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When Citizen Cope released his self-titled debut album in 2002, The Washington Post hailed him as the “city’s most soulful export since Marvin Gaye.”
Declaring early on in his career his intention to fuse urban East-Coast R&B with his acoustic Southern singer-songwriter roots, Cope first drew acclaim for his intimate songwriting and unique sonic fusion, mixing blues, soul, folk and rock.
Since his debut release, a number of musicians have recorded his songs including Carlos Santana, Dido and Richie Havens. Santana recorded “Sideways” on the hit album “Shaman.” Some years later, Sheryl Crow recorded the song with Cope on her “100 Miles From Memphis” album, and invited him to join her in concert, including at the Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago. At the same festival, Eric Clapton brought Cope on stage to perform “Hands of the Saints” together.
In 2008, he wrote and recorded “Burnin’ Love” with Dido. In the same year, Havens released his version of Cope’s “Hurricane Waters,” and hip-hop artist Rhymefest recorded “Bullet.”
As for his own albums, in 2004, he released “The Clarence Greenwood Recordings,” which included the popular songs “Sideways” and “Son’s Gonna Rise,” featuring Santana on guitar.
A PopMatters review noted: “His disaffection with the limits of genre prompts him to craft songs that are self-consciously diverse, featuring multi-layered tracks that meld the beats of the ghettos of New York, the social conscience of reggae, the bongo drums of cosmopolitan cafes, and the glittering surrealistic timbres inspired by his work in Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland studios.”
“Every Waking Moment” followed in 2006, with Paste Magazine praising how Cope had transitioned from a “neo-soul ’60s folkie to a kind of hip-hop generation Van Morrison.”
On his most recent recording, “One Lovely Day,” Cope explores a more laid-back, Jack Johnson style with a tinge of reggae and rock.
Last year, one of his songs was included on the album “West of Memphis: Voices For Justice,” along with music by artists like Bob Dylan and Eddie Vedder.
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Last December, Maui musician Murray Thorne presented an ambitious solo performance of Pink Floyd’s epic album “The Wall.” The success of those shows has inspired him to re-stage the musical/visual extravaganza Aug. 22 and 23 in The Mill House at the Maui Tropical Plantation.
“We’re doing it again and trying to add as much more as possible as far as the visuals to make it more spectacular,” says Thorne. “We sold out both nights at Stella Blues (last year) when we did it there, but people wished they could have seen it in a bigger room. So we were trying to figure out where we could do it with all the visuals and The Mill House has a nice, big room we can use. People will be able to see it clearly from everywhere.”
This special two-night event will include 360-degree synchronized room lighting by Keith Langlois of Epic Lighting and an interactive large-screen movie (created by Murray) with projection and video mapping by Event Horizon Audiovisual.
“We’ve added more lights and visual projection,” Thorne says. “It’s going to be more like the Pink Floyd ‘Wall’ as far as giving the illusion of the grandeur of it.”
One of the top five best-selling albums of all time (with worldwide sales of more than 23 million), Pink Floyd’s innovative rock opera explored the world of a troubled, alienated rock star named Pink, who had lost his father during World War II. The double album included such memorable songs as “Comfortably Numb,” “Hey You,” and the anthem of youth rebellion, “Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2,” with its famous “We don’t need no education” chorus.
A massively popular concert production, it has been recreated a number of times by Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters, including at the Berlin Wall in 1990, and is set to become a major theater production. “Billy Elliot” creator Lee Hall is collaborating with Waters on a stage version.
In 2012, an Immersion seven-disc box set of the album was released, including two CDs of demos and a recording of the 1980-81 stage show.
“After 33 years, the record’s criticism of institutional corruption, its depiction of angst and loneliness, and most of all the music remain as powerful testaments to the legacy of Pink Floyd,” praised PopMatters.
A longtime Pink Floyd fan, Thorne began thinking about performing his own version a few years ago.
“I always played bits and pieces from ‘The Wall’ in my solo acoustic sets,” he explains. “And I always got a good response. On some slow nights, I’d try and do all of Side One, and I’d think, ‘I wonder if I could figure out a way to do the whole thing?’
Then at one of the Zeptember shows with Scott Johnson (of Dogtowne Design), he introduced me to Keith Langlois, who is a big Pink Floyd fan. I told him about my idea, and we took it from there.”
So how did he envision creating a solo version of such a complex work?
“I figured out ways with minimal effects as possible to play it solo without any backing tracks,” he says. “I always wanted to do it with visuals, and I took about a year collecting images, with some referencing the Gerald Scarfe artwork, and a lot of it being my own interpretation of the album. A lot of it comes from war imagery. I had an uncle who was lost in World War II on a merchant ship. I grew up with these World War II stories, and the imagery touched me.”
Raised in Canada, Thorne spent the early part of his career touring with several bands before branching off as a solo artist, eventually landing on Maui in 1997. In 2009, he released an album of all original material, “Tin Can Telephone.” Besides his solo shows, he is probably best known for his exuberant performances with the Irish music band the Celtic Tigers, who play Mulligans on the Blue on Sunday nights.
“I’m not trying to treat this as a tribute to Pink Floyd,” he concludes. “And I’m not trying to sound exactly like Pink Floyd because that would be a ridiculous endeavor. To me, it’s an interpretation and a homage to the story and to the music. I’m so happy to be doing this again and with the same crew of people. The last time was like a rehearsal, and now we’re going to do the real show.”
* Murray Thorne presents Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” on Aug. 22 and 23 at The Mill House at the Maui Tropical Plantation. Seats are $25 in advance and $30 at the door. Tickets are available at Requests Music in Wailuku, 808 Deli in Kihei, Still Smokin’ in Kihei, Kahului and Lahaina and The Mill House box office in Waikapu.
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As part of the 4th annual Maui Jazz & Blues Festival, a number of free events will be presented around Maui during August and up to the beginning of September.
At Whole Foods from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Fridays, Fulton Tashombe, John Zangrando, Benny Uyetake, and Phil Smith & Friends will perform.
At the Whalers Village in Kaanapali from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, performers include Zangrando, Tashombe, Gene Argel, Smith and Danny M.
Teddy’s Bigger Burgers at the Lahaina Gateway will feature guitarist Uyetake from 4 to 5 p.m. Aug. 31.
Kula Hardware & Nursery will host Uyetake and Smith from 10 to 11 a.m. Aug. 23. Both musicians will also play at the Haiku Hardware & Garden from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Aug. 23; and at BMW of Maui from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Aug. 29.
At the Wharf Cinema Center in Lahaina, music will be performed by guitarist Randall Respond and saxophonist Bruce Bogie on Sept. 3.
Finally, Smith and Danny M will perform from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 3 at Hawaiian Moons Natural Foods in Kihei.