Stone Soup: January 26 at Club Oberon

Brought to you by those two lovely ladies from New Exhibition Room. Stone Soup is their fundraising event. This is the second one they had--the first's proceeds went to producing Shh!! and presenting it for free, as in you don't have to pay you just walk in and maybe give a donation but if you're too broke or too cheap you don't have to.

Tuesday's Stone Soup is to raise money for their next production, Candyland, and to take Shh!! to the New York Fringe Festival.

It's a great night out. Put on your coolest, hippest clothes and get over to Club Oberon.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010
8:00pm - 11:00pm
Club Oberon
2 Arrow Street
Cambridge, MA

Banish those January blues with a hearty dose of our annual potluck feast of the imagination - Stone Soup. Our midwinter theatrical brings together a sampling of local artists creating a healthy helping of musical and theatrical wonders to warm your generous spirits.

What’s in our soup? We’ve brought together the drunken song stylings of The Steamy Bohemians, a pinch of The Movement Workshop Groups’ rock n’ roll meets flamenco piece Wanderlust. Then we’re gonna turn up the heat with the Macabre Cabaret 47 Ways To Die from Aimee Rose Ranger and Veroncia Barron. Then we’re gonna introduce you to The Prions – featuring Chuong Pham, Molly Schreiber and Alex Simoes, and of course we’re gonna spice it nice with UnAmerika’s Sweetheart Karin Webb. And you know who’s stirin’ our pot? The one and only Mary Dolan! Soup’s on people, come and get it!

After the performance stay for dancing! All proceeds from this performance will support our next free original production, Candyland, and the entry of our first show, Shh! into the New York Fringe Festival.

Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door.
Get tix here.

Benefit for Haiti at Club Passim

*Save the date*

February 9: Benefit for Haiti with

Mark Erelli, Hanneke Cassel, Chris O'Brien and Margaret Glaspy and others to be announced!

Club Passim
47 Palmer St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
Ticket line: 617-492-7679
Office line: 617-492-5300
Parking Info

Deadstring Brothers--Sacred Heart

Saw Deadstring Brothers over the weekend at the Middle East for the Rolling Rock Beer-B-Q sponsored by Bloodshot Records. Yeah, I actually went to something by that name. Five bucks and a bunch of bands including Graham Parker and Bobby Bare. Jr.

Anyway, despite the lousy sound system that plagues the Middle East (and always makes me think twice about forking over even such a paltry sum because you know it's gonna sound bad) I was glad to get turned on to these guys.

Wikipedia says their sound is reminiscent of the Stones Exile on Mainstreet. Okay. Yeah, I've always liked it when all those English musicians incorporated the U.S. South into their music.

Here's their MySpace link.

Pass the Buddha--Blame Sally

Blame Sally are going to be at Club Passim in Cambridge, Mass. on Wednesday, June 24. Check them out.

A Cantabridgian moment

I was waiting for the elevator at the Holyoke Center in Harvard Square to take me up to the Passim marketing meeting. A woman approached the elevator and we smiled at each other.

Don't I know you? she asked.

I don't think we've met, I said.

You look familiar. I've seen you somewhere.

By this time the elevator had arrived and we got in.

I"m certain I've seen you. Are you an actor?

Uh, yes I am.

Then I've seen you in something. What have you been in?

Lately I've been doing small shows in the South End.

Not the ART.

No.

Then I've seen someone who looks like you, she said, stepping out. Then, over her shoulder she said, He was very good looking.

Anais Mitchell at Club Passim 4.19.09

Anais Mitchell played her magic tonight at Club Passim. Amazing songwriter when it comes to the opera she wrote about the story of Hades. She told the audience tonight that Ani DiFranco is part of the project. She said it was due out in the fall. When it's released, definitely check it out.

I've seen her three times now, twice at Club Passim. It's a small, intimate place, perfect for someone like Michell who has almost a delicate way of presenting her voice and herself. She has a really unique voice and way of phrasing songs, that can get a bit tedious. But when she throws her talent into a cover, like she did tonight with a Gillian Welch number, the tedium is brushed aside and it's like seeing her again for the first time. (Sorry, one of these days I'm going to start bringing a notebook to concerts; I swore to myself tonight that I'd remember it, but at this late hour it's completely gone from my head.)

Sorry about the poor quality. But it does give a good idea of her voice, which is so unique.

The Bittersweets with Audrey Ryan at Club Passim--April 8, 2009

Front row table at Club Passim to see The Bittersweets, who I first heard on Radio Paradise and just fell in love with their music, their lyrics, their harmonies.

The Bittersweets are Chris Meyers (guitar, keyboards, vocals) and Hannah Prater (vocals, guitar). They pretty much just followed the playlist of their CD, Goodnight San Francisco, including playing the title track because when they were tuning up someone (moi) asked Hannah if they were going to play it and she said, We'll see. They also played Long Day from The Life You Always Wanted, and a song that was a tribute to Julie Miller (one of these days I should start taking notes.)

Originally from San Francisco (well, that's where the two met), now they live in Nashville and from all reports (from mom and dad Meyers who I talked to by the door and also the mom in line in the bathroom) they like it there. I sincerely hope Nashville doesn't ruin them. Chris was already speaking in kind of a weird hillbilly accent, which is fun and folksy and all but God please don't get caught up in all the hoopla that I suspect can come from the record industry there. My God, look what they did to Lori McKenna's album Glamorous.

