Middletown, Thursday December 27

Hello sugarplums,

As another year winds down you get one more chance to see the late-great-they-only-play-when-Aaron Stroup-is-in-town Middletown.

This Thursday (12/27) evening at the downstairs wine cellar of the Corner Wine Bar (details below).

The end of the year also brings in inevitable lists. For my take on the year in review for folk and world music click here.
For Harry Cheese's (BenWah Salami) wrap-up of national events click here.

In my quest for total local print media domination turn to page 22 of the current NUVO. The Be Indypendent ad campaign features me talking about why I purchased Kipp Normand's Robot #3.

I'll see you Thursday evening.
Nora

MIDDLETOWN
THE CORNER WINE BAR (downstairs wine cellar)
THURSDAY DECEMBER 27th(8-10:30ish)
http://www.cornerwinebar.com/ 21 and over

http://www.nuvo.net/articles/2007_music_year_in_review/
http://www.nuvo.net/articles/the_national_scene_in_review/

year in review

first published in NUVO

I wrote the folk music portion of NUVO's year in review issue. 

You can read it here. 

New Year's Eve Roundup

originally published in NUVO.
Click here to read previews of twenty venues - music, food and beer.
Woo Hoo!

Broad Ripple Gazette, vol 4. no 25

originally published in the Broad Ripple Gazette

Otis Gibbs
November 30, 2007
Home Fields Advantage House Concert Series

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it until…well, it is engraved on my tombstone. House concerts are a terrific way to see music. A house concert is - you guessed it, a concert in a house. All of the money goes directly to the musician. Everyone is there to listen, so you don't have to worry about bar chatter, smoke cappuccino machine or smoke. This series is run by Cary Alan Fields, who hosts the Fields of Bluegrass radio show on WICR.fm (88.7) on Friday evenings from 9:00-10:00. This house concert series includes time for chatting with the musicians and food. Everyone brings a snack to share. The lovely Cyndi, who opens her house to all of us, makes soup. Any good concert needs soup.

Otis Gibbs was the performer this month. Otis told stories between songs, and he has some good stories - being mistaken for a homeless man in Germany, meeting folks at a hobo camp in the West, eating nothing but boiled peanuts for 14 days (and swearing he’s a better man for it) during a Southern tour earlier this year and standing on the Charles Bridge in Prague one Valentine's Day. His music is even more amazing than his tales. Karlov Most, the song written about the Charles Bridge is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. He also played a good dose of his music from his Christmas album, Once I Dreamed of Christmas. Classics such as Lloyd the Reindeer, Crap for Christmas and Carl and Mavis. The songs are a fun look at the holidays. He also wrote some beautiful Christmas songs, Color Wheel about his grandmother's tree and the sweet Little Red Nose. 

Otis is starting a European tour this right after the show. I'll miss getting my annual Christmas photograph with him. I have six Polaroid snapshots lined above the bulletin board in my office. It is s a good measure of hair styles and weight gain (mine, not Otis'). It was a great way to kick off the holiday season.If you would like more information on the Home Fields Advantage series or for help hosting a house concert please email me: nora@broadripplegazette.com

http://fieldsofbluegrass.com
http://myspace.com/fields_of_bluegrass



Previews:
As I’m pouring over the venue calendars deciding what show to highlight for this section I am feeling overwhelmed. Not that feeling overwhelmed is an unfamiliar feeling. Anyway, believe it or not the preview section is the part of this column that takes me the most time. There are so much great shows happening every single day. Plus I’ve really pushed the deadline envelope this time.

So, here’s my holiday wish for you. Go see live music, whether it be a national act or a grade school production. I am continually humbled by the amount of talent in our corner of the world. The idea that someone will put themselves on the line to entertain us amazes me.

