Workshop & Concert! with Lenedra on Sunday June 22, 2008 click here for info
Simon Spire Full Band Show! at The Bitter End June 5, 9:30pm (click here)
Coming Soon
Singer songwriters Libbie S, and Susan O; photographer Summer Moon S.; great new CD and one man show from Scooter S.; a cool new band; updates on the artists you discovered here, and a review of my favorite T.V. show. See you later for all of that!
Audio & Video Blogs
I will be posting audio & videos on current topics, interviews & performances.
Artist Advance Blog Tenants in Common
Bellingham by the Border May 21, 2008
I gave a speech recently at the annual meeting for BIMA in Bellingham, WA. They are a very cool regional organization that exists to serve local musicians. Started by guitarist David Weiss, about ten years ago. They've put together an upcoming workshop and concert for me. Here's a link to the pdf for that or click here to view online. If you're in the area, join me! the concert is at a very cool venue, a church that visual artist Pat Wickline renovated and turned into his home, studio, and a terrific performing space. Ralf Illenberger has several concerts in the Washington area, including this one and Im joining him as a guest singer.
The event took place in a very cool venue, The Museum of Radio and Electricity. If you are remotely interested in either of these topics, spend some time on their web site. Its a huge place with fascinating displays that chronicle the joint developments of radio, electricity, and magnetism. Now. The first thing I have to say about the BIMA event is two words: Beth Marsau. Beth is sort of a wonder-woman friend-of-musicians and does an extraordinary amount of support work for local performers. Bellingham is so lucky to have her. Wander around the BIMA site a little and their myspace page too. If you browse the BIMA members you'll come across some pretty interesting talent.
An artist showcase followed my address and though I stayed for the whole thing, I thought I'd just mention the first three artists who performed. First up was Morrison-Hiet comprised of Lesley Morrison and James Hiet. James supplied expert guitar and Lesley is a strong vocalist...she has a very intimate singing style, but quite a powerful voice. You can check them out on their very basic website morrisonhiet.com. The music is spare and personal, their CDbaby note say that its intimate poetic cynicism. The lyrics are heavy on irony - track three, Cream at the Bottom, will give you an idea of what they mean. Try track two, Hat in Hand, while you are at it. To my ear, the vocals are way out of balance with the guitar, which doesn't give the feel that the music and vocals are wedded. James is a good guitarist and it would be good to have the music supporting the song better. They are a Montreal, Canada duo that is now based in Washington.
On second, my fav of the night is an unusual pic. Millie and the Mentshn are a high energy act, tons of fun and great musicianship. They are also highly eclectic, so make some allowances here and remember that I'm a dedicated cross-genre girl and you may not be. Lead vocalist Millie Johnson is perfect..I would guess there's some classical training there because she brought a discipline to the challenging melodies that made them seem effortless. Her voice was perfect for the music and the music was wide open. It's Klezmer music. If your ancestors came to America from Europe in steerage they were singing and dancing and playing these songs all the way. Check out the website at millieandthementshn.com to get the full story. But I spoke to Millie who was in Birmingham, Alabama on tour. She's a professor at Western University in Bellingham, but the music thing has exploded and has her running all over the country. She rattled off a touring schedule that would rattle a snake. I'm not surprised. Its music in a unique niche, but the over all niche is fun-and-feel-great-music and that always has a very broad appeal, especially if you are unusually good, and they are. BTW, Millie does all the arrangements, she's very good at it. She's wondering where to take it all, how to handle it best with her other career and projects. But that's a good problem to have. Each of the band member are great: Phil Heaven (violin), Ken Bronstein (clarinet), Warren Palken (drums), Lou Lippman (keyboards). I enjoyed the new CD on their site, but Millie tells me the have a new New CD which she is just putting up now, so I look forward to hearing it. By the way, they are headed to Fairbanks, Alaska in August but lots of things before that, and South America after.
David Weiss and Friends were up third. David founded BIMA ten years ago to help bring the local music community together. David's an excellent guitarist and has several very fine instrumental CDs. He studied guitar with David Feingold and had offers to join some well known bands, but he loves home and hearth and the Pacific Northwest and knew the touring life was not for him. It's great to know yourself, saves a lot of struggle in life. Music has remained his joy and not his job and there are a lot of advantages to that approach even when the talent is considerable. Its an admirable choice. This particular night he performed with Chris Powell on bass and Cheryl Jewell who did a great job with vocals. Click here to check out David's MySpace page. Listen to Desperately Beautiful, and also to Middle Eastern Dawn which got used recently by the A & E Channel, for a documentary titled Deadly Dust: The Toxic Aftermath of 9/11. What everyone says about Dave, unanimously it seems, is that he is really a terrific guy. These are the times when we need all terrific people to line up and shout. Dave does that in his own way on a variety of issues.
