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Archive 3
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The Rockin' Ramrods
"I Wanna Be Your Man"  (LP,  Eva 12015,  [1983?])

Recently we received an inquiry from one of our readers for the track list for a French compilation of recordings by The Ramrods. We're happy to oblige. Following the track list is a capsule profile of the band.


Side One

1.  I Wanna Be Your Man


Lennon-McCartney
2.  I'll Be on My Way


Lennon-McCartney
3.  Girl Can't Help It


Troup
4.  She Lied


Rockin' Ramrods
5.  Got My Mojo Working


Preston Foster
6.  Play It


Frank Slay-David L'Heureux
7.  Mr. Wind


Ronn Campisi
8.  Jungle Call


Rockin' Ramrods


Side Two

1.  Wild About You


H. Hunter-B. Boulanger
2.  Cry in My Room


Ronn Campisi
3.  Don't Fool with Fu Manchu


Bob Stone-Warren Schatz
4.  Tears Melt the Stones


Ronn Campisi
5.  Flowers in My Mind


Ronn Campisi
6.  Mary Mary


Ronn Campisi
7.  Bright Lit Blue Skies


Ron Campisi
8.  Indian Giver


Rockin' Ramrods


An item in our clipping file says there was one more Ramrods single, "Willie's Plastic People Factory" b/w "Wallie's Wonderful Invention."

The Ramrods, under the original name The Ramrods Four, got its start in 1962, which is before the great majority of Boston's best-known '60s bands came together. A member of that first lineup once told us that, through most of its history, the group was known simply as The Ramrods. But for a while, it was called The Rockin' Ramrods, and that's the name that has stuck with the rock 'n' roll public. In 1964, the band was made up of Ronn Campisi, Vin Campisi, Bob Henderson, and Bill Linnane. By 1966, Ronn & Vin Campisi and Bob Henderson were joined by Lenny Cirelli.   Scott Curtis also played organ with the Ramrods, though our records don't pinpoint just when. I heard what may have been the last lineup of the Rockin' Ramrods in 1966 or, more likely, 1967, probably at the Brewer Auditorium in Brewer, Maine. By then, the loose garage-rock sound of the early 1960s had given way to tighter, more professional performances. We don't know exactly when the Ramrods broke up, but our archive has a show listing for the group from the fall of 1967.

Vin Campisi and Robert Henderson went on to perform with an excellent Bosstown band called Puff (by 1968), which also included Jim Mandell and David-Allen Ryan. Ronn Campisi contributed original material to that seasoned, rocking outfit, making it something like a regrouping of the Ramrods. I heard Puff more times than any other rock band. One of the great things about that ensemble is the way it took over a room, always seizing home-court advantage. Hearing Puff at the Brewer Auditorium seemed much like attending a show in a Boston rock music hall or discotheque. I suppose the album, Puff (LP, MGM Records SE-4622, [1968]), may be a period piece for many  -  an offering from a time capsule out of the psychedelic-era; but for me it's one of the best of the Bosstown recordings.

Somehow Robert Henderson became Jesse Henderson. He has since contributed his engineering skills to the making of many great albums.

Alan Lewis

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Jazz Mandolin Project
New Year's Eve at the New Higher Ground

"2005 has started with more of a blast than any year in Jazz Mandolin Project history. It started right in the home town of Burlington with the first New Year's Eve show ever for the band. There was added excitement in that it took place in the much-anticipated, reopened Higher Ground, which is now a much, larger state-of-the-art venue. To bring something new to the table, the band added a full-size movie screen behind it with continuous visuals from its favorite movies and other bizarre snippets. Parts of the sold-out evening included musical performances played to the scenes on the screen. To augment the group, JMP member, Mark Guiliana, sat in over the evening. While Fishman held down the trap kit, Mark was featured on the Cajon in a duo performance with Jamie playing flamenco music. He also played Sun Ra trombone and every percussion instrument on the planet. The night's celebrations were properly closed with Black Sabbath's 'War Pigs,' a rarely heard Fishman vocal feature that brought down the house."

Jazz Mandolin Project,  "JMP Blasts Off into 2005,"  January 18, 2005

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     the bennies    

On Tour with the Pixies


Sheryl Hunter

The Bennies have been living in the Pioneer Valley for only a couple of months, but the crowd that gathered at the Brass Cat in Easthampton on a recent Saturday night had heard all about the band. As they say in the music business, the Bennies have generated a strong "buzz" due in part to the fact they have landed one of the most highly coveted gigs going this fall. The Bennies will open seven east-coast dates for the reunion tour of the pioneering alternative-rock band, The Pixies, the first of which will be Nov. 30 at the Mullins Center in Amherst.

The Pixies were initially formed at UMass in the mid-1980s when founding members Charles Thompson (a.k.a. Frank Black and Black Francis) and Joey Santiago were students. After getting the group off the ground, the two left Amherst for the happening music scene in Boston where they picked up bassist Kim Deal and drummer David Lovering. The Pixies music was critically acclaimed and proved to be a huge influence on artists like Nirvana and Radiohead, but it never took off commercially. The band underwent an acrimonious split in 1993, before reuniting earlier this year, and is selling out arenas across the country. It seems The Pixies are more highly regarded now then they were during their first tour of duty.

