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Democrat and Chronicle from Rochester, New York • Page 62

Location:
Rochester, New York
Issue Date:
Page:
62
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

DenwcmU Thursday, March 10, 1994 17F (TO El ciiici uiiiiiiiuii ri. iiims Drawings for our famous desserts, dinners, lunches all week long Corned beef and cabbage T-Th Lime meringue tart and creme de menthe Entertainment Mon. -VEtzie Coffins (hamnieird dulcimer) Tuts, Weds. Sue Power (i.UK)) nun's. Bobby Henrie and his Bawl Peter Maiina and his Band I I.

i li r. swirl cheesecake uu all week Open breakfast, lunch and dinner 'til Li- 235-8060 mwmp Mcxseztn car-9 976 Chili Ave. Ph EASTMAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER MUSIC SERIES AFTER HOURS RECORDS GAME LAN EXTRAVAGANZA II Sunday, March 20 2 PMln Kllbourn Hall LIU Muni, the Eastman School of Nuaic gamelan, and Son of lion, a gamelan directed by Barbara Senary, will share a concert. The two groups will perform traditional, modern, and newly composed music and dance for gamelan, the traditional Indonesian gong-chime ensemble. Tickets are $12; $8 For seniors; $4 for full-time students with ID.

Seating is unreserved. Tickets may be purchased in advance (274-1500), or at the door one hour before the performance. Group discounts are available through prior arrangement with the Concert Office (274-1 1 10). -V-. 1 THE GREATER ROCHESTER GARDEN SHOW JEFF SPEVAK Return trip is more than Wonderful' Soul singer John Ellison puts out his first new full-length album in 20 years and you figure the first signs of life might be in Philadelphia, where the '60s soul scene propelled Ellison and his band, Soul Brothers Six, to a brief but still satisfying hit, Some Kind of Wonderful.

But it turns out that Ellison's wonderful new CD, Welcome Back, was a hit first with the shag beach scene around Myrtle Beach, S.C. "You think of the shag scene from that movie out a while back, something from the '60s," says Marc Ware, who's handling some of the publicity for Welcome Back and its Rochester label, After Hours. "But it actually goes back to the '40s, with white kids who were sick of Top 40 radio and started listening to Wynonie Harris and Louis Jordan." Welcome Back was recorded at GFI Studios in Ontario, Wayne County, with Ellison backed by one of the more versatile bands the area offers, The Salamanders. That took all summer, really, to do," says lizard king Greg Townson. "We did a month's worth of re hearsals, then we cut the rhythm tracks and he sang.

He's just thrilled with the way it turned out. Indeed, this improbable matching of the veteran black soul singer and the roots-rock ing white guys seems quite au thentic. But as far as The Salamanders are concerned, the older the music, the better; Guys like Townson and Scott Bradley seem to know their way around the old Stax-Volt record catalog, and they've worked with players like sax man Pee Wee Ellis, who was once James Brown's musical director. "We really love the old Stax stuff and James Brown, and we learned a lot of that with Pee Wee Ellis," says Townson. "We told John if he wanted the '80s he would have to eet a different band.

The '80s soul sound is built track by track starting with a drum machine, it's a real slick sound. The '60s soul sound is recorded while the band is playing live." While Welcome Back's biggest asset is Ellison's consistently strong songwrjting and, FLOWER 8c xv 1 -7, i'-J of John Ellison's new disc. A year ago, Townson and After Hours' Marty Duda spotted Ellison in Pooch's Pub with local bluesman Joe Beard, and after they heard Ellison do a couple of songs at the club, the recording wheels were in motion. And that, improbably, led Ellison to Myrtle Beach recently for a shag convention. They do kind of a two-step called the shag," says Ware, "mostly to soul and artists.

To this day there's quite a scene in the Carolinas and the Myrtle Beach area. They're playing Love Don't Get Better Than This, Your Place or Mine and, of course, Some Kind of Wonderful. They like the shuffle beat to dance the shag to." Friday, Ellison will be at The Creek to celebrate the release of Welcome Back. Hell be accompanied by The Salamanders and the Fantastic Golden Swans. If you wish, you may do the shag.

This week's word "If you want my views of history, then there's something you should know. The three men I admire most, are Curly, Larry and Moe!" Meat Loaf, from Bat Out of Hell II Free advice Jazz drummer Billy Cob-ham plays at Milestones, 50 East at 8 and 10 tonight. Tickets are $15, $13 in advance. Call (716) 325-6490. The Cleveland Dead-scene band, Oroboros, is at Scorgies, 150 Andrews at 10 p.m.

Saturday. Admission is $5, call (716) 232-7593. Monday, fabulous punk punsters the Dead Milkmen are at Scorgies. The show starts at 9:30 p.m., tickets are $9. Call (716) 232-7593.

Jeff Spevak is staff music critic for the Democrat and Chronicle and the Times-Union. Call him weekdays at (716) 258-2452 or write to 55 Exchange Rochester, N.Y. 14614. Achingly soulful: The cover TODAY John Ellison, The Salamanders and the Fantastic Golden Swans at The Creek, 300 Jefferson Road, Henrietta. The show starts at 9:30 p.m., admission is $5.

Call (716) 424-1080. an achingly soulful voice unfettered by his 50-some years, the album's diversity also is a big pleasure. It is dominated by the horny Philadelphia sound of the original Soul Brothers Six, but Lie to Me is blues, It's Not Easy Being a Woman is country and You Ain't Ready sounds like something Hank Williams Jr. could handle. The Fantastic Golden Swans, of Newark, Wayne County, sprinkle gospel throughout.

"I really encouraged him to do some different styles," says Townson. "I told him if he wanted to do country soul, then do that, if he wanted to do '60s soul, do that. We wrote the arrangements and wrote our own parts, but he would give suggestions." Welcome Back added bonus is the reunion of four of the Soul Brothers Six Ellison and brothers Sam, Moses and Charles Armstrong for the final two songs, Love You to Pieces and a raucous new ver sion of Some Kind of Wonderful. They also con tribute a spirited blues chorus to Your Place or Mine. The long road between the success of Soul Brothers Six and Welcome Back started in Rochester, where the band worked the club scene.

They left town in 1967 in search of fame in soulful Philly, and on the drive down Ellison wrote Some Kind of Wonderful for a woman he left behind. The band broke up in 1969, and since then he's toured Europe and Japan even charting a couple of singles in those countries. He now lives in Dundas, Ontario, YFANTASYT DOME CENTER MARCH 10-13 More Colorful Flowers Beautiful Display Gardens Hourly Educational Seminars Hours Thursday 5:00 p.m. 9:00 p.m, Friday 10:00 a.m. p.m.

Saturday 10:00 a.m. 9:00 p.m. Sunday 10:00 a.m. p.m. Children 16 Children under 5-Free 4-day Discount Coupons at (Tops Mm Fr wndly Mwfcel Proceeds benefit the non-prolit GFLNLA public education programs Sponsored by i imi 7.

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