13 MAGGIO, ORE 21.30 – BARGA JAZZ CLUB

Tony Pileio – voce/chitarra
Filippo Guerrieri – tastiere
Enrico Cecconi – batteria

Capitanato da Tony Pileio il trio propone un repertorio che spazia dal funky al soul fino al blues.
Una serata a tutto groove!

WWW.BARGAJAZZCLUB.COM

Barga Jazz Club – Via del Pretorio 23, Barga (Lucca )

Circolo ACSI – Tessera annuale €10,00

Un repertorio per tutti i gusti che vede come protagonista la voce della bravissima Sara Benedetti accompagnata alla chitarra da Fabio Pierotti e Matteo Pieri. Ai tamburi Andrea Giannelli e alle percussioni Pierino Fontana e al basso Andrea Gorza.

On stage this evening at The Barga Jazz Club – the return of Get Foggy  with the soulful voice of Sara Benedetti, Andrea Giannelli on drums, Pierino Fontana on percussion, Andrea Gorza on bass and the two guitarists: Fabio Pierotti e Matteo Pieri.

They were last here in Barga during September of last year (article here)

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Daniele Palla, Tiziana Noccioli e il resto della combriccola ci trasporteranno in un repertorio deep soul e R&B che non potrà che farci saltare sulle sedie.

La band nasce nel 2007 all’interno della Soul Italian Community, ritrovo di persone con la comune passione per il soul e la musica black, creatosi sul web e divenuto ben presto punto di aggregazione e scambio di idee e informazioni musicali. Le diverse esperienze dei membri (Dal blues al metal, dal funky al rock) hanno permesso di creare uno stimolante arcobaleno di stili, di visioni musicali e di interpretazioni della musica “nera”, tale da rendere ogni show dei Groovy Men un vero e proprio viaggio lungo alcuni degli approdi più toccanti della musica soul/pop degli ultimi 50 anni.

Tiziana Noccioli – voce | Daniele Palla – voce | Jack Nannini – chitarra | Fabio Rapatmax – tastiere | Giuseppe “Jos” Venturi – basso elettrico | Mauro Palla – batteria

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SIC House Band #3 in 2008 | The Groovymen in 2009 |

Un gruppo di amici, ma soprattutto di ottimi musicisti si riuniscono per una serata Soul al Barga Jazz Club presentando una band, i Modellio, capitanata dalla ben nota ed apprezzata Michela Lombardi che si presente, questa volta, nelle vesti di Soul Singer.

Con lei dei veterani del genere: Fabio Pierotti alla chitarra , Fabrizio Leone al basso, Emilio Cervelli al Sax tenore e Alessio Tambellini alla batteria.

Michela Lombardi ha suonato, tra gli altri, con: Renato Sellani, Massimo Moriconi, Stefano Bagnoli, Giovanni Ceccarelli, Carlo Battisti, Stefano Nunzi, Massimo Faraò, Andrea Tofanelli, Achille Succi, Rossano Emili, Dimitri Grechi Espinosa, Ettore Bonafé, Alessandro Fabbri, Alessandro Giachero, Francesco Ponticelli, Nicoletta Manzini, Franco Santarnecchi, Franco Nesti, Petra Magoni, Filippo Pedol, Giulio Stracciati, Silvia Bolognesi, Stefano Onorati, Roberto Bellatalla, Alessandro Minetto, Riccardo Arrighini, Paolo Benedettini, Walter Paoli, Guido Zorn, Kelvin Sholar…

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Il Pane e le Rose continues all this week in Gallicano right up until Sunday 28th June with live music each and every night.

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Tra le varie manifestazioni a cui Allen ha partecipato come non fare menzione del mitico concerto che è diventato, grazie alla regia di Mel Stuart, una vera e propria icona della filmografia soul e che prende il nome di Wattstax, concerto che ha visto Michael Allen a fianco di David Porter.

Ma l’esperienza discografica di Allen non si ferma alla mitica Stax, numerose sono infatti le sue collaborazione per la celebre HI all’interno della quali incide con personaggio come Al Green, Wilson Pickett, Otis Clay, Ann Peebles e molti altri. Ha diretto come pianista/vocalist il tour di Anita Ward e ha lavorato come produttore, arriangiatore, musicista negli studi Royal di Willie Mitchell per la sua nuova etichetta Waylo, scrivendo alcune celebri canzoni. Nel 1987 ha arrangiato il primo cd del gruppo Wet Wet Wet ed è arrivato per la prima volta in Italia, dove adesso vive e lavora, al Sanremo Blues come direttore d’orchestra di Al Green.

