The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 26, 2002, Page 6, Image 6
CONTACT US THEY SAID IT
Story ideas? Questions? Comments? DANTE ALIGHIERI: “Avarice, envy, pride, Three
E-mail us at gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com fatal sparks, have set the hearts of all On Fire.”
UMPING
back
on the
SCENE
Jump, Little Children keeps busy
with shows, albums despite
recent lack of radio play
Jump, Little Children recently filmed a DVD at a concert at The
Music Farm in Charleston, photos special to the gamecock
. “We’ve been doing this
for a while, but there’s
always the stage fright
element. It’s still there,
but we are over it at the
same time. We can
perform in front of five
or 1,000 people and be
fairly comfortable.”
WARD WILLIAMS
JUMP, LITTLE CHILDREN
BY VICTORIA BENNETT
THE GAMECOCK
You’ve probably not been hearing much
of Jump, Little Children on the radio lately.
, But that doesn’t seem to bother the
Charleston-based band.
Lead guitar and cello player, Ward
Williams, said its latest album, “Vertigo,”
is not the most radio-friendly of its cata
log.
“Radio helped us to a degree,” said
Williams , pointing to the moderate-sized
1998 hit “Cathedrals” from the album
“Magazine.” “But I’m actually glad we’re
not on the radio right now. Most of what’s
out there is mediocre to awful. I hope radio
will start to turn around.”
While radio play may be the fastest road
to success, Jump, Little Children has been
presented with opportunities in other
forms.
The band made its first national televi
sion appearance March 29 on CNN’s
Headline News. At the Atlanta broadcast,
the band played new songs as well as ones
closer to its Irish beginnings.
Williams said they were invited to be on
the show because a fan of the band worked
at Headline News.
“Atlanta is one of our biggest markets,
and it was great exposure,” Williams said.
He enjoyed the appearance, despite an an
nouncer mistakenly calling the band
“Jump the Children.”
The next day was also a mile
stone for the band. That evening it
filmed a DVD of its concert at The
Music Farm in front of a packed
house.
“We’d rehearsed the set list the
whole week,” Williams said.
Even before several cameras, it
was not much different from any
other night, Williams said.
“We’ve been doing this for a
while,” he said. “But there’s al
ways the stage fright element. It’s
still there, but we are over it at the
same time. We can perform in
front of five or 1,000 people and be
fairly comfortable.”
The band consists of Williams;
Jay Clifford on lead vocals and
rhythm guitar; Matt Bivins on vo
cals and an array of instruments in
cluding the harmonica, tin whistle
and accordion; Evan Bivins on
drums; and Jonathan Gray on upright bass.
The band’s longtime friend Michael Bellar
played keyboard.
“We wanted to make the DVD special in
some way,” Williams said. “Mike has
played with us a lot and knows our music.
And he’s phenomenal on the keyboard.”
Jump, Little Children decided to make the
DVD after being approached by Chris
Schars, who the band knew through a
Wilmington radio station. Schars had joined
a video production company, and he offered
Country
rock
singer and
use
graduate
Patrick
Davis will
open for
Jump,
Little
Children at
Senate
Park on
Saturday.
the band a deal it couldn’t resist. It
took Schars up on the opportunity to
create a new product, which will be
released later this year.
Though the band has been a re
gional staple since the early ‘90s, it
has found recent success beyond
the Mississippi River. In March, the
band toured the West Coast and
played sold-out shows in Los
Angeles, San Francisco and
Chicago.
Williams said the crowds, which
averaged 200 people, surprised him.
“But the fact is we’ve been doing
this for a while.” He said their mu
sic has spread beyond the region by
people who moved and by people
who sent their CDs to long-distance
friends.
The band is moving “slowly but
surely” toward the national level,
Williams said. He said the band
would hit that point when it can draw at
least 500 people to shows in other regions.
Jump, Little Children seemed to be on
the right road to their goal in 1998, when
they released “Magazine” with Breaking
Records, a Columbia-based branch of
Atlantic Records. The band’s music re
ceived support from local radio stations and
began to expand beyond the regional scene.
The band was weeks away from releas
ing “Vertigo” last April when Atlantic
dropped Breaking. After months of conflict,
the band bought its record back and re
leased it on its own label, EZ Chief Records.
Now, after tireless touring and some good
opportunities, things are looking up again
for the band.
Jump, Little Children will play Saturday
at Senate Park, which is located at 931-B
Senate St. in the Vista. Locals Patrick Davis
and Danielle Howie and the Tantrums will
open.
Danielle Howie and the Tantrums, who
make their home in Columbia, released i|
their first album in almost five years,
“Skorborealis,” last month. The sound is
primarily rock, but it is turned in directions
of punk, folk and jazz. There’s something
for old and new fans alike.
Local country-rock act Davis, a USC grad
uate, has crafted mature songs that have a
storytelling quality coming from smooth vo
cals and honest lyrics. He cites Tom Petty,
Gram Parsons, Neil Young and early Bruce
Springsteen as influences.
On his four-song demo, Davis is backed
by local talent such as Mark Bryan and
Dean Felber, both of Hootie and the
Blowfish, as well as Gary Greene, formerly
of Cravin’ Melon. Plans are in the works
for a full-length album to be recorded in
Nashville in June.
Tickets for the show are $10 in advance
and $12 at the door._lj
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‘Move Somethin^’
BY TITAN BARKSDALE
THE GAMECOCK
Anyone on the comer of Senate
and Park streets this Sunday after
10 p.m. will be required to move
something — as soon as the beat
drops.
