Showing posts with label mammals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mammals. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

notloB Folk Concerts Presents the Tao Rodriguez-Seeger Band

notloB Folk Concerts


presents





Tao Rodriguez-Seeger Band






Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, the grandson of folk legend Pete Seeger, plays what he calls "alt-folk rock 'n' roll." He began performing with his grandfather as a teenager, and has traveled a long route through many musical genres, picking up elements along the way and weaving them into the politically outspoken folk music for which his family is known. In an interview about music and censorship for the Web site freemuse.org, Rodriguez-Seeger said, "Nobody's going to sit around for three hours and listen to a musician if they're not entertaining."


Rodriguez-Seeger put out four albums with his band The Mammals, and has played with
Sarah Lee Guthrie, Woody Guthrie's granddaughter, in the group RIG. Backed by a gospel choir (and the Lincoln Memorial), he played Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" with Bruce Springsteen and Pete Seeger at President Obama's inaugural celebration.


Tao will be backed by Jake Silver on bass, Walter Morciglio on guitar and Zeke Hutchins on drums.

Suggested donation $15 at the door; $12 if reservation is made at least 24 hours in advance, UCG members and seniors; $10 students with ID. No student rush.

Reservations are strongly recommended - notlobreservations @ gmail.com

notloB Folk Concerts (Somerville, Newton and Jamaica Plain) are volunteer run and not for profit. Dedicated volunteers are needed - notlobreservations @ gmail.com


Tao's Website

Mailing list

Facebook group

Facebook event

Reservations ~ notlobreservations (at) gmail (dot) com



"In this era of pop-driven acoustic music, notloB is keeping the folk tradition alive."
~ Jack Hardy

“From a musician's perspective, I really appreciate the effort Jeff puts into his shows. Nobody on the Boston folk scene works harder to pull a concert together."
~ Alastair Moock, in an article written by Jonathan Perry, published in The Boston Globe
.

Monday, June 23, 2008

MIKE & RUTHY MERENDA with very special guest LYN HARDY

FIRST ANNIVERSARY / END OF FIRST YEAR CELEBRATION.
What better way than to present two of Notlob's first artists?

MIKE & RUTHY MERENDA

with very special guest LYN HARDY

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Notlob Parlor Concerts are presented at the historic Loring-Greenough House, 12 South Street, Jamaica Plain, MA. 02130. Built in 1760, the venue is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and has been an historic house museum since 1926. Its beautiful period decor and intimate size make it an ideal setting for acoustic music. Run by volunteers, 100% of the donations go towards series expenses and artist compensation.

Notlob’s 28th and final production of the 2007-2008 season is MIKE & RUTHY MERENDA with very special guest LYN HARDY.

Ruthy, along with Aoife O’Donovan (Crooked Still) and Kristin Andreassen (Uncle Earl), performed at the very first Notlob Parlor Concerts on June 2, 2007, and returned one week later with Mike to perform the second concert. Since then Mike and Ruthy have been very busy, producing both a baby and the critically acclaimed “The Honeymoon Agenda”. To celebrate both their return and the series’ one year anniversary, very special guest Lyn Hardy, who happens to be Ruthy’s mom, has agreed to perform.

MIKE & RUTHY MERENDA

When Mike met Ruthy he'd already written a hundred songs - some of which he no longer remembers. When Ruthy met Mike she'd already decided against being a musician like her parents - a rebellious stance that quickly faded in the musical excitement.

A mutual friend had the bright idea that they should sing together, and one very late evening, down in the tiniest factory/apartment building in New York City's looming financial district, they first combined their talents over cheap beer and not much else. The results were magic.

Since that first night in 1998, their writing, singing, and musicianship have grown to match their enthusiasm. And some of Mike's very old songs are working their way back into the setlist - along side Ruth's sparkling versions of soul and folk classics, and their new and original creations that hint at love, pain, and beauty.

When not touring as “Mike and Ruthy”, they can be heard and seen as part of the “Ungar Family Band” (with Jay Ungar (Ruthy’s dad) and Molly Mason) and “The Mammals” (with Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, Chris Merenda and Jacob Silver).

LYN HARDY

Lyn Hardy Has Performed Folk, Rock, Blues And Country Music In The United States, Canada And Europe Since 1965, performing with: Jay Ungar, The Putnam String County Band, Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys, David Bromberg, Rude Girls, Abby Newton (Celtic Crossing) and toured and recorded with them all. She currently performs with Tom MacKenzie and Ann Whiting (Clogger) at local festivals.

