Who's more adorable? You decide.
2 days ago
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Fresh audience at the Farmers' Market
Even the tomatoes are out enjoying the festivities this summer in Waltham, MA. This one decided to come to Kim Davidson's and my show at the Waltham Farmers' Market yesterday:
It was the first time I ever played for such attentive produce, I have to say. :)
We had a terrific time, and came home with a jar of jam apiece from Deborah's Kitchen as a thank you for the music. (Thank you, Deborah! I can't wait to make my mom's apricot chicken with your preserves!)
Anyway, just wanted to post a little something and say hi. It's been a while.
Hope everyone is feeling groovy, enjoying the last stretch of summer. Get out there!
Rebecca
It was the first time I ever played for such attentive produce, I have to say. :)
We had a terrific time, and came home with a jar of jam apiece from Deborah's Kitchen as a thank you for the music. (Thank you, Deborah! I can't wait to make my mom's apricot chicken with your preserves!)
Anyway, just wanted to post a little something and say hi. It's been a while.
Hope everyone is feeling groovy, enjoying the last stretch of summer. Get out there!
Rebecca
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
I LOVE this festival.
Every July 4th weekend, no matter what the year has yielded for me artistically--a 12-month writing drought, or a bumper crop of songs and professional ambition--I fall freshly in love with folk music at New Bedford Summerfest.
What I love about New Bedford--besides its genuine working waterfront, colonial cobblestone, and knack for slating artitsts I adore to perform--is the breadth of music it encompasses each year. Where else can you find a traditional ballad singer, Quebecois accordian player, pair of contemporary singer-songwriters, and master blues guitarist, all on the same stage? If seeing a group like that improvise and interact with each other isn't enough to make your heart soar seventy stories high, I'll be damned.
Every time I go to New Bedford Summerfest, I come home reenergized and reaffirmed. It is, to me, almost sacred. In my seat at the festival, in the car on the way home, I think to myself: 'This is why I love folk music,' and I am reminded, once again, that this genre is my home.
This year's festival did not disappoint. Below are some photos I snapped at some of the performances:
This is a shot from the fiddle workshop (AWESOME!!), featuring Angela Oudean and Annalisa Tornfelt of Bearfoot, Laura Cortese, Bruce Molsky, and Ruth Ungar Merenda (formerly of The Mammals):
Here's the crowd at the Acushnet Ave. Stage, gathered to hear Greg Anderson & Sara Milonovich, Benoit Bourgue (one of my favorites!), Guy Mendilow Band, and Women in Docs:
Here's Benoit (a little blury!), dancing with several members of the audience at a workshop with The Kennedys and Malinky, a band from Scotland:
Lastly, this is a photo of a portion of the line-up from the Celtic Extravangaza, the mother-of-all-workshops, which ends the festival every year:
(My pictures don't really do the contemporary artists justice, but they were there also. Brooks Williams, Natalia Zukerman, Chris Smither, and one of my biggest heroes, Lucy Kaplansky, were among the performers this year. In the past, Summerfest has also hosted Susan Werner, The Nields, Vance Gilbert, James Keelaghan, and Greg Greenway, among other writers.)
In short...I can't say enough about New Bedford Summerfest. I love it. I love it, I love it, I love it. I tell you this not only because I have had such a good time the past four years--but because I was shocked to find out that the festival nearly wasn't held this year due to financial pressure. So, in part, I am writing this entry spread the word and try to save what has become, for me, a spiritual elixir and source of energy for my creative battery.
To passing on melodies that mean something, the continued longevity of working towns in New England and elsewhere, and the wave of excitement that accompanies the sight of a fiddler rosining her bow. This is, truly, what it is all about.
Long live New Bedford Summerfest.
What I love about New Bedford--besides its genuine working waterfront, colonial cobblestone, and knack for slating artitsts I adore to perform--is the breadth of music it encompasses each year. Where else can you find a traditional ballad singer, Quebecois accordian player, pair of contemporary singer-songwriters, and master blues guitarist, all on the same stage? If seeing a group like that improvise and interact with each other isn't enough to make your heart soar seventy stories high, I'll be damned.
Every time I go to New Bedford Summerfest, I come home reenergized and reaffirmed. It is, to me, almost sacred. In my seat at the festival, in the car on the way home, I think to myself: 'This is why I love folk music,' and I am reminded, once again, that this genre is my home.
This year's festival did not disappoint. Below are some photos I snapped at some of the performances:
This is a shot from the fiddle workshop (AWESOME!!), featuring Angela Oudean and Annalisa Tornfelt of Bearfoot, Laura Cortese, Bruce Molsky, and Ruth Ungar Merenda (formerly of The Mammals):
Here's the crowd at the Acushnet Ave. Stage, gathered to hear Greg Anderson & Sara Milonovich, Benoit Bourgue (one of my favorites!), Guy Mendilow Band, and Women in Docs:
Here's Benoit (a little blury!), dancing with several members of the audience at a workshop with The Kennedys and Malinky, a band from Scotland:
Lastly, this is a photo of a portion of the line-up from the Celtic Extravangaza, the mother-of-all-workshops, which ends the festival every year:
(My pictures don't really do the contemporary artists justice, but they were there also. Brooks Williams, Natalia Zukerman, Chris Smither, and one of my biggest heroes, Lucy Kaplansky, were among the performers this year. In the past, Summerfest has also hosted Susan Werner, The Nields, Vance Gilbert, James Keelaghan, and Greg Greenway, among other writers.)
