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Dayton Battle of the Bands Announced for 2020

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Dayton is well known for our impressive history of pushing musical boundaries, from the invention of Funk to the incalculable influence of early 90s alternative bands Guided by Voices and The Breeders. As a new decade launches, a group of Dayton music enthusiasts are joining forces to launch the next generation of local music. 

Local music promoter Libby Ballengee (of Venus Child Productions) recently partnered with The Brightside, a new mid-size, multi-purpose event venue located in downtown Dayton. “I was so excited when The Brightside opened because there was finally a place downtown that could hold 500 person concerts. It’s the perfect size for grassroots promoters like me.” 

The key assets of The Brightside are its enormous stage and top-notch sound engineers. It’s a quality experience for performers and the audience alike. However, for new bands, it’s a big leap in cost and attendance to get up on that big stage. Ballengee felt bad about having to turn away inquiries, and sought a way to support new bands looking for a break. 

In conversations with fellow promoter and ticketing agent Zac Pitts from Sound Valley Dayton, and The Brightside’s owner Carli Dixon, Ballengee realized that they shared a mutual vision for the future of Dayton’s music community. Given Dayton’s rich musical history and impressive talent pool, how could they support the next generation of Dayton musical innovators?

The idea for a Dayton Battle of the Bands rose to the surface. Many Daytonians remember Canal Street Tavern’s Dayton Band Playoffs, although some like Pitts, were a bit too young to attend himself. While inspired by the idea, the group wants to use the platform of a competition to be more of an incubator for new bands. Bands will receive feedback from music industry experts during the playoff rounds, and the winner will get a full promotional package to take them to the next level.

The winner of Dayton Battle of the Bands will perform on the ballroom stage at The Brightside, among other prizes. PHOTO BY LIBBY BALLENGEE.

On December 6th, 2019, a call for submissions will begin via daytonbattleofthebands.com. Bands or musical acts of any genre, that have been established 5 years or less and within a 35 mile radius of downtown Dayton are eligible to apply. There is no fee to apply or perform. Online registration opens December 6, 2019 and closes on December 22, 2019.

There is one more informational sessions for bands to get more information about the competition on Tuesday,  December 17th. A band representative MUST attend one of these sessions to show proof of residency and to review how competition will work. Bands have a few days after the December meeting to complete their online registration.

Twenty bands will be selected by a review process by local judges, which includes Dr. Samuel N. Dorf, Associate Professor of Music at the University of Dayton, Tiffany Johnson, CEO of GigMerge and former VP of A&R for a Sony affiliate, Don Thrasher, longtime musician and journalist at the Dayton Daily News, among many others. 

Once the 20 participating bands are selected, they will be scheduled to perform a 20 minute set in The Brightside’s listening room, over a 5 week period January 14th, 2020 – February 11th, 2020 on Tuesday evenings. Four bands will play their best originals each week, the winners moving onto the finale will take place on February 25, 2020. Bands proceeding to the finals are picked through an equal mix of audience and judge’s votes. The Final winner will be selected by audience votes only.

This is a wonderful promotional opportunity for all 20 bands that participate! The winner will receive a full promotional kit including their very own EP recording session with Reel Love Recording Studio, a music video by Sound Valley, a professional photo shoot, and a chance to play the BIG stage at The Brightside during the Sound Valley Winter Music Festival on Saturday March 7, 2020.

Exciting details and updates to come! For additional details follow: https://www.daytonbattleofthebands.com

NEXT EVENT:

Musician Open House and Dayton Battle of the Bands Sign Up

at The Brightside – 905 E 3rd St Dayton, OH

Tuesday December 17, 2019 from 6:30-8:30pm.

Free Admission!

 

Play for Change in the Miami Valley

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A CALL FOR MUSICIANS, FILMMAKERS, AND VOLUNTEERS!

Wright State University calls for community partners, musicians, filmmakers and volunteers to participate in the worldwide music initiative, “Playing for Change.”

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM’] Launched by a multi-media group; Playing for Change is a social movement that captures the voices of musicians across the globe. A dedicated film crew crosses the globe to seek music’s most creative talent. Individual stories were woven into a single story about humanity, sung and played by some of the world’s most inspiring artists. For more information, visit http://playingforchange.com/.