She helped to form RUDE GIRLS, an eclectic all woman band renowned for their beautiful, outrageous and humorous music. RUDE GIRLS took the Festival Scene by storm in the mid eighties and it wasn't long before they had a FLYING FISH (now ROUNDER RECORDS) record contract. AWARD WINNING ALBUM (NAIRD) for INDEPENDENT LABELS' BEST STRING BAND RECORD for their first Album, "RUDE AWAKENING". They went on to record one more album, "MIXED MESSAGES". Lyn wrote most of Rude Girls original material.

Lyn is a gifted singer and songwriter and solo performer. Her song, "THE BALLAD OF FRANCINE HUGHES" has been chosen by the Smithsonian Institution for a 4 CD collection of "New" folk songs called, "FOLK SONG AMERICA, A 20th CENTURY REVIVAL" . Lyn and David Hornungs’, "GIRL IN THE RED VELVET DRESS" has been recorded by Ronnie Gilbert on her album, "LOVE WILL FIND A WAY".

Lyn's singing has been described as rich, honest, strong, stirring and straight from the heart. She is known for her rock solid rhythm guitar playing having played for square, contra and swing dances for more years than she would like to admit!

Her performances draw from a vast and varied repertoire of music. She can touch your heart with a country song, make you laugh the next minute and then reach into your soul with a sultry blues number. Lyn loves to sing and her joy is infectious, whether it's a concert, coffeehouse, festival, workshop, or a children's show, she gives her all!

Artists: MIKE & RUTHY MERENDA with very special guest LYN HARDY

Artists’ websites: http://www.myspace.com/mikeandruthy

http://www.myspace.com/michaelmerenda

http://www.michaelmerenda.com

http://www.myspace.com/ruthungar

http://www.ruthungar.com

http://www.myspace.com/76978728

http://www.themammals.net

http://www.lynhardy.com/

Date: Saturday, June 28, 2008

Doors: 7:30pm

Concert: 8:00pm

Suggested minimum donation: $20 (or $15 with advanced reservation) + $1 LG House preservation fee.

Notlob website: http://notlobmusic.googlepages.com

Notlob artist information: http://www.myspace.com/notlobparlorconcerts

Reservations: As seating is limited to 40, reservations are recommended. Email notlobmusic@gmail.com Reservations expire 15 minutes before concert time, when unclaimed seats will be released to walk-ins.

Venue & accessibility: Loring-Greenough House, 12 South Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130, the large yellow house at the intersection of Centre and South Streets, across the street from the Civil War monument. Handicap accessible; call 617-524-3158 for more information. Please do not call the venue for reservations.

Directions: http://www.lghouse.org/information.htm

Parking: The Loring-Greenough House lot holds 12 cars, gates are closed when full. Parking is also available on the street and in the public lots located behind Blanchard’s liquors, one block away, and at the intersection of Centre and Harris Streets, two blocks away.

MBTA: Take #39 bus from either Back Bay Station or Forest Hills Station to the Monument stop, directly in front of the Loring-Greenough House, at the intersections of Centre and South Streets.

Dining: There are several fine restaurants on Centre Street within 2-3 blocks, with on street parking and a large public parking lot behind Blanchard’s. At Centre Street Café – http://www.centrestcafe.com/ - (669A Centre Street, 617-524-9217), show proof of your reservation and get 10% off. More information at http://groups.google.com/group/notlobmusic/web/centre-street-cafe-becomes-a-notlob-restaurant-partner

Coffee, tea, water and pastries are available for a donation.

Thank you for supporting live music in Jamaica Plain.

Jeff Boudreau
"Beware the lollipop of mediocrity; lick it once and you'll suck forever."--Brian Wilson

Saturday, June 2, 2007

MIKE & RUTH MERENDA, "Music is Effervescence", w/ TOREY ADLER, Saturday, June 9, 2007





Doors 7:00pm,
Concert 7:30pm

VENUE: Loring-Greenough House, 12 South Street, Jamaica Plain, MA. 02130 - http://www.lghouse.org

TICKETS: $12 day of show, ($10 if reserved in advance through Friday, June 8) - email notlobmusic@gmail.com

============================================
Ruth Merenda, who graced Notlob Music Series' first concert last Saturday's as a part of Sometymes Why (with band mates Kristin Andreassen (of Uncle Earl) and Aoife O'Donovan (of Crooked Still)) returns with husband, Mike Merenda. They are touring the US in support of their new CD, QUIVER, in between The Mammals tours which will bring the band all over America as well as Australia and Europe

Mike is a wordsmith, vocalist and guitarist who has long recognized that a good song has the ability to improve the world. On both an intensely personal and universal level Merenda’s work strives to entertain as well as illuminate. His early fascination with the socially conscious writings of Bob Marley and Bob Dylan met head-on with the arrival of young, smart, outspoken artists such as Ani Difranco and Dan Bern, furthering the young writer’s blossoming ideology that politics need not be polarizing and dry, but alive, vibrant and inspiring.

