Local Notes

• A desire to integrate community and culture has propelled Charles Stephenson, Jr., during the last 17 years to create D.C.'s Malcom X Day Celebration, organize and manage the band Experience Unlimited (E.U.) and be an active WAMA board member since the organization's beginning. Now, as the newly appointed Chair of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Stephenson looks forward to making music and art available to all who live in Washington and to putting a positive focus on D.C.'s indigenous music Go Go. "One common denominator with people is art/music, it brings people together and helps them reach their highest, I'm excited about doing that," Stephenson said.
• Songwriters Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer received the National Parenting Publication's Gold Award for their children's song shop video "Yodel-Ay-Hee-Hoo!" Back in the states after a tour of Japan, the two have started recording a new album for Rounder Records.
• Celebrating the 25th anniversary of its first American tour, Bluegrass 45 is again traveling the country. The group was discovered in 1970 by Charles Freeland, then president of Rebel Records, while on vacation in Japan. In 1971, Bluegrass 45 toured the states performing on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry and opening for many country music stars such as Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn and Roy Acuff. They released two albums on Rebel Records before returning home. The reunion tour, which includes Maryland resident Akira Otsuka on mandolin, will produce a live CD.
• Shannon Worrell has signed with EMI, more later.
• Rejection from a record company can be painful. It can force a band to take inventory, reassess its direction and wonder whether the material it creates is really sending the message the group wants to get across. But what if the label executive that just turned down your band "enjoyed your CD" and wants to see the group play live because, she writes," I don't doubt that your show is a blast." Well Shock Opera is an indie rock group that's been trying to find a label to call home and sent it's new album "mer De mente" to Robbins Entertainment. Now the group is not quite sure what to think. It seems that the cutting edge Robbins group is looking for "mainstream leaning artists" not indie trend-setting bands, but Robbins label exec Meredith Fisher reassured Shock Opera in her letter saying "happily for you, you guys are way more out there than that." "We were basically turned down because we were too good" manager Shana Schwartzberg said. The band does know what to do though, they are going to continue to do things their way.
• Whether singing soul or saving souls, Willie Jolley has made a career out of inspiring people with his voice. Now with a new syndicated radio program, Jolley's "Magnificent Motivational Minute" will inspire an even wider audience to "keep the faith to achieve your goals." Sponsored by Crest Toothpaste, the "Magnificent Motivational Minute" is aired daily on the American Urban Radio affiliate stations.
• While on tour in the metro area, The Fugees stopped by Omega Recording Studios and did a soundtrack for the movie, "When We Were Kings." Omega continues to produce the WHFS-FM show "Just Passing Through," which presents national talent visiting the area such as the Goo Goo Dolls, Joan Osborne and the Gin Blossoms. The bands perform mostly acoustic material before a live studio audience and the segments are aired on Sunday nights.
• Doug Derryberry and John Alagia at Rutabaga Studios are wrapping up the Blue Miracle's new album and beginning work on the Bobby Houck and the Blue Dogs' new project.
• Continuing its push for national success The Dirges entered this year's TicketMaster Music Showcase and Musician Magazine's Best Unsigned Band Contest. The Dirges faired well. The band performed for an industry panel at a TicketMaster Showcase in Pittsburg and was one of 20 bands that made the Musician's Magazine final round.

In New York, Jireh/MCA recording artists Day Ta Day filmed a video for their up coming album release "Take Your Time." The new video, directed by Laura Schwartz, is for "Smile" one of the cuts on the new album and has a special guest appearance by Salt N Pepa. Day Ta Day, D.C. natives from the Trinidad area of Northeast Washington, is composed of Wendall Wylie, Reggie McFadgen, Ernest "Scootie" Hariston, Lawrence "Soul" Flack and Lynn Taylor; five young men with whom popularity and demand is soaring.

The group's performance credits could be the envy of any entertainer, so far in their young careers they have taken the stage at Woodstock II with Salt N Pepa, the Grammy Awards, and the MTV Awards. The members write or have a hand in composing the music and lyrics that they sing and on "Take Your Time" they've produced six of the album cuts.

Visions of Elvis danced in manager Gerald Scott's head when the men had to be evacuated from concert halls throughout Australia recently as female fans rushed the backstage areas. Washington fans can look forward to a Day Ta Day appearance soon.

