~BODY WITHOUT ORGANS PRESENTS/THE MUSIC of PORTUGAL & SOUTH AMERICA/ALPHA BETA !!

Alpha beta Nov 9

BwO presents:

TRADITIONS & NEW DIRECTIONS – THE MUSIC OF PORTUGAL & SOUTH AMERICA
featuring performances by:
FATIMA SANTOS – with JOSE LUIS IGLESIAS, Portuguese guitar & PEDRO FERREIRA, Classical guitar. and,
CLAY ROSS’ MATUTO.

SUNDAY – NOV 9, 2008 – 8 PM – TICKETS: $12
ALPHA BETA – 70 GREENPOINT AVE – BTWN FRANKLIN + WEST – GREENPOINT – BROOKLYN !!
TAKE G TRAIN TO GREENPOINT AVE – WALK WEST – 1.5 BLOCKS

ALPHA BETA STORE HOURS: DAILY 12PM – 8PM

for more info & directions to ALPHA BETA,
see: the body without organs live !!

BwO/BODY WITHOUT ORGANS is run by: STEFAN RAK
POSTER ARTWORK: SAUDADE BY VIOLET HOPKINS

for more info & pix of STEFAN RAK & VIOLET HOPKINS, who shows at FOXY PRODUCTION
see: OLGA CHERNYSHEVA MoMA SCREENING & scroll down to the after party !!

UP-DATE: WED NOV 12, 2008 – BODY WITHOUT ORGANS PRESENTS:
FATIMA SANTOS with JOSE LIUS IGLESIAS & PEDRO FERREIRA and,
CLAY ROSS – MATUTO !!

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ALPHA BETA, 70 GREENPOINT AVE – GREENPOINT, BROOKLYN.

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ALPHA BETA – the MOLOTOW WALL
you have to be over 18 to buy this stuff. they check I.D. its the LAW – in NYC !!

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ALPHA BETA – bills itself as an ‘alternative’ art supply store.
see: ALPHA BETA
see: ALPHA BETA/myspace

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CLAY ROSS. He grew up in South Carolina and said he pretty much ignored the region’s indigenous Appalachia folk music, until he landed in Brazil – and heard their folk music – and then came back to American hill billy blue grass music with new ears. He plays a wicked guitar, and sings. MATUTO is his band/project. It seems to be a kind of open ensemble band – that picks up different instrumentalists as it travels. Matuto is Brazilian street slang for ‘country bumpkin’ or, as we say back here in the USA – ‘hill billy’ – and MATUTO plays straight ahead super fast hill billy fiddle beat – BLUE GRASS !! infused by BAIAO – ‘Northeastern Brazilian Rhythms’ !!
. . . “for a sound like CARNIVAL in the Appalachian Mountains”.

the best page for catching their sound, see: MATUTO/hit the music player bar/top of text

and, as well – check out: CLAY ROSS/myspace – REMEMBER CALABASH !!

also, see: CLAY ROSS/website

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MATUTO BASS PLAYER – from TEXAS, (on the Mexican border !!) EDWARD PEREZ, and CLAY ROSS.
. . . for the past 3 years Mr. ROSS has “submerged” himself in Brazilian music playing as member of the world renowned CYRO BAPTISTA’S ensemble – ‘BEAT THE DONKEY’.

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MATUTO to-nite !! – ED PEREZ on bass; CLAY ROSS, vocals, guitar, songwriter; and ANDREW BORGA, out of DENVER, on drums.
all 3 – crazy great musicians.

MATUTO plays ZEBULON in WILLIAMSBURG – SUN DEC 14 2008
the show starts at 9PM / MATUTO goes on a 10 PM !!

and, BARBES in PARK SLOPE – FRI JAN 23, 2008. / MATUTO goes on at 8 PM.

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DANIEL IBY – the ALPHA BETA events manager.

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checking out the art on the wall, in the store, just before the music begins.
(performances, dances, concerts, events take place in the 5000 sq. ft. back room/gallery exhibition space.)

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ol’ school – NIC 707 happens to drop by. He was ‘bombing’ trains back in the “tail end of the 1st Generation of STYLE” – ’73 and ’74. He was in 9th grade – outta THE BRONX.
NIC 707 was the founding father of the OTB crew. (OTB – OUT TO BOMB).
COP 2 is the current OTB president.

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canvas by NIC 707 – now that street art is having another renaissance – and the stuff in legit galleries is fast becoming real and often hi-priced currency – the old school guys – want to make sure they get their fair share of the pie, too.

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FATIMA SANTOS, accompanied by JOSE LUIS IGLESIAS, playing Portuguese guitar.
She sings traditional folk music, incuding FADOS, of Portugal and South America. which is an understatement.
She has the most beautiful voice, you get the feeling she is from a family of generations of folk singers, and, turns out – she is. She stands very still and poised, the emotional depth of her ballads, and voice – run into your soul like the very sea and eternity of human longing.

folk music, like street art – is having a tremendous renaissance as well.
esp. BRAZILIAN (& American ..) music at the moment.
our music guy, SIMON CERIGO says it goes back to ELEPHANT 9. CAT POWER. CALEXICO. BEIRUT. NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL. whatever. etc. etc.