So how did the Bennies, a band with no record label, no management, no publicist, and whose current lineup has only been together for a couple of months, land this dream job?

The answer to this question began to unfold once the band took the tiny stage at the Brass Cat. The first thing one might notice about the Bennies is that lead singer/guitarist Jeremy Dubs is confined to a wheelchair due to a genetic disorder called osteogenesis perfecta. It doesn't take long, however, before his raw vocals and fierce guitar playing render that chair virtually invisible.

Dubs is aided by the powerful rhythm section of bassist/vocalist Jack Godleski and drummer Don McAulay (also of the Ware River Club). Combined with the innovative guitar work of Joey Interlande, the Bennies create thought-provoking, challenging music; and the huge interest in the Pixies tour is proof that there is an audience for such creative fare  -  an audience that is tired of the pop pabulum the music industry has offered up as of late.

The Bennies story began in 1998 in Shippisburg, Pennsylvania. Dubs and Godleski met when they were college DJs at Shippisburg University. Inspired by bands like Nirvana, the Melvins, and the Pixies, the two friends decided to form their own band. Dubs said the fact that he had a disability was not a roadblock to his decision to pursue a career as a rock musician, and the people in his life were always supportive of him attaining his goals. "It's just one of those things that's there. I don't even think about it," Dubs casually said during a recent interview. "Sure, people notice  -  but that's about it."

The bigger problem facing the Bennies was that there was not much of a music scene in Shippisburg. "We were freaks back there. There weren't many musicians and there was no place to play," said Dubs. "Our families thought we were nuts to be in a band and, well  -  they still think that."

Despite the fact that they were working in something of a musical wasteland, the Bennies managed to release two CDs on American Laundromat Records and had their second disc, The Fossil, supervised by famed producer Steve Albini who has guided heralded albums by Nirvana, the Pixies, and the Breeders. But a bigger break would come when they connected with an associate of Albini: Charles Thompson (a.k.a. Frank Black). In 1998, Black was recording and touring with his band, the Catholics. Dubs, a longtime fan, managed to get backstage after one of their concerts and met Black. He even managed to slip him a tape of Bennies music. "I ended up running into him a couple days later, and he said he liked the tape," said Dubs. "He even dedicated a song to us at his next show. Then I got his e-mail address. We started e-mailing and eventually started talking on the phone." When pressed for details as to how he managed to strike up a friendship with the head honcho of the Pixies, Dubs just smiles and insists that it's better not to dwell on his good fortune.

"We always loved the Pixies. Frank Black is like our Elvis," says bassist Godleski. Dubs laughs and nods his head. "Yup. Like our Marlon Brando." It turns out that Black thought highly of the Bennies too  -  highly enough to offer them a spot as the opening act for two tours with Frank Black and the Catholics. They did a couple of dates with the band in 2000 and then an entire east-coast tour, including a date at Pearl Street in Northampton in November of 2002. While these rooms were not anywhere near the size of the arenas in which they will be playing with the Pixies, at that point in time opening for the Catholics in any venue was a big show for the Bennies. "It was really fun, but it was like the only gigs we did was when Frank Black came to town," said Dubs.

All the time that they were working with the Catholics, the Bennies never dreamed that Black would reunite the Pixies. When they heard the band had begun to play together again, they, like many fans, were thrilled. They were also happy that Black had not forgotten about them and that he welcomed them to open a few of the shows for the Pixies current tour, which has become one of the most successful of the year. But the Bennies had a problem. They had no sooner lined up the dates with the Pixies when their drummer decided to leave the band. "We knew we had the Pixies dates and we also had this show to get ready for at CBGB's," said Dubs. "So we moved up here because Jack's brother, who lived in Hatfield, was going to be our new drummer."

Dubs and Godleski packed their bags and headed for Greenfield to stay with family members. The day they moved to town, the drummer quit. "The car was still packed, so it was like, let's just go back home to Pennsylvania," said Godleski. "Yeah, we almost did go back  -  but that would have been even more miserable," said Dubs.

So the pair decided to settle in Greenfield and got busy hanging up posters advertising for a drummer. They did not have to look far. A fellow Greenfield musician recommended drummer Don McAulay and gave them his phone number. McAulay, a native of Newton, Mass., has lived in the valley for years, playing with various musicians. For the past few years he has been playing drums with the revered alt-country group, the Ware River Club. When he received a call saying that a band, which was going to be touring with the Pixies, was interested in him, he knew this was an offer too good to refuse. "The Ware River Club is winding down a bit right about now. Matt Hebert (singer and main composer of the Ware River Club) wants to focus on his solo work. So the timing for this project was perfect," McAulay said. "I've played with a lot of musicians in the area over the years, but I haven't played music as hard as the Bennies' sound is for a long time," he added with a laugh.

With McAulay on board, so began the search for a fourth member, preferably a keyboardist. McAulay approached Joe Interlande, a Greenfield native who had played with various bands over the years and most recently had been working in a managerial capacity for NRBQ. "Don played me this disc that was a mix of old and new Bennies songs," Interlande explains. "They were great songs, and I knew this was a great project. I was in the middle of renovating this house, but I stopped and learned all the songs." Soon Interlande became the Bennies' lead guitarist.

