Siimba Selassie, formerly known as Siimba Liives Long, recently debuted the music video for his latest single, “Bes’mam.” Directed by Nick Von Gremp, the same director behind Selassie’s critically acclaimed videos “Bad for the Soul,’ ft. Kamau, “Bes’mam” provides a stripped back window into the world of Selassie. “Bes’mam’s” simplistic aesthetic allows Selassie’s quizzical and mesmerizing bars to be the focal point of the three-minute video.
For the uninitiated, Siimba Selassie is a Brooklyn-based musician born in New York, and raised in a myriad of places from Ethiopia and Washington DC to New Jersey. “Bes’mam” follows Selassie’s recent critically acclaimed single “Patiently” with his group Splash Brothers that includes Allan Kingdom, Topaz Jones, Kamau, and brother Haile Supreme.
His debut music video, “Cocaine Biimbie,” featured the emcee return to his Ethiopian roots to play quite literally with lions and eat fire. This cut from Siimba’s 2017 project “Zemenay’s Gemiinii,”awarded Siimba critical praise from tastemakers including NPR, Noisey, FADER, Complex, DJ Booth, Hot New Hip Hop,and more. Selassie, an artist described by NPR as “sportive yet serious, playing equal parts esoteric and quizzical,” will be gearing up for the release of new sonic series VIICES coming June 2019.
Colorado Springs mother, musician and trauma therapist, Xanthe Alexis, pierces the heart with emotion and unmistakable conviction. She is otherworldly; transcending mind, body, music and soul. Alexis remained on the Top 20 Alternative Folk Charts for six months, and Top 200 for the entire folk genre. Her spiritual workings are proven through a deep connection with the world around her, confronting realities of society through song.
Today, June 17, Alexis will begin her Artist Residency at Mothership – a space for international artists across multiple disciplines to live and hone their craft. Their mission: to support and promote artists through collaborative opportunities; build sustainable artists networks; and help retain creative forces in New York. Alexis will bask in the Greenpoint-neighborhood of Brooklyn through Wednesday June 26. She will perform an intimate Stage One, Rockwood Music Hall matinee at 3 pm, on Sunday, June 23.
At first listen to Xanthe Alexis’s 2016 debut-album, Time of War, nothing crosses your mind. In this blank slate, you involuntary start to breathe deeply into meditation, with finger-style guitar. Alexis’ breath (accompanied by Colorado local, Curtis Boucher) slowly restores your soul, filling you as you inhale – and hold. “Hey Love,” is just the beginning of the 10-track, fan-funded release that weaves-raw throughout your body, giving you that one-on-one feeling with Xanthe. A self-release so soft and filled with intimacy, it articulates a chaotic world with grace.
Her Mothership residency is special for threefold: Xanthe admits, Time of War was mostly first takes, recorded in six hours; She has recorded, but not yet finalized a second album; and already has four tunes in mind that will bloom towards a third release – hopefully to be influenced by the wonders of Mothership, Brooklyn, working artists and the inner workings of Xanthe’s Muse.
“With the last album, I had a lot – a lot – to say about mental illness. I don’t say it directly. I say it poetically. I think people get what I am talking about; and we need to talk about in our culture,” said Xanthe. “As A kid I was always sup-er sensitive, and emotional. I found music was the safe place for all of that. When you hear a powerful vocalist and all of that emotion, it is accepted in that arena. I was drawn it.”
There was this force, that transposed our phone conversation. We were connected by more than just music, and had oddly-specific parallels in our spiritual lives. “That otherness is what we weave throughout the music. It is close to all of us, and some of us are more aware of it,” said Xanthe, soothingly. “These strands of conscious explain to a whole other forum,” perhaps in more ways than we know.
Strangely enough, Xanthe feels zen-ed out in New York, a therapeutic calmness juxtaposed to the city. ”I’m going to live there [Mothership] for a few days with painters, poets and dancers. That is where everybody comes to work and live.”
For her upcoming album, Xanthe thought: I’m gonna put something out that is radio friendly that I still feel stayed the course of musical expression that I wanted to capture. But It’s been a long road. It will be interesting to see how this weeks experiences shape her final production of album two, as the lines between her professional world and musical pursuit disappear.
“It wasnt until recently that my patients knew about my other life,” turning her words plafully. “ I had a music program for middle aged school children. It was totally like School Of Rock; Kids would come together with no experience and become a total band. They would write all their own music and I would teach them chords – the language of music. I’d teach them: the chords are like a painters pallet.” Xanthe would play them a C and ask, “what doesn’t this sound like.” And they would talk about it.
“What does a D sound like: Oh, Its bright. What does an Em sound like: It’s dark and sounds a little angry. All of a sudden we would have this shared language through emotion. Kids are like sponges, they don’t have all that insecurity and fear yet, so they would just do it, ya know. They are at that age where they are coming out of their innocence, and they need to know that is alright.”
