Tag: The Green Room

Two Tons of Steel at The Green Room

Crosstown Arts welcomes Americana pioneers and legends Two Tons of Steel to The Green Room.

Tickets: $10
Doors 7pm | Performance 7:30pm

Before there was Americana, before there was Texas Country, Two Tons of Steel rocked a sound that blended the best of musical worlds and pushed the envelope with a signature brand of country punk.

The San Antonio-based group packed the small bars and local hangouts and quickly became the Alamo City’s most-loved band, earning them a spot on the cover of Billboard Magazine in 1996. It was the beginning of a twenty year journey for the 4-piece ensemble.

Releasing “Two Tons Of Steel” in 1994 and “Crazy For My Baby” in 1995 on Blue Fire Records, a sponsorship deal with Lone Star Beer quickly followed. In 1996, the band began traveling outside of Texas, including stops at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, the National Theater in Havana, Cuba, and European tours to greet fans who had embraced their Texas-born sound.

Two Tons of Steel continues as an institution at Texas’ Gruene Hall, where its annual Two Ton Tuesdays summer series draws 12,000 fans and as a popular act at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry. They have been repeatedly voted “Best Country Band” by the San Antonio Current, one of its hometown weeklies.

The Orrin Evans Trio at The Green Room

Join us in The Green Room for a performance by jazz pianist Orrin Evans.

Tickets: $10
Doors 7pm | Show at 7:30pm

Many may know Orrin Evans as the pianist for Jazz juggernauts The Bad Plus. But with more than 25 albums to his credit, without ever relying on the support of a major label, Evans has become the model of a fiercely independent artist who’s made a habit of rattling the jazz world’s confining cages. That determination has paid off in accolades like topping the “Rising Star Pianist” category in the 2018 DownBeat Critics Poll.

As a daring pianist, Evans combines raw-edged vigor and left-field nuance into a sound wholly his own. As an adventurous composer he traverses stylistic boundaries with abandon, drawing on full-throttle swing, deep-rooted blues, expressive soul, or bracing excursions into the avant-garde. As an audacious bandleader, he delights in daring fellow musicians to take bold risks, whether in mutable small group settings or his raucous Captain Black Big Band. As an inventive collaborator, his projects range from the nerve-rattling collective trio Tarbaby to the latest twist in his never predictable story, becoming the first new member to join The Bad Plus in the band’s nearly 20-year history.

Evans’ broad-minded, provocative approach has led to a stunning variety of collaborations with a who’s-who of modern jazz including Nicholas Payton, Sean Jones, Oliver Lake, JD Allen, Christian McBride, Eric Revis, Buster Williams, Karriem Riggins, Bill Stewart, Nasheet Waits, Kevin Eubanks and Kurt Rosenwinkel, among countless others.

In 2018, Evans relaunched his Imani Records label with a newfound focus on projects by young, innovative musicians, beginning with albums by saxophonist Caleb Wheeler Curtis and bassist Jonathan Michel. He’s also produced recordings by JD Walter, Denise King, Joanna Pascale, Sharel Cassity, and Eric Revis.

Evans pays homage to his mentors and influences while passing the torch to new generations. He’s recently performed concerts paying homage to the late Geri Allen alongside drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and a celebration of the centennial of Thelonious Monk at Duke University, along with curating concert series at Philly’s South and New York’s Smoke. As an educator he directed the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts’ Jazz Standards and taught at Connecticut’s Litchfield Jazz Camp.

The PRVLG at The Green Room

Join us at The Green Room for a performance by The PRVLG, a musical twin duo from Memphis. This is a benefit concert for their mother who has Multiple Sclerosis. All funds raised will be donated towards her treatment

Doors at 7pm | Performance 7:30pm

A privilege is considered a rare opportunity, which is exactly why The PRVLG fits this dynamic duo so effortlessly. Their act brings the rhythm section to the forefront of the stage unlike any other band around.

The duo, consisting of twin brothers Christian and Christopher Underwood, grew up surrounded by music. The brothers developed a very unique musical connection, which is on full display in their live performances. As bass and drum players, the pair have the ability to lock in a powerful rhythm and bass foundation, effortlessly making up for each other’s shortcomings and complementing one another’s strengths.

