plus 3, Grammy hopefuls share secret of success - Nashville Tennessean

Grammy hopefuls share secret of success - Nashville Tennessean
Gaga for the ladies - Minneapolis Star Tribune
GO! Arts and Entertainment for Jan. 31-Feb. 6 - North County Times
Appreciation: J.D. Salinger shunned public, but caught its imagination - Dallas Morning News

Grammy hopefuls share secret of success - Nashville Tennessean

Posted: 31 Jan 2010 12:11 AM PST

Keith Urban

By Peter Cooper, THE TENNESSEAN

Two-time Grammy Award winner Keith Urban hopes to become six-time Grammy Award winner Keith Urban by the time he goes to sleep Sunday night. Even if the evening doesn't go that well, Urban is feeling thankful after a year that included a No. 1 album, two No. 1 country singles, numerous sold-out shows (one of which was a charity gig in Nashville that raised $600,000 for the Country Music Hall of Fame), an Academy of Country Music award, a Country Music Association award and, as we mentioned, four Grammy nominations. The singer, songwriter and guitar-slinger was also the most-played country artist at radio in 2009.

» An Ibanez copy of a Fender Telecaster Deluxe. That was my first electric guitar. Wish I still had it. I traded that one and bought a candy apple red Fender Strat, because I wanted one that looked like Mark Knopfler's.

» When I was 7, my mom got me joined with a theater group that played shopping centers. Kind of like the Mouseketeers. We had to learn dialogue and choreography. Mom thought it would be a good training ground for learning stage presence. I did it for two years, until my parents received a letter saying, "Until Keith learns some discipline, we don't have a place for him." I guess I didn't take direction very well. I never went back.

» My age was fortunate for me. I don't know if I was better than the others, but because I was so much younger, playing guitar, people paid attention.

» I try not to read them. I didn't read any reviews on the last record. I try to keep people from relaying them to me. At the same time, I do have a curiosity about what sort of impression people have of the art.

» Playing in Nashville at Jack's Guitar Bar, it was all about the cohesiveness of the band, and centering on that. Nothing to do with entertaining, because the proximity of the music to the people is close enough that the music can do everything. In an arena, something else has to take over for it to work. One isn't harder than the other. It's just different.

» I love Miranda Lambert's record. It sounds like it was made by an artist who treats every song as distinctive. I have tremendous respect for what she's doing.

» Session playing, I found uncomfortable. When I was playing sessions, like for the Dixie Chicks, I didn't know how to get a good guitar tone. Playing live is well and good, but the studio is a different environment. And my playing suits my music more than it suits other people's.

» I still play music around the house. Particularly when I've just bought a guitar, and I seem to always be acquiring another guitar.

» When we recorded the song "Where the Blacktop Ends," I felt immediately, "Oh, this is it. I've never had anything sound like this that I'd been a part of."

» I get a Sony Shoebox cassette recorder with the pullout handle, a guitar and a drum machine. I've always written on cassette tapes, and the little condenser mikes in the recorder are awesome. You get the drum machine grooving, the six string banjo or electric or acoustic guitar, press record, play the song, then listen back and it sounds like AM radio.

» The Grammy is a hallowed kind of award, despite the 100-plus categories. I mean, there's a Grammy for the guy who made the best coffee in a songwriting session now, but the Grammy is still hallowed. It's a big deal.

» I don't like getting nervous, and I wish it didn't matter to me, but it does, especially before they announce a category where you're thinking, "Maybe I've got a shot at this one."

» I don't feel any of the successes that we've had when I go in to write a song.

» Last time I changed my own strings? That was yesterday.

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Gaga for the ladies - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Posted: 31 Jan 2010 12:25 AM PST

Line them up: Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Pink, Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus and Rihanna. Go ahead and bring in Madonna, too, and Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas and even Susan Boyle. Then hand the microphone to Beyoncé to lead this unbelievable ensemble in a knockout rendition of "All the Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" -- complete with all the hip-shaking, hair-tossing dance moves.