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Al Barga Jazz Club si presenta accompagnato dalla “Rat Band”, gruppo storico e molto ben conosciuto negli ambienti barghigiani. La band, capitanata da Carlo Parenti ( batteria ) è composta, oltre che da quest’ultimo, da Claudio Polizzi al basso elettrico e Vincenzo Bramanti alla chitarra

Unfortunately the sound quality on the video below is not up to scratch but you can get some idea of the what the band was like in action

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As we said last year” A packed out bar this evening for the first of two concerts from the “Glasgow’s Soul Man” – Drew Robertson on his first trip to Barga and judging by the reaction of the crowd this evening – not his last either. He will be back. Spotted in the crowd were members of the Lake Angels, no doubt already thinking of Drew for the next edition of the  Lake Angels Soul Festival.
Maybe they already know that he fronts the hugely successful Glasgow, Scotland 10 piece soul band “Counselled Out” .. getting them on next years bill would be a show stopper. …. eh ? Lake Angels (articles here) ?”

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Last night the deal was done … Drew will be appearing at the Lake Angels Soul Festival 2009

The Bar Sport was extensively renovated and reopened (article here) with a larger brighter interior and with new staff behind the counter. Arrighi Franco was then joined by Marroni Andrea and Turicchi Alberto in the new venture. They seem to going from strength to strength with a whole series of new events already lined up for the coming siummer months.

The extraordinary lead vocalist of Scotland’s top soul band, ‘Counselled Out‘, originally learned his trade working as a bass player with his father’s dance band while developing his vocal talents and song-writing ability. Drew’s first job as a front-man was with ‘Highway’ which included Brian Robertson (later of Thin Lizzy fame) and he subsequently joined the ‘Beezneez’ who had a massive Southside following and appeared with the Bay City Rollers and Leo Sayer.
He later formed the ‘Straightmen’ with his brother which featured their prolific original material and legendary live performances throughout Scotland. After the band split, Drew concentrated on small group work with the likes of Billy McIsaac (Slik, The Zones) and joined Counselled Out in 1993. The one thing that has been constant over the years is Drew’s command over his audience and powerful stage presence reminiscent of Billy Connolly, Frankie Miller and the late Alex Harvey. The voice, which combines the better qualities of Joe Cocker, Van Morrison and the fat guy from ‘The Commitments’, is the icing on the cake.

Drew is the original and legendary “Glasgow’s Soul Man” due to his powerful, soulful voice. However, he is a diverse talent who’s solo show covers 6 decades from Swing classics through to contemporary pop hits including:

50′s – Drifters, Sinatra

60′s – Monkeys, Otis Redding

70′s – Bay City Rollers, T-Rex

80′s – Billy Ocean, Deacon Blue

90′s – Commitments, Robbie

00′s – Scissor Sisters, Fratellis

Drew works as a solo entertainer or with his backing band ‘The Doobious Brothers’ which can vary from keyboard and/or guitar through to full band with drums, bass and brass. He has worked as MC at prestigious charity balls, talent competitions and awards ceremonies and is also a full Equity member with TV credits on Taggart, River City and Chewin’ The Fat. Unlike many solo artists and entertainers, who hide behind flashy lights and visual effects, Drew has a natural stage presence which is second to none in Scotland and chooses to work the audience rather than gadgets.

Well, a little bit of history tonight at the Lake Angels Soul Festival took off like a rocket and lit up the sky over Barga. Things will never be quite the same again. Recently it has been almost impossible to run the kind of music and food festa that traditionally was held for many years in Barga Vecchia. The regulations concerning food and food preparations and the rules about noise levels for live music inside the castle has meant that something had to change. Tonight it changed.

The Lake Angels building on their experience of running a very successful piazza during the Festa season decided this year to make a jump out of the city and move operations down to the sports stadium where it would be possible in theory to cater for 400 – 500 people and put on live music events without incurring the wrath of local residents.

In theory …. in practice it was a big risk as nobody was actually sure if that amount of people would actually turn up on the night. Turn up this did in their hundreds … all bets were on.
The Lake Angels Soul Festival was born. Two different soul groups playing each night and with a menu that moved from macaroni through to roast pig and finally on the last night … a traditional fish dish from Livorno being offered…. and all for charity.

Soul Italian Community House Band#3 opened the proceedings and kept the pressure on right the through their set until the main band of the evening – the Mr. Pitiful Soul Band took to the stage. Then things started to get a bit wild. Dancing throngs in front of the stage created a mini dust storm which covered most of the dancers legs with a fine brown covering as the night just got hotter and the music louder.

Then just before midnight- disaster struck … Andrea “Big Man” Giannelli on the drums who had been pulling a fairly good imitation of the “animal” on the the old Muppets show hit his drum with just too much of a rimshot, broke his flailing drumstick and slashed it into the skin of his snaredrum before he could halt his hands downward thrust destroying his instrument. He played on with one of his side drums to the end of the song but the band then had to take a 15 break while another drum could be brought in from a nearby musicians house.

….. and the band played on.

A great festival atmosphere this evening with almost an intimate feel to the whole event … something very difficult in a sports stadium. Well done the lake Angels, the SIC- the Soul Italian Community and the A.S Barga who organised this event.

