Showcases

The February 2015 VOCAL Songwriter Showcase was postponed a week because of the snow, but it attracted an attentive audience for the mid-winter performance.

The perennial favorite Dave Pollard opened the show with several of his “love lost/never obtained” songs which he is so adept at. He seemed to mesmerize the crowd with his guitar skills and alternate tunings (via the use of specialized capos). The slow, tender ballad See You in the Fall is always a crowd favorite. The up-tempo Run Away with Me was followed by Even Shattered Chains can Bind, which had a really cool play on words. Dave ended his set with Okracoma, another crowd favorite, which brings us the laid-back mood of life on Ocracoke Island.

Eddy Kitchen then took the stage wielding a new ukulele, with which he delivered one of his best, This Beer’s on Me. He then brought on a new song (untitled), which was a tender, reflective ballad about losing a mom/wife/grandma. He then switched to guitar, bringing on the sassy All I Lost, an ode to coming out ahead in a divorce. Two Young was a very touching tribute to the story about parents of a dying son who decided to get married for his sake. Eddy ended his set with a couple of up-tempo numbers Too Drunk to Remember and A Buffet Song, which was co-written with a friend of his.

The talented Claudia Carawan came on stage as the headliner with her uplifting, inspirational tunes. Lifeline was written with Harold Payne, who was a guest speaker/entertainer at VOCAL a couple of years ago. This song is a finalist for the Positive Music Awards! I Feel a Heartbreak Coming On says “My baby’s falling in love – wish it was with me!” (there’ll be plenty of time to sing the blues). Pure Possibility came from a vision of a hospital nursery, where all the innocent children have a chance of success in life. Claudia then delivered a wonderful new song Cardinal in the Snow, calling on the folk lore that this is a sign of a passed love one coming back to visit. What a wonderful tale! She then switched from keyboard to guitar for a female “empowerment” song (A Woman who Knows). Although she said the guitar is a relatively new instrument for her, I think she has been empowered playing it! She closed out the night with Childlike Heart, Refreshing, and Fearless. What a refreshing feeling to hear these positive, uplifting songs!

VOCAL Showcase. Jan.2015

Tonight’s showcase started off with a set by John Ellis and his electric guitar. Taking notice of the season, His first tune was “Me and My Baby On a Cold WInter’s Day” which described how great it was to be inside warm and cozy with your loved one while winter raged outside. With the aid of a backing track he sequed into a blues mode with “I’ll Be There and “Blues”, both more in the styling of a Clapton or Butterfield rather than delta style. the instrumental “Five Black Kittens” followed. After a miscued start to another song, he performed and sang “Love Is A Stranger To Me” one of the anchors in his repetoire, and then closed out his set with “T’J’s Jam” another instrumental, helped out by members of the Taters.
“The Taters” are a Richmond staple in the music scene. They are frequently seen around town at clubs and charity events to the delight of the audiences that attend. Such was the case tonight. Many of their songs fall into pop classic territory reminiscent of the late 60’s and 70’s. Made up of Craig Evans (bass) who also handles most of the vocals, T. Bradley Tucker (rhythm guitar) Greg Marrs (lead guitar) and Chris Mendez (drums) their music perks along quite happily. “No I Don’t” which led off the set, was upbeat but contained a more negative message of rejection, “Oceans Apart” was song of longing, followed by “It Seems To Me” about love requited. “I Get Lost” (help me find my way out of here) had an appropriate psycho-spooky sound to it. “Peccadillo” humorous in content, referred to the singee as “the scoundrel of my dreams” which sequed nicely into “Do You Dream” in which singer longed to share dreams with the singee. “Cat In The Window” captured in story form the wistfulness of a character a little lost in life. “In The End” featured Brad on vocal and guitar in a more mellow Dan Fogelberg state of mind and then “New Girlfriend” an upbeat, latin tinged song, featured Chris on vocals. Not to be outdone. Greg performed a new song “It’s Not My Fault” and threw in some very hot licks along the way. “Rocks” repeated that psycho spooky sound heard previously and the guys closed out their set with “Such a Good Day” a semi Beatlesque sounding song with a happy message. All in all it was such a good night, as the enthusiastic audience demonstrated with their applause.

