Mann's World

On Friday I had the pleasure of running into my old Greensbor pal Snüzz at Cat's Cradle. I'm writing a story about how the Cradle has partnered with emusic.com to put live shows online for download. This isn't an endorsement of the service, just part of my ongoing interest into how technology is changing the music listening experience. 

However, I will endorse Snüzz's band, International Orange. I'd heard great things about them, but had yet to see them. In fact, I probably hadn't seen Snüzz in about 10 years. He's one of the most talented pop-music writers I've ever seen with a fine ear for harmony and an effortlessly powerful guitar style. I've long wondered why he isn't a world famous hitmaker; my best guess is that he's such an easygoing guy that he's more than happy to just hang out at home and play just for the fun of it. We all know that fame often has more to do with a willingness to play the game than it does with talent. With this band, he's teamed up perfectly with two other talented songwriters: Robert Sledge from Ben Folds Five and country-ish singer-songwriter Django Haskins. A weird aside -- all through their show I kept thinking that these guys should be Sweet at next year's cover-up. They've definitely got the chops and the harmonies, thought I'm not sure any of them could sing high enough to truly pull it off.