Big Light-Animals In Bloom
San Francisco’s Big Light recently swept into The Saint for a quick lesson in how to squeeze everything you’ve ever learned into your musical offering and make it sound like you’ve done it in your sleep. From the beginning, the band stood way out as something extraordinary. Of course I had expected some kind of jam band centered on peace, love and free love and what I got was a pleasant dose of analog warm 1970s rock and roll cut with a gram or two of slick and polished songwriting.
These West coast warriors have spent every waking moment since 2007 getting things right and it’s paying off. I’m a fan of the smart arrangements and composition styles used here, noticing that they throw everything from Beatles tongue in cheek style of double entendres to the delicious guitar mêlée of groups such as Cheap Trick and Mott The Hoople into their mix. Speaking of those great bands, singer/songwriter/guitarist Fred Torphy has a very cool Robin Zander/Ian Hunter delivery that works well among the musical action. Picture the eye of a tumultuous storm and that’s where you’ll find Torphy with this band. And Big Light is becoming the perfect storm.
Fred Torphy launched Big Light primarily as a springboard for his own material and he enlisted drummer Bradly Bifulco as well as bay area fixture Steve Adams (who also has played with Jack Johnson) on bass. Around 2008 saw the addition of New Jersey guitarist Jeremy Korpas (Days Awake, Green Tag Sale) who came in and really just lifted this band into professional status. His aggressive style and melodic lead work cleared the way for Torphys visions. With the key players in place, Big Light set about the task of moving thru unchartered creative courses and getting mat...
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...oring the mutational macabre and all the fears gnashing jaws can muster, The Shore will have you locking your doors and windows up tight.
Dunbar has developed an original imprint that stays with you for a long, long time. I see all these flowery descriptions from journalists and critics like “Poetic” and “Classic’ But the truth is that Robert Dunbar has come up with a style that doesn’t tread lightly and he has changed our very thought process when it comes to entering these physical places that we’ve always taken for granted. He also told me that we should expect a part three in this ongoing trilogy that will be set in Camden.
One thing is for sure; you will never catch me under the boardwalk or out in the New Jersey Pine Barrens alone or with friends… ever again. For further information on places that you may never come back from, go to www.dunbarauthor.com
...did through his poems. Although the themes of slavery, past and longing were depicted in Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poems, he provided a different aspect in each one; portraying ‘A Drowsy Day’ of a lonely reminiscent narrator, who was trapped in their confined home as well as their mind, being unable to escape from the constant swirl of memories. He uses ‘An Old Memory’ to convey the past as positive and full of hope, although disappointed by his present day, the past remained to have a ‘subtle charm’ – contrastingly in ‘Sympathy’, the poet describes the past as ‘cruel’, thus portraying it in a more dark and unwelcome light. Arthur Miller portrays the past as full of regret for Biff, but also of ambition for his father. All of these texts portrayed the past as a place where identity was stronger, however it could be argued that the past was where slaves had no identity.
The child in Countee Cullen’s poem gives a similarly “color”-less description of the “Baltimorean” boy as he/she say...
The Dave Matthews Band has been a musical power house for years. They have meshed together almost every type of music together to create their extremely unique sounds and attractiveness towards their music. Dave Matthews, lead singer and guitarist from South Africa has put together a band that no one will ever be able to create again. Dave picked four extremely talented and unique sounding men to join his band and together they have created some amazing music. The members of the band include Stefan Lessard on bass, Boyd Tinsley on violin, Leroi Moore on saxophone and one of the best drummers in the world, Carter Beauford. Together these men will one day leave behind a similar reputation as one of the all time greatest "jam" bands of time.
Imagine attending a concert in which if you were to close your eyes, you would assume that the music you are hearing is being created by a cast of band members, each playing their respective instruments. Contrary to your assumptions, however, this band only consists of one member. Keller Williams, dubbed by critics as a one-man-band, is one of a kind both in his musical talent and his solo act. Very few solo musicians have mastered such a multi-dimensional sound and captivating live show as Keller, making him standout amongst today’s musicians. Keller’s ability to perform improvisational live shows, form a large and dedicated fan base, and share the beliefs and attitudes of the hippie generation has given him the musical identity of the jam band genre in addition to his personal identity of being a solo act.
