The Old Globe to Present Jeff Buckley Tribute Concert, 8/19
By: BWW News Desk Jul. 17, 2013
The Old Globe will present a one-night-only Jeff Buckley Tribute Concert on Monday, Aug. 19 at 7:00 p.m. that will feature several prominent San Diego artists covering the songs of the legendary musician. The concert coincides with the Globe's upcoming production of The Last Goodbye, a fusion of Buckley's music with Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The Jeff Buckley Tribute Concert, which will benefit the Globe's student Shakespeare programs, will take place in the outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre.
The bands scheduled to perform at the Jeff Buckley Tribute Concert include Jeff Berkley, Israel Maldonado and Fernando Apodaca with Todd Hannigan, Veronica May, Eve Selis, The Sinclairs, Gayle Skidmore, Superunloader and Pete Thurston. The concert will be emceed by Cathryn Beeks, host of KPRi-FM's "The Homegrown Hour," and Chris Cantore, U-T San Diego's Director of Lifestyle & Entertainment.
"Jeff Buckley's music is as powerful as it is beautiful, and all of us at the Globe are counting the days until we get to hear it on our stage in The Last Goodbye," said Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. "In the meantime, I'm delighted that we'll get to hear some of San Diego's most exciting musicians go to town with Buckley's songs and show America's Finest City once again that its arts community-both onstage and in concert-is part of what makes the place so fine."
Jeff Buckley was born in Orange County, California on November 17, 1966 and died in Memphis on May 29, 1997. He had emerged in New York City's avant-garde club scene in the 1990s as one of the most remarkable musical artists of his generation, acclaimed by audiences, critics and fellow musicians alike. His one and only full-length, full-band studio album, Grace, released in 1994, includes his haunting cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." Buckley and his band spent the following two years touring the world in support of the album, and though he was largely ignored by U.S. audiences, who were fully involved in the grunge movement, his sensitive and soaring vocals, virtuoso guitar and gripping performance style were critically acclaimed throughout Europe, the U.K. and Australia. He was awarded France's prestigious Grand Prix International du Disque de l'Académie Charles Cros in 1995, as well as platinum record plaques from France, the U.K. and Australia. In May of 1997 in Memphis, on the verge of recording his second studio album, Buckley perished in an accidental drowning while taking a late-night swim in the Wolf River Marina. The songs he had been working on were posthumously released as Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk in 1998, which received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. Today, Grace is ranked among the 500 greatest albums of all time by Rolling Stone magazine, and Buckley's recording of "Hallelujah" was voted number one among the top 100 vocal performances of all time by Mojo magazine (U.K.).
The Last Goodbye is a musical adaptation of Romeo and Juliet featuring the incendiary songs of Jeff Buckley. That light in yonder window is still the east and Juliet is still the sun. . . but the sound in her bedchamber is all new: the sweeping, emotional and extraordinarily beautiful songs of the late rock icon. This unique work of theater is a remarkable fusion of the classic and the modern, melding Shakespeare's tragedy, in its original text and period, with some of the most passionate rock music of the past 20 years, staged with limitless invention by Alex Timbers, one of the true stage visionaries at work today.
Conceived and adapted by Michael Kimmel, The Last Goodbye is directed by two-time Tony Award nominee Alex Timbers (Peter and the Starcatcher, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson). Choreography is by Sonya Tayeh ("So You Think You Can Dance"), and orchestrations, music direction and arrangements are by Kris Kukul. The musical runs Sept. 20 - Nov. 3, 2013 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center.
The Old Globe is located in San Diego's Balboa Park at 1363 Old Globe Way. There are numerous free parking lots available throughout the park. Valet parking is also available ($10). For additional parking information visit www.BalboaPark.org.
The Tony Award-winning Old Globe is one of the country's leading professional regional theaters and has stood as San Diego's flagship arts institution for over 75 years. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Barry Edelstein and Managing Director Michael G. Murphy, The Old Globe produces a year-round season of 15 productions of classic, contemporary and new works on its three Balboa Park stages: the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the 600-seat Old Globe Theatre and the 250-seat Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, both part of The Old Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, and the 605-seat outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, home of its internationally renowned Shakespeare Festival. More than 250,000 people attend Globe productions annually and participate in the theater's education and community programs. The Globe brings world-class theater to its community through innovative initiatives designed to overcome barriers to arts attendance. Numerous world premieres such as Into the Woods, The Full Monty, Nobody Loves You and the annual holiday musical, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, have been developed at The Old Globe and have gone on to enjoy highly successful runs on Broadway and at regional theaters across the country.
