"Is It Cool?” Shuggie Otis & Freedom Flight: A Talk by Bill Kopp with André Cholmondeley
Citizen Vinyl14 O'Henry AvenueAsheville, NC28801 Map
Son of famed r&b bandleader Johnny Otis, Shuggie Otis released Freedom Flight, his second solo album, before his 18th birthday. The highly-regarded album transcends genres, though it’s variously labeled as “psychedelic soul,” funk, blues and even jazz fusion. The record encompasses all of those styles, with Otis – nominally a guitarist – playing bass, drums and keyboards as well. The album contains the original version of “Strawberry Letter #23,” later a Top 40 hit in 1977 for the Brothers Johnson.
Otis more or less disappeared from sight after the album’s release, resurfacing in 1974 for Inspiration Information (reissued decades later by David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label). Other than occasional guest spots, he wouldn’t be heard again for nearly 40 years(!), when he released a live album, and then 2018’s Inter-Fusion, a studio LP.
Though he’s considered an erratic performer, Otis played a thrilling (and ecstatically-received) set at Asheville Orange Peel in 2013. As a musician, composer and arranger, Otis deserves to be discussed in the same context as Prince, Stevie Wonder and Sly Stone. Freedom Flight is the centerpiece of Shuggie Otis’ early ‘70s three-album run of influential and near-perfect releases.
Tickets can be found here: bit.ly/CITIZENTALKSisitcool
*** We are monitoring the ongoing Covid variants and will follow protocols that keep our community and staff safe. Guests will be updated as the event date approaches; vaccination cards and/or negative test results within 48 hours are required to be shown at the door for admission to the event ***
ABOUT OUR CITIZEN SCHOLARS:
With a background in marketing and advertising, Bill Kopp got his professional start writing for Trouser Press. After a stint as Editor-in-chief for a national music magazine, Bill launched Musoscribe.com in 2009, and has published new content every business day since then (and every single day since 2018). The interviews, essays, and reviews on Musoscribe reflect Bill's keen interest in American musical forms, most notably rock, jazz, and soul. His work features a special emphasis on reissues and vinyl. Bill's work also appears in many other outlets both online and in print. He also researches and authors liner notes for album reissues – more than 30 to date – and co-produced a reissue of jazz legend Julian “Cannonball” Adderley's final album. His first book, Reinventing Pink Floyd was published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2018, and in paperback in 2019. His second book, Disturbing the Peace: 415 Records and the Rise of New Wave, will be published in 2021 by HoZac Books.
Andre Cholmondeley, is a musician, performance artist, and music touring industry professional. Based in Asheville NC, he is the founder of Project/Object, the longest running Zappa-alumni-based tribute band in the world. Andre has toured for a variety of legendary artists, including Yes, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Derek Trucks, moe., Adrian Belew, and Ten Years After. He has explored a multi-disciplinary path, from counter coding to owning and managing a natural/organic foods store for over a decade, to booking, producing and presenting concerts around the world and right here in Asheville NC.
Tickets can be found here: bit.ly/CITIZENTALKSisitcool
Citizen Vinyl14 O'Henry AvenueAsheville, NC28801 Map
Join us Thursdays to celebrate our community and collaborators' musical inclinations and showcase their work through our Citizen Spins Project.
Session will have your tastebuds covered and CODA will have ear + eye candy! So pop on by to kick back and sample some of the creative flavors that Asheville has to offer.
UNCA Vinyl Listening Party: "Sing Me a Song of Songmy"
Citizen Vinyl14 O'Henry AvenueAsheville, NC28801 Map
WHEN: Tuesday October 26th, 7pm // Doors Open at 6pm
TICKETS: $15 GA // $5 Student
*** We are monitoring the ongoing Covid variants and will follow protocols that keep our community and staff safe. Guests will be updated as the event date approaches; vaccination cards and/or negative test results within 70 hours are required to be shown at the door for admission to the event ***
WHAT: UNCA VINYL PARTY: A monthly listening party celebrating significant albums in their entirety with this 2nd installment to feature Dr. Bares will provide a guided listening tour of Sing Me a Song of Songmy (“a fantasy for electromagnetic tape”), a 1971 Atlantic Records album that provides socio-political commentary on the Vietnam-era massacre of some 400 civilians at “Son My” village. The production brought together unlikely performing forces: jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard’s quintet, a choir, a string section, organ, tape loops, synthesizer, and spoken word. The music was composed, arranged and produced by Turkish musique concrete composer Ilhan Mimaroglu. For such a large budget album, record sales were disappointing. However, as Dr Bares will show, the album is not a typical avant-garde jazz-protest or “third stream” effort. An unlikely album both profoundly “of” its time and yet also way “ahead” of its time, it can be considered as one of the most provocative jazz-art music collaborations of the twentieth century.
Refreshments will be available from Session Bar and Café who will offer the full bar menu, tea and drip-coffee service, as well as small bites from the kitchen: bagged chips and the deli case offerings.
WHO: Dr. Bill Bares, Pianist / composer / scholar William Bares received his Ph.D in ethnomusicology (Harvard University) in 2009. He research interests include transatlantic jazz and environmental music. He spent most of the years 2006-2008 in Europe researching European jazz scenes and playing professionally. He taught at Harvard, Brown, Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory before taking a job as professor of music and co-director of jazz studies at UNC Asheville in 2011. Bares is an active member of Asheville's musical community. He was the solo pianist in the Blue Ridge Orchestra's debut of "Rhapsody in Blue,” coordinated the Sunday "Jazz Showcase" at Asheville’s famed Isis Music Hall, and directed “Ecomusicologies 2014: Dialogues”—a conference/festival in Asheville in October 2014. His book, “Jazz and the European Dream" is forthcoming.
Performance FINALS: 2021 NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition by Citizen Vinyl
Citizen Vinyl14 O'Henry AvenueAsheville, NC28801 Map
SUBMIT YOUR ORIGINAL MUSIC: newsong-music.com/contest
We are now accepting original song entries to the 2021 NewSong Music Competition, presented by Citizen Vinyl.
The discounted ‘Early Bird’ deadline to enter is Sunday, May 9, 2021 at 11:59 PM EDT (at which point submission prices increase).
The final deadline to submit to the 2021 NewSong Music Competition is 11:59 PM EST on Sunday, October 10, 2020.
The 2021 NewSong Music Finalists will be announced on Facebook, Instagram, website blog and newsletter on Tuesday, November 2, 2021.
The date of the 2021 NewSong Music Competition’s live performance showcase and finals will be held on Saturday, December 4, 2021 at Citizen Vinyl, located in downtown Asheville, NC.
Each entrant will receive a 10% discount on a vinyl pressing project at Citizen Vinyl (offer must be used before January 2023)
The GRAND PRIZE WINNER will receive:
• a fully funded, six-song EP, recorded and mixed at Citizen Studios and released on the NewSong Recordings label
• a featured paid performance at Arts Brookfield’s Summer Concert Series in New York City in the summer of 2022 (date TBD);
• 500 vinyl records (single, full-color jacket w/ sleeve) of their grand prize EP, pressed at Citizen Vinyl.
• [STILL PENDING] a potential featured performance at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival’s Sundance ASCAP Music Café, at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT in late January 2022
The two Award Round Runners-up will each receive a vinyl package of 300 x 12″ records (single full-color jacket w/ sleeve)
Each entrant will receive a 10% discount on a vinyl pressing project at Citizen Vinyl (offer must be used before January 2023)