One last mention before I quit for now. Though I said I would focus on the first three, I have to mention one musician who played later. A fifteen year old sax player named Thomas Harris. He made my eyes water his playing was so good! He started sax five years ago, in 6th grade, and had his first professional gig three years ago. He plays with his high school group, the Seahome Jazz Band, as well as with the very well respected Western Jazz Ensemble at Western University. He's thinking of music college after high school, but that is a ways off yet. Find him on myspace if you can. I couldn't, but he told me he's there..he couldn't remember the address while we were talking but said he's there as Thomas Harris, as well as his group the Thomas Harris Sextet. The night I heard him he played with Marvin Johnson on keyboards and vocals. Thomas told me that Marvin plays with about 100 different local musicians in all kinds of different configurations. That's the way to make a lot of performing opportunities for yourself!
The showcase actually had great sound thanks to the other gem of the evening, musician and BIMA volunteer premolotto, Taylor Holtzheimer, who managed the sound. He placed himself last on the line up and I didn't realize he was yet to come so I left just before. I tried to listen to his song on his website, taylorholtzheimer.com but had computer problems. I know however, that Jean Jacque Tetu, winner of Lopez Artist Advance, respects Taylor's music a lot and like to play with him.
Here's the complete Showcase performer list: Morrison-Hiet (Lesley Morrison & James Hiet) Millie & the Mentshn: David Weiss & Friends: Beate Degen: (guitar, vocals, drum) Mark FountainBlue: (guitar, vocals) Marvin Johnson (keyboards, vocals) & Thomas Harris (saxophone) Cosmic Sneakers: Dan Brooks and Steve Taylor Holtzheimer (who also managed the sound) Guitar and vocals
Sedona Artists April 29, 2008
Well Obama and Hillary are battling it out and Madonna is releasing her new album, but I am tranquil in Sedona, Arizona again, spending time with some great groups of kids from various art genres..music, visual arts, theater. I've been able to check in with Ralf Illenberger (world acclaimed guitarist and composer and producer of several Artist Advance artists) and hear a couple more of the new songs he's working on. I met some awesome musicians too in the local scene and uncovered a very interesting visual artist. I've got music, art, comics, and more from several of these artists and I'll share them next blog along with tales of my meetings in Bellingham, Washington with artists there. From here I'm on to San Francisco for some fun with words and music there, so more on that next week too.
I just got this fun 'making of' video clip from Simon Spire that a friend in New Zealand did of the music video that's being made in New Zealand for Inside Out. The director Luke Sharpe is pretty cool. He and his company Bunker Media produce music videos for many of New Zealand's top acts such as Opshop and Anika Moa. Oh, and by the way, Simon mentioned he's doing an interview and performance on the 'Voice of America's Border Crossings' radio show on Wednesday April 30th at 11-11:30am EST.
See you next week with a blog with lots of music!
American Idle April 17, 2008
I'm kicking back today writing this blog, however, this winter I traveled quite a bit: NYC, West Virginia, NYC, Germany, NYC, Sedona, NYC, San Diego, LA, and Washington, meeting new artist everywhere I travel. In Germany I met a rather extraordinary young woman who surprised me by singing very cool songs that she made up on the spot. I'll tell you about her in a future blog. In West Virginia a woman introduced me to the amazing work of Dory Previn who is nearly 84 now and what a treasure, I'll put some things up here for you to check her out. I have reports on a lot of artists I've been following, some for many years. I want you to know about them, I want to know about you.
I just got a shipment of the new CDs from Simon Spire, All or Nothing. I love everything about it...I think the artwork is very cool. Chris Tenenholtz from Sedona shot the cover pic and Simon's younger brother, Richard, took the cool silhouette photo inside. The CD was produced by Ralf Illenberger and the music is terrific too! There are several hits here, I think. Let me know if you decide to add any of them to your music library. Every add makes such a difference to these aspiring artists.
I shared a meal with Simon in NYC a few times over the winter. One of our favorite spots is this vegan restaurant called Candle 79 on the upper east side. Neither of us are vegans, though we both tend toward healthier eating, but we both like great food, which this place serves up in a fine dining atmosphere that we really like. Their seitan dishes are favs for us both. And, because I can't do sugar often, I love their crumble dessert because it doesn't have any, and you don't miss it! The same owners have Candle Cafe, not far away, which has more of the health food ambience you might expect for health food, and doesn't have the gourmet menu of Candle 79, though the food is great and its very popular.
Here's a photo of Simon and I at Cafe Gray with Gloria Steinem (see photo), a friend of mine and supporter of Simon. Friends took us to celebrate the finish of Simon's CD and his move to NYC, as well as our success getting the go ahead and funds to begin some independent promotion for Simon. This is probably my favorite restaurant in the USA, and I'll review it for you next time I celebrate there.
Simon Spire on Voice of America's Border Crossings
