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Poughkeepsie Chapter News
Volume 19, Issue 5: May & June 1999
Newsletter segments:
Kingston chapter news, Patterson chapter news, Poughkeepsie chapter news, and other articles.Poughkeepsie Chapter News
by Rebekah Martucci
March winds brought the dynamic duo, Denise Finley and Joe Murray as our feature. The set combined superb musicianship and showmanship, moving from simply beautiful numbers to hilarious ones. Their sound is highly unique; grounded in the folk/country genre, it evolves in complexity with sophisticated lyrics, modal tunings, interesting chord progressions and haunting harmonies. Denise has a beautiful clear voice which Joe's voice compliments well. Both are superb guitarists, performing seamless blends of rhythm and beautifully crafted, melodic leads - Denise on acoustic and Joe on electric and banjo.
The set began with "One More Dollar," a plaintiff tune which contrasts its message about harsh working conditions with an effortless, straight-ahead movement. Next was a well-crafted Denise original "Indigo Blues." The banter for which this duo is known began in earnest with "Railroad Bill," as the song progressed into a battle of the two co-writers for control of the content. Denise then did a clever song by Jilian Welch describing the travels of a dollar bill. A Beatles' love song, "Things We Said Today," followed. Next was a lovely Irish tune, "A Long Way From Clare to Here." Perhaps the funniest piece of the evening was "I'm Gonna Tell on You," incorporating Joe and Denise's sibling rivalry banter. For the encore, we heard Denise's bluesy piece about the horrors of teaching Junior High School music. This show never missed a beat.
The open mic set brought Kevin Becker, in an outrageous costume as his alter-ego, "Dog Bone," who does lesser-known Dylan songs. He performed "One Too Many Mornings," then shed his alias to do his own "Weekend Entertainer." Trumpeter Matt Finley treated us to a "blues" piece (actually a wonderful bossa nova). Next, a new combo, Blair and Lauren did two duets "Give Yourself to Love," and "Love is a Rose." Nice harmonies. Mike and Emmy Clark were next, beginning with Mike's nice "Ice Flow," and Springsteen's "I'll Wait for You." Vince Sauter followed with a Lyle Lovett tune which plays on the words "bear" and "bare." He gave us his sensitive "Heart Don't Fail Me Now." Last in the first open mic set was us (Lazy River) doing "Cotton Fields," and "Sunday."
The second open mic set began with two poems by Cheryl Rice. Cheryl who has a way with words and imagery, conveying humor and irony in "Elvis Corrected." Next, Steve Otlowski brandished his new Irish flute and played "Rakes of Mallow," accompanied by Tom Walker on guitar. He performed another Irish favorite, "Foggy Dew." Ron Gluck, in his first piece had written a verse dedicated to our friend, Greg Neaga. When he did "Hello Frisco," a muted trumpet joined him from the audience - Matt Finley! Sheila Velastro and John Iannito finished the evening with Jimmy Henrix's "Angel," with John on piano and Sheila on chimes. They took us by surprise with what started off as "Stairway to Heaven" and turned out to be "Gilligan's Island."
April's coffeehouse carried a strong theme - an upbeat message about real folks making music - not surprising in light of our feature, the Beckers, who began the Folk Guild 20 years ago with this idea in mind. This community spirit was evident throughout the evening with a full house of singing participants. In the excitement, many performers neglected to name song titles. Consequently, some of them won't appear in this write-up.
The opening act was a wonderful treat. Three gifted students from Roosevelt High School played the Jay Unger tunes, "Ashokan Farewell" and "Lover's Waltz," with Kathrine Moore and Renee Armand on violin with Dan Freeman on piano. These students are going places. Linda Breithaupt followed with a rainbow song, then a spirited "O Mary Don't You Weep." Next Lorraine Klara played two lively accordion pieces "The Happy Wanderer" and "Golden Slippers." Mike and Emmy Clarke sang a Van Morrison song, followed by Mike with a new original about the extinct Blue Pike. Melissa Holland gave us two beautifully crafted originals. Her melodies and interesting chord progressions frame her thoughtful lyrics so well as does her skillful piano playing and vocals.
Kevin & Carol Becker and friends left us uplifted with a set of rousing, inspiring, funny and poignant songs, reminding us of the goodness of American folk music. Rich Keyes was in great form tonight, not only accompanying with great banjo picking, vocals and jokes, but with his new string bass (bowed, too!). Katherine Moore appeared again with the Beckers and wowed us with masterful violin accompaniment and solos. In the inspiring category, we heard "Pass It On," and the lovely "How Can I Keep From Singing." Thank you, Carol, for singing one of my favorite melodies, "All Through the Night," so beautifully. As for funny songs, there was "Big Blue Frog" (complete with kazoo), and a cleverly arranged medley of "rejection" love songs. All four performers sang verses in turn on this one. I never tire of hearing "Right Field" about a miraculous baseball catch. "My Daddy's Hat" is another poignant piece that appears on their first CD. Then they performed "Bob Dylan's Dream" and "Blowin' in the Wind," also a Dylan song. Their encore was a rousing Woody Guthrie classic, "This Land is Your Land" a sing-along for sure.
The remaining open mics began with the accomplished Lyn Burnstine, doing two uplifting sing-alongs: one about angels, accompanied by thumb piano, and another, accompanied by piano. Lu Ann Volnick, returning after many years, belted in a fine voice, "Wayfaring Stranger," and "Sinner Man." Despite his asthma, Norman Brahm gave us a strong "Someday Soon," and "Four Strong Winds." I am biased, of course, but I think I speak for everyone when I say that John Martucci showed us his true musicianship in his moving Earth Day original "Ever Falling Rain," and in his piano composition, "Rebekah." Bob Lusk closed the evening with a nice Scottish traditional song and a sing along entitled "Hold Back the Days."
Be sure to join us In May when our feature will be the Hayden - Morrison Trio.
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