THE BEAT

Lui Collins, Ron Raskin

by Seth Rogovoy

(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Aug. 21, 1997)

Lui Collins: Tearing down walls

Connecticut folksinger Lui Collins' new CD, "Stone by Stone" (Molly Gamblin Music), features a selection of the singer- songwriter's traditionally-flavored folk ballads that address the natural world and the spirit -- and sometimes both in the same song. Nowhere does this work to better effect than in the title track, a haunting ballad that recounts the singer's participation in Native American medicine circles. More than just a mere report, the song reaches back in history and across cultural borders to examine what connects us all to each other and the land. Collins will be accompanied by Dana Robinson when she performs at Kripalu in Lenox on Wednesday, Aug. 27 at 7:30. For more information call 448-3185.

Ron Raskin: Inspiring return

When most people in the Berkshires or places like it decide to make a go of it in pop music, they beat feet for places like New York or Los Angeles in search of the brass ring, fame, fortune or whatever it is they seek.

But when Ron Raskin, formerly of New York and Los Angeles, wanted to rekindle the music career he had left behind 10 years ago in favor of TV and music production, he returned to the place he knew would be most conducive to creativity.

"My plan was to get back to an inspiring area," said Raskin, who moved from New York to West Stockbridge this summer. "I was tired of New York and tired of the hustle and bustle and everything that goes along with that. I've always loved this area and I actually just wanted to get back up here to do something for the soul and play."

Raskin is no stranger to the Berkshires. The Virginia native who led bands in Laguna Beach, Calif., in the '80s, went to the Windsor Mountain School in Lenox in the late-'70s. When he moved back to the East Coast a few years ago, he started making the trek up to Tanglewood during the summer.

So when Raskin decided last spring that he wanted to get back into writing and performing his blues-rock, folk-rock and country- flavored music, he headed to the Berkshires. After a 10-year layoff from performing, he is back in front of a crowd every Thursday and Friday night in the lounge at the Wild Amber Grill in Williamstown.

One listen to Raskin perform and it's clear that he is no typical lounge singer.

"I never did the lounge singer-type thing," said Raskin, who is a commanding vocalist and guitarist. "I had different kinds of bands in Southern California. But this was just my way of getting back into singing and writing and playing."

A sampling of Raskin's repertoire, which includes songs by the likes of Tom Waits, Jules Shear, Richard Thompson, Jim Lauderdale, Randy Newman, Tim Buckley, Rodney Crowell and Emmylou Harris, as well as some of his originals, highlights the fact that he is no mere lounge lizard, but someone who is serious about the art of song.

Raskin performs in the lounge at the Wild Amber Grill in Williamstown every Thursday and Friday night this summer from 9 to 1. Admission is free and there is no table or per-person minimum. For more information call 458-4000.

Concert watch

Two-thousand smackeroos are at stake at the fifth annual Western New England Old Time and Bluegrass Pickin' and Fiddlin' Jamboree, to be held this Sunday, Aug. 24, at the Berkshire School on Route 41 in Sheffield. The outdoor competition (indoors in case of rain) attracts hundreds of listeners who spread out Tanglewood-style on the lawn to hear the old-fashioned, acoustic sounds of fiddlers, guitarists, banjoists and mandolin players in both solo and band configurations. Call 528-4252 for more information....

Two upcoming, celebrity "crossover" events of note: Tomorrow night (Friday, Aug. 22), former tennis champ John McEnroe fronts the Johnny Smyth Band at the Iron Horse in Northampton at 9:30 (413-584- 0610), and on Monday, Aug. 25, the Bacon Brothers, featuring actor Kevin Bacon, are at the Consolati Performing Arts Center in Sheffield at 8, in a concert produced by Barrington Stage Company (528-8888)....

Listeners will have a rare chance to hear Texas legend Jimmie Dale Gilmore up close and personal on Saturday, Aug. 23, at Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., where the eclectic, Austin-based, honky-tonk outlaw singer-songwriter will play two shows, at 7:30 and 9:30. Call (518) 583-0022....

Park West in Clifton Park, N.Y., is hosting its own festival of female singer-songwriters on Saturday, Aug. 23, at 9:30, with a quadruple-bill featuring Lilith Fair alumni Leah Andreone, Kim Richey, Kim Palladino and Northampton's own Dar Williams. Call (518) 371-2100 for more info....

From Good Homes will headline the seventh annual Rock and Reggae Festival at Butternut Ski Area in Great Barrington next Saturday, Aug. 30. Also appearing at the all-day event, which will benefit the Berkshire County Homeless Children's Fund, are Boston reggae star Danny Tucker, funk/hip-hop outfit Fat Bag, the Pioneer Valley's Black Rebels and the Berkshires' own Chillbone. Call (413) 274-6584 for more info....

Radio Beat

These aren't all new albums -- although most of them are -- but if our CD player was a radio station, these would be the ones that got the most airplay in recent weeks:



[This column originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on Aug. 21, 1997. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1997. All rights reserved.]

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

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