Friday July 11 th
Donna Jean Godchaux MacKay was born to sing, and over the course of time she’s done so with people like Elvis Presley, Percy Sledge, Boz Scaggs, and Jerry Garcia. Now she has a new band that she’s quite certain is on a creative par with anything she’s ever done. “This band is a perfect fit for me as a singer/songwriter,” she said recently, “and I hope to be doing this for a long time to come. We’re having so much fun with this music!” The Grateful Dead alumna has joined up with six members of the next musical generation – Mookie Siegel (David Nelson Band; formerly Phil & Friends, RatDog), Wendy Lanter (Hope in Time), and Jeff Mattson, Tom Circosta, Klyph Black and Dave Diamond (Zen Tricksters) to form Donna Jean and the Tricksters. Look out! Things have come full circle and anything’s possible. Oh, sure, they’re gonna jam.
KAGERO’s gypsy-flavored acoustic rock is knocking New York’s indie scene on its tushy. The sound has been described as a melting pot of tonalities and rhythms from Asia, the Middle East, South America and Eastern Europe. Sometimes the songs are beautiful imagery, sometimes sad folk tales, and sometimes silly songs about drinking. With a high-energy show that threatens to entice even the most jaded hipster into busting a gleefully bohemian move, Kagero’s world music goulash is very tasty -- even if you don’t always know what’s you’re eating. Just call us your local neighborhood urban-gypsophonic, border-jumping, international debtor’s prison groove-loving feelgood band next door.
The Philadelphia Funk Authority is the "Party Authority", quite simply, one of the world's best dance and party bands! Give us the stage and we make the party happen! Specializing in getting the crowd out on the dance floor with the best soul, R&B, funk, dance and party music from the past 40 years, PFA is a group of dedicated, experienced and professional musicians ready to provide you with the perfect entertainment for your event. From small intimate pre-party jazz, to full-out dance floor frenzy, The Philadelphia Funk Authority guarantees an unforgettable party experience! Who's on the guest list is your job. Who's on the dance floor is ours!
My music is often personal. At the same time I try to write as universally as possible. I have toured a little and am working on touring more with this new cd. That said, I have performed thousands of times in bars, clubs, pubs weddings, party's parades. Sung at birthday's funerals. And sung played many many hours to the ethers for my own enjoyment. II love recording and making songs special, and have had the privilege to work with some of the finest musicians in America in my genre. Known and unknown. guitar Gabriel said, "Music is a feeling" And there is a whole range of feeling I have, for better or worse. And as a songwriter my job is to give the listener the chance to feel their feelings. Or feel something they wouldn't have felt with out having had the experience. That's what's happened to me anyway.. Bill Kelly
Skinny Jersey boy, piano downstairs, lessons and big haircuts, bad fashion statements, John Lennon dies, ear training, playing to the radio, garage bands, watching chicks watching me, my first big heavy keyboard, devouring music, writing songs, 4-track recordings, school gym dances, playing bass guitar (much easier to carry), tri-state area gigs (with fake ID's), colleges, good rock band in Boston, moving back to the Garden State, another keyboard, great rock band, bigger clubs, lots of session work - folk circuit, producing a thing or two, lots of session work - rock circuit, first time in the Stone Pony, more bass work, Jersey clubs, the disco band (before disco became cool again), rubbing shoulders with rock royalty, management contract for the Jersey band, voice lessons, splitting up Jersey band to get out of said management contract, solo career 1, record company rejections, local band, signing to Jersey indie label, touring a bit, solo career 2, record company interest, befriending funk legend, hustling, bass down the shore, gwb is appointed president, many gigs a week, burning the midnight oil, phone call from Samples keyboard player, first national tour, back to hustling gigs, looking for session work, listending to jazz, second phone call, second national tour, more keyboards, becoming the fifth Sample, many national tours, realizing many tunes have been written, dusting off said tunes, into the recording studio, many more tours and recording, realizing it's 06/06/06 (btw, the new Omen sucks), leaving for huge summer tour, meeting some famous geezers on the road, finishing the solo recordings and thinking it must mean something because the next day I wake up Pluto isn't even a planet anymore...
Singer/Songwriter Gretchen Witt uses threads of folk, country, and pop to weave a sound ripe with femininity and edge. She was selected as a Finalist in the Kerrville Folk Festival’s New Folk Competition, as a Top 5 Finalist in the Telluride Bluegrass Festival’s Troubadour Competition, and has received multiple awards from the Mid Atlantic Song Contest (2006 and 2007). She plays regularly in New York City with her band at venues such as The Living Room, Makor, and The Bitter End, and at festivals across the country including SXSW, NEMO (Boston), The Heart of Texas Rock Festival, The Dewey Beach Festivals, and The Black Potato Music Festival (NJ). She recently opened for Pete Seeger at The Beacon Sloop Club's Alternative Energy Festival (Beacon, NY). Other venues of interest where she has performed include The Stanhope House (NJ), World Cafe Live (Philadelphia), Uncommon Ground (Chicago, IL), Flipnotics (Austin, TX), and Club Passim (Boston). Visit www.gretchenwitt.com or befriend her on MySpace.com for upcoming show dates and information. Reviewers have quipped; “Whatever she does, she should keep on doing it, because this is acoustic rock magic," (Discovering Artists.com).