MUSICAL ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
FERNANDO APODACA is a film director, artist and composer whose work has been created and exhibited internationally. An accomplished violinist and performer, his musical compositions and performances encompass many genres, from classical to experimental. As a composer and artist, he began his formal studies of violin and drawing at age four and trained with renowned classical violinist Frederic Balazs. In 2010, he toured to Brazil as a member of the Melali Sessions Band and has also toured as a violinist for Mad Juana. Apodaca has contributed original music for films such as Rob Machado and Taylor Steele's Melali: The Drifter Sessions, BrIan Taylor and Jason Mueller's State of S, Jack Johnson's Thicker Than Water and Chris Malloy and Taylor Steele's Shelter. He has performed across the U.S., touring as a violinist with bands in locations such as Troubadour in Hollywood, National Geographic Headquarters in Washington, DC, multiple House of Blues venues and Russia, Eastern and Western Europe, Latin America and Africa. He directed the music video for Pearl Jam's "Life Wasted," which earned a nomination for Best Special Effects at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, as well as the Best Music Video Director Award at the 2006 San Diego Film Festival. Some of his clients as a composer and director have included Pearl Jam, Chris Cornell and New York Dolls, and he continues to collaborate with producer-composer Todd Hannigan and producer-filmmaker Jason Mueller.
JEFF BERKLEY has been making recordings for close to 20 years, working in genres including folk, alternative rock, pop, reggae/ska, jazz, hard rock, Americana, children's, spoken word and more. He is a founding member of Berkley Hart, Citizen Band and the Joel Rafael Band as well as a highly sought-after live and session percussionist. In addition to extensive touring to support four studio albums and a live DVD with Berkley Hart, he has played live with such talents as Jackson Browne, David Crosby, Jim Messina, Venice, The Cages, Arlo Guthrie, Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion, Pete Seeger, Ben Harper, the Indigo Girls, Bruce Cockburn, Patty Griffin, Barbara Nesbitt, Trisha Yearwood, David Wilcox, Jewel, Steve Poltz, A.J. Croce, Tim Flannery, Dave Howard, Gregory Page, Jason Mraz, Sean and Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek, The Coyote Problem and Little River Band, among many others.
TODD HANNIGAN is an Ojai-based singer-songwriter, producer, film music composer and studio owner whose sound reflects influences like Nick Drake, Mark Knopfler and Cat Stevens. He is well known in the international surf and folk-rock community, having played with Jack Johnson, Jackson Browne and Ben Harper. Well received in Japan, Australia and Brazil, his music is cross-cultural. He is recognized for his work on award-winning surf films Thicker than Water, The September Sessions and 2012 SXSW Audience Award winner Big Easy Express. Hannigan has been featured on KCRW-FM's "Morning Becomes Eclectic" and has just released his third studio album, entitled Further than the Bow, available on iTunes. His original voice, perspective and signature finger-picking make him one of modern folk's underground sons.
ISRAEL MALDONADO is a San Diego-based musician that plays solo, as well as with Tres Con Todo. He started playing in a kids' band when he was seven years old in Tijuana called Banda Infantil del Dif. He picked up the classical guitar when he was 10 and, after moving to the U.S in 1989, joined the drum line in high school and guitar ensembles in college. He began playing at Cafe Sevilla in 1996 with two Brazilian bands, Josias Dos Santos Sambrasil and Mark Lamson's Sol e Mar. From there he started playing gypsy guitar with David de Alba and Novamenco, and then joined the group Agua Dulce, with whom he toured the Midwest for two and a half years. Throughout the years he has opened for acts like Nikka Costa, Los Amigos Invisibles, Ivan Lins, Sergio Mendes and Charlie Hunter. Maldonado now has his own group, which features Chad Farran, David Carano and Dante Loaiza, that blends all of his experiences in one show, including Brazilian, salsa, gypsy, funk, reggae and classic rock.
VERONICA MAY has been playing piano for over 20 years, percussion for over a decade and guitar for several years. Her exposure to music began early, as her parents played in a 1970s band called The Flatlanders. May won Best Acoustic at the 2008 San Diego Music Awards. In 2011, she became the new Glee Club Director at Clairemont High School. She and Lindsay White also perform as a duo called the Lovebirds. She counts Jeff Buckley, Maxwell Hughes, Patty Griffin, Pinback, Ani DiFranco and Ben Harper among her musical influences.
EVE SELIS is the winner of seven San Diego Music Awards in Americana and Adult Alternative. She has sold 35,000 CDs and two million downloads, her music has been heard in four movies and she has performed on CNBC, ESPN and the BBC. Her album Angels and Eagles was released in 2008, andFamily Tree was released in 2011, followed by a U.K. tour in June and July of 2012 with Jeff Berkley of Berkley Hart. She also headlined the Americana International Festival in the U.K. Selis has opened for Travis Tritt, Crosby, Stills and Nash, the Doobie Brothers, Joan Osborne, Heart, Dwight Yoakam, Gary Allan, Chris Isaak and Hootie and the Blowfish. She frequently plays locally with Tim Flannery and Berkley Hart, the latter of whom collaborated with Selis on a five-song EP.
