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Event
FREDDY AND FRANCINE with special guest R.O. SHAPIRO plus after party with THE JEB BUSH ORCHESTRA
Thursday 11/15
FREDDY AND FRANCINE
with special guest R.O SHAPIRO
$10 advance / $12 at the door (ticket price includes the dance party with Jeb Bush Orchestra)
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3743025
8:30 doors / 8:50 show
https://www.freddyandfrancine.com
https://roshapiro.com/
then stay for a dance party featuring
THE JEB BUSH ORCHESTRA
$5 at the door starting at 10:45 / no advance tickets will be sold
11:00 show
https://www.jebbushorchestra.com
A rockin' Thursday night at The Lizard Lounge! First up is the Nashville based Folk-Pop-Americana-Soul duo Freddy and Francine (their actual names are Lee Ferris and Bianca Caruso). They got the look. The soulful harmonies. The folk circuit bookings over 150 a year, including the legendary Telluride Bluegrass Festival but they are so much more than a folk duo. Motown soul, deep driving grooves and raucous stompers compliment the the otherworldly singing by this fantastic couple.
Special guest R.O. Shapiro is a native son of Long Island; a lifelong performer with Shakespeare and rhythm tap dancing in his past and Americana music in his present and for now that's all he can cop to; a resident of Austin, TX; a Soul singer and a Song Writer; a slow writer and a dog owner; a founding member of Odell Fox; a defensive driver, a highway regular, a ghost; a low-mood monster and a mediocre meditator; a food nut; a DylanPrineWelchBrowneYoungAdams wannabe, soon-to-be. Wait and see.
And if that weren't enough, stick around for a late night dance party featuring the young and groovin' Jeb Bush Orchestra who has developed a loyal local following of humorous young people that enjoy the band for its lack of message of any kind and one staunch goal: MAKE PEOPLE DANCE.
MORE ON FREDDY AND FRANCINE
Authenticity in the music industry is slippery when wet. Everyone praises its value, yet when an artist is truly authentic, it is often only embraced if it can be easily walked on without slipping and landing in a pile of genre-related questions. To the casual observer, Freddy & Francine seem safely cemented as a folk duo. They got the look. The soulful harmonies. The folk circuit bookings over 150 a year, including the legendary Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Theyre even getting married. Cute. Even their acts name is cute. You could make a movie about it. Someone probably has.
But Freddy & Francine (their actual names are Lee Ferris and Bianca Caruso) arent interested in acting, or genres, or talking or not talking about their relationship. Theyve done all that. Theyve even recently left their longtime home of Los Angeles for Nashville. And theyve never looked more like themselves.
We just want to play music all the time and we don't care about the rest of the bullshit, Ferris said. And theres been plenty of bullshit. The Hollywood types, the rat race, the traffic, Ferriss struggle with alcoholism (hes now five years sober). Longtime fans know that the band took a three-year hiatus when Ferris and Carusos relationship unraveled, a time which found Ferris turning his back on music while driving trucks in L.A., and Caruso working an office job in New York.
During this break, both seemingly were able to land on their feet. Ferris was cast as Carl Perkins in the Broadway and touring productions of Million Dollar Quartet, and Caruso co-wrote and filmed a television pilot in Joni Mitchells Laurel Canyon home (her friend rents it), featuring Seth Rogen, and sold the thing to ABC. But appearances can be deceiving.
I was miserable in the whole process, because I wasn't connected to myself in my gut, Caruso said. I didnt enjoy it. I enjoy traveling and playing music.
Despite rockin in Perkins blue suede shoes from Memphis to Japan, in front of thousands of people, Ferris was also unhappy because he was singing someone elses songs. My heroes were Joni Mitchell, The Stones, Dylan, B.B. King, Lightnin Hopkins, Carl Perkins, the guys who just tapped into something in themselves, who needed to write and speak their own truth. Thats who I am, Ferris said. Adding, The experience of sitting down with an instrument and coming up with something for the first time, you cant beat that. The best experience Ive ever had as a person doing that, and coming up with something that is bigger than the sum of its parts, is with Bianca.
But this is all old news. Freddy & Francine are full-time musicians, and have released three full-length albums and two EPs not to mention Ferriss production of an album by award-winning actor William H. Macy (featuring Carusos vocals), and the duos collaboration with Dead & Co. keyboardist Jeff Chimenti on the musical direction and casting for 2017s Off-Broadway musical Red Roses, Green Gold, featuring the music of The Grateful Dead.
Keeping truckin, Freddy & Francine plan to release their latest Nashville-recorded EP in September. The six-song Moonless Night, co-produced by Dan Knobler (Lake Street Dive, Rodney Crowell) finds Freddy & Francine which has often used full bands on its recordings still produced but more intimately portrayed, a sound closer to the duos live performances.
But dont call it folk music. Its too energetic.
Were performers. Were not just folk musicians who play and sing mellow songs with little voices ... theres screaming, Caruso said. Dont call it Americana either. They dont wear hats. Besides, Caruso says, The minute you think one of our songs is an Americana song, it can turn into a retro pop song. Despite the reaction of most roots music fans to the dreaded P word, Caruso says she doesnt mind Freddy & Francine being labeled a pop band.
Pop music gets a bad rap, but it comes from the word popular. Id love to be popular, she said. I never discriminate against a song because its popular if it stays in your head ... every Beatles song is a pop song.
But mostly, Freddy & Francine sounds like Freddy & Francine. It aint the easiest thing to explain, but it makes sense when you hear it, and finally, it makes sense to the two people who matter most. Im really happy with who I am and I'm happy with the life I have, Ferris said. At the end of the day, or road, authenticity is internal. Watch your step.
Bio Written by: Jack Johnson
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LocationThe Lizard Lounge (View)
1667 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States
Categories
| Minimum Age: 21 |
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
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