In short...I can't say enough about New Bedford Summerfest. I love it. I love it, I love it, I love it. I tell you this not only because I have had such a good time the past four years--but because I was shocked to find out that the festival nearly wasn't held this year due to financial pressure. So, in part, I am writing this entry spread the word and try to save what has become, for me, a spiritual elixir and source of energy for my creative battery.
To passing on melodies that mean something, the continued longevity of working towns in New England and elsewhere, and the wave of excitement that accompanies the sight of a fiddler rosining her bow. This is, truly, what it is all about.
Long live New Bedford Summerfest.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Before he was "Harmony Man" and leader of a band...
he was just Mark, and I was Becca, and we were two college kids who performed frequently at the Brandeis campus coffeehouse. I'm talking about Mark Lipman, front man of the (aptly-named) Mark Lipman Band. This is what we looked like back in our early days:
And here we are this past November, still singing, at my Spendin' On Today CD Release Party:
Aside from the addition of facial hair (on Mark) and a slew of new songs to both of our repertoires, not much has changed. Mark still has the sweetest falsetto you'll ever hear, and a magnificent ear for harmony--and I'm still significantly shorter than him, and like to stand on his left. :P
These days, Mark gigs mostly with his band; but he booked a rare solo show this month and invited me to join him, so we'll be singing together again in just a few weeks! If you're in the Plymouth, MA area, you can grab a front seat at our on-stage reunion. Here are the specs:
Have I mentioned how much I love my friends? Yeah. I thought so.
Hope to see you on the 19th.
;),
Rebecca
And here we are this past November, still singing, at my Spendin' On Today CD Release Party:
Aside from the addition of facial hair (on Mark) and a slew of new songs to both of our repertoires, not much has changed. Mark still has the sweetest falsetto you'll ever hear, and a magnificent ear for harmony--and I'm still significantly shorter than him, and like to stand on his left. :P
These days, Mark gigs mostly with his band; but he booked a rare solo show this month and invited me to join him, so we'll be singing together again in just a few weeks! If you're in the Plymouth, MA area, you can grab a front seat at our on-stage reunion. Here are the specs:
Saturday, July 19th @ 7pm - Free!
Plymouth, MA
KISKADEE COFFEE COMPANY
In-the-round w/ Mark Lipman & Hassan El-Tayyab!
18 Main St
<http://www.kiskadeecoffee.com>
I am very excited! I always love singing with Mark. And if you can make it to the show...you'll hear why. The boy's got some serious talent. That's all there is to it. (And he kicks my a** at Travis picking.)Plymouth, MA
KISKADEE COFFEE COMPANY
In-the-round w/ Mark Lipman & Hassan El-Tayyab!
18 Main St
<http://www.kiskadeecoffee.com>
Have I mentioned how much I love my friends? Yeah. I thought so.
Hope to see you on the 19th.
;),
Rebecca
Saturday, June 21, 2008
This is Carrie Cheron.
Actually, that's one of her posters. This is Carrie Cheron:
Kellie Lin Knott and I went to see her tonight (Friday, 6/20) at Lincoln Street Coffee, a happenin' venue in the otherwise sleepy town of Newton Highlands. It's a great spot, (where I will be making my debut Sept 5th!) Anyway, Carrie put on quite the show, in spite of having just come from another gig earlier in the day. She's got some set of pipes, that's for sure, and a Master's in vocal music she wears with humbleness and elegance.
And then there's Carrie's writing. I adore her songs--vivid lyrics delivered in a gorgeous voice, and mean guitar chops to boot. What's not to like, honestly? If you don't know Carrie's music, you need to go to her MySpace page right now and start listening. (And while you're at it, go to Kellie's page too.) Seriously. Stop everything and check them out. Right now.
You may have gathered from previous blog entries, and my set lists and spiels at shows: I am serious about passing on my friends' music. And how could I not be, with peers like these?
Sometimes I feel so damn grateful. So, so lucky.
Please support my friends' and other independent musicians' music, and your local coffee shops and businesses. They are what it is all about--the essence of individuality in America.
And now...it's all about bedtime.
I'm off to say my prayers, Carrie's songs still echoing sweetly in my ears.
Goodnight, all.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Feel like belting Stephen Foster
...when I see a sign like this one, which I spotted on the T this afternoon:
To my old Kentucky home far away, and the city I love here in M-A.
L'chaim.
To my old Kentucky home far away, and the city I love here in M-A.
L'chaim.
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