Recap - September 2010 Tosco House Party @ the Evening Muse

This months Tosco House Party held at the Evening Muse continues to reflect the fun atmosphere that has become a tradition. Promptly at 8 the musicians as well as others in attendance formed a circle so the sing-a-long could commence. It's a great way to break the ice as well as to warm up a bit before the performances begin. Tonight's warm-up songs included:

"Takin' it Easy" - Doobie Brothers; Introductions of the folks in the room; "Revolution" - Beatles; "Treat Your Children" - CSNY; "Southern Cross" - CSNY; "Ring Of Fire" - J. Cash; "Folsom Prison" - J. Cash; "Ain't That America" - John Cougar; "American Pie" - Don McLean; "The Boxer" - Simon and Garfunkel; "Rocky Top"- Nitty Gritty Dirt Band; "Country Roads" - John Denver.

A seldom discussed but very important benefit of these Music Party's results from the $2 cover that everyone in attendance must pay. The $2 goes into a traveling musicians fund which helps musicians who play at the Evening Muse on a slow night by perhaps providing gas money to get them to their next gig. It helps and all goes to traveling musicians! As usual with John - it's all about the musicians.

Sara Scott accompanied by band-mate and sister Katie Scott performed a wonderful new song which is part of a batch of new material she's been writing to include on her new album scheduled for release next spring. Sarah will be at the Muse this Friday night at 8 PM as she leads off the Gallery Crawl performances. Catch her hour long set and pick up a copy of some acoustic work she'll be handing out!

Bryan Cahall is from Greensboro - He shared a Storytelling song which was rich with very creative lyrics of meaning within meaning and delivered it with heart and an upbeat tempo. Titled "Battleground USA" it's about finding habitable spaces. While its aweful hard to pick a favorite song when choosing from the talented performers attending a Tosco House Party, this was an easy choice. This song stood out!!

Brett Greer - A very nice country tune written for Brett by his father. Brett plays a really nice guitar and has a voice that is well suited to ballads and country songs. His was a different sound that was very welcomed at the House Party.

Read on here for the rest of the story and photos...

Cheers,

Monty

November Tosco House Party was a blast!!

The first Wednesday of every month beginning at 8PM the Tosco House Party is hosted by John Tosco at the Evening Muse. Most of the time the term "open mic" suggests a less than stellar night of music. If you've been to a Tosco House Party, you know that the room will be filled with people waiting to see what surprises lay ahead in the next two hours. There's always a few outstanding performances, occasionally a very unique display of musicianship, and usually at least one WOW factor artist sneaks up on us at the show. The best part is the anticipation because you usually don't know who is going to do what.

Link to the rest of the story, the line-up and photos from the night..

Cheers,

Monty

Tosco House Party - Feb 2009

Providing a safe environment where musicians are encouraged to reach within themselves to explore their talents, given an opportunity to try new material on a live audience, afforded a platform to introduce themselves to a new city, or simply a box to stand on from which to showcase their individuality - all of this is embedded in the formula that is known as the Tosco House Party. It's been said over and over that you never know what you'll see the first Wednesday of each month as John Tosco welcomes these folks into his "living room" and this month was no exception.

Several folks joined the party for the first time. South Africa native Justin Taylor is an impressive singer/songwriter whom we were fortunate enough to hear sing a couple of different tunes. Carey Marshall also joined us for the first time at a THP night. Carey sang a beautiful ballad while caressing the ivories of the piano. Since she is newly relocated to Charlotte I hope we get to see her again real soon. And a first for me was seeing the extremely talented Ben Hernandez just tear it up on a harmonica while serenading us with his powerful voice.

Of course another benefit of the THP is being able to watch the young budding musicians of Charlotte continue to gain confidence and explore their talents. I continue to be impressed with the songwriting of Charlotte Parrot, a local high school sophomore. Isaac Strap of the band Moses Cherry reached way down deep to entertain us with a great rendition of a 1920's era blues tune - I didn't catch the name, but perhaps he can post a comment here to share it with us?? :-)

Another cool night at the Tosco House Party - its really comfortable in John's "living room" at the Evening Muse. First Wednesday of each month - hope to see you there.

Photos from the show can be seen here.

Cheers,

Monty