That's how I'd kick off tonight's Grammy Awards. Glamour, personality and fun, fun, fun. In one quick all-star performance, it would tell the story of popular music now.

It's been the year of the woman -- they've dominated the pop charts, they've ruled the concert stage and now they're the leading nominees for the Grammys. When Billboard, the music-biz bible, ranked its top artists for 2009, women took seven of the top 12 slots. Three of the five biggest singles were by women and the other two were by the Fergie-fronted Black Eyed Peas. Women headlined four of the year's nine biggest tours. Put a ring on it, indeed.

But you're saying: Dude, this isn't the first time women have ruled the radio and the charts. That's right. It's been cyclical, with definable movements each decade: the confessional singer/songwriters of the '70s (Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Carly Simon), the MTV dance-pop divas of the '80s (Madonna, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson) and, in the '90s, the big-voiced belters (Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Shania Twain, Whitney) as well as the Lilith Fair sensitive souls (Sarah McLachlan, Jewel, Sheryl Crow, Tori Amos, Alanis Morissette).

Today's leading ladies are an eclectic lot who share similar characteristics if not sounds -- they're as confidently strong as Michelle Obama, as boldly risk-taking as Sandra Bullock in "The Blind Side" and as visually striking as those creatures in "Avatar." The latest example: Ke$ha, whose debut album hit No. 1 this month. And most of these girls just want to have fun, though occasionally there's a message mixed in with those enticing beats.

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GO! Arts and Entertainment for Jan. 31-Feb. 6 - North County Times

Posted: 31 Jan 2010 12:04 AM PST

Sunday, Jan. 31

"Plastic Fantastic" opens -- Oceanside Museum of Art presents a solo exhibit of mixed-media pieces by Allison Renshaw that explore the artificiality of high-end living in San Diego with references to the ocean, fashion, plastic surgery, overpriced mansions and more; noon to 4 p.m. (closed Monday); runs through June 20; 704 Pier View Way, Oceanside; 760-435-3720.

Cecil Lytle: "Liszt-O-Mania" -- Fourteenth annual UCSD benefit concert of Romantic-era piano works by Liszt; 3 p.m.; Prebys Hall, UC San Diego, La Jolla; call for ticket prices; 858-534-1507.

Violist David Aaron Carpenter -- La Jolla Music Society presents the first prize winner of the 2006 Naumburg Viola Competition in a program of works by Bowen, Clarke, Prokofiev, Piazzolla and Paganini-Primrose; 3 p.m.; Neurosciences Institute, 10640 John Jay Hopkins Drive, La Jolla; $30, adults; $5, children; 858-459-3728 or www.ljms.org.

Redlands Symphony -- Fallbrook Music Society presents a program of Dvorak's Cello Concerto with soloist Jonah Kim, and Berlioz's "Roman Carnival Overture," Schumann's Symphony No. 1 "Spring Symphony"; 3 p.m.; Bob Burton Center for the Performing Arts, Fallbrook High School, 2400 S. Stage Coach Lane, Fallbrook; $38, adults; $25, active-duty military; $10, students; 760-451-8644 or www.fallbrookmusicsociety.org.

"The Music of Romance" -- Opera singers Georgetta Psaros, Cynthia Leigh, Therese Hollada, Max Chodos, Stephen Tanner, Jef Olson and April Fisher, with accompanist John Danke, will perform romantic arias, duets from "La Boheme," "Die Fledermaus" and more; 3 p.m.; Meadowlark Church, 1918 Redwing St., San Marcos; $10 donation; 760-525-7233 or northcountysundaysoiree.com.

Pacific Women's Chorus -- The choir performs works by Bach, Beethoven and Brahms; 3:30 p.m. Sunday; Palomar Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 1600 Buena Vista Drive, Vista; $10 donation; 760-631-7055.

