SUB ROSA May 28, 2009
Posted on | June 4, 2009 | No Comments
This most recent SUB ROSA was everybody’s favorite - so many people came, both audience and participant - the stars kind of converged - And then (this never happens!!!) Dan Cardinal, who has done a gorgeous job on sound for SUB ROSA since the beginning, sent me audio files to share, so I’m totally sharing them, full on. Here is the most recent SUB ROSA - it was killer. Performers not listed include Billy Beard on drums, Charlie Rose on pedal steel, and Andy Santospago on banjo/electric guitar. Kimon Kirk sang a song, but he also played bass for everyone…
A cool thing about this new media player idea - it’s yahoo media, for when you don’t need to hide your URLs and such, and it will play all the mp3s found on this page as a continuous playlist. Thanks to loudersoft’s blog for this idea!
Set One:
1. The Blue Seed (Rose Polenzani)
2. Heavy Lifting (David Champagne)
3. Flashlight (Dave Godowsky)
4. Highway Del Sol (Catie Curtis)
5. Me and My Mouth (Alastair Moock)
6. Where Your Scar Is (Anne Heaton)
7. Saturday Day (Jennifer Kimball)
8. Who Do You Think You’re Foolin’ (Caleb Aronsen)
9. Do Right Woman (Jess Tardy) Song by Chips Moman, Dan Penn
10. The Stranger: Gretel’s First Song
11. The Stranger Interview (with Gretel)
12. The Strenger: Gretel’s Second Song
13. Hallelujah (Dinty Child)
14. Eid Ma Clack Shaw (Rose Polenzani) Song by Bill Callahan
15. Falling Stars (Sarah Siskind)
16. Lovin’s For Fools (Sarah Siskind)
17. Kimon Kirk
18. Battened Hatches (Chuck E. Costa)
19. I Am Good Fortune (Chuck E. Costa)
20. Oh, Mama (Aoife O’Donovan)
21. Send Me A Letter (Kristin Andreassen)
22. Love Hurts (Katie Champagne & Neil Cleary) Song by Boudleaux Bryant and Felice Bryant
23. Pigfoot & a Bottle of Beer (Neil Cleary) Song by Wesley Wilson
24. Little Heart (Dave Godowsky)
25. God Knows (Dave Godowsky)
26. Dig a Little Deeper in the Well (Jim Fitting) Song by Morris, Kenneth
27. Katherine McClelland’s Song
28. You Were Drunk (Rose Polenzani)
29. She is a Rainbow (Rose Polenzani) Song by Sharon Lewis
the living room.
Posted on | May 21, 2009 | No Comments
I got an email from someone the other day who wanted to know how the show with Annabelle went in NYC - oh man. I tried to write about it the day after and I felt inadequate to the task - it was really great.
I think, actually, it was in my top 5 show experiences of all time, because I actually kept forgetting I was on stage. I think it was partly that I was up there with two beautiful, solid, trustworthy and open-hearted musicians: Annabelle Chvostek and Elena Arian, and partly because I have played the living room so many times that it actually felt like my living room for the first time. And partly because Steve was running sound. Oh Steve! How are you not completely burned out after all these years of listening to singer/songwriters!
We drove in Annabelle’s minivan, with Annabelle’s girlfriend Ximena at the wheel, and Annabelle would alternately climb into the cavernous rear of the van (they’d removed the seats) to rehearse and climb back up front to chill out while I snuggled into their blankets and pillows and fell asleep (I think I actually slept through Southwestern Connecticut).
We met at Elana’s to rehearse that afternoon, and I taught them the call & response parts to “seven swans” - which were developed with Anne Heaton, Jennifer Kimball & Catie Curtis backstage at Club Passim’s “campfire” a couple years ago. Elana worked out so many parts in such a tiny amount of time, and then she nailed them all that evening at the show. Annabelle’s mandolin sounded so beautiful all night….
We ended with Sharon Lewis’s song “She is a Rainbow,” and though we never rehearsed it, I remember living out a bit of a fantasy at the first chorus, saying “ladies?” kind of like Justin Timberlake if he was in a singer/songwriter type of mood - and they joined right in on the “la la la la”s - - - - - - - what a night! for some reason, I sat down at the piano with my guitar on my lap - I just wanted to have the sound of the guitar and the piano at the same time but of course, no matter how long the song went on, I never did figure out how to play them at the same time.
I felt like it was 4 in the morning, and I was delirious, and Annabelle & Elana were voices in my head that were helping me, were fleshing out a happy delusion.
At the cafe here in philadelphia, they’re playing “I could write a book” from the “when harry met sally” soundtrack - I was so into this in high school - fantasies of dance duets and red dresses and Harry Connick Jr. falling helplessly in love with me.
Rose & Annabelle at Hi-n-Dry May 10!
Posted on | April 24, 2009 | No Comments
Do you remember when Annabelle Chvostek and I made our youtube duet? it was the debut rosepose88-channel duet! We covered a beautiful Mason Jennings song, “If you ain’t got love.” Here it is again:
My friend Annabelle is coming back to town! We’re doing a sweet little show at the new Hi-n-Dry. Reserve your tickets now!!!. The show is an early evening show on Mother’s day, May 10 (4:30pm). And Hi-n-Dry has moved to an incredible new space: the Armory. This building was recentrly converted into an art space unlike any I’ve seen in Boston. It’s called “Arts at the Armory, check it out. Here is our poster:
SUB ROSA photos…
Posted on | April 3, 2009 | No Comments
I’ve posted some photos of the latest SUB ROSA on my smugmug page: [Click here to see them!]. They were all taken by my lovely friend Nicole Soriano. Thanks Nicole!
