Late February Music News, including Music-on-TV Wednesday night, and Wed. Gigs, Feb. 24, 2016...

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We open this time with a quick observation, because we all need a laugh.

A four-liner. Ready? Here goes:

GHW - Bush

GWB - Shrub

JEB - Leaves

Perhaps Jeb! should try the grocery business - Sprouts 

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Okay, okay. Move along. Don't block the sidewalk. We know.

Let's get started!

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Contents / in this edition...

1)  "Brit Awards 2016" on TV, Starting Wednesday

2) "Grand Ole Echo" Announces New Season

3)  Harper Lee — Songwriters Can Learn from this Novelist

4)  The Great John McEuen: Music Video from the Caribbean, Remembering WW II Vets

5) Two Shows Tonight: Wednesday, Feb. 24

6) Early March: Plan Now to Catch...


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# 1 news feature...

"BRIT AWARDS 2016" ON TV, STARTING WEDNESDAY

The British music industry's biggest annual night do not require you make tea before you watch the telly. Though it 'tis raw-ther like Jolly Old's ahwn-sahr to the Grammys.

This year will feature a tribute to the late David Bowie and a performance by Adele. Of course, like the Grammys, you'll have to endure a performance by Justin Bieber and other concessions to commercial music. Other scheduled performers, for better or worse, include Rihanna, the Weeknd, and Coldplay.

It'll be prolific on cable tv. Which means savvy web-watchers can probably track it down on alternative devices. Cablecast times start Wednesday on FUSE and FUSED, beginning with the first U.S. broadcast on the latter, 5:30-8 pm PST. That's immediately followed by a simultaneous rebroadcast on both channels from 8:30-11 pm PST. Then, FUSE has a latenight replay, 11:30 pm-2 am.

There are plenty of opportunities to record it. Catch Thursday repeats beginning in the morning, 5:30-8 am on FUSED and 8:30-11 am on FUSE, and it repeats all day, through Thursday evening, on one or the other.

Saturday, the replays move to FMHD, happening three times, 5:30-8 am, 1-1:30 pm, and 7:30-10 pm, all Pacific.


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# 2 news feature...

"GRAND OLE ECHO" SERIES ANNOUNCES NEW SEASON

On Feb. 23, producers of the honky-tonk / alt-country / Americana concert series, "The Grand Ole Echo," made their 2016 season announcement. The venue is one or another parts of the Echoplex on West Sunset in Echo Park, on at least two stages. Though one "stage" may be informal, the other has the full sound and light package.

It runs almost every Sunday, spring-to-fall, as a late afternoon-early evening free series with multiple acts. "GOE" as fans call it, is a meeting place for music by touring and local artists and bands alike. The season runs from late March through the summer, and the weekly revelry is the exceeded by the opening and closing shows. There's a dependably friendly crowd, a full bar, a basic lil' barbecue out back (or one or more food trucks) and you can find a dance partner when the music goes in that direction.

The Grand Ole Echo has a tall task in 2016, keeping the faithful tunefully inclined as a rancorous and plumb goofy election year continues to provide mostly unwelcome surprises. Happily, GOE has announced an exciting start.

Things kick-off on March 27th, and they tell us, "will be making boogie all the way to August."

With much more to come, here are the series initial 2016 headliners with comments from the bookers...

√  Mar 27:
SARAH GAYLE MEECH
"All the way from Nashville, GOE family member Sarah Gayle Meech is back to make you swoon."

√  Apr 3:
BRIAN WHELAN
"Our hometown hero, and long time GOE family member, Brian Whelan is releasing a new record, and what better place to do it than the GOE."

√  Apr 10:
FAR WEST
"L.A.'s own golden boys of country rock, the Far West are a sublime experience to say the least. Nothing is finer than that sweet Far West sound."

√  Apr 17:
THE FREIGHT SHAKERS
"Honky Tonk bad asses, The Freight Shakers grace the GOE with their no-holds-barred raucous country."

