Metro Arts April 5

The first article discusses an exhibition by Trinidadian artist Rodell Warner called "Fictions More Precious" at Big Medium in Austin, Texas. Warner's work explores the problematics of the colonial archive in the Caribbean, using digital interventions and AI-generated images to disrupt and humanize the narratives of Caribbean people. The exhibition is a communal altar to the lives of ancestors and challenges preconceptions of digital art. The second article discusses Breeze Fest 2024, a music festival honoring the late Carlos Capote, a local musician known for his generosity. The festival will benefit local musicians and club employees in need, and proceeds will go to the Atlanta Blues Society's Blue Flame Fund. This program is intended for a print-impaired audience and is brought to you by the Georgia Radio Reading Service, GARS. Welcome to Metro Arts for Friday, April 5th. I am Kristen Moody for the Georgia Radio Reading Service. Metro Arts is brought to you by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners. For our first article, we go to the Burnaway Publication Online for Fictions More Precious by Rodell Warner at Big Medium Austin by Natalie Willis Wiley. Since leaving was never voluntary, return was and still may be an intention, however deeply buried, Beyond Brand, A Map to the Door of No Return, 2001. Invoking feelings of yearning, compassion, and tenderness, Trinidadian artist Rodell Warner's Fictions More Precious, curated by Coco Trevino at Big Medium in Austin, Texas, also brings up spirits, specters, and wonder. Part of his works presented at the 2023 Tito's Prize recipient, the exhibition builds on Warner's digital excavations, experimentations, and conjurations around the problematics of the colonial archive in the Caribbean. With apparitions floating in midair and conceptualized ghosts in the proverbial AI machine, this offering of images of ancestors past and imagined at Big Medium feels apt in title, location, and intention. The site, a former warehouse in an industrial area, a setting of surplus with images of laborers, becomes a virtual seance of sorts, aided in part by Warner's audio. The heady, meditative reverberations of the artist's making resound throughout the space, grounding the body more fully in the viewing experience and aiding the sense of encounter with the images. Wires are exposed on projectors, and the warm aura of innocuous domestic lamps illuminates aluminum photographic prints for observation. There is a sincerity in gentle poeticism and the intentional curatorial choice of having the proverbial guts and mechanisms of artistic display made visible. It signals a vulnerability in openness, and it feels unpretentious, fallible, and most importantly, curious. This is an exhibition categorically in one sense, yes, but for those willing to enter and perhaps imagine their own loving fictions as viewers, it is also a communal altar to the varied, full lives of ancestors that will largely remain untold and uncelebrated due to the historic, intentional erasure of documents from archives from the region. There are two primary bodies of work that Warner has drawn on for the show at Big Medium. Beginning with pieces from his augmented archive series, we see this body of lovingly recolored images from the archive with his characteristic digital spectral objects as interventions in frame. Displayed both as infinite objects as well as projected large on the walls of this warehouse-turned-laboratory of caring and fervent fiction, the pulsating specters disrupt the implied passivity and oppression of those pictured, reactivating the images and turning them from colonial documents into moments of encounter with the supernatural or divine. Similarly, works in the artificial archive work to humanize the narrative around Caribbean people outside of labor but through a different methodology entirely. Using AI to generate images of Caribbean people at rest, in leisure, when this has historically been deficient within the archive, we are presented with faces that by all means do not exist. They are not real people, but they are faces which, for those who have their heart tied to the region, appear so uncannily familiar that the heart aches for it to be truth and to see these joyful lives actualized. Tender recolorizations and thoughtful AI prompt and conceptual probing on Warner's part have helped lead both to a body of work that shows care and warmth so often missing in both the colonial photographic archive as well as some preconceptions of work in the digital realm as ubiquitous, cold, and cheap as the means of production. Where is the beauty in the everyday lives of the locals pictured in the colonial archive? Why are scenes of joy, intimacy, and leisure missing from the images of Black, Indigenous, and queer people of color especially? What is missing can at times have as much presence as what is physically present, and Warner's mix of digitally tended to and artificially generated images generously gives us both. Warner's intervention with these spiritual objects rests power away from the hegemony of the colonial gaze. The tension of viewer and viewed and instead invites us into the frame as a portal, showing Caribbean people encountering the fantastical in the midst of the mundane, offering escape and hope in a retroactive way. The historical archive in the Caribbean