Iron Horse Comedy with Todd Barry, Ken Reid Friday, December 11th at 7PM

Todd Barry was Entertainment Weekly's 2003 "It Standup" selection on their "It List”. You may have seen him as Mickey Rourke's no-so-nice boss in The Wrestler; as the annoying bongo player on Flight of the Conchords. He's appeared on Letterman, Conan O'Brien, Carson Daly, Comedy Central's Friar's Roast of Chevy Chase, "Space Ghost Coast To Coast", and in two of his own "Comedy Central Presents" special. His acting credits include "The Larry Sanders Show", "Sex And The City", "Spin City", "Chappelle's Show", "Road Trip" and "Pootie Tang". He's done cartoon voice work on "Dr. Katz", "Aqua Teen Hunger Force", "Home Movies", and "Hey Monie". Todd has even opened for Yo La Tengo, The Shins, They Might Be Giants, and Luna. At the US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, he won the Jury Award for Best Stand Up Comic.

Opener Ken Reid, a regular on the Boston comedy circuit, takes the slice-of-life approach that shows the ironic and funny side of life at every angle. His pessimistic outlook mirrors that of the late Bill Hicks.

Iron Horse Comedy with Todd Barry, Ken Reid Friday 12/11 at 7PM

Doors and dinner from 5:30. Show at 7PM.

Tickets are $15 at Northampton Box Office, 413-586-8686, online at IHEG.com

Here are some Todd Barry video clips.

Here are some of Todd’s receipts from the road, with comment.

The Bob's 2009 Holiday Show filled with demented holiday chestnuts on Thursday, 12/11 at the Iron Horse

On Richard! On Matthew! On Amy! On Dan! THE BOBS' 2009 HOLIDAY SHOW features selections from their Rounder Records CD, Too Many Santas as well as new, demented holiday chestnuts, covers of tunes from The Beatles to Vince Guaraldi, and a healthy sampling of Get Your Monkey Off My Dog and their upcoming NEW all-covers album.

Family drama, loony relatives, overconsumption and badly misguided gifts: When you think about it, the holiday season was made for the Bobs. Now in its third decade of musical mayhem, the a cappella ensemble continues to ply a trademark style that combines astounding vocal agility, deliciously ridiculous original pieces, wildly imaginative arrangements of tunes by the likes of the Doors, Kurt Weill and the Beatles, and off-the-cuff stage antics that give every performance the edge of stand-up comedy.

The Bobs' holiday fare includes seasonal favorites such as the Beatles' "Eight Days A Week" re-imagined as a Hanukkah song; an ode to excessive lawn displays, "50 Kilowatt Tree"; the mall adventure saga, "Too Many Santas"; and that traditional Yule classic "Christmas in Jail." But it’s not all for yuks as they’ve been known to deliver a heart warning version of Vince Guaraldi’s “Christmas Time Is Here” that would have been the envy of the Hi-Lo’s or the Persuasions.

Get tickets here.

Canadian guitar virtuoso Rik Emmett with Dave Dunlop, The Strung-Out Troubadours, Iron Horse Sat. 12/5

Rik Emmett is one of Canada's most respected musicians -- an award-winning guitarist, multi-talented singer, songwriter, and a producer with his own independent recording label. As a founding member of Triumph, his blazing guitar solos and trademark vocals helped push the Toronto-based trio into multiple gold and platinum sales worldwide in the '70's and '80's, and earned him a spot in the Canadian Rock Hall of Fame. In 2007, the self-titled album "Strung-Out Troubadours" won "Album of the Year" and "Group/Duo Of The Year" at the Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards, where they were the most heavily-nominated act. Both Rik and Dave were also nominated for "Best Guitarist," a category that Emmett had captured back in 2005. Dunlop appears with Rik in an acoustic duo for the Iron Horse show in support of their new album Push and Pull.

Emmett continues to impress and intrigue critics and fans alike with his versatility and the volume of quality material he produces. The styles range from Jazz to Classical, Folk to Blues, and straight-ahead Pop/Rock. The shows are intimate and include some good stories.

