November is music month at the South Danbury Church Speaker Series, and what a month it’s going to be!
On Friday, November 7, Lindsey and Grace Schust will present a lively, percussive evening of African drumming. The daughter-mother duo are both members of the faculty of Concord Community Music School and have performed and presented workshops around New England for years.
Grace Schust has a bachelor of fine arts degree from Colby-Sawyer College and, in addition to teaching, leads rhythm, movement, and song workshops for building team spirit in the workplace and increasing self-esteem among at-risk children. She is also the founder and director of Arts Bridge the World, which produces workshops and performances for drummers and dancers.
A graduate of Proctor Academy, with a bachelor’s degree in music from Brandeis and a master’s in music composition from Tufts, daughter Lindsey is probably best known locally for her hit single and the accompanying video Hippie Hill performed by her Ragged Mountain Band, which includes both her mother and her father, Jim, on guitar.
“I think that an interactive concert and talk will work great in the South Danbury church,” says Lindsey. “We can play, demonstrate, and discuss the cultural background for each rhythm, and we will bring hand-held percussion instruments for the audience to try.” So bring your enthusiasm, and the rhythms will work themselves out.
Jack Landron
On Friday, November 21, Jack Landron, a headliner of the ’60s folk revival scene, will be performing. A theater arts major at Boston’s Emerson College in the early 1960s, Jack Washington Landron began singing at local coffeehouses under the name Jackie Washington and quickly established himself as one of the most charismatic and popular folk performers of the Boston/Cambridge folk revival scene.
He recorded four albums with Vanguard and was a featured player at the Newport Folk Festival in 1963 before leaving Boston in 1964 for Freedom Summer and the South, where he helped register black voters and worked with Martin Luther King, Jr. Following his return to New York City, he resumed his career as an actor under the name Jack Landron.
In Los Angeles since 2009, Jack has only recently re-engaged with his musical past. In 2012, he was featured in the documentary film about the Club 47 in Cambridge, For the Love of the Music, which led, in turn, to the release of a new album of original songs, Curbside Cotillion.
Currently on an East Coast tour, Jack will be performing in Cambridge (which is celebrating November as Folk Music Month), Cleveland, the Hudson River Valley, New York City, and New Hampshire’s musical mecca, South Danbury!
Join us for this rare opportunity to hear stories and songs from a veteran of the front lines of America’s musical and cultural history. To reserve a (free) seat, call 768-3191 or e-mail KDN@nullcomcast.net.
Both events begin at 6:30 PM, with light refreshments served afterward, and are free to the public — although donations will, of course, be accepted. The South Danbury Christian Church (an open and affirming congregation of the United Church of Christ) is located at 1411 US Route 4 in South Danbury. For more information, call 768-3191.