Folk @ Fire

Every Tuesday in May, The Fire, 412 W. Girard Ave., Philadelphia, will be taken over by the Philly Folk Parade, "a sounding bell of human musical freedom." Organized by local 'folk stars' The Spinning Leaves and Hezekiah Jones, the Folk Parade’s residency will provide a rotating cast of seven bands each night, sharing the stage starting at 9 p.m.

Hosting this week is Chris Kasper, and Hezekiah Jones gets the last one on May 25. My boy, Jesse Lundy, will be jamming with The Doublewides the 18th.

Cover is $7.

Click on the link in this post to The Fire or call (267) 671-9298.

Stones return to Exile

At 10 p.m. May 17, 93.3 WMMR's Pierre Robert will host a live radio special, with The Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts, to celebrate the re-release of their oft ballyhooed album "Exile on Main Street." It will air on WMMR-FM, and dozens of stations across the country, and stream simultaneously at www.wmmr.com.
The interview marks the first time since Exile's release in 1972 that the three Stones that were around when Exile was made (Mick Taylor's still going it alone, Ron Wood wasn't yet in the band, Bill Wyman was a party pooper and retired) will talk about the creation of one of the most defining albums of The Rolling Stones' cataloge.
Here's the important part - the re-release includes 10 never-before-heard tracks and hits stores May 18. Get a taste at Amazon here.
Now here's where I'm going to get some hate mail. IMO "Exile on Main Street" has some important and essential songs, but as an album (a two-record set in its original incarnation), it draaaaaags in places. Seriously, I can live without "Ventilator Blues" or "Turd on the Run."
I read some place that Mick Jagger said that he wasn't satisfied with the production on some of the songs. Totally agree with that. "I Just Want to See His Face" comes immediately to mind.
Back to Pierre Robert ... the Rolling Stones special comes on the heels of a trip to Seattle where, at Stone Gosssard's request, he interviewed Pearl Jam for a documentary on the Seattle grunge scene. Pretty good timing to analyze that era considering Soundgarden, for some reason, is back together.
Work that almighty all-access pass, Pierre!!

What the heck are they thinking?

Some movies that come out of Hollywood truly baffle me. Couldn't the producers of "The Losers" have come up with A BETTER TITLE than that?
"Uh, yeah ... I'd like one ticket to see 'The Losers,' please."
Hmmm, dude must be a loser. He ain't got no date.
That's like deliberately setting the movie up to fail!

Now "Kick-Ass," on the other hand, is amusing. But it sounds like Beavis & Butthead came up with the name.
"Huh-huh, huh-huh. Hey Beavis, y'know when people go to the movies, they'll have to say 'ass.'"
"Ooooh yeah! Heh-heh-heh-heh - COOL!"

Play harmonica, start your own music group!

This reminds me of how much Ken Kennedy's harmonica adds to our sound when we play together as Raspberry Tea.
A four-session harmonica workshop with Sharon Hunsberger, a member of The Harmonaires, is being offered at the Mennonite Heritage Center, 565 Yoder Road, Franconia Township. This workshop is scheduled for Tuesday evenings from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. May 4, 11, 18, and 25. No previous experience is needed.
A press release from the center points out that "harmonicas are a relatively easy musical instrument to play and are used in many types of music, including folk, country, blues and rock and roll."
The group will go through the musical scale, learn notes, and progress to playing simple tunes. Registration is required and cost is $30 ($25 members), which includes a basic, diatonic harmonica with brass reeds. E-mail info@mhep.org, call (215) 256-3020 or visit www.mhep.org.

Blessing of the balls

This is one of a series of video vignettes at www.thereporteronline.com that compliments a story I've written for Tuesday April 27th's paper on a day in the life of a rabbi.
I'm very proud of the way the whole package turned out.
Your comments are appreciated.

Universal language

May 2, Congregation Tiferet Bet Israel on Skippack Pike in Whitpain hosts the musical duo Noa & Mira. One is Israeli and one is Palestinian. And whaddaya know, they not only coexist, but they make music together, spreading a message of hope and reconciliation to the Holy Land and beyond.

Bernie Allmayer at TBI, who has been ringing my phone non-stop about this concert, tells me their song "There Must Be Another Way" represented Israel in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, held in Moscow. He also says this is their only area stop on their tour of the U.S.

I'm working on getting an interview with these fascinating ladies. Meanwhile, for ticket information, call (610) 275-8797, ext. 144 or go to http://www.tbibluebell.org/.

And who knew?! Burning Bridget Cleary, a high-energy Celtic folk band from Harleysville, just won accolades from http://www.celticradio.net/. Their awards include Album of the Year, and song awards in the Jigs and Reels and Contemporary categories.

They will be performing May 15 at DCP Theater, 795 Ridge Road, Salford Township. Tickets are $15. The concert is a very rare music event at the Dutch Country Playhouse, which is a benefit for the community theater.

Talkin' First Fridays in Lansdale

The time for talking about the rather ambitious LCPA First Fridays is drawing short. Because ready or not, it's coming to Lansdale 5:30 to 8:30 Friday April 2.
Checking the bios of the musical performers for the debut of this monthly series, I decided to look up MySpace niches and respective Web sites.
LINDSEY MCKAY, www.myspace.com/lindseymckaymusic. Her debut album of original songs with lyrics written by her manager and mom, JKay, appears to be on the verge of release. Without the day in/day out pressure cooker karaoke contest that is "American Idol," McKay is allowed to breathe and shine. "Wouldn't Change a Thing" and "Broken Vows" are tasty pop nuggets. Brett Kull's production on these tunes makes them special, and I'd like to see if that translates to a live performance. My fear is that she's going to face an uphill climb trying to get noticed nationally because she somehow has to get out of the shadow cast by established "Idol" superstars Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.
KEVIN JAMES DEVINE, www.myspace.com/kevindevine0604. The dude is brilliant. Hard to believe this guy just picked up a guitar and could suddenly play and sing like that. Dig the tinges of '70s country rock on "Long Way to Go."
MORGAN ASHLEY, www.myspace.com/morganholtz. Another one that seemed to find an instant passion for playing and performing. She was so much in the zone that she took off right away for the U.K., Italy, Australia and New Zealand and came back with an entire notebook of original songs. Are you kidding me!? M.A.'s MySpace audio is a maddening study in contrasts. The charming, minimalist, low-fi of "All" makes you wish her voice was more to the fore. Meanwhile, the fully produced rock of "Bold" is overkill. Can somebody find this girl a happy medium between the two extremes?
HIDDEN AGENDA, www.wearethehiddenagenda.com. They're a Blue Bell cover band out to "break up the monotony of the cover band scene." Too bad the video clip of a performance of "Shout" suffers from subpar audio. The drunk guy in the audience falling on the floor I could've done without.
ELITE STRINGS, www.adrianalinaresmusic.com/Elite_Strings_Youth_Orchestra_&_Ensembles.html. Impressive musicianship. There's performance video of each age group, then one of all the divisions combined.