context can be seen as a site of tension, exploitation, and colonial power, having less to do with the ideas of truth or integrity in the way that might ordinarily be associated with these historical objects and images. Coming from a place where the definitive narrative of your region, one of luxury, respite, and exoticism, was constructed by colonial tongues with empire's interest in mind, images from these particular days gone by don't tend to spark feelings of fond nostalgia, nor offer much palpable sense of historical grounding for national identity. In this way, colonial photography of the Caribbean region is perhaps best taken as propaganda of the empire rather than an accurate or objective record of what had been, something that Warner, as an interdisciplinary artist from the Caribbean dealing primarily in photography and digital work for the majority of his career, is aware of. Digital subversions in both fictional and historical space and time, Warner's engagement with the colonial archive is as much an act of love as it is a decolonial act. Where Afrofuturism imagines futures we desperately need, Warner offers another way to dream and show care. His efforts and sincerity offer a palliative care to the memories of those long gone. Part intervention, perhaps, part invocation on another, these stories carefully woven from fiction and collective memory give us something just as precious as a new future by giving alternate paths to those who most deserved to have their stories told. That was Fiction More Precious by Radel Warner at Big Medium Austin by Natalie Willis Wiley. Next, we move to the creative loafing publication online for Blues and Beyond, Play Blues, Do Good, Breeze Fest exemplifies Carlos Capote's generosity by Hal Horowitz. Anyone who knew or worked with the late Carlos Capote understood that the local singer, harp player, frontman and founder of the Breeze King, Breeze was also his nickname, would drop everything to assist and lend his name and talents to almost any fundraising or benefit project. He was committed to giving back to the community and especially to other fledgling musicians. Capote's official obituary reads, one of the founders and the musical director of the Blues in the Schools program, Carlos was dedicated to educating, enlightening and entertaining students of all ages about the history and tradition of the American blues. Carlos was a guest artist on numerous albums and was always willing to take a curious young musician under his wing and give them the opportunity to share their burgeoning talent on stage with him. In 2016, the Atlanta Blues Society awarded Carlos an honorary lifetime membership for his over 20 years of being a vital part of the Atlanta blues scene. Friends remember that he was the first one to say, I'll be there when it came to assisting other nonprofit causes. So it's little surprise that his wife, Terry Albert Capote, now continues that generosity after his untimely passing in May 2021 at just 48 years old. Two previous celebrations of Carlos's life, appropriately named Breeze Fest, were held at the Northside Tavern in 2022 and 2023, his primary Atlanta hangout, with proceeds going to his family. But Breeze Fest 2024, scheduled for April 26th and 27th, will have some changes. Now consolidated to two days, Terry is working with the Atlanta Blues Society and their existing Blue Flame Fund, which helps local music folks in the blues scene. Breeze Fest 2024 will benefit local musicians and club employees in need. I believe that's what Carlos would have wanted us to do. So that's what we'll do on his behalf, she writes. To be clear, this is in addition to, yet separate from, the Carlos Capote Music Scholarship Fund, created in 2020 to send youngsters to music camp. That foundation just announced 11-year-old David Lowery, son of respected Atlanta musician Mike, will attend Atlanta's Rock and Blues Camp this summer, courtesy of ABS. The Breeze Fest profits are yet another path for the national award-winning Atlanta Blues Society, an organization that proudly promotes community-based giving as a part of their doctrine, to assist others. Additional initiatives include their successful Blues in the Schools, referenced above, along with various concerts, benefits, and events throughout the year. This year's Breeze Fest features a number of local musicians. Press time. The growing list includes Blue Velvet, Casanovas, Checkered Blue, Jackson Allen and the Nightcaps with Mark D'Alessio, Nathan Nelson, Rockaholics, Sean Williams, Stoney Brooks, Swami, Sweet and Salty Blues, Steven Takovich, The Troubletones, Uncle Albert Band from St. Louis, Zion Stovall. See great music, support local bands, and as a bonus, donate to a terrific cause. That's a better win-win for all involved. I'm sure Carlos' spirit will be looking down and smiling. April showers us with Blues and Beyond recommended shows. Friday, April 5th. The Ruin Brothers, Smith's Old Bar. Two Brit siblings, Rupert and Henry Standall, run country influences through a film noir sensibility for something that sounds like it's from another dreamier dimension. Henry's four-octave tenor is reminiscent of Roy Orbison, singing over windswept music perfect for the soundtrack of an as-yet-unmade spaghetti western. They will feature tunes from last year's Ten Paces, edgy and unique. $12 to $15, 8 p.m., Smith's Old Bar, 1578 Piedmont