November 27, 2003 - Bishop's Lounge - Northampton, MA - WRSI SInger Song Writer Contest - Henning Solo
Tony Says: Congratulations to Henning, winner of this year's WRSI Singer/Songwriter contest. And that's quite a feat considering his competition this year. Any one of the final contestants were deserving; going just by the performances the other night, I imagined Henning or Matt would walk away the winner. They both were equally in their respective zones, they just are hard to compare stylistically. The others were all excellent as well; however, Matt and Henning not only were spot-on but they chose some of their best songs to play and hit the crowd just as they were collectively buzzing. I did write a long commentary on the contest last night, then pulled it off to edit and after adding my gig diary to it, my computer froze and it was all lost. So I rewrote my post again this morning but only bothered with the gig diary portion. No big loss. Henning says: Yay. Thanks everyone who has called and written to say congratulations. I haven't gotten back to most people because it's kind of embarrassing. Anyway, it's really cool to have been selected as the winner in the WRSI Singer / Songwriter Contest. As anyone who was at Wednesday night's finals show knows, any of the finalists could have won (I think they must have eventually just chosen straws or something. I don't see how else anyone could pick from that lot.) Since I was chosen as the winner, I will be receiving a new Martin guitar from the Fretted Instrument Workshop, some recording time at Signature Sounds, and I'll be playing an opening slot for Martin Sexton at the (yikes) Calvin on December 13. I don't know any details about any of those prizes yet. This evening at around 5:00 I will be going down to the station and joining Johnny on the River Sound Cafe, where I will play a few songs and talk to him about the contest. (The fact that WRSI just played Ten Feet Tall by XTC and is now playing The Night Before by the Beatles, makes me even more excited to be there.) So, here's my little report about Wednesday night and the "finals round" at Bishop's Lounge: Because the floors in the apartment below ours were being refinished, and because the guys doing it once again left all the windows closed down there, our apartment was full of polyurethane fumes. I broke into the apartment being fixed-up and put one of my fans down there and opened some windows, it was too late to help much, though, and the fumes were pervasive. We couldn't stand it anymore and I was getting woozy, so Lesa and I went to Bishop's an hour and a half early. It turns out that our early arrival was a stroke of luck since we could then claim a good table up front. This real estate became extremely valuable as the club filled up far beyond anybody's expectations. I know a few folks who turned away because they couldn't get in the door. The night started with Frank Padellero who brought along his amazing band King Radio (including our very own Ken). Frank writes some awesome songs and the arrangements of them are delicious. These days, you usually find King Radio playing with a full string section and the arrangements by Dave Trenholm are just as much a part of the songs as the songs themselves. Beautiful, beautiful stuff. In King Radio news, they have just finished a recording for a new NRBQ tribute album. Ken played us a sample in his car this weekend and it was impressive, like everything that I have heard from them recently. After Frank, came Sonya Kitchell. Sonya is somewhere between the ages of 14 and 17 depending on who you ask. She writes bluesy loungy sort of songs and has a wonderful singing voice and a how-old-is-she? kind of stage presence. Extremely confident and in charge of the audience. She played with two backing musicians. Sometimes she sang only and sometimes she played the guitar and sang. Sonya didn't win this contest but she will certainly be winning enough stuff in her coming years that I don't feel bad. When her songwriting skills mature to reach her current performing skills, she will be remarkable. Next was Philip Price. Philip has often been voted as being the best male vocalist in the Valley Advocate, and for good reason. For years he was the front man in the Maggies (which both Max and Ken have played in) and recently he has put out two solo records. His music was noticed and eventually picked up by a NYC label called Listen Here Records. He also just had a wonderful article written about him in the Hampshire Daily Gazette, you can read it here. Brian and I played with Philip in the Gay Potatoes and Ken and Max (Max for many many years) were in the Maggies. If you haven't heard Philip yet, he's got MP3s you can sample at his website. He's going to break your heart. Enjoy. After Philip was Matt Hebert. Matt Hebert is the lead man in the Ware River Club. A great powerful rock band who were recently signed by Spirithouse Records. They've been touring around pretty heavily lately so keep an eye out for them in your town. Matt also writes these wonderful touching ballads and he plays them in his solo performances. During this evening, he easily got the audience to sing a strange minor scale melody along with him during a dark dark song. It was beautiful. I was up after Matt and had the most wonderful audience for my set. The room was packed as full as it could get and I could see the faces of friends and strangers looking back at me and listening. It was kind of intimidating, all these amazing musicians watching me (not just the other performers but all kinds of musicians - Jim Armenty's smile beaming a head above everyone else in the back). I played my six songs, got a some good laughs and some wonderful audience participation. It was a great great time up there.	Uncomfortable Day Job One Lady Dancing Campground Daughter Photobooth Curtain Sketches by Philip Price: