Name: The Babel Kind
Start: 2024-10-30T19:00:00-05:00
Location: 1159 24th Street Des Moines IA 50311

xBk presents
The Babel Kind:
A Live Soundtrack Recording & Costume Party
FEATURING:
- Iowa Blues and Jazz Halls of Famer Tina Haase Findlay on vocals
- Dave Zollo on vocals and keys
- Dr. Damani Phillips on saxes
- Donald Salting on guitars
- Scott Belknap on drums
- Brandon Findlay on basses
- plus special guests!

Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Doors: 6pm | Show: 7pm
All Ages
Tickets: $25 ADV // $30 DoS (+ Fees)
*Very limited seating available on a first come, first served basis. If you require ADA accommodations please reach out to [email protected]*
___________________________
For one very special evening, xBk presents the live concert recording for the soundtrack to emerging playwright & writer KIRA VONN'S debut musical play, THE BABEL KIND. With music and lyrics by legendary double Hall of Famer TINA HAASE FINDLAY (2016 Iowa CJC Jazz Hall of Fame; 2024 Iowa Blues Hall of Fame) and her beloved partner-in-crime, musician/writer BRANDON FINDLAY, Kira Vonn has crafted a heavy and soulful tale of many lives intertwined by choices, of joy, sorrow, love, and loss, written in extremely close collaboration with Tina and Brandon.

The concert will begin at 7 pm sharp, with a 20-minute intermission, and will go until 10 pm.

The Findlay's have assembled a Murderers' Row of their friends and heroes, who also happen to be musical giants in their own way, to breathe life into Vonn's lyrical script, including Iowa City's own icon, and a legend himself DAVID ZOLLO, who has carved four or five career's worth of immaculate roots, Americana, and rock & soul form his heart and hands for decades. Few persons have done as much to spread the gospel of Iowa's roots music as Mr. Zollo, from Trailer Records; his groups High & Lonesome, the Body Electric, and Middle Western; and his social/political advocacy -- Dave is a man who paid each due owed, and has lived his personal and artistic lives accordingly.

Likewise, once hailing from Pontiac, Michigan, DR. DAMANI PHILLIPS has created a seismic shift in how jazz, soul, r&b, and Black Music will be learned, and hopefully taught, in our country through his own decades of crafting a legacy that is both academic and real, as he rules benevolently over the University of Iowa's Jazz Studies program, among many other triumphs.

Guitarist and multi-instrumentalist DONALD SALTING is a recent transplant to Central Iowa, but has lived an artist-nomad's life, touring the continent whether in country bands, stage pits, or on many a back porch, offering the kind of gravity only a long life lived meaningfully can bring.

And as the lovely engine of this night, drummer SCOTT BELKNAP has shared many stages with many friends, playing with the intellect and heartfulness -- with the joy -- of man who plays each song as if it may be his last, on a stage filled with the family he built for himself.

For one night only, xBk will be filled with the musical, theatrical, and actual friends and family that have supported Tina for more than forty years in this town, with this year making twenty years of musical magic and mayhem with Brandon. Together, they have prepared an evening to honor Kira's own hard work and the collaborative spirit that has always struck the heart of their own arts.

In the lead up to an anticipated summer 2025 publication, THE BABEL KIND is not a traditional or jukebox musical, but a play with music as a significant part of its tapestry, using sung and spoken texts to consider several parallel legacies in the fictional Midwestern capital city of BRIGHTCHAPEL, where Cameron and Marian Shaw now face a series of consequences they inherited without choice, as a town and its people must reconcile what they have been, against what they risk becoming. And while this is not a performance of the play, but a concert of the music woven into the play, a few special guests will be reading selections from THE BABEL KIND throughout the night, allowing Kira's work to also breathe in a bit of that Beggar's Night air.

Because Vonn wrote a Beggar's Night concert into the heart of THE BABEL KIND, that concert becoming a lens through which many lives will feel many effects, and fail to escape many destinies.

And make no mistake -- this is a concert experience you will never forget, with new songs alongside forty years of a Tina and Brandon's songwriting reimagined as you've never heard before.

Leading up to Beggar's Night, Tina and Brandon will be having some fun announcing some of the special guests, while keeping a few things to themselves.

Lastly, don't miss out on your chance to win best costume of the night -- because of course you get to wear costumes, if you wish, on Beggar's Night!

See you there!

For more info:
davezollo.com [http://davezollo.com/]
damaniphillips.com [http://damaniphillips.com/]
thedeepestend.com [http://thedeepestend.com/]