{"id":25432,"date":"2017-08-16T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-08-16T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=25432"},"modified":"2017-08-15T16:12:37","modified_gmt":"2017-08-15T20:12:37","slug":"on-stage-premium-edition-boggs-smashes-stereotypes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=25432","title":{"rendered":"On Stage (Premium Edition): Boggs smashes stereotypes"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff<\/strong>, Staff Writer, The Times<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Paula Boggs<\/p><\/div>\n

Paula Boggs, who will bring the Paula Boggs Band to the area on August 16 for a show at the World Caf\u00e9 Live (3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, 215-222-1400, www.worldcafelive.com<\/a>), is an artist who smashes stereotypes.<\/p>\n

Here are some of them.<\/p>\n

Bluegrass bands come from the South \u2013 Boggs and her band are based in Seattle, Washington.<\/p>\n

Bluegrass bands are predominantly male and led by a male musician \u2013 Boggs is a strong female fronting her own group.<\/p>\n

Females in bluegrass usually are singers or fiddlers who also frequently dance (clogging or step dancing) while they perform \u2013 Boggs stands at the microphone while she sings and plays guitar and ukulele.<\/p>\n

Females in bluegrass usually are white \u2013 Boggs is an African-American musician.<\/p>\n

People who look for a career in music are dreamers and \u201cneed to get a real job\u201d \u2013 Boggs is much more than just a musician\u2026just look at her CV.<\/p>\n

Boggs is the founder of Boggs Media, LLC, a business that manages her music, speaking, and other creative business activities. She is a philanthropist, fundraiser, public speaker, and musician. She is also a Board Member of numerous for-profit and non-profit organizations.<\/p>\n

She served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Law and Corporate Affairs at Starbucks Corporation from 2002-2012. Boggs served as Vice President, Legal, for Products, Operations and Technology at Dell Computer Corporation, and as a partner at the law firm of Preston Gates & Ellis, LLP.<\/p>\n

She served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, and in various capacities as an attorney for the U.S. Army, the Department of Defense and the White House Office of Legal Counsel.<\/p>\n

The musician\/lawyer served as a Regular Officer in the United States Army, and earned Army Airborne wings and a Congressional appointment to the US Naval Academy. Boggs also served on the Iran-Contra task force during the Reagan administration.<\/p>\n

She has been recognized by NASDAQ and Fortune as one of the\u00a0best legal minds in the United States. She has repeatedly shattered glass ceilings and broken gender and cultural molds throughout her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot adhering to stereotypes is part of my DNA,\u201d said Boggs, during a phone interview last week after arriving on a red-eye flight from Seattle to New York City.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had the good fortune a year ago to be on a panel with my brother Cornell Boggs, who is also a lawyer. Siblings had to introduce their siblings. He said \u2013 the thing you have to know about my sister is that you can\u2019t contain her in any box\u2026she\u2019ll break out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boggs\u2019 first order of business in New York was to attend the American Bar Association Annual Meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition to participating in the meeting, I\u2019m playing with my band at the ABA Ceremonial Opening — performing the song \u2018Benediction.\u2019 A few days after the meeting, I\u2019ll start the tour with my band at Rockwood Music Hall in New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people \u2013 especially lawyers — are surprised at my combination of careers. I was Starbucks\u2019 top lawyer for 10 years. For many, that\u2019s a pinnacle. They can\u2019t understand why I\u2019d leave. There\u2019s a cognitive dissonance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately for Boggs, her fans and bluegrass music, Boggs has found a way to comfortably handle both careers.<\/p>\n

The Paula Boggs Band features Mark Chinen (acoustic and electric guitar, banjo), Isaac Castillo (acoustic and electric bass, vocals), Paul Matthew Moore (keyboards, accordion, melodica, vocals), Tor Dietrichson (percussion, vocals), Sandy Greenbaum (drums, music director) and Boggs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this band, most of us have been together for 10 years,\u201d said Boggs. \u201cThere is a tightness. People can sense our love for each other when we perform.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time we played the World Caf\u00e9 Live in 2010, there were three of us and when we came back in 2012, there were five. This will be the first time with a six-piece.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always had great shows at the World Caf\u00e9 Live. After playing the World Caf\u00e9 Live four times in the last few years, Philly feels like home for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Paula Boggs Band\u2019s latest EP, \u201cSongs of Protest and Hope,\u2019 was an expression of a concept that Boggs and her band have been thinking a lot about in recent years — what it means to be a citizen-artist, making music that entertains, but also enlightens and inspires.<\/p>\n