Although he has no plans to write music for the Bennies, Interlande knows a thing or two about songwriting himself. In recent years he has been pursuing a career in writing music for films and television. Through his work with NRBQ, Interlande has had the opportunity to work with The Simpsons producer/writer, Mike Scully, a diehard NRBQ fan (Scully has featured the band in a Simpsons episode) and on a number of other televisions project that were related to the "Q." The two became friends and Interlande went on to write the music for a television show that Scully, who is a native of Springfield, Mass., was involved with called The Pitts.

Earlier this year, NRBQ's Terry Adams approached Interlande for help in writing a theme song for yet another Scully project  -  this one a sitcom for ABC that actor Mel Gibson was developing called The Complete Savages. Adams and Interlande composed the song and then began the long process of readying it for the show, which debuted in September and runs on Friday nights. So just as he was establishing himself with the Bennies, Interlande was jetting back and forth between his home in Easthampton and Los Angeles, where he was working closely with Gibson, Scully and the entire cast of The Complete Savages. If you watch the opening credits of the show you'll hear Interlande's theme music as well as get a glimpse of him with the cast. Gibson's voice, which Interlande recorded at Gibson's Los Angeles office, is heard intoning at the very end of the song. "Working with Mel has been cool and fun," said Interlande. "To have Mel Gibson singing your song and shaking your hand when you meet is pretty cool. He's got a lot of kids and is really a funny guy. I never thought I'd be working with his company, ICON, and working with the cast as well."

The Complete Savages is up for a people's choice award. To vote, go to www.abc.go.com/primetime/completesavages/

After a bit of a rocky summer, the Bennies are finally on track. They love living here in the Valley amidst a vital music scene and are psyched to have the lineup firmly intact. The Bennies also have a new album out, recorded while they were still in Pennsylvania, called Turn the Hourglass Sideways. They are looking forward to getting into the studio and recording with the current lineup. "It's a bigger, more aggressive sound now," said Dubs. "When we played live before, we were just a trio. If there was an extra part on our album, we couldn't do it live. Now we can." But recording will have to wait for the time being as the order of the day is getting ready for the big tour. The Bennies have been rehearsing almost daily and playing a few scattered warm-up gigs, like the show at the Brass Cat earlier this month.

While the band members are juggling other projects and daytime jobs, their commitment to the Bennies is unwavering. Interlande, who, drawing from his experience with NRBQ, is handling many of the behind-the-scenes aspects of the being on tour. He has been working with the Pixies production team and he says all systems are go. "We will play a half-hour set, and everything that the Pixies will be using we will be using as well," Interlande said. "Everybody involved with this tour has been nice and are anxious to hear this band. The buzz is out there and they are anticipating quite a show." Drummer McAulay is the only band-member who has ever played a concert anywhere near the size of this one. That was a few years ago when the Ware River Club opened for Emmylou Harris at an appearance at New York City's Battery Park.

The Bennies, who are excited and a bit nervous as well, are not, however, all that preoccupied with what kind of impact this tour will have on their careers. They are more interested in going out, giving the best performance they can, and simply enjoying the experience. "The fact that you can see the Pixies during this creatively grim time is something," reflects Godleski. "So even more than getting the chance to play, we are getting a chance to see these shows."

"The way I see it," Godleski continues, "Jeremy and I are going to be on the right side of the stage, seeing these shows from the best seats in the house  -  and seeing them for seven nights. What more can you ask for?"


Parts of this column by Sheryl Hunter were first published in the Greenfield Recorder, Greenfield, Massachusetts, on Thursday, November 25, 2004.

Copyright © 2004 by Sheryl Hunter.
All rights reserved.
Used with permission.

Contact Sheryl Hunter



www.thebennies.com
  sounds local 

This is the first Internet posting of this column by Sheryl Hunter, December 20, 2004.
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     a joe gunther novel    

Archer Mayor
"The Surrogate Thief"

New York: Mysterious Press imprint of Warner Books, 2004.


A call came in to the Brattleboro, Vermont police department reporting a domestic dispute at Vista Estates, a trailer park that didn't come close to living up to its lofty name. In a scene that one might call cinematic, the town's lone trained hostage negotiator, Ron Klesczewski, talked the perpetrator, Matthew Purvis, into laying down his handgun; but as the standoff was about to come to a peaceful end, Linda Purvis picked up the weapon and shot her ex-husband dead.

The gun that ended the life of Matt Purvis turned out, according to ballistic tests, to be a match for a murder weapon from a case handled by young police detective, Joe Gunther, 32 years earlier. The investigation of that first killing  -  of Klaus Oberfeldt, back in the early 1970s  -  was far from rigorous and did not go at all well; and it happened just when Gunther's first and only wife was dying of breast cancer. At the time, his emotions ran high, as the reader may well imagine; and even today, the memories from those days are laced with pain.

