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Music
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The Tommy Gallant Jazz Festival
One of the Seacoast’s
long running cultural events, the Tommy Gallant Jazz Festival will take
place on Sunday, July 5, at Prescott Park. The festival runs from noon
until 6 p.m. and will once again feature an array of local and regional
talent performing over four 75-minute sets. Sorry, fans of vocal
jazz—the emphasis of this year’s event is purely on the instrumental
side. The list of performers includes Billy Novick’s Blues Syncopators,
and saxophonist Fred Haas and guitarist Dave Newsam leading a segment
titled the “LA4 Tribute to saxophonist Bud Shank.” Then there’s The
Press Room Trio of Ryan Parker, John Lockwood and Les Harris Jr.
performing with guests Trent Austin on trumpet and David Wells on
saxophone, plus the Seacoast Big Band, directed by Dave Seiler.
The festival celebrates the legacy of the late Tom Gallant,
founder and long-time centerpiece of Sunday Jazz at The Press Room in
Portsmouth. Gallant, who passed away in 1998, and Dave Seiler helped
organize the annual event, initially dubbed the Seacoast Jazz Festival,
after the demise of the Portsmouth Jazz Festival in early 1996. Renamed
the Tommy Gallant/Seacoast Jazz Festival in 1999, the concert has long
been a showcase for local and regional talent with performers of
international stature, such as guitarist Howard Alden, vocalist Luciana
Souza and trumpeter Bobby Shew, also appearing at the festival.
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South Berwick native Slaid Cleaves brings new CD to his hometown
Everything
about singer-songwriter Slaid Cleaves’ new album, from the title and
cover art to the lyrics and melodies, gushes with pending tragedy.
Released in April, “Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away” suggests
the infirmity and transience of the fleeting things we take for
granted. Cleaves tried to make that theme inhabit every aspect of his
record.
“I just learned early on that in order to make an impression on
people, in order for people to remember my songs, I had to really
strike them in the heart and really move them,” he said. And striking
the heart means stoking the tragic.
Cleaves spoke to The Wire by phone while driving to Pittsburgh
for the first leg of a tour that will keep him on the road for five
months. The tour swings through his hometown of South Berwick, Maine,
on Thursday, July 2, kicking off the 10th annual Hot Summer Nights
concert series.
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local maestro Nat Baldwin plugged in Spin
Upright bassist Nat Baldwin’s musical innovation has put him on
a platform that continues to steadily rise. He is now an official
member of New York-based experimental rock band Dirty Projectors, which
is in the midst of an extensive summer tour and landed a write-up in
the latest issue of Spin magazine. The article on page 44 of the July
edition of Spin includes a large color photo of the six-piece band on
the streets of Brooklyn, and Baldwin’s scruffy face is grinning at the
far left.
This is not Baldwin’s first time in the spotlight. He performed
on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” last fall as a member of
Brooklyn-based band Department of Eagles. He has also garnered
considerable attention as a solo artist with at least three albums
under his belt. His inventive double-bass style and dynamic vocals have
made him a local favorite at live shows.
Baldwin’s own full band includes the three operators of Buoy in
Kittery, Maine—guitarist Al Mead, saxophonist Jeremy LeClair and
trumpet player Brett Deschenes. The Dirty Projectors offered a
memorable performance at Buoy in February, and now the group is
swinging through Canada before trickling down the West Coast with gigs
in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.
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a roundup of recent local releases
‘Superliminal’
by The Screen
Portsmouth’s hard rockers The Screen had been fairly quiet on the
Seacoast since releasing “Antitrust” in 2005. But they are quiet no
more. With the recent unveiling of “Superliminal,” the local trio
behind The Screen are just the way we like them: loud.
Guitarist and vocalist Robert Beal, bassist Erik Ralston and
drummer Jarrett Osborn met while students at the University of New
Hampshire and formed The Screen in 2001. Since then, the group has
earned a reputation as one of the Seacoast’s most riveting rock bands,
and perhaps nowhere has their power been better demonstrated than on
“Superliminal.”
Recorded at Beal’s studio BB3 Audio, the album kicks off with
“001,” which churns and boils until it reaches a scorching guitar solo.
Beal is a downright nasty guitarist, and his talents are on full
display here. The intensity remains high with the heavy chords of
“Stand Up Guy,” and later instrumental experiments give the disc a
cerebral appeal.
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‘92982’
by William Basinski
label: 2062
genre: memory reels
suitable for: Sept. 29, 1982
From the composer himself:
“Home at last after a day of work at the answering service. Answering
phones for Calvin Klein, Bianca Jagger, Steve Rubell and all the other
somebody people ... Roger is in the front, gluing old shoes on canvas
and painting them orange. I’m clicking the old Norelcos back and forth
between channels. All the windows are open. The sound is spreading all
over downtown Brooklyn mixing with the helicopters, sirens, pot smoke
and fireworks ...”
I’ve included Basinski’s own description
of his work because, like his most well known series of albums, “The
Disintegration Loops,” this latest archival release circa 1982 seems to
be the sum of something larger. Basinski, an artist and composer who
has been experimenting with tape loops since the early ’80s, was
famously transferring the music that would make up “The Disintegration
Loops” when the tape began to fall apart in the spools. A recorder
captured the decaying sound as the loops slowly faded into oblivion.
This all occurred in September 2001, and apparently Basinski, eyes on
Manhattan from the roof of his Brooklyn home, was listening to the
sound rise and fall as the towers went down.
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Dave Gerard books two CD release shows
Local roots
rocker Dave Gerard, perhaps best known as front man of Durham-based
band Truffle, will celebrate the release of his fourth solo album with
a pair of upcoming shows in Durham and Londonderry.
Recorded
at Thundering Sky Studio in South Berwick, Maine, “The Zoomy Trail”
includes a blend of Gerard’s soulful arrangements and industrial
sounds, with some tracks showcasing acoustic solo performances and
others entailing full band ensembles. Gerard roped in several of his
Truffle band mates and other guest musicians to round out the sound.
The
first release show takes place at Three Chimneys Inn in Durham on
Friday, June 19 at 7 p.m. The second occurs at the Tupelo Music Hall in
Londonderry on Friday, June 26 at 8 p.m. The first 50 guests at Three
Chimneys will receive a copy of the CD. Tickets to the Tupelo show are
$15 and include a copy of the disc. For more information, visit
www.gerardtruffle.com.
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Seacoast Wind Ensemble salutes historic peace makers from around town and around the globe
President
Theodore Roosevelt’s work to end the Russo-Japanese War made him the
first U.S. president to win a Nobel Peace Prize. Diplomats from Russia
and Japan met in Portsmouth as Roosevelt’s guests in 1905, paving the
way for the signing of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty.
With music for four historic peacemakers—Jimmy Carter, Martti
Ahtisaari, Claiborne Pell and George Mitchell—the third annual
Portsmouth Peace Treaty concert will pay musical homage to the ongoing
peace efforts Roosevelt helped initiate in Portsmouth more than a
century ago.
The historic occasion is well documented, and the Portsmouth
Peace Treaty Forum has worked hard to keep people aware of the
Seacoast’s role in Roosevelt’s peacemaking efforts. But residents might
be less aware of the important role music played in the peace process.
The State Department hired a military band from Boston to come to
Portsmouth in 1905 and serve as entertainment for the visiting
delegates. In celebration of the treaty, the band led a massive parade
that stretched from the area of the salt piles on Market Street to the
former Rockingham County Courthouse several blocks away. The mayor of
Portsmouth convinced the same band to play weekly concerts in Market
Square and at Fort Constitution for the next four weeks.
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Kate Redgate’s long journey leads to CD release at the Firehouse
Kate
Redgate spent much of her childhood horseback riding across the farm in
rural Illinois where she grew up. Adopted as an infant from Scott Air
Force Base in 1970, her old horse Rusty became her closest friend. She
spent whole days atop Rusty’s bare back, racing carefree over the
farm’s green pastures.
Redgate also started singing in a church chorus when she was
about 8 years old. The organist later gave her piano lessons, and
another church patron taught her how to play guitar, showing her the
chords to old John Denver tunes.
Music soon became as much a passion for Redgate as horseback
riding. “I used to ride my horse at the Boots and Saddle Club, and they
always had country music blasting on the loud speakers,” she said.
Now just shy of 39, Redgate’s life has taken numerous turns over
the last three decades. She has moved around the country, lived on the
streets, worked countless jobs, gotten married and divorced, and raised
two children of her own. But the Newburyport resident still vividly
recalls the simplicity of her youth, when she wanted little more than
to sing and ride horses.
“Ironically enough, those two things are my life right now,” she said.
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by Frank Black and the Catholics
2002, SpinART Records
the sound: The album starts and
ends with performances of “The Black Rider,” a cover of the title track
from a Tom Waits musical. The first version is closer to Waits’, with
its jaunty music and menacing take on the “Flintstones” theme: “Come on
along with the Black Rider / We’ll have a gay old time /Lay down in the
web of the Black Spider / I’ll drink your blood like wine.” The second
version is a surf tune, with a Ventures-like guitar riff and Black
crooning the lyrics in a velvety voice as accompanying vocals scream in
the background. These two songs signify the transformation of Black
Francis, shrieking college-radio god of the Pixies, to Frank Black,
alt-country rock extraordinaire. The album’s title track picks up speed
with a call-and-response chorus and Black singing in a nerdy timbre.
“Southbound Bevy” pits Black’s falsetto against a slide guitar,
reminding us, “Don’t get your spirits high / they’ll all come crashing
down.” In arguably the best song on the album, “If You Leave,” Black
sings/talks about what would happen if he lost his love.
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Ogunquit Chamber Music Festival celebrates its 15th year
Ogunquit Performing Arts is celebrating the crystal anniversary
of its annual Chamber Music Festival with four concerts in two
locations. The festival features live performances of works by Haydn,
Mozart, Mendelssohn, Debussy and others, with nightly shows from
Thursday to Sunday, June 11 to 14.
The first two concerts begin at 8 p.m. at the Dunaway Center on
School Street. The Thursday night show features the New York-based
Ambrosia Trio, with Beulah Cox on violin, Martin Fett on cello and
Frank Daykin on piano. Formed in 1990, the trio has performed
internationally and across the United States, recording two CDs along
the way. Their performance will include works by composers Joseph
Haydn, Felix Mendehlssohn and Joaquin Turina.
Topping the bill on Friday night is The Boston Chamber Music
Society, with Thomas Hill on clarinet, Randall Hodgkinson on piano, and
guest artist Sharan Leventhal on violin. The reduced trio will feature
works by Igor Stravinsky, Franz Schubert, Darius Milhaud and Malcolm
Arnold.
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Mike and Ruthy waltz into The Red Door with a new CD
The
folk tradition runs thick with Ruth Ungar Merenda. Her father Jay Ungar
and stepmother Molly Mason have been playing music together since the
late 1970s and are highly respected acoustic string musicians. Her
mother Lyn Hardy is another accomplished singer-songwriter and
guitarist in the folk and country vein.
Ruth has carried on the family tradition with her husband and
long-time musical partner Michael Merenda, a Durham native. The couple,
known jointly as Mike and Ruthy, just released their second album as a
duo, “Waltz of the Chickadee,” which they’ll introduce to the Seacoast
with a show on Friday, June 5.
Many of Ruth’s family members perform on “Waltz.” Jay Ungar
plays fiddle and mandolin on certain tunes and Molly Mason plays bass
on several tracks. Lyn Hardy adds backup vocals on a couple of songs.
Mike and Ruth both sing and play guitar, while Ruth adds fiddle and
Mike also plays banjo. A number of close friends pitch in other
instruments, like drums, violin and cello.
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piano phenom plays Portsmouth
Sixteen-year-old New Hampshire native Matt Savage brings his
venerated piano talents to Portsmouth on Sunday, June 7. The Matt
Savage Trio makes its first Port City appearance at St. John’s
Episcopal Church beginning at 3 p.m.
A resident of Francestown, Savage began making waves in the jazz world
when he was only 8 years old, playing for Dave Brubeck and jamming with
Chick Corea. In subsequent years, he would play with a number of other
living jazz legends, including McCoy Tyner, Clark Terry and Jimmy
Heath, as well as soul goddess Chaka Khan. He has performed live on the
“The Late Show with David Letterman,” “Late Night with Conan O’Brien”
and “Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz” on NPR.
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treasure your jazz radio gems
For fans of jazz radio, pickings in the regional market recently
became slimmer. Earlier this month, Boston’s WFNX cancelled Jeff
Turton’s show “The Sunday Jazz Brunch” after 26 years of weekly
broadcasts. The reason for the cancellation, according to an e-mail
Turton sent out, was “budget cuts due to diminished revenues at both
’FNX and at the Boston Phoenix.” Turton also stated that he “wasn’t
surprised,” but was “incredibly disappointed.” As I’m sure were his
many loyal listeners.
Within a week came news that WGBH in Boston would replace its
“Jazz Gallery” overnight hosts—Al Davis, Kevin Ball and Ron Gill—with a
syndicated show taped on the West Coast, called “Jazz with Bob
Parlocha.” The irony is that, at one time, Parlocha was the main
overnight jazz host for ’GBH. By removing the local hosts in favor of a
syndicated show from across the country, ’GBH has eliminated the
opportunity for musicians from the greater Boston region to appear as
guests and promote their gigs and recordings. Fortunately, Eric
Jackson’s show will remain a central part of the station’s early
evening schedule.
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Steve Earle plays solo at The Music Hall
Steve Earle first met Townes Van Zandt in 1972 during a
performance at The Old Quarter in Houston, Texas. According to legend,
Van Zandt heckled Earle throughout the show, repeatedly requesting the
song “Wabash Cannonball.” When Earle confessed that he didn’t know how
to play the tune, Van Zandt was incredulous.
“You call yourself a folksinger and you don’t know ‘Wabash Cannonball?’” the famed singer-songwriter supposedly yelled.
Earle, a relative newcomer to the scene at the time, was not rattled.
He countered by playing Van Zandt’s “Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold,” a
notoriously difficult song with rapid lyrics. With that, the two
musicians formed a lasting bond. Earle even named his son, Justin
Townes Earle, after the late folk icon.
Earle pays tribute to his mentor on his latest album, “Townes,”
which he will introduce to Seacoast fans with a solo acoustic show at
The Music Hall on Thursday, May 28. The new disc, which follows Earle’s
Grammy Award-winning 2007 release “Washington Square Serenade,”
includes 15 covers of his favorite Van Zandt songs.
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local band Murkadee gears up for a farewell show in Portsmouth
Joseph
K Murphy and DeLaine Bennett were still high school classmates in
Epping when they formed Murkadee in 2003. Their previous band Pink
Lemonade had dissolved, and Murphy was eager to embark on a new
project. He approached Bennett with the idea of making an album, and
she quickly got on board.
“We just wanted to do this artsy, weird, pop-rock, folksy thing,” Murphy said recently.
The pair promoted the resulting album in their classes, and it
eventually came to the attention of Murphy’s English teacher, John
Herman. Herman, a local filmmaker and improvisational actor, was
impressed. He encouraged Murphy and Bennett to stick together and play
shows in the area, and they have been doing so ever since.
On Friday, May 29, Herman will introduce the very group he
helped launch at a farewell show at The Portsmouth Pearl. It will be an
evening of mixed emotions for the band and its fans, who will celebrate
the release of a brand new album while simultaneously marking the end
of Murkadee’s six-year run.
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Writers in the Round goes live at RiverRun
Songwriting is sometimes referred to as the oldest form of
poetry. Writers in the Round honors that tradition with performances
that mix live music and spoken word poetry. After a two-year hiatus,
the event returns on Tuesday, May 26, from 7 to 9 p.m., at RiverRun
Bookstore in Portsmouth.
