NEWS FEATURES • Acoustic Americana Music Guide • July 27, 2012 edition

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NEWS FEATURES
from THE ACOUSTIC AMERICANA MUSIC GUIDE
July 27, 2012 edition
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Here are this week’s NEWS FEATURES, with news about, and of interest to, artists and fans of Folk-Americana and acoustic music.
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The Guide’s SPOTLIGHT EVENTS is also BRAND NEW, published separately, and available right here on the same site as a companion edition, with festivals and concerts (indoors and out) and club gigs and benefit shows and workshops and all kindsa things happening on the acoustic music performance scene. We invite you to find your way there, via the sidebar at left or just below this edition, depending on which site you are using. Check it out!
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Here’s this week’s news. Enjoy!
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What’s in this edition…
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♪ 1) Music and The Olympics: What to Expect
♪ 2) “Long Beach Crawfish Festival” Brings Music, Dancing, N’Awlins Food
♪ 3) “Day of the Cowboy & Cowgirl” Festival at the Autry, Saturday
♪ 4) Saturday’s “NoHo Midsummer Festival” Supports Important Charity
♪ 5) “Newport Folk Festival” Live on Web Radio / Video Stream, All Weekend
♪ 6) Arctic Ice Melting Shockingly Fast, as Big Oil Prepares More Drilling
♪ 7) Review: 9 Bands at Last Weekend’s 19th Annual “Los Feliz Street Fair”
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Here are these feature stories…
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♪ 1) MUSIC AND THE OLYMPICS: WHAT TO EXPECT
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Music at the Games has been in the news for weeks. One writer quipped, “Writing Olympic songs seems to be a sporting event in itself this year.”
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There has been controversy and a sense of alienation since it was revealed that the musicians booked to play official Olympic-related events will be playing them without pay. There’s money – millions – for corporatization and branding and spectacle. But there’s no money to pay artists who contribute to the experience for visitors and athletes alike. Unless they’re in commercials that are selling something. Fattening fast food or high-fructose-corn-syrup infested soft drinks, or athletic wear made in third-world sweatshops. Those “participations” get you paid. But if a musician was “hired” just to provide music for some aspect of The Games, he or she must be content with a reward of exposure. Perhaps YouTube will bring them some measure of exposure. Unless somebody else demands money.
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The Summer Games of the XXX OLYMPIAD Opening Ceremonies are supposed to begin when they open, but that isn’t how things work. The Games have been underway since Wednesday, July 25th. Not until Friday, July 27th, from 7:30 pm-midnight, are the Opening Ceremonies are on TV. That’s not because of some multiday time delay. There is just so much competition in so many sports that they need to jump their own starting gate. But Friday is important. This is the broadcast that always has the highest ratings and showcases music. This one, from the Olympic Stadium in London, includes a performance by SIR PAUL McCARTNEY, plus some sports competition that happened during the day.
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Friday’s grandiose Opening Ceremony, plus a grandiose Closing Ceremony two-and-a-half weeks from now, will each attempt to out-spectacle every previous Olympics. How spectacular will the music be? Tune to the Opening Ceremonies and you’ll hear DURAN DURAN, THE SEX PISTOLS (performing their rowdy “God Save the Queen”), SUGABABES, THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS, and other pop-rockers attempting a latter-day British Invasion of global sensibilities. Rumors abound that the ROLLING STONES, ARCTIC MONKEYS, and / or SPICE GIRLS will take part. Still, the opening / closing spectacles will include some music for the traditionalists. There’s “The Eastenders Theme,” “The Eaton Boating Song,” and PAUL McCARTNEY’s traditional-by-contrast “Glastonbury-style” communal sing-along of “Hey Jude.”
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Yet the many, many other live music performances at the London Games can probably be enjoyed only if you are there.
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Of course, on TV in the US, you’ll hear ad finitum “The Bugler’s Dream,” the inescapably inspiring LEO ARNAUD anthem with horns and kettle drums that we all know as the Olympic Theme, originally written for ABC’s coverage decades ago. And there’s the newer JOHN WILLIAMS’ piece with that rapid-fire, delightfully harmonic, horn chorus. (Arnaud lived 1904-1991, so at least he enjoyed a lot of royalties for his Olympic theme and the many film scores he composed. Williams has written more iconic music than anybody can list in under an hour.)
