Tag Archives: New York

CD Review: Brooklyn Duo Mark Rogers and Mary Byrne…the music is subtle and minimalist while remaining dynamic and stylistically robust

Mark Rogers & Mary Byrne CD coverArtist: Mark Rogers and Mary Byrne
Title: I Line My Days Along Your Weight
Label: Important Records
Genre: folk noir/folk music

CD review by Dante Mann

I Line My Days Along Your Weight, the debut album by Mark Rogers and Mary Byrne , is compelling and an intriguing form of modern folk. There is a distinct southern flavor to this album; the music is subtle and minimalist while remaining dynamic and stylistically robust.

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Concert Review: Mark Rogers and Mary Byrne…showcasing an eclectic modern folk sound with a southern noir sensibility

Date: October 14, 2014
Venue: Rockwood Music Hall (NY)

Concert Review by Dante Mann

Photo by  John Greco

Photo by John Greco

It is rare when two folk musicians can keep a room’s rapt attention and intimately engaged for the entirety of a performance. These Georgia-to-New York transplants, Mark Rogers and Mary Byrne accomplished such a feat last Tuesday, kicking off a tour in support of their beautifully titled new album I Line My Days With Your Weight.

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Film Screening: “JIMI: All is By My Side” by John Ridley

 JIMI: All is By My SideVenues: AMC Empire (234 42nd Street, NY 10002) & Landmark Sunshine (143 E Houston Street, NY 10002)
Date: September 26, 2014
Ticket Phones: AMC Empire: 212-398-2597 & Landmark Sunshine: 212-260-7289

When filmgoers watch JIMI: All is By My Side, which opens on September 26 in 16 American cities, they will explore musical and narrative nuances rarely discussed in conversations about Jimi Hendrix’s career. The film, which stars André Benjamin (Outkast) and Imogen Poots (28 Weeks Later), was written by Oscar-winner and directed by John Ridley (12 Years a Slave). Ridley tapped Grammy-award-winning music producer Danny Bramson (Almost Famous, Lord of the Rings) as producer and music designer and the two of them fastidiously interpreted the soundscape of the era in a way that will tickle music buffs of the period.

“The film takes place in that lost or underserved year in Jimi’s life,” explains Bramson. “We were well aware of the Hendrix Estate’s long standing reluctance to allow any of Jimi’s original songs for an unauthorized Hendrix themed film. Thus, we never sought out Jimi’s hits that came once he departed Heathrow for the Monterey Pop Festival. The musically fertile environment of John Ridley’s story allowed me to interpret Jimi’s development from playing second lead guitar with Curtis Knight in New York then forming his first group and gigging afternoon performances at the Café Wha?, onto his arrival in London at the height of it’s musical enthrallment with the indigenous American Blues. With the Hendrix standard songs out of the equation, we chose a musical design as an interpretation of Jimi’s development as a guitarist principally, and the English musical and cultural zeitgeist that informed, inspired, and propelled him. The creative challenge was staggering, underscored with the incessant personal responsibility to get it right.”

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