Life is Good Festival Gallery

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This gallery contains 23 photos.

The 2013 Life is good Festival is only the fourth annual event since it began in 2010, but it has already shown itself to consistently be one of the best festivals in the area.  This year was no different. There … Continue reading

Gallery: Bleu and Will Dailey Wrap up PledgeMusic Tour at BMH

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This gallery contains 23 photos.

Will Dailey and Bleu wrapped up their PledgeMusic sponsored tour on Thursday night with a rocking, rollicking, high energy show at Brighton Music Hall, supported by Air Traffic Controller that felt a little like a reunion of old friends. Perhaps … Continue reading

Interview: Will Dailey on National Throat

will daileyBoston-based independent recording artist Will Dailey‘s advice to aspiring singer-songwriters is to seek out experiences that you can call on in your work, and “listen, not just to music, but to everything around you.” It seems to have worked for him. He grew up surrounded by music from across the spectrum from Classical to Folk and says it all left an imprint. He exercises the the songwriter’s prerogative to call on whatever styles of influences seem appropriate for the song. The result is songs that are rich and complex, gathered into albums that are varied and full of surprises, refusing to be constrained by the conventions of a narrow style of genre.

Will Dailey and Bleu duet during the last show on the PledgeMusic Tour

Will Dailey and Bleu duet during the last show on the PledgeMusic Tour

A hard working and prolific artist, Dailey has done well for himself since his first self-produced release in 2004, GoodbyeRedBullet, in spite of being repeatedly knocked around by the vicissitudes of a recording industry struggling to come to terms with the digital age. He’s released 4 albums to date, 5 if you count Torrent Volume 1 and 2 separately. Collectively they reveal a songwriter with mastery over a wide variety of styles, and an interest in exploring a wide musical pallet. And while each album has it’s own distinctive feel, each is also a a musical buffet of sorts, with varying musical styles juxtaposed and hidden gems to discover.
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Concert Gallery – Adam Ezra Group Ramble 4

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This gallery contains 28 photos.

The Adam Ezra Group‘s Ramble is an annual music festival during which fans of the band gather for some great music and a good cause.  Find out more about it from the interview with Adam Ezra posted in this site … Continue reading

The Ramble 4 at Salisbury Beach with New England’s Best Band

Ramble 4 at Salisbury Beach, August 24, 3 pm What are you doing this Saturday? How about coming out to hear a little live music? Live music is awesome! You never know what’s going to happen on stage or what a band will decide to play, especially if the headliner is a band like the Adam Ezra Group, current holder of the title for New England’s Best Band. Their live shows are legendary, and this Saturday their headlining a full day of music on two stages (starting at 3pm but going late!) that includes seven other acts playing a variety of styles of music, all personally selected by the band. Are you interested yet?

What if I told you there will also be fireworks, activities for children, food and drink, and members of the New England Revolution at the event, and that it’s all for a good cause?  Well that’s not all!  Continue reading

