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i-globalone · 4 years

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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is an amazing city to visit as there is such a diverse range of things to enjoy during your stay. It is particularly well known for its history, culture, and the arts. This city is also associated with many major successful sports teams. If you are visiting this city for the first time, it is important to plan your itinerary carefully to make sure you have the best experience possible while you are there. With so many things to see and do, this is a more difficult task than you may imagine. To help you get the most out of your stay in this wonderful city, here are the 20 best things to do in Pittsburgh for first-timers.20. Watch a GameParticipating in sports and watching sporting events are two of the most popular pastimes in Pittsburgh. Even if you are not a sports fan, you should try to catch a game during your visit as the atmosphere in the crowds is amazing. Time Out says that one of the best places to watch a game is PNC Park. Although it is one of the smallest stadiums in the country, many people believe that it is the most beautiful ballpark. There isn’t a bad seat in the house and you can enjoy cityscapes in all directions when the game is not in play.19. Brewery ToursThere are more than 60 breweries in Pittsburgh, all of which offer tours of their production facilities. Take your pick of these or visit several to sample some of the best beers in the city. You will need no more than a couple of hours, regardless of which of the tours you choose, and each will show you the brewing process. After the tours, most breweries offer the chance to sample the goods and to buy some of their wares to take home. It is important to note that some brewery tours are free, while others have a fee. 18. Go Ape North ParkIf you are visiting Pittsburgh as a family and you enjoy outdoor events, then one of the best attractions to visit is Go Ape North Park. This is an attraction that is lots of fun for all the family. It is a forested area with an aerial adventure obstacle course that consists of rope swings, rope bridges, climbing nets, and zip wires. There are various course options to suit different abilities, and each offers different challenges.17. Carrie FurnacesThe history of Pittsburgh has strong links with the steel industry, which is why Pittsburgh is often referred to as the Steel City. One of the most important locations for this industry was the Carrie Furnaces, and these now-abandoned buildings are open to the public for guided tours. It is a fantastic place to learn about the industrial history of Pittsburgh along with how steel was produced.16. Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG AquariumA great option for a family day out is a trip to Pittsburgh zoo & PPG Aquarium as this is both educational and fun. Discover the Burgh recommends this as one of the best family attractions in Pittsburgh and the surrounding area. It is also one of the most visited tourist attractions in the city. The zoo is divided into themed sections that are home to thousands of animals, although the big cats are the highlight for many visitors. In 2015, the zoo opened The Islands exhibit, which features a range of endangered species. A visit here is a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the different species and how they live in their natural environment. Visitors can also enjoy a range of talks, displays, and exhibitions. You enter the aquarium via the zoo. The aquarium boasts a dozen installations that feature various aquatic species. Just like the zoo, this is both educational and fun as there are displays, talks, and interactive activities to enjoy. 15. InventionlandOne of the more unusual places to visit in Pittsburgh is Inventionland. Many people are surprised to learn that Pittsburgh a city from which many inventions originate, including the Polio vaccine, Heinz ketchup, and the Big Mac. This attraction boasts a fascinating collection of some of the inventions and exhibitions include photographs and printed information. There is also a warehouse that is used for inventors to work. Wherever you go in this attraction, the creativity involved in inventing things is apparent. Thrillist has described this attraction as the closest thing you will get to Willy Wonka’s factory.14. Grandview ParkAs its name suggests, this park is known for the excellent views that it offers over the city. However, that is not the only reason that you should visit this beautiful spot. It is also a place away from the busy streets to enjoy the outdoor space. Simply take a walk around admiring the pretty surroundings. Depending on when you visit, you may find other things going on at this location. During the warmer months, there is an outdoor movie theater and open-air shows. It is also used as a venue for various events throughout the year. Historic Pittsburgh says that visitors can also enjoy riding the merry-go-round.13. Big Mac MuseumIt seems that there are museums around the world that cover almost every topic. One subject that you may not have expected to become the focus of a museum is the Big Mac, yet that is exactly what this Pittsburgh museum is all about. This city is where the burger meal was invented, and the museum has exhibitions relating to the history of McDonald’s. It is likely that you will start to feel hungry on your way around. Fortunately, there is a café where you can enjoy a Big Mac after touring the museum. 12. Heinz History MuseumThrillist recommends a trip to the Heinz History Museum. Although much of the exhibitions are related to the history of Heinz, this is not the only topic covered at this interesting and diverse museum. Many other aspects of the history of Pittsburgh are covered, including industry and local inventions. There is something for everyone at this attraction, and many exhibits have interactive elements. This is a little more different than the other museums you will find in Pittsburgh, which makes it all the more appealing to tourists.11. Children’s Museum of PittsburghIf you have children with you during your trip to Pittsburgh, one of the top attractions that is targeted at the younger traveler is the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. Every exhibition and interactive activity at this attraction is aimed at children and it is all about learning through play. However, adults can feel free to get involved as there is plenty to entertain everyone. This is a fantastic option to keep the children entertained if it is raining during your visit to the city.10. Carnegie Science CenterScience is the focus of this Pittsburgh museum, and the exhibitions and activities are divided into sections that relate to the different science disciplines. There are many interactive elements to these exhibitions, so it is a fun learning expereince. One of the highlights of a visit is the Rangos Giant Cinema which is an IMAX screen that shows both documentaries and Hollywood movies. People of all ages will enjoy a visit to the Carnegie Science Center, as there are things that appeal to all ages. 9. The Andy Warhol MuseumFor art enthusiasts, one of the most fascinating places to visit is the Andy Warhol Museum. Although many people associate Andy Warhol with New York, he was originally from Pittsburgh. At this museum, you can enjoy many examples of his pop art, which is the style of art for which he is most famous. There are seven floors devoted to the talented artist, and the exhibitions include sketches he made while he was a student and the famous screen prints of Jackie O.8. Frick ParkWhile many areas of Pittsburgh are urban, commercial, or industrial, there are also some pretty open spaces for you to enjoy the outdoors, and one of these is Frick Park. This boasts 151 acres of woodland and a nature reserve. People head to this park to explore the miles of hiking and bike trails, which include the mile-long Tranquil Trail and the Lower Riverview Trail.7. Allegheny ObservatoryYou will find the Allegheny Observatory in Summer Hill sat atop Observatory Hill in Riverview Park. This is one of the most important astronomical research institutions in the world, and it is owned and operated by the University of Pittsburgh. Opening times are limited, and this is something you need to book in advance. If you are lucky enough to get tickets, you can enjoy a two-hour tour of the building and view the night sky through the Fitz-Clark refractor telescope. This attraction will interest people who are passionate about astronomy, and it is a great option for something to do in the evenings if you are not a fan of hanging out at the bars.6. Cathedral of LearningThe architecture of the Cathedral of Learning is an impressive sight. It is a 42-story Gothic Revival skyscraper that is now a National Historic Landmark. University students take classes at this venue, but you can explore the elaborately designed rooms when there are no lessons in session. This attraction is the centerpiece of the University of Pittsburgh’s main campus.5. Wigle Whiskey TourAlthough Pittsburgh is better known for its production of beers, there are also many exquisite spirits produced in this city. One of the best is Wigle Whiskey, and you can tour the distillery to learn more about the whiskey-making process. There is also the opportunity to sample the products and to buy some whiskey to take home.4. Carnegie Museum of Natural History and Carnegie Museum of ArtHistory and art enthusiasts visiting Pittsburgh should make time in their vacation itinerary to visit the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the Carnegie Museum of Art. These are actually two separate attractions but as they are neighboring, most people visit them together. The natural history section of the attraction boasts a dinosaur exhibition, while the art museum section includes 140 plaster casts of architectural marvels.3. Point State ParkThere are many parks in Pittsburgh, but one of the best to visit during your stay in this city is Point State Park. This land was once Fort Pitt, and the Fort Pitt Brickhouse is a structure that remains in the park. The park has an eye-catching fountain and beautiful gardens. It is a lovely place to get away from the hustle and bustle of the tourist areas in Pittsburgh. The park covers 30 acres and is located in Downtown Pittsburgh.2. Monongahela InclinePittsburgh is known for being a rather hilly city. An interesting way to climb one of the inclines is the Monongahela Incline in South Shore. This is a National Historic Landmark that was built in 1870 by John Endres. Riding to the top of this almost vertical tramline will give you spectacular views across the city and the three rivers. An alternative is to ride the Duquesne Incline, which offers a similar experience and equally as impressive views.1. Phipps Conservatory and Botanical GardensAccording to Time Out, the top attraction to visit during a visit to Pittsburgh is the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. Constructed in 1893, the conservatory is home to the Center for Sustainable Landscapes, which is a botanical research facility. Visitors can enjoy meandering through the grounds, which boast stunning plant collections. The gardens are divided into sections, such as the Gardens of Sound and Motion, the butterfly forest, and a dessert exhibition.

