PERFORMING ARTS

Ragweed at Birchmere

In nearly 10 years of touring and recording, the Texas-Oklahoma band Cross Canadian Ragweed has garnered a significant following. Finally, after four independently released albums, the group attracted the interest of a major label, Universal South, which last year put out the quartet's self-titled CD, its best and most cohesive effort yet.

Sunday night at the Birchmere, the band confirmed the buzz with a set of raucous country-rock. The Texas contingent of the audience, already familiar with the music, was on its feet and the rest of the crowd was stunned in its seats by dazzling frontman Cody Canada. Blond of hair, pouty of bottom lip and barefoot onstage, Canada played electric guitar like Kurt Cobain and sang like a revved-up Steve Earle. While he looked like a natural rock star, he never resorted to the posturing he's clearly entitled to.

Accompanied by young, lean and hungry band mates -- rhythm guitarist Grady Cross, drummer Randy Ragsdale (the name of the Canadian-free band becomes clear) and six-string bassist Jeremy Plato -- Canada convincingly put across gritty, grounded songs describing the tribulations of adulthood: "17," with its ring-of-truth line "You're always 17 in your home town"; "Freedom," a ballad of jingo-free patriotism with a killer middle solo; and a new, twang-laden, untitled song, which was the highest-charged of the spirited set and showed why the band deserves its following.

Opening the evening was Last Train Home, which played a satisfying set of memorably melodic roots-rock, including several glistening songs from its new CD, "Time and Water."

-- Buzz McClain

Beats for Peace Tour

Because most folks who rhyme for a living must generate dollars, they're more likely to spew couplets about pimping than about politics. Even so, clusters of acts choose to incorporate politically charged material into their tunes. The Beats for Peace tour rounded up plenty of them Sunday night at Nation for a sparingly attended, overlong event that merged spoken-word bursts, retro crooning and freestyle rhyme invention.

The six-city trek included more than a dozen information tables from local and national left-leaning organizations touting everything from socialism to D.C. statehood. While the tour might be short-lived, this particular gig wasn't. With no fewer than 10 acts, this five-hour-plus endeavor grew laborious by the time versatile hip-hopper Medusa uttered her first words. A virtual unknown on the East Coast, the underground rap vet and part-time actress belts out songs and spouts rhymes à la Lauryn Hill. "I'm the hip-hop high priestess," she declared with panache. "Rhyming was my thesis."

Preceded by ex-Goodie Mob member Cee-Lo and a DJ set from De La Soul's Maseo, headliner Pharoahe Monch showed why he's such a highly regarded lyricist. But earlier, freestyler extraordinaire Supernatural virtually yanked the rug out from under his colleagues with a mind-boggling, spontaneous set. "I truly am the king," he rightfully crowed. "Let the record stop. I can rhyme about anything!"

Adding a classy Mother's Day touch, Supernatural's mom, Minnie Price, was in attendance, and the wordsmith serenaded her. She was visiting from Indiana and hadn't seen her son perform in nearly a decade. "It was excellent," she said proudly afterward. "He's awesome."

-- Craig Smith

Virginia Opera's 'La Boheme'

Most of the principal singers were making their mainstage debuts in the Virginia Opera's "La Boheme" last weekend at George Mason University, but they performed like veterans on Friday night.

This, as much as the general excellence of the singing and the sensitive conducting of Dan Saunders, was key to the production's success. The performers were young, attractive and painfully vulnerable under a bright, lively, cheerful exterior. In "La Boheme," above all, the audience must care about what happens to these people, and this cast made one care intensely.

This was an unusually well-integrated "La Boheme," not an easy accomplishment in an opera with a fragmented plot and four sharply contrasted moods pervading its four acts. Bernard Uzan's stage direction deserves great credit, as do the atmospheric set designs of Allen Charles Klein and the subtle lighting of John Steven Hoey. All worked together for a focused, concentrated impact.

Still, the singers are what matter most, and this cast was well chosen for voices and acting skills. Karen Driscoll was an appealing, gently tragic Mimi; Jonathan Boyd an impetuous, idealistic, moody Rodolfo; N'Kenge Simpson-Hoffman a capricious, larger-than-life Musetta; and Grant Youngblood (the only company veteran in this quartet) a solid Marcello with dark fires burning inside. Eric Greene performed well throughout as Colline and had his moment of glory in the coat song. Terence Murphy, as the musician Schaunard, had less opportunity for solo display but gave a witty performance describing the untimely death of a parrot. The orchestra and chorus performed at this company's usual high level of excellence.

-- Joseph McLellan