The event’s featured performers include WITR founder and
songwriter Deidre Randall, cellist and spoken word artist Kristen
Miller, Portsmouth Poet Laureate Mark DeCarteret, and Seacoast musician
Thomas D’Amour.
Randall shied away from holding live events for the past two
years due to the birth of her third child. But now that her daughter
has turned 1, Randall looks forward to bringing the event back. A
second show will be held at Gracie’s Diner in Portsmouth on Friday,
July 17, featuring Randall, D’Amour, Nate Laban, Guy Capecelatro and
Ari.
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tasty combo at The Muddy
Area native Matt Jenson will return to the Seacoast on Saturday,
May 16, to perform with his Boston-based Latin dance band Combo Sabroso
at The Muddy River in Portsmouth.
Jenson began recruiting Latino musicians in 1998 and eventually
fixed on the band’s name, which translates to “tasty combo.” Combo
Sabroso seeks to invoke the traditional dance rhythms of Latin jazz and
salsa, as popularized by legends like percussionist Tito Puente and
pianist Eddie Palmieri. Jenson, who now teaches piano and a class on
Bob Marley at Berklee College of Music in Boston, also incorporates
blues and reggae music into the band’s eclectic sound, adding flavors
of traditional American, Jamaican and Afro-Cuban styles.
With Jenson on piano and vocals, the band features a diverse mix
of musicians, including Costa Rican percussionist Manolo Miarena,
Venezuelan timbales player Ernesto Diaz, Peruvian bassist Alex Alvear,
trombonist Angel Subero and the Seacoast’s own saxophonist Matt
Langley, as well as various other players at some gigs.
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by various artists
1991, Warner Bros. Records
the sound: “Until the End of the World” is director
Wim Wenders’ ambitious 1991 cyberpunk film. It’s 1999, and a rogue
nuclear satellite is looming over the Earth, its catastrophic reentry
into the planet’s atmosphere predicted. What better way to watch
imminent disaster than to see it played out to the sounds of some of
the world’s most talented musicians? French composer Graeme Revell has
some lovely instrumental bits, but it’s the bands that make this a
powerhouse soundtrack. U2 has the honor of the title track, its
insidious beats and scratchy guitar tamer than the version that later
ended up on their album “Achtung, Baby!” Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
perform a swaggering, saloonish, piano piece, “(I’ll Love You) Till the
End of the World,” as Cave waxes poetic about impending doom.
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Dan Walker and Breakfast Song book CD release shows
A
couple of local acts will unveil brand new albums with CD release shows
this weekend, introducing home-cooked tunes to Seacoast listeners.
Rootsy Americana singer-songwriter Dan Walker will play songs from his
new CD “Beautiful” at the Barley Pub in Dover on Friday, May 15.
Portsmouth-based
duo Breakfast Song will reveal its own new disc, “Ombligo Con Ombligo,”
at The Red Door in Portsmouth on Monday, May 18.
Based in Rochester,
Dan Walker is a guitarist and band leader with a commanding voice
steeped in the Blue Ridge Mountain music of his native Indiana.
“Beautiful,” his third album, advances his alt-country songwriting with
smooth musicianship from band mates Luke Crawley on bass, Roy Wallace
on drums and Charlie Strater on lead guitar and harmonica. Recording in
New Hampshire in July 2008, Walker drew from his own life experiences
on each of the 12 original songs, some lighthearted and peppy, others
wistful and emotional.
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During the band’s extended closing number, the two guitarists and
bassist strolled away from the stage one at a time, leaving drummer
Rodney Holmes to paralyze the audience with an absolute thunderstorm of
percussion. The unaccompanied solo, a throwback to John Bonham’s
lengthy percussive tantrums with Zeppelin, had the crowd slack-jawed
and awed for more than five minutes… But we’ll come back to that.
Project Percolator made the trip to York, Maine, from the band’s
headquarters in New York for two shows at Inn on the Blues on April 30
and May 1. The show was slightly off season for the Inn, which reserves
most of its live music for the busy summer months. But bandleader Jim
Weider, who refers to York Harbor as “a second home,” rarely fails to
draw a crowd in the area.
The bar was mostly full when Weider strapped on his telecaster
guitar and dove into a set of classic instrumental rock in support of
Percolator’s new CD “Pulse.” A veteran performer capable of truly
explosive solos, Weider adopted laboring facial expressions as he hit
the upper registers, demonstrating undiminished passion for his craft.
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native jazz guitarist plays CD release show in Portsmouth
New Hampshire native Nick Grondin will return to the Seacoast on
Sunday, May 10, to unveil his new CD with a show at The Press Room in
Portsmouth.
Grondin is a jazz guitarist and composer who leads his own
septet in Boston. Known as an instrumental storyteller, he incorporates
rock and folk influences into his jazz style, sometimes reinterpreting
songs by The Beatles and Radiohead.
Grondin attended the Edim School of Modern Music in Paris and
later received his master’s degree in jazz composition from the New
England Conservatory in Boston. He composes music for both small and
large jazz ensembles and received the 2008 ASCAP Young Jazz Composer
Award, as well as the 2008 Down Beat Magazine Student Music Award. He
has performed throughout the United States and Europe.
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‘Awake’
by Ameranouche Trio
You don’t have to wait long to get a taste of Ameranouche Trio’s
acoustic string prowess on the band’s latest CD. Opening with the peppy
jazz of “Ameranouche Swing,” guitarist/composer Richard Sheppard burns
up the frets on his acoustic guitar, spitting out rapid-fire notes that
conjure the ghost of Django Reinhardt and echo the rich traditions of
European gypsy jazz.
The acoustic jazz power trio of Sheppard on lead guitar, Ryan
Flaherty on rhythm guitar and Xar Adelberg on bass then strum their way
into a Flamenco-style reboot of the 1957 French classic “La Foule.”
It’s the only non-original composition among the album’s 11 tracks, and
it demonstrates both the band’s respect for tradition and its ear for
inventiveness.
Formed in 2004, Ameranouche received considerable acclaim for
its debut album, “Homage A Manouche,” and enjoyed a highlight last year
when the band opened for Sonny Rollins and Herbie Hancock at the 2008
JVC Newport Jazz Festival. The trio has tour dates in support of the
new CD booked through the summer in New Hampshire and across the East
Coast.
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couple plans to open locally focused bar and restaurant in Newmarket
Concerts
by legends like Richie Havens, Johnny Winter and Loudon Wainwright
still echo between The Stone Church’s walls. But aside from a CD
release show in March, there has been no music performed in the
Newmarket venue since it was sold at auction seven months ago.
That will soon change. Owner Adam Schroadter recently leased the
first floor of the historic building to Christopher McClain and Melissa
Poirier, who aim to open a new restaurant and music venue there in
June. The married couple has not yet settled on a name (they are
considering retaining The Stone Church title), but they have clear
plans for the space.
“It’s going to be a full-service restaurant with as much live,
mostly local music as possible,” McClain said. “We definitely want to
concentrate on local music, because this area has a ton.”
McClain has plenty of experience with area restaurants. He has
previously worked at Portsmouth establishments like Poco’s Bow Street
Cantina, The Library Restaurant and The Portsmouth Brewery. He and
Poirier used to live in Portsmouth but now reside in Rochester with
their three-year-old son.
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This year’s Jazzmouth Festival provided ample evidence of
Portsmouth’s strong artistic community—from the wide range of events
held in various downtown locations, to the performers and fans who came
together to participate in this annual celebration of spoken word and
improvised music.
In turn, Jazzmouth embraces this community. That’s part of the
vision of festival founder and chief guru Larry Simon. “There is an
artistic integrity that has been there from the beginning,” Simon told
me after the Saturday evening performance at The Music Hall. This
integrity, he continued, was essential to developing the festival’s
community spirit.
One way Jazzmouth embraces comunity is by booking shows at
various locales. The festival kicked off late Thursday afternoon, April
23, in the newly renovated lobby of The Music Hall. The venue’s blue,
red and gold lighting enhanced the soft, swinging strains of standards
and blues from guitarist Chris O’Neill and bassist Keith Foley. O’Neill
and Foley, both of the Amorphous Band, displayed a sublime sense of
musical empathy, the kind that comes from years of making music
together in a variety of settings.
After the short set, Festival emcee John-Michael Albert offered
an enthused introduction to the event. Albert has served as emcee since
the festival’s inception in 2005, and his sunny personality and
self-deprecating humor are as vital to the festival as any other
aspect.
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‘I Blame You’
by Obits
label: Sub Pop
genre: rock
suitable for: drinking Schlitz in a parking lot
This is the only record in the column this week with lyrics.
There are many defunct bands whose members have spawned additional
projects, but there are only a few whose lineages have been 100 percent
awesome 100 percent of the time. Drive Like Jehu, I believe, is one of
them. Formed in San Diego in 1990, the members, specifically John Reis
and Rick Froberg, have since been single handedly improving the chances
of rock music surviving into the next generation. Reis founded Rocket
from the Crypt and is currently in Night Marchers; Froberg, the voice
of Drive Like Jehu, and Reis teamed up again in 1999 as devious punks
Hot Snakes. Now Froberg is in Obits, thank God.
Not a lot has changed in Froberg’s formula here. There’s a ton
of energy, lyrics of little consequence, pure rock posturing and volume
all coming together in brilliant songwriting. Obits, though, is a band
interested in its roots. Overdriven vintage amps and accompanying
spring reverb are like instruments unto themselves on this record.
There is a rockabilly influence throughout, as well, and dig the garage
stomp on the last track “Back And Forth,” one of the most
uncharacteristic tracks I’ve heard on a Froberg-related album. “Widow
of my Dreams,” the opening track, is one of my favorites in the Froberg
songbook to date. Can’t wait to listen to this with the windows down.
Visit www.obitsurl.com.
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Mose Allison, Donald Hall, David Amram, Bob Dorough and others to perform in Portsmouth
Jazzmouth,
Portsmouth’s unique festival of poetry and jazz, celebrates its fifth
anniversary this week. From Thursday, April 23, through Sunday, April
26, the festival will feature its most prominent lineup of performers
to date, with headliners like jazz and blues legend Mose Allison, past
U.S. Poet Laureate Donald Hall, jazz vocalist and pianist Bob Dorough
and the festival’s resident guru, poet and multi-instrumentalist David
Amram.
Spoken word poetry and improvised music will blossom in a
variety of locations around the city, from Breaking New Grounds to
RiveRun Bookstore, from The Press Room to The Music Hall. There will be
a film showcase, poetry readings, jazz music and the main event at The
Music Hall on Saturday, featuring Allison, Hall and Amram, as well as
selected local poets performing their readings to the accompaniment of
Larry Simon’s Groove Bacteria.
Unlike other jazz festivals, Jazzmouth focuses on the
spontaneous nature of the music through the collaboration of music and
poetry or spoken word.
“Although there was already a good jazz festival in the Tom
Gallant/Seacoast Jazz Festival that was happening in the summer, I felt
there was a need for a broader event that tapped into the wealth of
creative musicians in the Seacoast area,” said guitarist Larry Simon,
founder and artistic director of Jazzmouth. “I also felt that with the
large and talented pool of creative writers in the area, that a
collaborative setting would be a unique way to showcase this
creativity.”
After consulting with Richard Smith and Bruce Pingree, Simon
organized a committee and launched the first Jazzmouth festival in
2005. Pingree is still an active organizer for the event, lending his
deep knowledge of American music and poetry to help ensure the
festival’s continued growth and artistic success.
The collaboration of poetry and jazz has been a peripheral part
of the music dating back to the 1950s beat period, notably with poet
Jack Kerouac and David Amram joining forces in the Village area of New
York City. In the ’60s and early ’70s, poets such as Amiri Baraka, the
Last Poets and Gil-Scott Heron would combine their poetry with various
jazz styles, emphasizing their roots in African-American culture.
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‘Gay Bride of Frankenstein’ album release party
Come in costume or come as you are. The release party of the
original cast recording of the musical “Gay Bride of Frankenstein” is
coming up on Monday, April 20, at The Muddy River in downtown
Portsmouth.
Local musicians Tim McCoy, Jamie Perkins, Jon McCormack and
Billy Butler, along with the cast and crew and other guests, will play
songs from the show and other originals and covers starting at 9 p.m.
Doors open at 8 p.m.
“Gay Bride of Frankenstein” puts a new spin on high school
relationships within a classic Halloween story. A group of students are
invited to a monsters’ ball, not knowing that the party game is raising
the dead and that one of them would die on the way.
The show ran around Halloween for two weeks last fall at the
Players’ Ring in Portsmouth. Butler, who wrote the musical with friend
Dane Leeman, said it could have run longer at the rate tickets were
selling, but he’s now looking at other venues. Sales of the album will
help New Theatre Works finance a New York City production of the
musical that started on the Seacoast.
The musical was selected as a finalist for the juried New York
Musical Theatre Festival this fall, which is considered the Sundance of
musical theater, Butler said. He said hundreds of shows were
considered, but only 12 are played. The judges include Tony Award
winning choreographer Sergio Trujillo, composer Robert Lopez, director
Kathleen Marshall, composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown and
producer Robyn Goodman.
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venue opens its doors for Krystal Polychronis CD release show
With
much trepidation I made the familiar trek up Zion hill toward The Stone
Church on March 21. The Newmarket venue, closed since being sold at
auction in September, was open for a single night—a CD release party
for Hampton-based singer-songwriter Krystal Polychronis. As the wide
doors flung open, I could hear the excited chatter of concert goers
embracing their beloved hall. They, like me, were anticipating a good
show at their favorite venue.
There was no cover charge, but the room was filled with children
holding balloons and doing handstands while someone told a story into
the microphone. My initial impression was part birthday party, part
basement concert and part family reunion, but the Terrapin Station sign
still hung from a reinforced wooden beam and the bar seemed to be open,
so I headed that way.
At this point, an intermission band (apparently Polychronis had
done half her set already) was in the midst of one of its many
covers. Amongst the U2 and Coldplay covers I think I heard “Eagle Eye
Cherry.” The sound system left much to be desired. The mikes were
trebly and far louder than the instruments, resulting in some piercing
sounds whenever one of the singers got a little overzealous. I did,
however, feel my foot tapping every once in a while. The highlight was
the last song, when the band invited some guy in a Superman T-shirt up
to play lead guitar. He proceeded to blow away the rest of the band
during a 15- to 20-second solo.
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triple bill to rock the Muddy River
Boston’s Girls, Guns and Glory will headline a three-act show at
The Muddy River in Portsmouth on Saturday, March 28. Named “Act of the
Year” by the 2008 Boston Music Awards, the band joins area favorites
The Divorced and The Molenes on Saturday night.
Formed in winter 2005, Girls, Guns and Glory began collecting
accolades after the release of its 2007 sophomore album “Pretty Little
Wrecking Ball.” That year, the band won two Boston Phoenix awards and
took the Boston Music Award for Outstanding Americana Act of the Year—a
feat the quartet repeated in 2008.
Rootsy local rock band The Molenes released its sophomore album
“Songs of Sin and Redemption” less than a year ago. Indie folk band The
Divorced, based in South Boston, released its debut self-titled album
last year and is at work on a follow-up for 2009.
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March winds down and April blows in with two notable shows over the
next week and a half. On Sunday, March 22, noted trombonist and Berklee
School of Music instructor Phil Wilson makes an appearance at The Press
Room in Portsmouth at 6 p.m. The Exeter native will be joined by the
Mark Shilansky Trio and superb vocalist and trumpet player Christine
Fawson, a member of Boston-based jazz group Syncopation, for an evening
of mainstream jazz. Wilson, who was a member of Woody Herman’s
excellent band during the early 1960s and later contributed several
arrangements to the band of Buddy Rich (including a memorable version
of “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy”), is often overlooked by the jazz media due to
his ongoing work at Berklee. Sunday will serve as a reminder of what an
accomplished and versatile musician Wilson is.
