Everyday Music

CHICAGO — Disco singer Loleatta Holloway, known for the 1980 hit “Love Sensation,” has died.

Her manager, Ron Richardson, says Holloway died of heart failure Monday night at a suburban Chicago hospital. She was 64.

Holloway recorded several disco singles, including “Hit and Run” and “Runaway.” But she’s best known for “Love Sensation.”

Her vocals were sampled by Black Box for the 1989 hit “Ride on Time” and by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch for the song “Good Vibrations” in 1991.

Holloway was born in Chicago in 1946. She began singing gospel with the Holloway Community Singers and later with The Caravans. Her solo career began in the 1970s.

Richardson said funeral arrangements were pending, but that her family planned to hold a public memorial.

Eric R. Danton SOUNDCHECK: Music News & Views

1:00 p.m. EDT, March 21, 2011

You simply can’t see everything at South by Southwest, the annual music conference and festival that inundated Austin, Texas, last week.

It’s not for lack of trying, though. SXSW is a place where people who have trouble showing up anywhere on time become fanatical logisticians with elaborate shared spreadsheets on Google Docs compiling events and performers, in an effort to see as many bands as they can.

Even so, it’s impossible to catch more than a small fraction of the 2,000 acts that perform. I managed to see a few dozen bands, and these were some of my favorites:

Amanda Shires — There’s a little hitch in her sweet, dusty voice that just breaks your heart, and if that weren’t enough, the Lubbock, Texas, singer writes rootsy songs that are simply devastating. Her vivid l Read more…

NEW YORK — Eric Clapton is parting with dozens of guitars and amps at a New York City auction to benefit an alcohol and drug treatment center he founded in Antigua.

New York-Bonhams will offer the 70 guitars and 70 amps next Wednesday.

Among the highlights is a custom-made black Fender “Eric Clapton” signature Stratocaster, estimated at $20,000 to $30,000. It was used during the “Cream Reunion Shows” in New York and London in 2005.

A pair of 1970 Marshall vintage basket weave speaker cabinets are expected to fetch $8,000-$10,000.

The 65-year-old rock Hall of Famer is a recovered addict who established the non-profit Crossroads Centre in West Indies in 1998.

The British artist’s famous love song “Layla” was released in 1970 when he appeared with blues-rock band Derek and The Dominos.

More than a third of the concerts announced so far for ArtsQuest’s new Musikfest Café  already are half full, with two months until the first public show and some shows as far as four months away.

Yes front man Jon Anderson, who will play an acoustic show there May 2, the second night the venue will be open to the public, has filled almost two-thirds of the 520 available seats.

                   Jon Anderson: Selling well

Country singer Steve Azar, whose tickets only went on sale to ArtsQuest members Tuesday and go on sale to the public on Friday, already has a crowd of more than half capacity.

Local blues guitar favorite Craig Thatcher, who will headline a show with “special guests” to open the venue to the public May 1, also has the venue more than half full.

It’s impossible to know how many of those seats actually were sold to the public and how many are comp or reserved seats. But the numbers suggest tha

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When New York singer-songwriter Matt White opened for Edwin McCain at Sellersville Theater 1894 last November, he was compelling in a six-song set.

When White returned to Sellersville as a co-headliner with Brendan James on Wednesday, he again was great on six songs.

The problem was that he played 12 songs in his 50-minute set, the remainder of which was still wonderful in spots, but desultory and, ultimately, less satisfying.

Matt White at Sellersville Theater 1894

The oddity was that White started with a half-dozen songs, all from his sophomore disc, September’s “It’s the  Good Crazy,” and all with a three-member band – a contrast to November, when he played with just himself on piano and a guitar player.

There was the fun, jaunty, falsetto-filled opener, “And the Beat Goes.” There was the confident and  convoluted “Therapy.” There was a forceful “Colorblind,” on which he reached for notes that  seemed outside his grasp, yet somehow found them.

And there was a wonderfully done “Fallin’ in Love (With My Best Friend),” the disc’s first single, which he followed with “Taking on Water,” on which he nailed the vulnerable voice of the chorus.

But the first weak spot was when White played his biggest hit, “Best Days,” from his 2007 debut disc of the same name. White skipped the song in November, late

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