Sharp Notes April 17 2002
BRETHEREN LOST. Dan Kirby, bass player for R&B/jazz/band The Bretheren, died of heart failure on April 6. He was 54. A native of Boston and former Berklee School of Music student, Kirby worked in recent years as a plant manager in Norcross and played in The Bretheren since 1995. “Dan was funky funky,” says bandmate Larry Lester. “It will be hard to replace Dan’s bass, but impossible to replace Dan.”
HARPER FOLLY PTA. Clay and Mark Harper, the sibling duo of local music veterans, are working on a third installment of their star-studded children’s music series. Unlike previous releases, Not Dogs ... Too Simple (A Tale of Two Kitties) and The Slippery Ballerina — which feature appearances by Ian Dury, Moe Tucker, Kevn Kinney, Bruce Hampton and others — the latest project won’t be specifically narrative based.
“We’ve conceived this thing called ‘Science for Kids,’” says Mark Harper, “and we’re working up the songs for it. We’re not going to do any story with this one — those things represent so much fucking work. We’re just thinking of anything that would resemble a science question or issue. Clay’s been watching the Nature Channel, so his ideas are like songs about antelopes getting murdered.”
No release date or potential collaborators have been revealed as yet. “We’ve got a bunch of songs for it. It’s just a question of getting up off our asses to do it,” Harper says. “But we’ll probably do another one; we’re bored.”
ADIOS DIESTRA. Atlanta’s only (as far as we know) Latin alt-rock act, Diestra, made good on its long-intended relocation to Miami last week. Apparently, there’s more interest in Latin music down there. Of course, that means Atlanta’s White-Bread Music Coalition will be holding auditions for a new token Latin alt-rock act in the near future.
MORE COUPLING. Far be it from us to engage in wanton gossip, but we thought you’d like to know: Part-time Ultrababyfat bassist Britta Philips, who for the past two years has been a part-time member of New York indie-rock favorites Luna, is romantically linked with that band’s frontman, Dean Wareham.