ryan’s forecast
upcoming shows you should check out
Jamie Foxx: Red’ to go and gon’ Rock yo worldI got an e-mail promoting the Jamie Foxx tour that’s coming through the Greensboro Coliseum on July 19 and among a staggering number of clichéd superlatives attributed to Foxx, the headline was also quite fascinating. It immediately referred to Foxx as “the king of All Media” and not only that, but it placed the word “undisputed” directly in front of “king.” Now, there have been a whole heap of celebrity deaths in the last few weeks, but I definitely don’t remember Howard stern being one of them. Unless Foxx threw stern a first round knockout in some underground celebrity fight club where these kinds of things are decided, then the king of All Media is still the king of All Media. sirius/ XM is paying him the GDP of a small country to claim that title and even Foxx’s own channel The Foxxhole doesn’t have near the draw. In his defense, Foxx does have Ray (his second best performance in a production with three letters and starts with R, lest we forget his recurring character in Roc), In Living Color and a bunch of awards for “Best Ringtone” under his belt. Then there was that jingoistic dreck The Kingdom, which gets no snaps and a haaated it. For anyone interested in hearing some of Foxx’s ringtone hits performed live (it’s not a comedy tour as others in the area have mistakenly reported), his show starts at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $49.75 and $59.75.
Steep canyon Rangers and fringe music
Only in the world of chamber music would a rather innocuous and uncomplicated act like the steep Canyon Rangers (www.steepcanyon.com) be billed as a “fringe” performance, but that’s how the eastern Music Festival frames its eMFfringe lineup. With such avant-garde acts as Holy Ghost Tent Revival and the Chris Hicks Band already in the books, the festival takes the next step into the outer limits of musical exploration with the Rangers. Festival branding issues aside, the five-piece steep Canyon Rangers will take Greensboro’s Triad stage on saturday, and are a must-see for any fans of bluegrass, old-time and string music. They don’t have the clout of vets like the Del McCoury Band or Ralph stanley, and as such they’re consistently criminally underrated, but they can certainly pick with any of the heavyweights. They were nominated for two International Bluegrass Music awards in last year, including “Album of the Year” for Lovin’ Pretty Women, and were named “emerging Artist of the Year” in 2006 at the IBMA awards. They have been regularly featured on the Grand Ole Opry, as well as just about every major Us bluegrass and Americana festival. The Rangers’ show will start at 8 p.m. and tickets are $22, but don’t forget the after-party at level 2.
The Belleville outfit play the garage
Everyone needs a vacation sometimes and apparently, even the same goes for entire live music venues. The Garage is back from its week-long sabbatical and right out of the gates they have another in their “Catch a Rising star” series. You may have caught them at the midnight jam at the 2009 MerleFest, but the fantastic, up-and-coming Americana band the Belleville Outfit (www.myspace. com/thebellevilleoutfit) will also take the stage on July 21 at the Garage. They’ve recently garnered a nomination for “Best New and emerging Artist” for the 2009 Americana Music Awards and there’s kind of a cool story to go along with that. The band’s stunning vocalist and violinist Phoebe Hunt went off to announce the nominees for the AMA’s “song of the Year” alongside famed mandolinist sam Bush and came back with an envelope of their own; the one with their nomination in it. They’re not quite bluegrass and not quite country, but a little of both with some swing, cabaret and ragtime thrown in for good measure. Tickets for the show are $10 and the performance starts at 9 p.m. The band will also be appearing at Raleigh’s Berkley Café the night before at 8 p.m.