What can fans expect on December 5th? "It's great, because I can play some of the songs I want, whether they're blues, jazz, classical, or rock…" A tasty combination of fresh new music mixed with some of the classics he is known for, including “Magic Power,” “Lay It On The Line,” and “Suitcase Blues.”

Rik Emmett & Dave Dunlop will perform Saturday, December 5^th at 7:00 PM at Iron Horse Music Hall, 20 Center Street, Northampton, MA. Tickets $22.50 in advance or $25 day of show. Available at Northampton Box Office, online at IHEG.com or by calling 413-586-8686.

Thanksgiving weekend is STUFFED with great music in Northampton.

Thanksgiving weekend is about family, sure, but it always ends up being a chance to catch up with old hometown friends too. The annual Sighs reunion show at Pearl Street on Friday 11/27 at 9PM is a great example of this phenomenon. One of the greatest pop bands of the 80s/90s, said with no apologies, The Sighs put on an exhilarating show of timeless tunes. The Ray Mason Band only adds to the appeal of the local celebration that’s a little ‘Hamp and a little Noho.

If you want to get the night started early, join us for dinner Friday night 11/27 at the Iron Horse for Roomful of Blues at 7PM. Roomful of Blues’ lineup has changed over the years, but the band has always been one of the tightest, most joyful blues ensembles in the world. Currently an eight-piece unit, the band has never sounded fresher or stronger.

The Equalites – Iron Horse- Friday 11/27 10PM The local six piece reggae - rock - roots - dub - ska - r&b band is fronted by the strong, soulful vocals of lead guitarist David Boatwright and the sultry, haunting melodies of accompanying lead vocalist Cinamon Blair. The Equalites deliver a performance like no other anywhere within the reggae genre. They’ve taken reggae music into exciting new territory reminiscent of the classic Studio One recordings that also pushed the boundaries into advanced dub, afro beat, one drop, rockers, and bluebeat.

The centerpiece of the weekend is Hot Tuna at the Calvin Theatre on Saturday, November 28^th at 8PM From their days playing together as teenagers to their current acoustic and electric blues, probably no one has more consistently led American music for the last 50 years than Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady, the founders and continuing core members of Hot Tuna. While in The Jefferson Airplane, putting together the soundtrack of the 60s, the pair remained loyal to their blues, jazz, bluegrass, and folk influences from years before. While the Airplane went Starship, Jack and Jorma kept their feet on the ground and waved goodbye to that trip, having built their city on blues and folk.

Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters Saturday, November 28^th- 7PM- Ronnie is a two-time W.C. Handy Blues Award winner as Guitar Player of the Year. He’s played alongside such greats as B. B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, the Allman Brothers, Muddy Waters, and dozens more. Ronnie’s latest album is Living in the Light. He plays frequently at the First Baptist Church of Littleton, MA, as well as playing for children and adults with special needs, benefits for cancer research and programs that serve the homeless population. He also plays at the Iron Horse and we love the guy.

Coco Montoya who plays the Iron Horse on Monday 11/30 at 7PM, learned his chops as a member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and Albert Collins' Icebreakers. His fiery blues rock has earned him the praise of fans and critics worldwide as well as a W. C. Handy award and numerous nominations. "Blistering contemporary blues...piercing attack, funky, shivery guitar tones and aggressive, soulful vocals" -Blues Revue.

Eva Cappelli and the Watershops Band make their Basement debut at 8PM Saturday 11/28. Springfield’s Ciderhouse play the 10PM show at the Iron Horse on Saturday night as well. Viva Quetzal plays Sunday 11/29 at 7PM at the Iron Horse.

Hands-down one of the best live acts in the country, Jay Reatard and his band play Pearl Street this Wednesday 11/25.

