Indie pop singer/songwriter Tom Howie returns to our stage 11/21/09

Tom Howie

Saturday, November 21

8:00 pm

tickets: $10 / students with ID $7

at the door or online via Brown Paper Tickets

Tom Howie’s talent lies in his ability to weigh the ups and downs of what is really meaingful in ways that awaken us to our own reality. He confronts his confusion and ours while instilling in us a message of hope. Audiences respond with quiet knowing when he sings about a world he doesn’t completely understand or agree with.

"...one incredibly talented singer-songwriter...soon-to-be-household name Tom Howie."

- Kelly Doody, The Calgary Sun

The 21-year-old Canadian is currently a scholarship student at the Berklee College of Music. Despite his age, he's already had a production deal with Ashwin Sood, drummer for acclaimed singer/songwriter Sarah McLachlan (with Sarah performing on several of the tracks, he released an EP entitled Song is the Lifeblood), he has been courted by major labels, and has played extensively throughout Western Canada.

“I was having all these incredible experiences. I was recording with the pros, opportunity was on my doorstep, and everything was great, but it just didn’t feel right,” Tom says when asked about the experiences. “At the end of the day, you have to be 100% creatively behind what you are doing or else no one is going to believe you. I was creatively confused and lost and my heart just wasn’t in it. It just didn’t feel right.”

What did feel right was to apply to Berklee College of Music in Boston. Not only was he accepted, he received a songwriting scholarship to attend. “I’m just writing songs that capture my reality, and the more I do it, the more I realize that everyone else is going through the exact same things I am.”

    check out a free MP3 download from Tom's page ...

Here's video from Tom's appearance at Studio 99 from last summer:

The 11/19/09 edition of The Hippo had this to say about Tom:

"Here's a singer/songwriter with Disney Channel good looks, playing easy acoustic folk reminiscent of John Mayer, Jason Mraz, and Howie Day.  Aerosmith's Steve Tyler, recently healing from an ill-timed stage dive, was all smiles last September after Howie performed in a club near Tyler's Lake Sunapee home..."

Uncle Fran's Breakfast brings its bluesy style to the Studio November 13

Uncle Fran's Breakfast

Friday, November 13

8:00 pm

tickets $5.00 at the door 

Uncle Fran's Breakfast, a trio based in Wilton, NH, features a sound built around blues, funk, and sometimes even rockabilly.  

Fresh from their recent popular appearance at the center stage of the Pumpkin Fest in Milford last month, Uncle Fran's Breakfast (Shea Vaccaro, bass and vocals; Jonah Tolchin, guitar and vocals; and Seamus Conley, drums) will bring their trademark energy to their debut performance at Studio 99.  

Boston-based cabaret/jazz favorite Dane Vannatter, December 6

an afternoon of cabaret jazz with

Dane Vannatter

Sunday December 6

3:00 pm

tickets $12 / $8 for seniors and students with ID

at the door or online via Brown Paper Tickets

Dane and his band, 2009Dane Vannatter was awarded the 2006 Bistro Award for Outstanding Vocalist by the critics of BackStage in New York. Dane has been acclaimed by reviewers at The New York Post, The Boston Globe and BackStage for a style that "blends facets of cabaret and jazz with intelligence and care."

The Boston Globe remarks "Dane Vannatter's distinctive style leaves an imprint on whatever music he sings. His voice has a floating quality that gets in your head and won't leave....his music is a swinging, soaring adventure!"

Dane is also the recipient of the 2000 Bistro Award for Outstanding CD for his second recording Flight. He has been nominated for 4 MAC awards and is a 2007 Nightlife Award finalist. Dane has performed for several years at the annual Mabel Mercer Cabaret Convention at Town Hall in New York; and has also performed in New York at the legendary Sardi's, Cambridge's RegattaBar, and at Danny's Skylight Room. He returns to the Metropolitan Room in New York Saturday nights during September 2008. 

The Hot Seats! Sunday, November 15 @ 8 pm

The Hot Seats

Sunday, November 15

8 pm

tickets $6

"Richmond's most beloved absurdist string band..."  - Style Weekly

The Hot Seats were formed in Richmond, VA as a good-time band between new friends, many of whom were exploring a genre unknown to them on equally novel instruments. It started with weekly gig, rapidly followed by trips out of town, festival appearances, longer tours, new music, new influences, competition-winning performances (both individually and as an ensemble), a loss of three members, a critically acclaimed trip to the UK, and four albums.

With each year and step forward, the band has moved further from scatological humor and stunts for shock-value and more towards a concentration on musical complexity, a focus on the traditions from which it draws, and a tongue-in-cheek irony more comparable to Jonathan Swift than to South Park. The band, while retaining the irreverence and fun loving character of its inception, does not resemble much the ragtag ensemble of the summer of 2002. For these reasons, they are the Hot Seats, a name that connotes the frenetic frenzy this band can whip up, and one they feel better represents their current and future musical intentions, as well as their desire to share this music with a larger audience.

These intentions are to keep the role of traditional musician as entertainer and commentator alive and kicking. Homer and Jethro, The Skillet Likkers, George Formby, Harry Reser, Woodie Guthrie, Gus Cannon, Phil Ochs, Tommy Jarrell, Arthur Smith, Uncle Dave Macon, Frank Zappa – these are pools from which The Hot Seats draw. Their original music is simultaneously hard to classify and instantly identifiable, combining the virtuosic soloing and tightness of bluegrass, the band-driven rhythm of old time, the jerky bounce of ragtime, and the swagger of good old rock and roll. Add some eastern melodies, a few modernist ideals, and an uncanny feel for comic timing, and you begin to approach this sound. While striving to push tradition forward, the band takes great pride in their ability to play within a tradition style as well as without. Ultimately, the Hot Seats are most concerned with making the music that they want to hear and playing in the manner that is most entertaining to themselves; the fact that audiences and critics alike have embraced it is almost a wonderful coincidence.

The band has toured throughout the majority of the eastern and midwestern United States, and this past year took their first trip overseas. The upcoming year will see them releasing at least one full length album, as well as an album undertheir alter egos, The Zombie Stringband. There will be tours throughout the US, and they will be returning to Scotland in January of 2009 to perform at the prestigious Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow, and then again to Europe in September 2009.

PianoFrets: jazz for guitar and piano, Sunday November 15 @ 3 pm

PianoFrets

Sunday, November 15

3:00 pm

tickets $10 / seniors and students w/ ID $5

PianoFrets: guitarist Mike Loce and pianist Matt ZimmernPianoFrets is a piano/guitar duo that never fails to leave its listeners satisfied. 

PianoFrets’ improvisational, fluid style suggests a mastery of jazz classics, a sense of humor interpreting modern pop and rock tunes, and a comfort with avant-garde soundscapes. All these elements can be blended during a typical performance.  The duo consists of two local talented performers:

MATT ZIMMERN, piano, is a recording engineer, producer, keyboardist and music instructor living in West Newbury MA. Matt teaches piano and ensemble performance. He is currently finishing his masters degree in sound recording technology from UMass Lowell. He is constantly working with local bands and artists and is always creating new music.

MIKE LOCE, guitar, is originally from the Boston area and now resides in Merrimack, NH. He has been networking the New England music and guitar scene since finishing college at UMass Lowell in 1994. He works as a guitar/ensemble teacher, professional session player, and composes music in a variety of styles. Mike is a proud Associate Director of Studio 99.