Tad Armstrong and Jason Harrod

Good Morning Sweetpeas,

A great night of music this Friday at the Harrison Center Underground.
(check out this David Lindquist piece on out of the way venues--music venues prove themselves worthy).

Tad Armstrong
Jason Harrod
Friday, May 6th
9:00
Harrison Center Underground
1505 N. Delaware
free, all ages, smoke-free



As you all know, TAD ARMSTRONG is on my short list (really short--four) of favorite singer/songwriters. His songs are intelligent, thoughtful and clever. And his voice is amazing. You should never miss a chance to hear Tad perform.
North Carolina's Jason Harrod draws from the best traditions of American music to create a sound all his own. He sings in a rich, brooding tenor underscored by his inventive guitar work. He sings about lost love, found joys, and spiritual longing.

Please come to the Harrison early and check out the art show. All of the art is priced at $100. A terrific and inexpensive way to add to your art collection.

After Tad and Jason...and only after the music ends you can go see ArtvsArt in Fountian Square (you'll get there just in time for the exciting part!)

Nora

Musician's Needed- Broad Ripple Farmers Market

Musicians Needed-Broad Ripple Farmers Market


Thursday, April 28 2005 @ 08:15 AM EDT
Contributed by: Nora
Views: 663
Hello,
The Broad Ripple Village Association is looking for musicians to play for a few hours during the Saturday Farmers Market. You would play from 9:00-10:30-ish. No pay, but the opportunity to cell CD's and other merchandise you might have.
The market is very well attended and is moving to the Art Center this year.
The market opens on Saturday, May 28th and will run each Saturday
through October from 7:30-11am.
Let me know if you're interested.
Nora
Availale dates:
May 28
June 4
June 11
June 18
June 25
July 2
July 9
July 16
July 23
July 30
August 6
August 13
August 20
August 27
September 3
September 10
September 17
September 24
October 1
October 8
October 15
October 22
October 29

Chris Stamey 4/20

Hello Sunshine!
Chris Stamey, of the legendary 80's pop band THE DB'S will be playing an acoustic show at the Indy Hostel. And Indianapolis' own (and my personal favorite) Tad Armstrong will be opening. Not only is Chris a terrific musician, but he's produced some amazing folks...Ryan Adams, Matthew Sweet, Tift Merritt, Yo La Tango and Freedy Johnston.

Wednesday, April 20
Indy Hostel
4903 Winthrop Ave
door 7:00
Tad Armstrong 7:30
Chris Stamey 8:00
$10/only fifty tickets will be sold
to purchase e-mail me or call Tim Cohn 250.7300


This show will sell out, so be sure and RSVP.
I can wait to see you!
Nora

The Amy Lashley Band

Happy Indianapolis Indians Opening Day,
Wheee...Spring is really here.
And to celebrate come and see the beautiful and talented Miss Amy Lashley and her terrific band. You might recognize Amy from CATH and now of the Northside News Cafe. From now on you'll know her as an amazing singer and songwriter.
l. Amy Lashely Band 4/8, 9pm the Harrison Center
ll. Aaron, Stasia and Tad 4/8, 10:30 the Upper Room
lll. Bill Mallonee and & Vigilantes of Love & Mercy Creek 4/9, 8pm,
Radio Radio

CATH Concert Series
The Amy Lashley Band
Friday, April 8
9:00 pm
The Harrison Center Underground
1505 N. Delaware
free/all ages/nonsmoking



"Amy Lashley is a singer/songwriter happily planted in the Midwest. She writes songs with a simple, front porch feel--rural and rootsy; And sings with a rich warm voice that can fill a room with broken hearts. Miss Amy also likes to give Patsy Cline a whirl, then drive an old pick-up through a jazz standard...." You can hear her tunes at myspace.com/amylashley.
I'll see you there!



Aaron, Stasia and Tad
Friday, April 8
10:30
The Upper Room
(above Broad Ripple Steak House)
21 and over
small cover


Aaron's visiting from Austin, TX and his Middletown pals are getting together for an acoustic show. It's Aaron's birthday, Stasia will be armed with baby pictures, and Tad's sounding better than ever. A great night of music...see Amy at the Underground and head to the Upper Room. Wheee!



Bill Mallonee & Vigilantes of Love and Mercy Creek
Saturday, April 9th
8pm
Radio Radio
1119 E. Prospect St, Fountain Square
21 and over (id required)
$10 to benefit the Timmy Foundation
Presale tickets: Luna music stores Timmy office in Glendale.
Call for more info: 317-253-8466.


Two great bands for one great cause. The Timmy Foundation is a locally based group with global impact. Click here: :: Timmy Foundation.org ::
Bill Mallonee Official Site and MercyCreek.com

April Goodness

Hello April Fools*,

You can tell it's Springtime, the daffodils are blooming and musicians are out touring!