In the late 90s, 15-year-old Jay, living right outside Memphis, played all of the instruments on a demo tape by his newly-minted performing moniker of The Reatards and sent it to Eric Fried from the Memphis punk band the Oblivians, who had used the Goner Records imprint on a couple of releases. He released a 7" of recordings by The Reatards, followed by a full length LP, Teenage Hate. After quickly building a reputation for an anything-goes live set, and releasing another excellent full length Grown Up, Fucked Up, Jay Reatard shoved what was previously a side project to the forefront and started raising eyebrows with something other than live mayhem: Songwriting and an ear for breaking ground.

His band The Lost Sounds, formed with then-girlfriend Alicia Trout, lasted a mere six years but left a recorded legacy that dwarfs, in size and quality, most bands that have been around for two or more decades. Sadly, it’s a legacy that remains underrated and overlooked, yet they predicted the visceral synth-heavy post-punk that bands like Brooklyn’s Liars would take to the bank. Today, the growing popularity of a band such as Blank Dogs only exemplifies the impact that the Lost Sounds had on the garage-punk underground of six or so years ago.

Jay’s first album under the solo name of Jay Reatard, Blood Visions was released in early 2006 and it went largely unnoticed until the excitement and vivacious outrageousness of the live act brought up the rear and laid the groundwork for Jay's growing national acclaim.

Hands-down one of the best live acts in the country, Jay Reatard and his band fuel a phenomenon by sheer force and efficiency: Shows frequently featuring 18 songs (or more) in 25 minutes (or less), often running through his catalog at double or triple speed, and announcing the next song title before the first song ended. Though lately they’ve been known to play as long as an hour and to take the occasional breath, the crowd-pleasing sense of panic and brutality remains. -Caroline Bastarache

Jay Reatard plays the Pearl Street Clubroom on Wed 11/25 at 9PM with Who Shot Hollywood and Rabbit Rabbit opening. Tickets Here.

Love, death, betrayal, baseball, train stations, phantoms, pandemics, jail, and the Felice Brothers at Pearl Street.

The Felice Brothers and their long time friends and band mates Greg Farley and Christmas Clapton hail from the Catskill Mountains, where a homegrown sound has been working its way through the bloodlines for generations. Their rambling journey so far has brought them from performing in subway stations to tours across the world that have included enthusiastically received performances at major music festivals including Bonnaroo, All Points West, Outside Lands, and Langerado.

Their last full-length release Yonder Is The Clock, a phrase drawn from the pages of Mark Twain, is a nod to all of the American ghosts that lend their narrative and characters to their music. Their studio was built from the remains of an abandoned chicken coop and it was there over the summer and fall of 2008 that they wrote and recorded this new collection of songs. Presented by Team Love Records, Yonder Is The Clock is teaming with tales of love, death, betrayal, baseball, train stations, phantoms, pandemics, jail cells, rolling rivers and frozen winter nights. This is music that hasn’t lost sight of the history of the land from which it came, fully embracing the rich culture of the surroundings. It is these qualities that make The Felice Brothers the next great American band. -Caroline Bastarache

The Felice Brothers and Willy Mason play the Pearl Street Ballroom on Friday11/20 at 9PM. Get tickets here.

Watch this video if'n ya wanna.

John Peel's crush band, Camera Obscura, returns to Pearl Street Thursday 11/24

Glasgow’s Camera Obscura have been making music for a decade, carried through the ups and downs of various line-up changes and the tender pain of daily life by the sweetly sad voice of Tracyanne Campbell. The band has had several line-up changes since Tracyanne and Gavin Dunbar first began rehearsing together back in 1996. Since 2008 they've been a five-piece.

A key supporter of the group throughout the band's earlier years was the late, legendary DJ John Peel who gave them frequent plays and sessions (they were to do five Peel Sessions in total). The band gigged intermittently developing a dedicated cult following throughout theUK.

In the summer of 2005, Camera Obscura enlisted the Swedish producer Jari Haapalainen (Ed Harcourt, The Concretes) to work on their album, Let’s Get Out Of This Country. Jari turned out to be an inspired choice; fully realizing not just the potential of Tracyanne Campbell’s songs and remarkable voice, but also the ensemble musicianship of the group as a whole. The finished album was a confident artistic statement, boasting a more powerful, cohesive sound than any previous Camera Obscura offerings.