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TV – and in the US, that means the NBC-owned and affiliated networks – will be focused, as always, on over-emphasizing the US team and its members regardless of their standings and competitive performances. They’ll broadcast events every evening, and at abominable hours during the night, and on MSNBC during the day when people who have jobs in this crappy economy are at work. We have known people who use vacation days so they won’t miss anything. And we’ve known those who watch MSNBC’s coverage online all day at the office and don’t get any work done. For most of us, that leaves the evening broadcasts. Those are usually pretty good, but they do keep you up way too late, waiting for the good stuff.
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Olympics fans become dumb about everything else during The Games. They won’t risk spoilers – results of events before they are broadcast, because of the time difference between London and US prime time TV – so they don’t risk exposing themselves to news broadcasts. The newspaper is okay, because the time difference doesn’t permit spoilers after printing press deadlines. But since most Americans get their news electronically, they – we – change our online home pages to ones that won’t spoil Olympics results, and online newspapers, which constantly update, are out. And we just won’t risk any TV or radio news broadcasts.
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That makes this a good time for Mitt Romney to release his tax returns and answer all those questions about exporting American jobs using Bain Capital takeovers of US companies. He can say whatever he wants and there will be no widespread public horror. It can be a prolonged Etch-a-Sketch moment for him. No one is paying attention now. We’re all watching the US Women’s Gymnastics team and the world’s fastest runners and the Decathlon and water polo. Oh, and Romney’s prize dressage horse, Rafalca, dancing at the Olympic Horse Prom.
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At least KNBC and Fred Rogan will proclaim “spoiler alerts” during their broadcasts, allowing you to plug your ears, look away and hum before there’s suddenly no reason to watch anymore that day or night. Their TV competitors love spoiling Olympic results so you’ll watch their usual lineup of junk collectors and hoarders and junk buying scalpers and inarticulate junk sellers, reality shows about pathetic morons and idiots from New Jersey, laugh-track-adorned garbage, contrived celebrity scandals from Hollywood, and carcass-laden forensic crime shows, instead. The Olympics look better by the moment, don’t they?
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Southern Californians can be proud that a disproportionate number of US team members are from our sun-drenched, culturally, aesthetically, and athletically diverse region. Local TV will surely celebrate them. But watch out for those spoilers if you risk watching ANY news, from any source, during the games. Even NPR enjoys screwing you that way. There’s no excuse for radio to do it, but they do.
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Through all of it, the Olympics can be wonderful and dramatic, filled with inspiring stories of the triumph of remarkable individuals over adversity. Even those who have given-up on the usual TV sports often find the Olympics the best drama anywhere. As legendary college football coach ROLAND ORTMAYER was fond of saying, “The difference between amateur athletics and professional sports is the difference between making love and prostitution.” NBA millionaire players aside, the Olympic teams of the world are mostly comprised of young people who strive and compete for the sheer joy of the endeavor. And that’s genuinely beautiful.
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Back to music and the Olympics. Consider this side of the pond. Take time to remember the many music venues that suffer when mega-events happen on TV and keep music hall seats half empty. Take a break (or two, or three) during the nineteen days of The Games, between now and the Closing Ceremonies, and support live music in a local (or a favorite regional) music venue, or a festival. Then drop 99 cents a few times for downloads of some tunes you’ve just discovered there. Yes, we’re still advocates of CDs, of the-album-as-art-form, but most artists are happy when you start with a few downloads of their music. And the venues? Think of them like your favorite flowering plants that especially need watering in the hot summer. Keep ’em green and thriving so they’ll always be there to delight you with their colorful blooms.
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♪ 2) “LONG BEACH CRAWFISH FESTIVAL” BRINGS MUSIC, DANCING, N’AWLINS FOOD
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The 19th annual “LONG BEACH CRAWFISH FESTIVAL,” Saturday & Sunday, July 28 & 29, is all about live music, dancing, and exceptionally good food in large quantities. It’s a Guide “SHOW-of-the-WEEK” pick, on all counts. There are performances by some top Louisiana bands. Listen or dance to CEDRYL BALLOU & THE ZYDECO TRENDSETTERS, ANDRE THIERRY & ZYDECO MAGIC, BONNE MUSIQUE ZYDECO, ROYALE GARDEN DIXIELAND BAND, A.J. GIBBS “THE MYDECO DANCE KING,” WAYLON THIBODEAUX, LIL’ BRIAN & THE ZYDECO TRAVELERS, STEP RIDEAU & THE ZYDECO OUTLAWS, BENNIE & THE SWAMP GATORS, NEW ORLEANS BOOGIE BAND, plus comedy & magic of KERRY ROSS.
