This Ensemble will present traditional Chinese music in a celebration of the 2012 Chinese New Year.  Founded in 1999 by a group of citizens who are originally from China and living in the Greater Kansas City area, the group is made up of both  professionally trained musicians and amateurs. They use traditional Chinese music instruments to play traditional and folk music from China. The group has been performing for communities in Kansas City and its neighboring areas including St. Louis, Des Moines, and Columbia, Mo. 

For information, call 785-670-1051 or visit chinesemusickc.com.

Leading off the music will be Two Blue, the Solo-Duo entrant to the IBC made up of  Josh Vowell and Justin Shelton (read the seveneightfive 5Q: Two Blue article by Tommy Anderson by clicking here).

The Nick Hern Band, the Band entrant to the IBC will round out the evening. Members of the band include Nick Hern, Mike Hern, Rod Peterson and Rick Bruner.

“Nick is an insanely talented guitarist at the forefront of the new generation of young players. He’s the real deal.” – Hamilton Loomis

The Topeka Blues Society will be taking membership applications and renewals during the event as well. Benefits of membership include a subscription to their newsletter, and the joy of helping to keep the the Blues alive in Topeka!

The following interview by Tommy Anderson originally appeared in the December 1, 2011 issue of seveneightfive magazine. With the upcoming International Blues Festival, held January 31 through February 4 in Memphis, we wanted to share this with you and encourage you to root for Two Blue, who will perform in the solo/duo category.

Two Blue, a side project of “Josh Vowell & the Rumble” is comprised of frontman Josh Vowell and harp extraordinaire Justin Shelton. The duo joined together to perform in the Topeka Blues Society competition, where the finalists compete at the International Blues Competition in Memphis. Josh and Justin will travel there in February.

1Q: If you could add any musician to your duo, who would it be?
Justin: Go online and look up the most ridiculously crazy Cajun box drummer, and that’s who I would add.
Josh: Cool sexy chick singer with a good defined voice like Samantha Fish, Bessie Smith, or Aretha Franklin.

2Q: What makes your band unique?
Josh: We were able to grow up with our generation’s music and take it back to the blues. We’ve combined the new-aged ideology of our generation with the blues ideology of the late 19th century.
Justin: We both have back grounds in heavy metal and I think that brings a lot, rhythmically, to the table.

3Q: What are the advantages/disadvantages of being a duo as opposed to a full-sized band?
Josh: There’s no rhythm section so it requires us to be on our toes but you don’t have to set up all the chords, drums, and extra instruments.
Justin: A duo doesn’t have the variety that a full sized band would have but it’s still fresh and produces a butterfly effect on the stomach.

4Q: What is the most palm-head-worthy moment of the duo’s musical career?
Justin: Showing up in Kansas City to perform and realizing all of the harmonicas have been left at home.

5Q: What bands or musicians have inspired or influenced your music?
Justin: John Nemeth, Sonny Boy Williamson, Sean Costello, and Tab Benoit.
Josh: Son House, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Sean Costello.

Bonus question: What is your biggest message to the public?
Two Blue: Get out and support live music. There are too many forms of entertainment that are taking away from the majesty that is music.

[ story by Tommy Anderson| photo by Colin McMillan | Nathan Ham Photography ]

Jam4Dan V
Saturday + Sunday| Jan 14 + 15
The Celtic Fox

Click here for a poster with the full line-up!

Jam4Dan V will be held Saturday and Sunday January 14 and 15, 2012, at The Celtic Fox. What started as a benefit for Dan Falley’s daughter led to almost $6,000 being donated to young local musicians over the last three years. Both youth and adult bands will take the stage at The Celtic Fox, with music playing all day Saturday and Sunday. Tickets and shirts will be sold at the door, and a raffle drawing will be held for a guitar.

All proceeds raised at Jam4Dan are put into a scholarship fund for youth guitar and bass players, and the funds are then used to provide the musicians with lessons from a local instructor. Students are chosen for the scholarship based on three criteria: the student’s need for the scholarship, the impact of music on the student’s life, and an assessment of the student’s commitment by their instructor. After Jam4Dan V, the trustees will sort through applications and award the scholarships in the spring.

The event is led by trustees Tom Krebs, Mike Fox, Danl Blackwood, Joel Edison, and Ren Richardson, who work together to make Jam4Dan a successful event. Danl Blackwood and Tom Krebs agree that the event thrives thanks to help from countless members of the community.