NE 30324. Call 404-875-1522 or visit sobatl.com. Driving and Crying, Buckhead Theatre. At this stage, little can be said about the iconic Atlanta band, led by the irrepressible Kevin Kinney, that is news to any local music fan. Now pushing nearly 40 years, playing their crunchy country folk rock amalgamation, they still sound tough, tight, and tensile. Live with a catalog full of straight-to-hell classics and numerous cool obscurities, you never know what you'll hear. $40 to $65 plus, 8 p.m., Buckhead Theatre, 3110 Roswell Road NE 30305. Call 404-843-2825 or visit thebuckheadtheatre.com. Saturday, April 6th, Grant Lee Phillips, Eddie's Attic. Phillips' 90s-era work with Grant Lee Buffalo, let alone Shiva Burlesque, his brand previous to that, is so far in the rearview mirror that most fans probably don't even know about them. Rather, Phillips has a thick dozen-album solo catalog featuring dusky, often wistful, his newest is titled All That You Can Dream, indie folk pop sung with a smoke-tinged vulnerability that has attracted its own Americana audience. He's the epitome of an India troubadour, unspooling and emotional songs with class and subtlety. Tickets are $26.70 plus. That's 6 p.m. at Eddie's Attic, 515 B North McDonough Street, Decatur, 30030. Call 404-377-4976 or visit eddiesattic.com. La Lom, The Earl. Short for Los Angeles League of Musicians, La Lom is an instrumental trio that plays traditional Latino music, mixing the more roots influences of Los Lobos with an atmospheric, reverbed, percussive surf noir that's entrancing and often mesmerizing. Something between Hermanos Gutierrez and Rye Cooter is also a reasonable comparison. Exotic, edgy, and surely worth a look. Tickets are $18-22. That's 8.30 p.m. at The Earl, 488 Flat Shoals Avenue, N.E., Atlanta, 30316. Call 404-522-3950 or visit badearl.com. Sunday, April 7, Roseanne Cash, Buckhead Theatre. Johnny's daughter from his first wife has an illustrious career that can proudly stand with her famous dads. Cash recorded Americana albums starting in 1979 before the genre was even a thing and has used her distinctive voice in service of alternately catchy and enigmatic songs all sung with beguiling honesty. She has at least one classic in 1993's The Wheel just reissued for its 30th anniversary. Expect to hear plenty from that, plus highlights and plenty from under-the-radar gems from a stunning 45-year career with few missteps. Tickets are $80-277. Plus, that's 8 p.m. at the Buckhead Theatre, 3110 Roswell Road, NE, 30305. Call 404-843-2825 or visit thebuckheadtheatre.com. The Blues Is All Right Tour, Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center. Ask any serious blues lover who Tukka, King George, Pokey Bear, Jay One, West Love, or Labrado is and you'll likely get a blank stare in return. That's because they are closer to ultra-slick, old-school-styled soul than anything out of Stax's Memphis or Chicago's chess labels. There is apparently an audience for this genre based on its yearly appearance at this large venue and the ticket prices, but to call it blues is at best generous and ultimately a misnomer. Regardless, the music is expertly played, the acts have sumptuous voices, and the performers are professional. So if this is your thing, it'll be an enjoyable evening. Tickets are $59 to $250 plus. That's 6 p.m. at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center, 2100 Cobb Galleria Parkway, Atlanta, 30339. Call 770-916-2852 or visit cobbenergycenter.com. Tuesday, April 9th. Ali Venable, Eddie's Attic. Eddie's Attic. This young Texas blues-rocking guitarist has the imperture of fan Kenny Wayne Shepard, who brought her along to open some tours. That and three solid albums, including Real Gone 2023, has put her on the Roots' radar as a promising player somewhat in the Samantha Fish mold. Venable sings well and writes solid songs, but when she lets loose on a blistering solo, you'll see why Shepard was so impressed. Tickets are $20 plus. That's 7 p.m. at Eddie's Attic, 515B North McDonough Street, Decatur, 30030. Call 404-377-4976 or visit eddiesattic.com. Friday, April 12th. Nick Moss and Dennis Grinling. Guitarist Moss has been flying the flag for pure house-rocking Chicago blues on a series of scorching albums over the past quarter century. In 2018, he joined forces with harmonica ace singer Grinling, and the duo has forged a fiery path through the raw blues, unconcerned with commercial airplay or watering down their sound to attract a larger audience. Last year found them collaborating on Get Your Back Into It, an intense disc that will only be more exciting when played live. Tickets are $15. That's 9 p.m. at Blind Willie's, 828 North Highland Avenue, Atlanta, 30306. Call 404-873-2583. Visit blindwilliesblues.com. Jethro Tull's Martin Bar City Winery. He was Ian Anderson's secret weapon in Tull for decades. So Bar has every right to cash in on that resume entry. He's a rugged guitarist who has also released a clutch of pretty good blues rock albums under his own name. But based on the billing, this will be geared to the Tull songs he stamped with his ingenious six-string work. And seeing him in a small venue is a treat. Tickets are $55 to $75. That's 7.30 p.m. at City Winery, Ponce City Market, 650 North Avenue, Northeast, 30308. Call 404-496-3791 or visit citywinery.com forward slash Atlanta. Rebirth Brass Band, Wasted Potential Brass