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This festival draws 15,000 people over two days, and features different acts each day, so if you’re a fan of Louisiana music, it’s very worth attending Saturday and Sunday. Plus, you can eat more.
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The “Louisiana to L.A. Second Line Dancers” and “New Orleans High Steppers” take part, and there are large wooden dance floors, shaded, and lessons for all. In addition to the ticket option that includes the crawfish feast, there’s a large international food court with many tasty offerings. As they say Down South, “It’s some kinda good!” There’s a Children’s Stage, running noon-6 pm both days, with storytelling, magicians, inflatable impressions, adjacent inflated bounces, and more.
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The festival runs Noon-11 pm Saturday, Noon-10 pm Sunday, at Rainbow Lagoon Events Park, 400 Shoreline Village Dr, Long Beach 90802.
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Parking is available at the Long Beach Convention Center, 300 Ocean Blvd, for $10. Or ride the Metro Blue Line light rail to the end (careful, because it’s a loop that runs back to L.A.) and catch the Long Beach shuttle bus or walk three blocks from the Blue Line.
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Tickets have several options, The $13 advance ticket is admission only (children under age 12 are free, accompanied by an adult). OR, and highly recommended, there’s a $25 advance option that includes admission and a big, rectangular “Crawfish Feast” platter, cooked on site and served by Bristol Farms. Or there’s a more gluttonous option that includes a whole bucket of crawfish and admission, for $30 advance. (Prices for the food options are substantially higher at the gate, and the Guide has been letting you know for months.)
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Just go and listen and dance to the extent you can and eat something while you’re there and you’ll be happy. It’s really a quality event. More at www.longbeachcrawfishfestival.com.
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♪ 3) “DAY OF THE COWBOY & COWGIRL” FESTIVAL AT THE AUTRY, SATURDAY
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The annual “DAY OF THE COWBOY & COWGIRL” is Southern California’s signature event for the 8th Annual “NATIONAL OF THE COWBOY” and a Guide “SHOW-of-the-WEEK” pick. It runs Saturday, July 28, 10 am-5 pm, at the Autry National Center / Autry Museum of the American West, in L.A.’s Griffith Park.
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This kid-and-family-friendly event has lots of music from JEAN SUDBURY, MISS DEVON & THE OUTLAW, KRISTYN HARRIS, and TRIPLE CHICKEN FOOT.
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And there’s plenty, more, pard. Saddle-up to celebrate the American cowboy and cowgirl at the Autry with live music, square dancing, kids' crafts, a tasty down-home outdoor barbecue, and more. Watch performances by amazing gun-slinger JOEY DILLON, trick ropers DAVE THORNBURY and GENE McLAUGHLIN, and skip to the beat of square dance caller BECKY NANKIVELL. Autry docent CHUCK MERMAN brings frontier medicine to life with replica artifacts. And other hands-on carts throughout the museum will let you touch the past.
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There are MANY activities, all day. These include creating your own leather masterpiece with help from STANDING BEAR’S Trading Post. Kids should visit the “Children's Craft Corral” in Heritage Court to make their own Day of the Cowboy souvenirs, including a bolo tie. They can try roping a “cow” in the main plaza and pan for real gold in the museum’s interactive “Trails West.”
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You can watch screenings of “The Gene Autry Show” in the Wells Fargo Theater. There’s a working 1880s chuck wagon and presentations on “Cowboy Life on the Trail.” Visit an Olde Time Western Dress-up Photography Studio and get attired for your own Old West-style portrait, individual or family or group. Horses, down at the South Lawn corral, are there to visit, and you can decorate a horseshoe to take home.
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Ambitious wannabe cowpokes can follow a museum-wide scavenger hunt to find clues about the diverse people who embody cowboy culture.
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Everyone can join-in the festivities by dressing up in your best cowboy and cowgirl Western gear, and that adds to your enjoyment. However, NO GUNS, including replicas, are allowed on the premises.
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Arriving early is a very good idea, to get convenient parking and to avoid traffic snarls. This event has consumed all available parking the past two years and the BBQ sells-out early. It’s best to enter Griffith Park by some entrance other than Zoo Drive off the 134 / 5 Freeways, because that one backs-up at a four-way stop sign that causes long delays.
