THE BEAT

Bruce Cockburn, Mary Ellen Bernard, Steve James, Fool's Progress, Block

by Seth Rogovoy

(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., July 10, 1997) --

Mary Ellen Bernard's carnival of styles

In its heyday, Coney Island was a panoply of colors, sounds and sensations. Mary Ellen Bernard's "Coney Island Mojo" (Triple Z) is likewise a multi-faceted, personality-infused, urban carnival. While stylistically all over the map -- country, blues, jazz, boogie-woogie, rock 'n' roll -- Bernard's CD is held together by a sassy, cabaret-style sensibility, given a dramatic flair which belies her background as an actress and stand-up comic.

The Scranton, Pa., native appears this Saturday, July 12, at Milltown Studios in North Adams, where she will be accompanied Paul Guzzone, her husband and producer, who writes much of her material and who also plays bass with the Bacon Brothers, one of whose songs Bernard covers on her CD. Bernard, who has been called "half Rickie Lee Jones, half Christine Lavin" and "Tom Waits meets Tracey Ullman," shares the Milltown bill with singer-songwriter Jonathan Hogan, an actor who has appeared on Broadway in several Lanford Wilson plays. Hogan has also collaborated on songs with Wilson, one of which Bernard covers on her CD. Call 413-662-2725 for more information about Saturday's show.

Bernard will also be appearing at the Lion's Den in Stockbridge on July 27. For more info on Bernard, including sample song clips, visit her web site at www.hidwater.com/mebernard.

Steve James: Rootsy Texas barbecue

Few cities can boast a musical identity of its own. San Francisco has the psychedelia of the Grateful Dead, Detroit IS Motown and New Orleans gave its name to classic jazz. Nowadays, Austin is synonymous with roots- music, a catch-all term but one that bespeaks musical history, integrity and creativity.

A mix of classic blues and originals, Steve James' aptly titled "Art and Grit" (Antone's/Discovery) is a taste of Austin at its rootsiest. Yet this is no effort at archival reproduction. James's slide and fingerpicking make the music swing and groove the way it undoubtedly did when it served as the entertainment in backroads juke-joints in the deep South.

James actually got his first exposure to folk-blues in his native New York during the '60s folk revival, but as soon as he could he set out for the South, playing in Tennessee and Texas with the likes of Furry Lewis and Bo Didley. He settled in Austin in the early-'80s, but he lives mostly on the road, bringing his lively brand of roots music to contemporary audiences at places like the Old Egremont Club in South Egremont, where James will perform on Wed., July 16, at 9. For more information call 413-528-9712.

Bruce Cockburn: Funky land mines

Only Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn can get away with writing a funky song about land mines in Mozambique ("there's a wealth of amputation waiting in the ground") that will make you want to dance and think at the same time. Cockburn has done it again on "The Charity of the Night" (Rykodisc), the alternately jazzy, funky, always heartfelt and intense new CD, featuring gorgeous, painterly textures and colors as well as haunting, intimate melodies. Cockburn is assisted by a stellar cast of musicians and vocalists, including Ani DiFranco, Patty Larkin, Jonatha Brooke, Rob Wasserman, Bonnie Raitt, Bob Weir, Maria Muldaur, and to greatest effect, jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton. Cockburn is as poetic and political as ever -- guns and land mines are as common in his landscapes as are broken hearts. His 23rd album may well be his best. Catch him at the Studio in downtown Pittsfield this Saturday night, July 12, at 9:30. Click here for your chance to win tickets to this event.

Fool's Progress: A new beginning

Area favorites Acoustic Junction embark on a new road this summer. The folk-rock outfit based both in Clarksburg and Boulder, Colo., has been reborn as Fool's Progress, which is also the title of the renamed group's just-released debut album on Capricorn Records. Over the past eight years the group has undergone numerous personnel and stylistic changes, but the heartfelt voice and songwriting pen of Reed Foehl has always been the core of the band, which is now firmly ensconced as a quartet.

"Fool's Progress" is a mix of folk-rock ballads and upbeat organ- and fiddle-laced rockers, some of which unsuspecting listeners might mistake for Counting Crows or Hootie and the Blowfish. Catch Fool's Progress at the Iron Horse in Northampton tomorrow night, July 11, at 7 (acoustic set) and 10 (electric set). Anti-folk artist Block, who has himself just released his debut album, "Lead Me Not Into Penn Station" (Burning Bush), opens both shows. From the sounds of his album, Block boasts a very Dan Bern-like, post-slacker Bob Dylan jones that also recalls Jim's Big Ego.

Backstage bits

A few leftover observations from last week's U2 concert at Foxboro Stadium, the American finale of the "PopMart" tour: It's hard to believe the band gets so much sound and music out of what's basically a trio, but there was little apparent "audio enhancement" during the show. The Edge, the band's guitarist, took front and center for one number, performing along with the stadium audience a karaoke version of Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline." (The words and video were flashed on the giant backdrop at the back of the stage.) The actual beginning of the show was heralded by a remixed, recorded version of M's 1979 number-one hit, "Pop Muzik," proving that everything and anything is fair game for recycling....

North County band Dafe Brudajo, featuring David Fowle, Josh Kleederman, David Norman, Ferrilyn Sourdiffe and Bruce Wheat, has been booked for the very first time at the venerable Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., on Sunday, July 20, at 7....

In an attempt to revive the role the former Holiday Inn on its site once played in central Berkshire nightlife, the Quality Inn in Lenox has opened the Berkshire Tavern in its cocktail lounge, offering entertainment seven nights a week. Thursday nights will be open-mike nights, Friday nights will feature dance bands and Saturday nights will feature comedy acts. Reggae band Dredi performs this Friday....

The Roches have called it quits, and sister Suzzy Roche will release her first solo CD, "Holy Smokes," on the Red House label in the fall....

[This column originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on July 10, 1997. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1997. All rights reserved.]

Seth Rogovoy
rogovoy@berkshire.net
music news, interviews, reviews, et al.

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