Band, Smith's Old Bar. It's all horns all the time as these two New Orleans brass bands bring the funk, hip-hop, and jazz to the cozy environs of Smith's. It's sure to be a wild throwdown and the best way to get some genuine Crescent City flavor without traveling there. Bring your Mardi Gras beads. Tickets are $30 to $37.50. That's 8 p.m. at Smith's Old Bar, 1578 Piedmont Avenue, Northeast, 30324. Call 404-875-1522 or visit sobatl.com. Saturday, April 13th, Amplify Decatur Music Fest, Downtown Decatur. Melissa Etheridge, Dawes, Blind Boys of Alabama, and Run Katie Run take the Downtown Decatur stage for this annual outdoor event. As usual, it's an eclectic lineup with three major headliners all playing rootsy yet diverse music with the always-powerful Etheridge pounding out her heartfelt, soulful Americana rock and tapping a particularly strong bill. Tickets are $65 to $275. That's 2 p.m. at Downtown Decatur, 101 East Court Square, Decatur, 30030. Visit AmplifyDecatur.org. Sunday, April 14th, Cowboy Junkies Variety Playhouse. They may not be topping college radio playlists like they did in the early 80s, but Canada's Cowboy Junkies have never stopped releasing tough and tender, ambitious albums. Front person Margo Timmons' voice is a thing of beauty and her brother, guitarist Michael, easily shifts from raging, psychedelic rollercoaster rides to gentle, emotional strumming. With two dozen albums to choose from, you're likely to get some obscurities along with the older, more familiar material and a good chunk of music from 2023's striking, such ferocious beauty, an under-the-radar gem. Tickets are $39.50. That's 8 p.m. at Variety Playhouse, 1099 Euclid Avenue NE, Atlanta, 30307. Call 404-504-7354 or visit Variety-Playhouse.com. Wednesday, April 17th, Jade Bird, Eddie's Attic. The show is titled Open Up the Songbook, but the Austin LA by way of the UK singer-songwriter with her sweetly refined voice, performs songs from her recent Burn the Hard Drive EP, which deals with the breakup of a long-term relationship. She also cherry-picks selections from two previous albums and will surely deliver Find a Way, featured in the new movie Nyad. Tickets are $22 plus. That's 9 p.m. at Eddie's Attic, 16B North McDonough Street, Decatur, 30030. Call 404-377-4976 or visit Eddie's Attic.com. Fastball, City Winery. Austin pop rockers Fastball had a moment in the public consciousness when The Way, 1998, was a rock radio staple. But after that passed, few realized they continued to make solid albums later on. The Help Machine, 2019, produced by Los Lobos' Steve Berlin, is a prime example that their songwriting talents remain polished and professional. They will likely feature music from that, along with tunes from the even lesser-heard follow-up, the slightly more organic The Deep End, 2022. Tickets are $25 to $55. That's 8 p.m. at the City Winery, Ponce City Market, 650 North Avenue Northeast, 30308. Call 404-496-3791 or visit citywinery.com forward slash Atlanta. Thursday, April 18th. Molly Tuttle in Golden Highway, Center Stage. Billy Strings might be the young face of contemporary bluegrass, but guitarist Molly Tuttle is just as talented and should be playing similarly-sized arenas. City of Gold, 2023, is her finest release yet. Along with the equally gifted Golden Highway Band, she crafts exceptional bluegrass songs that occasionally shift into country, sings them with a compelling voice, and shreds those acoustic strings with passion and excitement. Hopefully, she'll include her imaginative cover of Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit in this night's set, not to be missed. Tickets are $20 to $37. That's 8 p.m. at Center Stage, 1374 West Peachtree Street, Atlanta, 30309. Call 404-885-1365 or visit centerstage-atlanta.com. Friday, April 19th. Charlie Mars, Eddie's Attic. Times Have Changed is the title of her current visitor Mars' new album, and he's still doing what he has been doing for the past 30 years, writing honest folk-pop tunes and singing them in a voice that comes straight from his heart to yours. Don't you want to know me? he asks on a recent track. Yet anyone who listens to his music already knows him well. That's the goal of most Americana singer-songwriters, of which he is one of our most resilient. Tickets are $32.26+. 915 at Eddie's Attic, 515B North McDonough Street, Decatur, 30030. Call 404-377-4976 or visit eddiesattic.com. Brandi Clark, Variety Playhouse. Dulcet-voiced Clark followed the lead of other Nashville songwriters who longed to be in front of the curtain rather than behind it. Her 2013 debut, 12 Stories, was an immediate hit. She's only increased in popularity since, resulting in last year's self-titled third release. Produced by Brandi Carlile, it slants toward a more intimate, personal, and melancholy sound than most of the country hits she has penned. It was universally acclaimed as one of the finest Americana releases of the year, led by the searing, string-enhanced ballad Dear Insecurity. Tickets are $27.50 to $190. That's 8 p.m. at Variety Playhouse, 1099 Euclid Avenue Northeast, Atlanta, 30307. Call 404-504-7354 or visit variety-playhouse.com. Randall Bramlett Band. Eddie Owen presents Red Clay Music Foundry. With the Mega Blaster Horn Section, touts the listing, which adds even more sizzle to Bramlett's already diverse mix of swampy, atmospheric rock with oblique but vibrant lyrics and