2008
Acoustic Fest Schedule
11:30
-
Tom Pease
12:30
- 1:50
Joel
Stepanek
Rebecca
Markvart
Sammy
Juke
Joint Johnny
Daniel Nathan
2:00
- Janet Planet & Tom Theabo
3:00
- Frogwater
4:00
- 4:50
Scholarship
Winner, Home Brew, Greenville
5:00
- Poor Man's Labour
6:00
- Jerry Kosak
7:00
- Unwound
8:00
- TOMMY O'SULLIVAN
Times
subject to change
2008
Acoustic
Fest Performers
TOMMY
O’SULLIVAN
Born
in London into a family with their roots deep in the heart
of the West Kerry Gaeltacht.Tommy was raised in a melting
pot of sounds from the rhythms of The Beatles on the radio
and his parents Irish records on the turntable. Tommy was
always a keen singer and by the time the family moved back
to West Kerry in 1972 he had already begun playing guitar.
By his mid teens he started performing locally in Dingle,already
a popular tourist destination largely due to the movie epic
‘Ryan’s Daughter’which was filmed in the locality.Encouraged
by local publican and musician Fergus Flaherty,Tommy started
to explore the world of traditional music.He dabbled with
open guitar tunings and listened to everybody from Paul Brady
and Dick Gaughan,to the acclaimed West Kerry musicians The
Begley Family.Through trial and error he eventually settled
into the DADGAD tuning,a trade mark sound of his later recordings.In
1982,with Ireland in deep recession,Tommy again moved to London.There,amongst
the swell of a wave of Irish immigration,he found himself
engulfed in a stream of traditional music from all over Ireland.Amid
this vibrant scene,Tommy quickly established himself as a
useful guitar player and singer.Many of the musicians in and
around this circle would later come to national and international
attention such as John Carty, Mike McGoldrick,Dezi Donnelly,Sean
Keane,Ron Kavana, and actor Patrick Bergin( a regular bass
player on the scene).
Tommy
also took a keen interest in the English folk club scene and
became friendly with amongst others Barry Dransfield and Martin
Simpson.These influences can be heard in his rendition of
‘The Grey Funnel Line’ which he recorded on the
Sliabh Notes album ‘Along Blackwater’s Banks’in
2003.All in all,Tommy kept his base in London for 10 years.There
were however a few notable side trips:In the spring of ’86
he travelled to the U.S. with fiddle player Tommy McCarthy.They
performed as ‘in flight entertainers’ for Virgin
Atlantic airlines a feat that prompted a headline in the evening
press proclaiming “The first ceili at 5000ft”!(Tommy
McCarthy went on to open ‘The Burren’in Boston which
has become one of the most famous Irish American music venues
in the States).
Returning again to London ,Tommy embarked on the first of
many trips to Denmark.Eventually he joined ‘Ashplant’a
Copenhagen based band with Danish and Irish members.Ashplant
regularly toured and played at festivals all over Scandinavia.Tommy
continued to tour with Ashplant until he eventually returned
to Ireland in 1992.Within a year he released his acclaimed
debut album ‘Legacy’.Among the musicians featured
were Matt Cranitch and Steve Cooney .
Shortly after the release of ‘Legacy’,Matt,Tommy
and ‘4 Men and a Dog’ box player Donal Murphy formed
‘Sliabh Notes’.To date they have recorded three
albums:Sliabh Notes,Gleanntan,and Along Blackwater’s
Banks.They have built an enviable reputation and have performed
at many international festivals.One of the bands many highlights
was on the streets of Cork city in Sep.2005 when along with
Michael Flatley,The Kilfenora Ceili band and nearly 7000 dancers
they entered ‘The Guinness Book Of Records’ for
the largest gathering of people to play and dance the siege
of Ennis!
In
1997 Tommy also began touring regularly with ex-Bothy Band
virtuoso piper Paddy Keenan.Having featured on Paddy’s
solo album ‘Na Keen Affair’,Tommy booked a sellout
tour of Ireland for the duo.They later went on to record the
much acclaimed album ‘The Long Grazing Acre’which
was released on the compass label in 2003.The pair continue
to tour and appear at festivals worldwide.
Tommy’s
long overdue second solo album was recorded in 2006 and released
in 2007. Entitled ‘Song Ablaze’it is an ambitious
project with songs that range from traditional Irish and traditional
American to the works of contemporary writers again from both
sides of the Atlantic.The album includes an international
cast of such stellar musicians as 2006 grammy award winner
Tim O’Brien(USA), Shetland fiddle master Chris Stout,
champion harp player Catriona McKay(Sco), David Robertson(Sco,Capercaillie),
James Blennerhassett(Irl), Mary Black/Brian Kennedy(Irl),
Eilis Kennedy(Irl) and Pete Grant(USA)
http://www.tommyosullivan.net/
Tom
Pease
Tom
Pease has an infectious sense of fun and community building.