On Friday, April 3, the venerable soul band Tower of Power makes
its annual appearance at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom. If you like
to get your groove on, there’s no better outfit than TOP to do it with.
The band is now in its 41st year of stoking audiences with its musical
gumbo of soul and funk with a touch of Latin and jazz spice. Plus, any
chance to hear lead singer Larry Braggs is well worth the price. The
show starts at 8 p.m. Visit www.casinoballroom.com for ticket info.
Lastly, on Monday, April 13, the UNH Traditional Jazz Series
concludes with a performance by Jim Fryer’s Borderline Jazz Band,
featuring Bria Skonberg on trumpet. The show starts at 8 p.m. in
Johnson Theatre in the Paul Creative Arts Center in Durham. Tickets are
$8 general admission, $6 for students and seniors. Call 603-862-2290.
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Pondering Judd and Scalawag rock Biddy’s
Dover-based country-rock band Pondering Judd will follow up an
invigorated performance at Biddy Mulligan’s last month with another
show at the Irish pub on Saturday, March 21. This time, Judd will be
joined by Manchester-based Americana band Scalawag.
Fronted by singer and guitarist Martin England, Pondering Judd
has released six albums since forming in 1993 and has toured across the
nation. The band won three consecutive Spotlight Awards for Best Rock
Band on the Seacoast from 2004 to 2006.
Hailing from such familiar area bands as The Makem and Spain Brothers,
Marty Keystone, Full Tilt Boogie and The Freeks, the four members of
Scalawag have been performing in New England for about 15 years. The
band solidified its sound in 2002 and released its debut album, “Wheel
on Steel,” in 2006.
The show begins at 9 p.m. at Biddy Mulligan’s, 1 Washington St.,
Dover, 603-749-1100. For more on Pondering Judd, visit
www.ponderingjudd.com. For more on Scalawag, visit
www.scalawagmusic.com.
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by Aimee Mann
SuperEgo Records, 2000
the sound: With a voice like candy-infused whiskey,
Aimee Mann really fine-tuned her skills as a singer and songwriter on
“Bachelor No. 2,” her third solo album. More cynical pop than her two
previous releases, Mann is a master of upbeat, sweet tunes with
melancholy lyrics that always feature a little something else to give
them a magical feel. “Nothing is Good Enough” is a plunky piano waltz
in which Mann expresses frustration over her inability to please.
“Driving Sideways” is piano-driven, with an angry guitar riff to
accompany the lyrics. “If you roll down the window you’ll see / you’re
where you don’t belong / and your companion will not help you to
navigate / for fear she may be wrong,” Mann sings. She perfectly
captures the apathetic tone of Daniel Clewes’ graphic novel “Ghost
World” with a song by the same name. “So I’m bailing this town / or
tearing it down / or probably more like hanging around,” she narrates.
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local fiddlers’ new book instructs on how to run a barn dance
Have
you ever wanted to host your own barn dance? Of course you have. Maybe
you haven’t pursued this ambition because you lack the necessary
knowledge and resources. Maybe you’re not familiar with the music
required to initiate a lively dance. Or maybe you just don’t have a
barn.
That’s OK. Contrary to popular assumptions, barn dances do not
actually have to take place in a barn. And a new book by long-time
fiddlers and dance masters Dudley and Jacqueline Laufman supplies all
the information you need to transform an empty room into a bustling
community dance party.
“When most people hear the term barn dance, they envision bales
of hay and folks dressed up like cowboys and cowgirls,” reads the
preface to “Traditional Barn Dances with Calls & Fiddling.” “These
trappings, however, are unnecessary. What really distinguishes a barn
dance from, say, a square dance or contra dance are the dances done by
the participants.”
The book, published this year by Human Kinetics, is divided into
11 chapters. The first four address the history and tradition of barn
dancing and explain the music and instruments associated with it. The
next six chapters discuss different forms of barn dancing, such as
circle dances, longways dances, square dances and contra dances. The
final chapter instructs readers on how to run their own community
dances and encourages teachers and students to keep the traditional
alive.
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blues pro Scott Ainslee in Kennebunk
Blues musician and historian Scott Ainslee will share stories
and songs at the Kennebunk Coffeehouse in Kennebunk, Maine, on
Saturday, March 14.
In addition to playing guitar, fiddle and banjo, Ainslee is an
author, educator and historian studying the African roots of American
work songs, blues, gospel and jazz. He has toured the United States and
Europe and worked with avant garde and Broadway theater productions in
New York. He authored the book “Robert Johnson: At the Crossroads” in
1992, and made the instructional DVD “Robert Johnson: Signature Licks”
in 2005. Ainslee released his fifth solo album, “Thunder’s Mouth,” in
2008.
The concert begins at 8 p.m. at the Kennebunk Coffeehouse in the
First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church, 114 Main St., 207-229-0212.
Tickets are $12 in advance or $16 at the door. Visit
www.kennebunkcoffeehouse.com.
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The four members of Boston-based indie rock band Aloud seemed
undeterred by the evening’s obstacles. The band was supposed to split
sets with Portland, Maine’s The Cambiata, who canceled at the last
minute due to illness. The room in the basement of The Muddy River was
mostly empty on this winter weeknight, with a row of attentive patrons
dotting the bar. But the low turnout didn’t stop Aloud from spinning
the adrenaline dial all the way to max.
The band is led by dual vocalists/guitarists Henry Beguiristain
and Jen de la Osa, who have been collaborating as songwriters since
their early teens. Behind the two leads are bassist Ryan Majoris and
drummer Jonathan Schmidt. During their hour-long set, the group
performed several songs from its sophomore album, “Fan the Fury,”
released early last year on the band’s own Lemon Merchant Records.
The four band members demonstrate striking chemistry onstage.
Beguiristain occasionally sidles up to Osa to sing into the same
microphone, and the pair often meet center-stage to play guitar face to
face. Majoris and Schmidt, too, seem to get caught up in their musical
collaborations, often grinning at each other when the beat strikes them
as particularly satisfying.
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by Cecil Taylor Unit
1990, Enja Records
the sound: On June 18, 1976,
pianist Cecil Taylor brought his five-piece free jazz unit to the
Yugoslavia Jazz Festival in Lubljana. Joining Taylor were Ralphé Malik
on trumpet, Jimmy Lyons on alto saxophone, David S. Ware on tenor
saxophone and Marc Edwards on drums. As the concert began, the horn
players repeated a plaintive six-note wail, while Taylor and Edwards
plunked away indiscriminately at their instruments. It seemed like a
prolonged sound check at first, but as the music dragged on, it
gradually swelled in intensity, rising to a climactic cacophony of
noise that continued without pause for over an hour. To the
closed-minded listener of the recorded result, the concert is surely a
maddening wreck of sonic distractions, like an auditorium full of
warped jazz records playing in unison. And yet a finely tuned ear can
discern shifting thematic elements to the music, occasional
call-and-response sequences between instrumentalists that subtly
permeate the subconscious.
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Video Game Orchestra to perform music by local composer Duncan Watt and others in Boston
The
evolution of video games, from “Donkey Kong” and “Pac-Man” to “Final
Fantasy” and “Halo,” has involved an array of technological advances
that goes far beyond computer graphics and fancy controllers. As gaming
continues to grow as the nation’s most profitable entertainment
industry—surpassing even films in recent years—the skill sets required
to produce popular games is spreading to a wider workforce, and
musicians are getting in on the action.
Local musician Duncan Watt, who runs Fastestmanintheworld Music
out of his home in Exeter, has been composing scores for video games
since 2005. Watt and Ed Lima co-composed the orchestral score for
“Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway,” which was released for Xbox 360,
Play Station 3 and PCs last fall. Instead of using virtual
orchestration and synthesized instruments on computers, the pair
traveled to Prague in August 2007 and recorded the score with a
60-piece orchestra and 40-piece choir.
On Thursday, March 5, the Video Game Orchestra will perform
excerpts from “Brothers in Arms” and other video games at the Berklee
Performance Center in Boston. Other composers who will be present at
the show include Gerard Marino (“God of War”), Keith Zizza (“Caesar IV,
Sim City Societies”) and Jack Wall (“Mass Effect”).
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A flood of area RPM participants hand-delivered their completed CDs
between Friday, Feb. 27 and Sunday, March 1. By noon on March 1, more
than 160 glorious new albums sat stacked in RPM headquarters at The
Wire office in Portsmouth. Hundreds of others arrived by the crateful
over the next few days from all over the world, all postmarked no later
than Monday, March 2. The final days before the end of the month found
many participants scrambling to polish off their 10 songs or 35 minutes
of original music. What follows is a sampling of unedited statements
posted on the RPM discussion board at www.rpmchallenge.com. Local
listening parties will take place on Saturday, March 28, beginning at
The Music Hall in Portsmouth at 6:30 p.m. Congratulations to all those
who saw the 2009 Challenge through to the end.
Finishing if it
kills me. I’m being a cheap bastard and using the bonus postal holiday
to finish the remaining five tracks. That’s right. Five tracks. Because
I’ve been living on antibiotics and an inhaler the last 3 days. As it
is I still sound like ass, but maybe I’ll just switch up my songs to be
Dylan-esque and it’ll work for me? —girl named sam, TX
Didn’t think last night I’ve even get this far. Nuff Said. —Michelangelo, Plano, TX
And an album appeared... We have crossed the finish line. It’s been an
incredible experience and our end product is something we can be proud
of. —Vitamin N, St. John’s, NF
Break out the sled dogs... or the snowshoes. However, the post office
is under 2 miles away—I guess I can always walk if I have to. —Cville Ramblings, Crozet, VA
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local musician Craig Werth tours Australia with David Francey
It’s
been close to three years since Newmarket-based musician Craig Werth
took an unpaid leave of absence from his teaching job at the University
of New Hampshire and embarked on his first tour with Canadian folk
singer David Francey. When Werth accepted the gig as Francey’s sideman,
he was not sure how long the collaboration would last. But he’s still
touring and recording with the three-time Juno award-winning artist,
making music his full-time occupation.
Werth co-produced Francey’s last studio album, “Right of
Passage,” and played several instruments on the disc, including
guitars, bouzouki, mandolin and mountain dulcimer. Last year, “Right of
Passage” won a Juno (the Canadian version of a Grammy) for best album
in the roots and traditional solo category. “I have a Juno statue in my
living room as co-producer,” he said, as if still slightly surprised to
have the object in his home.
Werth has now performed with the Ontario-based Francey in every
Canadian province and around North America. The two toured the British
Isles last fall, playing gigs mainly in England and Scotland. They have
performed for audiences ranging in size from about 100 patrons at small
pubs to around 10,000 people at the Vancouver Folk Festival. And they
have shown no signs of slowing down.
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Jim Weider’s Project Percolator hits the Seacoast
Prolific blues-rock guitarist Jim Weider will bring his New
York-based band Project Percolator to York, Maine, for a concert at
York Harbor Inn on Friday, Feb. 27 at 8 p.m.
Born and raised in Woodstock, N.Y., Weider is a veteran
telecaster guitarist with a long list of accomplishments under his
belt, including a Fender endorsement. From 1985 to 2000, Weider served
as lead guitarist for The Band, replacing the legendary Robbie
Robertson. He has performed or recorded with an impressive array of
famous artists, including Bob Dylan, Keith Richards, Doctor John, Taj
Mahal, Bob Weir, Paul Butterfield, Hot Tuna and Los Lobos.
Weider has also led a number of his own bands since the late
1980s and has released several solo recordings. His Project Percolator
band mates include Rodney Holmes on drums, Mitch Stein on guitar and
Steve Lucas on bass. In York, the band will perform songs from its
latest CD, “Percolator.”
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‘95 North to Maine’
by Curt Bessette
Singer-songwriter Curt Bessette has been
a fixture of the Seacoast music scene for a solid quarter-century. The
York Beach resident hosted an open mike night at Biddy Mulligan’s in
Dover for well over a decade and has performed regularly throughout the
region with a number of other familiar folk faces. With the release of
his fourth album, “95 North to Maine,” Bessette pays tribute to the
homeland that has fostered his music career.
The CD
includes 11 original songs and one Everly Brothers cover, all featuring
Bessette’s soft vocals and smooth guitar playing, plus some occasional
mandolin picking, accompanied by harmonies and instrumental bits from
an array of area artists. The soft-rock folk tunes have a North Country
flavor that often evokes images of Maine rivers and woods, like a local
incarnation of James Taylor, John Denver and Willie Nelson.
The
album’s subject matter ranges from World War II to the story of Ray
Chapman, the only Major League baseball player ever to be killed by a
pitched ball in 1920. But Bessette also injects his trademark humor,
spoofing Maine’s busy tourist season in the song “My Summer Vacation in
the Great State of Maine.” “Those locals are backwards…They’re not
quite right / They’re not like us dear…They’re not half as uptight!” he
sings.
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It’s the final countdown. As February nears its inevitable
conclusion, musicians around the globe are scrambling to complete their
albums for the 2009 RPM Challenge. What follows is a sampling of
unedited statements posted on the RPM discussion board at
www.rpmchallenge.com. The general tone reflects a healthy balance of
panic and optimism. Good luck out there.
i know i can do it, and i think this album will be pretty good! —David Richardson, Colorado Springs, CO
My goal is to have everything done by next Thursday at the latest so my
friend who owns a pro recording studio can throw a quick master on
it. Good times, very exciting. Good luck to all down the home
stretch... —J TEMP 13, Cleveland, OH
Only 8 days left.....sigh. I think I’m close to having 10 tracks...but
nearly all need work. Some need a lot more and some need a great deal
more...lol. I’m trying to concentrate on things like album titles and
artwork...and have I actually got the correct address to send the final
product to? I’m quietly panicking...so I guess I’d better get back to
it. —eshar, Reading, UK
Got 8 songs down the 1st week and thought I was doing pretty well. I’ve
hit a wall since then, have a couple ideas but still need to get some
things together. Don’t want to think about mixing yet. —Lintybits, Saco, ME
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It’s a big weekend for jazz on the Seacoast with several
performances taking place Friday, Feb. 27 through Monday, March 2,
combining for one of the most active jazz oriented weekends since last
April’s Jazzmouth Festival. Here’s a preview of upcoming shows.
The headline event will be a performance by the Russell Malone
Quartet in the UNH Traditional Jazz Series on Monday, March 2 at 8 p.m.
in Johnson Theatre at the Paul Creative Arts Center in Durham.
Guitarist Malone will be joined by Martin Bejerano on piano, Tassili
Bond on bass and Jonathan Blake on drums.
In a world where most contemporary jazz guitarists seek to clone
artists like Pat Metheny and John Scofield, Russell Malone stands out
as a purer and more singular voice on the instrument. Malone
incorporates elements of guitar masters like Kenny Burrell, Grant Green
and George Benson into a fluid, melodic and swinging approach that is
distinctly his own. Malone’s guitar work has been heard in a variety of
contexts, most notably with singer-pianist Diana Krall, pianist Benny
Green and bassist Christian McBride. A Maxx Jazz recording artist,
Malone has made two stellar recordings, “Live at the Jazz Standard”
volumes 1 and 2, with his quartet.
Tickets for the performance are $8 for the general public, $6 for students and seniors. Call 603-862-2290.
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Casino Ballroom announces opening weekend
Spring may still seem a long way off, but the Hampton Beach
Casino Ballroom is already gearing up for its 2009 season. The Ballroom
recently announced three acts for its opening weekend of shows,
beginning with Philadelphia-based trio G. Love & Special Sauce on
Thursday, April 2. Soul legends Tower of Power will follow on Friday,
April 3, and Florida-based rock band Shinedown will wrap up the weekend
on Saturday, April 4. Tickets are on sale for all three concerts.