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The Autry National Center / Autry Museum of the American West is located across the parking lot from the L.A. Zoo, at 4700 Western Heritage Way, Griffith Park, L.A. 90027. Info, 323-667-2000; www.theautry.org.
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Festival tickets include complimentary admission to the museum, and are the same price as museum admission rates on any ordinary day. Admission gets you into all the festival events as well as all the museum’s galleries, so plan to spend the day. (It’s free for Autry members.) Giddyup!
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♪ 4) SATURDAY’S “NOHO MIDSUMMER FESTIVAL” SUPPORTS IMPORTANT CHARITY
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The 17th annual “NOHO MIDSUMMER NIGHT COFFEE HOUSE & MUSIC FESTIVAL” includes lots of music – all acoustic – and dinner. It’s a charity benefit for and at the ARC Center in North Hollywood, held Saturday, July 28, from 5:45-11 pm.
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They’ve been at this a long time, and they produce a nice event with a lot of rootsy Folk-Americana and singer-songwriter performances and jams, all to provide a good time for a good cause. ARC is “Activities, Recreation & Care for individuals with Developmental Disabilities.
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Late info bills this as a night of “Traditional, original, and acoustic music under the stars by some of the area’s finest musicians and friends of the ARC.”
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The ARC Center is located at 6456 Whitsett Av, North Hollywood 91606. For info and tix, call ARC at 818-762-4356, or contact festival producer Larry Schallert at LSchallert@aol.com or 661-714-2549.
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Doors open at 5 pm for the best seats. Dinner (included in admission) is served 5:30-8:30 pm. In addition, they will have a cash bar, raffles and other ways to support the ARC Center. Tix are $20 adults, $15 ARC Young Adult Club Members, $15 kids age 5-14; kids under age 5 are free.
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♪ 5) “NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL” LIVE ON WEB RADIO / VIDEO STREAM, ALL WEEKEND
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Friday, July 27 through Sunday, July 29, FOLK ALLEY travels to Newport, Rhode Island to the storied “NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL” to bring listeners – and web VIEWERS – live coverage of the events. It’s a collaboration that uses the resources of NPR Music, WFUV, MVYRadio and Boston’s forever-folk-friendly radio station WUMB.
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Things kick-off Friday at 4:30 pm (Pacific) with WILCO performing live on the Folk Alley radio stream. Or, you can watch a live video webcast of the show at the same site, FolkAlley.com.
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On Saturday & Sunday, they’ll bring you two full days of live performances. Starting at 8:30 am (Pacific) each day, the live audio and video webcasts continue, from the Fort Stage and Quad Stage.
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The weekend webcast schedule includes Saturday shows by ROBERT ELLIS, BROWN BIRD, JONNY CORNDAWG, PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND, DEER TICK, ALABAMA SHAKES, SHARON VAN ETTEN, DAWES, IRON & WINE, SPIRIT FAMILY REUNION, GUTHRIE FAMILY REUNION, & MY MORNING JACKET.
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Sunday, they’ll bring you the Kossoy Sisters, Sara Watkins, Joe Fletcher, Trampled By Turtles, New Multitudes, Charles Bradley, Gary Clark Jr., The Head And The Heart, Of Monsters And Men, Conor Oberst, Punch Brothers, & Jackson Browne.
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Just remember to subtract three hours from he schedules shown on their site to get Pacific time.
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In addition to the live performances, you can enjoy a special Newport Folk Festival Mix at NPR Music, at www.npr.org/2012/07/10/156572574/newport-folk-2012-the-preview-mix?fa-120726.
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So, if you’re staying home or traped in the office this weekend and missing one of the wonderful festivals in Southern California, you can make the astral projection through cyberspace to Rhode Island. Ain’t life wunnerful?
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♪ 6) ARCTIC ICE MELTING SHOCKINGLY FAST, AS BIG OIL PREPARES MORE DRILLING
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If it were only an exercise in logic, wherein the deniers of climate change could be called on the carpet for preparing to exploit arctic resources once everything is free of ice. At is exactly what they are doing, and things are far too serious to simply shake your head at their hypocrisy.
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This week, satellite images showed the entire ice mass of Greenland is no longer frozen. Where ice used to tower in white frozen cliffs above the ocean, it has retreated so far inland in the past five years that the view from the sea is only a rocky shore.
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Arctic oil drilling has already been condemned by the Insurance companies and the US Coast Guard. In the past week, Greenpeace and others have been taking to the streets. But Big Oil is as powerful a special interest as civilization has ever produced. It will require a groundswell of protest to stop them from doing anything they want to do, from exploiting everything anywhere in search of more and more record profits and bloated bonuses for their executives.
