Susan Tedeschi, 10/10 @ 8 pm in Morristown @ The Community Theatre at Mayo Center for the Performing Arts

Pieter Van Hattem

On stage her powerhouse vocals burst forth only to be matched in intensity by her fiery guitar solos. Her songs make you want to dance, testify, or if nothing else, get out of her way. Off stage, she seems humble and unassuming. Her voice is quiet and dare I say it, sweet.

To some, this might seem like a contradiction. Some might think that a middle class, suburban white girl singing the blues like she’s got the grit from a South Chicago dive bar in her lungs would also be a contradiction. But the Massachusetts native is just doing what comes naturally.

“My mom said I sang in the crib before I ever spoke,” said Tedeschi. “I have been singing my whole life.”

Although she has been singing her whole life, Tedeschi says that it was blues music that set her soul on fire. She already graduated from Berklee College of Music by the time she found her calling.

“I was turned on to a Magic Sam record “West Side Soul” and it ruined me. All of the sudden I was turned on to all these blues artists. It really hit me. It seemed like something I could do. I could visualize it,” said Tedeschi. “T-Bone Walker, Gatemouth Brown, Otis Rush, Freddy King, Johnny Guitar Watson All of these people changed my outlook on music. I just wanted to be like one of those Chicago guys, just sing really great and have a great guitar style.”

It was the energy level of the music, the chords, and the way they sang that captured her attention. And there was something else that this New Englander related to.

“I loved Gospel music and it was the closest thing that I had heard to Gospel music — also, because it told a story. I was raised on Bob Dylan and The Beatles, so I am used to hearing a story. But I wanted to hear soul with energy. So when I heard them I was blown away. I knew that’s what I wanted to do,” she said.

(Morristown, NJ) – Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter guitarist Susan Tedeschi performs her unique blend of blues, rock, folk and soul at The Community Theatre at Mayo Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, October 10, 2009. Opening Act is Kristina Train. Tickets are $32-52.

Tickets at 973-539-8008 or mayoarts.org

Interview with Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan

Rolling Stone calls Hoboken’s Yo La Tengo “one of the all-time great American garage bands” The band, comprised of lead singer and guitarist Ira Kaplan, his wife, drummer Georgia Hubley and bassist James McNew, released a new album this week, “Popular Songs.” It is their 12th studio album.

JMI talks with Kaplan about the band’s growth through the years.

Q: Let’s talk about the evolution of your music. It really seems like each album builds on the one before it and you keep going, branching out further and further while keeping aspects that worked well for you previously. Is there a place that you have in mind that you’re going to?

A: It’s quite the opposite…When we recorded the record “Fakebook,” the band essentially didn’t exist. It was just Georgia and I for the first, I don’t know, six or seven years of the band’s existence. We had a very volatile lineup. But in 1991 James McNew joined the band and really from then on the stability gave us the ability to do exactly what you said, just to keep building on the past. I think we probably did that to a certain extent prior to him joining. But the band for me really began when James joined and what we’ve done increasingly in probably like the last decade is, we just get together and play and see what happens.

Q: You play in a variety of styles, from dance music to fuzzed-out, gritty guitars. Is there anything that you’ve thought about—a kind of music that’s popped into your head—that you didn’t indulge in because it was too far a field or wouldn’t fit on a Yo La Tengo record?

A: Not really. Sometimes I think we have to find what we think is the right outlet for certain things…For instance, there was a song [on the album “I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass,”] “Mr. Tough” and  maybe a lesser extent, “Sometimes I Don’t Get You.” They were probably a little more soul oriented than previous records and I think it took us a little bit of time to accept the notion of sharing things that we do in private with other people. We’ve also, over the last few years, done a number of film soundtracks and one of the things that’s very appealing about doing that is you’re working with a director who is kind of steering the ship. They can ask you to do certain things that you might not necessarily think of doing on your own.

Q: You’ve talked about how the band has evolved. Has your relationship to music or the feelings you get from it changed over the years?

A: Nobody wants to have a strict definition of “this is what the band does and this is what the band doesn’t do.” Everyone changes as people and we want the group to reflect the changes in our own lives… It doesn’t necessarily change it for the better or change it for the worse, but it certainly changes it and similarly, as one gets older all sorts of things happen to change the role music has in your life and the way you hear it.

Q: What I was thinking of when I asked that was James Taylor. Throughout the 70s, he wrote one way—based on emotion—and then somewhere in the 80s he had to make a switch. To keep it interesting for himself, he started writing songs more intellectually. He would think about what he’d like to see in the song and write it that way, as opposed to writing from the pure emotion of youth. Is there a watershed moment like that in your career?