Wright State University will add the voice of the Miami Valley to this growing initiative. The Miami Valley Playing for Change project is in need of local filmmakers, musicians, and other volunteers to participate in creating a video, featuring a blend of positive songs to uplift and showcase our region. Like the video above – a diverse collection of musicians of all different backgrounds, genres and instruments are invited to share their talents on a song that will become greater than the sum of its parts.

Heading up the program is Dr. Robert J. Sweeney, Executive Vice President for Planning at Wright State University. Sweeney was drawn to this project based on the great cultural impact it has demonstrated; the music program is bringing together communities that would have never otherwise worked together and crossing barriers across the globe. Regarding why he’s bringing it to the Miami Valley, he says, “We had Mark Johnson speak as a part of our Presidential Lecture Series and the response from the community to his message was overwhelming.  I know our musicians, filmmakers and community of volunteers rival any region in the world.”

Musicians may be soloists or bands/groups/choirs that use voice and/or instruments; the project seeks to highlight many different genres of locally connected musicians. Participating bands/artists will perform one or more of the featured songs while filmmakers shoot the performances at locations throughout the Miami Valley between July 14 and August 3.

The featured songs include:

“Nothing Can Stop Us Now” by Starship

“Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow” by Fleetwood Mac

“I Can See Clearly Now” by Johnny Nash

“We Are” by Sweet Honey in the Rock

The final product will be a video montage of the performances uploaded early September for a worldwide audience with a possible special reception to feature the songs/videos.

 

Miami Valley ‘Playing for Change’ Submission Guidelines:

Deadline: July 14, 2012

Please email submission information to Dr. Robert J. Sweeney, Executive Vice President for Planning and Secretary to the Board of Trustees, at [email protected]. In the subject of your email, please type “Playing for Change.”

Musicians: Participating musicians will need to learn one or up to all of the featured songs to participate. If interested, please submit your information including:

(1) The name of your band (or you as an individual artist),

(2) Musical Genre

(3) Instrument(s)

(4) Number of performers (soloists and groups welcome)

(5) Video, audio recording, Web site, additional information, etc

(5) Contact information, including your name, email and phone number

Filmmakers: Please submit the following information:

(1) What type of experience you have (camera, sound, edit, etc.),

(2) Length of time in industry

(3) Special equipment you may have,

(4) Reel, resume, additional information, etc.

(5) Contact information, including your name, email and phone number

 Other Volunteers: For any music lovers or champions of the Miami Valley who would like to participate in this event (i.e. donating bottled water or other snacks for shooting days, being an extra hand on set, etc.), please contact us with:

(1) What area you would like help with and

(2) Your contact information, including your name, email and phone number

 

A Testimony To Our Time Remaining

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The Bengsons Perform The Proof

The Bengsons CD Release Party w/Walk The Moon
Thursday, January 20 · 8:00pm – 11:30pm
Location: Canal Street Tavern
308 East 1st Street
Dayton, OH

Abigail and Shaun Bengson

Shane Anderson, the technical director for the Encore Theater Company called me one late afternoon last October saying that I needed to come down to the Oregon District to check out the Bengsons. He said they were a husband and wife musical duo that were rehearsing their latest project, The Proof. I told him I’d be glad to and then asked him what kind of music they performed. That’s about the point when the conversation fell apart. Shane began by describing elements from the musical Hair, then switched up, describing what they did as “folk opera.” After more adjective searching, vaudeville, cabaret and folksy were tossed out before Shane conceded that it was difficult to describe their music and told me that I should just come down and see them for myself.

A cold Autumn drizzle covered the cobblestone streets in a slick sheen as I made my way over to the building that housed Encore. I entered and was met by Shane who led me upstairs to a rehearsal room where around fifteen or twenty people were scattered about. Abigail Bengson was flanked on her right by singers J.J. Parkey and Shawn Elizabeth Storms. On her left, her husband stood motionless, eagerly tuning his guitar. Behind the singers, musicians Bart Helms and Zach Wright were readying their own instruments. Abigail began the evening by welcoming everyone and thanking them for showing up before she launched into an abridged description of what their latest project entailed.

