Insert Stravinsky Joke Here:

Happy Spring, apparently!

A streak of shows coming up in the second half of April that are very dear to me.

First, An Historic (as a duo with Carl Testa) is performing at Pete's Candy Store in Brooklyn alongside Kings and Karen and the Sorrows on April 15th. The show starts at 8 and we're on first, and the other two acts feature seriously inspired songwriting and arranging inspired in great ways by the stamp of classic country music. The evening finishes off with a great big "Old-Fashioned Goodtime Country Music Hootenanny Jamboree" featuring members of all the performing acts. Should be a fun one. (For those keeping score, Kings features the talents of baritone Robert Maril, of Rhymes with Opera, who sang the role of "1" in my opera Red Giant last year.)

Next, on April 25th (notice the corrected date), I'm performing in a duo with Kryssi Battalene AKA noise/ambient artist Colorguard. I'm really excited to be playing this set as Kryssi and I have talked about doing this for a long time and it's finally coming to fruition. Doing electronic/electroacoustic music live more often is one of the goals I've had as I've been re-thinking my electronic project, so for this set I'm signifying some of that reflection by going by a shortened moniker, GZARA. The set is in support of Impatience Machine, a quartet featuring electronics, brass and percussion, which features another Rhymes with Opera colleague, Ruby Fulton. The show also features a set by Birth of Flower, an excellent post-punk-ish local band. That show is at Taco Hut HQ, 265 Orange St in New Haven, at 7:30PM.

Then, I'm performing an evening of Kurt Weill's music with the Cygnet Sisters and Doctor Caterwauls on April 27th. This is a concert I've wanted to do for many years, and it has come to fruition with possibly the perfect group of musicians to do so - The Cygnet Sisters, Anne Rhodes and Zohra Rawling, and Dr Caterwauls, which will on this occasion feature Keith Yarborough filling out the low end on tuba. I'll be singing a handful as well and the evening should be a complete blast. The venue is in Hamden, CT, at the home of Christina Crowder, who has been running an excellent series of concerts there - email for more information at doctors.caterwaul@gmail.com. Start time is 8PM.

Finally on April 30th Dr. Caterwauls will be teaming up with Tyler Bussey for the last time in the foreseeable future, as Tyler prepares to move west. The show will be at Cafe Nine as part of the Drink Deeply series. Start time is 9PM, and there's one other act to be announced - naturally, most of us will be backing Tyler up on a few of his originals as well as some arrangements of folk tunes.

Stay tuned for more info, including the release of a recording of two compositions from last year - Articulate, with Ben J.M. Klein and Earthseed Songs with Anne Rhodes and Brian Slattery.