7-9pm, FREE!
Solo show fiddle & banjo

2:30pm doors, 3pm concert, $35, All Ages

Join us for an exciting musical journey with banjo prodigy Aaron Jonah Lewis and renowned organist Stephen J. Warner playing the magnificent Masonic Temple Skinner Organ.
 
This fundraising concert is being hosted by the Detroit Masonic Temple Organ Restoration Committee, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity. This will be our very first concert since the beginning of an extensive and costly restoration on Skinner Organ Company Opus 529, located in the Detroit Masonic Temple’s Cathedral Theatre. All proceeds from this event will go directly toward the ongoing restoration of this rare and historic instrument.
 
Tickets can be purchased here: https://www.ticketweb.com/event/aaron-jonah-lewis-stephen-masonic-temple-complex-tickets/13303868

Aaron Jonah Lewis on Ragtime Banjo Revival:
For decades around the turn of the 20th century classic finger-style banjo was the most popular kind of music in the English-speaking world, although today it is all but forgotten. 
 
This music comes from African-American music that was appropriated for minstrel shows and mingled with other popular styles of European and distinctly American origin. It gave rise to ragtime (for example, both of Scott Joplin’s parents played classic banjo), which fed into the development of jazz, etc. 
 
Classic banjo provides a missing link between the banjo of minstrel shows and the banjo of early jazz and country music, and ragtime music represents the earliest music of free Black people in the US. Its composers intended to create a music that would entertain and elevate, a music both lighthearted and dignified that could respond to Western European traditions and would form a foundation for American popular and art music to come. 
 
Ragtime also represents the pinnacle of popular music before the widespread adoption of audio recording technology. These were the last days that the only way a person could hear music was by being within earshot of someone playing or singing, or by creating music themselves.
 
My primary interest and challenge in this project is to find ways to make a near-dead form of music compelling and engaging in an environment where many people regard any activity involving history or looking to the past as out-of-touch or moving backward. For me this music provides a missing link in our shared cultural history. It opens doors to discussion and understanding of how we got to where we are now.

https://www.facebook.com/events/794501965737225

7:30pm doors, 8pm showtime
 
I’ve taken part in this wonderful festival since its inception as house band/music director and I think this will be the year that I do my own cranky show… We’ll see! Either way, you won’t want to miss these raucous and thought-provoking homemade theatrical performances

Detroit Cantastoria Fest is an annual festival featuring local artists and activists who collaborate on a group of short shows in the “cantastoria” and “cranky” traditions. Cantastoria and cranky shows are a wonderful medium for storytelling. These art forms are thousands of years old and still alive today in Detroit! Join us and tell your story!

“Cantastoria” is the Italian word for an ancient form of street theater involving a narrator singing or telling a story while gesturing to elaborate painted banners or scrolls. “Cranky” shows are a similar form using a painted scroll which is displayed using a “crank.”

The Detroit Cantastoria Fest comes to life through a series of free workshops hosted by members of Flying Cardboard Theatre. Workshops are for participants who want to learn about this ancient art form and participate in making or performing cantastoria and cranky shows.

After working together to build shows, we create a beautiful, raucous and thought provoking weekend of performances featuring a diverse group of new and classic cantastoria and cranky pieces. Flying Cardboard Theater and other artists from the Cantastoria Festival perform work throughout the year.

7:30pm doors, 8pm showtime
 
I’ve taken part in this wonderful festival since its inception as house band/music director and I think this will be the year that I do my own cranky show… We’ll see! Either way, you won’t want to miss these raucous and thought-provoking homemade theatrical performances

Detroit Cantastoria Fest is an annual festival featuring local artists and activists who collaborate on a group of short shows in the “cantastoria” and “cranky” traditions. Cantastoria and cranky shows are a wonderful medium for storytelling. These art forms are thousands of years old and still alive today in Detroit! Join us and tell your story!

“Cantastoria” is the Italian word for an ancient form of street theater involving a narrator singing or telling a story while gesturing to elaborate painted banners or scrolls. “Cranky” shows are a similar form using a painted scroll which is displayed using a “crank.”

The Detroit Cantastoria Fest comes to life through a series of free workshops hosted by members of Flying Cardboard Theatre. Workshops are for participants who want to learn about this ancient art form and participate in making or performing cantastoria and cranky shows.

After working together to build shows, we create a beautiful, raucous and thought provoking weekend of performances featuring a diverse group of new and classic cantastoria and cranky pieces. Flying Cardboard Theater and other artists from the Cantastoria Festival perform work throughout the year.

Doors at 6, Concert begins at 7:30, FREE!

This is my student Lorin's first classic banjo recital and I will be accompanying many of her pieces on second banjo. There will also be some additional featured guests, including Ian Blunden and Anna George. The program will feature selections by Joe Morley, Cammeyer, Tilley, and more, plus a gorgeous original arrangement Lorin for two banjos of John Denver's Aspenglow.

Performing my original ragtime banjo arrangements with woodwind ensemble and more!

The concert will take place Tuesday, Nov 21 at NEC’s Jordan Hall. Admission is free and you can click here to reserve tickets.