National hip-hop recording
artist Talib Kweli will rock
Columbia’s surging live music
venue, Senate Park, with the
drum-pounding smash, “Move
Something,” and other hits as part
of “The Quality Tour,” which pro
motes the upcoming release of his
first solo album, “Kwelity.”
DJ Shekeese, event co-coordi
nator and recent USC graduate, is
elated because Columbia will play
host to one of the most celebrated
;
I Kweli will play
F Columbia on
^ Sunday.
PHOTO
SPECIAL
te TO THE
hip-hop artists in recent years.
“He represents what hip-hop is
really all about, so anytime I have
the opportunity to showcase to
others the realness of hip-hop, I get
excited about that,” Shekeese said.
Since making his professional
debut in the mid-’90s, Kweli has
an extensive musical catalog char
acterized by introspective and en
lightening lyricism. The socially
conscious emcee has been revered
for poignant rhymes that cover a
variety of relevant topics.
DJ Shekeese cites this trait as
the reason for Kweli’s appeal to all
audiences.
“He does stuff for everybody,
and that’s the most important
thing to me as far as hip-hop is
concerned, because this is an
artist that can even appeal to my
mother,” DJ Shekeese said. “If my
mother was to come in there, she
could say ‘I can understand what
he’s saying.’ “
Kweli has two critically ac
claimed studio albums to his credit
in which he rapped alongside a part
ner. The classic “Blackstar,” re
leased in 1998, features Kweli along
side Mos Def. “Train of Thought”
was released two years later, mak
ing a Top 20 debut. It features Kweli
with DJ Hi-Tek. Together, they are
Reflection Eternal.
Kweli’s status as a performer,
wordsmith and activist has been
solidified. He became a fixture in
hip-hop by captivating audiences
with his stage presence, energy
and free-spirited performances.
However, Kweli doesn’t just rap
about instituting positive change.
He actually does so with his
awareness efforts. He owns The
Nkiru Center for Education and
Culture in Brooklyn, which serves
as an educational and multi-cul
tural resource in the Brooklyn
community. In addition, Kweli
worked on the Hip-Hop for Respect
project to heighten sensitivity to
police brutality.
With college students’ inclina
tion to stay in tune to progressive
individuals and events, DJ
Shekeese said getting the college
crowd out wouldn’t be a problem.
Second-year student Carmen
Haynesworth said Kweli’s dispo
sition would attract her to Senate
Park this Sunday.
“He is a conscious rap artist
whose message is uplifting,”
Carmen said, “It’s a shame that he
doesn’t get more recognition be
cause he puts out stuff that people
aren’t aware of and need to know.”
The event is under the umbrella
of Non-Stop Hip-Hop, which show
cases hip-hop culture in the
Columbia area with a radio show
on WUSC 90.5 and live shows at
the New Brookland Tavern.
The magnitude of this event
forced it to move to Senate Park,
which is a more central and spa
cious location. Also, it has been a
venue for recognized national acts
of Kweli’s status.
Purchasing a ticket gives the
buyer access to quality music this
Sunday- in more ways than one.
Tickets for the show are $12 in
advance and are available at
Senate Park or etix.com. They are
$15 Sunday at the door. Senate
Park is at 931-B Senate St.
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Kevin
Snyder,
founder of
Higher
Harmony,
leads the
group in song
at Its
performance
in the Russell
House
Theater on
Tuesday
night.
PHOTO BY CANDI
HAUGLUM/THE
GAMECOCK
Higher Harmony sings
A capella group
displays vocals
in debut show
BY MIKE LUKE
THE GAMECOCK
Higher Harmony is a male a
cappella organization at USC.
The current members are Joey
Foster, Kevin Snyder, Jack
Stevenson, Joe Maxim, Matt
Bates, Andy Johnson, Victor
Kemper and Chris Young.
The group started in the
spring of 2001 and has steadily
progressed from small gigs to its
first concert Tuesday at the
Russell House Theater. The Zeta
Tau Alpha and Alpha Delta Pi
sororities sponsored the show.
Kevin Snyder,, a second-year
graduate education student, is
the group’s founder. He says the
advantages of being a student or
ganization, rather than just an a
cappella group, are the “oppor
tunities on campus. An organi
zation appeals to a wider selec
tion of people for whom we can
perform.”
A cappella literally means
“without accompaniment.”
Higher Harmony could be said to
be just singing, but that would be
failing to recognize the complex
ity of the group’s music.
Each song has bass lines, lead
voices, harmony, syncopation
and even percussive sounds. The
group’s compositions are
arranged mainly from sheet mu
sic, but a few songs, like “Brown
Eyed Girl,” are done by ear.
Snyder said these can be a “big
challenge, when you have to
write five or six harmony parts
to a song just by listening to it.”
The group lacks a lead singer.
The songs require that most so
los go to the tenors, which are
Foster, Snyder, Stevenson and
Maxim. Higher Harmony’s style
allows for a constant bass line
with baritone and tenor harmo
ny without losing the strength of
the melody. They have perfected
this style, and no section of
singers sounds weak.
Higher Harmony’s concert
Tuesday night was unique. A per
formance can be much more
stressful for a musician who
can’t hide behind an instrument.
Higher Harmony was excellent,
however, and gave the audience
the feeling the songs were well
rehearsed.
The group opened with “The
Star-Spangled Banner,” which it
has previously performed for dif
ferent sporting events. Most of
Higher Harmony’s songs are
from early ’60s Motown and early
♦ HARMONY, SEE PAGE 7