Shelby Lynne - Just A Little Lovin’ (Lost Highway Records)

Few careers in pop music were as unlikely as Dusty Springfield’s career. The British vocalist (1939-1999) made her mark by interpreting a wide variety of material through a blue-eyed soul filter. So perhaps it’s fitting that Alabama native Shelby Lynne would make the bold career move of covering songs that Springfield interpreted during her distinguished career. For Just A Little Lovin’ - a 10-track collection that mines Springfield’s catalog alongside one original song - Lynne enlisted the help of legendary producer Phil Ramone (Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra).

But while this is a Springfield tribute, it’s important to note that the material here can be traced to a number of artists beyond Springfield. Tracks including “The Look Of Love,” “Anyone Who Had A Heart,” and “I Only Want To Be With You” have been recorded enough times to be considered pop standards. But Springfield’s use of space and sparse accompaniment are what separated her versions from the pack. In that respect, Lynne truly captures Dusty’s effortless approach to the material. In giving new life to these well-worn tracks, Lynne pays homage while opening new possibilities for the songs. Lynne also taps into Springfield’s relaxed approach on the retro-tinged original song “Pretend.”

With songs written by a diverse list of composers including Burt Bacharach, Tony Joe White, Randy Newman and Felix Cavaliere among others, Just A Little Lovin’ proves that Lynne is adept at placing her own stamp on classic pop songs. In addition, the disc will encourage listeners to research the origins of the songs and the composers who penned them. www.losthighwayrecords.com

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Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford has big plans for the Alabama State Fairgrounds, plans that will cost big money and (more importantly) more bonds. At the City Council meeting Tuesday, Langford said that he would soon roll out plans for an “Olympic Village.”

The Olympic Village would include equestrian facilities, a natatorium (a fancy word for an indoor competition swimming pool) and high-rise dormitories where the athletes can live.

The plan would cost $90 million, Langford said. The money would come from more bonds.

The mayor’s office will give a more detailed presentation to the city council at a special-called Committee of the Whole meeting Thursday at 2 p.m.

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Greyboy Allstars perform at Workplay

The jamband scene is best known for improvisational music, taper-friendly live performances and fiercely loyal fans. But equally prevalent are multiple musical projects that connect many of the scene’s high-profile artists. The Greyboy Allstars - a quintet formed on the West Coast nearly 15 years ago - exemplifies this collaborative spirit. Led by keyboardist Robert Walter (Robert Walter’s 20th Congress, Frequinox) and saxophonist/vocalist Karl Denson (Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe), the band’s groove-driven sound is self-described as “70s soundtrack music.”Walter feels that participating in multiple projects is a key to creative and artistic growth.

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It’s time to (get taken for a) ride!

It was standing room only last week at Mayor Larry Langford’s first State of the City address. Each year the Kiwanis Club hosts the event at the Harbert Center, but this year’s speech promised something exciting. Not only was Leapin’ Larry making his debut, but, post-hip surgery, he was possibly on painkillers to boot.

There was no telling what that self-professed crazy man might say, and the lure of uncertainty had packed the place. The Harbert Center management set up more and more tables in the capacious but crowded hall until there was nowhere else to squeeze another seat.

“I’m sorry, but we have to ask you to move,” the Harbert manager said to us at the media table. She expropriated our seats, and the Fourth Estate was pushed against the walls or into the atrium, where I wound up sitting on a comfortable couch and listening to Langford’s speech through the building’s ubiquitous loudspeakers. Sitting across a coffee table from me was another person used to being left outside of things — David Hill, the executive director of the Birmingham Jefferson Transit Authority.

Inside the hall, the mayor’s office played a short video highlighting the new administration’s accomplishments (often taking credit for things not yet accomplished). Chief of Staff Deborah Vance narrated the video. She spoke about giving laptops and scholarships to Birmingham students, building a domed
stadium and allocating $9 million for improvements in mass transit.

That last line jolted my attention. Even before the city council passed Mayor Langford’s tax hike, I had been trying to pin that figure down. Numbers in this administration are moving targets.

When Langford first proposed a hike in the business license fee, he told the city council that the increase would raise $36 million in new money. Of that, $19 million per year would pay for a domed stadium and $17 million would fund overdue improvements in mass transit. The councilors were all but elated.

But something was wrong in the numbers. The administration hadn’t accounted for a state statute that prevented them from hiking the license fees of insurance companies. As a result, there was only $26 million in new money. Quietly and almost beyond the council’s notice, the administration adjusted the numbers in the ordinance. The domed stadium would still get $19 million, but transit was reduced to $9 million per year in new money.

Only Councilor Valerie Abbott seemed to notice or care. As Langford ramrodded the ordinance through the council, Abbott asked the mayor about the differing numbers. Langford said that the $9 million number was a mistake and he asked the city clerk to write the $17 million figure back into the ordinance.

A few weeks later, the administration submitted several amendments to the Economic and Community Revitalization Ordinance. One of those amendments changed the new transit funding from $17 million back to $9 million. This time, no one on the council made a sound.

