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Summer Playlist

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Alexandra "Olenka" Gadzik of Davenport dances to music performed by Garaj Mahal during the Iowa City Jazz Festival on Saturday, July 5, 2008. (Jonathan D. Woods/The Gazette)

 

Whether your summer playlist bounces from chamber to country, blues to bluegrass, rock to rhythm, patriotic to pop, you’ll find ‘em all in Eastern Iowa from now through September.

We can’t wait for the U.S. Cellular Center to reopen, with a free sneak peek May 31, followed by Lady Antebellum on June 1 and Barry Manilow on June 22. Keep watching Hoopla as the concert announcements keep rolling out there.

Our other area venues keep the heat cranking all through the summer, too, from CSPS Hall and the Paramount Theatre in Cedar Rapids to the Englert Theatre in Iowa City.

Head outdoors, and virtually every week, you can find music wafting through the air at summer celebrations, festivals and fairs, including some outstanding grandstanding at the Iowa State Fair and the Great Jones County Fair.

Here are “a few” of your choices. Get out your planners, map out your musical montage and plug into the summer scene right in your Eastern Iowa backyard!

May

 

♪ FRIDAY NIGHT CONCERT SERIES, Iowa City

Through Sept. 27: 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., local and regional bands on the Ped Mall, outside the Sheraton Hotel downtown. Free, bring seating. Rain site: Chauncey Swan Parking Ramp, Washington and Gilbert streets, Summerofthearts.org

♪ SATURDAY NIGHT CONCERT SERIES, Iowa City

Through Aug. 24: 6:30 to 9 p.m., local and regional bands, Ped Mall, outside the Sheraton Hotel downtown. Free, bring seating. Rain site: Chauncey Swan Parking Ramp, Washington and Gilbert streets. Summerofthearts.org

♪ UPTOWN FRIDAY NIGHTS, Cedar Rapids

May 24 to July 26: 5 to 8 p.m. Fridays, Greene Square Park, Third Avenue and Fifth Street SE. 25th anniversary season: May 24: The Swing Crew; May 31: Super Size 7; June 7: Lonesome Road; June 14: Two Buck Chuck; June 21: Kantirocks; June 28: Large Midgets; July 5: Tricyclic; July 12: Skeeter Louis and the Cedar Rapids All Stars; July 19: Cedar Island Band; July 26: Jif and the Choosy Mothers. $5 ages 21 and older. Uptownfridaynights.com

♪ MUSIC ON THE VILLAGE GREEN, West Branch

May 24 to June 27: 7 p.m., Village Green, Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, Parkside Drive and Main Street. May 24: Jazz and Pop, West Branch High School jazz band and a cappella singers, free popsicles; June 6: The Hollands; June 13: Kevin B.F. Burt; June 20: Scott Cawelti; June 27: The Feralings. Free; bring seating. nps.gov/heho

♪  SUMMER FEST, Swisher

May 24 to 26: Cedar Ridge, 1441 Marak Rd. NW, Swisher. May 24: 6 to 9 p.m. Do’s and Don’ts; May 25: 1 to 4 p.m. Lucrezio, 5 to 8 p.m. The Meer Cats; May 26: 3 to 6 p.m. Patchy Fog. Special food menu all weekend. Crwine.com

♪ NORTH LIBERTY BLUES & BBQ

May 25: Noon to 10 p.m., Liberty Centre, Penn Street and Liberty Way; music, food, games; free admission. Rain date: May 26. Northlibertyblues.org

♪ U.S. CELLULAR CENTER, Cedar Rapids

May 31: Slap N Tickle, ‘80s cover band, 6:30 p.m., free tickets required; June 1: Lady Antebellum, 7:30 p.m., $36.50 to $150; June 22: Barry Manilow, 7:30 p.m., $6.99 to $217. Tickets at U.S. Cellular Center Box Office, 370 First Ave. NE, (319) 362-1729, 1-(800) 745-3000 or uscellularcenter.com/events.html

June

 

♪ MARION BAR-B-QUE RENDEZVOUS

June 1: Noon to 9 p.m., Marion Square Park; food, music. Marionmetrokiwanis.org

♪ CR PRIDE FEST, Cedar Rapids

June 1: 4 to 8 p.m., Greene Square Park; entertainment, vendors, free admission. crpridefest.com

♪ ENGLERT THEATRE, Iowa City

Among the summer’s concerts: June 2: They Might Be Giants, 7 p.m., $25 advance, $27.50 door; July 5: Brandi Carlile, 8 p.m., $32.50 advance, $35 door; July 10: Arlo Guthrie, 8 p.m., $40 and $50; July 14: Dawes, 7 p.m., $20 advance, $23 door; July 19: Mavis Staples, 8 p.m., $35 and $55 (rescheduled from Feb. 21); July 27: Don McLean, 8 p.m., $40 to $65; July 30: John Hiatt & The Combo, 8 p.m., $35 and $45; Aug. 10: The Official Blues Brothers Revue, 8 p.m., $25 and $35; Sept. 6: Dweezil Zappa/Zappa Plays Zappa, 8 p.m., $25 to $60; Englert Box Office, 221 E. Washington St., (319) 688-2653 or Englert.org

♪ CEDAR RAPIDS MUNICIPAL BAND

June 5 to Aug. 4: Various times, Cedar Rapids metro area parks and Hooverfest in West Branch on Aug. 3. Free, bring seating. Crmuniband.org

♪ MARION BY MOONLIGHT

June 6 to 27: 6 to 9 p.m. Thursdays, Marion Square Park, Seventh Avenue and 10th Street. Food vendors, 6 p.m. Bands, 6:30 p.m. June 6: 8 Seconds; June 13: The O’Connell Brothers; June 20: The Magnetos; June 27: Crazy Delicious. Free admission, bring seating. Uptownmarion.com

♪ IOWA ARTS FESTIVAL, Iowa City

June 7 to 9: Downtown Iowa City; 125 local and national artists, local and national musicians, Old 97’s at 9 p.m. June 8; kids’ activities, food. Summerofthearts.org

♪ HANCHER: PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND TOUR

June 7 to 16: Various sites, free concerts to commemorate fifth anniversary of the Floods of 2008. Des Moines: 8 p.m. June 7, Simon Estes Riverfront Amphitheater, opener at 7:30 p.m.; Council Bluffs: 7:30 p.m. June 8, part of Bluffs Bash, beginning at noon at River’s Edge Park; Muscatine: 7:30 p.m. June 11, Riverfront Park, opener at 7 p.m.; Cedar Rapids: 7:30 p.m. June 13, Brucemore Greenhouse Lawn; Davenport: 7:30 p.m. LeClaire Park Bandshell, opener at 6:30 p.m.; Iowa City: 4 p.m. June 15, Pentacrest; Dubuque: 3 p.m. June 16, McGraw Hill parking lot, part of America’s River Festival, opener at 1 p.m. Hancher.uiowa.edu

