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A Benefit for FOLK New England.
Peter Yarrow. “We all know the music of Peter, Paul and Mary—folk classics that remain the soundtrack for generations. But our patrons were thrilled to experience the relevancy of that music, and how it resonates through today’s headlines, when Peter Yarrow brought his solo show to the Tower Theatre. It was so much more than a nostalgia show. Peter connected with the sold-out audience in ways that went well beyond a normal concert: he encouraged sing-alongs and audience participation; he signed autographs at intermission; he personally greeted each and every one of our VIPs and members; he even auctioned two personalized guitars to raise money for our educational outreach programs. Peter turned our theatre into his living room. He created an inclusive atmosphere, encouraging each of us to change our part of the world. It was a memorable evening rooted in the historic milestones of his past, yet focused on the current issues that continue to call him to activism. We all know how all the songs of Peter, Paul and Mary sound; what a rare treat to hear what Peter thinks of them. “
–Ray Solley, Executive Director, Tower Theatre Foundation, Bend, Oregon
Peter Yarrow’s talents as a creative artist—both with the legendary trio Peter, Paul & Mary and as a solo performer—are frequently directed at using music to convey a message of humanity and caring. His gift for songwriting has produced some of the most moving songs from Peter, Paul & Mary, including “Puff, the Magic Dragon,” “Day is Done”, “Light One Candle” and “The Great Mandala.” As a member of the renowned musical trio, Yarrow has earned multiple gold and platinum albums, as well as numerous GRAMMYs.
Over the years, many issues have moved Peter to commit his time and talent: equal rights, peace, the environment, gender equality, homelessness, hospice care, and education. All have utilized his skills as both a performer and an organizer. Peter Yarrow’s life and work – culminating in the founding and leadership of Operation Respect with its “Don’t Laugh At Me” initiative – is based on his passionate belief that music, with its power to build community and catalyze change, can be a particularly powerful organizing tool.
“Yes, it will be nostalgic for many. But on another level, it will bring them a sense of what is still possible. Yes, they will sing ‘Leaving on a Jet Plane,’ and I will give them a sense of the current history of what this music is doing, and why it’s important. So it will be a history lesson, it will be a singalong that inspires, but it will also assert the importance of the continuation of this kind of music in people’s lives today. And where we’re going from here in those terms. It’s not necessarily a big lecture — it’s inherent in the music. They’ll get it. I know it, ’cause that’s what I do.” – Peter Yarrow
Very special guest Michaela Anne will open the show.
Information and Tickets: Click Here
In 2005 Marina Evans moved to New York City, where she taught herself guitar and began writing songs that combined her background as a jazz vocalist with traditional folk and a rock edge. Within a year, she was performing as a solo acoustic act around New York and her home state of Massachusetts. Since that time Marina has recorded three original EPs and a full length album, and has taken her music from Rockport, MA all across the United States: from Portland to Nashville, New Orleans to Los Angeles, and everywhere in between. Marina has also made her way over to Europe, performing in London and touring across Italy every spring since 2011.
In 2012 Marina released two original EPs, Dogtown and The Tuscan Sessions. Dogtown, released first, was written and recorded with Marina’s band in Gloucester, MA; The Tuscan Sessions was written and recorded while touring abroad in Italy. “The EPs are really two sides of the same coin,” Marina says. “While complementary, they reflect this sort of bi-continental, rambling life I’ve been leading with my music.” Dogtown rocks – described as “raucous” and “anthemic” in The Noise Magazine – and “swellingly beautiful” Tuscan takes a distinctly European perspective on folk americana.
In the spring of 2013, Marina launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the recording of her debut full-length album, Unbound. Through overwhelming support from across the globe, she reached her funding goal and recorded the album abroad in Florence, Italy with producer Bernardo Baglioni. With clever lyricism and unusual melodies, Unbound deftly combines various styles, genres, and instrumentation – from sweet ballads to folk anthems to straight up rock and roll – and paints a picture of a versatile and passionate artist.
