Knappuccino's XXIII: Saturday, June 18th, 2005, St. David's Episcopal Church, in the sanctuary (the church-part of the church.)
In high school, my brother was friends with this incredible guy, Andy Durkin. All the girls had secret crushes on him and his mad piano skills. In his senior year he wrote a rock opera in which I took a part, and since then (1987!) we have been collaborating musically. Together we formed bands under 100 names and incarnations: jazz combos, studio-only pop bands, funky vocal ensembles and experimental music entanglements; most notably The Evelyn Situation and Jay's Booming Hat. Andrew moved to California in 1995 and we even collaborated long-distance, and in 1998 released a four-track experimental pop disc called "Gruel" on the Superpickle Music Arts label.
Andrew has not only been my life's musical inspiration for almost 20 years, but he is also a cherished friend. It's with great pride that I close up my coffeehouse by sharing the stage with the guy who made my musical aspirations a reality.
June 18th marks the final show at Knappuccino's Coffeehouse. Andrew Durkin's band, The Industrial Jazz Group, comes all the way from Los Angeles in support of the group's third album, The Star Chamber (released September 2004 by Innova Recordings), while providing a preview of their currently in-process work, Industrial Jazz-a-Go-Go. Do not be put off by the name: even if you hate jazz, this stuff will rock your socks.
Michael Ryan of the Boston Herald has called Durkin's music "a compelling mix of genres, odd time signatures and tight improvisation," while Brandt Reiter of the LA Weekly describes it as both "cerebral and swinging, ambitious and accessible, challengingly complex and unabashedly fun." The group enjoys the support not only of jazz fans (who appreciate what Brian Morton at The Wire calls Durkin's machine-tooled modern jazz compositions of exquisite precision and strong aesthetic appeal), but also of those who typically prefer other genres. As Tom Bowden of Educational Digest explains, "Durkin writes music that people who think they hate jazz would like."
Formed in the spring of 2000, the IJG is one of the few young independent tentets on the jazz scene today. It has been a persistent force in Los Angeles for five years now, and during that time it has also performed in San Diego, Bakersfield, San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, Truckee, and Petaluma (CA), and in Austin (TX, at the SXSW festival). It has received numerous grants from the American Composers Forum, is supported by the NEA and the McKnight Foundation, and has been heard on NPR and hundreds of radio stations around the world.
Write-ups on the IJG have appeared in The LA Weekly, The SF Weekly, The Wire, The North Bay Bohemian, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Boston Herald, and numerous other publications. The group is currently on the artist roster at Innova records.
Opening up for the IJG is Delaware's own B'Gosh: a two man pop group formed in 2000, specializing in quirky, fun and innovative four-track recordings and exceptional live performances. After playing regularly around the West Chester (PA) and Delaware scene and recording and self-releasing three albums and an EP, B'gosh has finally made it to the Knappuccino's stage. Being hailed as "cute" and having the power to save the world, B'Gosh will continue to write produce and play smart home-recorded music, hopefully one day for the masses. B'Gosh is Sam Williamson and Dan McCool (who has the rockinest name in showbiz).
Doors: 7:00pm; Music: 7:30pm.
Cover: $5 students/seniors, $10 everyone else
Munchies: A buck or two.
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