♪ MOLLY HATCHET, Riverside

June 8: 8 p.m., Riverside Casino Event Center, 3184 Highway 22. $15 to $22, Casino Gift Shop or Riversidecasinoandresort.com

♪ IOWA CITY COMMUNITY BAND

June 9 to July 14: Various sites, times. Iccband.org

♪ FIVE SEASONS CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL, Cedar Rapids

June 10 to 15: Paid workshops and free concerts. June 14: Harps and flutes, 5 p.m.; strings, piano and brass, 7 p.m.; June 15: Faculty ensembles and festival orchestra, 7 p.m., Mount Mercy University, 1330 Elmhurst Dr. NE. June 16: Josef Zak, violin, and Anna Sedlackova-Zakova , voice, 3 p.m., Christ Episcopal Church, 220 40th St. NE. Fiveseasonschambermusic@gmail.com or Mtmercy.edu/five-seasons-chamber

♪ MARION COMMUNITY BANDS

June 11 and 25: 7 p.m., Marion Square Park, Seventh Avenue and 10th Street. Jazz and Concert bands. Free, bring seating. Rehearsals (all ages invited to perform): Concert band, 7 to 8:15 p.m. May 28, June 4 and 18; Jazz Band, May 30, June 6, 13 and 20, Vernon Middle School Band Room. Marioncommunitybands.us

♪ MUSIC IC 2012, Iowa City

June 13 to 16: Chamber music festival, downtown venues. Main concerts: 7:30 p.m. June 13 to 15; 2 p.m. June 16. Free admission. Uiowa.edu/musicic

♪ ROCKIN ON THE RIVER MUSIC FEST, Cascade

June 14, July 12: 6 to 11 p.m., Cascade Riverview Park. Various bands, food vendor; $5 all ages, bring seating, coolers allowed.

♪ DOWNTOWN FRIDAY NIGHT, Dyersville

June 14, July 12, Aug. 9: 6 to 9 p.m., entertainment, food, games for all ages, firemen’s waterball fights. Dyersville.org

♪ AN EVENING WITH FRIENDS, Cedar Rapids

June 20: 5:30 p.m., 127 Cottage Grove Ave. SE. Kingston Hill outdoor benefit concert by SPT Theatre and friends. Gates open 5:30 p.m., opening band, 5:45 p.m., concert, 7 p.m.; bring seating, picnic. Rain date: June 27. Tickets: $20 advance, $25 gate, (319) 362-1382 or Kingston-hill.com

♪ IRISH DISTRICT MUSIC AND ARTS FESTIVAL, Cedar Rapids

June 22: 1 to 9 p.m., 700 16th St. NE. Family fun with music, dance, art, food, games; bring lawn chairs and coolers, $5 adults, free ages 12 and under with an adult. Headliner: Family Groove Company of Chicago. Irishdistrictfest.com

♪ PARAMOUNT THEATRE, Cedar Rapids

June 23: Styx, 7:30 p.m., $49 to $75; June 25: Merle Haggard, 8 p.m., $35 to $55; Sept. 14: John Prine, 8 p.m. $50 and $60 (rescheduled from March 16); Paramount Box Office, (319) 366-8203 or Paramounttheatrecr.com

♪ LINN COUNTY FAIR, Central City

June 26 to July 1: Grandstand: Alien Ant Farm with Helforstout, 7:30 p.m. June 27, $10 advance, $15 gate; Tracy Lawrence, 7:30 p.m. June 28, $18 advance, $20 gate. Thelinncountyfair.com

♪ PAULA COLE, Cedar Rapids

June 28: 8 p.m., CSPS Hall, Legion Arts, 1103 Third St. SE; $25 advance, $30 door, (319) 364-1580 or Legionarts.org

♪ RIVERSIDE CASINO SUMMER CONCERT SERIES

June 28 to Aug. 24: 9 p.m., outdoor stage, 3184 Highway 22. Bring chairs, no coolers. June 28: Pistol Annies, $35 to $70; July 3: Bad Company, $30 to $70; Aug. 24: Creedence Clearwater Revisited, $25 to $55, Casino Gift Shop or Riversidecasinoandresort.com

♪ CORALVILLE 4thFEST

June 29 to July 4: S.T. Morrison Park. 5K run/walk, carnival, entertainment, contests, food, July 4 parade and 10 p.m. fireworks. Free concert July 3: The Beaker Brothers at 6:30 p.m., 38 Special at 8 p.m. Coralville.org

♪ CEDAR RAPIDS FREEDOM FESTIVAL

June 29: Music Night at NewBo, Simpleton & Cityfolk of Chicago, 8 p.m., NewBo City Market, 1100 Third St. SE; June 30: Patriotic Pops, Orchestra Iowa, 4 p.m., Paramount Theatre, 123 Third Ave. SE. Free admission with $3 festival button. Freedomfestival.com

July

 

♪ IOWA CITY JAZZ FESTIVAL

July 5 to 7: Downtown Iowa City. Well-known jazz musicians, up-and-coming artists, food, kids’ games, fireworks July 5, Saturday headliner Dr. Lonnie Smith. Summerofthearts.org

♪ PRAISE IN THE PARK IOWA, Cedar Rapids

July 6: 3 to 11 p.m., Veterans Memorial Stadium, 950 Rockford Rd. SW. Multiple bands, headliner Jeremy Camp, fireworks; $25 to $40, food donations for Feed the 5,000. Praiseintheparkiowa.org

♪ DELAWARE COUNTY FAIR, Manchester

July 8 to 14: Fairgrounds. Concerts: Sidewalk Prophets, 7:30 p.m. July 10, free, Festival Area; Country Night, 7 p.m. July 11, headliner Justin Moore, 8:30 p.m., grandstand, $35, $50; VIP Night, 7 p.m. July 12, headliner The Beach Boys, 8:30 p.m., grandstand, $60. Delawarecofair.com

♪ CAMP EUFORIA, Lone Tree

July 12 and 13: Two-day music festival’s 10th anniversary celebration, 5335 Utah Ave. SE, rural Lone Tree. Local and regional bands, food, yoga, camping. Headliner: Euforquestra. $85, Midwestix.com Details: Campeuforia.com

♪ NORTH LIBERTY BIRTHDAY BASH

July 13: 11 a.m., North Liberty Park. Community festivities end with evening concert by Hairball, $5. nlbirthdaybash.com

