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WHAT: Stephen Kellogg
WHEN: Tuesday, May 17th, 2011, 6:00pm
TICKETS: $10-$32 Buy Tickets
MORE INFO: Artist Profile
One of the lesser known musicians in the ever growing eclectic folk genre is Pennsylvania native William Fitzsimmons. Born to blind parents who were musically inclined led William to pursue a degee in the mental health field. Home recordings became the subject matter of his initial album, and subsequent songs were featured on Grey’s Anatomy. Touring with more popular musicians before solo tours have garnered a growing fan base for the long bearded singer who possesses a hushed vocal delivery. He is able to play many instruments, but focuses mostly on the guitar in the live setting.
His current tour,which brings Mr. Fitzsimmons to the swank downtown club Anthology this Friday, is in support of his fifth album, Gold In The Shadow. Divorce has been a recurring theme in his music on previous albums. While the songs seem sad in nature, there is a certain feeling of hope which becomes apparent to the listener. Having seen Fitzsimmons perform several times, I am always struck by his ability to not take things too seriously, as he brings a dry sense of humor to the stage. Once you have seen William Fitzsimmons, you will probably not forget him for a long time, and that is a wonderful thing indeed.
Slow Runner sets the stage.
Watch a video of The Tide Pulls From the Moon below.
Recently, students from SDSU did a series of videos reporting on the local arts scenes.
We were honored and delighted that team member Lauren Bos decided to discuss Anthology’s contribution to the music scene.
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Via fox5sandiego.com
By By Angela Carone, Maureen Cavanaugh | kpbs.org
Imagine an MTV for classical music lovers, performed live! Such is the experience of a Luscious Noise concert at Anthology.
John Stubbs is the founder/conductor of Luscious Noise and a violinist with the San Diego Symphony.
I’m Maureen Cavanaugh and you’re listening to These Days on KPBS. When you go to a concert with a light show and multimedia elements, you usually expect arena rock music or at the very least, an inventive indie rock band. What you don’t expect ask a classical music concert. But now a group consisting of San Diego symphony musicians is putting a new face on classical music, the luscious noise ensemble using elements of dance, song, and video in hopes of creating the future of live classical music. I’d like to introduce my guest, John Stubbs is the founder, conductor of luscious noise. And violinist with the San Diego symphony. John, good morning and welcome to These Days.
STUBBS: Good morning to you, Maureen.
CAVANAUGH: Now, you were inspired to create luscious noise while walking around little Italy with some friends of how kid that inspiration come?
STUBBS: That was part of it. Actually, I had been planning it for a while. Falling in of with the space Anthology. And coincidentally, a couple of musician friends of mine, we were walking around little Italy and walked into a furniture store. And the young gentleman that saw us that was waiting on us saw our instruments and said oh, do you play here in town? Yes, we’re with the San Diego symphony. Oh, well I used to go to the Seattle symphony when I lived in Seattle. I haven’t been to the symphony here in town and ’cause I’m a little bit intimidated by going to symphony hall. I said oh, really. Would you feel comfortable by going to hear us at Anthology he was like yes, they’d be great! So I knew I was onto something about trying to get a different audience in to hear classical music in a different kind of space.
CAVANAUGH: Now, there’s been an awful lot of talk, a lot of people thinking about how to bring in new audiences for classical music. Was that one of your — aside from the one conversation you had, had that been a concern of yours?
STUBBS: That’s been a concern of mine for a long time. But what got me originally interested was going to Anthology and seeing one of my favorite local rock and roll bands there, and it was the first time I had been thea the space. And I was just so overwhelmed by how beautiful it was, how connected it was with multimedia, just ready to go, great food, great drinks, and I had such a good time. And I started thinking about wanting to present something in that space. And then I was trying to think about, well, what could I present there?
CAVANAUGH: Right.
STUBBS: I thought oh, chamber music. Let’s do a chamber music concert here. And then I thought, a traditional chamber music concert might not work there, people sitting there eating with their silverware and clinging their drinks. And I was afraid that they would feel like oh, we have to pay attention to everything that’s going on on stage. And I didn’t think that would be the best format for it. So I started just dreaming up what would work there with classical music? And so I sort of was actually inspired by classic arts showcase that’s on the local public access station late at night.