Their most recent album release, My Maudlin Career continues the sincere homage to a departed age; bittersweet and self-deprecating, the album languishes somewhere between Mates of State's organ-driven pop and Beck's Modern Guilt. The result is not nearly as novel or dorkishly handsome as their previous release, but it still manages to exude addictive gorgeousness. Such splendor will allow many listeners to forgive Maudlin's woeful posturing, a kind of cutesy-poo, melancholy selling point whose beauty is matched only by its heavy-handedness.

Camera Obscura have arrived at a sound centered on Campbell’s self-reflective loneliness and their evocation of some great ‘60s sounds and moods. -Caroline Bastarache

Camera Obscura and Papercuts perform in the Pearl Street Ballroom on Tuesday 11/24 at 8:30.

Kurt Vile is Well Worth Your While at the Iron Horse on Thursday 11/19 at 10PM

Philly singer-songwriter Kurt Vile is an interesting anomaly. On the one hand, he's totally at home in the recent wave of no-fi eardrum-abusers. He records all his stuff at home and seemingly through a couple of layers of blankets. On the other hand, he's perfectly capable of cranking out gorgeous windows-down car-radio jams.

Over the past two years, Vile has released three solo albums, a steady stream of 7-inch singles, and an EP with his band the Violators, and he's punching the clock as the lead guitarist for The War on Drugs. To make matters more daunting, his sound and mood shift drastically from release to release (and sometimes from song to song). There's Kurt Vile the hazy, bedroom pop auteur; Kurt Vile donning a Tom Petty disguise; Kurt Vile donning his avant-garde soundscape hat.

With Childish Prodigy, his debut for indie-juggernaut Matador, Kurt Vile stretches and pulls the “lo-fi” tag into interesting new shapes, The album is full of Vile's scattershot personalities, but front and center is a tough, full-bodied rock sound that he's only hinted at in his past work. Here he creates dense layers of texture, lo-fidelity only in the sense that the sounds refuse easy pop categorization, echoing and blending endlessly, blurring the lines between his reverb-soaked vocals and the intricate web of keys, guitars, trumpets, and clattering percussion buzzing and twitching underneath them.

One gets the sense that Vile is a prolific songwriter, able to knock out a bunch of tracks in one sitting. He certainly has the talent and ability to churn out incredible tunes, and his music ambles dreamily along a perfect midway point between weird and the familiar.

His show at the Iron Horse at 10PM on Thursday 11/19 with Kurt (Feathers) Weisman promises to be one for the ages. We've told you so.

Stephen Lynch jokes and jams at the Calvin Thursday, 11/12 at 8PM

Musical comedian Stephen Lynch has a confession: 'I have no real interest in comedy'

By Sam Sessa | The Baltimore Sun

Stephen Lynch has always struggled to draw the line between music and stand-up.

Lynch doesn't think he'd make it as a singer/songwriter. He's not a big fan of comedy, either. By bringing together a little of both, he struck a chord with audiences around the globe.

"I didn't set out to become a comedian," he said. "I still don't think I have a real knack for it. I just happen to have found this really small window of opportunity that allows me to play music and use whatever skills I have at being funny."

As far back as the early 1990s, Lynch wanted to be a musician. But early on, he discovered he was much better at penning playful, vulgar tunes than traditional songs. So good, in fact, that he has been able to build a career out of touring and performing as a comedic singer/songwriter. His fourth album, "3 Balloons," came out this year.

Few topics are taboo for Lynch. He sings about priests molesting altar boys, ugly babies and the things he would do if he were gay. His songs are anything but politically correct.

Over the years, Lynch has graduated from playing small comedy clubs in New York City in the mid-'90s to larger theaters. Now 38, the Pennsylvania native has appeared on Broadway and toured with high-profile comics such as Bob Saget and Carlos Mencia.

