Gig!

Carmen and Alison do some music together in public.

Friday, June 7
6-8pm
Happy hour at Doubles II
29 Church Street
Catskill, NY
doubles2.com

6-7pm, live music by
Borgia and Davy
Songs and Arias

Bottles

CB Music at the Earthworks

Rosie will not be attending the gig,

but sends her regards.

So, the music.

I'll be playing a solo set of recent and vintage songs.  I'll do some tunes from my albums North and The Red Circle Line.  I've also got a new batch of stuff that I've been developing lately. A couple of rockers, a song about a failed relationship with a successful tattoo, some introspective and lovely melodies on the subject of hanging in with life, an innocently smutty song of true love; dreams, travel, more failed love and an ode to the dude (or dudette) who makes the train run.  I also wrote a round paying tribute to the everything bagel, have to make room for that.  All acoustic, guitar and a little ukulele.  Pun intended.

And then Alison Davy and I will perform selections from my original musical, South.

South was commissioned by a wonderful theater in NYC called Dixon Place.  We did a really fun production of it in 2009 with full cast, costumes, lights, the works.  I've been wanting to do it ever since, and one day we'll get a theater to mount it, I'm sure.  But Alison and I have been missing the songs, so we've compressed it to a single set, just music with both of us a-singin'.  It is set in 1860, to the south of North America, but to the north of South America.  It concerns a young sailor's search for his lost family.  Leaky boat, old captain, filthy cook, beautiful cook's daughter and more.  There are Amazons and an island, pirates, a father a mother; it's a lot.

Yeah, the music is great, but the good part is that Alison will join me in the singing.  She's an amazing soprano, highly skilled in the classical realm.  From time to time she joins me for my music, and she brings a lot to this collection.  Did I say amazing?  Yeah, that's the case here, she's the real deal.  And I'm not just saying that because we're married.  It's worth a listen, the songs are very beautiful, and as much of a treat as it is for me to be able to sing with Alison, she is even better for the people to hear.

So, come on over to the earthworks and check us out, it will be a lovely evening.

Sunday, August 12, 7-9 pm at the Octagon Earthworks, Newark, Ohio - free!.  If there is rain, it will get moved indoors nearby.

Ocatagon Earthworks Gig

The Octagon Earthworks in Newark, Ohio.

I'll be performing on Sunday, August 12 at the Octagon Earthworks in Newark, Ohio from 7-9pm.  This will be a fun gig. Admission is free.

I'll be performing a solo set of vintage and recent songs by my very self, which should be good because I've been practicing. Then, to elevate things a bit, I'll be joined my my wife and partner in musical crime, Alison Davy, in a pocket version of my musical South.

So, some details. First, the earthworks.

I grew up in Newark in the 1970's and the earthworks to me were just a park out by the mall where you could go picnicking. The park is called "Moundbuilders", so we called them "the mounds", earthworks came later.  I don't recall that they were thought to be important. For instance, I don't recall much mention of them in school, nor ever taking a field trip. The first time I registered them was when my next door neighbor, an architect named Don Gunnerson, designed a flag for the area designating our county "The Land of Legend". It was a schematic of the octagon mounds, which happens to be the site of a local golf course.  I recall an event one summer with a faux Native-American re-enactment of something or other with Cherokee head dressings and ceremonial dancing by what had to have been Eagle Scouts.  The performers were digging into the side of a very large mound. I'm not sure about the story but a flashpot went off, which was great. I think around this time I got the impression that they were burial mounds, I imagined dense heaps of Indian bones covered by a thin layer of dirt with golf carts driving over them; I figured they had to leave them there because it was a cemetery.

In my twenties during one particular streak of what I perceived to be misfortune, I hit upon the idea that anything bad that happened in Newark - or even to somebody raised in Newark - was because the country club built their golf course on an ancient Indian burial site and that we were all cursed, like in the movie Poltergeist.

In recent years I've learned that the earthworks are the remains of a civilization referred to by archeologists as the Hopewell culture.  They flourished from 100 BC to 400 AD.  This would be prior to Native North Americans as we generally think of them.  A small portion of the four square mile Newark Earthworks complex was used for burials, but most of it was not.  The Octagon may have relationships to seasonal positioning of stars, maybe a calendar, like Stonehenge?  In a funny twist, many earthworks in the state were flattened out and built atop over the years;  the country club probably kept the Octagon intact which I hope will remove or at least mitigate the curse.

In any case, I get to play there August 12.  I think it will be a fun gig for everyone.  I'll see if I can get another blog about the music.

Borgia on the radio this weekend

I've just learned that my Saturday gig at the Spotty Dog will air live on WGXC radio.  Although I presume everyone I have ever known will be at the show, those few who won't be in the Hudson, NY area may tune in on the Web!

http://www.wgxc.org/events/5706

This local community radio station is a mainstay of my listening in Catskill.  They've got local DJ's playing music of great variety (take that, ipod!) and talk shows of local and world interest.  They also broadcast local music events and other shows (duh), so, they're well worth a regular listen.

Yay, WGXC!


Carmen Borgia plays the Spotty Dog
Saturday, July 7 2012, 8pm
Hudson, NY

CB plays the Spotty Dog in Hudson NY

This will be fun.  I'm playing at The Spotty Dog in Hudson, NY, this is a fabulous place to be.  It's a legendary bookstore, coffee house, beer dispensary and art supply store in one exquisite establishment.  Also, as if that is not sufficient, it serves as a very simple and happy concert hall.  Frank Cuthbert, a fellow singer-songwriter, will open with a solo set of his fine material. Come check it out; Hudson, books, art, coffee, beer and even some music.  Dig it.

Carmen plays the Spotty Dog
Saturday, July 7 2012, 8pm
Hudson, NY

- - - - -

I've just learned the gig will air live on WGXC radio.  Although I presume everyone I have ever known will be at the show, those few who won't be in the Hudson, NY area may tune in on the Web!

http://www.wgxc.org/events/5706

This local community radio station is a mainstay of my listening in Catskill.  They've got local DJ's playing music of great variety (take that, ipod!) and talk shows of local and world interest.  They also broadcast local music events and other shows (duh), so, they're well worth a regular listen.

Yay, WGXC!

I'm playing at the Brik Gallery in Hudson, NY this Saturday, sometime between the hours of 2 and 7pm.  It's part of the ongoing Wall Street to Main Street art, music and social events that have been going on in Catskill for a couple of months and will continue through May.

I'll be there with my guitar and uke, playing my most musically happening and lyrically ambiguous songs to date!  Come check it out, the occupy exhibit at Brik is great and Catskill is beautiful this time of year.

Wall Street to Main Street Concert
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Brik Gallery
473 Main Street
Catskill, NY
FREE!