EVENTS
EVENTS
EVENTS
EVENTS
ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO
Photo and Album Art: Nancy Rankin Escovedo
A career spanning 40 years, from punk to americana, rock, one of our most beloved troubadours. His current latest album “The Crossing" (Yep Roc Records) is a critical smash, garnering raves from Rolling Stone, New Yorker, NPR and more and is now also recorded in Spanish. He was the recipient of the 2018 Townes Van Zandt Songwriter of the Year award presented at the Austin Music Awards. He has produced and staged numerous concept shows and events including his deeply personal story, "By The Hand of The Father," ACL Live at the Moody Theater, the SXSW 2014 Lou Reed Tribute and was renowned for his SXSW Sunday closing show at the Continental Club where he and many others got their start. Alejandro is a Hepatitis C survivor and became a spokesperson in 2016 for Prevent Cancer Foundation's Think About the Link.
"Escovedo's art is in the literate storytelling that is implicitly wedded to a sonic tapestry that stuns." NPR MUSIC
NICHOLAS TREMULIS
Photo: Phil Solomonson
Photo: Sandro Miller
Photo: Phil Solomonson
Nicholas Tremulis is a classic Chicago product, born to a jazz piano-playing father and a blues-singing mother, dubbed “the music mayor of Chicago” by radio veteran program director Norm Winer (WXRT). Tremulis picked up a guitar as a teenager, apprenticed playing clubs, and formed the 13-piece Nicholas Tremulis Band to play Tremulis’ energetic combination of rock, R&B, free jazz and soul, quickly becoming a top band in Chicago. Chris Blackwell took notice and signed them to Island Records, along with U2 and Melissa Etheridge. After two records on Island, Tremulis created a smaller band, and kept right on his creative jag with more EP and LP releases spanning over 30 years. Tremulis became an in-demand artist worldwide, touring in Europe on his own, backing and recording with Keith Richards, Rick Danko, Bonnie Raitt, Mavis Staples, Ivan Neville; formed side projects like Candy Golde with Wilco’s John Stirratt, Rick Rizzo (Eleventh Dream Day), and Cheap Trick’s Bun E. Carlos and The Fauntleroys with troubadour legend Alejandro Escovedo, punk architect Ivan Julian and Linda Pitmon (The Minus 3, Baseball Project) and Chi-Town Social Club with Darryl Jones (Rolling Stones, Miles, Davis, Sting), Vince Wilburn Jr (nephew of Miles Davis) and Shawn Christopher (Sonia Dada, Chaka Khan). He also serves as musical director for Jones' solo work. Nick created The Waltz, a five-year charity concert series benefiting homeless teens, guest artists that spanned a music jukebox inspired by The Last Waltz, the farewell concert of The Band; The Band's Rick Danko christened the debut, Mavis Staples the final event, with a range of guest artists that included Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), Steve Earle, Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins) Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick) blues legend Hubert Sumlin, glam architects Ian Hunter (Mott the Hoople) and David Johansen (The New York Dolls), legend Ronnie Spector, roots/punk favorite Jon Langford, jazz vocalist Kurt Elling and more. Tremulis co-hosted XRT’s “Eclectic Company” with Jon Langford; hosts a series at the Ed Paschke Center; and he also is an accomplished producer and composer, teaming regularly with long-time friend and film documentary producer Dan Andries (WTTW), racking up multiple Emmy awards over the years. Nick still plays with the original core members of the Nicholas Tremulis Band, now expanded to The Prodigals, who just released "Rarified World" mixed by producer Rob Fraboni (The Last Waltz, Keith Richards, Bob Dylan).
DARRYL JONES
Darryl Jones' international recording and touring bass career took flight at age 21. A southside Chicago native, he landed his first job with jazz legend Miles Davis. Gigs with Sting, Herbie Hancock, Peter Gabriel, Madonna, Eric Clapton, and others followed. In 1993 he was chosen to replace longtime band member Bill Wyman as bassist for the Rolling Stones. Since then, he has toured the world, performed on studio and live albums, and appeared in documentary and concert films with the Stones.
Jones' projects as a co-leader include Stone Raiders with Jean-Paul Bourelly and Will Calhoun, 3 Brave Souls with John Beasley and the late Ndugu Chancler, and Chi Town Social Club with Nicholas Tremulis, Vincent Wilburn Jr., and Shawn Christopher. He also performs with the Miles Electric Band, to revisit and renew the musical innovation of the legendary Miles Davis, and his solo work as The Darryl Jones Project.
He founded Jones Musical Instruments to produce high-quality basses and guitars; is a music composer for film and television, and regularly teaches master classes and guests as a lecturer.
VINCE BELL
"Vince is a poet"- Townes Van Zandt
"Ojo is shamanism” – T Bone Burnett
Vince Bell's career spans 40 years, starting in the thriving Houston Montrose scene in the 70s. His songs have been performed and recorded by such diverse talents as Little Feat, Lyle Lovett and Nanci Griffiths. A serious car accident led him to a 10-year recovery and brain injury, documented in his autobiography, One Man’s Music: The Life and Times of Texas Songwriter Vince Bell, also a one-man performance piece, One Man’s Music.
He made five critically acclaimed records and a live performance DVD. His most recent work Ojo is an improv of Bell’s poetry, lyrics and hand written notes realized by a stellar collection of avant garde, jazz, and Americana musicians, produced by Bob Neuwirth, who also produced Bell’s first record, “Phoenix", together with producers Dave Soldier (Soldier String Quartet, owner of Ojo’s Mulatta Records) and Patrick Derivaz (engineer). His collection is part of the Houston Folk Music Archive at Rice University, and Bell currently is in collaboration on a poetry and watercolor print series called WayWordsArt™.
JULIE CHRISTENSEN
One of the truer singers you’ll ever hear — straight up, no mannerisms, perfect taste; recognize how she could sing with both Leonard Cohen and Chris D."
LA WEEKLY
Julie is a founding member of the Divine Horsemen with Chris Dejardins, has toured extensively with Leonard Cohen. She has performed with artists including Iggy Pop, Public Image Limited, Van Dyke Parks, John Doe, Exene Cervenka, and k.d. lang. A Sad Clown is Julie's 7th release, her second with Nashville band Stone Cupid featuring Jeff Turmes (Mavis Staples) Julie appears on the Flesh Eaters new album, their first in 25 years, and has toured the US with the band.
Says Todd Rundgren, who produced Julie's first album in 1994, "It was her ability to sing with conviction in a variety of approaches that made her extraordinary to me."
Julie's newest release is the critically acclaimed "11 From Kevin: Song From Kevin Gordon" and the first record from LA punk pioneers Divine Horsemen.
Grand Ole Opry legend Jim Ed Brown and sisters Bonnie and Maxine, known as The Three Bells, inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, March 2015.
“Michael Shuler is one long cool singer/songwriter, a killer guitarist, and a whiz in the studio. We had good times working on his things, my stuff, Young Freshfellows, and he's never stopped making music. Why would he? It seems to me he's just getting better and better.” Scott McCaughey, Minus 5, R.E.M., Baseball Project, Young Freshfellows
Rock Light Monograph 2017 Lumen Press715
Cultural Arts Series presented by the San Pedro Waterfront Arts & Cultural District
Super group with Darryl Jones (Rolling Stones), Vince Willburn Jr (nephew of Miles Davis, co-executor of Miles Davis Estate), Shawn Christopher (Chaka Khan, Sonia Dada) and Nicholas Tremulis.
Award winning New York poet Puma Perl Los Angeles Tour Dates