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jazzworldquest-blog · 5 years

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USA: PRESS RELEASE: Ancient Future Performs at the SF International Arts Festival May 26, 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 3/15/2019Contact: Ancient-Future.Com [email protected] View Press Release Online with Photos and Video: http://www.ancient-future.com/pr_5_26_19.html Celebrating 40 Years of World Fusion Ancient Future 'World Without Walls' Reunion Concert World Jazz Featuring Matthew Montfort (scalloped fretboard guitar), Jim Hurley (violin), Doug McKeehan (keyboards, piano), and Ian Dogole (percussion) Sunday, May 26, 2019, 5 PM San Francisco International Arts Festival Gallery 308, Fort Mason San Francisco, CA 94109 Tix: $25 general. $30 reserved table, $35 reserved front table, $15 youth 17 and under. $15 general admission early bird tickets available through March 31 while supplies last. Ticket URL: https://fortmasonsfiaf.vbotickets.com/event/Ancient_Future_World_Without_Walls_Reunion/33356 Box office: 415-345-7575 Facebook Event URL: https://www.facebook.com/events/2229487270444373/ Poster URL (1.1 MB .pdf): http://www.ancient-future.com/pdf/5_26_19sfiaf.pdf Sepia Photo for Print (14.7" x 9.7" sepia jpg, 7.2 MB): http://www.ancient-future.com/images/1990ancientfuture300dpi15x10sepia.jpg Sepia Photo for Web (864 x 570 sepia jpg, 176 k): http://www.ancient-future.com/images/1990ancientfuture864x570sep.jpg Photo Caption: Ancient Future circa 1990 photo by Irene Young. Pictured: Matthew Montfort (guitars), Jim Hurley (violin), Doug McKeehan (keys), Ian Dogole (percussion). YouTube Video URL: http://youtu.be/IlYfQ50MGDw Video Caption: YouTube Video of Ancient Future Performing Bookenka at 'World Without Walls' Reunion. Shown: Matthew Montfort (scalloped fretboard guitar), Jim Hurley (violin), Doug McKeehan (keyboards, piano), Ian Dogole (percussion), Kash Killion (bass), and Mariah Parker (santur). In celebratrion of Ancient Future's 40th season of world fusion music, the exact lineup of Ancient Future that performed on the band's influential World Without Walls and Asian Fusion recordings will reunite to perform at the San Francisco International Arts Festival. The reunion show features the original lineup of Matthew Montfort on scalloped fretboard guitar, Jim Hurley on violin, Doug McKeehan on keyboards, Ian Dogole on percussion. Their uptempo virtuoso world fusion music is an exhilarating mix of jazz improvisation with the exciting rhythms, exotic sounds, and enchanting melodies of world music. This lineup of Ancient Future played over a hundred concerts together from 1988 to 1995. In 2011, they reunited for the first time in 15 years to perform concerts at Todos Santos Plaza in Concord and Yoshi's in San Francisco. In honor of the reunion concerts, World Without Walls was released digitally by Capitol Records for the first time ever at major digital retailers such as iTunes. Twenty two years after its initial release in 1990, broadcasters worldwide voted the record as one of the top 5 world music releases of 2012. In September 2012 they performed at the Frick Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and then at the Freight and Salvage in October 2013. This show at the San Francisco International Arts Festival will be their fifth reunion concert. They have headlined such venues as San Francisco's Great American Music Hall and Eugene's Hult Center for the Performing Arts, appeared at numerous jazz festivals such as the Sacramento River Jazz Festival, Cotati Jazz Festival, Valhalla Jazz Festival, and Sand Harbor, and shared bills with other leading jazz and contemporary music artists including Fourth World with Flora Purim and Airto, Tower of Power, Craig Chaquico, Acoustic Alchemy, and Ottmar Liebert. Ancient Future was the subject of numerous features in publications such as JAZZIZ and MÚSICA GLOBAL. A selection of these articles have been uploaded to the archives of Ancient Future history, providing an interesting perspective on a period of growth in the world music movement. Band Bio "Ancient Future is a rare kind of band that might simultaneously aggravate purists, confound New Age dilettantes, seduce skeptics, and dazzle just about everybody else. Delicious compositions, intricate arrangements, crisp playing and impeccable production put these ambitious voyagers in a league of their own." -Derk Richardson, SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN Formed in late 1978, Ancient Future is the first and longest running musical organization dedicated exclusively to the mission of creating world fusion music. The term was coined by bandleader Matthew Montfort to describe Ancient Future’s unusual blend of musical traditions from around the world. BILLBOARD calls the group "trendsetters" for their early contributions to the movement, which seeks to show how people from different cultures can grow by learning from each other. Ancient Future has released seven full length studio CDs selling over 150,000 units: Visions of a Peaceful Planet, Natural Rhythms, Quiet Fire, Dreamchaser, World Without Walls, Asian Fusion, and Planet Passion. Over one million legal mp3 files from three of these releases on Ancient-Future.Com Records have been distributed commercially. Ancient Future is also featured on samplers selling millions of units on labels such as Putumayo and Narada. They are currently working on recordings for their fan funded Archive of Future Ancient Recordings. Over an hour of music in the archive is already available exclusively to supporters, with more to come as funds are raised. Over the years, Ancient Future has expanded its musical vision through collaborations with master musicians from more than two dozen countries, cultures, and musical traditions who are now an integral part of what is today more than just a band. Ancient Future has grown to become a large multinational music ensemble with many smaller ensembles within it, enabling Ancient Future to realize its core mission of creating world fusion music. Through cross cultural exchange, Ancient Future has created a musical world without borders. Matthew Montfort (bandleader, scalloped fretboard guitar) Matthew Montfort is the leader of the world fusion music ensemble Ancient Future. He is a pioneer of the scalloped fretboard guitar (an instrument combining qualities of the South Indian vina and the steel string guitar). Montfort spent three months in intensive study with vina master K.S. Subramanian in order to fully apply the South Indian gamaka (note-bending) techniques to the guitar. In 2009, he released his first solo guitar recording, Seven Serenades for Scalloped Fretboard Guitar, which debuted at #8 on Zone Music Reporter's Top 100 February 2009 World Radio Chart, and held the #34 spot on the Top 100 of 2009. He has performed concerts worldwide, including at the Festival Internacional de la Guitarra on the golden coast of Spain near Barcelona and the Mumbai Festival at the Gateway of India in Bombay. He has performed live on national radio and TV shows such as the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC. Montfort wrote the book Ancient Traditions - Future Possibilities: Rhythmic Training Through the Traditions of Africa, Bali, and India, which has been used by many musicians to improve their rhythm skills. Jim Hurley (violin) Jim Hurley has been playing violin since 1969. He holds a B.A. in Music from Humboldt State University. Influenced profoundly by South Indian violinist L. Shankar, he incorporates styles from bebop to zydeco, European classical to Zairean soukous. He is well known for his performances with Ritchie Blackmore and Blackmore's Night (rock legend turned Celtic and Renaissance musician), American roots music leaders such as