Tom Hamilton Acoustic w/ Leslie Mendelson and Christopher Brown


Tom Hamilton Acoustic

Leslie Mendelson, Christopher Brown

Thu, November 16, 2017

Doors: 6:30 pm / Show: 8:00 pm

Garcia’s at The Capitol Theatre

Port Chester, NY

$10.00 ADVANCE // $15.00 DAY OF SHOW

This event is 21 and over

Tom Hamilton Acoustic
Tom Hamilton Acoustic, the new project extending outward from The American Babies came about through an unexpected performance at a 2017 benefit concert. “When I was asked to put something together for the Rex Foundation show”, says Tom, “I saw a low pressure opportunity to try something a bit different.” With a guitar playing style rooted in exploration of not just songs, but sound and tone Tom “wanted to bring that exploration of textures in an acoustic environment along with another player and see what developed.” The end result is something intimate, yet dynamic and psychedelic as well.

Growing up in the heyday of MTV Unplugged, it was easy for Tom to see an acoustic show as a specific brand. Stripped. Bare. Monochrome. At these acoustic duo shows reverb and delays are used to bring color back into the sound and take the acoustic show into a different direction. “If a regular set was in HD, than this version of my music would be watercolors.” Something familiar, but constructed with a different style and palette.

The end goal is to bring songs into a life that is unique unto the moment itself. Let songs live, breathe and grow so that they react organically to the moments during the performance and accelerate into new and unexpected places. Upon listening back to the performance after that first show Tom recognized the performance for what it was, something special that went to a new and exciting place. “I was happy with the vibe and the sound, and immediately thought that I want to do more of this, and bring it out into more places.”

Leslie Mendelson
Leslie Mendelson’s Love & Murder is the singer/songwriter’s first new album in eight years. A stirring work instilled with emotional depth that Glide Magazine declared “one of the best records of 2017,” the effort is the long-awaited follow up to her Grammy Award-nominated debut, Swan Feathers. It’s an apropos title, reflecting the dichotomy between the dark and light she encountered in those years between. Poised for stardom in 2009 with comparisons to Carole King and Rickie Lee Jones on the tip of tastemakers’ lips, fate as it often does, had other plans. But perhaps this was actually to the benefit of her art. After losing a record and management deal and having her friend and producer Joel Dorn unexpectedly pass away, Mendelson recommitted to herself and slowly but surely penned the songs with her longtime co-writer Steve McEwan that would become Love & Murder.

Produced by Mark Howard (Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams), Love & Murder is a sparse, raw collection of ten folk songs. Opening with “Jericho,” a haunting number that sets the tone for what’s to come, it makes clear that the album lies more within darker spaces that artists like Sharon Van Etten, Lana Del Rey and Dusty Springfield inhabit. Songs like “Murder Me,” “Coney Island,” and “Chasing the Thrill” find Leslie exploring loss in ways that feel personal and metaphorical, where the stories within are multifaceted. She also recorded three covers: the classic-country infused “Cry, Cry Darlin’,” a take on Bob Dylan’s classic “Just Like a Woman,” played on the ukulele, and a duet with The Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir on Roy Orbison’s “Blue Bayou.” In fact, Mendelson was unwittingly adopted by the West Coast jam scene after Weir heard her take on “Friend of the Devil” and recruited her to perform with him.

On Love & Murder, however, Leslie Mendelson offers a different side of her artistry that isn’t present in her early work or recent collaborations. “This collection is just about the songs and my voice,” she says. “That’s what people can connect with. It shows where I am right now as an artist and where I want to go.”

Listen here: https://soundcloud.com/lesliemendelson/sets/love-and-murder-1/s-ZZLt1

“Chasing The Thrill” (Official Video) https://youtu.be/j72FfNC5noM

“Love You Tonight” (Live Performance) https://youtu.be/cYG1tkSREsw

“Jericho” (Live Performance) https://youtu.be/XYdCOPg_Keo

“‘Love & Murder’ marks a poignant return for New York singer/songwriter Leslie Mendelson”
– ALL MUSIC

“Her first album in eight years, Leslie Mendelson’s ‘Love & Murder’ is also one of the best records of 2017.” – GLIDE MAGAZINE

“This kind of comeback reaffirms the faith that Joel Dorn and so many others placed in her. As such, it is already a worthy contender for year-end acclaim. Don’t wait for those kudos to emerge, however—dive in now.” – BLURT

Christopher Brown
If you’ve lived a life – victories and defeats, good days and bad — you’ll recognize yourself in the songs of Christopher Brown.
You’ll find glimpses of people you’ve known, flashes of life’s turning points, stirrings of emotions tied to moments in time. Brown captures the simple truths that we share in song, with offhand insight and humor. He writes tales of lessons learned and of taking stock through life’s journey. He chuckles over the big stuff, even death, but sings with tenderness of the small turns in life that leave their marks on all of us. It’s no wonder that Phil Ciganer, owner of the Towne Crier CafĂ© in Beacon, New York, who has presented the greatest singer-songwriters of a generation, says “Christopher Brown stands with the best of them”.
It’s not easy to be a working musician in the Greater New York City region for 40 years. So many have come and gone. But Brown has built several followings that endure. He’s known as a solo coffeehouse artist, as the leader of duos and trios, and as the voice of the Bookends band, which has been rocking out since the year of our nation’s bicentennial, 1976.
Whether he’s performing by himself or with friends, Brown wins over audiences without gimmicks or bluster. He has an organic stage presence. All he needs are his honeyed rumble of a voice and an unteachable ability to make any song – a good-time singalong of a favorite standard or a self-penned meditation on the passage of time – sound genuine and of the moment.
Brown has showcased his original songs on three albums: Go West (2001); Hangin’ In (2004); and the remarkable Characterist (2011). On the latter, he wrote of Cyrano and Juliet’s little-known relationship, an honest and oddly likeable Devil, a soldier in Vietnam clutching for meaning, and others characters you’ll find to be oddly familiar. He mused over the loss of innocence, the facing of regret, and the relief of accepting that “I did the best I could, it’s all mine/And it’s all good.”
He’s now working on songs for his next album.
It’s telling that Brown is also an artist/illustrator who can capture a subject’s essence through caricature, whether he’s focused on a U.S. president, an Oscar winner or a guy from down the block. With a few strokes, he reveals hints of a character’s nature or temperament, their mystery or charm. He does the same thing with lyric and melody, outlining and shading characters and moments, yearnings and states of mind.
Listen to Christopher Brown. You’ll begin to see outlines of people you have known. And of yourself.

Event Location and Ticket Information

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Garcia’s at The Capitol Theatre
145 Westchester Ave
Port Chester, NY 10573
Handicap Accessible? Yes

Date: Thursday, November 16, 2017
Times: 6:30 pm - 11:30 pm

Ticket pricing:

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$10 - GA