Lake Carmel Cultural Center Rocks!
What an event!
For those of you who didn't make it out last evening to the 1st Rock
on the Lake event at the Cultural Center at Lake
Carmel all I can say is... you missed out on a stellar event. Rarely
in our area are so many talented young people brought together
in one place to hear and perform their music. Congratulations to
Leah Rogers and Bryan Caprari who
produced the evening and to volunteers, Jim, Sean, Eva, Liz, Kathy
and Bob who helped set up and break
down when it was over. The community spirit was further in evidence
by those who came by to drop their kids off to hear the show and
ended up staying around to lend a hand or to listen themselves.
This event marked a turning point for Arts on the Lake,
firmly establishing it not only as a venue for the graphic, design
and
performance arts and for its incredibly successful Open
Mouth Nights, but now for music of a generation often ignored at cultural
centers as well.
It's a party, you can dance if you want to...
 100 people
packed the Cultural Center, it's maximum allowable by law, (and
more stood outside,) from the area, from Putnam Valley,
from Patterson, from Stormville and from points south including
New York City, all coming out to hear three bands and solo guitarist,
Leara
Broderson, who opened the night with a stellar performance.
Leara's songs are complex
and winding and difficult to place into a genre. Her intricate
vocals and solo guitar weave an inextricably
complex web of sound. Leara says, "My type of music doesn't
really have a type, I don't think. Most people don't really know
how to describe it. My friends tell me I am "completely different
from anything else" they've heard, and that I have a lot of
different colors in my songs. You might hear a song that has a
lot of Joni Mitchell's type of style, and then hear a song which
combines the Pixies and Thelonious Monk's influence." Leara
has agreed to perform at a future Open Mouth Night so watch this
space for that announcement. It will be a set you won't want to
miss.
 Following
Leara was a local band Moving
Mountains made up of Nicholas Pizzolato
on drums, Mitchell Lee on bass, Gregory
Dunn, lead guitar and Frank Graniero on guitar. The cultural center's
building literally shook with their music and there were a few
moments when the sound board maxed out leading to the silent fear
that the building's circuits would blow, plunging half the town
into darkness.
Writing for "Silent
Ballet", Joseph Sannicandro says
of them, "The case of Moving Mountains is interesting because
very few people understand the nature of this band... When a music
blogger posted the band's demos on his site last year, the band
quickly gained a small internet following, propelled by the strength
of the music itself, an amalgam of melodic indie rock and spacey
ambiance. Its catchy melodies were interspersed between long form
crescendos and ambient interludes, hearkening to the glory days
of the Appleseed Cast. The complex arrangements, multi-layered
songs are complimented by vague literary references, whose powerful
themes enable the music to resonate emotionally without being overly
particular..." This is a local band which bears watching in
the future.
 The
third band to take the stage last evening was Bombita. Bombita's
members are; Devin Brown on bass and vocals,
Chris Brown on guitar and Bryan Caprari on drums and vocals.
You might remember Devin from Arts on the Lake's reading of "A
Christmas Carol" and he is also an occasional visitor to our
Open Mouth Nights. Bombita describes their music as "Post
punk/Americana" influenced by The Doors, Primus, Fugazi, Mogwai,
The Pixies, Talking Heads, Ennio Morricone, GodSpeed You! Black
Emperor, (which has taken Punk solidly into the classical genre,)
and the Residents, a band from a while back which broke new ground
at every opportunity and spawned everything from whacked out art
to computer games. Bombita has an album out called "In Transition" which
you can read about here.
We're Getting Closer to the End...
 Last up and
the main act for the evening, was the band Fire
Flies (and here),
fresh from winning the prestigious Emergenza Festival
which this year placed 6000 unsigned bands from around
the world in direct competition through a series of 1500 concerts,
all leading up to 17 finalists who played an ultimate showdown
in Rothenberg, Germany. The band's drummer, Stormville resident
and Carmel High School graduate Seth Faulk, was awarded best drummer
- in the world. This is sure to put them on a fast-track to success
and there's damned good reason as anyone who was in attendance
last evening can tell you.
Fire Flies' members are; the incredibly talented Dan
Romer on
vocals and acoustic guitar, Wil Farr on electric guitar, Matt
Krahula on bass (who could easily enjoy a successful solo career,) and
champion Seth Faulk on drums.
There isn't enough space
in this post to say all that needs to be said about Fire Flies
but keep an eye out for them for they
are sure to be a familiar name in the future. Their latest album, "Baobabs
In The Basement" is available from CD
Baby.
 Fire Flies is in residency at Crash Mansion in the Bowery so if
you want to hear them any time soon, that's the place to go. And
while their following is generally young, anyone of a certain age
(we know who we are) will recognize their influences and find their
music not only approachable but downright easy to slide in to.
They've achieved a right balance of vocal harmonies which blend
purely with their instrumental lines to achieve a sound that, while
hard to pinpoint with a genre, is accessible to anyone with an
ear for good music. Whatever it is, it's hard driving and gets
you to dancing.
One of the band's influences
is Kurt Weill, and that influence is evidenced in "We're Getting Closer to the End". They
also attribute Talking Heads, Kate Bush and the Pixies, all at
the top of their fields - a height which Fire Flies is almost sure
to attain. They say, "Our hope is to one day become musical
ambassadors to intelligent life forms from other parts of the galaxy,
but of course, it's only a hope". And there's a certainty
they'll achieve that.
It was a vast coup for Arts on the Lake to land Fire Flies, Bombita,
Moving Mountains and Leara Broderson last night and I can guarantee
not only did Lake Carmel Rock last night, but it danced, too. It
was a hell of a party.
<shameless
plug> Special thanks go to Dan and Seth of Fire Flies for
helping us figure out the sound system at the Arts Center last
evening.
I could not, no matter what we did, get enough sound from
the vocal mikes, Dan's acoustic guitar and Fire Flies electronics.
The same holds true for Moving Mountains where I couldn't
pump
out enough vocals for Greg. I'm sure they understood our
technical limitations and next time we'll have it down. I promise.
(And
if the bands want to send along a CD, mail it to: Jeff Green
145 Miller Hill, Kent Cliffs, NY 10512 and I promise they'll
go into my top rotation.) </shameless plug>
A final
note; if one of the bands picked up a Monster Cable that isn't
theirs, let me know so I can get it back to its proper owner.
Please look through your gear - someone's got it and it's lonely
and upset and misses its owner. In fact, tears were shed, sackcloths
were rent and the heavens thundered. As well, I've been told that
if you use it, it will buzz in the subsonic, invite head lice and
give your drummer shingles.
Jeff
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