THE KNICKERBOCKER MUSIC CENTER
35 Railroad Avenue, Westerly, RI 02891 (Misquamicut) | (401) 315-5070
Open Today: Open
The club thrived as one of the leading entertainment centers in southern New England, hosting regional and national bands with an emphasis on the blues. Some of the greats that played on the Knickerbocker stage included, Big Joe Turner, Albert Collins, Johnny Copeland, Johnny Nicholas, Leon Russell, Eric Burdon and Stevie Ray Vaughan. In 1967, Roomful of Blues was born in Westerly, when guitarist Duke Robillard and pianist Al Copley started a band that played tough, no-holds barred Chicago blues. Making the Knickerbocker Café their home club, it did not take long before they started exploring swinging, jumping blues and added a horn section. Roomful would pack the house every Sunday and still plays their great brand of blues today.
Fast forward and the Café has become the Knickerbocker Music Center, a non-profit organization formed in partnership with the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School. The mission of the Knickerbocker Music Center is to preserve, cultivate and grow the “Knick’s” unique brand of blues, as well as expanding access to music of all genres, by transforming the Knick into both an exciting performance venue and an exceptional center for music education.
Women's Voices Concert & Performance Showcase
2pm – 7pm
Sunday, October 7, 2018 at 2:00pm to 7:00pm
The Knickerbocker Music Center. 35 Railroad Avenue, Westerly, RI 02891
Live Music, Fundraiser
All profits to benefit the I.M.A. Rock and Roll Camp for Girls
Presented by ImagineMystic.com
Show: 2-7p | Doors: 1:30p
Performance Schedule:
2p: Opening Announcements
2:10-3:10p: Kala Farnham
http://www.kalafarnham.com
3:20-4:20p: Laura Dowding
https://www.facebook.com/lauradowdingmusic
4:30-5:30p: Someone You Can Xray
http://www.someoneyoucanxray.com
5:40-7:00p: Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez
http://www.christineohlman.net
About Christine Ohlman:
This queen of blue-eyed rock n’ soul, who grew up loving equally the sweetness of a Memphis horn line and the raunch of an electric guitar riff, whether played by Muddy Waters, Keith Richards, or Pop Staples, teased her blonde hair into a beehive in honor of Ronnie Spector and never looked back, picking up a guitar and forging a career as a songwriter in the process. She’s the current, long-time vocalist with the Saturday Night Live Band (SNL40’s anniversary post-show concert also featured her star turn onstage with Jimmy Fallon, Elvis Costello and the B-52s), whose latest CD, The Deep End, was honored on five national Top Ten lists and features special guests/duet partners Ian Hunter, Dion DiMucci, and Marshall Crenshaw, plus Levon Helm, GE Smith, Andy York, Eric “Roscoe” Ambel, Catherine Russell, Big Al Anderson, and others. Ohlman topped the Alternate Root.com’s Readers’ Poll as top Americana vocalist, joining other winners Paul Thorn, The Mavericks and Rodney Crowell.
Ohlman’s legendary voice and stage presence (she’s known as “The Beehive Queen” for her towering blonde hairdo) have most recently been featured at the 2016 AMA Conference in Nashville; The PBS series “Music City Roots” with Bonnie Bramlett, Sarah Potenza and the McCrary Sisters during June, 2016; 2016 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival’s Tribute To David Bowie; on numerous guest vocal shots on the HBO series “Vinyl" that feature a duet with Elvis Costello; on SNL’s 40th Anniversary telecast (pulled onstage by Jimmy Fallon at the after-party concert at the Plaza Hotel, she tore the roof off with the B52s as her backup vocalists), “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” (guest shot with Black 47); the 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Concert in Cleveland (filmed by HBO); the Carnegie Hall tribute to the Rolling Stones; the 2012, 2013 and 2015 Little Kids Rock galas in NYC (taking the stage with Bruce Springsteen, Brian Wilson, Elvis Costello, Steve Miller, Graham Nash, Bill Medley, Tom Morello and others); and the 2012-2015 WC Handy Festivals (she was the special guest of the Blind Boys Of Alabama and soul queen Candi Staton, and helmed a sold-out tribute to legendary producer Jerry Wexler; in 2015 she was the festival’s Grand Marshall and co-billed with iconic guitarist Travis Wammack), as well as on both SNL’s 25th and the aforementioned 40th Anniversary telecasts; Bob Dylan’s 30th Anniversary bash at The Garden (with George Harrison, Chrissie Hynde, and others); the 2013 Obama Inaugural Gala in Washington, D.C.; The Lincoln Center “American Songbook” series with Sting, Lou Reed and Van Dyke Parks; and the Central Park Summerstage Tribute To Janis Joplin (where she fronted both Big Brother & The Holding Company and the Kozmic Blues Band).