trademarked, dusty vocals. Soul blues veteran Betty LeVette recently recorded an entire album of his compositions. Expect to hear at least some of those from the source. Tickets are $25 to $29. That's 8 p.m. at Eddie Owen Presents Red Clay Music Foundry, 3116 Main Street, Duluth, 30096. Call 404-478-2749 or visit eddieowenpresents.com. Saturday, April 20th. Dixie Dregs, The Steve Morse Band, Variety Playhouse. Shredding guitarist Morse does double duty tonight as he opens fronting his own band, then joins his original outfit, country jazz fusionist Dixie Dregs, for one of their infrequent reunion tours. They can still play, and their compositionally complex prog root songs from 40 years ago remain edgy, energetic, and intense. Tickets are $59.50 plus. That's 8 p.m. at Variety Playhouse, 1099 Euclid Avenue, Northeast, Atlanta, 30037. Call 404-504-7354 or visit variety-playhouse.com. Saturday, April 20th through Sunday, April 21st. Sweetwater 420 Fest, Pullman Yards. It's back, bigger, and pricier than ever. Slightly Stupid and Government Mule headline Saturday with Beck and Big Gigantic Topping Sunday's Bill. Local gals Larkin Poe bring the blues rockin' Saturday. Lots of music, lots of beer, lots of people, and a good bit of that 420 action too if it doesn't rain. Tickets are $139.00 to $1170.00 plus. That's 12 p.m. at Pullman Yards, 225 Rogers Street, Northeast, 30317. Visit sweetwater420fest.com. Sunday, April 21st. Atlanta Blues Society Monthly Meetup. The Way Back Band takes the stage this afternoon for April's Meet and Greet Convention of Blues Fans and Those Blues Curious. Bring your instruments and talents for the Closing Jam with ABS members or, better still, become a member if you're not already. This event is free. 3 p.m. at the Magnolia Lounge, 3920 Jonesboro Road, Forest Park, 30297. Monday, April 22nd. Riley Downing, Smith's Old Bar. Missouri-born and raised Downing took time out from his front-man duties in the Deslands, the tour alone. He released a solo album Started Over, 2021 featuring his shadowy baritone voice in service of some cool and skewed swamp rock. So he'll likely play most of that and throw in some Deslands tunes. It promises to be as raw, earthy, and organic as his music. Tickets are 15 to $20.00. That's 8 p.m. at Smith's Old Bar, 1578 Piedmont Avenue, 30324. Call 404-875-1522 or visit sobatl.com. Tuesday, April 23rd. The Brothers Landreth, Eddie's Attic. Canadian singer-songwriters The Brothers Landreth got a major career boost when Bonnie Raitt covered Deep Cut Made Up My Mind as the first single to her most recent album. For this tour, they pay tribute to Let It Lie, the disc the song was on, playing the songs acoustically. But there's more where that came from in the same general roots-pop vibe, specifically in the gorgeous Come Morning 2020 album, which they'll hopefully include in the show. Tickets are $25.00 plus. That's 7 p.m. at Eddie's Attic, 515 Bean North McDonough Street, Decatur, 30030. Call 404-377-4976 or visit eddiesattic.com. Wednesday, April 24th. Jim White, Eddie's Attic. Misfits Jubilee, the title of singer-songwriter White's 2020 release, sums up his wildly idiosyncratic career. He is that way in concert, too, telling fascinating, often bizarre stories before playing songs that may or may not have anything to do with them. His music shifts from antifolk to woolly and psychedelic, often propelled by outrageous lyrics, telescoped by the surreal highway of lost hats. He's worth seeing just to get a dose of a strange, wonderful, artsy, Americana eccentric. Tickets are available at Eddie's Attic, 515 Bean North McDonough Street, Decatur, 30030. Call 404-377-4976 or visit eddiesattic.com. Thursday, April 25th. Samantha Fish, Variety Playhouse. Kansas City's favorite roots rockin' daughter has come a long way since she broke out as a blues shredder in 2011. She's since moved into both Soul, Chills and Fever 2017, and more strident garage rock with country and blues tinges, the latter highlighted by last year's Grammy nominated collaboration with Jesse Dayton. She's back with her own band, still sleein' that cigar box guitar and promoting songs from the forceful Faster, 2021. Tickets are 29.50 to 35 dollars. That's 8 p.m. at Variety Playhouse, 1099 Euclid Avenue Northeast, Atlanta, 30307. Call 404-504-7354 or visit variety-playhouse.com. Dreams don't cost a thing. A tribute to Dexter Rahm Weber, the Earl. Super fan and local creative iconoclast Jeffrey Butzer organizes this tribute to late roots rebel Rahm Weber, who died unexpectedly in February. An early sampling of contributors includes Gentleman Jesse, Georgie Harris with compartmentalization lists, Rod Hamdula Waiting for UFOs and Don Chambers. Like Rahm Weber's always unpredictable concerts, this one ought to be passionate, unique and above all memorable. Proceeds will be donated to the Glioblastoma Foundation and UNC Hospice, charities chosen by the Rahm Weber's. Tickets are $17 to $20. That's 830 p.m. at the Earl 488 Flat Shoals Avenue Northeast, Atlanta, 30316. Call 404-522-3950 or visit badearl.com Friday, April 26 Scott H. Byrum aides Partridge, Vinyl If one man banned Byrum's description of his music as the bastard child of punk blues, country, hillbilly bluegrass, chain gang metal and classic rock doesn't at least intrigue you that it's hard to understand what might. He's as challenging as that implies and even has a