Volume 36, No. 5 May 2010 THEPINESMAKEAFIRST APPEARANCE at Kikirs HOUSE of RIGHTEOUS MUSIC

Volume 36, No. 5 May 2010 KAREN SAVOCA & PETE HEITZMAN RETURN MAY 8T H FOR AN INTIMATE P ERFORMANCE by Darlene Buhler From upstate New York, Karen lap since he was ten, and was playing in working without a net.” It’s an elusive Savoca, first of all, is not a chick with a bars by the time he was in eighth grade. mix... melodic, funky and spontaneous. guitar, conga is her main instrument. A versatile and improvisational player, Karen & Pete will be returning for Karen Savoca is an extraordinary singer. he has created a style that is all his own, their third house concert in the home of The daughter of a big band vocalist with innovative and refreshing. Pete bends, Darlene Buhler on Saturday, May 8th. For a record collection full of the greatest jazz plucks, and wrings captivating textures a reservation/directions please call Darlene and soul singers, she spent her childhood and soundscapes from the guitar or six- at 225-0710 or email at dbuhler@charter. harmonizing with her family around an string bass, and has been aptly described net. A donation of $15 is requested for old upright piano. A soulful and engaging as “the aurora borealis of guitar players”. the performers. performer, Karen draws you into her Both Pete & Karen started playing world like she’s inviting you to the table for music at a young age, did music supper. With a love for the old standards individually and eventually met while TH E PINE S MA K E A FIR S T her parents and grandparents taught her, playing in the same band. Karen & Pete the rhythm and blues of the sixties, and eventually broke off to become a duo A pp EARANCE AT KI K I ’S the singer-songwriters of the seventies and performing mostly original music, and eighties, Karen is a songwriter unbounded original it is. It is hard to pigeon hole HOU S E OF RIG H TEOU S by topic or style. Whether set in a garden what genre to put Karen & Pete’s music, or on a city street, funny or poignant, her but the following is from one of her press MU S IC songs are full of lasting images, melodies kits and is a good description. Karen’s by Kiki Schueler and characters. appearance on the contemporary folk For their January appearance on Pete Heitzman has had a guitar on his scene says more about the broad-minded Thirty Minute Music Hour, which audience of folk than airs on Wisconsin Public Television, it does about her Minneapolis-based band the Pines rented music. The duo’s tuxes. I’m still not sure exactly why (it live performances would be hard to make their graceful folk are uplifting and any classier), but perhaps they wanted hypnotic, they put to make a good impression for their first some funk in the folk. gig in Madison. I think it worked— At the Vancouver afterward, host Andy Moore called their Folk Festival ‘99, performance “mesmerizing.” Despite as the Sunday sun touring extensively since releasing their was setting, for debut record in 2004—including several the first time in 22 stops at the nearby Café Carpe in Fort years, 10 thousand Atkinson—and in spite of playing with an people inexplicably impressive list of musicians including Bon removed their shoes Iver, The Holmes Brothers, Jolie Holland, and waved them The Arcade Fire, and Spider John Koerner, over their heads. the Pines have yet to play a proper show Together she and in Madison. That will change on May 15, innovative guitarist when they make a stop at Kiki’s House Pete Heitzman of Righteous Music. The show will also have been described feature their friend Ben Weaver, a fellow as a self-contained Twin Cities resident. mini-band with My introduction to the Pines, the “the fearlessness songwriting duo of David Huckfelt of a high-wire act and Benson Ramsey, came courtesy of Mad Folk News is published monthly by the Madison Folk Music Society, a non- profit, volunteer-led society dedicated to fostering folk music in the Madison area. Contact us at madfolk@charter. net. Learn about concerts, membership, scholarships, and volunteer opportuni- ties at www.madfolk.org. Madison Folk Music Society Board Darlene Buhler ....... President, Concerts, Advertising 846-9214 ~ [email protected] Peg Michel ….…...................……. Treasurer 831-1876 ~ [email protected] Tracy Comer ….............……. Membership 276-8192 ~ [email protected] Norbert Wodke …........………… Secretary 836-8422 ~ [email protected] Weaver, who played a show at the house Interestingly, most of their songs don’t Dede Goldberg ....................... Newsletter last summer. He thought they would be follow the traditional folk verse-chorus- distribution a perfect match with the good listening verse format, though it often sounds 246-4332 ~ [email protected] room and attentive audience, and like they do with the use of repeated Neil Morris….................