Blogging from Arlington, MA and beyond
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Stories or photographs taken in or about the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, U. S. A.
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 [...]
Do it for the love of it. I mean, if you want to be famous, I don’t know, I can’t help advise you on that, but if you love playing music everything else will fall into place. — Mia Dyson
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 [...]
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.
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.
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.
Thursday night in Cambridge was crazy. I was hopping between the Lizard Lounge and Toad. I’ve wanted to see the Baker Thomas band for some time now, and on Thursday I made it happen. I’ve been looking forward to seeing them because of the line-up, which includes Tom Bianchi (seen here on the left playing [...]
I had not heard of Mia Dyson before I saw this show and it was a real treat. She is certainly far better known in her native country than in the United States even though she has won awards that span geographies. But in Australia, she’s opened for Eric Clapton and Bonnie Raitt, among others.
When I returned for the performance, however, it had been transformed. The front of the cafe had been cleared and a performance space had been created complete with a live sound board.