'On and Off' Showcase 03/08/11!

SAVE THE DATE for the next On and Off event at Club Passim! It will be on March 8, 2011 and will include another batch of incredible local musicians. So far... Dennis Brennan! Honorary local, Margaret Glaspy! Mark Erelli! and Jess Tardy! Backed by Billy Beard on drums! Zachariah Hickman on bass! and Mark Erelli in guitar! Guests are inevitable and surprises in store.

We can't wait!

Oh Hear Us

I have posted yet another video from the 2007 film project benefit at Club Passim.

This video is an incredibly gorgeous version of Jennifer Kimball's, Eternal Father. Rose Polenzani lends her sweet voice to the mix, while Duke Levine stands heroically by, on electric.

The song is from Jennifer's last record, Oh Hear Us, released in 2006. The first verse comes from the hymn Eternal Father and the second from Our God Our Help in Ages Past.

I can't say how much I miss Jennifer and her music here around the Avenue. She and the family are due to return from Ireland in June. Until then we have a few YouTube videos to tide us over.

Eternal father strong to save
Whose arm does bind the restless wave
Who biddst the mighty ocean deep
Its own apointed limits keep
Oh hear us when we cry to thee
For those in peril on the sea

Time, like an ever-rolling stream
Bears all its children soon away
To fly forgotten as a dream
Dies at the opening of the day
Oh, hear us when we cry to thee
For those in peril here with me

Oh let the darkness shine as light
Make endless nightime to be bright
When fear and sorrows all have passed
Then face to face well meet at last
Be still when tears are wiped from men
Whose eyes shall never weep again,
weep again, weep again.

Dark Eyes Shining Darkly

Only a handful of songs have ever effected me like "Your Fonder Heart." When I first heard the song, my eyes welled, heart swelled, my head whirled and I lifted off the ground... like how a great song can make you soar.

Why? Though I never know the exact thing about art that shifts my being, I imagine that with this song it has a lot to do with glowing energy that enters the room when Anaïs plays it, the visually striking language she uses along with its moving sentiment, and her disarming delivery. I was captured by that rawness in her style of singing and playing from the second I saw her take the stage at a Club Passim Campfire festival.

When I first began taking the camera out to shows, I shot a lot of my favorite artists around town with no specific focus regarding the On and Off Mass Ave project. I have been having a ball uploading some of that footage and sharing with the people. Here are the lyrics to the song along with the video I shot at Club Passim at the CD release for The Brightness in 2007.

Your Fonder Heart

come out, come on, come outside
don’t you hide your handsome face from me
I want to see you half-lit in the half-light
laughing with the whites of your dark eyes
shining
darkly

way over yonder I’m waiting and wondering
wither your fonder heart lies

come out, the streets are breathing
heaving green to red to green
come with your nicotine and wine
tambourine keeping time
come and find me in the evening

way over yonder I’m waiting and wondering
wither your fonder heart lies
way over yonder I’m waiting and wondering
whether your fonder heart lies

come out, come inspired
you will not come to harm
if I cannot take you for a liar or a lover
I’ll take you for my brother in arms

way over yonder I’m waiting and wondering
wither you fonder heart lies
way over yonder I’m waiting and wondering
whether your fonder heart lies

"You Awaken My Highest Hopes"

It is a rainy day in Boston, what better thing to do than watch these mesmerizing artists sing their sweet songs? This one is Rose Polenzani's "Highest Hopes."

The song was inspired by a trip Rose took to NYC with our fabulous friend Cindy Howes. Above is a photo of Cindy awakening our Highest Hopes at one of our famous family dinners last year.

Next is Meg Hutchinson performing her song "I'd Like To Know." I think this is going to tear you up, but in a good way... one of Meg's many talents.

Enjoy!

Ladies and Gentlemen...

The MAGNIFICENT tellers of my soul, Tim Gearan and Duke Levine.

"In Between the River and the Sea"

Continuing my sincere celebration of the performers who took part in the film benefit we held at Club Passim just about two years, I give you this new video from our YouTube channel.

The evening of October 25th, 2007, was a spectacular concert of the stars of my live-music-loving eyes/ears. They just so happen to be incredibly generous as well, they all agreed to play this event without hesitation or compensation.

