Kara Hodge Entertainment Beat

Appalachian State University's Women's Center and Appalachian Popular Programming Society's Club Shows present Michelle Malone and the Jennifer Nettles Band tonight at Legends. Proceeds will benefit OASIS (Opposing Abuse with Service, Information and Shelter).

"The Women's Center approached us about booking Michelle and Jennifer to celebrate Women's History Month," said Brendan Rooney, Club Shows' chairperson. "We had room for them in the schedule and had the money, so we decided to go ahead and do it."

Atlanta-based guitarist Michelle Malone's sound is a mix of acoustic, folk and rock Ñ she's reminiscent of a grassroots version of Janis Joplin.

Malone has received critical acclaim for her newest release "Hello Out There." It's a 12-track CD that features the song "Sleepy Sunday Morning," co-written and recorded with Emily Saliers from the Indigo Girls.

In fact, Malone opened up for the Indigo Girls in the band's Oct. 26 concert at Appalachian. She performed over half of the set with the Indigo Girls, including "Sleepy Sunday Morning."

"I wanted a slightly more produced sound this time out but still maintain an organic foundation," said Malone in a press release about her album. "I think of it as sonic roots-rock."

Her first independent release garnered enough attention to land her a big deal, but after recording her major-label debut, Malone found that autonomy much better suited her.

She has since recorded with record labels that focus more on artist development rather than selling records, or she has put out her own work.

Malone founded SBS Records in 1992 as a way to reissue music that she owned. She released "Home Grown" on the SBS label in 1999 and has independently sold more than 15,000 copies.

Jennifer Nettles has been described by "Jezebel" magazine as "Atlanta's Darling."

She was awarded a slot at the 1999 Lilith Fair and the 2000 Big Day Out tour and made the cover of the fashion issue of "99Xpress" magazine.

So she's cool, loved and obviously beautiful, but what about her music?

Originally from Douglas, Ga., Nettles began singing at age seven. Her professional career started in 1996 when she started playing gigs on the Atlanta acoustic scene. Her first album

"Soul Miner's Daughter" sold over 20,000 copies independently.

Backed by drummer Brad Sikes, pianist Scott Nicholson, bassist Wesley Luphold and percussionist Mike Cebulski (otherwise known as the Jennifer Nettles Band), Nettles has diverged on her already successful solo career.

Her newest album "Story of Your Bones" has already sold 4,000 copies independently in the first six months and is receiving radio play on both commercial and college stations in New York, Cleveland, Memphis, Tenn., Atlanta and throughout the Carolinas.

Nettles also received the 2000 Independent Musician of the Year from Musician's Atlas.

Her sound is rootsy blues and acoustic rock. She has a signature voice and a fantastic writing style. Her songs are honest and passionate.

"It is definitely a dissection of my emotional inner workings," said Nettles in an "Atlanta City" magazine interview. "My works have always been autobiographical. However, this past year for me has been filled with such extreme highs and lows that this album is without a doubt, for me, the most gut wrenching."

Malone and Nettles perform tonight at Legends. Doors open at 9 p.m. Tickets are $5 for students/advanced and $7 for guests/door or a $5 donation. Advanced tickets can be purchased at the Information Desk located in Plemmons Student Union.

The event is B.Y.O.B. with a 6-pack limit. Proper I.D. is required. For more information contact Club Shows' chairperson Brendan Rooney at the A.P.P.S. office at 262-2855, or the Women's Center at 262-6744.

For more information about Michelle Malone or Jennifer Nettles check out their Web sites at www.michellemalone.com and www.neptin.com/jen/.

The Mass returns Friday, bringing hip-hop back to Boone

Dan Frazier Contributing Writer

Boone's most reputable hip-hop act The Mass will make its first appearance at Legends on Friday. This is a great accomplishment considering the short-lived career of one year.

The group's success can only be contributed to its own determination to establish its music in Boone, self-promoting themselves by playing numerous parties and having massive advertising.

Starting the group's career was a hard feat considering there is no hip-hop scene in Boone, or at least there was not until the members of The Mass and their friends recently established one. "It's not going to stop (hip-hop in Boone). It's growing faster than I thought it would," said The Mass member Jonathan Camp.

The origins of The Mass began when Camp (Orion) and John Harris (Renaissance) met in the spring of 1998 and began to write music together as Orion And The Renaissance. They eventually put out a record titled "Carriage Of The Soul."

The album includes future The Mass member and childhood friend of Harris, Anthony Vaughn (Mahsi), on certain tracks.

Harris and Vaughn then went on to join another group project named Blue Prints (BP). BP was a collaboration of hip-hop using live instruments, which included future The Mass member Nick Hope on drums. BP only lasted a few months but made a presence of hip-hop in Boone.

