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present...
JugFest III
SOUTHPAW
September 8, 2005
a benefit for
(click pic above to
donate)
one great night. four footstompin' acts.
JugFest
III
Thursday, September 8th, 2005
Southpaw
125 5th Ave. (at St. John’s Place)
Doors, 7:30pm
$7
Host:
Alex Battles & Anita Cookie
Featuring:
8:00pm Uncle Dad & the
Drunken Swimmers
9:00pm Banjorama!
10:00pm The Wiyos
11:00pm Bill Carney's Jug
Addicts
Meet the acts:
Bill Carney's Jug
Addicts apply the twinning principal
utilized by Ornette Coleman's early 60s groups and the
Max Roach's Double Quartet to the jug band idiom. The result is
a particularly robust and raucous jug band sound free of any archival obsessiveness.
Comprised of jug band veterans culled from the Don't Look Now Jug
Band, MetroPolecats, and Pork Chop, the Jug Addicts' repertoire draws from
early jazz, tin pan alley, ragtime, and string band music, along with the
classic jug band canon. Their cd, "Cynthia's Kitchen" was produced by so-called
Sixth Stroke, JP Bowersock, the NYC rock band's guru and sensei.
The WIYOS avoid playing the old-time
songs as academic "museum pieces," instead choosing to add their own voices
to the old tunes by way of unique arrangements and intense, dynamic performance
energy. The old-time spirit of The WIYOS mirrors that of the vaudeville
medicine shows of the 1920’s and 30’s, when black and white musical traditions
mixed often and genre distinctions didn’t exist between blues and country,
ragtime and gospel, or swing and hillbilly music. The WIYOS draw from all
of these idioms and their music is as representative of the Blue Ridge Mountains
as it is of New York City or Paris; mixing the more sophisticated sounds
of Django Reinhardt, Fats Waller, the Mills Brothers and Jelly Roll Morton
with the unrefined country fervor of Gary Davis, Blind Blake, Sonny Terry
and Doc Watson. Promoter Gary Erwin of the Budweiser Lowcountry Blues Bash,
summarized The WIYOS' music as: "Great vintage blues and spellbinding original
compositions." Since The WIYOS began touring full-time in February
2003, they have been selected to perform for Carnegie Hall's Neighborhood
Concert Series and were awarded first prize at the James River Blues
Society Competition. Having honed their show on the streets as well as
the stage, The WIYOS make music that will transport you back to an era
when performers where skilled visual entertainers as well as accomplished
songwriters and instrumentalists. During their short time together, they
have already played a wide range of notable listening rooms, concert halls
and festivals throughout the country, in the process opening shows or
sharing bills with Maria Muldaur, The Asylum Street Spankers, Tab Benoit,
Del McCoury, Bob Margolin, Gary Primich, Duke Robillard, Robinella &
The CC Stringband, The Howard Fishman Quartet and Paul Curreri.
"The WIYOS are
way too good to open for my band EVER again."
--Wammo, frontman
and founder of the Asylum Street Spankers
Banjorama! Take 3 parts Brooklyn Jugs, add
one part Whisky Rebellion, mix in as many banjos as possible, including
but not limited to tenor banjo, 5-string banjo, banjo ukulele, and plectrum
banjo, and you've got the banjo blues orchestra that is Banjorama! While
their instruments may not vary, their styles certainly do. From the tropical
blues stylings of singer-picker-harpist Ernesto Gomez, to the Irish airs
frequented by picker Terrence McCafferty, to the hits of the 1870s &
1970s favored by singer-picker-shaker Alex Battles, you'll always have
a footstompin' goodtime listening to these happy-go-lucky cats play backed
by the fine jugwork of Arturo Stile.
Uncle Dad
& the Drunken Swimmers: Back at JugFest II, Uncle Dad threatened
11th hour sanctions to protest their non-inclusion on the bill for that
event. The former prime minister of Argentina was brought in to negotiate
an understanding, and a slot on the JugFest III was secured for them. This
upstart jugband has been terrorizing Manhattan's East Village with their
singing and drinking antics for the past year or so. Make sure to get to
JugFest III early to hear their song about the El Camino!
And your hosts...
Anita Cookie the intoxicating lush full of San
Diego sass and a fondness for cookies and martinis is the star of Wasabassco
Cabaret Burlesque. Anita is a character with the curves of Marilyn Monroe,
the helium pipes of Betty Boop and the wit of Mae West. She drinks like
Dean Martin, is usually involved in antics reminiscent of Lucille Ball,
and always ends up taking her clothes off. Watch that cookie go!!!
The Whisky Rebellion
is Alex Battles.
The Whisky Rebellion performs original songs, by turns funny and bittersweet, in the classic country style.
Battles writes these tunes with the help of his grandfather's tenor
banjo. His major songwriting influences are Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, John
Prine, Tom Waits and Willie Nelson. The Whisky Rebellion contains anywhere
from 1-7 members, depending on venue constraints and the weather.
In 2004, Battles
founded and programmed the 1st Annual Brooklyn Country Music Festival to promote New York City's burgeoning
country music scene. The 2nd Annual Brooklyn Country
Music Fesival will take place in July of 2005. Battles is also the founder
and host of JugFest,
The CasHank Hootenanny Jamboree, The
Brooklyn Winter Hoedown, and several other events throughout the
city. The internet home to the large-scale events Battles promotes
is www.brooklyncountrymusic.com.
In his solo act, Alex can been seen
(and heard) singing,banging on guitar, scratching on a washboard, plucking
a tenor banjo, blowing a harmonica, strumming a ukulele, and always
sticking to his motto: "he things funny thongs." Battles lives in Brooklyn, NY.