The main slaying suspect, Peter Shea, and the murder weapon both disappeared in 1972. The Oberfeldt case grew very cold. Three decades later, the curious resurfacing of the Oberfeldt murder weapon caused the old investigation to be reopened. Joe Gunther, now an agent for the Vermont Bureau of Investigation, was back in charge, picking up where he left off as a young man. As the probe proceeded, Joe's storm-cloud recollections made him uncharacteristically rattled.

Willie Kunkle, another VBI agent, is a rather dark, difficult character whose methods are, at times, questionable at best. And now, in flashbacks to the early 1970s, the reader learns that Joe Gunther, the hero of this series, has some of the same behavior  -  to a lesser degree, to be sure  -  in his own background.

Meanwhile, Joe's sweetheart, Gail Zigman, is running for the Vermont Senate as a Democrat against the formidable Republican, Ed Parker, who has considerable financial backing from a behind-the-scenes character, Tom Bander. Gail and Joe have been living in different parts of the state for much of the year; and now Gail's commitment to her campaign, as well as to her many left-leaning political and social causes, is allowing the couple even less time together. In an interview about the 1972 killing, Joe asked Katie Clark whether she and her boyfriend had split up. Here's a snippet from that telling encounter:

"'Yeah. You drift apart. You know how it goes.'
"That he did."

Joe's talk with Clark, by the way, made for some odd but strangely amusing reading. He had met her back in the early '70s, when she was an attractive young woman working hard at maintaining a strong anti-establishment pose. Now, she was a disabled middle-aged woman suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome and having trouble staying awake, much less concentrating on Joe's questions.

Joe was determined to avoid making the same mistakes as before in the Oberfeldt case. He ran the thumbprint of principal-suspect, Peter Shea, and soon found a match at Gloucester, Massachusetts. Joe delayed his trip there in favor of an increasingly rare night with Gale, only to find, when he arrived in Gloucester, that in the overnight one of the main lines of his investigation had come to an unfortunate close. Not much later, he found that Katie Clark, Shea's former girlfriend  -  and an important information source in the Oberfeldt case  -  had been found dead in her apartment, the day after Joe interviewed her.

Not incidentally, while in Gloucester, Joe made the acquaintance of a bartender named Evelyn  -  "a tall, slim, attractive woman, probably in her mid-forties"  -  and his interest in her seemed to be more than just professional. In one conversation with Evelyn, Joe mentioned that he's single. In another, he held her hand.

Vermont has a colorful annual event called the Tunbridge World's Fair. Near its grounds this year, a woman, Hannah Shriver, was found dead from a knife wound which was identical to a death wound previously encountered in Joe's investigation. It seemed to Joe that this latest killing was also somehow connected to his case, so the Brattleboro office of the VBI got involved in this new probe. From a mountain of evidence, two shadowy figures began to emerge. One was a left-handed man with brown hair, a mustache, and a nasty scar on the back of his left hand. And it was looking as though he had possible ties to Gail Zigman's opponent in her senate race. The other shadowy figure was one T.J. Ralpher, a small-time Brattleboro criminal who evidently vanished in the early 1970s.

All this while, Joe Gunther wrestled with old memories of the loss of his wife, a failed but now reopened investigation from the same time, and his feelings for the frequently absent Gail. Speaking of Samantha Martens, a member of Joe's staff, series author Archer Mayor tells us that

Sam watched her boss walk over to the windows and stare out at the vast lawn, its surface flecked with dead leaves, pale and battered by the first frosts of the season. She'd seen him get increasingly tense as the days had crawled by, sitting far from the command post in his upstairs office, poring over files he'd studied a dozen times already. . . . Several times she'd found excuses to drop by to find out how he was doing, and each time, although he'd pretended to be working, she'd known he'd simply been waiting for today  -  for the evidence, true, but even more, she sensed, for the opportunity to bring a little peace to his spirit.

This volume is quite different from the others in the Joe Gunther series in a number of important ways. It involves significant flashbacks to Joe's early days as a police detective. Action scenes tend to come toward the beginning and middle parts of the story. The Surrogate Thief puts more of a human face on Joe's wife Ellen, who we've heard little about before. And several of the main events in this story raise an uncharacteristic level of emotional turmoil in Joe's life.

The Surrogate Thief seems to mark a transition  -  but, to what? Joe's inner storms are arguably more important to this story than the cases he and his staff are investigating. Gail and Joe have meandered apart, if maybe only just a bit. We're told that one revealing conversation with Joe left Gail shaken. Is this the beginning of a long slide or is it just one of those momentary things fueled by events in a couple's lives? Have we seen the last of Evelyn, the attractive bartender in Gloucester? She's a character with a lot of potential.

The Surrogate Thief, in a few spots, flashes back to a time not long after I moved to this town. Mayor, for instance, spoke of an old Brattleboro nightspot, the Village Barn, which backed up against another hot club, Alice's Restaurant. (We Brattleboro folk have never claimed that the names of our landmarks are original.)   Between those two venues and several other nearby drinking establishments, there were some rather wild scenes to witness. I had to park my car over two blocks from my apartment; and the nightly walk home, past Alice's, could be quite adventurous. In this book, I assure you, Mayor nailed that scene with authority.

