Frank Solivan (former Country Current mandolin player) and his band Dirty Kitchen are out on the West Coast and Alaska for some shows during the next week. Their website describes them really well-  “Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen play a wide variety of New Acoustic American Roots Music focusing on bluegrass and acoustic country, yet blues, folk, swing, and jazz also shine through as influences. Powerful vocal harmonies, expressive songwriting, smooth ballads, and instrumental prowess lend this versatile group of musicians to any type of venue. Each member is an inventive powerhouse.  ” Band members are Frank Solivan-mandolin, Mike Munford-banjo, Lincoln Meyers-guitar,Stefan Custodi-bass They are up in Alaska in Denali,  The Alaska  State Fair, Oregon at the Goodfoot in Portland and the Strawberry Festival in  California on this tour. These pictures are from their great show at Conor Byrnes in Ballard, WA.

The Matt Flinner Trio – mandolin-Matt Flinner , guitar- Ross Martin , bass- Eric Thorin will be playing a house concert in Seattle. Since forming in 2002  the Trio has been playing it’s original style of acoustic music blending bluegrass, jazz, Celtic. The trio is touring following the spring release  of their Compass recording “Music du Jour”  Flinner  is an in demand  mandolin player based out of Nashville and has two solo albums for Compass Records, The View from Here and Latitude. Flinner is also a member of  Phillips, Grier and Flinner  . Ross Martin has played with many bands including  Ron Miles, Mollie O’Brien, Tony Furtado, Drew Emmitt, The Motet, Caroline Herring, Leslie Helpert, Kyle Hollingsworth, Paul McCandless, Art Lande, The 3 Twins.  Eric Thorin, a Colorado musician has played bass for a variety of bands covering many styles including   Kizumba and Conjunto Colores, toured extensively with rock act The Thugs,the bluegrass band Open Road, the Flamenco/Indian ensemble Curandero, steel band Pan Jumbies, and toured with the Tony Furtado Band for four years.

The show will be held at Seattle musician Eli Wests home. Eli’s home in the middle of a Phinney Ridge pea patch has repeatedly made an incredible venue for past shows such as Heather Masse (of The Wailin Jennys), among others. Tickets are available through Brown Bag Tickets https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/79166

Check out the website for Kari Von Wening and Jan Bush for some great handpainted metal sculptures.  Their work often features fiddles and and guitars. They are based out of Pasadena, CA and have their work exhibited in quite a few galleries. Full artist info and gallery listings are also on the website. 

BELLEVUE, Wash., (July 8, 2009) — Starting in August, the first phase of planned changes at KBCS 91.3 FM will eliminate four hours of music programming each weekday. Further changes are planned for weekend and weeknight shows in coming months. The richness and diversity of programming will be drastically cut if these plans are carried out. You can help! By replying as soon as possible, your comments can help preserve music diversity at KBCS. Write to: savekbcs@gmail.com. Phase 1 – Weekday Program Changes scheduled to take effect in August 2009: * Drive Time Jazz (7 – 9 a.m.) will be replaced by public affairs. * Morning jazz programs (9 a.m. – noon) will be replaced by a single jazz program with a single paid host. Gone will be these shows: – The Bud & Don Show – Bebop Spoken Here – 20th Century Jazz – Vintage Jazz – The Caravan * Lunch With Folks (noon – 3 p.m.) will be replaced with a homogenized, generic “Americana” program with a couple of paid hosts, eliminating the diverse knowledge and expertise of the variety of daily programmers. * Daily Planet (3 – 5 p.m.) will be replaced by news. This first phase of programming changes will result in the elimination of over 20 volunteer hosts along with their formidable knowledge, expertise, and passion for the music of their respective genres, to be replaced by two to four paid DJs. Voice your comments now! Tell us what you think about these proposed changes. Write to: savekbcs@gmail.com * Would these changes make KBCS less valuable to you? * Are you a member/supporter/volunteer? * How would these changes affect your participation and support? Please pass the word to anyone who likes jazz, folk, world, or other eclectic music found on KBCS. Visit http://www.savekbcs.org for current details. Thanks! About SaveKBCS: SaveKBCS is a group of long-time volunteers and financial supporters of KBCS who want to save what we value most about our community radio station. SaveKBCS is not affiliated with KBCS 91.3 FM Radio. SaveKBCS is not affiliated with Bellevue College. Contact: savekbcs@gmail.com Website: http://www.savekbcs.org

Fiddlers,Fiddles  & Fiddlemaker “Waiting for the Dawn” is the great new disc by the violin, viola ensemble Childsplay. The concept of the album is relationship of all the fiddlers playing fiddles made by the fiddlemaker Bob Child. The relationship is enhanced by Crooked Still’s vocalist Aoife O’donovan. Childsplay’s over two dozen musicians come from all over the United States and Sweden. Childsplay has performed for over 20 years and has included all styles of fiddling.

Aoife’s voice is the perfect match for the string ensemble. The songs are diverse with a Steve Earle Christmas song,a U2 cover, waltzes,some bluegrass,an Elvis lullaby,some Cape Briton style fiddling, an Irish air, and quite a

Aoife O'Donovan

few other styles and influences thown in.

