notloB started at the 40-seat Loring-Greenough House in Jamaica Plain. The concerts were intimate and without amplification. We're doing it again, but at the historic Jackson Homestead in Newton. The "kitchen" series starts this Saturday, a Cape Breton/Scottish Kitchen Ceilidh, featuring Sean Smith, Doug Lamey and Katie McNally.
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Telephone: 617-796-1450
Website: www.newtonhistorymuseum.org
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Newton – The Newton History Museum is proud to announce a new acoustic music series to be presented at the historic Jackson Homestead, 527 Washington St., Newton, MA 02458, located at the corner of Washington Street and Jackson Road, between Newton Corner and Newtonville. The series is produced by Jeff Boudreau, who presents similar concerts as a hobby and labor of love in Boston, Cambridge, Somerville and Arlington under the name Notlob Folk Concerts ~ http://notlobmusic.googlepages.com. Having produced 27 "parlour" concerts at the historic Loring-Greenough House in Jamaica Plain from June 2006 to June 2007, Boudreau had been searching for a similar venue since the Jamaica Plain Tuesday Club decided to terminate all indoor events except guided tours. "The Loring-Greenough House was a wonderful venue for music, but proved to be too delicate for use of up to 40 patrons. The Jackson Homestead will be a worthy successor." The Jackson Homestead performance space is actually the homestead's former kitchen, so instead of "parlor concerts" the Newton series will be dubbed "kitchen concerts". With a capacity of 30, slightly less than the Loring-Greenough House, the acoustic concerts will be intimate affairs.
Genres to be presented will include Celtic, Cape Breton/ Scottish, pre-war and country blues and traditional folk music, as well as poetry and spoken word. "There's the whole "kitchen racket" (i.e. pickin' and jammin' in the kitchen) ethos in Celtic and American roots music, so the appellation fits", explains Boudreau.
"So many wonderful musicians live in and pass through the greater Boston area, the problem, if one can call it that, is choosing ones that fit the environment." Boudreau will focus on local and rising talent, and has asked BCMFest (Boston Celtic Music Festival) board member and Newton resident Sean Smith to lead the first concert, dubbed an "Arcadian / Celtic kitchen ceilidh." (Editor's note: a céilidh (Irish pronunciation: [/ˈceË�lʲiË�/]) (in modern usage) is a traditional Gaelic social dance originating in Ireland and Scotland, but now common throughout the Celtic diaspora.) Another talent source will be nationally touring "name" musicians performing mid-week. "They need to earn an income while on the road between big gigs, so if they are flexible so will we."
Suggested donation is initially set at $10-15 at the door, $7.50-10 with advance reservation to notlobreservations (at) comcast.net at least 24 hours in advance. Discounts for seniors and students with ID. Immediate family maximum $35-40. Exact prices will be determined in the near future and published to the venue and Notlob websites and mailing lists.
Due to the small performance space, advanced reservations are strongly recommended.
Patrons can subscribe to the Notlob mailing list at http://www.reverbnation.com/notlob, and the Newton History Museum's mailing list through its website, www.newtonhistorymuseum.org.
"notloB concerts are run on the house concert model. All door donations are used for expenses and to pay the musicians. This keeps cost of admission low so more members of the community can attend," explains Boudreau.
Volunteers and service organization partners are needed. Contact Boudreau through the reservations email address.
Patrons can stay informed of the concert schedule in one of three ways:
- Visit the The Newton History Museum website - http://www.ci.newton.ma.us/jackson, register to receive its newsletter.
- Subscribe to the Notlob Folk Concerts mailing list - http://www.reverbnation.com/notlob
- Bookmark the Notlob Folk Concerts website - http://notlobmusic.googlepages.com
The season
The first four concerts will serve as a trial. With community support the series will continue into the Fall and beyond, at a rate of approximately one or more concert per month.
