BACKSTAGE PASS

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Reinventing Radio: An Evening with Ira Glass

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ira-postIra Glass is the host and creator of This American Life, the award-winning public radio program that draws almost 2 million listeners per week. Like his radio show, Glass is known for his shrewd journalism, compassionate insight, and wry humor. At DCA, Glass will speak about This American Life and how it’s put together: what makes a compelling story, how he and his staff find stories for the show, and the show’s journalistic goals. Glass will combine his own narration with pre-taped quotes and music, recreating the sound of This American Life and offering his audience a behind-the-scenes look at one of America’s favorite radio programs.

Date: Saturday, July 12, 2014

Presenting Sponsor: Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant & Butik
Major Sponsors: Peninsula Pulse, Wisconsin Public Radio

DCA Presents Musical Mavericks Carrie Rodriguez and Luke Jacobs

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Carrie Rodriguez and Luke Jacobs will perform at Door Community Auditorium (DCA) on Saturday, July 26, presenting an evening of music that will range from red-hot country to noir rock to plaintive folk. Musical maverick Rodriguez uses her sultry contralto voice and fiery fiddle playing (along with Luke Jacobs’ remarkable guitar picking) to create music that is both alluring and defiant. Together, Rodriguez and Jacobs can’t be pinned down, shifting easily between a desert swing and an urban strut. The Boston Globe hails Rodriguez and Jacobs as “one of the most compelling new voices on the roots-rock scene.”

Texas native Carrie Rodriguez came to national attention a decade ago when she began performing with singer-songwriter Chip Taylor (Wild Thing, Angel of the Morning) and has since established an impressive roster of touring, recording, and co-writing affiliations, including Lucinda Williams, Rickie Lee Jones, John Prine, Mary Gauthier, Alejandro Escovedo, and guitarist Bill Frisell, among others. Rodriguez’ latest album, Give Me All You Got, establishes her musical identity more powerfully than ever before, featuring songs that she wrote, co-wrote, or handpicked from the repertoires of her longtime collaborators.

Luke Jacobs is a native Minnesotan whom The Guardian has called “an impressive exponent of acoustic, electric and lap steel guitar and harmonica.” Currently based in Austin, Texas, Jacobs adds sophistication and texture to Rodriguez’ distinctive style.

A Washington Post review of a recent Rodriguez-Jacobs performance raved, “Trained at such elite institutions as the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Berklee College of Music, Rodriguez, with her by turns fluttery and dissonant trills, is a formidable soloist, seemingly equally at ease with classical European melodies and rural American ones…. Jacobs, it should be noted, proved a compelling presence in his own right.”

Carrie Rodriguez and Luke Jacobs are sponsored by Wild Tomato.

Carrie Rodriguez and Luke Jacobs will perform at DCA at 8 p.m. on Saturday, July 26. Tickets for the concert range from $18 to $25. Advance reservations are recommended and can be made through the DCA box office, located at 3926 Highway 42 in Fish Creek. The box office is open Monday-Friday, 12-5 p.m. Tickets can be purchased in person, on the phone at (920) 868-2728, or online at www.dcauditorium.org.

Bruce Cockburn

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bruce-postBruce Cockburn has always been a restless spirit. For 40 years, this Canadian troubadour has been striving to capture in song the essence of human experience—and to make that experience better whenever possible. As a guitarist, Cockburn is among the world’s best. Between travels to such far-flung places as Guatemala, Mali, Mozambique, and Nepal, Cockburn has embraced folk, jazz, rock, and international guitar styles and incorporated them into his intelligent, perceptive songcraft. Cockburn’s unparalleled balance of eloquence and passion ensures that his prized songbook will be celebrated for many years to come.

Date: Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Major Sponsor: Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant & Butik
Supporting Sponsors: Made in Britain, Ltd., FLS Banners

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy Brings “Hip Nostalgia” to DCA

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On Saturday, July 19, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy will bring their modern, high-energy brand of big band swing to Door Community Auditorium (DCA). This nine-man ensemble has forged a one-of-a-kind musical fusion from jazz, swing, Dixieland, and big band music, building its own songbook of infectious original dance tunes. With appearances that range from the Swingers soundtrack to the Super Bowl, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy has become an American fan favorite.

Since 1993, when they electrified the Los Angeles music scene with a now-legendary residency at the Brown Derby nightclub, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s irresistible performance style and aggressive musical innovation have distinguished them from the large pack of bands that launched the swing music revival of the 1990s. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch calls Big Bad Voodoo Daddy “house-rocking ambassadors of hip nostalgia.”

Although music by other composers has been featured on each of the band’s albums, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy has always focused on original music, producing an impressively diverse repertoire of original hits. The band’s originals rocketed the group into its first phase of stardom when You and Me and the Bottle Makes Three (Tonight) and Go Daddy-O were featured in the 1996 landmark indie film Swingers.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy was co-founded in California by lead singer Scotty Morris and drummer Kurt Sodergren and has made a career of mixing classic American sounds with the energy and spirit of contemporary culture. The band, whose core lineup has remained constant since 1995, includes vocals, guitar, drums, double bass, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, clarinet, and piano.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy has cultivated its career through relentless touring and a discography that includes the platinum-selling Americana Deluxe, as well as follow-ups This Beautiful Life, Save My Soul, and Everything You Want For Christmas. Their music has appeared in countless films in addition to Swingers and has been widely used for television broadcasts of sporting events, including NFL, NBA, MLB and PGA broadcasts.