A must for fans of  “fiddle” or “violin music” and of course fans of great singing will love Aoife’s vocal instrument.

Bob’s great instruments are the perfect tools for this amazing collection of musicians. His violins and violas are know for their deep tones. He has made around 150 instruments over the years.

The cd features the following musicians.    FIDDLES -Sam Amidon, Bonnie Bewick, Hanneke Cassel, Bob Childs, Graham DeZarn, Sheila Falls-Keohane, Ellen Gawler, Steve Hickman,
Mary Lea, Debby Knight, Laurel Martin, Naomi Morse, Lissa Schneckenburger, Sarah Thomae  VIOLA- Naomi Morse, Mary Lea CELLO-Ariel Friedman BAS S- Ralph Gordon
F LUT E- Shannon Heaton ACCORDION Shannon Heaton  GUITAR – Keith Murphy BANJOS John Gawler- Sam Amidon PIANO Keith Murphy, Aoife O’Donovan
VOCALS Aoife O’Donovan HARMONY VOCALS-Molly Gawler, Keith Murphy, Lissa Schneckenburger HARP-Kathleen Guilday

The musicians in Childsplay all are professional musicians who only get to play together on rare occasions, you can check out their schedule on their website where you can also purchase the cd.  Of course if you are a fan they do have a Facebook page.

Check out the great website for alot more info on the project and Bob’s great instruments. There are some great video clips of  Childsplay playing songs from the cd on the website.

*** SPECIAL LOCATION *** The Maple Valley Open Mic on Saturday June 13th will be at Lake Wilderness Lodge. http://www.ci.maple-valley.wa.us/parks/lakewildernesslodge.asp map to the lodge http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=22500+SE+248th+Street,+Maple+Valley

As always, sign ups will start at 6:30 and performances will start at 7:00. Hope to see you there. Join us all weekend at the lodge for Arts Festival 2009, in conjunction with Maple Valley Days. CCheck out more at www.maplevalleyarts.com Jim

Here is some info for the show from Eli West which is pretty much sold out:

The Shafer Baillie Mansion is at 907 14th Avenue East, on the NW corner of 14th and Aloha.  From I-5 northbound, take the Olive exit up to Broadway, left on Broadway to Aloha (6 blocks North), right up the hill to 14th.  From I-5 southbound, take the Roanoke exit (careful it’s a mess with construction right now), left over the freeway, right on Broadway, left on Aloha up to 14th.

{Parking}

Parking on Capital Hill proves to be a competitive sport at times.  If you find on street parking within 4-5 blocks of the mansion, you’d best be snagging it.  Otherwise, the Volunteer Park 7th Day Adventist Church has graciously allowed parking.  This lot is just in-between the mansion and the church (to the West, down the Aloha hill).   The church will ask a donation of the monetary sort (no alter-call necessary) for this service.

{Accommodation & dinner}

If you are traveling from afar and have yet to find your nest for the night, the mansion is also a Bed & Breakfast (sbmansion.com) with some incredible rooms.  If this is to be a memorable romantic evening out, the Sorrento (hotelsorrento.com) is awaiting your call.  And for the rest of us, the Ace Hotel (acehotel.com/seattle) in Belltown is a great second option.

Volunteer Park Cafe (alwaysfreshgoodness.com), Monsoon (monsoonrestaurants.com/seattle), Kingfish (thekingfishcafe.com), and Artemis (artemiscafe.net) are all close early-dining options within a 10-15 minute walk, perfect for burning off that desert you will feel guilty about ordering.  Please consider eating early and calling ahead for reservations.

As a primer, Heather was on this week’s Prairie Home Companion with the likes of Elvis Costello and Tom Rush.  There may be some clips posted of the show at (prairiehome.publicradio.org) by now.

See you all Thursday!
Eli

King Wilkie is a young band that started outdoing hard-driving bluegrass, but, like many young bands, has changed their sound over recent years to be more of a combination of pop and stringband.
Recorded on Casa Nueva Industries ( a new label) whose first release is the new album from the band, King Wilkie called “King Wilkie Presents: The Wilkie Family.”
The new album is set inside the fictional Wilkie family household. A great cast of guest musicians play with the Wilkie Family:    Bromberg, David  (Guitar, Dobro)
Burgess, Reid (Producer, Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Organ, Banjo ) Foote, Jay  (Bass) Frederick, Jay  (Percussion) Hitchcock, Robyn (Vocals, Guitar)
Lewis, Steve (Producer, Vocals, Guitar, Piano,  Steel Guitar) Lichtman, Dennis (Violin, Clarinet, Mandolin, Tenor Banjo) McDonald, John (Vocals, Guitar)McEuen, John (Banjo)
Rowan, Peter (Vocals, Guitar)Parton, Samantha  (Vocals) Washburn, Abigail

To celebrate the release of the record, they are giving away one of the tracks. On the surface, “Hey, Old Man” is gentle and wistful, but there is a bitterness and confusion in the lyric that makes unbalances the tone of the music to disarming effect. It features David Bromberg on lead guitar and Abigail Washburn on harmony vocals. You can download the track here: http://promo.11spot.com/kingwilkie/heyoldman. Just enter the promo code WILKIE