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http://www.washingtonpost...01426.html

(photos on web link.-j7)



A Tribute Fit for a Prince
Artists to Give Two of His Purpleness's Landmark Albums the Royal Treatment


By Richard Harrington
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 4, 2008; WE06



If you're going to put together a tribute to a pair of albums by one musician, why choose Prince? Well, to hear the artists involved tell it, it's because Prince is a musician's musician.

Prince is "a mentor in that he's an artist who's managed to push boundaries artistically while still being relevant and successful as a pop artist. His music is classic and simple but also so daring and different," says Wayna, and that's a reason she's one of the artists appearing at "21/20: A Masterpiece Tribute to Parade & Sign 'O' the Times" at the 9:30 club Friday. The Ethiopian-born, Washington-raised singer will be performing "Mountains," one of 16 Prince songs at the heart of the event.

Other performers bringing the albums to life are Eric Roberson, Wes Felton, Deborah Bond, Curt Chambers, Martin Luther, Zwei and several surprise guests. The house band will be led by Craig Alston, saxophonist and musical director for Baltimore's Fertile Ground.

The two chosen records feature a wide range of styles. "Parade," the soundtrack companion to Prince's second (and hilariously bad) film, "Under the Cherry Moon," features songs from the psychedelia of "Christopher Tracy's Parade" and funk of "Girls & Boys" to the ethereal "Sometimes It Snows in April." "Sign 'O' the Times," which some critics have called rock's last great double album, includes such standards as "Strange Relationship" and "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man," as well as wedding staple "Adore," Prince's greatest love song.

Wayna and Felton (the artist formerly known as W. Ellington Felton) will partner on "Christopher Tracy's Parade," but Felton is clear about which album he prefers. " 'Sign "O" the Times' is probably one of my favorite albums of all time, neck-and-neck with Marvin Gaye's 'Here, My Dear.' " Felton will also cover "Anotherloverholenyohead."

Bay Area "rebel soul" guitarist Martin Luther, who plays with the Roots, will perform "Strange Relationship," while New Yorker Roberson gets two "Sign"-posts: "If I Was Your Girlfriend" (a duet with Navasha Daya of Fertile Ground) and the title track.

Roberson says "no Prince song is easy to sing," adding that "Parade" ranks among his top three Prince albums. "There was no way he could continue to do albums to compete with 'Purple Rain.' He wanted to develop a new path, and I love the path that he took." The 1984 multi-platinum "Purple Rain" and the accompanying box-office hit affixed the word "super" to Prince's star.

If it's not easy to sing a Prince tune, try playing one. A facet of Prince that's sometimes overlooked -- his staggering guitar skills -- will be the responsibility of Chambers, singer and lead guitarist for the Philly-based rock and soul band Franklin Bridge (recently featured on the Fox reality show "The Next Great American Band," where they finished eighth). Event producer Marc Powers says Chambers will provide the show's "guitar pyrotechnics." Chambers points out that the two albums being celebrated "represent the interchangeable, contrapuntal relationship between the lyrics and the guitar playing."

He says his choices (the guitar-driven "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" and "U Got the Look") are all about "communication between vocal lines and guitar riffs and the aggressiveness of the guitar."

Martin Luther, who recently made his film debut as Jimi Hendrixesque guitar player JoJo in the Beatles-inspired musical "Across the Universe," is known for his bracing blend of rock, blues, funk and R&B. He's a self-described Prince fanatic and points out that the first four tracks on "Parade" ("Christopher Tracy's Parade," "New Position," "I Wonder U" and "Under the Cherry Moon") were recorded in sequence with Prince himself layering on the instruments. "It's what makes things interesting, because he's such a fine artist as well as a fine recording artist."

Putting together the tribute was easy for Powers. He has heard many of the acts doing Prince covers in shows he has presented around town since 2000. "At first it was just going to be a 'Sign "O" the Times' tribute," says Powers, but that 1987 Prince album was soon joined by 1986's "Parade." He says the two were selected because they "allowed [Prince] to escape the musical straightjacket imposed upon him by 'Purple Rain.' "

Powers says, "I just have to make sure we do it right and respect the music."

With luck, as Prince puts it on his 1987 album, "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night."

21/20: A Masterpiece Tribute to Parade & Sign 'O' the Times Appearing Friday at the 9:30 club, 815 V St. NW. Doors open at 9. (Eric Roberson appears Jan. 11 at the Birchmere with Angela Johnson. Martin Luther appears Saturday at Bohemian Caverns.) Tickets for 9:30 club show:$18; available through Tickets.com or the club box office. The Download: For a sampling of Prince's music, check out: From "Parade":¿ "Girls & Boys" ¿ "Mountains" ¿ "Kiss" ¿ "Sometimes It Snows in April" From "Sign 'O' the Times":¿ "Housequake" ¿ "Ballad of Dorothy Parker" ¿ "If I Was Your Girlfriend" ¿ "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" ¿ "Adore" 21/20: A Masterpiece Tribute to Parade & Sign 'O' the Times Appearing Friday at the 9:30 club, 815 V St. NW. Doors open at 9. (Eric Roberson appears Jan. 11 at the Birchmere with Angela Johnson. Martin Luther appears Saturday at Bohemian Caverns.) Tickets for 9:30 club show:$18; available through Tickets.com or the club box office. The Download: For a sampling of Prince's music, check out: From "Parade":¿ "Girls & Boys" ¿ "Mountains" ¿ "Kiss" ¿ "Sometimes It Snows in April" From "Sign 'O' the Times":¿ "Housequake" ¿ "Ballad of Dorothy Parker" ¿ "If I Was Your Girlfriend" ¿ "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" ¿ "Adore"

that sounds cool

u going?

Nice article. I'm sure you will all have a "Beautiful Night!"

partyup!

