EVENT: A staged reading of David Hare’s Berlin/Wall, produced by Upstream Theater and directed by Bonnie Taylor, Ph.D. and member AEA.

WHEN: will be performed on Sunday, January 17, 2:00 p.m. No admission fee.

WHERE: Rialto Ballroom in the Centene Center for Arts & Education, 3547 Olive (1/2 block east of Grand). Reception following. I am hoping you can include this event information in the online calendar of upcoming events as well as in Friday’s “Go!” and Saturday’s calendar—any help you can give at this late date would be very much appreciated.

WHO: Christopher Limber, member Actors’ Equity and Education Director for Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, will read “Berlin,” and Joan Lipkin, playwright and Artistic Director of That Uppity Theatre Company and the DisAbility Project, will read “Wall.” Composers and musicians Dan and Ted Rubright of the Wire Pilots will provide live music.

BERLIN/WALL: In two short monologues, David Hare shares his musings on famous modern walls: one missing in Berlin and another dividing Israel. Observing the mindsets, attitudes, and values of local residents, Hare reports, questions, and discovers the impact of walls—absent and present—and wonders about the future of freedom. (Berlin/Wall is a sequel to Hare’s 1999 play, Via Dolorosa that was staged by the New Jewish Theatre in 2007.)

DAVID HARE: Born in Sussex in 1947, Hare is one of Britain’s most internationally performed playwrights. He has written more than twenty stage plays, among them Plenty, The Secret Rapture, Racing Demon, The Absence of War, Skylight, The Permanent Way, and Stuff Happens. Hare also directs and writes screenplays. Screenplays include The Hours and The Reader.

WHY BERLIN/WALL NOW: Adhering to its mission of bringing international work to St. Louis theater and of “moving audiences to think,” Upstream Theater believes British playwright David Hare’s play is timely as the world commemorates the twenty-year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, November 9, 2009, and anticipates the completion of the Israeli Security Fence in late 2010. By scheduling the reading on Martin Luther King weekend, the reading will provide food for thought regarding our own history (walls) of racism in the United States.

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8:00 p.m. Saturday, December 5th, 2009
The Chapel Venue located at:
6238 Alexander Dr. St. Louis MO 63105. just off Skinker Blvd on Alexander Drive a block south from Wydown and Skinker Blvd.
Tickets: $10 at the door. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.
Two free drinks included.
www.chapelvenue.com
www.danrubright.com

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to hear Dan and his band perform songs from his latest CD, Christmas Cafe! Featured will be singer, Lydia Ruffin, one of our town’s top vocalists. We’ll have plenty of Christmas Cafe CD’s available. We will also have copies of Lydia’s latest CD, the Feast of Life. We’ll perform some songs from that CD as well!

The band will include guitarist, songwriter, Dan Rubright, guest singer, Lydia Ruffin, percussionist, Ted Rubright, guitarist, Vince Varvel and bassist, Eric Stiller

About the CD:
Christmas Café is an alluring collection of new songs and new arrangements of traditional Christmas melodies that are full of soul and beauty.

Lydia Ruffin’s voice is angelic, reflective and brings Dan Rubright’s original songs, words and arrangements to life. A landscape of emotional depth is created, evoking the mystical, spiritual and divine in an earthy, authentic way.

Blending jazz, folk and pop, each song adds a slightly different texture to create a cohesive inspiring canvas that will make the listener want to hit the repeat button.

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I recently completed a long intense music recording project. The recording, a soon to be released CD called, “The Feast of Life” from singer, songwriter Lydia Ruffin was a labor of love. Alongside engineer and outstanding keyboardist, Pete Ruthenburg, we mixed and we mixed and we mixed until one day late in August 09 we had no more to mix. And before the unique experience I had fades I thought I’d relay some of the wonderful complexities of this process.

What is mixing? It’s the process of editing, effecting and polishing all of the original parts that were recorded for a particular song. This of course comes after a multi-month period where the music is first written, arranged and performed-often one painstaking part at a time. We did a lot of re-recording too; re-thinking certain songs along the way-scrapping an old drum part with a new one for instance.

But mixing requires a different set of ears and it often takes about an hour or so each day for me to fine tune my ears to the level of detail that is required for essential decision making. It’s a lot like warming up your voice to sing. It’s like your ear is a muscle.
Is this part “pitchy” (out of tune), is it rhythmically accurate or does it push or lag behind the beat? What is the core essence of a tune? What parts are at the heart of this song and how do I maximize their impact? What sort of EQ or reverb or digital delay (echo) does Lydia’s voice need? Is it sitting too low or too hot in the mix? Does it glisten enough?

It is a “present tense” art form. If you drift for a second you miss something important. Pulling one part down changes the way the listener perceives everything else. It’s all interwoven. Your ear has to be able to hear the sum of all the parts and each individual part at the same time! It’s a blend of technical and artistic considerations.

Then one must consider that each person brings their own likes, dislikes, identities, expectations to the process. It is often like group therapy in the control booth. You realize that you have your own ears but that you also must listen through the ears of your partners and most essentially the artist. In this case Lydia was a dream to work with.
Lydia is not only a fabulous, versatile singer and writer but she has great production ears.
She has good instincts for what is and is not working. And when everyone pushes everyone else, the overall achievement is greater. The music deeper. The amount of trust that has to be there is considerable.