In 2006, Lynch starred in the Broadway adaptation of the film "The Wedding Singer." His performance garnered nominations for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical and the Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance. The role was exciting, but given the chance, Lynch said, he'd probably never do Broadway again.

"It was a once-in-a-lifetime thing," he said. "The schedule's too brutal for my delicate sensibilities. ... Toward the end, I was secretly wishing for its demise so I could get back to doing what I like to do."

What he likes to do is play three or four shows a week, max, he said. Broadway had him performing eight times a week.

"Look, I'm not digging ditches here, I'm going up on stage and singing a couple songs for two hours. It's not that difficult," he said. "But there's something about the mental process you have to go through to get up on stage and be a singing and dancing entertainer."

Before each show, Lynch obsesses over the night's set list, swapping out songs and deciding on the best spot to cue up certain video clips. For each tour stop, he rummages through his archives and pulls up the set lists from the last time he played in the area, making sure he doesn't put on the same performance twice in the same city.

"It's really stupid," he said. "I should just pick a set list and do it everywhere I go. But I'm always trying to hone it and craft it so that it's better than it was the night before."

Some of Lynch's fans see him as a musical act: They have their 10 favorite songs, and they want to hear those songs every show. Others come to be surprised by fresh jokes and new routines, Lynch said. Appeasing them both can be tough.

"Every night before a show, I'm trying to find that perfect balance between what some people in the audience want, what other people in the audience want and what I want," Lynch said. "There's a lot to juggle around."

Lynch's last two albums, 2005's "The Craig Machine" and 2003's "Superhero," were recorded live. When Lynch set out to make "3 Balloons," he was sick of hearing himself on a stool, on a stage, guitar in hand. He wanted to make an album in a studio with a cast of professional musicians - the way he had originally intended to make all his albums.

"To me, the music is as important as the comedy," he said. "Probably more important, because I have no real interest in comedy. I like music."

The narratives on "3 Balloons," which came out in March, are par for the course with Lynch. The title track is about a person who smuggles several balloons filled with drugs (hidden in a certain private place) through an airport.

The music, on the other hand, is drastically different. In addition to the usual guitar or piano, there are strings, drums and a bass guitar - exotic instruments, as far as Lynch's albums go.

Lynch wanted the instruments to complement and interact with his lyrics, not just support them. "Waiting," a song about a man nervously anticipating the results of an HIV test, has a beautiful, wailing violin solo on the album.

"That beauty mixed with the horrible lyrics I was singing made it even funnier," he said. "It worked."

Since he started playing music years ago, Lynch has quietly built up a stockpile of regular, unfunny songs. He doesn't play them live. He doesn't know whether he ever will. But when he retires from the comedy shtick, they might come in handy, he said.

"Maybe someday I'll bust them out," he said. "I like to think I'll grow a big beard and change my name and embark on a whole new career."

Until then, Lynch will be Lynch - crass and comedic.

Stephen Lynch performs at the Calvin Theatre this Thursday, November 12th at 8PM. Tickets here or at NBO, 413-586-8686. Online at IHEG.com.

"Don’t forget to have a good time." Ani DiFranco returns to Calvin Theatre Sunday, November 15th

“I’ve got myself a new mantra,” Ani DiFranco shares on her new studio album. “It says ‘Don’t forget to have a good time.’” This attitude has clearly influenced the dozen tunes on Red Letter Year, which celebrate existence, profess love and tackle thorny political issues with an infectious sense of glee. It’s one of Ani’s most joyous records to date.

And it has been a long time coming. Red Letter Year was sculpted over the course of two years, a period in which Ani continued to hone her songwriting, performing and recording skills, all the while balancing her new role as a mom. “I think I sorely needed to be slowed down, and finally a little person came along powerful enough to do it,” Ani reflects. The end result is an album of focused, layered, panoramic music.

