Robbie Fulks
Thursday, August 05, 2010 8:00 PM
Video! ($15, 8pm)
As a songwriter Fulks is difficult to define. Many of his compositions are silly, funny or spoof songs, while others are serious country songs. One album, 2001′s Couples in Trouble comes off more as an experimental rock album than as country. A good example of the alternative nature of some of his work is the song Godfrey (“the sickly, unemployed, amateur children’s magician”) on the compilation album for children The Bottle Let Me Down. His son Preston Fulks’ artwork was also featured on the album. His music is described by many to be either alternative country or rockabilly. Before beginning his solo career, Fulks joined the bluegrass band Special Consensus. Here he showcased his unique guitar playing, and appeared on the Grammy-nominated album Hole In My Heart, released in 1989. Fulks’ solo debut, Country Love Songs was released on Bloodshot Records in 1996 to positive reviews.
This album was followed by 1997′s South Mouth, which cemented Fulks’ retro-alternative image. As fans had grown used to Bloodshot’s rough and sparse sound, many were shocked by the release of Fulks’ third album, 1998′s Let’s Kill Saturday Night, on Geffen Records. When Geffen disbanded shortly after the release of the record, Fulks found himself without a label, so he started his own company, Boondoggle Records (distributed by Bloodshot), and released an album of previously unreleased material called The Very Best of Robbie Fulks. 2001 saw the release of both Couples in Trouble, a dark, brooding, and decidedly non-country album, and, just three months later, 13 Hillbilly Giants, a collection of covers of classic country numbers both obscure and well known. In 2001, Robbie was also an inaugual member of the Independent Music Awards’ judging panel to support independent artists. [3] Fulks would not release another album until 2005, when the release of Georgia Hard showed a return to his county roots. He also gained attention for a novelty single he wrote called “Fountains of Wayne Hotline”, in which he imagined the power pop band Fountains of Wayne as having a hotline that struggling songwriters could call for help with their song structure.
In April 2007, Fulks released a 2-CD album Revenge! composed mainly of live concert recordings primarily of older songs, but including some new material. One disc, labeled Standing features a full-band sound, while the second disc, Sitting, consists of Fulks with little or no musical accompaniment. Standing opens with a tongue-in-cheek song studio track “We’re On the Road” which describes life on tour and simulates a telephone call to Fulks from Yep Roc Records President Glenn Dicker, demanding a new record and denigrating the sales performance of the “path-breaking, not chart-breaking” album Georgia Hard. In 2010, Fulks released his album Happy as a tribute to the recently deceased Michael Jackson, in which he covers a group of his songs. The indie-rock band Silkworm covered Fulks’ song “Let’s Kill Saturday Night,” as did Pinmonkey.
Fulks has been known to often tour in Sweden.
Roomful of Blues
Friday, August 06, 2010 8:00 PM
Video! ($25 adv/$28 door, 8pm)
Even though Roomful of Blues’ lineup has changed over the years, the band has always been one of the tightest, most joyful blues ensembles in the world. Currently an eight-piece unit led by guitarist Chris Vachon, the band has never sounded fresher or stronger. In 2010, singer Phil Pemberton took over the vocal duties, bringing his sweet and soulful vocals and adding another bright new dimension to the jazzy, jump-blues musical roots. Their winning combination of jump, swing, blues, R&B and soul remains their calling card, as does their ability to fill the dance floor. Along with new members, bassist John Turner, trumpeter Doug Woolverton and , longer standing members keyboardist Travis Colby, drummer Ephraim Lowell, baritone and tenor saxophonist Mark Earley, tenor and alto saxophonist Rich Lataille , Roomful keeps on rockin’ in 2010.
