Iron Horse Music Hall
The Iron Horse Music Hall was a music venue located in Northampton, Massachusetts, west of Boston and north of Springfield, Massachusetts. Its motto was ''Music Alone Shall Live''. The night club showcased a wide variety of musical genres and performing artists in past years, including artists such as Richie Havens, Leo Kottke, Janis Ian, Livingston Taylor, Duke Robillard, Ellis Paul and Vance Gilbert. It closed in 2022, according to the Boston Globe. History Jordi Herold and John Riley opened the club on February 24, 1979, as a bohemian cafe with 85 seats. The club (doubled in size in the late 1980s) is home to many kinds of music and talent ranging from popular local performers to artists of international repute. In college, Herold fantasized about opening a club and placed a bid on space in Amherst. (Needs Verification) After limited initial success, he began teaching for the Amherst, Massachusetts public school system. John Riley was responsible for bringing the first ja ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Northampton, Massachusetts
The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Northampton (including its outer villages, Florence and Leeds) was 29,571. Northampton is known as an academic, artistic, musical, and countercultural hub. It features a large politically liberal community along with numerous alternative health and intellectual organizations. Based on U.S. Census demographics, election returns, and other criteria, the website Epodunk rates Northampton as the most politically liberal medium-size city (population 25,000–99,000) in the United States. The city has a high proportion of residents who identify as gay and lesbian and a high number of same-sex households and is a popular destination for the LGBT community. Northampton is part of the Pioneer Valley and is one of the northernmost cities in the Knowledge Corridor—a cross-state cultural and economic partnership with other Connecticut River Valley citie ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Heath Brothers
The Heath Brothers was an American jazz group, formed in 1975 in Philadelphia, by the brothers Jimmy Heath, Jimmy (tenor saxophone), Percy Heath, Percy (bass), and Tootie Heath, Albert "Tootie" Heath (drums); and pianist Stanley Cowell. Tony Purrone (guitar) and Jimmy's son James Mtume, Mtume (percussion) joined the group later. Tootie left in 1978, and was replaced by Akira Tana for a short period, before returning in 1982. They also added other sidemen for some of their recording dates. The group issued four singles between 1978 and 1981, "Mellowdrama", "For the Public", "Use it (Don't Abuse it)" and "Dreamin'". "Dreamin'", a track from the 1980 LP, "Expressions of Life", had the most airplay in the UK despite not reaching the UK chart. The group with just two of the brothers, Jimmy and Tootie, and additional sidemen as needed, continued to perform and record after Percy died in 2004. The DVD, ''Brotherly Jazz: The Heath Brothers'', recorded in 2004, shortly before Percy's dea ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cecil Taylor
Cecil Percival Taylor (March 25, 1929April 5, 2018) was an American pianist and poet. Taylor was classically trained and was one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an energetic, physical approach, resulting in complex improvisation often involving tone clusters and intricate polyrhythms. His technique has been compared to percussion. Referring to the number of keys on a standard piano, Val Wilmer used the phrase "eighty-eight tuned drums" to describe Taylor's style. He has been referred to as being "like Art Tatum with contemporary-classical leanings". Early life and education Cecil Percival Taylor was born on March 25, 1929, in Long Island City, Queens, and raised in Corona, Queens. Ratliff, Ben (May 3, 2012)"Lessons From the Dean of the School of Improv" ''The New York Times''. Retrieved December 9, 2017: "I recently spoke with the 83-year-old improvising pianist Cecil Taylor for about five hours over two days. One day was at his three-story home ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band based in San Francisco, California, that became one of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock. Formed in 1965, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the Bay Area to achieve international commercial success. They headlined the Monterey Pop Festival (1967), Woodstock (1969), Altamont Free Concert (1969), and the first Isle of Wight Festival (1968) in England. Their 1967 breakout album '' Surrealistic Pillow'' was one of the most significant recordings of the Summer of Love. Two songs from that album, " Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit", are among ''Rolling Stone''s "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". The October 1966 to February 1970 lineup of Jefferson Airplane, consisting of Marty Balin (vocals), Paul Kantner (guitar, vocals), Grace Slick (vocals), Jorma Kaukonen (lead guitar, vocals), Jack Casady (bass), and Spencer Dryden (drums), was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. Balin left ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jorma Kaukonen
Jorma Ludwik Kaukonen, Jr. (; ; born December 23, 1940) is an American blues, folk, and rock guitarist. Kaukonen performed with Jefferson Airplane and still performs regularly on tour with Hot Tuna, which started as a side project with bassist Jack Casady, and as of early 2019 has continued for 50 years. ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him No. 54 on its list of 100 Greatest Guitarists. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 as a member of Jefferson Airplane. Biography Jorma Kaukonen was born in Washington, D.C. to Beatrice Love (née Levine) and Jorma Ludwik Kaukonen, Sr. He had Finnish paternal grandparents and Russian Jewish ancestry on his mother's side. He is the older brother of Peter Kaukonen, who is also a musician. During his childhood, the Kaukonen family lived in Pakistan, the Philippines, and other locales as they followed his father's State Department career from assignment to assignment before returning to the place of his birth. As a teenager ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John Mayer
John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with Clay Cook. Together, they formed a short-lived two-man band called Lo-Fi Masters. After their split, Mayer continued to play local clubs, refining his skills and gaining a following. After his appearance at the 2001 South by Southwest festival, he was signed to Aware Records, and eventually to Columbia Records, which released his first extended play ''Inside Wants Out''. His following two studio albums—''Room for Squares'' (2001) and ''Heavier Things'' (2003)—performed well commercially, achieving multi-platinum status. In 2003, he won the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for his single "Your Body Is a Wonderland". By 2005, Mayer had moved away from the acoustic music that characterized his early records, and begun ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Toots & The Maytals