Synergy -- The duo of guitarist Colin McAllister and flutist Cathy Blickenstaff perform works by Piazzolla, Giuliani, Fernando Sor and Venezuelan songs; 3:30 p.m.; First United Methodist Church of Escondido, 341 S. Kalmia St., Escondido; freewill offering; 760-745-5100.

Afternoon of blues -- Nathan James plays at the Belly Up Tavern; 4:15 p.m.; Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach; $8; 21 and up; 858-481-8140 or bellyup.com.

The Pink Floyd Experience -- Pink Floyd tribute act; 7 p.m.; Pala Events Center, Pala Casino Spa & Resort, 11154 Highway 76, Pala; $25-$35; 877-946-7252 or palacasino.com/entertainment.

Metal Sunday -- Nile, Immolation, Krisiun, Rose Funeral and Dreaming Dead perform; 8 p.m.; House of Blues San Diego, 1055 Fifth Ave., San Diego; $26; 619-299-2583 or hob.com/sandiego.

Monday, Feb. 1

"Art & Passion in the City of Lights" -- Runs through Feb. 28 at Cosmopolitan Fine Arts Gallery; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m (open until 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday); 7923 Girard Ave., La Jolla; 858-456-9506.

On the Horizon Playwright Reading Series -- The San Diego Black Theater Collective presents a series of readings of plays by black playwrights in honor of Black History Month. First up is Anthony Smith's "Trane, A Noble Journey"; 7 p.m.; Lyceum Theatre, 79 Horton Plaza, San Diego; $10 donation; 619-263-7911.

Wavorly -- Christian alt-rock band; with A Rotterdam November and Staggerford; 7 p.m.; First United Methodist Church, 341 S. Kalmia St., Escondido; $8; 760-745-5100 or extremefaithproductions.com.

"My Year of Living Anxiously" -- San Diego Repertory Theatre presents Encinitas playwright Moira Keefe in her autobiographical play about being a peri-menopausal woman in the sandwich generation between geriatric parents and hormonal teens; 7:30 p.m. (also Tuesday); Lyceum Theatre, 79 Horton Plaza, San Diego; $20, general; $15, students and seniors; 619-544-1000 or sdrep.org.

Bowerbirds -- American folk band released "Upper Air" last July; 9 p.m.; The Loft, Price Center East, UC San Diego, La Jolla; $12; 858-534-8497 or artpwr.com.

Tuesday, Feb. 2

"About the Face" -- Solo show by portrait artist Elizabeth Taft runs through Feb. 28; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Brandon Gallery, 105 N. Main Ave., Fallbrook; 760-723-1330.

Peter Sprague -- Solo jazz guitar; 6 p.m.; Julian Library, 1850 Highway 78, Julian; free; 760-765-0370.

Bellydance dinner show -- Talia & Oriental Jewels perform with musicians John Bilezikjian and Frank Lazzaro; 7 to 9 p.m.; Greek Village Restaurant, 6030 Paseo del Norte, Carlsbad; no cover; dinner seating; 760-603-9672.

Dave Rawlings Machine -- The Dave Rawlings Machine is actually an Americana-stoked band, one that features noted performer Gillian Welch; 8 p.m.; Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach; $21-$23; 858-481-8140 or bellyup.com.

Wednesday, Feb. 3

"Isadora Duncan: A Unique Recital" -- Wells Fargo presents Kres Mersky in her one-woman show on the life, work and passions of the famous American dancer; 4 and 7 p.m.; 340 N. Escondido Blvd., Escondido; free; 800-988-4253 or www.artcenter.org.

International guitar concert -- Lulo Reinhardt, Stephen Bennett, Brian Gore and Itamar Erez will perform a program of international guitar music; 7 p.m.; Schulman Auditorium, Carlsbad City Library, 1775 Dove Lane, Carlsbad; $10; 760-438-5996.

