I love being right (just like Paul F.) I predicted Gloucester’s music scene would benefit as a result of The Noise Magazine publisher/editor, T Max, moving here. Check this out: The Noise Live Show Picks for this week include not one, but two Gloucester shows, putting us on par with Cambridge for the week’s picks.
So I figured you might enjoy a video series I published in February where T Max walks Gloucester’s music scene, visiting many of our excellent music venues, plus you’ll see chance encounters with some of Gloucester’s finest characters. Here’s the first one:
In case you missed this post, Next Thursday (10/25) is the 2012-13 Berklee in Gloucester season kickoff at The Gloucester House featuring the Jim Odgren Quintet, who are helping raise money to send a Gloucester student to Berklee. You may remember that this is the brainchild of Berklee’s Dean of Performance, Matt Marvuglio. Now, when you read the word Dean, what do envision? Bet it’s not the guy playing the flute solo at about 2 minutes into this video (Jim Odgren is on alto sax in this video too).
Here’s another video of Matt at The Gloucester House on March 30 with Berklee professor Ed Saindon on vibes and students Nori Shiota on bass and Jazz Robertson on drums.
Matt told me he’s planning to come to the concert on Thursday. Perhaps we can convince him to sit in.
How cool is it that you can see the top professors, students — even the dean — of the best music school in the world right here in your own backyard! Well, Aurelia Nelson, host of the show Curtain Up on North Shore 104.9 thinks it’s pretty cool, so she asked me to join her for tomorrow’s show to talk a little about it. So tune in to 104.9FM tomorrow at 9AM.
But before all that, you’ve got 13 venues with live music to choose from tonight — perfect number for a beautiful October Saturday! See the complete live music listing here.
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If variety is the spice of life, then Gloucester & Cape Ann are hot and spicy this weekend with an impressive variety of live music at over 2 dozen shows. Rock, Blues, Jamband, Jazz, New Orleans, Folk, Classical, Funk, Latin, Reggae, Soul, Ska, Celtic, DJs. Whatever you want, you got it. Check out the complete live music listings for Gloucester & Cape Ann here. Often you get multiple genres on the same stage. Here’s one of our favorite local bands, The Runaround Sound, downstairs at The Middle East in Cambridge fusing Latin & Ska into a single song. You can dance to them at Minglewood tonight.
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Anybody who follows us on GMG knows the depth of talent living on Cape Ann (plus, I tried to capture it in an article for The Noise called Vintage Cape Ann — you can see it below the Brad Byrd interview here). Now, it seems that major talent is arriving from off island more and more — especially when you look at the live music schedule for this weekend and next week. Here are a few highlights:
SATURDAY: Isaac Hayden at The Grove Cafe in Manchester. Isaac comes all way from Nashville. This new boutique/coffee house is beginning to pack the place with people who appreciate good music.
NEXT WEEK:
Thursday @ The Gloucester House – Berklee in Gloucester – World-renowned Berklee Professors performing with Top Students to raise money to send Gloucester students Berklee. The first of this year’s series kicks off with The Jim Odgren Quintet.
Sunday @ the UU Church – Free BSO Chamber Music Concert – The Boston Symphony Orchestra has chosen Gloucester to launch its 2012-13 Community Chamber Concerts series. What a coup for Gloucester!
Local Music Seen with Allen Estes, kicks off a new fall season tonight featuring the man who taught Fly Amero to finger pick, Chick Marston, with his partner Ellen Ford. Chick & Ellen’s chemistry is infectious; their harmonies gorgeous. Songs transcend genre with powerful storytelling and melodies that stay in your head all day long. And if that’s not enough, they’re joined by Laurie & Jay Keefe. What a show! Catch it on Cape Ann TV Cable Channel 12 tonight at 6:30pm, Friday at 1:30pm or Sunday at 6pm.
Speaking of Fly Amero, after you’ve seen Allen’s show tonight, get on down to the Rhumb Line at 8pm to see Fly with his special guest Elaine O’Rourke and see if she can get Fly into a yoga position like this one.
Orville Giddings – always smiling Who’s in the background? You’ve seen him on Treme & with others on Cape Ann
Our favorite smilin’ blues man Orville Giddings is a favorite guest at the Rhumb Line this week. Tomorrow (Thursday) he’s Dave Sag’s guest and Sunday he’s with Allen Estes. Orville is great solo, with others and with his full band, who you can see the day before Thanksgiving at the Stone Soup in Ipswich.
Back in April we featured Orville on gimmesound.com, with videos of him performing solo, with Allen Estes and with his band. See those featured videos here.
But don’t wait for tomorrow. Tonight is the night of great Gloucester guest musicians. Brian King, Fly Amero, Steve Caraway and Dennis Monagle are all hosting excellent guests. See the full lineup here.
Check out this duo of Orville with Allen Estes on his show, Local Music Seen. Before they start, Orville talks about how he performs this song at different tempos depending on who he’s playing with. Fascinating.
