Songwriters' Showcase at Brewer's Alley
124 North Market Street (route 355), Frederick, MD
Monday November 11, 2019
7:30 pm
Please join us for the last Songwriters' Showcase at Brewer's Alley (as we now know it). Tomorrow's shows features Victoria Vox and will be kicked-off with a piano prelude by Peter Roebuck. Supporting characters Rod Deacey, Ron Goad, Tomy Wright, Todd Walker and Ray Jozwiak.
(from William Congreve's The Mourning Bride, 1697)
". . . Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast,
To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.
I've read, that things inanimate have mov'd,
And, as with living Souls, have been inform'd,
By Magick Numbers and persuasive Sound. . ."
Brewer’s Alley Songwriters' Showcase (now in twelfth year!) is held on the second Monday evening (mostly!) in each month upstairs at Brewer's Alley, 124 N. Market St., in beautiful downtown Frederick, MD, except during December. The program starts at 7:30 pm with a piano prelude, followed by two songwriters doing three songs each. The featured songwriter for the evening goes on around 8:30 pm for 45 minutes or so, sometimes followed by two or three more three-song performers. Somewhere in the mix we throw in some poetry from John Holly and Rod Deacey. Our MCs are Ron Goad, Rod Deacey, Tomy Wright, and Todd C Walker, who runs the show. I am still booking the features and sharing the three-song spots with Todd Walker. Ron Goad books the pianists for piano preludes… which on May 8 will be . . .
(fromhttp://www.npr.org/2014/11/03/357428287/tom-magliozzi-popular-co-host-of-nprs-car-talk-dies-at-77)
Tom Magliozzi, one of public radio's most popular personalities, died on Monday of complications from Alzheimer's disease. He was 77 years old.
Tom and his brother, Ray, became famous as "Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers" on the weekly NPR show Car Talk. They bantered, told jokes, laughed and sometimes even gave pretty good advice to listeners who called in with their car troubles.
If there was one thing that defined Tom Magliozzi, it was his laugh. It was loud, it was constant, it was infectious.
Tom (right) and Ray grew up great friends despite a 12-year gap between them. Both graduated from MIT before going into the car repair business. i
Tom (right) and Ray grew up great friends despite a 12-year gap between them. Both graduated from MIT before going into the car repair business.
Courtesy of Car Talk
"His laugh is the working definition of infectious laughter," says Doug Berman, the longtime producer of Car Talk. He remembers the first time he ever encountered Magliozzi.
"Before I ever met him, I heard him, and it wasn't on the air," he recalls.
Berman was the news director of WBUR at the time.
"I'd just hear this laughter," he says. "And then there'd be more of it, and people would sort of gather around him. He was just kind of a magnet."
The Magliozzi brothers grew up in a tough neighborhood of East Cambridge, Mass., in a close-knit Italian family. Tom was 12 years older, the beloved older brother to Ray. They liked to act like they were just a couple of regular guys who happened to be mechanics, but both of them graduated from MIT.
After getting out of college, Tom Magliozzi went to work as an engineer. One day he had a kind of epiphany, he told graduates when he and Ray gave the 1999 commencement address at their alma mater.
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A 'Car Talk Carol'
He was on his way to work when he had a near-fatal accident with a tractor-trailer. He pulled off the road and decided to do something different with his life.
"I quit my job," he said. "I became a bum. I spent two years sitting in Harvard Square drinking coffee. I invented the concept of the do-it-yourself auto repair shop, and I met my lovely wife."
Well, he wasn't exactly a bum; he worked as a consultant and college professor, eventually getting a doctoral degree in marketing. And Tom and Ray Magliozzi did open that do-it-yourself repair shop in the early '70s. They called it Hackers Haven. Later they opened a more traditional car repair shop called the Good News Garage.
They got into radio by accident when someone from the local public radio station, WBUR, was putting together a panel of car mechanics for a talk show.
"They called Ray, and Ray thought it was a dumb idea, so he said, 'I'll send my brother' and Tom thought, 'Great, I'll get out of breaking my knuckles for a couple of hours.' And he went over and he was the only one who showed up," Berman says.
Berman says the station liked what Tom did and asked him to come back the next week. This time he brought Ray. The rest, as they say, is history.
In 1987 Car Talk went national on NPR. The Magliozzi brothers were a huge success. Listeners loved their blend of humor, passion, expertise and just plain silliness.
