On Stage: Bands with some serious ‘Stones’

Music and comedy options abound in the area this weekend

By Denny Dyroff, Staff Writer, The Times

There are a lot of tribute acts performing across America that attempt to recreate both the sound and appearance of the musical act they’re trying to imitate. More than 95 per cent of the time, it doesn’t work.

If a singer has the musical chops to deliver accurate renditions of Elvis Presley’s songs, the chances are slim that he will look like Elvis — especially since Elvis’ career spanned decades and Elvis looked very different at various stages of his life.

When a tribute band tries to look like its inspiration, it’s usually a dismal failure. One Beatles tribute band that has played area theaters a number of times over the years had a chubby “Paul McCartney” playing bass right-handed. The sight of this alone was enough to send Beatles purists into fits of mocking laughter.

Smart tribute acts know that fans want to hear the music of their favorite bands presented as real to the original as possible. With that in mind, fans of the Rolling Stones will find plenty to like at the show on January 10 at the Ardmore Music Hall (23 East Lancaster Avenue, Ardmore, 610-649-8389, www.ardmoremusic.com).

The venue will present a triple bill of Stones tribute acts — the Jesse Lundy Band: Mach 4 performing “Some Girls,” Brown Sugar performing “The Hits & Deep Cuts” and the North Lawrence Midnight Singers performing “Exile on Main Street.”

Lundy, who has played for and recorded with a number of area musiciansfor almost two decades now, explained why he opted to form his own group.

“I’ve played in bands in Philly since 1996,” said Lundy, during a phone interview Tuesday. “After years and years of playing sideman in other people’s bands and being told ‘turn down,’ ‘turn down,’ ‘don’t play this’ — of being told what to play — I wanted to be able to just play loud rock-and-roll.”

Joni Mitchell sang about looking at love from both sides in her song “Both Sides Now.”

Lundy can talk about looking at rock shows from “Both Sides Now.” He has been working as a concert promoter and publicist in Philadelphia area since 1995. Lundy was talent buyer and publicist at The Point in Bryn Mawr.

After The Point closed in June of 2005, Point Entertainment has been producing shows at the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, concerts at Eagleview Town Center and other special events at numerous venues in the Delaware Valley. Since 2009, Point Entertainment has also been programming the Philadelphia Folk Festival.

“Having my own band, it’s interesting to see things from a performer’s point of view instead of a promoter’s point of view,” said Lundy. “The core of my band is a trio with the same rhythm section that we’ve had from the start — Alec Meltzer on drums and Chris Bicksler on bass. We’ve had three or four different singers since we began.

“In the past, different Jesse Lundy Band lineups have done different things. The second incarnation was close to Cream or the Jeff Beck Group. With this band, we do the whole ‘Some Girls’ album.

“Once we started performing this album, we’ve played to larger crowds. We’ve talked about doing original songs but we sell a lot of tickets wherever we go by playing what we’re playing now. We’ve done a few shows with this same three-band package.

“Brown Sugar is Philadelphia’s only all-black Stones cover band. They’re playing a lot of the Stones’ familiar hits along with what they refer to as ‘deep cuts.’ The North Lawrence Midnight Singers play the ‘Exile on Main Street’ album and I play with them on their ‘Exile’ show.

“At this weekend’s show, each band will play a 75-minute set with no costumes and no-one pretending to be the Stones. And, no-one is going for a note-for-note copy.”

Tickets for the Stones extravaganza are $10.

This week’s activity at the Ardmore Music Hall starts on January 8 with another tribute act — Splintered Sunlight, a band that has devoted itself to the music of the Grateful Dead. Also on the bill will be Beau Sasser’s Escape Plan featuring members of Max Creek, Ryan Montbleau Band and the Alan Evans Trio.

The Psychedelic Furs will visit the venue on January 9 for a sold out show. On January 11, Doug Seegers will be the headline act with Michael Braunfeld as the opener.

Sharon Sable’s career as a singer has taken her on travels through a number of different genres and now she has found her home — singing jazz music with E. Shawn Qaissaunee (who is both her musical partner and husband).