Composed of G. Love on guitar, vocals and harmonica; Jeff
Clemens on drums; and Jim Prescott on upright bass, G. Love &
Special Sauce released their first album in 1994 and quickly won a
following with the hit song “Cold Beverages.” The group’s blend of
laid-back blues, R&B and rap helped pave the way for acts like Jack
Johnson and Ben Harper. Tickets are $20.50 to $33.50.
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As of Feb. 15, more than 2,300 participants had signed up for the
2009 RPM Challenge. Musicians from around the globe hvae reached the
mid-month hump. Some are well on their way to completing their RPM
albums, while others are experiencing the onset of panic. What follows
is a sampling of unedited statements posted on the RPM discussion board
at www.rpmchallenge.com.
That 15 day counter on the page might
strike fear into the heart of some.. especially someone that is yet to
complete a song.. but I am not worried! —I Have Read Other Books Besides Catcher in the Rye, Athens, GA
Big
weekend ahead! It’s not a make or break situation or anything like
that, but it will decide if this will be a nice, relaxing end of the
month ... or a hectic pulling out the hair, gnashing of teeth type of
ending. —Cville Ramblings, Crozet, VA
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Walter Tore’s Spontobeat takes the RPM Challenge 28 steps further
It’s
not Walter Tore’s intention to belittle any other musician
participating in the 2009 RPM Challenge. But for a man who says he
records an average of 300 spontaneously composed CDs per year,
recording one in a month just isn’t much of a challenge. That’s why
Tore’s one-man band Spontobeat has set a goal of recording 28
full-length CDs during the month of February—one album per day.
As of Feb. 10, Tore said he had already completed 14 CDs and
expected to easily exceed his goal for the month. But that doesn’t mean
every CD will be a masterpiece. Tore’s approach of spontaneous creation
leaves little time for post-production work. As soon as he finishes a
disc, he looks forward to starting over again with a clean slate. He
said he can’t imagine spending an entire month perfecting a single CD.
“I’d be bored to tears,” Tore said during a recent phone
interview. “It often intrigues me how people can put so much effort
into a song. I just, I don’t know, I couldn’t do it because there’s too
much coming out.”
By mid-month, around 2,300 participants from around the world
had signed up for the 2009 RPM Challenge, each vowing to write and
record 10 songs or 35 minutes of original music in February. A resident
of Granville, Ohio, Tore is taking part in his third RPM effort. He
made a total of four bluesy Americana albums during the 2007 and ’08
challenges.
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The 2009 RPM Challenge is underway. What follows is a sampling of
unedited statements posted on the RPM discussion board at
www.rpmchallenge.com on Feb. 1. Remember, it’s not too late to sign up.
Midnight! Right. I’m off to write songs. Later! —Colin Garvey, Liverpool, UK
I set up my gear today and made sure everything works. Tomorrow will be
the first day of Feb 2009! I’ve never done the challenge before, but
always wanted to. Here we go... —wisteriax, Lowell, MA
Shit! I just forgot everything I ever knew about music! My guitar has
these 6 long ... “stringy” ... things, running down the length of it.
What am I supposed to do with those? It does has something to do with
music, right? Oh, and about minor chords ... They’re the same as
“major” chords, just not as loud, right? Oh shit I’m screwed. —The Checkers Speech, The Colony, TX
damnit, chronology. 2 more hours? I feel like we
west-coast-north-america folks are getting the short end of the stick.
Or maybe karma put us here because we need to refine our patience. Yes,
that must be it. Patience... —Poiesis, San Francisco, CA
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Ted Sink unveils new CD in Portsmouth
Guitarist and singer-songwriter Ted Sink will celebrate the
release of his third CD with a show in Portsmouth on the auspicious
date of Friday, Feb. 13. The concert takes place at the new GreatWaters
Bank at the corner of Fleet and Congress streets, former location of
Pars Oriental Rugs, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Sink is a solo artist and long-time member of several Seacoast
bands, including Baseline, Grizzly, The Benders, The Suspenders and Big
Night Out. The new CD, titled “Nothing Changes,” includes nine original
songs and two covers. Like his two previous efforts, the new disc
showcases a jazzy blues style similar to Steely Dan or Mose Alison. But
Sink also delves into slightly newer territory with a few tunes that
flirt with genres like hip-hop, reggae and soul.
The release show will also feature Kent Allyn on bass and piano;
Andy Happel on violin and keyboards; Carri Coltrane on vocals; Bruce
Derr on pedal steel; Rob Coffin on lead guitar; Tim Sink on saxophone;
and Jamie Decato on drums. The suggested donation is $10, or $15 for a
copy of the disc, but no one will be turned away. For more information,
visit www.tedsink.com.
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Simone pays tribute to her mother at The Music Hall
There
came a moment while Simone was recording a reworking of “Feeling Good,”
one of her mother’s classic and memorable tunes, when her entire
musical career path finally seemed to click into place.
She had been hesitant to approach the song made famous by late
jazz and soul sensation Nina Simone, putting it off until she had
finished all the other songs on her 2008 tribute album “Simone on
Simone.” But when she began to sing the familiar lyrics, her
reservations gradually melted away. By the time she sang the final
lines—“Oh freedom is mine / And I know how I feel”—Simone felt
liberated.
“I began to tell my story,” she said in a recent interview with
The Wire. “You feel it, you hear it, and there’s no doubt that I take
(the song) somewhere that’s totally mine.”
Simone puts her unique stamp on all 13 tracks on her debut solo
album, each hand-selected from her mother’s prodigious repertoire and
conducted with the backing of a 19-piece big band. She will perform
songs from the album, along with some original material and other
covers, at The Music Hall in Portsmouth during a Valentine’s Day show
on Saturday, Feb. 14.
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The Manhattan Transfer and ‘Three Girls’ get intimate at TMH
The Music Hall’s Intimately Yours concert series will present
two star-studded shows in Portsmouth during the coming week. Trio of
songstresses Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin and Patty Griffin will be in
town for a sold-out show on Sunday, Feb. 8. Vocal quartet The Manhattan
Transfer will arrive a few days later on Wednesday, Feb. 11.
Known for mixing jazz, big band, R&B and pop harmonies, The
Manhattan Transfer has garnered international acclaim. Born in 1972,
the quartet now consists of vocalists Tim Hauser, Janis Siegel, Alan
Paul and Cheryl Bentyne. The group built a cult following in the New
York club circuit in the early ’70s and cut its debut self-titled album
in 1975. Since then, Transfer has released around 25 recordings and won
several Grammy awards in the pop and jazz genres.
Transfer’s 1985 album “Vocalese,” which applied original lyrics
by Jon Hendricks to a number of previously recorded jazz instrumentals,
received 12 Grammy nominations and won in two categories. In more
recent years, all four band members have released solo albums,
including Hauser’s 2008 effort “Love Stories.” The group was inducted
into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998.
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It’s been almost two years exactly since Jake Mehrmann self-released
his first Tan Vampires record “I Can Hear Them in the Dark,” an RPM
Challenge record that scored him a loyal brood of fans. After years of
playing solo shows, Mehrmann recently roped in a cast of local
musicians to play and write music as a full band and the results are
worth checking out as soon as possible. The revamped Tan Vampires have
played a handful of shows in the area recently, including gigs at the
Barley Pub in Dover every fourth Wednesday of the month, and a show on
Saturday night at The Muddy River in Portsmouth with Boston-based
pop-rock band The Honors.
“We’re still working out a lot of things,” Mehrmann said before the show.
But it wasn’t obvious at The Muddy on Saturday night. A good
crowd, including many who were familiar with Mehrmann’s songs, if not
the new arrangements, was dazzled as the five band members behind him
fleshed out songs that were stark with atmosphere and solid rhythms.
Guitarist Nick Phaneuf, formerly of The Sixth Root and The Texas
Governor, took a lot of this on himself, running his guitar through a
live computer program and emitting lush tones to complement Mehrmann’s
strong voice. Keyboardist Mike Effenberger, playing a Fender Rhodes and
a synthesizer, and trumpeter Chris Klaxton were also great additions.
There was a real ease between all the musicians onstage, probably
because most have played together in some form over the years. It’s
really a small, incestuous world for musicians on the Seacoast.
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Longtime Seacoast musician Don Fancy performs for the crowd at The
Oar House in Portsmouth every Thursday and Friday night, and this week
will be no exception, despite the fact that Friday is his birthday. And
it’s a big one.
“I’m turning 80,” the pianist readily admits.
Fancy has been tickling the ivories of The Oar House
restaurant’s grand piano for the last 25 years. Planting himself on the
bench from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m., Fancy sweeps his well-trained fingers
across the keys and turns notes into melodies for the enjoyment of
drinkers and diners.
Fancy has played for Ray Guerin, owner of The Oar House, since
Guerin bought the Ceres Street restaurant 14 years ago. Guerin says
Fancy’s style of piano playing is a good match for the restaurant’s
setting. “It fits everyone’s mood and it’s great for background during
dinner,” he says.
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pianist Jim Brickman heads to ROH
Music fans looking for some pre-Valentine’s Day romance can
catch pianist and songwriter Jim Brickman at the Rochester Opera House
on Wednesday, Jan. 4, beginning at 8 p.m. His appearance in Rochester
comes just a couple of weeks after the release of his latest CD,
“Ultimate Love Songs: The Very Best of Jim Brickman.”
Brickman is known for his pop-style piano and romantic
compositions, including chart-topping recordings like “Valentine,” “The
Gift,” Love of My Life” and “Peace.” Over the course of his career,
Brickman has released six Gold and Platinum selling albums. He has had
a number of adult contemporary radio hits and received a Grammy
nomination in 2003. Brickman has collaborated with such artists as
Martina McBride, Kenny Loggins, Carly Simon, Herb Alpert, Michael
Bolton, Olivia Newton-John and others. He has now released more than 20
albums, every single one of which includes a large picture of him on
the cover.
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The University of New Hampshire’s Traditional Jazz Series will
continue on Monday, Feb. 2, with a performance by Derry-based
vibraphonist and pianist Ed Saindon and his quartet, featuring renowned
saxophonist Dave Liebman. Joining Saindon and Liebman will be Dave
Clark on bass and Mark Walker on drums. The group will perform music
from its CD “Depth of Emotion,” on the World Improvised Music label.
This should be a superb show featuring music of varied colors and
textures rendered by a group of musicians who can take the music in
numerous directions. The show also marks the Seacoast debut of Liebman,
one of the most prolific and imaginative musicians in jazz today.
To use a cliché, Dave Liebman is a “musician’s musician.” Fluent
on tenor and soprano saxophones as well as flute, alto flute, keyboards
and drums, Liebman has carved a highly creative career that has spanned
more than 40 years and has crossed genres from contemporary rock with
Ten Wheel Drive to the bands of jazz greats Elvin Jones, Miles Davis
and Chick Corea in the 1970s.
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by Cowboy Junkies
1996, Geffen Records
the sound: Every album from
alt-country band Cowboy Junkies is dark and lovely, but “Lay It Down,”
the band’s seventh, is the most ominous and beautiful. Driven by heavy
bass lines to match singer Margo Timmins’ low, lush voice, the album
plays like a Flannery O’Connor story, full of bittersweet lyrics
bemoaning the hardships of love and life. The songs are almost
anachronistic, conjuring images of dust storms, flat plains and cars
with long running boards. The opening track, “Something More besides
You,” has a woman questioning what life would be like if she wasn’t
trapped in her marriage. “A Common Disaster” is one of the album’s few
up-tempo songs, with three chords resonating over and over as Timmins
sings of the lull of temptation. “Going to find me someone to share a
common disaster / Run away with me from a life so cramped and dull /
Not worry to much about the happily ever after / Just keep the Caddy
moving till we’re well beyond that hill.”
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Halperin celebrates 30 years of blues
It was 30 years
ago this month that blues guitarist and singer Bob Halperin played his
first solo gig at The Press Room in downtown Portsmouth. He will
celebrate those three decades of performance with an anniversary show
on Saturday, Jan. 24 at 9 p.m.
Now a veteran staple of the Seacoast music scene, Halperin drove
up from Cambridge, Mass., for his first Press Room gig in January 1979.
He moved to Portsmouth permanently in the mid-’80s and has since played
in more than half a dozen area bands, including Thingvalla, Homeless
Bob and The Living Room Gypsies, The Bob Halperin Blues Band, The
Working Band, Li’l Anne and Hot Cayenne and Late Great Scott. He
remains active as a solo artist and as a member of his latest band
Wooden Eye.
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Dead Season rises to the top of Maine’s metal scene
Last
year did not start off well for Matt and Ian Truman, founding members
of Maine-based metal band Dead Season. A year after losing an uncle to
cancer, they watched helplessly as their mother’s five-year battle with
ovarian cancer took a turn for the worse. The brothers lost their
mother in February.
So when you hear Ian Truman screeching ferociously about black
tumors and chemotherapy in “Cancer,” the second track on Dead Season’s
2008 album “When Everything’s Lost,” it’s not just a morbid goth-metal
anthem. Nor is Matt Truman just going through the motions when he rakes
a pick over his guitar strings.
Both performers unleash their emotions in an anguished but
inspired display of heavy metal catharsis throughout their sophomore
album, much of which was written shortly before their mother died.
“We were still finishing up the album when she was really having
a hard time,” Matt Truman said. “There’s a lot of our emotions and what
we were going through definitely tied up in the album.”
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Bull Moose recently announced its bestselling items from 2008,
providing top 10 lists in a number of CD and DVD categories. The lists
reveal some curious trends. For instance, the top 10 used CDs Bull
Moose sold and the top 10 CDs sold back to the store are nearly
identical and feature discs released almost exclusively in the 1990s
(with the exception of one released in 2000). Bull Moose reported heavy
sales of local artists during the holiday rush, and Maine-based metal
band Dead Season even finished the year at number 5 among all new CDs
sold during the year. Bull Moose has 10 total locations in Maine and
New Hampshire.
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guitar prodigy hits the Seacoast
Teenage guitar phenom
Luke Mulholland will demonstrate his highly touted six-string skills
during upcoming shows in Dover and Portsmouth. The 19-year-old Canadian
native will be at the Dover Brick House on Saturday, Jan. 17 and at the
Muddy River Smokehouse in Portsmouth on Friday, February 20.
Mulholland has garnered a reputation as an emerging blues guitar
sensation. After taking up the instrument at age 10, he recorded his
first solo album at 14 and formed his band, Mulholland Drive, at 15.
While opening for Bon Jovi in 2006, he complemented his Stevie Ray
Vaughan-esque voice with a screeching behind-the-head solo during a
performance of Jimi Hendrix’s “Red House.”
Mulholland is kicking off a tour in support of his 2008 release
“Further.” The album features a mix of originals and classic rock and
blues covers. His deep and often growling vocals and intensely bluesy
guitar licks reflect a wealth of influences that includes Hendrix,
Clapton and Zeppelin. Other dates on the tour will feature performances
with such established stars as Dickie Betts, The Marshal Tucker Band
and The Fabulous Thunderbirds.
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On Thursday nights, the basement bar at The Grog in Newburyport,
Mass., rewinds in time to transform into a late-1960s San Francisco
nightclub, complete with a haze of smoke and neo-hippie dancers. But in
place of The Grateful Dead or Jefferson Airplane, the stage is occupied
by modern psychedelic bands Maganahan’s Revival and Soul Robot.
On a recent Thursday, Robot and acoustic trio Starship Destroyer
prepped the crowd for a closing set from Maganahan’s. The headliners
opened with “Hard to Handle,” a tune originally recorded by Otis
Redding but commonly found on Dead playlists and later revived by The
Black Crowes. Front man Tim Souza’s knotty dreadlocks dangled past his
belt as he strummed rhythm guitar and spouted familiar lyrics into the
microphone. Guitarist Andrew Edmondson shortly unleashed his electric
prowess, waiting out a couple of refrains before ripping an ecstatic
solo that turned all eyes to the stage.