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Right now, Shell is only days away from actually drilling for oil in the Alaskan Arctic, in a breeding ground for whales and polar bears. The far north is one of the world's last untouched places. Even without local invasive stresses on its pristine ecosystem, all that lives there is already endangered by global warming and rapid ice melt.
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Shell is proceeding under the terms of a US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) -issued permit. But there are serious allegations that they are flagrantly violating the terms of their permit. EPA chief administrator LISA JACKSON can withdraw Shell's Arctic permit right now, because the company is unable to meet mandatory air pollution limits for the ships bringing-in equipment. Violating the permit before any oil is even in production is an ominous harbinger.
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If you believe in direct action, call Lisa Jackson at the EPA, at 202-564-4700. Urge her to save the Arctic and demand revocation of Shell’s permit because they are already polluting beyond allowed limits, even before commencing actual drilling.
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If you’d like to read thoughts and comments from those who have already contacted her office, a global activist organization called Avaaz has established a mobilization bulletin board at www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_arctic_call_in/?bbfCMab&v=16618. You can add your comments there, as well. But there is no substitute for calling the EPA.
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Climate change is driving dangerous temperature rises – the hottest decade on record; over 1200 new record high temperatures so far this year in the US alone; huge pieces of the Antarctic ice sheet detaching from that continent; and record droughts in North America that exceed those of the Great Depression’s Dust Bowl.
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Last week, a chunk of the ice sheet – a mega-glacier nearly 40 kilometers long – broke-off Greenland and will become a monstrous iceberg, drifting south until it melts in warmer waters. New estimates predict that in just four years, the arctic will be completely free of ice in the summer months.
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Ask a Pacific islander what this means for their ancestral lands. They’ll tell you their world is already disappearing beneath the rising sea level. Over 80% of the earth’s population lives near sea level. Rising seas would require resettlement on a scale no one can imagine, and it would remove some of the earth’s most fertile land from food production.
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As Avaaz observes, “For some, this planetary disaster is the 21st century gold rush. Companies and countries who hope to make billions are lining-up to frantically grab their share of oil, gas, and minerals. This is a simple decision: the people and planet’s future, or increasing Big Oil’s profits with a 40% possibility of a catastrophic oil spill.”
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If Lisa Jackson allows EPA to continue Shell’s oil drilling permit despite their ongoing violations, then Exxon, Chevron and the rest of Big Oil are poised to pollute fragile wildlife habitats and despoil beautiful arctic landscapes with dirty rigs, pumps and pipes. There is little time left. You can urge Lisa Jackson to stop Shell before it’s too late. Her office number is 202-564-4700.
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♪ 7) REVIEW: 9 BANDS AT LAST WEEKEND’S 19th ANNUAL “LOS FELIZ STREET FAIR”
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Free is not always synonymous with good, but last Sunday’s event in Los Feliz was both. It delivered good music and a tasty array of affordable food. We gave it a sizeable write-up in advance because the bookings on its two stages were heavily folk-Americana music.
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So far this year, a free full day of “our” music is the exception in L.A. As always, that’s hard to figure. Southern California sees more live performances of Folk-Americana and acoustic music in any given week than of all other kinds of music, combined. Still, a free festival with the opportunity to see favorites we know are good and others we’ve heard about but not yet seen? Put us coach, we’re fresh and ready.
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This free festival was all about making the long walk between stages at opposite ends of the site, sampling from the food booths and navigating through arts and crafts and community organizations and other vendors along the way between the Vermont Stage and the Hillhurst Stage. And about going back and forth, all afternoon and well into the evening. It was mostly worth the exercise of repeated journeys, and it was fun to watch the little kids squealing with delight on the many carnival rides and staring in wonder at musicians making music. DAVE OSTI and RIVER ROUGE had already played before we arrived. We would like to have seen both of them. But we saw and heard a lot of music.
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We review each band that we heard. Small separators, like the ones immediately below, divide the reviews of each act or aspect of the event. Band names appear at the top of each review. Enjoy!
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FORT KING
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The Vermont Stage was almost exclusively Americana. We caught FORT KING there, as they began their 1 pm set. They’re a four-piece with two acoustic six string players, an attractive lass on fiddle, and a guy on standup bass. They’re from all over the map. The lead singer-guitarist is from Florida and told a crowd – fanning themselves and seeking sparse shade – that he loves heat. The others are from Ohio, Colorado, and Oregon – and the latter doesn’t love heat. A couple of press photographers and another journalist were conspicuously evident for this outfit.