The Washington Post ROOMFUL OF BLUES”Raisin’ a Ruckus”Alligator SAXOPHONIST RICH Lataille has appeared on all 18 Roomful of Blues albums, and he’s the only person who can come close to such a claim. The Rhode Island jump-blues outfit has long been a revolving door of musicians; the 39 alumni include Duke Robillard, Ronnie Earl, Greg Piccolo and Sugar Ray Norcia. The band’s new album, “Raisin’ a Ruckus,” introduces a new singer, Dave Howard; a new bassist, Dimitry Gorodetsky; and a new drummer, Ephraim Lowell. The group’s longtime trumpeter Bob Enos died in January after the sessions for this disc. For all those changes, though, the band’s sound remains remarkably consistent, recapturing that transitional period of the late ’40s and early ’50s when American pop music was changing from swing to rock. Now under the sure leadership of guitarist-producer Chris Vachon, the current octet edition of Roomful of Blues swings as convincingly as it rocks. The new album is marked by a strong Louisiana flavor, thanks to such songs as Eddie Bo’s “Every Dog Has Its Day,” Charles Sheffield’s “I Would Be a Sinner” and Link Davis’s “Big Mamou.” Even the versions of Big Joe Turner’s “Boogie Woogie Country Girl,” Gary U.S. Bonds’s “New Orleans” and Bethie Vachon’s “While I Can” have that New Orleans syncopation, punched up by Roomful’s stellar three-man horn section. — Geoffrey Himes
Ukulele Summit: Brittni Paiva & Victoria Vox
Saturday, August 07, 2010 8:00 PM
Video! Video! ($15 adv/$18 door, 8pm)
Joel “Ukulele Eck” Eckhaus opens!
At 21 years of age, Brittni Paiva (pi –VAH) is the preeminent female `ukulele player from Hawaii. Affectionately referred to as the `ukulele darling, Brittni is a native of Hilo, on the Big Island. She is a multi-award winning, multi-instrumentalist with a prodigious gift who is wholeheartedly embraced by a global audience
Over the past six years Brittni has self-produced three award-winning CDs. She took home the prestigious Na Hoku Hanohano Award for Most Promising Artist of the Year in 2005 in support of her debut release, Brittni x 3. Her sophomore release, Hear, won `Ukulele Album of the Year in the Hawaii Music Awards, otherwise known as Hawaii’s People’s Choice Awards in 2006. This CD was also nominated for the Na Hoku Hanohano Award for Best Instrumental Album of the Year and Favorite Entertainer of the Year. Her third album in as many years, simply titled, Brittni, won `Ukulele Album of the Year in the Hawaii Music Awards in 2007 and was nominated for two Na Hoku Hanohano Awards from the Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts.
Vox, who lives in Baltimore, MD now, has been averaging 125+ dates for over 6 years, performing at a mixed bag of venues and festivals across the country, Europe, and Canada. Not that Vox is the only current artist to slip in a little ukulele — but, the singer-songwriter is dedicated to the tiny instrument, and maybe, just maybe helping make it cool again. She is also known to employ the “mouth trumpet” which she was invited to perform on the Jay Leno Show (Meal or No Meal, Dec. 2009). She has shared the stage with and opened for Jackson Browne, Jane Weidlin (the GoGo’s), Mindy Smith, Tom Chapin, and Jake Shimabukuro. Currently, Vox is working on a new album, due out in the spring of 2010.
Joel “Ukulele Eck” Eckhaus
In addition to being a luthier, Joel also plays the mandolin, tenor guitar and banjo, ukulele, and musical saw. He studied uke and banjo with former vaudevillian, Roy Smeck, the “Wizard of the Strings”, and studied mandolin with former Texas Playboy, Tiny Moore. He was a founding member of the Arm and Hammer String Band, and has performed with the New York Banjo Ensemble, the Howitzer Mandolin Orchestra, the Neverly Brothers, the Blue Sky Serenaders, the New England New Vaudeville Review and the Pinetones. He currently plays with the ukabilly duo Dos Eckies; a ukulele/tap dance duo, Ham & Legs; and his own group, Ukulele Eck and the Fabulous Lacklusters.
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