The fictional Vermont Bureau of Investigation, with its state-wide beat, frees Joe Gunther to travel throughout Vermont and beyond. So while the series is essentially Brattleboro-based, The Surrogate Thief is set, in part, in Tunbridge and in the Massachusetts cities of Gloucester and Orange. In other words, up to a point Archer Mayor has turned this into a local novel for the readers in and around several different New England communities. I don't know whether this has been a selling point, but it ought to be. Madison Smartt Bell's great rock 'n' roll novel, Anything Goes, is mostly set in the South. But late in the book, the band's tour runs from Vergennes, Vermont, down through the state to Brattleboro, and on to Northampton, Massachusetts. For me, that made Anything Goes a local novel. It would be easy to imagine The Surrogate Thief having a similar effect on readers outside the Brattleboro area.

Mayor is attracted to real-life dramatic settings. In this volume, the geographic dividing line between the have's and the have not's in Gloucester, on the one hand, and the quirkiness of the tiny Tunbridge World's Fair, on the other, are different from, but on a similar plane to, his roaring white-water, his life-size comicbook illustrations, and his giant modern windmills in earlier books. Mayor's descriptions of landmarks and quirky scenes can be, and often are, highly visual and quite spectacular.

The Surrogate Thief isn't about to take the place of The Sniper's Wife (2002) as my favorite Joe Gunther novel. But in this latest book, Archer Mayor is wonderful, as always, in creating strong, believable characters and an uncommon sense of place. Not long ago, in our Issue 87, we reported that he won an award for excellence from the New England Booksellers Association. He didn't win for lack of competition. Archer Mayor, too, is a master at describing procedures that could be tedious perhaps for police detectives (think of a literary take on the old Dragnet TV series); but he never allows it to become anything other than an enjoyable and even educational experience for his readers.

There's a good deal of ambiguity in this story, including the direction of the relationship between Joe and Gail. Now, it's reasonably common in detective novels for the hero to be with his or her client and/or sweetheart at the very end. In The Surrogate Thief, make a special note of who Joe is with on the last few pages.

Recommended reading.


Alan Lewis

Copyright © 2004 by Alan Lewis.
All rights reserved.
Used with permission.



www.archermayor.com

First published in the New England Music Scrapbook News, Issue 96, December 18, 2004
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Grand Band Slam :
2003 Valley Advocate GBS Poll Winners

A quick look through our files seems to show that we didn't report the winners of the 2003 Valley Advocate Grand Band Slam. It's almost time for voting in the 2004 contest; but in a spirit of better late than never, here are last year's winners:

I didn't notice the People's Choice winner in this Valley Advocate report, and unfortunately my hardcopy copy isn't filed yet; but in a later issue, "Nightcrawler" columnist Gary Carra said Gaiah won the People's Choice award.


Valley Advocate Grand Band Slam Report
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2003 Daysies :
Seven Days Best-of Readers Poll Music Results

We get visits and e-mails from Vermont's Burlington-area residents and from ex-Burlingtonians. So there should be quite a bit of interest in the winners of the 2003 "Daysies," the city's first-ever Seven Days-sponsored reader's best-of poll. Since we're about music, we're limiting ourselves here to listing the music winners.

I took this list from hardcopy. Possibly I looked right past it or maybe it's still on its way, but I did not find the "Daysies" in the online version of Seven Days.


www.sevendaysvt.com

First published in the New England Music Scrapbook News, Issue 25, August 9, 2003
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     jimmy ryan & the blood oranges    

"Lost Diamond Angel"
(CD,  Ambitious Recordings No. 13,  2002)


Dave Madeloni

" . . . you're gentle, not loud, sweet-sounding  -  like a mandolin."

Tony Soprano, from
HBO's The Sopranos


Northampton, Mass. -- America's favorite TV mobster was attempting to seduce his therapist when he likened her to that ancient stringed instrument. If Dr. Melfi was hip enough to be a fan of Jimmy Ryan or his band The Blood Oranges, she would know that her libidinous patient knows little of the power and versatility of the mandolin.

Back in the late '80s, bassist Cheri Knight, guitarist Mark Spencer, and mandolin whiz Jimmy Ryan formed The Blood Oranges in Boston and made a couple of critically acclaimed records which skillfully blended rock and bluegrass with some folk-like songwriting smarts. Alas, these pioneers of the No Depression/Roots music movement disbanded in 1995, victims of unfortunate timing  -  their unique sound got lost in the haze of the grunge explosion brought on by Nirvana and Pearl Jam. The Blood Oranges were a bit of an anomaly, with Ryan's self-described "nasty-ass" mandolin up front.

Ryan went on to play on a number of projects, contributing to records by Morphine, Dumptruck, Warren Zevon, and Mary Gauthier, most recently touring in Catie Curtis' band, while Knight made two strong solo albums and Spencer toured with the likes of Freedy Johnston and Jay Farrar.

Then Ryan, who counts Bob Marley, Joe Strummer, Bill Monroe, and Vermont's Jim McGinnis as inspirations, did something he hadn't done since he began playing music three decades ago  -  he made a solo album, Lost Diamond Angel.

I asked Ryan via e-mail what took him so long. "I simply had no desire to make a solo record. Billy Conway (Morphine's drummer) talked me into it. I always have songs I'm writing, and making a record is what you do with your pile of songs."