"Aurelia's Oratorio" -- Cirque performer Victoria Thierree Chaplin's family-friendly theater piece mixes cirque techniques, acrobatics, stage illusion and music to tell the story of a young girl's topsy-turvy life behind the red curtain; 7:30 p.m. (also 8 p.m. Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Feb. 7); runs through Feb. 28; La Jolla Playhouse, UC San Diego, La Jolla; $44, adults; $25, children 12 and under; 858-550-1010 or www.lajollaplayhouse.org.

Rhett Miller and the Serial Lady Killers -- Check out last Thursday's Preview for a feature about Miller, best known as frontman for the Old 97's. Leslie and the Badgers open; 8 p.m.; Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach; 858-481-8140 or bellyup.com.

Anvil -- Longtime Canadian metal band whose star has risen thanks to a documentary about the band. The Suicide Chords open the show; 8 p.m.; House of Blues San Diego, 1055 Fifth Ave., San Diego; $20-$32.50; 619-299-2583 or hob.com/sandiego.

Thursday, Feb. 4

"Alice in Wonderland Jr." -- Carlsbad Community Theatre presents a youth-cast production of David Simpatico and Bryan Louiselle's adaptation of Lewis Carroll's novels and the 1951 Disney film; 7 p.m. (also 7 p.m. Friday and 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday); Carlsbad Cultural Arts Center, 3557 Lancer Way, Carlsbad; $15; 760-931-8709 or carlsbadcommunitytheatre.com.

"I Do! I Do!" -- Welk Resort Theatre presents Broadway veterans Robert Yacko and Christina Saffran Ashford in Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt's classic musical based on Jan de Hartog's play "The Fourposter," chronicling the ups and downs of a 50-year marriage; runs through March 7; 8 p.m.; (also 1 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 1 p.m. Feb. 7); Welk Resorts Theatre, Welk Resorts San Diego, 8860 Lawrence Welk Drive, Escondido; $44-$47, show only; $58-$63, show and buffet (brunch or dinner); 760-749-3448 or welktheatresandiego.com.

"The Man Who" -- Regional premiere of Peter Brooke and Marie-Helene Estienne's series of stage fables adapted from Oliver Sacks' "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat"; 8 p.m. (also 8 p.m. Friday; 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Feb. 7); runs through Feb. 28; New Village Arts Theatre, 2787 State St., Carlsbad; $20-$40; 760-433-3245 or www.newvillagearts.org.

Portland Cello Project -- The self-described "indie cello orchestra" performs everything from Bach to Britney Spears covers; 8 p.m.; The Loft, Price Center East, UC San Diego, La Jolla; $16; 858-534-8497 or artpower.ucsd.edu.

Vivian Girls -- Best Coast and Pearl Harbor also on bill with buzzed-about garage-rock band; 8:30 p.m.; the Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., San Diego; $10; 619-232-4355 or casbahmusic.com.

Friday, Feb. 5

Badfish -- Sublime tribute; 8 p.m.; House of Blues San Diego, 1055 Fifth Ave., San Diego; $22.50-$25; 619-299-2583 or hob.com/sandiego.

"California Fibers: Liminal Spaces" -- Runs through April 25 at Visions Art Quilt Gallery; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; NTC Promenade, 2825 Dewey Road, Suite 100, Point Loma; 619-546-4872.

"The Garden of Mythos: Abstraction in Collaboration with Nature" -- Inaugural exhibit at Swift Gallery is of recent oils by Anna Zappoli; runs through April 2; opening reception at 6 p.m.; call for regular hours; NTC Promenade, 2820 Roosevelt Road, San Diego; 858-546-4626.

Peter Sprague and Kevyn Lettau -- Guitar and voice jazz, in a program of Gershwin and Porter; 7:30 p.m.; Encinitas Community and Senior Center, 1140 Oakcrest Drive, Encinitas; free; 760-943-2260.

"The King and I" -- Star Theatre presents the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical about a prim English schoolteacher hired to educate the children of Siam's progressive king during the 19th century; 7:30 p.m. (also 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday); runs through Feb. 14; Star Theatre, 402 N. Coast Highway, Oceanside; $15, general; $12, students, seniors and military; $7, children under 7; 800-838-3006 or www.startheatre.biz.

"A Night of Broadway in Song: A Few of the Many Colorful Contributions by African-Americans to the Broadway Musical" ---- Community Actors Theatre presents a revue of songs from Broadway musicals, including "The Wiz," "Porgy and Bess" and "The Color Purple," in celebration of Black History Month; 8 p.m. (also 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Feb. 7); runs through March 7; 2957 54th St., San Diego; $14, general; $12, students, seniors; 619-264-3391 or www.communityactorstheatre.com.

Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra 8 p.m.; Sherwood Auditorium, Museum of Contemporty Art San Diego, 700 Prospect Street, La Jolla; $25-$75; 858-459-3728 or ljms.org.

The English Beat -- 9 p.m. (also Saturday); Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach; $20; 858-481-8140 or bellyup.com.

Mainly Mozart Spotlight Series: Szymanowski Quartet -- Program features Mendelssohn's String Quartet No. 3 in D, Szymanowski's "Nocturne and Tarantella" and Schubert's String Quartet in D minor ("Death and the Maiden"); 8 p.m. (also Saturday); the Neurosciences Institute, 10640 John Jay Hopkins Drive, La Jolla; $48; also 6:30 p.m. Feb. 7 without the Mendelssohn piece (pre-concert reception at 5:30 p.m.); The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe, 5951 Linea del Cielo, Rancho Santa Fe; $60; 619-239-0100, ext. 2, or mainlymozart.org.

Saturday, Feb. 6

"The Fever" -- Compass Theatre's final production before it closes its doors features ex-San Diego actor/producer Bryan Bevell in Wallace Shawn's political drama about an anonymous traveler whose idealistic views are challenged when he visits a beautiful country marred by political strife; 4 and 9:30 p.m. (also 4 and 7 p.m. Feb. 7); runs through Feb. 9; Compass Theatre, 3704 Sixth Ave., San Diego; $15-$23; 619-688-9210 or www.compasstheatre.com.

"San Diego Hot Flash" -- Dance party for lesbians ages 35 and up featuring music from the '70s, '80s and '90s; 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.; The Flame, 3780 Park Blvd., San Diego; $10; 619-295-4163.

Little Windows -- Appalachian and traditional; 7 p.m.; Templars Hall, Old Poway Park, 14134 Midland Road, Poway; $18; 858-566-4040.

Lee Rocker -- Stray Cats bassist; 8 p.m.; the Grand Cabaret, Pala Casino Spa & Resort, 11154 Highway 76, Pala; free; 877-946-7252 or palacasino.com.

La Jolla Symphony & Chorus: "American Accents" -- Program features pipa soloist Wu Man (Chinese lute) and the works "Three Places in New England" by Charles Ives, Concerto for Pipa & String Orchestra by Lou Harrison, and Symphony No. 9 ("New World") by Dvorak; 8 p.m. (also 1 p.m. Feb. 7); Mandeville Auditorium, UC San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla; $15-$29; 858-534-4637 or lajollasymphony.com.

Joel McHale -- Comic actor, stand-up and "The Soup" host; 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.; Pechanga Showroom, Pechanga Resort & Casino, 45000 Pechanga Parkway, Temecula; $45-$65 (only single tickets left for 8 p.m.); 877-711-2946 or pechanga.com.

Mojalet Dance Collective -- SDSU School of Music and Dance presents "A Suite of Songs from the Unknown Kurt Weill," a dance/music collaboration with soprano Stacey Fraser and musician John Flood, and "Sound Waves" and "Brasiliana"; 8 p.m. (also 2 p.m. Feb. 7); SDSU Studio Theatre, ENS 200, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego; $15, general; $10, students; 858-243-1402 or www.mojalet.com.