Waiting to go on stage, Linwood Taylor accepts compliments, hugs & kisses and arm vibrating hand shakes from admirers that circle around as he tries to make his way through the Jaxx night club. This night Taylor, with his electric band, opens for rock/blues legend Johnny Winter a couple of weeks ago it was a Gibson acoustic toting Taylor along with James Mabry that opened for ex-Stray Cat Brian Setzer at the Bayou . Increasingly Taylor is playing high visibility shows and a larger number of club dates throughout the East Coast.

Taylor attributes this up swing to a decission he made several months ago to strip down his style, setting aside the note-bending sustain an electric guitarist can become reliant on to carry him through, and play the bare bones acoustic several times a month. Artists often search for themselves, for a meanier cleaner style, by taking away all that they find comfortable. Purging is a means to an end. Now he gigs regularly, with blues guitarist James Mabry, doing acoustic dates from the Austrian Embassy to the Rams Head in Annapolis. "The heavier gauge acoustic strings are making my hands stronger and being up there, and it's just James and me, makes me have to give the audience something to keep them interested," Taylor said.

Solo acoustic performance is the next step in Linwood's revitalization program but "that's still a ways away." In the mean time Taylor's push for a more focused heartfelt performance continues to open doors. At the Eva Cassidy Tribute he performed with Ella Fiztgerald bassist Keter Betts as part of an all-star band, his electric band opens for the L.A. based roots rockers The Paladins next month at Jaxx and continues to tour heavily throughout the Mid-Altantic.

• Choo Choo The Urban Funkster (Landy Thompson) and partner Nino Brown known collectively as Soul Chillden have released new CD titled "Urban Nation." The hip hop record was released on the Urban Intalek label. The duo is working on a new release due out in late Fall titled "$On A Serious Grind$."
• "Great songs! Great band! I have all Bill's albums!" Bonnie Raitt is quoted as saying on the front cover. "Way Overdue," the much anticipated album, captures the appeal and quirky humor of Bill Holland and his early 70s band Rent's Due. The 16 cut CD is a collection of "the best" tracks from three previously released albums plus some unreleased studio tracks and live concert broadcast recordings. Many of these tracks received airplay, upon their original release, on progressive stations locally and outside the Washington area. Joining Holland on the recordings are John Jennings, Pete Kennedy, Wade Matthews, Larry Strother, Keith Grimes, Ronnie Newmyer, Paul Bell plus other well known Washington area musicians. Robert Christgau of the Village Voice wrote, "If I were an A&R man, I'd say sign him." It's not to late for the recording industry to try again.
• Sonia Rutstein and disappear fear have released their fifth album, on Philo/Rounder Records. "Seed in the Sahara" was produced by E Street Band keyboard player Roy Bittan. This album caps another year of heavy touring for the group. "Skin" the first single from the album is currently on the CMJ's Top Ten Most-added at AAA radio stations.
• Teaming up with flutist Sharon Brodbelt, jazz guitarist Ney Mello created an album centered on duo compositions of percussion and guitar, guitar and flute, and flute and percussion. The album, "Solos & Duos," was engineered by Muhajir Olsen at Omnicast Studios.
• Lunar Groove has released a new album "From the Coast of Mars" with help from some very talented friends. Guest appearances by Mark Wenner (Nighthawks) on harp, Pete Kennedy on electric guitar and Jeff Smith singing background, just to name a few, augment the trio's country tunes. Recorded at Avalon Studios in Bethesda, the CD was produced and engineered by Jeff Severson.
• Picking some of their favorite blues tunes guitarist Jr. Tash and his group Bad Influence have released a new album titled "Where We Been" on the Badblues label. Recorded by Timm Biery at Audio Artistry in Beltsville, two of the tracks feature guest appearances by original band members, vocalist Tom Swanton and bassist Fred Hillyard.
• Frog Legs has a new CD "Midnight Radio" produced by the band and engineered by Tom Martin at Glass Hand Studio in Richmond. Winners of the Critic's Choice Award at the Route 1 South Conference this summer for Best Band and Best Guitarist, the group is on tour throughout the east coast this fall supporting the release.
• Alice Despard's trademark earthy vocals can be heard through her latest musical endeaver, the band Whirligig, and their new seven song cassette by the same name released on Swirlipig Music. The band's sound is defined by some well known names from the D.C. music scene -- Bobby Lee Birdsong on vocals/guitars/pedal and lap steels, Thomas Kane on bass and Evan Pollack on drums. The tracks were recorded by Ian Jones at Evil Genius Studio in Arlington this past April and include vocals by Ian on "Cold November Day." The j-card's artwork is rather unsual. It revolves around a surreal profile created by painter by Stuart Chandler,
• Frumdahart Productions has released a new pop/rock album by singer/songwriter Jaime Michaels. The CD was recorded at Beaten Track Studio in Atlanta, Georgia by engineers Trey Maxwell and David Bradbury. David Kimbell and Trey Maxwell co-produced the album.
• When does a person decide to get into the music business? What makes them take those first steps into a world that has few rules, no guidelines and plenty of risk? Roy Dunshee made his decission when he fell in love with the blues. Owner of the Acme Bar Grill in Annapolis which presents blues artists on Sundays, Dunshee wanted to continue to share his music with the bar's patrons after they went home.
• This month Dunshee became a record company executive by releasing his first album, the "Acme All Stars" on his brand new Acme Records label. Pulling together the best blues performers that the Acme club has presented since it openned two years ago, Acme Records released a seven cut live recording. The album was engineered and produced by Timm Biery (Danny Gatton) who also played drums in the "all-star" line up. "Hoochie Koochie Man," "Tell Me Baby," and "In Love with a Woman" are some of the standards reborn through some tight improvisations from Linwood Taylor on guitar/vocals, James Mabry on guitar/vocals, Alex Holland on sax, John Previti sitting in on bass plus Dean Rosenthal on vocals and Todd Kreuzburg on guitar.
• The album is receiving air play on Damian Einstein's radio show on WRNR and is available for sale only at the Acme Bar, but local distribution of the CD is being considered.