Although Lost Diamond Angel sports Ryan's name on the cover, it is far from a one-man show. The native of upstate New York brought along some of the region's finest roots musicians. "It was a blast recording with all my Boston buddies," Ryan said, "people I've been playing with for the last ten years in different groups. Billy Conway produced the record, which means he told me when something was finished or not. Or suggested which mandolin to try next."

I never knew how many different types of mandolins there were until I read in the CD's liner notes a list of the seven types Ryan utilized. "At the turn of the last century, Mandolin Orchestras were all the rage," explained Ryan. "Seriously. They had mandobasses, mandocellos, mandolas and mandolins. Sometimes the orchestras would have fifty people in them, banging away at the light classics. So in a way, it's an extension of that but with the addition of the 20th century's musical noise. Plus it's always good to show folks that other instruments rock."

Lost Diamond Angel is very much a rock record, eclectic and tough, with a vibe much like that of the Blood Oranges, who will be reuniting next Thursday in Bellows Falls, as part of the "New Faces Night" opener of the 4th Annual Roots on the River/Fred Eaglesmith Weekend.

But for longtime music fans in Southern Vermont, Ryan is anything but a new face.

"I used to have a ball in Brattleboro when I was playing in a bluegrass band out of Burlington called Pine Island," said Ryan. "We used to play the Mole's Eye and the old Chelsea House Coffeehouse. We made a live record there once. Also I remember Marlboro College gigs that were always fun. Ah, the '70s . . . "

The long years of hard work have begun to finally pay off for Ryan, who is featured in the latest No Depression magazine. And a new Blood Oranges album is in the works.

Added Ryan, "I'm most proud that I figured out how to make a living playing mandolin. Oddly enough, that's all I ever wanted to do."


Parts of this column by Dave Madeloni were first published in our local newspaper, Vermont's Brattleboro Reformer, on Thursday, May 29, 2003.

Copyright © 2003 by Dave Madeloni.
All rights reserved.
Used with permission.


The Jim McGinnis mentioned in Dave Madeloni's column, I imagine, is the same person as James McGinnis of the Pine Island String Band, an excellent Burlington VT outfit I heard a number of times at the Chelsea House Folklore Center in West Brattleboro, Vermont. By the time the album that Ryan mentioned was recorded, the band's name had been shortened to just Pine Island. The record was Live Inside (LP, Fretless FR-124, 1977), and neither Ryan nor his banjo buddy Gordon Stone had any right looking so young in the photo on the back. I mean to find out whether the Susan Greene who wrote the notes is the same person as my e-mail friend (and Burlington journalist) Susan Green. [I have since learned that she is.]

After Pine Island, Jimmy Ryan was on Gordon Stone's great Scratchin' the Surface album. Then they formed a personal favorite new wave band, The Decentz, with Stone on steel guitar and Ryan playing outstanding bass.

With the unfortunate demise of the Decentz, Jimmy Ryan relocated to Boston. I'm drawing a blank on what came between that event and the creation of the Blood Oranges. Maybe one of our readers can help me out. But I recall that Ryan was also a member of a fascinating ensemble called The Beacon Hillbillies. And, with the late Mark Sandman, he was in a half-Blood Oranges, half-Treat Her Right band called Treat Her Orange. How can ya' beat a name like that?!

Much thanks to Dave Madeloni for giving permission for us to republish his Jimmy Ryan/Blood Oranges notice here.



www.jimmyryan.org
First New England Music Scrapbook News publication was in Issue 16, June 7, 2003


Many more Dave Madeloni columns may be found via

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Album Review: Classic



Eileen Ivers
Crossing the Bridge  (CD, Sony Classical SK-60746, 1999)

Eileen Ivers, a daughter of Irish immigrants, grew up in the Bronx. Her early playing was skilled, though fairly conventional Irish fiddling. But while the foundation of her music is still to be found in lively Celtic folk, in recent years Ivers has drawn influences from diverse traditional and popular styles out of Africa and the New World. The result is a wonderful Celtic/jazz/everything-else fusion.

Ivers is an adventurous and perhaps restless soul with a life-of-the-party fiddling style. 1999's Crossing the Bridge is her greatest recording. The opening track, the electric "Gravelwalk," finds Ivers throwing off sparks right from the start, with passages showing why she has been called the Jimi Hendrix of the fiddle.

The music on Crossing the Bridge is remarkably varied, from traditional dance tunes for flying feet ("Crowley's/Jackson's") to "Whiskey and Sangria," a swinging, percussive piece with the strongest Latin influence. The delightful, acoustic "Bunch of Keys"  -  featuring fiddle, banjo, guitar, resonator guitar, bass, and percussion  -  is an exceptional ensemble performance. The title track, a quick, syncopated, Irish-American march with echoes of Henry Mancini, is a brilliant composition played to perfection.

If I had an all-time Top 10 albums list, Crossing the Bridge would almost certainly be on it.

Eileen Ivers and her band, Immigrant Soul, are at the American Fleadh, Boston Pavilion, Boston, on June 21, 2003.


Alan Lewis

Copyright © 2003 by Alan Lewis.
All rights reserved.
Used with permission.