GAYLE SKIDMORE has written over 1,700 songs since she began songwriting at the age of 8. Classically trained on the piano since childhood, Skidmore also plays at least 20 other instruments including the mountain dulcimer, banjo, folk harp and balalaika. Her dedication to her craft is shown in her attention to detail and involvement in every step of the creative process, from producing her records to doing the artwork for her albums. Later this year, Skidmore will release her second full-length album and coloring book on Raincoat Records, following her first vinyl release, a 7-inch record titled Zombie Heart, put out by Ninkasi Brewing Company. She has also toured nationwide in the U.S., the U.K., Asia and Europe, and she was a Sunset Sessions artist in 2012. Skidmore finds endless inspiration in the whirlwind of life and is always experimenting with new formats. When she isn't busy learning a new instrument, singing, painting or writing lyrics and melodies, she composes parts for her cellist and violinist.
THE SINCLAIRS are a rock 'n' roll band from Brooklyn, New York. Founded in 2011 by David Hyman (bass and vocals) and Scott Seader (guitar and lead vocals), and they were joined soon after Sam Maynard (guitar, vocals). The Sinclairs have crafted a retro sound combining the classic elements of early rock legends like The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Bob Dylan and The Who. Featuring loud, intricately woven rock guitars and rich vocal harmonies, as well as a moody and poetic lyricism, their first EP was released in December 2012. The self-titled EP was coproduced by The Sinclairs and Dougie Bowne and mixed by Joe Blaney and Kenji Shimoda. The band continues a busy schedule of playing shows and touring nationally.
SUPERUNLOADER is an original rock trio from San Diego. Jimmy Lewis leads the band with an astounding singing range and guitar skills and is backed up by Chris McGreal on bass and Chad Farran on drums, who are known as one of the tightest, hardest-hitting rhythm sections in musicians' circles. The band has a soulful classic rock side that has drawn comparisons to Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and Free as well as a modern progressive edge in the vein of The Mars Volta, Primus, Audioslave and The White Stripes. The band has toured throughout the Western United States as well as overseas in Japan. They have shared the stage with Deep Purple, Carlos Santana, Bob Dylan, Gregg Allman, Fishbone, Les Claypool and others. Superunloader has made a name for itself in San Diego by performing indefatigably and taking home two San Diego Music Awards in the category of Best Rock and Best Local Recording. The band has released four albums under their own record company, Superunloader reCorDs, and their music is digitally distributed worldwide through iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and others digital music portals.
PETE THURSTON has been playing acoustic pop-rock music in San Diego since 1997, when he first began performing in coffee houses regularly. Since then he has been fortunate played, written and recorded with some of San Diego's best musicians, including Jason Mraz. While Thurston's current musical focus is on his band, called channel, he still enjoys performing as a solo acoustic artist. Some of the artists who helped shape his songwriting and sound include Jeff Buckley, Elvis Costello, Gregory Page, Radiohead and Beck. The first album from channel will release in late 2013.
EMCEE BIOGRAPHIES
CATHRYN BEEKS was raised in Lancaster, California, before leaving to pursue a career in music. Her journey took her to places like Jackson Hole, Jacksonville and Cleveland. Along the way she made music with The Prairie Dudes, JunkQueen and a variety of cover bands. In 2000 she returned to California and landed in San Diego, and she started playing music with Matt Silvia of 8 Ball Rack as well as hosting open mic nights. In 2002 she began hosting showcases for ListenLocalsd.com. In 2006, with her band The Cathryn Beeks Ordeal, she released Desert Music, which was nominated for a San Diego Music Award. She released a new album, Mood Swing, in November 2009, which was nominated for Best Local Recording at the 2010 SDMAs. Beeks is currently the host of "The Homegrown Hour," a local music show on 102.1 KPRi-FM, as well as hosting live local music showcases several times each week.
CHRIS CANTORE has been a San Diego resident for 25 years and is a community-focused music enthusiast with 20 years of multimedia experience in radio, television, print and online. Cantore began his career in broadcasting in 1994 after graduating from San Diego State University with degrees in English/Creative Writing and Political Science. Successful stints at Star 100.7/KFMB-FM and Q106/KKLQ-FM were followed by an 11-year run at 91X/XTRA-FM as host of the legendary alternative station's morning show, "Cantore in the Morning." Since 91X, Chris has conceived and launched NBC San Diego's music platform, SoundDiego, and hosted the afternoon show on local independent radio station 102.1/KPRi-FM. Today, Cantore is the Director of Lifestyle and Entertainment for U-T San Diego. In addition to overseeing the entertainment properties at the U-T, Cantore hosts a daily television show, "Night & Day", on U-T TV.
Pictured: Composer and lyricist Jeff Buckley. Photo by Niels Van Iperen.
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