Thanks to Mary Lee Pappas for the great review of the Whiskey Breath Travelers at the Indy Hostel. Check it out in the current NUVO. NYC singers deliver great show.

l. 3 Chicago+1 Louisville=Amazing Show, Friday (4/1), 8 pm Abbey
ll. Sign up on Queen Bee Music.com

l. danny flanigan
Shelley Miller
Dave Golden
Samantha Twigg Johnson
Friday, April 1
9 pm
Abbey Coffeehouse
825 N. Pennsylvania Street


This is a "dream team" show. I could wear you out with all of the great stuff I could say about these folks, so I'll keep it to a sentence (or so) each about them.
+Louisville's danny flanigan is one of my all time favorites. I know the words to all of his songs. If I'm stuck on a desert island I'd want him (and his guitar) there.
+When Chicago's Shelly Miller heard that CATH was closing she made a special trip to Indianapolis to give me a hug, candy and a cool-ass purse that looks like a puppy. Check out the review of her Midwest Music Show at CATH. nuvo.net / MMS ’04 in review
+Dave Golden also played at the MMS last summer. One of the great stories...he met Shelly and Samantha at CATH and the rest is history.
+Samantha Twigg Johnson played at CATH and stayed at my house during MMS 2004. She's amazing and talented. I can't wait to see/hear her again.

ll. Queen Bee Music

Please check out the website and sign up. I'd like to send out the updates from there and get rid of this bulky e-mail list.

*and the April Fool greeting is typed with love!
I hope to see you at the Abbey!

five songwriters- one bottle- one mission

Hello Strangers,
I feel like it's been so long since we've chatted. I've missed you!
Something truly amazing is happening this Friday, March 25. And you're in on the secret!

Whiskey Breath Travelers
Birnbaum, Clark, Lowry, Perry and Royale
Friday, March 25th
8pm
Indy Hostel
4903 Winthrop Ave
(on 49th Street, three blocks east of College Ave)
Free!

These five amazing New York singer/songwriters are touring to support Indianapolis Public Schools' music program. They realize the impact that music has made on their lives and want to make sure that our school children get the same benefit. Their generosity blows me away!
You can donate new or gently used musical instruments to the cause at the show. You can donate money in person or donate directly to Band Together (info below).
You might remember Jeremiah Birnbaum from the 2004 Midwest Music Summit and a memorable Sunday morning at CATH. To read that review click here and scroll down to Mary Lee Pappas' review nuvo.net / MMS ’04 in review
The current issue of NUVO profiles the tour nuvo.net / NYC artists come to Indy’s aid.
Please take this special chance to see these amazing folks in an intimate setting.
I hope to see you at the show.
If you have any questions you can e-mail me until 7 pm, or call 374.5744
Nora

QueenBeeMusic.com
Please send tax deductible donations to "Band Together":
Bands of America, Inc.
Attn: Band Together
39 W. Jackson Place, Ste 150
Indianapolis, IN 46225
317.636.2263
Contact: Ms. Terri Dillon, Director of Development

Queen Bee in the news

Yippee! Thanks to Paul Pogue for the great article on the state of acoustic music in Indianapolis.

Changing times for acoustic performers
Venues scramble to fill void left by Cath

By Paul F. P. Pogue

It’s one of the oldest forms of entertainment: the traveling minstrel, a singer/songwriter with nothing but a guitar and a voice, going from place to place singing for his supper. In an age of Internet downloads and stage spectacle, the art of the singer/songwriter remains alive and vibrant in Indianapolis.

Mieka Pauley performs at the Abbey Coffeehouse, one of many venues now supporting the singer/songwriter scene in Indianapolis.For several years, Nora Spitznogle, booking shows at the Cath Coffeehouse in Broad Ripple, was the godmother of the scene. In the wake of Cath’s closing last year, the scene has spread out among a wide array of venues. Boulevard Place, the Abbey Coffeehouse, IndyIndie.com, Vic’s Coffeehouse, Indy Hostel and Out Word Bound are only a few of the places picking up the slack, and even venues such as the Music Mill are getting into the act, booking performers like Melissa Ferrick.

Robin Coleman, who booked shows for Indy’s Music House before it closed down late last year, now books acts through her new site, segmentofsociety.com.

“You’ve just got to know where to look to find stuff like that,” Coleman said. “Ever since Cath closed, a lot of us really stepped up to the plate and have carried on the Cath tradition. They loved Nora in Chicago. Cath became a real weigh station. You weren’t necessarily going to make hundreds of dollars, but it was a place to break in and gain new fans. I would go just to find new music. A lot of times people get in their familiar zone of who they like to listen to. Most of the time independent artists, you’re either going to pay nothing to go see them or very low cover charge, and you can’t beat that. And to me a lot of times the music is better.”

