The Current Music Blog: January 18, 2007 Archive

The Buffering Stream is highly concentrated, 1/18

Posted at 6:06 AM on January 18, 2007 by Hans Eisenbeis

Maria Isa brings reggaeton to the Best New Bands showcase

Posted at 9:25 AM on January 18, 2007 by Christina Schmitt (2 Comments)

The friends I ran into at the Best New Bands 2007 concert last night at First Ave. were there for one reason-- to see Maria Isa, the 19-year-old reggaetón star on the rise. Check out Maria Isa on MySpace.

If Maria Isa ever finds her Jimmy Jam, she is going to be a national contender. The girl can rap, the girl can sing, the girl can dance -- and did I mention she's also an empowered hottie in an Adidas track suit? I'm always amazed by people that young who have talent and fashion sense. (When I was 19, I had remnants of a perm.)

I couldn't understand everything Maria was saying last night--she admits to rapping in her own brand of Spanglish--but judging by her shout outs between songs, the themes were community and not selling out.

On a related note, Peter Scholtes wrote a rock-solid story for City Pages about the local reggaetón scene. You can learn a little more about Maria Isa there: Immigrant dreams, dirty dancing, and the revolution: Meet the new Latin hip hop of Maria Isa and Danny y Elliot.

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Fruit Salad, Yummy Yummy

Posted at 2:04 PM on January 18, 2007 by Tony Lopez (17 Comments)

Those of us with kids will know what I'm talking about when I say, "Greg Wiggle, we'll miss you!" I only bring this up because it was such a huge part of Red's world between age 2 and 4. Naturally, it became a huge part of mine. I speak of the worldwide phenomenon known as The Wiggles.

Don't pretend you haven't, at some point in your child's life, gotten your Wiggles groove on. You know the tune AND lyrics to "Big Red Car" and, for a while, it haunted your waking existence. And there was a certain credibility in the whole thing, musically speaking. The guys in the band were real musicians and they got their start in the early '80's Sydney pub-rock scene. But I'll admit, I was relieved when Red got older, eschewed her youthful tastes and started paying more attention to what her mother and I prefer. Call it cultural force-feeding.

I did experience a twinge of sadness, though, when I learned that Greg Wiggle had left the band due to a chronic illness. It brought all those days and nights (...and days and nights...) back like a flash flood. Greg was replaced by his understudy, Sam. And that got me thinking: how would the children take it? It was like the adult equivalent of Sammy Hagar replacing David Lee Roth in Van Halen. Or worse yet, Gary Cherone replacing Sammy!

I mean, there's no stopping a juggernaut like The Wiggles, whatever you do. I just wonder about how some of the kids might be handling it. The impressionable two-year olds probably don't care. It's the cynical and world-weary five-year olds that worry me. They probably look at this Sam guy and say to each other, "You know, Sam's OK but he just can't kick "Romp Bomp a Stomp" the way Greg did."

Anyway, I just want to take a moment to wish Greg Wiggle well. And may the rest of the band soldier on into the sunset.

What kind of music does your kid like?

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In the land, the land down under bands are gonna tour cause it's summer....

Posted at 2:58 PM on January 18, 2007 by Barb Abney

It IS summer there, right? Meet The Playground Weekender. An Aussie music fest featuring Elbow, The Dears and !!!

I really don't know what to say about this but "Huh??"

Hearty Canadians

Posted at 3:09 PM on January 18, 2007 by Bill DeVille (10 Comments)

Let's give it up for Canada. This is the notoriously slow time of year for concerts. Who in the world would want to tour the Midwest in January? Canadian artists ... that's who! Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton were in town this past weekend for a show at the Varsity. She also dropped by the Current studios and did a gorgeous solo set on the piano. Ron Sexsmith made it to the Twin Cities for his show at the Varsity last night despite a recent bout of laryngitis. Ron mentioned at his gig that he has been on the tour from hell. He was robbed in Amsterdam; his girlfriend went missing in Europe & had several vehicle breakdowns. His song, “Snow Angel” was especially eloquent last night. In honor of Ron Sexsmith & Emily Haines what do you say we do an impromptu version of "O Canada"!

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