Our first standing-room-only event was last night's appearance by Liz Longley.  What a great night!

Here's a casual snapshot from Sid Ceaser's TwitPic stream...thanks to all for coming out, and to Liz for an amazing evening of music.

Minutes after she returned home, Liz learned that she'd just won the Grand Prize for the International Acoustic Music Awards.

We hope to host Liz again very soon.
 

Ben Geyer, piano

Matthew Bryan Feld, vocals 

present a special evening of music in support of 

The HorsePower Therapeutic Riding Program 

at Pony Farm, Temple, NH

Saturday, February 27

8:00 pm

Tickets:  $25 per person or $120 for a reserved table for four

available in advance via Brown Paper Tickets

The Geyer/Feld Duo has performed at Studio 99 several times, captivating our audience and beautifully serving their repertoire of jazz standards and originals each time.  Here's an example:

From HorsePower's mission statement:

OUR COMMITMENT

Horse Power's high standards for a competent, compassionate and skillful staff, along with the careful selection of appropriate horses, creates a safe environment in which students can build trusting relationships and experience new levels of self-confidence. We increase our positive impact by reaching out to over twenty local communities in the Monadnock region and by carrying this mission to other communities around the nation by teaching aspiring instructors to achieve their NARHA Instructor Certification.  

OUR SPIRIT

Horse Power's supportive environment is created by staff, board members, volunteers and students who embrace the mission through hope, compassion, competence, and skill. Each understands there is dignity in risk and is committed to helping others achieve personal growth. All are willing to sacrifice for the good of the whole.

OUR VISION

Horse Power leads the way in providing state of the art therapeutic horsemanship which builds courage, hope and self-confidence for those coping with physical, emotional or learning challenges through our local programs and our nationally recognized instructor training school.

From Georgetown, MA, I drive to Nashua, NH, via Cambridge, MA (to attend Asa Brebner’s art show opening at Passim) and poor planning lands me about 20 minutes late for Studio 99’s early starting time of 7:00. I stroll into a medium-size room with folding chairs covering two-thirds of the space; the other third is the stage area. On the stage side sit two guitarists, spread out about 10 feet apart, performing “Ashland,” a mellow Jeff Beck-like instrumental. There’s no singing here. On left is Jimmy Gaudette, playing his ’56 natural sunburst Gibson ES125 hollow body with F holes, and on the right is Mike Loce on a ’71 Les Paul Recording—a guitar that has as many switches and knobs as a cockpit. These guys are both above-excellent guitarist. They swing into “Red River Valley”—though they call it “Merrimack River Rock.” The show is a study in pure guitar sounds. They close the show with covers of Gordon Lightfoot’s “Sundown” and the Ventures’ “Walk Don’t Run.” I think I have to go home now and work on my guitar skills.

Okay, I decide to stay to see Kate Taylor, who also performs tonight as a duet with Billy Derby—another guitarist who puts me in awe of his playing. Kate plays an acoustic in most of her songs too, but, when she doesn’t, Billy has no fear in taking solos that leave wide-open space for you to feel the beat—not as easy as it sounds. Kate is a wonderful storyteller between songs—her daughter pleaded with her not to play “Don’t Break Two Hearts” before her wedding—the opening line is “Stop the wedding!” She learned about carny barking at the Martha’s Vineyard annual agricultural fair and found it a place full of romance to be had. The title of her latest CD is Fair Time, and she plays the title track. She and Billy do almost all their recording in Billy’s home studio in Bedford, NH. One highlight is their soul groovin’ version of Ike Turner’s “You’re Just a Fool”—made for a duet to sing. Kate tells a touching story before “Red Tail,” a song about her late husband, Charlie Witham, and the embodiment of his spirit in the red tail hawk, who would circle the sky during family occasions. With “Soap Opera Life” and “King of the Pond” the story telling is as much a part of the show as the musical performance. After the duet ends with “Auld Lang Syne,” Kate heads right into the small audience and chats with everyone individually. This was a very special night. (T Max)

The Noise has covered Boston-area music longer than any other music publication.

Love Gone Bad, Part 2:  

This Time, It's Personal

You'd think that people would have had enough of silly love songs...Bring your bitter breakup poems, love-gone-wrong songs and broken-hearted monologues for a celebration of bad love poetry and prose. 

Musicians:  Song accompaniment by iPod (bring your own; we have speakers), boom box (bring your CD; we'll provide the box) or piano (if it's a well-known pop song, we'll accompany you without sheet music, piano-karaoke style!). Instrumentalists:  please bring a guitar, etc., or play our piano in self-accompaniment.

Writers:  bring your poetry and spoken word pieces...