The premise caught me by surprise by its complexity. This was a story about two lovers who, upon finding out that the husband was suffering from a terminal disease, consciously decided to compress the sixty years or so that they once imagined that they together into a single year, which was what reality and circumstance had afforded to them. As they launched into an condensed version of the whole poetic précis, I felt the same loss of adjectives to describe what I was witnessing that Shane had had earlier.

The music ranged from boisterously defiant anthems to somber melodies, with each singer’s voices fading in and out, making room for a new voice, a new segment of the story. The melodies themselves conveyed a hue of their own, painting a picture of the passage of time as well as capturing moments lost to an impending sadness. Abigail’s resonating voice pitched and dove, holding a balance between incessant denial of the inevitable to the shrill sorrow of acceptance. Her eyes were brilliantly focused, her countenance held in a tightly coiled dramatic smile that communicated that which was left unsung. Her arms flailed, as if conducting an invisible orchestra, or as if she was holding a weaver’s needle, stitching the vignettes of the opera into a full tapestry of song. Shaun Bengson’s vocals were, at times, were a roughly hewn counterpoint, and at others, in a harmonious union with his wife’s voice. Shaun held together the elements of the opera through his musicianship and the acceptance of his character’s fate.

Afterwards, the group collected together, and asked the audience for their input, which most were eager to share. It wasn’t what most would expect, such as incremental advice or suggestions for improvement. The small audience had been personally touched by the message that the shortened opera had expressed and they responded with their own stories of loss or their fear of losing someone that they loved. After more than half an hour of discussion, everyone went their separate ways and I was able to talk to Abigail and Shaun over a beer.

J.T.: With you two being a couple, taking on a subject like this…you have to project and extrapolate that story onto the other person. Does that become bothersome at times?

Shaun: I think that that is where this piece actually came from. When we fell in love, we fell really quick. We were engaged after only like three weeks of dating, it was also at that moment that we also felt our mortality, you know what I mean? Falling in love with someone is also like falling in love with something that is flesh and blood and something that will eventually die. So, that’s where this piece came from It was Abigail’s original idea, like 2½ to 3 years ago and it has taken us this long to do it because it was just too painful to look at. I mean, it’s like a whole evening of looking at one of us dying.

Abigail: A lot of our work has been kind of political and things that we do and our passionate about, but they are pretty outside of ourselves, so this is the first piece where every song we were writing was about this. Everything that we were fucking doing was about this. We were trying to ignore it. We said the opera was about something else for a long time until, finally, we looked at each other and said, ‘You know what this is about, don’t you? Let’s just get to writing the opera that’s writing itself. The one that’s actually happening.’ Because it’s coming from a really pure place, it’s absolute gratitude and absolute terror, and that’s what it’s about.

J.T.: I can see one other correlation between the opera and where you would almost go through the stages of death with this because you went through the denial, you went through the anger and then you accepted your fate. There are also correlations with birth as well.

Abigail: (laughing) That’s exactly right! There is even the rebirth of becoming a married person.

Shaun: I was thinking that, even in mundane ways, there was a real ‘testing period’ once we were engaged because we got engaged so quickly that, whether our friends got it or not, or whether we would shut them out or let them in, our life looked incredibly different a year after we got engaged than it did a year before. Everything was different, from the people we were around to the things that we were doing…it really was a kind of death and rebirth.

Abigail: We changed everything.

J.T.: But then you start looking at the moments again, and those are the most painful. I mean, like you two together, doing this opera and revisiting your own mortality so often, how many walks do you have together? How many romantic baths do you have together? Would you take for granted the small things after facing the inevitable with this opera?

Abigail: For me, it was falling in love that…it’s so fucking cheesy, but it’s true…that made me, and not always in a comfortable way, but sometimes in a desperate way, want to have those moments and know I was having them. I didn’t just want to take a bath…I wanted to take the bath and it was happening in the moment.

J.T.: Putting too many expectations on something tends to overshadow the moment. Things like that have to be organic or else they become eclipsed by expectations.

Abigail: Right! But that is exactly what the opera is about! I guess it’s more about consciously enjoying each other as much as we can, not taking things for granted and living every moment that we’re living.

