Tues, 6/11, 9p-12a no cover @ The Mason Lounge 416 S Park St, Madison, WI 53715, USA Isthmus Jazz Festival presents the Five Points Jazz Collective CD Release show with Live Art!
“Don’t Worry About It” CDs $10
Entering Madison’s Mason Lounge for the first time, one immediately notices the quirks. The stuffed chicken in a henhouse in the wall, complete with straw. The action figures dangling from string, rigged up to move when someone opens the door to the restroom. The collection of neckties and paint can lids on the walls. Every element is so out of place, it somehow fits.
Like the décor, the Five Points Jazz Collectiveis quirky and disparate. Serving as the house band since the Mason opened in 2010, the Collective is an extended family of local musicians from varied backgrounds. Playing a mixture of jazz old and new, the group has evolved over the years from an open jam into a stable sextet with an increasingly large repertoire.
In its current incarnation, the group consists of Rin Ribble (violin), Eric Shackelford (drums), band leader Charlie Painter (guitar), Trey Grimm (keyboard), Kyle Rightley (trombone and euphonium), and Brian Grimm (bass and contracello). As Tuesday night regulars will attest, no two shows are ever alike. Listeners can expect to hear many subgenres of Jazz including swing standards, modal jazz, latin jazz, pop arrangements, blues, and funk.
Five Points at the Mason’s frozen back patio on set break – photo by Matthew Norman
About the CD Release
In collaboration with the Isthmus Jazz Festival, the Five Points Jazz Collective will be celebrating its first official album release! For 5 years the sextet version of this collective has played nearly 50 shows a year and decided it was time to lay down favorite selections of our vast catalogue. When listening to this debut album, you’ll feel the energy and spontaneity of the Five Points live sound with the buzzing atmosphere created by our regular fans. CDs and download cards will be available for sale at the show. Come grab your very own copy of this special recording captured live at the Mason Lounge!
Our CD Release will be made extra special with live visual artist contributions. Watch along as one of our most regular supporters John Ribble, plus special guest Jim McKiernan, create portraits of band members in real time to our music!
Live Drawing of me on bass at the Mason by John Ribble!
The mission of LunART Festivalis to support, inspire, promote, and celebrate women in the arts through public performances, exhibitions, workshops, and interdisciplinary collaboration; thus enriching our community and creating a welcoming space for learning and experimentation. This international art festival features engaging and accessible events and concerts in Madison, an educational program for emerging composers, as well as community building events for artists. LunART interweaves art forms throughout events, offering diverse and exciting programming, where creativity is queen!
Join us for a Playhouse Gallery Reception from 6 PM – 8 PM! Art Discussion with Kelly Parks Snider starts at 6:30 PM!
We are women united against hate. We are mothers, sisters, grandmother and caretakers. We are joined together purposely to shine a light, capture attention, and push back against injustice.
A collective effort of artists and activists, “Women Against Hate United by Love” is a platform, an entry point for a female-led anti-hate campaign united against bigotry, intolerance and racism. The creative building blocks for our artwork and messaging are women’s stories—powerful, tough, revealing stories of injustice, tragedy, strength, and amazingly, hope.
The goal of “From Page to Stage” is to support emerging women composers in gaining a clearer understanding of not only expressing their creativity, but also creating clear scores, cultivating relationships with performers, and the art of collaboration. The master class with festival composer-in-residence Valerie Coleman will explore works submitted by participants, while talks about collaboration and the role of the independent composer will offer participants a well-rounded approach to growing their own careers.
Join the LunART Festival in celebrating women in the arts with our opening gala concert. Featuring chamber music, poetry, monologues and aerial dancing, this concert will be a spectacular showcase of creativity by women artists!
Program: Kirsten Volness little tiny stone, full of blue fire for flute/alto, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin & cello
Valerie Coleman, Tzigane for woodwind quintet
Barbara Strozzi, L’Astratto, Opus 8.04 Che si può fare, Opus 8.06
Hilary Tann, The Walls of Morlais Castle for oboe, viola & cello
Kate Soper, Only the Words Themselves Mean What They Say for flute & soprano
Special guests: Andrea Musher – poet Deborah Hearst – theatre artist Linda DiRaimondo – aerial dancer + BC Grimm guqin zither
What does it mean to create art as a woman in the 21st century, and how do our experiences shape what we produce and perform? Join us to hear stories of modern women and their unique personal journeys that led them to lives and careers in the arts.