In 2017, she was inducted into the National Blues Hall of Fame of American Heritage International. She appears on Grammy nominees A Tribute To Howlin’ Wolf (with Taj Mahal and Lucinda Williams) and Charlie Musselwhite’s One Night In America (with Marty Stuart); sings the theme song for NBC’s 30 Rock; worked on a musical with the late Cy Coleman (who compared her sense of timing to Peggy Lee’s); duets live with friends like the aforementioned Miss Spector, Mac Rebennack (two private evening of duets she calls “absolute highlights”), Americana stalwart Paul Thorn, Bonnie Bramlett (who has become a longtime friend), Muscle Shoals legends Donnie Fritts and John Paul White of the Civil Wars, and New Orleans mainstays The Subdudes (she joins The ‘Dudes, BB King, Irma Thomas, Richard Thompson and others on Get You A Healin’ to benefit the New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic and has guest-hosted five editions of “Down On The Bayou” during successive Jazz & Heritage Fests with Widespread Panic’s JoJo Hermann, again to benefit The Clinic); worked often with the late blues giants Hubert Sumlin and Eddie Kirkland; collaborated on critically-acclaimed tracks with Marshall Crenshaw (Labour Of Love: The Music of Nick Lowe), Big Al Anderson (Pawn Shop Guitars), and Ian Hunter (When I’m President and Shrunken Heads); edited legendary Rolling Stones producer Andrew Loog Oldham’s autobiography 2Stoned and appears also on Oldham’s historic 2013 release “Andrew Loog Oldham and Friends Sing The Rolling Stones Songbook Vol. 2”). A musicologist of note, Ohlman is a cover-story-writing contributor to Elmore Magazine, and worked with Bonnie Raitt, Ry Cooder & others on the Rhythm & Blues Foundation Awards.
Ohlman tours relentlessly, torching clubs up and down the Eastern Seaboard in support of her recordings (Strip, The Hard Way, Radio Queen, Wicked Time, 2008 career retrospective Re-Hive, the aforementioned The Deep End, 2011 concert DVD Live Hive and 2016’s upcoming “The Grown-Up Thing” with her band Rebel Montez (Michael Colbath-bass; Cliff Goodwin-guitar; Larry Donahue-drums).
“I’ve come here tonight to set your souls on fire,” she’ll tell an audience. And she will.
About Dana Newman of Someone You Can Xray:
Dana Newman is a CT native who grew up with opera, rock 'n roll and the drive to create. The co-founder of Someone You Can Xray, a 7 piece original fusion ensemble, she writes and performs rock 'n skiffle, blues, r&b and more. Having just released their third album, "Hot 'N Fresh", Someone You Can Xray is ready to take the world by the synth horns!
About Laura Dowding:
It is not unusual for independent artist Laura Dowding to be frequently compared to the vocal powerhouses of Adele, Amy Winehouse, Lauryn Hill, and Joss Stone. The Rhode Island native’s original music has been classified as neo-soul, and R&B, with a twist of hiphop and jazz. Laura has performed across the US in major cities such as New Haven, Minneapolis, New York City, and Los Angeles among others. She has performed, and is one of few regular acts, at the Westerly Summer Pops for over 30,000 people and has opened for a nearly sold-out show for award-winning violinist Damien Escobar at The Garde Arts Center in New London, Connecticut. She was recently a guest at the 2018 BET Awards in correlation with the release of her newest EP ‘Grown’, released on all major platforms on June 8th. She is also co-starring in a web series premiering in an AMC theater in New York City.
About Kala Farnham:
Kala Farnham is a multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter hailing from the Quiet Corner of CT. Kala's signature songwriting has been described as a reinvention of the folk tradition made popular by artists such as Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez: she has been praised for her classical undertones and playful dose Broadway theatricality onstage, and a lyricism that springs to life with creative storytelling, cultural references, and rich metaphor. Her first full-length studio album, "Anahata: Wake Up Your Heart", was nominated for "Best Americana Album" in RI's Motif Music Awards alongside a nomination for "Best Female Americana Vocalist". In 2015, she was selected to be an Official Showcase Artist in Folk Alliance International's SERFA Music Conference. October 2016 marked the release of her 2nd studio album, "Samadhi: Home Is Where You Are" as well as another Motif nomination for Best Americana Album. Kala is an alumni of the 2017 Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project and the winner of the 2017 Rhode Island Songwriters Association Performing Songwriter Contest.
Show: 2-7p | Doors: 1:30p
Tickets: $15 donation ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges.)
