Ross Boissoneau

Music Ross Boissoneau What do you do when you retire? Maybe relax, kick back in the hammock, play a round or two of golf.
Or, if you’re classically trained cellist Debra Fayroian of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, move to the Grand Traverse area and start a new music series.
“The goal’s simple,” said Fayroian. “Great chamber music in the Grand Traverse area. I want to enhance what is already here.”
In her mind, “what is already here” includes an appreciative audience ready for great music and venues perfect for chamber music. Those venues include concert halls, churches, and other community buildings in towns across the region.

Music Ross Boissoneau After bringing in various single musical artists for shows over the years, Glen Catt believed Gaylord was ready for something bigger. He had a vision of a large-scale Christian music festival that would cross musical boundaries and provide inspiration and entertainment for families. Moreover, he thought it would be a way to honor God and evangelize.
Seems he knew what he was doing, as the event, dubbed the Big Ticket Festival, brought in an average of almost 5,000 people for each day of the event. That was two years ago, and this year, organizers think they can double that number.

Features Ross Boissoneau Most people have been over the Mackinac Bridge. But how many have been under the bridge?

Music Ross Boissoneau Where can you go to get your fill of big band jazz? This Friday, April 11, you can head to Milliken Auditorium at the Dennos Museum to see not one, but two groups performing music by the likes of Glenn Miller, Woody Herman, Benny Goodman and, um, Wild Cherry.
Yes, that’s right, the NMC Jazz Lab Band and the NMC Jazz Big Band will each perform a set of pieces recalling the heyday of the big bands. But Wild Cherry? Mike Hunter, who directs both groups as well as the NMC Vocal Jazz Ensemble, promises that the rendition of “Play That Funky Music” will be a treat for listeners of a jazz bent as well as those who remember its original incarnation in the disco-fied ‘70s. “It’s a really fun, funky big band treat, originally redone by Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band,” said Hunter.

Music Ross Boissoneau Originally a fun idea for a few private parties, Creedence Clearwater Revisited – the rhythm section of the original Creedence Clearwater Revival plus a couple of stand-ins for the missing Fogerty brothers – has become a regular working band since its inception in 1995. Heck, it’s even come complete with lawsuits of the type that helped scuttle the original band back in the ‘70s.

Other Opinions Ross Boissoneau We all know we’re going to die, we just don’t want to believe it. Nor do we want to believe that others are.
It doesn’t matter. It still happens every day, far too often. It’s just that some are so unexpected, and leave gaping holes far beyond their family.
That is what Empire is going through right now. If you ever stopped for gas at the station at the corner of M-72 and M-22, the one owned for years by his parents and by his grandparents before them, you probably saw Roy Taghon. He was the skinny guy at the counter, the one with the sparkling eyes dancing behind those big glasses. Forty-two years young, his hair heading south, his legs heading somewhere. Roy was never still for more than about a minute. Too much caffeine, you might think, but the strongest thing I ever saw him drink was milk.

Music Ross Boissoneau Mannheim Steamroller, helmed by the ever-busy Chip Davis, talks with Express’ Ross Boissoneau about Mannheim’s latest holiday album, Cinnamon Hot Chocolate, and the Kennedy Space Center. Yes, all of that is related somehow - read on!
EXPRESS: Why did you first decide to do a Christmas album?
DAVIS: I have always been fascinated with the history and tradition of Christmas carols. When I recorded my first Christmas album in 1984, it was because I wanted to take the carols that I knew and combine modern day instruments with instruments from the Renaissance era. Ever since the first Christmas record, the fans have participated on what songs would be included on the next one.

Music Ross Boissoneau When Brian Setzer brings his Christmas show – and his swinging 17-piece orchestra – to the Odawa Casino in Petoskey for Saturday night’s show, the place will be both swingin’ and rockin’ - that’s a given. But what fans might not realize is just how much holiday music they’ll hear, and just how it will be... well, Setzerized.

SWINGIN’ SETZER
Since bursting onto the scene with his big band in 1994, Setzer has headed the swing revival, but while many of the bands that rode that wave have all but disappeared (think Squirrel Nut Zippers or Royal Crown Revue), Setzer has kept on keeping on.
While some of his music already has a certain cheesiness – it’s been compared to Doc Severinsen’s “Tonight Show” band with tattoos – that cheese factor increases dramatically as Setzer & crew take on the holiday sounds of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas,” Rogers and Hammerstein’s “My Favorite Things,” and everyone’s favorite, “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch.” So what? The soulful saxes, punchy trumpets, and rollicking trombones make short work of any criticism.

Music Ross Boissoneau John Fogerty – Revival – Fantasy
Since John Fogerty disbanded Creedence Clearwater Revival, he’s abdicated his role as spinner of Americana to the likes of John Mellencamp and Bruce Springsteen.