♪ GREAT JONES COUNTY FAIR, Monticello

July 17 to 21: Grandstand: Sheryl Crow and Gary Allan, 8 p.m. July 18, $25, $35; Motley Crue and Tesla, 8 p.m. July 19, $35, $45; Keith Urban, Little Big Town and Dustin Lynch, 7:30 p.m. July 20, $40, $50; TobyMac, Jamie Grace and Capital Kings, 7 p.m. July 21, $20, $25. Greatjonescountyfair.com

♪ UGANDA CHILDREN’S CHOIR, Cedar Rapids

July 19: 6:30 p.m., African American Museum of Iowa, 55 12th Ave. SE. Blackiowa.org

August

 

♪ UPTOWN GETDOWN, Marion

Aug. 1 to 22: 6 to 9 p.m. Thursdays, Marion Square Park, Seventh Avenue and 10th Street. Food, 6 p.m.; live music, 6:30 p.m. Free admission. Marioncc.org

♪ JAZZ UNDER THE STARS, Cedar Rapids

Aug. 1 to 22: 7 p.m. Thursdays, Noelridge Park, 4900 Council St. NE, Cedar Rapids. Aug. 1: Al Naylor and the I-380 Express Reunion; Aug. 8: Brass Transit Authority; Aug. 15: Steve Grismore Trio; Aug. 22: Dennis McMurrin and The Demolition Band. Free admission, bring seating, food available. Kcck.org

♪ 319 FEST
August, date and location TBA, $10 early bird tickets, $15 June 1 to Aug. 2, $20 at the gate. 319Fest.com. One day, six stages, 80 performers, 25 artists.

♪ BLUESMORE, Cedar Rapids

Aug. 3: 3 to 10 p.m., Brucemore lawn, 2160 Linden Dr. SE, Cedar Rapids. Music starts at 4 p.m.: LCBS All Star Band, The Scott Holt Band and Lucky Peterson featuring Tamara Peterson; $13 and $15 advance, $20 gate. Food and beverage vendors, bring seating; no pets, coolers, outside food. Brucemore.org

♪ CABARET IN THE COURTYARD, Cedar Rapids

Aug. 8 to 17: 7:30 p.m., gates open 7 p.m., Brucemore, 2160 Linden Dr. SE, Cedar Rapids. Aug. 8 to 10: Singer/actor Christopher Johnstone; Aug. 15 to 17: boogie woogie pianist Chase Garrett. Tickets per show: $18 and $20 advance, $25 gate, (319) 362-7375, Brucemore Store or Brucemore.org

♪ IOWA STATE FAIR, Des Moines

Aug. 8 to 18: Fairgrounds, East 30th Street and East University Avenue. Grandstand concerts: Casting Crowns, 8 p.m. Aug. 8, $30; Happy Together Tour, 8 p.m. Aug. 9, $25; Dana Carvey, Dennis Miller and Kevin Nealon, 8 p.m. Aug. 10, $38; Dierks Bentley, 8 p.m. Aug. 11, $39; Victoria Justice with Pentatonix, 8 p.m. Aug. 13, $29; Toby Keith, 8 p.m. Aug. 15, $49; Train, 8 p.m. Aug. 16, $39; Carly Rae Jepsen and The Wanted, 8 p.m. Aug. 17, $35; Alan Jackson, 8 p.m. Aug. 18, $39. Iowastatefair.org

♪ FRY FEST, Coralville

Aug. 30: Iowa River Landing area. Hawkeye celebration with food, trade show, car show, pep rally, 7 p.m. outdoor concert with Chris Cagle and Dustin Lynch. Fryfest.com

September

 

♪ BRUCEMORCHESTRA, Cedar Rapids

Sept. 8: 7 p.m., front lawn, Brucemore, 2160 Linden Dr. SE, Cedar Rapids; gates open 5:30 p.m. Orchestra Iowa season opening concert; bring seating, picnics. Rain site: Paramount Theatre. Ticket details to come, Orchestraiowa.org

♪ DIVAPALOOZA, Cedar Rapids

Sept. 13 and 14: Theatre Cedar Rapids mainstage, 102 Third St. SE. “Estrogen Force Field” concert with Janelle Lauer, Jane Pini, Lynne Rothrock and band. Details to come, Theatrecr.org

♪ IOWA SOUL FESTIVAL, Iowa City

Sept. 13 to 15: Downtown, free admission. Dance, music, food and art of the African and African-American communities. Headliner: Hancher presents Buddy Guy, 8 p.m. Sept. 13. Summerof thearts.org

♪ IOWA WOMEN’S MUSIC FESTIVAL, Iowa City

Sept. 27 and 28: Various venues, Iowa City. Details to come, Prairievoices.net

♪ LANDFALL FESTIVAL, Cedar Rapids

Sept. 25 to 28: World music festival presented by Legion Arts/CSPS Hall. Details to come, Legionarts.org

♪ THE MUSIC MAN, Cedar Rapids

Sept. 26 to 29: Concert version by Theatre Cedar Rapids and Orchestra Iowa, at the Paramount Theatre, 123 Third Ave. SE. Ticket details to come, Orchestraiowa.org

Source: Event/organization websites, HooplaNow.com/events, event press releases

Audience members applaud Australian musician Claude Hay during the CR Amphitheater Music Fest on Saturday, Aug. 20, 2011, at Greene Square Park in Cedar Rapids. The event, which featured musical acts from a variety of genres, children's activities and food vendors, was a fundraiser for a new amphitheater downtown. (Dan Williamson/Freelance)

From music to movies, it just comes naturally for Kyle Eastwood

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Kyle Eastwood

His parents gave him the soundtrack of his youth. As an adult, he has given them soundtracks for their lives.

Composer and bass player Kyle Eastwood, 44, cut his teeth on jazz.

“That’s the music they were listening to, more often than not,” Eastwood says of parents, Clint Eastwood and Clint’s ex-wife, Maggie Johnson Eastwood. “I remember hearing it since I can remember, really. The very first concert I ever went to was the Monterrey Jazz Festival when I was about 8 or 9.

“At an early age, I started going to gigs occasionally with my dad or my mom,” he says by phone from a recent tour stop in Seattle. “They were always just interested in music. It was always records playing around the house — a lot of music appreciation going on.”

He has shown them his appreciation, too, by composing soundtracks for his father’s films, including “Letters from Iwo Jima,” “Gran Torino” and “Invictus,” as well as songs for “Mystic River,” “Million Dollar Baby” and others.

On his latest CD, “The View from Here,” Eastwood penned a song for his mother, titled simply “For M.E.” She got to hear it when Eastwood and his band played it live for the first time, during a recent Los Angeles gig.

