Jan Mayes & Jerry Joe Carrier - video of Friday's gig

Video of Friday's gig at Holly's Own Deli in Auburn, Maine (fyi - we had dinner there as well and it was sooo good). Sitting in with Jan and Jerry is Mark Pendleton on flute and soprano sax. This was the first time Mark had played along with Jan & Jerry, so I believe most of his playing was on-the-spot improvisation, making it all the more impressive.

Knockin' On Heaven's Door:

Since the Beginning (original song written by Jan Mayes):

Pay Me My Money Down:

There are a few more videos from the performance, which can all be seen at the CozInk Collective YouTube channel, along with videos from past performances of Jan, Arborea, and Old Man Forest.

Buck and Shanti left Maine today and set out on Arborea's UK tour - wishing them happy travels and good crowds.

Old Man Forest from Valhalla Fest

We had a great time at the 2010 Valhalla Fields Festival on Saturday! Here are a few moments from Old Man Forest's performance that afternoon:

New Show Scheduled & U.K. Press

I just added a new show for May to the events list. Jan Mayes and Jerry Joe Carrier will be performing live at Holly's Own Deli in Lewiston, Maine on Saturday, May 8th. The show starts at 6:30 and is expected to wrap up around 9:45; Jan and Jerry will be playing original music as well as some familiar covers. Holly's is a great local venue, offering a classic full deli menu, a cozy eat-in atmosphere, wine and local brews, and free wi-fi. Holly is an appreciated supporter of the local music, culture, and art scenes (check out weekly open mic nights on Wednesdays, and Holly's Deli hosting local belly dancers in the summer).

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Folk Radio UK recently blogged about Arborea's newest recording, a cover of Tim Buckley's Phantasmagoria in Two. Folk Radio UK created a lovely write-up about the duo and their recent projects, and also included some great videos of Arborea's live performance in Paris from their European tour this Jan./Feb. There are several videos included, one can be seen below:



Remember, there is an Old Man Forest show NEXT Saturday (May 1st). It's a daytime show, at a local bakery, so feel free to bring kiddos and enjoy some locally baked goodies.

We are all one, in the sun.

Following up the last compilation Arborea curated, Leaves of Life, Buck Curran has curated another compilation album called We are All One, In the Sun. This album is a tribute to the late Robbie Basho, American guitarist, musician, composer, and one of the early pioneers of the acoustic steel string guitar in the US.

From the album's info page at Important Records:

"We are All One, In the Sun: a Tribute to Robbie Basho, represents a humble tribute to this truly original and passionate American guitarist, musician and composer.This labor of love curated and realized by musician, producer, and acoustic guitar maker Buck Curran (along with his wife Shanti performs as the duo Arborea) who after first hearing Basho, many moons ago, instantaneously felt Kindred Spirit to his music. This tribute (a collection of both original compositions and new interpretations of Basho songs) befittingly begins and ends with German guitarist and painter Steffen Basho Junghans, who has devoted almost 20 years to composing guitar music in the spirit of Robbie Basho, and who's own compositions reflect a spiraling poetic universe like Basho's, creations of majestic musical vistas"

Also appearing on the album are Arborea themselves, Glenn Jones, Fern Knight, Meg Baird, Helena Espvall, Cian Nugent, and Rahim AlHaj. The digital version of the album will include bonus tracks from Joseba Irazoki and Israeli Yair Yona, and young and promising English guitarist Cam Deaz.

"Robbie Basho was a true American Original, a free thinking passionate intellectual and a musical pioneer whose body of works deserves the kind of recognition and glorious platform that will enable generations of young musicians from around the world to draw inspiration from. We are All One, In the Sun represents the first of hopefully many tributes and works inspired by the life and music of Robbie Basho. In Basho's own words "Don't be afraid to feel anything" and his credo "Soul first, technique later." We arrive at simple Zen like mantras by which all of us can live."

The album is due to be released on May 11, 2010. Visiting the album's page will offer more information, a track listing, as well as audio samples of some of the tracks.

Photos from Arborea's European Tour

Buck and Shanti made it home safe and sound after a tiring whirlwind European tour in January and February. They are home for a short time before starting out on their spring U.S. tour, which will take them across the entire country.

Visit Arborea's blog for some beautiful photos they've shared from their time in Europe.

Shows coming up this weekend!

Just a quickie blog post to remind folks of two great shows coming up this Saturday, January 30th.



Saturday at 8:00PM, Old Man Forest will be performing at Roots & Tendrils in Belfast, Maine. Also performing at R&T that evening is Alexis Pastuhov. It also just *happens* to be the last day of the 30//30//30 exhibit at Roots, which includes my photograph, "Quiet Movement."