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They have several styles and seem to be trying to find themselves, musically. FORT KING had opened with a rollickin’ folk song, classically so, and we kept hoping they would get back to that. Their second song, “In the Lion’s Den,” began very ’60s-ish, sounding promising, with male duo harmony vocals. Then, ominously, it began drifting toward the droll contemporary vocal vogue.
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Their third song, a brand-new original they were performing for the first time, was a thoroughly droll outing. All four sang, and the fiddler switched to mandolin. It should have been nice, but stylistically, it wasn’t. We wanted to like them. They were not cooperating.
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We got a slow song with extended “Ahh-ahhs.” We developed the idea that they are better than their material.
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A few in the mostly-young audience seemed entranced by the droll stuff. Unfortunately, it persisted. The next song was something about dressing cut wrists with iodine and finding arrowheads in the clay. But the delivery was way too droll to want to follow it. Then, egads, they picked-up the tempo for a maudlin song apparently titled, “Always Think About Dying.”
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Their set ended. And instantly came canned bumper music between bands. It emphasized the contrast of their songs against a fine upbeat indie folk-rock song by someone we didn’t recognize. A live performance, clearly upstaged by someone else’s unknown canned music? Unfortunately, yes. We hope FORT KING finds an address that’s not in Drollsville.
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THE “DANCE PAVILION”
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Walking toward the other music stage, we discovered an unadvertised third pseudo-stage, the “Dance Pavilion.” It took no time at all to read the lineup placard and see that it was hopeless. Nothing but wall-to-wall Radio Disney thumping and thudding and kids gyrating to third-rate choreography and recorded songs with a shelf life shorter than it takes to play them. Generic, interchangeable, disposable tripe. Calgon, take me away.
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JAZZ…
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Beating feet got us to the Hillhurst Stage quickly, as much to escape the sound bubble of the Dance Pavilion’s loudspeakers as to reach the new destination. There, we caught a few minutes of a jazz saxophone player doing one of those endlessly repetitive five-note motifs. Jazz people call it improvisation. We find it dreadfully monotonous. Bugler, sound retreat.
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TREMOLOCO
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The schedule allowed a little strolling, shopping, schmoozing and food. Back at the Vermont Stage, we caught up with TREMOLOCO.
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They delivered a fine set that was waaay Tex-Mex / border music, wisely done in half Spanish, half English, so all us gringos could appreciate the stories in the lyrics. They’re an accordion-driven five-piece, with an electric guitar, electric bass, drum kit, and keyboard. Fine performance throughout, with a WARREN ZEVON cover and plenty of originals. One standout is their own song, “Pullin’ Up Stakes and Crossing the Rio Grande,” on their new album due out September 27 and available at their gigs before then.
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TREMOLOCO, contrary to what you’re thinking, is a bunch of blonde guys who would pass for a surf band – until they start playing. Then you’re on the mechanical bull at Gilley’s. Until they break out the rock chops, which they did with “Sunshine of Your Love” (sans accordion) with all the electric guitar pedal effects. The old rock classic brought the crowd, including a guy on a skateboard, out from the shade to dance in the street. When you see them listed in the Guide, go catch their show. Andale andale ariba ariba!
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NICOLE GORDON
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Back to the Hillhurst Stage, where there was a change. The splendid NICOLE GORDON was performing two hours early. It was halfway through her set. She had just given birth to a new baby son (Brandon) three weeks earlier. C-section. Unless she told you, you wouldn’t believe it. Plenty of vocal power to propel her catalog of fine originals. She was performing as a three-piece, with JOHNNY HAWTHORNE and LORI LOU GORE as her side players.
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One of Nicole’s songs, “Prayin’ on What Goes Down Must Come Up,” should be all over the radio in these economic hard times. A writer whose experience informs her songwriting, she does one for moms. And playing for the youthful audience, she does one about being sixteen again, “caught up in a kiss, lost in happiness, shaky in the knees, find it hard to breathe” and that got everybody thinking about getting their first driver’s license so they go on that big date.
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She has depth. Nicole’s closer, with three-part harmony, was “The Snake,” about a guy who “Told the truth on the witness stand,” except that, well, you can figure out the snake part.
