THE REFUGEES — CINDY BULLENS, DEBORAH HOLLAND, and WENDY WALDMAN, a legit singer/songwriter supergroup — are headed back to town for a gig April 16 at One Longfellow Square. They’ll be teasing the crowd with cuts from a soon-to-be released full-length. No word on a name or release date, though.
ARBOREA, the ethereal folk construction put together by BUCK AND SHANTI CURRAN, are ready to release a follow-up to Wayfaring Summer, April 28, on the Philly-based FIRE MUSEUM. It’s self-titled and will have national distribution through FORCED EXPOSURE, so it’s definitely a coming-out party. Listen for cello cuts from HELENA ESPVALL (of Espers and solo work) on “Red Bird” and “Black Mountain Road.” They next play here June 6 with FERN KNIGHT.
PORTLAND MUSIC FOUNDATION board member MARK LOURIE, a booking agent for SKYLINE MUSIC responsible for the SUBDUDES and MICHELLE SHOCKED, among others, is again teaching his "GIGGING 101" course for USM’s continuing education offerings. Starting May 14, for a very reasonable price, you can get the low-down on the best way to get gigs and be successful playing them. Roughly 75 people saw Lourie give a pared-down version of this course February 20 at the PMF’s first members-only educational forum. This class will expand that into four 90-minute sessions on consecutive Wednesdays. (Dang, that’s the practice night for the “Sibilance” staff band. We’ll never get any gigs.)
The “Sibilance” staff bumped into former EVEN ALL OUT frontman BILLY LIBBY the other night. Seems he’s still working the WHY HELLO moniker, though the band have melted away and it’s pretty much a Libby solo project at the moment. However, Libby says he’s looking to put a new band together, somewhat Shins-ish. We’re intrigued.
It’s getting to be a good year for jazz releases. !ZING dropped a disc at the PMF in early March; now the USM JAZZ ENSEMBLE will release Swingin’, music from the 2006-2007 season, directed by CHRIS OBERHOLTZER, USM director of Jazz Studies. If you’re up for the party, check out the USMers doing a “Swing into Spring” show April 22 at the Abromson Center, on USM’s Portland campus.