This is a free pre-concert lecture that is open to the public. Stick around for the 7 PM concert Portraits of Josephine featuring an evening of music and dance.
Join us for a night of music and dance! Featuring a percussive string quintet by composer Edna Alejandra Longoria and a choreographed exploration of rhythm by dancer Liz Sexe & Kimi Evelyn, this concert will have you moving in your seat throughout the evening.
Program:
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Concerto for trumpet and five players
Valerie Coleman, Portraits of Josephine wind quintet
Edna Alejandra Longoria, Danzas Cautivas for string quintet & piano
Liz Sexe, Lone Sum: Part II (choreographed dance)
Stacy Garrop, My Dearest Ruth for soprano, violin, cello, clarinet & piano
Kimi Evelyn, She (choreographed dance)
Missy Mazzoli, The Sound of the Light for flute, violin, trumpet, trombone & piano
This lineup of amazing comedians is gonna be a stunner! Featuring local comics from the Midwest who are blazing a trail of funny that will leave you gasping in their wake. Come to the Robinia courtyard where these Queens will be “Holding Court.”
We are extremely excited to welcome our 2019 participants to LunART’s educational program “From Page to Stage: Emerging Composers!” After attending masterclasses and workshops, these 6 talented composers will have their compositions performed by Madison musicians during this free concert at Capitol Lakes.
Program:
Emily Joy Sullivan – Dangerous Curves Ahead for violin, cello & piano
Claudia Sofía Alvarez Cuba – Nada queda (Nothing Left) for soprano & marimba
Shelby Scott – Going Thoughts for piano solo
Veronica Cator – Direction for string quartet
Anna Marcus-Hecht – Transfiguration for mezzo-soprano & piano
Join us for our final gala concert of the festival! This program will feature a wickedly upbeat clarinet & piano duo by Eunike Tanzil (who will be here to perform the piece herself!), Clara Schumann’s classic Piano Trio in G minor, and Valerie Coleman’s groundbreaking Afro-Cuban Concerto for wind quintet.
The ARTemis Women’s Choir returns for a second year and we’ll be featuring the artwork of women artists from Studio 84, Inc. and ARTWORKING, two nonprofit organizations that support artists with disabilities.
Full program:
ARTemis Women’s Choir: Joan Szymko, Eli Eli Meg Huskin, Oblivion Jocelyn Hagen, Moon Goddess Alexandra Olsavsky, What Happens When a Woman?
Eunike Tanzil, Catching Time! for clarinet & piano
Clara Schumann, Piano Trio in G minor for violin, cello & piano
“Mooning Around” Poetry Reading and Artist Mixer – no better way to close our 2019 season! Join us for a performance of “One for Mileva Maric (Einstein)” by Andrea Musher, with special guests Sarah Whelan and Jackie Bradley, and poetry readings by The Line-Breakers: Andrea Potos, Eve Robillard, Rosemary Zurlo-Cuva & Katrin Talbot.
Enjoy your morning coffee and brunch while making creative connections with other artists. Open the public and all artists – bring your portfolios, business cards, and get creative!
Lovely Socialite is excited to debut a lot of new material at the InDIGenous Jazz Series this week. These new tunes will be recorded on our 4th studio album this summer with Landon Arkens (engineer for Registers Her Delight [2012], Toxic Consonance [2015]) at Blast House Studios!
Fri, 4/5 | Free! 7:30 PM – 10 PM @ Central Library, Madison Public Library 201 E Mifflin St, Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Presented by The Madison Music Collective and The Greater Madison Jazz Consortium, the inDIGenous Jazz series continues with a return performance from the Lovely Socialite.