CAVANAUGH: Yes, I’ve seen that. Yes.
STUBBS: Not many people have heard about it, and you have to suffer through the City Council meetings to get to the end to see the classic arts showcase.
CAVANAUGH: I don’t know what this says about us, but I know about it, and they have videos that accompany the music.
STUBBS: They have little — well, you know, it’s just like MTV for classical people.
CAVANAUGH: Yes, right.
STUBBS: They’ve got oh, a little ballet, a little this, a little that. So I started thinking, oh, that would be a way to do something. Present some live music. And then in between little live segments, have many a classic movie segment, a classic ballet segment video up on the big screen that they have there. And I thought that would be a way to kind of break up the flow of the evening so that they wouldn’t — so that people would feel comfortable about eating and drinking and not feel like they have to put everything down and just focus on the stage. So it could be just a little more casual, relaxed kind of thing.
CAVANAUGH: And the interludes, the song elements, the video elements, the dance elements that you bring in to the luscious noise concerts, they don’t necessarily have to have anything literally to do with the music that’s on the program. That’s how I understand it.
STUBBS: Right. I’ve gotten kind of away from the idea of coming up with an all encompassing theme for the entire evening. I’ve gone more like the — oh, like the chefs of nowadays of interesting pairings, and things just seem to flow better that way. It opens my mind a little better than trying to restrict it to one theme.
CAVANAUGH: So tell us a little bit about Sunday’s show. First you will have a choir performing with the musicians.
STUBBS: Yes. I met a gentleman what’s in the choir here several years ago, Sacra Profana, and he was very interested in working on the show, doing something on the show. His name — the founder of it is Krishan Oberoi, so he will be bringing his choir in on Sunday. And we were trying to particular out something to perform, and Villalobos has this series of pieces, the Brachianas, Brazilieras, and number nine happens to be for string orchestra or choir. And that actually struck me as found to actually do both versions. Do the string version and then do the choir version so they audience can see how they both work.
CAVANAUGH: And you’re also gonna be performing Gustav Holst, a fugal concerto.
STUBBS: A fugal concerto for flute and oboe, featuring principle flutist Demarre McGill, and principle oboist Sarah Schuster.
CAVANAUGH: Let’s give our listeners a taste of that. This is an excerpt from the last movement of Holst’s a Fugal Concerto.
(Audio Recording Played.
CAVANAUGH: This is an excerpt of a fugal concerto for flute and oboe by Gustav hotels. It’s one of the selections that’s gonna be performed by Luscious Noise at a concert this Sunday at the club, Anthology. My guest is John Stubbs, he’s founder conductor of luscious noise. And you’re right, John, you know, you don’t think about having dessert with that music. It’s a different sort of a mind set.
STUBBS: Right. Exactly.
CAVANAUGH: Now, you talk about the video elements that you’ve included in the shows, luscious noise concerts. Tell us about the video elements starting with Stanley Kubrick that we’re gonna be seeing on Sunday.
STUBBS: Well, another piece that the choir will be performing, that they just recently performed in one of their own concerts was a piece by György Ligeti, called the Lux Aeterna, and it happens to be part of the score that Stanley Kubrick used in 2001, so I thought a nice way to follow that up would be the blue Danube sequence from 2001. So just a little taste of 2001 with the space shuttle going up to the space station to the sounds of it is blue Danube.
CAVANAUGH: Exactly. Who doesn’t remember that scene? That’s fabulous.
STUBBS: Yeah.
CAVANAUGH: And a scene from a documentary about Antonio Gaudi?
STUBBS: Yes. Yes. A favorite Japanese film maker of mine is Hiroshi Ishi Teshigahara. He did a film called woman in the dunes. Well, his father of an architect. So Hiroshi was always interested in architecture, and Antonio Gaudi is one of the more famous architects of the world. So he did a documentary on him. And he used his long time composer, Toro Takumitsu, did the music to the documentary. So I’m just showing a little wit of that so that the people can see some of Antonio Gaudi’s work.
