Friday Evening, May 18th, 2012.  Miché Fambro

Miché Fambro is known by many different people for very different things. Some know him as the dynamic band leader of one of Upstate NY's most popular bands a few years back. Others know him as an extraordinary guitarist/vocalist singer-songwriter touring through their small town ("Why are you here??"),  performing with the energy and sound of a full band on his single instrument. And, still others recognize him as a jazz crooner, lending his fluid voice to beloved classics. His grandfather, a Vaudeville "hoofer," knew him as the boy who wouldn't listen, and chose to shape his life around music/entertainment despite the experienced advice of his elders.  And, it has been a challenge. No doubt about it - Grandpa Fambro was right. Nonetheless, the passion has never dimmed and the urge to create has only grown with time. Miché is always fully committed, completely immersed, creatively propelled.

Hailing from upstate NY, singer, guitarist and songwriter Miché Fambro specializes in a more quiet storm -a delicate blend of acoustic chamber folk, Brazilian tropicalismo and metaphysical introspection -you can practically feel the ambient hush hanging over Fambro's elegant picking and the sweet longing and devotion in his singing.  Beautiful, earnest, soulful.  --David Fricke, Rolling Stone

Miché and the Anglos was the Phish of Flower City, the Dave Matthews Band of the Genesee Valley, or any analogy that may actually impress you and could easily be inserted psychically here.  I know about such things because I was a Miché and the Anglos groupie. It's the only band I have ever followed around the country. I wasn't the only one. Miché Fambro looked like actor LeVar Burton, played guitar like Michael Hedges, and sang like some vocal intersection of Al Jareau, John Popper and Corey Glover.  My girlfriend at the time had the hots for him. It was OK. Everybody's girlfriend had the hots for him. Everybody's girlfriend received special dispensation to have the hots for him. Miché and the Anglos disbanded in 1990 and Fambro developed a solo act that involved intricate, percussive acoustic guitar and soaring vocals.  --Steve Penhollow, The Journal Gazette 

Sunday Evening, June 17th, 2012.  Music By Sage

Sage, for those with an Eclectic Taste for music, is an avant-garde, powerful yet soothing, live acoustic / electric, two piece, music group featuring Maria Pennello, lead vocalist & flutist. Maria, who for several years, sang with The Rocky Horror Show and backup for Meat Loaf, possesses a passionate, unique, strong and soulful voice. Utilizing multiple guitar effects, Maria is accompanied by performing & studio musician, guitarist / background vocalist Phil Carollo. 

Sage, falling between the typical acoustic (soloist, duo, trio) and a 4 or 5 piece band, is a two piece group with the power of a complete band, without the deafening volume. 

"...What distinguishes Sage as a duo is how the guitar never merely accompanies the voice nor does the voice overwhelm the guitar, but, rather, how each join the other and the two become one. How do you explain this? They click..."

--Matthew Crain, The Easton Irregular

Saturday Evening, June 23rd, 2012.  Electric Diamond

Karen Bentley - Violin (Special Guest Artist)

     
ELECTRIC DIAMOND is a unique one of   a kind ensemble,  dedicated to presenting live electronic classical music concerts. 

ELECTRIC DIAMOND is arguably one of the longest-lived electronic performance ensembles - 35 years plus and going strong. The ensemble first performed in 1976 playing concerts at Carnegie Recital Hall, Symphony Space, the Guggenheim Museum and other venues of the New York 1970s new music scene. In the mid 1980’s electronic wind player founder Stuart Diamond joined forces with the ecletic electric keyboard innovator Don Slepian, whose credits and talents are legendary – from artist-engineer-in-residence at Bell Laboratories to the original ambient sound painter for “Music form the Hearts of Space”.  Together they began presenting programs that integrated classical music with free-flowing improvisations – from Bach to Mussorgsky, from medieval dances to Native American soundscapes. They have performed throughout America and Asia, performing for the erudite audiences at Steinway Hall to the mass audiences at the Macy’s 4th of July Celebration in downtown Manhattan. 

ELECTRIC DIAMOND’s performances are seamless and flowing meditations, integrating classical, jazz, pop, folk, medieval music into the original sound that is Electric Diamond. Think electronic-classical-raga.

"A wonderful trip into the asteroids...a fully symphonic piece of intense dignity and feeling."-- VARIETY

"Turning rock and roll into chamber music may be about as elusive a trick as the alchemists' dream of turning lead into gold, but Stuart Diamond, at least to my ears has done it...ahead of his time." -- MIAMI HERALD

"Imaginative, visual , linear music the music Tolkien might have written if he had used a piano instead of a pen" 
-- THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR 

Sunday Evening, October 7th, 2012.   Joe Marson 

Journeyman singer/songwriter Joe Marson has been to, if not lived in, nearly every major city in the United States and even some abroad.

At 25, his soulful tracks pack wisdom and experience beyond their years. While his sophomore album "Post Card from Siren City" is receiving nationwide radio play, Marson's supporting tour takes a much more intimate approach to promotion.  Marson has made a habit of performing smaller cities along the way. Given the personal nature of his music, it is only fitting that he play his acoustic shows in small, personal settings. House shows have become a staple of Marson's musical travels. While open to the public, the removal of a venue creates an affordable night of camaraderie for musician and audience alike.

"Most of my tour will consist of house shows actually," Marson points out. "I think house concerts capture the essence of a grass-roots movement. It's sort of the opposite to spreading your music through social media where everything is on a large scale but an impersonal platform. The performer is in an intimate setting and everyone there is there to listen to the music, as opposed to a loud bar where music can easily become the background to drinking and debauchery, which has its place too, but not so much during an acoustic set."

The atmosphere adjuncts well to the mission of Joe Marson's music, which is to spread hope. Having suffered from intense depression for much of his life, Marson's goal in writing "Post Card from Siren City" was to inspire and uplift, an objective made more probable with the establishment of close interaction with his audience.

ArtMusic Coffeehouse
is hosted by
Don Slepian and Jan Julia.
It is part of Concerts In Your Home.