Maybe he’ll play it live at the CSPS Hall on Tuesday (4/9). He says the concert — his first in Iowa — will feature a mix of tunes off the new album, previous recordings, “the odd standard” and arrangements of music he’s written for films.

The details

Director Susan Morgan Cooper with Clint Eastwood & Kyle Eastwood at the LA premiere of Mulberry Child

He grew up in Carmel-by-the-Sea, the city south of San Francisco where his father served as mayor from 1986 to 1988. He studied piano for a few years, learned a little guitar at age 12 or 13 for one of the films he appeared in with his father, and a couple years later, picked up a bass guitar.

“I had a lot of my friends in high school that were quite serious about music — some quite accomplished musicians — and they were always looking for a bass player,” he says, so he figured out how to make it sing.

“It just came naturally,” he says, adding that the bass is more important to a band than people realize.

“It’s a rhythmic instrument as well as being a harmonic instrument,” he says. “The bass can change the direction of the music quite a bit, just by changing a rhythm or by changing a note you place in the chord. It has quite an impact on the feel and the melody or harmony of a tune.”

Gigs followed, jamming with friends and playing for parties. After high school, Eastwood moved to Los Angeles, and after a brief stint as a film major at the University of Southern California, he left school to study music privately, “practicing my fingers off.” After another year or so, he embarked on his career.

He says he still loves film and film history, and has his dad to thank for that — as well as getting him into the music he likes and developing a serious work ethic. About 20 years ago, he married those interests by playing in film orchestras. A couple years later, his always-supportive father asked him to write a couple songs for his films..

“I just ended up working my way up,” the younger Eastwood says.

His music has taken him all over the world. He’s touring the United States right now, but will hop to Europe for the rest of spring, summer and fall, squeezing in a quick trip to Japan in July.

He’s bringing a quintet to Cedar Rapids, featuring trumpet, sax, piano, bass and drums. He calls it his “American lineup of musicians,” since he now lives in Paris and plays with a different group of band mates overseas.

Eastwood moved to Paris about six years ago or so, since he was spending more and more time performing across the Atlantic. His daughter, Graylen, who turns 19 this month, went to grade school and part of high school there, but will be going to college in Boston in the fall. He’s looking forward to seeing her in New York for her birthday.

“She’s a really good girl; we’re quite close,” says Eastwood.

Also on the home front, the sports, biking and skiing enthusiast has been engaged for about a year and says he “might be getting married sometime in the near future.”

For the next few months, however, he’s on the road, enjoying the chance to get in touch with his audiences.

“Playing live is really the most musically challenging,” he says. “I like playing in the studio, but playing live is where the magic happens. It’s the most musically satisfying and the most fun to do.”

Cedar Rapids gets ‘Fresh’

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Imperfekt (Rick Noggle, left) and Colorless will perform at the second annual Super Fresh Culture Fest this Saturday at Third Street Saloon. Photographed on Monday, March 18, 2013, in Cedar Rapids. (Liz Martin/The Gazette-KCRG)

When Rick Noggle and David Tisdale returned from their Lost in the Midwest Tour, the duo’s first, Noggle estimated that they’d made a profit of about $30. He shared that news with his friend and fellow MC, Steddy P.

“So it was a success,” Noggle said, recalling Steddy P’s reply.

For Noggle, a rhymesmith who goes by the name Imperfekt, the word “success” now has a new definition. Alongside Tisdale, who performs under the name Colorless, Noggle is behind Super Fresh Culture Fest 2, a celebration of live music, break-dancing and graffiti art, on Saturday.

“It’s not just, ‘I’m here and I’m gonna rap in your face,’” Tisdale says, describing the one-night festival. “It’s trying to capture the whole essence of the [hip-hop] movement.”

The details

Noggle and Tisdale, who are both from Cedar Rapids and will take the stage Saturday, are putting on the show for the second year. It began, in some ways, much earlier.

The concert’s moniker traces back to Super Fresh Saturdays, a series of informal monthly shows the duo used to host in part because there weren’t too many venues booking hip-hop or rap acts. The events drew talent from throughout the country and were their way of building the Cedar Rapids hip-hop scene and making connections.

The events ended in 2010 but Tisdale and Noggle still wanted to do their part to make sure there were events nurturing Cedar Rapids’ burgeoning hip-hop community. They’d wanted to do a show akin to Minnesota’s annual Soundset festival – which will count the legendary Snoop Dogg among its headliners this year – for Iowa. They just had to wait until they had the resources to make it reality, which finally happened in 2012.

“It was almost overwhelmingly successful, to see the lines of people waiting to get in,” Noggle says. “Last year was really a testing ground and this year we really had a great plan of how to make it run smoothly.”

When Noggle and Tisdale traveled the country in 2010, they called the trek the Super Fresh Everyday Tour. When they needed a name for the hip-hop festival, the answer was obvious.

“It was only right that this was the Super Fresh Culture Fest,” Noggle says.

Rather than try to pay big bucks to book a big name, a la Soundset, Noggle and Tisdale – who are coordinating everything from vendors to the venue – relied on their contacts from those Super Fresh Saturdays.

“We have so many friends who we think are talented, so we just call them up,” Noggle says.

The slate includes C-Rayz Walz of The Bronx, N.Y., KingHellBastard of Milwaukee, Wis. and the aforementioned Steddy P. of Kansas City, Mo., but most of the acts will be from Iowa. Fairfield, Dubuque, Des Moines and Iowa City will all be represented on the Super Fresh bill this year.

“We know that they have high energy and are good performing acts,” Tisdale says.

As of Wednesday, 300 people had already RSVPed “yes” on the Super Fresh Culture Fest 2’s Facebook event page. Noggle said he’s hoping for at least 400 people to attend, which he estimates was last year’s turnout.

While Noggle says “it’d be totally cool” if the event one day reaches Soundset’s stature, his goal is more about unity.

“We’re just doing this thing that brings everyone together,” he said. “As long as we’re making the hip-hop scene relevant here, I think that’s the main thing.”

The Notorious B.I.G. famously rapped “Mo Money Mo Problems,” but Noggle’s got something different in mind when it comes to the second incarnation of Super Fresh Culture Fest.

“We definitely need to make more than $30,” he said.

Chris Botti

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Chris Botti’s latest CD, “Impressions,” has made a lasting impression on the music world, grabbing a 2013 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album.

He’s racked up numerous Grammy nominations and industry awards over the years, but this smooth trumpeter keeps it all in perspective.

“It feels fantastic,” he says of his Feb. 10 accolade. “I try to always tell myself that my Grammy Award is being able to walk onstage and have an audience. And so when you actually win the Grammy, you don’t let yourself get too high or too low. That’s what I’ve always said.  So here I am and I feel very, very fortunate and lucky.”