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KIND HEARTS & CORONETS
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We scurried back the length of the site to catch this band. A seven-piece, they’re somewhere betwixt rock and Americana. That assessment is mostly due to their instrumentation, which includes a girl on fiddle, a girl on a tiny keyboard, and a guy on a coronet horn. They have two electric guitars, an electric bass, and a drummer. They’re a lot of fun, raucous, danceable, with good melody lines and good song structures. Catch ’em when you’re ready to rock.
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LAUREN ADAMS BAND
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This is an all-star outfit, from superb songwriter / band leader LAUREN ADAMS to PHIL PARLAPIANO on keys and accordion and MARK “POCKET” GOLDBERG on bass. This is easily one of L.A.’s top ten electric Americana bands, and Lauren’s originals should be hit songs.
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Their rendition of ERNEST TROOST’S “Evangeline” with Lauren’s vocals is powerful and compelling and very different from the classic blues ballad delivery that Ernest gives it.
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Lauren’s song “Thirsty,” title track to one of her albums, evokes lost country & western, from a time before Nashville lost the western part and turned it all into dysfunctional relationship, red-state-trailer-park rock.
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Each band member got a featured song, since all are singer-songwriters with solo albums and dozens of credits on records by big names. PHIL PARLAPIANO led the band in his original “Everything is Going My Way,” a song that should have been covered by a big Nashville star by now. We had to leave for the other stage before the rest of the band got their featured solos.
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Lauren found a Michigander in the crowd to receive the dedication of her song, “Henry from Saginaw Michigan.” It’s a solid honkytonker that should have ’em dancin’ at the Cowboy Palace.
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It was hard to run out halfway through their set. Be sure to catch LAUREN ADAMS when she performs in town, or at her monthly “Americana Song Circle” showcase at Genghis Cohen.
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RUBEN RAMOS & CO.
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This act was not what was advertised. It was supposed to be SUDBURY & RAMOS, an instrumental duo with a CD, with Jean on fiddle and Ruben on classical guitar, doing Djangostyle Gypsy jazz and a lot of Latin-flavored and lightning fast intricate string music. Having traded places to go on two hours later than scheduled, Ruben hit the stage with a three-piece and without JEAN SUDBURY.
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On top of that, the schedule had dragged later and later. We caught Ruben just before he went on stage, about 40 minutes behind the planned slot. He greeted us quietly with, “Jean couldn’t make it. Neither could my band. This is a complete throw-together.” He looked concerned, but with that resigned air of “the-show-must-go-on.”
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The resulting trio, RABE & RAMOS & ROSS, had never played together as a band. But sometimes there’s synergy and things just work. With RUBEN RAMOS on acoustic six-string, GIGI RABE (pronounced Rah-Bay) from LISA HALEY & THE ZYDEKATS on steel drum (she’s known for playing Cajun accordion), and CHRIS ROSS on a full drum kit, they nervously and tentatively took the stage and announced themselves. Ruben told the audience, “We’re going to play some island music for you.”
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They opened with “(All Day, All Night) Mary Ann” and went to “Bright Sunshiny Day,” with Ruben filling-in lyrics he didn’t remember with some la-las. But it was one of those times when three people’s collaborative musicianship came through in spite of the odds and the lack of set list or playbook. They served-up a fun session: featured flourishes on Gigi Rabe’s steel drum, Ruben’s ability to make the guitar speak a host of languages, and solid drum work by Chris Ross.
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All three innovated as they improvised through the accelerating tempos of Rastafarian jam and reggae-ish percussion-as-lead. Before long, some dancers took to the hot sunshine. The crowd began to aggregate, as that end of the site took to the nearby shade to listen. It was working.
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Ruben switched to electric bass for some of it. The three got braver and found themselves flirting with SANTANA’S “Oye Como Va,” a bit tentatively at first, but the audience continued to grow as they committed to it. Skateboarders zoomed past the stage, looping the crowd. One old guy stood in the middle of the street vigorously playing air drums with the band. By the time they finished, a stream of listeners was asking if they had CDs. If Ruben learns the lyrics to replace the la-las, they could book this trio – if each has time away from their other projects to do it.
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ATOMIC SHERPAS
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Some broke- field running along the length of the street festival – with a pause for some Indian food – brought a return to the Vermont Stage. The ATOMIC SHERPAS were well into their set. They’re a six-piece electric swing blues and jazz ensemble, with a sax and a trombone. They are animated on stage and their energy feeds the audience, building the biggest crowd of the day. Though the genre isn’t what the Guide looks for, they’re good and served-up the fun.
