A word about Word of South then it’s off to Wanee, Armenia
The Word of South music and literature festival got off to a rousing start last weekend during the pre-festival concert by The Avett Brothers at the amphitheater in Cascades Park last Friday night.
Sure, the outdoors show contained one too many banjo solos for my tastes, but the sold-out crowd was having an undeniable blast.
The next morning, I showed up at Word of South to interview Tallahassee homeboy and Emmy Award-winning Tony Hale (“Arrested Development,” “Veep”) on the amphitheater stage in front of a live audience. The easy-going Hale was in town to read from his new children’s book, “Archibald’s Next Big Thing,” and then field a few questions.
Instead, the storm clouds moved in just as Hale was reading a funny passage about chicken arm pits. I was instructed to yank Hale off the stage mid-reading. Interrupting an Emmy-winner mid-speech is not much fun unless your name is Kanye West, but I pulled Hale off the stage before lightning could strike.
“Kids,” I wanted to say to the younger members of the audience, “it’s time to learn about disappointment at an early age.”
For the next hour or so, the Word of South festival was thrown into improvise mode as the rain came down and the organizers scrambled to re-organize the very crowded schedule. Most of the big music concerts — Bruce Cockburn, Sublime With Rome, Sweet Honey in the Rock, the Marcus Roberts Trio and The Tallahassee Symphony — were moved three blocks up Lafayette Street to The Moon. Two of the shows, Sublime and the TSO, were ticketed events, but everything else at Word of South was free to attend.
Still, given the wet weather, would the crowds follow them up the hill? The answer was a resounding yes.
The Cockburn concert in the Silver Moon Lounge was so mobbed that I had to leave early to get some fresh air. The Sublime With Rome show was fast, furious and packed. After that, The Moon had to re-set for a symphony, a choir concert and a jazz show on Sunday.
Roberts, who teaches at Florida State University College of Music and is one of the greatest jazz pianists on the planet, was worried about his early, 11:30 a.m. slot at The Moon. He should not have fretted about competing with the church crowd.
The Moon was well-attended when Roberts, bass player Rodney Jordan and drummer Jason Marsalis took the stage on Sunday morning to completely redefine such tunes as “New Orleans Blues” by Jelly Roll Morton, Fats Waller’s “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” Duke Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” and John Coltrane’s “Naima.”
I have seen The Marcus Roberts Trio perform at least a dozen times over the years and the Word of South gig was as mind-bending and virtuosic as any jazz show I have ever seen. After it was over, I talked briefly with Roberts at a reception and told him he should start his own church called Jazz For Jesus. I’d gladly be a deacon.
Later that afternoon, The Moon was in for another religious experience when Florida State voice professor and soprano Marcia Porter sang five spirituals with the The TSO. Her heart-wrenching reading of “Lord, How Come Me Here?” brought goosebumps and received a much-deserved standing ovation.
The musicians in the TSO were seated on the dance floor and the members of the sold-out audience crowded in around them. The configuration had the feel of one of those environmental theater pieces directed by Richard Schechner. It really felt like you were part of the show because, well, you were.
The star of the afternoon was Oscar-winning actor J.K. Simmons (“Whiplash”), who served as narrator for Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait” and then read a letter written by a doomed Union soldier as the orchestra played the mournful “Ashokan Farewell.” It was powerful stuff.
After the TSO show was over, the elegant and beautifully dressed Porter said, “This is the first time I’ve ever been asked to sing spirituals in a bar. In fact, this is my first time at The Moon.”
I told her that she should sing more hymns in more bars because that’s where they are really needed the most. She laughed and agreed.
Even though Word of South looked like a complete wash-out on Saturday morning, it turned out to be a surprise success by Sunday night. Kudos to the organizers, volunteers and The Moon.
Sometimes when you drop back to punt, it turns into the biggest play of the game. Can’t wait until next year’s Word of South.
In the meantime, let’s take our weekly look around town and the region to see what’s on its way over the next few days:
WAY DOWN UPON THE WANEE: There was a brief second last year, after The Allman Brothers Band splintered following the double exit of guitarists Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks, when drummer Butch Trucks, 67, considered chucking it all and retiring to his house near Nîmes, France.
That also meant potentially pulling the plug on the Wanee Music Festival, which The Allman Brothers Band started in 2005 after Trucks discovered the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park near Live Oak. Trucks grew up in Jacksonville, went to college at FSU and once lived in Tallahassee, so he’s familiar with North Florida.
“I was planning to plant my garden in France this spring and miss Wanee entirely,” Trucks said during a visit to FSU to talk with music students in mid-February. “Then I thought about how much work I had put into it (Wanee) and how much money it makes, so I decided to book a later flight to France.”
That also means that Butch Trucks & Very Special Friends is playing a slot at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at the 2015 Wanee Music Festival. The group features Vaylor Trucks, Lamar Williams, Bruce Katz, Oteil Burbridge, Dave Yoke, Marc Quinones and other guests. Gregg Allman is playing later that same day at Wanee.
During his visit to FSU, Trucks said guitarist Duane Allman, who died following a motorcycle crash in 1971, is still with him every time he performs.
“I’m kind of his disciple trying to spread the word,” Trucks said. “He reached inside of me one day when I was playing drums and pulled something out of me that I didn’t know was there. From that day to this, I have not backed up. I play with everything I’ve got, no matter what I’m playing.”
Wanee includes plenty of other highlights besides Trucks and Allman.
