Marco Benevento did his best to keep a San Francisco audience perfectly satisfied last night as he brought his trio into town (this time with Reed Mathis on bass and Andy Borger on drums), but it was clear from the energy in the room that everyone had spent themselves out on a crazy Saturday night. Typical San Francisco behavior, actually… partying comes in cycles. And Marco stayed animated and definitely got people rocking after a relatively tame-ish opener in Fred Torphy (from Big Light). READ MORE
Our good friend Pete Merriman (@PeteLikesMusic) went to his first Bear Creek Music Festival and took this great set of photos from the festivities. Peep the full gallery for shots from the grounds, Garage a Trois, Marco Benevento Trio, tons of Skerik and George Porter, Jr. sit-ins, and Trey Anastasio Band and their headlining set on Saturday night at the festival. There’s a few of Nikki Glaspie and Johnny Vidacovich lending their talents all over the stages, including some great shots of when Johnny V. sat in with Medeski, Martin & Wood. READ MORE
I am very excited to be making my first trek down to Live Oak Florida in less than 3 weeks for the Bear Creek Music Festival, and the anticipation has only increased now that the schedule dropped last week. It’s my first time ever flying to a festival, so it’ll be a definite change from all those times I’ve loaded up the car with my camping gear, but other than that I could not be more excited. READ MORE
It’s no secret we’re big fans of Marco Benevento around these parts and it’s high time we make sure you all know about when he’s coming to your town next. He’s playing a round of East Coast dates coming up in a few weeks with a tour kicking off on Oct. 13th in Hartford, CT. He’s doing a bunch of shows in Burlington, VT (four in that next month) and hitting different cities along the way back down to Florida for Bear Creek. Then he’s doing a night with Bela Fleck & the Flecktones in Philly… READ MORE
Ever since the news broke last year that Marco Benevento would be treating the classic film, House of Usher, to his own personal score and presentation of said score in a public setting, I always wondered how those shows came out. Thanks to cleantones on YouTube, we can see the whole show from October 22nd, 2010 that was filmed at the MASS MoCa during the few times this saw the light of day last year. From this review, it would seem as though the show was an outright success…
Throw in hyperbolic dramatic acting, gothic adornments of the mansion, ever-increasing suspense and intensity, hints of being buried alive and other eerie details and that is the House of Usher that Benevento meticulously studied in preparation for his score.
Benevento in his brilliance was enthralling to watch himself, and was like a child in an electronic candy store, constantly tweaking synth and adding effects to his playing. Mathis banged on wood blocks and metal tins, and their collective sound was building as the House of Usher itself was falling apart.
I wouldn’t say that everyone came away impressed, though. READ MORE
Happy Wednesday, dudes. It’s a light week on the site for us as we post a few random updates and maybe a few news updates, plus we have a huge Phish Friday planned, but other than that we’re kinda taking ‘er easy this week. We’ve got some cool stuff planned for next week and hope to have some news to share on Monday morning. Ahead of that, in case you missed it, I wanted to get the word out about his Marco Benevento Trio tour that was just announced for this fall, taking him all over the country and finishing up here in California.
Marco Benevento will tour the U.S. and Canada this Fall in support of his latest release, Between The Needles & Nightfall. The run begins with four nights in Canada and five nights in New England. The stretch includes a stop at the Massachusetts Museum Of Contemporary Art where Benevento will reprise his new score to the ’60s cult film House Of Usher that he debuted in August at Celebrate Brooklyn. He’ll also play two rare solo piano shows in Asbury Park and New York City. Benevento rejoins his band in November, heading to North Carolina and Virginia for three shows, including his first headline appearance in Asheville at The Grey Eagle. The tour wraps with five nights on the West Coast, returning to Doug Fir Lounge in Portland for the second time this year, as well as a Saturday night at The Independent in San Francisco.
I really wish I could check out a version of this House of Usher score that the announcement mentions. As for the second to last night in SF, I’ll be front row at the Independent like always. Read on for the dates…