BP disbanded due to different artistic ideals, according to Vaughn. Shortly after, Vaughn, Harris and Camp came back together to form Critical Mass in March 2000.

Vaughn and Harris performed as MC's while Camp supplied the music by working with several different work stations using buttons to cue in and out certain sampled sounds such as drum beats and bass lines. Camp will also occasionally MC and play guitar.

Nathan Harris (no relation to John Harris and also known as Mister Mo' Halyn) joined the group four months later as a third MC.

The origin of the name Critical Mass was from a series of books by James Redfoot. The term is also in chemistry and can be applied to the meaning of the group's name according to Camp.

"At the critical mass of a reaction, it is the turning point with the reactant, which we like to refer to as our audience, that it makes a change," said Camp. After its show at Rafter's Grill and Bar on Feb. 2, Critical Mass shortened its name to just "The Mass" to avoid legal trouble after they discovered another band with the same name.

A classical guitarist from Winston-Salem only known to the group as "Jah-Pops" joined the group for one of their Geno's Sports Lounge concerts. Jah-Pops is an experienced guitar player, having shared the stage with Carlos Santana and The Wailers in his career. "He was a friend of John's and we didn't even meet him before the show. He just got up on stage and completely played the whole show improvising," says Camp.

His performance that night impressed the group enough to add him as a full-time member. Rob Khouri (DJ Wolf) will be performing for the first time simultaneously with The Mass at Legends. Khouri is a reputable DJ, having won third place in the World Supremacy DJ Contest. During past shows, he would spin records before and in between The Mass's sets. Now he is a full-time member, spinning records as they perform. The Mass also decided to reinstate live instrumentation.

The group then recruited old Blue Print band member Hope to keep the beat on drums. Friday's show will be Hope's first concert as The Mass's drummer. The Mass is presently also looking for a female vocalist to join the group. The Mass has their own record label named Akashic Records and they do their own productions under Past Infinite Productions. Under this label, they have released the "Orion and The Renaissance album," a six-track EP as Critical Mass and a full-length album as The Mass titled "Zep Tepi."

Future plans for Akashic records include some solo projects from The Mass members, such as Mister Mo' Halyn with "Call It What You Want To," Mahsi with "The Book of Mahsi" and another Orion and The Renaissance album.

The Mass is currently recording in a studio in Atlanta for its new album "Sacred Science," due in early May. The Mass also plans to expand its touring base out of Boone. A possible college-circuit tour is in the making according to Vaughn. Due to certain connections, The Mass may even have an opportunity to perform overseas in Amsterdam, Holland, over the summer.

The Mass provides a party-like atmosphere at its concerts. The group has had costume themes for their shows in the past such as "'70s Funk" and "Pajama Jam." "(The Mass's concerts) may be titled as a show but it's really a party. Everybody comes to have a good time," says N. Harris.

The Mass also always encourages audience members to join them on stage to freestyle rhyme and most of the time someone will. The Mass is satisfied with how they have been embraced in Boone. "I can't say anything better about the crowd. I love the fact that people love hip-hop up here.

It surprised me at first, but I can see why because people want something that is not here," said Camp. "When I first moved up here, I didn't think there was a chance that I would ever perform hip-hop music here. I didn't think people would like it, but it turned into a blessing in disguise.

Up here (Boone) is, or was, untouched by hip-hop. If I can play my hip-hop, then I can play it for people that don't necessarily have the presumption that this (mainstream hip-hop) is the only thing going out because they haven't heard the other side, so I kind of have a clean slate to write on or make an impression on.

"There's not that much pre-judgment in Boone as there is in a lot of other areas. There's a lot of students here that don't know about us, and we really to touch the whole campus, to really get a buzz going." The Mass likes to describe its music as plain hip-hop.

"You can call it basically what you want to, but it takes a little bit of every type of music. Everybody (in The Mass) has different musical tastes. Everybody just comes together to do something that sounds good, and it all just melts into the mass," said N. Harris. "I consider hip-hop as a collaboration of so many different things. In hip-hop you don't just use one genre of music.

It incorporates everything. That's why I think so many people can relate to it," said Vaughn. "If anything, I think we try to strive to be conscious hip-hop," said Camp. "That is my underlined emphasis of what I am trying to do. I don't know of any other hip-hop that is more conscious.

Listen to any one song (written by The Mass), and you will notice a big difference." "The title conscious is just a category, but it really needs no category," said N. Harris. "Just go in (to the studio) and write down what you feel and it will take care of itself."

"I just think there is a lot of people that want something to listen to that's just not out there right now. They don't have an alternative as opposed to traditional mainstream hip-hop, and if that is all they hear, they don't know there is anything else," says Camp.

See The Mass at Legends tomorrow night.

Tickets are $5 advance andsp $6 at the door. Doors open at 9 p.m. The show is BYOB with 6-pack limit with proper ID.