FRIDAY
Artist Vile rocks with mix of retro and high tech
Kurt Vile blends retro technology with high-tech sensitivities in his version of indie rock.
Vile, who performs at The Republik today, circulated his early recordings on self-made cassettes and CD-Rs, and he eschews the computer when writing his rough-hewn but folksy tunes. His latest album, “b’lieve i’m goin down,” released last year, was recorded in unusual locations, including Joshua Tree National Park’s desert in Southern California.
“I really wanted it to sound like it’s on my couch — not in a lo-fi way, just more unguarded and vulnerable,” he said in a release.
Vile, who was raised in a family with 10 children in a small house in Pennsylvania, grew up listening to folk, bluegrass and Delta blues. He is a multitalented instrumentalist. “B’lieve i’m goin down” features him playing on banjo, his first instrument, as well as lap steel, piano and electronic instruments.
The album made many critics’ best-of-the-year lists, earning praise for its acid sense of humor and intricate lyrics, but Vile has been on attentive listeners’ radar for years. He rose to prominence with his fourth album, “Smoke Ring for My Halo,” released in 2011. His next album, 2013’s “Wakin’ on a Pretty Daze,” was listed on many publications’ top albums of the year, and Spin ranked it in its Top 10.
Spears impersonator heads to isles
Britney Spears impersonator Derrick Barry saunters into the Republik late today, as part of Honolulu’s Pride festivities.
Barry has been performing as the pop diva, pictured inset, for more than a decade and has become one of the most recognized Spears impersonators, impressing fellow Vegas performers with his hair-tossing, hip-gyrating dancing and breathy vocals. His 2008 performance of Spears’ hit tune “Toxic” on “America’s Got Talent” had judge David Hasselhoff “questioning my sexuality” and calling him “hot,” while judge Sharon Osbourne said he was “brilliant.” (Piers Morgan voted to ax him, saying he was “very like Britney Spears — a complete and utter train wreck.”) Barry reached the semifinals that season.
Barry first dressed as Spears for Halloween in 2003. He dressed as Spears again to attend a taping of “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” in which the singer was a guest. Leno pointed him out to Spears, giving him the chance to shimmy for the cameras, and his destiny was sealed.
Barry appeared on Season 8 of “Ru Paul’s Drag Race” and can be seen in the film “War on Everyone,” set for release this winter. He does Lady Gaga and Amy Winehouse impersonations as well, but Spears remains his forte, performing hits like “… Baby One More Time” and “Oops! … I Did It Again.” Of course his rendition of “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman” takes on a whole different dimension — beyond mere mimicry.
Choreographer blends hula with modern dance
It might seem like a coals-to-Newcastle operation to bring hula to Hawaii, but that’s what dancer and choreographer Christopher Morgan is doing with “Pohaku.”
Morgan, who is part Hawaiian, grew up in Southern California but danced hula from an early age. He went on to study dance in college but left early to join the Malashock Dance company, a San Diego-based modern dance troupe. For more than 20 years, he danced around the world, eventually establishing his own company, Christoper K. Morgan & Artists, in Maryland.
“Pohaku,” which means “rock” in Hawaiian, is a solo dance work that symbolizes the land of Hawaii and Hawaiians’ attachment to it. It was inspired by Morgan’s uncle, the late kumu hula John Ka‘imikaua. Morgan premiered the work in Washington, D.C., earlier this year.
The piece blends traditional kahiko hula with modern dance, with music that includes drumming on traditional Hawaiian percussion instruments by kumu hula Elsie Kaleihulukea Ryder and music for electric cello by Wytold Lebing, who incorporated Beethoven and Bach into his score. Kapa maker Dalani Tanahy contributed design elements into the production.
WEDNESDAY
A Native American artist explores her heritage through music
Martha Redbone, pictured center, returns to the islands to perform “Bone Hill,” a musical exploration of her roots as a Native American and African-American from Appalachian mining country.
“Bone Hill” tells the story of a Cherokee woman returning to her homeland of Black Mountain, an area in Georgia along the Appalachian Trail, to explore her background. Featuring musical styles ranging from traditional Cherokee chants and lullabies to bluegrass to blues, gospel, jazz, rock ’n’ roll, R&B and funk, the story deals with issues like class and race in America through the eyes of four generations of women in the family.
Redbone, with songwriting partner Aaron Whitby and director Roberta Uno, wrote part of “Bone Hill” during a residency here earlier this year, joining with Whitby to perform some of the tunes at the Honolulu Museum of Art. The show has now blossomed into a full-length production with five musicians.
Redbone was a respected artist within the Native American community when she gained national attention with her 2012 release, “The Garden of Love,” a collection of poems by 18th-century English poet William Blake set to Americana music.