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BLOCO LATINO
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It took a return run to the Hillhurst Stage to see what this outfit is about. They are a drum line of attractive young people led by teacher / percussion master JUAN ESTANGA who faces them at one end. They will tell you that they “specialize in bringing the samba-reggae feel of Brazilian music to the streets of Los Angeles.” We caught them pounding through a “Tusk”-like motif. Those into melodic percussion should look for them. They have a lot of videos on YouTube.
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LIGHTNIN’ WILLIE & THE POOR BOYS
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We expected maybe a CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL tribute band, but nope. This crew makes music in the classic ’50s-’60s style of electric roadhouse blues. They had the kids dancing in the street. Kids from 6 to their late 60s, that is.
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The Creedence connection wasn’t overt, but was there. They appear to have embraced many of the same influences that captured the imagination of JOHN FOGERTY and his brother TOM – and led the former to write “Willie & the Poor Boys” and all that Sacramento / San Joaquin River Delta swamp music. This band is more Memphis or Kansas City or St. Louis or even Chicago blues than Creedence’s mythical bayou, though both outfits could credibly claim musicians like BOOKER T & THE MGs as influences.
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LIGHTNIN’ WILLIE & THE POOR BOYS are a nine-piece, making you wonder how they can possibly pay everybody. They bring an electric piano, drums, keys, a hollow body electric guitar, electric bass and music that can make you dance your ass off. If they seem too rock and roll for you, we’ll cite the piano as the part of their sound that makes them electric blues-Americana.
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Things were going strong when we left, with one more act to come on each stage.
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This festival has good sound pros. Organizers spend their money on nice stage setups. There’s a strong but non-intimidating LAPD and L.A. Fire Department presence, and local homeless people seem to mix freely with festival goers without incident. It’s all copacetic and it’s one of those too-rare, if hothouse-cultivated moments that lets you feel the love in L.A.
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Next year’s festival promises to be even better. The neighborhood business association that produces the event will add, in front of both stages, high tent canopies over rows of folding chairs, with some shaded space for dancing on the asphalt. That will hugely improve the audience experience, since this year’s listeners either stood in the sun or sat on concrete curbs, migrating as shade moved. That surely felt awkward for those on stage, whose audience seemed distant and strung along oblique lines.
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This street fair / festival was started by local restaurant operators. The food booths offered much better cuisine than most outdoor events, including festivals with pricey admission. Some food was a bargain for what you got. We liked the Chinese food from The Palace, a restaurant located on Hillhurst near Sunset. And the Indian food was tasty, from a restaurant near Vermont and Sunset. If they book good Americana music again, this will be a must-do in July 2013.
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The GUIDE endeavors to bring you news and views of interest to artists, musicians and the creative community, together with schedules that reach waaay into the future! Thanks for making the journey with us.
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"NEWS FEATURES” is a fresh edition most each week, with news and reviews from the acoustic music universe, features on folk-Americana and “acoustic renaissance” music and artists, a litlle from the electric side of honky-tonk Americana, the latest tours, recordings and projects, reviews of CDs and live shows, industry news, news for artists, and more.

It’s always available by clicking-through at www.acousticmusic.net
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or get the mobile-device-friendly edition at
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www.acousticamericana.blogspot.com
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"VENUE DIRECTORY" - The Guide's extensive locator – has address and contact . info for OVER 500 acoustic-music-friendly venues in Southern California, from Santa Barbara County to south Orange County, plus a few key spots in San Diego, the deserts, and on the Central Coast.
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UPDATES to the Venue Directory are currently underway. Meanwhile, the 2011 edition of our VENUE DIRECTORY is available at

http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2011/02/venue-directory-from-guide-updated.html .
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||>o<||>o<||>o<||>o<||>o<||>o<||>o<||>o<||>o<||>o<||>o<||>o<|| . With your help, the road goes on forever (even if we can’t afford the gas anymore to find out where it goes)! . . Questions? Comments? Wanna write for the Acoustic Americana Music Guide? …or get something published that you wrote? – Like a CD REVIEW ? or LIVE PERFORMANCE REVIEW ? Contact us at tiedtothetracks@hotmail.com . ||>o<||>o<||>o<||>o<||>o<|| Contents copyright © 2012, Lawrence Wines & Tied to the Tracks. All rights reserved. ||>o<||>o<||>o<||>o<||>o<||
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