The band followed with “Hey Pocky Way,” another live Dead
favorite originally recorded by The Meters. Organist Max Chase stomped
his foot as he fingered the keys and Erik Britton improvised freely on
a six-string bass, keeping the instrumentals fluid with his rhythmic
meanderings. Drummer Brandon Hill stayed busy on the skins and kept the
jam rooted to a central beat.
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by Charles Mingus
1961, Atlantic Records
the sound: Like most of Charles
Mingus’ recordings, “Oh Yeah” consists of jazz compositions stemming
heavily from old blues and gospel roots. Unlike most of his recordings,
Mingus plays piano instead of bass on the disc. He also sings and
shouts in hoarse, often stream-of-consciousness vocals on several
songs, expressing both his untamed musical exuberance and his dark but
jocund sense of humor. With Doug Watkins ably covering for the leader
on bass, long-time Mingus drummer Dannie Richmond beating the skins and
mad genius Rahsaan Roland Kirk making all kinds of noise, the album is
a real treat to hear. Kirk plays tenor sax, flute and a variety of less
conventional instruments, while Booker Ervin adds more tenor sax and
Jimmy Knepper plays trombone. The album instantly adopts a tense and
blood-pumping tone with the opening track, “Hog Callin’ Blues,” and
Mingus’ tongue-in-cheek paranoia later finds an outlet in “Oh Lord,
Don’t Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb on Me.” The music gets a little
more lighthearted with “Eat That Chicken” but ends on a heavier strain
with “Passions of a Man.”
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Idina Menzel and Ani DiFranco at The Music Hall
Tickets will soon go on sale for two more Intimately Yours
performances at The Music Hall in Portsmouth. The Intimately Yours
concert series will bring actress and musician Idina Menzel to town on
Wednesday, March 18, as well as iconic singer-songwriter and guitarist
Ani DiFranco on Tuesday, April 14. Tickets for both shows go on sale to
Music Hall members at noon on Saturday, Jan. 10, and to the general
public one week later on Saturday, Jan. 17.
Menzel is a Tony Award winning performer who rose to stardom
after playing lead roles in the Broadway hits “Rent” and “Wicked.” She
was nominated for a Tony for her portrayal of Maureen in “Rent” and won
the award for her part at the green witch in “Wicked.” Known for her
powerful voice, she will be touring in support of her debut album, “I
Stand.” Tickets to Menzel’s show on March 18 are $36 to $48.
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‘Shallow Grave’
by The Tallest Man on Earth
label: Gravitation Records
genre: folk
suitable for: saying goodbye to 2008
A
totally stirring album by this Swedish folk singer, “Shallow Grave” was
released earlier this year overseas but did not see wide release in the
United States. I wonder if that’s because The Tallest Man on Earth,
a.k.a. Kristian Matsson, plays American roots music better than any
American in recent memory. There’s plenty of pluck and twang on these
lo-fi recordings, making Matsson’s songs more Mississippi than
Scandinavia, but most of all there is a ton of soul. With a booming,
gravelly voice, Matsson rips through 10 tracks with grit and wisdom,
just like the best bluesmen, and ends up with some of the most
emotional music of the year.
This is one of the best albums I heard
this year. It has the feel of a contemporary indie-folk record (he
toured with Bon Iver earlier in the year) but nails the sound of the
old South without sounding archaic. Kind of stunning, actually. Limited
edition label Mexican Summer is issuing an LP version of “Grave” in
early 2009. Can’t wait.
Visit www.thetallestmanonearth.se.
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The Rockaholics will spread some holiday cheer this weekend with a
pair of shows to benefit needy families. The Goodwill Weekend Concert
Series will include gigs at the Prime Time Sports Grill in Seabrook on
Sunday, Dec. 19, and the Blue Mermaid in Portsmouth on Saturday, Dec.
20.
Guests at both shows are asked to bring donations of kids’ toys
and clothing, which will be collected at the doors and distributed to
families through local chapters of The Salvation Army. There is a $5
cover charge at the Blue Mermaid show.
Rockaholics front man Bill Foley said he organized the shows to
help brighten the holiday season with some good old fashioned rock ’n’
roll. In these tough economic times, he said, there is more need than
ever for charitable donations. “It’s just something I do a lot around
the holidays when I have gigs lined up,” Foley said. “Every once in a
while I decide to do something for someone other than me.”
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Nate Wilson Group beckons the rock gods of old with debut disc
One
of the best stickers I’ve seen recently is plastered to the side of
former Solid 8 front man Andrew May’s sound equipment. The sticker asks
simply, “What have you done for rock lately?” Seacoast rock act One
Hand Free had this sticker printed around the same time it released its
latest record, “Quadraphonic.”
For the Nate Wilson Group, the answer has finally presented
itself with the band’s debut album, “Unbound.” The disc is a genuine
throwback to the great classic sound of 1970s rock, complete with
enough psychedelia to get you to bring out the black lights and turn up
the volume knob until the glassware in the hutch is in a dancing
frenzy.
“I think our music is mostly rooted in guitar heavy classic rock
or even garage rock revival, to some extent,” Wilson said. “I think
what makes us a little different is that the harmonic content is a
little richer than most of the bands in our category. It’s kind of like
if the Cream-era Eric Clapton grew a huge mustache, packed up his 1975
Chevy van with the bubble window and went off to music school but
flunked out after a semester and got really pissed. That’s probably the
best description I can come up with.”
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Green Lion Crew brings reggae to the Seacoast
The
Seacoast may seem like an unlikely destination for genuine Jamaican
music on a chilly December evening. But on a recent Wednesday, patrons
of The Page in Portsmouth kept warm by moving their bodies to the
reggae rhythms that emanated from a pair of turntables.
The room at the Wet Bar, downstairs from The Page on Hanover
Street, was not packed to capacity, but it was a healthy turnout for a
winter weeknight. Guests gradually trickled down the stairs and bobbed
their heads to the beat, some moving to the dance floor as the night
progressed.
It’s a testament to the universality of reggae that it has
pervaded even the frosty seaports of Northern New England. Reggae music
seems to have global appeal that transcends race, nationality and
genre.
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‘Blinding Blues, Stinging Bees’
Mercuryhat
Mercuryhat’s latest album, which the band celebrated with a
release show at Biddy Mulligan’s in Dover on Nov. 21, was almost two
years in the making. Formed in 2001 and based in Portsmouth, the band
first headed into Thundering Sky Studios in South Berwick, Maine, in
November 2006. The disc that emerged two years later is an emotionally
charged collection of potent pop-rock songs.
Stylistically, the album echoes many of front man Eric Ott’s
1980s influences, including, most prevalently, R.E.M. and Tom Petty and
the Heartbreakers. Ott’s voice even sounds like a cross between Petty
and Michael Stipe, and each of the album’s 10 songs demonstrate a
sophisticated brand of Americana-rock.
Lyrically, the album traces many of the misfortunes Ott has
swallowed in recent years, including the untimely loss of his brother
and a painful divorce from his wife of 15 years. The emotional pain
comes across on many tracks, although the musical tone remains lively
and far from depressing.
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the music of Pat Metheny in Dover
A collection of
talented Seacoast jazz artists will celebrate the music of guitar
virtuoso Pat Metheny at the Barley Pub in Dover on Sunday, Nov. 30. Led
by drummer Jose Duque, the band also consists of Nate Therrien on bass,
Phil Sargent on guitar, Mike Effenberger on piano and Chris Klaxton on
trumpet.
Joining the instrumentalists will be special guest
vocalist Aubrey Johnson, a Boston-based jazz singer who graduated from
the jazz studies program at Western Michigan University. Duque noted
that Johnson is the niece of Lyle Mays, original pianist and writer for
the Pat Metheny Group. She is also performing with Katie Seiler at The
Press Room in Portsmouth on Dec. 21.
Metheny is considered
one of the greatest jazz guitarists to emerge in the post-bop era of
the 1970s and ’80s. A pioneer in the realms of progressive jazz and
fusion, Metheny is known for his experimentations on guitar
synthesizer, 12-string guitar and even the 42-string Pikasso guitar. He
formed the Pat Metheny Group in 1977 and remains active with the New
York-based band.
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Before I get to the heart of this month’s column, there are a few
shows taking place over this long holiday weekend that I’d like to give
an extra plug for. On Sunday, Nov. 30, Larry Garland and Friends will
take the stage at The Press Room at 6 p.m. for an evening of jazz,
while in Dover at 8 p.m., Jose Duque will debut his Pat Metheny Project
band at the Barley Pub on Central Avenue. And on Friday evening, Nov.
28, check out the country stylings of Blue Train, featuring the superb
pedal-steel guitar work of Dan Beller-McKenna, at the Press Room at 9
p.m.
Four new CDs worth mentioning have crossed my desk within the last few
weeks. Susan Tedeschi’s “Back to The River,” on the Verve/Forecast
label, is a rich and seamless blend of blues, soul and gospel that
features her power-house vocals and incisive guitar work, ably
supported by her working band and her husband, guitarist Derek Trucks.
Francisco Mela’s “Cirio,” on Half Note Records, finds the
Cuban-born drummer leading a stellar quintet composed of pianist Jason
Moran, saxophonist Mark Turner, guitarist Lionel Loueke and bassist
Larry Grenadier during an explosive live set of stylistically diverse
originals at the Blue Note in New York City. It’s one of the better
live CDs I’ve heard in a while.
Saxophonist Donny McCaslin leads a sax/bass/drums trio to
extraordinary effect on his Greenleaf Music debut “Recommended Tools.”
And saxophonist Dave Pietro blends jazz, Brazilian and Indian music
beautifully on his latest Challenge Records release “The Chara Suite.”
Using the seven chakras, or energy points, as a source of inspiration,
Pietro has created a suite that blends the three musical styles into a
rich and natural blend, performed with great energy and enthusiasm by
Pietro and his associates. This is Pietro’s finest effort to date and
is certainly one of the best recordings I’ve heard this year. More
importantly, it’s a fine example of how various styles can come
together to create music without rigid barriers.
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introducing The Buoy in Kittery Foreside
Two upcoming events will unveil the freshly renovated room formerly
known as The Space, at 2 Government St. in Kittery, Maine. The Buoy in
Kittery Foreside, as it is now called, will host a two-act concert on
Thursday, Nov. 20, and an endurance dancing competition on Saturday,
Nov. 22.
The show on Thursday will pair Austin, Texas-based band Peter and the
Wolf with local double bassist and singer-songwriter Nat Baldwin’s
band, along with some surprise guests. Led by singer Red Hunter, Peter
and the Wolf recently released its second full-length album, “Mellow
Owl,” on indie label Whiskey and Apples. The album’s title accurately
captures its sound, full of soft folk melodies with a peaceful and
sorrowful tinge. Hunter’s gentle vocals glaze over the quiet guitar
chords with minimal percussive intrusion. Visit
www.myspace.com/whiskeyandapples.
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‘Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.’
by Deerhunter, Kranky
genre: weird pop
suitable for: troubling dreams
Surprise! For those not following the band closely, this second
full-length from Atlanta’s Deerhunter includes a bonus album—not a
bonus track or a bonus fold-out poster; a full bonus album meant as a
secret gift for fans strong-willed enough to wait until the release
date to buy a copy. This says a lot about the lengths labels and
artists are willing to go to inspire excitement about buying physical
CDs, but it also says a lot about Deerhunter, because these two albums
paired together are stunning.
On both albums, it’s clear that singer-songwriter Bradford Cox,
who is influenced heavily by Brian Wilson, is likewise talented in
unnatural ways. “Microcastle” is slick and focused, with Cox’s vocals
once again swathed in hazy effects even while much of the music is more
straightforward than older work. Already, this album is a step up from
the band’s debut, “Cryptograms,” but it is on “Weird Era Cont.” that
the band seems to just blast off. The record is more raw and
uninhibited, allowing Deerhunter to sound the way the band is meant to
sound, free of expectations. It is also incredibly beautiful. “Vox
Humana,” in particular, is one of my favorite tracks of the year. With
music so good, it’s exciting enough without any gimmicks.
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hip-hop collaborative to unveil new disc in style at Club Ioka
Each
repeated listen to “Flush,” the new release from TVP Records, enhances
appreciation of its comic funk and soulful hip-hop musicology. Most of
the CD’s 19 tracks, performed mainly by various members of The Head and
The Press Project, have a retro R&B porn-show vibe, complemented by
humorous lyrics and pop culture references. And, with an entourage of
talented and creative instrumentalists, the sonic quality is equally
compelling.
The creators of “Flush” will hold a CD release and fashion show
at Club Ioka in Exeter on Friday, Nov. 14, from 8 p.m. to midnight.
Tickets are $10 and anyone who orders in advance will receive a free
copy of the CD.
Part Sly Stone and Parliament Funkadelic, part Marvin Gaye and
Curtis Mayfield, part R. Kelly and Gangstarr, the music on “Flush” pays
tribute to the genres of soul and hip-hop with contemporary takes on
1970s fare. It may take a couple of listens to grow on you, and certain
tracks are stronger than others, but overall, the disc is too much fun
to dismiss.
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by The Decemberists
2003, Kill Rock Stars
the sound: “Castaways and Cutouts” opens with “Leslie
Anne Levine,” a sorrowful ghost tale told by a girl who died at birth.
“Fifteen years gone now / I still wander this parapet / And shake my
rattle bone. / Fifteen years gone now / I still cling to the petticoats
/ Of the girl who died with me.” The album’s fastest and catchiest
song, “July, July!” has lead singer Colin Meloy gleefully singing, “And
I say your uncle was a crooked French Canadian / And he was gut-shot
running gin / And how his guts were all suspended in his fingers / and
how he held ’em / How he held ’em, held ’em in.”
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turntable maestro DJ Logic spins at The Music Hall
All
kinds of new technology exist to help DJs diversify their sound. Unlike
the old days, when DJs scratched vinyl records on a pair of turntable
decks, software is now available to manufacture music straight through
computers, making laptops the instrument of choice for many jockeys.
But for DJ Logic, there’s nothing quite like the sound of raw vinyl. “I
like the analog sound,” Logic said. “Sometimes I like a little snap,
crackle and pop.”
A turntable pioneer who has revolutionized the field, Logic said
he has tinkered with some of the newer technology, but he still prefers
old-school methods. “I’ve been messing around with it, but I’m still
using vinyl,” he said. “It’s just a transition. I’m not trying to be a
dinosaur, but I just want to feel comfortable.”
Logic recently spoke to The Wire by phone while driving to a gig
in Wisconsin. The following day, he was on a plane to Hawaii for three
shows, including a slot at the Honolulu Music and Arts Festival on
Halloween night. Logic will perform a solo show at The Music Hall in
Portsmouth on Saturday, Nov. 15, beginning at 8:30 p.m.
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Seacoast music forum elicits ideas on how to improve the local landscape
The
local music scene has changed dramatically over the last 20 years.
Bands have come and gone, venues have opened and closed. Internet
technology has enabled listeners to access endless quantities of music
from home on iTunes, YouTube, Web sites, MySpace accounts and podcasts,
all ready for download. In short, there are plenty of cheap and
convenient entertainment alternatives available to distract people from
the purest form of musical performance: live shows.
According
to blues guitarist Bob Halperin, a long-time veteran of the Seacoast
music scene, the local climate was much more vibrant two or three
decades ago. If you asked area residents who their favorite band was in
the 1970s or ’80s, Halperin says, most of them would have named a local
band. There were often lines out the doors at clubs, and working
musicians had no shortage of available gigs.
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‘Hotter’
by The Minus Scale
The latest from Seacoast band The Minus Scale starts out hot and
never cools off, maintaining its rock and pop punk intensity through
all eight original songs. The opening track, “Hotter and Hotter and
Hotter,” wastes no time introducing Ryan Lavasseur’s confident vocals
and electric power chords, along with the sonic force of Pat Griffin on
drums, AJ Tobey on bass and Christopher Delisle on guitar.