Open Letter to the Editors of Richmond Magazine

Dear Editor,
richmond-magazine-august-2013-coverI am writing to express my disappointment in the August 2013, “Best and Worst ’13” issue of Richmond Magazine, particularly the “Culture” section.  Earlier this week, on August 14, Paste Magazine released it’s list of “12 Virginia Bands You Should Listen to Now,” part of The Paste 50 States Project.  11 of the 12  acts on that list are from Richmond, and yet the “Best Local Band” is a cover band that does hits from the 70s and 80s?  I do not mean to denigrate Three Sheets to the Wind at all.  I am sure they are fantastic, and I also recognize the issue reflects the results of a readers poll.  But should you not have guided that poll a bit more?  Most polls of this kind would ask readers to choose in categories, at the minimum between best cover band and best band that plays original material, but perhaps also best live band, best country act, best rock act, etc.
Why is the Culture section so small, anyway?  Are there not enough performances or people who have seen them to have listed Best Concert, Theatrical Production, Movie Theater, Library, Movie About or Filmed in Richmond, Album by an artist originally from the Richmond area…   I could go on!  This issue is certainly not reflective of the diverse cultural life in Richmond. But bear in mind, patients with ED should to be aware of when buying cialis on line you eat and in what dosage. But if you suffer anxiety then you generic levitra canada will not able to enjoy the sexual activity. No need to get worried due to mentioned viagra generico cialis list of side effects. These first experiences formed levitra canada price your beliefs regarding your capabilities and you merely adhere to those beliefs unconsciously.  In fact, a couple of the categories, “Best Enjoyable Night Out” and “Best Impressive Night Out” seem to deal only with food and beverages.  I do believe that these are important parts constituents of culture, but in the categorization schema of this issue, “Food & Drink” are a separate and much larger section.
Your magazine should play a role in advancing the cultural life of the city, and in making people from here proud of the role our citizens have played on the  national stage.  This issue fails miserably.  It seems clear the real goal is to promote potential advertisers.  That’s fine, but it shouldn’t be your only goal.

Dean Fields Talks about “Any Minute Now,” Arriving Tuesday

Cover artwork by Brian Thibodeau

Cover artwork by Brian Thibodeau

Any Minute Now is a new EP from Nashville-based singer-songwriter Dean Fields due to arrive… wait for it…. As much as I’d love to type “any minute now” at this point, there is a release date and it’s just days away, Tuesday August 13. The EP follows his 2011 EP Under A Searchlight Moon, a clever and wildly romantic selection of tunes that Fields wrote himself. On this collection all but one of the tracks were co-written with other artists, yet they are tracks that he felt strongly invested, and that he felt spoke for him as an artist. It was a big change for an songwriter who had always worked alone. It may seem odd to follow up an EP with another EP, and in fact, he had planned a full length album.  But a confluence of life circumstances and aesthetic considerations led to the decision to release this collection of songs now, saving the others for a later release. The songs seemed to belong together, and they were ready for release.

I learned about all of this and more in an August 1, 2013 interview with Fields in the Stratton Student Center at MIT, in the midst of a series of concerts in Cambridge, Boston and environs. Now based in Nashville, he grew up in Mechanicsville, VA, just outside of my hometown of Richmond, VA. I’ve been listening to his music for a while, but had not seen him perform. We talked the morning of his show at that institution of the Cambridge music scene, Club Passim. Of course the main topic of conversation was the new record Any Minute Now. Continue reading

Concert Scrapbook: Paul Weller with Matthew Ryan Opening

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This gallery contains 14 photos.

I’ve been a fan of Paul Weller since a friend introduced me to The Jam back in high school. His musical styles have evolved and changed with the times, but the fundamentals have remained. Clever, socially aware lyrics set to … Continue reading

Concert Scrapbook: July 27, 28 at the Newport Folk Festival

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This gallery contains 68 photos.

This is just a collection of randomly selected and arranged photos from Saturday and Sunday, July 27 and J8 at the Newport Folk Festival at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, RI.  The Newport Jazz Festival was this weekend.  I … Continue reading

Grassroots Organizing with the Music Community and Fans: An Interview with HeadCount Director Andy Bernstein

HighRes_Logo_20120814_94734Ask someone who goes to a lot of concerts what the organization HeadCount is, or what it does, and they’ll probably say it’s a voter registration organization. Ask HeadCount co-Founder and Executive Director Andy Bernstein the same question, and you’ll get a very different answer.  He’ll also tell you about voter registration, of course, but in almost in the same breath he’ll make sure you understand that’s not all they do.

He’s understandably very proud of HeadCount’s success with voter registration, registering over 250,000 people in their short history. That’s an incredible accomplishment, but it is only part of their mission.  He’s equally very proud of the organization’s role as the “grassroots organizing arm of the live music community.”  He believes passionately in the potential of music to affect positive change through grassroots efforts and effective use of the political system.  That, to my mind, is the new and innovative aspect of HeadCount’s vision.

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