ReportWire

Tag: Music Feature

  • TempleLive at the Cleveland Masonic Lays Off Entire Staff, Cancels Several Upcoming Concerts

    [ad_1]

    Mark Oprea

    TempleLive at the Cleveland Masonic received a multi-million dollar makeover a few years back.

    Earlier this week, TempleLive at the Cleveland Masonic laid off its entire staff, a former employee told Scene. They said the phone call caught them and the other employees by surprise.

    The venue has also begun cancelling and re-ticketing several upcoming shows.

    Saturday’s concert featuring trap pioneer Jeezy has been cancelled. The Sparks show slated for Sept. 15 will now take place at the Agora, and the Waxahatchee concert scheduled for Sept. 16 has moved to the Roxy at Mahall’s 20 Lanes in Lakewood. And Indie rockers Blue October took to social media to announce that their November show has been cancelled. Given the situation, other concerts are likely to be cancelled or move to other local venues.

    TempleLive, which also recently pulled out of operating its Scottish Rite venue in Peoria, IL, reportedly sunk $8.1 million into the Masonic and recently overhauled its sound systems and redid electrical and plumbing. The company also upgraded its green rooms and its roof during those renovations that took place over the past couple of years.

    A request for comment from management wasn’t immediately returned.

    In a city that arguably now has too many local music venues, TempleLive at the Cleveland Masonic had recently made some inroads. The venue hosted a sold-out Devo show this past summer and had just booked indie rockers Cage the Elephant to play the venue in October, which would have been the venue’s biggest show to date.

    Subscribe to Cleveland Scene newsletters.

    Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed

    [ad_2]

    Jeff Niesel

    Source link

  • Cleveland’s Eli Tha Don Channels Hip Hop’s Golden Era as He Crafts His Own Sound

    Cleveland’s Eli Tha Don Channels Hip Hop’s Golden Era as He Crafts His Own Sound

    [ad_1]

    click to enlarge

    Courtesy image

    Ghetto Beethoven

    As hip hop evolves in sound and intention, Eli Tha Don tends to look back to his roots and rap’s classic sounds as he moves forward.

    Born in 1995, Eli, whose real name is Elijah McDonald, inherited his passion for music from both his grandfather (a singer in a music group in the 1950s and ’60s) and father (a DJ and producer). His love for hip hop was influenced by his father’s taste and his involvement in the music industry.

    “Music is just in me,” he told Scene. “I grew up around [my dad] my whole life, and he was a hip-hop head. I remember sneaking into the basement watching him make beats.”

    From M.C. Brains to Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Cleveland’s rich hip hop history has paved a way for Cleveland artists and has given spotlight to the musical talent happening across the city. With an approach to style and flow similar to Mobb Deep, Eli has found his own slice of it since starting to perform in 2010.

    Eli’s latest album, Ghetto Beethoven – which was produced by Hot Take – is 33 minutes of raw, uncut lyricism complemented by 808s and snares. The rapper’s sixth studio album is a spin-off of his 2015 EP The Ghetto Beethoven EP. On its first track, “Flying Dutchman,” Eli lets us know that he’s a force to be reckoned with. He segues into the second track “Rockstarr,” where he interpolates a verse from hip-hop duo Gang Starr’s “Above The Clouds,” and walks us through the world of Cleveland.

    The 12-track album is packed with wit, euphemisms and vivid storytelling, and features other Cleveland-based artists and producers such as Mondo Slade, Chelsea Pastel, Holy, Pablo Amor, Eso, Prime Minister and DJ Corey Grand.


    For the Beethoven in the title, Eli compares himself to the great composer. With his heightened pen game and ability to create the perfect blend of rock, rap and jazz, the title isn’t merely wordplay or hyperbole.

    “I love rock and roll, I love jazz,” Eli said, “so I feel like I am Beethoven. Just from a different perspective.”

    Eli plans to release a new album, No Rest For The Wicked: Part 2, and hopes to continue to drop more visuals and continue to improve his craft.

    “I want to say a quote from a rapper that kind of made me want to rap,” he said. “His quote was ‘We have the same formula, but we just move at the times.’ I think once you go through life, you get better just naturally. [I’ve been] sharpening the beats I pick, the lyrics I choose and just [working on] the whole aura. I always want to improve.”

    Subscribe to Cleveland Scene newsletters.

    Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed

    [ad_2]

    Jala Forest

    Source link

  • Twin/Tone Records Co-Founder To Speak at Rock Hall

    Twin/Tone Records Co-Founder To Speak at Rock Hall

    [ad_1]

    Courtesy of It’s Alive Media

    Peter Jepserson.

    Peter Jesperson, a record store manager, music executive, DJ, manager, tour manager, label founder, and self-described “life-long music hound,” chronicles his life journey and the Minneapolis music scene in the new book Euphoric Recall.

    At 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 12, he’ll talk about his book at the Rock Hall. Andy Leach, the Rock Hall’s Senior Director of Museum and Archival Collections, will lead the discussion, and Replacements guitarist Tommy Stinson will perform a short set.

    A passionate music lover since childhood, Jesperson found his way into the Minneapolis music world just as it was blossoming in the 1970s and ’80s. While managing the influential Oar Folkjokeopus record store and DJing at the now-shuttered punk/New Wave club, Jay’s Longhorn bar, Jesperson also cofounded Twin/Tone Records, which launched groundbreaking artists as Soul Asylum, the Suburbs, Babes In Toyland, the Jayhawks, and many more.

    By the early ‘80s Jesperson made the discovery that changed his life: The Replacements. As A&R man and manager, he guided the indie band, which would eventually sign a major label deal and experience a modicum of commercial success.

    Jesperson would then make his way to Los Angeles for the next phase of his career. While working with New West Records alongside artists such as Dwight Yoakam, Kris Kristofferson, Vic Chesnutt, and Steve Earle, he experienced firsthand the dramatic changes in the music industry of the 1990s. He shares insights, anecdotes, and lessons from his unique vantage point in his book, which notably features a forward by music journalist and Sirius XM DJ David Fricke.

    Subscribe to Cleveland Scene newsletters.

    Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed

    [ad_2]

    Jeff Niesel

    Source link