Sunday, October 26, 2008

Sunday in Northampton with rookie interns, vintage street teamers, and Jonatha Brooke.

I took our new IHEG intern Carolyn Coyne to the Iron Horse this afternoon to show her the ropes with posters and artist photo displays etc. and there was Jonatha Brooke, waiting for soundcheck, happily knitting away. She was working on a pair or arm warmers or something to give to a friend who will be at tonight's show so she was on deadline. This didn't stop her and Carolyn from getting deep into knitting philosophy while I stood there feeling vestigial. I asked Carolyn to take a picture. One of my favorite albums is Jonatha's "10 cent Wings" which she says is now out of print. If you see one used, snag it! I bought a copy of her new CD "The Works" from her. Talk about eliminating the middleman! It's a great idea for an album. Words of Woody Guthrie. Music of Jonatha Brooke. The album also includes Joe Sample, Steve Gadd, and Christian McBride and special guests Keb Mo, Derek Trucks, Glen Phillips (of Toad the Wet Sprocket who plays the Horse on Halloween), and Eric Bazillian. Produced by Bob Clearmountain. The last time I saw Jonatha was last year when we walked over to WRSI The River together for an in-studio and before that I spotted her next to Natalie Imbruglia in the audience at a Joni Mitchell PBS taping at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank. Joni had rented several hundred vintage sofas for the audience and the ambience. Needless to say, magical shit.

That's Carolyn Coyne below, rookie IHEG intern. She's a UMass student; an art history major, and instead of studying her painting flash cards for a crucial exam tomorrow she was putting up posters at the Iron Horse with me.
Jonatha Brooke fans gather outside the Iron Horse. I'm heading over as soon as this post is done. Jonatha owes me five bucks change!

Here are some shots of tonight's show at the Iron Horse. The show was just great. Jonatha is just a happy, funny, smart, talented person (Amherst College alum!) and it's infectious.















This is David Osepowicz (pronounced Ossa Perwitz) who was peddling around on the Smith Campus when I ran into him. David is a huge music fan and thinks nothing of going to see every Neil Young or Springsteen show within 100 miles or so when possible. When I worked at Main Street Records, he was a regular. He helps IHEG out a lot with flyering and he and I answer questions about some of the older artists when John and Brendan and Hannah in the club's music office are too young to know the story. We have the "old guy" music smarts for better or worse. You know... "Hey David, remember that awesome Blodwyn's Pig album?" That kind of thing. Of course we turn to them when we have no idea who Blitzen Trapper is.
David works at Smith in the Afro-American Studies department and keeps the Smithies in the know about IHEG shows with his efforts, as exemplified below in the entrance to Seelye Hall.

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