All-day affairs

AS220, Stone Soup stage far-flung fests

by Michael Caito

Over Flower

At publication time, AS220 is halfway through Sound Chex, a four-day mini-festival, proceeds from which will help upgrade an antiquated and extremely cash-draining PA system. On the heels of their recent award from Lila Wallace / Reader's Digest, it was again made clear that specific monies for sonic improvements don't usually fall under the aegis of fund-worthy artistic endeavor, which is understandable given the prevalence of for-profit music-only halls and the Space's overall artistic mission, which includes but certainly doesn't limit itself to live music.

But that said, for the past several years two things have happened: the live shows -- thanks to the intrepid work of longtime soundman Joe Auger and Fatcat Productions' Mary Geisser -- have introduced numerous new artists and audiences to the Space, but efforts to enable them to be heard have often fallen on the shoulders of said PA, which has responded by crapping out at inopportune times, and several shows went on only because of the electrical wizardry of Auger and yeoman rescue / backup efforts by their pals at Soundstage Audio.

Thus this event, topped off by an all-day festival featuring many noteworthy up-and-comers on Saturday, the goal of which is replace whatever requested funds were gutted in several recent grant proposals, in order to upgrade the system incrementally and, according to both Geisser and Auger, with whom we spoke this week, to set aside money for maintenance and possible further upgrades over the course of the upcoming year.

Geisser started out working with her friends in the band Ether, and after witnessing the success of several of the shows she arranged she received the go-ahead from Bert Crenca to make her nights more regularly scheduled, so Fatcat was born two years ago and christened last year. Queried about the future goals of Fatcat, she explained that she "wants to give the bands in and around Providence a place to play, and the people of Providence a good place to hear local bands."

Auger, also the main man for QORQ Productions, has done sound there for years, and he recognizes the need to establish a bit of a backup stash for the inevitable times when the current PA will konk out. "If you look at the money we spend every year just replacing the things that break, it's a huge drain and money we just don't have," he explained. "Last year alone it was $3000. That PA gets a real good workout all the time, so we're hoping that by doing this, and making it an annual event, we can make improvements incrementally."

Specifically, those involve a re-invention of AS220's Sunday recordings, whose quality can be heard, say, on the Smoking Jackets' recent Bammo! Auger said that while bands are still capable of getting a DAT tape of any performance for a nominal fee, the Sundays would be revamped to more closely resemble a studio setting, with scheduled lock-out times and the like, and perhaps an in-house CD burner. 

"It was gratifying to see how many people got in line to help out, from musicians to sponsors," Auger said, ticking off Groundwerx, Pork Chop Lounge, OOP, Lucy's, Stereo Discount, Trinity, Perishable, In Your Ear, Venus In Furs, the Hudson Street Market and Mobee's Music as those merchants offering goods and services to be raffled off at Saturday's all-day affair. "It shows that they recognize the need for this to happen if we're gonna keep this going."

Saturday's lineup kicks off at 3 p.m.and includes (not in order) Larry Marshall, Damon Campagna, Flicker, Battery Park, Over Flower, String Builder, Ted Only Knows, Plymouth Rock, Romola, V for Vendetta, Difference Engine, Iditarod, Woken by Wire, Jet Pack and Broadcaster. Admission is $10. Call 831-9327.

STARS & BARS. An event which was launched through yeoman work by Aubrey Atwater has grown into one of, if not the biggest, Stone Soup events of the year, according to the Coffeehouse's Mr. Walton. That would be this week's fourth annual Mountain Music Festival, partially funded by RISCA and the Lenny Rumpler Foundation. Happening at the Soup's space and all over the Swedish Lutheran church Gloria Dei, the music, workshops and instructions start at 10 (registration is at 9:30) and it ends as usual with a sterling concert at 8 p.m., this year featuring North Carolinian banjoist Sheila Kay Adams, Connecticut-based song-collectors and performers Sandy & Caroline Paton and returning Kentuckian Randy Wilson on guitar, banjo, dulcimer, autoharp and harmonica. Ten dollars gets you into the day or evening events, with 15 bucks buying both. The festival remains a tremendous way to learn of America's musical heritage through seeing, hearing and, perhaps most importantly, doing, along with established and duly respected area performers like Atwater, Elwood Donnelly, Chris Turner, Sandol Astrausky and more. Call 781-0061.

Erin McKeown's back in town at AS220 on Wednesday, part of a kick-azz lineup including many of folk music's future ground-breakers. In addition to the news that Ladyslipper Music has picked up McKeown's top-notch recent Monday Morning Cold (TVP) for distribution, the former Brown student who sometimes refers to herself as "the chica" is part of the traveling Voices On the Verge fall tour. The name says it all. Rose Polenzani (Indigo Girls tour and Lilith vet), Bostonian Jess Klein and Beth Amsel join Erin at the Sarah Doyle Women's Center Wednesday at 4:30 to discuss the craft of songwriting, and the whole gang move downcity for a 7:30 gig that night at AS220.

Notes: In addition to producing and recording John Allmark's new Big Band record, Dan Moretti appears this week at Leon's on Broadway. You may even get to hear select new tracks from his forthcoming release on Blue Orchid titled That's Right.Other groove news involves Planet Groove expanding, now with Leah Carlson doing vocals. She's obviously not on their latest disc (selling well at select area Borders bookstores), but she will sing on Saturday in Newport at the Pelham and on the 13th at the Century.