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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260904T190000
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SUMMARY:Speakeasy Choir: Come On Eileen at the UNITED
DESCRIPTION:Speakeasy Choir: Come On Eileen at the UNITED is a one-night pop-up choir on Friday\, September 4\, where the audience doesn’t come to hear the singers. They become the singers. \nThe 18-and-over event begins at 7 p.m. in the UNITED’s Gallery Events Space in downtown Westerly. Over the course of approximately 90 minutes\, participants will learn the harmonies to Dexys Midnight Runners’ 1982 hit “Come On Eileen.” Then the newly assembled choir performs the song with the five-piece UNITED House Band. \nNo long-term commitment to a chorus is required. It’s one song\, one night and one temporary choir. \nKaraoke With Harmonies\nThe UNITED describes Speakeasy Choir as something like karaoke taken to another level. \nInstead of individuals taking turns singing along with a backing track\, everyone attending becomes part of the same singing ensemble. \nParticipants learn the song together\, including its harmonies\, before putting everything together for a final performance. \nThat makes the evening part social gathering\, part music workshop and part concert. \nIt also removes one of the bigger barriers to joining a traditional choir. Nobody is signing up for months of rehearsals or preparing for a formal concert season. \nThe entire process happens in a single evening. \nThis Month’s Song Is “Come On Eileen”\nSeptember’s selection should give the room plenty to work with. \nDexys Midnight Runners released “Come On Eileen” in 1982 on the album Too-Rye-Ay. The song became an international hit and reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. \nIts sound was unusual even by early-’80s pop standards\, mixing pop and soul with prominent fiddle and Celtic influences while repeatedly shifting its tempo and intensity. \nMore than four decades later\, its chorus remains instantly recognizable. \nAt Speakeasy Choir\, however\, knowing the song from the radio isn’t the same thing as knowing your part. \nThat’s where the first portion of the evening comes in. \nLearn It\, Then Perform It\nThe Speakeasy Choir format gives the group about 90 minutes to turn a room full of individual voices into an ensemble. \nParticipants work through the song and its harmonies together before the evening culminates in a live performance. \nFor that final run-through\, they aren’t singing to a karaoke track. \nThe five-piece UNITED House Band provides live accompaniment. \nThe band is made up of instructors from the UNITED Music School along with other musicians from southeastern Connecticut and Rhode Island. \nThat final performance is the payoff: the temporary choir formed earlier that evening gets to perform the song with a full live band. \nA Collaboration With the Chorus of Westerly\nSpeakeasy Choir is presented jointly by the UNITED Theatre and the Chorus of Westerly. \nThe Chorus has been part of Westerly’s cultural landscape since 1959\, when George Kent founded the organization. \nIts traditional work is considerably different from spending a Friday evening singing Dexys Midnight Runners. The Chorus of Westerly is known for large-scale choral performances and has brought together both child and adult singers throughout its history. \nSpeakeasy Choir takes that choral idea and removes much of the formality surrounding it. \nThere’s still an ensemble. \nThere are still harmonies to learn. \nThere’s still a performance at the end. \nIt just happens in a much more casual setting\, with a pop song and a house band. \nA Choir That Exists for One Night\nThat’s really the appeal of the concept. \nMost choirs are built around continuity. Singers rehearse together\, learn a repertoire and prepare for performances weeks or months away. \nSpeakeasy Choir is deliberately temporary. \nThe group that walks into the UNITED on September 4 doesn’t exist yet. \nDuring the evening\, the participants become a choir\, learn their parts\, rehearse together and perform. \nThen it’s over. \nThe Chorus of Westerly and UNITED have used the format with other popular songs in previous editions\, making the song itself the changing centerpiece while keeping the one-night collaborative format intact. \nThis time\, everyone gets to be part of Dexys Midnight Runners. \nEvent Details\nEvent: Speakeasy Choir: Come On Eileen\nDate: Friday\, September 4\, 2026\nTime: 7 p.m.\nVenue: UNITED Theatre\nLocation: Gallery Events Space\nAddress: 5 Canal Street\, Westerly\, RI 02891\nPresented By: The UNITED Theatre and Chorus of Westerly\nSong: “Come On Eileen” by Dexys Midnight Runners\nFormat: One-night collaborative choir\nSession Length: Approximately 90 minutes\nFinal Performance: Participants perform with the five-piece UNITED House Band\nAge: 18+\nTickets: $15 \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo purchase tickets\, click the Event Ticketing link below. \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/speakeasy-choir-come-on-eileen-at-the-united/
LOCATION:United Theatre\, 5 Canal Street\, Westerly\, RI\, 02891\, United States
CATEGORIES:United Theater
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Speakeasy-Choir-Come-On-Eileen-at-the-UNITED-Theatre.jpg
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260905T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260905T220000
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SUMMARY:Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe at the UNITED
DESCRIPTION:Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe at the UNITED in Westerly on Saturday\, September 5\, bringing a seven-piece collision of funk\, soul\, jazz and rock to one of the theater’s most intimate performance spaces. \nThe show begins at 8 p.m. in the UNITED Black Box Auditorium\, with DELA & Steady Rock Easy opening the night. Floor tickets are $30 and general-admission standing room\, while the $50 balcony offers reserved seating. Both prices include fees. \nThe size of the room is worth noting because Karl Denson is accustomed to considerably larger stages. \nSince 2014\, he’s been the touring saxophonist for the Rolling Stones. \nBut the Stones are only one part of a career that has connected Denson with Lenny Kravitz\, Steve Winwood\, The Greyboy Allstars\, Slightly Stoopid and a remarkably long list of musicians stretching across jazz\, funk\, rock\, soul and the jam-band world. \nAt the UNITED\, he brings his own band. \nAnd Tiny Universe has been doing this for more than 25 years. \nThe Call From the Rolling Stones\nKarl Denson was already decades into his career when an unexpected opportunity arrived in 2014. \nThe Rolling Stones needed a saxophonist. \nBobby Keys\, whose saxophone had become an important part of the Stones’ sound through performances including the famous solo on “Brown Sugar\,” was ill and unable to tour. \nDenson’s connection came through Lenny Kravitz. \nKravitz was having dinner with Mick Jagger when he learned that the Stones were looking for a saxophone player. He recommended Denson\, who soon found himself talking with Jagger. \nDenson got the job. \nWithin weeks\, he was flying to Australia and New Zealand to play with the Rolling Stones. \nKeys died in December 2014. Denson remained with the touring band\, taking on a role that put him alongside Jagger\, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood on stadium stages around the world. \nMore than a decade later\, the Stones connection remains part of his musical life. \nTiny Universe remains something different. \nBefore the Stones\, There Was Lenny Kravitz\nDenson’s relationship with Kravitz went back much further. \nHe played saxophone on Kravitz’s early recordings and toured with him as the singer’s career took off around the turn of the 1990s. \nThat put Denson inside music that freely mixed rock\, soul\, funk and psychedelia rather than respecting clean genre boundaries. \nIt’s a philosophy that would follow him. \nDenson could play jazz. \nHe could play funk. \nHe could step into rock. \nHe could play flute as comfortably as saxophone. \nAnd rather than choosing one of those worlds\, he built a career moving among them. \nThen Came The Greyboy Allstars\nIn the early 1990s\, Denson became a founding member of The Greyboy Allstars in San Diego. \nThe group emerged from the rare-groove and acid-jazz movement\, drawing heavily from the funky soul-jazz of the 1960s and ’70s while developing its own improvisational identity. \nThe Greyboy Allstars became one of the defining bands of the West Coast groove scene and helped introduce a new audience to music that lived somewhere between a jazz club and a dance floor. \nDenson never really abandoned that intersection. \nHe’s a jazz musician who doesn’t think jazz requires people to sit still. \nJazz You Can Dance To\nThat idea is essential to understanding Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe. \nThis isn’t smooth jazz. \nIt isn’t traditional bebop. \nAnd it isn’t a conventional funk band with a saxophonist standing off to one side. \nImprovisation is built into the music\, but so is groove. \nTiny Universe can move through jazz\, soul\, funk\, rock\, R&B and psychedelic music within the same performance. Horn arrangements and solos coexist with heavy bass lines\, keyboards\, guitar and drums. \nThe musicians can stretch a song. \nThey can change direction. \nThey can follow an idea that wasn’t necessarily part of the plan when the song began. \nBut there’s another requirement. \nIt still has to move. \nDenson even titled his 2001 album Dance Lesson #2. \nThe name wasn’t especially subtle. \nTiny Universe Has Been Doing This for More Than 25 Years\nKarl Denson’s Tiny Universe has developed its reputation primarily onstage. \nThe band has performed around the world\, including Japan’s Fuji Rock Festival. \nIt has played Madison Square Garden alongside Dave Matthews Band and James Brown. \nTiny Universe was the first late-night act at the inaugural Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in 2002\, putting the band near the beginning of a festival culture that would become a natural home for its combination of improvisation and dance music. \nNew Orleans has become another important stop. \nKDTU’s late-night shows around Jazz Fest have regularly turned into collaborative affairs\, with musicians dropping in and the performances stretching deep into the night. \nThe list of people who have joined Denson over the years is formidable. \nSteve Winwood. \nLenny Kravitz. \nMaceo Parker. \nFred Wesley. \nWarren Haynes. \nJohn Oates. \nIvan Neville. \nLukas Nelson. \nMarcus King. \nJoshua Redman. \nBernie Worrell. \nRolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell and vocalist Bernard Fowler have joined him as well. \nThat willingness to let musicians enter the Tiny Universe and alter its chemistry is part of the point. \nThe Band Has Shared the Road With Almost Everybody\nThe touring history tells the same story. \nKDTU has toured with or appeared alongside acts including the Allman Brothers\, My Morning Jacket\, D’Angelo\, The Roots\, Public Enemy\, Parliament-Funkadelic\, Bob Weir\, Slightly Stoopid and Widespread Panic. \nIn summer 2026 alone\, Tiny Universe has appeared on bills involving Nile Rodgers & CHIC and major festival artists across funk\, jazz\, reggae and jam