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     high range    

"Beyond the Foothills"
(CD,  Rural Root Records RRR-8458,  2003)


High Range, an original-music stringband out of New Hampshire, plays bluegrass and old-timey music. Apparently this group has been a trio, accompanied by a rotation of bass players; but on the latest disc, Beyond the Foothills, High Range is a quartet. Bassist Nate Edgar gives the band a real kick that's unique in acoustic country. Then there's Ellen Carlson, who has Swedish fiddling in her background. That's unusual in American stringband musician credits. This is not your standard-issue bluegrass crew. The rhythms are typically loose like those of the original masters, while Rob Kneeland's mandolin often takes the part of a rhythm guitar. Todd Jones' banjo, which brings to mind Dan Lindner of Banjo Dan and the Mid-Nite Plowboys, is at the heart of the instrumental sound.

High Range is at its best at mid-tempo or faster, and this album gets off to a flying start with

Name of the game is chairs around the table.

Only rules are I can't tell you the rules.

"Cutting Grass" is a quick-paced hillbilly dance tune, while "Lonesome Man" recalls the traditional "900 Miles." Ellen Carlson's fiddling is striking, on solos as well as on short fills and backgrounds. She gets off a particularly fine run nearly 2:45 into the extended jam, "Seven Song." The greatest moment, though, may be a spirited set of calls and responses between fiddle and bass on the shuffling rag, "D&H." Hot stuff!

High Range is at the Barley Pub, Dover, New Hampshire, on Saturday, June 7. Other upcoming engagements include one at the Middle Earth Music Hall in Bradford, Vermont, on Friday, June 13, and a live broadcast on WMPG-FM, Portland, Maine, on Friday, June 20.


Alan Lewis

Copyright © 2003 by Alan Lewis.
All rights reserved.
Used with permission.



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     boston does the beatles    

Track List


Side 1

Lenny Gardino,  "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"

Beat Surrender,  "Come Together"

The Further Adventures of Ken Scales,  "Paperback Writer"

The I-Tones,  "Don't Bother Me"

Mata Hari,  "Boys"

Jeanne French and Hot Wire,  "I'm So Tired"

Didi Stewart,  "You're Gonna Lose That Guy"


Side 2

Powerglide,  "Revolution"

Barry Cowsill,  "Everybody's Got Something To Hide
Except for Me and My Monkey"

One Four Five,  "I'm Down"

The Blaros,  "It Won't Be Long"

Bishop Desmond and the Tutus,  "Norwegian Wood"

The Bentmen,  "Blue Jay Way"

Capitol Gain,  "Daytripper"

A.K.A.,  "She Said She Said"


Side 3

Mr. Curt's Camaraderie,  "It's Only Love"

Funky Young Monks,  "Come Together"

The Tax Collectors,  "Baby You Can Drive My Car"

Memphis Rockabilly,  "Honey Don't"

The Rugbeaters,  "I'll Cry Instead"

The Chris Martin Manifesto,  "You're Going To Lose That Girl"

The Apples,  "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away"


Side 4

Trap the Clown,  "Strawberry Fields Forever"

Joanne Victoria,  "You Can't Do That"

Me and the Boys,  "Can't Buy Me Love"

The KGB,  "The Night Before"

Bim Skala Bim,  "Rain"

Bruce Marshall and the Clue,  "I Call Your Name"

Berlin Airlift,  "Eleanor Rigby"

Triage,  "I'm Losing You"