I have love letters and songs to sing for you all. (though the eventual completion of the project will have to be the only forthcoming evidence.)

In praise of you, my friends.

"You Could Do Alright For a Song"

Like a Miracle

My incredibly gifted friend, Rose Polenzani, wrote a song in appreciation of her local music community. The song is "Like a Miracle," and the community she sings about is the very same one that you will see me praise everywhere this world will let me.

Rose has a rare ability to lock-in continuous moments of stupendous vocal glory and then pair it with moving, unanticipated lyrics. As a songwriter, these things alone make her great. She has an emotional voice- I mean, every word she sings seems like she is experiencing it that second, living it, telling you fresh out of the pit of her stomach. When artists that I love are doing what they love, and simply for that reason, I think it is easy to hear, see and feel that.

When I first had the idea to begin making a film that would celebrate Cambridge/Somerville musicians, it was watching Rose's performances that sealed the deal for me. I knew I wanted to document the pure joy and gratitude that I felt at being a witness to such an extraordinary group of artists. Rose is most often a common link among the musicians who make this area as notably brilliant as any other in the country to see live music.

The video I am putting up today is another from the benefit we had for our project. It is Rose performing Like a Miracle with several other local songwriters who are celebrated everywhere. Featuring Duke Levine, Dinty Child, Tim Gearan, Jennifer Kimball, Anne Heaton and Brian Webb.

If you are interested in the project I hope you will visit www.myspace.com/project952
or email me at folkfilmproject at gmail.com.

"Someone sings a song, it's a miracle."

You Can Help

If you are a part of the Cambridge or Somerville music/film community or if you just love it, YOU CAN HELP US BRING THIS DOCUMENTARY TO THE PUBLIC.

In the next weeks I will be putting up footage of the Incredible artists who generously donated their talent to our benefit at Club Passim nearly 2 years ago. If you enjoy these awesome artists and their songs, consider giving to the cause!

You can either make a donation, or give your time and energy. We need talented film editors and much more. Email me at folkfilmproject@gmail.com to find out what you might do.

Donors write and send checks to DER, with our names or the project name in the memo line. (On And Off Of Mass Ave) Make sure you include your address so they can send an acknowledgment letter.

Cynthia Close
Executive Director
Documentary Educational Resources
101 Morse Street
Watertown MA 02472
www.der.org

Thanks again to everyone who attended our event, or who participated as an artist. We love you all and that is why this film should see the light of day.

The first video is of our friend Chris O'brien. Antje Duvekot sings, and Lyle Brewer plays electric guitar.

ON AND OFF OF MASS AVE: the film

Years ago, while attending Vermont College, I began writing about favorite songwriters. This was my effort to keep focused on school when my heart and free time were so clearly devoted to experiencing local music.

Sitting at Toad one night, I looked around me and I knew there needed to be a preservation of the music community that I was so attached to. So much had already come and gone, and I had missed a lot of it. Still, I drew on the unending magic of the Somerville/Cambridge songwriter scene, I visualized capturing it in a way that documented a little of what had been, and what is living and thriving here today. That is how (along with my roommate, Brian Schwartz) I came to shoot tape after tape of video footage, and why people are still eagerly awaiting this film... we all want to capture our beloved corner of paradise.

It is the way you might fall for anything- one minute you are encountering someone or something, and next you are all swoons and devotion. I got to know local music as it lent itself to me. I connected the dots, then after putting myself in front of every dinky stage around, I discovered a community of artists who generously give their talent to one another, night after night, song after song. Many of them have been playing music together for decades, others are just discovering each other's music. To be able to take part in this as an audience, and often times a friend, is something I will never take for granted.

In fact, most of the recorded music I listen to from day to day is by local musicians- I own a lot of music that is great and that I love, only, nine out of ten times I simply put on the music of people who play around me. I could listen to Timmy Gearan any night of the week, and there's a good chance that if Sean Staples, Jimmy Ryan, or Duke Levine are out playing somewhere, I will want to be there. Same goes for the glorious ladies, whose voices can stop any fool in their tracks. It might be Lori McKenna, playing a half-secret show, or the magnificent Jennifer Kimball, lending back vocals that will make you shake your head in wonder- I am always shaking my head in wonder it seems...

*photo credit, Jon Strymish