Dave’s Photo Blog

With overused comparisons to Ben Folds and after catching the attention of Fountains of Wayne, Stephie Coplan and the Pedestrians are quickly establishing themselves as a band on the rise. They have played for delighted audiences in New York and New Jersey and recently performed at Toad and Precinct in a small Boston-area road trip. Stephie Coplan is no stranger to those venues. She only recently moved to the New York area after honing her skills performing solo in clubs like the Lizard Lounge. I had a chance to both watch the band and interview them on their recent trip through Cambridge and Somerville.

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Noel Smyth played at the Burren recently for the release of his latest CD, The Neighborhood’s Jukebox. This latest album is available for sale on iTunes and wherever Noel is playing. I got chance to take some photos of Noel during the show and catch up after. After having done the design work for the CD jacket and face, I was excited to be at the show. Noel looked great up on stage – comfortable, loose and ready to play. And play he did, for around an hour, working through many of the titles on the new CD.

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On a chilly night in early December, Mia Dyson is standing on the stage at Toad with Billy Beard behind the drums. She looks relaxed and happy, as well she should be. The journey to this concert started almost two years ago, in early 2009 when she came to Cambridge from her native Australia to try to break into the U. S. music market. She returned to Australia after playing in all the local hotpots, including Toad, The Lizard Lounge, Johnny D’s and Club Passim as well as doing some touring around the country. She returned to the United States — to Los Angeles in early 2010 where she quickly got the breaks she was looking for, opening first for Stevie Nicks and then joining Chris Issak on his U. S. tour as a solo opener. But part of her heart remains in Cambridge, where she made a lot of friends and fans and left an indelible mark on the music scene here.

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Earlier this year, I had the chance to photograph a great show at Toad with local favorites Dan Blakeslee and Jess Baggia, and with a rare local appearance by Nicole Berke. What transpired was hours of musical enjoyment from some great performers at the top of their game. I love Toad – it’s free and there is always good music and an appreciative crowd there. It gets crowded though, and tonight it was packed. These folks drew friends, family and the usual locals who drop in knowing there is always good music at the Toad.

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Cilla Bonnie has been making a big splash in local music circles. From her first performances as a solo singer-songwriter just 18 months ago, she’s rapidly developed into an emerging artist to watch. Those first few times up at the Lizard Lounge Open Mic Challenge were notable for two reasons – first, her instrument of choice was the electric bass guitar and secondly, her songwriting is unique and fresh. This is the story of her debut CD On The Bax and the CD release party she held at The Burren in Somerville on July 25th.

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When a few people tell me that there’s an interesting band I should check out, I tend to listen. Such was the case with Brothers McCann. So I’ve been trying to catch these guys since last year. In the last few months, it got a little ridiculous – I kept running into Patrick McCann and Eran Shaysh, mostly at the Lizard Lounge. But our schedules just did not line up. So I was pretty pleased when I heard they were going to play Johnny D’s Uptown in Somerville. It’s a great club – one of my favorites – and I knew it was the perfect opportunity to capture the Brothers McCann experience. And I was not disappointed.
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Wrigley’s Doublemint gum changed their packaging recently. They trumpet the elimination of  “about 850 metric tons of foil” in the packaging. But was that the reason they did it and could they have done more? I think it’s admirable that they’ve changed from foil to paper. I really do. But if you read the news story in the link above, you won’t find any mention of foil and landfills. You’ll find that paper is 13% cheaper than foil, so they are saving some enormous amount of money.

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On Sunday, the Space Shuttle Atlantis, on it’s last mission (STS-132), docked to the International Space Station (ISS). At dusk, local time, both craft, long since coupled together, flew over the skies of Boston. From my vantage point looking south, they appeared 30 degrees off the horizon due west. And since Boston was to the south of me, they flew overhead and then down towards the skyline. Both craft had passed overhead the night before, but it was cloudy and there wasn’t a chance to see them.

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Samantha Farrell is halfway through her first set at Toad and introducing her next song. “My mother told me once that I didn’t play any songs you can shake your booty to, so I wrote this one that I call Shake.” And shake they do, with Chris DeSanty (drums), Cilla Bonnie (bass), Barrett Anderson (guitar) and Jeff Gaynor (keyboards) lending a hand. Tomorrow, they’ll pile into a car and drive to Manhattan where they are playing the Rockwood Music Hall. It’s a four day, three performance mini-tour that perfectly illustrates the momentum that Samantha Farrell has generated since her first local performance at the Burren – momentum that’s based on her songwriting abilities, her voice, her performing and a little nudge from the Dave Matthews Band.

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It’s just past noon on a cold Saturday afternoon in Waltham, Massachusetts. Light floods through the glass windows around the front foyer of Schwartz Hall at Brandeis University. Rachel Millman is talking to the Brandeis VoiceMale who have just finished warming up. “When you get home this afternoon,” she says, “I want you to all look me up and friend me on Facebook.” Rachel appears at ease and a little playful. But the hard work is yet to come. In just a few minutes, she and VoiceMale will head inside the theater to start shooting takes for her new music video Throwin’ Rocks at the Moon.

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