Grammy winners Queen Ida and Al Rapone, and swing legend Dan Hicks' Acoustic Warriors. He has toured Europe and Japan and performed at numerous major music festivals, including the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, and the Monterey Jazz Festival. Jim Hurley has released two solo recordings, Primary Colors, and Finger Painting. Doug McKeehan (keys) Doug McKeehan started his piano studies at age five, and began his first professional work at the age of twelve. He studied music at the Oberlin Conservatory, Kent State University, and the University of Otago (New Zealand). He has toured Europe twice and spent considerable time in India studying with notable Indian music teachers such as Pandit Ram Narayan, Ustad Kursheed Khan and Pandit A.G. Bhattacharya. He has composed original music for stage and T.V. productions in San Francisco and Los Angeles and has been musical director of two original musical comedy productions. He cofounded Air Craft with violinist Bruce Bowers, which released a highly acclaimed progressive jazz album, So Near, So Far (Crafted Air CA 30100). He is a first call jazz pianist in the San Francisco Bay Area. Ian Dogole (percussion) Ian Dogole holds a B.A. in Ethnomusicology from Brown University and an M.A. in Classics from Villanova University. He began his musical studies with the piano at the age of five, later switching to jazz guitar which was to be his primary focus until taking up percussion during his ethnomusicology studies. He has released numerous albums as a bandleader, including Along the Route (Dr. Unit), Dangerous Ground (Café), Ionospherses (C.E.I.), Night Harvest (Global Fusion Music), Convergence (Jazzheads), and Outside the Box – Jazz Journeys & Worlds Beyond (Global Fusion Music), all pioneering works in the field of world fusion music. He has received numerous prestigious grants and fellowships, including a Jazz Performance Fellowship from the N.E.A in 1991; Marin Arts Council grants in 1994, 1995, and 2008; San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music performance grants in 2009, 2011, and 2015; and an InterMusic SF grant in 2018 to present the music of saxophone giant Pharoah Sanders. Recordings Featuring Reunion Lineup World Without Walls by Ancient Future (Sona Gaia/MCA 163): CD - $24.98 (collectable signed copy): Buy Link: http://www.ancient-future.com/world.html Press Audio Downloads: Lakshmi Rocks Me (Jim Hurley) MP3 (excerpt, 976 K): http://www.ancient-future.com/audio/lakshmi.mp3 14 Steps (Matthew Montfort) MP3 (excerpt, 1 MB): http://www.ancient-future.com/audio/14steps.mp3 As its name suggests, World Without Walls depicts a musical world without borders. Released in 1990, it features performances by such world music luminaries as Zakir Hussain, the master of the North Indian tabla. The inviting melodies and ingenious use of ethnic textures make this recording one of Ancient Future's most accessible and broadly appealing releases ever. World Without Walls Media Report (6.4 MB .pdf): http://www.ancient-future.com/pdf/mediaworldwithoutwalls.pdf "World Without Walls speaks to a cultural enrichment, a melding of world culture with Ancient Future's own lush sense of melody and rhythmic drive." - John Diliberto, JAZZIZ Asian Fusion by Ancient Future (Narada Equinox ND-63023): CD - $24.98 (collectable signed copy): Buy Link: http://www.ancient-future.com/asian.html Press Audio Download: Mezgoof (Ian Dogole) MP3 (excerpt, 800K): http://www.ancient-future.com/audio/mezgoof.mp3 Asian Fusion is a musical travelogue spanning the vast geographic and cultural expanse of Asia showcasing some of the top performers in the Asian music field, including Zhao Hui, China's preeminent master of the gu zheng (Chinese zither) and Bui Huu Nhut, a leading performer of the Vietnamese dan bau (a one-string Vietnamese instrument with an indigenous version of a whammy bar). Asian Fusion received much critical acclaim. It made the Tower Pulse! Top 10 Best Contemporary Instrumental Releases of 1993 List (#4) and was Guitar Player magazine's "Pick" for April 1994. Asian Fusion Media Report (11.4 MB .pdf): http://www.ancient-future.com/pdf/mediaasianfusion.pdf "This compilation of 12 songs influenced by the Far East has all the sweeping impact of epic movies such as 'The Last Emperor.'" - CHICAGO TRIBUNE Planet Passion by Ancient Future (Ancient-Future.Com AF 2010): CD - $17.98: Buy Link: http://www.ancient-future.com/planetpassion.html Press Audio Download: Socha Socha (Khan/Montfort) MP3 (short version, 3.6 MB): http://www.ancient-future.com/audio/sochasocha.mp3 The classic lineup of Ancient Future performing these special reunion concerts also was featured on one cut on the Planet Passion CD: the song Socha Socha on which they accompanied sitar master Pandit Habib Khan. Originally released in 2002, it was remastered and re-issued in 2009 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the first Ancient Future concert. Planet Passion Media Report (3 MB .pdf): http://www.ancient-future.com/pdf/MediaAncientFuture.pdf "If the members of the United Nations formed a world-fusion band, it might look and sound a little something like Ancient Future’s re-issue of their seventh recording. At its best, Planet Passion strives to preserve the world's vast musical heritage via international collaboration: the idea that one protects the old by creating something new. This is at the heart of fusion music and the heart of Ancient Future's global aesthetics, too: a diverse, unified world without borders, a multicultural community, a new, reconstituted sonic reality." - Ryan Allen, LEO WEEKLY, Louisville, Kentucky 115 Word Radio Announcement The exact lineup of the pioneering world music group Ancient Future that performed on their influential World Without Walls and Asian Fusion recordings is reuniting to perform at the 2019 San Francisco International Arts Festival on Sunday, May 26, at 5 PM at Gallery 308 in Fort Mason in San Francisco. The reunion show features Matthew Montfort on scalloped fretboard guitar, Jim Hurley on violin, Doug McKeehan on keyboards, Ian Dogole on percussion. For more information, visit sfiaf.org or call the box office at 415-345-7575. Tickets are $25 general, $12.50 under 18, $30 reserved table, and $35 reserved front table. Discounted early bird tickets are on sale through March 31 for $15 online at sfiaf.org. via Blogger http://bit.ly/2GSRqyD

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oselatra · 7 years

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The Murphy Arts District aims to make Arkansas's original boomtown boom again

The planned El Dorado makeover launches with a series of big-name concerts beginning Sept. 28.

In the last dying days of September, Brad Paisley, Ludacris, Train, Robert Randolph, Smokey Robinson, Migos, Natasha Bedingfield and ZZ Top will all be making a beeline for Union County, bypassing cultural and culinary hubs like Bentonville and Little Rock for South Arkansas, where a former oil boom town is undergoing a $100 million makeover.

MAD, as it's called, short for Murphy Arts District, is a two-phase creation of an entertainment district aimed at revitalizing downtown El Dorado. It involves turning the 1928 Griffin Auto Co. Building, once a fuel station and showroom for Model T Fords, into The Griffin, a farm-to-table restaurant flanked by a cabaret lounge and a 2,000-seat music hall with a stageside elevator, multiple bars, a VIP loft, a concession area, dressing rooms and a patio adorned with a 110-foot statue of an oil derrick, a bombastic homage to the black gold from which El Dorado sprang. The lawn outside The Griffin has been carved into an outdoor amphitheater that can accomodate 8,000 people, with an adjacent farmer's market and 2-acre, free-admission "destination playscape" for kids.

