May 2017

May 25, 2017

Dick Connette To Perform At Brooklyn's Roulette On June 2nd

Song Out! Folk 'N' Pop Fantasies Concert.  Curated By Avant-Garde Music Pioneer Meredith Monk

Appearing at Roulette, one night only, Friday, June 2 @ 8 pm, Rachelle Garniez, Dick Connette, and Mimi Goese will perform new songs, together with Karen Waltuch (viola), Steve Elson (reeds), Kevin Kuhn (guitar, banjo), and Derek Nievergelt (double bass), and featuring guest vocals by Ana Egge and Suzzy Roche.

Garniez will be presenting a set of her own songs, putting her particular spin on jazz, soul, and r ‘n’ b, with a band especially assembled for the occasion.

Connette and Goese will premiere a group of songs with text by Emily Dickinson. In addition, Connette, assisted by Ana Egge and Suzzy Roche, will present repertoire from both Last Forever and his latest project, Too Sad for the Public, whose first CD, Vol. 1 – Oysters Ice Cream Lemonade will be released on StorySound Records June 16.

Roulette is located at 509 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn. For more information, tickets, go to roulette.org or call (917) 267-0363

May 30, 2017

Song Premiere on WNYC Soundcheck

Soundcheck Weekly Music Roundup - Too Sad For The Public – New Project Remakes Old Songs

For many years, the producer, composer, and arranger Dick Connette has been creating music built on a wide variety of American traditions, from Cajun to blues to children’s rhymes. Working with the singer Sonya Cohen – daughter of John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers and niece of Pete Seeger – he released several albums of these songs under the name Last Forever. But Sonya passed away at age 50 in 2015. Since then, Connette has been working with a varied group of singers and musicians (including Suzzy Roche, Gabriel Kahane and others) on a project called Too Sad For The Public. The first album, called Vol. 1, Oysters Ice Cream Lemonade, is out on June 16. Here, he casts an even wider musical net; many of the songs are still based on traditional music, but one is built on the sounds of Washington DC Go Go music (more on that next week). This track, called “Young Loves To Love,” will immediately be familiar to fans of Van Morrison. With lead vocals by Ana Egge, it’s a medley of Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” and “Sweet Thing,” featuring Jay Berliner on guitar (who played on Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks album). More than a cover, though, it’s a typically personal take on these familiar songs, making them into something new and strange. 

Too Sad For The Public will spread the joy in a live setting this Friday, June 2, at Roulette in Brooklyn.

Click here to read the full piece and listen to the song

June 1, 2017

Utne Reader Premieres Chaim Tannenbaum Video for America The Beautiful

In the immediate wake of Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement, among other controversial policy moves, many Americans are struggling to come to terms with what it is that their country stands for. Musician Chaim Tannenbaum has responded to the rise of Trump with an encouraging reminder of the professed values upon which the United States of America was founded. Three days after the election Tannenbaum unveiled his version of “America the Beautiful,” which includes all of the original verses, to a captivated crowd in London. The reaction to his performance was so positive that Tannenbaum decided to record the song in the studio.

Speaking of his reasoning behind playing the song, Chaim explains, "In a former time, America was the hope of mankind. It promised no less than that life would be led freely and justly. For the sake of principles that would make such life manifest and durable, free men and women wearied themselves, took on lavish risk and suffered lavish injury. We had an idea, I, C.J. Camerieri (trumpet, french horn) and Marcus Rojas (euphonium, tuba), that by calling to mind that former time, we might give courage to ourselves and to others who might wish to recover its spirit and mandate.”

For the music video (below), Chaim collaborated with Robin Forte-Lincke to create “a video featuring images that portray what America has been, and, he hopes, could still be.”

Click HERE to read the full piece and watch the video