music. \nThe Westerly show falls during the band’s “Summer in September” run. \nDenson and company play Maynard\, Massachusetts\, on September 2\, followed by Portsmouth\, New Hampshire\, on September 3 and Brattleboro\, Vermont\, with Rebirth Brass Band on September 4. \nThen comes Westerly on September 5. \nThe following day\, Tiny Universe heads to New York for the Adirondack Independence Music Festival. \nYes\, Karl Denson Was in Coming to America\nThere’s also a wonderfully strange detour in Denson’s résumé. \nSexual Chocolate. \nIn the 1988 Eddie Murphy comedy Coming to America\, Murphy plays several characters\, including spectacularly self-confident soul singer Randy Watson. \nWatson’s band is Sexual Chocolate. \nDenson was in it. \nIt could have remained a tiny piece of movie trivia from early in his career. \nInstead\, decades later\, Denson resurrected the joke. Tiny Universe has performed as Sexual Chocolate\, including a performance at San Francisco’s Outside Lands festival. \nDenson also returned for the 2021 sequel Coming 2 America. \nSo the man playing saxophone in Westerly September 5 has been a member of both the Rolling Stones’ touring band and Sexual Chocolate. \nThere probably aren’t many résumés containing both. \nTiny Universe Has Its Own Catalog\nThe famous associations can obscure the fact that Tiny Universe has built a substantial body of its own music. \nThe band’s albums include Dance Lesson #2\, The Bridge\, Brother’s Keeper\, New Ammo and Gnomes & Badgers. \nThe records reflect the same refusal to remain inside one musical lane. \nBrother’s Keeper brought together musicians connected to The Dap-Kings\, The Greyboy Allstars and Lenny Kravitz’s band\, along with guests including Meshell Ndegeocello. \nNew Ammo combined Denson’s originals with dramatically reworked material from other artists. The album includes the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” and Beastie Boys’ “Sure Shot.” \nThat’s another recurring Tiny Universe idea. \nA cover doesn’t have to be a reproduction. \nPrince\, Beastie Boys and the Stones All Enter the Universe\nOver the years\, Denson has built entire performances around interpreting other artists. \nTiny Universe has tackled music associated with Prince\, Ray Charles\, Beastie Boys\, Run-DMC and the Rolling Stones. \nThe concept isn’t impersonation. \nDenson takes familiar material and rearranges it for the musicians standing onstage with him. \nA hip-hop track can become live funk. \nA rock song can acquire horns and extended improvisation. \nA familiar composition can be pulled apart and rebuilt until it sounds like Tiny Universe. \nThat same approach appears on the band’s studio albums. \nIt’s one reason a KDTU set can accommodate an original composition\, a funk workout and an unexpected cover without sounding like three different bands have taken the stage. \nGnomes & Badgers Brought Some Famous Friends Along\nTiny Universe’s Gnomes & Badgers pushed the collaboration even further. \nDenson brought in a group of guests that reflected the musical territory he’s occupied throughout his career. \nLukas Nelson participated. \nSo did New Orleans musician Ivan Neville. \nGuitarist Anders Osborne joined the project. \nAdrian Quesada\, known for his work with Grupo Fantasma and Black Pumas\, contributed. \nAnd Chuck Leavell brought another Rolling Stones connection. In addition to his decades with the Stones\, Leavell played with the Allman Brothers Band during one of its defining periods. \nThe album wasn’t an attempt to choose between rock\, jazz\, soul and funk. \nIt was an argument that the choice isn’t necessary. \nThe Current Tiny Universe\nThe current touring lineup surrounds Denson with horns\, guitar\, keyboards and a rhythm section capable of moving between tightly arranged funk and open improvisation. \nKarl Denson handles saxophone\, flute and vocals. \nRicio Fruge plays trumpet and sings. \nRicky Giordano plays guitar and contributes vocals. \nRashon Murph is on keyboards. \nParker McAllister plays bass. \nAlfred Jordan handles drums. \nDanielle Barker adds vocals. \nIt’s a seven-piece configuration with enough firepower to operate as a horn-driven funk band while retaining the flexibility that has always defined KDTU. \nDELA & Steady Rock Easy Opens the Night\nThe opening band isn’t an arbitrary addition to the bill. \nDaniel “DELA” Delacruz has his own history with Denson. \nDelacruz is the saxophonist for Slightly Stoopid and spent years on the road with Denson\, whom he describes as a longtime friend and mentor. \nEventually those connections produced a record. \nDelacruz\, Denson and members of Los Angeles reggae band The Aggrolites collaborated on Opening Night\, a jazz-influenced reggae album released through Stoopid Records in 2017. \nAfter returning from California to the Northeast\, Delacruz assembled DELA & Steady Rock Easy. \nAnd the musicians he recruited come with impressive résumés of their own. \nTrombonist Brian Thomas has played with John Brown’s Body. \nTrumpeter Mark Berney has connections to The Skatalites. \nGuitarist Steve Fell has worked with Marco Benevento. \nBassist Aaron Bellamy comes from The A-Beez and the Sam Kininger Band. \nDrummer Jesse Hayes has played with The Toasters. \nKeyboardist Cameron Greenlee also has ties to The Skatalites and Naya Rockers. \nThe result is jazz musicianship applied to reggae\, ska and groove. \nWhich makes considerably more sense once Karl Denson takes the stage. \nFrom Stadiums to the Black Box\nThe UNITED’s Black Box Auditorium changes the scale considerably. \nDenson can spend part of his year performing on enormous stages with the Rolling Stones. \nOn September 5\, he’ll be inside the restored UNITED Theatre at 5 Canal Street in downtown Westerly. \nThe Black Box is designed to put the audience much closer to the performers than a traditional arena or large theater. \nFor this show\, the floor is entirely general-admission standing room. \nAnyone who wants a seat needs a balcony ticket. \nThat standing-room configuration may also be the more natural way to experience a band whose leader has spent decades insisting that jazz and dancing belong in the same room. \nBecause Tiny Universe isn’t really designed to be observed politely from a distance. \nIt’s designed to move. \nEvent Details\nEvent: Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe\nDate: Saturday\, September 5\, 2026\nDoors: 7 p.m.\nShow: 8 p.m.\nLocation: UNITED Black Box Auditorium\nAddress: 5 Canal Street\, Westerly\, RI 02891\nHeadliner: Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe\nSupport: DELA & Steady Rock Easy\nMusic: Funk\, soul\, jazz\, rock and improvisational groove\nAge Restriction: All ages\nFloor Tickets: $30\, fees included\nFloor Seating: General-admission standing room only; no seats\nBalcony Tickets: $50\, fees included\nBalcony Seating: Reserved seating\nTicket Policy: Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable \nKarl Denson’s Tiny Universe Touring Band\nKarl Denson — saxophone\, flute and vocals\nRicio Fruge — trumpet and vocals\nRicky Giordano — guitar and vocals\nRashon Murph — keyboards\nParker McAllister — bass\nAlfred Jordan — drums\nDanielle Barker — vocals \nFurther reading: \n\nKarl Denson’s Tiny Universe\nKarl Denson Bio\nKarl Denson Music\n\n  \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo purchase tickets\, click the Event Ticketing link below. \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown. \n 
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/karl-densons-tiny-universe-at-the-united/
LOCATION:United Theatre\, 5 Canal Street\, Westerly\, RI\, 02891\, United States
CATEGORIES:United Theater
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Karl-Densons-Tiny-Universe-at-the-UNITED.jpg
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260906T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260906T220000
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SUMMARY:The FIXX\, Colin Blunstone and Peter Asher
DESCRIPTION:The FIXX\, Colin Blunstone and Peter Asher at the United bring three distinct chapters of British rock history to Westerly on Sunday\, September 6\, for a triple bill stretching from the first British Invasion through new wave and the MTV era. \nThe show begins at 7:30 p.m.\, with doors opening at 6 p.m. Tickets are $73 to $83\, including fees. The orchestra section is sold out as of publication\, but tickets remain available in the center and balcony sections. \nCalling this simply a night of ’80s music wouldn’t come close. \nBetween the three acts are connections to The Beatles\, The Zombies\, James Taylor\, Linda Ronstadt\, the birth of MTV-era new wave and some of the most recognizable records of the past 60 years. \nThe FIXX and the Sound of the MTV Era\nFor anyone who had MTV playing in the early 1980s\, it doesn’t take long to recognize The FIXX. \n“One Thing Leads to Another.” \n“Saved by Zero.” \n“Red Skies.” \n“Stand or Fall.” \nThe British band emerged at precisely the moment when music videos were becoming inseparable from pop music\, but there was something darker and more complicated underneath their sleek new-wave sound. \nFormed in London in 1979\, The FIXX developed a combination of guitar\, synthesizers\, sharp rhythms and often politically or socially observant lyrics. The sound fit the new decade without sounding quite like anyone else occupying it. \nTheir breakthrough in the United States came with 1983’s Reach the Beach. “One Thing Leads to Another” became the band’s biggest American hit\, while “Saved by Zero” became another defining song of the era. \nMore than four decades later\, much of the lineup responsible for that sound remains together: vocalist Cy Curnin\, keyboardist Rupert Greenall\, guitarist Jamie West-Oram and drummer Adam Woods\, joined by bassist Dan K. Brown. \nThis isn’t a version of The FIXX built around a lone surviving member and a new backing band. \nThe musical core remains remarkably intact. \nThe Voice Behind The Zombies\nThen the clock moves backward another 20 years. \nColin Blunstone was still a teenager when he became the lead singer of The Zombies\, one of the most distinctive groups to emerge from Britain’s first great wave of rock bands. \nHis voice is immediately recognizable on “She’s Not There\,” the band’s 1964 breakthrough. \nThen came “Tell Her No.” \nAnd finally\, “Time of the Season.” \nThat last song appeared on Odessey and Oracle\, the 1968 album that would eventually be regarded as one of the landmark records of the psychedelic era. \nThere’s an irony to its success. The Zombies had already broken up by the time “Time of the Season” became a major hit in America. \nBlunstone went on to build a solo career that included albums such as One Year\, Ennismore and Journey. He also became the voice behind “Old and Wise” by The Alan Parsons Project. \nHis Westerly performance is designed to travel through that entire history\, combining Zombies classics with material from his solo career and collaborations. \nBlunstone is now 81. \nWhat began as a teenage adventure has become a career spanning seven decades. \nThe Zombies were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. \nPeter Asher’s Extraordinary Trip Through Pop History\nAnd then there’s Peter Asher. \nHis career almost sounds invented. \nAsher first became famous as one half of Peter & Gordon during the British Invasion. Their 1964 recording of “A World Without