He’ll revel in that feeling when he walks onstage at the Paramount Theatre in Cedar Rapids on Friday night (2/22). He and his band will play a “mishmash” from his discography — some cuts off “Impressions,” as well the “In Boston” album recorded with the Boston Pops and other tunes he’s written, arranged or covered over the years.

Along with “A-team” piano, bass, drums and guitar, he’ll bring a violin and vocalist, too.

The details

Despite all of his successes, Botti, 50, realizes he’s not a household name like instrumentalists Yo-Yo Ma, Kenny G and Chuck Mangione. He says that’s actually worked to his advantage as he’s built his solo career, touring 300 days a year the past nine years.

“The odds of being able to get across to the American public — or any public — as an instrumentalist is built on talent, but you’re trying to find a needle in a haystack — that something that clicks with an audience. And then someone goes, ‘I got that blond guy trumpet player’s album’ or whatever, or they recognize my sound,” he says by phone from his home in Los Angeles.

“It takes so much longer than a singer, because a singer can just basically have a music video or a pop song and everyone’s going to remember their name. I’m a musician that tours all around the world and plays really big places and I have no hits at all. I’ve never had a hit,” he says.

“In a way, that’s been my biggest musical weapon — to not have one particular hit that defines a year or a place in time. So I can just basically build up my audience gig to gig. I feel really, really fortunate to be able to do that.”

He relies on his music to make lasting impressions.

Chris Botti (Live in Boston / Photo Credit: LeAnn Mueller)

“Ultimately, I want people to come out of that theater saying, ‘I’ve never seen musicians like that.’ ”

He says he’s worked really hard to surround himself with “incredible players, like the top top top that you can get on every instrument — the violin, the piano, the drums, the bass, everything.”

“When people leave (the concert), the only currency I have (is) are they entertained, do they feel like they would come back tomorrow? That’s the best kind of thing I can have — to have people come back the next year or whenever I’m back in town — or the next night.”

Appropriately, his Cedar Rapids concert comes in the wake of Valentine’s Day, since his latest album is filled with love songs romanced by such top top top musicians as Vince Gill, Herbie Hancock, Andrea Bocelli, David Foster and Mark Knopfler. In previous outings, he’s worked with Frank Sinatra, Sting, Josh Groban, Michael Buble, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, John Mayer and Joshua Bell.

While he says he’s “single, sadly,” he is romantic in music.

“Sometimes I feel like it’s so much easier to show that kind of romance onstage or in music than it actually is in reality,” he says. “I’m a big fan of a beautiful melody. That’s what I like in music and what I’ve made my signature — to play beautiful music and not be apologetic about playing beautiful music.”

“Impressions” begins with his stunning arrangement of Chopin’s Prelude No. 20 in C Minor, followed by “Per Te,” featuring Andrea Bocelli, before spinning into a mix of standards like Gershwin’s “Summertime,” R. Kelly’s “You Are Not Alone,” some Latin and world flavors, then ending with “Over the Rainbow” and perhaps the most gorgeous rendition ever recorded of “What a Wonderful World.”

The centerpiece of all the songs is the lovely, mellow tone of his 1939 trumpet, made by the Martin Company.

“God forbid if anything ever happened to it,” he says. “I have some other trumpets, but I only play that one. It’s not like a Stradivarius, it’s not worth millions and millions of dollars, but to me, I have a very, very close relationship with it.”

He’s had it for about 13 years.

“A friend of mine brought it to a concert and said, ‘Chris, you should play this horn.’  So I played it, and loved it. I played one note on it and said, ‘You’re not getting it back.’ It has a beautiful, not edgy sound, but also, when you want to step on the gas and really put sound through the horn, it doesn’t get bright and brittle. That’s a rare characteristic in a trumpet.”

Born and raised in Oregon — to a concert pianist mother and linguist father — Botti also spent part of his childhood in Italy. He picked up the trumpet as a child.

“Trumpet is such a difficult instrument, especially when you’re a kid,” he says, “but somehow I knew that it was just my instrument. I saw Doc Severinsen on television and I started messing around with the trumpet and liked it. It fit well with me.”

His parents supported his musical pursuits, which took him to Indiana University before he set out for New York City.

“My mom and my dad allowed me to jump off the ledge and sink or swim,” he says. “They let me do my thing, and that was probably one of the biggest things that happened in my life — to enable a kid to do their craft.”

He’s come a long way since his starving artist days, playing Christmas carols outdoors along Fifth Avenue and 2 a.m. gigs in the Bronx, then being thrilled when he could pay his rent with money earned through his art.

“All those little steps led to a career,” he says. “I did everything you could do. Every part of music, I’ve stepped into along the way. That’s what makes me, ultimately, able to have massive success in my 40s and 50s. It makes me very appreciative of that journey.”

Chris Botti (Live in Boston/Photo Credit: LeAnn Mueller)

Cornell singers, dean premiere work

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When Boston vocal ensemble Tapestry takes its new piece on the road, composer James Falzone of Chicago will likely play the clarinet part.

But when “How Can Barren Be So Beautiful” has its world premiere Monday (1/28) night at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Dean Joe Dieker will wrap his artistry around the clarinet role.

Joe Dieker

Dieker, 55, Cornell’s dean since July 1, 2010, holds a doctor of musical arts degree from Arizona State University and taught music for 25 years before becoming an administrator. He still flexes his musical muscles at Cornell, teaching clarinet there and playing with the school’s orchestra, where he was featured  in a concerto performance last April.

“They’re getting used to (hearing) me,” he says with a laugh.

Such opportunities give him a chance to blend both of his career paths.

“Playing music is just what I do. Being the dean of the college is my job,” he says. “This (concert) gives me a chance to get to know students. I wouldn’t normally have as many chances sitting in my office.”

The details

Tapestry, a five-woman ensemble formed in 1995, combines medieval, traditional and contemporary vibes. Falzone is known largely for jazz compositions, but has written across genres, Dieker says.

This piece, which runs about 8 minutes, is based on a series of poems by Margaret Chula of Portland, Ore. Dieker says “Barren” is contemporary in tone and reflects a style of music developed in the past 20 years. It features Tapestry’s female vocalists; the group’s male percussionist, Takaaki Masuko, on vibraphone; Cornell’s Chamber Singers; and Dieker.

The commission and collaboration between Tapestry and Cornell were designed to give students an enrichment experience, in conjunction with the school’s popular Music Mondays concert series.

Tapestry

“It’s really good for our students,” Dieker says. “First of all, they’re singing with a really nationally famous group. Tapestry is a really top-notch group. Plus, they’re singing a piece that’s never been heard before.

