Ash Grove Summer Series Opens on Juneteenth - Sunday, June 19th.

 

www.ashgrovemusic.com

The Ash Grove

Summer Series
(full schedule coming soon)

Opens with a Celebration of

Juneteenth

Freedom songs, gospel, blues and the word,
all coming together on
Sunday afternoon,
June 19th,

Powerful Alabama singer
Bettie Mae Fikes
a leading voice among the
Freedom Singers of the Civil Rights Movement. 

She’ll be joined by master blues man
Bernie Pearl

Poet
S. Pearl Sharp,

and those teenage wizards of poetry,
the Get Lit Players. 

  June 19th, 2:00 p.m.,  

at the

Tropico de Nopal Gallery, in Los Angeles,
1665 Beverly Boulevard, East of Alvarado.

General admission $15

Seniors and students $10

Tickets and information available at
call 310-391-5794 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              310-391-5794      end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

Tickets will be available online Tuesday!

Ash Grove Summer Concert Series

The Ash Grove Summer Concert Series begins with a celebration of Juneteenth on Sunday, June 19th, the date when slaves in Texas learned of their freedom, years after the Emancipation Proclamation was enacted and months after surrender of the Confederate States. The date and name have become the symbol of Black Liberation, throughout the U.S.

The event features the powerful Alabama singer Bettie Mae Fikes, the youngest of the great Freedom Singers, now living in LA, when not performing blues, gospel and freedom songs throughout the world.  She’ll be accompanied by bluesman Bernie Pearl, who has toured with Betty, including last Fall’s historic homage honoring the 50^th anniversary of the anthem, We Shall Overcome. Bernie will also perform his own usually brilliant solo set, accompanied by his formidable bassist, Mike Barry. The show continues after intermission with poet S. Pearl Sharp, and those teenage wizards of poetry, the Get Lit Players. The Players have just returned from performing at the White House, organized by first Lady, Michelle Obama.  The afternoon will conclude with the entire cast, and audience participation in the songs of liberation.  Food, Drink, CD’s, et al, available throughout the day. 

For more on S. Pearl Sharp, click on http://www.spearlsharp.com/, The Get Lit Players are at http://www.getlit.org/,

Bettie Mae Fikes is at http://www.earthen.com/bettiemaefikes.html, Juneteenth, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneteenth

and Bernie is attached.  Nuff said.  -Ed

Freedom songs, gospel, blues and the word, all coming together on Sunday afternoon, June 19th, 2:30 p.m., on the beautiful back patio of the Tropico de Nopal Gallery, 1665 Beverly Blvd.,Boulevard, in Los Angeles.  The series will continue on the 3^rd Sunday of each month, through October..

July 17^th will showcase The Swing Riots, a Los Angeles based acoustic quirktette performing an irreverent gumbo of Gypsy & Creole Jazz, Klezmer & Romanian Horas, Parisian Musette & the occasional wild card thrown in for good measure.  The Swing Riots are comprised of 6 core members who have played for decades in everything from Balkan dance bands to traditional Swing groups.  For this appearance, they will be joined by vocal duet Jess Basta & Christine Tavares, formerly of VOCO 

The SWING RIOTS Quirktette specialize in that crossroads where early, string based jazz and traditional folk music intersect.  It is not widely known that seminal jazz guitarist, Django Reinhardt played eastern European folk melodies on banjo in the streets of northern Europe as a child or that Django and fellow Romany (Gypsy) jazz guitarists were fixtures, not just of early jazz clubs, but also playing traditional eastern European music in the Cabaret Russe nightclubs that sprang up in Paris and elsewhere after the Bolshevik revolution. 

The SWING RIOTs play many of the well known Gypsy Jazz standards recorded by the great Romany guitar and violin players of the 1920s & 30s but dig deeper, performing traditional eastern European folk melodies in a swing setting.  As such, you will hear traditional Romany, Russian, Yiddish Klezmer and Romanian Horas along with some of the earliest American jazz standards, many of which were derived from Creole and African-American folk songs in their original forms, not often heard today.

Tickets and information available at Ashgrovemusic.com, or call 310-391-5794.