By combining life’s passion with professional life, those surrounding Xanthe realize “I Practice what I preach. They realize, this is a brave chick.”
A note from Xanthe: “If you want to be pleasantly spooked-out and hear your heart break a little bit and maybe then soar a little bit, [giggling] Come see me at Rockwood Music Hall, Sunday, June 23 at 3 pm.”
There’s no doubt that Kelly & Kat are very talented. In 2014 Kelly & Kat made a commercial appearance during the American Music Awards, performing their harmonized rendition of the smash hit Let it Go. This amazing opportunity was the result of winning Disney and Kohl’s National Sing Your Frozen Heart Out Contest. Their performance was terrific and captivated millions of viewers.
Since then, Kelly & Kat have been writing and performing while developing their unique sound and style.
In early 2018, the pair signed on to work with Grammy Award winning No Doubt drummer, Adrian Young, and musician/producer Quinn Lamont Luke (a.k.a. Bing Ji Ling). Young and Luke produced, co-wrote, and played on all of the tracks.
The four of them split time last summer in New York City, and in Upstate New York (near Woodstock), at the famous Dreamland Recording Studio. It was at Dreamland, where the duo recorded their first EP – Nobody Knows.
Kelly & Kat plan to release a few originals from the EP throughout the summer of 2019. The material combines elements of pop, jazz, and rock along with their signature harmonies. The singles include songs with driving beats and themes of self empowerment as Kelly & Kat sing about lost love, self reflection, and starting over.
This article was originally published by Under the Radar – Covering the Long Island Music Scene and appears as a special to NYS Music. Under the Radar and NYS Music work in partnership to provide readers with in-depth coverage on the local music scene across Long Island. For more, visit BreslauBombers.com.
Eric Clapton gave Albert Lee his guitar from the Cream era, one of more than 40 guitars Albert Lee owns – he’s lost count. They include Don Everly’s Gibson J200 and the guitar Elvis Presley played in “King Creole,” G. I. Blues” and “Loving You.”
Singer/songwriter and guitarist, Albert Lee, left home at 16 in 1960 and never looked back. You may not have heard of him, but at 75 he’s a road warrior whose enormous creativity has touched the muse of artists as diverse as Clapton; Elvis Presley guitarists, James Burton and Scotty Moore; country legends, Vince Gill and Ricky Skaggs; Emmylou Harris; Cindy Cashdollar; and scores more. He spent 24 years on the road with The Everly Brothers and 13 with Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones.
NYS Music caught up with him at his home in Malibu, just back from a tour of his home country, England. Between now and July 1, he will perform at 10 venues in the greater New York area including The Iridium in New York City, The Iron Horse in Northampton and The Strand in Hudson Falls. He tours Australia in August and is back home in the U.K. in late September.
“I’m still unpacking here. It’s tough to do. I’m looking out the window now. We just replaced the refrigerator, and there’s a refrigerator in the driveway. Thankfully, the neighbors can’t see it, but I’ve got to organize a pickup to drag it away.”
Lee says he maintains a schedule that could kill a man half his age because he has bills to pay, and two managers. With one manager in the States and another in Europe, both of whom keep him so busy he has little time to breathe. We saw him in January, and he was a human jukebox with breathtaking skills in every style of rock and country, rockabilly and pop ballads. In a seat at the back of the balcony at The Strand his delivery was so strong he projected as if he was playing directly to us.
Ask him about any of the stars he’s played with and he has a story. His “Country Boy” was a top-10 country hit for Ricky Skaggs in 1982. Its use of traditional country guitar on a mainstream country hit changed the way the industry looked at the genre. Skaggs plays on Lee’s version of the song, that appeared on Lee’s first single album Hiding. “That was the second or third time I recorded that song,” Lee explains. “I first did it with Head Hands and Feet in 1970, and then when I got a deal with A&M in the mid-70s, I cut it again. That one wasn’t released. When I re-instigated my deal with A&M and got more money to go back in the studio, and I did it again with our band, and Emmylou Harris and Ricky Skaggs, and that’s the version that’s one that Hidingalbum.
“Ricky Skaggs loved it all, really. I mean he’d come from the bluegrass background and, after playing with Emmylou Harris, he (was up) for playing more electric country, and I think he will probably give me credit for getting him to play the Telecaster for a short while in his band. Same goes for Vince Gill, you know. Vince wasn’t really a Tele player until we got there.
“The version of ‘Country Boy’ by Heads Hands and Feet got played on the radio a lot, so people got to know me here (in the States), and then when I moved to L.A. in ’73,’74, I was playing local bars with Vince Gill. He was quite young then, and I think he will readily admit that I was an influence at that time. Then Ricky and I were in the Hot Band (with Emmylou Harris) for a short while together, and I got to play on a few records of his around that time.”
