ROSS BELLENOIT RELEASES HIS DEBUT RECORD "EIGHT TRACK MIND"
VINYL RELEASE PARTY @ JOHNNY BRENDAS, DEC 18th, 9pm, $10 with BIRDIE BUSCH & ZACH DJANIKIAN
At
the over-ripened age of 28, Ross Bellenoit has found himself bubbling
and bursting with creative works of song and dance. He writes songs of
pith and mercy to the whim of whatever genre agrees with his insight.
Swinging, wine-glass grooves or stinking, rock and roll shouting matches
can live peacefully with each other in a set. Bellenoit writes catchy
tunes that both Cole Porter and Elvis Costello could approve/sneer at,
and yet never agree with each other. Lyrical subjects range from hope
(universal) to apocalypse (personal), but written with such cleverness
and beauty that you'll want to hear them over and over again.
Having
spent the better part of seven years developing his career as an
all-around sideman (ace guitarist, even more ace setlist writer,
incredibly ace vibe setter), he has learned much from the master
songwriters that he cut his teeth with. Philadelphia's own Amos Lee,
Birdie Busch, Devin Greenwood and John Francis are just a handful of the
many tune-smiths he has collaborated with. Having learned (and
occasionally unlearned) his lessons, he is now setting out into the
world on his very own ship made of song. Pay attention: you just might
hear something worth hearing.
On December 18th, 2010, Johnny
Brendas (the wonderful center for all things musically awesome) will
host the release party for his 12 inch vinyl release. That's right.
VINYL! And, as a bonus for the non-turntable-owning-few, the vinyl comes
with a Digital Download card, so you can have a legitimate "ones and
zeros" version of the record for your iTunes and such.
Joining
this musical event will be some really incredible artists of whom I have
had the extreme pleasure of collaborating with for these many years.
Opening the evening will be the incredible tunesmith, Zach Djanikian,
whose works of song recall the elegance of Paul Simon, the daring of
Joni Mitchell and the audacious soulfulness of Stevie Wonder. Next up
will be Birdie Busch, and if you haven't heard her (which is close to
impossible, if you live in Philly), now is the time. Her music is a
reminder of everything that is good in the world. Even the bad stuff.
Her live sets are always ones to remember. Mr. Ross Bellenoit will be
closing out the evening with a fiery set featuring works from the record
and brand new ones, as well...
"...It's worth noting that
Bellenoit, AKA Rolling Thunder, is a musician who leaves cocky guitar
guys in the audience squeezing their girlfriends a bit tighter on their
way out the door. Bellenoit's skills are a local legend." - PLAY MAGAZINE, Tara Murtha
So, every year the Philadelphia Songwriters Project hosts a songwriting competition. The winner gets a chance to play such high-publicity gigs like the Philadelphia Folk Festival, the Summer Solstice at the Kimmel Center and the Bethlehem Musikfest.
I entered this year, completely on a whim, thinking i wouldn't make it, and voila! I'm a finalist! Out of 12 very talented artists.
On June 7th, 4pm in the afternoon at Milkboy Coffee, they hold the final showdown where each finalist plays a handful of songs and everyone in the audience votes, including the judges, and the winners are picked. It would mean a great deal to me if most of you could come and show your support. It's gonna be a fun night regardless, even if you think I couldn't write my way out a paper bag. But I bet you I could. Better than your cat could, at least...
So come show your support at Milkboy Coffee, SUNDAY, JUNE 7th, 4PM! I'll be posting reminders/bulletins as the event grows closer...
All the best -Ross
P.S. - As a treat, i'm posting the rough mix of the song that I sent in, "This Time Around" from my upcoming album "Eight Track Mind"... (the record is planned to be mixed at the start of this summer)
due to the incredible talents, dedicated love and energy of three other artists, my record is on it's way to being made. it all began with a simple phone call from my good friend, rachel russell, one of philadelphia's finest recording engineers and an equally talented "vibe massager." after an initial conversation that got both of us very excited, we started planning how we were going to pursue this project. we each had one priority: she wanted to work with tape, i wanted to capture a vibe. the two seem to go pretty much hand in hand...
after much deliberation and astoundingly drastic changes of schedule and time, we managed to take 3 days this past week to set up in her house in south philadelphia (yogi sound studio). the first day, with jaron olevsky and freddie berman in tow, we set up all our gear and spent a few hours getting sounds. for all intents and sometimes hilarious purposes, my guitars were recorded in the bathroom...
the first day, in around 4 hours, we tracked six songs. the next day, in a mere 2 hours (!) we cut five more songs. our time limits were due to the fact that rachel has neighbors and, something to be considered after the fact, we ourselves have rapidly fluxuating nervous systems. everything was either 1st or 2nd take, with the occasional 3rd take thrown in...
we're all tremendously excited. now the next step is to hole up at mole street studios with jaron and fine tune the arrangements with some overdubs and some vocals, which i hope, on at least on one song to bring in all of my friends for a rousing outro chorus on "this time around"...
so on thursday, july 6th, i made the trek down to downtown baltimore to play with one of my heroes... mr. peter mulvey...
the whole day was a blast. since the gig was an outdoor festival sponsored by some radio station down there, we got hooked up with sweet hotel suites (ha!). met up with pete and the band (the dynamic duo of mike piehl on drums and lou ulrich on bass) during the afternoon and went to the park to soundcheck. after getting everything set up, fiddling with some amps, and getting some levels, we sort of drifted into playing pete's newer song "the knuckleball suite". man! things just went flying! i quickly realized everything i love about peter's music. not only just the man himself, but the musicians he gets to play with him and make his records with...
behind the stage was this very tall washington monument (as pete quite astutely pointed out, this was the REAL washington monument, as is it actually has a statue of the man himself on it. "the one in washington is just a giant obelisk!"). pete was the only one out of the four of us to actually climb the damn thing, which must have been like 12 flights of stairs, and call us from up above. along the same note, during the show, there were people up on top listing to us from above. pete managed to point the towering crowd to the audience down below and had everyone wave up to them. that must be quite a photograph if there is one...
anyways, the whole show was incredible. i had to be really on the ball to not only nail some of the more specific parts, but to make sure i had the right sound for them. it all worked out beautifully. there was a point towards the end tag of "the fix is on" that just got really, really deep in the pocket. chugging and chugging along. we managed to come up with an ending on the spot! lots of little moments like that. the crowd, being plentiful on a gorgeous day in the park with the sun setting in the distance, loved it as well. the only sour spot was the encore. while attempting a tender duo rendition of "the nearness of you", the battery in my new delay pedal went, causing my signal to futze and fizzle out into a staticy fade. the only thing that comes during something like that is sweat and humility...
all in all, an excellent trip. it was great to hear all sorts of stories from lou and mike about their boston music experiences (particularly the police force's bagpipe troupe that raided the lizard lounge one night), and all sorts of tasteless and tasteful jokes...
just thought i should document such a great night of music...
excited