Tag: Music

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Music

Tomorrow Never Knows – A Tribute to The Beatles

Tomorrow Never Knows is the outgrowth of a show that I saw a few months ago down at Nectar’s.  Back then, they were called “Rubber Revolver” and apparently only intended to play that one show.  Well, I can say that it was a smashing success and I was ecstatic to hear that they were playing another Beatles show.  (Should you desire a soundtrack for this post, I’d recommend this recording of “Oh, Darling” from the show.)

Tomorrow Never Knows is made up of members from Elephantbear (Mike Pedersen), The Grift (Clint Bierman and Peter Day), The Woeful Lonelies (Joshua Glass), Honky Tonk Tuesday (Sean Preece), and Jer Coons. If you’re from around Vermont, you’ve likely seen at least a few of these names around and know they’re a talented group of musicians that regularly put on high energy shows.

Tonight, Tomorrow Never Knows performed Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Abbey Road in their entireties. As someone commented after the show, they just did something The Beatles never did – play Abbey Road live from start to finish.

Middlebury’s Town Hall Theater played hosts to the band and the place was packed. One of the great parts about seeing a show in a theater instead of a nightclub is that you know the lighting is going to be good.

If you have the opportunity to see them, I highly recommend it. You can download the recording of the May 19th show from Nectar’s, but nothing is going to be as good as seeing them live.

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Music Photograph

Hug Your Farmer: A Night of Music to Benefit Pete’s Greens

On January 12th, Pete’s Greens of Craftsbury, Vermont suffered a devastating fire. They lost their barn, equipment, crops & more. The community has rallied by collecting donations and holding auctions. On Thursday, Love Tomorrow Today and Select Design put on a benefit concert at Higher Ground in South Burlington, Vermont to help Pete’s Greens rebuild. The show featured Page McConnell and Jon Fishman of Phish, Clint Bierman and Peter Day of the Grift, Dave Grippo, Russ Lawton, Ray Paczkowski, Rich Price, Jer Coons, Will Evans, Matt Hagen, Mike Clifford, Joshua Panda, Brian McCarthy and more. The concert raised $26,000, all of which will go directly to Pete’s Greens.

The all-star cast of musicians played for about two hours, interrupted briefly by Peter Shumlin, the Governor of Vermont, who spoke about local food & renewable energy. I was impressed that he hung around for the rest of the show. As I was working through the crowd, I nearly bumped into him dancing up a storm in the middle of the room!

And for a quick reminder about why we were all there.  (Yes, that’s a carrot in his hand.)

While the fire is a real tragedy, I’m impressed at how it has galvanized our community and sparked a lot of great conversations about CSA’s, local & organic food, and what it means to live in Vermont. I can’t imagine living anyplace else.

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Music Photograph Portraits

Music Photography

Just before Thanksgiving, I was contacted by the Vermont band Shakedown to take some new photos for their website.  They had just experienced a shakeup and had some new members.  Normally, I connect up with bands in the spring, summer, and early fall and take outdoor photos around Burlington. This time, we met in a dance studio to set up the white background, a few lights, and take some indoor photos.

One of the benefits to traveling light is that setup and teardown is quick.  In about an hour and a half, we had set up everything, taken all the shots, and packed everything back into my car. (It helped that all of the band members showed up on time.) In that time, we took three or four group shots and a combination of full length, 3/4, and head shot photos of each band member.

I haven’t heard them play live yet, but I’m looking forward to it.  If you’re looking for a wedding band, I’d feel comfortable recommending them based on what I’ve seen so far. They’re prompt and professional when needed, but also fun people that can let loose and have a good time.

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Music

Jer Coons, Back at Higher Ground

Last Friday, in the Higher Ground Showcase Lounge, Jer Coons returned home to play for his friends & family. Opening for him were Seth Glier

and Jesse Ruben.

We didn’t hear about the show until the middle of the week, so I suspect that’s why the room wasn’t sold out. (Jer has a history of selling out the Showcase Lounge.)

After Jesse Ruben finished his set, the lights went down, the stage was prepped, and quietly, the band took their places. Sans Jer, they started into a driving rendition of the 2001 theme music and  Jer took the stage wearing a space suit.

And cowboy boots.

As he jumped into “Speak”

the crowd stared on in awe.

Clint Bierman hung out in the shadows, par for the course.

Peter Day brought out the upright bass.

Jamie Bright killed it on the keys.

and Jeff Vallone largely avoided my lens for the night. (Sorry Jeff!)

These are but a selection from the full gallery of photos from the evening.

Nice to see you back in town, Jer!  Looking forward to the next show. Give us a few more days notice next time, we’ll spread the word!

Categories
Music Photograph Portraits

Portraits for a San Francisco based, but Vermont bred, musician

Early last month — you remember, then the temperatures were in the mid 90’s and the humidity matched — I connected up with Miranda Ferriss Jones to take some photos for her upcoming album. She was back in town visiting her family and had a vision for some photos contrasting the vintage dresses she performs in with the rustic farmhouse, barn, and tractor she grew up with. So, Tawny & I hopped in the car and drove down to Monkton from Burlington. It was a welcome road trip because it meant we had a brief reprieve from the heat in the car’s AC! We spent a couple of hours walking around using a few locations, one of which included the upper floor of the old barn which had to be well over 100° and filled with bat guano. Despite the heat, we had a lot of fun and came up with a variety of looks.

If you haven’t heard of Miranda before, I recommend visiting her site. She described herself as a singer-songwriter when she contacted me, but it’s a bit of a misnomer. While she writes and performs her own material, she’s got a heavy Jazz influence which is quite refreshing in today’s world of mediocre pop. Give her a listen!

It was nice to meet & work with you, Miranda.  Best of luck with the new album; I’m looking forward to hearing it!