Dave’s Photo Blog

“I really wanted to make a disc that was made by hand — that was made in a humble way.” Cilla is being modest – the CD packaging and artwork is everything she set out to achieve and more.

As is often the case with the bands I review, it’s hard to place Brothers McCann in a specific genre. They have elements of soul, folk, indie and pop in them to be sure. But they lay down a pretty mean groove.

Sunday night proved to be almost perfect, with clear blue skies and only a moderate breeze. That’s important, because a strong wind can blow the camera around. When that happens, the ISS/Shuttle that should register as a line in a long exposure can sometimes look all wiggly. Not in this case. In order to minimize any vibrations, I also locked the mirror up using the custom functions of the camera. When the mirror flips up, it can introduce a tiny amount of vibration. It might not register if you were shooting a long exposure of a still life, for example. But when you are shooting a needle thing light trail from space craft, it will show up as a series of bends, or sawtooths, in the line.

Samantha Farrell is a local – she grew up in central Massachusetts. She’s just returned from a number of years in LA. While she was there, she met LeRoi Moore of the Dave Matthews Band. Moore recognized the potential in Samantha’s music immediately and signed on to produce her album. Sadly, Moore passed away before the album was released. But the Dave Matthews Band chipped in to help, most notably by promoting Samantha through an email announcement just prior to the show at the Burren. The back room at the Burren was packed that night with young, local fans who wanted to see a breakout local performer.

Denise Marsa, the president of KeyMedia Public Relations and executive producer of the video, was responsible for bringing Rachel Millman and the Brandeis VoiceMale together around the song Throwin’ Rocks at the Moon. The song was written by Jim Dyke, Marc Nelkin and Eric Sanicola. Denise met Jim in London a number of years back. The song was written in 2005, but when Denise started working with Rachel, it clicked.

When Julien Kasper was seven years old, he saw a guitar store while lying in the back seat of his parents car. He sat up in his seat and said, “Mother I would like to play the guitar.” The rest, as they say, is history. A history that includes degrees in music from the University of Miami and the University of North Texas, countless performances and his current day job – teaching at Berklee College of Music. How can you not like a guy who teaches performance labs on Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck?

Where Christian McNeill is raw acoustic rock, Jesse Dee has got soul flowing through his blood. The guy just oozes it all over the stage when he plays. The contrast between the two is somewhat remarkable given that they are playing together in this ensemble. Christian’s writes somewhat aggressive, jam-filled songs while Jesse sings in the spirit of the classic soul performer.

Those who know me and follow the blog probably know that I’m a big fan of Nicole Berke. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing her perform five times over the last two years. But most of those performances were either short sets with only a few songs or in coffeehouses. When Nicole lets loose in a place like Toad, it’s a very different show indeed.

The Hoods hit their stride and put in another high-energy performance. Yes, they played The Prettiest Girl, and I’ve got an embed of the video below. But they played another surprise song – you’ll have to read on to hear that story.

He performs a lot, whether it’s at the Lizard Lounge Open Mic Challenge or at the string of gigs he’s had this summer. He projects a lot of confidence on stage and is a very consistent performer. This is not a guy who trips up performing a song. But he does take some risks – occasionally he’ll sing a new song, often a cover, and invite you along for the ride.