Check out Vagabond Opera on NPR! Featuring a 25 minute interview on Capitol Public Radio’s “Insight.” with Jeffery Calison. Focusing on the new album, opera, personal stories, music and more!! Click here to listen!
Last Night: Vagabond Opera at Amnesia
By Meredith Brody in Last Night
Vagabond Opera
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Amnesia
“Vagabond Opera performed two long and lively sets with a brief intermission, playing everything from the Turkish Menoush to creditable versions of Edith Piaf’s “Milord” and Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s “Alabama Song” from Mahagonny (more in the Hal Willner vein than the Doors). There wasn’t any overt reference to Josephine Baker, but who cares when you get songs in 11 — or was it 13? — different languages…”
…
The second time around, during the last encore of the evening, Vagabond Opera played “Amnesia” in honor of Amnesite Saul… He enjoyed its witty lyrics so much…that Saul ended up onstage, pouring shots from a bottle into the upturned faces of the audience who opened their mouths to him like so many willing baby birds. (They scattered when he flung the bottle to the floor in a fine Gypsy frenzy, just before 2 a.m.)”
Read the rest of the article here!
“Vagabond Opera’s The Zeitgeist Beckons is less an album and more a night out with a blind Parisian prostitute. It brims with countless musical styles, some of which are interrupted by pithy monologues or comedic bits. The record has the flow of a cabaret performance, in fact, and wonderfully pulsates with unusual energy and fashion all its own.”
Check out the rest of the review here!!
Masters of Synthesis
By Tom D’Antoni special for The Oregonian
One of the jobs of the( often justifiably reviled) individual writing a review is to describe the music. Lucky is the writer who finds such a description included in the lyrics of the album in question.
To wit: as artistic director Eric Stern sings on “Welcome to the Opera” the second track on their new album: ” Vagabond Opera plays original bohemian cabaret, Weimar,Bulgarian provos, Romany, Russian waltzes, Ellingtonian jazz, classical Arabic and boisterous klezmer,one Flemish Ballad here, a Macedonian beranche there, but wait! we also play songs that are slow and dulcet and beautiful.”
There are also music and lyrics from Verdi’s ” Traviata” in that tune. They did not include the Raymond Scott, Monnot, Brell, or Tom Waits tunes, and perhaps forgot to mention that while they may play all of those styles, most of the music is original.
The new album ” The Zeitgeist Beckons”, produced by cellist Skip Von Kuske, with an appearance by violinist Bela Balogh and the Portland Cello project, purports to be the story of a Kabbarista, Or a cabaret performer, through Europe. In fact, the story and the albums elaborate design were created after the songs had been recorded.
Stern believes that the beckoning zeitgeist is musical, A “sea change away from that insipid vapidness to something a little more complex and enriching.” But if the word defines the cultural and political climate of a particular era, the Vagabond Opera may have stumbled upon the connection between that of times past, in which the album is set, and the present era, “the despair and poverty of an empire in tatters” and the art that results from it.
On some levels the album is arch and campy and silly. And that’s part of it’s charm. The writing, the musicianship, and vocals take it to a higher level. The members of Vagabond Opera are masters of combining cultural eras, styles and attitudes, and this album finds them at the top of their game.
This local sextet are far from subtle in their onslaught of bouncy klezmer, steampunking gypsy waltzes, and enough carnival music to set the midway aflame. “Kabarista Farewell” feels like a castaway (or a cutout) from the early days of the Decemberists, and their Tom Waits’ cover (”Tango ’til They’re Sore”) works as a loose jazzy number,
We are excited to announce the release of our third album “The Zeitgeist Beckons,” available nation wide May 9th!
This album represents the last three years of Vagabond Opera, as well as the continuous evolution forward to new worlds.
Please check the calender (above) for CD release dates in your area.
National tour to come this year…
About the Album:
“Zeitgeist is a German language expression literally translated: Zeit, time; Geist, spirit, meaning “the spirit of the age and its society”. The word zeitgeist describes the intellectual, cultural, ethical and political climate, ambiance and morals of an era or also a trend.” -wiki
We chose this title as it seemed most appropriate to this time. We are constantly drawing from the past to re-create the future. May it be a bright one!
This album features exciting guest moments from members of the Portland Cello Project and Three Leg Torso, and well as great production and finesse.
Please look for it available on CD BABY, MAY 9th. It will be available on itunes in JUNE.
We arrived travel worn and TIRED. Us in the van on the way to the hotel…we pretty much felt like this on and off for 8 days..
We stayed at a little place RIGHT under the acropolis, where we got to wander the the streets by night, causing mischief…
We did some sightseeing during the day when we could stay awake…Robin and Jason at the ole Acrop..
Jason rocking out w/ a Bouzouki, the national instrument, kind of like a long Mandolin w/ 2 strings…played EVERYWHERE. This is in the museum of instruments.
We played for 7 nights in a ROW at a place called the Half Note Jazz Club right downtown. The joint was full of ambiance, intimate and full of the nicest people, esp the owners and staff.