CAVANAUGH: Now, do you ever have live dance as part of these performances?
STUBBS: Yes, my wife Denise Dabrowski was on my very first show. And she also appeared recently in the January show.
CAVANAUGH: I’m wondering, do you get any sort of — oh, I don’t know, outraged comments from people who like to take their classical music on a very elevated level?
STUBBS: Well, that’s not the audience I’m going for.
CAVANAUGH: Uh-huh.
STUBBS: I’m actually going for people that wouldn’t normally come to a classical show. That’s who I’m gearing this towards. And if classical lovers do come, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it. But I’ve never had any — you know, I’ve never had any negative feedback from people just wanting to go see a regular classical concert.
CAVANAUGH: Right.
STUBBS: ‘Cause it’s a different kind of space.
CAVANAUGH: What’s it like for the musicians?
STUBBS: I hope it’s fun for them. And there’s an element of — well, musicians are used to a tradition of going into somebody’s home and maybe — and just reading chamber music. And it’s really fun for the people in the homes to be sitting there, so close to the musicians and hearing them site read music. That’s part of the I think this, of let’s get together and just site read some music. This is this a little different than that. Of we get one rehearsal, but only one rehearsal, and so for the musicians, it’s — we’ve all read through it the day before. And then that night, there’s this extra sense of excitement because they have to be really on their tows, but on the other hand, it’s kind of like we’re at a big dinner party and just kind of having fun with the music we’re performing and just, you know, the audience is going to enjoy it, and the musicians are having fun.
CAVANAUGH: How about putting it together technically? Do you have more than one rehearsal for that, or is it sort of like this you know what’s supposed to go there, so that’s just what happens when it happens?
STUBBS: That’s exactly it. I have a — I put something together in a program that’s like power point, and I’ve got slides where — that announces the tunes as they come up. And so I have it all mapped out and we just make sure the musicians get on stage in time, we have to make sure they get out of the green room.
CAVANAUGH: Right.
STUBBS: And get down the elevator.
CAVANAUGH: Do you really see this multimedia aspect of this as the future of classical music? Do you see something like this perhaps happening in symphony halls?
STUBBS: Not necessarily. Again, this is a way to reach out and hopefully expose people, hopefully get their interest so that they will actually attend a regular concert at symphony hall.
CAVANAUGH: Is there any kind of regret that you have that this is — this is the thing that must be done to reach out with this kind of music? Or is it satisfying in some way that you can use all these elements in combination to provide a night of great artistic creativity?
STUBBS: Well, going back to the classic arts showcase, that has been an amazing education for me to see all of these classic performances. So I think it’s of benefit to everybody to come check that out.
CAVANAUGH: Check it out and see what it’s like.
STUBBS: Yeah, yeah.
CAVANAUGH: Well, I want to let everybody know that they can see what it’s like. Luscious noise performs this Sunday, it’s March 20th, at 730 at the club Anthology in little Italy. And John Stubbs, thank you so much.
STUBBS: Thank you.
CAVANAUGH: I’ve been speaking with John Stubbs, founder conductor of luscious noise, and a violinist with the San Diego symphony. If you would like to comment, please go on-line, KPBS.org/These Days. And stay with us for hour two of These Days coming up in just a few minutes, right here on KPBS.
I’m Maureen Cavanaugh and you’re listening to These Days on KPBS. When you go to a concert with a light show and multimedia elements, you usually expect arena rock music or at the very least, an inventive indie rock band. What you don’t expect ask a classical music concert. But now a group consisting of San Diego symphony musicians is putting a new face on classical music, the luscious noise ensemble using elements of dance, song, and video in hopes of creating the future of live classical music. I’d like to introduce my guest, John Stubbs is the founder, conductor of luscious noise. And violinist with the San Diego symphony. John, good morning and welcome to These Days.
STUBBS: Good morning to you, Maureen.
CAVANAUGH: Now, you were inspired to create luscious noise while walking around little Italy with some friends of how kid that inspiration come?
