Music events in May!

Hootenany: The monthly Hootenanny Singalong meets Saturday, May 1, from noon to 2 p.m. at the Chetco Activity Center in Brookings, 550 Chetco Ln. (above/behind Subway). All ages, instruments and voices are welcomed. This event is free. For additional information call 541-469-6787.

Old Time Fiddlers concert/jam session: The Grange in Harbor will host District 5 Oregon Old Time Fiddlers Association members on Saturday, May 8.
OOTFA member George Layton, Crescent City autoharp player, has been selected as the featured musician. The on-stage OOTFA program from noon to 3 p.m. will be preceded by a join-in circle jam from 10 to 11:45 a.m. Participants in the jam will abide by OOTFA regulations: no electric instruments, drums and other percussion, etc. Harmonicas are acceptable. The event is free but contributions to the Grange’s fund for a new roof will be greatly appreciated.

Aladdin: the musical: This non-Disney musical will be presented nine times on three weekends from May 14 to May 30 at the Brookings Harbor Community Theater (ShopSmart shopping center). The cast includes a dozen adults, two dozen teenagers and a few youngsters.

More than 100 music lovers packed the Harbor Performing Arts Center Sunday to see more than 23 local musicians perform 3 hours of music during the Stagelights Community Variety Show.
The theater was overflowing by the 3 p.m. start of the show, a fundraiser for the Stagelights Musical Arts Community. The event featured covers and original songs performed by musicians of all ages.
mp3s of individual performances have been posted below for streaming and downloading. Photos are courtesy of Curry Coastal Pilot Photographer Bill Schlichting. See Wednesday’s Curry Coastal Pilot (April 21) for a full story and more photos or visit www.currypilot.com.

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Twenty-three musicians.
Eleven bands.
Two and half hours of live music for all ages, by musicians of all ages!
The Stagelights Community Variety Show is scheduled for 3 p.m., Sunday, April 18, at the Harbor Performing Arts Theater at the Brookings-Harbor Shopping Center. Doors will open at 2:45 p.m. to allow for early seating.
The show, the first in a series planned by the nonprofit Stagelights Musical Arts Community is free, but donations will be gladly accepted.
“This is a tremendous event with something for everyone,” said organizer Gordon Later. “To my knowledge, nothing like this has ever been done here. The quality of music and musicianship will be outstanding.”
The event will spotlight local artists and bands playing covers and originals songs in a variety of styles: classic rock, jazz, folk, Americana, country and pop.
The musicians range in age from early teens to senior citizens. The acts include a father/daughter performance and a teen duo performing pop rock, as well as bands of three to seven musicians playing originals and covers.
Groups of musicians have been practicing several times a week for the last two months in preparation for the show, Later said.
Throughout the show, some musicians will be backed by the Stagelights House Band, a group of volunteer musicians organized to promote the nonprofit and its many events. The band will also perform its own originals and covers.
Later said the goal of the variety show was to bring together many different combinations of musicians, of different ages, to demonstrate the talent and versatility that exists in the community.
“All the musicians are those who are very active in the local music scene,” Later said. “For this event there has been added practice because many of the musicians have not performed in the combinations that will be presented – that’s the unique thing about this event.”
News of the community variety show generated so much interest that more than enough musicians signed up for the first show, Later said. Musicians unable to perform this time around will be invited to the next variety show, which is tentatively scheduled for this summer.
The variety shows are fundrasiers for Stagelights Musical Arts Community, a Brookings-based, nonprofit organization that provides education and outreach opportunities to students of all ages who are interested in the musical arts.
Stagelights’ current projects for 2010 include a free/low-cost music lesson program for all ages, a summer youth music workshop, and a community choir.
Stagelights also promotes concerts by local and touring artists, and hosts regular music events, in an effort to foster a thriving local music culture.
For  information about Stagelights, its programs, sponsorships or to make a donation call 541-251-3952 or visit http://www.stagelights.us.

Rain or shine, local musicians will perform at the “Celebration at the Port” scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday (April 10) on the boardwalk at the Port of Brookings Harbor.