The band\u2019s next album \u201cElixir,\u201d which will be released on September 15, continues the group\u2019s exploration into making statements with its music.<\/p>\n

\u201cI recorded \u2018Elixir\u2019 November last year at Robert Lang Studio in Seattle,\u201d said Boggs. \u201cThe studio overlooks Puget Sound and it\u2019s easy to take short walks to the Sound. The whole experience was artistically sound for all of us.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we get to Philly, we\u2019ll be playing at least two songs from the new album as well as older songs. We\u2019re also doing three covers \u2013 \u2018Woodstock,\u2019 \u2018Get Together,\u2019 and Neil Young\u2019s \u2018When You Dance.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Video link for Paula Boggs Band \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/ViJvHen6llM<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The show at the World Caf\u00e9 Live will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $14.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

In The Valley Below<\/p><\/div>\n

In The Valley Below, which is headlining a show on August 16 at Boot & Saddle (1131 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, 215-639-4528, www.bootandsaddlephilly.com<\/strong><\/a>), has been around six years but has recorded just one album.<\/p>\n

The band\u2019s discography includes the debut album \u201cThe Belt\u201d (2014) along with four EPs — \u201cIn The Valley Below\u201d (2011), \u201cMan Girl\u201d (2014), \u201cPeaches Remixes\u201d (2014) and \u201cElephant\u201d \u2013 and three singles \u2013 \u201cTake Me Back\u201d (2013), \u201cPeaches\u201d (2013), \u201cNeverminders\u201d (2014), and the just-released \u201cBloodhands (Oh My Fever).\u201d<\/p>\n

In The Valley Below, which is a duo featuring married couple Angela Gail and Jeffrey Jacob, released the new EP, \u201cElephant\u201d on July 14.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recorded the EP at Stone House Recording in Grand Rapids, Michigan,\u201d said Gail, during a phone interview last week as the band traveled from Dallas, Texas to a gig in Memphis, Tennessee.<\/p>\n

In The Valley was formed in 2011 in the duo\u2019s former home base \u2013 Los Angeles\u2019 Echo Park. Two years ago, the couple uprooted and relocated in Grand Rapids, Michigan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were on the road a lot \u2013 most of the year,\u201d said Gail. \u201cSo, we wanted a quiet place to go home to and we chose Michigan. I don\u2019t know if it has had an effect on our songwriting. I imagine it did.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is definitely a difference in environments.<\/p>\n

According to Gail, \u201cWe found Grand Rapids to be a city full of creative energy, fresh air, and rough edges. It\u2019s been inspiring. A lot of people we\u2019ve met here migrated at the same time we did from the West Coast. Maybe it\u2019s some kind of human instinct.\u201d<\/p>\n

In The Valley Below\u2019s musical evolution has been steady and productive.<\/p>\n

\u201cSix years ago, we decided that we wanted to start a band,\u201d said Gail. \u201cOur songwriting was horrible at first. Songwriting is such an intimate thing so it took us a while to get over the hump.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were friends for three years and playing in other bands. Now, we\u2019ve been together for three years as a couple and in our own band. It\u2019s great because we get to be on the road together.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cElephant\u201d EP continues the pair\u2019s thematic concerns \u2013 sex, relationships, power, temptation, paranoia, existential angst and mortality. The two musicians took advantage of the freedom of having their own studio to expand their songwriting and production capabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaking the EP took a while,\u201d said Gail. \u201cWe tour a lot so we record songs as we go \u2013 write and then record.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do demos and then live with them for a while and see what survives. There are five songs on the EP and we started with about 25. There was no theme. We just went with songs that were our favorites.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re playing three of them in our live show now along with a couple new ones that aren\u2019t on the EP. And, we go back and play songs from all our EPs.\u201d
\nVideo link for In The Valley Below — https:\/\/youtu.be\/P5TCBwhjdSI<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The show at Boot & Saddle, which has Flagship as the opening act, will start at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $15.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff, Staff Writer, The Times Paula Boggs, who will bring the Paula Boggs Band to the area on August 16 for a show at the World Caf\u00e9 Live (3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, 215-222-1400, www.worldcafelive.com), is an artist who smashes stereotypes. Here are some of them. Bluegrass bands come from the South \u2013 Boggs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25434,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7529],"tags":[6518,9327,9326],"class_list":["post-25432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-d-arts-entertainment","tag-featured","tag-in-the-valley-below","tag-paula-boggs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25432","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=25432"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25433,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25432\/revisions\/25433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}