Guitarist Magazine calls him “the only Brit to be regarded as a bona fide legend of American country music.” His credits include Joe Cocker, Carlene Carter and did three albums with Buddy Holly’s Crickets. He has a new Buddy Holly tribute album for sale on this tour.
“Birthdays are important, but I don’t want a big one like I had a few years ago. I just want the family, a few friends and neighbors.”
Pete Seeger would have been 100 years old on May 3, 2019. He was getting ready to celebrate his 94th birthday when we talked in April, 2013. It felt like I was talking to my favorite uncle. Pete had a way of making everyone he came in contact with feel that way whether it was Woody Guthrie, Woody’s son, Arlo, or the thousands of other folksingers he inspired.
“I’m actually going to be away on my birthday, because I have a granddaughter who’s going to a little school in Rhode Island that’s having what they call a grandparent’s day, and all the children who can are going to bring their grandparents to school. I’m gonna sing a few songs there. I’m mainly a song leader these days. I don’t have much voice left, but I’ve gotten better and better at getting a crowd to sing with me.”
Pete Seeger made a surprise appearance at Farm Aid 2013 at Saratoga Performing Arts Center
On May 23, The Egg in Albany will present a Pete Seeger Centennial Concert celebrating his 100th birthday. Arlo Guthrie and the 11 other artists performing illustrate how pervasive Seeger was as a moral compass in the history of American folk music and society as a whole. Arlo knew Pete from the day he was born. They performed together for the last time in Carnegie Hall, a month before Seeger died on January 27, 2014.
Arlo has just released Arlo & Pete’s More Together Again for digital download. Taped live in 1993 at Wolf Trap, it captures the mojo of Woody Guthrie’s son celebrating in song 60 years of the two musical families’ intertwining history. Best known for his anthem “Alice’s Resataurant,” With Seeger’s passing, Arlo is now the elder statesman and “keeper of the flame,” ignited by his father’s unofficial national anthem “This Land Is Your Land.”
“Most of the song had been written back in 1940 when he (Woody Guthrie) first came to New York,” Seeger told me in 2013. “He was actually hitchhiking, and Kate Smith singing “God Bless America” was on all the jukeboxes. His original song had all the same verses we know, but the last line was ‘God bless America for me.’ He crossed out that last line and scribbled in ‘This land is made for you and me.’ And that’s how he recorded it in 1948.”
Also included in this Centennial celebration is Guy Davis who accompanied Seeger on his last official tour in 2007. Guy is the son of Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, stalwarts of The Harlem Renaissance. “Pete Seeger and folk music is where my folks and I intersected best,” says Davis. “Pete Seeger was a friend of both of theirs, and I got sent to a summer camp run by Pete Seeger’s brother, and the older I get, the more I’m in love with the songs I learned in the ’50s and ’60s.”
In 1949, Pete Seeger’s car was among hundreds attacked by KKK members after a concert by African American opera singer Paul Robeson. “Two stones actually went through the glass and landed on the floor of the car. I cemented them into the chimney of a fireplace I was building,” recalled Seeger
The horrible images of that attack galvanized public opinion against KKK hatred. Seeger saw the incident as “an inoculation” for America. “You know when you get a needle in your arm, your arm gets a case of smallpox. The disease precipitates the cure. The rest of your body gets alerted and does not get smallpox, and this is exactly what happened.
“Peekskill had a case of fascism there, but the rest of the country saw the pictures on TV and in local newspapers and mothers with babies in their arms and blood streaming down, and it was not a pretty picture. The rest of the country said, ‘We don’t like this.’”
“I would agree that it was an inoculation,” says Guy Davis today. “It becomes Americanized. Those signs they had, ‘Wake up, America. Peekskill did.’” Pete was first hand on the receiving end of that as was Paul Robeson, as were so many other activists. Pete took one of the stones that was thrown into his car. He had it put into the fireplace of his cabin and he said that if the final riot comes and there were stones being thrown and death being dispensed, then he was going to take that stone and use it.”
“I’ve made a lot of stupid mistakes in my life,” Seeger told me in 2013, “but at least I’m still alive even though there was a thriving branch of the Ku Klux Klan only about three miles away from me. And I’ve often wondered why they didn’t come up and shoot me down or burn down my house or something, but I found out some members of the Ku Klux Klan had some family members who said, ‘You do what you want with Seeger and you’ll regret it. Everybody will be singing his Goddamn songs.’”
Toshi Reagon
Toshi Reagon is named after Pete Seeger’s wife and is the daughter of Bernice Johnson Reagon, civil rights activist and founder of the a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock. Toshi will perform her eclectic blend of rock honed on stages with Nona Hendryx, Elvis Costello, and Ani DiFranco. She considers one of her proudest moments to be when she played for her godfather Pete Seeger’s 90th birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden.