In central Maine on Saturday, you can also check out Jan Mayes and Jerry Joe Carrier playing live at She Doesn't Like Guthrie's on Middle Street in Lewiston. Joining them that night are Drew Heinonen and Jason Moreau. Super talented musicians, all of them!

Have a great weekend!
-Grace

New Shows Added

Just a quick post to draw your attention to the events list at the right hand side of the blog. I keep the list as up-t0-date as possible, so even if there hasn't been a recent blog post, that list will get updated if I hear of a new show.


This week I've added two upcoming shows. There is a new show added for Old Man Forest; they're scheduled to play at She Doesn't Like Guthrie's in Lewiston on February 20th. The second new show leaves a bit of a choice to be made, because it's the same night as another CozInk performance (Old Man Forest at Roots & Tendrils). A new January 30th show has been added for Jan Mayes and Jerry Joe Carrier, who are also playing at She Doesn't Like Guthrie's.


Guthrie's is a nice pub-type atmosphere with great food, beer and wine, and really, really good hot cocoa. You can find them online at www.myspace.com/guthriesplace and in Lewiston, Maine at 115 Middle Street. You can also read some foodie reviews for Guthrie's at Urban Spoon. And thanks go out to Guthrie's for their consistent support of local indie music (particularly my family members! Thanks guys!).

drumming/dancing

A couple weeks ago several local cooperatives organized and held a Solidarity Supper to raise money for Outright L/A and the Treatment Action Campaign. At the event, Jessy Kendall did some drumming for an interpretive dancer. Here they are:

Video recorded by Craig Saddlemire, and you can see more of Craig's stuff on his youtube channel.

Mucho Arborea News!

Arborea has been BUSY! I have three bits of awesome news to share about stuff going on in the musical endeavors of Buck & Shanti.

The first is the inclusion of Arborea on a beautiful tribute album, produced by Wears the Trousers magazine. Wears the Trousers is a print and online magazine centered around women in music. The album is "Beautiful Star: The songs of Odetta" and is a tribute to folk musician / civil rights activist Odetta Holmes. Sales from the album will help the Fawcett Society and the Women's Resource Centre. Arborea's contribution to this album is a calmly powerful cover of "This Little Light of Mine", which you can download from Amazon or iTunes and hear below.

Which leads to the second bit of news; the Maine Video Activists Network and Craig Saddlemire produced a 40th episode music video that features Arborea's recording "This Little Light of Mine." The video gathers clips from the previous 39 episodes that MVAN has produced, and follows the organization from its start in 2006. The video can be seen below.



And the third and last bit of news is that Arborea will soon be kicking off their month-long European tour. Leaving in mid-January, Buck and Shanti will kick off the tour with an appearance on the Planet Claire radio show ( 93.1FM) in Paris on January 20th. From there they will tour France, Spain, and Italy before ending the tour with a show in Brussels, Belgium. For more information and specific dates/locations, see Arborea's website.

Old Man Forest at Guthrie's, Nov. 14th

There is more video to upload, so there will probably be another post tomorrow sometime. In the meantime, check out the brand spanking new CozInk Collective YouTube channel! http://www.youtube.com/user/CozInkCollective







(pictures & video by grace)

Alive in Lewiston! A celebration of local food, music, and art

CozInk peeps Old Man Forest will be playing at the Alive in Lewiston event, and CozInk Paper Goods will be present as well, with note cards out for sale, and some Lewiston-inspired photography on display!

About Lots to Gardens: Lots to Gardens is a youth and community driven organization that uses sustainable urban agriculture to create access to fresh food, and to nurture healthy youth and a healthy community. We teach people how to grow their own food, provide affordable access to fresh food, and involve youth as leaders. We help families and youth develop skills and build power for lifelong and community-wide change.

Come out and enjoy some local flavor while supporting a great organization!

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Join neighbors and friends for a night of delicious food, colorful art, and toe-tapping tunes at
Alive in Lewiston: A Celebration of
Local Food, Music, and Art.
Friday, November 20th 6:30 pm
Each season Lots to Gardens invites community members, friends, and partners, for an evening of live and local music, locally made art, and a delicious homegrown meal prepared with food grown in community gardens and farms found throughout Lewiston and Maine. This years featured meal will be prepared by our Chef in Residence, Scott Johnson, from the Blair Hill Inn in Greenville ME, and will be made with
hearty autumn fruits and veggies.
Come celebrate la vida local at this fun, family event!

Tickets will be available at the door. They will be sold on a sliding scale from $5-$50 with a suggested minimum donation of $10 for individuals and $25 for families. Please pay what you can.