Music will begin at 10 a.m. with Matt Harrison and Friends (acoustic rock); followed by Marshall Thompson/Scott Graves (acoustic folk/country); Perry Devine and Friends (folk rock originals); Mariah Leanne (acoustic pop); and Lon Goddard and Aura Wright (eclectic folk rock).

The event will celebrate the many port businesses who won top honors during the Curry Coastal Pilot’s 2010 Readers’ Choice Awards, and their loyal customers, organizers said.

More than $1,000 in prizes, including $300 in “Boardwalk Bucks,” redeemable at local businesses, will be awarded throughout the day. Prizes include gift certificates to On Your Feet shoe store, a pizza party for eight  from Zola’s Pizzeria delivered to the winner’s home, and gift cards for Whales Tail Candy and Gifts, Surfside Espresso, Book Dock, Righetti’s Restaurant and The Salty Dog Coffee Bar.

Come check out the live music and local businesses.

The Friends of Music concert series has scheduled a performance of the Cypress String Quartet at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 11, at Calvary Assembly of God church, 518 Fir St., Brookings.
The quartet includes violinists Cecily Ward and Tom Stone, violist Ethan Filner, and cellist Jennifer Kloetzen. All play on high-quality instruments, including violins by Antonio Stradivarius and Carlos Bergonzi, a viola by Vittorio Bellarose and a cello by Hieronymus Amati II.
Performances by the quartet, formed in 1996 in San Francisco, have been called, “beautifully proportioned and powerful” by The Washington Post and singled out by Chamber Magazine as “a Generation X ensemble to watch.”
The concert in Brookings will include Mendelssohn’s “String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 13”; Kevin Puts’ “Lento Assai”; and Beethoven’s “String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135.”
Tickets are $15 and are available at Words and Pictures and Mory’s. Tickets will be available at the door, including student tickets for $2.
For information about Friends of Music, the organization that presents the annual concert series, contact Sue Gold at 541-469-4243 or Tom Broderick at 541-469-7625.
Information and music samples for the quartet can be found at http://www.cypressquartet.com/

Jonathan Byrd

Singer-songwriters Jonathan Byrd and Chris Kokesh will perform folk music separately at 8 p.m. Saturday (April 10) at the Pistol River Concert Hall, 24194 Carpenterville Road, Pistol River. Tickets are $15 and available at Morys, Words and Pictures, Gold Beach Books, and at the door.
Byrd and Kokesh have been kind enough to share mp3s of their songs with Coastal Grooves listeners.

Listen to “Prairie Girl” by Jonathan Byrd

Listen to “The Law and the Lonesome” by Jonathan Byrd

Jonathan Byrd:
Byrd desribes his music on his myspace Web site as folk/acoustic/country. According to the Pistol River Web site, folk legend Tom Paxton discovered Jonathan Byrd’s music and sent him a quick e-mail, saying, “What a treat to hear someone so deeply rooted in tradition, yet growing in his own beautiful way.”
Byrd had just released “Wildflowers” in late 2001 with simple tales of love and death that seemed to be a hundred years old or more. In 2003 Byrd released his second album, “The Waitress” and won the prestigious New Folk competition in Kerrville, TX. That year, he set CD sales records at the festival.
The press release states: As Jonathan grows into a contemporary artist of increasing influence, his traditional roots are always evident in his simple, poetic storytelling and classic flatpick guitar style. But, as quoted in a recent interview for Dirty Linen magazine, Jonathan says, “Everything I do is a departure from what I’ve done.”

Listen to “Lucy” by Chris Kokesh
Listen to “Finding the Edge” by Chris Kokesh

Chris Kokesh

Chris Kokesh:
Kokesh is a songwriter with an eye for the hard detail, the grit and dirt of real life, according to the Pistol River Web site.
A renowned fiddler and singer, Chris has been touring festival stages with northwest folk stars Misty River for years. Back stage and back home, she has been developing her own songwriting voice and guitar chops- much to her own surprise. She didn’t even expect to be a professional musician.
Soon after moving to Portland, Chris was waiting tables and wondering what was next. In walked the founding members of Misty River and they invited her to play with them. Chris dug into roots music with a new fervor and her band members encouraged her to try her hand at songwriting.

For more information about both artists and Pistol River Concert Association visit: www.pistolriver.com, www.jonathanbyrd.com and www.chriskokesh.com.