Gaelynn Lea: Defying Labels and Crossing Borders Unanimous winner of NPR Music’s “Tiny Desk Contest,” Gaelynn Lea brings her unique style all the way from her home town of Duluth, Minnesota, to Providence, Rhode Island, on Friday, October 21 at AS220. Gaelynn’s music can be described as “experimental traditional folk” with instrumental and vocal influences in Celtic and Irish music combined with a love of Scandinavian fiddle tunes. Her mesmerizing original instrumental harmonies and vocals are anything but traditional in their personal improvisational-inspired interpretations. Gaelynn’s stirring melodic original “Someday We’ll Linger In the Sun” was selected from the 6,000-plus entries and chosen by all six judges in NPR’s “Tiny Desk Concert.” With more than 20 years of experience, she also teaches the instrument and performs with Alan Sparhawk in the band Murder Of Crows. Their different styles weave together an atmospheric tapestry of sound. Gaelynn’s life is as extraordinary as her music. Born with the congenital disease Osteogenesis Imperfecta (also referred to as Brittle Bones Disease) her delicate bones were broken multiple times at birth. This resulted in a twisting and shortened formation of limbs. At the young age of only 2 she was already learning to get around with an electric wheelchair. Her musical journey started when Gaelynn fell in love with the sounds of the cello and strings together after hearing the orchestra play in the 4th grade. When her music instructor Mrs. Sommerfeld administered a school music listening test, she received a perfect score. Knowing that she wanted to be involved in the orchestra, her instructor encouraged her to play the violin as the cello was just too large for her small frame. With some adaptations in positioning and technique, she now plays violin up and down like a cello while bowed like an upright stringed bass. Hand positions were re-adjusted to reach the necessary notes on the fingerboard. Despite the extra hours of practice time this required, for Gaelynn, music itself always came naturally and freely, seemingly as a natural extension of her own body and expression of her spirit. Gaelynn’s early musical influences were quite diverse — from big band and swing music to the lilting harmonies of Simon and Garfunkel. In her college years, bands such as The Decemberists and Neutral Milk Hotel were some of her influences. Her first written songs “Let It Go” and “Bird Song” were recorded in 2012 and its easy to get lost in the multi-textured maze of sound created in part by a looping pedal gifted to her by Alan Sparhawk in 2011. The pedal allowed her to build on and weave the violin parts around one another, creating multi-tiered layers of harmony to give a fuller sound to solo performances. Her honest vocals are starkly soulful, for Gaelynn is a woman whose rare authenticity shines through in her performance and poetic songwriting. Following her own creative path with the love and support of her husband, there is the gift of artistic freedom as she finds the delicate balance between being a musician/songwriter and public speaker for those with disabilities whose voices are all too often unsung and unheard. She finds ways to empower those who are handicapped to find their own artistic voices. As far back as college, Gaelynn was outspoken and involved with organizations supporting the rights of those with disabilities. She speaks about the need for venues to be accessible to everyone, starting with the basics such as building larger restrooms, adding ramps to stages, paying special needs support staff and encouraging venues to hire and represent more artists with disabilities. Knowing that making these changes is not always easy and often hindered by lack of financial priority or limitations, by getting word out there, change can be set into motion. She notes it’s not always comfortable or easy to rely on the kindness of strangers when performing, such as just getting herself and her wheelchair up onto the stage. The upside is that those moments can be a valuable experience for those who partake. She encourages others needing assistance to not be afraid to seek out those willing to help and support them. Gaelynn is also an advocate for music being more than just about performing well. It’s about doing it because you simply love it, even if just for yourself. She sees that music connects people and should be accessible to all, regardless of ability or physical limitations. When asked about meaning in her music, she states it’s about processing the human experience — how we cannot control things in the end and that we should make something