Love\,” written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon-McCartney\, reached No. 1 in both the United States and Britain. \nPeter & Gordon followed it with a string of hits including “I Go to Pieces\,” “Lady Godiva” and other Lennon-McCartney compositions. \nBut performing turned out to be only the beginning. \nAsher became an A&R executive at The Beatles’ Apple Records\, where he signed and began working with a young American singer-songwriter named James Taylor. \nWhen Asher moved to the United States\, his second career exploded. \nHe became Taylor’s manager and producer and went on to produce some of Linda Ronstadt’s defining recordings. Across the decades\, his work has connected him with artists including Carole King\, Joni Mitchell\, Neil Diamond\, Cher and Diana Ross. \nHis producing career earned multiple Grammys. \nAnd he’s still doing it. \nAsher co-produced Barbra Streisand’s 2025 album The Secret of Life: Partners\, Volume Two\, putting him in recording sessions involving another extraordinary collection of artists more than 60 years after Peter & Gordon first reached No. 1. \nHe was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2015. \nSongs With the Stories Behind Them\nAsher’s portion of Sunday’s concert takes a different form from a conventional rock set. \nIt’s built around songs and storytelling. \nHe performs on vocals and guitar\, joined by Robert Berry on piano\, bass and vocals and Aubrey Richmond on violin\, mandolin and vocals. \nThat format gives him room to do something few musicians can. \nHe can tell stories about the British Invasion because he was there. \nHe can talk about The Beatles’ Apple Records because he worked there. \nHe can talk about discovering and producing records with James Taylor because he did it. \nAnd he can play the songs that started the entire journey. \nThree Generations on One Stage\nThat’s what makes the combination of these three acts more interesting than a conventional nostalgia package. \nPeter Asher takes the story back to the British Invasion and the orbit surrounding The Beatles. \nColin Blunstone brings the unmistakable voice of The Zombies and the increasingly adventurous British pop music that followed. \nThe FIXX picks up the story more than a decade later\, when another generation of British musicians crossed the Atlantic through FM radio and a new television network called MTV. \nTheir careers don’t belong to the same moment. \nThat’s the point. \nPut them together and Sunday’s concert becomes something close to a musical timeline: from “A World Without Love” and “She’s Not There” to “Time of the Season\,” “One Thing Leads to Another” and “Saved by Zero.” \nRoughly 20 years separate some of those records. \nMore than 60 years separate the earliest from the concert happening in Westerly. \nA Rare Tour Comes Through Westerly\nThe Westerly performance is part of a month-long U.S. tour bringing the three acts together. \nThe tour begins September 2 in Massachusetts and continues through September\, making the UNITED one of the early stops. \nIt’s also a particularly fitting show for the restored downtown theater. \nThe UNITED Theatre originally opened in 1926 and has been reborn as a regional film\, music and arts venue. Its Black Box Auditorium offers a much more intimate setting for these artists than the arenas and large theaters their music has filled over the decades. \nFor this performance\, the room will be fully seated. \nAnd some of those seats are already gone. \nThe orchestra section is sold out as of publication\, with tickets still available in the center and balcony. \nFor three artists whose careers collectively stretch back to the early 1960s\, there’s still an audience that wants to hear what comes next. \nEvent Details\nEvent: The FIXX\, Colin Blunstone and Peter Asher\nDate: Sunday\, September 6\, 2026\nShow: 7:30 p.m.\nDoors: 6 p.m.\nLocation: The UNITED Theatre\nAddress: 5 Canal Street\, Westerly\, RI 02891\nVenue: Black Box Auditorium\nTickets: $73–$83\, inclusive of fees\nAges: All ages\nSeating: Fully seated performance\nTicket Availability at Publication: Orchestra sold out; center and balcony seats remain available\nPerformers: The FIXX\, Colin Blunstone and Peter Asher \nThe FIXX\, Colin Blunstone and Peter Asher bring more than six decades of British rock and pop history together for one night at the UNITED Theatre in Westerly. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo purchase tickets\, click the Event Ticketing link below. \nURL’s \nThe FIXX \nColin Blunstone \nPeter Asher \n  \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown. \n 
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/the-fixx-colin-blunstone-and-peter-asher/
LOCATION:United Theatre\, 5 Canal Street\, Westerly\, RI\, 02891\, United States
CATEGORIES:United Theater
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/The-FIXX-Colin-Blunstone-and-Peter-Asher.jpg
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260910T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260910T200000
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CREATED:20260908T225340Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260908T225340Z
UID:10007526-1789063200-1789070400@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:The Airwaves Belonged to the People: WBCN and the American Revolution
DESCRIPTION:The Airwaves Belonged to the People: WBCN and the American Revolution brings the remarkable story of a Boston FM station that became part radio experiment\, part rock & roll clubhouse\, and part countercultural information network to United Theatre in Westerly for a one-night screening Thursday\, September 10\, at 6 p.m. \nLong before podcasts\, social media or the internet gave practically anyone a platform\, WBCN challenged the idea of what a radio station was supposed to be. Its DJs chose their own records. Its news department covered movements and stories mainstream broadcasters often ignored. Its microphones captured everyone from activists and political figures to young musicians on the verge of becoming famous. \nDirector Bill Lichtenstein knows that world from the inside. He joined WBCN as a 14-year-old volunteer in 1970 and eventually worked at the station for years. His two-hour documentary uses a vast archive of recordings\, photographs\, and film to reconstruct the period when WBCN found itself at the intersection of music\, Vietnam\, Watergate\, civil rights\, women’s liberation\, LGBTQ rights\, and a generation questioning nearly every institution around it. \nBefore WBCN\, There Was the Boston Tea Party\nThe story really begins with a music venue. \nIn 1967\, Ray Riepen opened the Boston Tea Party\, which quickly became one of the centers of Boston’s emerging underground music scene. For only a few dollars\, audiences could encounter bands that would soon become enormously important\, including The Who\, the Velvet Underground and Led Zeppelin during its first American tour. \nRiepen saw something happening around him that wasn’t being reflected on Boston radio. \nOn March 15\, 1968\, WBCN changed formats from classical music to free-form progressive rock. Instead of programmers in an office determining precisely which records would be played and when\, the people behind the microphones were given extraordinary freedom. \nAlbum tracks could replace three-minute singles. A DJ could follow Aretha Franklin with Cream or Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention. Announcers didn’t have to pretend they had no opinions about Vietnam\, drugs\, politics or the cultural upheaval happening outside the studio. \nMusic\, news and politics began bleeding into one another. \nThe station became a place where listeners weren’t simply consuming programming. They were joining a community. \nThe Radio Station Became Part of the Revolution\nWBCN didn’t merely report on Boston’s counterculture from a comfortable distance. \nIt was inside it. \nThe documentary places the station against the larger upheaval of the late 1960s and early ’70s: the Vietnam War and draft\, anti-war demonstrations\, clashes between police and protesters\, civil rights activism\, the emerging women’s and LGBTQ liberation movements and eventually the political crisis surrounding Richard Nixon and Watergate. \nWBCN gave airtime to people and movements that received little or hostile treatment elsewhere in mainstream media. \nIt also developed an unconventional news operation. \nDanny Schechter became the station’s “News Dissector\,” while other members of WBCN’s staff blurred the traditional boundaries separating broadcasters from their audience. A Listener Line allowed people to call the station with questions and information around the clock. \nFor young listeners accustomed to the polished authority of network television and AM radio\, WBCN sounded radically different. \nBruce Springsteen Called His Mother\nThe politics are only half the story. \nWBCN existed during an extraordinary period in rock history\, and Lichtenstein’s archive captures artists before some of them became icons. \nThe film includes Bruce Springsteen’s first radio interview and live in-studio performance in 1973. During that early appearance\, the future superstar was still unknown enough to use his moment on Boston radio to say hello to his mother. \nThere’s also Patti Smith’s first radio concert in 1975\, along with rare archival appearances involving David Bowie\, Lou Reed\, Jerry Garcia and others. Jane Fonda and activist Abbie Hoffman appear in the archive as well. \nThat’s one of the documentary’s strengths as a time capsule. \nThe audience knows what happened afterward. \nSpringsteen became Springsteen. Bowie became Bowie. Patti Smith became one of punk’s defining figures. But the recordings preserve moments when careers and movements were still unfolding and nobody in the room knew exactly where they were headed. \nThe DJs Didn’t Have a Playlist\nPerhaps the hardest thing to explain to someone who grew up with tightly programmed commercial radio is just how unusual WBCN’s approach was. \nThere was no predetermined playlist dictating every record. \nThe announcers were personalities because they were actually allowed to have personalities. They could select music\, talk about it\, discuss politics and respond to what was happening around Boston. \nCharles Laquidara became one of WBCN’s defining voices. Other station figures included J.J. Jackson\, Tommy Hadges\, Sam Kopper\, Marsha Steinberg and Schechter. \nThe freedom produced radio that could be unpredictable\, messy\, deeply personal and occasionally confrontational. \nIt also created the possibility of discovery. \nA listener didn’t already have to know which song they wanted to hear. The person on the other side of the radio could surprise them. \nLichtenstein’s companion history of WBCN describes the period from 1968 through Watergate as one in which the station became a hub connecting rock music\, psychedelia and anti-war politics in Boston. \nBill Lichtenstein Was 14 When He Joined the Station\nThis isn’t a filmmaker reconstructing a culture he encountered decades later. \nBill Lichtenstein was part of it. \nHe began at WBCN in 1970 as a 14-year-old volunteer working the Listener Line. He eventually became an announcer and remained at the station into the 1970s before building a career as a journalist and documentary producer. \nHis work has earned a Peabody Award and dozens