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FATIMA SANTOS and JOSE LUIS IGLESIAS.

the best place to hear & buy !! her music is, here: CD BABY/NOSTALGIA

and here: CD BABY/COIMRA FADO

she also has a: FATIMA SANTOS/website

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FATIMA SANTOS and JOSE LUIS IGLESIAS.

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FATIMA SANTOS at ALPHA BETA.

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FATIMA SANTOS with PEDRO FERREIRA.
MR. FERREIRA accompanied MS.SANTOS & JOSE LUIS IGLESIAS in her next set,
which featured many FADO songs. Both men were extremely accomplished musicians.
Professional studio musicians.
check out: LP STUDIOS/JOSE LUIS & PEDRO FERREIRA !!

Ms. Santos gave very brief introductions to the songs, including a sentence or two regarding their meaning & origin.
this FADO -“it’s about meeting someone.” this song – it’s about – “… what a life”.
“Destiny – is something you cannot run away from …”
this song – its about the hardship of “being an immigrant in a new land.”

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the audience – knew they were witness to a special night.

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and then it was CLAY ROSS / MATUTO.
whereas the traditional folk songs of Portugal were of passions and sorrow, and longing –
the BRAZILIAN based folk music, meeting head-on with the BLUE GRASS of American
APALACHIAN roots – was more fast paced, and in-your-face wide open fun.
both performances were focused on the guitar – it was a strange but not at all strange
night of crying classical guitar meets blue grass fiddle & BAIAO rhythms – guitar . .

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CLAY ROSS – MATUTO !!
at ALPHA BETA to-nite: EDWARD PEREZ on bass, ANDREW BORGEN on drums,
and CLAY ROSS – singing. and on guitar. and he can play that guitar !!

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ED PEREZ – he can play that bass !!

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DRUMMER – ANDREW BORGEN just hit NYC from DENVER – watch out !!
He brought a lot of up-beat energy to the group.

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CLAY ROSS greets a member of the audience – NEDIA YOUNG – she just happens to be from BRAZIL. and clearly – she loved his music.

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STEFAN RAK of BODY WITHOUT ORGANS – BwO – and producer of the evening.
originally outta Philly – and currently taking over the Big Apple.
. . . what do they put in the water – down there in PHILLY – everyone from PHILLY – rocks !!
. . . from quilters to artists to promoters to small art book publishers !!

IVORY ONE
shout out to IVORY ONE, who first told us about ALPHA BETA & who curated their very
first show in the (huge) back room/event/performance/dance/gallery space.

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we also caught: AIKO !!

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the bar – manned by NOEL HEROUX

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back in the main store – we meet ALPHA BETA founder/owner LEIF McILWAINE.
ALPHA BETA has been open for 5 months.
the store’s design is amazing – just, in case you didn’t pick up on that !!
LEIF originally hails from UTAH. He came to NYC to attend PRATT – but quickly lost patience with that – I wonder why ?

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and last, but not least, prone 23 !!

PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH

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FROM THE HOME PAGE: MONDAY NOV 10 2008

* BwO presents MUSIC of PORTUGAL & SOUTH AMERICA *
* TRADITIONS & NEW DIRECTIONS *
* OMG x 1000 !!! that was such an understatement !! *
first of ALL the a-m-a-z-i-n-g folk vocalist FATIMA SANTOS began the evening with pure enchantment – singing traditional folk songs – that hit you right in the heart – her voice is so beautiful and the songs she sings – can bring tears to your eyes – it was mesmerizing. she was accompanied by 2 incredibly talented musicians – JOSE LUIS IGLESIAS on Portuguese guitar & PEDRO FERREIRA playing classical guitar.
that alone made the trip over to ALPHA BETA well well worth the Sunday nite effort – & – then, like a shot out of the contemporary music malestrom – CLAY ROSS !! and his MATUTO group – of the evening !! – ED PEREZ on bass !! & ANDREW BORGEN on drums !! – really shook the place up – BLUEGRASS HILLBILLY MEETS BRAZILIAN FOLK BEATS in a HEAD-ON CELEBRATION – !! – making this nite on par with the top 5 most memorable live music acts we have ever seen, and we’ve seen a few !!! these guys – for sure – they are going to be HUGE – as big as BEIRUT got – except substitute the haunting BALKAN HORN SECTION – with PERCUSSIVE BRAZILIAN BEATS. GUITAR STRINGS sing, just like the strings do in BEIRUT. MATUTO – is a LIVE WIRE ACT – you do NOT !! want to miss.
CLAY ROSS is a showman as well as, an extremely accomplished musician. they have a gig coming up at ZEBULON – so you can catch them there, NEXT !! details & pix !! to follow. but, I’ll leave all you bad ass slackers at your sorry Monday morning desks this morning – with this: MATUTO is Brazilian street slang for H-I-L-L B-I-L-LY and guess what, there ain’t even 5 degrees of separation !! * STEFAN RAK – of BODIES WITHOUT ORGANS – who produced the evening – R-I-G-H-T O-N !! – & watch out for this kid – !! you’ve been a-warned .. and, guess where he’s from – you got it, PHILLY !! what do they put in the water down there ? PHILLY ROCKS !! !! *