CRASH TEST DUMMIES’ Brad Roberts with Rob Morsberger – A Tribes Hill Benefit Presentation
Sunday, June 3rd, 7 p.m., Tarrytown Music Hall
Featuring the premiere performance of “Midnight Garden”, a song cycle written by multi-Grammy Award nominee Brad Roberts and acclaimed composer Rob Morsberger, with string accompaniment. This special concert is a benefit for Rob and his family to help offset medical expenses due to a severe illness. Tribes Hill artists will open the show with a few songs, followed by Rob and his band performing new material from his recent release, “Ghosts Before Breakfast”. During the day Tribes Hill will present regional artists performing for the 25th Annual Tarrytown Street Fair under the Music Hall marquee.
Brad Roberts is the lead singer, guitarist, writer and front man of the celebrated alternative rock band Crash Test Dummies. Known for his distinct bass-baritone voice, he has sold millions of records, is a multi-grammy award nominee and a songwriter extraordinaire. He is revered not only for such commercial hits as “Superman’s Song” and “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” but also for his dedication to artistic non-commercial endeavors. Originally from Winnepeg, Brad now lives in New York City with his family, where he continues to write and record. He has a longstanding musical relationship with Rob Morsberger. In the Sunday Times of London, Brad includes Rob’s ‘Chronicle of a Literal Man’ on his playlist, calling it “smart and funny, as well as harmonically rich.” Rob contributed string arrangements, key board and accordion to Crash Test Dummies’ 2010 release “Oooh La La!” and toured briefly with Brad and the band.
A prolific singer/songwriter/side-man/composer, Rob Morsberger’s work is widely heard and praised. USA TODAY says Rob’s music is “sumptuous” and a “mix of wit and grit”. Editor’s Pick in The Boston Globe reads: “think “storyteller” with a literary, cinematic, intellectual bent.” THE NEW YORK TIMES says Rob is “songwriting from the best parts of the literate side, where lyrics and topics are meaningful to him, and from a serious study of composition”. Rob’s recent session work includes Patti Smith, Loudon Wainright III, the Boardwalk Empire Grammy Award-winning soundtrack and Nova. The son of Philip Morsberger, a distinguished American artist, Rob grew up in Oxford, England and studied composition at the University of Edinburgh. He lives with his family in the lower Hudson Valley. An acclaimed resident of note, Westchester County recently proclaimed March 4th as “Robert Morsberger Day”!
Last September Rob was diagnosed with a grade 4 gioblastoma tumor, a malignant brain cancer. Despite the seriousness of this formidable disease, Rob has remained remarkably upbeat, focusing on his family and his music. Adding to his impressive catalogue, Rob has since released “Ghosts Before Breakfast” in February, has done session work and composed a number of string arrangements for such notables as Patti Smith, completed his sixth album titled “A Part of You”, (to be released in September) and is currently finishing the recording of an amazing song cycle collaboration with Crash Test Dummies’ Brad Roberts, CD release date TBD.
Midnight Garden is a song cycle, with lyrics by Brad Roberts of Crash Test Dummies, and music by Rob Morsberger, scored for piano and string quartet, with the two artists making a vocal duet. It is described by Rob as “a postmodern take on the 19th century song cycle form, with some nostalgic nods to Stephen Foster along the way.”
Tribes Hill is a grassroots nonprofit organization uniting musicians of the lower Hudson Valley region and patrons in support of a music community that aspires to common goals and beliefs. We host monthly musical gatherings at members’ homes, support regional music and promote the advancement of both a progressive and traditional folk genre.
Tickets are priced at $20., $25., $35., $45., $65. and are available for purchase at http://tickets.tarrytownmusichall.org
Mother’s Day weekend marks the unofficial start to the gardening season.
By Dr. Susan Rubin
Many local Garden Clubs are holding plant sales this Saturday. These sales can give you a jump start on your veggie garden.
Unless you’re a hard core gardener who likes to start seeds indoors in February or March, its a smart idea to buy some of your garden plants as seedlings. Here’s some ideas to help you decide which ones to choose for your garden.
Super Easy-to-grow vegetables: If you plant these in the next two weeks or so, these vegetables are almost foolproof: broccoli, bush beans, cucumber, eggplant, lettuce, squash, Swiss chard, and tomatoes.
Heat-loving vegetables: These vegetables will do exceptionally well if we have a hot sunny summer like last year: beans, corn, eggplant, melons, okra, peppers, tomatoes, and watermelon.
Vegetables for shadier gardens: If you have a garden plot that receives fewer than six hours of direct sunlight, try these vegetables: beets, carrots, kale, lettuce, radishes, scallions, spinach, and Swiss chard. Kid-friendly veggies: The following vegetables are fun, easy-to-grow plants, kids love to harvest and eat them – sometimes without even leaving the garden! Try carrots, cherry tomatoes, pole beans on a teepee, pumpkins, seedless watermelons and Swiss chard. Herbs are easy too. You can start with a small plant it will take off and provide you with with abundant amounts of fresh herbs all spring, summer and fall. There are lots and lots of varieties of basil, but don’t forget rosemary, parsley and cilantro.
Other veggies do best when started from seed.
Radishes are great to start from seed. They grow very fast – if you’re the impatient type, this one veggie that will give you great satisfaction. For an added bonus, if you let some go to flower, you will find lots of new beneficial insects coming to your garden. Radishes grow well with carrots or beets, which will take more time but are worth the wait. Plant a few rows of these seeds in your garden, they don’t take up too much space! Beans are another no brainer that do best by putting the seed right in the ground. You can choose between bush beans or pole beans, ones that like to climb. Squashes are easy to get going from seed or you can buy a few seedlings. You won’t need too many because they take up lots of space and you’ll get lots of squashes per plant when they are growing happily in the sun. Choose from summer squash: zucchini, yellow and patty pan squash are easy choices. Winter squashes include butternut, acorn, kaboocha and of course, pumpkin.
Give it a try! Either seedlings or seeds. You’ll be amazed at what Mother Nature brings you. Get your hands dirty! Stay tuned for more garden tips as the season progresses.
Honored for Dedicated Volunteerism
At the United Way’s Volunteer Center’s 32nd Annual Volunteer Spirit Awards, capping off National Volunteer Week, nearly 400 people at the Hilton Rye Town honored eight outstanding award recipients to support the work of the organization as the central resource to support nonprofits and engage more New Yorkers in acts of volunteerism throughout our community.
Louis Thomason of Chappaqua received the Volunteer Spirit Award for Quality of Life, presented by United Way of Westchester and Putnam CEO Naomi Adler. Thomason uses the professional skills as a retired IBM engineer to help the staff and developmentally disabled clients of Richmond Community Services. In accepting the award Thomason said, “This vision of how technology could enrich lives and enhance the efficiency of the agency has been the driving motivation of the work I have been involved in.”
A group of teens from many local high schools who volunteer regularly for Neighbors Link in Mount Kisco received the New York Life Youth Group in Action Award. Students from Horace Greeley accepted on behalf of the entire Neighbors Link High School ESL Tutors Program. Every Tuesday night during the academic year students come together with adult Latino immigrants to study English and bridge the gap between two distinct cultures.