That's just the part MAD calls "Phase I." Phase II, set to begin in two years, involves renovating the 1920s-chic Rialto Theater (on the National Register of Historic Places, along with the Griffin Building) and turning the adjacent McWilliams building into a 10,000-square-foot art gallery with artist-in-residence quarters.

MAD's marketing campaign has caught some attention for its wholesome but savvy parodies — see the Macklemore-inspired "Downtown" video on YouTube from the spring of 2016, or this year's MGM-bright, one-take ensemble number "El Do Land," a parody of the opening sequence from "La La Land," the whimsical, not-quite-"Best Picture" of the 2017 Oscars.

The whole thing's in countdown mode, with organizers preparing for a massive five-day launch Sept. 28 with six major ticketed concerts, private donor events and over 25 free concerts on El Dorado's Union Square. Like its promotional videos, MAD is an ambitious operation, tightly choreographed, but nimble enough to turn on a dime when it needs to. I've been down Highway 167 to watch things take shape as the clock ticks.

Location, location, location

MAD is an acronym, but it's also a pretty apt description of the ethos behind the project. To understand why, it helps to take a look at a map of the country. Put pushpins on the major markets in the lucrative and logistically complex world of big-budget music tours. We're talking about cities targeted by behemoth PR machines like, say, the one behind Brad Paisley's "Weekend Warrior World Tour," a 38-date affair complete with three opening acts, stops in Norway and Sweden and a concurrent partnership with Boot Barn on an exclusive line of jeans, hats, jewelry, belts and woven shirts called "Moonshine Spirit." Tours like Paisley's usually land on some clear frontrunner markets: New York, LA, Chicago. In the South, there's Nashville, Dallas, Austin, New Orleans, Atlanta. Because tour production companies like Live Nation and AEG Presents have built their fortunes along the infrastructure that links those cities, location matters — a lot. It's the reason why Little Rock is blessed with a bounty of last-minute shows from inventive up-and-comers the week preceding South by Southwest: they're all Austin-bound. As any show promoter will tell you, a market's proximity to its bigger neighbors, paired with a promoter's ability to catch talent traveling between markets, can make or break the success of a live music venue in its first year of operation.

Consider all that when you place the next pin on your theoretical map: directly above El Dorado, smack dab in the middle of Union County, about 16 miles north of the Louisiana border. Closest neighbors include Parkers Chapel, Quinn and Newell. Further out in the county, there are cities whose populations the U.S. Census Bureau actually bothers to count: Norphlet (population 844), Calion (494) and Smackover (1,865); not exactly thrilling territory for music promoters trying to engage new listeners (and their wallets). That is, El Dorado is not only in the middle of nowhere, it's not even on the way to anywhere.

Then again, relative geography didn't matter to El Dorado circa 1921, when the January discovery of an oil well spurred the creation of a town swimming pool, amusement park and auditorium. Nine hundred other oil wells followed, and the population of 4,000 — sustained mostly by a cotton and timber industry — ballooned to over 25,000. When there's Texas Tea involved, proximity of neighboring markets is of little concern. You get some tanker trains loaded and moving — boxcars trembling from the top to the ground, as Merle Haggard sang — and you export the stuff.

When it's a century later, and it's culture itself you want to tremble and shake, you get Terry Stewart.

Boom (again)

Stewart's office sits at the far end of a long, open workspace at the corner of Cedar and Washington streets in downtown El Dorado. On a visit in early August, the place buzzed with the energy of a young tech startup — open floor plan down the middle, lined with meeting rooms around the perimeter, the doors of most of them swung open. A color-coded map of concrete-pour plans stretched across a wall in the reception area. A young woman up front spoke into the reception phone receiver and made notes on a memo pad. "Yes, ma'am, we're really excited," she told her caller.

Stewart's office is scant and smartly decorated. What he says is only a tiny sampling of his record collection sits on a shelf above his desk, a John Raitt LP in full view. A tiny fidget spinner pin decorates the lapel of his jacket; Stewart self-identifies as a "culture vulture." On a scale of one to the Atacama Desert, Stewart's wit is upward of the 90th percentile, impeccably dry. When I asked him, for example, how the MAD project would sustain itself after launch, he deadpanned: "It's not. It's gonna fail miserably. I'll be back in Cleveland, and none of it will matter." A curl at the edge of his mouth telegraphed his mischief, but he committed to the routine anyway, insisting that I'd be able to get a whale of a deal on the MAD headquarters' office furniture after the whole thing folds.

Stewart was "born in LA," he told me: "Lower Alabama." As a kid, he collected comics. Later, he collected degrees — two from Rutgers University in education and engineering and two graduate degrees from Cornell University in business and law. He steered Marvel Comics through a financially turbulent decade in the '90s as the company's executive-turned-COO and was named CNBC's "Marketing Executive of The Year" in 1991, the year the company went public. In 1999, he signed on as CEO of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as its fifth director since the hall opened four years earlier. Stewart stayed on for 14 years. In that time, he oversaw a complete museum redesign, shepherded the company's checkbook safely away from chaos and negotiated to get the induction ceremony moved from Manhattan to Cleveland every few years.

So how'd the guy who ran Marvel and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame end up in El Dorado? "You have three publicly traded companies here — Murphy Oil, Murphy USA and Deltic Timber," Stewart said. "You have a number of chemical companies. You have a refinery here. And they have a bad time recruiting people to come work in their companies." Stewart first visited for the town's annual Musicfest El Dorado "six or seven years ago." He says that despite assets like a $50 million high school, the longest-running symphony in the state and Murphy Oil Foundation's ambitious college scholarship program — the "El Dorado Promise" — it turns out that people graduating from large colleges in major metropolitan areas, "the people they're trying to recruit," Stewart said, don't especially want to uproot their lives and set up shop south of someplace called Smackover for a job offer. When recruitment gets tough, big companies often jump ship and relocate their headquarters. "If they do," Stewart said, "it's going to undermine this town, which is a very bucolic, lovely town."

Bob Tarren, MAD's chief marketing officer, was the former marketing director for The Frick Pittsburgh and Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. "There are white collar jobs as well as blue that are hard to fill because people come here with their families and say, 'What's there to do?' " he said.

Stewart concluded, "The idea was, how do you change that cultural situation?"

First, spend a lot of money. Stewart and his team say they've raised "something approaching $70 million," bankrolled by contributions from The Walton Foundation, Murphy Oil, Murphy USA and The Murphy Foundation. "The city has passed two levies that total $14 million," Stewart said, "and then there are other individuals who have given a million here, a million there."

I asked Stewart if he'd heard any concern from residents fearing downtown's disruption could lead to higher rents, gentrification or eventual displacement. He gestured toward the office door to the island along the center of the workspace, awash with blueprints, plans for developing MAD's donor base, hard hats with paint jobs courtesy of some local art students and a crew in steady motion. "All the people you see sitting out there," he said, "are from here. ... We brought in a core group of people from outside who we thought had the experience we needed. Austin [Barrow, MAD president and formerly a theater professor at Andrew College in Cuthbert, Ga.] is from here. Bob, myself, Dan [Dan Smith, MAD's vice president, who managed food and beverage for the Cleveland Indians and a handful of "House of Blues" venues] all came in from someplace else. Mark [Givens], our talent booker, is from here." Stewart estimates the project will create around 65 to 70 jobs and, he hopes, many more in neighboring businesses in years to come.