“The composer, James Falzone, was out a few weeks before Christmas to rehearse with them, so he actually got to talk to them about how he conceived the piece, why he wrote it the way he wrote it and gave them some tips on how he wants it performed,” Dieker says. “And then he and the Tapestry group will be backed next weekend, and we’ll rehearse this before Monday night’s concert. …

“It’s a pretty unique experience.”

Duncan Sheik returning to Cedar Rapids

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Duncan Sheik

No matter how hard he’s tried to dodge it, the spotlight just seems to find Duncan Sheik.

After bursting onto the rock charts in the mid ’90s with “Barely Breathing,” he retreated into the shadows of indie music and theater.

That didn’t last long.

He wrote the music for the 2006 Broadway smash hit “Spring Awakening.” The rock ‘n’ roll tale of teen angst grabbed eight Tony Awards in 2007, including Best Musical, and nods to Sheik for best original score and best orchestrations.

Sheik came to CSPS in Cedar Rapids in March 2009 for a concert we deemed “brilliant” in our review, showcasing his show tune. He’s returning on Thursday, on a national tour with his stripped-down homage to the music of his youth via his new acoustic CD, “Covers Eighties Remixed.”

The details

  • Duncan Sheik trio
  • 7 p.m. Thursday
  • CSPS, 1103 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids
  • $25 at the door, (319) 364-1580 or Legionarts.org
  • Free discussion, noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, University of Iowa Theatre Building, 200 N. Riverside Dr., Iowa City

He just keeps charting new courses.

“‘Barely Breathing’ was a bit of an anomaly in terms of my first record and in terms of the way I saw myself as an artist,” Sheik, 42, says by phone from his home on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where he lives with his girlfriend.

“Really quickly in ’96, I was thrust into this Top 40 context. Frankly, I wasn’t that comfortable there, because I didn’t feel that much kinship with other artists who are in that world. They certainly weren’t the artists that were my influences. As much as I might respect them, it’s not what I was doing,” he says.

“Here I was, listening to Radiohead or Chalk Talk – whatever fairly left-field records I was listening to, and then I was in this very kind of mainstream music context. That caused a lot of dissonance for me in that situation. At that point, you continue to put your head down and do the best work you can do, and people are gonna perceive it however they’re gonna perceive it,” he says.

“I think that I subconsciously and consciously did a lot of work to subvert that kind of Top 40 thing from happening again, for better or worse. The irony is that when I did something in theater – which was a fairly avant-garde, kind of expressionist play, ‘Spring Awakening’ that we adapted our show from – that became, in a way, the most commercial thing that I’ve ever done,” he says.

“You don’t really have control over these things in the end. You just do your work and the culture responds to it however it does and you hope for the best.”

Two Corridor theaters are staging the rock musical this season. The University of Iowa’s production opened Nov. 9 and continues through Saturday (11/17). Theatre Cedar Rapids is bringing it to the main stage June 28 to July 20, 2013. Sheik will be speaking about the show from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday in the UI Theatre Building. The discussion is free and open to the public.

He’s thrilled the show is making the leap from Broadway to community theaters, colleges and other grassroots stages.

“I love the fact that people are doing ‘Spring Awakening’ all over the place,” he says. “I just got back from Mexico City, and there was a production down there in Spanish, which was really wonderful. For me, it’s just great to see it done differently, and with different actors, because then the experience is new and fresh and exciting.”

Thursday’s CSPS audience will hear Sheik in a trio, doing a mix of his vintage tunes and new material from the covers CD released Nov. 6, as well as a set of  “brand-spanking new” songs from an album coming out next year.

“I haven’t made a ‘normal’ Duncan Sheik album since 2006,” he says. “Everything I’ve done since then has been either theater-related or covers, so it’s been too long.”

As for the spotlight – he doesn’t mind it so much anymore.

“To be honest, when I first started performing live, which was not that long after my first record, it actually was not my favorite part of the process,” he says. “I’m not the kind of person who wants to get a lot of people to pay attention to me in the room. I love making records and I love writing songs and that’s why I got into this. Performing was part of the gig. Certainly initially, it was just something had to go through.

“Now 16 years later, I do really enjoy those shows when it all kind of coalesces and comes together. When the artist is with you and the music sounds right, it’s totally brilliant. It just took me a little while to get to that place.”

REVIEW: Los Lobos heats up the Iowa Arts Festival

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Los Lobos. (Facebook)

By Diana Nollen/ Hoopla

IOWA CITY — All you need is a little humor to dance the Bamba — and Los Lobos to provide the beat.

The throng of thousands moved to the universal language of music  on June 2, crammed into every nook and cranny around the intersection of Iowa Avenue and Dubuque Street for the Iowa Arts Festival main stage concert. Perfect weather surrounded the free event, and when it got a little chilly toward the end, some wild Tex-Mex salsa sounds cranked up the heat.

Los Lobos evolved from the East Los Angeles music scene nearly 40 years ago to blaze a trail in American Chicano music, with Latin rhythms firmly rooted in rock ‘n’ roll and R&B traditions. Sometimes the band sings in Spanish, other times in English. Either way, the lyrics were pretty hard to catch in Saturday’s outdoor concert, where they were buried by overamplified instrumentals.

Since I couldn’t catch the hooks and my Spanish is beyond rusty, I can’t toss out a bunch of titles from the show, but I can definitely say the band ignited a party. I’m pretty sure a particular crowd favorite was the straightforward rock ‘n’ roll of “I Walk Alone,” fueled by Cesar Rosas’ gritty vocals and blazing guitar.

I’m absolutely positive about the roar that went up when the band launched into its biggest hit, “La Bamba,” to close out the two-hour show. Everyone jumped to their feet and danced to a full-out version that tucked some “Good Lovin’” in the middle. Our singalong was a little pitiful, but spirited.

Everything about the concert got your blood pumping, from Steve Berlin’s funky baritone sax to all the red-hot guitar riffs and wild bass rides. All six musicians took turns tearing up the spotlight, proving just how masterful they are on whatever instrument they’re wrapped around. In a fun and gracious nod, the bandmates invited opening musicians Carrie Rodriguez and Luke Jacobs to add their fiddle and pedal steel guitar flair.

With every song being an extended version of what we’ve heard on the radio or Los Lobos albums, the entire concert felt spontaneous and free. And very, very special.

Rosas, who shares lead vocals with David Hidalgo, told the masses the band hasn’t played Iowa City since 1992, and drew lots of reminiscent aahs when he said he remembered playing at the Crow’s Nest the very first time they came to town. Let’s hope they don’t wait another 20 years to return.