Features Ross Boissoneau Ice cream, beaches, parades - it’s easy to pick the best of summer in those categories. The trick is to find the hits of the season in the more - well, shall we say less-thought-of places.

Rodent of the summer
Remy, the rat who’s the almost-title character of Disney/Pixar’s summer hit, Ratatouille, is smart, funny, and conniving. Unlike his real-life counterparts, however, he has amusing sidekicks, including France’s most famous chef, brought back to life by his oversized imagination, and the staff at the late chef’s restaurant. Ratatouille gets the vote here as movie of the year. (www.ratatouille.com.)

Music Ross Boissoneau This year’s Guitar Masters Series at Interlochen includes axe-slingers that other guitarists stand in awe of, guitarists from the area who have made it big elsewhere, and at least one guitarist nearly everyone has heard, though they may not heard of him.
Got that? Well, that’s what you get when you include fingerstyle master Leo Kottke, and Traverse City’s own Jeff Bihlman from the Bihlman Brothers/Son Seals Band and Kenny Olson of The Flask. Then there’s Howard Alden, who’s played on albums by a who’s who of jazz musicians but is perhaps most notable for being the musician behind Sean Penn’s leading role in Woody Allen’s “Sweet and Lowdown.”
As was the case last year, the series is split into three nights, with days given over to classes for guitar students. The shows will be held each night at Corson Auditorium at 8 p.m.
The first night’s show on Thursday, Aug. 23, features Kottke, who has been enthralling audiences and dumfounding other guitarists since the late ‘60s. His breathtaking technique and unusual tunings on the guitar have earned him a cult following since his 1971 disc “6 and 12-String Guitar” on fellow guitarist John Fahey’s Tacoma label.

Music Ross Boissoneau Various Artists – A Tribute to Joni Mitchell - Nonesuch
With Joni Mitchell in semi-retirement, this star-studded tribute reminds us of what an interesting songwriter Mitchell was (and presumably still is). When artists as diverse as Bjork, Prince, Brad Meldau, Annie Lennox and James Taylor can find something in common with the music, you know you’re onto something. Sarah McLaghlan’s take on “Blue” is mesmerizing, and no less is Lennox’s reworking of “Ladies of the Canyon.” Those two tracks are followed jarringly by Emmylou Harris’s twangy “The Magdalene Laundries.” If it all sounds a bit bizarre, you’re beginning to get the idea. So what works, and what doesn’t? Elvis Costello’s “Edith and the Kingpin” features bass clarinet leading the horns alongside vibes in an altogether brilliant arrangement, while Lennox is her always original self. But best of all is k.d. lang’s version of what may be Mitchell’s most familiar tune - “Help Me.” Arresting, engaging, and occasionally uneven, this tribute is every bit as arresting as Mitchell herself.

Music Ross Boissoneau Christmastime is here,” sang the Peanuts gang 41 years ago in the classic TV special “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” And so it is again, with as many new recordings of holiday chestnuts as you could hope to fit under the tree.
Speaking of Peanuts, one of the offerings this year is a remastered version of the soundtrack to that seminal animated special. Vince Guaraldi’s creations remain staples of the holiday season, whether it’s Schroeder’s – I mean Guaraldi’s – “Linus and Lucy” or the immortal “Christmas Time Is Here,” heard here in not only instrumental and vocal versions, but an alternate vocal take, one of four bonus tracks on the disc.

Music Ross Boissoneau What is 40% Cars, 40% Utopia and 20% the hardest hitting man in rock and
roll?
Take a look under the hood and you’ll see it’s The New Cars, featuring
original Cars Elliot Easton and Greg Hawkes (guitar and keyboards,
respectively), with Todd Rundgren and Kasim Sulton channeling Ric Ocasek
and the late Ben Orr. Tubes drummer Prairie Prince, who’s also spent time
with Todd and Jefferson Starship/Airplane, keeps the motor humming.
The New Cars make their Michigan debut Tuesday, Nov. 28 at the Kewadin
Casino in St. Ignace. They were scheduled to play this summer at DTE
Energy Music Theater in Clarkston on a double bill with Blondie, but just
days before the show the tour bus was involved in an accident and Easton
broke his arm.

Music Ross Boissoneau A rock band joining forces with an orchestra isn’t so far-fetched. Groups like Emerson, Lake and Palmer, the Moody Blues and Yes have paired their brand of symphonic rock with orchestras over the years.
But Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson has gone them one better. He’s ditched Tull for the moment in favor of a “more flexible” rock band that works within a symphony orchestra, performing a set of Tull and Anderson solo favorites, along with a smattering of classical tunes. Anderson hasn’t quit Tull by any means, but relishes the chance to do something different.
“It’s part of the luxury I can afford,” said Anderson of this tour, which finds
him and his hand-picked group perform-ing alongside the Traverse Symphony Orchestra at Interlochen on Wednesday July 19. “I can dabble at this, dabble
at that.”