of journalism honors\, and his writing has appeared in publications including The New York Times\, The Nation\, The Village Voice and The Boston Globe. \nLichtenstein eventually spent years assembling WBCN’s history from the people and material that survived it. \nThe documentary draws on rare archival audio and visual material alongside interviews with the people who were there. The story was also expanded into Lichtenstein’s 304-page book WBCN and the American Revolution: How a Radio Station Defined Politics\, Counterculture\, and Rock and Roll\, published by MIT Press in 2021. \nThe Movie Has Returned With a New Title\nSome viewers may recognize this film under a shorter name. \nLichtenstein’s documentary originally circulated as WBCN and the American Revolution\, winning the DC Independent Film Festival and later airing nationally on PBS. \nIn 2026\, it returned to theaters under the expanded title The Airwaves Belonged to the People: WBCN and the American Revolution. \nThe new theatrical release runs approximately 119 minutes and reframes the film for another moment when questions about who controls information\, which voices get heard and what responsibilities media organizations have to the public have returned to the center of American life. \nThat makes this more than a documentary about old radio. \nIt’s an examination of an idea about media that now seems almost radical again: that the public airwaves were a public resource\, and that a broadcaster could treat its listeners as participants rather than an audience to be packaged and sold. \nWhen Radio Could Create a Community\nWBCN itself didn’t remain the station depicted in the documentary forever. \nFree-form FM grew into big business. Progressive rock radio became commercial rock radio. Corporate ownership expanded\, playlists tightened and the industry that had once allowed a collection of young broadcasters to experiment eventually became much more structured. \nBut for a period beginning in 1968\, WBCN demonstrated something unusual. \nA radio station could introduce someone to a band\, tell them what was happening at an anti-war demonstration\, put an activist on the air\, take a phone call from a listener and create the feeling that everyone tuned to the same frequency belonged to something happening in real time. \nThat’s what makes a two-hour documentary about a defunct Boston radio station potentially interesting even to someone who never heard WBCN. \nThe technology is obsolete. \nThe argument about what media is for isn’t. \nDetails\nEvent: The Airwaves Belonged to the People: WBCN and the American Revolution\nDate: Thursday\, September 10\, 2026\nTime: 6 p.m.\nRuntime: Approximately 120 minutes\nDirector: Bill Lichtenstein\nGenre: Documentary / Music / Media History\nVenue: UNITED Main Cinema\nAddress: 5 Canal Street\, Westerly\, RI 02891\nFormat: Special one-night-only screening\nAccessibility: The UNITED’s cinemas are wheelchair accessible; audio amplification\, descriptive audio and closed-captioning devices are available for supported screenings\nTicket Policy: Movie and event tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable\nBox Office: 401-388-8208 \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo purchase tickets\, click the Event Ticketing link below. \n  \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/the-airwaves-belonged-to-the-people-wbcn-and-the-american-revolution/
LOCATION:United Theatre\, 5 Canal Street\, Westerly\, RI\, 02891\, United States
CATEGORIES:United Theater
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260911T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260911T213000
DTSTAMP:20260910T034128Z
CREATED:20260910T034127Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260910T034128Z
UID:10007536-1789155000-1789162200@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Simply the Best – Tina Turner Tribute
DESCRIPTION:Simply the Best – Tina Turner Tribute brings the music\, energy\, and sheer force of Tina Turner’s stage presence to downtown Westerly on Friday\, September 11\, with Jenn Cristy and a live band taking over the UNITED’s Black Box Auditorium. \nThe 7:30 p.m. concert isn’t designed as a Tina Turner impersonation. Cristy isn’t trying to convince the audience that Turner has somehow walked onto the stage. The production describes itself as a celebration\, built around the songs and the explosive live-performance style that made Turner one of rock music’s defining performers. \nThat means Proud Mary\, River Deep – Mountain High\, What’s Love Got to Do with It and The Best\, along with music spanning Turner’s career in rock\, soul\, R&B and pop. \nAnd Cristy brings a considerably deeper musical résumé to the job than simply being able to sing the songs. \nJenn Cristy Toured and Recorded With John Mellencamp\nBefore creating a nationally touring Tina Turner tribute\, Jenn Cristy spent part of her career onstage and in the studio with another Rock & Roll Hall of Famer. \nCristy toured and recorded with John Mellencamp as a backing vocalist and multi-instrumentalist. \nHer credits on Mellencamp’s 2001 album Cuttin’ Heads are unusually extensive. She played flute\, percussion\, piano\, organ and violin in addition to singing background vocals. The album also included musicians Steve Jordan and Willie Weeks and guest vocal appearances by Chuck D\, India.Arie and Trisha Yearwood. \nCristy’s work with Mellencamp took her onto national television as well\, with appearances that included Today\, Late Show with David Letterman\, Good Morning America and Larry King Live. \nShe eventually established her own career as a singer-songwriter and touring performer\, working across rock\, pop and soul and developing projects through Bloomington\, Indiana-based One Pulse Entertainment. \nThat versatility turns out to be particularly useful when the artist you’re celebrating is Tina Turner. \nThis Isn’t a Look-Alike Show\nThe distinction Cristy makes about Simply the Best is worth noting. \nIt’s not an impersonation. \nTribute shows can take several forms. Some attempt to reproduce a performer visually as closely as possible\, right down to costumes\, mannerisms and physical resemblance. Others concentrate almost entirely on recreating the original recordings. \nCristy’s show takes a third approach. \nShe’s interested in recreating what it felt like to watch Tina Turner perform. \nThat means the voice matters\, but so do movement\, personality\, interaction with the audience and the sense that the person at the center of the stage is having as much fun as everyone watching. \nCristy has said she has long felt a kinship with Turner’s music and performing style. \nIt’s easy to understand the attraction. \nBoth are singers who don’t stand still behind a microphone. \nTina Turner Was Built for the Stage\nThere are artists whose definitive work lives on records. \nTina Turner was different. \nThe records mattered\, but the stage completed them. \nHer voice could be gritty\, soulful\, vulnerable or ferocious. Then there was the physical performance: the dancing\, the hair\, the miniskirts\, the heels and the seemingly inexhaustible ability to command an arena. \nTurner didn’t simply sing rock music. \nShe performed it with an intensity that helped redefine what a female rock frontperson could look and sound like. \nThe Rock & Roll Hall of Fame describes her as an artist who shattered barriers for Black women in rock while raising the standard for generations of lead singers who followed. \nThat influence reaches from Janis Joplin and the rock performers of Turner’s early career through Prince\, Beyoncé\, Janet Jackson\, Rihanna and generations of artists who came afterward. \nCristy’s challenge Friday night isn’t simply hitting Turner’s notes. \nIt’s finding some of that electricity. \nBefore Tina Turner\, There Was Anna Mae Bullock\nThe story began far from an arena stage. \nTina Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock in Brownsville\, Tennessee\, in 1939 and grew up in the rural South. \nHer musical career began after she encountered Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm in St. Louis. Eventually she joined the act\, adopted the name Tina Turner and became the focal point of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. \nBy the 1960s\, the revue had developed a reputation as a formidable live act. \nThen came one of the great recordings of the era. \nRiver Deep – Mountain High Was Too Big to Fail\, Until It Did\nProducer Phil Spector saw something in Tina Turner that went beyond the revue. \nIn 1966\, he put her voice at the center of River Deep – Mountain High\, constructing one of the grandest examples of his famous Wall of Sound production technique around her. \nToday\, the recording is regarded as a landmark. \nAt the time\, America largely ignored it. \nThe single performed much better in Britain than in the United States\, where it failed to become the enormous hit Spector expected. \nTurner’s performance\, however\, was undeniable. \nShe had a voice capable of standing in front of an almost absurdly dense production and not disappearing inside it. \nDecades later\, River Deep – Mountain High remains part of the repertoire Cristy brings to the stage. \nAnd it represents an important part of Turner’s story. \nShe could sing over almost anything. \nThen Came Proud Mary\nIke & Tina Turner released their version of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Proud Mary in 1971. \nThey didn’t simply cover it. \nThey rebuilt it. \nThe arrangement famously begins slowly before exploding into the fast second half that became inseparable from Tina Turner. \nIt was a major hit and earned the duo a Grammy. \nMore than half a century later\, it’s almost impossible to imagine a Tina Turner tribute that doesn’t include it. \nThe song also captures why a live tribute to Turner works differently from a conventional greatest-hits show. \nEveryone knows what’s coming. \nThe audience knows the tempo is going to change. \nThey know the performance is about to take off. \nAnd they wait for it anyway. \nLeaving Ike Turner Meant Starting Over\nBehind the success was an abusive marriage that Turner later described publicly in painful detail. \nShe left Ike Turner in 1976. \nThe separation brought personal freedom but didn’t immediately bring career security. Turner had to rebuild. \nFor several years she performed wherever she could\, including television appearances and smaller venues\, while the music business increasingly treated her as a performer whose biggest years were behind her. \nShe was a Black woman entering her 40s in an industry particularly unforgiving of women as they aged. \nThen Tina Turner pulled off one of the most extraordinary second acts in popular music. \nPrivate Dancer Changed Everything at 44\nTurner released Private Dancer in 1984. \nShe was 44 years old. \nThe album transformed her from a veteran performer fighting to maintain a career into an international superstar. \nBetter Be Good to Me became a hit. \nThe Mark Knopfler-written Private Dancer became one of her signature recordings. \nBut the song that changed everything was What’s Love Got to Do with It. \nIt reached No. 1 in the United States and became Turner’s biggest hit. \nAt an age when the music industry routinely considered female pop stars past their commercial peak\, Turner was suddenly bigger than she had ever been. \nThe song earned three