Admission: $10 / seniors & students w/ ID $5

 all proceeds will go to VH1's Save the Music

coffees, teas, snacks, and chocolates available for sale

Twitter updates:  #lovegonebad

by Jen O'Callaghan, correspondent

Nashua’s Studio 99 has added a new item to its menu of concerts, piano karaoke and musical jams. From 10 a.m.-4 p.m. every Friday, the Main Street music source now offers a weekly Jelly.

Photo by Jodie Andruskevich ~ Bryan Thomas, left, a music therapist, exchanges ideas about his website with Bob Pope, a member of the Monadnock Bluegrass Band, at a meeting of "Jelly" at Studio 99 in downtown Nashua --- an event where people who work from home can gather with others for a day to collaborate and bounce ideas off each other. The event is part of a national trend.A Jelly is a casual “co-working” session that offers freelancers, telecommuters and even job seekers the opportunity to come together and work for the day. Jelly founders Amit Gupta and Luke Crawford started it in New York City in February 2006, with an eye toward recreating some of the camaraderie and brainstorming opportunities they missed while working from home.

Studio 99, like other Jelly venues across the country and globe, provides a few basic amenities, including Wi-Fi access, work tables and electricity and heat. Perhaps, the biggest draw is the opportunity to engage with other people – whether it be to bounce ideas off someone else, exchange services or simply indulge in a bit of watercooler chat. A wiki (wiki.workatjelly.com) gives the lowdown on how to facilitate or host a Jelly.

“In order to call it a Jelly, you have to agree to fulfill certain minimum requirements,” explains Studio 99 owner Elise MacDonald. “You must offer a place where people feel like mixing up their working routine a little bit.” About a block from downtown Nashua’s restaurant and pubs and in a new fully handicapped- accessible facility, Studio 99 offers a river view, as well as coffee, soft drinks and snacks for purchase. MacDonald likened the atmosphere of the first two Jelly events to a study session in the library at a college or university.

Photo by Jodie Andruskevich ~ A group of business owners who work from home gather together at Studio 99 in downtown Nashua to collaborate and exchange ideas in what has become known as a national trend: "Jelly".“You’re getting work done and you’re bouncing ideas off of people. If you have an idea you want to float past people, you can do it right then and there.”

That’s not to say it is for everyone. A pair of writers who attended the second Jelly politely excused themselves after a few hours, looking for a quieter environment. But MacDonald said the lively environment has been a welcome break for most of the people who have stopped by. “You’re slipping the script on your regular work routine, and you come out of the day really energized.”

Lisa Greenleaf, of Nashua, a graphic designer, illustrator and book designer for Greenleaf Design Studio, has attended both Jelly events. A regular attendee of the Studio 99 musical events, Greenleaf was intrigued by the announcement on the venue’s Web site. “I work for myself so I don’t have a lot of chit-chat in my office,” Greenleaf said. “It feels good to me to go because I work out of my home, and I pretty much work every single day. It was nice to get out of my office and have another environment to go to.”

Greenleaf plans to continue attending, bringing along mundane work and organizational tasks that she can do on her laptop. In addition to the atmosphere, Greenleaf says the opportunity to network was an added plus. At the most recent Jelly, she met a massage therapist. Greenleaf, who also does energy and Reiki work, exchanged business cards with the woman. “I didn’t expect that at all,” she says. Although Greenleaf has tried working from local coffee shops and the library, she enjoyed the fact that the people who were coming to the Jelly events were expecting some interaction and collaboration. “When you’re at home, you don’t have anyone to do that with,” Greenleaf says. “I just think that you need to have some stimulation. It reboots your energy, and it boosts your whole outlook on what you’re working on.”

Bob Pope, of Nashua, a bluegrass musician and an associate director of Studio 99, said he came to the Jelly to get out and meet new people. “It’s a really relaxed atmosphere, and it’s just nice to interact with folks who are alive instead of just over the computer,” said Pope. He is technically retired but leads a variety of music jams and open-mic performances for Studio 99 and The Loft at the Grange above the Brookline Village Store. “It’s educational and fun at the same time. It keeps me busy and it keeps me off the streets,” he said, laughing.

The Jelly offers MacDonald an opportunity to help Greater Nashua become more familiar with Studio 99 and its programming. Because her immediate downstairs neighbors are attorneys and accountants, music before 6 p.m. is not an option. “It occurred to me that there’s no reason we can’t have people in this space during the day, collaborating and hanging out,” she said. Although she warns that she is not an expert in co-working, she has been interested in the concept for some time. More formal co-working spaces often require participants to buy a membership and sign up for different times to work at a central location that offers desk space, access to a fax and Internet access. “It’s almost like a time-share office,” she explains. “You share resources, and it’s much more structured.”

