VOCAL Showcase October 2009

The October 19, 2009 showcase was a little new, a little old, a little folk, blues and soul!   We welcomed new member Cheryl Fare to the stage for her showcase debut, Darry Ellyson brought out some new songs as well as some of his great older material, and Steve Nuckolls treated the showcase crowd to his featured performance including new material.  Showcase #219 was a great event for live, original music in the river city!

Cheryl Fare kicked off the evening with her mixture of folk, jazz and blues.  In addition to songwriting, Cheryl’s creative endeavours include 17 years in theater.  Her website www.cherylfare.com includes a blog and bio – check it out!  Cheryl started her set in a laid back fashion with the first song she recorded ‘The Messy Song’ which sounded wonderful with the piano accompaniment of Sonny Baharloo.  Many sources in life provide inspiration for her songs like ‘Roll Me Under’, which is based on a book she read.  Throughout the set, Cheryl’s smooth, but strong vocal was a pleasure to drink in, made all the sweeter by strum of her acoustic guitar and Sonny’s work on the keyboard.  The song ‘Stones in my Pocket’ was a wonderful lead-in for the next song, which celebrated the bygone days of the Ford Pinto, ‘Springfield’.  This song brought back a lot of memories for those of us in attendance.  It is wonderful to have Cheryl as part of VOCAL and to have this opportunity to hear her original works on the showcase stage – we hope she’ll come back in 2010!

Darryl Ellyson was up next with new material, and the beautiful tone of a Martin guitar for accompaniment.  The crowd did not have to wait too long for a sample of Darryl’s new material, because he started off with the fresh new lyric ‘Romeo’s Hot Tonight’.  Darryl kept the theme of love going through much of the set as he worked his way through ‘I’m Still in Love With You’ and ‘I’m a Fool for You’.  As always his booming vocal was strong and carried throughout the venue like a thunderclap across a summer sky.  After the song ‘I’m Late Again’, Darryl decided to treat us to his attempt at his own version of Bluegrass music ‘The Diamond Ring’, then closed out the set with a favorite ‘When I Get Home’.  Learn more about Darryl’s music and where he’ll appear next at www.myspace.com/darrylellysonbluelightdistrict.

After Darryl packed up and mingled with the crowd, it was time for the much anticipated appearance of our featured performer for the night, Steve Nuckolls.  Steve is a Virginia songwriter who is originally from a musical hot spot known as Galax, Virginia.   Known for thoughtful songwriting with a very human quality to his subject matter, Steve has written many great songs based on his travels, whether overseas or in the small town where he grew up, often inspired by the people he has met along the way.  Love was the theme of choice for the first part of Steve’s set as he began with ‘Living Out This Love’, then moved right into ‘Die for Love’ (one of the first songs he wrote) and ‘Your Loving Arms’.  ‘Hand Me Downs’ is a wonderful song about making due with what you have as seen from the viewpoint of growing up as a younger sibling.   Amidst some classic songs such as ‘Greetings from Normandy’, ‘Much Obliged’  and ‘Alley Man’, Steve offered a new song to the crowd ‘Something About Your Love’, a wonderful surprise for the crowd.  The song ‘Alley Man’ has a true backstory to it, from Steve’s interactions with a gentleman who would patrol the alley’s in his neighborhood just looking for the time and maybe some tin cans to take away.  With his quiet, but confident vocals and a guitar style that jumps between strumming and fingerpicking, Steve evokes images of James Taylor and other singer/songwriters who have made major contributions with an acoustic guitar and a thoughtful lyric.  The set closed out with a song inspired by a trip to Africa ‘Simunye’ and a song inspired by a trip down Interstate 95 ‘Sunrise’. 

Thanks to all of our showcase attendees for supporting live, original music, it would not be a showcase without you!  And since we are a volunteer organization, we could not get the showcase off of the ground without help from dedicated members like Larry Cody who provides table tent cards (and a whole lot more), Matt Manion for sound services, as well as just being there when you need him, and Matthew Costello of Costello Media www.costello-media.com for photography and web services.  We’ll see you next month at a new location O’Tooles Restaurant and Pub www.otoolesrestaurant.com .  See you there!