Lovely Socialite is a Madison/Milwaukee-based six-piece that combines the aesthetics of modern jazz with contemporary classical, driving rock, and hip hop. Lauded for their bold and intricate compositions, the group often draws comparisons to Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. The band’s original music combines strict notation with moments of improvisation and maintains a healthy balance of dark and heavy rock grooves with quirky jazz obscurities. The group will perform original jazz/rock fusion compositions composed by its members since our inception in 2010. Musicians with Lovely Socialite: Ben Willis-Double Bass, Electronics; Pat Reinholz-Electric Cello, Electonics; Brian Grimm-Pipa (琵琶), Gaohu (高胡), Cello, Electronics; Corey Murphy-Trombone, Electronics; Abe Sorber-Vibraphone, Drums; Mike Koszewski-Drums, Percussion
All InDIGenous shows are free and start at 7:30pm on the 3rd floor of the Madison Central Library 201 W. Mifflin St
We would like to thank our series sponsors who help us make these concerts possible:
Madison Public Library, John and Carolyn Peterson Charitable Foundation, Dane Arts (with additional funds from the W. Jerome Frautschi Foundation), Wisconsin Arts Board, WORT-FM, Wisconsin Public Radio, Bear Sound, Janus Galleries, and Presenting Organizations: Madison Music Collective and The Greater Madison Jazz Consortium
Please visit jazzinmadison.org for more information on our local jazz scene
New to Lovely Socialite’s music? Catch up on our previous albums!
Hear sounds born out of the ’60s counterculture with works exploring minimalism, social and political engagement, and electronic experimentation, as well as the music they inspired for decades to come. The program will include a mixture of instrumental, vocal, and electroacoustic music, with featured guest artist Conduit. Highlights include composer and Lawrence Conservatory faculty Evan Williams’ “Bodies Upon the Gears” for clarinet, viola, and audio from Mario Savio’s 1964 speech urging the importance of civil protest; Steve Reich’s “New York Counterpoint” for amplified clarinet and tape; and Andy Akiho’s “Stop Speaking” for solo snare in conversation with digital playback. There will be a cash bar, as well as opportunities to explore the exhibits, including the MMoCA’s current exhibition “Far Out: Art of the 1960s.”
Complete Program: Music by Melissa Dunphy, Angelica Negron, Evan Williams, Steve Reich, Gilda Lyons, Anna Meadors, Kyle Tieman-Strauss, David Lang, and Andy Akiho
Performed by: Conduit (Zach Manzi, clarinet and Evan Saddler, percussion); Caitlin Mead, soprano; Kristina Teuschler, clarinet; ZouZou Robidoux, cello; Jeremy Kienbaum, viola; Heather Zinninger Yarmel, flute.
Saturday, 8/11 2:00pm at Bethel Lutheran, 312 Wisconsin Ave.
Madison New Music Festival continues with an afternoon program that invokes spirituality, morality, and reflection. Hear music including organ interludes performed by Madison Symphony Orchestra organist Greg Zelekand Vital Organ Project founder Tyler Jameson Pimm, soundscapes for viola and piano by Morton Feldman and Toru Takemitsu, African spirituals arranged for instrumental chamber ensemble, and the renowned Langston Hughes set to music by composers including Madison’s Scott Gendel.
Tickets: $15/$5 for students.
Program: Music by Toru Takemitsu, Trevor Weston, Morton Feldman, Daniel Ficarri, John Weaver, Tyler Pimm, Tania J. Leon, John Musto, Ricky Ian Gordon, and Scott Gendel.
Performed by: Jeremy Kienbaum, viola; Satoko Hayami, piano; Caitlin Mead, soprano; Scott Gendel, piano; Kristina Teuschler, clarinet; Micah Cheng, cello; Alex Norris, violin; Greg Zelek, organ; and Tyler Jameson Pimm, organ.
Sunday, 8/12 7:30pm at Robinia Courtyard, 829 E Washington Ave
Polish off your weekend with a drink at Robinia Courtyard as you listen to the world premiere of “They’re Still Here,” a new work by local multi-instrumentalist B.C. Grimm featuring 9 instruments ranging from cello to Chinese pipa. Then, kick back for a set of solo string music from violinist Aaron Yarmel and violist Jeremy Kienbaum, featuring pieces by Philip Glass, Ursula Mamlock, and one of Yarmel’s own improvisations. Finally, musicians from all three concerts close out the festival together with a performance of Julius Eastman’s “brilliant and brazen” 1973 piece, “Stay On It.” This rarely performed work ends our musical weekend with a bang– and a groove! There will be a cash bar.
Live set up for BC Grimm’s new 30min piece, “They’re Still Here”.
“They’re Still Here” Program Notes
Composed August, 2018 by BC Grimm (b 1986) for the Madison New Music Festival
This piece explores how those who have passed away continue to pop up in the everyday moments of our lives. You’ll hear field recordings of my day-to-day experience fused with instrumental sound design. These scenes recreate and reference real life moments I’ve had in the wake of these deaths.