STUBBS: That was part of it. Actually, I had been planning it for a while. Falling in of with the space Anthology. And coincidentally, a couple of musician friends of mine, we were walking around little Italy and walked into a furniture store. And the young gentleman that saw us that was waiting on us saw our instruments and said oh, do you play here in town? Yes, we’re with the San Diego symphony. Oh, well I used to go to the Seattle symphony when I lived in Seattle. I haven’t been to the symphony here in town and ’cause I’m a little bit intimidated by going to symphony hall. I said oh, really. Would you feel comfortable by going to hear us at Anthology he was like yes, they’d be great! So I knew I was onto something about trying to get a different audience in to hear classical music in a different kind of space.
CAVANAUGH: Now, there’s been an awful lot of talk, a lot of people thinking about how to bring in new audiences for classical music. Was that one of your — aside from the one conversation you had, had that been a concern of yours?
STUBBS: That’s been a concern of mine for a long time. But what got me originally interested was going to Anthology and seeing one of my favorite local rock and roll bands there, and it was the first time I had been thea the space. And I was just so overwhelmed by how beautiful it was, how connected it was with multimedia, just ready to go, great food, great drinks, and I had such a good time. And I started thinking about wanting to present something in that space. And then I was trying to think about, well, what could I present there?
CAVANAUGH: Right.
STUBBS: I thought oh, chamber music. Let’s do a chamber music concert here. And then I thought, a traditional chamber music concert might not work there, people sitting there eating with their silverware and clinging their drinks. And I was afraid that they would feel like oh, we have to pay attention to everything that’s going on on stage. And I didn’t think that would be the best format for it. So I started just dreaming up what would work there with classical music? And so I sort of was actually inspired by classic arts showcase that’s on the local public access station late at night.
CAVANAUGH: Yes, I’ve seen that. Yes.
STUBBS: Not many people have heard about it, and you have to suffer through the City Council meetings to get to the end to see the classic arts showcase.
CAVANAUGH: I don’t know what this says about us, but I know about it, and they have videos that accompany the music.
STUBBS: They have little — well, you know, it’s just like MTV for classical people.
CAVANAUGH: Yes, right.
STUBBS: They’ve got oh, a little ballet, a little this, a little that. So I started thinking, oh, that would be a way to do something. Present some live music. And then in between little live segments, have many a classic movie segment, a classic ballet segment video up on the big screen that they have there. And I thought that would be a way to kind of break up the flow of the evening so that they wouldn’t — so that people would feel comfortable about eating and drinking and not feel like they have to put everything down and just focus on the stage. So it could be just a little more casual, relaxed kind of thing.
CAVANAUGH: And the interludes, the song elements, the video elements, the dance elements that you bring in to the luscious noise concerts, they don’t necessarily have to have anything literally to do with the music that’s on the program. That’s how I understand it.
STUBBS: Right. I’ve gotten kind of away from the idea of coming up with an all encompassing theme for the entire evening. I’ve gone more like the — oh, like the chefs of nowadays of interesting pairings, and things just seem to flow better that way. It opens my mind a little better than trying to restrict it to one theme.
CAVANAUGH: So tell us a little bit about Sunday’s show. First you will have a choir performing with the musicians.
STUBBS: Yes. I met a gentleman what’s in the choir here several years ago, Sacra Profana, and he was very interested in working on the show, doing something on the show. His name — the founder of it is Krishan Oberoi, so he will be bringing his choir in on Sunday. And we were trying to particular out something to perform, and Villalobos has this series of pieces, the Brachianas, Brazilieras, and number nine happens to be for string orchestra or choir. And that actually struck me as found to actually do both versions. Do the string version and then do the choir version so they audience can see how they both work.
CAVANAUGH: And you’re also gonna be performing Gustav Holst, a fugal concerto.
STUBBS: A fugal concerto for flute and oboe, featuring principle flutist Demarre McGill, and principle oboist Sarah Schuster.
CAVANAUGH: Let’s give our listeners a taste of that. This is an excerpt from the last movement of Holst’s a Fugal Concerto.
(Audio Recording Played.
CAVANAUGH: This is an excerpt of a fugal concerto for flute and oboe by Gustav hotels. It’s one of the selections that’s gonna be performed by Luscious Noise at a concert this Sunday at the club, Anthology. My guest is John Stubbs, he’s founder conductor of luscious noise. And you’re right, John, you know, you don’t think about having dessert with that music. It’s a different sort of a mind set.