new album. His early self-released discs were on the Knuckle Sandwich label. He appropriately titled the one and only Scott H. Byrum to get you hooked on his raw, gripping approach. Opener Partridge is just as captivating, albeit in a less aggressive way, making this a near perfect double bill of subversive singer-songwriters. Tickets are $20 to $25. That's 8 p.m. at Vinyl, 1374 West Peachtree Street, Atlanta, 30309. Call 404-885-1365 or visit centerstage-atlanta.com The Teske Brothers, The Dip, Coca-Cola Roxy Despite playing a retro-infused soulful rock and getting limited press and airplay, Australia's The Teske Brothers have translated their down-under popularity to the States. Josh and Sam Teske have been at it since 2008, culminating in The Winding Way 2023, which captured their Van Morrison-inflected blue-eyed soul in the studio after a few successful live albums. They don't make singers any more expressive than the Otis Redding-influenced Josh, and along with his brother, the siblings craft compelling music brimming with emotion, feeling, and great melodies. Tickets are $60 to $158. That's 8 p.m. at the Coca-Cola Roxy, The Battery, Atlanta, 800 Battery Avenue, number 500, 30339. Visit LiveNation.com for more info on Coca-Cola Roxy events. Chickasaw Mudpuppies, Say ZooZoo, Smith's Old Bar 32 years after their last album, Athens' most unhinged rocking trio returns to remind us of how nobody quite sounds like their combination of Michael Stipe-approved stomping swamp, rock country and twisted, liquored-up rockabilly. If you missed them, then you got another chance to get on board. Better still, the puppies are promoting a new album, Fall Line. Their third, illogical, if somewhat less manic follow-up to their first two. Tickets are $20 to $31.25. That's 8 p.m. at Smith's Old Bar, 1578 Piedmont Avenue, Northeast, 30324 Call 404-875-1522 or visit SOBATL.com Sunday, April 28th Revival Fox Theatre The Indigo Girls and Charlie Starr with Benji Shanks headline this evening hosted by Kevin Kinney celebrating Georgia's historic theaters as the promotional flyer touts. It's a benefit supporting the significant venues, but most tantalizingly the show with some of the city's finest and most influential musicians might have its players joining on stage for a one-off musical collaboration. Even if that doesn't happen, this promises to be a classy and culturally roots event. Tickets are $40 to $210 plus. That's 7.30 p.m. at the Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree Street, Northeast, 30308 Call 404-321-5000 or visit foxtheatre.org Rustin Kelly Terminal West Nashville by way of North Carolina singer-songwriter Kelly is on his Too Chill to Kill tour promoting his stunning and often intense personal song cycle, The Weakness, 2023. One spin of mending song with its lyrics of the road that I took was full of ditches and mistakes and you'll realize this guy is laying it all out, pulling no punches. A few tracks pick up the generally melancholy pace, but Kelly's strong suit is unflinching lyrics that dovetail with his similarly intimate melodies moving and honest. Tickets are $25. That's 8 p.m. at Terminal West, 387 West Marietta Street, Northwest Suite C, Atlanta, 30318 Call 404-876-5566 or visit terminalwestatl.com for more information. That was Blues and Beyond played Blues Do Good by Hal Horowitz from Creative Loafing. Next up we move to the Atlanta magazine publication online for The Atlanta Opera Tackles the Mount Olympus of Opera. The company will produce all four parts of Wagner's monumental Dare Ring Disnubling by Atlanta magazine. Of all works in the operatic canon, few engender such reverence as the four operas that comprise Richard Wagner's epic masterwork Dare Ring Disnubling or as it's commonly called The Ring. From the opening chords of Das Rheingold through Die Walküre and Siegfried to the last moments of Götterdämming Wagner's magnus opus is lauded as one of the greatest artistic achievements of Western civilization and the ultimate challenge for any opera At the Atlanta Opera challenge is the name of the game especially given it's new designation by Opera America as one of the top ten companies in the United States The Ring has never been mounted in the American Southeast let alone Atlanta As the Atlanta Opera's general and artistic director Tomer Zivulin explains The Ring is the Mount Olympus of Opera. When you begin to explore it, your organization changes. The people you attract to every department have to be the top people in the world. There is a peak to climb and it takes years to get there. But we're there. The Atlanta Opera began to scale that peak last season with Das Rheingold. This April the company continues with Die Walküre which will grace Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center beginning April 27th Arguably the most popular of the four operas, Die Walküre is a tale of courage forbidden romance and poignant filial devotion Siegfried has been announced for next season featuring tenor Stefan Vinke who has triumphed in the title role at the Metropolitan Opera and at Beirut in Germany Götterdämmerung Michael's final entry is to follow in 2026 J. Hunter Morris a beloved Atlanta Opera tenor is in a unique position to assess the challenge these works represent. The Atlanta resident has sung Wagner's monumental tenor roles all over the world and was famously seen as Siegfried in