A benefit concert for Folk New England
A Tribute to Todd Rundgren, Gary Backstrom’s Road to Utopia, comes to the Regent Theatre, 7 Medford Street, Arlington, MA on Friday, June 7, at 8 pm. Tickets here.
Todd Rundgren
Considered by many to be the “Ultimate Rock Cult Hero” Todd Rundgren has maintained a legion of fans through four decades. Todd’s searing guitar work reached a nationwide audience in his role as lead guitarist for the blues-psychedelic band Nazz. He wrote and arranged almost all of the work that went into the three albums the group produced.
His first big solo success was in 1971 with “We Gotta Get You a Woman” and in 1973 from the double album “Something/Anything?” He scored big on the charts with “I Saw the Light” and a revision of a Nazz song, “Hello, It’s Me.”
Rundgren has scored huge as a music producer, most notably on Meat Loaf’s “Bat Out of Hell” opus. In the late 1970s and through the 1980s Todd formed the group Utopia, each member an accomplished musician and vocalist. He has also been called on by films and TV for his musical scores and sometimes tours with Ringo Starr as a member of his All-Star Band.
Gary Backstrom
Gary is the founder and frontman of the acclaimed Jam Band “Jiggle The Handle.” The Gary Backstrom Band is a Boston-based Band that mixes Soul, R&B, Funk, Rock and Latin grooves blended into a unique sound. Their sound features exciting, unpredictable improvisation that can only be heard in the best live acts on the scene today. Gary is considered “one of the most underrated, fluid, and melodic players in the Northeast.”
Some of the proceeds from this concert will go to
The project brings personalized iPods to people living with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, helping them reconnect with the world through the music they love.
This will be a quite the night for a great cause.
Gary Backstrom, founder, and frontman of the legendary Boston-based Jiggle The Handle, brings you Rhythm Of The Saints – an all-star tribute to Paul Simon. This seven-piece band featuring members of Jiggle The Handle, Max Creek, and The Heavy Metal Horns flawlessly navigate the musical library of Paul Simon’s solo carrier. The show features all the hits you would hope to hear, including “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover”, “Still Crazy After All These Years,” “Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes,” and so many more!
PETER ASHER: A MUSICAL MEMOIR OF THE 60S AND BEYOND
Entertainment legend Peter Asher–whose voice, as one half of Peter & Gordon, “literally soared through Carnegie Hall” (Fox News)– brings his 4 piece ensemble to the event space of Plainville’s An Unlikely Story for a JUST ADDED 2 p.m. live performance in the book store’s first ever concert event.
“…as Mr. Asher regaled a delighted audience with stories… he conjured history in the making, before it was set in stone.” – Stephen Holden, New York Times
“…the exuberant Mr. Asher knew anyone who rocked and everyone who mattered.” –Wall Street Journal
“An all-around charming and delightful fellow — he reminisces about his whole career and it is highly entertaining” – Steve Martin
“Everybody should go and see it — I’ve seen it myself twice” – Linda Ronstadt
“The Man, The Myth, The Legend! …and a true friend! Great wit and music. A true storyteller! What more could you possibly want? Don’t miss this!”–Hans Zimmer
We first came to know him through the global smash “World Without Love” as one half of the British Invasion duo Peter & Gordon. He returns–now a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire– in “Peter Asher: A Musical Memoir of the 60s and Beyond” which brings a multimedia experience to the stage of An Unlikely Story., hosted by the two-time Grammy winner for Producer of the Year. Peter Asher moved effortlessly from his role with Peter & Gordon to Music Executive with the Beatles’ Apple Records, then famously- (as in cover of Rolling Stone magazine level famous)- to Producer and Manager, handling the careers of James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt and a host of others. Books abound, documentaries with half-truths (and worse) are all too common, but, now, finally, Mr. Asher tells first hand his tales from the eye of the cultural hurricane in this intimate evening in Plainville, Massachusetts.
For more Last Dance Productions Events, click here.
