• >
-* * I
SMI
Livi
4. .
• . : '
■ *»'
i» i
*
"
-
y
.
/ • A ’ '
J’ /
*■ ••'
M U I
,
P age B4
®be ^lortlanò ffihseruer
ENTERTAINMENT
Brian McKnight, A Voice Close To Our Soul
Of all the instruments, the voice
is the most haunting, the most expres
sive. The voice is the sound closest to
our soul. We remember voices with
chilling recall. The voice of a lover
echoes in our ear long after the love is
gone. Inner voices confuse or soothe,
Tilling our head with hope, disappoint
ment, joy.
The voice of the singer is the
most memorable of all-the singer who
captures the power of raw feelings;
the singer who discloses the elusive
longing that lingers in ourdreams; the
singer whose sensitivity touches our
heart and excites our imagination.
Brian McKnight is such a singer.
His gift is enormous. Beyond the
sheer marvel of this voice, his bril-
liance as a writer, musician and pro
ducer place him in an exceptional
category. His immediate predecessors
are Donny Hathaway and Stevie Won
der, two other keyborad-based vocal
ists whose musical visions are archi
tectural in scope. Like McKnight’s
their songs blend structural complex
ity and emotional simplicity they’re
deep but direct, solid but soaring.
Most immediately, their voices re
main with us through the bright days
and dark nights of our lives. Their
voices are unique.
Here, in the middle of the nine
ties, Brian McKnight’s second album
is a particular pleasure. If Brian helped
usher in a return to romanticism with
his debut three years ago, he rein
Brian McKnight.
forces that commitment with I re
member You. The theme of romance
in McKnight’s hands, however, is
sculpted along unusual lines.
The supple, brooding quality of
his voice - at once hypnotic and sur
prising — seems to suggest a love
never quite realized. A hunger re
mains. The compelling quest, felt in
the flow of his seductive grooves,
goes on and on
One song streams into another.
Love sought, love lost love regretted
or remembered - love remains in the
mist, the wonder behind the melody,
the mystery behind Brian’s lush har
monies.
The voices all belong to Brian; as
singer and instrumentalist, he is his
own accompanist. Watching him work
the studio, you feel the intensity of his
focus. At 3PM, he has nothing but a
sketchy idea, strummed on acoustic
guitar, tinkered on piano. By 9 PM,
the idea is now a song, mastered on
tape, complete with rhythm tracks and
finished vocals. In six hours,
McKnight has built and layered his
music with a heady mixture of exquis
ite delicacy and muscular energy. He
moves from instrument to instrument,
from the control board to the vocal
booth and back, seamlessly stitching a
tapestry whose design is nothing short
of dazzling.
Ask him a question during the
process and you’ll get a one word
reply, if any. He won’t be distracted.
Grateful Dead Fans Mourn Death
Grateful Dead fans, devoted with
almost religious fervor to the veteran
rock band, are intnouming for leg
endary singer and guitarist Jerry
Garcia, who died at a drug treatment
center of an apparent heart attack.
Hundreds of people held vigils
around the United States last week,
listening to the Grateful Dead’s mu
sic and remembering Garcia, leader
and inspiration of the band that is an
icon of the psychedelic 1960s.
Garcia, who had a history of
drug use, weight problems and poor
health, was fot/hd dead early on
Wednesday at a drug and alcohol
treatment center near San Francisco,
where he had checked in a few days
earlier. A band spokesman said the
cause was believed to be a heart
attack. He was 53.
Stunned fans wept and hugged
each other in San Francisco, and
many said that the loss o f Garcia, a
bear-like man with untidy grey hair
and beard, left a gaping hole in their
lives. Some said his death, which
puts a question mark over the Grate
ful Dead’s future, meant the 1960s
were finally over.
“The Dead are the closest thing
to a religion that I have,” a woman at
the San Francisco gathering said.
Garcia was one o f the founders
o f the Grateful Dead, whose mixture
day night to remember Garcia while
in Los Angeles, hundreds ofGrateful
Dead fans gathered in Griffith Park
for a candlelight vigil.
Tributes to Garcia poured in
from music stars like Bob Dylan and
Carlos Santana and from politicians
and fans such as Vermont Senator
Patrick Leahy.
Flags in San Francisco flew at
half-staff. Department stores in San
Fran,'srco reported customers were
snapping up a range of silk ties with
designs by Garcia, with some buying
five or six at a time.
Born Jerome John Garcia in San
Francisco in 1942, Garcia dropped
out of high school at 17 and worked
as a salesman and music teacher in
California before forming the War-
locks rock group in 1965, which be
came the Grateful Dead a year later.
He was arrested on heroin and
cocaine possession charges in 1985
and almost died a year later when he
fell into a diabetic coma brought on
by drug use.
The group’s most famous songs
include “Truckin,” “Casey Jones” and
“Friend of the Devil” but it is more
f EAST P O R T L A N D
3 2 N D & E B U R N S ID E
2 3 1 -8 9 2 6
famous for its live shows, which gross
tens of millions of dollars a year.
Garcia is survived by his third
wife, Carolyn Koons, and by four
daughters.
M U S IC
M I L L E N N IU M
NW PORTLAND
23RD & NW JOHNSON
248-0163
A D V E R T I S E IN
<Ll{c 5.LÌO vtlaìiò ( O h s e r i i e r
FAT BEATS, FRESH LOOPS, SIDE SPLITTING FUNK
TkJE
NONCE
DEt TONES
LALUNA
SUNDAY AUGUST 2 0
9:00 PM
$10 ADVANCE
ADVANCE TICKETS AT ALL Cl JOE S/TICKETMASTER
LOCATIONS SUBJECT TO SERVICE CHARGE.
CHARGE BY PHONE 224-4400.
HONQUI
PRESEN TS
ALL AGES
D p 4 .r % .r
W n rtP ’'
'SS?
Sisters Arc Doing II For Themselves
TLC
Crazy Sexy Cool
TLC
THE RETURN OF MIKE TYSON.
TYSON VS. McNEELEY.
C ra Z y S a X y C o o l
TB IM .I PLATINUM A L U M
Teaturtn<| tfw M l "CROP," *W ATIW AUS.*
WOGIM OH YOU’ and M O LIGHT SMCIAl*
Their debut album sold
a cool 2.5 m illion
copies. Now the group
that took the street is
coming back for more.
$8 - 44 $13
Cassette
99
Compact
Disc
Monica is a fourteen-
year old singer blessed
with a vocal ability most
adult performers would
envy. Already a veteran
vocalist (sh e’s been
singing in church choirs
since the age of four).
Monica’s debut shows
the maturing of an artist
twice her age
«art
*• <»•*»•
»-aaartM »y 0a*
Fraaackaaa
t* a
laa Yayaa
»•» »a*
•» M T
tav »a*
•
Ht
« « « V t^ S fT
aw
»»
A-4ÍÍ (AasAa
T h * high!» tn iK ip a lM
f>»n t l a i r It PerantMi
(Juw (Me o l D m Dari)
ia
P*“»
« n ... md i ,h , rh .,
M
You W.lk
O m o í M v U fr
I, i Xi<
£Q 44 £1099
d )0
-
Live On Pay Per View. Saturday, A ugust 1 9
At 5 :0 0
Channel 4 8
Price $ 4 9 .9 5
Msf Hi (ill (j
J l Z c o Compact
m
Cassette
n
Disc
-—
O ffe r good thru 8/15/95
Last Portland
32nd & Burnside
231-8926
MUSIC
MILLCNNIUM
NW Portland
23rd & NW Johnson
248-0163