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May 17, 2007

Saturday: 10th Annual Bob Dylan Birthday Bash; The Gnomes in Kingston and at City Farm

Nick DiBiasio started the tradition in 1997 on NPR radio at WICN in Worcester, bringing musicians into the studio to celebrate the release of Bob Dylan's Time Out of Mind. It was so much fun, they've gathered every year since to play Dylan tributes around the man's birthday. (He'll be 66 on May 24.)

This year, Nick's taking the show out to a theater for a live audience. Saturday night at 7:30, Nick will host and Rick Bellaire, Fred Wilkes, Michele Wilson, John Dunn, Rich Sage and Ken Johnson will play the tunes at The Assembly Theatre, 26 East Avenue (Route 107) in Harrisville. They're all longtime Dylan fans whose own music has been influenced by Dylan's.

Here's a high-quality mp3 (320kbps) of the whole group closing the 2004 show with The Times They Are a'Changin'.

$10 gets you in Saturday night. More info at Nick's site, music in harmony.com or the box office the day of the show: 568-7179.

The Gnomes: At the unfortunately rain-soaked opening of the new outdoor courtyard at India Restaurant on Hope Street last night, three members of The Gnomes -- Phil Edmonds, Otis Read and Pete Breen -- alternated sets with the insistent percussion of the belly dancers' accompanists. The Gnomes' cover of Bob Marley's One Love won the battle of the bands, I think.

You can listen to cuts from the The Gnomes CD of Celtic and world music at CD Baby (The title cut from the CD, To The Dance Floor, is a Celtic-Portuguese tune.)

Or see them Saturday at the Courthouse Center for the Arts in Kingston at 8 p.m., $15.

Phil, an Irish whistle player and songwriter, guitarist Read and vocalist and bass player Breen will be joined by the other two members of the group, fiddler Cathy Clasper-Torch and percussionist Ron Schmitt. In the photo at right, they're, from left, Cathy, Phil, Ron, Otis and Peter.

The Gnomes will also be opening the Southside Community Land Trust's 15th annual Rare and Unusual Plant Sale Saturday at 10 a.m. at City Farm, at the corner of Dudley and West Clifford Streets in Providence.

India's new courtyard is terrific, by the way, with two fountains -- a corner one of bundled bamboo and another that looks like a pan pipe, with water falling from reeds of different lengths directly down into a divider between two tables. One table has chair swings for a pair of adventurous diners. Some vines are being trained to climb to the stars. This will be a nice summer hangout -- tucked behind the restaurant, away from traffic, it could be anywhere.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 12:27 PM | Permalink