The talented duo will present a special late matinee show on January 8 at the World Café Live at the Queen (500 North Market Street, Wilmington, 302- 994-1400, www.queen.worldcafelive.com). Their concert is slated to start at 5:30 p.m. and will feature free admission.

“I didn’t plan on getting into music but the bug got me early — around age three,” said Sable, during a phone interview Wednesday afternoon from her home in Wilmington. “I’ve always loved singing.

“I saw the original ‘Annie’ movie when I was very young and that got me started with my singing. Ironically, the girl who played Molly (Toni Ann Gisondi) grew up really close to me. We went to the same singing teacher.”

Sable was born and raised in Pomona, New Jersey and attended Absegami High. Gisondi hails from Scullville, New Jersey.

“I sang in a few musicals in high school including ‘Into the Woods’and ‘Evita’,” said Sable. “When I was 16, I went to Atlanta and was in a pop group called Choice. I did a showcase at the Merriam Theater and that’s where they found me.”

In addition to Sable, Choice featured Chrissy Conway and Alicia Moore. Conway went on to join the Christian teen pop band Zoe Girl while Moore rose to stardom as Pink.

“We recorded one album as Choice,” said Sable. “Then, right before it was set to be released, they chose not to put it out and decided to just keep Pink. I was actually relieved that it got shelved because I didn’t like it.

“I was starting to get into much more authentic music so listening to the Choice album gave me a panic attack. I was listening to artists such as Peter Gabriel, Bjork, Sarah McLachlan, Emmylou Harris and Radiohead. I was drawn to people who found their voices.

“My managers gave me a lot of good advice. They told me to start listening to the singers that the singers I liked listened to. I began listening to Sam Cooke and Billie Holiday because they’re the ones who pioneered the vocalist genre.

“That opened up a whole new door for me. Next, I was listening to Shirley Horne and Blossom Dearie. They were influenced by Antonio Carlos Jobim so I got familiar with his music. More and more, I was getting into jazz.”

Fortunately for Sable, she was living close to Atlantic City during an era when the casinos had thriving nightclubs with top-flight jazz acts and big name vocalists performing on a regular basis.

“I look back and realize I was where I should have been when I went over to being a jazz vocalist,” said Sable. “Atlantic City had great musicians in the early days of casinos and lounges. I met a bass player — Andy Lalasin — who I still play with.

“He was a part of a lot of casino house bands and played with Frank Sinatra and Sarah Vaughn. I got together with him and told him I wanted to sing jazz. He gave me a list of musicians to call

“Not long after that, I got my first gig in a high-end restaurant in Margate. There was a domino effect on my career after that. It just happened. I had steady Friday-Saturday-Sunday gigs for a couple years. That was the time for me to hone my chops.”

A few years ago, a friend introduced sable to Qaissaunee. Three-and-a-half years ago, they got married. Sable and Qaissaunee each have their own musical careers and they also have their career together.

“The show at the Queen will be a duo gig,” said Sable. “I sing and Shawn plays guitar and sings harmony. Our set changes from show to show but we do have a handful of songs that we like to do in almost all our shows.”

Other acts scheduled for the upcoming week on the Queen’s Upstairs Stage are Code Blue on January 8, Smash Palace and Cliff Hillis on January 9 and the Unsung Heroes on January 14.

The Downstairs Stage will feature New Sweden’s Fifth Birthday Bash along with Levee Drivers and Scantron on January 9 and The Reverend Horton Heat with special guests Dale Watson and Rosie Flores on January 14.

The Reverend Horton Heat is the stage name of American musician Jim Heath. The triple bill of The Reverend Horton Heat, Dale Watson and Rosie Flores, which is billed as “The Baddest of the Bad Tour”, will have two other area shows.

The rousing and rocking show will also be presented at the Chameleon Club (223 North Water Street, Lancaster, 717-299-9684, http://www.chameleonclub.net) on January 15 and Underground Arts (1200 Callowhill Street, Philadelphia, www.undergroundarts.org) on January 23.

