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Enjoy the first Songwriter Showcase at The Brightside!

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Dayton’s newest music venue, The Brightside, is presenting its first Songwriter Showcase this Wednesday May 8th, 2019. The venue has two spaces for music, a large ballroom for larger concerts and events, and a smaller listening room, that is ideal for intimate evenings such as this special showcase.

The evening starts off at 8pm with Jack Ballengee Morris performing his all original songs, accompanied by Peter Fox on cello. Morris, a 4th-generation Appalachian singer-songwriter, originally from Clay County, West Virginia. His music is planted firmly by his roots but allows for the influences of Ramblin’ Jack, John Prine, Bob Dylan and Daniel Johnston.

At 9pm, Dayton’s own Amber Hargett takes the stage. Amber received raved reviews from her recent album release performance, and has been in the Top 5 Best Sellers at Dayton’s Omega Music record store. Amber Hargett blends folk, rock, pop, roots and soul sounds into her unique storytelling style. Her writing attempts to balance honesty with empathy and reflect truths about faith, life, and relationships.

The evening closes with a 10pm set from Closest Relative, coming to Dayton for the first time from Columbus. After a 2015 motorcycle accident took two fingers from his left hand, longtime guitarist Jack O’Connell adopted a new playing style and started performing solo as Closest Relative. His music is characterized by intricate two-fingered guitar work, and earnest lyrics. His latest EP “This Tree is Base” expands on his previous EP “Messes” and unfurls his songwriting in unexpected directions.

Making this show extra special is the live art happening on site. Artists Etch and Tiffany Clark will be creating the Dayton skyline outside the venue as a permanent art piece! Very cool. This promises to be a Wednesday evening out that you won’t want to miss!

How to Go?

The Brightside Music & Event Venue

Wednesday May 8, 2019

Doors 7pm. Show 8-11pm.

$7 admission.

All ages welcome

PorchFest – 40 Mini-Concerts In One Day

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Play Music on The Porch Day started out as an idea…“What if for one day everything stopped…and we all just listened to the music?”

Even though this seems like a simple idea, if it worked, it could produce profound results. So in 2013 the organizers of the first “Play on a Porch Day” decided to share this idea with the world and to their surprise the idea spread even faster than they could have ever imagined.

In 2017 thousands of musicians from at least 40 countries and over 400 cities – including Dayton for the first time – participated and the movement continues to grow every day. Musicians from across the globe, regardless of their differences, are finding common ground through music.

This year Dayton again participates in this growing international music phenomenon as the now annual event known as Dayton Porchfest, a free, family friendly event for all ages. The festivities take place in the historic St. Anne’s Hill neighborhood, just east of downtown. There you will find over 40 live Dayton musical acts performing on home owner’s porches. Not only do you get to listen to music all afternoon, you get to experience one of Dayton’s most charming neighborhoods!

This event celebrates Dayton’s rich and diverse music scene, with musicians and bands covering funk and blues to indie rock and jazz, classical and country, to bluegrass and old time muisc that has deep Appalachian roots here. This event also celebrates our “Welcome Dayton” spirit that has contributed to a significant influx of immigrants and refugees over the past decade.

Dayton Porchfest is organized by The Collaboratory, a non-profit incubator for community enterprises and initiatives, located on Courthouse Square. Proceeds from Porchfest go to benefit The Collaboratory. Tips for the musicians are appreciated!

St Anne’s is home to the Fifth Street Brew Pub, who will be open during the festivities. Four food trucks will also be on site, including: McNasty’s, Courtland’s Mobile Grill, Pa’s Pork, Chi-Dogs, and Gary’s Italian Ice. Be sure to scroll below for map and music schedule.

How to Go?

When: Saturday August 25th from 1:30pm – 7pm aka “International Play on the Porch” Day. See schedule below.

Where: Throughout St. Anne’s Hill Historic District located between 4th and Josie St. Please do not park in the neighborhood. Parking is available at the Liederkranz building, Stivers High School, Becker Electric, RSC Graphics, and Miami Valley Gasket. Signs will be present. See map below.

Cost: Free!

Ages: All ages welcome

Remember to bring: Sunscreen, chair, and umbrella (just in case!)

Take photos? Please use #DaytonPorchfest #MusicOnTheHill #DiscoverDayton

Local listening room welcomes folk singer Laurie McClain on First Friday

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Dayton has been missing having a true “listening room” since the closing of Canal Street Tavern. The Brightside, a new music venue downtown, is looking to fill that void. 