Paul Laurence Dunbar is one of the most influential African American poets to gain a nationwide reputation. Dunbar the son of two former slaves; was born in 1872 in Dayton, Ohio. His work is truly one of a kind, known for its rich, colorful language, encompassed by the use of dialect, a conversational tune, and a brilliant rhetorical structure. The style of Dunbar’s poetry includes two distinct voices; the standard English of the classical poet and the evocative dialect of the turn of the century black community in America. His works include a large body of dialect poems, standard English poems, essays, novels, and short stories. The hardships encountered by members of is race along with the efforts of African Americans to achieve equality in America were often the focus of his writings. http://www.dunbarsite.org/
The band consist of 8 members, Nathan East bassist/vocals, Andy Fairweather-Low, lead guitar/vocals, Steve Ferrone- drums, Chuck Leavell-key boardist, Ray Cooper- tambourines, Katie Kissoon and Tessa Niles- vocals, and Eric Clapton- composer, rock n roll guitarist, lead vocalist. The band members dressed in casual attire. The band members were professionals, they knew exactly how to orchestrate every chord, they collaborated with the lead singer and each other in ways that wasn’t so noticeable to the audience but they knew which chords to use for every song, the band was a top notch team. The tempo of the songs were a mixture of fast, slow, to a medium style beat. The texture of the songs was homophonic and well put together lyrics. The style of the music was from the 1960s-1970s which genres were rock, blues rock, psychedelic rock, hard rock, jazz and blues.
Another rare occurrence; real songwriters and musicians playing their own music! The five-piece band is led by vocalist, Karin Barquist, and her husband Linford Detweiler, keyboardist and collaborator. The rest of the band consists of Paul Moak who played the sitar during the opening song and lead guitar during most of the others, Will Seyles on drums, and Rick Plant on bass guitar. But Barquist seems to be the key member in the band. She has all the qualities a good lead singer should have; great voice, good-looking, poised, mature and confident. She really runs the show up there, and makes it look effortless in the process.
Etheridge Knight’s “Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane” is an interesting poem spurred from his own experiences, that explores a variety of things from basic human emotions to controversial medical treatments. Knight was incarcerated for 8 years for robbery, during which he began to develop his skill as a poet, and this stint in prison influenced the settings and styles of his poetry. Knight’s poem is unique in its slang-styled diction, but brings about relatable concepts to allow the reader to connect with the text. Two prominent themes within the poem are that anyone, no matter how strong or looked up to, can be broken, and also that slavery is still alive today, even if it is not in its traditional form. Knight combines these themes with deeper meanings and an individual way of writing to create a poem that is compelling and classic.
Formed in 2008, “Sylvan Street” is a high-wattage jazz fusion band made up of eight incredible musicians who each bring their own talent to the stage creating one swingin’ band. Jay Rees plays bass and is the leader of the band, Kelland Thomas is the band’s only saxophonist, Chad Shoopman and Kenny Smukal both play trumpet, while Frank Browne plays guitar. Andrew Hix performs on the drums and vocals, Evan Rees on the piano and percussion, and Michael Faltin plays percussion. For this particular performance the band also had a guest percussionist, Douglas McCullough. Though the band never strays away from jazz itself, they create unique jazz fusion songs where they’ll combine swing, blues, popular song, rock and roll, latin rhythms, and urban techno beats.
band's sometimes classical sound. Leroi plays a Haynes closed hole C foot flute, a Yamaha
experiences at the frontier in a journal. Dunbar finds a deserted fort and lives there on his
This piece was filled with improvisation and you could feel the creativity following from the musicians. The combo didn’t have a conductor like the big band and was significantly smaller. Although, the combo was smaller and less formal it wasn’t any less of a performance. The piece started out with a phenomenal alto sax solo by Kevin Clements of Lamar, Missouri. Kevin is a talented musician, with his dark, rich sounding solo, he hit it out of the park. Ivan Vazquez of Garden City, Kansas performed another great solo on the trombone. Maddy Beasley, Kearney, Missouri followed Ivan with a tenor saxophone
Swenson, John.” The Story of a Band”. Billboard. 5 Dec. 1998. General Onefile.Web. 16 Apr.2014
Ferguson, Margaret W. , Mary Jo Salter, and Jon Stallworthy. The Norton Anthology Of Poetry. shorter fifth edition. New York, New York: W W Norton & Co Inc, 2005. print.
I noticed he constantly switched from the synthesizer to the keyboard, and this was to change the tune and make it sound layered as I mentioned before. I also noticed that at times he played the keyboard slowly and other times he would play extremely fast. So rapidly that I even questioned how a man can first not only move his arms so fast but also play so beautifully at such high speeds. A tune he played even sounded like a swish-swashing sound, and I was amazed by how a synthesizer and keyboard can possibly make such sounds. I also noticed that for this song that both Lionel Loueke and Dave Holland played the guitar, and I think this was to match the fusion electric instrument style. Overall, the entire band did a great opening for their performance; everyone looked like they were doing their own thing and were very content.