Hug Your Farmer returned, last Thursday, with a tribute to 50 years of the Rolling Stones. A who’s who of musicians rallied to raise money for The Vermont New Farmer Project, which provides assistance to the next generation of Vermont farmers. Thanks for a great night of music! I’m already looking forward to the next one.
(UPDATE: Links to videos at the end of this post)
Brian Cadoret was at the event and, as he often does, he’s posted a few recordings of the show:
Thanks, Brian!
To kick off this year’s Vermont Festival of the Arts, Haywire and The Grift were invited to Lareau Farm to play for the first annual community picnic. People showed up in droves, spreading their blankets around the great back yard of the inn. The fires were lit, the ovens were cranking out American Flatbread, and the bar had local beer. Kids were playing frisbee and badminton while the bands started.
Haywire started the evening off with a great set of music.
Then The Grift took the stage with a high energy mix of covers and original music.
Early in the evening, the dance floor was empty, but as the night went on it got crowded. I don’t think this girl was complaining in either situation – she was trying to get the party started here and continued to dance to every song until the end of the night!
As dusk arrived, the clouds got thicker and the announcement was made that the fireworks would go off a bit early.
Enhanced with a few flashes of lightening, Northstar Fireworks put on a good show in a slight drizzle.
The grand finale went off just moments before the skies opened up and drenched anyone still outside the pavilion. No matter, though, The Grift kicked up the dance music again and the party was hopping. A little rain wasn’t going to dampen anyone’s spirits this evening.
The first week of June is a great time to be in Burlington. It’s the week of the annual Burlington Discover Jazz Festival which brings together international and local musicians together to play at a variety of venues around the city. I love walking down Church Street during the festival; every block you can hear different sounds drifting out of the windows or on outdoor stages.
This year, The Necessary Means played at Nectar’s as a part of the festivities. Ray Paczkowski and Russ Lawton (Soule Monde) opened. If you haven’t seen these two play together, you’re missing out. It’s hard to believe that two people can produce such a big, full sound. I kept looking around to see where they were hiding all the other musicians.
After a quick stage reset (it’s gotta be hard always moving around that big Hammond organ) the Necessary Means came on and didn’t disappoint. Their Facebook page describes their sound as “70’s horn funk meets modern jam jazz” and that about nails it. Longtime Grift fans will recognize a few songs as solo riffs that have been turned into full fledged, standalone art. What strikes me every time I see these guys play is that in addition to sounding great, they’re all having fun on stage.
Enough words. Enjoy the photos — and maybe put on a few tunes while you’re scrolling through them.
I found the secret sauce to Daiki’s awesome percussion. Coconut Juice.
I recommend picking up their album, “Click” from CDBaby. It’s only 6 bucks as a digital download.
There are still a couple more days of music. Who’re you going to see?
Clint Bierman put together a team of all-stars in The Necessary Means. Last night, they lit up Nectar’s celebrating their the release of their first CD together, “Click.” The Necessary Means is an 8 piece funk/groove project featuring:
Clint Bierman – guitar
Peter Day – bass/trumpet
Sean Preece – drums
Leon Campos – keys
Brian McCarthy – bari and tenor sax
Dave Grippo – alto sax
Daiki Hirano – percussion
Jeff Vallone – DJ/bass
The show was an electrifying collection of tracks from the album and newer pieces that got the crowd moving from the first note. The energy built with each song and Nectar’s was hopping all night long.
What’s that, you want even more photos? OK – check out the full gallery.
If you missed the show, you owe it to yourself to pick up the album. Want a sample? Check out this video that Matt Kiedaisch put together for the track “Scratchzilla.”
Scratchzilla from Matt Kiedaisch on Vimeo.
This past weekend, Rich Price celebrated the release of his 4th solo album, Moonlight Breaks, with a show at Burlington’s Black Box Theater. This was my first visit to the theater and I didn’t know what to expect. It’s a small, black (aptly named, eh?) room with moderately steeply sloping seats. Every seat in the house has a clear view of the stage and the acoustics are good. It’s an excellent place to see a show like this.
As a way of celebrating, he invited a very talented cast of musicians to perform with him including Jeff Deveau, Clint Bierman, Sean Preece, Jeff Vallone, Peter Day, Brian Chartrand, and Greg Naughton. The night started out with a more acoustic singer/songwriter style set that mixed new and old music. After a quick break, the band returned to play an upbeat mix of songs ending the night with two powerful encores.
if you haven’t had a chance to listen to Rich’s music yet, you owe it to yourself to give him a listen.
Maybe I’m getting old, but I seem to be taking a lot of photos of kids at live music shows. This next one was taken this summer at Nectar’s – it was his first show!
If this subset of photos isn’t enough, there are some more photos from the show on my SmugMug site.
Thanks for a great show and an excellent album, Rich!