“They’re Still Here”is dedicated in loving memory to Patrick Kelly, Ross Sutherin & Brian White-Stout and to the Grimm, Sutherin, Kelly, Morrow, White-Stout & Brethauer families.
Scene I Passing of a Friend, The Work Day Begins
Tenor Viola da Gamba with field recording
Scene II News Cycle On Fire: Rbt. Mueller’s Lonely Russia Probe
Gaohu Cantonese fiddle with foley, field recording, 1940’s radio broadcast, singing bowls, violoncello, dizi flute, bawu flute, xiao flute, sheng mouth organ
Scene III Do I Tell The Children? No, Teach On.
Violoncello with field recording, pipa lute, tenor viola da gamba, violoncello, contracello
Scene IV Fluorescence Hums The Harmonic Order of Nature
APC40 (electric hum in just intonation)
Scene V Morning Routine, Scrambled Brains
Field Recording with foley
Scene VI A Call With My Brother, Wise Counsel
Sarangi-Cello in pipa tuning with claps, cajon, motorcycle
Scene VII Ask The Corn Spirits
Gaohu fiddle with bawu flute
Scene VIII Hermie’s Chimes, They’re Still Here
Guqin Zither with pipa lute, gaohu fiddle, dizi flute
Scene IX Funeral Grave
Violoncello
Scene X Temple of Ancestors
Sarangi-Cello in pipa tuning with pipa lute, synthesis
Scene XI Transfigurations
Guqin zither with pipa lute, Russian folk harp, singing bowls
Scene XII Schoolyard in Snow; Children Play On
Tenor Viola da Gamba,
APC40 (electric hum in equal temperament), field recordings, foley
It has finally arrived! The 2018 LunART Festival celebrating women composers, performers, visual artists, choreographers, and more! This festival, spearheaded by Sound Out Loud flutist Iva Ugrčić, has a mission to: “… support, inspire, promote, and celebrate women in the arts through public performances, exhibitions, workshops, and interdisciplinary collaboration; thus enriching our community and creating a welcoming space for learning and experimentation.”
Please do yourself a favor and take a scroll down LunART Fest’s official facebook page, you’ll find post after post highlighting all of the fantastic musicians participating in this festival!
More from LunART: “ [This] festival strives to cultivate a vibrant, safe space for women, unveiling our artistic leadership and creating the opportunity to put our hearts and souls into what we believe in.
Throughout history, artists have created and used their works as a powerful way to comment on social issues. They have raised questions, challenged norms, and encouraged people to observe controversial subjects through a different lens. Gender issues are currently at the forefront of political and social discussions, and we want to support women across the globe as they navigate the gender imbalance in artistic fields.
This three-day festival features a remarkable range of women, diverse and varied in their artistic vision, but with the shared passion and desire to make their voices heard!
Our 2018 Artist in Residence is award-winning composer Jenni Brandon. She will coach the LunART Festival “From Page to Stage: Emerging Composers Workshop,” offering master classes, lectures, and discussions about collaboration and career tools. ”
“The main idea behind this talk is to highlight the varied roles that women play in the music industry. We are performers, composers, and scholars, yes. And those roles have been public for quite some time. But we are also pedagogues, consiglieri, critics, and administrators, not to mention conductors, librarians, and educators. My goal with this talk is to explore some examples of these roles and to demonstrate how women’s cultural agency is a vital part of music in the 21st century.”
Enjoy this opening event featuring music by Composer-in-Residence Jenni Brandon; 2018 Call for Scores Winners Katy Abbott & Veronika Krausas; Valerie Coleman and Cecilia McDowall; with special guests Katrina Schaag, writer and Zhalarina Sanders, hip-hop artist.
