September signals an annual change

Photo: A violinist for Lost In The Trees performing at The Neighborhood Theatre in Charlotte, NC Sept 4th 2009 - my favorite image for Sept.

September and October are probably my two favorite months of the year. Together they take us through an annual change which can be viewed as the end of the Spring birth or the beginning of the Spring renewal. Certainly beautiful from both perspectives.

This month reflected this change for me as it began with a dog days of summer visit to Charleston, SC and as I previewed in the review of the Sept calendar for the Evening Muse in Aug., the month was musically rewarding for the folks who love live music in Charlotte - included porterdavis, Evelynn Rose, and Girls Guns & Glory. The Tosco House Party was a quick warm-up for the spectacular Tosco Music Party. A litany of performances graced the stages of the Neighborhood Theatre this month including Lost In The Trees and Sea Of Cortez.

At the Blues Brews & BBQ festival in uptown Charlotte, the local Southern Rock group Preacher Stone provided some down home southern fried musical lunch viddles for the doctors, bankers, lawyers and such...

Looking forward to October and the diversity it brings to our lives.

Cheers,

Monty

Tosco Music Party - Jan 2009

It's at times like this that I wish I had taken more writing courses in school - how to describe the aura of a musical presentation so diverse and rich? Fortunately a picture is worth a thousand words, and there are 160 photos at this link!

What started as a circle of friends jammin' in the living room has evolved over the past two decades into a musical production within an intimate 1,000 seat theater - but what has really changed is simply the size of the living room. John Tosco remains the host, the musicians remain the talented musician friends of the sort which have always been drawn to John's living room. The change is that these musicians now have a venue and audience that greatly improves their visibility and highlights their talents.

To give you a feel for the flow of a TMP show, here's the line-up for this nights event - eclectic and awesome!! (tip: a singalong involves all 1,000 people in "the living room" standing and singing a tune with the TMP singalong choir and band)

Singalong - "Mr. Sandman"

Derek Fulton - 14-year-old guitarist

Alan Black & Rachel Rudoi - Classical cellist and violinist

Jeanette Leardi - Ethnic vocalist

Ethan Uslan - Ragtime/Jazz pianist

Bill Averbach - New Orleans Jazz/blues trumpeter

Reinaldo Brahn - Brazilian guitarist-vocalist

Singalong - "L-O-V-E"

Desmond Myers - 16-year-old singer-songwriter

The Snyder Family Band - Bluegrass group

Vinx - Modern Jazz percussionist-vocalist

Patrick Landeza - Hawaiian slack-key guitarist-vocalist

Singalong - "Don't Bring Me Down"

Intermission

Singalong - "Right Back to Where We Started From"

The Polka Dots - Polka Band

Abigail Alvarez & Graciela Beltran - Mexican vocalists

Contagious Blues Band - Alternative blues-rock group

Abou Sylla - West African xylophonist

Tim Fast - Singer-songwriter

Singalong - "Paradise"

Soul Survivor - Soul/Funk/Rock band

RJ Adams - Singer-songwriter

The Darin & Brooke Aldridge Quintet - Bluegrass/Gospel group

The StereoFidelics - Jazz/Art-rock duo

Singalong - "The Times They Are A-Changin' "

End of the program....

Cheers,

Monty

Nicole Atkins, w/Salt & Samovar

As I pondered what to do this past Saturday night, I exchanged thoughts with my friend Mr. D. Koster. I had said I wanted to see David Mead play at The Evening Muse' early show, but wasn't sure what I was going to do after that. Mr. Koster's reply was to be sure to go across the street and see Nicole Atkins. Not only could she sing, but she was photogenic (shorthand for cute) as well.

Of course I looked Nicole up on the web and while listening to her sing a tune on her Myspace, I was struck by the comments that she had a female Roy Orbison sound to her. I'd agree with the comparison, to an extent, but there was a nagging little voice in the back of my head that told me there was a different sound emmenating from her - one that reminds me very much of Edith Piaf, a french singer from the 30's who was featured in the 2007 film, "La Vie en Rose". One thing for sure, this lady has a powerful, unique and beautiful voice. Accompanied by her band, "The Sea", Nicole performed a great set at The Neighborhood Theatre, followed by a two song encore that left us talking about this singer for the following hour. And she's a Jersey girl who went to school here at UNCC!

And yes, she's "photogenic" too. Here's a link to photos from the show.

Opening for Nicole was a band named Salt & Samovar. They are a very good rock band that were a great opener for Nicole. For those curious minds, a Samovar is a metal container used to boil water, commonly used in Russia for making tea. So the bands name is salt and a tea pot? I know, that's probably only interesting to me. You can check out a few photos of Salt & Samovars performance at this link.

Hope you enjoy the photo's.

Cheers,

Monty Chandler