Mixing is like climbing a mountain- all you can do is pay attention to each reach of the hand and step of the foot-especially the higher you go. There is no relaxing or even much enjoyment-yet.

But then in an odd, almost unexpected way, you reach the summit. You breath deeply and all of a sudden you get this rush of deep joy and satisfaction. We made some good music I think. I hope you will take the time to listen to our work and that you will enjoy it as well. It will be buyable the week of September 21. Stay tuned for details.

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I’ve been thinking that we all have our own thunderstorms. They come in many varieties. Anxiety about this or that. Long held assumptions about ourselves and others that may be just baloney. Lots of beliefs that seem to float around us, often landing on us unaware. Often we don’t know we are hooked. Then we notice our reactions to things that come up and we are surprised how something seems to get to us. Our buttons get pushed. We feel anger rising and at first we don’t know why.

I’ve learned a few things about these times:
Be patient. Let the storm pass through. Don’t panic. (My son is actually better during the storm.) It’s the buildup that is the killer.
It’s really sweet when all the drama dies down. Clarity comes afterwards. We learn some things…

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Quick news:
I have been busy all year working on a couple of great CD projects with my good friend, singer, Lydia Ruffin. The first was called Christmas Cafe and although it came out late last year the official release concert and tour will be this year.
Check it out on Itunes.

Our current recording project, Feast of Life is more Lydia’s brainchild and it includes redo’s of spirituals as well as originals flavored with world music, folk and rock. It’s a great piece and should be completed in July of 09 or thereabouts. More on this later.

There’s much more news to relate and some good tales as well…I’ll post soon…

Check back in a day or so as I list all my upcoming workshops and other events in the very near future. If you need to contact me right away, drop me an e-mail.
Tks.
Dan

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Beyond Abbey Road featuring Peter Mayer and Friends

7:30 p.m., Friday, March 20, 2009
Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, Illinois
Meridian Ballroom, Morris University Center

To purchase tickets and get directions and parking information, visit: http://www.siue.edu/artsandissues/tickets.shtml
Or you can call the SIUE box office at: (618) 650-2774

About the concert:
Beyond Abbey Road is, in essence, a tribute to the Beatles by some remarkable musicians, singers, songwriters and arrangers in their own time. The combination of rock ensemble and string quartet provides a unique opportunity to hear these classic tunes in a new way that also stays true to the original spirit and design of the Beatles’ works.

The ensemble will consist of over ten musicians, led by vocalist, guitarist and arranger, Peter Mayer who, in addition to his solo career, has been Jimmy Buffett’s lead guitarist for the last two decades. Joining Peter will be bassist, Jim Mayer, drummer, Roger Guth, (also members of the Coral Reefer Band), percussionist Scott Bryan, guitarist, Dan Rubright and many others.

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Here are the details:

Webster University presents a concert featuring guitarist, composer, Dan Rubright and the Dan Rubright Group. The concert will include original Tango, Spanish and Latin influenced compositions. Joining Rubright will be Flamenco guitarist, Lliam Christy; bassist, Willem von Hombracht, percussionist, Ted Rubright and violinist, Justin Branum. (John McGrosso will not be performing)

This performance will bring together performers of different genres and include new and older works by Dan Rubright as well as works by Ted Rubright and Lliam Christy.

Rubright, a native of Kirkwood and an adjunct jazz faculty member at Webster University, has performed in the area as a freelance guitarist and group leader. Beyond his jazz writing and performing, he is an accomplished songwriter and has produced numerous concerts featuring top jazz, rock, folk, world and classical musicians.

When:

Monday, February 9, 2009, 7 p.m.

Where:

Winifred Moore Auditorium, Webster University
470 E. Lockwood Ave.

Map

Cost:

$3 at the door.

More Info:

Call 968-7032, or the Fine Arts Hotline at 968-7128.

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With a blend of jazz, world music and pop-folk, this CD offers a generous helping rich flavors, new twists and soulful depth. Lydia Ruffin’s wonderful vocal work creates a mood of inspiring beauty.
Also featured are some of St. Louis’ top musicians:

R.S. Bryan, percussion
Vince Varvel, guitars
Ted Rubright, percussion
Marc Tolina, bass
Dan Rubright, guitars

In the St. Louis, Missouri area, CD’s can be purchased at Borders in Brentwood Square, Webster Records, Left Bank Books, and the Washington University Bookstore.

You can download Christmas Cafe at digstation.com
It is also available at CD Baby and iTunes.com

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Guitarist, Composer, Band Leader, Teacher, Singer-Songwriter, Film Composer, Producer and Creative Coach. (Among many other interests and passions…)

Dan’s work has spanned many musical genres from jazz, rock, classical, world music, “new music”, children’s music, folk and sacred/spiritual. And anything else that doesn’t fit the above classifications.

For a quick listen to Dan’s music click here. This is a sample of Dan’s Avenue X Project that demonstrates his preferences for mixing styles in a beautifully cohesive way.

There are so many projects recently completed or in the works that we are developing a separate page to keep you updated.

Please stay tuned for a list of upcoming performances, productions, completed film work, and other artistic and commercial collaborations.

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