Anyway, they started with Birmingham and Hannah's voice is such a surprise live. It's sweeter and softer and a bit velvety compared to the studio version. Her soft voice and easy guitar strumming is a nice counter to Chris's keyboard and raspier voice. Chris is a wildman on stage; you can just see how much he loves what he does, and how much the music means to him. A couple of the Taylors they had on stage were both gouged up at exactly the same place right where the pickguard ran out and the wood was exposed to some serious strumming.

Audrey Ryan opened for them. Ryan is an interesting performer. Hmmm...quirky? Innovative? Eclectic? That night she was playing this Jordin electric guitar, tambourine, bass drum, maracas, and oh yes, an accordion. I didn't know her music, and what she played that night was hard to place, which actually is a good thing. Start with the all-encompassing alt/indie label, but then where do you go when she records a loop with her guitar, then layers the percussion over it and sings? A bit into her act she brought up a friend (Steve?) who works in the kitchen at Passim. Um, Steve didn't add a whole lot, which was kind of funny because in a weird way he became another one of Ryan's instruments, which he probably wouldn't want to hear but it did all work together.

Open mike at Club Passim...and a great joke...

It's not because I'm cheap or unemployed with pittance trickling into my bank account. If I had a million dollars I'd still like a good deal and music and finding those great, simple places that put it all together.

Tuesday night is open mike at Club Passim in Cambridge. It's five bucks, or free if you're a member like me. Sue takes guitar lessons from Janet Feld at Club Passim's music school that night, so I go into Cambridge with her and hang out in the club. (I take music theory from Ray Chesna there, but that's fodder for a different posting.)

I've always been a big fan of open mikes. Years ago I saw the likes of Jay Leno, Bob Goldthwait, Lenny Clark, Steven Wright, Tony V, and a boatload of other Boston comedians try out there stuff before they made it big at open mikes at places like the Comedy Connection when it was still at the Charles Playhouse. And if memory serves, the cover was about a buck or two. What a great deal.

Like all open mikes, the one at Club Passim is always a crap shoot. The audience is friendly and supportive to all the acts, especially when someone is struggling. They are always appreciative of good work. To a person, everyone there really loves and cares about music and songwriting.

Some nights you get to see a lot of real up-and-coming talent. Other times it's really spotty. There's no guarantee that the people you're watching will be the next Tracy Chapman or Bob Dylan. A lot depends on luck and drive and talent. For every Jay Leno I saw at the Comedy Connection, I watched a lot of (mostly) guys just bomb. But that's not the point of going. It's seeing the works in progress. It's watching the fits and start. The falling down and getting back up again. It's finding that little gem of a moment whether it's new song or strum pattern or maybe just a line in some lyrics.

Last night was a typical night. One woman sang a song about a guy and a girl not getting along very well, with this line in it: I'm a thief and not a liar so I'm going to keep my mouth shut.

There was a bluegrass duo, guitar and fiddle, named The Whiskey Brothers. The two were so young they didn't look old enough to order, much less drink whiskey, but they played one song called, Block Island that was just so nice and sweet. Hard at some points with some deep bass, I imagined the waters off Block Island.

And toward the end there was a guy named Joel (I didn't catch his last name but he's in the picture above) who finger-picked his way through a song about a road, just perfect and mournful.

Along with musicians, there's a comedian who performs regularly, and an actor who recites poetry. One time I was there and he recited nursery rhymes. That night it wasn't my thing, but another night I listened to him recite a litany of poems about ravens. On and on he went, and it takes a few nights but you start to get a real appreciation for what's going on inside that man's head, whatever it is. There's a comedian, I believe his name is Michael Fast--I hope that's his name; I want to get it right--who is constantly trying out new material. I'm kind of critical and sympathetic of comedians having done stand up before. He has kind of a crazy, deadpan, intentionally dumb way of delivering, and last night he told this joke: I read that book about woman being from Venus and men being from Mars, and I think there's something to that. I met this woman, and we got along, and one night we slept together and when I woke up the next day I noticed she had crop circles in her chest hairs. Okay, it's weird, but it's Cambridge, and that's funny.

Stone Soup Poetry

Saturday night Sue and I were making our way over to Atwoods to hang with a friend who came in from out of town and hear a little music.

We were walking past Out of the Blue art gallery and some guy was standing out front asking for donations for a poetry reading that was going on. What's ironic is just at that particular moment Sue and I were discussing our finances and trying to figure out exactly how we were going to make our dream happen without starving ourselves.

Anyway, we didn't dig into our pockets, but it did look like a pretty cool place, and the poetry reading turned out to be one of those gems of this city. After living here almost thirty years you see that you don't know everything.

If you're into the spoken word, Stone Soup Poetry seems to be serving up some good stuff. I don't know any of the people listed on their blog, but that doesn't mean anything for a couple of reasons.

I'm not into poetry (but still appreciate it; I even write it from time to time and am now finally learning the integral relationship between words and music) and it's always cool to learn new people, and especially find those little gems in the rough, the up and comers who you find at open mikes (comedy, music) or readings of this nature.