Co-working facilities are also available at Archimedes Space, which shares an office with the nonprofit Float Left Labs on Dubuque Street in Manchester (floatleftlabs.org). Different levels of membership provide access to desks, printers, Wi-Fi, a kitchen and conference room, as well as invitations to participate in a weekly lunch and learn. Participants also mentor the students of Float Left Labs. MacDonald says she prefers the lower-key style of the Jelly because the one-day-a-week commitment to host really suits her schedule. She has enjoyed watching participants meet and make connections with each other. “It’s totally fun and by the end of the day, it feels like you’ve got partners in crime.”

Dave Seah (a Nashua-based graphic designer who's often called an "investigative designer") and Sid Ceaser (a Nashua-based portrait photographer and teacher of photography whose work is prominently featured at Studio 99 and all over our website, as well as former neighbor of Studio 99 when the Studio was located at the Picker Building) have a wonderful podcast which discusses all things geek, culture, and Nashua.  Along the way, they have a lot of fun, since they're great friends as well as colleagues.

Their description of the podcast:

We're two creative freelancers trying to figure out how to make our respective visual art/design businesses work.

In the meantime, we don't have a name for this podcast. Once we figure out where we're going, the name will probably pop into our heads.

We're making this up as we go.

Dave's description of this episode of the podcast:  

Originally recorded on December 29, 2009 in Sid's studio, Sid and Dave quickly cover their Christmas presents, and then settle into a long discussion with guest (and good friend) Elise MacDonald, a music teacher who inadvertently started the alternative live music "listening room" STUDIO 99 in the heart of downtown Nashua.

Topics range from the genesis of Elise's business, the challenges facing the local music enthusiast, how creative collaborations start, and many other topics of shared mirth. Though the focus is somewhat regional, the experiences we share are probably applicable to many other mid-sized towns outside major cultural city centers. Links to some of the topics we mention are available on the podcast home page.

Hear the podcast here...

He founded and hosts our monthly Bluegrass Jams (which lately have become more and more popular!) and recently also took on the role of co-hosting our monthly Open Mics (with fellow guitarist/vocalist Gary St. Laurent).  During the warmer months, he also hosts our Open Stage nights at The Loft at the Grange, above the Brookline Village Store in Brookline, NH.

Outside the Studio, Bob is busy with his bluegrass bands All Thumbs and Monadnock, and performs solo and with various co-conspirators at jams and open mics all over New England.  He and his partner Lisa, also a good friend of the Studio, live in Nashua.

Bob joins Bryan Thomas and Mike Loce in their roles as Associate Directors of Studio 99.

Thank you, Bob, for all that you do for the Studio!

Double fusion

Haiti may be an impoverished nation from an economic standpoint, but the country’s musical heritage is overflowing with the sonic wealth of French, Spanish, African, Arab and native Taino traditions. Experience the vibrant results of Haitian music further fused with Brazilian music and jazz at a concert by Gifrants and his band at 8 p.m. at Studio 99 at 115 Main St. in Nashua.

The Haitian-born-and-raised guitarist and singer Gifrants will be joined by vocalist Ninon, pianist Ken Cook, bassist Jane Wang, guitarist Patrick Mottaz, Fritz Joseph on percussion, and Andreas Brade on drums as he performs everything from mellow ballads to more upbeat numbers that will have you dancing all the way home.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the door. For more information, call 562-5179 or visit www.studio99nashua.com. To learn more about Gifrants and his music, go to www.gifrants.com.

He wrote an article about the background of his song, Never Forget, on his website.

More piano karaoke on the way soon!

Is There Life After Dark in NH?

A sleepy little state? Hardly

Take a quick tour of Manchester, Nashua, Keene, Portsmouth and Plymouth to get a sampling of the after-dark adventure that awaits night owls around the state. You can start with a nice meal or appetizers at the bar of a hip restaurant, move on to a venue with entertainment and finally get a late night snack. We’ve barely scratched the surface, but part of the fun of New Hampshire’s nightlife is in discovering bright new places to go. To do that, first you need to head out into the dark.

The barely year-old Studio 99 boasts live music or spoken-word performances almost every night of the week in its brand new Main Street location. Concerts are reasonably priced from $5 to $12, and audiences at the art space’s acoustic, bluegrass and jazz jams attend free.

Owner Elise MacDonald, a talented multi-instrumentalist in her own right, aims to create a space where listening is the priority. The venue serves nothing stronger than coffee, but brings in a wide variety of genres and acts to discuss over a late-night drink at a neighboring establishment. Recent performers have included Spider John Koerner, Ameranouche and Sit Down Baby!