The Big Bad Voodoo Daddy performance is sponsored by Alexander’s Restaurant, On Deck Clothing Company, Green Bay 7 Up, and the Cordon Family Foundation.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy will perform at DCA at 8 p.m. on Saturday, July 19. Tickets for the concert range from $22 to $44. Advance reservations are recommended and can be made through the DCA box office, located at 3926 Highway 42 in Fish Creek. The box office is open Monday-Friday, 12-5 p.m. Tickets can be purchased in person, on the phone at (920) 868-2728, or online at www.dcauditorium.org.

The Oak Ridge Boys Bring Rollicking Country-Rock to DCA

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On Monday, July 14, The Oak Ridge Boys will bring their legendary brand of rollicking country-rock to Door Community Auditorium (DCA). The Oaks’ impossibly tight four-part harmonies have spawned dozens of country and pop hits, earned them Grammy, Dove, CMA, and ACM awards, and garnered a host of other industry and fan accolades. In their captivating live performances, The Oak Ridge Boys present catchy new material as well as drawing from their fifty-year repertoire of hand-clapping hits and charted singles, including Elvira, Dream On, Bobby Sue, Fancy Free, and American Made.

The Louisville Courier-Journal calls The Oak Ridge Boys “part of the fabric of Americana…a marvel: utterly relaxed, supremely confident, vocally superb, and so supremely energetic.”

It is the trademark high energy of their stage shows that has allowed The Oak Ridge Boys—Joe Bonsall, Duane Allen, Richard Sterban, and William Lee Golden—to maintain their successful career for more than half a century. The Oaks are famous for keeping their much-fabled live performances fresh, infusing them with new material in addition to megahits like Elvira.

“We’re not willing to rest on our laurels,” says William Lee Golden. “That gets boring. As a group, we do things constantly to challenge ourselves, to try to do something different or better than the last time we did it.” Indeed, Billboard calls The Oak Ridge Boys “as crisp and sharp as ever.”

The Oak Ridge Boys were founded as The Oak Ridge Quartet in Knoxville, Tennessee during World War II. They began making regular appearances at the Grand Ole Opry in 1945, launching a career that has remained diverse and vibrant ever since. They changed their name to The Oak Ridge Boys in the 1960s and have maintained the same four-man roster since 1973. This year, The Oaks celebrated a new milestone—41 million records sold—by signing a record deal with Los Angeles-based Cleopatra Records. They recently teamed with Cleopatra to release Boys Night Out, their first-ever live record of country hits.

The Oak Ridge Boys concert is underwritten by A Friend of the Auditorium and sponsored by Don and Carol Kress, Baylake Bank, and The Cordon Family Foundation.

The Oak Ridge Boys will perform at DCA at 8 p.m. on Monday, July 14. Tickets for the concert range from $48 to $75. Advance reservations are recommended and can be made through the DCA box office, located at 3926 Highway 42 in Fish Creek. The box office is open Monday-Friday, 12-5 p.m. Tickets can be purchased in person, on the phone at (920) 868-2728, or online at www.dcauditorium.org.

Pokey LaFarge

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Over the last decade, Pokey LaFarge has won the hearts of music lovers across the globe with a lively mix of early jazz, string ragtime, country blues, and western swing music, which LaFarge has dubbed “riverboat soul.” With a style that is at once ragged and polished, LaFarge is a songwriter, bandleader, innovator, and preservationist whose arsenal of talents has placed him at the forefront of old-time American music. Accompanied by a top-notch backup band, Pokey LaFarge plays with a classic bluesman’s confidence, infusing his performances with dynamic vocals, effortless wit, and good old-fashioned storytelling. Time Out Chicago writes, “His jumpy American roots music is pure joy.”.

Date: Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Major Sponsor: The Blacksmith Inn

DCA’s Link Gallery features the Photography of Jim Rossol

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link-galleryRossol is an award winning fine art photographer that has exhibited extensively around Door County. When he retired from a successful sales and marketing career eleven years ago, his passion for photography intensified as he found more time to devote to his lifetime hobby. Since switching from film to digital in 2007, he has completed numerous photography classes. He continues to refine his capture workflow and strives to make images rather than just take pictures. Rossol feels that color is sometimes an unnecessary distraction and prefers printing in black and white because it emphasizes form, shape, patterns, and contrast but makes vivid and luminous color prints when the image is appropriate.

Rossol’s photography will be on display in the Link Gallery at Door Community Auditorium through August 1 and can be seen M-F from noon until 5PM and show days from noon until show’s end.

His sample portfolio can be seen at www.jimrossol.artistwebsites.com and his book can be previewed at www.blurb.com/b/4623686-county-fair-flavor.

