The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 79

FRIDAY JANUARY 21 2000 THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER MUSIC Gran new disc steers the retro tag line Gran Torino visits Tremont Music Hall tonight This That the Other Comedy music etc 121 1 1 pm 127 8pm $8 IN Orth DAvtdson St Arts District Charlotte HC 51 1 36th St Charlotte NC the love of music Purchase Tickets 358-9298 or Charge thru web wwwnelghborhoodtheatrecom away from By TONYA JAMESON Pop Music Writer Since its inception Gran Torino has been blending rock roll and to create a catchy retro-pop style but this year the band is taking advantage of new technology to produce a slicker groove The newest disc Torino adds a more progressive sound thanks to a drum machine and computers Torino follows Torino and at the Chameleon For its latest disc Gran Torino which plays at Tremont Music Hall tonight hired hip producer John Custer to improve its sound said lead singer Chris Ford The song With uses a computer enhancement on the background vocals The technological wizardry is a departure from the style worked redly hard on making this a new record and taking advantage of a lot of stuff out Ford said all musicians and really proud of our live Despite the change Ford says the band lost its signature sound but hopes to lose the retro-funk tag growing a little bit Ford said kind of wanted to get away from that Everybody no matter what you do wants to be progressive I hate to get labeled that doing the same shtick people did 20 years Although the band uses drum machines and other equipment For Michael Hill By TONYA JAMESON Fop Music Writer For Michael Hill playing the blues is like being a storyteller relaying joys and sorrows through his guitar and lyrics Hill the front man for Michael Blues Mob a traditional bluesman not from the Mississippi Delta cm- Chicago He grew up in the South Bronx in New York He began playing guitar when he was 18 after he first heard Jimi Hendrix wanted to know about those said Hill who plays at the Double Door Inn tonight the beginning the blues was always my deepest connection to the guitar I was drawn to the electric guitar and file string bending and soulfulness of file HU1 started in New York cover bands In the mid-1970s he did stints with a variety of blues musicians before emerging on the national scene with Michael Blues Mob in 1994 All the while Hill absorbed all types of music from BB King to Bob Marley to Curtis Mayfield He was also reading authors such as James Baldwin and Toni Morrison FREIGHT HOPPERS Old time string music 128 8pm $10 STEVE FORBERT Gifted folk-rock singer songwriter 129 8pm $15 BLUE HIGHWAY National awardwinning bluegrass 24 8pm $15 TIM DARRELL 8 SCOTT National country-folk blue- grass duo 218 8pm $18 and have the opportunity to enter an HoopsICIass of 2000" program for 6-8th grades State Zip Number of Teachers the curriculum materials and newspapers described compliments The Observer if my newspapers or materials do not arrive At the to my participation this FREE program ACC The Charlotte Observer Newspapers In Education Department In conjunction with The Atlantic Coast Conference invites 6th-8th grade classrooms to share in its only sanctioned multi-curricular basketball program HoopsClass of 2000" Help your students improve their writing skills social studies math and reading comprern exciting contest lension the live shows will still feature solos and different versions of songs Ford said The band plans to use this disc to gain radio airplay With has been played on radio stations in the Carolinas Virginia and Tennessee Gran Torino named after the car formed in the summer of 1995 at the University of Tennessee which most of the members attended Members of the four-piece horn section were music majors and the others played in rock bands They came together with the idea of creating a band that could produce equal parts and rock just wanted a big Ford said were all really into a lot of classic and stuff We wanted a live show that had live horns and a large enough band where you could just pull anything off that we wanted Since then Gran Torino has put the blues is the NYC BLUES WHAT: Michael Hill Blues Mob WHEN: 10 pm today WHERE: Double Door Inn 218 Independence Blvd TICKETS: $7 and $8 DETAILS: 376-1446 ESSSS3 Between those influences and his stories of growing up in Elizabeth City and Atlanta Hill developed an appetite for the blues is the foundation of African American Hill said not just the music file stories my parents told me of growing up in the just such a deeply intrinsic connection between the blues and social consciousness The blues spoke to everything from lynching to churches being burned Hill admits his New York-style blues is different from that of his counterparts in Mississippi and Chicago Hill mixes traditional blues rode reggae funk and and delivers it with a New York accent He says file Big Apple gives him plenty of writing material His fourth album will include SOUL WHAT: Gran Torino WHEN: 10 pm today WHERE: Tremont Music Hall 400 Tremont Ave TICKETS: $8 and $9 DETAILS: 343-9494 out three discs and played about 200 shows a year throughout the country wants to go Ford said got to play every night to pay the Ford said North Carolina is one of his favorite states because audiences tend to dig the music instead of talking over the band He also likes playing in Northern states think a little more urban than a lot of Southern Ford said always fun to go up North because people up there are always surprised from the black connection a song about a New York man who was shot to death by New York police kind of stuff gives me the Hill said not every headline or every story you see that speaks to everyone in that way a point where songs sort of write Hill said also doing research about a 1921 race riot in Tulsa Okla The next album will include a wide range of material but it all be serious Hill said celebrate life and the beauty and joy of life what makes life worth Hill said found that audiences around the world are not only willing to go with us to a serious place I find that people find it Hill have a release date for the fourth album which he said is taking some time because he wants it to maintain the standards of the first three albums most important thing for file Blues Mob is to try to honor the traditions of the he said "Die blues was always alxrut life It was a voice for black people who have a voice in society It's about everything the pain the joy life This program Is available to the first 6oo registering teachers REGISTER NOW by fax -(704) 358-5975 or mail the coupon to: Observer NIE 600 Tryon St Charlotte NC 28202 For more information all the Newspapers In Education Department at (704) 358-6083 toll-free 1-800-532-5350 ext 6083 Phone registration will NOT be accepted Each participating classroom receives at NO CHARGE: The Charlotte Observer (one for each student and teacher who registers) every Monday January! -March 6 An extensive 60-page curriculum guide with basketball-themed lessons for using the newspaper to reinforce skills In all subject (one copy per teacher registered) Yes! 1 I want to participate in the "ACC Teacher's Full Name School Name School Address City School Phone Number of Students I understand that by agreeing to this program I will receive FREE of the Atlantic Coast Conference It is my responsibility to notify end of the program I will be asked to sign an affidavit attesting Teacher Signature Required She (Charlotte (Cbscmr.