√  Apr 24:
LUKE BELL
"Coming in from Austin, the amazing Luke Bell will be gracing our stage after his Stagecoach performance."

√  May 22:
"TOWNES VAN ZANDT TRIBUTE"
GOE producers tell us, "Along with our pals over at Midnight Rider, we are pleased to be hosting a Townes Van Zandt tribute show,where L.A.'s best and brightest pay homage to the [late] songwriting master. The band will be lead by local favorite Elijah Ocean."

The Grand Ole Echo series promises "many more, all through the summer," adding, "you'll leave with a smile on your face."

Oh, and this season has its own official t-shirt, too. You can buy them at the shows. For more info or to get on the GOE email list, dispatch a note to: 

thegrandoleecho@gmail.com


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# 3 news feature...

HARPER LEE — SONGWRITERS CAN LEARN FROM THIS NOVELIST

The late Harper Lee revered craftsmanship. Because she never granted interviews, we knew very little about her as an artist. The author of the world-renowned classic, "To Kill a Mockingbird," and as it turned out, its "parent" manuscript, "Go Set a Watchman," locked away for decades, died last week.

Turns out "Watchman" was neither sequel nor prequel. It was a very different first draft of what was eventually reworked into a classic.

Beyond the obvious hint to songwriters inherent in that much, you can use the link at the end of the story to explore the very involved tale of art getting tangled-up in big-city profit-motive business, and what impact that had on the original story.

Or you can take the quick path of inspiration, and just read Harper Lee's great little essay. (Or do both for two very different perspectives, both tremendously valuable.)

As we said, Lee was famously a recluse. But she meaningfully speaks to us in an interview she did during a tumultuous time following the success of "Mockingbird." And following the assassination of JFK, and in the midst of the civil rights struggle, while America was being sucked into the abyss of Vietnam. It was the only real interview we have with her. It was back in 1964.

And those things make it all the more remarkable that her observations about writing — and the message for us — are as fresh and relevant as today.

Harper Lee said:

"I think the thing that I most deplore about American writing, and especially in the American theatre, is a lack of craftsmanship. It comes right down to this —the lack of absolute love for language, the lack of sitting down and working a good idea into a gem of an idea. It takes time and patience and effort to turn out a work of art, and few people seem willing to go all the way… I see a great deal of sloppiness and I deplore it. I suppose the reason I’m so down on it is because I see tendencies in myself to be sloppy, to be satisfied with something that’s not quite good enough."

Want to learn more?

You'll thank yourself if you click this and read it. Is it all literary-wonky? A little. But really good:

"The Paradoxical Legacy of Harper Lee" by Jonathon Sturgeon, Feb. 22, 2016. It's at:

http://flavorwire.com/562363/the-paradoxical-legacy-of-harper-lee


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# 4 news feature...

THE GREAT JOHN McEUEN: MUSIC VIDEO FROM THE CARIBBEAN, REMEMBERING WW II VETS

Everyone knows multi-instrumental string wizard John McEuen, founding member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Grammy winner for the "May the Circle Be Unbroken" album, host of the weekly "Acoustic Traveller Show" on Sirius-XM satellite-web radio, and much more.

He sent us a little story:

"While on the island of Vieques (Puerto Rico) I found the biggest echo I have ever heard — in one of the old ordnance bunkers there, where the Navy used the island for target practice and bomb testing in days gone by.

"On this 70th year of both the flag raising at Iwo Jima and my own raising, I took the video Marilyn [his wife] shot of me and put it together with this footage for an homage to our veterans from that era.

"Please share this with others, pass it around, do a 'like,' etc. It is good to remember what others have gone through. Freedom is not easy."

Watch, listen, enjoy, be moved, at:

https://vimeo.com/156061808/29bd2f9bc3 John McEuen

There's plenty more, including a link to comment, at:

www.johnmceuen.com

He also has a news site:
www.snn.bz
or
www.syndicatednews.net


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# 5 news feature...

