| Scroll down for information on concerts and events.
Blues at the Crossroads Concert/
Blues & BBQ Pre-Concert Dinner
 Blues at the Crossroads Concert featuring:
Cephas
& Wiggins
Wednesday, September
24
Pittsburgh
Center for the Arts--tent
(6300 Fifth Ave., Shadyside)
7:30pm (doors open at 7:00pm)
$40 admission
_______________________
Blues & BBQ Dinner--6:00pm
Wednesday, September
24
Pittsburgh Center for the Arts--galleries
Blues & BBQ will be held prior to the concert, in the PCA galleries. This $100 dinner/concert package includes dinner, cocktails, music by local musicians, admission to and preferred seating for the Blues at the Crossroads concert.
Reserve tickets online or by phone (412) 361-1915
John Cephas and Phil Wiggins are proclaimed prophets of the blues, with gentle vocals, pure Piedmont guitar and freight train harmonica. They have performed in living rooms for only a handful of people and in front of thousands at blues festivals all over the world. Cephas received the coveted National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1989 and the duo entertained at President Clinton’s inaugural party in 1997.
To Cephas & Wiggins, the blues lyric is the poetry of the African-American experience. Says Cephas, “The blues is a creation of black people in communities all across this country when times were hard. It was a way of expression, an outlet, and it’s had so much impact. Blues music is truth. The lyrics are true-to-life experiences that people everywhere can relate to.”
“People automatically think of sadness and depression when they think of blues. But the blues is uplifting music, music to rejuvenate you, to nourish the spirit. When you get down, the blues will pick you up again. Blues is nourishment for the human spirit,” says Wiggins.
They choose their repertoire carefully, not only for musical impact, but also to highlight the cultural and historical content of their genre. Their concert performance evokes life in the post-Reconstruction South. Hard work, celebration, joy, and struggle are all there. A verse that may sound like a straightforward love song may also contain an allusion to African tribal culture or the indignities of racism or an optimistic assertion of a better future. Cephas & Wiggins provide their audiences with a very special treat – a powerful and intelligent performance of a wonderful, American treasure--the blues.
*************************************************************************************************************
Rootz: The Green City Music Festival
Thanks to all who made this event a smashing success!
View Photos from Rootz: The Green City Music Festival
*************************************************************************************************************
2007 Calliope Songwriters
Circle CD
Proceeds
from the sale of these CDs will benefit Calliope.
CD's are available for sale at Calliope events, and at cdbaby.com
We come together once a month in the back of Pittsburgh's
Bloomfield Bridge Tavern to make ourselves heard, to support
and challenge each other, and to celebrate the intoxicating
joy of making music. We are the Pittsburgh Songwriters Circle,
a program of Calliope: the Pittsburgh Folk Music Society.
Our faces and voices and stories are as diverse as the songs
on this disc, but a shared commitment to the art and craft
of songwriting is our common thread.
This CD is the third collection of our work. Like its predecessors,
it gives us the opportunity to present our songs to the world
as we first experienced them — as a group. Each song
was written and performed by a member of the Circle, often
with the help of a few friends. It is a labor of love if there
ever was one.
Read
a Pittsburgh City Paper review of this CD!
*************************************************************************************************************
2006 Calliope Songwriters
Circle CD
Proceeds from the sale of these CDs will benefit
Calliope.
This album can be purchased at Calliope concerts, and at Threepenny
Opry events.
Dan Bench
Howard Davidson
Peter Donovan
Bruce Hoffman
Nancy Deckant
George Kantor
Dennis McCurdy
David Wells
Cathasaigh
Sue Gartland
Randy Hoffman
Jack Knight
George Salamacha
Another Country with DJ Danger
*************************************************************************************************************
2005 Calliope Songwriters
Circle CD
Proceeds from the sale of these CDs will benefit Calliope.
To purchase this CD, visit cdbaby.com
 1.
Pennsylvania (Jonathan Ritz)
2. Last Chance Band (David Wells)
3. Bartender (Andy Tinker)
4. Thoughts of Missouri (Sue Gartland)
5. Cocaine Don't Care (Robert Wagner)
6. Sweetness (Dan Bench)
7. Naked Mole Rat (Randy Hoffman)
8. Shades of Green (Howard Davidson)
9. Richard Jewell (John Hayes)
10. Take it in Stride (George Kantor)
11. Big Time (Patti Spinner)
12. Seven or Fewer (David LaRose)
13. S.W. (Peter Donovan)
14. I'm a Walker (Jack Erdie)
|