2014 December VOCAL Showcase

Once again it was the time for the fabulous VOCAL Christmas showcase, featuring an eight member program. With a large crowd assembled at O’Tooles Bar and Grille, The festivities were kicked off by John Ellis on electric guitar, who helped MC the event. The premise for the showcase was that each performer would do at least one Christmas related song in their set, so John began with “Me and My Baby On a Cold Winter Day”, the first of many long titled songs throughout the night, which gave us a picture of how good it is to be cuddling inside when winter is raging outdoors. He next did “Winter Solstice” an instrumental which featured some tinkling arpeggios reminiscent of icicles. Torch, as she’s known, stepped to the mike next with her acoustic/electric and started her set with “Playing Christmas Songs Before Thanksgiving” which gave us a humorous picture of how radio pushes the season. Torch wowed the crowd with her whistling interlude and then finished off her set with “I know, you know that I know You Love Me”. Frank Lucas, who seldom does showcases, began his set with a look at Christmas behind prison bars in the song “Christmas At Milon (sp.)” which is a prison in Michigan. Joined by Gary Shaver on flute, he next did “Everytime She Says Mine” a cute love song about how his heart beats tighter when she says those words. During breaks between sets, John Ellis gave away door prizes some of which included gift cards to various local chain outlets and VOCAL items.
Marcus Blowfish (Mark Branch) came up front next and did a bluesy version of “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” and then launched into the soul style music he is known for with a song about nothing titled “She Keeps Calling Me” which is pretty self descriptive and ended his set with “Jody” a tale about a dog. Nancy Cunningham, a first time showcase performer, did an acapella version of her song “A Modern Sonnet” about a love affair. She was followed onstage by Glenda Creamer and her guitar who first performed a Christmas Carol and then her own songs
“Them Magazines” a humorous take on how she let magazines dictate her life, and “After Christmas” another funny song about the dismantling of all those Christmas displays after the holiday is over. Guy Gorman was up next with guitar and harp to perform “I feel So Warm Out In The Cold” a song that described how nothing winter could throw at him could chill his love for the singee. “I Just Want To Love You For Christmas” was self explanatory. Steve Fisher was the closing act for the night and he started off with “For Better or For Worse” with the message that we have to rely on each other to get through adversity. That was followed by “All We Have” a song of hope and then “In The Fields
of The Lord” based on his experiences in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, from where much of his music drew inspiration. To close out his performance, Steve did his own version of The Beatles “Norwegian Wood”. Following the showcase, John Ellis invited the audience to sing along with his version of Chuck Berry’s “Run Run Rudolph”.

Happy Holidays from VOCAL

The November 2014 VOCAL Songwriter Showcase was the 280th consecutive monthly showcase and marked the 5th anniversary at the O’Toole’s location. A large and mostly attentive crowd gathered for the evening performance. George Maida opened the show accompanied by his drummer Kevin, and led off with a Thanksgiving-inspired instrumental medley of tunes. The first was Keltic Turducken, followed by The Beggar and Vinterverke (a German word made up by George). He delivered some fine hard-driving guitar work followed by some more mellow electric tones. He then followed with a King David-inspired Psalm 38, another fine instrumental which conjured up a Metheny/Santana feel. George left us with a Christmas song with the help of guests Steve Fisher and Matthew Costello. Lyric sheets had been distributed throughout the room, so there was also some fine audience participation.

Pamela McCarthy then took the stage for a fine solo acoustic performance. She led off with her ever-popular and requested Since You’ve Gone, where we know Hell must be freezing over! Now You Know is a more recent creation of hers, a bit on the sad side, but Pam does those songs so well! Pam displayed her political side with Let Me Be, and then treated us with the very beautiful, tender Age of Forgiveness. What it Is captured the spirit of her earlier desire to be another Julie London. You Aren’t Coming Back was another tear-jerker newer song lamenting love lost. Pam ended her set with a stellar performance of the enigmatic Body Language – you couldn’t hide it, I saw right through, silent but true, body language.

Gary Shaver and his bandmates then took the stage for the headline performance. While the stage area seemed a little cramped for the five performers, there was plenty of room for them to showcase their musical/vocal talent! Gary led us through a timeline of the 80’s-90’s and the writing he did during that period. Between Her and You (1991) is a tender love-lost ballad, always a crowd favorite. Southern Breeze (1990) is a very catchy instrumental waltz which featured Larry Lyles on some fine violin playing. Under a Starlit Sky was co-written (1989) with Chris Craig, who was also in the audience. Yet another love-lost ballad delivered as only Gary can do! We then travelled to 1992 with No More Goodbyes, a very catchy tune which I thought was reminiscent of Elvin Bishop (she took me for a ride – she used me as a lover then cast me aside). We Don’t Have the Guts to Say Goodbye was a bluesy/jazzy number featuring Frank Lucas on a searing electric guitar. I’m Trading the Present for the Past is a 1995 tune that featured Larry again on violin (we let our love slip away, now I’m holding onto memories, and that’s where I’ll stay). The very-talented fellow VOCAL member Marna Bales then joined the group as a guest vocalist on You Didn’t Mean It (I should have seen it – you said you loved me, but you didn’t mean it). Gary then performed another crowd favorite There Lies the Stone, and he did a marvelous solo piano performance. Marna took the stage again and did a stellar performance of Little Old Me, which is probably this reviewer’s favorite Gary Shaver song! (Little old me is who you’re gonna catch, you just don’t know it yet…). Gary ended with a 1999 song Just Believe in Me (I don’t know what got out of hand, can’t you talk to me and help me understand?).