Date | Genre | Artists | www |
Saturday, May 16 | Cape Breton/ Scottish Kitchen Ceilidh | Sean Smith, Doug Lamey and Katie McNally | |
Friday, June 19 | Minimalist, down-tempo blues | Brendan Hogan &Frank Morey, Dietrich Strause opens | |
Saturday, July 11 | Pre-war & country blues | Marylou Ferrante & US Sam | |
Saturday, August 15 | Spoken word, poetry & folk | Tim Mason & Tom Begich |
Sean Smith
Whether in concert or just among friends, Sean has long enjoyed playing music and singing songs from the traditions of England, Ireland and Scotland. Sean has performed as a soloist and as a member of several bands (not necessarily all at the same time) at places like Club Passim, the Boston Celtic Music Fest, Springstep and the Blackstone Valley Celtic Festival. He also tries to get out regularly to sessions around Boston, whether in pubs or parlors.
Katie McNally
18-year-old Katie McNally, runner-up Junior National Scottish Fiddle Champion, has performed with and opened up for such notable musicians as Hanneke Cassel, Brittany Haas, and Laura Risk. She has played at such venues as the Cantab Lounge; the Boston Celtic Music Festival; Brighton College in Brighton, England; the New Hampshire Highland Games; and Club Passim. An active member of the Boston Celtic music scene, Katie can be seen playing with Scottish fiddle band 5 A.M., local contra-dance band, Oh CONTRAire!, and the bluegrass group Boston Road. Throughout the year, Katie teaches Scottish and Cape Breton fiddle and in the summer, she travels across the country to fiddle camps like Valley of the Moon, Mark O'Connor's Fiddle Camp, and the Boston Harbor Scottish Fiddle School. Recently, Katie has become involved in the Scottish Country Dance community and often plays for dances and events in the Boston area.
Doug Lamey
Doug Lamey is twenty-three years old and is the grandson of Bill Lamey. Bill was an extraordinary Cape Breton fiddler and contributor to the Scottish and Cape Breton heritage in the Boston area for over thirty-five years.
Doug has studied and performed for several years all over North America and has a true pride and passion for the traditional style of Scottish and Cape Breton Fiddling, just like his grandfather, Bill Lamey.
One of Doug's first fiddle teachers was Sheila Falls Keohane. Sheila is one of the instructors for the Comhaltas Ceoltsirm Iireann School located in Boston.
Doug has attended The Gaelic College in St. Ann's Bay, Cape Breton and the Ceilidh Trail of Music in Inverness, Cape Breton, Boston College s Gaelic Roots Summer School in Boston Massachusetts and The Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling School in San Francisco, CA. These opportunities allowed Doug to study with such renowned fiddlers such as, Buddy MacMaster, John Campbell, Jerry Holland, Carl MacKenzie, Sandy MacIntyre and Seamus Connolly and Alasdair Fraser, to name a few.
Doug has performed in many live sound environments as well as broadcasted performances, such as WGBH radio station and several local television studios in Massachusetts. He has also performed at the annual Glendale Festival in Cape Breton, the Washington Irish Festival and the N.H. Highland Games. He has had the privilege to perform in the Boston area with such artists as Andrea Beaton, Glen Graham, Sandy & Johnnie MacDonald, Cliff McGann and Mac Morin.
Brendan Hogan
Hogan was born out of the deep muck of the River Charles' banks - literally - in the old wing of Mount Auburn Hospital, Cambridge, Massachusetts circa 1980. He's fourth generation, somehow, in a city where transience is all but a given; coming from a long line of police officers and butchers, undertakers and nurses.
As a teenager Brendan was an outsider and introvert, preferring the sound and mystery of music to bubble gum and gossip. Being from the Northeast and coming up in a family of type-A personalities, the blues did not come to Brendan so much as he frantically sought it out. In high school, Robert Johnson's 1930s Columbia recordings were on steady rotation in his bedroom stereo as he slept. Brendan thought it would become a part of him through osmosis, and it did. As most kids discovered Blind Melon, Brendan found Blind Lemon Jefferson. In his tastes, Lead Belly has always precluded Led Zeppelin.
Brendan has indeed made a name for himself as solo artist and as a regular member of the traveling caravan of young Cambridge and Somerville-based singer/songwriters. His initial foray into the blues, combined with good musicianship, has resulted in Brendan becoming just a damn fine songwriter. As with the finest examples of Lucinda Williams, he manages to let the blues influence good songs instead of always being the focus.
It's been said that there are innovators and there are curators. Brendan Hogan manages to be both. Not long after he was old enough to have a beer at a bar, he began hosting and producing 'Blues on WGBH', imparting a wealth of knowledge to radio listeners, introducing them to old blues classics and forgotten tunes as well as new artists from the Boston area and beyond..