 

 

 

Playing for Change

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Clarence Bekker

A band with a worldwide reach embodies its name on several levels.

Playing for Change began as documentary filmmaker Mark Johnson’s grand experiment in 2005 to record the world’s best street musicians playing “Stand By Me” on their corners. His crew built a mobile recording studio and took it from California to nearly every continent, then melded those voices into a video.

It’s now spun into a YouTube phenomenon; a non-profit foundation building music schools in Third World countries; and a fundraising concert tour featuring 10 top musicians from around the globe — all spreading the message of unity through harmony, connecting the world through music.

Luminaries including Bono, Stephen Marley, Ziggy Marley, Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’ have collaborated on Playing for Change CDs.

The band is touring 22 cities around North America in February and March, landing at CSPS in Cedar Rapids on Feb. 23.

The musicians didn’t know each other when the project began, but have found their common ground and camaraderie.

“Mark’s message has become all of our messages together,” one of the lead vocalists, Clarence Bekker, 42, says by phone from his home in Barcelona, Spain. “Our different cultures, different musical styles, different backgrounds can come together to make happiness and bring peace, most of all to ourselves, and from there to the world.”

Playing for Change will perform on Feb. 23 at CSPS in Cedar Rapids.

Bekker hasn’t always been a street musician. Born in Suriname in South America, his family moved to Amsterdam when he was 6. At age 18, he became the youngest member of the renown Dutch band, Swing Soul Machine. From there, he spun off to a solo career in dance music as CB Milton, making three albums in the ’90s. Now in Barcelona, he collaborates with bands and local DJs, and at the end of the month, will release his new album, “Old Soul,” evoking the legendary American soul musicians

“I chose some old soul recordings to introduce myself to the big American audience,” he says, “songs that lie near in my heart. I had a lot of fun recording it.”

Bekker’s musical heritage is a blend of tropical beats and soul.

“My upbringing is Caribbean and soul,” he says. “You can hear that in my voice and music, as well. Soul music has always been part of my life. My mother used to listen to a lot of soul. Motown sounds were in our house every day. I played traditional Caribbean music when I started my career.”

In 2000 he decided to travel the world with just his guitar, making music in the streets of India, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia and South America.

“That’s where my passion started for playing on the street. After I came back to Barcelona, I started to do some busking here, too, and really loved it.”

He loves the freedom it affords.

“No matter what time or what hour or how I felt, I stood on a street corner and the people would make me happy. People from all different classes. The street doesn’t know races, the street doesn’t say no to anybody,” he says.

“From newborn babies to grandpas and grandmas in their 90s, they would stop to listen to my voice. In no venue would I get an audience like that. People would really appreciate it and really be happy. I had people coming to me with tears in their eyes, really grateful that I’m doing that, which also inspired me to keep it going,” he says.

“I’m giving and I’m taking, and there was a beautiful thing about it.”

The Playing for Change touring band members hail from New Orleans, Detroit, Los Angeles, Congo, South Africa, Spain and New York.

“Most of us have a music background,” he says.

Three have street backgrounds: Jason Tamba and Mermans Mosengo of Congo and Grandpa Elliott of New Orleans.

“Some of the people are really professional professionals,” he says, “but even on the street, you find professionals, and if you’re not yet a professional, you’ll become professional. It’s the talent that counts.”

Audiences are embracing the music and the cause wherever they go.

“Our followers are reasonably educated people concerned about the well-being of the planet and are behind us 100 percent,” Bekker says. “It’s a great thing. Everywhere we go, people really embrace us with arms open wide. Even my old friends in Holland and Spain, when they see the project, they really appreciate it. I see it in their faces and their responses.”

The Playing for Change Foundation, established in 2007, has built seven music schools in Ghana, Mali, Rwanda, South Africa and Nepal, with more in the works. Bekker hasn’t visited the sites, but fully embraces the mission of providing a musical education for children in emerging countries.

“Everyone on this planet should have that to express themselves,” he says. “It also gives them big self-esteem and a secure manner to go about in their life. Music has all these ways to express yourself and is a way to become a real ‘human’ being.

“That’s why it’s important for everyone, especially in Third World countries — to build up their self-esteem and to be able to communicate with people all over the world without having to learn their language,” he says.

“We all speak the language of music. With social media, it’s easier to communicate with all parts of the world. With music, that only makes us stronger.”

 

GET OUT

  • What: Playing for Change
  • When: 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012
  • Where: CSPS Hall, 1103 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids
  • Tickets: $27 at the door; $22 in advance

 

 

Monet’s gardens leaves lasting impressions for E. Iowa pianist

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By Diana Nollen/ SourceMedia Group

Visitors to Claude Monet’s gardens in Giverny, France, will soon be able to hear what Dan Knight saw as he strolled the hallowed grounds in 1999.

So will Eastern Iowans.

Dan Knight

Knight, a local pianist with global renown, has turned his impressions of the alluring site into an hourlong, 11-movement suite, “A Day in the Gardens of Monet.” If all goes as planned, the new CD will be available in the Monet gardens’ gift shop by April or May.

Closer to home, Knight will perform the work in a multimedia concert at 3 p.m. Feb. 19, 2012, in the new Coralville Center for the Performing Arts.

Photos and images of Monet’s famous paintings will dance through the center’s digital projection system as Knight’s fingers fly over a grand keyboard.

“It’s one of the best Steinways I’ve ever played in my life. It’s a gorgeous, wonderful instrument,” says Knight, adding that the state-of-the-art hall has “near-perfect acoustics.”

Knight, 58, of North Liberty, knows his Steinways. He’s among the upper echelon of the world’s pianists who have attained the coveted Steinway Artist title. Admitted to the ranks in 1996, his idiom is jazz, but he says most of the 1,500 Steinway Artists are classical pianists.

He’s not alone, however. Since Duke Ellington, other pop and jazz artists have made the roster, including Billy Joel, Diana Krall and Harry Connick Jr. On the “Immortals” list are Ignace Jan Paderewski, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Vladimir Horowitz and Arthur Rubinstein.

Music has “always been like breathing” for Knight, who grew up in Ottumwa. By age 3 he could sing any melody he heard. At 4, he started plunking out melodies on his sister’s chord organ on the sly. After his parents heard him play the “Dragnet” TV theme song on an aunt’s piano, they bought one. Shortly before he turned 5, he was taking lessons from Tillie Maither, who had studied with Paderewski.

Knight went on to study with leading jazz ambassador and educator Billy Taylor, whose music entranced him at age 5, when he saw Taylor on TV.

Knight’s career is full of highlights, from his nomination for a 2008 Pulitzer Prize for “The Walt Whitman Suite” to his status as the first person invited to play three consecutive years at the celebrated Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. He performed there in 1997, 1998 and 1999, with that last trip leading directly to his Monet suite.

