items tagged with Capitol Theatre

On Cross Canadian Ragweed's 2007 album Mission California, the lead track is "Record Exec," and the prompt was the legendary Tony Brown, the co-founder of the band's label who played with Elvis Presley and produced records by everyone from Steve Earle to Reba McEntire.

For somebody who's been compared favorably to Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young and Nick Drake, Damien Jurado has had a touch-and-go career, and a bit of an inferiority complex.

Jim the Mule started recording its second studio album, Last Solid Ground, in March 2007, and a rough mix was finished in August.

And then the Quad Cities quartet had to do a big chunk of it again.

The Ani DiFranco appearing at the Capitol Theatre on Saturday might not be the same Ani DiFranco who became something of a legend over the past two decades.

The old Ani averaged a record a year from 1989 through 2006, toured incessantly, and was a punkish-folk, feminist, do-it-yourself, and bisexual icon.

The new Ani has a nearly-18-month-old child and a "baby daddy" (her words, referring to producer Mike Napolitano), and will be releasing her first studio album in two whole years in September: Red Letter Year.

Natalia Zukerman might as well have been born on the road. She is the child of two classical musicians who traveled a lot. (Her father is violinist, violist, and conductor Pinchas Zukerman.) She said last week that she got on a plane for the first time when she was six weeks old, and "I've learned to pack and unpack since I was a little kid.

"Having a regular, stay-at-home home life, that's the challenge for me and my family," she continued. "I love that it's something that is definitely in my blood. My grandfather was a klezmer musician and a gypsy of sorts. Traveling troubadour is part of my DNA."

She's carrying on the tradition.