"Brendan Hogan is a Zen warrior for the blues — a talented country style picker, singer, songwriter and performer...." – Ted Drozdowski, The Boston Phoenix.
With residencies at renowned Boston area venues and a consistent touring schedule, Brendan Hogan is rapidly making a name for himself as a performer locally and beyond.
This is Breandan's second Notlob concert, having performed with Danielle Miraglia and Tom Bianchi at the Loring-Greenough House on July 20, 2007.
Frank Morey
Singer-songwriter Frank Morey has never been accused of having a sweet, pretty, angelic sort of voice. The Lowell, MA, native is known for a rough, rugged, throaty style of singing, and his voice is perfect for his very earthy, blues-minded folk-rock. Morey's expressive vocals are as gritty as they are soulful.
The New Englander, who plays acoustic guitar and harmonica, brings a variety of influences to the table. He has often been compared to early Tom Waits, and his other influences range from Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen to the late Chicago blues giant Howlin' Wolf. In the northeast part of the United States, Morey has tended to fare well among fans of anti-folk. Morey isn't anti-folk per se - he has a more classic type of sound - but like the anti-folk crowd, he likes his folk-rock with a tough hard edge and a lot of guts.
Morey, whose live performances typically include both covers and original material, has been playing the Massachusetts club scene since the 90's. His first album, Father John's Medicine, was released on the Indigo Hamlet label in 2000 and was followed by the sophomore album, Cold in Hand. In 2002, Morey signed with veteran producer Bob Koester's Chicago-based Delmark label and recorded his third album, the Delmark Sessions.
- Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
Dietrich Strause
Dietrich Strause is a singer/songwriter raised in LANCASTER, PA. When he was a young impressionable boy, he played trumpet with a rock and roll/R&B/soul band where his licks were well received at biker bars throughout rural Pennsylvania. Over the years he developed an appreciation and love for a well-written song, leading him to pursue songwriting. Upon graduating from Oberlin College, Dietrich recorded a collection of tracks with friends Hassan Ali (bass/producer), Trey Alexander (Guitar Player Magazine's 2006 Guitar Hero), Aaron Walker (drummer with The Reese Project), and Rachel Kelly (violin). He currently resides in Jamaica Plain in Boston and is writing and performing more material to be polished and recorded for a debut album available in the spring of 2009. In addition to recording and performing his own music, Dietrich arranges, performs, and records horn parts for the Trey Alexander Band. He is also a professional dog-walker.
Marylou Ferrante
Marylou Ferrante was described by music critic and writer, Daniel Gewertz, in the Boston Herald, as the Bay State's finest female acoustic blues interpreter.
Marylou is an artist who performs pre-war blues from the 1920's & 30's. She covers major artists from the delta to east coast piedmont style players such as Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, Blind Boy Fuller and Memphis Minnie along with mandolin players such as Yank Rachell.
Her passionate expression of these old songs comes from a love of the music and the arrangements themselves, as well as what she says is an appreciation for "the history of these folks and the difficult circumstances they endured."
Marylou has honed her craft listening to the old recordings and learning from some of the great blues players today such as Paul Rishell, Guy Davis, Robert Jones and mandolin great Rich DelGrosso. Marylou has taught at The Cellar Studio, Salem MA
- "Marylou is a killer. I have watched her grow, and now she's taking over. Blues lovers look out!"... GUY DAVIS
- "Marylou has the soul of a blues Woman" Detroit's Blues Man... ROBERT JONES
This is Marylou's second Notlob concert, having opened for and played with Dennis Brannan at the Loring-Greenough House on October 6, 2007.
U.S. Sam
The Saga of U.S. SAM..... Wanted:Fer Rustlin' & Butcherin' Rock'n Country & Blues Songs! Along With His Faithful Guitar, "Grace", Some Harmonicas, "SAM"bourines, and A Saddle Bag Full Of Original & Older & Newer Cover Songs, They Roam Wild & Free Across The Wastelands of Samerica! Samerica? Is He Loco? Si'!
Tim Mason
Timothy Mason has been performing poetry and promoting folk music since the mid 1980s. He honed his performance style in the early poetry slams and around the campfires of the fabled Kerrville Folk Festival, giving the songwriters a run for their money.