Grammy Awards\, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year. \nThe comeback wasn’t nostalgia. \nIt was a new peak. \nMTV Met Its Match\nTurner’s timing was perfect in another way. \nMTV had arrived in 1981 and was transforming popular music into an increasingly visual medium. \nTurner was made for it. \nShe didn’t have to invent a camera-friendly stage personality. She’d been developing one for decades. \nVideos for songs from the Private Dancer era introduced her to an audience that may have had little memory of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. \nHer look became instantly identifiable. \nHer movement became part of the songs. \nAnd her voice worked just as well against the polished synthesizers and arena-rock production of the 1980s as it had against soul and R&B arrangements two decades earlier. \nShe had reinvented herself without ceasing to sound like Tina Turner. \nWe Don’t Need Another Hero and The Best Kept It Going\nThe comeback didn’t stop with one album. \nTurner starred as Aunty Entity opposite Mel Gibson in 1985’s Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and recorded We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome) for the soundtrack. \nThen\, in 1989\, she released Foreign Affair. \nThat album included The Best. \nThe song wasn’t originally hers. Bonnie Tyler had recorded it first. \nBut Tina Turner took possession of it so thoroughly that most people now associate the song with her. \nIts enormous chorus\, Turner’s vocal delivery and its natural fit with an arena crowd transformed it into another signature song. \nIt also gave Cristy’s tribute its obvious name. \nAn Eight-Piece Band Recreates the Music Live\nSimply the Best isn’t built around backing tracks and a singer. \nThe touring production uses a full eight-piece live band\, allowing the arrangements to retain the punch that Turner’s music needs. \nThat’s particularly important because the catalog covers several musical eras. \nRiver Deep – Mountain High comes from the densely orchestrated soul production of the 1960s. \nProud Mary moves from slow-burning soul into full-speed rock and R&B. \nWhat’s Love Got to Do with It belongs unmistakably to the polished pop production of 1984. \nPrivate Dancer is moodier. \nWe Don’t Need Another Hero is cinematic. \nThe Best is built for an arena. \nCristy’s touring materials also reveal a broader repertoire including Nutbush City Limits\, Let’s Stay Together\, I Can’t Stand the Rain\, Better Be Good to Me and Private Dancer. \nThe show even reaches beyond Turner’s own recordings for an eclectic selection of additional favorites. \nThe common denominator isn’t one musical genre. \nIt’s energy. \nTurner’s Career Ultimately Lasted More Than 50 Years\nTina Turner eventually became one of those rare artists whose life story became almost as culturally familiar as the songs. \nShe sold out stadiums around the world. \nShe wrote autobiographies. \nAngela Bassett portrayed her in the 1993 film What’s Love Got to Do with It. \nHer story became the stage production Tina: The Tina Turner Musical. \nThe documentary Tina revisited both her career and the complicated reality of repeatedly being asked to relive the most painful period of her life. \nAnd the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted her twice. \nIke & Tina Turner entered together in 1991. \nThirty years later\, Tina Turner was inducted again as a solo performer in 2021. \nShe died in Switzerland in 2023 at age 83. \nBy then\, the comeback that once seemed so improbable had become only one chapter in a career spanning more than half a century. \nThe UNITED Makes This One Intimate\nFriday’s Westerly performance isn’t happening in a giant arena. \nIt’s in the UNITED’s Black Box Auditorium. \nThe show is fully seated\, which makes this a more intimate version of a production that tours nationally. \nThat could work particularly well for Cristy’s approach. \nTurner’s concerts were famous for scale\, but her stage presence depended on connecting with an audience. In a smaller room\, there’s nowhere for the performer to hide and considerably less distance between the front row and the band. \nCristy has spent years touring as a performer in her own right. \nShe isn’t trying to become Tina Turner for two hours. \nShe’s taking what Turner left behind and putting it back where much of it made the most sense in the first place. \nOn a stage. \nWith a band. \nAnd with Proud Mary waiting to speed up. \nDetails\nEvent: Simply the Best – Tina Turner Tribute\nDate: Friday\, September 11\, 2026\nTime: 7:30 p.m.\nRunning Time: Approximately 120 minutes\nPerformer: Jenn Cristy\nProduction: Simply the Best: A Tribute to the Music of Tina Turner\nMusic: Rock / soul / R&B / pop\nBand: Full live band\nVenue: UNITED Black Box Auditorium\nAddress: 5 Canal Street\, Westerly\, RI 02891\nSeating: Fully seated performance\nTicket Policy: Tickets are non-refundable and non-exchangeable\nAccessibility: The UNITED is wheelchair accessible; the theater recommends contacting the box office before purchasing tickets if accessible seating is needed\nBox Office: 401-388-8208\nParking: Street and public-lot parking is available in downtown Westerly \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo purchase tickets\, click the Event Ticketing link below. \n  \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/simply-the-best-tina-turner-tribute/
LOCATION:United Theatre\, 5 Canal Street\, Westerly\, RI\, 02891\, United States
CATEGORIES:United Theater
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260919T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260919T120000
DTSTAMP:20260917T191159Z
CREATED:20260915T002435Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260917T191159Z
UID:10007604-1789812000-1789819200@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Westerly Performing Arts Tour Takes Young Performers Behind the Scenes at Three Downtown Arts Institutions
DESCRIPTION:The Westerly Performing Arts Tour gives young singers\, musicians and actors something they don’t normally get from sitting in the audience: a look behind the curtain at three of Westerly’s major performing arts organizations and a chance to find out how they can become part of them. \nThe guided walking tour begins beneath the marquee at The UNITED Theatre at 10 a.m. Saturday\, September 19\, before heading through downtown to the Granite Theatre and George Kent Performance Hall\, home of The Chorus of Westerly. \nOver roughly 90 minutes\, participants will meet artists and educators\, explore performance spaces\, learn about training programs and discover opportunities to sing\, act\, play an instrument or otherwise become involved in Westerly’s performing arts community. \nFor a young person who knows they want to perform but doesn’t know where to begin\, that’s really the point of the morning. \nThree Stops\, Three Different Ways Onto a Stage\nThe tour isn’t simply a walk through three interesting buildings. \nEach stop represents a different part of the performing arts. \nAt The UNITED\, the focus includes music education and the many ways musicians can develop their skills. \nAt the Granite Theatre\, participants actually step onto the stage while learning about acting\, theatrical training and performance. \nAt The Chorus of Westerly\, the tour moves into vocal and ensemble training inside Kent Hall. \nTogether\, the three organizations offer a surprisingly broad introduction to what’s available to a young performer within a relatively small section of downtown Westerly. \nAnd participants will hear directly from the people who teach and create the work rather than simply picking up three brochures. \nIt Starts Under The UNITED Marquee\nThe first meeting point is one of downtown Westerly’s most recognizable landmarks: the marquee at The UNITED Theatre at 5 Canal Street. \nFrom there\, participants head behind the scenes. \nThe UNITED today is considerably more than a movie theater. \nIts modern arts complex contains a 750-capacity flexible performance space\, three cinemas\, an event and gallery space and a dedicated music school. \nThe building hosts concerts\, theater\, dance\, comedy\, films\, lectures and other programming while maintaining an increasingly substantial educational operation. \nYoung visitors on Saturday’s tour will get a closer look at that educational side. \nThe UNITED Music School Is a Working Training Center\nThe UNITED Music School offers instruction and performance opportunities across a range of instruments\, ages and ability levels. \nThe idea isn’t simply to teach someone how to play scales in a practice room. \nStudents can develop through lessons and ensembles while being conneGcted to an active performing arts organization where musicians are regularly rehearsing\, recording and appearing onstage. \nThe UNITED also extends its education programs beyond traditional instrumental instruction. \nIts broader arts programming has included songwriting\, voice\, photography\, video\, visual arts\, film and podcasting\, along with after-school programming for local students. \nThe tour gives prospective students a chance to see where that work happens and ask the people involved what participating actually looks like. \nThe Building Has Been Training Entertainers for a Century\, in a Way\nThere’s another reason the UNITED is an appropriate place to begin. \nIn 1926\, the original United Theatre opened as a vaudeville house. \nThat means the building turns 100 years old in 2026. \nVaudeville theaters were variety houses. A single bill could contain singers\, dancers\, comedians\, musicians\, novelty performers and other acts. \nThe United later became a movie theater before closing in 1986. \nDecades later\, a major redevelopment joined the historic theater with the neighboring Montgomery Ward building. Following an extensive renovation\, the new UNITED reopened in July 2021 as a multipurpose arts center. \nA building that once presented performers now both presents them and helps train the next generation. \nSaturday’s tour makes that connection unusually literal. \nThen the Tour Heads Through Wilcox Park\nFrom The UNITED\, the group walks through Wilcox Park toward the Granite Theatre. \nThat makes the event a genuine downtown arts tour rather than three disconnected building visits. \nThe park itself is one of the features that makes this possible. \nWesterly’s compact downtown puts theaters\, music spaces\, restaurants\, shops and historic buildings within walking distance of one another\, with Wilcox Park sitting near the center of it all. \nFor young participants\, the walk also demonstrates something that’s easy to overlook when visiting one venue at a time: \nThese organizations are neighbors. \nThey’re part of the same arts community. \nAt the Granite\, Young Performers Get to Step Onto the Stage\nThe second major stop is the Granite Theatre at 1 Granite Street. \nHere\, participants will step onto the stage and hear how theatrical training reaches beyond memorizing lines and learning where to stand. \nThe Granite specifically emphasizes the ways theater can develop confidence\, communication skills and personal growth. \nThose benefits matter even for children who never intend to become professional actors. \nGetting onstage requires speaking clearly. \nActors have to listen to one another. \nThey need to collaborate\, remember instructions\, adapt when something