Tag Archives: vaudeville mews

Upcoming Shows: Pezzettino Swings Through Iowa On Her Way East

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Pezzettino at CSPS in Cedar Rapids, IA

The constant storm of activity that is Pezzettino is kicking off a tour this week that will take her through Minnesota and Iowa on her way west wrapping up at the end of February on the East Coast. This tour hits a lot of the same stops she made in October of last year, which is a smart move to build her fanbase in some of these cities. When she stopped in Cedar Rapids in October, she played a house show at my home. This was a new experience for me, and it was a lot of fun and she quickly made fans of everyone who attended. She also threatened to kidnap my dachshund, but I’m not going to hold that against her! She also performed a very cool show at CSPS opening for another singer-songwriter named Melissa Greener.

This time she’s playing some key stops in Iowa including an interview and performance at the main Java House location in Iowa City on Washington for Ben Kieffer’s Java Blend radio show on Iowa Public Radio which will air on Friday 2/19 and Saturday 2/20. She’s also performing at the very cool Vaudeville Mews venue in Des Moines and two coffee house shows– Roaster’s Coffee House in Hiawatha, IA (near Cedar Rapids) and Monk’s Kaffee Pub in Dubuque. Roaster’s, incidentally, is where I buy all of my coffee. They roast on site some of the best coffee I’ve ever had and includes Free Trade and Organic coffees.

She announced today via twitter, that all proceeds of teeshirt sales will be donated to benefit Haiti!

While you have your wallet out, I suggest you get the ultra-cool colored 7″ vinyl for “You Never Know” with hand-painted sleeves!!!

Click Here to visit her website, which is pretty much the launching point for all of her online shenanigans.

Tour Dates: (from MySpace)

Jan 27 2010  10:00P  Bedlam Theater  Minneapolis, Minnesota
Jan 28 2010  8:00P  Ed’s  Winona, Minnesota
Jan 29 2010  2:00P  Java Blend Iowa Public Radio  Iowa City, Iowa (Facebook Event)
Jan 29 2010  8:00P  Ames Progressive  Ames, Iowa
Jan 30 2010  8:00P  Vaudeville Mews  Des Moines, Iowa
Jan 31 2010  1:00P  Roaster’s Coffee House  Hiawatha, Iowa (Facebook Event)
Feb 1 2010  8:00P  Monks  Dubuque, Iowa
Feb 2 2010  8:00P  Elbo Room Lounge  Chicago, Illinois
Feb 3 2010  8:00P  Earth House  Indianapolis, Indiana
Feb 4 2010  8:00P  House Show  Bloomington, Indiana
Feb 5 2010  8:00P  House Show  South Bend, Indiana
Feb 6 2010  8:00P  Cole’s  Chicago, Illinois
Feb 11 2010  8:00P  High Noon Saloon opening for Gene  Ween Madison, Wisconsin
Feb 13 2010  8:00P  Arts Council  Racine, Wisconsin
Feb 19 2010  10:00P  Hank’s Saloon  Brooklyn, New York
Feb 22 2010  5:00P  Sonicbids Office  Boston, Massachusetts
Feb 24 2010  8:00P  Parkside Lounge  New York, New York
Feb 27 2010  10:00P  VoxPop Cafe  Brooklyn, New York

Upcoming Show: Marco Benevento in Iowa 4/10 & 4/12/09

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I had the opportunity to hear a unique album this week. Marco Benevento’s second solo album Me Not Me (The Royal Potato Family, 2009). Me Not Me is an inspired collection of original compositions and covers all interpreted largely with the acoustic piano carrying the melodies and layers of drums, bass, and effects coming from Farfisa, Optigan, Mellotron, and circuit bent toys filling out the tonal landscape of each song.

What struck me immediately was the beautiful piano parts rising out of each of the songs. I’m a sucker for piano parts and passages of this album remind me of some of my favorite piano jazz.

