Category Archives: Musicians

Recommended Fundraising Campaign by Columbian Alejandro Castellano (guitar & oud)

Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

Today I would like to announce my endorsement of  Alejandro Castellano’s fundraiser campaign, who is a dear music colleague and friend of mine. I met him at a Bedford music club in Williamsburg in 2009 when his band INDRA opened up for a friend’s band. I loved his guitar sound and invited him to join my band SoSaLa. His guitar playing and guitar sounds are captured on four tracks of my CD SoSaLa Nu World Trash.

Please listen to “Ja-Jou-Ka” below which will tell you why his guitar sound is so special to me.

Continue reading →

Recommended KICKSTARTER Campaign: Skye Steele – Singing-violinist writes gnarled folk-art songs that dig deep and fly high. The record is nearly done; help him release it right!

Text by Skye Steele ………………..Up From The Bitterroot

The project
Last year I spent the month of January out in the woods of Montana’s Bitterroot Valley, writing songs, practicing, and keeping a daily dream journal.  For three weeks I wrote a song every day, Monday-Friday.  The best of those songs have become the center-piece for this album, my first full-length release as a song-writer.

Continue reading →

Recommended Indiegogo Fund Raiser Campaign: Kultue Shock…culture shock?!

Text by Kultur Shock

Who? Kultur Shock?

For those of you who do not know us, we are a Seattle based sextet, comprised of musicians from Bosnia, Bulgaria and the US. We have produced 5 LPs, 1 EP, 2 Live albums, 2 DVDs and have performed almost everywhere in Europe, many places in the US of A and Canada, and have scratched the surface of touring in Asia by playing in Russia and Turkey.

Since 2008 we released four records on our own label – Kultur Shock Records. The band has performed over 900 shows – from the tiniest club, to festivals of a magnitude we will omit mentioning, because it will look like bragging. In other words, we are hard working live band that travels a ton, plays 90 minute sweaty sets, self-produces, self-manages and self-finances everything. We do not comply with corporate requirements to do things “the way it’s done in the industry”, we are not slaves to trends, we pride ourselves in being honest in what we write (along with our political views), and approach our records and live shows as though they are the last thing we will do in our lives.

Continue reading →

Recommended KICKSTARTER Campaign by Augusta Palmer: A is for Aye-Aye: An Abecedarian Adventure

Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

I really recommend this funding campaign by my friend, fan, and DooBeeDoo contributor.

Text by Augusta Palmer

“A is for Aye-Aye” is a short film, an alphabetical journey that creates phantasmagorical new worlds from found images.

Continue reading →

Fred Ho left us…peace!

Photo courtesy of John Pietaro

Photo courtesy of John Pietaro

Text by John Pietaro

I was so very sorry to hear of Fred Ho’s passing. We had many contacts over the last couple of decades and shared performance and/or speaking engagements a few times. He was irascible and loved debates of any and every kind; he left NO prisoners! That energy allowed him to fight off this illness for so long. We last saw each other at the first Russell Maroon Shoats fundraiser at St Mary’s Church a couple of years ago where he played a powerhouse solo bari piece that illustrated none of the physical strain he was going through. I was a part of the ensemble led by Salim Washington and we performed a piece of Fred’s but he sat out that section of the gig as he was too exhausted after his solo piece. He rocked the rafters. Still, he had the passion and drive to smile so hard when he saw the musicians that he filled the hall with a warmth that made us feel a very deep love. Fred’s heart was as big as his tenacity.

Continue reading →