Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe RITZ TECHNO TRICKS Mixmasters from far and wide descend on the Ritz Plaza South Beach Hotel in Miami Tuesday for three days of techno workshops. "Remix Hotel" will present free master classes, workshops and clinics on music production and performance for electronic and urban music producers, engineers, musicians and DJs during the Winter Music Conference. Advertisement Digidesign will present special guests Bad Boy Bill and The Crystal Method for demonstrations revealing how they use Pro Tools. M-Audio will feature presentations by artists BT, The Crystal Method and Deepsky. Stanton has invited DJ Craze, DJ Faust, DJ Shortee and DJ Jesse Saunders to demonstrate the Final Scratch system. Other features will include product demos by Emagic and by developer partners Native Instruments, Ableton, Propellerheads, ArKaos VJ, Waves, Cakewalk and others. LITTLE CHARLIE AT BOTTOM LINE Alligator recording artists Little Charlie and the Nightcats will celebrate the release of their new album, "That's Big!," with a performance at the Bottom Line in New York April 3. Also on the bill is Debbie Davies. The Sacramento-based blues and jump masters' music is fueled by Little Charlie Baty's jaw-dropping guitar acrobatics and driven by Rick Estrin's original songs, cutting vocals and harmonica playing. Advertisement "I like songs that tell stories," said Estrin, "songs that are well-crafted and meaningful." He cites Sonny Boy Williamson II, Willie Dixon, Percy Mayfield, Baby Boy Warren and Leiber and Stoller as his main songwriting influences. As a harp player, Estrin has few peers. "We're good at putting on a show," he said. "People don't go out to see people who look like them. They want to see something special. I was schooled in this business to be a showman, and that's what you get when you come to see us." FACE THE MUSIC British quartet the Music is making waves with its eponymous Capitol debut, which opened at No. 4 on the Billboard "Heatseekers" chart. The band made its TV debut Tuesday on CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman" and will appear March 27 on NBC's "Later With Carson Daly." The Leeds-based foursome -- Robert Harvey on vocals, Adam Nutter on guitar, Stuart Coleman on bass and Phil Jordan on drums -- currently are on tour supporting fellow Capitol recording artists Coldplay. After the support tour the Music goes out on another jaunt beginning Wednesday in Seattle with the Vines. After performing April 26 at the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., the Music then returns to their native England for a pair of eagerly awaited May Bank Holiday concerts in Blackpool and Bridlington. Advertisement SAVAE'S ANCIENT ECHOES The past three years have been a powerful journey for early music ensemble Savae. It started when they came across a book of mystical translations of prayers in Aramaic, a language spoken in the Middle East 2,000 years ago. That was just the beginning of this historical mystery that unites ancient music and dialects with modern-day crises in politics and religion. The sacred music of Jerusalem's Second Temple maintains legendary status among scholars. According to the Bible, this ancient holy site was built around 540 B.C. and featured music many religion and music scholars believe directly influenced chant and other early Christian music. Both the music and temple, however, were lost for centuries. Until now. Savae's latest CD, "Ancient Echoes," draws on texts from the Torah, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the New Testament, and an ancient Greek tombstone. The music comes from research by a Jewish musicologist from the last century who demonstrated how dispersed and isolated Jews preserved ancient musical phrases for two millennia as well as from a French theorist who re-constructed the oldest form of musical notation that appears throughout the Bible. The dialect of the songs comes from an Egyptian phonetics instructor who taught members of Savae an ancient dialect spoken by Babylonian Jews and preserved to this day by Iraqi Muslims. Advertisement O'CONNOR SHOW MOVED The debut of songwriter Jennifer O'Connor's electric band, scheduled for Wednesday at North Six in Williamsburg, N.Y., has been switched to the Knitting Factory due to the unexpected closing of North Six by New York City fire marshals. The show will take place in the Tap Bar at the Knitting Factory at 10 p.m. Also on the bill are Frank Bango and Dan Brodie and the Broken Arrows. Admission is free. The Knitting Factory is located at 74 Leonard St. in lower Manhattan between Broadway and Church.