The pace is more or less the same on the next two tracks, “Oh
Disaster” and “Trust.” But the fourth song, the laboriously titled “No
Matter What I Say You’re Going to Do It,” starts out a bit softer,
waiting for a clamorous chorus to twist the volume knob. The
high-energy music reflects some of the contemporary alternative rock
acts with whom the foursome has shared the stage, such as Catch 22 and
Gin Blossoms.
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Jeff Morris, lead vocalist and guitarist for Death & Taxes, sat
on the edge of the stage and gruffly demanded that everyone in
attendance surround him on the dance floor. Morris is a large man who
wears sleeveless flannel and cusses a lot in a deep, gravely voice that
carries instant authority, so most of the sparse crowd in attendance at
the Dover Brick House obliged. Morris, with bassist Mike Savitkas by
his side and drummer Steve Toland onstage, launched into what he
described as a “campfire sing-along” about a man forced to choose
between his whiskey and his woman. It was a sorrowful tune that ended
with a painful but resolute decision.
“So if you want me to choose between you and my booze, I’m afraid that you lose. I’ll take my whiskey,” Morris growled.
Morris and Savitkas then climbed onto the Brick House stage for
a set of punk-influenced classic rock with a country-western edge.
Based in Newburyport, Mass., Death & Taxes won Spotlight awards for
best rock band in 2007 and 2008. Morris was a founding member of
Seacoast punk band The Bruisers, along with current Dropkick Murphys
front man Al Barr. He formed Death & Taxes in October 2005, which
placed his recent Brick House performance right around the band’s
three-year anniversary.
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Joe Jackson on his way to The Music Hall
On Wednesday,
Oct. 29, The Music Hall will welcome the Joe Jackson Band to Portsmouth
in the latest installment of the Intimately Yours live music series.
Bandleader Jackson, on piano and vocals, will be joined by original Joe
Jackson Band members Graham Maby on bass and David Houghton on drums.
Jackson is touring in support of his latest album, “Rain,” which was
released in January. “Rain” is a return to form for Jackson, with songs
following in the footsteps of his highly influential early albums, yet
it displays a sophistication and maturity that highlight the varied
paths his career has taken.
Now 54, Jackson has consistently pushed the boundaries of
popular music during his three-plus decades of performing and
recording. In addition to being a Grammy winning classical composer and
best-selling author, few other musicians can boast of being covered by
both Tori Amos and Anthrax. The classically trained musician got his
start in the early 1970s playing piano in cabaret acts. In 1978, as the
punk scene in the U.K. slowly burned itself out, a new crop of
songwriters found themselves coming to the foreground of the music
landscape. Marrying the attitude and energy of punk with more nuanced,
sophisticated lyrics and intricate arrangements, three musicians would
exemplify this new wave of performers: Elvis Costello, Graham Parker
and Joe Jackson. Dubbed by the English press as “Angry Young Men,”
these three songwriters’ early records shared a common feel, and yet
all went on to have wildly different and eclectic careers.
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It’s time for a roundup of new releases that have come my way over the
past several months. It’s interesting to note that with an economy on
the verge of crashing and continued predictions about the demise of the
CD format, jazz musicians remain committed to getting their music out
to the public. And with the quality of musicianship that is exhibited
on all the discs here, the music appears to be in very capable hands.
I lead off with “Notes From the Village,” by Anat Cohen, an Israeli
clarinetist, saxophonist and composer who lives in New York City. The
music on the disc is split evenly between Cohen’s fine originals and
four lesser known standards that go in a variety of directions. Traces
of her Israeli roots can be heard in the rhythmic groove of the opening
tune, “Washington Square Park,” which features Cohen’s full sounding
soprano sax dancing over the pulsating energy of pianist Jason Lindner,
guitarist Gilad Hekselman, bassist Omer Avital and drummer Daniel
Freedman.
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Friday night folk in Newburyport
Local folk fiddler Joyce Andersen will kick off a new concert
series in Newburyport, Mass., with a solo show on Friday, Oct. 17. The
show marks the launch of FINCH (Fridays in Newburyport Coffee House),
which presents monthly concerts at the First Religious Society’s
Unitarian Universalist church at 26 Pleasant St.
Created by Karen Dardinski and Sue Ann Pearson, FINCH will focus
on acoustic blues, folk, roots and bluegrass in a friendly and casual
setting. The church’s parish hall will provide a well-lit stage for
acts like acoustic string quintet Northern Lights in November and
bluesy duo Paul Rishell and Annie Raines in December.
Andersen is a fiddle and guitar player with a deep arsenal of
traditional and contemporary folk, bluegrass, swing and Celtic songs.
She has released seven CDs, including four with her husband, Harvey
Reid. The couple most recently unveiled “The Song Train,” a four-disc
set of 56 two-chord songs with an accompanying booklet that helps
beginners learn how to play guitar. Andersen said she will perform some
tunes from “Song Train” during her appearance in Newburyport.
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country music award ceremony comes to Rochester
Like
other genres, country music cannot be pigeonholed into one particular
sound. A variety of styles overlap beneath the country umbrella,
including folk, rock, bluegrass, gospel and Americana. Emerging trends
have broadened the field even further, attracting new and younger
audiences to the music, even if they don’t identify it as country.
Still, Paul Malone had no trouble offering a concise definition of the
genre.
“Country music is poetry for the poor people,” he said.
Malone is vice president of the New Hampshire Country Music
Association, which will hold its 21st annual award show at the
Rochester American Legion Post on Sunday, Oct. 19. Judges will dole out
awards in a slew of categories in the association’s Talent Search and
Competition, while WOKQ-FM’s J.C. Coffey and Nichole Davis MC the
ceremony. NHCMA board president and CEO Jimmy Woods will provide
entertainment with his band, Jimmy Woods and the Woodsmen.
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eight-band showcase at RJ’s
Eight area bands with
diverse styles will unite for a showcase of Seacoast talent on Sunday,
Oct. 12. The show begins at 3 p.m. at RJ’s Bar and Grill, formerly
Mojitos, at 83 Washington St. in downtown Dover.
The event was organized by Rob Jennings, drummer for Dover-based
band Monkey Bar. Jennings hopes to expose the audience to the area’s
diverse spectrum of musical genres by billing local bands with a range
of sounds. The lineup will include AMFM, Audio Transmission, Anthony
Vito Fiandaca, Social Outsiders, Police Take Notice, Not a Soul in
Sight, Gnarlemange and Moon Minion. The door charge is $8.
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by Grant Lee Buffalo
Slash Records, 1993
the sound: Grant Lee Buffalo was
one of the leading bands of Americana and alt country back in the day,
known for socially aware lyrics, profound love songs and heartbreaking
rhythms played on 12-string guitars. Lead singer Grant Lee Phillips has
a deep, rumbling voice that works equally well when snarling or singing
lullabies. Many of the 11 tracks on “Fuzzy” are lush and thick with
piano and the hiss of a brush on a snare drum. The album’s opening
track, “The Shining Hour,” sounds like something from a player piano.
“Jupiter and Teardrop” is a romantic “Romeo and Juliet”-type ballad
about a young girl and her convict boyfriend. “The Hook” is a gracious
and mesmerizing tune about a relationship going bad. “Stars n’ Stripes’
is a sorrowful, Neil Young-esque look at the country, which starts out
slow, with the discussion of “the red and white and the blue
disease” and ends with the strange but lovely repetition of “Got you on
my Handycam / fits in my hand.”
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Andrew Bird at the Music Hall
Multi-instrumentalist sensation Andrew Bird will grace the stage in
Portsmouth on Wednesday, Oct. 8, as part of The Music Hall’s
“Intimately Yours” series.
An indie favorite who has managed to playfully skirt the
mainstream, Bird’s whimsical and evocative lyrics, combined with catchy
and haunting rhythms, give him an unrivaled sound. A master of the
violin and a tremendous whistler, as well as an accomplished guitarist
and glockenspiel player, Bird samples bits of his instruments and
layers them, making for a captivating live performance.
The Chicago-based artist grew up playing violin and graduated
from Northwestern University with a bachelor’s degree in violin
performance. In 1996, Bird released his debut album, “Music of Hair,”
which showcased his violin skills and also dabbled in jazz and blues.
Shortly after his first solo effort, Bird recorded with gypsy jazz
favorites the Squirrel Nut Zippers and later formed his own band,
Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire, which has a heavy jazz and swing sound.
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Yard Dogs Road Show in Portsmouth
In the first live performance with its new lobby completed, The
Music Hall will resume its Intimately Yours concert series with two
performances from the Yard Dogs Road Show on Friday and Saturday, Sept.
26 and 27.
The show is billed as a “hobo cabaret” featuring sword
swallowers, fire eaters and dancing dolls, all accompanied by live rock
music from the Yard Dogs band. The Music Hall calls it a “Moulin Rouge
rock concert circus,” complete with burlesque dancers, magicians and
beatnik poets.
The show reflects saloon vaudeville traditions dating back to
the Wild West of the late 1800s. According to the Yard Dogs Web site,
some say the group originated as a three-piece jug band that performed
at informal gatherings, including the Oregon acid tests with Ken Kesey
and the Merry Pranksters. Others say it was the zany idea of an
unemployed cowboy and a young poet who united to perform seemingly
impossible feats. The site is deliberately murky about the true
details, fueling the Yard Dogs’ mysterious aura.
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The 30th season of the UNH Traditional Jazz Series got off to a
rousing start on Sept. 22, with a performance by long-time Trad Jazz
favorites The New Black Eagle Jazz Band. It was the first of six
concerts that will span the wide spectrum of jazz from the traditional
to modern contemporary for the 2008-09 season. A joint venture between
the UNH Music Department and the New Hampshire Library of Traditional
Jazz funded by a generous bequest from the late Dorothy Prescott, the
series has provided listeners an opportunity to experience the diverse
array of styles that fall under the umbrella of jazz.
Each of the remaining concerts offers something for everyone,
except maybe fans of jazz singers, as there are no vocal shows in the
schedule this season—something I feel should be corrected with the
wealth of vocal talent on the jazz scene these days.
On Monday, Oct. 13, saxophonist Harry Allen will front a
four-saxophone ensemble with a rhythm section in a tribute to late big
band leader Woody Herman, in a show called Four Brothers Redux. Joining
Allen will be saxophonists Grant Stewart, Jeff Rupert and Gary Smulyan,
plus Joe Cohn on guitar, Joel Forbes on bass and Luca Santaniello on
drums.
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The bitter may have slightly outweighed the sweet for former
co-owner John Pasquale when The Stone Church sold at auction on Sept.
12. The Newmarket venue went for just $195,000, much less than what
Pasquale and his partners paid for it four years ago, and the former
owners still have debt to pay off.
The good news is that the building’s new owners have vowed to
continue filling it with live music. Scott Orlosk, of Londonderry, and
Adam Schroadter, of Newmarket, say they want to uphold the former
owners’ vision and keep the music alive in Newmarket.
“The building sold for a song, essentially, which is bad for
us,” Pasquale said. “We’re happy that a guy like Scott, who appreciates
what we did and wants to build upon that, is the guy that’s going to
try to move forward.”
Orlosk said his primary mission in purchasing The Stone Church
was to make sure it remains a performing arts venue and does not get
turned into a condominium complex.
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a roundup of local releases
‘Abandoned Christmas Trees’
by Guy Capecelatro III
Guy Capecelatro III is as much a storyteller and poet as he is a
singer-songwriter. From the opening narrative of “Abandoned Christmas
Trees,” in which he describes a girl named Christina knitting a scarf
while riding on a train, the album stews with nostalgia, longing and
poetic contemplation. Capecelatro cast his net across the Seacoast to
pull in a huge range of singers and instrumentalists, each of whom
becomes another character in the album’s set of musical short stories.
Many of the songs are endowed with the type of sulking
melancholy that characterizes much of the Seacoast’s modern folk scene.
But Capecelatro inserts enough musical variety to keep the disc
thoroughly engaging throughout all 16 of its tracks, balancing slower
tunes with upbeat numbers and indie rock sounds.
The lyrical content also varies widely, with peaceful sentiments
counterbalanced by morose and sometimes violent imagery. “You didn’t
seem to bother / when I hit your father / I think you’d have to admit /
that he deserved it,” Capecelatro sings in “So Fine.”
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Supersuckers hit the Brick House
Actor Jerry Reed, 71, of “Smokey and the Bandit,” died last week
due to complications caused by emphysema. Along with a few film roles,
Reed was also a country singer. His best-known song, “East Bound and
Down,” was covered by the Supersuckers on the band’s most recent album,
2005’s “Devil’s Food: A Collection of Rare Sweets and Evil Treats.”
The Supersuckers itself is east bound and down as the band heads
to New England for a few dates on its “Hittin’ the Gravel” tour,
stopping in Dover on its way up to Canada. With 20 years now under its
belts, the self-proclaimed “greatest rock band in the world” will take
the stage on Sunday, Sept. 14, at the Dover Brick House, following a
set from area hard rock favorites Death & Taxes.
Despite a claim in the recent film “Hamlet 2” that Tucson,
Ariz., is the worst place in the world, the city did see the formation
of the Supersuckers in 1988. Originally a five-piece band named The
Black Supersuckers, original lead singer Eric Martin left after the
group moved to Seattle in 1989, and bass player Eddie Spaghetti stepped
into the lead role. The “Black” was dropped from the name shortly
thereafter.
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Guitarist Lex Romane and saxophonist Joe Riillo have been playing
swinging blues, folk and jazz together for 30 years. Despite a health
crisis that threatened to derail their joint career, they have no
intention of stopping now.
Romane has mostly recovered from a life-threatening infection
that hospitalized him for three weeks and necessitated two surgeries,
but he still has not rebounded from the financial blow his medical
emergency inflicted. To help him get back on his feet economically,
Jonathan’s Restaurant in Ogunquit, Maine, will host a benefit concert
for Romane at 7 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 15.
The evening will take the form of an ongoing jazz and blues jam
session featuring a plethora of area musicians. The prodigious lineup
includes Woody Allen, Kent Allyn, Joyce Anderson, Peter Black, Steve
Einstein, Bob Halperin, Jon Ross, Harvey Reid, Mark Teixira and others,
as well as Lex and Joe themselves.
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improvised jazz at The Red Door
Another school year is
getting underway, but Hell’s out for recess every Thursday night at The
Red Door. The Portsmouth venue’s new weekly improvisational jazz night
kicked off last month, with keyboardist Larry Garland and a gang of his
friends making big noise on State Street.
On Aug. 28, Garland’s band mates included dual saxophonists John
Ludwig and Jim Cameron, along with drummers Peter Moutis and Dave Fox.
Wearing a faded red, white and blue shirt on the night of Barack
Obama’s nomination acceptance speech, Garland sat center stage at his
keyboard, presiding over a musical feeding frenzy that consisted
entirely of nonstop improvisation.
For the uninitiated listener, this type of music can be a bit
abrasive to the ear. There are no rules in free jazz, which accounts
for why it has historically gathered a small minority of fans, but also
explains why, when executed by able musicians, it’s one of the most
enlivening and exhilarating forms of music known to humankind.
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Elsa Cross, Boy mark national tours with local shows
Rockabilly mistress Elsa Cross has quickly amassed a devoted
following on the Seacoast. The release of her debut album last year
sealed her reputation as a local force in the arenas of modern folk and
old-style country-rock. Now it’s time for Cross to take her act on the
road and test her raw guitar skills and crooning vocals on national
audiences.
Cross leaves this weekend for a two-week tour through five
states, beginning with a Sept. 7 show in Brooklyn, N.Y. She then stops
in Baltimore and Pittsburg before swinging through Tennessee for shows
in Memphis, Nashville and Knoxville. The tour ends in North Carolina,
where she has booked gigs in Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Sylvia and
Asheville.