unexpected happens and become comfortable communicating in front of other people. \nA theatrical production is also intensely collaborative. \nThe person delivering the line may be the one the audience sees\, but performances depend on directors\, designers\, technicians\, stage managers and many others working together. \nFor a child interested in theater but uncertain about being the center of attention\, there are plenty of ways into that world. \nThe Granite Has Been Expanding Its Youth Programs\nThe Granite’s mission specifically combines entertainment and education\, and the theater has been developing dedicated programming for younger performers. \nIts Youth Theatre Program has included theatrical training\, summer camps and staged productions for young actors. \nRecent youth programming has been designed for participants roughly 8 to 18 years old\, giving children and teenagers the opportunity to work toward an actual performance rather than treating theater solely as a classroom exercise. \nSaturday’s stop gives prospective young actors and their families a chance to see the space before deciding whether that kind of program feels right for them. \nThat can be much more useful than trying to make the decision from a website. \nThe Granite’s Stage Is Inside an 1849 Church\nThe building itself has already spent more than 175 years gathering people together. \nThe Greek Revival structure was purchased for $200 in 1843 and became the Christian Chapel in Westerly. \nThe building was completed in 1849 and later became the Broad Street Christian Church. \nIts basic historic character survived remarkably well\, although the steeple required remodeling after being damaged during the Hurricane of 1938. \nThe building eventually found an entirely different purpose. \nIn 2000\, it reopened as the Granite Theatre. \nThe former church sanctuary became an intimate performance venue where actors now perform only a short distance from the audience. \nFor a young performer stepping onto its stage Saturday morning\, it’s worth looking around. \nThat’s not a purpose-built modern auditorium. \nIt’s another piece of Westerly history that the arts helped preserve. \nThe Final Stop Is Kent Hall\nThe walking tour continues to 119 High Street\, where another former church has become one of Westerly’s major performance spaces. \nGeorge Kent Performance Hall is home to The Chorus of Westerly. \nThe organization uses Kent Hall for rehearsals\, classes\, concerts and educational programs throughout the year. \nFor young singers\, this portion of the tour may be particularly useful because The Chorus of Westerly has made children’s musical education part of its identity from the beginning. \nParticipants will learn how singers develop musicianship\, vocal technique and ensemble skills\, and how children can progress into serious choral performance even without arriving with years of previous training. \nYou Don’t Need to Arrive Already Knowing How to Sing in a Chorus\nThe Chorus of Westerly explicitly says that children don’t need previous voice lessons\, formal music classes or other musical training to begin its children’s program. \nTeaching them is part of the job. \nIts children’s program is designed for young people approximately ages 8 through 18 and uses multiple levels so developing singers can be placed appropriately. \nEach young singer receives at least two hours of rehearsal per week. \nAnd this isn’t a children’s choir that exists entirely apart from the organization’s major performances. \nOne of The Chorus of Westerly’s founding principles was giving children and teenagers the opportunity to sing challenging music alongside adults in serious performance settings. \nYoung singers have long participated in the organization’s main symphonic and Pops programming. \nThat makes the Kent Hall stop less about asking\, “Can my child already do this?” \nIt’s about discovering how they can learn. \nThe Chorus Has Built a Program That Can Last a Lifetime\nThe children’s program is only one piece of The Chorus of Westerly. \nThere is an auditioned Symphonic Chorus for adults. \nThere are also non-auditioned programs designed to make group singing accessible to people with different experience levels and at different stages of life. \nThe organization has developed a Foundations Chorus\, Threshold Singers and an Encore Choir for older adults\, among other educational and outreach programs. \nThat creates an unusual continuum. \nSomeone can begin singing at Kent Hall as a child and remain involved in choral music well into adulthood. \nThe organization isn’t simply producing concerts. \nIt’s trying to create singers. \nKent Hall Has Heard Some Extraordinary Music\nThe room the young performers will visit has hosted considerably more than local rehearsals. \nThe Chorus of Westerly first performed there in 1968. \nOver the decades\, Kent Hall has welcomed internationally known musicians and ensembles including Yo-Yo Ma\, Pete Seeger\, Rudolf Serkin\, The King’s Singers\, Chanticleer\, The Tallis Scholars\, the Choir of King’s College Cambridge and the Vienna Boys’ Choir. \nIts history predates all of them. \nConstruction of the building began in 1886 as Westerly’s first Roman Catholic church\, Immaculate Conception. \nThe Chorus eventually acquired the building and undertook years of restoration and renovation. \nIn 2004–05\, a nearly $2 million project added an office wing and backstage access. Later work addressed the roof\, bell tower\, HVAC systems\, rehearsal spaces and lower level. \nToday it’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places. \nSo Saturday’s young singers will be standing in a room with some stories to tell. \nThe Tour Is Really About Finding Your Door In\nA child saying “I like music” doesn’t necessarily know what comes next. \nDo I need lessons? \nCan I join a band? \nWhat if I’ve never acted before? \nDo I have to audition? \nWhat happens at an audition? \nCan I sing in a chorus if I can’t read music? \nWhat if I want to work in theater but don’t want to act? \nThose questions can make arts organizations seem more intimidating from the outside than they actually are. \nThe Westerly Performing Arts Tour removes some of that barrier by putting families directly in the spaces and introducing them to the people who can answer those questions. \nThere’s no requirement that a participant emerge from Saturday morning having chosen an artistic career. \nFinding something they’d like to try is enough. \nParents Need to Come Along With Younger Participants\nThe tour is designed for young performers\, but participants under 18 must be accompanied by an adult. \nThat makes sense for another reason. \nParents are usually the ones who need answers about schedules\, commitments\, auditions\, costs and transportation before a child can join a program. \nInstead of a young person coming home excited about something and trying to explain it\, parent and child can hear the information together. \nThe UNITED asks participants to reserve a spot in advance. \nThe tour begins at the UNITED marquee at 10 a.m. The UNITED describes the guided experience as approximately 90 minutes\, while the Chamber calendar blocks out 10 a.m. to noon\, so families would be wise to keep the full two-hour window available. \nThree Institutions\, One Arts Community\nThe most interesting part of the Westerly Performing Arts Tour may not be any single stop. \nIt’s the fact that all three stops exist so close together. \nWithin one morning\, a young person can explore a century-old theater reborn as a modern music and arts center\, stand on the stage of an 1849 church transformed into a community theater and visit an 1880s church that became home to a nationally recognized choral organization. \nThey’re different institutions with different histories and specialties. \nBut they’re doing versions of the same thing. \nThey’re taking people who want to create something and giving them a place to begin. \nOn September 19\, they’re opening those doors together. \nDetails\nEvent: The Westerly Performing Arts Tour\nDate: Saturday\, September 19\, 2026\nStart Time: 10 a.m.\nCalendar Window: 10 a.m.–noon\nGuided Tour Length: Approximately 90 minutes\nStarting Point: The UNITED Theatre marquee/front entrance\nStarting Address: 5 Canal Street\, Westerly\, RI 02891\nStops: The UNITED Theatre and Music School\, Granite Theatre and George Kent Performance Hall/The Chorus of Westerly\nAudience: Young performers and families interested in local performing arts opportunities\nUnder 18: Must be accompanied by an adult\nActivities: Behind-the-scenes theater visit\, music school introduction\, Granite Theatre stage visit\, choral education introduction and conversations with artists and educators\nWalking: The tour travels between downtown locations\, including a walk through Wilcox Park\nRegistration: Advance reservation is requested\nContact: The UNITED Theatre\, 401-388-8208 \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo reserve your spot\, click the Event Registration link below. \n  \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/westerly-performing-arts-tour-takes-young-performers-behind-the-scenes-at-three-downtown-arts-institutions/
LOCATION:United Theatre\, 5 Canal Street\, Westerly\, RI\, 02891\, United States
CATEGORIES:United Theater
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Westerly-Performing-Arts-Tour-Takes-Young-Performers-Behind-the-Scenes-at-Three-Downtown-Arts-Institutions.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260920T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260920T190000
DTSTAMP:20260915T215319Z
CREATED:20260915T215319Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260915T215319Z
UID:10007871-1789923600-1789930800@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Swing Band Benefit Concert Brings Three Big Bands and a Dance Floor to the UNITED