Program
Katrina Therese Schaag The Infinite Woman feminist writing project
Jenni Brandon Music, composer-in-residence Meditations for piano, violin, viola and cello
Veronika Krausas, 2018 Call for Scores Winner Hopscotch Tarot for mezzo soprano and violin
Cecilia McDowall The Moon Dances for flute and piano
Jenni Brandon The Dreams of Birds for alto flute and piano
Katy Abbott, 2018 Call for Scores Winner Glisten for piano solo
Valerie Coleman-Page Flutist & Composer Trio Toccata for oboe, bassoon and piano
Xinyan Li, 2018 Call for Scores Winner Mongolian Impressions for solo bassoon, percussion, and string quartet
Katrin Talbot poetry reading and photo exhibition
Jenni Brandon Sun Songs for soprano, English horn, cello, and piano
Galina Ustvolskaya Composition No.1 “Dona Nobis Pacem” for tuba, piccolo and piano
Fanny Mendelssohn Three Pieces for piano four hands
Doina Rotaru Japanese Garden for bass flute/piccolo and electronics
Jenni Brandon The Woman with the Unfathomable Eyes for small chamber ensemble, narrator, and dancer
9:30pm Free | “That’s What She Said” Anthology @ Bos Meadery: 849 East Washington, Madison, Wisconsin 53703
That’s What She Said is a story-share production in which local women share real stories about their fears, their joys, their lives. Created in 2014, it is produced by The Bricks Theatre (Madison, WI) and directed by Molly Vanderlin (Owner/Producer, The Bricks Theatre). It has received great reviews, and after fifteen shows, The Bricks Theatre has decided it might have a great idea!
Saturday, June 30:
10am Free | Panel Discussion: “Collaboration in the Arts”– with Jenni Brandon, Katrina Schaag, and Zhalarina H. Sanders, @ The Bubbler at Madison Public Library: 201 W. Mifflin St., Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Join us for a Saturday morning chat about the Collaboration is the Arts led by our fabulous guest artists:
Jenni Brandon – composer Kelly Parks Snider – visual artist Katrina Therese Schaag, PhD. – writer
This engaging panel discussion is for anyone interested in arts entrepreneurship, and for those who want to learn how artists work together. Participation from attendees is encouraged.
We are extremely excited to welcome 6 talented composers to LunART’s 2018 educational program “From Page to Stage: Emerging Composers!” Join us for the concert dedicated to showcasing their works!
Join the LunART Festival in celebrating women in the arts! Enjoy this event featuring music by Composer-in-Residence Jenni Brandon, 2018 Call for Scores Winner Ingrid Stölzel, and Abbie Betinis, Hildegard von Bingen, Linda Kachelmeier, Elizabeth Alexander, Marilyn Bliss, Brianna Ware, Madeleine Dring, & Amy Beach. Featuring Festival Women’s Choir conducted by Kathy Otterson.
With special guests: visual artist Kelly Parks Snider and photographers Jennifer Bucheit & Katrin Talbot.
9:30pm Free | “Starry Night”performance: 2014 International Fingerstyle Guitar Champion and folk singer-songwriter Helen Avakian, and rock band Tiny Dinosaur @ Robinia Courtyard: 829 E Washington Ave, Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Come enjoy our fabulous guest artists, singer-songwriter Helen Avakian and Tiny Dinosaur rock band, and join us in celebrating the end of our inaugural 2018 season!
Madison singer-songwriter and guitarist Helen Avakian is the 2014 International Fingerstyle Guitar Champion, and was voted Favorite Acoustic Act by Rhythm and News Magazine. She is also a recording artist, producer, and guitar instructor specializing in acoustic guitar music. Time for some indie pop emerging from the primordial ooze of the isthmus to weave tiny tales. It’s Mesozoic music for the masses. Tiny Dinosaur is an indie rock band of four females giving a warm embrace to folk, punk, and pop to tell you a story.
Partners
LunART Festival has partnered with area art organizations including:
Overture Center for the Arts
Madison Museum of Contemporary Arts
First United Methodist Church
Madison Public Library
Capitol Lakes Retirement Center and First Unitarian Society
Robinia Courtyard
Bos Meadery
Field Table
LunART is supported by:
Dane Arts and Madison Arts Commission
2018 UW Arts Business Competition, 2nd place
finalist for 2018 National Flute Association’s C.R.E.A.T.E. Project Competition
Don’t miss the inaugural ALL Jazz Fest on Friday, May 4th during Spring Gallery Night. Starting at 5pm, enjoy free jazz concerts at 7 venues in Schenk’s Corners (Atwood/Winnebago) featuring 17 top local jazz ensembles, including Russ Johnson’s Headlands with special guest Greg Ward.
Serbian flutist Iva Ugrčić is organizing this year’s LunART Festival for women composers – taking place in Madison, WI from June 28-30th, 2018! This three-day festival features a remarkable range of women, diverse and varied in their artistic visions, but with the shared passion and desire to make their voices heard!