Another Centennial performer, David Gonzales, is a storyteller, musician, poet, actor, and writer and a one-of-a-kind artist. In 2009, David was commissioned to write a long form poem for the Hudson River Quadricentennial and, at the Egg, will recite excerpts from that work titled “Oh Hudson!” as they relate to Pete Seeger.
Seeger loved the Hudson River and his Sloop Clearwater became a symbol of our need to clean up our waters. He saw sailing as a metaphor for life. He remembered the time a friend took him out for his first midnight sail on an 11-foot Beetle Cat. “For the first time in my life I found out why people spend millions of dollars on private sailboats,” he said. “It’s not how fast you go, but the fact that you move at all. (Sailing) is a wonderful analogy for life. You use the force of the wind against you to move against it.”
“I was learning to sail on the Hudson, and I came along to certain places where there was a sewage outlet. I found myself sailing through lumps of this and that along with the toilet paper. I thought of the phrase of John Kenneth Galbraith, ‘Private affluence, pubic squalor.’ I had enough money to buy a sailboat, but I was sailing through shit.”
The one thing all the performers on this bill share with each other and Seeger in particular is an all-inclusive love for music as an “inoculation” against hatred and bigotry.
Dar Williams is a popular folksinger. The New York Times Book Review said of her book What I Found in a ThousandTowns that it “reads as if Pete Seeger and Jane Jacobs teamed up, more a report from the Green party than the green room.”
Tony Trischka is America’s consummate banjo artist and perhaps the most influential banjo player in the roots music world. He has written 15 instructional books as well as a series of DVDs. In 2009, he launched the Tony Trischka School of Banjo, an advanced, interactive, online instructional site that is the banjo home for students from around the world.
Amythyst Kiah is a southern songster who blends blues and old-time music. The only African American at the East Tennessee State University Bluegrass, Old Time and Country Music Studies Program during her enrollment, her repertoire includes the music of The Mississippi Sheiks, Son House, Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family. The New York Times credited her guitar playing with guaranteeing her a place among blues masters complimented by “her deep-hued voice that can change on a dime from brushed steel to melted toffee.”
Cary Morin is a Crow tribal member who plays Americana acoustic guitar that incorporates blues, bluegrass, jazz, jam, reggae, and dance. His Cradle to The Grave album took the 2018 Independent Music Awards for Best Blues CD and earned him a 2018 Native Arts and Cultures Fellowship.
Dan Zanes & Claudia Eliaza are a couple whose Lead Belly Baby! Album is a children’s CD inspired by folksinger Lead Belly. Grammy winning Zanes began his career in the ’80s rock band the Del Fuegos. His wife Claudia Eliaz is a Haitian-American jazz vocalist music therapist.
Richie Stearns performs with his wife Rosie Newton. Richie brought the old-time clawhammer banjo style to a whole new audience with the bands Donna The Buffalo and The Horseflies, and has accompanied artists such as Natalie Merchant, Bela Fleck, David Byrne, Billy Bragg & Wilco, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Joan Baez. For over 20 years, Richie performed with or for Pete Seeger on numerous occasions, and was invited to score original music for an album that featured Pete telling his life story over a music background.
Taina Asili is a New York based Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, bandleader and activist.The Huffington Post named her group as #2 in a list of “12 Freedom Fighting Bands To Get You Through the Trump Years.” She is dedicated to using her art as a tool for personal and social transformation. The themes in Taína’s writing are based in her activism in political prisoner liberation, prisoner justice, climate justice, and food justice movements.
Bill and Livia Vanaver of The Vanavar Caravan. Bill has composed and produced music for films, dance and theatre productions, including The Clearwater with Pete Seeger. The Vanaver Caravan will perform an excerpt from their Pete Seeger inspired work “Turn, Turn, Turn.”
“I’m one of the musicians. And I’m only one of them,” Seeger told me. “There are now not hundreds but thousands of people making up songs and doing things in small ways here and small ways there and following the advice of the great French biologist Rene Dubois who said, ‘Think globally, act locally.’”
He recalled the tipping point in folk music to be 1960 when folksinger Guy Carawan sang “We Shall Overcome” and it became what in 2019 terms would be considered viral. “The hit song of the weekend was ‘We Shall Overcome’ sung with this rhythmic slow thing. It was a slow song, but it had a very definite rhythm, and it was the hit song of the weekend. Five weeks later Guy was in Raleigh, North Carolina, and somebody shouted out, ‘Guy, teach us ‘We Shall Overcome.’” And that’s where they added something.
“Your right hand reaches out and holds the left hand of the person to your left, and your left hand reaches out to your right. So, your arms cross in front of you. Your shoulders touch, and your bodies sway as you sing this song. Once again, an African tradition is added to this piece of music of bodily movement at the same time you’re singing. You’re not just singing. You’re moving your body.”
