Reggae icons The Wailers roll into Marysville Saturday and the New Cars on Sunday.
The Wailers bring a new young singer, Yvad, and two of the original members, Aston “Family Man” Barrett, king of reggae bass, and Al Anderson, with a track record that includes playing with Lauryn Hill, James Brown and Bob Marley.
Yvad, a Jamaican singer-songwriter, was inspired by Marley and the Wailers.
The most celebrated reggae band has some more than 250 million records worldwide, has many well-known hits, and is on a world tour that will take them to Brazil, the United Kingdom, Spain and Turkey.
But first, Marysville.
The Cars, in the original version, was a rock band that came out of the early punk scene and helped create a new wave of synth pop and guitar-oriented rock blend.
“Just What I Needed” hit the third spot on the Billboard Pop Album chart in 1978; other hits included “Good Times Roll” and “My Best Friend’s Girl.”
In 2005 the New Cars formed with two of the founders, guitarist Elliott Easton and keyboardist Greg Hawkes, and three others to cover classic Cars songs plus some from Rundgren’s solo material.
Shoreline Arts Festival. Community rhythm jams, alternative and acoustic rock, drum circles, Irish dancers, Chinese string ensemble, gospel choir, folk, blues, world music, urban soul, bluegrass and Latin soul are part of the musical action at the two-day festival. Toss in “Cinderella,” poetry, jazz and horn-driven rock and it may be hard to pick from three stages. June 23-24, Shoreline
Sara Gazarek. It’s always a pleasure to listen to one of Washington’s own, in this case Seattle-born-and-raised Gazarek, the Roosevelt High School jazz program graduate who’s holding a CD release party for “Return to You.” It follows her 2005 debut “Yours,” which focused in the American Songbook. This time Gazarek covers standards including those by Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Harry Connick Jr. and Gillian Welch. Gazarek won the first-ever Ella Fitzgerald Outstanding Vocalist Award. June 26-27, Seattle
Bill Frisell. The gang’s all here: veteran guitarist-composer Frisell; in-demand bassman Tony Scherr (Norah Jones, John Lurie); drummer Rudy Royston (Ron Miles, Les McCann); trumpeter Ron Miles (Ellington Orchestra); and saxophonist Chris Cheek (60 albums as a sideman). June 28-July 1, Jazz Alley, Seattle
Lesley Feist. Indie-rocker (ex-Broken Social Scene) from Canada can turn out folk-jazz-tinged songs as well. Her current CD, “Just Feist, Just Wait,” is the follow to the American release of “The Reminder” in 2005, and earned a spot on Starbuck’s CD rack. Feistis all over with her style, bouncing from whistling to punk rock to audience participation. She performs with Grizzly Bear. June 24, Seattle
Terence Blanchard. Grammy-winning trumpeter-composer has a three-night five-show run in Seattle. Last year he won a Grammy for her collaboration with McCoy Tyner on “Illuminations.” Blanchard has been headed for greatness ever since his opera-singing father started coaching him at home. He’s scored 12 of Spike Lee’s feature films, including “25th Hour” (Golden Globe nomination for score), “Malcolm X,” “Summer of Sam” and many others. June 22-24, Seattle
Sage Francis. The vegetarian’s body is a drug- and alcohol-free zone, but his hip-hop mouth opens in true hip-hop form, with lyrics laced with profanity yet full of metaphors and current references from pop culture. Last year Francis, who raps under the name of Xaul Zan, was in PETA’s sexiest vegetarian contest. June 23, Seattle
Out and about: The Infamous Stringdusters (June 28, Tractor Tavern) is making its mark in bluegrass by stretching tradition with instrumentals and improvisations from “Fork in the Road” … Veils (June 25, Crocodile) … As Tall as Lions (June 25, Chop Suey) can rock, but more often plays a smoother sound, not like emo bands but still close enough at times to appeal to emo fans … Australian star, multi-style guitarist and dobra player John Butler tours with “Grand National” (June 27, Moore).
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