With movement, sign language, humor, and joy, he creates concerts
that leave audiences laughing and singing. He's performed
full time since 1982, often giving more than 200 performances
per year. He's also been a frequent presenter at early childhood
and environmental conferences, keynoting and leading breakout
sessions that explore the role of music in shaping our lives
and the world we live in. Tom inspires and connects with every
show he does.
http://www.tompease.com/
Janet
Planet with Tom Theabo
Jazziz
Magazine hailed her as a "Voice of the New Jazz Culture...amazingly
powerful voice with seemingly limitless expression".
In her career, Ms. Planet has performed with legends such
as Jackie and Roy, George Benson, and her mentor Nancy King,
and shared the stage with many other accomplished jazz artists
including Ellis Marsalis, John Harmon, Gene Bertoncini, and
Marian McPartland. Janet is also on the staff of the Tritone
Jazz Camp and teaches voice privately as well as conducting
clinics.
Tom
Theabo has been a guitarist/arranger/writer for more than
35 years. A full time musician and teacher, his style is a
unique voice in the jazz world and immediately recognizable.
His recordings are numerous. He has been featured with Grammy
nominee, Chris Swanson and John Harmon on the 1985 release
of "Sweet Thunder" on the Sea Breeze label. He has
shared the stage with George Benson, Chuck Mangione and Gene
Bertoncini. He has also collaborated with Janet Planet over
the last 25 years.
http://www.janetplanet.com/
Frogwater
(Susan
and John Nicholson)
Susan
began playing violin at the age of 7. Trained classically
and with some Suzuki method, she played in Milwaukee ensembles,
did solo recitals, and performed in Music For Youth Symphonies.
After high school, she pursued interests in travel, work,
and further education..
In
1989, Susan reawakened her interest in the violin as a "fiddle"
and joined Milwaukee Celtic ensemble, The Glenghillies (later
shortened to The Ghillies.) This popular group developed a
following in all age groups and varied backgrounds. They enjoyed
stints at local pubs, various festivals throughout the United
States and Canada, and private and civic affairs. They even
shared the stage on occasion performing with Ireland's Chieftains.
In
1995, The Ghillies added John Nicholson (guitar, banjo and
vocals, ) a Milwaukee native, who had just returned from studying
and living in California. John has performed traditional music
around Milwaukee and Wisconsin for many years. He studied
guitar at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and privately,
and has taught beginning and intermediate guitar at the University
of Wisconsin extension Division in Milwaukee since 1999,
After
the Ghillies dissolved in 1997, John and Susan continued playing
together and co-founded Frogwater, featuring a cross-pollination
of musical styles: Celtic, Bluegrass, old-time, and blues.
Their performances are particularly influenced by their love
of Irish and Scottish music. Alongside Susan's flashing fingers
on the fiddle, John adds his prowess on Celtic, Blues and
fingerstyle guitar. As they began to add emphasis on old-time
American music as well, Frogwater frequently includes another
talented Milwaukee musician, Li'l Rev on harmonica, guitar
and ukulele.
For
the past several years, Frogwater has performed regularly
at the Milwaukee Summerfest, Irish Fest, Bastille Days, and
Rainbow Summer. In recent years, they have also begun featuring
at Lancaster (WI) "Music on the Square, " Gays Mills
Folk Festival, Bayfield Folk Fest, Wheatland Traditional Arts
and a recent performance in England. They have received honor
as best band in the Bluegrass and Country categories (for
lack of a better classification) in the WAMI (Wisconsin Area
Music Industry) awards for two years running, and have been
honored with readers' Polls awards in several music categories
in The Shepherd Express, Milwaukee's alternative newspaper.
John
and Susan performed with Milwaukee's Renaissance Theaterworks
in and original play, "Red Pepper Jelly" in January
2002. This provided them with an opportunity to write and
perform original musical material in conjunction with a respected
theatrical production. John and Susan have enjoyed performing
for live dance groups, such as Trinity Contra dances throughout
the Midwest.
Their
discography included: "Live at Thai Hoe's" (live
band recording,) 1998
"Bus Breakdown" (John and Susan studio recording,)
2002
http://www.frogwater.us/frogwater.html
Jerry
Kosak
Jerry
Kosak is a guitarist and composer performing original music
for solo guitar. Drawing from a diversity of musical experiences,
his compositions and playing style blend contrasting idioms
to create a fresh image of traditional music. Blues, classical,
rock, and jazz have all been influential in producing a musical
approach with a “great reflection of many different styles,”
according to Kevin Barnes of KBEM radio.