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So we figured this would be the perfect week to reprise the Local Music Seen show on which Dylan appears with his father. They sing together and Dylan performs some of his own songs, which truly transcend generations.
You can see the show tomorrow (Wednesday 10/10) at 6pm on Cape Ann TV Channel 12 — and again on Friday at 1:30 and Sunday at 6pm. Check out this video of a song from the show:
Something big happened to the music business last week. Mumford & Sons’ new album sold 600K+ units during its debut week, making it the “highest selling debut week for a rock album since 2008” according to Billboard — and they became the first band since the Beatles to have six singles on the Billboard top 100 chart at the same time.
Why is this such a big deal? Well, a whole lotta reasons. First of all they have an accordion and a banjo, once thought the kiss of death in pop music. Secondly, according to this article, “it also notched New York-based indie label Glassnote Records its first Billboard 200 chart-topper.” Most importantly, even though he misses the big point, music curmudgeon Bob Lefsetz proclaims victory for music over hype in his recent post (see it here excerpts below)
… it comes down to the music. And that’s where Mumford shines.
They don’t dance. They don’t wear designer clothing. They don’t do beer commercials. They underplay and undercharge. They do everything the complainers say you cannot.
And then they blow up the chart. … It wasn’t their tweeting or social networking, it was the honesty of their music and message, in a phony world, their fans couldn’t stop spreading the word. …
He goes on to prognosticate about the future of the music business with this bit that I find tremendously optimistic:
This is only the beginning. Careers are now in the hands of the audience. That’s who spread the word on Mumford. It wasn’t a top-down media campaign, but a grass roots thing. People bought the album because they needed to belong, it was a badge of honor.
In case you’re wondering what he’s talking about, watch this video, shot by a fan:
But later in his post, Lefsetz can’t help commenting on the state and future of music distribution (something he touches upon in nearly every post):
The big story has been that the album was available on Spotify yet still sold a ton. That’s missing the point. If you think digital sales are the future, you’re still watching TV on a cathode ray tube. It’s not only music that’s in the cloud, everything’s on demand all the time.
Then his post continues with clever barbs for choice selections from the Bilboard 100, as Lefsetz lapses back into his perpetual, pessimistic, put-down rant and completely fails even to mention the real future of music: LIVE SHOWS! That’s where the music business is really going.
Bob, you can lament all you want about the labels’ decline or the sorry state of top 40 — and you’re absolutely right. But what IS the future? Where’s the light?
I’ll tell you, right here. It’s in live shows. That’s where most musicians make their money today. You can’t steal a show. You can’t download it. You can’t email it to somebody. There’s only one way you can get the live show experience. You just have to be there.
The Mumford video is one example. Here’s another one — Chelsea Berry at North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly, MA on June 28, 2012. You can hear the crowd in this one too (even though the camera was behind the last row).
Chelsea’s got it. She excites her audience just like you say musicians have to these days. It’s only a matter of time before you’re writing about her, Bob.
Don’t miss the kickoff of the new Berklee in Gloucester season with a benefit concert featuring the great The Jim Odgren Quintet at The Gloucester House in their front room with excellent acoustics. The band plays jazz and standard songs in a style steeped in the rich tradition of 50’s and 60’s Blue Note jazz. A portion of proceeds will benefit the Berklee2Gloucester Scholarship Fund.
Doors open at 6:30, so come for dinner and stay for the show. You can purchase tickets on-line now or call 978-525-9093 reserve a table. Seating is limited and last time the Gloucester House show was almost sold out, so don’t wait too long.
Here’s some more info on The Jim Odgren Quintet:
Both Professors at Berklee College of music in Boston, Dave Santoro (acoustic bass) and Jim Odgren (alto saxophone) co-lead the band. Joining them are three young and very talented Berklee student musicians – Roberto Giaquinto on drums, Davis Whitfield on piano and Lucian Gray on guitar. Their music swings hard, bringing out a style reminiscent of mainstream jazz from the era, combined with solos that venture into more modern sounds. Dave and Jim have released one cd together. It’s called “Day Dreaming“. It can be found on CDBaby here.
Jim Odgren, alto saxophonist extraordinaire, has put together an album filled with playing of extraordinary intricacy. Yet it’s executed with such style and ease, it’s accessible to the common listener. Its smooth melodicism, mixed with intricate lines and exiting harmonies makes this album a must to listen to. This is musicianship at the highest level and it deserves a place in everyones CD collection
Steve Johnson’s review of
Jim Odgren’s CD “Her Eyes” available here.
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We’ve just worked out a new season of Berklee in Gloucester beginning with The Jim Odgren Quintet, featuring not one, but TWO BERKLEE PROFESSORS. The band plays jazz and standard songs in a style steeped in the rich tradition of 50’s and 60’s Blue Note jazz. We kick off the 2012/2013 season at The Gloucester House in their front room with excellent acoustics.