TWO SHOWS TONIGHT, WEDNESDAY, FEB. 24

Sure, there's more happening around town. But you can't go wrong tonight with either of these small-time, first-rate tuneful sojourns.

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Wed, Feb 24, in Altadena:
8 pm "Homemade JAM" at the Coffee Gallery Backstage, 2029 N Lake Av, Altadena. You won't want to miss the updated version of last month's "Tin Pan Alley... and then some" show. It's "tightened up, with new arrangements...  jazzy, raggy and raucous. More fun. More action. More music!" With Tom Fair on vocals & guitar; Rob Sandiford on vocals, dobro & banjo; Samantha Elin on vocals, guitar & percussion; Ed Pausic on upright bass and vocals; and Steve Reid on percussion.

Call for reservations: 626-798-6236

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Wed, Feb 24, FREE, in Arcadia:
7-10 pm "COLLABORATIVE ENSEMBLES" are something new at the weekly "SONGWRITER SERENADE" at Matt Denny's Ale House, 145 E Huntington Dr, Arcadia 91006. The following will combine in some heretofore untried ways for their sets: Marty Axelrod, Paul Marshall, Craig & Debbie, Ben Carr, Cynthia Brando, Ed Tree, Donna Lynn Caskey, Alias Means, JC Hyke, Chauncey Bowers. No cover. Venue has full menu and full bar.


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# 6 news feature...

EARLY MARCH: PLAN NOW TO CATCH...

Beginning here, we'll be addressing a variety of tastes, but onlya with a very select few things. Truth is, we can no longer get sucked into the vortex of musical abundance. Sure, we will take heat from all those not listed this time, and as we go forward. But the key word here is "time." Compiling, formatting, and presenting this much consumed all the time we had, following what it took to get the news feature stories out for you. And that's the way it is. And will be.

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Sat, Mar 5, in Hermosa Beach:
7:30 pm SCOTTISH FIDDLERS OF LOS ANGELES perform their "35th Anniversary Spring Concert" at the Hermosa Beach Community Theatre. Featured guest fiddler is Troy MacGillivray from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, plus the Tappan Sisters, Stacey and Christina, Highland dancer Devon Watson, and piper Robert Hackney.

The Scottish Fiddlers also perform a SECOND "35th Anniversary Spring Concert" at the Wright Auditorium ~ in the historic Pasadena Central Library in Pasadena, on Saturday, April 30, at 3:30 pm.

Adv. Tix for either show:

www.scottishfiddlers.org

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Thu, Mar 10, in San Diego:
7-10 pm JAMES LEE STANLEY plays the Folkey Monkey, 4780 Mission Gorge Pl, Suite H, San Diego 92120.

WHETHER OR NOT YOU GO: read the Huffington Post interview with James Lee and hear his latest solo CD; both, at:

http://jamesleestanley.com



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The Guide brings you frequent editions covering MUSIC NEWS and ticket alerts, published separately, and always available right here on the Guide's Blogspot site.

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More soon, as always.
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♪ The ACOUSTIC AMERICANA MUSIC GUIDE endeavors to bring you NEWS and views of interest to artists everywhere, more specifically to musicians and the creative community and music makers and fans of acoustic and Folk-Americana music, both traditional and innovative forms. From the deepest roots to today’s acoustic renaissance, that’s our beat. We provide a wealth of resources, including a HUGE catalog of acoustic-friendly venues, and schedules and inside info on FESTIVALS and select performances in Southern California in venues monumentally large and intimately small and cozy. We cover workshops and other events for artists and folks in the music industry, and all kinds o’ things in the world of acoustic and Americana and accessible classical music. From washtub bass to musical spoons to oboe to viola to banjo to squeezebox, from Djangostyle to new-fangled-old-time string band music, from sweet Cajun fiddle to bluegrass and pre-bluegrass Appalachian mountain music to all the roots of the blues and where the music is headed now.
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