Big Fish is touring small pond America this summer, and his
eight tour buses rolled into Ontario, California last night, in San Bernardino
County. His web site, the only place in LA where the concert was advertised, is
not so much a web site as a secret society of his acolytes, who follow every
move, comment on every set list (all of which he varies from show to show, so
that half the mystery is simply what he'll choose to sing on any given night).
These are not just acolytes, which has something of a demeaning connotation,
but add up to a world wide congregation for this non-preaching preacher, this non-teaching
teacher, almost an alternative America waiting in the wings-the side show at
the circus, like the small town he came from, Hibbing, Minnesota, in 1941.
Beginning
Thursday evening at 5:15 pm and running through around 10:30 pm on Sunday, each
festival features twenty-one acts on the main stage. There's also special Workshop shows on Friday and Saturday
by main stage performers, intimate shows at Amy's
Orchid Café on Friday and Saturday nights (tickets purchased
separately) and a "Revival" show at beautiful Birch Lake on Sunday
morning. In addition, performers are booked specifically to play for children
at the Strawberry
Kids' Program. The performers booked for each festival are varied but
you can always count on a wide range of musical acts representing many
different musical genres. At Strawberry you'll enjoy acts including Americana,
bluegrass, blues, folk, swing, rock, Cajun, Celtic and gospel.
Dr. John, or Mac Rebennack as known to friends and family,
is universally celebrated as the living embodiment of the rich musical heritage
exclusive to New Orleans. His very colorful musical career began in the 1950s
when he wrote and played guitar on some of the greatest records to come out of
the Crescent City, including recordings by Professor Longhair, Art Neville, Joe
Tex and Frankie Ford. A notorious gun incident forced the artist to give up the
guitar and concentrate on organ and piano.
Who are the great songwriters in America today? Not the most
popular. Not the richest. Simply the greats. Ask any student of the form, and
Janis Ian will be counted among them The writer of "Jesse,, a song recorded by
so many others that few remember Ian wrote it; "Stars", possibly the best
song ever written about the life of a performer, recorded by artists as diverse
as Mel Torme and Cher; and the seminal "At Seventeen", a song that brought her
five Grammy nominations (the most any solo female artist had ever garnered) in
1975, and which is now reaching its third generation of listeners.
Maria de Barros' music transcends taste, preference and even
language. It travels through countries dense with culture, picking up pieces of
each along the way, combining distinct inflections of Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean,
France and Spain, while allowing the tradition and culture of Cape Verde to
permeate.
Melodies melt off her tongue with the same richness and
maturity of a contemporary Cape Verde club singing Ella Fitzgerald, except that
this songstress's club is bursting with a taste of Latin spice, serving
Portuguese and African cuisine with dancers to match and audiences swinging
their hips to Maria's sensual Morna and Coladeira beats.
Her new album, Morabeza: "A simple and sublime
expression that characterizes the soul of a people; it is solidarity in times
of misfortune; it is kindness, tenderness, hospitality, sympathy and
friendship", is an eclectic blend of sounds with songs alternating in
tempo, beat and style, making for an exciting tantalisation of the ear drums.
From humble beginnings at coffeehouse hootenannies, to
having two songs on the best-selling album of the 20th century, Jack Tempchin
has been a principal co-architect of the genre-defining country rock music
movement birthed in the 1970s that's come to be known simply as ‘The Southern
California Sound'. The San Diego native first caught fire in the1970s writing
his Top 10 hit "Slow Dancing " for Johnny Rivers.
He went on to deliver two legendary hits for The Eagles: Already Gone and Peaceful Easy Feeling (two songs on the best selling individual
album of all time The Eagles: Their
Greatest Hits 1971-1975, 30 times
platinum according to RIAA). Throughout the 1980's he had multiple hits
co-writing with his partner and pal Glenn Frey, including, True Love, You Belong To The City, I Found Somebody, Sexy Girl, The One
You Love and Smuggler's Blues. In
1994, another co-write with Frey called " The Girl From Yesterday" made it on
to the Eagles Hell Freezes Over CD. In
2007, Tempchin landed two more co-writes "Somebody" and "It's Your World Now"
on The Eagles' latest multi-platinum CD effort, Long Road Out Of Eden.
"Peter, Paul and Mary are folk singers." So stated
the liner notes to the group's self-titled 1962 debut album. Today, this
declaration seems redundant, because the term "folk music" has come
to be virtually interchangeable with the group name, but when the words were
written, they were meant less as a stylistic distinction than as a mission
statement.