Of course, some of this is because of the strong melodies in the songs he chose. Me Not Me is an interesting, if obscurish collection of covers. Other than the cover of “Golden” by My Morning Jacket and the cover of “Friends” off of Led Zeppelin III, I wasn’t familiar with even the songs from the more famous artists like Beck (“Sing It Again”), George Harrison (“Run of the Mill”) and Leonard Cohen (“Seems So Long Ago Nancy”) but each seem to be strong choices. The choice of modern buzzworthy bands like Deerhoof (“Twin Killer”) and The Knife (“Heartbeat”) seems to provide and intersting juxtiposition of old and new. The three original Benevento compositions on the CD fit right in with the other songs giving a consistent sound and feel. I’ve only had the CD a couple of days and I’m already finding myself returning to it repeatedly!

So, I was pretty excited to hear that Marco Benevento and his trio (with Matt Chamberlain and Reed Mathis from the album) would be stopping in Iowa for two dates in April– Vaudeville Mews in Des Moines on Friday, April 10th (6:30PM: $10 in advance, $12 at the door), and at CSPS in Cedar Rapids on Sunday, April 12th after a show in Minneapolis at the Dakota (8PM: $20 cover).

Upcoming Shows:

02.24.09
Yoshi’s Oakland
Oakland, CA
with Joe Russo, Peter Alpfelbaum and Josh Roseman – “Quartet the Killer” – featuring the music of Neil Young

03.05.09
River St. Jazz Cafe
Wilkes-Barre, PA
with Marc Friedman (bass) and Andrew Barr (drums)

03.06.09
Deer Head Inn
Del Wtr Gap, PA
with Marc Friedman (bass) and Andrew Barr (drums)

03.07.09
The Bell House
Brooklyn, NY
with Marc Friedman and Andrew Barr
click here for tickets

3.20.09
SXSW
The Elephant Room
Austin, TX
CD Release Show

04.07.09
Hideaway
Louisville, KY

04.08.09
Jazz Kitchen
Indianapolis, IN

04.09.09
The Space @ Northwestern University
Evanston, IL

04.10.09 Fri
Vaudeville Mews
Des Moines, IA

04.11.09
Dakota
Minneapolis, MN

04.12.09
CSPS
Cedar Rapids, IA

05.06.09
Le Divan Orange
Montreal, Canada
with Reed Mathis and Andrew Barr

05.07.09
The Wescott Theatre
Syracuse, NY
with Reed Mathis and Andrew Barr

05.08.09
The Iron Horse
Northampton, MA
with Reed Mathis and Andrew Barr

05.14.09
Merkin Concert Hall
New York, NY
with Reed Mathis and Andrew Barr

Click Here to visit Marco’s Website (totally check out their version of “She’s Not There” by the Zombies!)

Click Here to visit Marco’s MySpace page which has tracks streaming from Me Not Me.

Upcoming Show: Woven Hand at Vaudeville Mews in Des Moines 4/19/08

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Back in 1996, when I was living in Minneapolis I was really into this band called 16 Horsepower. The alternative radio single “Black Soul Choir” was all over Rev105 and Sherry and I saw them play the Fine Line on 6/8/96 (according to the ticket stub I tucked into the CD sleeve of their first release on A&M Sackcloth ‘n’ Ashes. At the time, I hadn’t heard anything like the hellfire and brimstone approach that lead singer David Eugene Edwards brought. The only band that had a similar sound was Miami Gun Club. These days, there are a few more bands that take the “graveyard folk” route like Devil Makes Three (previously reviewed here).

I found out from a friend of a friend that David Eugene Edwards is bringing his post-16 Horsepower band Woven Hand to Des Moines on April 19th at the hip Vaudeville Mews venue (that I still haven’t been to!). Woven Hand is still pretty similar to the sound of 16 Horsepower but it has a slightly updated sound. I’m catching up… Edwards seemed to command the stage when I saw him in 1996, so I can only assume he’ll put on a great show these days. Only $8!

Visit the Woven Hand MySpace Page
Visit the Woven Hand website
Visit the 16 Horsepower website

Listen to “Black Soul Choir” Live