…….... Newsletter mentioned Ramsey’s famous father in his musical patterns. The exception is the editor sales pitch. There’s not an article or CD restrained six-minute epic “Shiny Shoes.” 358-5855 ~ [email protected] review out there that doesn’t bring up the Admittedly, with a line as good as “But Bill Fiore…….......................... Scholarship, fact that Benson is the son of Greg Brown’s no matter how hard you try, no, you can’t Festival sideman and producer, Bo Ramsey—as if put the tears back in your eyes,” you need 256-4687 ~ [email protected] failing to do so would be to leave out an to use it more than once. Meg Skinner ……………………………...……. essential bit of information. It’s true that Even though Huckfelt and Ramsey 238-6950 ~ [email protected] Benson’s guitar playing demonstrates the both hail from Iowa, they began their Ron Dennis …........…..…………………….…. same restrained intensity as his father’s, musical partnership in the unlikely 226-9472 ~ [email protected] but being Bo’s son is certainly not his only location of Arizona, where they met while claim to fame. The Pines’ three releases, both were living in a Mexican barrio. MadFolk Ticket Outlets the last two on Brown’s venerable Red The music they created reflected their When you see this symbol – ee – House label, have garnered them heaps home more than their current residence. you’ll know that you’re reading about of praise, and their most recent release, Eventually, after committing to a career a Mad Folk sponsored event. Advance Tremolo, is a beautiful, thought-provoking in music, they relocated to the Midwest, tickets for Mad Folk shows are avail- record where happy and sad come in quick settling in Minneapolis, which in addition able online at www.madfolk.org and succession (to borrow a line from Elliott to being home to Red House Records has at these outlets: Smith). birthed bands as unique and influential Opening track “Pray Tell” finds as the Replacements and the Jayhawks. • Borders Books East, 2173 Zeier Huckfelt asking difficult questions like Hopefully, given their proximity to Road “Who hung the moon so low in the sky?” Madison, this will be just the first of • Borders Books West, 3416 Univer- and “Who opens up the door between many shows in town. You can judge sity Ave. heaven and hell?” Their electric/acoustic for yourself if their Thirty Minute Music • Orange Tree Imports, 1721 Mon- guitar pairing percolates here, giving an Hour performance is everything Andy roe Street urgency to the anxious but unhurried Moore claimed it was. The video, and all • Spruce Tree Music, 851 East John- blues. The shuffling love song “Heart and previous episodes of the show, is available son Bones” features Ramsey’s unique voice, for viewing at www.wpt.org. You can also purchase advance which bears a striking resemblance to For more information about their tickets by mail. Send a stamped self- Dylan’s on his recent releases. There’s also May 15 show with Ben Weaver, contact addressed envelope with your check more than a hint of the Felice Brothers’ me at [email protected]. unaffected Appalachian blues, though The show is at 9 p.m. and has a suggested payable to Mad Folk, PO Box 665, thankfully minus the Brothers’ attitude. donation of $10. Madison, WI 53701. If all else fails, call 608-846-9214 for information. tions have always been key elements of his LETTER S FROM A FL YING MAC H INE songwriting, and that is especially true of PETER MU L VEY ~ 2009 SIGNATURE SOUND S Letters. “Dynamite Bill” and two other tracks were co-writes with Tim Gearan, Review by Kiki Schueler while closing track “On a Wing and a Peter Mulvey is a genuine entertainer, and think everybody should,” he opens, Prayer” came from a partnership with a smart songwriter, a fantastic guitar play- “some people go crazy in plain sight on Tim Fagan. Perhaps some of his best ma- er, a quick wit, and a skilled storyteller. the streets of the neighborhood, and I go terial in recent years has come from work- His live shows have always been an engag- mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mm.” Live ing with fellow Milwaukee resident song- ing combination of those things, but until audiences usually laugh out loud in re- writer Paul Cebar. Cebar had been saying now his CDs have only documented his sponse to observations like “Some people they should write a song together, but it talent for playing and singing. In addition go and they put their heads in cryogenic took years before that finally happened. to nine new original tunes, Letters from a stasis. Some people go too long without Since then, the pair has collaborated on Flying Machine also includes readings of getting laid on a regular basis,” and “Some several.

Load more