“Chip Janda is our rock star. He has clearly been the leader in trying real hard to work with us for his students,” states Danl Blackwood.

Sonny Heller runs sound both days of the event, and J.D. Bloomar has been added to the staff as a volunteer coordinator. Countless others donate their time, talents, and resources to keep the local music scene thriving for the next generation.

In Danl Blackwood’s words, “when it boils down to it we really just want to try to remember Danny, what he was about, which was teaching the kids how to play guitar.”

Implementing the time-honored, stripped down, guitar-bass-drums format made popular by such greats as Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Cream, the Police and the John Mayer Trio, Chris Aytes and the Good Ambition play passionate no-frills Rock and Roll music from the heart.

Josh Hartranft [bass/vocals] • Renelle Aytes [drums] • Chris Aytes [guitar/vocals]

1Q: What genre of music do you consider your music to be?
Chris: Rock and Roll! I love the history of rock and roll and we play stuff that sounds just like Buddy Holly, the Beatles, Tommy James and the Shondells, the Who, Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen, the Ramones, it all mixes in for us. So we are Rock and Roll.

2Q: Where is your hometown?
Chris: We all live in Topeka now, but Renelle and I are originally from Great Bend, Kansas. Before that I lived in Concordia, and before that she lived . . .
Renelle: . . . in Oberlin, Kansas, way out northwest.
Josh: I came here from Springfield, Missouri. My quote, unquote hometown, is Poplar Bluffs, Missouri, but we moved there from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, when I was 11.
Chris: But we’re now in Topeka. I’m really starting to enjoy it and finding it a good place to start a band. Not a whole lot of people making music similar to what we’re making, so we can stick it out and not be just another fish in the pond. And it’s not too big of a music scene so there’s no pressure. We can have some time to kind of germinate. It’s a good incubating town so far, it has been good to us.

3Q: What influences you most: Literature or Music?
Chris: Music.
Renelle: Music.
Josh: Music has this way of taking over your entire soul . . . just takes you off somewhere. You have to actually sit down and put yourself into something, get into reading something in order for what you’re reading to take you somewhere . . . with music as soon as it’s on you’re in a world of greatness.
Chris: I do read, but it’s usually a biography of John Lennon or somebody like that . . . most of my reading has to do with music, which inspires me in the first place. Most of the films I watch have to do with music.

4Q: What is your favorite movie?
Josh: “The Jungle Book”
Chris: I’m a huge fan of “That Thing You Do.” It’s great, it really kind of captures a time period of music and what the industry was like at the time, what it was like to have a band with a hit record. I adore the film “Stranger Than Fiction” . . . “High Fidelity” and “The Shawshank Redemption.” We watched this old film from like the 30s, a young Jimmy Stewart was in it . . . “You Can’t Take It With You.” After we got through watching this movie with some friends, I said, if anyone asks me what my favorite film is, this is my favorite film, and Renelle just reminded me of that.
Renelle: When I think of favorite movies, I think of the “Bourne Trilogy,” but then I think about movies that really tie a lot of meaning to them, and that speak to my life; I can think of tons of others.

5Q: What’s the ultimate direction for your band?
Renelle: Making a living off of our music. People always say, find something you love, and get paid to do it. Well, we love doing this, and so we want to be able to support our families doing this, and hopefully other people’s families that will be on board with us.
Josh: It will be very nice to not be living on a minimum wage all my life, but still be playing music. I decided with myself a few years ago, especially after high school, even if I have a crappy run-down car and I just live in a one room apartment by myself, if I continue to play music and that’s what I do regularly, my life would be fulfilled.

[ story by Robin Cremer | photos by Ryan Bishop | GIZMO Pictures]

There are a lot of great artists in this town, a lot who want to be heard, and we want this to be the place for them. – Jeff Toda

After a year of performing the, “Jeff Toda,” act every Tuesday at College Hill Tavern, Jeff woke up after a fitful sleep and realized he wanted something different from his weekly performance. “There is a musical climate growing in Topeka,” explained Jeff. “The number of songwriters is growing and I wanted a jam that would foster and showcase that local talent.” With these hopes the, “Songwriter Session: Tuesday Open Jam,” was born.

