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 Gene
Bertoncini
Thursday,
March 11 • 8:00 pm
Friday, March 12 • 8:00 pm
Stage Door
Series/Sponsored by
Huntington Bank
All Tickets $27.50
Gene Bertoncini is one of the pre-eminent jazz guitarists active today. His fluid technique and lyricism have won him international praise and accolades as the "Segovia of jazz." An eloquent and versatile improviser, Mr. Bertoncini has been heard with an extraordinary range of jazz greats, including performances and recordings with Benny Goodman, Buddy Rich, Wayne Shorter, Hubert Laws, Paul Desmond among others, as well as such distinguished singers as Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, Nancy Wilson, Vic Damone, and Eydie
Gorme.
The Washington Post proclaimed his solo appearance in New York City the best jazz concert of the year 1999. Mr Bertoncini's acclaim is hardly confined to this country. His
CD Someone to Light Up My Life, which features his own arrangements of the compositions of the great bossa nova composer Antonio Carlos Jobim, won international raves. Brazilian critic's and listener's polls also named him the best acoustic jazz guitarist. Gene Bertoncini has just released a striking new solo CD, "Quiet Now" on the heels of his highly successful "Acoustic Romance," which reached the top ten of the jazz playlists. Jazziz magazine's March 2004 issue ranked it Number 1 in their list of the top 20 acoustic guitar CDs.
His newest CD is called Concerti and features Gene with a string quartet and bass.
A prolific and popular studio musician, Bertoncini honed his professional chops as a member of the Tonight Show band during Johnny Carson's tenure, and he has worked with composers and arrangers such as Lalo Schifrin and Michael Legrand and has performed with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
In addition to an active performing and recording schedule, Gene teaches at the Eastman School of Music and William Patterson University. A New York City native, he graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in architecture. According to the New Yorker magazine, "Bertoncini is an affecting, highly original guitarist that moves easily back and forth between classical and jazz guitar."
Official
Web Site
 Robert Post
Friday,
March 19 • 7:00
pm
Family
Series/Sponsored by
The Energy
Cooperative
Tickets: $15.00, $12.50 and
$7.50
Robert Post is a brilliant physical comedian with a stunning theatrical mind. Combine a quart of dry humor with three tablespoons of expert mime, versatile acting, and skilled juggling; add a keen sense of satire and the absurd. Blend in splendid timing and experience, and what do you get? A host of unforgettable characters at the perfect comedy feast!
Over the past twenty-seven years Post has performed in almost every conceivable setting including street corners, dinner theaters, prisons, factories, schools, TV commercials, homeless shelters, festivals, river boats, and with symphony orchestras. He has created over thirty works since 1973, for which he has received numerous awards and fellowships. Post is an alumnus of the Affiliate Artists program and has toured his one-man performance to forty-five US states, Canada, Mexico and Japan.
Since 1994, Post’s work has been seen across the US and in Canada on national television (PBS) in a special award-winning special, Robert Post-In Performance and regionally in a variety of PBS educational programs for high school students. Over the past several years, in addition to
his coast-to-coast tours, he co-created a new version of “The Nutcracker” and
codirected “Coppelia” and “Cinderella” for BalletMet Columbus. He is also serving as an adjunct professor and co-directed “Vaudeville”, an evening of original works by MFA students, for the Ohio State University Department of Theatre.
Official
Web Site
 The New
Christy Minstrels
Friday,
March 26 • 8:00
pm
Midland Memories Series/Sponsored by
The Energy
Cooperative
Tickets: $60.00, $50.00, $40.00, $30.00 and
$20.00
It has been more than 47 years since a group of 8 young men and 2 young women made their national television debut on
"The Andy Williams Show" in the fall of 1962. That group, The New Christy Minstrels®, Under the Direction of Randy Sparks, would go on to win a Grammy for their debut recording,
Presenting The New Christy Minstrels, earn many gold records, and entertain at The White House.
Now, this classic ensemble has embarked on a mission to let their fans and the world know that The New Christy Minstrels® are back, still singing, playing, and bringing their unique brand of onstage excitement to concert halls and coffeehouses everywhere. With authenticity in abundance, Original Minstrels who still appear with the group include Randy Sparks (who also still directs), Clarence Treat, Jackie Miller Davidson, Art Podell, Dolan Ellis, and occasionally Larry Ramos and Gayle Caldwell. This distinguished group of entertainers is supported by members of more recent vintage, a Minstrels tradition, including Becky Jo Benson, Rick Hill, Chuck Cole, and Jennifer Lind Smith. (Former NCM members include Kenny Rogers, Kim Carnes, Barry McGuire ("Eve of Destruction") and actress Karen Black.)