The vision for LunART festival is to empower women in the arts by fostering originality, honoring diversity, and strengthening equality – and to put Madison on the world map as mecca for women artists.
Festival Events include four classical concerts presenting the work of women composers, a musicological lecture about women in the arts, as well as “Starry Night” after hours performances featuring local women jazz and hip hop artists, and singer-songwriters. Visual art, photography, and spoken word will be woven into all Festival events, and we are thrilled to include the Madison Youth Choir in our Closing Gala Concert.
Our 2018 Composer in Residence is award-winning composer Jenni Brandon, whose instrumental and vocal music will be showcased in our Gala concerts, including two world premieres! She will coach the LunART Festival “From Page to Stage: Emerging Composers Workshop,” offering master classes, lectures, and discussions about collaboration and tools necessary for a successful freelance career in the arts. Additionally, we have created an annual Call for Scores, open to women composers from around the globe.
Designed for professional composers. Up to three works will be chosen and then presented each night of the Festival. Composer can come and she will have free housing provided.
Performances
Thursday June 28 @ MMoCA Lobby 7pm
Friday June 29 @ Promenade Hall, Overture Center 7pm
For younger composers and students that still need guidance and tools for professional careers. The Page to Stage concert will be Saturday June 30 @ Capitol Lakes 2pm. Fee for this is $150 for the professional concert and recording, workshop with musicians, and masterclass with the composer, + all events for free.
LunART Festival Mission
The mission of the LunART Festival is to support, inspire, promote, and celebrate women in the arts through public performances, exhibitions, workshops, and interdisciplinary collaboration; thus enriching our community and creating a welcoming space for learning and experimentation.
About Dr. Iva Ugrčić FOUNDER & ARTISTIC/EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
“There is a place for everyone under the Sun.”
Serbian flutist Iva Ugrčić is one of the most exciting and adventurous young flutists in the international pantheon. Described as “a natural star on her instrument,” Iva has been featured as a solo artist and a chamber musician at numerous music festivals, touring and performing around Europe and the United States. She is a musician who has worn many hats throughout her professional career: flutist, teacher, artistic director, entrepreneur, freelance musician and recording artist, among others. Since moving to the United States (2014), Iva has performed with many orchestras and chamber groups.
She currently plays with Black Marigold Wind Quintet, ID flute and percussion duo, and Sound Out Loud contemporary chamber music ensemble.
After completing her Bachelor and Master’s degrees at the University of Belgrade Academy of Music, Iva Ugrčić moved to Paris, where she studied flute performance and chamber music for three years with Pierre-Yves Artraud and George Alirol.
Iva Ugrčić’s solo album, The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi was released in September 2014. The same year, Ms. Ugrčić was awarded the prestigious Paul Collins Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, where she completed her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree (2017), studying with flutist Stephanie Jutt. Iva won the Shain Irving Duo Competition in 2015 as well as multiple concerto competitions, performing as a soloist with the UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra and Miami Summer Music Festival Symphony Orchestra. In 2016, Iva received a James R. Smith Orchestra Award for excellency and leadership. She is finishing up her second solo album Cries and Whispers – Flute Works by Doina Rotaru, and currently serves as Artistic Director for the Rural Musicians Forum in Spring Green.
Lovely Socialite is a Madison-based six-piece that combines the aesthetics of modern jazz with contemporary classical, driving rock, and hip hop. Lauded for their bold and intricate compositions, the group often draws comparisons to Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. The bands original music combines strict notation with moments of improvisation and maintains a healthy balance of dark and heavy rock grooves with quirky jazz obscurities.
While Lovely Socialites unusual mix of strings, traditional Chinese instruments, brass, and a jazz rhythm section suggest that the group might be a contemporary music ensemble, it is their use of stomp boxes, vocal processors, and other electronics that makes the group a suitable fit for any rock, hip-hop, or jazz bill. In fact, Lovely Socialite has been privileged to share the stage with such artists as Dessa, of Minneapolis hip-hop collective Doomtree, as well as performing live on the UW Madison Terrace with Brian Ritchie of the Violent Femmes.
This summer Lovely Socialite released their new Rock EP “DoubleShark”, come hear it live at The Shitty Barn!
