LIVE MUSIC PICKS
New Kids on the Block makes another stop
YouTube sensation Jake Shimabukuro brings ukulele to Red Light Cafe
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Friday, May 29, 2009
FRIDAY, MAY 29
Jake Shimabukuro
Hitchhike Records
Jake Shimabukuro’s YouTube video has drawn more than 3 million views.
His instrument gets a bad rap as a tourist trinket, but Shimabukuro’s remarkable musicianship is enough to make the ukulele cool again. Just check out the video of the Hawaiian musician performing the Beatles classic “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” on YouTube. The popular clip has logged more than 3 million views.
• 7:30 and 10:30 p.m. $15. Red Light Cafe, 553 Amsterdam Ave. N.E. 404-874-7828, www.redlightcafe.com.
Bonnie “Prince” Billy
The man behind the moniker, Will Oldham, might be best known as a musician, but he’s also an actor (John Sayles’ 1987 film “Matewan” and more recently in the Kelly Reichardt films “Old Joy” and “Wendy and Lucy”). In his earlier musical guises — usually recording under variations on the name Palace — he created simple, spare arrangements that echoed Appalachian folk traditions, albeit with a seriously eccentric twist. Lately he’s couched his reedy, expressive voice in richer country arrangements, prolifically building one of the most consistently creative and entertaining catalogs in contemporary music.
• 8:30 p.m. $16-$18. Variety Playhouse, 1099 Euclid Ave. N.E. 404-521-1786, www.variety-playhouse.com.
SATURDAY, MAY 30
Clay Walker
He has a line of Top 10 country hits that stretches from 1993 to 2007, but Walker really shines on stage. At the final Music Midtown in 2005, the first few songs of Walker’s set made him sound like a descendant of fellow Beaumont, Texas, native George Jones. Later, he ditched the acoustic guitar and microphone stand to rock it up with takes on “Sweet Home Alabama,” “Play That Funky Music” and Steve Miller’s “The Joker.” The man’s an entertainer, and he’ll do whatever it takes to keep an audience happy.
• 9:30 p.m. $18-$100. Wild Bill’s, 2075 Market St., Duluth. 678-473-1000. www.wildbillsatlanta.com.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3
The Decemberists
The music of the Decemberists has an antique quality that begs for swelling strings and ominous timpani, and it got just that on the orchestral tour that brought the band to Chastain Park Amphitheatre in 2007 (where they were accompanied by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra). The band is more than capable of creating drama without any symphonic help, and with the recent conceptual epic, “The Hazards of Love,” to anchor the group’s new stage show, the theatrics are built right into the music.
• 8 p.m. $27.50. The Tabernacle, 152 Luckie St. N.W. 404-659-9022, www.livenation.com.
THURSDAY, JUNE 4
New Kids on the Block
One of the less-stellar moments of ’80s music was the fluffy pseudo-R&B of New Kids on the Block, a Boston-baked mixture of rough trade and pretty boys that proved irresistible to preteen girls everywhere. When viewed through the rose-tinted goggles of nostalgia, things just seem a lot better. It may not be great art, but there are plenty of fans who are happy to pay the ticket price for a trip in this time machine for a night.
• 7:30 p.m. $59-$79; $35 lawn. Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood, 2002 Lakewood Way, Atlanta. 404-443-5090, www.livenation.com.