While
Jerry’s music hearkens back to traditional roots, his
career path has been anything but traditional. Jerry grew
up in Pittsburgh, PA and didn’t touch the guitar until
age 19, when the lure of the electric guitar became too powerful
to resist. Steve Howe, from the band Yes, was a major influence
on Jerry’s early development and inspired him to explore
a wide variety of musical styles. Motivated by Steve Howe’s
Mood for a Day, Jerry soon added classical guitar to his repertoire,
and after only six months of lessons, he auditioned for -
and was accepted into - the guitar program at Arizona State
University (ASU) where he studied with Frank Koonce.
In
the fall of 1980, Jerry formed Chosen, a Christian-oriented,
progressive rock band. Upon graduation with a degree in Classical
Guitar Performance from ASU in 1982, Jerry devoted his energy
to performing with Chosen. The band recorded a self-titled
album in 1982 and continued to perform for another year before
finally disbanding in 1983.
For
the next several years, Jerry remained busy as a session guitarist,
teacher and composer. He wrote songs for America West Airlines,
Phoenix Children’s Hospital, and The Make a Wish Foundation.
In 1986, he recorded all guitar parts for the album Form Letter,
by Berkley/Bay area-based Missionary Kid, and released his
first solo recording, Brighter Light.
Jerry
relocated to Flagstaff, AZ in 1988 and was offered a faculty
position teaching guitar and music history at Northern Arizona
University (NAU). He eventually entered a graduate program
in musicology at NAU and received a Masters degree in 1994.
While living in Flagstaff, Jerry began performing traditional
blues with local blues men, Ray Rossi and Hans Olson. Acquiring
several National metal-body guitars propelled his musical
direction further into the realm of finger style and slide
guitar. His resulting mix of academia overlapped with the
blues has been described as “Segovia playing the music
of Robert Johnson, while thinking about Leo Kottke.”
In 1994, Jerry moved with his family to Minneapolis, MN where
he accepted a faculty position at MacPhail Center for Music.
During this period of transition, and in order to spend time
with his children, Jerry decided to concentrate on teaching
and composing.
An
inspiring tour through Nicaragua in 1998, which included collaborative
sessions with Nicaraguan guitarist Chamorito, launched Jerry
into an intense phase of musical creativity. His efforts were
culminated with the 1999 CD recording, Many Dances, an eclectic
collection of “wonderful guitar music” for solo
guitar which showcased his skills as composer, instrumentalist,
and vocalist, and prompted guitarist Billy McLaughlin to say,
“Jerry is a powerful and colorful guitarist who makes
me want to practice..., or just listen with a big smile on
my face.”
Jerry
was the first two-time winner of the Zeitgeist Eric Stokes
Song Contest, receiving the award in 1999 for his composition
Matagalpa and 2000 for Many Dances. He was awarded a grant
from MacPhail Center for Music to compose student pieces in
1991, and was a recipient of the 2001 Jerome Foundation Travel
and Study Grant.
In 2003, Jerry joined the faculty of McNally Smith College
of Music in St. Paul, where, in addition to teaching courses
in guitar department, he is active in helping to develop new
courses in guitar technique and music history. A second CD,
Sounds Like This, was recorded in 2004. Once again, Jerry
combined his talents with those of Matthew Zimmerman at Wild
Sound Studios in Minneapolis and produced what Tommy Emmanuel
described as “wonderfully recorded guitar!“
In the wake of the new recording, Jerry acquired a Lexicon
JamMan and incorporated the technology of “looping“
in his live shows. As Jerry put it,“ the JamMan enabled
me to add something different to my performances... something
a bit more interesting than simply playing the tunes from
my CDs.“ Looping is the ability to record several live
parts during a performance. The result can be quite impressive
and very similar to the sound of a full band. “All the
parts I loop are created on the fly. Each sound is created
by either playing the guitar or tapping on the body. Well,
I do use a shaker egg, from Creative Kidstuff, and the soundhole
mic picks up that sound. I saw Phil Keaggy do that. Invariably,
someone will ask how I am making these sounds, or are those
sounds pre-programmed?“ As his live shows have evolved,
Jerry has opened for Don Ross and has performed on shows with
Tommy Emmanuel, Bob Brozman, Catfish Keith, Steve James, Phil
Heywood, and Hull and Larsen. Currently, Jerry teaches at
both McNally Smith College of Music and the MacPhail Center
for Music, performs across the country, and writes music for
the guitar.
http://www.jerrykosak.com/
Unwound
(Gloria
and Peter Pivonka)
Traditional and contemporary acoustic composers, fingerstyle
guitar and tight, rich harmonies characterize this local duo’s
performance. Their repertoire includes compositions by Nancy
Griffith, Fleetwood Mac, Bonnie Rait, Sheryl Crow, John Gorka,
Bruce Cockburn and many others. Of particular interest are
the duo’s guitar arrangements of piano tunes of Joni
Mitchell and John Lennon and the addition of percussion to
solo guitar pieces.