beautiful now. A woman of small stature but big goals, Gaelynn plans on more travel and touring as well as the release of her new Christmas album by November 1. She aims to learn more about digital looping pedal technologies, looks forward to more public speaking engagements and plans to run a future music festival. Catch her live solo performance on Friday, October 21, at AS220, appearing with Alec K Redfearn and the Eye Sores, Jess Klein and Haunt the House. The show starts at 9pm, all ages. To learn about Gaelynn Lea and listen to her music, visit violinscratches.com For more information on AS220 visit: as220.org Queen Boudicca: A Metal Opera to Rock Your Socks Off On October 29, RISD will host Queen Boudicca: A Metal Opera, an epic performance that tells the story of an ancient Celtic queen. Don’t think you’ll have to sit through a bunch of high-pitched Italian singing and all those ridiculous wigs. It’s an opera in the sense that it uses music and lyrics to tell a story, and judging by the few tracks I’ve heard, it’s exactly the kind of double bass drum, blazing riffs and screaming that metal fans would want. This ambitious project sprang from the mind of Bob Schlink, a native Rhode Islander and Associate Professor of Music at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. It’s a labor of love for Schlink, who spent six years developing it before he even heard a note of it. “My son Rob is actually a bit of Celtic myth and history buff, and we were working on a Celtic-flavored metal project,” said Schlink. “It didn’t end up materializing, but soon after I saw a documentary about Queen Boudicca on the History channel. It really stuck in my mind, and I thought ‘I have to turn this into something.’” The play’s tagline is “Everyone would know the courage of Boudicca if she had been a man,” which, judging by the story, is probably true. Most of what we know comes from the Roman historian Tacitus, but the CliffsNotes are that Boudicca’s husband Prasutagus ruled the Iceni, a tribe in eastern Britain. He was an ally of Rome, but when he died, his will was ignored and the Romans moved in on their turf. The play follows Boudicca as she takes up the leadership mantle and leads her people in a savage revolt against the Romans, in which an estimated 80,000 people were killed! If that’s not a plot barbarous enough for a metal opera, I invite you to leave a better one in the comments section. “Most people don’t know this story, in part because Romans wrote the history books, and their opinion of women may have been even worse than Donald Trump’s,” said Schlink. Playing the title role is Ava Gaudet, a Providence native best known for appearing in RENT on Broadway and the TV show Ugly Betty. Adrienne Cowan, who fronts the Boston-based metal band Seven Spires, will take on the role of the warrior Asceawa, Boudicca’s second in command. The piece premiered last spring at the Berklee Performance Center and drew a respectable 500-plus crowd, but Schlink is excited to see the progress the show has made. “The first time around, we didn’t have a lot of time for technical rehearsal, and pretty much had to wing things like lighting. This time, we’ve hired a sound crew and have had more time to prep the technical elements, so I’m really excited to show it off.” Schlink went as far as adapting ancient instruments, including the warrior’s lyre, the war carnyx and war horns. “I discovered that the warrior’s lyre fits perfectly with the metal. That thing sounds way more like Green Day than some dude playing guitar at a cocktail party!” The six-foot-high war trumpets are something you won’t be seeing at most rock concerts, either. Nothing will get you in the spirit of Halloween like costumes, metal and good old-fashioned violence, so be sure to check out Queen Boudicca: A Metal Opera on October 29. QUEEN BOUDICCA a Metal Opera will be presented at Rhode Island School of Design Auditorium, 7 Canal Walk, Providence River Greenway, Providence, on Saturday, October 29, 2016 at 8pm. Tickets can be purchased at levelexchange.ticketleap.com/qbamo/dates/Oct-29-2016_at_0800PM For other upcoming dates and other info, visit queenboudiccametalopera.com Halloween Highlight: Luigi’s Haunted Mansion All zombie-d up with somewhere to haunt this Halloween? Fear not, creative and brave readers! Among other great (albeit, non-EDM) spooky spectacles happening this month, one that’s certain to bring you all the right tricks is Luigi’s Haunted Mansion. This 6pm – 1am dance party is hosted by Tight Crew, the event throwers who’ve brought us fantastically freaky events like Creatures of the Night and The Nightmare Before Christmas.