Carbon/Silicon Credit: Photo by John Anderson

Free Yr Radio/The Current Broadcast

Seventh & Red River, Friday, March 14

Hip-hop, you don’t stop, not when Dizzee Rascal stakes the corner to throw down rhymes in time to a shirt designed with superheroes in mind. With shout-outs to the late Pimp C of Houston, Dizzee showed why he’s one of Britain’s best exports. His “Sirens” sent malingerers running and heads bobbing, even though his 15-minute set was over too soon. Same for the Duke Spirit, which was gone in the blink of a sweaty eye, thanks to vocalist Liela Moss suffering the flu. A crowd amassed for Hollywood starlet Zooey Deschanel and her anti-Svengali M. Ward, who have teamed up with a full backing band as She & Him. With the C&W-flavored “Change Is Hard,” Deschanel captured heartbreak in the Patsy Cline vein. Billy Bragg ripped a couple of quick ones, including his new single “Farm Boy,” but didn’t stick around to inflict his “Clash Fight Song” from the previous evening’s set. That’s too bad, because headlining the Toyotathon was Carbon/Silicon, featuring former Clash guitarist Mick Jones, whose new crew tested songs from The Last Post. Playing the sunny afternoon’s meatiest set, Jonesy sang about global warming and the war on terror and kept smiling all the way through.

This article appears in March 14 • 2008.

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