Doors open at 6:30, so come for dinner and stay for the show. You will be able to purchase tickets on-line later tonight or tomorrow morning. You can also call 978-525-9093 to get tickets. Seating is limited and last time the Gloucester House show was almost sold out, so don’t wait too long.
Today we also set up the Gloucester2Berklee Scholarship Fund at Berklee. This scholarship fund is earmarked for helping to send a Gloucester student to Berklee. If you want to donate to the fund, bring a check to the concert, make it payable to Berklee College of Music and put Gloucester2Berklee in the memo. Soon you may even be able to donate on-line.
Here’s some more info on The Jim Odgren Quintet:
Both Professors at Berklee College of music in Boston, Dave Santoro (acoustic bass) and Jim Odgren (alto saxophone) co-lead the band. Joining them are three young and very talented Berklee student musicians – Roberto Giaquinto on drums, Davis Whitfield on piano and Lucian Gray on guitar. Their music swings hard, bringing out a style reminiscent of mainstream jazz from the era, combined with solos that venture into more modern sounds. Dave and Jim have released one cd together. It’s called “Day Dreaming“. It can be found on CDBaby here.
Jim Odgren, alto saxophonist extraordinaire, has put together an album filled with playing of extraordinary intricacy. Yet it’s executed with such style and ease, it’s accessible to the common listener. Its smooth melodicism, mixed with intricate lines and exiting harmonies makes this album a must to listen to. This is musicianship at the highest level and it deserves a place in everyones CD collection
Steve Johnson’s review of
Jim Odgren’s CD “Her Eyes” available here.
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Yesterday, we told you about local artists at Topsfield Fair and suggested that you go see them (see post here).
This weekend you’ve got another opportunity to see one of our local favorites, Satch Kerans, at the Boston Local Food Festival on Sunday. Satch is on The River Plug and Play Stage at 1:30pm (see complete festival entertainment schedule here). If you’ve never seen Satch, check out this video from the Songwriters in the Round series.
Before and after Satch’s set, you can catch the start and finish of the big, Boston version of Gloucester’s Seafood Throwdown (yup, these are the same people who produce the one at the Farmers Market) — and your boy, Peter Van Ness, will emcee once again.
Now for some evening excitement featuring 30 artists this weekend and your last chance to experience music aboard the Lannon in 2012 (see this post if you’re not sure what we’re talking about). See the complete list of live music in Gloucester and Cape Ann here.
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What’s this? More music? More fun? I thought this was the start of the slow season. Nope. The truth is, folks, that there’s no such thing as a “slow season” in GTown any longer — at least not when it comes to music and the arts. There are plenty of restaurants that stay open year round, plus lots of other year-round venues for music and the arts.
And we’re seeing an expansion of music venues even after summer is over. Catch 22 is expanding their music offerings to Tuesday – Saturday and Seaport Grille has music tomorrow (a new player in Wednesday night music).
Sure we might relish the idea of less traffic downtown and fewer tourists walking the streets, but that wears off quick. This is what we want, right? A thriving music scene all year long.
And this is precisely the time of year when we can support the steadfast restaurants and venues who stay open all year long (see them here – along with their live music lineup for this week). The best way to convince them that they’re doing the right thing is to go there.
Oh, it gets better. Perhaps you caught the Gloucester Times story about Endicott (see here). Nancy Gaines’ insightful article focuses on the educational value that Endicott will provide Gloucester residents and only hints at how Endicott students will help revitalize our City, breathing new life into arts, culture, science, music — all in the “off season”. Becoming a college town is likely to be the best thing that has happened to Gloucester this century. Let’s welcome Endicott and the students, parents, vitality and just plain fun they are bringing to our City.
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The fall entertainment season is in full swing this week with performances by your favorites and as well as some people you can’t see that often. See this week’s schedule of live music in Gloucester & Cape Ann here.
And it all starts with the Bandit Kings Open Jamm at Rhumb Line tonight. Remember, you still have time to help them make a record. Click here to help.
You may know we’ve been adding more videos to gimmesound.com every week. We’ve got a nice little collection of Bandit King videos here. Here’s one of my favorites from their album Precious Stones (just love these harmonies).
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Continuing with my interest in starting the weekend on Thursday, I’ll be at the Y Taste of Cape Ann to benefit the Y’s teen, camp and childcare initiatives. Get tickets here or just go to the Cruiseport at 6pm for food & drink from some of Cape Ann’s best restaurants, along with live music, cooking demonstrations, raffles, door prizes and more.
Something big happened to the music business last week. Mumford & Sons’ new album sold 600K+ units during its debut week, making it the “highest selling debut week for a rock album since 2008” according to Billboard — and they became the first band since the Beatles to have six singles on the Billboard top 100 chart at the same time.
Good Morning Gloucester 