“When I listen to my new record, I hear a very relaxed me, which I think has been absent in a lot of my recorded canon,” Ani explains. “Now I feel like I’m in a really good place. My partner Mike Napolitano coproduced this record – my guitar and voice have never sounded better, and that’s because of him. I’ve got this great band and crew. And my baby, she teaches me how to just be in my skin, to do less and be more.”

Ani’s band – upright bassist Todd Sickafoose, vibraphonist/percussionist Mike Dillon and drummer Allison Miller – is a major source of Red Letter Year’s singular personality. On “Emancipated Minor,” Miller’s driving beat tethers to Ani’s killer electric guitar hook, while Sickafoose’s bass adds the perfect counterpoint to Ani’s acoustic guitar work on “Way Tight”. And on “Alla This,” Dillon’s vibes are as rich and open-minded as Ani’s defiant, anthemic lyrics.

Add to the inspired, re-invigorated Ani the uncanny production skills of Napolitano (Joseph Arthur, The Twilight Singers, Squirrel Nut Zippers), the otherworldly string arrangements of long time collaborator Sickafoose, and the inspired playing of guests such as Jon Hassell on trumpet (Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, Ry Cooder), and you’ve got the makings of a DiFranco classic.

And Ani’s songwriting is up to the challenge, reflecting her place in life with warmth and clarity. Highlights include “Smiling Underneath,” a rumination on love’s power to make everything better, the achingly beautiful ballad “Way Tight” and “Alla This,” a quintessential Ani anthem full of brave statements like “I won’t pray to a male god/cuz that would be insane.”

If there’s a fourth band member on Red Letter Year, it’s New Orleans, LA. The Crescent City has become Ani’s second home and favorite place to record, and its cultural and spiritual wealth is in this album’s bones. Louisiana artists are all over these recordings, including the Rebirth Brass Band – the stars of “Red Letter Year Reprise” – pedal steel player Richard Comeaux and Lafayette’s own C.C. Adcock (Bo Diddley, Buckwheat Zydeco).

But for all the cultural influences, eloquent statements and captivating melodies that inhabit this album like a friendly Louisiana neighborhood, nothing encapsulates its overall meaning like the warm, united laughter that concludes it.

“I have this subconscious bent to open the curtains all the time, and let people see into the process and the time and place,” Ani muses. “I think that’s what’s behind all those little moments of talking or laughter that seep onto the records. I’m out in the world and back in my happy self, ready to have a party.”

Ani DiFranco’s feeling good, and she’s in a giving mood – Red Letter Year isn’t just a party, it’s a music lover’s gift.

See Ani DiFranco live at the Calvin Theatre in Northampton, Sunday night November 15th at 8PM. Gaby Moreno opens. Tickets here or at NBO 413-586-8686.

The Cajun Swamp Fire Of Feufollet at the Iron Horse , Thursday, November 19th at 7PM

Courtesy of NPR. Lafayette, La., is a happening place. There, musicians young and old are pushing the boundaries of their genres. Feufollet has been doing that for a decade, even though most of its members are still in college. Like its compatriots in the Pine Leaf Boys, the Lost Bayou Ramblers, the Red Stick Ramblers and several other local bands, Feufollet is trying to bring the sensibility of its generation to a much older style of music.

Feufollet translates literally from the French as "crazy fire." In southwestern Louisiana, it's used to refer to the will o' the wisp: the spectral, shifting light seen over the swamps at night. Fiddler and accordionist Chris Stafford explains that the band chose the name because folk tales came up with many different meanings for "wills o' the wisp."

"People had no idea what they were," Stafford says. "They were these balls of fire they'd see in the swamp. And they would make up stories to explain what a feufollet was."

Feufollet, the band, is a bit of a shape-changer, too. The musicians do lots of straight-ahead Cajun songs, and they clearly respect their musical heritage. But they've also been known to toss a version of the Talking Heads' song "Psycho Killer" into a live show.

