Rose Polenzani

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

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.

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.