An extensive background in human services, three years volunteering for a telephone crisis intervention hotline, training as a rape crisis counselor, four years working with developmentally disabled adults, a stint with court involved youth and eight years volunteering in a battered women's shelter have given him unique empathy with the quiet battles of daily survival.
Born in the Midwest and raised in North America, his family eventually settled in Salt Lake City, Utah, which he still calls home, although he has been a New Englander for over two decades. On the east side of the Big River, he has called Worcester, Cambridge and South Boston home and has now returned to East Cambridge. He supports himself by providing bookkeeping services, tax preparation and consultations to independent artists and arts oriented small businesses.
Over his 25 plus years presenting folk music to New England audiences his work has included reviving Club Passim, the legendary Harvard Square coffeehouse, pioneering new audiences at Capo's in Lowell MA and bringing The Old Vienna Kaffeehaus, in Westborough, MA, to national prominence.
"His insight is genuinely hip because it is accessible.
And sensible. And kind."
As an undergraduate at The University of Utah he chaired the student committee responsible for bringing The Rocky Horror Picture Show to the big screen behind "the Zion curtain quot;. Mason later attended graduate school at Antioch New England in Keene, New Hampshire, earning a Master's degree in Organization and Management. He was voted "Most Standardly Deviated" and "Most Ambiguous". He thought it best to avoid the corporate world. Thus far he has achieved this goal.
His poetry is drawn from his diverse experiences and is written to be performed aloud. He has collaborated with musicians on a number of occasions, including recording the cassette single Saddam's Insane with prize-winning guitarist Geoff Bartley. Saddam's Insane aired on National Public Radio's HEAT show at the onset of the Gulf War.
"You reminded me of the Russian poet Yvegeny Yevtushenko in his earliest and best days."
His most recent work Feral Voices released February 2009 is a full length, 94 page collection of poetry giving a non-human voice and sensibility to the 21st century experience on our shared planet. It marks a return to the page for a poet whose emphasis is on performance and compliments his work from the late 1990s.
His first book Gently, Like Water Cracking Stone was released in 1997. The 50 page perfect bound volume included a CD of live performance and is in its second printing. This was followed by the 1998 release of Bloodlines, a 21-piece CD that features musical additions by award winning musician Geoff Bartley. 2003 saw the release of Bones and Breath a compelling collaboration of poetry and song with Geoff Bartley and produced by Frank Coakley. He is currently working on a new collaboration of song and poetry with Alaska musician Tom Begich.
Mason has demonstrated his performing versatility in several collaborations the WPI Jazz Dept. working with both the ensemble and full Big Band in pops concert presentations.
From Anchorage and Ottawa to Boston and Austin recent festival and club appearances have enabled Mason to reach a wider audience and have solidified his place among contemporary New England artists and national audiences.
Tom Begich
"It's the words that tell the story." That is Tom Begich. The bohemian son of a family steeped in Alaska politics and the product of a life of music, Tom's music resonates with stories and the conflicts of the human condition.
Part of the Alaska music scene in the early 1980's, Tom dropped out and tuned in to the world of politics and business for a decade before finding his way back to local coffee shops, street corners, and music festivals. Since returning to performing and recording, Tom has opened for recording artists Stephen Fearing, Don Morrell, Paul Geremia, and Kim Richey. Tom also hosted a monthly Songwriter's Showcase in his hometown of Anchorage for three years and has performed live on numerous radio stations and on the nationally syndicated radio show "West Coast Live" (October 1999).
Tom has released four CDs, "Such a World" in 1997, "Hotel Metropol" in 1999, and "Albuquerque Road" in 2001. His latest CD, "Cool Blue Light", was released November 20, 2004 and has already garnered favorable reviews.
Tom continues to play in Alaska and small venues throughout the country. Citing musicians as different as Taj Mahal, Harry Chapin, and Christopher Parkening as influences, Tom combines an easy picking style with blues rhythms and storytelling skill to create a musical montage that is always interesting to the ear. His music includes a wide-variety of music ranging from acoustic instrumentals to blues and folk rock. A musician with a wholly original sound, Tom Begich will keep you humming for more long after he's done.
-Notlob Music
http://www.reverbnation.com/notlob
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