Giving Traditional Music A Twist

Most of the members of Feufollet are too young to remember the Talking Heads' heyday. Nevertheless, the Louisianans started playing music early — very early. Chris Segura started going to hear Cajun music with his parents at the age of 2. He was playing fiddle by the time he was 4. At the ripe old age of 12, a friend hooked him up with Chris Stafford. Segura says that their first collaborations took place over the phone.

"We'd play for each other over the phone before we ever met," Segura says.

The two Chrisses — Segura and Stafford — became the nucleus of Feufollet. They added Stafford's brother, Mike, on drums. He was around 8 years old at the time Feufollet recorded its first album nearly 10 years ago. So the band's fans — and the older generation of musicians who've mentored the members of Feufollet — have all watched the band grow up onstage.

The enthusiasm of youth led to some playing around in the studio as they recorded their latest CD, Cow Island Hop. They ran some vocals and a guitar solo backward. They added a Mellotron, an early electronic keyboard, on one track. One of the musicians dug up a Creole song called "Femme l'a Dit" at the Archives of Cajun and Creole Folklore, where he was working. It was a field recording from the 1950s, so the band members say they felt free to adapt it as they pleased.

Some purists may wag their fingers, but Barry Ancelet, a professor of French and folklore at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette — and one of the deans of Cajun culture — says he isn't worried.

"These guys understand the songs — they understand the culture they came from," Ancelet says. "They're not just playing songs. They're not just imitating sounds. They're retelling those stories new every time. They improvise, which means you actually have to make it part of you. These guys are fluent in the music and, at the same time, they're fluent in the culture. They understand the words they're singing. They understand where this comes from. They're interested in creativity, but at the same time in continuity. They're finding ways to do something new that's still connected to what's old." Get your tickets here.

Listen to "Cow Island Hop"

Listen to "Madame Bosso"

Marco Benevento Trio Returns To the Iron Horse on Thursday, December 3rd at 10PM

New DVD Release, LIVE IN NYC: THE SULLIVAN HALL RESIDENCY featuring KAKI KING, BRAD BARR, BILLY MARTIN, JOE RUSSO And Many More In Stores On November 10 (Watch The Trailer Here)

On his final run of East Coast shows in 2009, the revered indie jazz pianist Marco Benevento returns to The Iron Horse in Northampton, MA on Thursday, December 3. The 31-year old Brooklyn-based artist will lead his trio featuring Reed Mathis on bass and Andrew Borger on drums.

It's been a breakout year for Marco Benevento. In February, he released an album entitled Me Not Me, featuring interpretations of songs by My Morning Jacket, Leonard Cohen and Led Zeppelin among others. Touring it over the past ten months across the U.S., it's led to high profile performances including San Francisco Jazz Festival, Earshot Festival in Seattle and Carnegie Hall in NYC.

On November 10, he will release his first ever DVD, Live In NYC: The Sullivan Hall Residency, a two hour-plus documentary with performances and interviews from his five week 2008 engagement at the downtown New York City venue, featuring special guests like Brad Barr, Kaki King, Billy Martin, Joe Russo and Stanton Moore.

As Rolling Stone recently declared, "Benevento swings between rude-synth fun and high-speed piano breaks as if he were both Keith Emerson and McCoy Tyner." New Video here.

School of Rock is in session this Saturday at Pearl Street

Lucas Kendall, 16, of Amherst quartet Who Shot Hollywood finds it irritating when people call his band’s output “kids’ music.” The Valley Advocate inadvertently slighted them as “the Valley’s local Jonas Brothers.” “We’re a kids’ band, but our music is not just for kids,” he said. When one considers that Pete Townshend was still a teen when the Who released their first album, the term “kid” starts to lose its more dismissive connotations.

This Saturday November 7th at 7PM. four local bands comprised of under-20somethings play the Pearl Street Clubroom in Northampton. Some have been together since middle school while others got their act together later in life in high school. Who Shot Hollywood put the bill together with Client #9 from Amherst, Mountain Interval from Greenfield, and Bad Vibes from Easthampton. “I think it’sreally important for [venues] to be a service to such bands – representing the talent and hard work from their own area,” said Alexa Clark, 19, of Mountain Interval. “It’s great that the line-up for the show is all young and local, and it’s a big deal for me to be able to play at a venue like Pearl Street.”