"This is not something that's gonna be cash-flow positive when we open up," Stewart said. "It's gonna take a long time until it's sustainable. And to make sure that we don't fail, we need the funding to continue to do something that looks like how we opened." Obviously, he noted, the likes of Migos and Brad Paisley won't be a nightly thing, but MAD will create 12 months a year of "weekly and monthly programming — a continuity that people can come to expect, like, 'Oh, wow, I wonder what they're doing in El Dorado tonight.' " Post-launch, MAD has programmed a dense fall lineup: Earls of Leicester, the El Dorado Film Festival, the acrobatic Shanghai Circus and an '80s tribute band called The Molly Ringwalds. As I spoke with Stewart on a Wednesday in August, cheers broke out and bells clanged in the main room. I asked what had happened.

"I don't know," Stewart said. "Mary, what was that about?" The Beach Boys had just been confirmed for a Nov. 1 concert.

There are genres Stewart feels strongly about representing in future months, he says, that are missing from the launch lineup — metal and the music of Latin American countries, for example.

Tara and Tinkerbell

One of the individuals cheering at the MAD offices that day was Tara Gathright, an El Dorado native and dance teacher who escorted me around the construction site. Shedding her heels in favor of closed-toed boots, Gathright donned a glitter-covered hard hat and crossed Cedar Street, passing through the ruddy construction mud southeast of Hill's Recreation Parlor. Since June, she's acted as MAD's membership manager, cultivating and finessing donor relationships. "I loved my dance studio," she said, "but I needed something else." Despite hesitation that her experience as a dancer in Vegas and on cruise ships didn't qualify her for the work, Dan Smith, the MAD vice president, recruited her for the job. "He said, 'You've been all over the world, and you know what good service is. I'll teach you everything else,' " Gathright recalled. Hill's, which Gathright says is also getting an update, boasts the title of the longest-running pool hall in the state, open since 1925 and undoubtedly the future gritty counterpoint to the nearby Griffin, which will serve craft beer, fine wine and custom cocktails.

"Every time I come in here it looks different," she said, strolling up to a VIP loft overlooking the amphitheater lawn. We wandered through a maze of dressing rooms, rooms for security staff, a service alley, a coat check room and a room dedicated solely to housing the leviathan air conditioning unit that will cool the music hall. A tiny dog bounced between the feet of several construction workers installing security equipment in a glass-encased anteroom. "That's Tinkerbell," Gathright said. The chihuahua mix, evidently a staple of the MAD construction scene, makes a cameo in a few of MAD's update videos on social media. Gathright and I exited behind the Rialto Theater, slated for revamp in Phase II. She thinks, if memory serves, she had her first kiss there. I asked her what movie was playing. "Oh, you know, probably "Teen Wolf II!" she said, and laughed.

A griffin is a mythological hybrid animal

U.S. Highway 167 from Little Rock to El Dorado is a corridor of uniform pine trees, farmed by logging companies like Deltic Timber Corp., a company that owns 530,000 acres of timber and that's listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Big rigs abound — the kind with their walls pulled out to reveal skeletal scaffolding, lined with clean yellow logs. Deer stands and signs announcing concealed carry classes and hunting clubs pop up irregularly, reminding passersby that this is gun country. Clearcuts along the highway have left wide dirt tracks amid the pines, with piles of burned brush alongside. Somewhere in those pines, just past the Calhoun County line where Hwy. 167 splits off from U.S. Highway 79, the signal for Little Rock's NPR affiliate gives out a little and Al Gore's admonitions on "Fresh Air" about climate change and "the marriage of the presidency to the television screen" get a sloppy mash-up with The Police's "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic."

It's difficult to imagine that road becoming a well-worn path for culture seekers, perhaps because what MAD is doing doesn't have a direct role model. It's a hybrid project — part festival, part urban renewal project, part amusement park for oil company families and visitors from Memphis, Dallas, Jackson and Shreveport. "There's nothing like us to compare us to," marketing director Tarren said. "And we're building it from the dirt up." Marfa, Texas, and Woodstock, N.Y., might be the closest analogies: destination art towns far from the big city lights. Notably, MAD's design comes from Paul Westlake, the architect behind Woodstock's Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, which opened in 2006. "What we're doing is so dimensional," Tarren said. "And we know that not everything we think is going to work, will work. And so we're gonna adjust."

For tickets or for more information, visit eldomad.com.

The Murphy Arts District aims to make Arkansas's original boomtown boom again

#The Murphy Arts District aims to make Arkansas's original boomtown boom again

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junker-town · 7 years

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Dino Babers is here to ‘strike fear into defensive coordinators’

If you’re writing a movie about the Syracuse head coach, you’re gonna want to make it a thriller.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — “A., I like movies, but B., it’s a time for me to go out in public, when the lights turn down and no one can see who I am,” Syracuse Orange coach Dino Babers told SB Nation.

“And I can actually be like everybody else and just laugh and make a noise in a theater and be normal. Because as soon as the lights go back on, I’ve been a head football coach in smaller towns, and everybody knows who I am, and I’m back on again.”

He’s far ahead of his fellow football coaches when it comes to keeping up with pop culture, but movies are about more than that. Movies were his escape as a young man and a constant for the son of a Navy man whose family moved often. Now, trips to the “movie house” are an offseason indulgence.

Dino isn’t a nickname, either; he’s named after the Italian movie star Dino Verde. Not many head coaches see Oscar winners until years later, but Dino’s seen Moonlight. A former wide receivers coach, Babers noticed the in-cut route run by Get Out character Walter, the one that spawned the viral Get Out challenge.

Back when he was a kid, sequels weren’t the backbone of the movie industry that they are now. Babers’ career has twice been propelled by second acts. A 7-5 Eastern Illinois became a 12-2 FCS quarterfinal squad. His 8-6 Bowling Green Falcons went 10-2 the next year, before he left for Syracuse.

The opening of his Syracuse tenure was a 4-8 2016. He admits his offensive system lends itself to leaps in aptitude the second go-around, but it will not be easy in Part II. Our protagonist faces his toughest antagonists yet, with LSU, Miami, Florida State, Louisville, and Clemson on the schedule.

If you’re writing the Babers biopic, your title character is complex.

To play him, perhaps you’d call Denzel Washington (his choice) or Will Smith (whom his wife and daughters think it should be).

You’d have to find someone to channel both old-school and new-school sensibilities. There’s a record player in his office with vinyls under it and music from his home state of Hawaii playing softly. He says he’s selfish with his music, but his players get to choose everything that plays during practices.

Of course, there are two exceptions.

“The first song is ‘Smooth,’ Santana,” Babers said. “The last song: ‘I Feel Good,’ James Brown. Every black guy, white guy, pink guy, green guy will learn the words of those songs. Now, in between those two songs, they get to play whatever they want, as long as there’s not cuss words or N-bombs.”

Babers does not run his team like a former military brat and says he doesn’t care how long your hair is.

“I want [my team] to be loose,” he said. “I want them to be freewheeling, and I want there to be interaction between them and their coaches. Now that being said, there’s a discipline to this game, and that’s where all that stuff kicks in.

“But the discipline — go to a baking analogy — discipline is in the cake. It doesn’t have to be in the icing. All that baking you do — the cake, ‘Oh, what kinda icing you gonna put on there?’ — it doesn’t matter what you put on it if the cake’s no doggone good. You bake the cake.”

(Babers can bake, although he doesn’t eat chocolate.)

As you develop the screenplay, you’d have to channel the most theatrical moment of his career so far, the speech after last year’s 31-17 victory over Virginia Tech. Appropriately, it looks ripped from a sports movie.

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That moment was close to the vision he’d promised. In his introductory press conference, Babers asked those in attendance — even the media — to close their eyes and envision a team that could win in all three phases and bring a din to the Carrier Dome.

