It’s Instant Choreography Week, on “Dancing with the Stars” and with the finals approaching the demands of the competition are even more intense. Besides the normal individual dance the stars are given the music for their second routine with just 20 minutes to rehearse. The night puts Disney star Chelsea Kane back on top, and after a triumphant comeback last week, Ralph Macchio dances on an injured knee and takes a devastating tumble back to the bottom.

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This week our five hopefuls had to do double duty, performing a contemporary hit and a song from yesteryear. Like always, there were some definite winners and losers, the specifics of which shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s been watching these past couple weeks.

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It was “A Night of Greatness” on Dancing with the Stars, and that means a lot of ballroom champions you’ve never heard of. With an extra judge on the panel, two champion coaches, and an additional team dance, the scores are all over the place, shaking up the leader board again, and leaving some stars to achieve “greatness” while others just can’t keep up.

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This week our six hopefuls took on songs by Carole King, who they have no doubt never heard of before because they’re all like 12-years old. Despite that, they performed well! Well, most of them, that is.

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Denison Witmer‘s newest record, The Ones Who Wait is a few years overdue but worth the wait.  The soft-spoken folk rock singer from Philadelphia, PA, delivers 11 beautiful, somber, and impassioned tracks on this unassuming serenade.  Taking cues from singer-songwriter greats like the departed Vic Chestnutt and Elliot Smith, Witmer bears more than skilled lyricism, he pours the pain of a hundred souls into each and every melody, hum, and strum.

A labored project, The Ones Who Wait, came together over years and amidst the passing of Witmer’s father.  In this respect, it could be the saddest record of 2011.  On the other hand, Witmer finds an optimism on songs like “Influence,” one of the more upbeat tracks on the album, and “Two And A Glass Rose,” a simple acoustic ode.  The record needs some of this uplifting because, for the most part, The Ones Who Wait is heartbreaking.

Songs like “Every Passing Day” and “One More Day” are outright stabbing.  The former is quiet and eery (much like Jeffrey Luck Lucas’ “On The Llano”) and relentlessly somber.  Lyrics like, “I don’t remember where the pieces fell,” linger with a ghostly echo.  On “One More Day,” Witmer brings us into the pain and asks us if we understand how deep it goes.  The closing lyric, “Can’t you see how much this hurts me?” cuts deep at the end of this short, but haunting, track.

Witmer’s at his best on “Cursing,” a passionate challenge to faith that takes the record out of the slow-stare-out-the-window pace.  It adds layers of vocals and is this writer’s bet for best live performance.

The Ones Who Wait is a gorgeous accomplishment but proceed with caution. This record is beautiful but beyond heavy.

Buy The Ones Who Wait on bandcamp for $10.00 (with bonuses)  and on iTunes for $9.99.

Rating: 9/10

Tracklist:

1. Hold On

2. Brooklyn With Your Highest Wall

3. Life Before Aesthetics

4. Your Friend

5. Influence

6. Every Passing Day

7. Light On My Face

8. Two And A Glass Rose

9. One More Day

10. Cursing

11. I Live In Your Ghost

It’s “Guilty Pleasures” night on Dancing with the Stars, and that means ballroom performances to songs we’re all embarrassed to like, aka my iTunes library. With stars giving mostly good performances, some surprises of the night include the resurrection of music group Hanson, a ballroom mishap from someone other than Kirstie Alley, and the first two “tens” of the season.

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I woke up this morning in a little bit of a funk.  I rolled out of bed, made a cup of peppermint tea and started to reflect a little bit on my past.  Invariably, I was met with images of both positivity and negativity, some lovely and others heart wrenching.  I checked my inbox, and found the video for Kill your Darlings, and, as I watched the visual interpretation of the melody, felt oddly at peace with my decisions in life.

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It was just last year Beatcrave was on the scene at the Roxy to catch the first Los Angeles performance by a young UK singer, Ellie Goulding. Since then Goulding’s buzz has continued to soar with numerous awards in the UK and a recent slot at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. With all the buzz her fans in Los Angeles were eagerly awaiting her return on Wednesday at The Music Box Theatre. There was so much anticipation that this sold out show already had a line forming around the building by noon.

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Los Angeles locals, Barbara and Ethan Gruska form The Belle Brigade and they open strong with their first self-titled release from Warner / Reprise Records.  Hailing from musical ilk (father Jay Gruska (long-time songwriter) and grandfather John Williams (Grammy and Oscar-winning film composer) and a city built on creativity (maybe a little familial competition, too), the Gruskas were practically born to churn out good records.  The brother sister duo have made a solid, happy folk album a la Simon & Garfunkel or Belle & Sebastian, with a sweet idealism that says, through music, these ought to be simpler times.

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