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News, interviews, and reviews about music, culture, and global good

The Legacy of Live Aid

Jul 13, 2015

The Legacy of Live Aid

On July 13, 1985, Africa became a brand. The image of a starving Ethiopian girl named Birhan Woldu flickered across TV screens as Paul McCartney, David Bowie, and Madonna played beneath a “Feed the World” banner on stages in London and Philadelphia. Live Aid, as the event was known, was attended by almost 175,000 people at both venues, and raised an initial $80 million in aid for the victims of a horrific famine. But the 16-hour, transcontinental broadcast was more than just

Annie Lennox's Timeless Soul

Oct 21, 2014

Annie Lennox's Timeless Soul

BY KRISTI YORK WOOTEN FOR THE ECONOMIST “NOSTALGIA”, the latest album from Annie Lennox, the British singer-songwriter, recalls an era of smoky clubs and street-corner swing. Many of the tracks, including Hoagy Carmichael’s “Memphis in June” and “Georgia on My Mind,” George Gershwin’s “Summertime” and Abel Meeropol’s “Strange Fruit”, are from the classic American songbook … READ THE ARTICLE HERE. #PUBLICATIONS #THEECONOMIST #20122014 #AnnieLennox #topmusic #featured #MUSIC #M

The Life Cycle According to James

Oct 21, 2014

The Life Cycle According to James

BY KRISTI YORK WOOTEN FOR PURE POP “So this is it, our life on earth, we’re made of stars, we’re made of dirt,” Tim Booth sings in “Walk Like You,” the first track on James’s new album, La Petite Mort. It’s one of many tracks in which the English band – which formed in the early 1980s and got its start supporting Factory Records labelmates New Order – ponders mortality. “Let’s find a love as deep as as it is holy,” Booth continues as the song builds into a singalong chorus sh

Branford Marsalis and the Echoes of Grace Cathedral

Oct 20, 2014

Branford Marsalis and the Echoes of Grace Cathedral

BY KRISTI YORK WOOTEN The latest album from saxophonist Branford Marsalis finds him playing at one of our country’s most beautiful spiritual homes – Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. In a live recording of an unamplified performance in the nave of the structure – called In My Solitude: Live from Grace Cathedral – he switches from JS Bach to Hoagy Carmichael with his usual ease, the virtuosity of the notes matched only by the warmth of his tone. From weighty tenor to sweet sop

The Summer of Ben Watt: It's Christmas in July

Jul 5, 2014

The Summer of Ben Watt: It's Christmas in July

BY KRISTI YORK WOOTEN FOR THE HUFFINGTON POST Photo by Ian Webber. “Is this cheating on Tracey? I dunno,” Ben Watt asked. He felt a little funny performing Everything But the Girl’s “25th December” in Los Angeles a few weeks ago without his wife and creative partner, but the moment of intercession and a throwback tune were just what the crowded desired. “I wrote it, for Chrissakes,” he laughed, before singing one of his most memorable lines (“Have I enough time, have I just s

Rufus Wainwright Compares Verdi to Nirvana

May 6, 2014

Rufus Wainwright Compares Verdi to Nirvana

BY KRISTI YORK WOOTEN FOR ORIGIN MAGAZINE Rufus Wainwright is an enigmatic singer from a family of Canadian-American musicians. He released his self-titled debut CD in 1998, and has recorded seven studio albums full of piano-based songwriting and emotive vocal performances, which have earned him a Grammy nomination and two Juno awards. On the heels of his recently released Vibrate: The Best of Rufus Wainwright, Wainwright is enjoying family life and writing his second full-le

Joys of Moogfest: Geeks, Hippies and Nile Rodgers

Apr 29, 2014

Joys of Moogfest: Geeks, Hippies and Nile Rodgers

BY KRISTI YORK WOOTEN FOR THE HUFFINGTON POST First, let me set the tone: Imagine you’re walking around in downtown Portland, Oregon. Now, subtract the waterfront. Add bacon and gravy. Grab a beet/ginger smoothie. Take off your sweater. Put on your sunglasses. Be careful not to step on the dog that’s sunbathing on a yellow pillow beside the shirtless, bearded guy who’s making jewelry out of fishing wire on a Himalayan blanket next to a lamppost on the sidewalk in front of a w