Http://www.thebumpsquad.com

Http://www.myspace.com/thebumpsquad

This was sent in by Karl and thought I would share with u all.

Hey everyone,

Here is a great article on this past Friday Night's Parade/Sign O The Times Tribute concert that was published in the Washington Post on the day of the show, followed by my review of the show.


http://www.washingtonpost...01969.html

Homage to Prince Ends on A High Note

Monday, January 7, 2008; Page C04


The 9:30 club felt more like a karaoke bar Friday night, with some of Washington's finest soul crooners assembling to pay tribute to pop super-genius Prince. "21/20: A Masterpiece Tribute to 'Parade' and 'Sign 'O' the Times' " featured Baltimore soul squad Fertile Ground as the backing band, while local singers Eric Roberson, Navasha Daya, Martin Luther, W. Ellington Felton, Wayna, Deborah Bond, Curt Chambers and others each took a crack at Prince's 1986-87 songbook.

The performances certainly felt spunky, but they didn't look easy.

It's practically impossible to re-create the intangible elasticity of Prince's tunes -- not to mention his falsetto superpowers. So, naturally, the singers who strayed farthest from purple-pantomime fared best. The vintage boogie of Wayna's "Mountains" felt like an old "Soul Train" clip on YouTube, while Roberson and Daya unraveled the twitchy "If I Was Your Girlfriend" into a playful duet.

But nothing came close to the thrills provided by surprise guest Raheem DeVaughn. The locally raised, Grammy-nominated singer took the stage for the final two songs of the night -- the quiet storm of "Adore" and the superlative funk of "Kiss." Only DeVaughn's pipes seemed athletic enough to animate these jams properly, and he zigzagged through his registers to the delight of smiling fans. Sure, DeVaughn may have been paying homage to Prince, but that smooth, airy delivery evoked another pop icon entirely: Marvin Gaye.


-- Chris Richards
*****

Karl's Review

WOW. What a fun night!

Friday, January 4th @ 9:30 Club -- 815 V Street NW, Washington, DC. Tickets only $18! Well worth the price of admission.Here is a breakdown:

DJ Dreddspinning Prince tunes from 9:00pm-9:40pm
Deborah Bond (with her band) 9:40pm-10:30pm
30 minutes for set change
Tribute show – 11:00pm-12:50am
DJ Dredd spinning until 2:00am - with all the artists hanging around for pictures/autographs, or just to chat and talk about Prince!!!

There was also a table set up where each artist had cd's/t-shirts for sale. Great promotion for them as well!



Below is a list of all the contributing artists:


Deborah Bond
www.myspace.com/deborahbond

WES Felton (the artist formerlyknown as W. Ellington Felton)
www.myspace.com/wellingtonfelton

Curt Chambers (singer + guitar)
http://www.myspace.com/curtchambers

Wayna
http://www.myspace.com/waynamusic

Eric Roberson
http://www.myspace.com/ericroberson

MartinLuther
http://www.myspace.com/ma...uthermusic

Zwei
http://www.zweidc.com/

Navasha Daya of Fertile Ground
http://www.myspace.com/fe...roundmusic

BilalSalaam (background vocals)
http://www.myspace.com/bsalaam

RaheemDeVaughn (announced surprise guest performer!)
http://www.myspace.com/de...nterprises




A little background: All these artists are friends with each other. They are all from the Washington D.C./Baltimore area, with the exception of Martin Luther who is from San Francisco. They are independent neo-soul artists,who are actual ARTISTS, who write and produce their own music for the most part. Some have had more success than others.



Deborah Bond opened the show with a set of 5 of her own songs. Quite a few people in the audience seemed to know the words and her performance was very enjoyable,although I am not familiar with her. At about 10:20, she asked if were ready for the Prince Tribute, and she said she was going to start it off with something new. "Anybody ever heard of the album "Planet Earth?'" The band launches into a very funky "Chelsea Rodgers!"



The band was amazing, consisting of all local musicians, including Bilal Silaam on background vocals; it was a very professional, very well done gig! All the artists did their homework, and it was very obvious they were true Prince fans. Lots of Prince dance steps, etc. Curt Chambers did amazing guitar work!



Here is a setlist with each artist name that performed:





ChristopherTracy's Parade / WES Felton & Wayna
I Could NeverTake the Place of Your Man / Curt Chambers
Sign O' theTimes / Eric Roberson
StrangeRelationship / Martin Luther
– hestarted off saying his all-time favorite Prince song is "Old Friends 4 Sale"(which he DID play the following night during a solo acoustic set 2 blocks away from9:30 club at Bohemian Caverns, elaborating "…my favorite Prince song, but not the version heput out on `The Vault' with all the Clare Fischer strings and shit but the originalone with the cold-ass lyrics!"
Starfish &Coffee / Martin Luther
– amazing acoustic performance!
Girls &Boys / Zwei
– Prince/The Time dance steps included!
Slow Love / Navasha Daya
– great voice!!
Housequake / Navasha Daya
- yes, she and her back up dancers put their foot down on the 1 and jumped up on the 2 –
and never missed a beat!
Mountains /Wayna
Anotherloverholenyohead/ WES Felton
U Got the Look/ Curt Chambers & Deborah Bond
The Ballad ofDorothy Parker / WES Felton & Deborah Bond
Sometimes ItSnows In April / Eric Roberson & CurtChambers
– acoustic of course!
If I Was YourGirlfriend / Eric Roberson & NavashaDaya
Adore / RaheemDeVaughn
– can't say enough about thisbrother. He turned it out!! The audience went nuts!
Kiss/I Want ToTake You Higher/P-Funk jam / Raheem DeVaughn





Peace y'all

(Thank u very much 4 sending this in Karl. C U soon.-j7)

I just want 2 know where I can buy it?