So what now is the future for music and food events in Barga ? Change is probably the way forward with smaller more intimate events.
Maybe now is the time to relaunch the idea of the Festa del Centro Storico which is programmed to start on the 17th of this month in an acoustic version ?

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8.30 pm – Soul Italian Community House Band#3

Tiziana “Melanina” Noccioli – voce
Daniele “amnesia99″ Palla – voce
Massimo “Fabio Rapatmax” Rapezzi – tastiere e cori
Jack Nannini – chitarra
Gino “Tonico” Marchi – basso
Mauro “xnientefacile” Palla – batteria

10.30 – Mr. Pitiful Soul Band

Cristina “criccanta” Salotti – voce
Fabio “Fabflack” Pierotti – chitarre
Fabrizio “Leo.Bass” Leone – basso
Andrea “Big Man” Giannelli – batteria
Simone “rhazckal” Venturi – tastiere
Alessandro “alebop” Rizzardi – t. sax
Riccardo Barsotti – tromba

Menu – Roast pig

The months of preparations are almost over – the three day long Lake Angels Soul Festival 2008 is just about to open its gates and let the music begin. … well almost.
Tomorrow evening down at the Sports Stadium the festa will open with the Soul Italian Community House Band#3 followed by the Mr. Pitiful Soul Band and with roast pig on the menu. That is if a couple of small details are sorted out in the next 24 hours. Small details such as with one day to go … the tables and seating arrangements for 400 people are all ready, the kitchens, bars and toilet facilities are all primed and ready to go. Car parking and security arrangements are all sorted out. So what is missing ? How about … the stage for the musicians to perform on and probably more importantly … electricity to power the whole festival ?

There were a few worried faces around the Festival site this evening but the Lake Angels are convinced that by the morning these tiny details will have all been sorted out and the festival will take place as advertised. This is Barga and these are the Lake Angels so all things are possible. Watch this space.

EDIT … in fact 12 hours later all was sorted and yes the show did start on time (article here)

Friday 11th July

8.30 pm – Soul Italian Community House Band#3

Tiziana “Melanina” Noccioli – voce
Daniele “amnesia99″ Palla – voce
Massimo “Fabio Rapatmax” Rapezzi – tastiere e cori
Jack Nannini – chitarra
Gino “Tonico” Marchi – basso
Mauro “xnientefacile” Palla – batteria

10.30 – Mr. Pitiful Soul Band

Cristina “criccanta” Salotti – voce
Fabio “Fabflack” Pierotti – chitarre
Fabrizio “Leo.Bass” Leone – basso
Andrea “Big Man” Giannelli – batteria
Simone “rhazckal” Venturi – tastiere
Alessandro “alebop” Rizzardi – t. sax
Riccardo Barsotti – tromba

Menu – Roast pig

Saturday 12th July

8.30 pm – Soul Italian Community House Band #1

Serena Suffredini – voce
Simone “rhazckal” Venturi – tastiere
Mirko “Homergei” Federighi – chitarre
Riccardo “Flearules” Lorenzetti – basso
Andrea “Big Man” Gianneli – batteria
Marco “Pelo” Venturi – t.sax
Andrea Guzzoletti – tromba

10.30 pm – Jacks Pack

Geoff White – voce/harp
Jack Nannini – chitarra
Simone “rhazckal” Venturi – tastiere
Gino Tonico – basso
JJ Carde – batteria
Pelo – t.sax

Menu – Maccheroni

Sunday 13th July
8.30 pm – Joana pocket band
10.30 pm – La Ghenga – Ska Rocksteady

Menu – Cacciucco

For more information about Rwanda and the Kwizera group be sure to read Frank Vivano’s article here

The green fields of Nyinawimana rise in 50 acres of carefully sculpted terraces, abuzz with honey bees under a generous sun. This might be Tuscany instead of the hills northeast of Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. And in a sense, it is. There’s a powerful story here, the kind of story you seldom hear at a time when news is mostly defined as catastrophe and the notion of spontaneous human solidarity is regarded as sentimental fiction. – Frank Viviano – Attention Bill Gates; under a Tuscan sun of Rwanda

Also present at the Solidarity Evening was the painter Keane who created on a 70x50cm canvas an oil painting of one of the Nuns of Barga – the continuing theme that he has been working on over the past 18 months. (article here)

The finished painting was raffled off at the end of the evening and was won by a resident of Fosciandora – a small village further up in Garfagnana where Keane spent 7 years painting landscapes in the 80′s (article here)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCopTXUE3dk

The kwizera video on you tube

The Kwizera site can be seen here

Friday 11th July
8.30 pm – Soul Italian Community House Band
10.30 – Mr. Pitiful Soul Band
Menu – Roast pig

Saturday 12th July
8.30 pm – Soul Italian Community House Band
10.30 pm – Jacks Pack
Menu – Maccheroni

Sunday 13th July
8.30 pm – Joana pocket band
10.30 pm – La Ghenga – Ska Rocksteady
Menu – Cacciucco