Despite the problems we have as a civilization, Seeger was optimistic about the future. “My mantra today is the agricultural revolution took thousands of years. The industrial revolution took hundreds of years, but the information revolution is only talking decades, and if we use the brain God gave us, who knows what miracles may happen in the next few years.”
And he saw the arts as society’s savior. “I think the arts will be among the most important things that save us. Words can mean different things to different people and numbers can, but (it’s all about) the arts, the visual arts, the dancing arts, the cooking arts, the human arts, the sports arts, Joe DiMaggio leaping for a fly ball had all the grace of a ballet dancer, and who knows.”
I asked Seeger what was the single most important thing he’d ever learned. “I guess realizing the human race is one more invasive species,” he said.
Seeger spent long, productive life trying to teach us not to be invasive.
What: Pete Seeger Centennial Concert
When: Thursday, May 23rd, 7:00 p.m.
Where: The Egg, Empire State Plaza, Albany
Tickets: The Egg Box Office at the Empire State Plaza, 581-473-1845, or online.
New York City’s post-punk, pop outfit, The Goodnight Darlings, are cutting edge. Bred from the William Faulkner quote ‘murder your darlings,’ nothing stands on safe ground. At any moment an explosion of creative energy, or sound, propels the band into an epic dance-rock performance on stage. With the glam of a fairytale princess, frontwoman, Kat Auster, commands the stage instantaneously while her counterpart, Wilson Jaramillo stretches the soundscapes of rock guitar.
Catch them this Thursday, May 2 at The Cutting Room in the heart of Manhattan at 9:30 pm.
Bonded by The Goodnight Darlings, and marriage, Auster and Jaramillo are one anothers’ creative spark. Auster’s style is bold, flailing on stage in a exuberant unicorn outfit earlier this year. A perfect match to the screaming notes from Jaramillo and his cutting distortion. As it turns out, the duo has been proven endlessly. Kat Auster is steeped in the likes of Madonna, Blondie and, according to The Village Voice, “Gwen Stefani’s evil twin.” Likewise, she is an esteemed Juilliard graduate and appeared as an MTV Made coach. Going toe-to-toe in his own light, Wilson toured with The Fugees, Wyclef Jean and sessioned for Mary J. Blige and DMC. The Fugees dubbed Wilson as ‘the punk’ and ‘the scientist’ because of his energy and endless effects.
“You can’t be too precious about your work, or get attached to pieces of it. The way I understood it [Faulkner] was to make sure you maintain irreverence and freedom when you write. When Wilson and I founded the band, we felt this way, having traveled around the world experimenting with different bands and genres,” said Kat. “Then we changed the band name slightly to The Goodnight Darlings; the name has a darkness or a sweetness to it, depending on perspective. This dichotomy of dark, yet sweet, is very true to us – like a cherry-bomb.”
Photo by Donna Renna
The Yin and Yang of The Goodnight Darlings is further exposed with Wilson’s influences. From The Clash and Public Enemy to Jane’s Addiction and Ice Cube, the punk has plenty to draw upon. “YYY’s and Santigold are big influences because we come from the same school. When we started GND I wanted to incorporate a city vibe which was more electronic and hip hop, but not lose that punk rock edge,” said Wilson – as if music was second nature to breathing.
“I was still learning how to walk when music hit me. My parents would listen to music from Ecuador and groups like The Platters. I would get lost in their perfect harmonies and felt a physical lump in my throat from the emotions coming out of the speakers,” added Wilson. “I also would get hyper while listening to Little Richard and early Elvis…I have always immersed myself in music of all types.”
The Goodnight Darlings continue to test their musical bounds in a collaboration with Oklahoma City rapper, Jabee on “Start Up,” a single released earlier this year. What spawned from hip hop photographer, Robert Mayer, turned into a lifelong relationship between Jabee and the darlings.
“From the beginning, Jabee asked for my lyrics and wanted to really understand what my message was in the song. The way he approached it made me feel really at home. He’s a kindred spirit. His energy is so special, and different from mine. We play off each other and I think it makes for captivating moments,” said Kat.
“Jabee is another pro, very conscious lyricist and easy to work with. When we finally met him in person we knew he was family for life,” added Wilson.
The bands musical sense is also inspired by their bond which is nothing short of family-for-life. Bassist Joey D’Alessio has been sucked into this familiar world. “When we jam over new material, it really is like playing with my siblings. It’s very free and unassuming, but rocks hard. GND is extremely collaborative and there are smiles for days in the rehearsal room. We are constantly surprising each other and playfully one-up each other to bring out the best. GND shows are exactly that, a show! The crowd gets involved, we command the stage and by the first hit it’s a frenetic ball of fun.”
All that The Goodnight Darlings are, transcend from their music and persona to visually breathtaking music videos. Their 2017 release of “Carousel” is as colorful as it sounds. Driving palm-muted guitar rushes in with the changing backdrop-rooms in rotation. “Empire Vampire” contrast in a darker sheen, featuring members of Cirque du Soleil.
Aside from The Goodnight Darlings, Kat and Wilson create musical jingles – a polar opposite of punk-rock. “I think one keeps the other fresh. What’s cool about writing jingles, is that you’re like an actor. You take on whatever the client or product needs. We always aim to do it super well, so it has to become a part of you,” said Kat. “ You can learn a new vibe or approach. One time I had to sing a Kesha cover, and I never really listened hard to her inflections. There’s always something cool to learn and throw in the cosmic stew of our music.”
The Goodnight Darlings are more entity than sound could bare. More edge and less genre, always pushing new musical territory. Their excitement is evident and as the band continues on their DIY path, creative doors are held wide open. Push your limits Thursday at The Cutting Room and become apart of the honorary Darling family. Get your tickets in advance HERE. Follow The Goodnight Darlings on Instagram and Spotify.
Amoramora might be the new kids on the block in the jam scene, but these rocky mountain boys are becoming quite the road warriors, where they are gaining more and more momentum through an unbreakable comradery, as well as great musical talent and exploration. Their 21-date spring tour is coming to a close, with stops in St. Louis, Cleveland, Nashville, Macon and New York, performing at the infamous Cutting Room on April 6, 2019.
This quartet consists of Danny Evans on guitar and vocals, Eric Levine (bass/vocals/trumpet), Michael Lenssen (trumpet/EWI/keys/vocals), and Tyler Hobbs (drums/precussion/vocals). Amoramora blends Funk, bluegrass, jazz and African Highlife, with a main theme of positivity guiding their sound. The band has a great commitment to consistently changing setlists and expanding their extensive catalog of original material.
Zach Belfer: How would you describe Amoramora to a music fan that has never heard of you before?
Danny Evans: It’s like a s’more – crunchy, warm, melty and tasteful.
ZB: How did you come up with the name Amoramora?
DE: To us it means More Love. It’s a made up word inspired by a pet snake we knew in college.
ZB: What venues would you like to play that you haven’t played yet?
DE:Too many great places to pick one… but playing the Brooklyn Bowl or Capital Theater would be pretty mind blowing.
ZB: What was your favorite memory of this tour?
DE: I think that our show in Cincinnati on April’s Fools Day was one of the most creative and dynamic shows we have ever played. It was seriously fat, with tons of tease and laughs throughout.
ZB: Tell us a fun fact about Amoramora, that fans wouldn’t know about.
DE:Both the bass player (Eric Levine) and the keys player (Michael Lensse) have a degree in Jazz Trumpet. Eric went to University of Colorado and Mike went to University of Miami (FL).
ZB: Where can we find your music?
DE: Bandcamp, Apple Music, Spotify, Archive.org, and written on the caves of Altamira.
Setlist: Window To The Stars, Diamond Phillips > Spirit Of Adventure, Rafiki’s Expedition*
Notes: 1 set, 45 minutes, opening for Hayley Jane & The Primates. Danny teased The Flintstones,Mike teased Swingtown and Eric teased In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida in Diamond. Spirit featured a Round The Wheel tease and an In The Streets / 70s Show Intro tease. Mike also teased Rhapsody In Blue in Spirit. Rafiki’s featured Eric on Trumpet and Dan Montgomery sitting in on Bass.
If you haven’t heard of Cream before, you must live under a bloody rock. Although short-lived, the trio went on to write countless hits from “Sunshine Of Your Love” to “White Room” and perform the renowned blues cover “Crossroads,” originally by Robert Johnson. Moreover, TheCream’s third album, Wheels Of Fire, was the first LP to reach double-platinum status in 1968, shortly before their disband.
Sitting in a white room, backstage of Wall Street Theatre, we waited. Classic blues, the heart to rock n’ roll, turned in the background as if being scratched on an old Victrola. The bare walls left the mind open to get lost, solely in the music and a conversation-to-come. Will Johns, nephew of Eric Clapton, strolled in wearing black hoodie and tie-dye scarf, blending in with typical production-crew-attire. In fact, Will’s father Andy Johns was a seasoned engineer working with The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull and, of course, all three Cream members’ solo releases. Humbling, for someone of such colourful lineage.
“I was practically born in the recording studio,” said Johns. “My earliest memories were of a multitude of little lights, the smell you get, of electricity and musical equipment. It’s a particular smell.” His London accent emphasised the details, little lights and smell, drawing to precise memories or tangible things. Having people around that were creative from day one overstimulated Johns with endless musical possibility. And then you’d have your normal life. After a split-second debate, Johns lands on “Shit or Shinola,” brightly. “You sort of go towards the light,” now smiling ear to ear.