Proceeds from the event will go to support Lots to Gardens' Programs.

If you think you'd like to attend or would like more information about the event and the work of Lots to Gardens' and the Nutrition Center please contact us at
lotstogardens@gmail.com or 207 513 3844.

Joint CozInk Show at Guthrie's- Nov. 14th

Arborea is staying busy close to home! Buck and Shanti are playing a show tonight (Nov. 6) at 7:00, at the North Star Cafe in Portland, ME. Portland is a busy town tonight, too, so if you want to head down early, this is the monthly First Friday Art Walk in P-town! Art walk starts at 5ish, and then finish off the night with some live music and good eats at the cafe. Find the cafe online here, and at 225 Congress Street, Portland, Maine.

Also this month, Arborea and Old Man Forest (the latest incarnation of Jessy, Denise, and Jordan's band- formerly known as Tight Light Flight and Sunwell... yes, they are very indecisive) are playing a joint show in their hometown! She Doesn't Like Guthrie's, at 115 Middle Street in Lewiston is hosting both bands live at 9pm on Saturday, Nov. 14th.

Come on out and support local music!

Upcoming shows!

Jan & Jerry will be playing some kick ass live music this Saturday the 10th at Holly's Own Deli in Auburn. Stop by 84 Court Street, Auburn, Maine for music and good eats from 6:30 to 9:30! They also have another upcoming show on Oct. 24th at the Smilin' Moose in South Paris, Maine from about 6:30-9:30.

Jessy, Denise, and Jordan (previously Sunwell, and currently performing as Old Man Forest) are playing on Saturday the 17th at She Doesn't Like Guthrie's- 115 Middle Street, Lewiston, Maine.

Pass on the info!
-Grace

Buck Curran interview with guitarbench.com

I don't think I've mentioned on the blog before that Buck, of Arborea, is also a luthier. Now, I'm probably the least musical person in the whole family, and I don't know anything about guitars, so I may be biased here. I find it completely amazing that Buck can hand craft an instrument that creates such beautiful music. Not only that, but they're just stunning to look at, too. His guitar crafting is truly is a whole artform in itself, apart from the music that is made with them. I can't get over it. To the right is one of Buck's (Curran Guitars) Butterfly Model guitars with a red spruce top, ebony fretboard, Brazilian headstock faceplate, and Brazilian rosewood radial style rosette. Photo (c) 2009 by Aaron Wiens.

This month, Buck was interviewed about his craft, and his guitars, by Terence Tan with www.guitarbench.com. Click here to read the full interview and see more photos of Buck's work.

Blog Feature and Upcoming Shows in Oct.!

Fairly recently, I added a schedule to the blog layout to keep track of upcoming events featuring CozInk Collective folks. The schedule is right over to the right of this entry, underneath the images of two wonderful CozInk CDs.

As you'll notice, October is shaping up to be a very busy month! Sunwell, Arborea, and Jan Mayes are playing all over New England (and a little further!). In honor of their upcoming shows, I'm going to provide everyone with a few links to see or hear them play, and entice you to catch some of these shows.

Sunwell
Video from Sunwell's performance at Roots and Tendrils in August.
A couple tracks from Sunwell.

Arborea
Video from Arborea's performance at Roots and Tendrils in August.
Arborea's website.

Jan Mayes
Pictures and video from Jan's performance at Holly's Own back in April.
Jan's website.

So if you're going to be near any of these shows, take the chance to support some very talented local musicians!

As a side note, CozInk Paper Goods (me...) has just been featured on the Etsy Maine Team's blog. The Maine Team has been calling for team members to share their work spaces or studios with the blog, and since I just got my first real studio set up, I was only too happy to oblige... You can see the blog, and pictures of my studio here. You can see more work from more talented Mainers by going to Etsy.com and searching for the term "maineteam". That will bring up all sorts of awesome handmade goods that members of the Etsy Maine Team have been working on!

Roots & Tendrils show (Part 2)

Part 2 (which actually came first... I just uploaded files backwards) of the Roots & Tendrils show on Saturday night was Sunwell. This was their first show outside their native Lewiston. Sunwell is made up (from left to right) of Denise, Jordan, and Jessy:


Watch Sunwell's performance of Denise's original song, "Fiction"

an old traditional folk song, "Lazarus"

another traditional, "Cripple Creek" (Buffy St. Marie also recorded versions of both Lazarus and Cripple creek- check them out!)

a song that Jessy wrote, "Dallas"



So there it is. I have more video, but I'm gearing up for the printmaking workshop tomorrow. I have 5 gelatin plates to make, paper to cut, supplies to gather, nerves to calm...