The Maytals, known from 1972 to 2020 as Toots and the Maytals, are a Jamaican musical group, one of the best known ska and rocksteady vocal groups. The Maytals were formed in the early 1960s and were key figures in popularizing reggae music. Frontman Toots Hibbert, who died in 2020, was considered a reggae pioneer on par with Bob Marley. His soulful vocal style was compared to Otis Redding, and led him to be named by ''Rolling Stone'' as one of the 100 Greatest Singers. After Hibbert's death, the Maytals indicated that they would continue as a working group. Their 1968 single " Do the Reggay" was the first song to use the word "reggae", coining the name of the genre and introducing it to a global audience. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' credits Toots and the Maytals in the etymology of the word "Reggae". According to Island Records founder Chris Blackwell "The Maytals were unlike anything else ... sensational, raw and dynamic." Career Formation and early success Frederic ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Steven Wright
Steven Alexander Wright (born December 6, 1955) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and film producer. He is known for his distinctly lethargic voice and slow, deadpan delivery of ironic, philosophical and sometimes nonsensical jokes, paraprosdokians, non sequiturs, anti-humor, and one-liners with contrived situations. Wright was ranked as the 15th Greatest Comedian by ''Rolling Stone'' in its 2017 list of the 50 Greatest Stand-up Comics. His accolades include the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for starring in, writing, and producing the short film ''The Appointments of Dennis Jennings'' (1988) and two Primetime Emmy Awards nominations as a producer of '' Louie'' (2010–15). He is known for his supporting role as Leon in the Peabody Award–winning tragicomedy web series ''Horace and Pete''. Early life and career Wright was born at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and grew up in Burlington, Massachusetts, one of four childre ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sonya Kitchell
Sonya Kitchell (born March 1, 1989, in Ashfield, MA) is an American singer-songwriter. Kitchell formed her first band and began writing music in 2001. In 2004 Sonya signed with Velour Records and was named the second Starbucks Hear Music Artist, releasing her first international-selling record, '' Words Came Back to Me'' on Velour Records. She has toured globally to Japan, Europe and across the U.S. many times in support of the album. Kitchell has appeared on numerous late-night TV shows, including the ''Late Show with David Letterman'', ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'', CNN, CBS and garnered rave reviews from the ''LA Times'', ''Boston Globe'', ''NY Times'' and NPR. She has appeared in venues such as Carnegie Hall and The Hollywood Bowl, amongst numerous notable stages around the world. In 2007 she joined forces with Herbie Hancock, singing on his Grammy-winning Joni Mitchell tribute titled '' River: The Joni Letters''. Hancock invited Kitchell to join him on tou ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dar Williams
Dorothy Snowden "Dar" Williams (born April 19, 1967) is an American pop folk singer-songwriter from Mount Kisco, New York. Hendrik Hertzberg of ''The New Yorker'' has described Williams as "one of America's very best singer-songwriters." She is a frequent performer at folk festivals and has toured with such artists as Mary Chapin Carpenter, Patty Griffin, Ani DiFranco, the Nields, Shawn Colvin, Girlyman, Joan Baez, and Catie Curtis. Early life Williams was born in Mount Kisco, New York, and grew up in Chappaqua with two older sisters, Meredith and Julie. Her nickname "Dar" originated due to a mispronunciation of "Dorothy" by one of Williams's sisters. In a 2008 interview with WUKY radio, Dar said her parents wanted to name her Darcy, after the character in ''Pride and Prejudice'', and that they intentionally called her "Dar-Dar", which she shortened to "Dar" in school. In interviews, she has described her parents as "liberal and loving" people who early on encouraged a caree ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman (born March 30, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter. Chapman is best known for her hit singles "Fast Car" and "Give Me One Reason". Chapman was signed to Elektra Records by Bob Krasnow in 1987. The following year she released her debut album, ''Tracy Chapman'', which became a commercial success, boosted by her appearance at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert, and was certified 6× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album received six Grammy Award nominations, including one for Album of the Year, three of which she won; Best New Artist, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for her single "Fast Car", and Best Contemporary Folk Album. In 1989, Chapman released her second album, ''Crossroads'', which earned her an additional Grammy Award nomination for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Her third album, '' Matters of the Heart'', followed in 1992. Chapman's fourth album, '' New Beginning'', was released in 1995 and became another ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Michelle Shocked
Michelle Shocked (born Karen Michelle Johnston; February 24, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter. Her music has entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album, and received an award for Folk Album of the Year at the CMJ New Music Awards. Early life Shocked was born Karen Michelle Johnston on February 24, 1962, in Dallas, Texas, at the Baylor University Medical Center. Her stepfather was in the US Army and the family moved from base to base, eventually settling in Gilmer, Texas. She was raised in a Mormon family. Johnston went through a punk rock phase, wearing a Mohawk hairdo and squatting in abandoned buildings in San Francisco, California. Career In 1984, Johnston adopted the stage name "Michelle Shocked", a play on the expression "shell shocked", she said in a 1992 interview with ''Green Left Weekly'': "The term 'Miss shell shocked' is a direct reference to the thousand-yard stare, which was a term that they firs ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |