The Beast to give music ed seminars at Triangle schools.

I'm copying this verbatim from a press release I just got from Pierce Freelon of The Beast. I wish they'd had cool events like this when I was in school!

HIP-HOP/JAZZ QUARTET THE BEAST PARTNERS WITH NCJRO TO GIVE MUSIC EDUCATION SEMINARS AT TRIANGLE HIGH SCHOOLS

The Beast will deliver jazz education workshops at Durham School of the Arts and Chapel Hill High School this semester.

Durham, NC – Local hip-hop/jazz quartet The Beast will be delivering music education workshops for the jazz ensemble and jazz artistry students of Durham School of the Arts on Tuesday November 24^th. Three weeks later, The Beast will work with over fifty 10^th through 12^th graders in Chapel Hill High School's symphonic band on Tuesday, December 15^th. Both workshops are a collaboration between The Beast and the North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra (NCJRO) and are sponsored by the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation. 

In 2009 the NCJRO received a grant from the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation to further educate high school students about jazz music. The Beast was chosen by the NCJRO to design and facilitate several educational workshops because of their extensive experience as performers and educators. As the former director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz' Bebop to Hip-Hop program, Beast emcee Pierce Freelon has lectured internationally on the relationships between jazz and rap. As a quartet The Beast has conducted hip-hop and jazz based workshops in New York, DC and Atlanta but never in their home town of Durham, North Carolina. The upcoming workshops at Durham School of the Arts and Chapel Hill High School provide The Beast with their first opportunity to connect with the Triangle's young jazz musicians. 

The relationship between The Beast and the NCJRO goes back to the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At UNC pianist Eric Hirsh, bass player Pete Kimosh and drummer Stephen Coffman earned their music degrees under Professor James Ketch, the director of Jazz Studies. Ketch, who is also the president of the NCJRO helped facilitate The Beast's inaugural series of local workshops.

About The Beast
Equally comfortable in the worlds of hip-hop and jazz, The Beast developed its distinct sound on the campus of UNC Chapel Hill. While pianist Eric Hirsh, drummer Stephen Coffman and bassist Pete Kimosh were earning their music degrees, emcee Pierce Freelon was developing the foundation for his intelligent lyricism in the Department of African American Studies (where he currently teaches a course called, Blacks and Popular Culture). After graduating, the quartet joined forces in 2007 and quickly distinguished themselves as a pioneering force in the Triangle music scene through their high energy live show and exceptional compositions. "Built on the backs of three accomplished jazz kids who handle piano keys, drum sticks and bass strings like extensions of their own limbs, The Beast offers a dazzling springborad of beats, textures and solos for Pierce Freelon's positive but pragmatic verse" (Grayson Currin, Independent Weekly). The Beast released their debut album, Silence Fiction in October of 2009. Catch The Beast performing live at Tir Na Nog Irish Pub in Raleigh on December 3^rd (9pm) and at Broad St. Cafe in Durham with Hammer no More the Fingers on December 31^st (10pm).

For more information/interviews/inquires, please contact - Pierce Freelon: (919) 697-7728
www.thebeastmusic.com - info@thebeastmusic.com

Dates set for Raleigh Undercover

It's at Tir na Nog Jan. 7-10. As always, this should be a great time. Valient Thorr (Parliament/Funkadelic) and Left Outlet (Queen) were especially awesome this year. Can't wait to see what they come up with in 2010. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=178627851172

This week's cool shows: Monologue Bombs and more!

I hope you've got stamina because Friday is going to be one great show after another in Raleigh! Things kick off early -- 6 p.m.  -- with Kooley High and The Beast playing a free show at  the Wolves Den student center at N.C. State. I'm unfamiliar with Kooley High, but The Beast is worth coming out early. At 8 p.m., hilarious 70's-style AM radio honky tonkers Tonk will be at Marsh Woodwinds. Then, there's Max Indian at Busy Bee and the debut of the full-band version of Monologue Bombs (pictured) at Pour House. I'm planning to walk back and forth between the two, and suggest you do the same. Also, check out my interview with Scott Philips, the creative force behind Monologue Bombs, on New Raleigh!

Other can't miss shows this week include the Holly Raleigh Kidsmas showcase and Hank Sinatra and Hearts & Daggers at Tir na Nog, both Thursday night.

UPDATE: Max Indian has been moved to Nov. 27.

My interview with Scott from The Monologue bombs

Check it out on New Raleigh!

Mitch Easter at Tir na Nog

I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering why legendary Mitch Easter was the opening act at Thursday's Local Band Local Beer night at Tir na Nog. And that's not a slam against Violet Vector & the Lovely Lovelies or The Catch Fire -- who had to cancel at the last minute because their guitarist is ill. It's just that given his musical output, and his key role producing some of the most influential records in American music, he shouldn't be opening for anyone. But at least that meant that the old timers like me who came out to see him didn't have to be bleary-eyed at work the next day.


Mitch Easter from Mann's World on Vimeo.