the Metropolitan Opera's live in HD series in 2011 As Morris explains there is a built in heavy weight burden on everybody who participates in the ring a sense that yours has to be the one that has more insight better singing, better orchestral work and visuals than anybody else's. Tomer has to bring in the best singers in the industry and is proving he can Stefan Vinke has sung Siegfried as well as everyone ever has and Greer Grimsley at the height of his powers as Wotan are you kidding me? Grimsley, the bass baritone who played the god king Wotan in Atlanta's Rheingold last season and returns to the character this spring in Die Valkyrie is widely revered as one of the world's supreme interpreters of the role He says his confidence in Zivulin's artistic vision brought him to Atlanta The ring cycle is more than a historical artifact by a master composer it retains enormous entertainment value I have known so many people who come to the ring without knowing much about it and are blown away he says mounting these operas is like filming the Lord of the Rings it's about epic storytelling and here you get this incredible music Grimsley agrees that producing all parts of the ring cycle is a transcendent step for the company For Atlanta, producing these operas not only puts this company into a new and higher tier in the United States it elevates them to international status that elevated status is precisely Zivulin's goal Atlanta is a major international city that is proud of its diversity, financial power and innovation he says Atlanta deserves to have a major theater, a major symphony and a world class opera company and to get there we've got to go big or we've got to go home that was The Atlanta Opera Tackles the Mount Olympus of Opera by Atlanta Magazine Next Five Atlanta events you won't want to miss April 3rd through 10th British Invasion Rockers The Zombies take over Variety Playhouse 404 Day Fun and David Sedaris comes to the Fox by Rachel Garbus The Zombies play Variety Playhouse when? Wednesday, April 3rd, 8pm where Variety Playhouse little five points cost $86 to $108 Details The iconic British Invasion band returns to Atlanta for one night only rock out to their classic hits like the psychedelic Time of the Season with at least three generations of fans 404 Day when? Thursday, April 4th where? Monday Night Garage, Piedmont Park and other local spots Cost Free Some events have VIP upgrades Details You can show your love for the city at a variety of events around town Butter.atl is hosting a block party at Monday Night Garage from 2pm to 6pm featuring food trucks and live DJs An evening party takes place at the Westside Cultural Arts Center beginning at 10pm with an AT&T sponsored VIP party with Earth Gang and Jermaine Dupri at 8pm Meanwhile an all-day festival at Piedmont Park celebrates the city through music, markets food and pop-up programming Smith's Old Bar Our Bar, 529 and others are also hosting 404 Day related events on Thursday Harlem Globetrotters 2024 World Tour when? Sunday, April 7th, 2024 12.30pm where? State Farm Arena Downtown Cost $30 to $50 plus Details The legendary basketball entertainers bring their high octane performance to Atlanta for an afternoon of sport, spectacle and family friendly shenanigans Kids of all ages will go wild over the Globetrotters jaw-dropping basketball tricks and comedy antics and there's plenty of participation opportunities for anyone who wants to show off their ball skills Eclipse Viewing on Stone Mountain Summit when? Monday, April 8th, 145pm where? Summit of Stone Mountain Park Cost Stone Mountain Day Pass $34.99 for kids $39.99 for adults Summit Skyride Tickets and Eclipse Viewing Glasses also for sale Details In Atlanta this year's solar eclipse will cover 81% of the sun and you can get an unbeatable view from the top of Stone Mountain reach the summit by the hiking trail or by riding the Summit Skyride Stone Mountain Park will have viewing glasses available for purchase the eclipse begins at 145 and hits its maximum at 304 David Sedaris Live when? Tuesday, April 9th, 730pm where? The Fox Theater Midtown Cost $44 to $64 Details WABE will present this evening with humorist David Sedaris author of award winning satirical essay collections like Me Talk Pretty One Day and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim The evening will feature a selection of new readings and musings from America's favorite neurotic as well as a Q&A and book signing Sports Corner Atlanta Home Games The Braves take on the Arizona Diamondbacks in a three game matchup for the home opener at Chewess Park on April 5th, 6th and 7th The Hawks face the Detroit Pittstons at State Farm Arena on Wednesday, April 3rd the Miami Heat on Tuesday, April 9th and the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday, April 10th That was Five Atlanta Events You Won't Want to Miss April 3rd through 10th by Rachel Garbus for the Atlanta Magazine Online Next we move to the Arts ATL publication Steve Yockey returns to Actors Express with revenge jokes as hot as mercury just don't ask him to make grits by Alexis Hawke Screenwriter and former Actors Express intern Steve Yockey tells Alexis Hawke in this exclusive interview that writing plays along with cheesy scrambled eggs hold the key to his heart When Mercury opens at Actors Express on April 6th it will mark one of many homecomings for Atlanta