The crowd called for more, but we were out of time, so we’ll just have to wait ‘til another night for more of Gary’s talent!

The October 2014 showcase brought an eclectic mix of writers/performers to O’Toole’s Irish Pub and Grill. Robyne Byrd and Anthony Curtis opened the show with all new songs Robyne has written since February of this year. They opened with a very “floaty” tune (written by her daughter when she was nine years old), called Choose Your Own Choice. Anthony provided some fine electric guitar reminiscent of Hendrix/Santana/Metheny. They then moved on to a very touching Song of a Soldier’s Wife. I Don’t Want It had a very eclectic influence, with an infectious, Middle-Eastern –sounding groove. Solitary Way channeled an isolated feeling of loneliness.
Chuck Kerwath then took us on a pleasurable journey of acoustic instrumentals. Travelling from a Native Trail (American Indian with Spanish influence) through some sophisticated finger-picked blues, he then brought us Serengeti. This had a really cool West African influence, with the guitar tuned in African tuning (B tuned up to C, along with a dropped D). I envisioned morning falling onto the Serengeti, unfolding a sun-drenched desert. Chuck then broke out the dobro and brought us three tunes ranging from the island style (think steel drums) to gangsta-grass.
Cheryl Fare and Matt Treacy then took the headline spot on the stage. They started with The Messy Song (love comes in threes, and I’m still in the middle). Wait and See is a new tune Cheryl wrote – you waited for me, now I’m waiting for you, we’ll wait and see. Show Me How deals with your mind’s behavior when the serious stuff comes along. Matt then delivered a very beautiful The Only Girl Who Ever Sang the Blues. Same Old Dance sees her watching him walk away without saying goodbye, but then rolling back in to dance the same old dance. Cheryl then sang a bluesy Stones in My Pocket, followed by a song about friendship, Face to Face. I Gotta Move is a great blues number with some great blues fingerpicking by Matt – I can’t be sitting here waiting for the sun to come around – I gotta move! They then played a song Matt wrote, The Dead of Night. Very strong vocals were presented here – she’s the forbidden fruit that came to me in the dead of night. Cheryl and Matt then brought us Roll Me Under, which carried us along on a ride in the ocean – the waves roll me under and push me back up. The duo ended with Springfield, inspired by the Ford Pinto hatchback – what a car. An explosive situation, a very steamy scene!
Kudos to the performers for yet another memorable VOCAL showcase!

VOCAL Showcase Sept. 2014

What is perhaps the longest running songwriter’s showcase in Virginia continued its streak with edition #278 (over twenty three years) at O’Toole’s Bar and Grille on Monday Sept. 15th.

Fittingly, The first performer was Gary Shaver, who has been involved since the inception of VOCAL. Gary is a multi- talented songwriter who plays a variety of instruments such as the sax, clarinet, flute and piano. This night he chose to perform on keyboards. His set of tunes consisted of throwback material to the early stages of his career, the 1970’s. “With You” kicked off the retrospective and was followed by “Taking The Easy Way Out” and “Don’t You Know I Love You”. At this point, Gary was joined by Larry Lyles on fiddle for a couple of tunes “If I Could Write a Song” and “I Don’t Believe You Anymore”. As the titles may suggest, these were all songs about love and the relationships it fosters both good and bad. The ballady, haunting melodies helped convey the emotions the singer was trying to convey. The set closer “How Could Love Make Me Feel This Way” was more in a jazzy uptempo mood which conveyed the positive message of the lyrics. No question Gary is talented, His deftness on the keyboard alone proved that.

Next up: Steve Nuckolls on acoustic guitar led the appreciative audience through a series of songs reflecting his roots that reach back To Galax Virginia. Lending his tenor voice to original songs such as “At Home in the Back Roads” and “Much Obliged” Steve gave the room a folksy air. “Everything is Just Too Good” was a positive tune followed by “Graysons Lady” a bluegrass tinged song. Digressing from his set list, he talked about seeing the flag flying on the state capitol building at various times at half mast, at the whim of the then Governor Tim Kaine, who quixotically had it set that way on every questionable occasion. This inspired Steve to write “Flags At Half Mast” which he then performed. Lastly, he played one of his most loved songs judging from the audience reaction,”Something About Your Love” which is a sensitive hooky song with a positive theme. Listening to Steve is well worth the time and effort should he be in your area.