Shaun: We just read East Of Eden for the first time and we had never read Steinbeck before. There’s this character, Adam, and he has a whole decade of his life that is lost to the Army which was filled with lots and lots of boredom and, suddenly, ten years had passed. The quote in the book is something like, ‘Time passes without notice without any posts to hang the hat of memory upon.’ That has been another point that we keep coming back to, a point of real inspiration for this, finding these posts to hang the hat of memory upon, so instead of ten years going by in a flash, it’s like one year that feels like ten years.

J.T.: Well, of course, this project has had to draw you two together on some level…

Shaun: It’s so much ‘our life’ that it’s hard to pick apart the pieces…

Abigail: No kidding!

Shaun: I just think it’s amazing that I get to do this with the woman that I love. There is also the point that the simple act of creation can be really hard because we both really, really care about it, so sometimes we’ll be writing something and we’ll find ourselves avoiding each other or fighting and we wonder what the cause is, then we realize it is the writing, that it has become so emotional to create something that it bleeds into our lives.

Abigail: What we are creating with is the stuff of emotions.

Shaun: Sometimes we’ll get really emotional about something and misconstrue that, like, ‘Oh no! She’s upset with me!’ or ‘I’ve upset her,’ but it’s just dealing with the emotions of creation.

J.T.: That goes in line with another question that I have. Both of you are very emotive and very fervent about what you do. Do the lines ever blur between what the project is and what real life is, because you may become so wrapped within the role…

Abigail: Gosh, you know, right now…if we never sang another song, we would still be in love. I feel that it is my job to help Shaun to be himself in the world and visa versa. It’s something that we try to build together and a huge part of who we both are is this work, so building it together is an extension of who we are. It’s not that we’re literally going through what this character is going through, but, at the same time, I do feel really connected.

Shaun: We do believe that while theater isn’t therapy, but when we are doing the characters and the situations obviously came from things in our real lives and what we are going through, but when we’re doing it, we are trying to draw inspiration from the emotion that it arouses and use it to access it.

Abigail: That is probably why, this time, we are inviting other people into the process much earlier than we have before…

Shaun: Because it could get really inward looking and neurotic.

Abigail: We’re also super-perfectionists and we usually don’t show people anything until it’s done. Part of inviting people the process so early with this piece is, by its own nature, an insular work.

Shaun: I think the one thing that you point to that is a real danger is the danger of it becoming ‘precious,’ like our pretty little gem that we try to keep to ourselves.

Abigail: And that’s why we have to keep bringing it out so that we remember that it is something to give away.

J.T.: Well, theater isn’t therapy, but it is a realization. There are subconscious things that you are going to stumble across that may surprise you emotionally. What is something that you would want someone to take away from this?

Shaun: Wow, that’s a good question…the thing about our shows in general, and I know it sounds all hokey and hippie, but the most important thing to us is the creation of a loving space. The only thing that would make us feel badly about our shows is if we walked away feeling ‘slick,’ like we pulled something over the audiences eyes, so the core of what we do is to try and make everything an open, loving space and draw all that energy into it. In terms of this specific show…

Abigail: I think that that still stands. I mean, I have my big britches about what they’re going to take away (laughing)…

Shaun: (laughing) I guess I don’t know what I want them to take away from this…

J.T.: That’s the most honest answer I’ve ever gotten to that question! Well, what are other people’s impression of the show?

Shaun: A lot of the people that we have told the story of the show to, or have played some of the music for, have immediately had personal anecdotes that they have related to it. Whether it was having someone die or having a loved one go through some sort of illness. That part has been somewhat gratifying and serendipitous so far.

Abigail: Even tonight, during the feedback afterwards, I feel that people are reaching into their own lives and were are really lucky for the generosity of their stories. I think that is what this is all about really. It’s finding someone who is your anchor in this life that raises the stakes. You take care of yourself better for the other person because you have a responsibility to that other person to be here as long as you can.

True Man Group

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The Blue Man Group Set To Perform At Schuster Center

September 29th, 2010

            I somehow became fascinated with the Blue Man Group quite some time ago. It is an easy thing to do, what with the level of musicianship, production values and sheer creativity of the troupe. What fascinated me most, however, is that the basic premise of the Blue Man being the perfect empty vessel, the perfect blank screen on which countless elemental dreams could be projected upon. The music seems to serve as an insistent accompaniment for the journey.