DESCRIPTION:Swing Band Benefit Concert fills the UNITED Theatre with brass\, reeds\, rhythm and the music of the big-band era on Sunday\, September 20\, as three regional jazz orchestras share the stage for a concert benefiting music education on both sides of the Connecticut-Rhode Island line. \nThe third annual benefit runs from 5 to 7 p.m. in the UNITED’s Black Box Auditorium in Westerly. This year’s lineup brings together the Time and Changes Jazz Orchestra\, As Time Goes By and the Sean Nelson Jazz Orchestra. \nThe music reaches back to Frank Sinatra\, Benny Goodman\, Glenn Miller and Count Basie\, but this isn’t being presented as a sit-down history lesson. \nThe UNITED’s invitation is considerably simpler: listen\, dance\, and donate. \nAnd the money raised goes back into music\, supporting the UNITED Music School and music programs in the Westerly and New London public schools. \nThree Bands\, One Concert\nThe structure gives the evening something closer to a miniature big-band festival than a conventional concert. \nTime and Changes Jazz Orchestra opens the show. \nThe group performs in the classic 17-piece big-band configuration\, the kind of lineup capable of producing the enormous ensemble sound associated with the swing era. \nNext comes As Time Goes By\, a local swing and jazz band that also organized the benefit. \nThen the Sean Nelson Jazz Orchestra closes the evening with another 17-piece ensemble drawing musicians from around New England. \nPut all three together and there will be a lot of musicians moving through the UNITED stage in two hours. \nThat’s appropriate for music that was built around scale. \nWhy 17 Musicians?\nThere’s a reason two of Sunday’s ensembles are specifically described as 17-piece bands. \nThe classic big-band format generally divides its musicians into sections: saxophones\, trumpets\, trombones and a rhythm section. \nRather than simply having everyone play simultaneously\, arrangers can move melodies and harmonies among those sections. \nSaxophones can carry one passage before trumpets answer. \nTrombones can add a darker layer underneath them. \nThe rhythm section keeps everything moving while individual musicians step forward for solos. \nThen the arranger can bring the entire ensemble together. \nThat’s where the sheer power of a big band comes from. \nA 17-piece jazz orchestra can whisper\, but when everybody arrives at the same musical destination at once\, it doesn’t stay quiet for long. \nTime and Changes Opens With the Classic Big-Band Sound\nThe Time and Changes Jazz Orchestra gets first crack at the room. \nIts billing as a classic 17-piece big band immediately establishes the musical vocabulary for the evening. \nThis is music descended from the large jazz orchestras that became one of America’s dominant forms of popular entertainment during the 1930s and ’40s. \nBefore rock bands filled arenas\, big bands filled ballrooms. \nAnd before recorded music became the default soundtrack for a night out\, people danced to actual orchestras. \nThat connection between jazz and dancing is important to Sunday’s concert because the UNITED isn’t asking audiences simply to admire the arrangements. \nDancing is part of the evening. \nAs Time Goes By Is the Band Behind the Benefit\nThe middle set belongs to As Time Goes By\, the local swing and jazz group that organized the Swing Band Benefit Concert. \nThat gives the band’s appearance a different role. \nThey’re not simply one of three acts on the bill. They’re helping bring the bands together around a common purpose. \nThis is now the event’s third year\, giving what began as a benefit concert the beginnings of an annual Westerly tradition. \nAs Time Goes By occupies the center position between two large jazz orchestras\, creating some musical variety while keeping the evening rooted firmly in swing and jazz. \nAnd its name couldn’t be much more appropriate for a concert drawing heavily from the American songbook. \nSean Nelson Jazz Orchestra Closes the Night\nThe final set belongs to the Sean Nelson Jazz Orchestra. \nLike Time and Changes\, Nelson’s group is a 17-piece jazz orchestra\, with the UNITED describing its membership as musicians drawn from across New England. \nNelson is a trombonist\, composer\, arranger and bandleader whose work spans jazz performance and large-ensemble writing. \nA jazz orchestra gives an arranger an unusually broad musical palette. \nInstead of thinking only about melody\, chords and rhythm\, the arranger can work with instrumental color: which section carries a line\, which instruments answer it\, where the ensemble pulls back and when the entire band comes roaring in. \nThat’s part of what separates hearing this music from a recording. \nA big band moves air. \nIn a live room\, you feel the brass as much as hear it. \nSinatra\, Goodman\, Miller and Basie Point Toward the Songbook\nThe UNITED is highlighting music associated with Frank Sinatra\, Benny Goodman\, Glenn Miller and Count Basie. \nThose four names cover a surprising amount of musical territory. \nGoodman’s orchestra helped push swing into the center of American popular culture during the 1930s. \nMiller developed one of the era’s most recognizable ensemble sounds\, producing recordings that became inseparable from the World War II generation. \nBasie’s orchestra approached swing differently\, with an extraordinary emphasis on rhythm\, space and blues. \nAnd Sinatra’s career connected the big-band era with the emergence of the modern solo pop vocalist. \nHe first became a national star singing with the Harry James and Tommy Dorsey orchestras before establishing the solo career that eventually made him one of the defining American singers of the 20th century. \nSunday’s program isn’t advertised as a recreation of one specific orchestra or period. \nInstead\, those names provide the musical coordinates. \nThis Music Was Made for Dancing\nBig-band jazz eventually became something people often encountered in concert halls\, jazz festivals and record collections. \nThat can obscure its original function. \nPeople danced to it. \nSwing developed alongside an enormous social-dance culture\, and the relationship between dancers and musicians influenced the music itself. \nThe rhythm had to move. \nTempos mattered. \nArrangements needed momentum. \nA packed dance floor wasn’t a distraction from the orchestra. It was evidence that the orchestra was doing its job. \nThat’s why the UNITED’s “come listen\, dance and donate” description is more than a catchy invitation. \nDancing puts this music back into something resembling its original environment. \nNobody has to dance\, of course. \nBut the opportunity is there for anyone who hears a Basie-style rhythm section and finds sitting still increasingly difficult. \nThe Benefit Looks Forward While the Music Looks Back\nThe most important part of the concert may be what happens after the final note. \nProceeds from the 2026 event benefit the UNITED Music School\, along with music programs in the Westerly and New London public schools. \nThat gives the evening a nice symmetry. \nProfessional and experienced regional musicians are performing music with roots stretching back nearly a century to help younger musicians get access to instruments\, instruction and school music programs now. \nThe UNITED Music School operates as part of the theater’s broader educational mission\, offering music instruction and performance opportunities from its downtown Westerly campus. \nSupporting public-school programs extends the impact beyond the theater itself. \nAnd notably\, the beneficiaries cross the state line. \nWesterly is in Rhode Island. \nNew London is in Connecticut. \nMusic doesn’t care much about the border. \nThe UNITED Is an Appropriate Home for It\nThe setting also carries its own musical history. \nThe UNITED originally opened as a vaudeville theater in 1926\, placing its beginnings just before the big-band era exploded nationally. \nAfter decades as a movie theater and a long period of closure\, the building was extensively redeveloped and reopened in 2021 as a multidisciplinary arts center. \nToday it combines cinemas\, live-performance spaces and a music school under one roof. \nSunday’s concert brings all of those strands together particularly well. \nIt’s a live performance of music rooted in the first half of the 20th century\, presented inside a restored 1920s theater\, raising money to teach musicians who will carry music into the future. \nTwo Hours\, Three Bands and a Lot of Horns\nThere are easier ways to raise money. \nYou can hold a raffle. \nYou can sell baked goods. \nOr you can put three swing bands onstage\, assemble dozens of musicians\, clear some room for dancing and let Count Basie\, Glenn Miller\, Benny Goodman and Sinatra provide the inspiration. \nThe Swing Band Benefit Concert has chosen the latter. \nFor anyone who loves the sound of a full horn section\, Sunday evening should provide plenty of it. \nAnd every ticket helps make sure another generation gets the chance to learn how to make some noise of its own. \nDetails\nEvent: Swing Band Benefit Concert\nDate: Sunday\, September 20\, 2026\nTime: 5–7 p.m.\nLocation: UNITED Theatre\, Black Box Auditorium\nAddress: 5 Canal Street\, Westerly\, RI 02891\nPerformers: Time and Changes Jazz Orchestra\, As Time Goes By and Sean Nelson Jazz Orchestra\nMusic: Big band\, swing and jazz\, including selections associated with Frank Sinatra\, Benny Goodman\, Glenn Miller and Count Basie\nAdult Tickets: $22\nUnder 18: $12\nBeneficiaries: UNITED Music School and music programs in the Westerly and New London public schools\nDancing: Encouraged\nPhone: 401-388-8208\nEmail: info@unitedtheatre.org\nAccessibility: The UNITED’s cinemas are wheelchair accessible. The theater recommends contacting the box office before purchasing live-performance tickets to discuss the best accessible seating location. Assistive listening devices are also available.\nTicket Policy: UNITED event tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo purchase tickets\, click the Event Ticketing link below. \n  \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/swing-band-benefit-concert-brings-three-big-bands-and-a-dance-floor-to-the-united/
LOCATION:United Theatre\, 5 Canal Street\, Westerly\, RI\, 02891\, United States
CATEGORIES:United Theater
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260926T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260926T213000
DTSTAMP:20260926T162825Z
CREATED:20260920T194125Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260926T162825Z
UID:10008477-1790451000-1790458200@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Billy Gilman Celebrates 25 Years of Music With a Home-State Show at the UNITED (postponed)
DESCRIPTION:NOTE: This event was postponed due to the nor’easter.\nBilly Gilman Celebrates 25 Years of Music With a Home-State Show at the UNITED Saturday\, Sept. 26\, bringing the Rhode Island singer back to Westerly for an anniversary concert that looks back at one of the more unusual careers in modern country music. \n25 Years of Hits & Showstoppers begins at 7:30 p.m. in the UNITED’s Black Box Auditorium. The fully seated\, all-ages performance will mix songs from Gilman’s career with classics\, covers\, and stories from a musical journey that began when he became nationally famous before he was even a teenager. \nFor this particular anniversary show\, the location matters. Gilman was born in Westerly and grew up in nearby Hope Valley. Twenty-five years after his childhood career put a Rhode Island kid on country radio across America\, he’s returning home to celebrate the music that followed. \nWhen “One Voice” Changed Everything\nGilman’s career exploded in 2000 with “One Voice.” \nHe was only 11 when the song became a major country hit\, making him the youngest solo performer at the time to reach Billboard’s country charts. The song also crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100. \nHis debut album\, also titled One Voice\, followed and became a major commercial success. Suddenly\, a child from Rhode Island was sharing the country music conversation with established Nashville stars. \nThen came the Grammys. \n“One Voice” earned Gilman a nomination for Best Male Country Vocal Performance at the 43rd Grammy Awards\, putting the 12-year-old singer in a category alongside adult country performers. The songwriters also received a nomination for Best Country Song. \nGilman went on to release Classic Christmas\, Dare to Dream and Music Through Heartsongs during a remarkably compressed period of childhood fame. \nWhat Happens When a Child Singer Grows Up?