The Veterans Room of New York City's Park Avenue Armory set the stage for a private concert by Tori Amos for 100 lucky fans. Described as "Greek, Moresque, and Celtic with a dash of the Egyptian, the Persian, and the Japanese," the room provided a fitting setting for one of the most eclectic and culturally curious artists in music today. Amos performed a career-spanning set featuring classics from her debut Little Earthquakes through to Abnormally Attracted to Sin.
David Gray brought his signature mix of acoustic instrumentation and electronic samples to Wall Street for an intimate performance at the Broad Street Ballroom, housed in a 1920s building renowned for its austere Classical Revival style. The breathtaking hall of the former Lee-Higginson Bank (now part of the first-ever private elementary school below Canal Street) provided a colorful setting for the multi-platinum singer-songwriter as he played songs from the eagerly anticipated Draw the Line and his hits.
Beneath New York City's Maritime Hotel, under the paper lanterns and vaulted ceilings of the Japanese-themed Hiro Ballroom, British neo-soul star Corinne Bailey Rae gave her fans a special treat: an intimate performance showcasing her new hit album, The Sea, seven weeks before its release.
The Black Crowes -- a rock band Billboard coined an "Allmans-to-Zappa synthesis of influences" -- broke onto the scene with their multiplatinum 1990 debut, Shake Your Moneymaker. The Georgia band has since released seven studio albums, which have racked up worldwide sales exceeding 19 million. The Crowes's 2008 LP Warpaint includes, according to Rolling Stone, "some of the best range and craft of the band's career" -- not a small feat for a group that's been on the scene for two full decades.
After an extensive renovation, The Lyric Oxford re-opened its doors in the summer of 2008 on "The Sqare" in Oxford, Mississippi. The Lyric originally opened as a silent movie theatre in 1913 and played home to a variety of films and events over the years -- including the world premiere of native Oxfordian William Faulker's "Intruder in the Dust" in 1949.
The Ravenswood Billboard Factory in Chicago, which now serves as a home for one of the nation's premier collections of vintage sports cars, provided a colorful venue for a secret concert by multiplatinum country singer Dierks Bentley on a cool April night. Built in 1920, the former paper warehouse and billboard photography studio's high vaulted ceilings gave plenty of room for the rousing sound of Bentley's free 'n easy brand of country.
The 19th-century Patrick F. Taylor Library at The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, University of New Orleans, is currently closed to the public while being restored to its original grandeur. But its doors were opened to a select few on a warm April night for a concert as unique as the setting: Booker T. and the Drive-by Truckers with special guest Bettye LaVette. Under the sculpted oak beams of the library's vaulted ceiling, rich soul music kept the crowd on its feet late into the night.