A: I think there was a big one. As I said, we get together and just play and see what happens…But one of our favorite artists, Jad Fair, from the band Half Japanese, asked us to be his band for a recording and we agreed and then he said, “Do you want to rehearse or do you want to just start recording and see what happens?” We said, “We’ll do what you would you do normally. He said, “I’d just get together and play and see what happens.” So we decided to do that and we had a great time doing it.  We were really excited by the results and could hear that it was different from things we had done before and I think inspired by that session. That really kind of motivated us to write our own songs that way, too, and just kind of sort of try to pluck the kernel of the song out of the air and then work on it later. The first record we made primarily that way was “Electr-O-Pura” in 1995.

Jazz Bassist Ben Allison, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009, 4 p.m. @ William Paterson University

The Jazz Room Series at William Paterson University

Ben Allison, Bassist

Sunday, October 11, 2009, 4 p.m.

- Sittin’ In Meet-the-Artist Session at 3 p.m., Shea 101

- Concert at 4 p.m., Shea Center

Admission: $15 standard; $12 senior citizens and members of the William Paterson community, $8 students

Shea Center for Performing Arts at William Paterson University

300 Pompton Road, Wayne, New Jersey

973.720.2371/www.wpunj.edu

Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes, Sept. 18, 8 pm @ The Community Theatre at Mayo Center for the Performing Arts

(Morristown, NJ) – Celebrate the end of summer with New Jersey’s own
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Friday, September 18, 2009 at 8
pm at The Community Theatre at Mayo Center for the Performing Arts.
Tickets are $47 ($72 for Golden Circle seats).

There’s one thing I’ve always wanted to do,” Southside Johnny confesses,
“and that is to sing.” And he has been doing just that for over a third
of a century. In a business where success is defined as getting a second
single; and longevity measured in nano-seconds; just surviving for
thirty plus years is a rare accomplishment. But Johnny and the Jukes
have not just survived…they have flourished. Twenty-eight albums;
thousands of live performances around the globe; a legion of dedicated
and enthusiastic fans; dozens of classic songs; they are still going
strong.

To Johnny, it’s just what he does. “I grew up on music. We listened to
Billie Holiday, T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters and Big Joe Turner. My
parents loved music, the louder the better.” Born and raised on the
Jersey Shore, Southside’s fascination for the club scene started early.
“My father played in bands for years, and my mother actually went into
labor with me at some seedy New Jersey club. I guess some things were
just meant to be.” Singing and playing in a number of blues and R&B
bands at what is now the legendary Upstage Club, often joined by pals
Bruce Springsteen, “Miami Steve” Van Zandt, and Garry Tallent, Johnny
worked at making “meant to be” into “is”. It wasn’t easy. “We played for
years on the shore, but it wasn’t until Bruce hit with “Born to Run”
that these A&R guys would drive to Asbury Park to see what was
happening.”

Southside (a nickname picked up because of his bent toward the blues
sounds of the Southside of Chicago) and his band, eventually called the
Asbury Jukes, worked on their growing reputation as a dynamic live band
through the late 60’s and early 70’s. “We built a big band, a home for
lots of musicians, horns and all: sure we called it Southside Johnny and
the Asbury Jukes, but it was really just a bunch of guys getting crazy
on stage.” Then, in 1975, they signed with CBS/Epic Records and released
the critically acclaimed I DON’T WANT TO GO HOME –and a legend was
begun. What followed was three decades of recording and touring and
solidifying a place in rock ‘n roll history…a period of ups and downs,
dozens of great songs, and storied live performances. “I’ll stack my
group against any group out there. We enjoy playing, and the audience
enjoys having a good time. Music is a shared emotion. We distill it down
to that.” When you distill Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, you
come down to great music and good times. It’s been thus for thirty+
years…and counting.

Tickets for all events can be purchased online at (www.mayoarts.org), at
The Community Theatre box office, located at 100 South Street in
Morristown, NJ or by calling 973-539-8008.  Box office hours are Monday
through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The Community Theatre at Mayo Center for the Performing Arts, a
501(c)(3) nonprofit performing arts organization, presents a wide range
of programs that entertain, enrich and educate the diverse population of
the region and enhance the economic vitality of Northern New Jersey. The
2009-2010 season is made possible in part by a grant from the Geraldine
R. Dodge Foundation and funds from the New Jersey State Council on the
Arts/Department of State. The Community Theatre at Mayo Center for the
Performing Arts has been designated a Major Presenting Organization by
the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes
Friday, September 18, 2009 at 8 pm
Golden Circle: $72/ Premium: $47/ A: $47/ B:$47/ C: $47

THE COMMUNITY THEATRE
at MAYO CENTER for the PERFORMING ARTS
100 South St., Morristown, NJ 07960
box office (973) 539-8008
online: www.mayoarts.org

Brian Fitzpatrick and the Band of Brothers at The Rattlesnake Ranch on Friday, Aug. 21 @ 9 pm

Brian Fitzpatrick and the Band of Brothers at The Rattlesnake Ranch

559 E Main St
Denville, NJ
Phone:
(973) 586-3800

David Trause performing acoustic, Aug. 22 @ 8 PM

The North Jersey Literary Series  presents a special evening featuring David Trause performing acoustic Music plus an Open Mic of poetry and song, Saturday, August 22 at 8 PM in the Special Events Dining Room of The Classic Quiche Cafe 330 Queen Anne Road, Teaneck , NJ
Free
Hosted by Paul Nash and Denise La Neve

Musician David Trause will be featured this month at the prestigious North Jersey Literary Series on Saturday August 22. He will perform two sets.
This special event will also include an open mic (between David’s sets), in which participating poets, musicians and storytellers will have the opportunity to share their work. The sound system is perhaps the best in the tri-state area, and there is no cover charge.