As with all of his 200-or-so compositions, the music for “Monet” lived in Knight’s head before his fingers ever touched the keys. He typically finds his inspiration in artwork and dance. And sometimes, in circumstances beyond his control, like a camera that catches fire and ruins some highly anticipated sightseeing photos.

"The Water Lily Pond", 1900, oil on canvas, 35-1/2 x 36-1/2 in., Given in memory of Governor Alvan T. Fuller by the Fuller Foundation. (PRNewsFoto)

When his third invitation to Montreux came, Knight and his wife, Julie, decided to build in a little vacation time, as well.

 

“I’ve always wanted to go to Monet’s gardens, to see the place where Claude Monet was inspired and lived — where all these magnificent paintings came from,” he says. 

 

When that day came, he grabbed his camera and set off for an artistic adventure.

“It was a perfect day, a drop-dead gorgeous day,” he says. “Julie was looking at me askance; she was not excited about me taking pictures all day.

“The day just started incredibly well. We parked down the street from town by a beautiful draining area where water

 

 from the gardens goes back to the Seine. Julie was just mesmerized by the long, flowing blades of grass and how they moved on the water. She stood there, transfixed by whole thing. We just looked at that and looked at that, and stood there about 20 minutes watching this water.

“Then we go into Monet’s house. I’m so proud of myself — I could ask for tickets in French from taking a class at Kirkwood,” he says. “I got my camera out, turned it on, the lithium battery leaked and the camera caught fire. Little flames and smoke were shooting out of the top. I sat down and kinda got teary-eyed, thinking my day was ruined.

“Julie, in her infinite wisdom, said, ‘Maybe you’re not supposed to take pictures today. Maybe there’

 

s something else you’re supposed to do. Maybe you’re supposed to make music.’

“She looked at me and said, ‘Take your glasses off.’ I’m really nearsighted,” he says, “and the second I did that, everything around me looked like a Monet painting — all impressionistic, all dazzling.

“Never before or since then have I seen the colors like in that garden — vibrant, alive, with the sun at that particular part, a bend in the Seine. All the things there were just perfect for painting,” Knight says.

 

“I went from the house and looked around and had chills. I heard music in my head everywhere I went. I said, ‘Let’s have the kind of experience Mr. Monet would have had in the gardens, but for ourselves, and take these visual images into our heart.’

“The second I started doing that, the music went nuts. I started making notes on everything I could get my hands on — notebooks, travel brochures, postcards, free things in gift shop. It was just dazzling,” he says.

“So I came back, then kind of put the thing together and started really listening. The way I compose, is I wait until they’re finished in my head. …

“It’s kind of tedious,” he says. “I play it in my head over and over. I knew it in the garden — I wrote down the motifs and pieces of melodies just the way I heard them.

“As a few months went by and I had more distance from whole thing, I went back and worked in earnest. I listened to it again in my head. The whole thing just kind of happened in a flood. The second I started hearing those melodies, I could start going back to that place, standing next to Julie on the Japanese bridge.”

They saw other tourists flocking to the same spot, just to have their pictures taken, not pausing long enough to see what the Knights were seeing.

“They missed out,” he says.

He’s performed bits and pieces of his suite over the years, waiting for it to solidify, then recorded it in 2009 at St. Bridget’s Church in Morse, near West Branch.

“The acoustics are just perfect out there,” he says.

The CD was released in 2010, and in another twist of fate, he sent one to a fan from Denmark who wanted a copy after hearing him perform at Riverside Theatre in Iowa City several years earlier.

 “I got an incredible email back,” Knight says. “She was so moved by my recording that she and her husband decided to drive seven hours to Monet’s house, took the CD with them on their iPod and listened to it in the gardens while looking at all the places I wrote about.”

She wanted all the tourists to have that experience and suggested Knight sell the disc in the Monet gift shop.

“I’m going to negotiate that beginning the first of March, so by April or May, I should have that all set up,” he says.

“The whole thing’s come  full circle.”

  

GET OUT

 

The Diplomats of Solid Sound ready to make a scene NYE

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Sharply dressed musicians layin’ down groovin’ funky upbeat jams, sequined soul vixens synchronized in sweet tones, patrons undulating to the beat. I’m not talking about an old episode of Motown Live. No my friends, I’m talking about The Diplomats of Solid Sound.

 Originally formed as a four piece instrumental group in 1998, these Iowa City veterans have been laying down hip-shaking grooves since their first release “Instrumental Action Soul” in 2001. They carry on the legacy of legendary artists like James Brown, Booker T and The MG’s, The Ikettes and The Impressions. You may wonder why an instrumental group would cite influence from The Ikettes, who were vocalists. That would be a nod to the Diplomats’ summer of 2006 addition of three swingin’ soul sistas known as The Diplomettes.

The Diplomettes had their recording debut in 2008 on the album called simply: “Diplomats of Solid Sound featuring The Diplomettes.” Along with the addition of the Diplomettes, this album includes one of their songs remixed by a UK producer known as Lack of Afro. Their most release release dropped in 2010 with the title “What Goes Around, Comes Around.” 

The recordings are great, but you really must experience the Diplomats live.

  “We try and give as much show as possible,” says guitarist Doug Roberson.

  Their live shows are like an old-school Motown revue. The band comes out and plays a few instrumental songs, and then they introduce The Diplomettes. It’s a kind of showmanship rarely seen these days.

  “We all dress to the nines: suits, ties, etc., a step above most acts, and the girls wear dresses or rather glitzy outfits to ramp up the overall image,” says Doug.

  Success hasn’t come without challenges.

  “Originally, being an instrumental band was not an easy thing. People generally prefer singing,” explains Roberson. “Now the problem is a lack of money to promote the band. If you don’t have a record pusher and an upscale (expensive) publicist, you can’t get your music on commercial radio or in the big glossy magazines.”

 

–Robby Cooper

 

  • The Name: The Diplomats of Solid Sound
  • The Talent: Doug Roberson (electric guitar), Jim Viner (drums), Nate Basinger (Hammond B3 Organ), David Basinger (baritone saxophone), Eddie McKinley (tenor saxophone), Sarah Cram (vocals), Katharine Ruestow (vocals), Abbie Sawyer (vocals).
  •  The Sound: Soul/Funk/Jazz
  •  The Gigs: New Year’s Eve at The Mill, 120 E. Burlington St., Iowa City. With Ben Driscoll of the East Side Motors.
  •  The Album: Their latest is “Diplomats of Solid Sound Featuring The Diplomettes” released in July 2008
  • More music: Facebook