The show was March 28, 2009 at Lizard Lounge in Cambridge. The stranger was Valerie Thomson from Fluttr Effect, who brought her friend Vessela with her. They played cello and melodica - I mean, come on! That was a truly astonishing set. I was so floored I kind of didn’t know what to talk to them about during the interview, sorry ladies!
Guests in March were: Jennifer Kimball, Aoife O’Donovan, Dave Champagne, Anne Heaton, Catie Curtis, Chris O’Brien, Joel Ninesling, Jenee Halstead, Katie Champagne, Dave Godowsky, and dearly beloved SUB ROSA musicians Dinty Child and Billy Beard. We were joined by Simon Chrisman, Tristan and Tashina Clarridge on upright bass, cello and 5-string violin respectively. It was GORGEOUS!! One of the highlights for me was getting to play a strange little song I wrote called “papa bear” - Aoife O’Donovan helped me to make some arrangement ideas and it turned into quite the occasion at the end, almost a pop song feeling when I’d originally felt that the song was hopelessly inaccessible.
Rose & Robby live from WSCA
Posted on | March 31, 2009 | 2 Comments
I had my friend Robby in town last week (Polenzani & Hecht!), and we went up to play a blissful show at Neverdun farms… they were making maple syrup when we walked up the freshly strewn hay path. I mean - oh my goodness these people were so self-sufficient, so quality, so happy. It was an amazing night. On our way up to the farm, we stopped in at WSCA 106.1 Portsmouth, NH Community Radio, and played a short set and had a nice chat with their DJs, engineers and photographers. It was a part of their “Live Stay Tuned” Friday afternoon thing. They were so sweet. The radio station actually felt kind of like a clubhouse - there were couches, and about 15-20 people just hanging out when we walked in the door.
Anyway: I thought I’d share the songs we did that day here on the website - these tracks are just Robby and me - live on the radio (I cut out the talking bits). The first song on the list is actually the last one we played: “the flood” by ana egge, originally off her “out past the lights” record. Her version is better, but we love singing it! Everything else is in the order in which it was played… Enjoy! Let me know what you think about this “built-in-player thing” - I can switch to other kinds.
playlist:
1. The Flood (by Ana Egge)
2. Freight Train Lady (by Robby)
3. Queen Anne’s Lace (by Rose)
4. Along the Way (by Robby)
5. When the River Meets the Sea (by Paul Williams)
NewSong Video Posted: “You Were Drunk”
Posted on | March 20, 2009 | 1 Comment
Mountain Stage NewSong just posted a video of my performance at the finals in West Virginia. This was taken on October 11th or 12th - what a nice bunch of people - Check out NewSong’s channel - there are so many great performances captured…
Robby and Rose set sail in a canoe… Rose makes a weather prediction, who is the owl and who is the dog?
Posted on | March 9, 2009 | No Comments
Long titles take the pressure off the actual post. Now my post is free to be you and me!
I made a poster yesterday for my upcoming duet of shows with my friend Robby Hecht. 
It’s based on the cover of Robby’s record, which is pictured here (somewhere near this paragraph). But instead of an owl and a dog, it is Robby and Rose. And instead of playing a ukulele properly, I am pictured playing it upside down, because I don’t always remember that making these block print posters requires me to think in mirror-image.
you can click on this poster to open a new window with a larger version of the poster for your close inspection:
Also - it was a beautiful day yesterday, and then I made a poster where it is snowing stars into a turbulent body of water, and today it is sleeting, and I feel like it’s my fault! Actually, now it is snowing. We were just wishing the snow was over, and it’s clearly not over. the snowflakes are as big as pictured on my poster, and I am the wise owl! I didn’t mean for that to happen. And what with the mirror-image aspect of things, it was a toss-up.
New photos from Club Passim Feb. 16 show
Posted on | February 19, 2009 | 1 Comment
Thanks to folktraveler for these lovely photos of the Club Passim set on President’s day. I was joined by Austin Nevins (not pictured) on electric guitar, baritone guitar and acoustic guitar, Jeremy Curtis on upright bass, Jennifer Kimball on harmony vocals, and Dinty Child on Banjo, Mandocello, pump organ and glockenspiel(s). What a wonderful show! We played mostly new material, and these musicians brought such a depth to the songs, I want to thank all of them again and again. We played Queen Anne’s Lace, The Lawn and the Sky, The Veil, No One Knows, Pretty Black Ship, Married Man, You Were Drunk,Song of the Stars, I was young once, This Bitter Heart, The Skin and the Body are Blind, and Like a Miracle. Highlights include having the boys clapping on “pretty black ship” during the verses, as well as Dinty playing TWO glockenspiels on that song, and some beautiful alchemical versions of “I was young once” and “this bitter heart”. Also a major highlight: ANA EGGE!!! She played a set from her new record “road to my love” and we were mesmerized, she has such a musical soul, what a beautiful creature.
Rose Polenzani at Folk Alliance Memphis 2009
Posted on | February 10, 2009 | No Comments
“Eat Your Sherbet” considers my record, with personality.
Posted on | January 20, 2009 | No Comments
Click here to read the “Eat Your Sherbet” review of “When the River Meets the Sea”.
This is a very interesting review of my record -
she thinks I’m great but he also thinks I ruin some things - I like balance.
Tags: Reviews > Rose Polenzani > When the River Meets the Sea
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