A Little Follow-up to Local Legends Live

From the Valley News - http://www.vnews.com/12172009/6230295.htm
Published 12/17/09
By Warren Johnston
Valley News Staff Writer

The spotlight at the Lebanon Opera House will shine Saturday night on 12 of the Upper Valley's most popular bands and the original music they produce.

And this won't be a dry awards ceremony, either, as 11 of the honorees will perform during a four-hour concert at the first Local Legends Music Awards.

The musicians being honored received the most plays of original songs that were posted on the Web site of the event's sponsor, Yellow House Media, said Quechee resident Dave Clark. He organized the awards ceremony and founded Yellow House Media, a Web site that maintains a calendar of the Upper Valley's music, theater, art and dance listings and has weekly features of music songs from the area’s artists.

“We wanted to do something to bring attention to all of the very good musicians that we have in this area, and the good original music they're performing,” said Clark, who plays with JukeJoynt, Stolen by Gypsies and other bands. “We're just trying to elevate the craft.”

In addition to honoring the musicians at the concert on Saturday night, the artists also are featured on a 2010 calendar and on the 2009 CD Local Legends, Clark said. “We hope this will bring some more attention to the talent we have here.”

Receiving the honors and performing at the concert are singer Lisa Piccirillo, the duo Avi & Celia, singer and songwriter Pete Merrigan, Clark, Sensible Shoes, Pariah Beat, The Gully Boys, Frydaddy, Dr. Burma, Pete Meijer and Kurtis Kinger. Singer Cindy Geilich also is getting an award, but because of a conflict, she is not playing at the concert.

The top of the show will feature five singer/songwriters, who will play for 15 minutes each. For the second act, the soloists play 20-minute sets, which are followed by the bands, which will play for 30 minutes each, Clark said.

Some of the performers will play songs that have appeared on the Yellow House Web site, but Clark said he suspects that many will play new pieces for the concert. “I know that I'm going to be playing new songs,” he said.

A portion of the proceeds from ticket sales and CD sales will go to The Upper Valley Haven, which provides food, shelter, clothes and education for homeless families.

The artists being honored play music in the folk, blues, Americana and rock genres, and all play original music that Clark can post on the Web site without having to obtain corporate and union permission. The winners were selected by fans who visited yellowhousemedia.com over a 12-month period. Clark took pains to point out that, because of the selection process, a number of other talented area musicians were overlooked. “Other than putting the music up on the Web site, I didn't have anything to do with who was selected,” Clark said, adding that some of his favorite artists didn't make the cut.

“There are some very good jazz musicians in our area, and I'm a jazz fan, but they tend to play their versions of music written by someone else, and it would be hard to get the rights to the songs and put them on the site,” he said, noting that because of the lack of original songs, no jazz artists were posted on Yellow House Media.

The show begins at 7 and goes until 11 on Saturday night. Tickets are $22.50 and include the calendar and the Local Legends CD. Call (603) 448-0400.