Skip outside the club with our friend Matt
The boys in blue, inside the club
The drinks were stiff and the smoke thick, and we had a great time all week. The crowds were a bit quiet compared to what we are used to in the states, and soon we came to know that a smile from the staunch old man in the back, meant he REALLY liked the show! Every night was packed and we were lucky to get home by 3am.
“Hello, and welcome to the club…”
And some nights, we would stay up until 6am because we were SO jet lagged and there was so much to do! For instance one night we went out to see traditional Rembetico music- Greek music involving Bouzouki’s violin, singing, lyras and more…Very beautiful and soulful. We stumbled upon a non-touristy joint upstairs in “the bad part of town.” Where the wine flowed freely and the menu was written for Midas…We sat and ate loved it! It was also Mark’s birthday, so he got a treat… The band sat under an arch, and people threw flowers at dancers-anyone could get up and dance when they felt inspired..
The music went until 6am, which is about when we left…
Ursula outside the joint..
Inside, during a dance. You can see the flowers on the floor..
One day we went to the Oracle of Delphi, a gorgeous spot where people would come from miles around to ask her questions. She sat in the temple of Apollo. The town was built on a hill in a valley and went up and up…lots of ruins still intact..
Mark on the hill..
Our last day in Greece, we flew to the mystical island of CRETE, where we played one show in this bizarre cafe inside a movie theater multiplex. We were DOG tired and not one of us possibly imagined how we could get on stage much less be funny or engaged. But, when showtime rolled around the place filled to the brim with screaming, enthusiastic people and the magic of showtime came into action and there we were, having the time of our lives…
It was a great way to end the tour…
Earlier that day, we appeared LIVE on Crete TV on a hilarious daytime talk show. Totally bizarre and one for the books…here is a clip below
To read the beginning of our WINTER TOUR, please click HERE
We arrived in a blizzard and went non stop from the moment we landed…
We stayed with our great friend, Mark Ettinger, a fabulous musician and member of the Flying Karamozov Brothers…He offered us his small, yet artsy apartment which we graciously inhabited as the Vagabonds we are..we stayed up night after night playing jazz till 5am–a NY tradition we have finally accomplished!
We began the day with lunch at a local French restaurant, where we settled into a weekend of NY’s finest fare…tres Bien!
Then at night, we did an interview on WBAI on Liquid Sound Lounge, a 15 year running eclectic show that is perfect for us.
The boys in the studio:
Later that night, we played at Barbes, a uber cool venue in the heart of Brooklyn. Red lights, two European owners and a calendar of music that is top notch. This place has been called “The Amnesia of the east Coast” which it is. Amnesia is one of our fav spots to play. The show was a blast, standing room only super packed closet of a room, with intimate vibe and incredibly friendly and artsy crowd. We got drunk. We danced. We met Brooklyn.
The next day we ousted ourselves from slumber and made our way to the Arts Presenters Conference, where we “showcased” with other artists from all over the world. we met lots of cool people, including musicians from Romania, Hungary, Mexico, Argentina, Mali and more…quite the sceney scene. Eric made friends with the accordion player from Les Yeux Noirs and is now turning into tbe Balkan Ornament king…look out world…
On Tues, we made our way to our show downtown on the subway…merryness was had by all, as Skip regailed us on the Subway with a song…
And here is Eric, watching the fun!
The unexpected tragedy of NYC….
Well, after we got off the subway, we went to the Zipper Factory, our big gig of the weekend, and were faced with unexpected circumstances. We walked in and were told promptly to leave and that the fire marshal had closed the building due to an inspection! The whole cast and crew were out on the sidewalk, standing in confusion. We stayed there with our friends Walter Sickert and the Army of Broken Toys, who had come to do the show with us…we waited and the building MGR apologized and said that the venue was closed and they were sorry. In 6 years of music business, this is a first so we are happy that it took this long for something like this to happen! We sang songs on the street and drownded our sorrows and moved on as best we could.
So, an ENORMOUS apology to all our loving fans who braved the storm to come see us in NYC, after a year absence. This turn of events was not in our hands and we will come back with bells a ringing soon enough.
The next day, we went to New Jersey and played in the Weehawken Performing Arts series, then caught our plane to GREECE that night….read on for the next chapter…
We began our winter tour with a stop to the gorgeous Detroit Institute of the Arts. Played in their fabulous 1927 restored concert hall…truly wonderful art deco…and stayed in these cute little bed and breakfast houses…it was 20 degrees out, though..egads!
On this tour, we are blessed to be accompanied by the singer Ursula Knudson, from the band Fishtank Ensemble…
Here is a pic of Ursula with “Gnomey” at the hotel we stayed at:
Jason in front of our house: how romantic!
During soundcheck we took this little video:
Tomorrow we set sail for the east coast and then Greece!
Spead the word to your friends and family..
And be SURE to check back here for a regularly updated BLOG of our travels!
A daily dose of our vagabond shows and happenings will be posted, with pictures and stories galore!
Also, check out this Hot of the Press article by the NEW YORK PRESS!
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