The featured performers for the evening were The Clackwells. What can you say about these folks? They are the epitome of quirkiness and musical invention. Led by Norm Roscher, on guitar, the two back up singers on washboard and finger percussion and two back up instrumentalists on bass and banjo they sailed through a nine song set of funky songs with various human and inhuman noises. “The Ballad of The Clackwells” described how the group was formed and served as an introduction to each of the groups members, with the interchangeable names of Blinky, Stinky, Slinky and Winky (I thinly). They were the spawn of a lady wrestler and gambler. Going back into their extensive catalog, they pulled out “You and Me and Baby” and “I Don’t Play Doctor Anymore”. A sly nod to the pleasures of weed followed in “Sweet Nectar”, no doubt fueled by the leader’s proclivity to partaking in such stuff. “Think I’m Gonna Take My Baby Dancing” was a bouncy tune, written by VOCAL member Bill Wellons and perfomed solo on keyboards by Norm. “Pull The Wool Over My Eyes” was followed by “A Song of Hope” which indeed, advised all the single guys not to give up hope because there is someone out there for you. “The Hat” was a cute song about a character who lived in his hat which changed size according to his needs and was thus magical. “Your Beautiful” inspired by the singer’s lady friend, was a lovely tribute. By overwhelming request, The Clackwells could not finish the might without doing their most enduring and fun singalong song “Boobs” What can you say about a song that asks the audience to sing out loud their appreciation of a woman’s assets as they change over the course of her lifetime. The Clackwells are touring Richmond in the coming months. Don’t miss their show.

A very talented trio took the stage at the November 2012 VOCAL Songwriters Showcase and played to a large, attentive audience. Eddy Kitchen, Mark Daniel, and Bruce Brockwell brought us the ITR (in-the round) format of swapping songs. The trio co-writes and performs often, which brings a synergy to the group when they are together.

Mark kicked off the show with a troubadour-ish “My Home is Where I Lay My Hat” (like a rolling stone on a railroad track, don’t spend much time looking back). Bruce then delivered “I’m not Sure I Can Find My Way Back” with Mark strumming the mandolin. Eddy then broke out with “We Can Make Out When There’s Nothing Else to Talk About” with Mark playing lead guitar (you can unload everything on me – it’s about time to lay a little loving on me…). Back around to Mark who brought us “If You Were Free”, a West-Texas-feeling song with Bruce playing lead guitar. Bruce then sang “But You Did” with Mark on lead guitar (I took it for granted – you will learn to love again while I’m here picking up the pieces). Eddy then crooned Coronado (how nice it is to wake up in the morning with that special someone next to you, sun peeking in, etc – how lucky I am!). There was some fine musical accompaniment on that number with Gary Shaver on sax, Mark on mandolin, and Bruce on lead guitar.

Mark then brought us a moving, uplifting tune in memory of his Uncle Emmitt, which came to him in a dream (gotta write those down right away as soon as you wake up!) Mark & Bruce swapped lead guitar licks on this cool tune. Bruce sang “Let the Dreams Begin” (I was once King of the world, but now every night I lay down and pretend, bless my soul to keep). Eddy then delivered a touching “Your Smile Makes My Smile Never Want to Go Away”  (where’s my frown – I don’t need it anymore – you turned it upside down). Mark played some fine lead guitar on that number, as well. Mark then sang “How Far is the Moon”. Bruce then brought us “Careful What You Wish For, Careful What You Dream” with Mark again strumming mandolin. Eddy then covered one of Mark’s songs “What a Beautiful Day” – a really cool song about ignoring a cold, rainy day and focusing on what is at hand (or in this case, in your arms – we made love on a rainy day as the rain washed the dust away).

Mark then brought “Dream in Blue” with Bruce playing some fine lead guitar licks (I dream in blue when I think of you…) Bruce then sang “Twelve Days” (Mark on lead guitar – written in-between marriages – I’ve got twelve days in San Francisco, and I’m getting on my way, but I’m stuck here the desert tonight – my heart’s in Santa Fe). Eddy then sang another heartfelt “Every Day with You is a Good Day to be Thankful” (I just pray things keep coming my way). Mark delivered “Under the Spell of the Living Stranger” with Bruce on lead guitar (I can hardly find the strength to tell you “no” – I can hardly concentrate – I lose all sense of space). Eddy’s next song went out to the late Troy Broome, who played keyboard with their group. “There Lies the Dress” tell it like it is – love gone wrong, here’s all the evidence to prove it, including this sad, broken man wondering how a good love can die. “Pickles and Biscuit Sandwich” was a quite interesting tune spun by Mark (everything’s gone except the shadow on the wall – I changed the lock – your key don’t work no more).

Eddy then rounded out the night with two of his biggest hits “My Wife Thinks I’m an SOB” and “This Beer’s on Me”, with both Mark & Bruce on lead guitar. These are a couple of raucous numbers that only Eddy can do so well.

What a treat it was to have these Three Amigos share their tunes with us!