“Ruth Ungar is the daughter of Jay Ungar and Lyn Hardy, two musicians who have kept American folk traditions stoked. Ungar spent her childhood amidst all manner of string instruments and the visitations of members of New York’s Jewgrass gang. She met songwriter Michael Merenda in the late 90’s and, after hearing him perform an original tune, asked him to play it again, whereupon she promptly sang a part in perfect harmony. Thus began a professional and romantic relationship . . . Ungar is a sensational singer . . . Merenda is one of the best songwriters of his generation - literate, political, melodic, alternately angry and satirical and sensual.” - Michael Simmons, High Times

Their travels with the internationally acclaimed string-band The Mammals have made them exceedingly comfortable on stage. Familiar yet enigmatic, Michael and Ruth Merenda are talents to watch in this songwriting renaissance of the 21st century.

======================================

Torey Adler is a guitar-picking wordsmith and a builder of well-crafted, hardwearing songs. He might be young, but he sounds as though he learned to play in the rural South of the '30s, then came of age in the halcyon days of New York City punk. On this icy winter day in Massachusetts farm country, the dash of his pickup truck is cluttered with CDs of Woody Guthrie, Townes Van Zandt, Otis Redding, and Skip James. The Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed is playing, loudly, as he downshifts hard into a turn. He is talking about the term "folk-music". "Everything is folk music that folks can play" he says, grinning. "Rock, Adult Contemporary, (he puts an emphasis on the industry term that suggests disdain) pop, country, it's all folk. But I understand what the audience means when they use the term 'folk' and it's different from what a scholar means. In the clubs, my music is folk because I play an acoustic guitar. In my mind I sing modern literature with traditional sounding chords." Whatever it is, audiences are starting to respond. At tonight's concert they start to sing along with "This Land is Your Land", a song he introduces as "Our real national anthem". A woman in the crowd confides to me later that she has to consider Bruce Springsteen in a new light after hearing "Thunder Road" broken down over sparse ukulele accompaniment. But every request during the show calls for one of Torey's own songs, more remarkable for the fact that most of them are not yet released. His guitar ranges from soft and haunting finger-style airs to driving, punkish romps. His lyrics tell stories, capture stills of urban drama. Torey paints a tableau of the American landscape; highways and depots, cars and trains, of bedeviled loners and innocent girls always moving and always wanting.Rarely does an artist emerge on the scene with a voice so completely his own who so clearly belongs to a deep folklore. There is tradition behind his words, but you’ve never heard it like this before.

"His sound has roots in old blues, folk and early rock, with a real American sound that smacks of urban grit, dusty back roads, adventure and heartbreak." -Sarah Craig, Caffe Lena

"He is a savvy stylist on the six-string, the music coils around his acoustic anthems and swings to countrified rhythms all the while tinged with the hint of a bluesy sorrow or bursting in an outright celebration of grooves."-Thomas Dimopoulos, The Saratogian

"A truly powerful writer / performer, Torey unifies the quiet wisdom of a Zen master and the straight honesty of Johnny Cash with wry lyrics and growling guitar licks torn from the roots of rock and roll"-Bob Warren, Singer / Songwriter
=============================================
Wednesday, Jun 20 2007, 7:30P
Sharon Lewis (Pooka) & Rose Polenzani (Voices on the Verge)

Friday, July 20 2007, 7:30P
Danielle Miraglia & Tom Bianchi

Saturday, Aug 4 2007, 7:30P (may change to late September)
Brian Webb w/ Carrie Cheron

Saturday, Aug 11 2007, 7:30P
Dave Carter Tribute
Saturday, Aug 18 2007, 7:30P
Jaded Mandolin w/ Eliza Blue

Friday, June 1, 2007

Inaugural Concert: SOMETYMES WHY

Sometymes Why is a mesmerizing trio of modern-day sirens. Their vocal intensity, sparse arrangements, and passionate lyricism whirl into the air and cut a cyclone's path through the heart. Kristin Andreassen (of Uncle Earl), Aoife O'Donovan (of Crooked Still) and Ruth Merenda (of The Mammals) have honed their recipe for ruthless tenderness with utter disregard for conformity or convention. Their songs tell the secret tales of our own lives and beg us to believe in the power of revelation.

Ticket Price: $15 ($13 if reserved in advance by email to notlobmusic@gmail.com).

June 2, 2007. Doors 7:00pm, Concert 7:30pm.

Tune in to WGBH-fm Saturday afternoon at 4:30pm to hear "the girls" intervewed by Brad Paul - 89.7fm, streaming at www.wgbh.org