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“I think that defensively, that was probably the closest that it came,” Babers said in his office about the win. “I would say offensively, I’d probably go more to the Pittsburgh game [a 76-61 loss]. I think [the VT game] was a fabulous defensive game by us. We did some things on offense and we made some plays, but I really believe that game was a defensive win.”

You probably don’t associate Babers with defense.

Babers has been a product of many systems during a career that goes back to 1984, when he was a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Hawaii. But this system is an air raid variation that can be categorized as the veer and shoot.

“It absolutely strikes fear, in my opinion, into the defensive coordinators the night before the game,” he says.

The system was honed at Baylor, where Babers coached wide receivers from 2008 to 2011. It was borne out of necessity when former BU head coach Art Briles was a high school coach during the 1990s in Stephenville, Texas. Briles pushed for Babers to go to Eastern Illinois and told him to bet on himself.

“We’re not big phone guys,” Babers said of his contact with Briles. “But we text every blue moon. Recently. I’ll say that.“

The events and reporting most frequently associated with the sexual assault scandal that rocked Baylor and resulted in Briles’ 2015 firing occurred mostly after Babers left for Eastern Illinois in December 2011.

Babers was on staff while Tevin Elliot was a member of the Bears. Four months after Babers left, the defensive end was arrested on two counts of sexual assault and removed from the team. He was sentenced in 2014 to 20 years in prison. Baylor was later sued by five women who say Elliot raped them from 2009 to 2012, four of them testifying against him.

When asked about the scandal, Babers said:

“I can talk about from 2008 to 2011, and Tevin Elliot was there. Heard he did bad, heard he got kicked off the team. And I became a head coach. And that’s not, how do I say this? That’s not to cover me. It’s just what happened.

“I’m military. Boom, boom, next. There are certain things that you don’t get second chances for. I got four daughters. I’m down with that.”

If you made the Babers biopic, you’d have a ready-made heart-stopping moment.

The car crash nine years ago, on a recruiting trip for Baylor, should have killed him. A tire blew out, and a panicked Babers hit the brakes at 80 miles per hour. His car spun, and he ended up facing oncoming traffic on an interstate near Houston. Babers recalled in detail the face of the semi driver who swerved to miss him.

“I don’t use the word s-c-a-r-e-d anymore either, because I nearly died nine years ago. Since then, I don’t use that word,” Babers said.

He was content to stay at Eastern Illinois for 25 years like his predecessor, Bob Spoo, who gave Babers his first full-time job as a running backs coach in 1987. Both started their head coaching careers at Eastern at age 50.

But with experience playing DB in college and so much time as a WR coach, Babers brings a WR’s sensibility to teaching the system he took from Baylor. Despite his background, he’ll tell you the QB is still the most important part.

“When a quarterback throws a receiver a ball, a receiver should be able to throw that same ball back to that quarterback,” Babers said. “And that is what’s been missing. What that means is that you and I have played catch so much that you’re the pitcher and I’m the catcher. You throw me a ball, I throw you a ball, you throw me a ball, I throw you a ball. We take our mitts off, and you’d have to say, ‘Which one’s the catcher, and which one’s the pitcher?’ because we’ve exercised that skill so many times.”

He calls plays without a sheet, takes calculated risks on fourth downs, and recalls the little things, like the fact that his quarterback got hurt on play No. 14 of the Clemson game. I checked, and he’s right, if you don’t count punts as offensive plays, which many coaches don’t.

“Our quarterback has to be a thrower, not a runner,” Babers said. “It’s not a wishbone offense. It’s not Navy’s offense. We do want to run the football, but our quarterbacks need to be NFL quarterbacks. They need to be guys that, after they have a fantastic college career, they go to the pros and they have a pro career.”

Under Babers, EIU’s Jimmy Garoppolo threw for over 5,000 yards and 53 touchdowns as a senior against only nine interceptions. He would finish in the top three of FCS’ most meaningful statistical categories and lead the Panthers to FCS’ most prolific offense. Garoppolo now backs up Tom Brady and appears in major NFL trade rumors, with the assumption he could be a franchise QB.

“Now, all that being said, if they do have legs that can get them out of trouble, that’s an advantage. But that’s the No. 1 thing. The No. 1 thing: has to be able to touch the entire football field; 53 and a third wide, 120 yards long. They’ve got to be able touch it all.”

Since Babers’ relocation to New York, he’s been able to see Broadway shows for the first time.

He wanted to see Hamilton last offseason, but there was a problem: his whole family wanted to go too.

“They were so fricking expensive,” Babers said. “This was like in the last two weeks of the original cast before they were about to close down. I’m like, the heck? One I mighta saw, me, but they were all like, ‘We wanna go.’ We’re talkin’ about six big ones. I’m like, ‘oh heck no.’ Because I know it’s supposed to be good, but to me the best Broadway show is West Side Story, which is my favorite movie. So I’m like, I’m not gonna go see this Hamilton thing.”

Tickets for that performance were going anywhere from $5-$20,000 each on the resale market, but he did enjoy the cast’s parody of Garoppolo.

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Babers did see The Lion King and Jersey Boys with his family. In the latter, he saw the future of his program.

“The thing that cracked me up was the opening line of Jersey Boys. Now I’m sitting here, first and second Broadway show, never been to one live,” Babers said, “and in the Jersey Boys, the opening line says — they’re singing — but the first time the guy talks, he goes, ‘Hi, my name’s Tommy DeVito, and I put New Jersey on the map.’”

Babers was recruiting a young quarterback by the same name from the same state.

“And I’m sitting there going, ‘Are you sending me a message?’”

One "Jersey Boys" name sounded familiar,but I can't put my finger on it... #TheyPutJerseyOnTheMap #Broadway #AWEsome http://pic.twitter.com/rhqarrTQG3

— Dino Babers (@CoachBabersCuse) July 6, 2016

DeVito ended up signing with the Orange, an Elite 11 participant and the No. 15 pro-style QB in his class, per the 247Sports Composite. He’ll arrive in the summer.

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QB recruit Tommy DeVito believes Syracuse can return to greatness

Our partners with SB Nation College Football spoke to QB recruit Tommy DeVito, who is all-in with the Syracuse Orange. He explains why and what his future plans are in this video.

Posted by Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician on Thursday, July 7, 2016

For now, Eric Dungey leads the team through spring. Dungey ran Syracuse’s option system in 2015, then shifted to Babers’ system and improved his completion percentage while more than doubling his pass attempts.

Babers told his future QB to go see Jersey Boys. He’s not sure if that’s happened yet, but they can see it together later this offseason.