Peter’s instrumental offerings draw heavily from the
compostitions of Michael Hedges, Pierre Bensusan, Alex DeGrassi,
Billy McGlaughlin and Leo Kottke along with a generous sprinkling
of tunes from the British Isles masters Bert Jansch, Peter
Lang, and Martin Carthy. The duo venue allows the couple to
explore repertoire possibilities particularly suited to the
intimate, concert type atmosphere of coffee shops, book stores,
museums and smaller clubs.
Home
Brew
The
acoustic guitar duo Home Brew, offers a blend of uniquely
arranged acoustic swing, blues and pop tunes.
Pete
Honzik is a finger style guitarist and a founder of Manitowoc's
annual Acoustic Fest. With 30 years of experience as a solo
musician, Pete's creative collaborations also include Hardbean
and McHonzik, Rebels with a Mortgage, Huckleberry Blues Hounds
and is the current music director for Heart-A-Rama, an annual
fund raiser for the Heart Association. He studied fingerstyle
guitar at the Milwaukee Conservatory with John Stropes.
Merritt
Bussiere, also plays fingerstyle guitar. In addition to his
Home Brew activities, he currently entertains as a solo musician
along the Wisconsin lakeshore. Merritt played piano, guitar
and banjo, sang harmony vocals, and created arrangements working
with different folk-rock bands during high school. After high
school, he sang and played keyboards and slide guitar in dance
bands around Philadelphia until the late-70s when he quit
music all-together for about 20 years. In the late-1990s,
he and his oldest daughter began performing as an instrumental
duo called Paper Moon.
Home
Brew began in December 2003. They have hours of vintage acoustic
music to offer. With decades of musical experience betweenthem,
Pete and Merritt bring new energy and ideas, and some nice
pickin' and vocal harmonies, to an eclectic mix of songs.
Poor
Man's Labour
Poor Man's Labour performs American
roots music, including mountain tunes and songs, blues and
rags, and traditional Irish dance music. The group includes
members of the Srubas family: AJ Srubas on fiddle, guitar
and vocals; his brother, Steve Srubas, on clawhammer banjo,
ukelele and vocals, and their father, Paul Srubas, on guitar,
vocals and whistle. The boys' mother, Ruth Ellen, will also
occasionally add her voice to the mix.
Daniel
Nathan
Daniel
Nathan will be making a special SOLO appearance at The Manitowoc
Acoustic Fest. He has recently been described as ‘…an
inspiring example of musical drive and creativity.’ by
OnMilwaukee.com staff writer Julie Lawrence.
His
band out of Milwaukee, The Daniel Nathan Band, is a psychedelic
groove trio featuring soul-rockin’ psycho flute. They
play with power and feeling, crossing genre barriers without
losing coherency. Visit www.danielnathanband.com
to download free mp3s off their new Voodoo Magic CD!
Rebecca
Markvart
Becky
has had music in her soul from a very young age. She started
playing piano at age 4 and has been singing since she first
began to talk. She got her first taste of guitar by taking
lessons at 14, though she didn’t actually begin playing
seriously until a few years ago. Becky began performing locally
in January, 2005 with a newly formed trio called Happenstance.
She decided to go solo in 2007 with her debut gig at Stumpjack
Coffee Company in Two Rivers. At this time, she plays monthly
at Stumpjack and various small venues in the local community
and around the state. Some shows by herself and others with
Bill Martell as Six Degrees. Becky’s musical style is
very laid back and soothing and her vocals have been labeled
as “angelic” and “smooth”. Some of the
artists she covers include Sarah McLachlan, Alison Krauss,
Dan Fogelberg and Trisha Yearwood. Becky recently started
writing and performing her own songs and will release her
debut CD June 1, 2008.
www.myspace.com/rebeccamarkvart
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John
"Juke Joint" Filipek
Juke
Joint started playing guitar at around the age of 7. At 8
he was playing guitar for a Polka/Wedding band. That lasted
until he was about 12 at which time he started getting into
rock. He played with a bunch of garage bands until he was
14 when he joined a band that actually had gigs. School proms,
college parties, etc. At around this time he discovered the
blues and knew that was what he wanted to play. Although being
in Chicago,heI couldn't find like minded people, so, rock
it was. He was in bands in Chicago throughout the 70's and
80's and played mostly Led Zeppelin, Rush, etc. but every
once in a while he could sneak in a blues song like Crossroads
or some Foghat. John moved to Wisconsin in 1996 and has been
here ever since. He's been playing acoustic blues mostly since
then. Now he just plays where people will let him.
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