Cafe Eleven

“Willy Porter’s greatest songwriting attribute lies in his quietly reverberating stories.”
— Billboard Magazine

“Milwaukee’s Willy Porter is a dazzling acoustic guitarist with a moody baritone…”
— The Washington Post

“Willy plays rhythms that make me want to crawl inside his guitar and sleep there forever.”
— Tori Amos

“…A master of the acoustic instrument.”
— CMJ New Music Report

“A genre-defying maverick.”
— Frets

“…one of today’s most dexterous acoustic axe men…”
— Relix Magazine

“An acoustic picker with the Olympian speed of Leo Kottke bolstered by rootsy vocals and twisting, offbeat lyrics that evoked John Hiatt…”
— Boston Globe

“Willy Porter’s music demonstrates admirably that the technical excellence of his guitar-playing will never overwhelm the essence of the song itself. In perfect symbiosis, the two disciplines of performance and songwriting combine together to create the unique work for which he is admired by professional peers and audiences alike. Oh - and a pretty damn fine singer too. Thank goodness he doesn’t play the flute.”
— Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull

   After more than 15 years making music, it’s obvious Ohio duo Over The Rhine is in it for the long haul, and for keeps. Their commitment is underscored by their latest, The Trumpet Child, and its opening track, “I Don’t Wanna Waste Your Time,” a manifesto of sorts for the artists recently named to Paste magazine’s list of 100 Best Living Songwriters. Look no further than the lyrics to this track for what animates Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist, the married couple at the heart of Over The Rhine: “I hope this night puts down deep roots / I hope we plant a seed / ‘Cause I don’t wanna waste your time / With music you don’t need.”

   “Believe me, we don’t want to waste anybody’s time,” elaborates Detweiler. “When we stop believing we’re doing our best work, we’re done. Every song has to be good, every record has to be great, every concert has to have some spiritual significance—something that we can’t quantify, something bigger than all of us.”

   Over The Rhine may not be a household name, but to call the act’s followers “fanatical” would understate the point, and they’re not shy about converting the curious. Why? For starters, there’s Bergquist’s torchy, devil-may-care voice, brimming with Midwestern soul, unafraid to lay bare every emotional resonance. And again, there’s the life-and-death commitment dripping from her every word. “I’m either into it or I’m not, because there’s no faking it with me,” Bergquist notes. “Life’s way too short for that.”

   There aren’t many groups in North America who could lay claim to possibly 18 different genres of music, but Toronto’s Enter The Haggis is one of them. To engage this quintet is to indulge rock, fusion, bluegrass, traditional Celtic fare, agitpop, folk, even Latin flavors. Sounds awfully confused, right? Wrong. ETH is one of those rare jewels that actually pulls it all off as if to own everything.

   ETH’s live show is a musical feast- viscerally dynamic, emotionally uplifting and intellectually stimulating. The band’s oeuvre darts effortlessly from the trad strains of, say, The Chieftains and the Pogues to the frenetic pop of early Elvis Costello and even to the Latin-tinged spirit of the Buena Vista Social Club and beyond, complete with Lewington’s deft guitar playing, the reeling of Brian Buchanan’s flawless fiddle, the diverse rhythmic machinations of bassist Mark Abraham and drummer James Campbell, and Downie’s transporting pipes, not to mention the near-perfect vocal harmonies. In fact, if you’re game, the group’s undeniable power is documented in Live at Lanigan’s Ball, a film chronicling an Enter The Haggis performance at Plattsburgh, New York’s Hartman Theatre in December of 2003, originally taped for a PBS special, and now available on DVD.

From the filmmakers who brought you Singlefin: yellow, DRIVE and Stylemasters, comes a story about surf culture and tradition. One California Day is a visual journey through six distinct coastal regions, capturing the California surfing experience through the surfers who live it. Shot in brilliant super 16mm color film, the movie examines the variety of subtle differences that make California so unique.

Jeff Coffin, well-traveled saxophonist, composer, and Grammy Award winning member of Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, rejects all labels and categories other than “music” and “musician.” In the face of his epic 2005 release “BLOOM”, even those once-broad tags fall short of defining the close coiling of sound, philosophy, and humanity that is the core of his art.
Since 1997, Coffin has traveled the world with the Flecktones, performing with musicians of all walks. Those with whom Jeff has shared the stage and/or the recording studio include such diverse artists as Baaba Maal, McCoy Tyner, The Dave Matthews Band, Umphrees McGee, Savion Glover, Branford Marsalis, Jeff (Apt. Q-258) Sipe, Mike Clark’s Prescription Trio, Keller Williams, Mavis Staples, Garth Brooks, Van Morrison, J.D. Souther, Vinnie Colaiuta, Bob Moses, Stanton Moore, George Porter Jr., Anders Osborne, Jerry Douglas, Derek Trucks, John Scofield, Prasanna, Yonder Mountain String Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Wailers and many, many others. Along the way, Coffin has absorbed an astounding range of influences. “Whether it be New Orleans Second Line, African music, Indian Ragas, folk songs, Alan Lomax field recordings, jazz, or funk,” he says, “the spirit and breath of the music is what I take away from listening and playing. It’s what decides for me whether I like it or not.”