My other suggestion to you is to give the gift of music. Broad Ripple is chock full of independent music stores and the staff at every single one of them is knowledgeable and helpful. If you’re not sure what someone on your gift list would like, they are happy to make recommendations. And they all have gift certificates. You can’t go wrong with the gift of music, CDs fit perfectly in to stockings, like for instance my stocking at the Red Key, just in case you’re wondering.


New Year’s Eve Previews

I goofed; I didn’t realize that this issue would be on the stands until after the New Year. I had grand plans of a comprehensive New Year’s Eve show previews. Alan is letting me dash something off to be included (thanks man!). Luckily, I’d already made a list – so here it is without the details I would usually include. You can check with the venues for details.
Cheers!

Birdy’s
The Here Now (their sound is kind of alt-country-indie-folk-orchestral-rock mixture).

Daddy Jack’s
Gordon Bonham Blues Band (blues at its best).

Jazz Kitchen
Cynthia Layne (it does not get any classier than the beautiful Cynthia).

Local’s Only
Latex Novelties, Atomic Bombay, The Gizmos and Slammies (I cannot tell you how excited I am about this show. I might even dig my Slammies undies out of the shoe box for the occasion).

Melody Inn
Punk Rock Night NYE with CryptoKats, Toxic Reasons, Fuglees and Acid Green (just typing the name Fuglees makes me smile).

Mousetrap
Acoustic Flyer (jam band fun)

Music Mill
Jon McLaughlin, The Last Good Year and Red Moon (Indiana native Jon McLaughlin is making a big splash on the national scene. He filmed his latest video on the Circle. Last Good Year just won the Birdy’s Battle of the Bands).

Spin
Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, Mandy Marie, Jason Webley (I saw Rev. Peyton’s band last NYE and Breezy was the best dressed person in the whole Hyatt. I’m a brand new Mandy Marie fan. This show will be some high energy twangy fun).

Vogue
Here Come the Mummies (you can find the Posh Petals women at this show…and where ever they are is the place to be).

Dan Hicks and The Hot Licks, Friends of Bob

Here is a preview for the Friends of Bob show: Dan Hicks and The Hot Licks.

Broad Ripple Gazette, vol 4. no 24

Originally published in the Broad Ripple Gazette

Greetings from sunny Sanibel Island, Florida. Wish you were here, seriously. It has been a great week of swimming, eating, sleeping and hanging out with my ever-adorable niece and nephew.

Reviews:

Tonic Ball

Friday, November 16, 2007

Radio Radio and Fountain Square Theatre

I’m not exaggerating when I say this is my favorite day of the year. I get to soak in all of the bigheartedness from the musicians and fans. It just blows me away that over 30 bands donate their time and talent on a Friday night.

Tonic Week started off in a great way with the Barfly cartoon in NUVO. The cartoon featured Queen Bee Nora and the Tonic Ball. A cartoon of a caricature, as it were.

On Tonic Ball morning WTTS arraigned to have Mick Jones of the Clash give a message to the Tonic Ball musicians, “don’t murder his songs.” It was really cool and he talked about Second Helpings and how great he thought the Tonic Ball is.

The Tonic Ball was a blast. Over 600 people poured in to the two venues. The enthusiasm was palatable. I got to be in my best “Nora” mode – project management. Making sure bands were in the right place, volunteers were doing their thing and everything was relatively on time. I got to run around like a nut for a good cause.

The music was amazing. Thirty different bands played that night. Special thanks to Jonee Quest for running sound in Radio Radio. Half of the bands played Clash tunes (and one of their own) and the other half played Madonna songs. As hard as I tried I did not get to see all of the bands. Even the Queen Bee had to wait in line. I think I did see at least one song of about 20 bands. I won’t go through them all, but each one did a great job. Everyone took it seriously and learned their songs.

For the fifth year in a row I missed founder Ken Honeywell’s band Yoko Moment. I loved the Lovemeknots version of Tommy Gun. The Common ruled the stage with London Calling. Bigger Than Elvis closed the night in great form.