Joined by bassists Steve Roy and drummer PJ Donahue, Cross is
enthusiastic about hitting the road. She organized the tour herself and
has been saving up to fund her travels. “Last summer I waited tables at
two jobs to make my CD (and) this summer I’ve been working my butt off
to fund my tour,” Cross said in an email.
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Seacoast musicians gear up for fall CD releases
It’s
been about four years since The Minus Scale played a live CD release
show on the Seacoast. Although the indie rock band’s four members have
remained active in the scene, they have limited most of their recorded
material to short EPs and online releases. But, after 18 months of work
on a new album, The Minus Scale will hold a long-awaited release party
at Bourbon’s Music Club in Portsmouth on Friday, Oct. 3.
“We’re unbelievably excited about actually having a CD that people will
be listening to in their cars and playing for other people,” said
bassist AJ Tobey.
Consisting of Tobey on bass and vocals, Ryan Levasseur on guitar
and vocals, Chris Delisle on guitar, keyboard and vocals and Pat
Griffin on drums, The Minus Scale is one of a number of area bands that
are unveiling new CDs this fall and celebrating with local release
parties.
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The Honors release debut EP
Formed in January, The
Honors is off to a hot start. Already, the Boston-based indie rock band
has opened for Blues Traveler at the Alive at Five Music Festival in
Connecticut and performed at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island.
With the release of its debut EP, the band now has added an original
recording to its resumé.
Although formed in Boston, The Honors has strong connections to
the Seacoast music scene. Among the four-piece band’s members are
drummer Jay Trikakis and bassist Roland Nicol, both of Portsmouth-based
hip-hop ensemble The Press Project and other local groups. Trikakis, a
Massachusetts native, met vocalist/guitarist Brandon Heisler in 2003
while both were studying at Regent’s College in London.
“We were introduced by a mutual friend who suggested we have a
jam session,” Trikakis said in an email. “There was a jam spot at the
college where students would play until the wee hours of the
morning—you weren’t allowed to play during the day—and Brandon and I
hit it off immediately.”
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Rain has dampened activities at the Prescott Park Arts Festival this
summer. According to organizers, the previous record for rained-out
events in a single season was nine. This year, there have been a total
of 18 rainouts.
“As an outdoor music festival, we’re really at the mercy of the
weather,” festival director Ben Anderson said in a press release. “And
while we prepare for rain, this summer was beyond anything like we’ve
experienced before.”
But the weather has turned mostly pleasant in the waning days of
summer, and Anderson has responded by booking one last show. The Shaw
Brothers are playing a special benefit concert on Wednesday, Aug. 27,
to close out the 34th annual festival. Like all summer shows at
Prescott Park, the concert is free, with a suggested donation of $5 to
$8.
Anderson said an Aug. 20 performance by singer-songwriter
Livingston Taylor broke festival attendance records, drawing an
estimated 6,000 people to Portsmouth’s waterfront park. He hopes the
Shaw Brothers carry that momentum on Wednesday and help the festival
recover from its soggy season.
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Randy Armstrong releases comprehensive Do’a box set
When
guitarist Randy Armstrong first met flutist Ken LaRoche in 1974,
Armstrong was studying North Indian music on sitar. A classically
trained player, LaRoche was already versed in the bansuri flute of
India. This shared penchant for Indian artistry helped set the pair on
a musical sojourn that would explore sounds and instruments from just
about every region of the world.
“It became this undying thirst to reach out and find out what was
available musically,” Armstrong said. “I don’t have enough days in my
life to explore all the possibilities.”
LaRoche passed away in January 2006, but the music he and
Armstrong recorded together as members of world fusion group Do’a live
on in “Legacy,” a new five-disc box set of the band’s complete
remastered works.
The collaboration between Armstrong and LaRoche lasted for 17
years, concluding with a concert at Harvard University in 1991. During
that span, Do’a recorded five albums and played concerts all over the
nation and world, helping to pioneer an all-encompassing style that has
come to be known as world fusion. A sampling of the music’s influences
range from American folk and jazz to traditional African, Indian,
Tibetan, Andean, Native American and Middle Eastern music.
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by The Sheila Divine
1999, Roadrunner Records
the sound: Singer Aaron Perrino’s voice has a
Morrisey-esque timbre and his band’s songs are reminiscent of “The
Bends”-era Radiohead, with strong and similar lyrics. On a smaller
scale, The Sheila Divine pulls together tight, guitar-driven songs
about life and love. The album’s opening track, “Automatic Buffalo,” is
a solid rock song that ends with a rousting chorus of “automatic
buffalo.” (Don’t ask, we don’t know what that means.) “I’m a Believer”
beats The Monkees’ song of the same title, starting slowly and building
to a screechy cry for love: “To my surprise / I’m hypnotized / by the
sight of flesh / and the scent of skin. / Give me a chance.” The
album’s best track, “Opportune Moment,” predates and outshines any
Killers “losing the girl” song: “I call her (ring, ring), she’s not
there. / At the opportune moment / she tells me (fling, fling), ‘I
kissed him.’ / Now it’s out into the open. / I go out (drinks, drinks),
I can’t stay in.” Rocking, jangly fun all around.
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Jay Geils comes to The Press Room in Portsmouth on Sunday evening,
Aug. 24. But, if you think you’re going to hear “Freeze Frame” or “Give
It to Me,” think again. Geils will be wearing his jazz guitarist hat as
he joins several friends, including drummer Les Harris Jr., for an
evening of jazz and blues. It’s a chance for fans to hear this
remarkable musician’s versatility.
Jazz has long had an influence on Geils’ music. His father John
“Jack” Geils was a big jazz fan and had a large collection of vintage
recordings of Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman. “Some of
the first music I heard as a kid in the late ’40’s … was by Benny
Goodman,” Geils told the All Music Guide’s Joe Viglione.
Geils later discovered artists like Miles Davis and learned how
to play the legend’s tunes on trumpet and drums. Geils also discovered
blues greats like Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters via New York radio
station WRVR’ s Sunday afternoon broadcasts. Later, while a student at
Northeastern University in Boston in the mid-1960s, Geils discovered
the folk music of Tom Rush, Dave Van Ronk and Jim Kweskin. All these
disparate styles would play a major role in Geils’ development as a
guitarist.
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It’s festival season at the Mill Pond Center in Durham, with two
late-summer musical shindigs fast approaching. First up is the New
Hampshire Folk Music Festival at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 23. Two weeks
later the New Hampshire Jazz and Blues Festival hits town.
Five acts will grace the outdoor stage on Mill Pond’s lawn on
Saturday. Lunch at the Dump is an eight-piece indie band from
Davisville that has been playing bluegrass, country and swing for the
last quarter-century. Craig Werth is a singer-songwriter based in
Newmarket and a regular collaborator with many local musicians. Werth
recently toured with Canada’s David Francey, another act at the Folk
Fest. The Scottish born indie folk artist is now based in Ontario and
is well known throughout Canada.
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When a triple-bill concert took place in the room formerly known as
The Space last week, it caused a minor stir in downtown Kittery.
Patrons of the nearby Corner Pub wondered why a crowd of young, heavily
tattooed people had gathered down the street, and customers at the
adjoining Tulsi restaurant had some loud, unexpected music to accompany
their dinners.
Inside the venue, a sweaty electro-dance party was blazing
through the stripped-down room. The staging was rudimentary, with a few
colored lights gleaming through the otherwise dark space. But the sound
quality was exemplary, and the musicians and fans generated enough
energy to power a small city.
The lineup consisted of Asheville, N.C.-based electro-rap duo
Ear Pwr, followed by Baltimore’s new wave pop band Future Islands, and
closing with Portland-based metal-rap trio Ghetto Crest. Dozens of
all-ages guests showed up, many of them engaging in fantastically
ridiculous dance moves beneath the steel ceiling rafters.
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‘Stay Positive’
by The Hold Steady, Vagrant Records
genre: high-five rock
suitable for: making out with strangers
Singer Craig Finn says this about his band’s origins: “The Hold
Steady was born out of some loose talk in my Boreum Hill apartment in
2002. I had moved to Brooklyn about two years earlier. I was 31 years
old, and the other dudes were about my same age. Our concept was to
start a straight rock band with low aspirations.” Little did they know
that a low aspiration rock band was in high demand. Since then, The
Hold Steady, armed with Finn’s deeply nostalgic storytelling about
being young and drunk or spending summer nights at the water tower, has
become one of the biggest rock bands in the underground. And Craig
Finn, like something out of a dork’s dream sequence, is now a
37-year-old rock star.
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Ernie Hawkins to perform in York
Few living musicians
have mastered the art of acoustic blues guitar like Ernie Hawkins. The
Pittsburg native will make his first visit to the Seacoast on Sunday,
Aug. 17, when he will play a solo show at Remick Barn in York, Maine.
Hawkins began playing blues guitar as a teenager in the 1960s.
After graduating from high school, he studied under blues legend Rev.
Gary Davis in New York City. He later graduated from the University of
Pittsburg with a degree in philosophy and, in 1973, moved to Dallas to
earn a Ph.D. in phenomenological psychology.
He continued playing music throughout his schooling and became
proficient in country blues and ragtime guitar. He recorded his first
solo album, “Ragtime Signatures,” in the early 1980s and followed it up
with “Blues Advice,” which was dedicated to Davis.
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‘Indie Band Survival Guide’ helps musicians spread the sound
Travel
back to 1985. Topping the charts were George Michael’s “Careless
Whisper,” Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” and Wham!’s “Wake Me Up Before You
Go-Go” (don’t worry, we won’t make you stay here long). It was a time
when major record labels dictated what you heard and bought. If a band
wasn’t signed to a major label, chances are, you’d never heard it play
a single chord.
OK, come on back to 2008. Topping
Billboard’s pop charts are Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl,” Chris
Brown’s “Forever” and Jesse McCartney’s “Leavin’.” Not necessarily a
whole lot better than 1985, you might say. The difference is, you can
now also tap into music from around the world on the Internet,
satisfying a boundless array of musical proclivities without leaving
home. The hit-driven music industry is dying, and major labels no
longer decide what you listen to.
“You have access to more music than ever,” said Randy Chertkow, co-author of “The Indie Band Survival Guide.”
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Herbie Hancock plays at the beach
It’s a rare feat for a jazz musician to win a Grammy for Album
of the Year, but pianist Herbie Hancock pulled it off with his 2007
release, “River: The Joni Mitchell Letters.” During his five-decade
career, Hancock has helped not only to advance the jazz genre, but to
pioneer innovations in the realms of hip-hop, R&B, techno, fusion
and pop. Hancock will be at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom on
Wednesday, Aug. 13, for an 18-plus show beginning at 8 p.m. Tickets are
$35 to $60.
The Chicago native was performing Mozart piano concertos by the
age of 11, but steered toward jazz in high school and college. In 1963,
he joined Miles Davis in what would become known as Davis’ second
classic quintet, alongside saxophonist Wayne Shorter, drummer Tony
Williams and bassist Ron Carter. The group stayed together for five
years and recorded a number of classics, including “ESP,” “Nefertiti”
and “Sorcerer.” Even after the group disbanded, Hancock continued to
collaborate with Davis on such masterpieces as “In a Silent Way,”
“Bitches Brew” and “A Tribute to Jack Johnson.”
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a roundup of recent local releases
‘Let it Go’
by The Guts
The Portsmouth punk scene gained regional recognition with the
emergence of The Queers in the early 1980s. Later that decade, The
Bruisers formed, fronted by vocalist Al Barr, now of Dropkick Murphys
fame. Both bands endured through much of the ’90s, keeping Portsmouth
afloat in the collective punk consciousness.
Al Barr and Joe Queer are still touring the nation, but they
have relinquished their reign over Portsmouth to younger faces in the
21st century. None of those faces are more familiar around town than
guitarist Geoff Palmer, bassist Nate Doyle and drummer Rick Orcutt, who
collectively make up The Guts. With their latest album due out soon,
the trio has climbed another rung on the punk-rock ladder.
The Guts recorded much of “Let it Go” last fall at Smart Studios
in Madison, Wisconsin. The studio is owned by Garbage drummer Butch
Vig, and it has been the birthplace of albums by Nirvana, The Smashing
Pumpkins and Sonic Youth. The Guts also signed on with indie punk label
Rally Records.
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Dweezil Zappa brings his dad’s music to Hampton
Frank
Zappa fans are always hungry for an opportunity to see the mustachioed
maestro’s songs performed live. In 2000, I caught a show by a Zappa
cover band called Project Object, which featured long-time FZ band mate
Ike Willis (the group toured as recently as April, this time without
Willis but with former Zappa collaborator Napoleon Murphy Brock). When
I asked guitarist Dweezil Zappa if he keeps in touch with Ike and
Napoleon, he surprised me by saying that many of his dad’s former band
mates have played his music without permission and have fallen out of
favor with the family. Hence the slogan for the 2008 Zappa Plays Zappa
tour: Accept No Substitutes. One of Frank’s four children (along with
brother Ahmet and sisters Moon Unit and Diva), Dweezil started the
summer tour in 2006. His eight-piece band, which includes long-time FZ
collaborator Ray White, has learned around 85 Zappa songs. “That really
is a massive undertaking,” said Dweezil, who was 24 when his father
died of prostate cancer in 1993. “You know, it’s not just four-chord
tunes.” He spoke to The Wire from a hotel in Oklahoma prior to a show
in Tulsa. His band returns to the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom for an
18-plus show on Wednesday, Aug. 6.
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Martha Wainwright headed to the Firehouse
Martha
Wainwright released her second full-length album this year, following
her self-titled 2005 debut. “I Know You’re Married But I’ve Got
Feelings Too” further establishes Wainwright’s place in a musical
lineage that has defined her family for generations. The singer and
guitarist will flaunt her silk-laced voice at The Firehouse Center for
the Arts in Newburyport, Mass., on Friday, July 11.
Wainwright’s heartfelt but scathing brand of folk-rock has
earned her a glowing reputation in her own right, but she is inevitably
weighed against the other members of her musical family. She is the
daughter of Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III, and the brother
of Rufus Wainwright.
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‘The Devil, You + Me’
by The Notwist,
Domino Records
Can it really by six years since The Notwist’s breakout album,
“Neon Golden,” came out? What have I been doing with my life?
Originally released by German label City Slang, then reissued by Domino
Records shortly thereafter, “Neon Golden” was an album so obviously
good upon first listen that it quickly turned the group, known
previously for wildly changing styles, into standard bearers for its
adopted pop-electronica sound. Influenced by similar artists on the
Berlin-based Morr Music label, and boosted by the programming work of
band member Martin Gretschmann, a.k.a. Console, The Notwist became
hugely popular even though, to this day, no one, not even the band
themselves, knows how to pronounce their name.
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by Murkádee
Epping often gets a bad rap. With its mega
Wal-Mart blotting out the skyline and its resident killer Sheila
LaBarre stealing the headlines, it’s easy to overlook the town’s more
positive qualities. Among the positives Epping has produced are the
indie pop rockers of Murkádee. This quirky quintet has serious Epping
pride, and they’ve anthologized their hometown with their third
full-length release, “Eppology.”
Guitarist and keyboardist Joseph K Murphy and clarinetist
DeLaine Bennett combine their distinctive and earnest vocals to mold
the Murkádee sound. The pair began recording together in 2003,
releasing “Chain Jing Mines” and later following up with “A Spectral
View.” The new disc perpetuates the band’s totally unique, candy-coated
sound with jubilant songwriting and bouncy, rhyming lyrics.
Joining the core duo is Murkádee’s live entourage, consisting of
The Attic Bat on drums, Jon Briggs on bass and Steve Dunleavy on
saxophone. The album starts off with an engaging bang on “14 Steps,”
which begins with a soft piano melody that quickly explodes into a
guitar and keyboard driven burst of euphoria.