Who Shot Hollywood is brothers Lucas on vocals/ bass and Dana Kendall, 14, on drums; Eamon Wick, 15, on keyboard; and Lucas Graham, 14, on guitar. Lucas K. met Eamon in fifth grade and formed what he deemed a “juvenile six-piece punk rock band” called Bullseye. “Now, we’re kind of stuck with Who Shot Hollywood, though none of us really like the name.” Though still in their cavity-prone years, the band has audibly matured, expressing new musical influences as soon as they discover them. “As we went through puberty, so did our band,” said Lucas K. The group appears to be taking off and have opened for Mission of Burma, The Fray, and most recently Man Man at Pearl Street. Man Man handpicked them for their gig in D.C. at the 930 Club. The Kendall's dad, Greg aka Skeggy was a fixture of the Boston music scene of the 80s and 90s in bands like Lifeboat and The Brothers Kendall who contributed music to many of auteur Hal Hartley's independent films.

Client #9 is David Roud, 17, on guitar; Owen Talbot, 16, on bass; and Jeremy Levit, 16, on drums. David has been playing music with Jeremy since the fourth grade when started to learn guitar. In middle school, they hooked up with Owen, and not just because one of his relatives had a lot of musical equipment for the boys to use. They’ve developed an orchestral brand of post-rock music comparable to Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, and My Bloody Valentine. But the influence is incidental. “It started off as an accident,” David said. “We had mics and we started singing because we were so young, but we thought it sounded stupid.” One person’s stupid is another’s “seminal post-punk era influence.” As for their age David is nonplussed. “Hopefully our age will be a draw, but I always have a great time just being there, hearing the bands get tighter and improve their sound.”

The first time Client #9 played out was the 2008 Amherst Regional High School Battle of the Bands, which they handily clinched. Buoyed by their win, they’ve since opened for several acts at the Iron Horse including another band of local origins, Apollo Sunshine. Client #9, primarily an instrumental combo, is now incorporating vocals which David said all their parents are really excited about. “It’s been amazing to watch and feel it grow,” he said. “There’s always something going on that leaves me hopeful.”

Mountain Interval is Alexa on vocals and saxophone; John Zarcone, 18, on bass; Jake Grant, 19, on guitar; Sam Witty, 18, on keyboard; Cody Ball, 17, on guitar; and Nick Duska, 18, on drums. Their name is a reference to a Robert Frost collection that the band found evoked their origins. “The Pioneer Valley is really important to me, because it is such a warm and peaceful place with all the right values, and I feel like our music reflects that,” said Alexa. Mountain Interval grew from Sam, Cody, and John jamming together at the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts (PVPA) school, an institution that has launched many notable careers. With the aim of expanding their sound they joined forces with the current members just last spring. John humbly said, “Alexa joined to sing so that we could focus on our instruments, and she is way better than any of us.” Their music is catchy and danceable, loaded with unpredictable synth, sax, and guitar effects under Alexa’s vocals that evoke a depth beyond her years.

Bad Vibes is Will Cole (son of Lloyd Cole...whose album Bad Vibes is the band's namesake), 17, on vocals; Justin Hahn, 19, on guitar; Phil Haggerty, 18, on guitar; Dan Gagnon, 18, on bass; and Will Hastie, 18, on drums. They got together in early 2009, inspired by a rock ensemble class they took at PVPA and since then, Will H. said, it’s been nonstop. This is the last chance to see the garage rock of Bad Vibes for thr foreseeable future. Phil Haggerty is leaving for Palestine soon. And so inevitably, as these bands grow older, other members will drift away to college or other ports of call. But some may they’ve found their calling early in life and stick it out. These are after all the early days of a new music business of sorts, still trying to figure itself out… much as these young bands are. -Melissa Breor

The show's at 7PM this Saturday at Pearl Street.