Over in Madonnaland the Benders rocked Live To Tell, Stasia Demos played a clever version of La Island Bonita on her accordion. Cara Wahlers and her Susan and the Desperate Seekers bandmates Jon Martin and Gary Wasson did lovely renditions of True Blue and Rain. Cara also gets the best dressed award. She wore and amazing crinoline skirt and had her hair teased to resplendent 80s style.

My heartfelt thanks go out everyone for making this event such a success and helping to feed the hungry children and adults in Indianapolis each and every day.

http://www.secondhelpings.org/


Monday, November 19, 2007
Soul Bus
Daddy Jack’s (every Monday)

I sabotage myself every time I go on vacation and go out the night before I leave, when I should be packing and stuff – like figuring out who is going to feed my cat.

Seeing Soul Bus is always worth the lack of sleep and panic packing. As it turned out, my luggage did not make it until the next day anyway. It is amazing how far you can stretch the dress you wore to travel in and a Mucky Duck tee shirt and shorts, especially if you share a shoe size with your niece.

Soul Bus is made up of a group of All-Star MVPs. All of the musicians are amazing. I’ll start with the one I’ve known the longest. Drummer Jeff Chapin and I played together as tots in Beech Grove and wound up at Lebanon High School together. I wish I could tell you more about Jeff in high-school, but I was too shy to hang out with him – he was one of the cool marching band kids after all. And now he’s an even cooler drummer. Jeff is plays with several bands including the Gordon Bonham Blues Band.

Bluesman extraordinaire Gordon Bonham has been a fixture in the blues scene for over 25 years. He sings and plays makes-me-giddy guitar for Soul Bus. I have a little crush on his Gretsch guitar.

Bass player David Murray makes it all look easy. Along with the rest of the guys in the band, music is his career. Dave studied at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and Indiana University. He’s also a damn fine baker.


Jes Richmond sings and plays guitar. His great folk music sensibilities shine though. You can find also him playing solo shows and with his lovely wife Vicky.

Okay, before I talk about vocalist and harmonica player Tad Robinson I need to make a few confessions. I never considered myself a fan of soul music and I’ve made some pretty public admissions of my dislike of harmonica. Through Tad I’ve realized that I am a soul fan and that I do like harmonica, thanks to his excellent talents. I’ve also realized that there are a lot of bad harmonica players out there. Tad released his latest album A New Point of View to international acclaim and invitations to Blues and Jazz Festivals are starting to pour in.

I can’t tell you how tremendous this band is. I think a true measure of how good a band is the number of musicians there are in the audience, and there are often musicians in the crowd soaking it all in. Soul Bus has a regular Monday gig at Daddy Jack’s (in the Apres Jack’s lounge). The bar is non-smoking and there is no cover charge. I’ll see you there!

http://www.tadrobinson.com/
http://www.gordonbonham.com/
http://www.attherichmonds.com/
http://www.konajacksindy.com/

Previews:

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Cara Jean Wahlers

Cliff Snyder

CD release show

Indy Hostel

4903 Winthrop Ave

317.797.1696

7:00 pm, all ages, non-smoking, $5 suggested donation

Cliff Snyder is celebrating the release of his first CD, Fools Highway with an acoustic show at Indy Hostel. He’ll be joined by Hawaiian slide player Pat Brearton for his set. His music is steeped in the straight forward American singer-songwriter tradition. Cara Jean Wahlers will play a solo acoustic set to open the show. I’ve heard Cara perform with a band, but never by herself. This will be a great show.

If you never been to a show at Indy Hostel, you’re missing out. It is like having a musician play in your living room. Intimate, cozy and plenty of room for everyone. No smoke, cappuccino machines or bar noise to distract you from the music.

www.myspace.com/cliffsnyder

http://www.indyhostel.us/

tonic ball photographs

You can see them here and then clicking on Tonic Ball VI.

I'm still too overwhelmed to write a proper review, I promise one soon - after I take a nap!