Jeff teamed with the lyrically-gifted guitar guru Nate Dingman to host a laid-back jam playing original songs or songs that inspire them.
“For many songwriters, a typical bar jam isn’t their scene, but a coffee shop just doesn’t cut it,” said Jeff. “We hope to create an atmosphere to musically explore and entertain.”

Kicking off the Songwriter Session on October 4, the crowd drew a dozen new faces and for once, a bar that was listening to the music. Appreciation for originality was reflected in applause from the audience, without competition from shout-outs for Jagerbombs booming across the bar.

Bring your songbook and join Jeff and Nate for the, “Songwriter Session every Tuesday at College Hill Tavern, 1616 SW 17th Street. Food and drink specials include 75-cent tacos, $3.00 margaritas, $2.75 import bottles, and $2.25 domestic bottles.

LOUDsoftLOUD is the brainchild of Chris Aytes, leadman of local original band Chris Aytes and the Good Ambition. Aytes’ plan is to feature a night of local and regional acts, featuring diverse genres and volumes.

Topeka has all the makings for a great music scene,” Aytes says. “INCREDIBLE artists of diverse styles, concert venues with great potential, high-caliber recording studios, professional filmmakers, etc. However, the current concert scene in Topeka is not drawing people like it could. This, in my opinion, may be due to both a change in trends and weak promotion. LOUDsoftLOUD is a chance for me to support local and regional artists I think are noteworthy, regardless of genre or style, and bring them all together for an amazing show, while also supporting a hard-working local venue and hopefully attracting new faces to Topeka’s nightlife.

LOUDsoftLOUD will be the first of many showcase concerts in Topeka geared toward promoting the best local and regional acts, supporting great venues, and fostering the burgeoning music scene developing in the fringes of Topeka’s culture.

Performers for the November 18 event include:

GET JONNY from McPherson, Chris Aytes & the Good Ambition, Monk’s Wine, Artifact, Gypsy Jazz Quartet, Ashley Reynolds (of Monk’s Wine), all from Topeka, Barak Hill, and Kevin Cott, of Springfield, Mo.

Kara Garcia of seveneightfive and #getkarafamous will serve as Mistress of Ceremonies.

Cover charge will be $5.00 for 21+, $7.00 for under 21.

Formed around the middle of the last decade, Topeka based Beans & Cornbread is a big ol’ brass band that lays down some serious funkiness, that you can sit, listen, and enjoy; but after hearing a few of their upbeat horn driven funky-licous, tunes, you can’t help but get up, get down and shake, shake, shake your booty.

Building a repertoire from artists representing a wide variety of musical genres spanning a multitude of decades; B & C cover songs by the likes of: Tupac Shakur, the Gap Band, Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley and Bill Withers, not to mention that great New Awlins funk they cut their teeth on.

An eight piece band (five horn players, guitarist, bassist and drummer, most sing) with members “spreadin’ out so far and wide,” it’s hard enough getting them together to do a gig much less talk to the “kooky” music writer of seveneightfive, but we managed to pull three of ‘em together long enough to talk about their funked up band and the remarkable music they perform.

You guys play mostly covers. How do you choose the ones you play?

Alan Eisman; Funky Bass Player: Our main goal when we’re choosing music, are people going to dance to it, that’s our main goal. And are we going to be able to do it well. We’re not going to do a song if we can’t do it well. We’ve tried songs that are great songs but they just didn’t work out for our orchestration, and didn’t work out for the crowd. We tried a bunch of different songs and the end result is get people to dance.

Eric Padilla; Funky Vocals and Trumpet: And 90 percent of the suggestions that come to the band we don’t do. Alan is the one who pretty much decides, cause he’s the one who arranges everything. We’re all musicians but these two (Eric and Robert) know how to write out music. So, if it’s a fun song and they think they can arrange it.

Robert Kilpatrick; Funky Vocals and Trombone: Because we have so many horns, we have to actually write the music out, you can’t just wing it.

What’s been the most unusual cover for you to perform?

Eric: Christina Aquilera, Ain’t No Other Man. We played it two or three times, but the vocals were just too high for me.

Robert: That and Down, that was pretty unusual. Jay Sean, it’s sort of modern hip hop.

The most popular?

Eric: The 70s style and when we do our cover of California Love (Tupac), everybody just loves that. Everybody loved our old Stevie song and we got rid of that one and added a different one so we didn’t have to play the same one over and over.

