{"id":11999,"date":"2014-05-08T13:57:46","date_gmt":"2014-05-08T17:57:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=11999"},"modified":"2014-05-08T14:09:23","modified_gmt":"2014-05-08T18:09:23","slug":"marshall-crenshaw-back-at-the-flash-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=11999","title":{"rendered":"Marshall Crenshaw back at The Flash, Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roots rocker goes solo, while Johnny’s Dance Band is back<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Denny Dyroff<\/strong>,\u00a0Correspondent, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"MarshallCrenshaw\"<\/a>

Legendary roots rocker Marshall Crenshaw brings his solo act to The Flash in Kennett Square, Friday, May 9.<\/p><\/div>\n

This weekend, there will be two local concerts featuring acts that have their roots in straight-ahead rock-and-roll — no art rock, no electronic dance music, no hip-hop but rather just pure, unadulterated rock.<\/p>\n

One features Marshall Crenshaw, who will be performing at the Flash in Kennett Square on May 9. Crenshaw\u2019s musical influences include soul, classic songwriters, early British rock and Buddy Holly (whom he portrayed in the 1987 film\u00a0\u201cLa Bamba\u201d).<\/p>\n

The other features a Philadelphia-based band that started making music more than a quarter-century ago in the City of Brotherly Love — Johnny\u2019s Dance Band, which is performing May 10 at Steel City Coffee House in Phoenixville.<\/p>\n

Crenshaw, who last performed at the Flash in April 2013, tours solo most frequently and other times with a band.<\/p>\n

\u201cI play shows occasionally with the band the Bottle Rockets,\u201d said Crenshaw, during a phone interview Tuesday from his home in upstate New York. \u201cMore often, it\u2019s just me by myself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be playing solo at the Flash because it fits there. This is my third time to play the Flash. It\u2019s a great place. I like it a lot. It\u2019s fun to perform there because it\u2019s such a classy place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crenshaw, who has established a reputation as a talented singer-songwriter, rarely tours and only does a handful of live dates each year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really tour anymore,\u201d said Crenshaw, whose eponymous debut album was released in 1982. \u201cI usually do only about 50 shows a year and spread them out over the whole year. \u201cI think it might be a little more this year. It works better for me the way that I do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my kids were little, I established this level of activity so I could be home a lot. I was happy with that. They\u2019re grown now but I\u2019m still happy keeping that level of road activity.”<\/p>\n

Crenshaw\u2019s latest\u00a0endeavor is a subscription-only service that addresses the recent changes in the music business by cutting out the middle man (the record company) and distributing new recordings directly to fans.<\/p>\n

Fans will have access to a steady stream of new tunes via a series of exclusive three-song 10-inch, 45 RPM vinyl EPs on Addie-Ville Records \u2014 six of which the artist plans to release over a two-year period. In addition to the vinyl discs, subscribers will also receive a download card for digital versions of the EP tracks.<\/p>\n

Each EP consists entirely of newly recorded, never-before-released material, including a new original Crenshaw composition, a classic cover tune, and a new reworking of a time-honored favorite.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe latest EP always comes out on Record Store Day,\u201d said Crenshaw. \u201cI just released \u2018Red Wine\u2019 last month. It\u2019s the fourth in the series of six. \u2018Red Wine\u2019 is the A-side and the other side has a cover of an old James McMurtry song called \u2018Right Here Now.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThe B-side also has a great version of my 1991 song \u2018Hey Delilah.\u2019\u00a0 This mix is a lot different than the album version. The demo version was great with jungle-like drums. My longtime fans will really like to add this to their collections.\u201d<\/p>\n

The format for the release of his new music also played a major role in the EP project.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vinyl thing is very important,\u201d said Crenshaw. \u201cI think vinyl sounds best. It\u2019s definitely superior to digital. The sound is friendlier to the nervous system. I\u2019ve always been partial to vinyl.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crenshaw will perform at 8 p.m. on May 9 at the Kennett Flash (102 Sycamore Alley, Kennett Square, 484-732-8295,\u00a0www.kennettflash.com<\/a>).\u00a0Tickets are $25 in advance and $29 day of show.<\/p>\n

Johnny\u2019s Dance Band had its start in Philadelphia in 1969 — the same year that the Woodstock Festival brought rock music to a whole new plateau. In 1972, JDB recorded its first album and soon was getting airplay on WMMR. From 1975 until 1979,\u00a0Johnny\u2019s Dance Band\u00a0was the biggest local draw in the Philadelphia tri-state area.<\/p>\n

The band got signed to RCA Records\u2019 Windsong label. Unfortunately for the local musicians, it was a union that never really worked out. By the end of the 70s, Johnny\u2019s Dance Band ceased to exist.<\/p>\n

A little over three decades later, JDB rose from the dead and, once again, began drawing fans to shows to hear the band\u2019s rocking and fun songs. In January 2013, JDB played an unrehearsed show at Dobbs in Philadelphia and that was the catalyst.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did a reunion that was supposed to be a one-night stand,\u201d said Tony Juliano, during a recent phone interview. \u201cWe didn\u2019t expect anything more. It was just for fun. But, the reaction was more than we expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a packed house with no advertising — just word of mouth. The crowd reaction really took us off-guard. They were singing along and having a great time. At this point in our lives, we never expected anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Juliano, a guitarist, and Courtney Colletti, another guitar player, are the two original members in the current line-up. They are joined by bassist Ron Ward, drummer\/vocalist Ray Cardona and vocalist\/keyboarist\/guitarist Arlyn Wolters.<\/p>\n

\u201cCourtney and I have been musical associates for 45 years now,\u201d said Juliano. \u201cEver since the first year, we\u2019ve always seen eye-to-eye. The other three members all joined last summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the success of the reunion show at Dobbs, we decided to take it one gig at a time — one month at a time. We want to keep doing it as long as it stays fun. We\u2019re playing to packed houses and it\u2019s our peer group.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in communication with our fans. They\u2019ve told us quite clearly that they like their old favorite JDB chestnuts but they also want to hear our new songs. We still do songs that are heavily laced with satire and other songs are just straight-forward good songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnny\u2019s Dance Band will perform on May 10 at 8 p.m. at Steel City Coffeehouse (203 Bridge Street, Phoenixville, 610-933-4043,\u00a0http:\/\/www.steelcitycoffeehouse.com<\/a>). Tickets are $16 in advance and $18 day of show.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Roots rocker goes solo, while Johnny’s Dance Band is back By Denny Dyroff,\u00a0Correspondent, The Times This weekend, there will be two local concerts featuring acts that have their roots in straight-ahead rock-and-roll — no art rock, no electronic dance music, no hip-hop but rather just pure, unadulterated rock. One features Marshall Crenshaw, who will be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,4],"tags":[4577,145,4576,107],"class_list":["post-11999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-featured","tag-johnnys-dance-band","tag-live-music","tag-marshall-crenshaw","tag-the-flash"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}