The Yellow Sofa Cafe in Northampton to Host the Saturday Night 70th Birthday Year Open Mic DylanPalooza This Weekend

Continuing the celebration for Bob Dylan's 70th birthday, the Pioneer Valley Dylan and Dylan impersonation communities will converge on Northampton's storied Yellow Sofa Cafe on Saturday, July 2nd beginning at 6:30 p.m. for DylanPalooza--a 4 hour marathon open mic consisting exclusively of performances drawn from Dylan's back catalog of over 500 songs.

Communal Dylan jamming at the Yellow Sofa Cafe

earlier this Spring. "Million Miles" from "Time Out of Mind"

"I  mean, you're talking to a person that feels like he's walking around in the ruins of Pompeii all the time. It's always been that way for one reason or another." 
— Bob Dylan

"I say, any figure in popular music this well-known that has even heard of Pompeii deserves to be celebrated just for that." —Rob Douglas, Yellow Sofa performer

The idea originated asYellow Sofa owner Gabriel Moushabeck was savoring the success and communal euphoria of the Sofa's annual April "Beatles Night" hosted by local musician and writer Dave Stern and decided to have another tribute night later in the year. 

DylanPalooza participants are invited to pre-select two songs to perform from the vast Dylan catalog. In order to minimize transition time, and cut down on equipment clutter, drums, bass and keyboards and guitars lent. Musicians are encouraged to leave their things at home and use the instruments, harmonica holders, sunglasses and broad brimmed hats provided.

The evening will be hosted by veteran Yellow Sofa Thursday night Open Mic organizer Michael Silverstone who promises an evening of surprise guests along with Yellow Sofa Open Mic regulars, such as Scott Cadwallader, Dave Franklin, Jordan Franklin, Christopher Giffin, Laura Titrud, Christa Joy, and Jeremy Henderson. Says Silverstone, "This event is for everyone, from people who have never been on a stage to people who have been doing it for years. The thing I love about the Sofa is that its  audience listens and gives attention to the performer. There are some amazingly talented people who come out to Open Mic, but they also have a talent for bringing the best out of whoever plays."

Prizes will be awarded in the categories of best Protest Era Song Performance; Best Born Again-Era Rendition;  Best Appropriated Blues Structure Song Performance;  and Most Accurately Memorized Song With More than Seven Verses.

To participate, sign up for up to two songs, either by e-mailing yellowsofa@gmail.com or calling the Yellow Sofa Cafe at 413 585-5877  @ 24 Main Street, Northampton. More information is available at http://yellowsofaopenmic.blogspot.com


"Kid, don't worry about writing songs; work on your singing."--Woody Guthrie's early advice to the young Bob Dylan.



                             

Heating Up--Tonight's End of Night Song "Everything is Broken"

With uncanny appropriateness, given the tropical stormy weather and Christopher Goudreau's birthday night, we ended a memorable night of music with an extend jam on "Born on the Bayou" with Christopher burning it up with a harmonica solo.

Other highlights (not to say the only ones) included the father, son and son performances by Mark, Jordan and Dave Franklin; the sweet and gorgeous round sung by 2nd Grader Khalila and her family; to say nothing of the amazing spontaneous Happy Birthday choral tribute to Mr. Goudreau on his 20th.

Special thanks to Christopher Griffin for his donation of a magic carpet to the Sofa stage.

There are regularly so many fine and versatile musicians present, that we're going to try an experiment tonight called the Yellow Page, where we will post the names and skills of people who would be willing to collaborate or back you up if you want harmony, percussion, lead instrument, kazoo, or other musical support. Consider what you might want, and if you bring a lead sheet with you, you might just find a way to get exactly what you want, or at least what you need.

Hope you can join us tonight. The end of the night song, a favorite Dylan song of Fongster 100's is, "Everything is Broken" another blues in E7. 

On Saturday, July 2nd the Yellow Sofa will be holding its first annual DylanPalooza All-Bob Dylan song open mic.  All Dylan, no repeats, don't bring guitar, bass, keyboard or amps, there will be ones set up there already. To play, choose up to two songs, and let us know here at yellowsofa@gmail.com what they are. We'll post them on this blog so you can see what's already been taken, and we'll let you know that we got your request.

Live music in Northampton can always use your support, enlist a friend to come with you tonight and tell them to frequent the Sofa so we can help keep it stuffed.

This Thursday June 9th

Dear Yellow Sofa-terians;
Tonight's weekly Open Mic (sign up at 6:30, first performer begins at 7:05) will end with a jam song that anybody and everybody is invited to take part in. "Born on the Bayou" by John Fogarty/Creedence Clearwater Revival. For reference, and for fun, here's some video footage (micronage?) of last week's jam on "Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood". Special thanks to Chris Griffin, Laura Titrud, Rob Douglas, Scott Cadwalader, Ryan Franklin, Dave Franklin, and Joe Ihopeididntleaveanyoneout on Drums.

Here's a message for musicians and other performers from Lena Amick who has performed at the Sofa in the past.

"Hi (she says), I'm helping Carla Racine, of the Easthampton Outdoor Market, to organize a benefit concert to raise money for tornado victims in the valley. It will be a festival of music, local food vendors, and raffle tickets, with an admittance fee and many chances to donate. Right now, we're just beginning to plan things, but we know it will be all day on June 25th and 26th (Saturday and Sunday) at the site of the Outdoor Market (off Route 10 in Easthampton). We're looking for bands and musicians to play one or both of those days? Could you pass on this message or just give me some contacts of people who also might be interested in playing? think it will be a lot of fun and a great thing for the community.

For more information: contact Lena Amick    lamick@oberlin.edu

Finally, save the date of July 2nd 7-11 p.m. for the 1st Annual DylanPalooza all night/all Dylan open mic. In the tradition of the great annual Yellow Sofa Beatles Night hosted by Dave Stern, instruments bass, drums, guitars, keyboards will be provided and set up on stage for quick access, so you don't have to bring your own. In fact, we hope you don't, so people don't have to climb over 50 guitar cases to get to the bathroom. The format is that you and whatever musical friends you choose (and there will be lots you can choose from right there) can play up to 2 songs. There will be no repeats. Send your claim on up to two songs to yellowsofa@gmail.com with the heading "DylanPalooza" and we'll confirm with you as soon as we can, to let you know if it wasn't already taken. You can also check the list at the bottom of this blog which we'll keep updated.