• Happy about her first Big Mo Records release and looking forward to starting her next album for the label in the late Spring Angie Miller is preparing to go on the road in support of the her album. "Ricochet" released this week to radio and retail was produced by Timm Biery (Danny Gatton). It's a pop/rockish record with a mix of acoustic and electric sounds and held together by Miller's songwriting ability.

  Creating the majority of the tracks were Topher Sisson on electric guitar, Jay Turner on bass and Biery on drums. Robert Fiester (Brian Jack), who currently plays lead in the group and with Miller on her duo dates, is not on "Ricochet" as he joined the group after the recording had taken place. However, he does appear on "Angie Miller Acoustic," a live cassette recording of the duo act she recently released to satisfy her public's demand for product, while waiting for "Ricochet" to become available. "I do the rhythm and he does the color. We trade off and cover the parts a band would do," Miller said. The cassette and Miller's current performances include new material which will be included in the upcoming album.

• Inspirational, Gospel, Jazz, John Butler effortlessly combines these genres into something he describes as progressive jazz/Christian music. In "So Real," his new album on the Mylestone Inc. label, he continues to focus his energy on proclaiming a positive message built on a continuous groove. The album was produced by primarily by Jacques Johnson, Jr. and includes a duet between Butler and Mico Roberts on "It's Got to be Real."
• Music from the heart is how Terri Allard describes her new contemporary folk acoustic album "Rough Lines." Recorded by Danny McCrystal at the Woolen Mills Chapel in Charlottesville, producers McCrystal and Allard tried to create an album with "a few pops, a few cracks, a few string noises, much like what you would hear if you came to one of my shows." The tracks were mixed by McCrystal and Dwayne Evans at Rattlesnake Trail and mastered by Dave Glasser at Airshow in Virginia. Billy Brockman makes a special appearance on the album singing back-up and playing guitar on "Open Road" a tune he contributed to the project. "Rough Lines" is on the Reckless Abandon Music label.
• The Mushroom Chiefs has released "Spores," its first studio recording. The five song progressive rock sampler was produced by Prime Lens Productions and recorded at Solo Studios in Fairfax.
• "Sibling Rivalry" a contemporary folk album from singer/songwriter Lisa Taylor was released by Taylor Tunes. The album was produced and engineered by Matt Holsen at ESM Productions in Herndon. Musicians contributing tracks to the project included Willie Vasquez (Rhumba Club) on congas, Paul Bell (Lazy Boys) on guitar/dobro, Al Williams on flute and singer/songwriter Tom Prasada-Rao added background vocals.
• Julie Murphy, best known for her vocal work with the new-folk group Eddie From Ohio, has a new live album of jazz standards titled "Sophisticated Lady." The CD was recorded at several of Murphy's solo shows by producer/engineer Billy Wolf. A CD release party will be held on November 3 when Murphy performs solo at The Barns of Wolf Trap.
• Promoting some of the best unsigned bands in the nation since its inception in 1993, AWARE Records helped bring national attention to, then relatively unknown groups, like The Verve Pipe (RCA), Better Than Ezra (Elektra)and Jackopierce (A&M) through its compilation CDs. Now, its latest release "AWARE 4" brings a chance of success to 15 bands from across the country including three from the Washington area. The Virginia based group Fighting Gravity has one cut, "Mission Bells," which can also be found on its latest release "forever=1 day." Once Hush, which resides in Maryland, has the song "Heading South" on the compilation, which also appears on its new release "Say It Anyway." It's worth noting that both of these cuts were from albums produced by record producer John Alagia. Slackjaw, based in Virginia, has two cuts on AWARE 4." "AHF" from its debut album "all fallen heroes" and "Mickey" which they recorded especially for the compilation. All the bands involved in the project are currently on tour supporting the compilation.
• The Howland Ensemble has a new jazz CD titled "Reiko" distributed through NorthCountry in Redwood, New York. The album includes performances by Chris Battistone on trumpet and flugelhorn, Brian Bennett on keyboards, John Previti on bass, Bruce Swaim on sax, Jon Metzger on vibraphone and Hal Howland on drums and percussion. Howland, who also performs with the National Chamber Orchestra, wrote many of the compositions on the album including the title track "Reiko," "Retroflexion" and "Los Bandidos Yanquis."

