notloB Music Announces a New Acoustic Music Concert Series at Gregorian Rugs in Newton Lower Falls
In association with Newton Nomadic Theater it will be a little bit Cajun, a little bit Celtic and a little bit bluegrass
Scott Gregorian and Gregorian Rugs loves doing community and arts-oriented events at his beautiful store in Lower Falls. So much so he has opened his store, located at 2284 Washington St, Newton Lower Falls, to community organizations and area producers. Earlier this year Gregorian listed his performance space in a registry run by the Massachusetts Cultural Coucil, where it was found by Jeff Boudreau, owner and “chief cook and bottle washer” of notloB Music. notloB (that’s “Bolton” spelled backwards, Monty Python fans will “get” it) has been producing small and interesting musical concerts for the last eight years at various venues in the greater Boston area, including Newton’s Jackson Homestead and Carriage House Violins.
“The Massachusetts Cultural Council provides a service named “SpaceFinder Mass”, a kind of a dating match site where people having venues can share them with producers and artists and producers and artists can search for performance venues” explained Boudreau, who serves on the Arlington Cultural Council. “As we generally do not use artificial sound reinforcement, I was immediately attracted to Gregorian Rug’s brick and stone interior and vaulted ceiling. The piles of gorgeous oriental rugs was the clincher, so I reached out to Scott. Within days we had met in person, discussed the possibilities and agreed to a Fall series.” The rest, as they say, is, or will be, history.
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| Gregorian Rugs' main showroom, site of notloB Music's acoustic music series |
During their meetings, Gregorian suggested Boudreau coordinate his dates and logistics with Jerry Reilly, a founder of and principle in Newton Nomadic Theater, who had already been presenting theater performances in the store. It turns out Reilly knew Boudreau from attending notloB concerts at Carriage House and was publicizing them in his blog, “Village 14.” notloB will continue to present solo acts at Carriage House’s 47-seat performance hall, and use Gregorian for larger ensembles requiring more space.
“Besides coordinating the dates, Newton Nomadic Theater will assist notloB with publicity, lighting, chairs and volunteers,” explained Reilly.
notloB’s Gregorian Season.
Thursday, September 10, 8pm - David Greeley
General admission $15, seniors and students $10. Tickets through Eventbrite - http://www.eventbrite.com/o/notlob-music-6730833315
David Greely’s French Louisiana music is opening a new wing in his tradition. David has taken the swampy syncopations of Cajun music and its renaissance French dialect to new level of sophistication without losing its urgency and texture. In solo acoustic performance, he sounds like two or three fiddles, weaving accompaniment to his vocals as if it’s someone else singing. Presenting his concerts in English or French, he embraces all the aspects of his heritage that a fiddle and voice can reach- ancient ballads, cane field blues, yearning waltzes and fiery two steps, and melds his ancestral legacy with his own adroit compositions and stories of the rich souls who kept this music and language alive.
David was born in Baton Rouge of Cajun and Irish ancestry, and learned Cajun music on dance hall stages throughout South Louisiana, in the archives of Cajun and Creole music at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette, and from his apprenticeship to Cajun fiddle master and National Heritage Fellow Dewey Balfa. As a founding member of Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, David toured Folk Festivals worldwide for 23 years, and was nominated for four Grammy Awards. He has received the Louisiana Artist Fellowship Award for Folklife Performance, and is an adjunct instructor of Cajun fiddle at the University of Louisiana.
Saturday, October 10, 8pm - Emma Beaton and Nic Gareiss
General admission $20, seniors and students $15. Tickets through Eventbrite - http://www.eventbrite.com/o/notlob-music-6730833315
The child of two Scottish emigrants, Emma Beaton is no stranger to the traditional music realm. She learned to play the cello amongst seas of fiddlers under Alasdair Fraser's San Francisco Scottish fiddlers and at music camps around the US. This forced her to develop her own style of folk cello, adapting dance tunes for the instrument and conjuring up her own rhythmic accompaniment style to suit the fiddle repertoire.
Michigan-born dancer, musician, and dance researcher Nic Gareiss has studied a broad variety of percussive movement forms from around the world. At the age of eight he began taking tap lessons with Sam and Lisa Williams at Vision Studio of Performing Arts in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Soon after, he was exposed to fiddle music and traditional dance at the Wheatland Music Organization’s annual Traditional Arts Weekend. It was there that he had his first instruction in Appalachian clogging with Michigan dance mentor, Sheila Graziano. As a teenager, Nic also studied Irish step dance with John Heinzman, T.C.R.G., Appalachian flat-footing with Ira Bernstein, Québécois step dance with Benoit Bourque, and improvisation and composition with Sandy Silva.
Nic has performed many of the luminaries of traditional music from Ireland, Scotland, and North America, including The Chieftains, Dervish, Gráda, Beoga, Téada, FIDIL, Le Vent du Nord, Genticorum, Dr. Anthony Barrand, Buille, Liz Carroll, Frankie Gavin, Martin Hayes, Bruce Molsky, Darol Anger and Alasdair Fraser. His dancing has been seen on CMT in Uncle Earl's music video, Streak O' Lean, Steak O' Fat, and also on Ireland's RTÉ 2 in the film Unsung, commissioned by the Irish Arts Council, which premiered during the 2008 Dublin Dance Festival. He has performed for the Irish head of state, An Taoiseach Brian Cowen and American Energy Secretary Steven Chu. In 2011, Nic received two commissions from the Cork Opera House to create new solo percussive dance works for Reich’s pieces Six Marimbas and Clapping Music in honor of the composer’s 75th birthday. The commissions were hailed by the Irish Times as “a leftfield tour-de-force with irresistible wow factor.”
Nic holds degrees in anthropology and music from Central Michigan University. In 2011, he earned a distinction from the Norwegian University for Science and Technology’s IPEDAM Erasmus Intensive for Ethnochoreologists. Nic completed post-graduate work in 2012, earning a MA in ethnochoreology from the University of Limerick. He continues to tour internationally, working with dance communities and presenting solo percussive dance choreography and dance research.
Friday, October 23, 8pm - Mile Twelve
General admission $15, seniors and students $10. Tickets through Eventbrite - http://www.eventbrite.com/o/notlob-music-6730833315
Mile Twelve is a fresh and innovative new voice in contemporary bluegrass music. Based in Boston, MA they are fast gaining recognition for their outstanding performances in New England bluegrass and folk circles. Combining a love for traditional bluegrass with songwriting skills honed at renowned music schools, they present a refined and powerful musical directive. With influences from folk, jazz, old-time and bluegrass music, the band’s original songs are a timely continuation of the bluegrass string band tradition.The band features Evan Murphy on lead vocals and guitar, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes on fiddle, Catherine (BB) Bowness on banjo and Nate Sabat on bass. Mile Twelve’s youthful energy and mature musicianship result in captivating and memorable performances. Mile Twelve's instrumental skills reflect natural abilities enhanced by serious study of bluegrass tradition and a fearless desire to create fresh pathways. From the opening number of their new EP, it’s plain that their vocal skills are equal to their picking prowess. Their trio blend is as tight as it gets. Their duo and solo singing is equally praiseworthy. The arrangements often surprise with subtle twists and turns... delicious false endings, dropped beats, arco bass and fiddle duets, and on and on.
notloB Music also presents concerts in Cambridge, Somerville, Arlington and at a second venue in Newton. See its full schedule at https://sites.google.com/site/notlobmusic. Tickets for all concerts are available at http://www.eventbrite.com/o/notlob-music-6730833315. For more information see its Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/notloBParlourConcerts/ - or email notlobreservations@gmail.com (please do not contact Gregorian).