There he was, this musically lucked child of a once-priest and a near-nun, 12 years old and piled high with a Radio Shack combo stereo, stacks of records, and pockets full of dubbed tapes. It was 1984 and Martin Dosh was orchestrating the soundtracks to his junior high school dances, playing only the choice cuts for the budding romantics and perspiring wallflowers: Run DMC, Prince, Devo, the Cars, New Order… At age 3, Marty had started harassing his folks to bone up for piano lessons (after three years of persistence, they gave in); that he’d developed considerable musical taste before hitting puberty should come as no real surprise.
Call him a one-man band, a virtuoso, a gifted collaborator or a family man, Martin, Marty, Dosh or Dad, our subject has gotten to now by what seems an uncanny path (perhaps call it fate). When they met, Dosh’s father was a Catholic priest with pile of degrees, and his mother was living in a convent in Minneapolis preparing herself for nunhood. They left the fold for marriage; subsequently the elder Dosh found himself blacklisted from local employment, and so they left Minnesota as well. Martin was born in the greater Los Angeles area, but at age 2, his health problems and the city’s endless sprawl delivered the family back into the musically nurturing arms of the Twin Cities.
Returning to the Midwest, Martin was enrolled in a Montessori school (and piano lessons). By comparison high school was, “academically, horseshit” so Dosh seized his destiny at 16 and moved east to study jazz and drums at Simon’s Rock College of Bard in Massachusetts. What followed was a flurry of summer jobs, road trips to see the Grateful Dead, van living around various college outposts in Mass and NY, Zappa-esque noodling in his band Como Zoo, further schooling, the requisite amount of pot, and a little too much partying. But Dosh wanted more for his music and less for his student debt, so he swallowed his pride and returned (at 25) to his parents’ in Minneapolis.
He figured the move would be temporary — he’d save up money and practice drums until he became a self-sustaining virtuoso –but Dosh was going to shows every night and meeting more and more people in the local music-rich scene (a collision of avant jazz, freewheeling rock and progressive hip-hop), quickly realizing that what he needed had been there all along. And throughout his dedicated solo drum-and-keyboard sessions in mom and dad’s basement, he’d record, record, record, accumulating a massive library of sound. Soon he’d be a touring member of Andrew Broder’s Fog, and full-time player in their instrumental counterpart Lateduster.
In 2003 Anticon proudly released Dosh’s virtuoso debut, Dosh, a loop-building collage of shimmering Rhodes, atypical drumming grounded in groove, field recordings and spontaneous performance (much of the album was pieced together using the 100-plus hours of tape he’d recorded at his parents’). By then he’d developed his untouchable live one-man show (swiveling on his drum stool between a kit, his modified Rhodes piano, a few pots and pans, and a simple looping pedal with a 12-second recording limit), and took to the road. Back in Minneapolis, the city he’d finally recognized as home, Dosh had been teaching drum lessons to children and falling in love on the side. He formed a family with his wife Erin (who he’d wooed by handing her a copy a song called “I Think I’m Getting Married”) and her 6-year-old son Tadhg. Soon he’d be composing a track titled “Building a Strange Child,” and so they would. Dosh’s second full-length, Pure Trash was inspired by his life’s most pleasant turns, and though the album was instrumental (minus cameos by Erin, Tadhg, the newborn Naoise, and his students), it emoted all the warmth and anticipation, fear and relief that comes with building a family.
Dosh’s third album, The Lost Take, showcases the man’s unique approach to sound with an expanded musicality and growing guest-list including Andrew Bird and members of Tapes ‘N Tapes.
His Fourth record, Wolves And Wishes, adds to the ever-impressing oeuvre with the explorative wonderment of a debut album. To date Dosh has recorded with Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billie, Fog, Jel, Odd Nosdam, Neotropic, Andrew Bird, Redstart, Vicious Vicious, Poor Line Condition, Lateduster, Why?, the Interferents, members of Tapes ‘N Tapes, and just about any Twin Cities band with a collective ear for good taste and experimentation. He has shared the stage with Andrew Bird, Wilco, WHY?, Damo Suzuki, Gary Wilson, Golden Smog, Sole, My Morning Jacket, Tapes ‘n Tapes, cLOUDDEAD, Sage Francis, Devendra Banhart, Kid Dakota, Alias, Themselves, Peanut Butter Wolf, P.O.S., Happy Apple, Joseph Arthur, Pizza Boys, the Bad Plus, The Jayhawks, Atmosphere, DJ Vadim and many more.