Two Free Piano Lessons

The Levine School of Music has opened a new annex in the Silver Spring Piano Shop located at 7980 Georgia Avenue. Private piano instruction for all levels and ages plus early childhood music classes are available. For a limited time, new piano students will receive two free lessons only at the Silver Spring location. Call Lois Narvey at 202/686-9772 for further information.

The Electric Guitar

The Smithsonian Institution presents "Electrified, Amplified and Deified: The Electric Guitar, Its Makers, and Its Players." A series of special events and a six month exhibit exploring the development of the electric guitar and its role in shaping the music and culture of the second half of the 20th Century.

On Wednesday, November 13 at 7:30 p.m. guitarist-innovator Les Paul will speak and perform at the Baird Auditorium in the National Museum of American History. Tickets start at $15.

On Saturday, November 16 a "New Sounds" symposium will address the inventing and popularizing of the electric guitar plus the innovators and players that made it famous. The event will be held in the Carmichael Auditorium from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tickets start at $29.50. Call the Smithsonian Associates at 202/357-3030.

Multimedia Computer Music

The Peabody Conservatory presents "Music, Science and Vision," a multi-media computer music concert on Wednesday, October 30 in the Maryland Science Center's IMAX Theater, at 7:30 p.m. Geoffrey Wright director of the Peabody Computer Music Consort will conduct a part demonstration, part lecture event, tracing the development of electronic music from the 1920s invention of the space-controlled instrument, the Theremin, to present day interactive technologies. On the agenda are live performances of electronic solo instruments, a virtual orchestra presentation, on-screen projections and excerpts from the cult film "Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey."

Admission is free but seats must be reserved. For reservations call the Maryland Science Center at 410-545-5947 or for directions call 410-685-2370

Volunteer Performers

Elderfolk, a new program of the World Folk Music Association, is looking for volunteer performers interested in taking part in its weekly nursing home concert series. Elderfolk was developed to bring senior citizens confined in institutions free, live, quality entertainment. Interested performers should contact Steve Gellman at 301/428-0313.

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• EXPERIENCED BASSIST AND DRUMMER needed to complete blues/original band for DC area gigs. (St. Mary's Co.) Mike 301-862-4710
• FLUTE PLAYER looking for keyboard player/singer for collaberation and future performances. All styles but classical and jazz. 703-323-8837
• `IT'S A PLEASURE TO KNOW YOU' - WAMA nomination for 'Album of the Year' 17-song compilation; music from the B-CC YMCA Benefit Concert Series; Includes Al Petteway, Grace Griffith, Freyda Epstein, Terra Nova, Fred Small, Side By Side, David Roth, Rob Guttenberg, Brock & the Rockets, and others; CD-$15/Cass.-$10; All proceeds benefit YMCA Bethesda Youth Services; To order, call (301) 229-1347.