“Me and Jim and Rosie — we’re all good friends,” said Watson, during a phone interview Sunday evening from his home in Austin, Texas. “We’re all old friends and we’re fans of the same music. The Reverend Horton Heat puts good tours together.

“Being here in Texas — Rosie is from Austin, I’m from Pasadena and Jim is from Dallas — we’ve all know each other for a long time. Me and Jim have toured together and so have me and Rosie. But, we’ve never all toured together on the same show. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

The three acts from the Lone Star State play music that is similar and, at the same time, different.

“The Reverend Horton Heat is psychobilly, Dale is rockabilly-soul and I’m honky tonk,” said Flores, during a phone interview Wednesday morning from her home in Austin. “Since this is the ‘Baddest of the Bad Tour,’ maybe the promoters needed a bad girls and that’s me.”

Flores and Watson also have a connection with Ameripolitan, a music genre that was classified and first recognized by Watson.

“It came about from frustration caused by not having a genre to call our own,” said Watson. “Americana is more folk and pop. With country music, it’s gotten so that you can’t tell the difference between Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus.

“For me, real country music is old country music — singers like George Jones and Porter Wagoner. People today have a different meaning for country. People in their 30s only go back to Clint Black or Garth Brooks.

“Ameripolitan gives us a blank slate. Its four main branches are Western Swing, Honky Tonk, Rockabilly and Outlaw. Ameripolitan is not the perfect word for it — but it works. Next month, we’ll have the Second Annual Ameripolitan Awards at the Paramount Theatre in Austin.

“This year, James Burton (Elvis’ guitarist) is getting an award as ‘Founder of the Sound.’ Last year, Rosie won the award for Best Honky Tonk Female and Best Rockabilly Female.”

Flores said, “The fact that I won two awards — it means that a lot of people are listening to me and following me.”

The feisty singer/guitarist is still touring in support of her “Working Girl’s Guitar” album that was released in 2102 on Bloodshot Records.

“Of all the albums I’ve recorded, that was the first one where I was the only guitarist — where I did all the picking,” said Flores. “I got to write my first instrumental — which was a surf instrumental. I had a few other originals on that album too.

“I’m really looking forward to this tour. I’m excited to be on tour with two guys who make great music and have great reputations. I’ll travel with Dale on his bus and have his band backing me onstage. All I have to do is sound good and look good. I’ll be rocking out on this tour.”

Tickets are $16 in advance and $20 at the door for the Wilmington show, $18 for the Lancaster show and $ in advance and $22for the Philadelphia show (which also has Robert Gordon on the bill).

Another band which almost got lumped into the Americana category before escaping its gravitational pull is Kingsley Flood. The Boston-based band will be in Philadelphia on January 10 for a show at Boot and Saddle (1131 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, 267-639-4528, bootandsaddlephilly.com).

The rocking sextet includes Naseem Khuri on vocals and rhythm guitar, Eva Walsh on violin and vocals, Chris Barrett on trumpet, keyboards, percussion and vocals, George Hall on lead guitar and vocals, Nick Balkin on bass and vocals and Travis Richter on drums and percussion.

“I started the band when I was in grad school,” said Khuri, during a phone interview Wednesday from his home in Washington, D.C. (he’s the only band member based outside of the Boston area). “Nick (Balkin) was my roommate.

“He heard me play some of my songs on guitar and said that I should be performing them. So, we decided to play out. He played guitar in bands so I persuaded him to switch to bass. We got a drummer and then added a guy who played violin, mandolin and banjo.

“I didn’t set out to be what we turned out to be — an Americana band. So, we changed the lineup a bit. We’re not really Americana. We’re louder and heavier. We started playing all around Boston and it grew from there. We also busked a lot at the beginning.

“The five guys in the band have been together for three years — ever since Travis joined. Eva is our newest addition. She replaced Jenée Morgan Force who had a baby and wanted to concentrate on that.”

Kingsley Flood has released three albums — “Dust Windows” in 2010, “Battles” in 2013 and “Live at the Armory” in 2014. The group has also recorded two EPs — “Colder Still” in 2012 and “To the Fire,” which is slated to be released on January 23.