Growing up in a musical family and listening to their father – a guitarist – play classics by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, The Isley Brothers, and Earth Wind & Fire, it was only natural for them to begin writing together at the age of 16 and continue to develop their writing talent from then. Since officially forming in early 2017, the duo named themselves The PRVLG, chosen due to the privilege they experienced by growing up playing music together and connecting with others through the universal language.

 

Alvin Youngblood Hart’s Muscle Theory at The Green Room

Roots, Rock, Rebellion. Grammy-award winning artist Alvin Youngblood Hart returns home to Memphis for a special night in The Green Room at Crosstown Arts.

Alvin is the cosmic American love child of Howlin Wolf and Link Wray. Respected around the world as a “musician’s musician,” Alvin Youngblood Hart’s praises have been sung by everyone from Bob Dylan to guitar gods Eric Clapton & Mick Taylor.

Tickets: $10
Doors 7:30pm | Show at 8pm

Odeya Nini: A Solo Voice

Join us at The Green Room at Crosstown Arts for a performance by Los Angeles-based experimental vocalist and contemporary composer Odeya Nini.

Evolving over the last eight years, A Solo Voice, composed and performed by Odeya Nini, is an investigation of resonance, extended vocal techniques, performance, and pure expression, exploring the relationship between mind and body and the various landscapes it can yield. The work is a series of malleable compositions and improvisations that include field recordings and theatrical elements, aiming to dissociate the voice from its traditional attributes and create a new logic of song that is not only heard but seen through movement and action. In a multi-dimensionality that serves to both provoke and soothe in abstract communication, the voice is presented in its spectrum of natures as it travels through cultures, ages, emotions and colors, like photographs, with tender intimacy and bold aberrance.

Tickets: $10
Doors 7 pm |Performance 7:30pm

Odeya Nini is a Los Angeles-based experimental vocalist and contemporary composer. At the locus of her interests are performance practices, gesture, textural harmony, tonal animation, and the illumination of minute sounds, in works spanning chamber music to vocal pieces and collages of musique concrète. Her solo vocal work extends the dimension and expression of the voice and body, creating a sonic and physical panorama of silence to noise and tenderness to grandeur. Odeya has collaborated extensively with dancers, visual artists, filmmakers and theater directors as both a composer and soloist and has worked with and appeared in works by artists and ensembles such as Meredith Monk, Butch Morris, Lucy & Jorge Orta, The Industry & Wild Up.

Odeya’s work has been presented at venues and festivals across the US and internationally, such as Resonant Bodies Festival, Banff Centre, The Pulitzer Arts Foundation, The LA Phil, MONA and Art Basel Miami, from Los Angeles to Tel Aviv, Australia, Mongolia, Madagascar and Vietnam. She leads vocal sound baths, seminars, workshops and retreats exploring the transformative and healing qualities of embodying the voice.

Odeya holds a BFA from the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music and an MFA in composition from California Institute of the Arts.

www.odeyanini.com

Those Pretty Wrongs at The Green Room

Join us in The Green Room for Those Pretty Wrongs, a musical partnership between Jody Stephens (of Big Star) and Luther Russell. Also featuring members of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra —  Jessie Munson, Yennifer Correia, Beth Luscombe, and Jonathan Kirkscey.

Tickets: $15
Doors at 7 pm | Show at 7:30 pm

Those Pretty Wrongs are Jody Stephens and Luther Russell. It’s a musical partnership borne of a deep and lasting friendship, the roots of which stretch back to the early ’90s, when the two were introduced. As the story goes, nary a note of music was made between them until about five years ago, when they were united in the cause of a documentary about Jody’s alma mater, the legendary Memphis group Big Star. After releasing their self-titled debut on Ardent/Burger in 2016 to a healthy dose of acclaim, they went out on the road, playing for audiences across North America, Australia, Europe, and the U.K.

During the course of these runs, they began to forge the sound for their second offering, Zed for Zulu, due out September 6, 2019 on Burger Records, a meditation on communication or lack thereof, the ever-present past or the question of the future, inevitable death, or imminent re-birth. The music is colorful but muted, something complex woven in a simple way. It’s a symphony of chords and melodies, yet played in an understated fashion, without too much fuss. Those Pretty Wrongs don’t have time to fuss, as Luther dwells in Los Angeles and Jody resides in Memphis. And they like it that way.