OHO's
"Ocean City Ditty," the
CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if
you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD) OHO is Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak
My latest solo release, '2014' of original, instrumental piano music, can be downloaded digitally at:
(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak4)
From the pen (or computer) of Mr. Rod Deacey, Frederick area music impresario. . .
". . . Brewer’s Alley Songwriters’ Showcase on Monday, August 5, features one of our long-time favorites, all the way from Nashville! – DONNA FROST, who visits the DC area every summer and always comes to Frederick to give her powerful pipes a work-out on some of her country-tinged originals, with the occasional Skeeter Davis or Janis Joplin song thrown in for good measure! This time Donna brings us the added bonus of rockabilly legend BILLY HANCOCK to share the evening and play along; Billy made his name playing bass and singing vocals with the late, great Danny Gatton in Danny and the Fat Boys and is in five Halls of Fame! It’s going to be a don't-miss show!
The piano prelude this week during the Dog Days of summer will be from our favorite seasonal responder – JIMBOW – who will give us some summer music with his usual mix of familiar phrases from other songs embedded in entirely new pieces; just as you are going, “Wasn't that…”, the music has moved on and is somewhere else entirely! Only Jimbow knows where he is going, and even he doesn't know more than a few seconds in advance… But that’s what makes it great entertainment, folks – get your tickets here – but then we don't have tickets, do we? Come early to get good seats for the evening and to catch the whole prelude! You can come upstairs at 7:15 pm (maybe 5 minutes or so earlier than that if we're ready; performers can come up when they arrive).
For cameo appearances this Monday, we are delighted to welcome CRUMPLED HAT (Rick CRUMP and Les HATley, who have been playing together for more than 20 years; not all the time, of course), the fabulous McTELL BROTHERS, who have been wowing us since they were knee-high to a grasshopper (they are larger now, and still scarily talented!), plus JASON SCHAARSCHMIDT, who has a hard name to spell – hope I have it right! We are also looking forward to the return of TOMY WRIGHT! Poet John Holly will read a couple of poems, and also pass the hat for our featured performers. I may squeeze in a poem or two if time permits…
This week, RON GOAD will hopefully be joined by WALT WAGNER with his cajón (not a needlework storage case!) for their weekly meeting of the beats – and maybe we'll see TOMY WRIGHT back behind the djembes and hi-hat – we live in hope! Last week, the rhythm section was completed by the addition of HOWARD RABACH on bass, who even made me sound good, so he passed the audition – you can come back any time, Howard! Songwriters are welcome to call on our mighty rhythmic resources any time to make their songs sound better, but be careful! When you unleash the beast it is sometimes difficult to get it back in the box…
Mister Goad’s horoscope this week says, “You will be a bit distracted in a good way…” Well, Ron is always a bit distracted, mostly in a good way, so that shouldn't even be in the stars… The words of wisdom this week go on to say, “Your high level of interest in a subject fuels productivity.” Maybe we should get Ron to take a high level of interest in Congress, especially since the majority of us have given up; a 10 percent approval rating tells us that…
Marjorie Thompson’s Guitar Class/Workshop was very much appreciated by attendees last Monday; we are working on getting Marjorie back early next year, as she is rethinking her two-year schedule… If you missed her class this time, you may have another opportunity to catch it relatively soon… Watch this space!
Make a trip to Brewer’s Alley this Monday evening to hear DONNA FROST and BILLY HANCOCK, plus our line-up of talented cameo performers! And remember, songwriters have a limited income, no health insurance and an uncertain future – and by ‘future’ I mean the rest of the week… Please come and watch them and listen to them and sympathize – it’s the only validation they need! Don't get too chummy, though, or they may follow you home, especially if they think you may have food and/or alcoholic beverages, so don't let your guard down for a second… If necessary, you can distract them by buying one of their CDs – they all have them, I'm afraid, often with photos or drawings of trees on them… Nobody knows why; don't bother asking! . . ."
. . . time . . . if you're inclined . . . Friday til nine . . . (I get tired of all these attempts at clever etc., don't you????) BUT . . . THIS FRIDAY, beginning at six . . . at Elk Run Vineyard . . .
Doug Alan Wilcox and Ray Jozwiak-Gonzo Piano (joined by Tomy Wright, percussion) These guys [Doug and Tomy] are GOOD. Guaranteed!
at Elk Run Vineyard . . .