Broad Ripple Gazette, vol 7 no 15

first published in the Broad Ripple Gazette
 
Broad Ripple Farmer’s Market
Saturdays, 8:00 – 12:30
behind Broad Ripple High School

July 24 - Cara Jean Wahlers
July 31 - Ted Kirkendall
August 7 - Chad Mills

www.broadripplefarmersmarket.org

Girls Rock! Indianapolis Campers’ Show
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Earth House Collective
237 N. East St.
2:00, all-ages, non-smoking

I love this! I heard about this idea from my friend Portland friend, Maura Ahearn, and it’s finally come here. Girls Rock! Indianapolis is a non-profit organization dedicated to building positive self-esteem in girls and encouraging creative expression through music. The music education programs will provide girls with an opportunity to participate in an environment that fosters leadership, encourages social change, and cultivates a supportive community of female peers and mentors. Rock on!

It is run entirely by a team of volunteers with support from independent contractors assisting in areas of bookkeeping, PR and legal matters (the non-rock stuff!). As funding allows, they hope to operate with a full-time staff and offer year-round programs and workshops, multiple summer camp sessions and a Ladies Rock Camp for women.

The first week-long day camp will culminate with a concert at Earth House Collective. The girls (between the ages of nine and sixteen) will receive instruction on guitar, bass, drums or vocals. Each camper will become part of a band, learn how to write songs, and perform in front of a live audience. Campers also take part in various workshops that relate to body image, self-esteem, and empowerment.

Go cheer the girls on – I’m looking forward to seeing the very talented Abby Jordan’s band.

http://girlsrockindy.org

DEVO
Monday, July 27, 2010
Vogue Theatre
6259 N College Ave, Indianapolis
$45, non-smoking, 21+

I love purchasing tickets to shows at the Vogue in their up-the-stairs box office (open noon – 5:30, M – F). It feels special – and a little naughty, to open the door in the daylight, watch the clean-up or set-up activity happening on the floor as I walk up stairs to buy tickets. There is an exciting feeling to handing over my cash and getting a real ticket from a real-live person. And when you buy the ticket at the venue you avoid the service fees.

I was buying a fist-full of tickets last month – Ingrid Michaelson, Cake, Bodeans, Blitzen Trapper, Billy Bragg and Toad the Wet Sproket – when talent booker, Matt Schwegman, popped out of his office and asked if I’d pay $45 to see DEVO. It was easy to say, YES!

DEVO has been playing sporadically since their break-up in 1991, but have continued to be an underground favorite. They are touring in support of their new record that was released last month. Everything I hear about the tour and record is wonderful.

There are still tickets left, either at the box office, on-line or at the door. The show promises to be a night of post-punk energy and pogo dancing with a dash of silliness thrown in.

I just hope they are selling energy domes at the merch table. I want a red one. I’ll see you there!

www.clubdevo.com
www.thevogue.com


Cara Jean Wahlers and Grover Parido CD release concert
(+ openers Evan Slusher and Tonos Triad)
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Riverfront Ampitheatre - Indianapolis Art Center
(rain location inside the Art Center)
7:00pm door, 7:30pm show, $10, family friendly, non-smoking, children under 12 free

I’ve been like a little kid waiting for my birthday and been counting down the days in anticipation of the Good Night Charlotte CD release show. Cara Jean Wahlers and Grover Parido will celebrate the release of their first album with an outdoor show on at the Riverfront Ampitheatre at the Art Center. The river is the perfect back drop for these two songbirds.

Cara Jean Wahlers is a fourth generation musician. As a youngster she studied piano and double bass with an eye on classical music. In her early twenties she found her voice as in songwriter, drawing from lessons learned by listening to her parents’ record collection. Simon and Garfunkel gave her an understanding of storytelling, which combined with current day influences – Steve Poltz, Vic Chesnutt, Phil Collins, and Joni Mitchell helped her develop her unique style of songwriting. Wahlers songs reveal a the balance of personal experience and human truth.

Grover Parido is a classically trained cellist who is also well versed in rock and roll, hip-hop and folk music. He is a composer, performer, producer and educator – in his spare time he plays and records with The Maple Trio, Chad Mills and Bill Price – just to name a few.

Cara Jean and Grover connected when she saw him perform with Blueprint Music. She felt that his style would compliment her songs. She was beautifully right. Their collaboration has resulted in amazing music.

The duo recently finished composing the musical score for the feature-length independent film, Paradise Recovered, scheduled to release this fall.

Here are Cara’s words about the new record, “Goodnight Charlotte, is a collection of ten songs written between 2005 and 2009. I wrote most of this album in my head, probably while I was randomly walking or driving somewhere, so it makes sense to me that the cello travels and weaves through it a bit, exploring different terrains, while still remaining familiar and human and guiding you through. It was important to us to create different soundscapes for our listener, while staying true to the general sensibility of our live show. I like driving on the highway - little towns pop up every half and hour or so. Kind of like how memory works - something appears though the windshield, you follow it for a little while and then all of a sudden, you're looking at it getting smaller behind you. That's how things enter and leave my head, I think. The album was born out of rainy afternoons spent walking through antique shops, driving through the woods or simply walking across hardwood floors playing guitar around the house.

"I wrote these songs almost in a woodshedding kind of situation, where I sort of shut out all the noises that aren't coming from inside of me. It's very personal and I think that intimacy is reflected in the album. I feel like Grover's cello arrangements create the room where these songs exist and give them a lot of color and texture."

Dress casually and bring a lawn chairs. The show will be in the Art Center if it rains.
Broad Ripple Brewpub will provide craft beers for purchase. Don’t forget your ID – as of July 1, you can’t be served without it – no matter how old you are.

Check Cara Jean’s Web site for a sneak peek at the new record.


Evan Slusher http://www.myspace.com/evanslusher
Tonos Triad http://tonostriad.com/home.cfm
www.carajeanwahlers.com
www.indplsartcenter.org