On First Friday, May 4, 2018, they welcome Laurie McClain, a folk singer / songwriter all the way from Los Angeles. While Laurie accompanies herself expressively on guitar, ukulele, viola, and harmonica, it’s her honey voice that soothes and her powerful lyrics that heal hearts. Reminiscent of 60s/70s folk, her songs are messages of hope for a weary world.

Here’s what a few of her fellow singer-songwriters have to say about Laurie:

“Will very much touch your emotions in a most valuable way.” -Steve Forbert

“Laurie has got to be from another planet. I’ve never met anyone – except maybe Richie Havens – who is so open-hearted and full of love for humanity, yet who appears to experience life on a different plane than everybody else. Her music is as innocent as it is informed by experience, as playful as it is rooted, and as detail-oriented as it is grand in scope.” -Devon Sproule

“Laurie turns each venue into her own living room, and each listener into a new friend with her disarming humor and passionate performance. She is a gem of uniqueness and authenticity.” -Michael Kearns

“Laurie is a true artist. She opens hearts and sings from a place of depth and love. She held my tough NYC audience with her masterful storytelling, strong lyrics and vulnerable voice, moving them to tears and laughter.” -Kathryn’s House Concert Series (NYC)

How to Go?

The Brightside Event & Music Venue at 905 E 3rd St Dayton, OH 45403

Friday May 4, 2018. Performance from 7-10pm.

$5 admission

All Ages

Free off-street parking

 

The Theater Of The Strange

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Comedian Dow Thomas Reminisces About The Dayton Comedy Scene

12/15/10

            It’s very rare for someone to be able to meet any of the people that were instrumental in warping the needle on their moral compass. For example, in the future, the odds are astronomically against my kids ever meeting up with Snooki, the creator of Grand Theft Auto or any or the Real Housewives of Poughkeepsie. I, however, was able to talk with one of the people who were instrumental in changing my vision and giving me the ability to see the world through laughing eyes: Dow Thomas. Dow is a musician, comedian and actor, who was, at one time, a script writer and musician for the notoriously wonderful local program shown on channel 22 and hosted by Dr. Creep called Shock Theater…a show that I was an avid fan of when I was a kid.

I was able to speak with Dow recently from his Floridahome. The first question I asked was whether or not Shock Theater was his introduction into the world of comedy.

“No. I was actually doing comedy in 1972, but at that time there weren’t any comedy clubs, so I was just doing comedy along with my music. I got with Dr. Creep in the late seventies when it was called Saturday Night Dead because they had him on after Saturday Night Live, so it was kind of a neat spot.” Dow reflected on the first time he was on Dr. Creep’s show, saying, “I wrote The Ballad of Dr. Creep and went on there with my girlfriend at the time, Astrid Socrates. I remember some of the early stuff. It was juvenile jokes and stuff, but that was what they (the television station) wanted because they wanted everything clean, stupid and quick.”

If there were no comedy clubs, what venues did he perform in? Dow told me that he would just play in the local bars, places like the Trolley Stop, The Bar and The Iron Boar.

“I would get hired as a musician/entertainer and just add in the comedy in between songs. I would always put on masks and stuff…I just can’t help myself from clowning around. I’d have the gig and eventually I had bands, but when I clowned around, everyone clowned around with me. What was always part of the show was me being stupid.” Dow said. “Sailcats was one of the early comedy songs I wrote which got people to throwing plates at me and that just started it all. We used to sing The Wonderful World of Toilet Paper and we used to TP all the clubs like Clancy’s and the old Wiley’s, which was The Iron Boar originally. But comedy was always a thing with me.”

Since this was predating the eighties comedy boom, I wondered how the comedy scene evolved inDayton. After talking with Dow over an hour, I got a sense of how paradoxically brutal and liberating the process was.

“I was doing The Iron Boar only on Sundays and Wiley had hired me to do it by myself and so I basically got rid of the band…but I still had jam sessions. I was primarily a single act and that’s when I went almost strictly comedy. Back then, I had to do five hours, like from nine to two in the morning, so you had to have a lot of material.” Dow added a couple of memories from the early days ofDaytoncomedy, saying, “We had a comedy night on Tuesdays…and people still bitched about the dollar door charge! It was just crazy. I remember D.L. Stewart came in and did a little bit one night and then wrote an article about the experience.”

Since he had seen the whole evolution of the comedy scene, I wondered whether he felt that it had become too rigid, too structured.

