My nieces have founded a new music genre, “Hobbit Rock” — and they are steadily growing their talent and their fan base. Check them out!
Category Archives: Music
Gil Scott-Heron
Gil Scott-Heron, jazz poet, has died.
“Revolution” established Mr. Scott-Heron as a rising star of the black cultural left, and its cool, biting ridicule of a nation anesthetized by mass media has resonated with the socially disaffected of various stripes — campus activists, media theorists, coffeehouse poets — for four decades. With sharp, sardonic wit and a barrage of pop-culture references, he derided society’s dominating forces as well as the gullibly dominated:
The revolution will not be brought to you by the Schaefer Award Theater and will not star Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia.
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal.
The revolution will not get rid of the nubs.
The revolution will not make you look five pounds thinner, because the revolution will not be televised, brother.
Now we have more screens to trance in front of, more drugs, and one less poet lost to his own pain. Life is short, art is long.
Phoebe Snow
She had a lovely and distinctive voice, she was a dedicated and loving mother, she’s one of the sounds of our youth.
She could have been a superstar, but she left the career behind to care for her daughter, Valerie Rose, born with hydrocephalus. She had soul, on and off the stage.
I Feel Young Again
It’s the joy of breathing. Also, The Met is hosting three days of music by the Young Adults May 27-29. Rudy Cheeks might stop shaving his head and let his full flowing locks grow again. It’s a complex world.
A Pint With Dave
I like to visit Dave’s Corner Tavern once in a while, especially today when Dave Von Ebbers gives credit to one of the great, underestimated music groups of the 80′s, The Bus Boys.
Bambi vs Eminem
I don’t usually link to Fox ‘News’, but they got the scoop on the attempted attack on our beloved national crooner, Eminem. Fortunately, the terroristic feral intruder was stopped by a gate.
Hang tough, Eminem. No random deer gonna sneak up on you.
Steve Stycos with News Cranstonians Can Use
COMING AND GOING
The faces at the Pawtuxet Village Farmers Market are shifting in the last few weeks of the season, but we will have plenty of fall vegetables like winter squash, carrots, apples and honey. After a week off, Zephyr Farm will be back on Saturday, but Pak Express will be absent as Chang Xiong goes to Minnesota to visit her sister. Saturday will also be Bob Fratantuono’s last week for the season.
Next week, November 20, will be our big Thanksgiving market and the last market of the year.
SUPPORT THE BAND
The Cranston High School East marching band needs volunteers to work the concession stand at Gillette Stadium. The money raised benefits the band and color guard. The Cranston band group will work December 4, 6,19 and Jan 2 If you would like to help, call Trish Heim at 323-5989.
RIVER CLEAN UP
Saturday November 20, the Pawtuxet River Authority will conduct a huge river clean-up at Belmont Park in Warwick and also across the river in Cranston on Perkins Avenue. Both sites have much debris left over debris from the spring flooding. FEMA is paying for the dumpsters and PRA is mustering volunteers.
We will work from 8:30 to 12:30 and then have pizza for lunch. Folks can certainly keep working after lunch if they wish.
We will meet at Belmont Park (as you head south from Providence on Elmwood Avenue, take the first left after crossing the river). Some folks (like those with kids) can stay at Belmont Park and others can go over to Cranston where the debris is heavier and more difficult to get to. We will have gloves, but folks can bring their gloves too.
See you Saturday at the market.
Bake, Baby, Bake!
From Cranston Councilman-Elect Steve Stycos (Congratulations, Steve! I am proud to have worked for your campaign!), some advice for the season and news of upcoming events:
BAKE, BABY, BAKE
The Pawtuxet Village Farmers Market will have plenty of good food left this Saturday, Saturday November 13 and at our big final Thanksgiving market Saturday November 20.
It’s getting cold, so it is a good time to bake and keep your kitchen warm too. Barden Orchards has several varieties of apples for pies or crisps. The Xiongs have potatoes, carrots and greens. Zephyr Farm has eggs, onions and squash for frittatas. Bob Fratantuono has green house tomatoes. Bernie Bieder has honey.
The recently concluded political campaign was loaded with talk about supporting small business, but the best way to help small businesses is to buy local. Many other Rhode Island markets close at Halloween, but we stay open for another three weeks of growing and buying local.
UPCOMING HALL LIBRARY EVENTS
Saturday November 6th, 10 AM-12 PM: Read to a Dog. Children in grades 1 and up are invited to read to Abby, a certified therapy dog. Space is limited. Call Megan at the Hall Library to register for a time slot.
Sunday November 7th, 2 PM: The “Jazz in the Hall” series concludes with a newly formed band from the Edgewood area. The Philtones play everything from the American Songbook to bebop classics. The band is made up of Phil Mullen, sax; Phil Plant, guitar, Bob Asprinio, bass; and Rick Couto, on the drums. The audience will enjoy their enthusiastic and professional style.
Wednesday November 17th, 6:30 PM: Reading in the Hall. The library book discussion group will discuss This I believe: the personal philosophies of remarkable men and women edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman. Based on the National Public Radio series of the same name, This I Believe features eighty essayists from the famous to the unknown, completing the thought that begins the book’s title.
See you Saturday at the market.
I especially like the library event for kids to read to Abby, the certified therapy dog! Sounds like fun!
The Schemers
I got to see Mark Cutler and the Schemers play in Warwick last night. I didn’t plan to dance but it was impossible not to.
It’s a good summer for music.
The Heavenly Choir Gets Syncopated
Because tonight they will Sing Along With Mitch.
Mitch Miller has died at the age of 99 after an illustrious and melodic career. Although Kerouac was only about an hour up 95 in Lowell, Mitch Miller was as beat as a suburban Rhode Island kid would ever see on her black and white TV.
We are so sophisticated now that it’s time for a post-ironic appreciation of musicians who walked the sharp line between conformity and cool, back when growing a goatee could get you unplugged, censored and silenced.
Rest in Peace, Mitch. Keep the boogy in the heavenly choir and find the sunny window where the cool cats hang out.
