About Rachel Sage...
East Village songstress, poet and multi-media maven Rachael Sage has been making gutsy pop music in one form or another since she was three years old. Her latest offering of "lovely and literate folk-pop-rock" (The Village Voice), THE BLISTERING SUN, is devoted to the topics of vision, clarity, and facing life head on.
A self-taught pianist who honed her skills listening to her parents' doo-wop, Broadway and Beatles album collections, Rachael debuted her first original material for a captive audience of kindergarten students one fateful afternoon before their ballet teacher arrived and broke up the party. "When I started," she says, " I was writing a lot of music that sounded like Elton John - if he'd been a nice Jewish girl from a long line of Russian cantors." By junior high school, Sage's dancing abilities had landed her a spot at the prestigious School of American Ballet; but it was really the music she was hearing —in and out of class— that intrigued her the most.
As a teenager, Sage recorded hundreds of demos in the basement on a four-track (her Bat Mitzvah present), arriving at a provocative lyrical and vocal style recently described by Judy Collins as "a great gift...of incredible talent and beauty." After earning a degree in Drama from Stanford University, Rachael returned to New York and founded MPress Records. A sleepless Sage wrote, produced and designed artwork for a swift succession of releases, including "Smashing The Serene" and "Painting of a Painting". In the late '90s she attended the Actors Studio MFA program, working as a jinglesinger and composing music for a steady string of national commercials, before landing a coveted slot at Lilith Fair by entering their New York Talent Search. "Meeting Sarah McLachlan and so many other inspiring artists was a big turning point for me, and I realized I needed to get out of NY, ditch my six-piece band and hit the road if I really wanted to develop as a performer." She started booking her own tours, playing over 150 dates a year throughout the U.S and Europe and earning a sizable fanbase along the way.
During the release of her first few albums, advice and support from the likes of Suzanne Vega, Ani DiFranco and Eric Burdon (The Animals) encouraged Sage to stick to her musical roots and "just keep doing what I loved and not think a whole lot about what was going on in the music industry." As a songwriter, she was energized by the sensibilities of Elvis Costello, Patti Smith and Laura Nyro; as a visual artist (Sage also paints, decorates instruments and designs much of her vibrant stage-wear), pop-art pioneers Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Keith Haring were ongoing visual muses. After receiving the 2005 Independent Music Award for Best Folk/AAA artist and the 2005 OutMusic Award for Best Songwriter for her previous CD BALLADS & BURLESQUE, Sage headed back into the studio and emerged with her newest full-length work, THE BLISTERING SUN. The 15 song album "focuses on the rare moments where action follows instinct, without procrastination." Fittingly, the cover-art depicts a colorful, super-heroine-esque image of Sage staring unflinchingly at the sun.
ALRIGHT, OK, the first cut on the record, is an upbeat swing number that Sage wanted to sound as though it could be its own type of 1950s dance, like the twist or the bop. "When I wrote it I was thinking about how often I make diluted decisions simply because I don't trust my initial instincts. I wanted the music to sound peppy and tongue-in-cheek, 'cause it's a hell of a lot easier to play a song about transcending your own weakness night after night when you can envision Ellen dancing along to it and smiling!"
FEATHERWOMAN is a energetic anthem celebrating individuality and independence. Its opening lyric asks "what are the things that I do best that nobody else can do?" and is aptly followed by what might be Sage's most ambitious story-song yet, the driving, Eastern European flavored "93 Maidens". Based on the letters of Warsaw teenager Chaya Feldman, whose entire class swallowed poison rather than submit to Nazi torture, it's the song that Sage admits means the most to her "because I've wanted to sing about this brave young woman ever since I read about her ten years ago." When she read her story, Sage says Chaya and her classmates "seemed like the ultimate feminists to me, despite the tragic context in which they were forced to reveal that strength."
Other highlights on the album include the R&B ballad VIOLET OR BLUE, the jazzy LONELY STREETS (a Peggy Leeinspired ode to solitude in the big city that Rachael penned "after one too many crushes I never should've acted on"), and BURNING WITCH, a dynamic jazz-drenched number in which Sage spells out the album's personal-meets-political creed: 'cause you're a burning witch / when you can't shape destiny".
Produced by Sage, recorded by John Shyloski and mixed by Kevin Killen (Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush), THE BLISTERING SUN features trumpet player Russ Johnson (Norah Jones, Aretha Franklin), drummer Dean Sharp (Moby, Jane Siberry), percussionist Doug Yowell (Duncan Shiek, Suzanne Vega), guitarist Jack Petruzelli (Rufus Wainwright, Gavin DeGraw), cellist Julia Kent (Antony & The Johnsons, Leona Naess), violinist Allison Cornell (Cyndi Lauper, Joe Jackson), organist Julie Wolf (Dar Williams) and bassist Todd Sickafoose (Ani DiFranco).
Date, Time, and Location
Begins
Saturday, January 5, 2008 at 8:00 pm ET
Location
Watchung Arts Center 18 Stirling Road Watchung, NJ 07069
Ahrre Maros http://www.ahrre.com and http://www.fairtradecoffee.org has been presenting concerts in Northern New Jersey since 1992, when he first opened Ahrre's Coffee Roastery at the Common Ground Café, in Summit. Unfortunately the Café closed back in 1997 at which point he sought out other venues for his concert presentations. Currently he runs two concert series; the "Coffee With Conscience Concert Series" in Westfield and the "Powerful Women of Song" Series at the Watchung Arts Center in Watchung.>
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The Coffee With Conscience Concert Series http://www.coffeewithconscience.org is now in its eighth season and presents a wide variety of Singer/Songwriters who are professional and touring. The musical styles will vary but at the core you will always find 'acoustic pop.' The CWC Series is unique! It creates community around an evening of great music supporting worthy causes. The events are intended to provide the type of entertainment that is missing from so many of our communities…Entertainment that fosters community and friendship, structured around a good cause, presents a win-win situation for everyone involved.>
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The 'Powerful Women of Song' Series takes place at the Watchung Arts Center http://www.watchungarts.org/PowerfulWomen.htm . Eight incredible evenings of original music are planned for the 2007-2008 Season, focussing on the passion expressed in music written and performed by women. Proceeds from ticket sales will help support the Watchung Arts Center, whose mission is to "Keep the Arts Alive" in the greater Watchung Area.
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