In the decades prior to the '60s, through the work of such
avatars as Woody Guthrie, the Weavers and Pete Seeger, folk music had become
identified with sociopolitical commentary, but the idiom had been forced
underground in the Senator Joe McCarthy witch-hunting era of the late '50s.
Eliza Gilkyson is a politically minded, poetically gifted
singer-songwriter, who has become one of the most respected musicians in roots,
folk and Americana circles. The Grammy-nominated artist has appeared on NPR,
Austin City Limits, Mountain Stage, etown, XM, Air America Radio and has toured
with Richard Thompson, Patty Griffin and Mary Chapin Carpenter. In February of
2003, she was inducted into the Austin Music Hall of Fame. The induction placed
Eliza alongside an exclusive list of Austin Music Hall of Fame greats,
including Willie Nelson, Townes Van Zandt, Nanci Griffith, Billy Joe Shaver,
Butch Hancock, Joe Ely and others. In 2006, she was recognized with 3 Austin
Music Awards and 4 Folk Alliance Music Awards, one of which was for "Song of
the Year" for her tune "Man of God." A scathing indictment of the Bush
administration's use of religion to manipulate the public, the song has become
a political anthem to many and has received wide airplay around the world.
The Blind Boys of Alabama are recognized worldwide as living
legends of gospel music. Celebrated by The Grammys and The National Endowment
for the Arts with Lifetime Achievement Awards, inducted into the Gospel Music
Hall of Fame, and winners of five Grammy® Awards, they have attained the
highest levels of achievement in a career that spans over 60 years and shows no
signs of diminishing. Longevity and major awards aside, The Blind Boys have
earned praise for their remarkable interpretations of everything from
traditional gospel favorites to contemporary spiritual material by acclaimed
songwriters such as Curtis Mayfield, Ben Harper, Eric Clapton, Prince and Tom
Waits.
The band were formed in 1978 literally by accident. George,
Paul and Davey were playing in Denmark with their own band called the Buskers
and Eddie and Finbar, while touring in Germany were involved in a road
accident. When George, Paul and Davey got news of the accident they immediately
travelled to Germany to be with their brothers. They then decided that they
should all be playing together and this was the start of the Fureys and Davey
Arthur.
New from Martin
Guitars... 00-15-M Here's something that guitar players may want to check
out: In response to suggestions from Martin Owners Club members, Martin has
developed an authentic blues-type guitar reminiscent of small bodied Martins of
the 1930's. According to Martin, "these mahogany bodied guitars have a warm
tone and clear voice all their own. The 00-15M is further enhanced tonally by
A-frame Sitka bracing. A single ring wood rosette is used in keeping with the
old 30s tradition. The genuine mahogany 14-fret neck has the classic solid
headstock with vintage-style Gotoh tuners. Fingerboard and "belly"
bridge are East Indian rosewood. Nut and compensated saddle are bone." Seems
like lately, all of Martin's new offerings have been "tribute" models that pay
homage to artists. It's nice to see them bringing out something that's a real
addition to their line, particularly as it's in response to a request from
Martin owners.
Are you happy?" inquires the tall imposing figure of
Bassekou Kouyate at a concert earlier this year at the Getty. As if insecure
about the effects of his music which should evoke this sense of elation, he
repeats this question at the end of every other song. And as the set
progresses, you decide, yes, I am happy, regardless of the language barrier and
the actual content of each song. The layperson can appreciate the technique and
the rolling wave of sound, not to mention the energy radiated by each of the
musicians who go from stoic self-conscious performance to playful dancing and
contagious smiles. Hints of 60s-era jamming weave in and out of the melodies
which retain the griot spiritual sensibility. This is not uncommon in much of
Malian music, and especially that of the stringed instrument variety.
When Pete Seeger was charged with Contempt of Congress for
not answering House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)'s questions on
August 18, 1955, he began a long sojourn as an underground artist, after having
headed the most successful pop folk quartet in music history just five years
before. That would be The Weavers,
which crashed and burned less than one year after soaring to the top of the hit
parade in 1950, with their two-sided hit record of Tzena Tzena Tzena and Goodnight
Irene. They were blacklisted before the year was out, and had two years
worth of bookings cancelled on them overnight.
Big Fish is touring small pond America this summer, and his
eight tour buses rolled into Ontario, California last night, in San Bernardino
County. His web site, the only place in LA where the concert was advertised, is
not so much a web site as a secret society of his acolytes, who follow every
move, comment on every set list (all of which he varies from show to show, so
that half the mystery is simply what he'll choose to sing on any given night).
