Concert Previews

KEVIN ESTRADA
Dengue Fever , whose sound is based on Cambodian pop music of the '60s, performs Sunday in Arden, Del.

philly.com
Fri, Feb. 29, 2008

Magic Slim

"I'm going to play these blues from my heart," Magic Slim declares on "I'm a Bluesman," the manifesto that fittingly leads off his 2005 live album, Anything Can Happen. The song reflects the proud, straightforward nature of the music made by the Chicago-based Slim, who was born Morris Holt just over 70 years ago in Mississippi. The gruff-voiced singer and guitarist may no longer fit the "Slim" part of his stage name, but he and his band, the Teardrops, remain prime purveyors of electric, Windy City blues. And as he carries on the tradition, Slim shows just how many shades of blue the music can express.

- Nick Cristiano
______________________________________

Concert Previews

John Zorn: The Radical Jewish Music Festival

Since 1980, John Zorn has fashioned himself as the enfant terrible of avant-garde improvisation-based music. Not just jazz, but through chamber classical music, film soundtrack scores, sacred song, hardcore and noise. Not just as a saxophonist and composer, but as a label owner (Tzadik), theoretician (his Arcana book series), and venue operator (The Stone in New York City). But it is through his Masada - the band and its recordings - that Zorn essays the twists on Jewish music: modern, ancient and most definitely radicalized. This weekend looks at all sides of Zorn's tortured traditionalism. While his Masada music gets its due from Philly-based guitarist Jon Madof on Saturday, Sunday features two shows by the master himself - a matinee featuring the alto saxophonist's famed takes on the independent cinema scores of filmmakers like Maya Deren with several of his usual suspects (guitarist Marc Ribot, drummer Joey Baron, synth player Ikue Mori) and an evening of Electric Masada with cellist Erik Friedlander and the element of chance in the foreground. This event is a rarity for lovers of risk and essential for admirers of Zorn.

- A.D. Amorosi
______________________________________

John Zorn: The Radical Jewish Music Festival, Saturday through Tuesday.

Masada Guitars with Jon Madof and Tim Sparks play at 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Penn Hillel, University of Pennsylvania, 215 S. 39th St. Tickets: $12.

John Zorn Essential Cinema plays at 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $25. John Zorn's Electric Masada plays at 8 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $26.25-$35. Both shows at International House, 3701 Chestnut St.

Ayelet Rose Gottlieb, Anat Fort, and Michael Winograd play at 8 p.m. Monday at Calvary Center, 48th and Baltimore. Tickets: $12.

Daniel Blacksberg's Yiddish Sextet featuring Frank London plays at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Society Hill Synagogue, 418 Spruce St. Tickets: $12. Information: tickets, 866-468-7619; general, 215-727-2714; http://www.arsnovaworkshop.com/.

______________________________________

Magic Slim and the Teardrops play at 8 and 10 tonight and Saturday night at Warmdaddy's, 1400 S. Columbus Blvd. Tickets: $15. Phone: 215-462-2000.

Dengue Fever

It's a strange concept, but it works. Brothers Zac and Ethan Holtzman shared a love for the Cambodian pop music of the '60s and decided to form a band based on that sound, which lies somewhere between spaghetti westerns, surf music and Bollywood film soundtracks. The Americans drafted Cambodian singer Chhom Nimol. Her shrill and seductive vocals lend authenticity to Dengue Fever. The band's 2005 trip to Cambodia is featured in a new documentary film, Sleepwalking Through the Mekong, and their third album, the recent Venus on Earth, finds the L.A. six-piece comfortably blending English and Vietnamese lyrics, Western and Asian melodies, reverberating guitars and earthy saxophones, and themes both humorous and serious. Or, as Chhom sings in "Tooth & Nail," "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue." The cliche sounds strange but familiar, like the band.

- Steve Klinge
_____________________________________

Dengue Fever with Codero plays at 8 p.m. Sunday at the Arden Gild Hall, 2126 The Highway, Arden, Del. Tickets: $25. Phone: 302-475-3126, www.ardenclub.com

Matt Costa and Johnathan Rice

Handsome lads with accessible songs, it's no wonder Matt Costa and Johnathan Rice are indie heartthrobs. A sidelined California skateboarder, Costa got No Doubt guitarist Tom Dumont to produce his first two albums, Songs We Sing and Unfamiliar Faces, both on Jack Johnson's Brushfire Records. The latter spawned the affable, Kinks-ish single "Mr. Pitiful" and often recalls a sanitized, modern version of Donovan. Also with two albums behind him, Rice is darker and more country, especially when crafting a sing-along single with the grim title "We're All Stuck Out in the Desert (And We're Gonna Die)." He's dating Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis and got to play Roy Orbison in Walk the Line, as if you needed more reason to be jealous.

- Doug Wallen
_____________________________________

Matt Costa and Johnathan Rice play at 8 Tuesday at First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut St. $12. Phone: 267-765-5210.