Alan: A few years ago, there’s a guy who was holding a Bocce Ball tournament, and had us play. He was a big reggae guy; he wanted us to learn a bunch of reggae and we kept some of it.

What are your day jobs?

Alan: Air Traffic Control.

Robert: I work for the Kansas National Guard.

Eric: I’m an advisor with Farm Bureau Insurance.

(Lance Quilling on Funky Trombone and Funky Saxophonist Aaron Graverson are high school band directors. Mike Hurla who plays Funky Trumpet is assistant manager of Dairy Queen, while Funky Drummer Lucas Whippo and Funky Guitarist Ross Williams are students at Washburn.)

What’s the most unusual place you’ve played at?

Alan: That Bocce Ball tournament was one. We’ve done weddings in Illinois, we’re about to do a wedding in Central Kansas.

Eric: We played for Washburn. The first years of the band we were a lot more brassy, that New Orleans funk style. And they had a Mardi Gras luncheon and they paid us to come play at lunch and four faculty came in and ate. We were supposed to play two hours. We got paid to rehearse.

Alan: We got paid pretty good on that.

Robert: We got paid really good on that. (laughing)

[Robin Cremer • photo by Colin MacMillan, Nathan Ham Photogrpahy | published September 1 - October 15, 2011]

Ensembles featured on the program will be symphony orchestra, wind ensemble, jazz band, jazz combo, Washburn Singers, chorus, string orchestra, Fetter String Quartet and the percussion, trombone, clarinet and flute ensembles. Soloists featured are violinist Diana Seitz; pianists Jordan Ward and Valeriya Kanaeva; harpist Mariela Flores; and soprano Sylvia Stoner-Hawkins.

Admission to the concert is $10 with all proceeds to benefit the Music Student Travel Fund. Tickets will be available at the door. For more information, contact the Washburn Music Department at 670.1511 or email music@washburn.edu.

[provided by Washburn University]

Old school Metalheads of Topeka, listen up; your weekend has arrived! Coming to take us back to the golden age of Rock and Roll, Almost KISS from Kansas City and the Glitter Boys from Hattiesburg, Mississippi are hitting T-town to Rock and Roll us all night, leaving us wanting nothing but a good time.

The action kicks off at the Throttleback Bar in North Topeka Friday Night when Almost KISS will get the place Hotter Than Hell! AlmostKISS has been rocking the club scene since 2005, with no signs of letting up. Their act includes all the familiar Kiss exploits that make their fans leave their seat and move their feet: Outrageous makeup, fire breathing, blood spewing, smoking guitar solos; you name it, it’s all here in all its fire and brimstone glory, and with such an attention to detail, it got them on an episode of Gene Simmon’s Family Jewels, as one of Gene’s top six favorite Kiss tribute bands.

Pucker up…this is the hottest KISS tribute band in the world, coming to Topeka!

 And then it’s time to get out the hair spray, put on the makeup and pull on the spandex, ‘cuz it’s Saturday night and glam metal band Glitter Boys are in town and will be wreaking havoc at the Boobie Trap. With a set list that looks like a singles chart ripped out of Billboard magazine from when Metal ruled the airwaves, the Glitter Boys perform a dizzying array of rocking originals and pop metal classics.

Attired in authentic stage apparel of the era, the Glitter Boys look like they just stepped out of Doc Brown’s De Lorean with their teased hair, scarves, bandanas, fingerless gloves, torn jeans, snakeskin boots and a whole lot of attitude.

Employing many of the time-honored formulas (muggles favor the term ’cliches’), used by the great Hair Metal bands of yesteryear, the Glitter Boys original tunes Rock and Roll Time Machine, Bop Bop Baby, Backstage Pass, Do You Believe, etc. are as rocking, raucous and irreverent as their eighties predecessors and come with more hooks than a Disney-themed costume party.

So whether you’re a fan of 70/80s era Kiss or 80s hair bands you’ll be one happy metal head this weekend no matter where you end up. It doesn’t matter if it’s the Throttleback Friday Sept. 23 to party with Almost KISS or rocking out at the Boobie Trap Saturday Sept. 24 with the Glitter Boys; there’s no doubt by weekends end you’ll be singing along with that old Steel Panther spiritual, ‘Death To All But Metal!’

More Info on The Glitter Boys show @ the Boobie Trap

More info on Almost Kiss @ the Throttleback

[September 2011 | Robin Cremer]