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Appreciation: J.D. Salinger shunned public, but caught its imagination - Dallas Morning News

Posted: 30 Jan 2010 09:55 PM PST

Few writers have affected as many Americans as J.D. Salinger. Here's a collection of thoughts about the life and works of the reclusive author, who died Wednesday at the age of 91, starting with David L. Ulin of the Los Angeles Times.

"Don't ever tell anybody anything," J.D. Salinger wrote in the closing lines of The Catcher in the Rye. "If you do, you start missing everybody."

For more than two decades now, I've thought about that ending as a piece of code. Not that Salinger was an oracle, despite what his most dedicated followers – those who hung around his driveway, hoping for a glimpse of the reclusive author, or parsed his sentences on a million Web sites – might believe.

But Salinger was a writer who refracted his perspective into language, producing work that was personal and profound. Between 1951 and 1965, he produced four uncommonly sensitive books of fiction – Catcher, Nine Stories, Franny and Zooey and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters – before retreating to his home in Cornish, N.H., and refusing to publish any more.

As he once wrote to biographer Ian Hamilton (in the course of suing Hamilton for quoting from his unpublished letters), "I think I've borne all the exploitation and loss of privacy I can possibly bear in a single lifetime."

For the last 45 years, this was the encoded story, Salinger's self-imposed silence, as readers debated whether he was still writing or off in some twilit oblivion of his own. For his part, Salinger's interactions with the public were infrequent and largely litigious.

And yet, our collective fascination with his life rather than his writing suggests another bit of code, or at least a set of clues. Wasn't this, after all, what Salinger was rejecting, a culture of celebrity in which the most important thing was appearance and no one cared about the level of the soul?

"I just quit, that's all," Franny Glass tells her boyfriend early in Franny and Zooey, explaining why she gave up acting. " ... I don't know. It seemed like such poor taste, sort of, to want to act in the first place. I mean all the ego. And I used to hate myself so, when I was in a play, to be backstage after the play was over. All those egos running around feeling terribly charitable and warm."

David L. Ulin,

Los Angeles Times

•

Think about it. In the weird fame-calculus of our time, far more is known about the merely famous (the Octomom, the White House crashers) than the truly great. You could find out more facts and intimate details about Britney Spears in one day than Salinger revealed in a lifetime.

Salinger's silence stands as a welcome rebuke to our babbling, personality-obsessed culture. He believed – we must infer – that he owed us his books and nothing else. As John Updike said in another context, "Gods do not answer letters."

Chris Tucker, Richardson book collaborator and

regular Morning News

contributor

•

For me, Catcher was one of those transformative books, read at just the right moment in my life. I was 13 when I took it along on a baby-sitting job, hidden in my purse because the friend who passed it to me in the hallway of our parochial school promised it had "some dirty stuff" in it.

I put the toddlers I was tending to bed and cracked the book open. I was thunderstruck. Oh my God, I thought, this is exactly how I feel. When the toddlers' parents, those phonies, got home four hours later, I had finished Catcher and started to read it again.

I've reread it many times, taught it in college English classes, and found something new every time. That first shock of identification wore off about the time my acne did, but Holden's struggles, whether you see him as struggling with alienation, manic-depression, sexual identity or just a really severe case of teenage angst, never fail to move me.

Colette Bancroft,

St. Petersburg Times

•

J.D. Salinger didn't really touch my heart. He merely pried open my brain.

He needed a lot of help, which he got in the form of a pair of dedicated high school English teachers and from friends with whom I had the sort of Very Deep Conversations you can have only when you are 16 or 17 and have just read Salinger for the first time.

Those debates – Can suicide be anything but a cop-out? Can religion be more than what was taught in Sunday school? – were the first time I saw literature transform from an act of reading and into yelling, crying, fist-pounding and, eventually, attitude-reshaping.

Multiply my experience by a million classrooms, coffee shops and kitchen tables, and you get Salinger's importance. For a strange old man who wanted to be left alone, he is woven into many of us.

Michael Merschel,

Staff Writer

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