Elmwood Avenue Festival of the Arts - August 25

     Among the reasons my wife Val and I chose to visit the Elmwood Avenue Festival of the Arts Saturday, August 25, was that we preferred the musical acts scheduled to perform that day. The performers we caught did not disappoint, even with the strikingly hot temperatures that day.

     The first band we witnessed was the Backpeddlers, led by singer/guitarist Mark Norris, appearing this day in a three-piece lineup with Norris' former girlpope colleague Tom Stanford playing bass and Jeff Pietrzak on drums. The band smartly opened with the rip snorting "Turn the Tables," the lead song from the Backpeddlers' most recent "Songs of Guilt and Revenge" (Harvest Sum Recordings) CD, containing some interesting references to past bands, songs and events and some betrayal (nice nod to girlpope's "Teenage Jesus"). The band next launched into "We Know (Who We Are)," another rocker with a slightly poppier approach, and continued the onslaught for one more song with a rugged cover of Nick Lowe's "Heart of the City."

     Norris and company slowed things down a bit for "It's All True," a raw, bluesy song with some twang describing some difficult patches and family troubles, but listeners had better have caught their breath, because next up was an amphetamined version of the Shag/the Shags' "Stop and Listen," a fantastic 1960s garage rock song from the Milwaukee band. After the song, Norris smiled and, looking at Bernie Kugel, singer/front man for The Good, said, "sorry for any flashbacks that may have occurred, Bernie." As if on cue, Norris then drew a blank as to who performed the song, to which Kugel yelled to the stage, "the Shags." The Backpeddlers then continued their power pop/punk direction for a few more songs before the sweat-drenched Norris and company were finished, including a garage/moddish "(Do the) Crying Shame" from the new CD.

     After visiting some of the art exhibits, rescue dogs and food and drink booths, we returned to the main stage to catch the Alison Pipitone Band, who, as usual, did not disappoint. Pipitone and band deliver straight up, basic, four-to-the-floor rock and roll, often with messages of romance sought, acquired and lost, and the wonder and lust accompanying it. The band opened with "Hello Is Not the Word," a punchy song on which Pipitone sings to her topic of attention, a woman (possibly uniformed) she is attracted to who either won't openly return her affection or hesitates due to one bad reason or another (religion), and has Pipitone singing for her to come clean once and for all. The band followed this with another rocker "Crocodile Tears," where Pipitone is tired of drama and lies, and even if she gets the truth, realizes that this relationship is over. The two songs open "Me and Miss Grimes," the band's excellent 2009 CD.

     The band continued through its sets combining the basic, tough rock approach with some poppy and bluesy touches, highlighted by a crunching version of "When Down Comes Tumbling Down," a story of a relationship unable to keep going, and a rollicking blues rock cover of the Rose Bond song, "Dime Store Blues," featuring some nice, tasteful lead guitar from Graham Howes. It should be mentioned that most bands would be thrilled to have a drummer as good as Pat Shaughnessy (ex-SplatCats) is with Pipitone.

     Thanks to the 95-degree heat, we left before any other bands played, and unfortunately, we missed the Canal Street String Band's set; on the other hand, we did catch several songs at the Elmwood-Auburn intersection by a man in mime makeup and a suit, but singing songs such as Queen's "You're My Best Friend," and coloring one tune with a kazoo solo. It appears that this performer is Jimyn the Singing Mime, who you can catch at the annual Artists and Models Affair Saturday, September 29.

Grace Stumberg Band at ChalkFest

    Grace Stumberg, on guitar and vocals, leads her band during the first ChalkFest on the 500 block of Main Street in Buffalo August 11. She is joined by guitarist Bob James, left, and bassist Mike Petrino; not show is drummer Josh English.                      Photo by Val Dunne/Barkloud Productions

  

            (While I/The Hosey Report am/is trying to review shows in chronological order, there will be occasions where the time continuum will be deviated from, as in this post, in which I feature a photograph taken by my loving, talented wife, Valerie Dunne. Of course, I will add some, er, color. KJH)

            The Grace Stumberg Band, featuring its namesake, Grace Lynn Stumberg, on guitar and vocals, along with guitarist Bob James on guitar, Mike Petrino on bass and Josh English on drums, contributed an excellent set to the first day of ChalkFest on the 500 block of Main Street Saturday, August 11.

            While keeping things in a basic rock and roll approach, Stumberg and band included dollops of roots rock, folk rock, blues, and power pop coloring lyrics on relationships of all kinds and levels, mostly optimistic or at least hopeful in the face of adversity, and happily were quite realistic and honest, escaping any saccharine or pappy excesses. James, who may have as good a Buffalo rock and roll pedigree as anyone performing today (Restless, Jumpers, The Rain), did what he does best, supply some fine guitar leads with taste, economy and power. Stumberg’s guitar playing, mostly rhythm and counter but occasional lead, is also tasteful and a bit bluesier at times, while the Petrino/English rhythm section was right on the mark.

            I’ve caught Stumberg several times live, in settings from solo acoustic to full band, and she is adaptable as she is talented. One memory is of her playing an immigrant Thanksgiving dinner event at a former job of mine in a band also featuring bassist and Buffalo Music Hall of Famer Jim Wynne (Gamalon). Along with a enjoyable, funky set, they invited several of the immigrants to dance and sing with the band; one, an Iranian man of about 30-35, sang in very traditional, almost muezzin-style vocals, and Stumberg and Wynne led the band in wonderful accompaniment that went on for about 10 minutes, almost perfectly getting across the idea of working and creating together. It could only have been better if someone such as David Wasik could have joined in the music.

            Stumberg, who just returned from touring with Joan Baez as her personal assistant, will soon release her second CD, and I would recommend, based on what I have heard live, that you pay attention.

The Vores to Hold CD Release Party at Babeville Aug. 17

 

            The Vores, one of Buffalo’s punk, new wave and alternative music progenitors still playing vital music today, will hold a CD release party for its new recording, “Common Scar,” Friday, August 17, at Babeville, 341 Delaware Avenue at the corner of Tupper in Buffalo. Admission will be $15, which includes a copy of the new CD (hmm, any other specials for those of us who already have the CD?).

            The Vores, led by original members guitarist/vocalist Biff Henrich and bassist/vocalist Gary Nickard, are joined in the newest version of the band by keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Cathy Carfagna, guitarist Patrick Ryan and drummer Patrick Heyden. “Common Scar” features 13 new Vores’ recordings and a cover of Bernie Kugel and the Good’s “Walk Around the World,” with Kugel singing. I was fortunate to hear the CD via mp3s before I received a hard copy of it, and it is a really good recording (which will be reviewed here soon) and shows where the Vores have been, where they are now and possibly where the band is heading. It is certainly has some angular guitars, a few more melodious songs and continues in what Henrich calls an “avant garage” vein with some moody strangeness.

            Not so incidentally, the opening bands for the show are a reconfigured The Good, still led by Kugel, and The Irving Klaws, making this sound like a rather stellar offering of Buffalo punk, new wave, alternative, rock and so on with a little bit of the disturbing and off-kilter thrown into the mix.

            For anyone interested in more on the Vores, here is an interview I conducted with Henrich, Nickard and Carfagna for Artvoice last year, as well as a review of a show of the Vores at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery that was the first entry into the newly revived The Hosey Report.