Friday, March 30, 2012

Billsville House Concerts



I recently found a neat addition to Williamstown's music scene that I'm sure guests at the 1896 House Inn will enjoy after having a great meal at the 6" House Pub.

I came across Billsville House Concerts while checking out some of the Berkshire's local events listings. But what did I find? No location set? This peaked my interest and had a lovely back and forth with one of the organizers of the concerts. The idea being that not advertising the space in advance keeps lots of people  from showing up unexpectedly as the events are generally held at small venues.

This weekend Cuddle Magic - Saturday, March 31st
The shows this year have been uniformly excellent - ask anyone who has been what a treat it is to see this kind of talent in a small space. Don't miss another chance to see hand selected, hand crafted music at what is quickly becoming "The Berkshires Non-Premier, Non-Cultural, Non-Institution". You saw what we did there right? We put it in quotes - thus is it made so.

Billsville House Concerts present Cuddle Magic, a self described "avant pop" collective whose multi-instrumental talents include vocals, guitar, percussion, keyboards, horns, violin and whatever else they might find lying around. The band includes folks with New England Conservatory training who have recently toured with The David Wax Museum and Anais Mitchell.


About Cuddle Magic:
Cuddle Magic is a band and songwriting collective from Brooklyn and Philadelphia that performs lush, playful songs with wide-ranging instrumentation including strings, percussion, vibraphone, trumpet, clarinet, keyboards, guitars, and many voices. Cuddle Magic balances folk timbres with surprising atonal harmonies, pop song-craft with Steve Reich-inspired rhythmic complexity, and direct emotional lyrics with dense wordplay. Conservatory-trained, yet folk musicians by temperament, the members of Cuddle Magic have collaborated with a diverse range of artists, including Beyonce, the David Wax Museum, Larkin Grimm, Mike & Ruthy (formerly of the Mammals), new music toy-piano virtuoso Phyllis Chen, the progressive string band Joy Kills Sorrow, guitarist and composer Fred Frith, and legendary “third-stream” pianist Ran Blake. Members of Cuddle Magic can also be seen performing with Anais Mitchell, Railbird, Baby States, Ronald Reagan, Bird Fly Yellow, Margaret Glaspy, The People’s Champs, Girls Guns and Glory, Lake Street Dive, Petal Shield, Split Red, Yapp!, The Superpowers Horns, and many, many others.

From the Billsville House website:
“Billsville” is our nickname for Williamstown. We’re in our first year of a house concert series – stay tuned for updates and bookings.

We book artists who we want to see and make them a deal that’s hard to turn down. A great spot to play in a great part of the county, a fine helping of our vegetarian cooking, a place to stay for the night – and 100% of the proceeds. It’s a deal that make sense to everyone involved. As a fan, you’ll get to see talented and passionate musicians without the distraction of bar noises or disinterested patrons. Plus, you’ll know that all of your money is going right back to the musicians.

As a musician – you’ll know that people are here to see you play and revel in the community spirit that a house concert offers.

After you make your reservations we’ll send you the exact time and location information a few days before the shows. In the meantime, if you have questions, send us an email.

Visit their website at http://www.billsvillehouseconcerts.com/ and check out their fan page at https://www.facebook.com/BillsvilleHouseConcerts  

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