These are not just acolytes, which has something of a demeaning connotation,
but add up to a world wide congregation for this non-preaching preacher, this non-teaching
teacher, almost an alternative America waiting in the wings-the side show at
the circus, like the small town he came from, Hibbing, Minnesota, in 1941.
Beginning
Thursday evening at 5:15 pm and running through around 10:30 pm on Sunday, each
festival features twenty-one acts on the main stage. There's also special 
Dr. John, or Mac Rebennack as known to friends and family,
is universally celebrated as the living embodiment of the rich musical heritage
exclusive to New Orleans. His very colorful musical career began in the 1950s
when he wrote and played guitar on some of the greatest records to come out of
the Crescent City, including recordings by Professor Longhair, Art Neville, Joe
Tex and Frankie Ford. A notorious gun incident forced the artist to give up the
guitar and concentrate on organ and piano.
From humble beginnings at coffeehouse hootenannies, to
having two songs on the best-selling album of the 20th century, Jack Tempchin
has been a principal co-architect of the genre-defining country rock music
movement birthed in the 1970s that's come to be known simply as ‘The Southern
California Sound'. The San Diego native first caught fire in the1970s writing
his Top 10 hit "Slow Dancing " for Johnny Rivers.
"Peter, Paul and Mary are folk singers." So stated
the liner notes to the group's self-titled 1962 debut album. Today, this
declaration seems redundant, because the term "folk music" has come
to be virtually interchangeable with the group name, but when the words were
written, they were meant less as a stylistic distinction than as a mission
statement.
Eliza Gilkyson is a politically minded, poetically gifted
singer-songwriter, who has become one of the most respected musicians in roots,
folk and Americana circles. The Grammy-nominated artist has appeared on NPR,
Austin City Limits, Mountain Stage, etown, XM, Air America Radio and has toured
with Richard Thompson, Patty Griffin and Mary Chapin Carpenter. In February of
2003, she was inducted into the Austin Music Hall of Fame. The induction placed
Eliza alongside an exclusive list of Austin Music Hall of Fame greats,
including Willie Nelson, Townes Van Zandt, Nanci Griffith, Billy Joe Shaver,
Butch Hancock, Joe Ely and others. In 2006, she was recognized with 3 Austin
Music Awards and 4 Folk Alliance Music Awards, one of which was for "Song of
the Year" for her tune "Man of God." A scathing indictment of the Bush
administration's use of religion to manipulate the public, the song has become
a political anthem to many and has received wide airplay around the world.
The Blind Boys of Alabama are recognized worldwide as living
legends of gospel music. Celebrated by The Grammys and The National Endowment
for the Arts with Lifetime Achievement Awards, inducted into the Gospel Music
Hall of Fame, and winners of five Grammy® Awards, they have attained the
highest levels of achievement in a career that spans over 60 years and shows no
signs of diminishing. Longevity and major awards aside, The Blind Boys have
earned praise for their remarkable interpretations of everything from
traditional gospel favorites to contemporary spiritual material by acclaimed
songwriters such as Curtis Mayfield, Ben Harper, Eric Clapton, Prince and Tom
Waits.
The band were formed in 1978 literally by accident. George,
Paul and Davey were playing in Denmark with their own band called the Buskers
and Eddie and Finbar, while touring in Germany were involved in a road
accident. When George, Paul and Davey got news of the accident they immediately
travelled to Germany to be with their brothers. They then decided that they
should all be playing together and this was the start of the Fureys and Davey
Arthur.
Are you happy?" inquires the tall imposing figure of
Bassekou Kouyate at a concert earlier this year at the Getty. As if insecure
about the effects of his music which should evoke this sense of elation, he
repeats this question at the end of every other song. And as the set
progresses, you decide, yes, I am happy, regardless of the language barrier and
the actual content of each song. The layperson can appreciate the technique and
the rolling wave of sound, not to mention the energy radiated by each of the
musicians who go from stoic self-conscious performance to playful dancing and
contagious smiles. Hints of 60s-era jamming weave in and out of the melodies
which retain the griot spiritual sensibility. This is not uncommon in much of
Malian music, and especially that of the stringed instrument variety.
When Pete Seeger was charged with Contempt of Congress for
not answering House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)'s questions on
August 18, 1955, he began a long sojourn as an underground artist, after having
headed the most successful pop folk quartet in music history just five years
before. That would be The Weavers,
which crashed and burned less than one year after soaring to the top of the hit
parade in 1950, with their two-sided hit record of Tzena Tzena Tzena and Goodnight
Irene. They were blacklisted before the year was out, and had two years
worth of bookings cancelled on them overnight.