Contact Paul Nash or Denise La Neve for further details: njlspoetry@yahoo.com

Classic Quiche Café:  201-692-0150

Summer Concert: Brassworks, Aug. 21 @ NJBG

NJBG is again sponsoring its annual Summer Concert Series at the New Jersey State Botanical Garden in Ringwood, and on Friday, August 21, we’ll feature Brassworks. Grab a lawn chair or blanket and come enjoy a wide range of musical talent in these magnificent and beautiful surroundings. Light refreshments are available for purchase or you can bring your own, but no alcohol, please (State Park rule). If the weather is bad, the concerts are moved indoors into the Carriage House Visitor Center. All concerts begin at 7:00 pm. NJBG requests a $3 per person donation.

Brassworks is a professional brass quintet which plays a broad range of music, including medieval, classical,  ragtime, jazz, big band, Broadway show tunes, and traditional American music. You’ll hear the trumpet, french horn, flugelhorn, trombone, and a big bass tuba in an eclectic and delightful evening to end this year’s concert series.

This concert is sponsored by Coachworks in River Edge.

In 1966, the State of New Jersey purchased the 1,117 acres of Skylands, a former country estate and the state’s first acquisition under the “Green Acres” preservation program. Governor Thomas Kean designated the central 96 acres surrounding the manor house as the State’s official Botanical Garden in 1984.

The New Jersey State Botanical Garden at Skylands, which is on both the State and National Registers of Historic Places, is open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and admission to the Garden is always free. There is a $5-per-car parking fee on summer holidays and weekends (Saturdays and Sundays); weekday parking is free year-round.

Since 1976, NJBG/Skylands Association, an incorporated, member-supported non-profit organization, has worked with the State to preserve and protect Skylands and its historic structures. NJBG sponsors programs, tours, concerts and fun public events throughout the year at the Botanical Garden.

Call 973-962-9534 or visit www.njbg.org for more information on NJBG, how to become a member, volunteer opportunities, events or directions.

11th Hour Rescue, Unplugged, Aug. 8, 11th Hour Rescue, Dan Kleinrock @ Lo Scopo Caffe

Lo Scopo Caffe presents 11th Hour Rescue, “Unplugged,” on Saturday, August 8, 2009, 6:30pm – 9:30pm, featuring Dan Kleinrock on acoustic guitar, and vocals. Dan plays classic songs, “unplugged,” from America to the Who, from the Beatles, the Stones to Pink Floyd, as well as music from singer-songwriters like Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Dan Fogelberg, and Jackson Browne. No digital backing tracks, no computers, no looping devices, no magic tricks, just great music, played live.

LoScopo Caffe is located at 616 Main St., Boonton, NJ, telephone 973-265-8407. Authentic Italian Gelatto and amazing Paninis make Lo Scopo a real treat! Le Scopo serves lunch, dinner and desserts, including the best gelatto you’ve ever tasted. BYOB. There is on-street parking, as well as a large municipal lot around the corner on Boonton Avenue.

Breaking Laces @ Delancey Friday night @ 9:30 PM

Breaking Laces will be playing NYC’s Delancey this Friday night at 9:30 PM.

“Come join us for a ridiculous good time at the layer cake that is the Delancey (grungy downstairs music room, upscale bar on the middle floor, and airy super chill roof patio).We  wanted to take the opportunity to bring months of our studio work to the stage and we probably won’t be playing much until CMJ in October so definately make it a night and check us out.”

The band goes on at 9:30 and the Delancey usually runs on time.

Breaking Laces @
The Delancey
Friday August 7th
168 Delancey (Btwn Clinton and Attorney), NYC
212.254.9920
http://www.thedelancey.com/
9:30PM

www.breakinglaces.com

U2 @ Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, Sep 24, 7 PM Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong on Bono’s voice

Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day said Bono’s singing as “50 percent Guinness, 10 percent cigarettes — and the rest is religion.”

It’s such a great description that I had to post it. It was from Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Singers issue (more on that later!). Armstrong went on to say that Bono is a “physical singer, like the leader of a gospel choir, and he gets lost in the melodic moment. He goes to a place outside himself, especially in front of an audience, when he hits those high notes. That’s where his real power comes from — the pure, unadulterated Bono.”