CHA PRESS RELEASE
2008 MUSIC IN THE PARK
SUMMER CONCERT SERIES
FIRST CONCERT: THURSDAY, JUNE 26
The seventh annual Cobble Hill Park Summer Concert Series kicks off tomorrow night with Sufferin’ Succotash, featuring a rich, flavorful gumbo of old-time country breakdowns and heart songs, down-home blues, rags, hokum favorites, Louisiana Cajun and Black Creole “Bal d’Maison” dance tunes, Jazz Age pop “novelty” rarities, and more.
Sufferin’ Succotash’s repertoire comes mostly from scratchy 78 rpm records from the 1920s and ’30s—”The Golden Age of American Vernacular Music”—as well as field recordings of folk tradition-bearers. Their sources range from such old-time country performers as Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers; Gid Tanner & The Skillet Lickers; blues string and jug bands like The Mississippi Sheiks and Gus Cannon & His Jug Stompers; early Louisiana French recording artists such as Black Creole accordionist Amedé Ardoin and the Cajun fiddle and accordion duo of Leo Soileau & Mayuse Lafleur; rural tradition-bearers like Appalachian fiddler/banjoist Tommy Jarrell; and African-American fiddler Butch Cage.
True to the spirit and tradition of their sources, Sufferin’ Succotash performs these musical gems of a bygone era with all the fiery vitality of a sweaty Saturday night house party on the fiddle, harmonica, button accordion, guitar, banjo, mandolin, single-string bass, and other traditional acoustic instruments. As a modern-day band in the Big Apple, Sufferin’ Succotash’s unique renditions of these classic music forms feature hot, tasty licks with a rockin’ “downtown” backbeat, like the pulsating rhythm of the subways rumbling beneath the City’s streets.
THE BAND
SHLOMO PESTCOE (vocals, fiddle, button accordion, mandolin, banjo, guitar, ukulele)
PETER “TRIP” HENDERSON (vocals, harmonicas, tenor ukulele)
BOB “DR. FRETS” JONES (vocals, guitar, bass)
PETER STUART KOHMAN (vocals, guitar, banjo-ukulele, mandolin, bass)
PETER FORD (vocals, single-string ‘Box Bass’, guitar)
This year’s series will feature seven Thursday evening concerts in Cobble Hill Park (on Clinton Street between Verandah Place and Congress Street). All concerts are free and open to the public. They start at 7:00 p.m. on Thursdays. In the event of rain, the concerts will be held on Friday evenings.
This year’s series will feature:
June 26 – Sufferin Succotash with Shlomo Pesko
Blues and Folk for the whole family
July 3 – The Beatnix
Old Time Rock n’ Roll
July 10 – Linda Ipanema and the Dixie Cats
The Best of New Orleans Jazz
July 17 – Bobby Harden New York City Soul Trio
Singing the Blues
July 24 – Bustmenti
Mexican Music
July 31 – So-Nu
Klezmer and Balkan Music
August 7 – Lara Ewen, Story-Telling Songs
and Jeff Jacobsen, Singer Songwriter
The Summer concert series is sponsored with the generous support of Long Island College Hospital, the Brooklyn Heights Press, and Ridgewood Savings Bank.
We hope to see you there.