Four Bands Launch the 11th Year of
Traveling Bonfires' “Bonfires for Peace” at Westville Pub, March
16
FOUR
bands from Asheville and two neighboring cities will be the featured
acts in “The Wind Whispers Peace,” a night of music and poetry,
set on March 16 at Westville Pub in West Asheville.
The
event—which features Rev. Syd and the Homewreckers and Brief
Awakening from Spartanburg SC, Black Canaries from Greenville SC, and
local jazz-poetry act The Caleb Beissert Band—also serve as launch
of the 11th Year of Traveling Bonfires' public community
events called “Bonfires for Peace at Pritchard Park.” Singer
songwriter Jaime Lauren Webb and poets Pasckie Pascua, TBonfires
founder, and Jadwiga McKay will also perform.
Rev.
Syd and the Homewreckers is anchored on lead vocalist and songwriter
Sydney McMath's blues and soul/gospel background. The Black Canaries
is a lounge blues band,
featuring Jen St. Stjarna on vocals and piano and James Heaton on
lead guitar. Says their site: “Music you would find in a velvet
lined bar in Las Vegas while drinking a dirty martini and talking to
a showgirl.” Brief Awakening's
members are Kat Arrants on vocals/keyboards; Kara-Lynn Petrucci on
acoustic guitar/vocals/mandolin and bass; Beck on bass; Billy Leva on
guitar; and Abi Har on drums. They list Fiona Apple, The Cranberries,
Tori Amos, Belle and Sebastian, and Ani DiFranco as influences.
The
Caleb Beissert Band, a new poetry/jazz ensemble that spawned from
several acts in Asheville, is dovetailed on Beissert's poetry and
Aaron Price's musicianship. Jaime Lauren Webb, a harp and ukulele
player, has woven a rich collection of songs that belie her youth.
Pasckie Pascua is the founding executive director of Traveling
Bonfires. His poetry has toured New York City, Baltimore, Los
Angeles, and elsewhere—apart from Asheville. Jadwiga McKay,
originally from Bay City, Michigan, is an events organizer, now
active with the Traveling Bonfires and its sideproject Wander Women.
A
cover charge of $5 entitles patrons to raffle tickets, with prizes
donated by local establishments and the sponsoring organization's
supporters. Proceeds go to logistics budget for “Bonfires for
Peace” events and Traveling Bonfires/Wander Women's continuing
breast cancer awareness program and overseas calamity relief.
The
Traveling Bonfires originated in the Philippines but has made
Asheville its home since moving here from New York City in 2002. The
“Bonfires for Peace,” the organization's centerpiece project, is
a movable feast of family fun and community connectedness through
music, arts and dancing, held at Pritchard Park in downtown
Asheville. The project had its first event in Asheville in 2003; the
program also had parallel events in Baltimore, New York City, Los
Angeles, San Francisco and Manila and Baguio City in the Philippines
through the years.
“The
coming event (at Westville Pub) is also our way of reminding the
community that we need to get together more as family and friends in
the light of recent spate of violence in the country,” says Marta
Osborne, TBonfires supervising producer. “Music and poetry always
converge people. And when we converge, we also see hope that we can
be one again.”
The
Traveling Bonfires' events enjoyed the support of a number of local
Asheville businesses, organizations, and individuals. Projects have
benefited non-profit organizations that work with at-risk youths,
families of the disappeared, orphans, and disaster victims. For more
info, http://ashevilletravelingbonfires.blogspot.com/ or call Marta
Osborne at 828 280 1555 or email pasckie@yahoo.com
FACEBOOK
EVENTS PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/events/521857704503491/
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