Roots & Tendrils, Belfast Maine

I posted about the show, and I'll post more about the show later, but I didn't really talk about the venue much.


"Roots & Tendrils is a multi-use arts venue run by husband and wife team Bub and Meg Fournier" so their website's "about" page starts. It's an informative little page, but it could never really get across how nice the people and the space are. Meg & Bub are both super nice people, who make folks (customer, artists, and musicians alike) feel relaxed and right at home in their gallery.


The gallery itself it in a beautiful old red building on Cross Street. Parking is easy, either on the street or at the city of Belfast's public lot (take a left at the "Public Parking" sign on your way down Main street), which is less than a block away from R&T. Look for the big red building, with an installment of carvings by artist Ron Cowan out front (two are shown in the first picture).

Roots & Tendrils is made up of a gallery space (currently showing "Little Epiphanies", a beautiful collage exibit by artist Nitasia S. Timms), a retail component selling hand made crafts by Maine artisans (many of whom can also be found on the Etsy Maine Team!), and a live music venue (with what all the performers on Saturday night agreed was a GREAT sound set up).


As if that wasn't enough- the drive there on Route 3 is one of those classic drives that make you so glad you live in Maine (or so glad you're visiting, as the case may be...). The little town of Belfast is well worth showing up a couple hours early for any Roots & Tendrils show, to give you time to visit the harbor and explore the cool shops along Main Street.


Put it on your list.

Roots & Tendrils Show (Part 1)

These video files are HUGE, so I'm going to post this in two parts, and the second part ain't coming 'til tomorrow, folks. Those are going to have to upload overnight.
Last night, Roots & Tendrils (an awesome little music venue and gallery that, in addition to hosting music performances, also houses some beautiful art and handmade crafts from Maine artisans) hosted an all-ages double show featuring two CozInk-affiliated groups: Arborea and Sunwell, both out of Lewiston.
The first part of this intimate little show is Arborea:


Arborea performing "Beirut"


and "Seadrift"


You can read more about Arborea, hear more tracks, and find upcoming shows at www.myspace.com/Arborea2

The second post from last night will be pictures from Belfast on the night of the show, and pictures/video from Sunwell's performance, and will be coming tomorrow...

-Grace

newness

There are changes in the works for CozInk. Right now, it looks like CozInk, the name only, will morph into just my stuff, and it will cover my Etsy shop and my printmaking. The collective is movingmorphinggrowing and right now it appears the new name will be the Tryall Artistic Collective, and there will be all sorts of cool stuff like a new blog and a website and hopefully even an online marketplace. More to come...

For now, though, the upcoming events are thus:
August 1st, I'll be at the Augusta Art Walk, on the nature trails of the UMA campus. Jamie from Sweetland Retreat offered to share her space, and since I'm teaching a printmaking workshop there in August, it seemed a good opportunity to show some prints, and printmaking crafts, and maybe even do some crafting demos at the event.

August 8th is going to be an awesome show at Roots & Tendrils in Belfast. An all-Tryall/CozInk pairing of Buck and Shanti's Arborea, and Jessy and Denise's Sunwell starts at 8:00pm. This is going to be an all ages show in a great little venue. Tickets are $7 at the door.

August 11th I am teaching a printmaking workshop at Sweetland Retreat, in Manchester, Maine. Class size is limited to 8 students, and sign-up deadline is August 5th. See here for more details.

August 22nd, I am super happy to be sharing a space with fellow Etsy Maine Team member moondogfarm, at the Rock & Art Shop in Ellsworth, Maine.

August is shaping up to be a pretty fun month!
-Grace

Shows on Saturday- music, belly dancing, slam poetry, oh my!

This Saturday (6/13) is shaping up to be an awesome night in Lewiston/Auburn!

First, decisions decisions, because the first two shows of the night run at the same time.

At the Faire-Op housing cooperative in Lewiston, there is a potluck at 6pm, followed by slam poetry and music performances at 7pm by Port Veritas, Snapdragon, and Denise Dill. Faire-Op is a private residence, so email or leave a comment if you want to check that out.

Also running from about 6pm to 9pm, you can stop by Holly's Own Deli at 84 Court Street in Auburn for Middle Eastern Night- belly dancing and Okbari Band. (I'll be hitting up this one- I'm supposed to take pictures there)

Annnnd after those, no decisions necessary, because you can come over to Guthrie's (115 Middle St., Lewiston) at 9pm for more slam poetry from the Faire-Op crowd, and music from Jessy Kendall and Denise Dill.