I do hope that since my last posting of this "Infrequent Blog", all has been going well for you and all the ART you bring to our Community both from within our doorway at ROM to ALL the incredible Live , Local Music, Spoken Word and ALL ART Venues so available to us in our special tiny corner of the world.
It is hard to believe that this year is going by so quickly and we at ROM have been so blessed with so many Incredible Features as well as an EVER-GROWING Open Mike Community of Artist's! I can say that easily this year of ROM-2013 we have been honored to have so many new guest's to our audience, our email list as well of course to our "Tiny 6 inch high Stage",as it is called by my dear partner and Host of ROM Mike Delaney in one his most affectionite new songs!! This number is more so this year than any year before!! Our combined thanks to ALL of you who may read this Blog or our website or whom you may even feel free to send this to as "ALL are WELCOME at ROM"
May I also suggest that you take a peek at our growing list of websites on the right side of this Blog as there are just too many incredible acts I just simply cannot cover in this short space so feel free to come back to the Blog and stay updated on all your favorties by their websites but also by getting out to see them at places you may NOT have been to yet.
Please, ALWAYS SUPPORT your Local, Live Venues which includes Homes,Yards, Farmers Markets, Stadiums, Esplanades, Gov't Ctrs & many others where Live,Local Art's are being SUPPORTED and HELD!!
Since my last Blog our ROM Feature's have been so very delightful, entertaining & generous !!!
OUR huge Shout out to: Bob Bloom for an Incredible Drum Ride of an ALL Percussion Feature that got the entire ROM audience involved in the percussion world they never knew they could do but thanks to this Master teacher Bob, we all had a blast and I know I learned more about percussion and it's beginnings than I had ever known before!!! Many thanks Bob for a great drum ride and to all of you that were and are part of ALL our ROM events in all ways and fashions!!! After Bob, Came our Youngest performers for our ROM-2013 Schedule. On 7-8-13 we had a split Feature. The first part of our show was they dynamic hands of our youngest ROM Feature Ben Chase. AT 10 years old, Ben took the stage with great confidence and along with his guitar teacher, (Steve Hurl), on his 1st 3 songs, did a great job!! After that Ben did the remainder of his feature time solo and did a great job!!
After Ben came our Spoken Word part of this special Feature and it was made even more special to me personally as it was my daughter Ariella Montanez. Ariella's poetry comes directly from her heart and from her very unique life experiences & perspectives. Some of the words were words that I had not previously heard and another thanks goes out to my Family as ALL were in the house to hear Ariella. My thanks to my wife Rosemary, daughter Barbara and Ariella's brother Gerard or as she calls him Boyke!!! At the end of each of these 2 wonderful artist's performance it was made known that they were donating their "Pass the ROM Bucket" Feature Monies to Roslindale Congregational Church which is our "Home to ROM" and we cannot thank you Ben and Ariella enough for that wonderful gesture on both your parts!!
Our next Feature were 2 most wonderful & gifted artist's that so many both within and outside our ROMuilin Community came to hear and that was, Lorraine & Bennett Hammond. Due to the number of folks in the house Lorraine and Bennett did go on a bit later than our regular Feature time but were so kind and understanding and stayed to the very end of the show to hear each and every Open Mike performer, perform!!!
I must add an extra special Thanks to Lorraine and Bennett as well. Their ROM Feature fell on the day after they both returned from that most wonderful time of year to many in our audience and that was the entire, very Hot and Humid Week 1 of the WUMB, SAMW Camp. They performed and took the stage as if they as fresh as ever and treated our ROM audience to all and more than we could have expected. Thanks so much to Lorraine & Bennett Hammond and thanks too for your kind donation to the Church for all they continue to do for us to help keep alive, LIVE, LOCAL MUSIC at ROM!!!
Just this past Monday we did have a most wonderful ROM Unplugged 5th Monday Ceilidh song circle. It is a very intimate setting for our ROM audience as all is unplugged & we sit in a circle and play our own tunes or covers of those we really enjoy and we get a chance to just sit and chat about songs, music and each other. Things we are not able to have the time for during our regular ROM Feature night's. It is truly a different side of ROM that we began last year and only happens when there are 5 Mondays in a month. It has always been a great time, no Features, no posters, just a room filled with music, spoken word and a great Harmony of the Art's. Our thanks to all that attended last week as well as all the previous Ceilidh's of this year!!
BIG NEWS FOR OUR UPCOMING FEATURE!!!!!!
ON Monday 8-12-13 the wonderful & Multi-talented MARY LOU LORD will be our upcoming ROM Feature!!! We are very honored to have Mary Lou take to our stage at ROM and bring her vast array of talents heard around the world by many to our very stage. Mary Lou will likely also be out of breath as she will be running back to Boston from New York from a gig just the night before so we have been so very graced by so many artists this year especially by folks that are so willing to travel so far just to be in the house at ROM for their scheduled gig!! Our thanks going out to each and every one of our features as well as to each and every one of our Supporters of ROM for all you do for OUR wonderful Community of Artist's!!! WE still have plenty more fantastic and upcoming Feature's here as part of ROM -2013!! Please do go to our schedule page on our website, www.roslindaleopenmike.org for all our upcoming Features for this year!!
I do want to mention a couple important date for you to remember. that are coming up very soon.
On Tuesday 8-6-13 from 2-5 my dear Partner and host of Roslindale Open Mike, Mike Delaney (www.mikedelaney.org) will be performing, even possibly with some surprise guests, at the Norwood Farmer's Market, in the Town Common under the lovely Gazebo right in Norwood Ctr, at Nahaton St and Route 1A!!! It is all free and great with a great place to do some shopping for lovely and local foods and items. "Come on Down" as some other Norwood based guy often is heard saying!!!
Also a great afternoon of wonderful artistry will be happening at the Old Manse in Concord and at this point I will let our dear friend of ALL the Arts and friend and mentor to so many of us Ellen Schmidt give you all the specifics!!!
From Ellen:
Sunday August 11th 2pm – 4pm, 21 members of the Folk Song Society of Greater Boston will perform “Bound for Glory” , a musical tribute to Woody Guthrie in narrative and song, at The Old Manse 269 Monument St. Concord, MA 978-369-3909. Free concert, weather permitting. The rain date is Saturday August 17th at 2pm. You can sit under the tent or bring chairs or blankets and sit outside. There are a limited number of chairs under the tent, but you may want to bring your own. We expect a good turnout. Chorus sheets will be provided to an audience members who’d like to sing along on the choruses!
I will be at both these events and will hope to see you all as well.
Thanks to each and every one of you do that continue to make ROM what it is, has been and will be re-shaped into the Future to be!!! Hope to C you all soon, Please be Safe, Happy & Healthy and we ALWAYS Love to See you at ROM whether you perform or are part of listening audience!! Also and lastly please remember, we are ALL so very blessed to be surrounded by so many incredible Live Local Music and Spoken Word Venues, Get out there and check them all out even if they fall on a ROM night. You will always be welcome back to ROM!! Go out and see how other venues run their venues and bring back any great idea's you may get from them and talk to Mike or myself or anyone at ROM as we are always open to constructive thought and will always do our best to be fair to all!!!
Happy Everyday to each of you and may the lights of all of your lives continue to shine on & warm the hearts each other & OUR WORLD!!!
Always, Neal :))))