STUBBS: Right. Exactly.
CAVANAUGH: Now, you talk about the video elements that you’ve included in the shows, luscious noise concerts. Tell us about the video elements starting with Stanley Kubrick that we’re gonna be seeing on Sunday.
STUBBS: Well, another piece that the choir will be performing, that they just recently performed in one of their own concerts was a piece by György Ligeti, called the Lux Aeterna, and it happens to be part of the score that Stanley Kubrick used in 2001, so I thought a nice way to follow that up would be the blue Danube sequence from 2001. So just a little taste of 2001 with the space shuttle going up to the space station to the sounds of it is blue Danube.
CAVANAUGH: Exactly. Who doesn’t remember that scene? That’s fabulous.
STUBBS: Yeah.
CAVANAUGH: And a scene from a documentary about Antonio Gaudi?
STUBBS: Yes. Yes. A favorite Japanese film maker of mine is Hiroshi Ishi Teshigahara. He did a film called woman in the dunes. Well, his father of an architect. So Hiroshi was always interested in architecture, and Antonio Gaudi is one of the more famous architects of the world. So he did a documentary on him. And he used his long time composer, Toro Takumitsu, did the music to the documentary. So I’m just showing a little wit of that so that the people can see some of Antonio Gaudi’s work.
CAVANAUGH: Now, do you ever have live dance as part of these performances?
STUBBS: Yes, my wife Denise Dabrowski was on my very first show. And she also appeared recently in the January show.
CAVANAUGH: I’m wondering, do you get any sort of — oh, I don’t know, outraged comments from people who like to take their classical music on a very elevated level?
STUBBS: Well, that’s not the audience I’m going for.
CAVANAUGH: Uh-huh.
STUBBS: I’m actually going for people that wouldn’t normally come to a classical show. That’s who I’m gearing this towards. And if classical lovers do come, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it. But I’ve never had any — you know, I’ve never had any negative feedback from people just wanting to go see a regular classical concert.
CAVANAUGH: Right.
STUBBS: ‘Cause it’s a different kind of space.
CAVANAUGH: What’s it like for the musicians?
STUBBS: I hope it’s fun for them. And there’s an element of — well, musicians are used to a tradition of going into somebody’s home and maybe — and just reading chamber music. And it’s really fun for the people in the homes to be sitting there, so close to the musicians and hearing them site read music. That’s part of the I think this, of let’s get together and just site read some music. This is this a little different than that. Of we get one rehearsal, but only one rehearsal, and so for the musicians, it’s — we’ve all read through it the day before. And then that night, there’s this extra sense of excitement because they have to be really on their tows, but on the other hand, it’s kind of like we’re at a big dinner party and just kind of having fun with the music we’re performing and just, you know, the audience is going to enjoy it, and the musicians are having fun.
CAVANAUGH: How about putting it together technically? Do you have more than one rehearsal for that, or is it sort of like this you know what’s supposed to go there, so that’s just what happens when it happens?
STUBBS: That’s exactly it. I have a — I put something together in a program that’s like power point, and I’ve got slides where — that announces the tunes as they come up. And so I have it all mapped out and we just make sure the musicians get on stage in time, we have to make sure they get out of the green room.
CAVANAUGH: Right.
STUBBS: And get down the elevator.
CAVANAUGH: Do you really see this multimedia aspect of this as the future of classical music? Do you see something like this perhaps happening in symphony halls?
STUBBS: Not necessarily. Again, this is a way to reach out and hopefully expose people, hopefully get their interest so that they will actually attend a regular concert at symphony hall.
CAVANAUGH: Is there any kind of regret that you have that this is — this is the thing that must be done to reach out with this kind of music? Or is it satisfying in some way that you can use all these elements in combination to provide a night of great artistic creativity?
STUBBS: Well, going back to the classic arts showcase, that has been an amazing education for me to see all of these classic performances. So I think it’s of benefit to everybody to come check that out.
CAVANAUGH: Check it out and see what it’s like.
STUBBS: Yeah, yeah.