Coleman said that the various promoters are forming a strong bond and network with each other, helping each other line up and cross-promote shows, as well as communicating with each other to find venues when one of them gets an offer that they can’t fit into their own schedule.

“It’s really exciting,” she said. “Sometimes I feel like the kid in Almost Famous. I wouldn’t mind continuing this as long as I’m able and can keep my sanity about myself. I think there’ll always be room for stuff like this, because you’ll always have the indie scene. You’ll always have kids coming up. It’s a never-ending pot of gold. It’s where everybody starts out. Stuff like American Idol makes me mad, because it’s mass-produced entertainment. That’s why there’s independent artists out there. They’re people who want to do their own.”

Cathy Schneider and Joyce Walker, who operate IndyIndie.com and book acts at their neighborhood clubhouse as well as Out Word Bound, started up their work in order to give a stage to female artists such as Michelle Malone, Aerin Tedesco and Andrea Bunch.

“At the time there was no place in Indianapolis for independent female musicians to play,” Walker said. “There’s a lot of really good little groups out there and no stage for them to be on. And it’s really about women’s community. We can’t seem to sustain a meeting place. We had Utopia, we had a few places in the past, and they just go by the wayside.

“It’s to keep the culture alive, keep the art alive,” Schneider said. “We’re in a Republican situation right now, and art is the first thing that suffers. This is our way of supporting art and keeping it alive. I want people 30 years younger than me to understand.”

Tammara Tracy works with Schneider and Walker to coordinate the “Music in the Stacks” biweekly series of shows at Out Word Bound book store.

“The frustration that I heard from many performers saying that there wasn’t anyplace to perform,” Tracy said. “IndyIndie is a monthly gig, and there are so many other traveling musicians that needed a place. And capitalizing on Indianapolis’ geographic location, as being the crossroads as the musicians are traveling the country, they need gas money and stuff like that. I’m hoping to contribute to the viability of the independent musician, and I’m hoping to introduce their music to more and more people.”

John Newton promotes frequent events in the intimate living-room setting of the Indy Hostel (Indyhostel.us), including a recent appearance by Jason Wilber and an upcoming series of Sunday afternoon classical performances at 1 p.m. every Sunday from March 13 through all of April.

“These house parties, it’s really a different scene. It’s more relaxed, people have a good time. I don’t make a lot of money out of them, sometimes I lose money, but it gets the place’s name out there,” Newton said. “Jason Wilber was a standing-room only crowd. Everyone enjoyed it, it was a wonderful show, it was low-key, smoke-free, lot of good food, good drinks. A lot of people made new friends. Another neat thing about a house party is kids can come. I can have high school students visit that are into music and gain admission because there’s no age limit.”

Spitznogle herself continues to promote the occasional show and a monthly series at the Harrison Center. She also runs an information hub of singer/songwriter events at her Web site, queenbeemusic.com.

“I think it’s amazing how from the ashes of Cath so many more venues have popped up,” Spitznogle said. “People who weren’t doing singer/songwriter stuff are doing it now, which I think is wonderful. There was a big outcry of people, wondering where, and maybe it was people who hadn’t thought about doing it before and saw some value in it. A lot of people still contact me and I try to contact different venues.”

She started running singer/songwriter events at the Cath five years ago; by the time Cath closed, she had performers nearly every day.

“It was like an underground railroad where they’d find a venue out there,” she said. “There were these New York singer/songwriters and all these people from across the country. We couldn’t afford to pay them, so we’d pass the hat and I’d put them up for the night and feed them. That was the hardest part for me, when we closed Cath. I felt like Cath had built itself into a great singer/songwriter venue, and I hated to see that go.”

Nonetheless, she sees a renaissance in the scene as more and more promoters take up the banner.

“I think it’s only getting better and better,” Spitznogle said. “The first year Midwest Music Summit was here, they didn’t have many singer/songwriters, and last year Cath was a venue for two days. More people are appreciating the value of original music. It’s warmed my little heart how many people have picked up where Cath left off.”

And ultimately, according to Coleman, the scene’s strength is in those who come out and take a chance on new music day in and day out.

“The new venues have given a new opportunity to the local artists and traveling artists who pass through,” Coleman said. “There’s a lot out there. Just go out there and give a chance to somebody maybe you haven’t heard of.”

For more information:
www.Queenbeemusic.com
www.SegmentofSociety.com
www.IndyIndie.com
www.indyhostel.us
www.OutWordBound.com
www.boulevardplacecafe.com