Johns continued to recount his earliest musical memories, a story he would tell to the audience with his immense wit. “I started hitting on the drums, first of all. I used to go to Uncle Eric’s house; he had a studio and a drum kit set up. I used to smash on it,” again his accent broke through. “One morning he was like: hmmm, maybe you should play a different instrument.” May it be Clapton’s musical genius or fate, simply put, guitar was in Will’s DNA.
“People get a kick out of hearing that one note for note, and I know that I get a kick out of playing it, right.”
After his Uncle Eric tangent, Johns told the crowd how he just really wanted to play “Crossroads.” Johns fumbled over each note, learning them in real time, sucking us back when he was six years old. He would lean in and out stretching his thoughts into a literal expression along with the neck of his guitar. As the iconic riff became audible, the crowd roared. Johns energy built with each increasing BPM.
Musical spawn of Cream’s bassist, Malcolm Bruce enters backstage and sits alongside his brother, facing my father. His forefinger was beyond blistered from the furious bass-playing from the night before, kicking off the tour, also marking his birthday. He was as witty as his partner-in-crime, clever, and sophisticated in far more than music. The energy in the room was towering and their sinergy was overwhelming. Mind you, Kofi Baker, son of the infamous drummer, would make is first appearance on stage. The record played on.
Charles DeFilippo: You guys were born into this rich culture of music and…
MB: RICH! (pauses) Or rich, creatively?
Before the chance to complete the sentence, asking about his first sparks of musical inspiration as a child, considering, Will chimes in, digging into the ‘CH’ and chuckling.
WJ: Yeah! We haven’t seen any, RICH, yet ourselves.
Malcolm leads, “I hear a lot of music,” BUT I DON’T SEE NO MONEY, they completed in unison.
Not only is music of a way of communication, but also of self expression. Combine this with a musically supercharged childhood, raised by industry legends and tied with a unbreakable bond of brotherhood. It was baffling to witness firsthand. It was so strong in that moment. The sum of two persons, finishing each other’s sentences, quite literally, on and off stage.
“We weren’t running in the same circles until our late teens, early twenties. Having said that. Will’s dad and my dad were best buddies for quite a long time,” said Malcolm. Will confirmed.
WJ: Malcolm’s dad was actually the best man, at my Mum and Dad’s wedding.
MB: They were dear, dear friends.
“You don’t always think about what you have, do you? Whoever you are. There’s a perception of rockstars and their kids, a fascination with that stuff as a culture, but maybe we see it more of being a musician. That’s where my dad came from, his idea wasn’t to be a rockstar, he was a working class Scottish man who wanted to be a jazz musician, or play in a blues band. So the very early 60’s when he started out was a different thing…where everything flowered and changed.”
In the midst of his breath, “Farewell Daddy Blues” turned in the background.
” I think it is amazing what my dad achieved as a writer and a performer. I am kind-of going my own way. This is just a great way to honour this amazing tradition. We just happen to be apart of that. Will came and jammed with my dad [back in the day], so it is all very natural for us.”
“[The music of Cream was] addressing anything from experimenting with drugs to baby boomer generations, before that, people were expected to live a certain way. There was that little window of opportunity for people to stand as equals with the middle classes, or whatever. We were born into that, but whether we saw ourselves as special or not, I don’t know. It was just what we knew,” Said Bruce.
On stage Malcolm and Will interject notes in between one another, copying syncopation and challenging each others’ melodies. Both of which fell in and far outside the worlds of Cream. Kofi’s whimsical speech about “now it’s time to take a break and go to the bathroom,” before a thunderstorm of a solo, only reeled the audience deeper into the second generation trio. Cream became a byproduct of this beautiful tradition, of musicians simply playing music.
“I wouldn’t say it has been smooth sailing. The original guys, our parents, our uncle, were ya know (snaps) – like that,” said Malcolm. That created an energy about the music. “With my dad and Ginger, they had a lot of history before Cream, had been in bands and thrown knives at each other on stage. In a similar way, without the knives, we have a certain freneticism between us. We are all quite strong personalities.”
“We all have thoughts… and feelings…,” said Will, cutting Malcolm’s words with a blade-sharp precision, as if they were his own.
Will’s counterpart continued. “For this kind of music, improvised rock, it’s a really good energy to have. You don’t want to make it too easy. The willingness to make mistakes. The willingness to put yourself out on the fringes of, beyond safety. That is part of the uniqueness, you get into the moment and see what happens.”
The guitarist weighs in. “It makes the music real, which I hate to say, is so rare these days. The motivation, and the actual, attack of the string, right down to every single note, is, very, important. What we’re doing is the old way,” said Johns. “It’s real music. It’s musicians playing with each other. It’s an equal footing. And like Malcolm says: A willingness to go there. Wherever there ends up. To listen and react, without control.”