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jazzworldquest-blog · 5 years

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USA: Ancient Future 40th Anniversary & Bandleader Birthday Party at the Freight and Salvage, Berkeley, Feb. 12, 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 10/1/2018Contact: Ancient-Future.Com [email protected] Future 40th Anniversary & Bandleader Birthday Party at the Freight and Salvage, Berkeley, Feb. 12, 2019 View Press Release Online with Photos and Video:http://www.ancient-future.com/pr_2_12_19.htmlHi-Res Photo of Ancient Future Circa 1979 (1.3 MB):http://www.ancient-future.com/images/af1979photo300dpi6x4.jpgShown: Benjy Wertheimer, Phil Fong, Mindia Devi Klein, Matthew MontfortCelebrating 40 Years of World FusionAncient Future's first concert took place on February 11, 1979, at the Sleeping Lady Cafe in Fairfax, California, a vegetarian cafe and music club co-op that was the center of a vibrant local music scene. It was the day before Ancient Future leader Matthew Montfort's birthday, who was not yet of nightclub age. This concert on Montfort's birthday celebrates Ancient Future's 40 years at the forefront of the world fusion music movement.The exact lineup for the show has not yet been announced, but it will include musicians from Ancient Future's long history of cross cultural music collaborations. It will feature top master musicians from around the world along with band members from the original and historic Ancient Future lineups. Stay tuned for surprise announcements of featured musicians.Tuesday, February 12, 2019 8 PMFreight and Salvage2020 Addison StreetBerkeley, CA 94704Tix: $20 in advance at the F&S, $24 at the door. All tickets are subject to an additional $4 per ticket facility fee.Purchase Tix:https://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/1764222Box Office Phone: 510-644-2020, open 12:30 PM–7 PM (excluding holidays) and during all performances.Email: [email protected] Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1882577728505388/Poster (246k .pdf):http://www.ancient-future.com/pdf/2-12-19_freight.pdf Ancient Future History: Reunion Concerts of YoreOriginal Lineup ReunionHi-Res Photo of Ancient Future Circa 1981 (1.2 MB):http://www.ancient-future.com/images/af2front300dpi6x4.jpgShown: Mindia Devi Klein, Benjy Wertheimer, Matthew MontfortAncient Future was formed in late 1978 by students at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, California, including Mindia Devi Klein (who went by Mindy in those days), Matthew Montfort, Benjy Wertheimer, and Phil Fong. Ancient Future's first concert took place to a packed house on February 11, 1979, at the Sleeping Lady Cafe in Fairfax, California, a vegetarian cafe and music club co-op that was the center of a vibrant local music scene.This lineup of Ancient Future made two recordings that are now considered world fusion classics. In December, 1978, the band went into Tres Virgos Studio in Mill Valley to record Montfort's song Moonbath. The song became the springboard for the first Ancient Future record, Visions of a Peaceful Planet. The concept for Natural Rhythms, the band's second record, grew out of a spontaneous recording session at a friend's recording studio near a frog pond. The sound of croaking frogs was leaking into the studio, so Montfort went out to the pond with a zither and began to play, and found that certain rhythms produced musical responses from the frogs. Several months later, Montfort and Klein went to Bali to study gamelan music. They were amazed to find paintings all over the island portraying Balinese rice paddy frogs playing gamelan instruments, so they ventured out into the rice paddies where a frog jam session ensued that became part of the Natural Rhythms release. On April 19, 2015, three members of the original lineup of Ancient Future performed together for the first time this century to a full house at the Throckmorton Theatre in Mill Valley. Sadly, Phil Fong was unable to attend the reunion as he was battling ALS. He passed away on July 18, 2016.Hi-Res Photo of Ancient Future Circa 1981 by Sherry Freeman (1.1 MB):http://www.ancient-future.com/images/af1981boulder300dpi4x6.jpgShown: Benjy Wertheimer, Mindia Devi Klein, Matthew MontfortArchaeological Discovery of First Ancient Future VideoYouTube Video of Ancient Future Circa 1978:https://youtu.be/Xp5et9Qfgo4Shown: Matthew Montfort, Yusef Ali, Mindia Devi Klein, Phil Fong, Benjy WertheimerThis video is an amazing archaeological find: the very first video of Ancient Future, recorded in late 1978, months before Ancient Future's first concert! Thanks to Jonah and Mariposa at Marin Artists International who, after learning of this reunion concert, were able to rescue parts of Ancient Future's first video recording session from archival oblivion. This short teaser from 'Eternal Embrace' by Phil Fong from Visions of a Peaceful Planet is the first release from this archeological expedition. Performances of two complete pieces have been recovered, and will be released after some audio restoration work is completed.'World Without Walls' ReunionHi-Res Photo by Irene Young of Ancient Future Circa 1990 (14.7" x 9.7" jpg, 7.2 MB):http://www.ancient-future.com/images/1990ancientfuture300dpi15x10sepia.jpgShown: Matthew Montfort, Jim Hurley, Doug McKeehan, Ian DogoleYouTube Video of Ancient Future at their 'World Without Walls' Reunion:http://youtu.be/IlYfQ50MGDwShown: Doug McKeehan (keyboards, piano), Kash Killion (bass), Ian Dogole (percussion), Matthew Montfort (scalloped fretboard guitar), Jim Hurley (violin), and Mariah Parker (santur) This lineup of Ancient Future that performed on the band's influential World Without Walls and Asian Fusion recordings played over a hundred concerts together from 1988 to 1995. In 2011, they reunited for the first time in 15 years to perform concerts at Todos Santos Plaza in Concord and Yoshi's in San Francisco. In honor of the reunion concerts, World Without Walls was released digitally by Capitol Records for the first time ever at major digital retailers such as iTunes. Twenty two years after its initial release in 1990, broadcasters worldwide voted the record as one of the top 5 world music releases of 2012, after which Ancient Future continued to perform reunion concerts at venues such as the Frick Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Berkeley's Freight and Salvage. "Ancient Future is a rare kind of band that might simultaneously aggravate purists, confound New Age dilettantes, seduce skeptics, and dazzle just about everybody else. Delicious compositions, intricate arrangements, crisp playing and impeccable production put these ambitious voyagers in a league of their own." - Derk Richardson, SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIANBandleader and Birthday BoyMatthew Montfort (band leader, scalloped fretboard guitar)Matthew Montfort is the leader of the world fusion music ensemble Ancient Future. He is a pioneer of the scalloped fretboard guitar (an instrument combining qualities of the South Indian vina and the steel string guitar). Montfort spent three months in intensive study with vina master K.S. Subramanian in order to fully apply the South Indian gamaka (note-bending) techniques to the guitar. In 2009, he released his first solo guitar recording, Seven Serenades for Scalloped Fretboard Guitar, which reached #8 on Zone Music Reporter's World Radio Chart. He is recognized as one of the world's 100 Greatest Acoustic Guitarists by DigitalDreamDoor.com, a curated "best of" site, along with such luminaries as Michael Hedges, Leo Kottke, Chet Atkins, John Fahey, Merle Travis, John Renbourn, Tommy Emmanuel, and Doc Watson. The December 2009 Les Paul issue of Guitar Player Magazine includes a full page feature on Matthew Montfort with a corresponding GuitarPlayer.Com video and lesson entitled "The Music of Jimi Hendrix Applied to Indian Raga." He has performed concerts world wide, including at the Festival Internacional de la Guitarra on the golden coast of Spain near Barcelona and the Mumbai Festival at the Gateway of India in Bombay. He has performed live on national radio and TV shows such as the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC. Montfort wrote the book Ancient Traditions - Future Possibilities: Rhythmic Training Through the Traditions of Africa, Bali, and India, which has been used by many musicians to improve their rhythm skills. Coconspirators and Likely Guest ArtistsGeorges Lammam (Arabic violin and vocals)Georges Lammam, of Palestinian descent, was born in Beirut, Lebanon. He is a solo violinist exemplifying the Arab style of instrumental improvisation. Mr. Lammam toured in Bolivia with renowned artists Eddie and Gabriel Navia, and joined stellar performers hosted by JoinedHands (USA NP), organized by Marcus Lovett (Phantom of the Opera), to support refugee families and humanitarians in the refugee camp in Chalkida, Greece, hosting thousands of people from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. His compositions and performance excerpts are included in scores for two award-winning documentaries: Occupation 101 and Tea on