Wake
The Dead
Celtic All-Star Grateful
Dead Jam Band
$20/advance,
$22/door, Teens
12-17/$10
Kids under 12 free with paying adult |
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Havurah Shir Hadash, 185 N. Mountain, Ashland
Saturday, May 10, 2008 • 8PM
- MAUREEN BRENNAN Celtic harp
- CINDY BROWNE double bass
- DANNY CARNAHAN vocals, octave mandolin, guitar, fiddle
- KEVIN CARR fiddle, uilleann pipes, pennywhistle
- SYLVIA HEROLD vocals, guitar
- PAUL KOTAPISH vocals, mandolin, guitar, jaw harp
- BRIAN RICE hand percussion
As an expression of cultural joy, you can't top an Irish
wake. And what is a wake but a celebration—a toast of appreciation—an
expression of love—and a damn good party?
So when eight
top Bay Area musicians realized they shared as deep a love for
the songs of the Grateful Dead as they did for traditional Celtic
tunes, some brand-new music sprang up and started partying.
WAKE
THE DEAD is a romp that flows seamlessly from rock grooves to
hot Irish reels, and from haunting airs to achingly beautiful
melodies familiar to Deadheads everywhere. "Sugaree" in
waltz time, bracketed by an ancient harp tune and infused with
a poignant Celtic longing. "Bertha" thundering out
of "China Cat" on a mandolin tidal wave. The eerie
lilt of the uilleann pipes, giving a glow to "Bird Song" as
if it was always meant to be there. Groove jams to keep the tie-dye
swirling. Vocal harmonies that float like clouds. The music takes
off, and the band follows, grinning all the way. These aren't
worlds colliding—they're worlds meshing, coalescing—creating
a whole new world of possibility, and true to the spirits of
the Grateful Dead and the eter- nally hopeful Celts.
WAKE THE
DEAD bands together eight of the best-known and most respect-
ed players in the west. Harper Maureen Brennan has performed
widely for over 20 years. Her recorded works include three solo
CDs and the acclaimed "Harpistry" collection. Bassist
Cindy Browne, enlisted from the eclectic world ensemble Next
Village, is equally at home in folk and jazz, touring from Jordan
to Japan. Singer, fiddler, and fretman Danny Carnahan is a two-time
NAIRD "Indie" award winner whose original Irish-tinged
songs (including a collabora- tion with Robert Hunter) are popular
worldwide. Kevin Carr is a musical triple- threat, renowned in
the U.S. and Canada as a dance fiddler, a pennywhistler, and
Irish piper par excellence. Irrepressible percussionist and multi-instru-
mental dynamo Joe Craven performed and recorded with Jerry Garcia
and has toured for the past decade with David Grisman. Sylvia
Herold's delicious vocal phrasing can be heard on her two
solo CDs and in her concerts with several popular swing bands.
Paul Kotapish is known far and wide for his concerts and recordings
with Kevin Burke's Open House, and for his blazing guitar
and mandolin with The Hillbillies From Mars. And percussionist
Brian Rice, with his expertise in Latin rhythm, rounds out the
band's groove engine.
WAKE THE DEAD was born in 2000 when
three veteran Celtic per- formers who shared a love for the Grateful
Dead experienced a joint flash of inspiration and began weaving
the two seemingly alien musical genres into something new and
immediately appealing. Danny Carnahan, Paul Kotapish, and Maureen
Brennan assem- bled a septet of seasoned Celtic, jazz, and new
acoustic players and recorded "Wake the Dead" as
a lark. The CD contained nine songs originally popularized by
the Grateful Dead, each retooled in unexpected ways, blended
with Celtic jigs, reels, and airs, and performed all-acoustic
but with true rock-and-roll sizzle. Grateful Dead Records took
one listen and immediately signed the band, releasing the CD
nationally.
What no one at the Grateful Dead knew at that moment,
though, was that the band didn't exist yet. In fact, never
had all seven members all played together at the same time. But,
all agreeing that this was the most fun music any of them had
played in years, they dropped everything and started rehearsing
to perform live. It didn't take long, and by October, Wake
the Dead was playing to sell-out houses in the Bay Area including
the Fillmore Auditorium and the Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse.
In
January, 2007, WAKE THE DEAD released their third CD Blue
Light Cheap Hotel.
For more information, visit www.wakethedead.org. |