“Yeah…yeah I do. Back then I could have Emo Philips come in and do twenty minutes and then I’d get a chance to go to the bathroom. Then maybe Judy Tenuta would come in and do twenty to thirty minutes…and then I’d get a chance to go to the bathroom.” Dow related that, “For me, I thought it should go on all night because I had been out to the Comedy Store and all of these places. I mean, I had moved out toL.A.in 1983 and I spent a couple of years out there going to different clubs. Back then, nobody closed their bar after the show. A lot of times, we’d all be up doing improv.”

Dow was not a native resident of Dayton, having moved here to attend Wright State, but he quickly adopted the city as his own. He became a habitué of the Arcade, the local bars and the dinner clubs ofDayton. I asked when he had moved from Dayton to his current residence inFlorida.

“Uh…let’s see (yelling to his wife)…Kay! When did we move down here? What year was that? 1997.” Dow the related a funny anecdote. “After we moved, aDaytonnewspaper im

 

mediately voted me the funniest man inDayton…then they did it again the next year. They voted me the funniest man inDaytonfor two straight years and I wasn’t even living there!”

The paper in question used to be called The Dayton Voice…then Impact Weekly…and now it is known as the Dayton City Paper. Maybe we were just still pretending that our Uncle Dow hadn’t left our fair city.

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Droopy Drew Donisi: El Dago Diablo

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“Droopy” Drew Discusses Donnie Baker, Motor Boatin’ And Fun

Hailing from the deep south (somewhere around the Franklin, Ohio area), “Droopy” Drew Donisi takes the stage brandishing a guitar to play his own originally warped southern rock tinged tunes. Drew’s approach to comedy is open, engaging the audience with his sincere bouts of storytelling interspersed with original melodies.

“I don’t want to complain and I don’t want to get on stage and bitch about anything.” Drew said during a recent interview. “I just want to tell a story that I may have made up, but it’s going to be a funny ass story.”

Headlining at Wiley’s brings this local comedian full circle as he had originally started his comedic career performing open mic sessions there.

“I did the open mic thing there on Sunday nights, trying out new material and ideas that I had and that’s where I came up with all my songs.” Drew reflected. “You know those open mic nights were just having fun.”

Fun seems to be the watchword of Drew’s performances. He seems to be more concerned about giving the audience a brief respite from their daily concerns and allow them the just let loose, have fun and possibly sing along to one of his many original songs. Some of his could be seen as purely sophomoric, but again, they are purely just for fun. I asked him about the process of writing the songs, whether the melody comes first and the words are hung upon it or if the tune is written around the words…and where did he come up with the ideas for the songs?

            “Well, like that Motor Boatin’ song.” he said. “I saw somebody with big (globular mounds of flesh found on the chests of females)…I know you can’t write that in the article, but…and I was like, ‘Holy smokes!’ and I just started thinking that there are a lot of things that I like to do, but that is one of the things that I love to do, so I just made the whole song about things that I like to do, but the one thing I love to do is motor boatin’.”

And no, if you don’t know what motor boating is, I’m not going to tell you. That’s what the Internet is for. While this and some of Drew’s other songs are riddled with sexual innuendos, a lot of his material is extremely accessible by all audiences. His humor and prowess with the guitar even caught the eye of the Bob and Tom camp. Drew has opened for Donnie Baker on several occasion (the most recently being in Indianapolis in April) and has appeared on the Bob and Tom Show. I asked Drew to fill in the details on how he came to meet Donnie Baker.

“I featured for Dwight York at Wiley’s last year and Donnie came in and did two shows. Dwight moved down to feature and I moved down to opener.” he related, “which, as you know, when they bring somebody big in, the opener usually gets dropped. So Rob (Haney, owner of Wiley’s) kept me in the rotation. So, I hit it off with the band and Donnie was really easy to work with.”

            Drew’s direct approach and unpretentious acceptance of what he wants his comedy to convey has made him a favorite son of not only Wiley’s, but many other venues around the country. His good natured demeanor reflects in the honest answer that he gave me pertaining to what he wanted audiences to take away from his shows:

“All I’m trying to do when I’m doing my comedy is to give the audience the chance to forget about the crap outside the doors.” he said. “When they come in, it’s just stupid humor. It’s nothing that you have to think about. It’s nothing that you really have to know any politics. It’s just a good time out with your friends and a guy that will make you laugh.”

(Writer’s Note: Sadly, Drew passed away suddenly on March 10th, 2012. You will be missed by many “Droopy.”)

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