native Steve Yockey Long before the celebrated playwright and screenwriter began his career rewinding past his Emmy nomination for Max's The Flight Attendant the announcement of his gig on J.J. Abrams' Star Trek 4 and long before he was regularly texting with Neil Gaiman about his adaptation of the British author's Dead Boy Detective series for Netflix debuting April 25th he was an unpaid intern at Actors Express having landed the gig fresh out of undergraduate studies at the University of Georgia That first year as part of the intern cohort of 2001 to 2002 a cohort which incidentally included yours truly was transformative imbuing him with skills he'd carry forward including the purely technical know-how that feeds and informs the spectacle of his work Yockey would go on to earn an MFA in dramatic writing from the Tisch School for the Arts at NYU in 2008 later moving to California where he now resides But those ties with Actors Express have sustained him as his career has flourished Between 2012 and 2019 six of Yockey's plays have graced the Actors Express stage Wolves, Pluto, Octopus, The Thrush and the Woodpecker, Blackberry Winter, and Yakuvik If you haven't seen one of Yockey's imaginative darkly funny plays you're in for a treat As one of his best friends, fellow Atlantan and also prolific playwriter Lauren Gunderson described his work in an interview last year Animal, magic, murder anything you want, he's able to do it and pulls it off in a way where you feel very satisfied and clear as an audience member Ahead of the show's opening weekend, ArtsATL caught up with Yockey to chat about all things cosmic, creative and carnivorous on stage and to walk down memory lane a bit ArtsATL What is Mercury about? Yockey Mercury is about revenge It's the story of several different people whose adventures with a cursed book cross paths in and about Portland, Oregon That's my non-spoilery version ArtsATL Tell me a little bit more about the play's journey from idea to premiere Yockey I would say I was circling the idea in December 2016 and then I had a fight with my grandmother at Christmas and heard a weird Carrie Underwood song and it all kind of clicked in my head I wrote the entire first draft over that Christmas holiday The first production was in late 2017 and then we were gearing up for more and a global pandemic happened ArtsATL Between that first production and now how has the play, or your perception of it, evolved? Yockey I feel like Mercury has become more relevant as time goes on as we enter the bread and circuses period of the decline of western civilization It's fun and entertaining and satisfying but hopefully in that funhouse mirror kind of way ArtsATL I did read some of the coverage from past productions and one thing that I absolutely adore is that the word grizzly kept coming up Tell me about playing with the violent horror aspect of this What is it about grizzly that can also be funny? Yockey Well anything can be funny The question is will you laugh at it? I do feel like revenge is very visceral and to capture it you need a certain level of violence The violence in Mercury borders on camp and for me it's like if you want to tell an emotional story that has depth, the way that you go as dark as possible is you include humor because humor kind of lets the audience off the hook a little bit and lets them enjoy what they're watching I think that if Mercury were not a comedy then it would just be like a tragedy and almost unwatchable The best thing is sitting in an audience It's one of the few plays I have where no matter what the audience is going to gasp speak back to the stage and laugh at the most inappropriate things I mean in a lot of ways I think of Mercury as a big piece of chocolate cake It is good and super satisfying but while you're eating it you're like oh I should not be enjoying this so much Arts ATL Without any spoilers what are some of your favorite concepts bits of dialogue or images from the show What could we look forward to? Yaki I like the fact that there's a character who handles all of the scenic transitions and that's written into the script I really like that it kind of takes down the concept of Mercury in retrograde which we hear way too much in popular society now I'm no expert on astrology but I think that's ridiculous and I love the bear when it shows up Arts ATL The Actors Express internship was a lot of trial by fire but what were a couple of skills or insights into how theater functions that you took with you and still use today Yaki I think I learned more during that internship than I learned during my entire undergraduate education hanging lights, how sound works what goes into budgeting a show I also learned that not-for-profit theater as a model will take as much from you as you are willing to give because of your love for theater so you have to establish boundaries for yourself or else the model will just take everything I think that's a healthy lesson to learn That's all the time we have for this article from Arts ATL which was entitled Steve Yaki Returns to Actors Express with Revenge Jokes as Hot as Mercury Just Don't Ask Him to Make Grits by Alexis Hawk That concludes today's Metro Arts program which is brought to you by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners This has been Kristen Moody for GARS the Georgia Radio Reading Service Thank you for listening to GARS