Pedal-steel guitarist Robert Randolph and slide-guitar great Luther Dickinson will bring The Word to the stage at 2:30 p.m. Friday. The four-day music jamboree kicked off at 3 p.m. Wednesday with Bonnie Blue, Parker Urban Band, Cope and more. Visit www.waneefestival.com for ticket and camping information.
This year’s big names include Earth, Wind & Fire, Cheap Trick, Govt. Mule, JJ Grey & Mofro, Galactic and Widespread Panic, which is playing the headliner slots on Friday and Saturday nights.
WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM?: The six-piece rock band Diarrhea Planet (yes, that’s really the band’s name) makes the road trip from Nashville to perform at 8:30 p.m. Friday at Pug’s Live, 926 W. Tharpe St. Buffalo Buffalo and Meatsweats are also on the bill. Tickets are $8 advance and $10 at the door.
TAKE A TRIP TO WAXAHATCHEE: The lo-fi, solo acoustic act from Alabama known as Waxahatchee (aka Katie Crutchfield) returns to FSU for a show at 9:30 p.m. Friday at the Club Downunder, in the FSU Student Union. Wet Nurse and The Goodbye Party will open the show. Tickets are $12 general public and free for FSU students at the door.
REMEMBERING ARMENIA: Tallahassee keyboardist Danny Bedrosian, who directs and plays in funk-master George Clinton’s band, will perform Armenian music during “The Armenian Genocide Centennial Concert: Selected Pieces From Over 3 Millennia of Music” at 8 p.m. Friday in Opperman Music Hall. It will also include a short film titled “Straw Dolls” about the infamous massacre.
Other musicians taking part in the memorial concert include percussionists Michael Bakan, guitarist Silviu Ciulei, singer Margaret Atayants and many more. It’s free and open to the public.
“I just returned from a four continent tour with George Clinton and P-Funk that started in late March, in order to make it home for this special concert,” Bedrosian said in an email. “This promises to be a fantastic concert.
LEGEND OF THE WOLF: Award-winning bluesman Eddie Shaw, who played saxophone with the iconic singer Howlin’ Wolf, brings his band The Wolfgang down from Chicago to play at 9 p.m. Friday at the Bradfordville Blues Club, 7152 Moses Lane. Tickets are $20 advance and $25 on the day of the show. Visit www.bradfordvilleblues.com.
ALL ABOUT THAT BASS: Jazz bass player and FSU music professor Rodney Jordan of Marcus Roberts Trio fame is holding a “Bass Summit” with some of this sharpest students at 7 p.m. Saturday at B Sharps Jazz Cafe, 648 W. Brevard St. Tickets are $15 general public and $10 students at the door. Visit www.b-sharps.com.
GET TO KNOW ZYDECO: Grammy Award-winning Chubby Carrier & The Bayou Swamp Band break out the accordions and washboards for a full-fledged zydeco party at 10 p.m. Saturday at the Bradfordville Blues Club, 7152 Moses Lane. Tickets are $25 advance and $30 day of the show. Visit www.bradfordvilleblues.com.
RUN FOR COVERS: Tallahassee songwriter Pat Puckett will channel Jason Isbell, the Ex-Breathers is taking on Jawbox, the Naps tackle The Cranberries and more during the annual “Local Covers” concert at 9:30 p.m. Saturday at the Club Downunder, in the FSU Student Union. Tickets are $5 general public and free for FSU students at the door.
WITH A BANJO ON HER KNEE: Banjo aficionado Mary Z. Cox will take center stage during the “Blues, Bluegrass & Blue Sky Banjo” show at 8 p.m. Saturday in the Monticello Opera House, 185 W. Washington St. on the courthouse square in Monticello. Tickets are $15 or $30 (which includes at pre-concert dinner at the Opera House). Visit www.monticellooperahouse.org.
BACH IN ACTION: If you love J.S. Bach, you are in luck this weekend.
Organist Iain Quinn will enter a fugue state during the “Major Organ Works of J.S. Bach” at 3 p.m. Sunday at the First Presbyterian Church, 110 N. Adams St. It’s $10 per person and there’s free childcare during the concert, which is sponsored by The Tallahassee Bach Parley and the Tallahassee Chapter of American Guild Organists.
AND IN OTHER MUSICAL NOTES ...: The Tony Young Trio takes the Southern rock and blues show outdoors at 7 p.m. Friday at Hurricane Grill & Wings, 6800 Thomasville Road. There’s no cover charge. ... Hear some authentic blues (think Mississippi John Hurt and Memphis Minnie) when Belmont & Jones dig through the roots of American music at 9 p.m. Friday at The Skyline Motor Lounge, 1700 N. Monroe St. There’s no cover. .. Get in an Irish mood when Paddy Go Easy presents “A Spring Time Evening of Ribald and Bawdy Music and Poety at 8 p.m. Friday at The Warehouse, 706 W. Gaines St. There is no cover, though poets might like a donation at th door, you know. .. The Caribbean-driven jazz band Tocamas Mas will be swinging and dancing late into the night a show that starts at 11 p.m. Saturday at The Wine Loft, 1240 Thomasville Road. There’s no cover. ... Mozart, Gilbert & Sullivan, Verdi, Puccini, Monteverdi and Tallahassee’s own Carlisle Floyd are on the menu when the Florida State Opera presents its annual Spring Showcase at 3 p.m. Sunday in Opperman Music Hall. It’s free but you’d better get there early to get a good seat.