Go Memphis Stories: Listen Up

Listen Up: Shy street singer finds his electrifying voice

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0000

Michael Moyer didn't do much talking the first seven years of his life. "I never would use my words," said Moyer, 20. "I had to take these classes to learn how to speak. I used to just point at things." But by the time he was 13, things had changed. His sister, Tristan Moyer, who goes by the name Nancy Whiskey in the Vegas-based-band, Darby O'Gill and the Little People, bought Moyer his first guitar and took him to punk rock shows.

Listen Up: M. C. Mack takes aim from 'street side'

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:00:00 -0000

M. C. Mack described his 2003 Macknificent album as more "stylish" and his new album Pure Ana Part 1 as "more on the street side." "I rap kind of fast," he said. That's 'pure ana' — pure animosity. I'm shooting my lyrics like a .38." Mack performs at 11 tonight at The Plush Club at 380 Beale.

Listen Up: Jordan Clayton

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:29:00 -0000

“Grounded” was a good thing for Jordan Clayton. “I made bad grades in school so I was grounded all the time,” said Clayton, 18. “I refused to do school work, basically. I thought it was pointless. I knew that I would never do anything with most of it. There’s no point in me learning how to draw a perfect hexagon.” He was grounded “27 weeks every year — the second nine weeks to the fourth nine weeks of school” elementary through high school.

Listen Up: Here Lies Heart

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 22:26:00 -0000

Drummer Jeremy McDonald, 15, wasn’t sure Here Lies Heart was ever going to get off the ground. “I thought it was gonna be like some middle school band: ‘Yeah, we’re a band, but we don’t practice,’” he said. McDonald soon discovered his fellow band members’ hearts were in it. Hence the name. The band performs Saturday at That Church in Bartlett.

Listen Up: Jimmy Crosthwait's gong show will remember pal Jim Dickinson

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 21:00:00 -0000

Jimmy Crosthwait's new venture is reminiscent of shows he used to give with his puppets at Memphis Pink Palace Museum. He makes music by stroking or hitting 5-1/2-foot tall gongs with steel rods or his hands. "The whole apparatus is sculptural," he said. "And it is as visual as it is melodic." Crosthwait is going to perform along with fellow "cymbalist" Jessica Jones, bassist John Stubblefield and saxophonist Jim Spake at a memorial to Dickinson Monday at the Levitt Shell in Overton Park.

Listen Up: Memphis inspires Colombian songbird

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 23:53:00 -0000

It took a while for Marcela Pinilla to realize singing was her passion. A native of Bogota, Colombia, Pinilla, 27, auditioned and was chosen to sing a song with Tuna, a traditional Spanish band, when she was in the fourth grade. But, she said, “I didn’t want to be a singer. That was not my dream.” Eventually, singing became a dream then a reality. She performs Saturday at the Levitt Shell in Overton Park.

Listen Up: Never Forgotten offers up messages to remember

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:23:00 -0000

Some people don't get the meaning of Never Forgotten's name. Explaining the actual meaning, the metal band's lead singer Ryan Stephens, 17, said, "We really try to strive and let people see what God did for us. We want to make sure the sacrifice that was made for us so we could be here today will never be forgotten." Although their songs deal with Christian themes, the band members don't call themselves a Christian band.

Listen Up: Jeremy Stanfill and Nick Redmond

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:23:00 -0000

Jeremy Stanfill played drums in his first band, a surf-rock instrumental group called The Mysterious Comics, at age 8. “I had some leopard-skin Jams pants, Vans, ‘Life’s a Beach’ Bad Boys Club flip-up hat and a Rude Dog tank top,” he said. “We were huge into the Ventures and all that stuff.” “I didn’t even like music at 8 years old,” said Nick Redmond. Stanfill and Redmond now are the hosts of Bar Stars, a concert/open mike night on Wednesdays at Neil’s.

Listen Up: Screamer goes from metal to acoustic

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 00:06:00 -0000

The first guitar James Thomas Shaheen ever picked up was his grandfather's 1963 Gibson. "I didn't have enough money to buy mom a mother's day or birthday present so I was like, 'You know what? I'm gonna figure out a song and I'm gonna play her a song,'" said Shaheen, 20. "Obviously, the mother thing happened. She broke into tears and said it was the best song she ever heard." Shaheen performs Saturday at the New Daisy Theatre.

