written odes to lovers, fl ip fl ops, God and Burrito
Boy. And on their latest release, Tidal Wave, they name
drop Mr. T, Hanson, Napoleon Dynamite and former NBA
star Karl Malone, to name a few. Wright and the band rel-
ish running the gamut between the silly and the sacred.
“The silly and the sacred… I’ve never heard that
before,” Wright exclaims with a laugh. “Our faith is
our foundation and it really helps us to live life with
28
MAY 19, 2011
EUGENE WEEKLY
an optimistic view, but we’re probably not going to go
up to someone and bring up matters of faith unless
someone else brings it up.”
Many of the band’s songs have an upbeat rhythm
or message (often both), and their live shows are an
explosion of unabashed joy. Between their bassist
making random animal sounds throughout songs
and having audience members participate in dance
contests, the action never stops, especially on the
track “Karl Malone in a Cowboy Hat.”
“That song really feels like a Napoleon Dynamite
song,” Wright says, “where you can just geek out and
people can be free from other peoples’ perceptions. We
usually end up on our backs clapping with our feet at
the bridge of that song. We’re always trying to fi nd the
most entertaining and engaging way of playing these
songs live, and sometimes that’s on our backs!”
For this group of guys, it’s not about just trying to
be rock stars or being preachy with their faith; when it
comes to their music, they just want to have a shared
experience with the audience.
“I love writing. I love being creative,” Wright says. “It’s
amazing when someone comes up after a show and says,
‘Man, I’ve been living off of “Good Day” today. It’s totally
helped me out.’ That’s just awesome. That’s where it’s at.”
Rootdown plays with Anna Gilbert and Hunter Gray
Thursday, May 19, at WOW Hall; $10 adv., $12 door.
— Brian Palmer
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