After one council meeting, I asked Langford about the changing numbers. He talked a lot, but he couldn’t give a straight answer. According to Langford, the tax increase would provide $9 million, because the insurance companies pay only $8 million a year, which could not be doubled. So the city, he said, would take that $8 million from the insurance companies, add it to the $9 million from the license fee increase, and voila — $17 million a year in new money.

Only, $8 million of it isn’t new. It’s the same old revenue that’s being spent on something else, right? But once print media began asking questions, Langford quickly escaped to his office.

So at the Harbert Center, when I heard the chief of staff’s video say there would be $9 million of new money for transit, I wondered whether the administration had blundered into the truth.

If they had, then it didn’t seem to bother the transit director. When that number came across the atrium speakers, Hill was undeterred from his lunch.
The video concluded and Langford hobbled to the podium. There were few big announcements in the State of the City address: Birmingham would put 50 more cops on the streets, Langford said, and Bo Jackson was coming to Birmingham to invest in a grocery store. The rest was Leapin’ Larry boilerplate. Who needs facts or firm figures? If it’s numbers you want, then Bo knows low prices. That’s all the public needs to know and that’s all that the dutiful TV media reported later that evening.

But before he was done, Langford let one real number slip: $9 million in new funding for mass transit. This time it was from his own mouth.

And still, the transit director ate at his lunch. If that was less money than Hill expected, it didn’t bother his appetite.

What’s troublesome about this is that Hill has indicated in board meetings, in other media and in PowerPoint presentations that the BJCTA will receive $17 million in new money from the City of Birmingham. And Hill has big plans for that money. He wants the BJCTA to replace its entire fleet of buses. He wants to build a streetcar system downtown with vintage trolleys. He wants to finish the decade-old plan for a true inter-modal facility on Morris Avenue.

And keeping with Langford’s style of leadership, Hill has made it clear that anyone who isn’t on board will be thrown overboard. These things can be done and will be done immediately, he has said — with the $17 million in new funding from the city.

After Langford’s speech, as the retreating crowd bottlenecked at the escalator, I asked Hill the same questions.

Is it $17 million or $9 million?

It is $17 million, he said.

Where is the other $8 million coming from?

According to Hill, Langford told him that the city would take the $8 million from things that will receive new funding from the increase in sales taxes. If Hill is truthful and Langford was truthful with him, that means the city plans to cut things like police and fire protection, education, infrastructure improvements or economic development.

In the end, the BJCTA might or might not get all that money. Either way, someone is being taken for a ride.

Popularity: 35% [?]

At first glance, this collaboration seems about as likely as pairing Ozzy Osbourne with Norah Jones or matching Steven Tyler with Diana Krall. The idea of classic rock icon Plant recording with fiddle-totin’ bluegrass queen Krall evokes the mental image of a musical train wreck.

But Plant, unlike many hard rock singers of the ’70s, has always been in touch with his acoustic side. While notable for a heavy sound, Plant and his Led Zep mates also tossed in acoustic gems including “That’s The Way,” “Going To California” and “The Battle of Evermore.” By that same measure, Krauss has stretched the bounds of bluegrass by covering numerous pop songs throughout her career. The ability of these two artists to meet in the stylistic middle makes Raising Sand a success. Clearly, Plant is closer to Krauss’s turf here - she is not attempting to scream over a wall of Les Pauls and crashing drums. Produced by T-Bone Burnett, Raising Sand’s 13 tracks finds the two interpreting lesser-known - but well-chosen - material by Tom Waits, Townes Van Zandt, Mel Tillis and The Everly Brothers among others. But the disc’s highlight is the forgotten Gene Clark track “Through The Morning, Through The Night,” a song tailor-made for Krauss’s warm vocals.

Ultimately, Raising Sand is an important reminder that the best music is devoid of labels and transcends genres. After all, if David Bowie and Bing Crosby can record a definitive version of “The Little Drummer Boy,” it shouldn’t be a stretch that Plant and Krauss can find common ground as well. www.rounder.com

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The Barack Obama campaign announced Thursday that the Illinois senator would visit Birmingham this weekend. By late Thursday afternoon, the campaign was distributing tickets on its website and at its campaign headquarters throughout the state. By Friday afternoon, the tickets were gone and campaign organizers wondered whether everyone would show.

They did.

More than 9,000 people crowded into Bartow Arena Sunday to hear Sen. Barack Obama stump there. Lines stretched for blocks and some were turned away after the facility reached its capacity.

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The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is in the midst of its annual visit to Birmingham. Ringling presents “Over the Top,” one of its two current touring shows, starring ringmaster Chuck Wagner and “clown eccentric” Tom Dougherty, at the BJCC Arena through Sunday, Jan. 27.

The show is big, bold, bright, loud, utterly excessive and unabashedly corny, and I loved almost every frigging minute of it.

After all, what’s not to like about a show that offers a live band, smoke machines, video projections, pyrotechnics, goats riding on the backs of ponies, porcupines, clowns, Chinese acrobats, scantily-clad showgirls shaking their booties, elephants, tigers, aerialists, tumblers, trick riders on horseback, dogs catching Frisbees, people bouncing up and down on what look like huge inner tubes, etc., etc., etc. I mean, if you ain’t seen it, you won’t believe how much stuff they throw at you.