Listen Up: One-man band gets audience into his act

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:00:00 -0000

Richard Johnston's one-man band is an institution on Beale Street. People gather in front of him while he plays guitar, drums and sings -- all at the time same. They dance and talk to him. The audience gets larger during the evening. By playing the drum with bare feet, Johnston achieves the sounds of the kick and bass drums and tambourine. Saturday night, the one-man band will become a group of performers, but they'll still play on the street in front of The New Daisy.

Listen Up: Deadfall Rd. takes livelier path than name hints

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 05:00:00 -0000

Deadfall Rd. practices on Burrow Cemetery Drive and one of their songs is about a serial killer. But don't get the wrong impression: The Arlington-based group is not a death metal band. Check out the band tonight at the New Daisy Theatre on Beale or Saturday evening at Mel's Place Bar and Grill in Southaven.

Listen Up: Budding rocker off to bluesy start on Beale

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 05:00:00 -0000

Will Tucker, 15, got his first guitar three years ago "'cause everybody's dream was to be a rock star," he said. He now owns 25 guitars and has a weekly gig playing the blues at B.B. King's Blues Club on Beale. 'N Sync and the Backstreet Boys were a big influence. Early on, his dad told him, "If you're gonna get into guitar, you need to listen to some Led Zeppelin.'"

Listen Up: Bandmates' chemistry clicks to pursue their wicked dreams

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 05:00:00 -0000

Their name, "One Wicked Dream," sums up the band's ambition, says lead guitarist John Hash, 20. "It just describes the mission. Wicked as in, 'That's some kind of dream you've got there. It's gonna take a lot of effort. Good luck'." Says lead singer/rhythm guitarist and lyricist Carlos Carrasco, 22: "People just don't feel safe enough following their heart these days."

Todd Poole starts over, gets stronger with StiffKitty

Wed, 20 May 2009 22:29:00 -0000

Todd Poole, veteran of Memphis metal acts Roxy Blue, Saliva and Rail, started StiffKitty as a vehicle for playing covers before writing the songs for the band's self-titled CD.

Listen Up: Davy Ray Bennett

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 22:08:00 -0000

Davy Ray Bennett's first stage performance was singing in a talent show in the fifth grade. "My mom wanted me to do a religious tune," said Bennett, 36. "It was some tune called 'Let Them Know,' which was out of a movie they used to show kids to scare them about the rapture." He didn't win.

Listen up: Young Guns

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:00:00 -0000

Since they were small children, Tommie and Brandon Closson listened to classic rock by Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix. They played ukuleles that belonged to their great-grandfather before they graduated to an electric guitar for Tommie and an acoustic guitar for Brandon. Tommie, 15, now is lead guitarist and Brandon, 13, is guitarist/lead singer in Young Guns, which also features Brandon Russell, 13, on drums and Michael "Ace" Caserta, 14, on bass.

Listen Up: Memphis Rascals

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 23:47:00 -0000

The Memphis Rascals have a new sound. "For a long time we were having people tell us, 'This is what you need to do. This is how you need to sound,'" said guitarist/vocalist Grant Vogelfanger, 16. "People would be, 'Wow, that's great.' But we'd be like, 'We're not really happy with this.'"

Listen Up: Gavin Orth

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:15:00 -0000

Gavin Orth's brother introduced him to punk and metal, but he was stuck on hip-hop after hearing a Souls of Mischief song, "93 Till Infinity," on one of his skateboarding videos. "Just the beat and the way the vocals flowed over. It was so relaxing, but had such a meaning behind it."

Listen up: The Six Horse

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 21:15:00 -0000

Brennan Whalen began playing guitar at age 7, but he hated it. "I was just playing notes and reading music and everything was classical and I thought it was the worst," said Whalen, 19. "I hated it up until about fourth grade. I discovered metal." Whalen, who plays solo gigs under the name The Six Horse, describes his music as "sort of indie, folk, alt, country.

Listen Up: The Dranks and The Humper Show

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:54:00 -0000

J. D. Dutton formed his first band — Mugwumps — after he got out of high school in Marion, Ohio. “We had cassette decks and reel-to-reels and four tracks, everything bumped together so we could overdub like the way Les Paul did when he was young,” said Dutton, 48. “We’d write songs and as we’d write them, we’d record them.” He followed that group with Barbed Wire Dolls.