Also featured in the Link Gallery, Reformations by John Whitney, DC Studios, Sister Bay.

Appalachia Rises in Door County

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A less than full house provided over-flow of appreciation for the sister band Rising Appalachia Sunday evening at the Door Community Auditorium. Joined by an able guitarist/string bassist and a flashy percussionist, Leah and Chloe Smith brought their original brand of Southern folk music to the Peninsula.

Leah, who offered much of the good-natured patter of the evening, joked about their hybrid music, saying that store clerks don’t know where to stock their CDs. “After considering folk and blues and jazz and blue grass and world, they finally settle on other!” she laughed.

While growing up in the “urban jungle” of Atlanta, Leah said, the girls traveled with their parents in parts of Appalachia, and later, New Orleans, the experiences influencing their music, as have their tours in this country and abroad.

The duo sings with heads-back full-throated voices, often in close harmony, occasionally a cappella, sometimes accompanied only by percussion. The show was fast paced and performed without intermission. Performing in a minimally lighted hall and wearing ethnic-inspired outfits while the percussionist provided a relentless beat that added a “world” flavor to most of their sets, the sisters immediately captured the attention of the audience.

The lead singer Leah plays banjo and occasionally percussion; Chloe is primarily the fiddler, although she sometimes picks up a guitar or banjo. The show began with an a cappella “Mississippi Song” and book-ended with an unaccompanied version of “Just a Closer Walk with Thee.” Especially enjoyable were the traditional Appalachian pieces, such as “Oh, Death.” The classic “St. James Infirmary Blues,” the original “Downtown” (a poem to New Orleans), and the haunting a cappella Bulgarian “Harvest Song” followed by a rousing “Freedom,” collectively demonstrated the impressive versatility of the sisters.

The repertoire of Rising Appalachia includes a number of original pieces, often with an activist bent: one, for example, dealt with over-crowded prisons; another with traditional medicines; and the popular title song of their 2012 album, “Filthy Dirty South,” protested the corruption of the environment as a consequence of hydraulic fracturing and inadvertent oil spills.

Perhaps because the Smith sisters as children were nurtured by folk music in its original setting, they have emerged as authentic representatives of that tradition. The audience that rose to its feet at the concert’s end seemed to intuitively recognize this element of American culture.

Visit risingappalchia.com to learn more about the band, their tours, and their discography.

Preservation Hall Jazz Band: The Way It Should Be

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As soon as I received my ticket to see the Preservation Hall Jazz Band at Fish Creek’s Auditorium, I hopped online to do some investigating. Within minutes, I had heard enough of their music to convince me I was in for a treat. I had also stumbled across a very short documentary. It sketched the progress of Preservation Hall – how an old art gallery became the most popular musical venue in New Orleans during the 1960s, and how dedicated musicians have maintained its status over the years. It was just a couple years after the Hall’s founding that the band began touring and raising recognition about the traditional jazz they played.
Allan Jaffe was one of the Hall’s principal founders and father to Ben Jaffe, the band’s current creative director. In the video, he says, “I’m happy to be able to see so many people get to hear a New Orleans band live – I think that’s the way it should be.” After attending this concert, I wholeheartedly agree with him.

Those men had hands down the best energy of any group of musicians I’ve ever seen. The trumpeter initiated every piece with a few, rhythmic stomps of his foot; the man on trombone was always the first to start clapping; and I don’t think the sousaphone player ever stopped moving: he was constantly twisting from side to side and frequently meandered across the stage. They were hot, they were cool; they were sassy, they were smooth.

I was dancing in my seat the whole night, and out of it at a couple points. Near the end of the song “Rattling Bones,” which teases about the dead coming alive on St. Joseph’s day, the whole audience was urged, “Come on, you’ve been sittin’ all night—Rattle them bones!”

Though most of the songs were cheerful, they did a slow rendition of “St. James Infirmary” that was so mournful it gave me the chills:

I was down to St. James infirmary, I saw my baby there
She was stretched out on a long white table,
So sweet, cool and so fair.

But the mood didn’t last long. I described their other songs as cheerful, but that doesn’t really cover it – they seemed to surge with a gut-busting joy, a jubilant delight just to be alive in a world with music. And they brought that to their audience too.

One of the most impressive pieces, in my opinion, was when all the musicians, except pianist Rickie Monie, put down their instruments and walked off-stage. Monie turned around, stared at us through his white-rimmed glasses, and shrugged; then he started playing: his fingers flew, his hands pounded, his head bobbed. A piano student myself, I was blown away. Then all the others began resuming their places and chiming in, and the jazzy piano concerto reached its peak.

Their encore song – because how could we not beg for an encore from these guys – was “When the Saints Go Marching In,” a tune which my friends and I have belted out on pilgrimages through the city streets of Rome and the countryside of New York State. It reminded me of jazz’s ties to Southern spirituality. In that song at least, you knew it was not simply a joy in this life which the players were expressing; it was the joy of those looking ahead to heaven – and it was so infectious that I found myself looking ahead too.