I had heard that the Blue Man Group were creating a new production, so I secured an interview with Mark Frankel, one of the members of the Blue Man Group who will be appearing inDayton. I

“Yeah, we just finished a load-in and tech in Fayetteville,Arkansas and we were sort of working out the bugs. We did some previews there that showed us that we really have a great show on our hands.” Frankel went on to say that, “Fayetteville was exciting and inDallas, the opening has been really, really strong and then the next city isDayton. Daytonians are going to be some of the very first people to have a chance to see this show.”

What are the differences between this new show and the other tours that the Blue Man have embarked on?

“There will be some elements that you may recognize from the Vegas shows, but then there is some brand new content that is focusing on technology and our relationships to things like Facebook and our devices like iPhones and Blackberries…these devices that kind of put up barrier between us, so we’re taking a good look at it. If you go around outside and you’re walking with your kids and you’ll see a parent that’s got his face down into his Droid or whatever and looking at stuff on Facebook…he’s actually experiencing the world through this little two dimensional device when there is a whole three dimensional world right in front of him.”

So, if I’m connecting the dots correctly, a group of blue mutes are going to teach us something about communication?

Mark Frankel

“That’s a fair point. Yeah, but it speaks to the honest nature that the Blue Man communicates. Because he is silent, he is not bound to any sort of text that would dictate an emotion, the audience member can take away an experience that’s personal to them.” Frankel said. “It’s a very effective way to communicate an emotion as opposed to a play, where there’s lines that dictate, ‘I’m angry’ or ‘I’m sad.’ It’s a charm of the character and it’s a unique way to convey an idea.”

With technology and communication as a theme, have there been a lot more technological elements added to the show?

“With regards specifically with the new show, I think that there are some very, very exciting technical elements that really have never been tried before. I know that that is kind of trite to say, but truly, we are doing stuff where these systems had to be designed to do exactly what we wanted them to do, so it’s not just lights. We’re using video and lighting as well and the video screens are interactive with…the whole stage is part of what we are calling 2.5 D (two and a half dimensional).” Explaining further, Frankel said, “It’s a 3D show interacting with two dimensional video and we are kind of jumping between those two worlds a lot. Again, we are dealing with these two different worlds all the time and I think the lines are starting to blur. I don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing.”

Sometimes, hiding in plain sight was the best way to show your true self, your actual nature. I wondered if Frankel had found this to be true from becoming his character.

“Yeah, that’s a very true part of this character…a truism, if you will. By putting on this mask, we’re actually able to be more honest. It’s not unlike, and I’m sure we’ve all had this experience, when you meet somebody and you know that this relationship is going to be finite and you know that you’ll probably never see this person again, you’re way more honest with them than someone with whom you would see again and who you’ll have consequences with. So, by the same stroke, with this mask, they don’t know who we are and they shouldn’t really care who we are: they’re just looking at this character and I can be totally myself with them. In fact, in a way, some people have said that with this character, that by putting on this mask, we’re not really putting on a mask, but that we’re taking away the normal mask that we wear and what you’re seeing with the Blue Man character is the layer beneath…maybe even several layers beneath.”

Frankel went deeper with his explanation of the Blue Man character by putting it in terms of everyday life.

“We all put on masks every day. You go to your job and we have to put on that smiling face for your boss and your co-workers and you go home and you have to pretend that the day hasn’t driven you nuts and you have to be a good dad or a good partner or whatever.” Frankel went on to say that, “These things, if you were really, really stripping them down and really being honest. The Blue Man is essentially taking the human condition and bringing it down to its basic elements: wonder, love, caring, humor, the hero, the shaman, anger happiness. All these things are arc of the show that the Blue Man is experiencing in a very open and a very clear way.”

The piercing lights and percussive sounds emanate from the stage, with frenetically moving figures silhouetted against a backdrop of flashing video screens as knurled and curled PVC instruments wend their way this way and that. This is the performance. This is the routine…but not the reality. The Blue Man Group, while being an entertaining and creative force, also serve as a microscope by which we can view our own relative existence from a very safe distance, allowing these blue mutants the luxury of exploring the outer fringes and base realities of the human condition.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR3ZcTb-PJU’]