Presented by Patio Records
Laurie Young (vocals, trumpet) brings the role of the goddess to the forefront and co-fronts the band
Joe Donnelly (drums) of the Del Fuegos, Swinging Steaks, and Wall of Grass
Pat Dreier (Keyboards, vocals) of the Lines and the Drive
Dave Weden (guitar/banjo) and Clayton Young (bass, vocals) of John Cate and the Van Gough Brothers
Dennis Semprebon (drums and percussion) of Craig Carter and the Hurricanes
Brad Kohl (saxophone) of Hot Acoustics and Group Therapy
The Kennedys, Songwriting duo Pete and Maura Kennedy make a strong return to the studio and stage after three years of weekly live-streamed lockdown-era concerts. They took the opportunity to explore classic songwriting in-depth, performing over a thousand songs during the pandemic. That vast overview strengthened and refined their own writing and laid the foundation for this new collection of original, socially-conscious songs.
“After such a deep dive into American roots music, we felt like we had a new set of writing tools. We were ready to create this body of work, and there’s just SO much to write about,” says Maura. “During our five-year hiatus from writing and recording, America changed in massive ways, divisive ways that have shaken our whole foundation. That has to be addressed by creative artists, those of us who have a voice to speak for others. Our love of the great things about this country, things that are under threat, is the reason we decided to make “Headwinds” the title track of the CD. Political and social headwinds are making it hard to get back “home’ to our greatness as a nation. We want to push back in a positive way against those winds.”
In addition to singing and writing, Pete and Maura are multi-instrumentalists. The thirteen songs are cast in a soundscape that draws from the classic canon of American roots, in keeping with the theme of getting back “home” as a nation. Acoustic and electric guitars, a vintage steel guitar, a gospel-inflected piano/organ mix, and even a slide ukulele all add colors to a song bag of sounds that have drawn us together during hard times. Pete and Maura believe that those sounds still have the power to pull us through again.
The Kennedys began their writing and touring life three decades ago as members of Nanci Griffith’s Blue Moon Orchestra, developing their own sound as a frequent support act on Nanci’s tours across America, Ireland, Scotland and England. Collaborations with Nanci continued, culminating in Pete and Maura producing her final album, “Intersections.” Along the way, they hosted a nationwide radio program, “The Dharma Cafe” on Sirius/XM, wrote and released sixteen CDs of original music, and have been core artists on folk radio, expanding their audience further with the inception of the AAA and Americana formats.
More Last Dance Productions events here.
Danielle Miraglia comes armed with a strong steady thumb on an old Gibson and an infectious stomp-box rhythm with tunes ranging from heart-felt to socially conscious that will move both your heart and hips. Her latest “Bright Shining Stars” debuted at #15 on the Billboard Blues Charts. Cascade Blues Association calls it “… tough as rawhide, but smooth as blended whiskey.” Released Oct 2020 with Vizztone Label Group, it’s a solo acoustic folk/blues record that highlights the one-woman-band live sound she’s honed over the years, featuring guest appearances by talented friends Laurence Scudder, Peter Parcek and Richard “Rosy” Rosenblatt. It includes originals as well as a collection of songs she covers at live shows, paying homage to influences like Big Bill Broonzy, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin and more, plus the title track “Bright Shining Stars,” written by her husband, Tom Bianchi.
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Karla Bonoff has been described as one of the finest singer/songwriters of her generation. That description is not hyperbole. Bonoff has enjoyed critical acclaim, commercial success, enduring popularity, and the unwavering respect of her peers. Karla has seen her songs become hits for Bonnie Raitt, Wynonna Judd, and Linda Ronstadt. Many of Bonoff’s ballads are classics. Karla has continued to record and tour extensively, playing sold-out shows worldwide.
Hearing Karla’s moving vocals on her rich, expressive songs is like standing beneath a sparkling waterfall–refreshing, exhilarating, and restorative. Experiencing them live can be transformative. Fans and critics agree that Bonoff’s songs, as are her recordings, are timeless. Many prefer her versions, live with instrumentation that is clean and spare, giving Bonoff’s voice room to work its emotional magic.
“Long before Alanis and Jewel, there was a breed of singer/songwriters whose earthly anthems of soul-searching, heartache and joy touched souls in a way few can muster today. Billboard Magazine.
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