In case you’re wondering, Dear Reader, no, I’m not a hired flack, even though I must admit (“full disclosure,” as they say on MSNBC) that I took advantage of free press passes to attend Tuesday night’s performance.

I also attended a private media reception in the BJCC Arena Club before the show, where I mingled with showgirls, watched David Neal from Fox 6 put on a clown nose and do a live remote, and — in the great tradition of the American press corps — stuffed my face with as much food as I possibly could.

I had four hot dogs (two of them ladled with chili), two medium-sized containers of popcorn, and two cokes. Oh, and I took a bottled water into the Arena.

However, I must stress – in defense of my journalistic virtue – that I attended a performance of “Bellobration,” the other current Ringling show, at the BJCC in January 2007 on my own dime, and would have done so gladly this year for reasons I will make clear shortly.

Anybody who knows me will tell you that my tastes are not exactly mainstream (my favorite movie of the last decade or so is David Lynch’s Lost Highway, if that gives you an idea), and I generally hate anything that seems to pander to established tastes or values.

But to all of my fellow angel-headed hipsters cruising the angry streets at dawn in search of an angry fix, I would tell you that you avoid the circus at your peril. Aesthetics are one thing, but Ringling takes aesthetics and pounds them to the ground, then offers them David Neal’s clown nose and a bag of cotton candy. The circus is a true American spectacle, sort of like a moon landing mixed with a Super Bowl halftime show, and it comes to town every year. Dude, you can’t go wrong.

As strange as it may seem, I never attended a circus until the fall of 2006, when I saw two smaller shows at Fair Park, the Barnes (yes, “Barnes”) & Bailey Circus, who performed in tents set up on the grounds, and the Stars of the Moscow State Circus, who performed in the basketball arena.

Both of these troupes had some great performers – some probably as good as the ones who tour with Ringling – but when I saw “Bellobration” last January, I realized that they don’t call Ringling the “Greatest Show on Earth” for nothing.

The circus touches every primal emotion.

Clowns make us laugh.

Acrobats and trapeze artists scare the crap out of us, playing with our fear of heights or, more specifically, our fear of falling from great heights.

The showgirls titillate us.

The animal trainers allow us a glimpse of such fierce creatures as Bengal tigers. We know these animals could rip us apart in about 10 seconds flat, but they are kept at a safe distance from us and our kids and our light swords and our cotton candy, inside a cage with steel bars, so we can be excited without having to really be fearful.

The contortionists give us just a taste of the freak shows that were, until the middle of the 20^th century, a staple of many traveling carnivals.

The huge production numbers with their lush music and, at times, hundreds of performers on the arena floor, transport us from our present quotidian reality into another dimension. Before movies, TV, and radio, circuses were the only vehicle for this fantasy generation available to millions of Americans, especially in hundreds of smaller towns linked by the railroads on which Ringling still travels, in a mile-long passenger train, the longest in America.

If you haven’t seen the circus is a number of years, you may notice some changes. Ringling has broken out of the traditional three-ring circus form and introduced narrative threads into the shows. In “Bellobration,” the clown and acrobat Bello has a crush on a beautiful female aerialist and pursues her, with little success, throughout the performance.

In “Over the Top,” the classically trained, conventionally handsome Wagner portrays a traditional ringmaster who competes with clown Doughty (a sort of tall, crazed Pee Wee Herman-meets-Jerry Lewis in the body of John Malkovich) for possession of the ringmaster’s hat. He who possesses the hat gets to run the show.

Robin Oliver of Big Communications, Ringling’s publicist in Birmingham, told me that the ringmaster is supposed to represent all the adults in the audience who want things to go as planned and to get on to the next act, and the clown represents the children in the audience who like to see anarchy and crazy things happen. It seems that Ringling is using these characters to embody in one show the competing forces of tradition and innovation that shape it a new century, as it competes with such entertainment options as Cirque de Soleil and “The Lion King.”

By the way, a shout-out to Robin for allowing me to accompany her on Tuesday afternoon when the elephants and horses when taken off the train in a rail yard on Vanderbilt Road and walked to the BJCC. She and I walked for nearly the entire four-mile route in the rain and cold, watching as scores of people came out of their places of business along the route and marveled at this once-a-year spectacle, taking pictures with their cell phones. It was one of those corny, traditional news reporter-type gigs that I would not have missed, and we both managed to avoid catching pneumonia.

Show times for Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey Circus are 7:30 p.m. tonight; 11:30 a.m., 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 26, and 1 and 5 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 27. Tickets range from $10-$49 and are available through Ticketmaster.

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I’m jealous. It’s snowing in Birmingham and Matt Nathanson is speaking by phone from Miami. The singer/songwriter is departing shortly for the “Rock Boat Cruise” - an annual event featuring live music on the high seas. Nathanson - along with Marc Broussard, Brett Dennen and Toad The Wet Sprocket among others - will travel to Jamaica and the Cayman Islands on this year’s cruise. Before the ship sails, Boston native and current San Francisco resident Nathanson takes time to catch up with the Weekly.

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