the Axis of Evil, and he recorded a well-known folkloric dabke (an Arab folk dance) in a 2016 feature film, Wrestling Jerusalem by Aaron Davidman. His newest CD, Opus Omnia, was released in 2017. Vishal Nagar (Indian tabla)"He has magic in his hands" - HINDUSTANI TIMESConsidered one of the most gifted tabla players of his generation, Vishal was born into a family of musicians and had his initial training for a very brief period with the late Ustad Latif Ahmed Khan of the Delhi Gharana. After his Ustad's untimely demise, Vishal continued his training under the guidance of Ustad Shamim Ahmed Khan of the same Gharana (school), and he also has had intense rhythmic training from his mother, the renowned and highly respected Kathak dancer and vocalist, Urmila Nagar. Vishal has been praised in the Indian press for his unique combination of melodic tabla sound production with masterful command of rhythm. Vishal has had the privilege of performing with many renowned artists: Ustad Shujaat Khan, Guru Urmila Nagar, Vidhwan Trichur Ramachandran, Pandit Ramesh Misra, and Kala Ramnath, to name a few. Vishal has also expanded his cultural boundaries and collaborated with musicians from around the world. Some of his memorable works have been with the Ghanaian Guitarist Koo Nimo with whom he also appeared in WOMAD USA (a leading world dance and music festival started by Peter Gabriel). Shenshen Zhang (Chinese pipa)A native of Wenzhou, China, Shenshen Zhang began playing the pipa at the age of nine. At thirteen, she auditioned and was accepted into the prestigious Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where in 1992, she was awarded a Bachelor's Degree. In 2005, Ms. Zhang received Master's Degree in Musicology from Xiamen University. As an award-winning concert soloist, she performed and toured extensively throughout Asia and the U.S. Since making her home in SF Bay Area in 2006, Ms. Zhang has combined her lengthy performance career and her vast experience as an educator, preserving the musical heritage of China while also exploring other world cultures. Ms. Zhang taught music at Stanford University from 2015 to 2017, and she has her own pipa studio in Silicon Valley where she teaches classical Chinese music to a diverse student population. Pandit Habib Khan (sitar)Pandit Habib Khan is regarded as one of the best sitar players in the country today. He was born into a family of musicians and can trace his lineage back several generations to when classical music enjoyed the patronage of the nobility and royalty of India. He began his training at the tender age of five under the strict eye of his accomplished father, Ustad Hameed Jaffer Khan. The Jaffer Khan family was from Indore and were well known for their unique style of playing the sitar, melding the effect of the human voice and the instrumental tone into a harmonious whole. Habib Khan has carved out a distinct style of his own which is a blend of his father's traditional techniques and his own imaginative inventions. He is as much at ease with light classical and religious music as he is with pure classical renderings of ragas. Mindia Devi Klein (Indian bansuri & silver flutes, Balinese gamelan)Mindia Devi Klein is a founding member of Ancient Future and an award winning musician, composer and educator. Known primarily for her rare and haunting Indian bansuri flute music, she was actually born in Brooklyn, New York, where she began her formal music training at the tender age of two with African American folk singer Charity Bailey. Early exposure to the jazz greats and the vast diversity of the world's music left her hungering for a doorway into the mystic heart and roots of music. She followed her muse to California and the Ali Akbar College of Music where she met and began training with Ustad Ali Akbar Khan for over 40 years at Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, California. She also trained under bansuri maestro G.S. Sachdev and then learned in India under guidance of world renown bansuri flutist Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. A recipient of the American Institute for Indian Studies Smithsonian Fellowship, the Fulbright Scholarship in Balinese gamelan and numerous community arts and composition awards, Mindia's playing and compositions blend together the sounds and ideas of many worlds in a subtle and unique way. Benjy Wertheimer (tabla, percussion, and esraj)Benjy Wertheimer is a founding member of Ancient Future. An award-winning musician, composer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist equally accomplished on tabla, congas, percussion, esraj, guitar, and keyboards, he has performed and recorded with such artists as Krishna Das, Deva Premal and Miten, Jai Uttal, Walter Becker of Steely Dan, tabla master Zakir Hussain, and bamboo flute master G. S. Sachdev. He began his musical studies at age five, starting with piano and later violin, flamenco guitar, and Afro-Cuban percussion. Benjy has been a student of Indian classical music for over 40 years, sitting with some of the greatest masters of that tradition, including Alla Rakha, Zakir Hussain, Ali Akbar Khan and Z. M. Dagar. Along with the Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart, he was a contributing composer and member of the Zakir Hussain Rhythm Experience. For over five years, Benjy scored music for the internationally syndicated NBC series Santa Barbara, and his CD Circle of Fire went to #1 on the international New Age radio charts in 2002. Making his home in Portland, Oregon, he now tours internationally with his wife Heather in the kirtan group Shantala. Jim Hurley (violin)Jim Hurley, multi-instrumental performer, composer and educator, began playing violin in the Livermore public schools, and later explored rock guitar and bass, jazz and world music, improvisation and composition. Influenced profoundly by South Indian violinist L. Shankar, he incorporates styles from bebop to zydeco, European classical to Zairean soukous. He studied violin with Dr. Madeline Schatz, protege of Jascha Heifetz and Josef Gingold, at Humboldt State University, where he earned his B.A. in Music. Jim's professional credits include performances and recordings with Queen Ida's Grammy-winning Bon Temps Zydeco Band, Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, all-China gu zheng virtuoso Zhao Hui, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (with Jon Anderson from Yes), Kenneth Nash (Weather Report, Herbie Hancock, Dizzie Gillespie alumnus), Dan Hicks, Al Stewart, Josh Groban, Smokey Robinson, Stanley Jordan, the Waybacks, Tempest, and many other artists. He has performed on NBC's Saturday Night Live, NPR's A Prairie Home Companion, and at numerous festivals including New Orleans Jazz and Heritage, Monterey Jazz, Winnipeg Folk, and Strawberry Music.Doug McKeehan (keys)Doug McKeehan started his piano studies at age five, and began his first professional work at the age of twelve. He studied music at the Oberlin Conservatory, Kent State University, and the University of Otago (New Zealand). He has toured Europe twice and spent considerable time in India studying with notable Indian music teachers such as Pandit Ram Narayan, Ustad Kursheed Khan and Pandit A.G. Bhattacharya. He has composed original music for stage and T.V. productions in San Francisco and Los Angeles and has been musical director of two original musical comedy productions. In 2008 he was commissioned to compose and perform live music for the Diablo Ballet's production Jazz Fever. He cofounded Air Craft with violinist Bruce Bowers, which released a highly acclaimed jazz fusion album, So Near, So Far. He is a first call jazz pianist in the San Francisco Bay Area. Ian Dogole (percussion)Ian Dogole has articulated his vision of global fusion music as a multi percussionist, bandleader, educator, recording artist, composer and producer. He has released seven records and a DVD as a leader – Along the Route, Dangerous Ground, Ionospheres, Night Harvest, Convergence, Crossroads, Outside the Box – Jazz Journeys & Worlds Beyond and Ian Dogole & Hemispheres In Concert (DVD). Ian has recorded and performed with artists such as Hamza el Din, Tito La Rosa, Richie Cole, Paul McCandless and Alex de Grassi. He performs on a wide variety of percussion instruments, including udu, cajon, hang, African talking drum, kalimbas, cymbals and dumbek. 111 Word Radio AnnouncementAncient Future will perform a 40th Anniversary & Bandleader Birthday Party February 12, 2019, at 8 PM at the Freight and Salvage, located at 2020 Addison Street in Berkeley. Ancient Future's first concert took place on February 11, 1979, at the Sleeping Lady Cafe in Fairfax, the day before Ancient Future leader Matthew Montfort's birthday. The exact lineup for the show has not yet been announced, but will include musicians from Ancient Future's long history of cross cultural music collaborations. Call (510) 644-2020 for more information. Tickets are $20 in advance at the F&S, and $24 at the door. All tickets are subject to an additional $4 per ticket facility fee. via Blogger https://ift.tt/2DSPlCQ

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