CAVANAUGH: Well, I want to let everybody know that they can see what it’s like. Luscious noise performs this Sunday, it’s March 20th, at 730 at the club Anthology in little Italy. And John Stubbs, thank you so much.
STUBBS: Thank you.
CAVANAUGH: I’ve been speaking with John Stubbs, founder conductor of luscious noise, and a violinist with the San Diego symphony. If you would like to comment, please go on-line, KPBS.org/These Days. And stay with us for hour two of These Days coming up in just a few minutes, right here on KPBS.
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Via kpbs.org
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WHAT: A Tribute to Neil Diamond – Diamond Is Forever
WHEN: Friday, March 18th, 2011 – 7:30pm
TICKETS: Buy Tickets
MORE INFO: Artist Profile
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Via kusi.com
Danish singer songwriter Tina Dico (nee Dickow) has been quite busy of late. She recently released her seventh album, Welcome Back Colour, in Europe with an early 2011 release date in North America. The album contains a total of 27 songs, a mix of new, acoustic and favorites from her previous work. What distinguishes Tina from most of her cohorts is her individuality in both her singing and profession. She decided to start her own label, Finest Gramophone, back in 2000. Rather than recruit other artists to her label, her main objective was to have an outlet to maintain creative control. Moving to England in 2002 to stimulate this creativity was a part of the process. While achieving great success in her homeland, gaining a worldwide audience has proven to be a much taller task. Tina returned to her native Denmark to live in 2009.
Tina Dico has played in San Diego several times, from the Casbah to the smaller stage at the House of Blues. She has a powerful yet soothing vocal delivery. Many fans know her from her stint with Zero 7, which was a wonderful match for both. Watching her perform in the near perfect (acoustic) room at Anthology should prove to be a wonderful evening for all in attendance.
Trevor Davis sets the stage.
Watch a video of On The Run below.
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Via sddialedin.com
Kristine W at Anthology - Sat, 2/5
SAN DIEGO — Kristine W, the queen of dance music, turns another chapter in her career tonight at Anthology with an all-jazz performance.
The show starts at 9:30 p.m.
She will sing songs from her debut studio jazz album, “Straight Up With A Twist,” which is now available at major digital outlets and retail stores worldwide.
In the 30-track, double-CD set, the dance music icon transforms several of her No. 1 club hits into smooth jazz ballads. Reworked hits include, “Wonder Of It All,” “Save My Soul,” and “Stronger.”
The album’s second single release, “What I Like About You,” hit No. 1 on iTunes Jazz singles chart, beating out singles by Nora Jones and Louis Armstrong.
To read a profile on Kristine W that appeared on SDGLN, click HERE
For additional information about Kristine’s performance, view the SDGLN Events Calendar. To purchase tickets, visit the Anthology’s website.
Kristine W appears on KUSA on Friday morning. Watch the video:
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Via sdgln.com
Al Di Meola
Although he’s often described as a jazz guitarist as well as a Latin guitarist, it might be simpler to think of Di Meola as a guitarist’s guitarist since many acclaimed guitarists have cited him as a major influence. What’s more, he’s one of the few artists often praised for achieving artistic and commercial success, two different achievements that don’t always appear in the same sentence when describing musical careers.
Performing with the World Sinfonia, Di Meola launches the tour in Agoura, Calif., at the Canyon Club Feb. 17, plays Henderson, Nev., at Ovation at the Green Valley Ranch Resort Feb. 18 and stops in San Diego for a gig at Anthology Feb. 19. Other dates in the tour running through April 3 include four nights in Seattle at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley Feb. 24-27; three nights in the San Francisco Bay Area at Yoshi’s Oakland March 4-6 and four nights at New York City’s Bluenote.
Also on the schedule are stops in Nashville (March 18), Atlanta (March 19), Albany, N.Y. (March 25), Reading, Pa. (March 27), Fairfield, Conn. (March 29) and Austin (April 3).
Di Meola plans to give audiences a taste of his upcoming album, Pursuit Of Radical Rhapsody, which lands in stores March 15 on Telarc International. For more information, click here for the artist’s website.
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Via pollstar.com