“The first album we recorded in Vermont in four days — with very little money,” said Khuri. “We made ‘Battles’ a few years later and that was inching more closer and closer to how I envisioned these songs. We made ‘Live at the Armory’ because people were bugging us for a live album because we get rowdy live.

“Our music has gone through a natural evolution. I’ve wanted to perfect certain aspects of our sound. I didn’t want a wall of sound. I wanted to feature each person’s identity — hearing each person’s instrument and having the album be bigger than the sum of its parts.

“Now, we have ‘To the Fire.’ It’s the first chapter. The book is going to be what we do this year. The new EP will be out next week. We’ll have another EP out around May or early June and then a full-length later in the year. People these days have ADD and we’re playing to that.

“When it was time to record ‘To the Fire,’ we retreated to a house just south of the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border and worked with Paul Kolderie in the production of the EP. We’re finding our voice musically. It feels more urgent than ever. When we play live, we just want to leave it all onstage.”

Kingsley Flood will be sharing the bill with the Lawsuits at the concert which lists a start time of 8:30 p.m. with opening act Owl and Wolf. Tickets for the show are $12.

The Flash (102 Sycamore Alley, Kennett Square, 484-732-8295, http://www.kennettflash.org) will present comedy troupe Better Than Bacon on January 8, deejays Anthony Mullica and Josh Kinsey on January 9 and keyboardist/singer Lori Citro on January 10.

Burlap and Bean Coffeehouse (204 South Newtown Street Road, Newtown Square, 484-427- 4547, www.burlapandbean.com) will host Connor Garvey and Brett Harris on January 9, Ryan Cohen with Chelsea Allen on January 10 and Caroline Reese & the Drifting Filth along with Gretchen Schultz on January 16.

The Steel City Coffee House (203 Bridge Street, Phoenixville, 610-933-4043, www.steelcitycoffeehouse.com) will present David Wilcox on January 9 and the Sunny Side along with Anna Spackman on January 10.

Chaplin’s (66 North Main Street, Spring City, 610-792-4110, http://chaplinslive.com) will have kanagaroo Boy and Emily Neblock on January 9 and a four band bill on January 10 with Stargazer, Rise My King, The Final Hour and Aim 4 Grey.

The schedule for Melodies Café (2 East Ardmore Avenue, Ardmore, 610-645-5269, www.melodiescafe.com) includes Cardinal Arms, Mark Thousands, Andrew Meoray and Jim Trainer on January 9 and Without Intention and Bodhan Harik on January 10.

The Sellersville Theater (24 West Temple Avenue, Sellersville, 215-257-5808, www.st94.com) will host Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells for Two along with Tim Farrell on January 8, Cherry Poppin’ Daddies with Mike Mettalia & Midnight Shift on January 9, The Weight (performing the songs of The Band) on January 10 and Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder on January 11.

The Grand Opera House (818 North Market Street, Wilmington, Delaware, 302-652-5577, www.thegrandwilmington.org) will present an evening with well-known comedian Paula Poundstone on January 10.

On January 9, the Chameleon Club (223 North Water Street, Lancaster, 717-299-9684, http://www.chameleonclub.net) will feature RJD2, Younger Me, NAH and Bruce Banter. Bullet Method and Fell from Zero will play the venue on January 10 and the headliner on January 11 will be Metalachi.

Also on January 9, the Valley Forge Casino (1160 First Avenue, King Of Prussia, 610-354-8118, https://www.vfcasino.com) will present the first “Comedy Night at the Valley Forge Casino” for 2015.

The show, which is scheduled to get underway at 8 p.m., features a pair of talented comedians — Yannis Pappas and Mitchell Walters

Pappas is a Greek-American comedian who was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He has been a featured panelist on VH1s “Best Week Ever” and he and his writing have been featured on Comedy Central, BET and MTV.

Walters has headlined for every major comedy club across America and Canada and opened for Michael Bolton and Neil Sedaka. For three years, he toured America with the late Sam Kinison as one of the “Outlaws of Comedy.” His TV credits include HBO, MTV and NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Tickets for the comedy twin bill are $30.