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(04/20/06 4:00am)
After being on display in the Carolina Union's art gallery for the better part of a month, original works by Kwang Suk Park will be exhibited during a public reception at 5:30 p.m. today.
Originally from South Korea, Park, now living in Hillsborough, is a respected artist in the Triangle.
"She's really one of the most professional and prolific artists in the area," said Susie Thompson, chairwoman of the art gallery committee for the Carolina Union Activities Board.
(04/20/06 4:00am)
MUSICREVIEW
Built to Spill
You in Reverse
4 Stars
During his career, singer/songwriter/guitarist Dave Martsch of Built to Spill has made a name for himself as a musical craftsman of the highest order.
Whether it was the meticulous arrangements on 1999's Keep It Like a Secret or the way he effortlessly worked through the various Built to Spill lineups throughout the years, Martsch always has seemed sure of himself and his place in indie rock.
(04/13/06 4:00am)
CONCERTREVIEW
Ghostface & M1
Cat's Cradle
Friday
4 Stars
Generally, rap concerts are places to go to forget your problems and to unite with the other patrons in giving a giant middle finger to the establishment.
The performers are the conductors of this melee, leading a medley of passion and defiance directed against anyone not down with their message or music.
A prime example was this past Friday at Cat's Cradle as M1 - half of the seminal political rap group Dead Prez - and Ghostface Killah of the Wu-Tang Clan rocked the crowd into a frenzy of hip-hop heads.
(04/13/06 4:00am)
MUSICREVIEW
Ghostface Killah
Fishscale
4.5 stars
The common wisdom is that rappers are kind of like boxers - by 30, their careers are over and, if not, it should be.
Sometimes, they die prematurely and tragically. Other times, they run out of creative energy.
Either way, it's a rare exception when a lyricist remains potent and relevant past his late 20s.
Yet that is just what has happened with Ghostface Killah, 35, and his latest release, Fishscale.
(03/30/06 5:00am)
MUSICREVIEW
Donald Fagen
Morph the Cat
3 Stars
It has been 13 years since Donald Fagen's last release and three years since the last Steely Dan album (although it's been 30 years since the band's best material).
But even with all that down time, the material on Fagen's Morph the Cat sounds tired.
As one half of the seminal jazz-rock band Steely Dan, Fagen has a wealth of experience in song crafting and arrangements.
But it's hard to shake the notion that he sounds like an artist who needs a break.
(03/22/06 5:00am)
"All this is so new. It feels like I'm jumping in the deep end, but I'm ready," says Taylor Johnson as he sits in the Student Union, excitedly recounting his story.
Johnson, a part-time R&B and hip-hop producer, is shy and calm but almost bursting at the seams with anticipation for what is about to happen.
He's on the verge of signing a contract with Akeeda Entertainment, a small New York record label.
"It's nerve-racking, but at the same time it's exciting."
The sophomore Ehringhaus Residence Hall tenant is an avid pianist who has performed twice at the annual "I, Too, Sing America" concert during Martin Luther King Jr. Week and at other University banquets.
Johnson says he also is negotiating deals for some of his tracks with Carl Thomas, Christina Milian and an investment firm that represents an NFL quarterback.
Put simply, he could be on the cusp of making it big. But Johnson is staying grounded.
"You hear those stories about a guy who gets some exposure and forgets about who he was - that's the last thing I want to happen," he says.
Johnson's uncle Kirk Johnson was a drummer and producer for Prince in the 1980s, so maybe it just runs in the family.
As he paces across his snug dorm room, Johnson says it is hard for him to imagine how far he has come.
Growing up in Burnsville, Minn., he was exposed to music at an early age.
At five, his parents enrolled him in classes for classical piano. He was removed from the lessons after only a year, but much to his parents' confusion, he kept playing and practicing.
At 14, Johnson's musical interest shifted to hip hop and R&B.
He didn't have a lot of equipment - just a keyboard and a few tape recorders. But with this foundation, he started to play recordings of his own, looping tracks to make catchy beats. He would mix and match live playing and recordings for hours until he had a quality track.
By 16, Johnson already was interested in composing and writing music of his own. Two years later, he began to think seriously about a career in the music industry.
Now 20, Johnson spends a lot of his time practicing in his small South Campus room or in the basement of Hill Hall. He has amassed a personal library of more than 300 compositions and has reaped the benefits of his hard work through buyer and audience interest alike.
"He's extraordinary on piano," says sophomore Antoine Dove, a saxophone player who practices and performs with Johnson. "I mean, he's off the charts."
But Johnson is far from just a piano player or beat-maker. He brings both arts together.
"The past six months showed me I was a producer and not just a beat-maker," he says. "It was really eye-opening."
People are starting to take notice of his talent.
"Some beats have the R&B feel, and others have that hip-hop feel," Dove says. "He can switch it up when he wants.
"He's blowing up, and I just hope I can get on some track with him later."
Despite his recent successes and stage performances, Johnson says his heart and hopes remain in the music and not in the business.
"I want beat making to be just as popular a form of expression as poetry," he says.
"I'm addicted to music. I honestly can call it an addiction. It's cool, though - I love it."
Contact the A&E Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
(09/21/05 4:00am)
About a year after adding new floor space directly next door to its original Franklin Street address, Schoolkids Records is thriving.
(11/24/04 5:00am)
"Not About Heroes," a highly acclaimed play about how war inspires poetry, opens today as the latest production put on by PlayMakers Repertory Company.
(11/18/04 5:00am)
More than anything else, Eminem is inconsistent.
(11/11/04 5:00am)
Behind some vintage Groucho Marx shades, Billy Sugarfix took the stage as host to kick off WXYC's 10th anniversary show Saturday night at the Local 506.
(10/29/04 4:00am)
There's a new masquerade in town, and this time it's charitable.
(10/28/04 4:00am)
Halloween is just around the corner, and with it comes the season's perennial staple: horror movies.
(10/21/04 4:00am)
Pop bands are a dime a dozen - especially clich
(10/21/04 4:00am)
Most people only know Che Guevara from the tattoo on Mike Tyson's pectoral or, mistakenly, as a Rage Against The Machine band member.
(10/13/04 4:00am)
A local artist whose painting focuses on "abstract, feminine themes" will showcase her work as part of an exhibition opening at the Chapel Hill Town Hall on Friday.
(09/30/04 4:00am)
Rarely does a band get better with age and more commercial releases, but that may be just the case with Green Day and their latest album, American Idiot.