Source:  "Fast Track Records Presents Boston Does the Beatles" (an order form). Do you have a scanned image of the album's cover that you would be willing to share with our readers?
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Cities, towns, other placenames: Bangor Maine, Boston Massachusetts, Brattleboro Vermont, Burlington Vermont, Cambridge Massachusetts, Cape Cod, Hartford Connecticut, Manchester New Hampshire, New Haven Connecticut, Northampton Massachusetts, Pioneer Valley, Portland Maine, Portsmouth New Hampshire, Providence Rhode Island, Rutland Vermont, Somerville Massachusetts, Springfield Massachusetts, Worcester Massachusetts (Wormtown). Instruments: banjo, banjo player, acoustic bass, electric bass, string bass, upright bass, bass player, bassist, dobro player, drummer, drums, fiddle, fiddle player, fiddler, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, guitar player, guitarist, harmonica, harp, keyboard player, keyboardist, keyboards, mandolin, mandolinist, multi-instrumentalist, orchestra, organ, organist, percussion, percussionist, pianist, piano, piano player, saxophone, saxophonist, pedal steel guitar, pedal steel guitarist, synth, synthesizer, violin, violinist, lead vocals, lead vocalist. States: Connecticut, Conn, CT, Maine, ME, Massachusetts, Mass, MA, New Hampshire, N.H., NH, Rhode Island, R.I., RI, Vermont, VT. Styles, genres: alt folk, alternative folk, alt country, alternative country, alt rock, alternative rock, bluegrass, country and western, country music, country rock, country-rock, country western, folk singer songwriter, folk singer-songwriter, fusion, garage, hillbilly, jazz, punk rock, reggae, rhythm and blues, rhythm n blues, rock and roll, rock n roll, roots music, roots rock, roots-rock, ska, string band, stringband, swing band. BOSTON DOES THE BEATLES TRACK LIST Side 1 Lenny Gardino, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"; Beat Surrender, "Come Together"; the Further Adventures of Ken Scales, "Paperback Writer"; the I-Tones, "Don't Bother Me"; Mata Hari, "Boys"; Jeanne French and Hot Wire, "I'm So Tired"; Didi Stewart, "You're Gonna Lose That Guy". Side 2 Powerglide, "Revolution"; Barry Cowsill, "Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except for Me and My Monkey"; One Four Five, "I'm Down"; the Blaros, "It Won't Be Long"; Bishop Desmond and the Tutus, "Norwegian Wood"; the Bentmen, "Blue Jay Way"; Capitol Gain, "Daytripper"; A.K.A., "She Said She Said". Side 3 Mr. Curt's Camaraderie, "It's Only Love"; the Funky Young Monks, "Come Together"; the Tax Collectors, "Baby You Can Drive My Car"; the Memphis Rockabilly Band, "Honey Don't"; the Rugbeaters, "I'll Cry Instead"; the Chris Martin Manifesto, "You're Going To Lose That Girl"; the Apples, "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away". Side 4 Trap the Clown, "Strawberry Fields Forever"; Joanne Victoria, "You Can't Do That"; Me and the Boys, "Can't Buy Me Love"; the KGB, "The Night Before"; Bim Skala Bim, "Rain"; Bruce Marshall and the Clue, "I Call Your Name"; Berlin Airlift, "Eleanor Rigby"; Triage, "I'm Losing You". RAMRODS LP: Side One: 1. I Wanna Be Your Man (Lennon and McCartney), 2. I'll Be on My Way (Lennon and McCartney), 3. The Girl Can't Help It (Bobby Troup), 4. She Lied (Rockin' Ramrods), 5. Got My Mojo Working (Preston Foster), 6. Play It (Frank Slay and David L'Heureux), 7. Mr. Wind or Mister Wind (Ronn Campisi), 8. Jungle Call (Rockin' Ramrods). Side Two: 1. Wild About You (H. Hunter and B. Boulanger), 2. Cry in My Room (Ronn Campisi), 3. Don't Fool with Fu Manchu (Bob Stone and Warren Schatz), 4. Tears Melt the Stones (Ronn Campisi), 5. Flowers in My Mind (Ronn Campisi), 6. Mary Mary (Ronn Campisi), 7. Bright Lit Blue Skies (Ron Campisi), 8. Indian Giver (Rockin' Ramrods). SEVEN DAYS 2003 DAYSY AWARDS: The Daysie Awards are: Best live music venue, Higher Ground (Winooski); Best place to cut a rug, Club Metronome; Best club DJ, A-Dog; Best musician, Trey Anastasio; Best vocalist, Tammy Fletcher; Best local band, Phish. VALLEY ADVOCATE 2003 GRAND BAND SLAM WINNERS: New Band, Kill Reign; Groove Rock, Electric Blue and the Kosmic Truth; Roots / Traditional Rock, Drunk in July; Metal, Hot Lunch; Post-Punk, Chicken McHead; Alternative, Almost Speechless; Power Pop, the Stone Coyotes; Singer Songwriter, Frank Manzi; Folk / Folk-Rock, Stephen Kellogg; Blues, Blue Illusion; Jazz, Tony Vacca; Experimental / Progressive, Q; Swing Band, Gypsy Wranglers; R&B / Rhythm and Blues / Soul / Funk, Inner Orchestra; Hip-Hop, Maspyke; DJ, DJ Azmatic; Reggae / Ska Band, Jaya the Cat; Country / Alt-Country, Ware River Club; Celtic / Celtic-Rock, Big Bad Bollocks; Latin / Worldbeat, Viva Quetzal; Cover Band, Orange Crush; Tribute Band, Back in Black; Guitarist, Andy Freeman; Bass Guitar, Floyd Patterson; Drummer, Matt Cosimini; Keyboardist, Ken Maiuri; Female Vocalist, Miranda Brown; Male Vocalist, Kevin O'Rourke. The Boston Globe, CD Baby, the New York Times, Paste magazine, Signature Sounds Recordings. General: airplay, album, Americana, arena, audience, auditorium, backing, backup, bar, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston Phoenix, broadcast, cassette, coffee house, coffeehouse, column, compact disc cd, composed by, composer, composition, concert, cover, critic, dance, dancing, DVD, entertainment, EP, ex, fan, female, fest, festival, former, girl group, girl-group, harmony, instrumental, label, lineup, LP, male, musician, N E, NE, NEMS, New England Music Scrapbook newsletter, night club, nightclub, nightlife, northeast, northeastern, personnel, pop-rock, power pop, produced by, producer, production, program, AM FM radio, record, recording studio, release, review, rpm, show, single, song writer, tape, theater, theatre, twang, underground, venue, video, vinyl, Webcast, written by. Ron Campisi, Vinn Campisi, Chelsea House Cafe, Chelsea House Folklore Center, Elliot Street, Elliot St, live music. Northeast Music Archive Issue 3
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