About this Event
IN HONOR OF MR. JOHN'S CONTINUOUS WORK RAISING FUNDS FOR WILLIMANTIC'S COVENANT SOUP KITCHEN, 20% OF TICKET SALES TO THIS SHOW WILL GO TOWARDS THE COVENANT SOUP KITCHEN & THEIR MISSION TO FEED OUR COMMUNITY!
A musical journey through time and genre led by the legendary musician, bandleader, historic venue owner, and community hero, Bruce John!
Featuring:
BRUCE JOHN:
Bruce John, grew up in the beautiful downtown Eagleville section of Storrs connecticut and has lived there for more than 70 years. He started performing at coffee houses and hootenannies in 1962 and has continued to play guitar & sing professionally for his entire life. He is well known in the area as the Singasaurus from the Kidsville Kuckoo Revue, a band geared towards entertaining families and young children, that he founded in 1989. And as The Human Juke Box who knows over 400 songs. Bruce was co-founder and owner of the iconic Shaboo Inn, a popular Willimantic nightclub in the seventies. The club brought in every famous band you can imagine from around the world, right here to Mansfield/willimantic.
At the Shaboo, one of Bruce’s biggest responsibilities was marketing and advertising. This led him to his next career as an advertising account executive for the Chronicle News and the Reminder Press. Bruce’s understanding of business came from first working in his father’s restaurant (Lou’s) in Eagleville, being an active partner in the Shaboo for ten years and then helping scores of business owners in the area in marketing their business with the newspaper. With his wife Therese, he founded the bread box folk theater in Willimantic in 2009.
Bruce uses his past skills at booking great national entertainment to bring touring folk acts and past shaboo legends to perform to benefit the covenant soup kitchen. they have raised over $266,000 dollars so far. He also has done a major benefit dance for the past sixteen years with his band, the Dinosaurs After Dark (D.A.D.), to pay the $12,000 rent for the No Freeze homeless shelter in Willimantic. He willingly donates his music to many other area charities such as the American Cancer Society, Windham Area Interfaith Ministry, Windham Aids Program, Chocolate Festival, Eastern Ct. RailRoad Museum etc. or anyone else who needs his help at the time. Today you can catch Bruce performing live music at many area restaurants and venues as well as helping his community in many other ways.
These are some of the fine eateries where you can find him: Hilltop Restaurant, lake View restaurant, Beni’s Restaurant, Inn at Woodstock Hill, the Windham Club, the Chowder Pot, Harbor House, the Dog Watch, Gina Marie’s, Blackledge River Tavern, Oliver’s Grill, Preston Ridge Vineyards, Heartstone Winery, Pancho Loco, Arrowhead Acres, Fish Family Farm, Oliver’s Dairy Bar, Hidden Still , Main Moose, Farmer’s Cow Calfe, Square Peg Pizza, The Scoop Ice Cream Cafe and Basil’s Restaurant.
PEGGY ANN CONTOS HARVEY
Peggy Ann Contos Harvey is a multi instrumentalist and performs in several Connecticut based bands with interconnected American musical styles including Bluegrass, Americana and Rock Music. Her passion for music began early with classical piano and clarinet as well as alto sax in big band ensembles.
She began her college education as a music major at Boston University but changed her major and graduated UCONN Ph*rm*cy school in 1977. In the early 80's, Peggy began a 25 year stint playing fiddle and singing harmony with the Connecticut based Traver Hollow Bluegrass Band. They toured extensively throughout New England, south to Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana as well as Canada and several European tours. She has shared the stage with bluegrass legends including Bill Monroe, Kenny Baker and Vassar Clements.
Peggy has written several fiddle tunes, two of which were awarded first and second place in the 2012 and 2013 Nebraska ASTA National Fiddle Tune Composition Contest. Peggy can be heard on more than 10 recording projects and she credits Bruce John as her mentor and for her growing passion for rock music.
JIM MERCIK
Jim Mercik is a Connecticut multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and arranger.
He plays guitar, banjo, clarinet and also sings. He has appeared in concert with a multitude of artists including Eric Andersen, Eric Von Schmidt, bluesman Paul Geremia, and Grammy Award winners Bonnie Raitt and Ramblin' Jack
Elliot. He was a founding member of the popular Connecticut bands The Roadbirds and The Congo Square Ramblers, and he is currently performing as a member of The Smokin' Mirrors Jazz Quartet.
Jim's composition Is This Enough has been included in the Smithsonian's Permanent Collection of Folk Music in Washington, DC. He is former guitar student of the legendary New York musician Dave Van Ronk, "The Mayor of MacDougal Street."
SEAN RIDDLE
Sean Riddle is a bassist, composer, improviser, and educator originally from Southern California, and is now living in Western Massachusetts.
As a bassist, Sean is known for their strong sense of time, big sound, openness and creativity as an accompanist/soloist. Sean has shared the stage with a diverse array of musicians such as Larry Koonse, Vinny Golia, Tatsuya Nakatani, Bevan Manson, Doug Webb, Theo Saunders, Robert Kyle, Brad Rabuchin, Carol Chaikin, Anthony Ty Johnson, Will Kjeer, Rob Magill, Eugene Chadbourne, and many others. Currently Sean is working on their debut album as a leader, featuring Larry Koonse, Carol Chaikin, and Anthony Ty Johnson.
Refusing to be tethered by a single style, Sean’s work as a composer draws from the realms of Jazz, the music of West Africa, traditional Balkan music, Rock, Metal, Free Improvisation, and New Music. They brings these influences together to create music that explores areas of melodic and rhythmic complexity to inspire improvisers and eviscerate the boundaries between composition and improvisation. Often Sean’s compositions are inspired by current and past political/social issues, curious about how improvisation challenges social norms.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The River Room, 50 Riverside Drive, Willimantic, United States
USD 17.85 to USD 28.52