Randy Sparks admired, even envied Stephen Foster and his incredible contribution to earthy music in the 1800's. Sparks was already somewhat successful, having been discovered by Bob Hope and enjoying his own minor hits on record, but there was limited demand for the songs he was writing on a daily basis. He read in Stephen Foster's biography that Christy's Minstrels had proven be the solution for the earlier writer's similar dilemma, so why not use the same method more than a century later? Following their appearances on
"The Andy Williams Show", the group went on to perform at Carnegie Hall, The Coconut Grove in LA and The Latin Quarter in New York City. It was during their New York appearance that The NCM recorded their album,
Ramblin', which became a folk music classic, and earned one of their gold records.
"Green Green" was chosen as a single from that collection, and it quickly became a world-class hit.
Official
Web Site
 Delbert
McClinton
Saturday,
March 27 • 8:00 pm
Special Performances
Tickets: $45.00, $37.50 and $28.50
Three-time
Grammy winner & one of the greatest American vocalists Delbert McClinton is
coming to the Midland stage! Known widely for his Top 40 hit, “Giving It Up
For Your Love,” McClinton’s music is infused with blues, rock and jazz.
“I’m an
acquired taste in that my kind of music’s not for little kids,” McClinton says.
“It’s adult rock ‘n’ roll. I write from the sensibility of the people I knew
growing up, and I grew up with all the heathens, the people who went too far
before they changed and tried to make something out of their lives. There are a
lot of beautiful colors and sad stories and much-deserved joy in that.”
Born in
Lubbock (hometown of such other musical notables as Buddy Holly and Joe Ely),
McClinton came of age in the Fort Worth joints. He first appeared on a hit
record in 1962, when his distinctive harmonica playing graced Bruce Channel’s
No. 1 single “Hey Baby” (which inspired the harp work of a young John Lennon).
He backed such blues legends as Jimmy Reed and Sonny Boy Williamson, and honed
his chops in local acts like the Ron-Dels, the Straightjackets, and Bobby Crown
and the Kapers. In the early ‘70s, McClinton and keyboardist-vocalist Glen Clark
relocated to Los Angeles, where they cut a pair of prophetic roots-rock albums
as Delbert & Glen.
Beginning in 1975, McClinton recorded a series of brawny LPs for ABC, Capricorn,
and Capitol that seamlessly melded blues, R&B, and country into a uniquely
soulful blend. At the latter label in 1980, McClinton scored the top 10 hit
“Giving It Up For Your Love,” which pushed the accompanying album The
Jealous Kind into the national top 40.
Official
Web Site
 Todd
Rundgren
Wednesday, April 7 • 7:30 pm
Special Performances
Tickets: $52.00, $39.50 and $28.50
Todd Rundgren
is coming to the Midland Theatre! Drawing heavily from his forthcoming album
Todd Rundgren's Johnson, a collection of covers of classic Robert Johnson
songs (e.g. "Crossroads" and "Love In Vain"), the show will consist of a
combination of those and "guitar hero" Todd staples. In addition to Rundgren,
the band lineup for this performance includes Kasim Sulton (a member of Todd's
band Utopia), Jesse Gress (of the Tony Levin Band), and Prairie Prince (a
founding member of art-rock band The Tubes).
Born and raised in Philadelphia,
Rundgren began playing guitar as a teenager, going on to found and front The
Nazz, the quintessential `60's cult group. In 1969, he left the band to pursue a
solo career, recording his debut offering, the legendary Runt. But it was
1972's seminal Something/Anything?, on which he played all the
instruments, sang all the vocal parts, and acted as his own producer, that
catapulted Todd into the superstar limelight, prompting the press to unanimously
dub him 'Rock's New Wunderkind'. It was followed by such landmark LPs as The
Hermit of Mink Hollow and A Wizard, A True Star,
as well as such hit singles as "I Saw The Light", "Hello It's Me", "Can We Still
Be Friends", and "Bang The Drum All Day".
In 1974, Todd formed Utopia, an entirely new approach to the concept of
interactive musicianship, and embarked on an extensive round of touring and
recording. Standout Utopia offerings included Oops! Wrong Planet,
Adventures in Utopia, and Oblivion. Along the way, Utopia combined
technical virtuosity and creative passion to create music that, for millions,
defined the term "progressive rock."
Rundgren's myriad production projects include albums by Patti Smith, Cheap
Trick, Psychedelic Furs, Meatloaf, XTC, Grand Funk Railroad, and Hall And Oates.
Rounding out his reputation as rock's Renaissance Man, Rundgren composed all the
music and lyrics for Joe Papp's 1989 Off-Broadway production of Joe Orton's
Up Against It (the screenplay commissioned by The Beatles for what was meant
to have been their third motion picture). He also has composed the music for a
number of television series, including Pee Wee’s Playhouse and Crime
Story.
Official
Web Site
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