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Coughlin tribute show
The Press Room in Portsmouth will host a tribute show on
Saturday, July 5, for former Hotrod Fury bassist Geoff Coughlin, who
died of a drug overdose in May. The show will feature Coughlin’s Hotrod
band mates, drummer Trish Muchemore and guitarist Jim Farquhar. Among
the evening’s other performers are Nate Laban of The Frosting, Jerry
Brookman of Storm the Ohio, Adam Hall of The Water Section and others.
Hotrod Fury was a staple of the Seacoast punk scene until
Coughlin’s death, and the band had been scheduled to play at The Press
Room on Saturday. Instead of canceling the gig, Coughlin’s friends
decided to turn the evening into a tribute in his memory.
A skilled bassist and beloved figure in Portsmouth, Coughlin was
known for both his music and his outgoing personality, working at Belle
Peppers on Congress Street. Performers at the tribute show will play
songs that Coughlin wrote and loved. The $5 show begins at 9 p.m. at
The Press Room, 77 Daniel St., Portsmouth, 603-431-5186.
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Over the last two decades, groundbreaking comedian George Carlin
made more appearances at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom than any
other single artist, according to director of marketing Andrew Herrick.
Known for his irreverent rants and clever wordplay, Carlin sometimes
sold out two shows per year at the Ballroom.
“George was perhaps the most popular entertainer in the long
storied history of the Casino Ballroom,” Herrick said in a press
release.
Carlin was scheduled to perform two shows at the Ballroom on
Thursday, July 24, but the shows were cancelled when Carlin died of
heart failure on June 22, at the age of 71. Tickets can be refunded at
the site of purchase.
During his recent conversation with The Wire, comic singer
Stephen Lynch took a few moments to reflect on the influence Carlin had
on him. “I love George Carlin,” Lynch began. Here’s what else he had to
say:
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Stephen Lynch talks comedy before his gig at the Casino Ballroom
You
heard it here first: Stephen Lynch has never killed a kitten. Or so he
claims. When first asked if he had ever committed the heinous act,
Lynch pleaded the fifth. Then, fearing that his words would be
misconstrued and get him into trouble, he solemnly declared, “No, I
have never killed a kitten.”
His cautious response was understandable. A comic musician and
rising star in the comedy world, Lynch said a man offended by the
lyrics to his song “Kill a Kitten” once tried to organize national
protests against the song. Evidently, the irked listener took Lynch’s
words a bit too literally, interpreting them as a cultish call to arms
against cute little felines.
In a recent phone interview, Lynch said “Kill a Kitten” was
initially written as a throw-away song, an attempt to see if he could
“come up with a really beautiful melody and song, juxtaposed with the
most horrific thing I could think of, because I figured those two would
make it kind of funny.”
That approach is typical of Lynch’s brand of comedy. The
entertainer tickled the hell out of a large audience at the Hampton
Beach Casino Ballroom on June 26. He blends quality guitar-based
songwriting with absurd and often obscene lyrics to create an
irresistibly funny clash. Just as your toes start tapping, Lynch
delivers a line that slaps you into an involuntary fit of chuckling.
And it’s the earnestness with which he sings the words, as much as the
black humor of the lyrics, that makes you laugh.
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a pre-show chat with José González at The Stone Church
Since
releasing his debut album, “Veneer,” in 2003, José González has
dedicated his life to spreading his reflective folk songs to a wide
audience. In addition to an impressive touring schedule, his music has
been featured in television shows such as “House,” “Scrubs” and “The
OC.” Through all this, the Swedish musician of Argentinean descent has
remained a soft-spoken man whose songs often intimately express what it
means to be human. The Wire caught up with González prior to his June
23 show at The Stone Church in Newmarket, where he performed for a
sold-out crowd in support of his latest album, “In Our Nature.”
What impression has all this traveling and touring all over the world had on you?
It’s been very interesting for me to see how similar places I’ve been
(are). It’s been mainly Western kind of countries. But even South
Africa was pretty Western. So, yeah, it’s sort of nice to see how
similar places can be, and people.
How often do you write new material?
I’m always very slow with writing, so I sort of need continuous time.
So that’s a problem, actually. Being on tour, you have one hour here,
one hour there, but you want to use that to walk around the city. When
I’m at home, it’s easier. I can just take crappy riffs and I make it
better after a couple of weeks.
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Michael Franti & Spearhead sells out at The Music Hall
Dreadlocked
vocalist and guitarist Michael Franti leads a band that is reputed as
much for its politically charged lyrics as it is for its lusty and
danceable beats. Of mixed descent that includes African, Native
American, Italian and German blood, Franti is a poet and composer who
merges international sounds to create uplifting music in a troubled
time.
Apparently, Franti’s message resonates with listeners on the
Seacoast, because Spearhead’s upcoming show at The Music Hall in
Portsmouth on Thursday, June 26, sold out a week in advance.
A native of Oakland and former basketball player at the
University of San Francisco, Franti formed his first group in 1986, an
afro-industrial band called The Beatnigs. In 1991, he fronted The
Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, which also featured jazz guitarist
Charlie Hunter. Franti created Spearhead in 1994 and has since released
about 15 live and studio recordings, including his 2006 Iraq-themed
album, “Yell Fire!”
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local hardcore band tours again
Backstabbers Inc.
returns this week from its first tour in more than two years with new
songs for the first time in twice as long.
The tour began with a
fast and furious show at Bourbon’s in Portsmouth earlier this month
alongside Trailer Sluts, Tiny Whales and The Guts. It ends back on the
Seacoast in Dover at Dos Amigos on Thursday, June 27.
The Portsmouth-based band is made up of brothers Matt and Brian
Serven, drummer Jonah Livingston and bassist Nick Yeti. It started
about 10 years ago as Life Passed On, a side project to another band
the Servens were in, called As I Bleed. Singer-guitarist Matt Serven
said he wanted to play guitar in a hardcore band with a more direct and
stripped-down approach in sound and technique. As I Bleed was a
long-winded, melodic metal-influenced band, and Backstabbers was to be
a raging, fast-paced outfit with short, blasting songs and a no-frills
attitude.
Along with the change of some members, the band has changed some
over the years. Since a former vocalist left for the band Take Them,
singing and songwriting is now up to the Serven brothers, in addition
to playing guitar and composing the music.
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The jazz world was stunned by the announcement in early April that the
International Association of Jazz Educators, or IAJE, suddenly closed
the doors to its Manhattan, Kan., office and filed for Chapter 7
bankruptcy protection. In a letter to IAJE members dated April 18,
president Chuck Owen said, “IAJE as it presently stands will no longer
exist.” Speculation has been rampant over what precipitated the
organization’s sudden demise. Many point to lack of attendance at the
IAJE conference in Toronto this past January—approximately 4,000
attendees showed up, compared to nearly 10,000 at the 2007 conference
in New York City. Others point to a variety of issues, including
contentions that the organization has lost sight of its core mission:
the promotion of jazz education and jazz music as an important and
viable part of any school curriculum. The loss of the conference is
particularly sad, as it was one of very few events during which music
educators, well-known jazz musicians, music industry and media types
could come together to talk and celebrate all things jazz. As more
information becomes available in coming months, I’ll be providing
updates to the situation through this column. Jazz Times magazine has
announced that it will publish an investigative article on this
development in its next issue. Word in the jazz community is that
another publication, Jazz Improv magazine, will shift its recently
debuted conference (October 2007) to January to offer an alternative to
the departed IAJE conference. Let’s hope it succeeds.
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music in the meadow
There are few better ways to celebrate the arrival of summer
than by lounging in a grassy meadow while live music ushers in the
evening. Durham’s Mill Pond Center for the Arts kicks off its 2008
Music in the Meadow Concert Series with a performance by Bliss on
Thursday, June 19. The following night will feature a double-bill of
gypsy jazz with the Robin Nolan Trio and New Hampshire’s own
Ameranouche.
Bliss is a four-piece string band consisting of Kristan Bishop
and Karen Larson on guitar, Cathy O’Brien on violin and Carolyn Hutton
on mandolin. The band plays a mix of blues, folk, country and bluegrass
songs, utilizing traditional ballads and original tunes. Tickets are
$10 for adults, $5 for children age 12 and under, free for children age
5 and under, $25 for whole families. The music begins at 5:30 p.m. and
dinner will be available for purchase on site from Hickory Pond Inn.
Guitarist Robin Nolan has been called “amazingly good” by former
Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman and has even drawn praise from the
late George Harrison. His style adds a modern edge to Django
Reinhardt’s gypsy jazz sound of the 1930s and ’40s, featuring a
dizzying stream of notes that is bound to mesmerize. Rounded out by his
brother Kevin Nolan on rhythm guitar and Simon Planting on double bass,
the trio has released at least six CDs and has performed around the
globe.
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Brian McGee and the Hollow Speed swing through the Seacoast
It
was 1997, and aside from a handful of reunion shows a year later,
Pennsylvania’s pride of the punk rock community, Plow United, had
broken up. From the band’s adopted home of West Chester, Pa., the trio
had forged an intense following, toured nationally, received glowing
press in major punk publications and famously fended off major label
inquiries from A&R reps searching hard for the next Green Day.
Since forming as teenagers in 1992, the lightning fast, sharply
intelligent and musically gifted band showed many young Pennsylvania
outcasts the full power and glory of punk music: Creating something
extraordinary out of almost nothing and building community in a place
as starved for meaning as the Philadelphia suburbs.
And then it was over. The band’s members went their separate
ways, scattering across the country, while guitarist/vocalist Brian
McGee, now a budding folk rocker about to embark on a short tour
through New England with his new band, The Hollow Speed, was pretty
much lost. He worked odd jobs, briefly joined two other
Philadelphia-area bands, and even toured with one, but was clearly
missing something.
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The RPM Jukebox is home to more than 16,000 songs from independent
musicians all around the world. The music spans every genre and style
imaginable, and anyone can log on, browse, and listen at
www.rpmchallenge.com/jukebox. To give you a head start in your
exploration of this new world of music, here’s a sample album that
caught our ear!
“Electro-Flying”
by The Squirrels
New York, 2007
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folk clubbing in Rollinsford
The Elysium Arts Folk Club kicks off its summer music series on
Saturday, June 14, with a performance by singer-songwriter Mike
O’Donnell. The Raymond folk singer will headline the first of at least
10 shows occurring at the Rollinsford studio this summer. Eric Ott,
lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for Portsmouth-based Mercuryhat,
will open for O’Donnell. The $10 show begins at 8 p.m. on the first
floor of the Lower Mills at Salmon Falls on Front Street.
A week later, on Saturday, June 21, local folk icon Jeff Warner
will top the bill. Other acts throughout the summer include John
Perrault, Dan Blakeslee, Dan Walker and others. In addition to American
folk music, the acts encompass Latin, Celtic, French and other world
styles. A handful of additional shows are scheduled for the fall.
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by Cracker
1992, Virgin
the sound: Lumped under the category
“alternative” in 1992, Cracker’s first album would probably now be
considered “alt-country.” Really, it should be given its own
description of “smart-ass rock,” the often sarcastic and funny lyrics
playing a role that’s as important as the music. It’s definitely a rock
album with a country twinge. Almost all of the songs have a serious
twang, probably influenced by singer David Lowery’s Texas upbringing.
Lowery has a voice like honey laced with broken glass. It sounds almost
hoarse, like he’s shouting, without actually being too loud. It could
have gotten that way from singing his damnedest. In the album’s first
and fastest track, “Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now),” he howls,
“’Cause what the world needs now / is a new Frank Sinatra / so I can
get you in bed / ’cause what the world needs now / is another folk
singer / like I need a hole in the head.”
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More...
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RatDog at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom, May 31
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playing dead
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RPM Jukebox Planet - 1Inch8Track
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Rock My Soul celebrates spring
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the Social Club is back
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RPM Jukebox Planet - Hussalonia
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‘Grey Branches’ screening, plus concert
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Bob Halperin; Jospeh K Murphy; Cantonese Traffic
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RPM Jukebox Planet - The Governess
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playing for peace
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Superfrog at The Blue Mermaid, May 9
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RPM Jukebox Planet- Trumpet Marine
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‘Paranoid’
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Brendan Murray; Ulaan Kohl; Blank Dogs; Earth
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a musical melting pot
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Brooke Sofferman; David Thorne Scott and Mark Shilansky; Larry Braggs; Nuttree Quartet; Eliane Elias
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hillbilly rock
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a homecoming hideout
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RPM Jukebox Planet
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Sunlight in Architecture; Meantone; Doug Wynne; Gregg Porter
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classical protest music
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psychedelic prog-metal for all ages
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Rhys Chatham & His Guitar Trio All-Stars, Beach House, Religious Knives & Oren Ambarchi/Z’ev
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RPM 2008
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the Penny Lane of Eliot, Maine
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a chorus of (boy) angels, plus you
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'Gallowsbird’s Bark'
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Chris Humphrey; The Fringe
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geek chorus
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closing the open mike
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the speed of sound
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books and hooks
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‘Stanley Stole My Shoelace and Rubbed It In His Armpit and Other Songs My Parents Won’t Let Me Sing’
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February is over
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300 years of music in his strings
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RPM '08
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celebrating jazz history
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an island community of music
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Roman(US)
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Frisell freak out
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‘Weather Report’
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singing from the heart
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RPM '08
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Steve Grover Quintet brings bebop to The Press Room
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they’re mammals, not fish
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Bon Iver; Robedoor; Kevin Drumm/Prurient; Meneguar
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RPM '08
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‘Son of Schmilsson’
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sweetly singing on the Seacoast
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less is more
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let the creation begin
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A New Year with Jazz Universe
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King Memphis
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‘The Best of Spirit’
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‘Late Nights on Washington’; ‘The Year of the Dog’
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29 days of music creation
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Mac Tough
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RPM '08
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once a bluesman, always a bluesman
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‘Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.’
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Trium in Exeter; Oscar Peterson dies at 82
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Elsa Cross
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Skamasutra; Jenn Adams; John Balger
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‘Live From The Middle East’
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‘Quadraphonic’
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point-counterpoint, with MC Foodcourt and Dr. Bunsen Honeyjones
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End of the Year Jazz Universe
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‘Sound Helmet’
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The Swaggerin’ Growlers
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winter listening
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‘King’
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rock ’n’ roll’s unsung hero
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Ryan Montbleau Band; Brian Parnham; Paul Dykstra; D. Gross
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riding the Tune Buggy
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‘Striking 12’
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do you hear what I hear?
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‘The Song Train’
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wide open world of percussion
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drink down the good times
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‘Dog Years in the Fourth Ring (box set)’
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the language of song
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Bright Eyes
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stepping up to the mike
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carrying the torch
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‘The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway’
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hot jazz and cool tunes
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Putting the ‘bright’ in Bright Eyes
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dropping the curtain
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finding her voice
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Rock ’n’ Bowl
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sailing the seas of cheese
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blending the written and the spoken words
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Pondering Judd; Dan Walker; Randy Browning
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‘Friday Night in San Francisco’
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remembering Jim Howe
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Club D’Elf at The Stone Church, Oct. 20
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‘Unavailable’
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punk lives
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Twinetime
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Before the Music Dies
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‘1969: Velvet Underground Live, Vol. 2’
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Jazz Universe
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‘Most Valuable Player’
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You Left Me Haunted
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en route to The Church
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can I get a yee haw?
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Thriller
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just what the doctor ordered
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The Press Project gets hip-hop right
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a ’deth wish come true
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gypsy jazz at the threshold of Hell
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celebrating diversity
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all about music
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‘Fathers and Sons Soundtrack’
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Audrey Ryan; Dan Blakeslee; Hotrod Fury and East Coast Tremors; Jason Spooner
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dancing, music and magic
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‘Urban Suite’
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got to get funked up
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the real ‘school of rock’
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the echo of a trumpet
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