After Kofi’s solo, Will was mickey-moucing to the resonance of each drum stroke, re-entering from behind the black curtains. Even on deaf-ears the music was heard in each exuberant motion. Their harmonies belted together as Kofi roared up and down the toms, as his father did in the 2005 live recording at Royal Albert Hall in London.
“We are not a tribute act,” said Malcom. “The overarching feeling is to take the music and play it, adopting it as our own. It is silly to be them. Who would want to be them anyway,” chuckling.
Johns will allude to exact Cream parts such as the “Crossroads,” solo, being hailed as one of the greatest guitar solos of all time. “People get a kick out of hearing that one note for note, and I know that I get a kick out of playing it, right.”
Fifty years from when the original Cream were around until now, nothing has really changed. It is so breathtaking to witness the lineage, not in tribute, but to commemorate the pivotal anchor of rock music and all that it stood for in the 1960’s. The Music Of Cream: 50th Anniversary World Tour is perfect for the non-Cream fan because what’s not to love about real music, and the digging edgy-blues of “Spoonful.”
Malcolm Bruce and Will Johns are deep into their own musical journeys, bioth with upcoming albums on the way. Furthermore, Bruce is half-way-funded to a full on London Opera production. Although it’s hard to beat Cream. Catch the The Music Of Cream as the second-generation trio carries on for the last leg of their tour with repeating dates across Florida and Texas, New Orleans and Nashville. Be sure to stay up to date with Kofi, Malcolm and Will on their solo endeavours.
All photos taken by NYS Photographer, Mickey Dehener Friday, March 29 in New York at Tarrytown Music Hall
Girl Blue has a passion for music, vocals and a stage presence to draw you in – listen. The stage name of Arielle O’Keefe, Girl Blue is one of the Capital District’s emerging singer-songwriters, alongside peers Sean Rowe, Sydney Worthley, Sawyer Fredericks, and Moriah Formica. On Thursday, January 24, she will open for Dar Williams at Cohoes Music Hall.
O’Keefe’s drive for music goes back to her childhood in Bayshore, Long Island, where she started playing piano at age 5 and guitar at age 12. From this, she sees music adhered to her identity, throughout her life. “It’s sort of a raging ambition inside me, it feels like all I have is this thing to work on.” After a move to Dallas during high school, she headed north to New York City and finally to Albany, to move her career forward. She chose her stage name, Girl Blue, from two musical inspirations – the Nina Simone album, Little Girl Blue, which she listened to a great deal growing up, and the Stevie Wonder song “Girl Blue,” where the character described was much like Arielle.
Girl Blue received broad exposure when her first single, “Fire Under Water,” was picked up by Spotify for New Music Friday, and was eventually placed in a Las Vegas tourism commercial. From there it went viral, racking up over 2.5 million plays. This led Spotify to pick up her cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams,” a stripped down version of the original. “I would play with vocals and looped them along with one or two guitar lines. The song is so emotional and almost creepy. I wanted to do something that was really broken down and make it a little more epic, so I covered it with just vocals and guitars, then went in and produced the final version.”
When O’Keefe is on stage, she commands attention to her performance. “When I was younger, I went to different types of venues, hip-hop showcases and singer-songwriter performances and saw singers that you have-to-listen-to, instead of being forced to listen. I do that for myself, making it so that people have to lean in.” After 14 years, this has developed into Girl Blue’s remarkable stage presence.
A range of vocal inspirations – Ella Fitzgerald, Joni Mitchell, Roberta Flack, Ani DiFranco and Tori Amos – as well as comparisons to Carole King, Laura Marling, Bonnie Raitt and Jeff Buckley, give you an idea of the powerhouse-vocals and songwriting Girl Blue has in her skill set. She looks towards Frank Ocean as one of the defining voices of the current generation. “He has a voice with character and is a talented singer, who has that intangible quality to translate emotion through his voice. He makes people feel, and that will stand the test of time. His style has been copied over and over already; that says a lot if everyone wants to be Frank Ocean.”
Last May at Proctor’s Theater in Schenectady, Girl Blue performed as part of Capitol Records Live, an event bringing together a half-dozen local artists to take on the songs of The Beatles’ – The White Album and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Singing “Glass Onion,” “Blackbird,” “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and “Getting Better,” her performance stood out among a lineup that included Wild Adriatic, Eastbound Jesus and Let’s Be Leonard.
Currently, Girl Blue is recording with Dan Dekalb and Jimi Woodul from Dark Honey, with plans to release a stripped down album in May, and the full album slated for later this year.
On March 2nd, Girl Blue will perform at The Linda in Albany with Belle Skinner and Zan Strumfield, but first, she opens for Dar Williams at Cohoes Music Hall on Thursday, January 24. Tickets are still on sale.
Girl Blue posts monthly exclusive songs and behind the scenes content online on Patreon. Click here to subscribe and support her work.