\nGilman’s story became more complicated as he got older. \nThe voice that had made him famous as a child inevitably changed during adolescence. For most singers\, that’s an ordinary part of growing up. For Gilman\, his career had been built around a voice millions of people already knew. \nHis recording career slowed considerably. \nThat could easily have been the end of the story: a former child star remembered primarily for one extraordinary period at the beginning of the 2000s. \nInstead\, Gilman eventually found another national stage. \nA Second Introduction on The Voice\nIn 2016\, Gilman auditioned for Season 11 of NBC’s The Voice. \nThis time\, audiences weren’t meeting an 11-year-old country prodigy. They were hearing an adult singer essentially asking to be judged again. \nHis blind audition of Adele’s “When We Were Young” turned all four coaches’ chairs. Gilman chose Adam Levine’s team and ultimately made it all the way to the season finale\, finishing as runner-up. \nThe appearance reintroduced him to a national audience more than 15 years after “One Voice\,” while also allowing him to move beyond the expectations attached to his childhood sound. \nThat arc gives the title 25 Years of Hits & Showstoppers more weight than a standard anniversary concert. It’s a career that has effectively contained two introductions to the American public. \nComing Home to Westerly\nNow 38\, Gilman returns to the town where he was born for a show built around that entire journey. \nThe UNITED describes the concert as a combination of familiar songs\, heartfelt classics and powerful covers reimagined in Gilman’s current style\, with storytelling connecting different periods of his career. \nThe setting should make this one particularly intimate. \nRather than the UNITED’s larger configurations\, the concert is a fully seated performance in the Black Box Auditorium\, with reserved seating selected when tickets are purchased. \nDoors open at 6:30 p.m.\, with the show beginning at 7:30. Tickets are $35 with fees included. \nFor longtime Rhode Island fans\, there is an obvious full-circle element to the night. The kid from Hope Valley who became a national country star at 11\, disappeared from the center of the industry as his voice changed\, and then sang his way back onto national television as an adult is celebrating the anniversary close to where the whole thing started. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo purchase tickets\, click the Event Ticketing link below. \nDetails\nEvent: Billy Gilman: 25 Years of Hits & Showstoppers\nDate: Saturday\, Sept. 26\, 2026\nDoors: 6:30 p.m.\nShow: 7:30 p.m.\nVenue: UNITED Black Box Auditorium\nAddress: 5 Canal Street\, Westerly\, RI 02891\nAdmission: $35\, fees included\nSeating: Fully seated show; seating location is selected when purchasing tickets\nAge: All ages\nAccessibility: The UNITED is wheelchair accessible and recommends contacting the box office before purchasing tickets to discuss the best location for accessible seating.\nTicket Policy: Tickets are non-refundable and non-exchangeable. \n  \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/billy-gilman-celebrates-25-years-of-music-with-a-home-state-show-at-the-united/
LOCATION:United Theatre\, 5 Canal Street\, Westerly\, RI\, 02891\, United States
CATEGORIES:United Theater
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260927T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260927T210000
DTSTAMP:20260923T194738Z
CREATED:20260923T194454Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260923T194738Z
UID:10008528-1790535600-1790542800@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Roots Music Stomp Brings America’s Musical Traditions Together With Erica Weiss
DESCRIPTION:Roots Music Stomp Brings America’s Musical Traditions Together With Erica Weiss Sunday\, Sept. 27\, for an evening that can move from an Appalachian fiddle tune to Louisiana Cajun music\, Balkan singing\, and an original song without ever leaving the UNITED’s Gallery Events Space. \nThe September edition of the monthly series pairs host Craig Edwards with Erica Weiss\, a multi-instrumentalist\, singer\, teacher and dance caller whose musical world crosses traditions that are often separated into different genres. \nWeiss plays fiddle\, guitar and bass\, sings and performs Appalachian old-time string band music\, Cajun and Zydeco\, Balkan vocal music and her own songs. \nThat range makes her particularly well suited to Roots Music Stomp. \nThe series isn’t designed as a conventional concert where a touring artist arrives\, plays a prepared set and leaves. Instead\, Edwards invites musicians steeped in traditional styles to play together while exploring where the music came from\, how it traveled and why seemingly different American musical traditions frequently turn out to be related. \nPart Concert\, Part Musical Conversation\nRoots Music Stomp has been described as something approaching a live musical podcast. \nThere is performance\, but conversation and musical history are part of the experience. \nEdwards and his guest can play a tune\, talk about the tradition behind it and then follow the music somewhere else. \nThat makes improvisation part of the appeal. \nA fiddle can lead into Appalachian old-time music. An accordion can shift the evening toward Louisiana. A song can open a discussion about the communities that carried it from one generation to another. \nThe point isn’t simply to reproduce old music. \nIt’s to show that roots music has always been alive\, changing as musicians and communities encountered one another. \nErica Weiss Crosses Musical Borders\nWeiss has spent years inside the traditional-music community as both a performer and teacher. \nShe has performed and taught at festivals and music camps and worked alongside musicians in the old-time and Cajun traditions\, while her interests extend well beyond either one. \nAppalachian old-time music itself developed through a complicated meeting of cultures. European fiddle traditions mixed with African American musical traditions\, including the banjo\, an instrument with West African ancestry that became fundamental to American string-band music. \nCajun music developed from another migration story. \nFrench-speaking Acadians expelled from Canada during the 18th century eventually established communities in Louisiana\, where their music interacted with Creole\, African\, Caribbean and other traditions. Fiddles were eventually joined by accordions\, and neighboring Cajun and Creole musical cultures helped produce the sounds now associated with Cajun and Zydeco music. \nBalkan singing brings another musical world into Weiss’ repertoire\, with vocal traditions known for powerful harmonies\, distinctive intervals and rhythms that can sound strikingly different to ears accustomed to American popular music. \nRoots Music Stomp provides a place where those differences can be heard side by side. \nCraig Edwards Has Spent a Lifetime Following the Connections\nIf the concept sounds unusually broad\, that’s because Edwards’ own musical career is unusually broad. \nHe sings and plays fiddle\, guitar\, five-string banjo\, mandolin and button accordion\, with a repertoire encompassing Appalachian old-time\, blues\, bluegrass\, Cajun\, Celtic music\, chanteys\, folk\, roots rock\, swing and Zydeco. \nHis interest goes beyond learning songs. \nEdwards studied ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University\, focusing on American string-band traditions and conducting fieldwork in places including West Virginia\, North Carolina\, Louisiana\, Ireland and Nova Scotia. \nHe has also studied with West African master musicians and dancers\, another route into understanding how African musical traditions became part of the foundation of American music. \nEdwards later spent years as a staff musician at Mystic Seaport Museum and served as director of its Sea Music Festival\, where his work expanded into maritime traditions from around the world. \nToday\, he teaches traditional fiddle styles at Wesleyan and teaches at the UNITED while continuing to perform across multiple roots traditions. \nCalling him a multi-instrumentalist almost undersells what he’s doing with Roots Music Stomp. \nHe’s using the instruments as tools for musical history. \nA Series Built Around a Different Tradition Every Month\nThe September program is one chapter in an ongoing monthly experiment at the UNITED. \nPrevious Roots Music Stomp programs have explored bluegrass with fiddler Austin Scelzo\, maritime and folk traditions with longtime Mystic Seaport chanteyman Geoff Kaufman\, traditional Irish music and the enormous influence of Bob Dylan on American folk and popular songwriting. \nOther editions have ventured into Franco-American fiddling\, seasonal traditional music and additional regional folk traditions. \nThe format changes because the guest changes. \nRather than impose the same concert structure every month\, Edwards uses each musician’s specialty as the starting point. The collaboration then allows different traditions to collide\, overlap or reveal connections that might not be apparent from simply listening to recordings. \nWith Weiss\, there are a lot of directions the conversation can go. \nAppalachia. Louisiana. The Balkans. Traditional dance music. Original songwriting. \nAnd with two musicians capable of changing instruments as the evening develops\, there’s no requirement that they stay in one place for very long. \nAn Intimate Room for Music That Was Meant to Be Shared\nRoots Music Stomp takes place in the Gallery Events Space at the UNITED\, rather than the theater’s large Black Box auditorium. \nThat smaller setting fits the material. \nMuch of the music being explored in the series developed long before amplifiers\, arenas or even modern concert culture. These were social traditions played at dances\, gatherings\, homes\, community celebrations\, work sites and informal sessions. \nThe music was passed from musician to musician largely by listening\, watching and playing together. \nRoots Music Stomp recreates a little of that process in front of an audience. \nInstead of presenting traditional music as something preserved behind glass\, Edwards and Weiss can pull it apart\, talk about it and then put it back together by playing it. \nFor anyone who has wondered how a fiddle tune from Appalachia\, a Louisiana dance tune and music carried across an ocean can all wind up under the enormous umbrella called American roots music\, Sunday night offers a pretty good place to start. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo purchase tickets\, click the Event Ticketing link below. \nDetails\nEvent: Roots Music Stomp featuring Erica Weiss\nDate: Sunday\, Sept. 27\, 2026\nTime: 7–9 p.m.\nLocation: UNITED Gallery Events Space\nAddress: 5 Canal St.\, Westerly\, RI 02891\nFeatured Musician: Erica Weiss\nHost: Craig Edwards\nMusic: Appalachian old-time\, Cajun\, Zydeco\, Balkan singing\, folk\, original music and other traditional styles\nFormat: Live performance\, collaboration and discussion of traditional music and its history\nVenue: Gallery Events Space at the UNITED\nAccessibility: The UNITED is wheelchair accessible; guests needing accommodations for a live performance can contact the box office\nContact: 401-388-8208 \n  \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/roots-music-stomp-brings-americas-musical-traditions-together-with-erica-weiss/
LOCATION:United Theatre\, 5 Canal Street\, Westerly\, RI\, 02891\, United States
CATEGORIES:United Theater
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Roots-Music-Stomp-Brings-Americas-Musical-Traditions-Together-With-Erica-Weiss.jpg
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