| DATE | Saturday, July 25, 2015
We cannot offer refunds under any circumstances.
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| TIME | 8:00PM (Doors Open 7:00PM) |
| VENUE |
The Cabot
286 Cabot Street
Beverly, MA 01915
Venue Details
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| OPENER | Sarah & the Wild Versatile |
| TICKETS | RESERVED SEATS (ALL AGES) $15.00, $23.00, $29.00 |
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GIMMELIVE brings Boston's best to Beverly for this very special concert featuring Boston Music Award winners Ruby Rose Fox (Female Vocalist of the Year) and Jesse Dee (Male Vocalist of the Year). Introducing Salem sensation Sarah and the Wild Versatile.
Don't miss this rare chance to see three of the Boston area's hottest bands on the same stage at the intimate Cabot Theatre.
Ruby Rose Fox, a vocal powerhouse of soul driven, edgy rock 'n' roll (with a nod to newwave pop), whose voice threatens to knock down the walls of any room in which she performs is hard at work to make 2015 her strongest year of new releases and live performances. Ruby Rose Fox was the lone standout of Boston-based artists to make The Boston Globe's list of "10 Bands and Solo Artists to Watch in 2015," and winner of the 2014 Boston Music Award for Best Female Vocalist in addition to her nomination for Singer-Songwriter of the Year.
Boston's Jesse Dee is a singing, songwriting, guitar-playing soul man-a modern day trailblazer inspired by the old school. Dee's passion is exploring and updating soul music for contemporary audiences. With his warm and honest sound, his instantly memorable melodies and positive, slice-of-life lyrics (evoking the heyday of the Brill Building songwriters), he accomplishes just that. His inventive, hook-filled songs are delivered with buoyant, youthful exuberance. Live, he always brings down the house, and keeps his ever-growing fan base coming back for more. His band lays down driving, infectious grooves while Dee's expressive vocals put him in a class by himself. On the strength of his fervent live shows, Dee plays to packed clubs in New England and has toured across Europe, earning new fans at every gig. The Boston Herald declares, "Dee has an explosive voice. He possesses a powerful, raspy tenor and an uncanny phrasing ability that can't be taught."
Dee won the 2010 Boston Phoenix Music Poll Award for Best R&B Act, both for the strength of his live show and the aftershocks of his 2008 debut CD, Bittersweet Batch (7Not Records/Munich Records). With his new album, On My Mind / In My Heart (AL 4952), his first for Alligator Records, Dee is now poised to break into the minds and hearts of music lovers across the country and around the world. The album, eleven original songs produced by Dee and Jack Younger, is a sweet soul masterpiece full of good vibes and funky, joyful music. Like Sam Cooke, Dee writes about real life with true emotional poetry. His lyrics are set to toe-tapping melodies with horn charts channeling The Memphis Horns and 1970s-era Van Morrison.
Much like an artist painting on canvas (another of his talents), Dee crafts his songs in layers, oftentimes starting with a melody and lyrics, then carefully adding guitar riffs, horn blasts, vocal inflections, or any number of other colors from his musical palette. He fills his songs with a wide variety of textures, allowing listeners to visualize the images he paints with his words. "I'm a music fan first," Dee says, "so it's important to me to seek out and create with original ideas. That's why songwriting is so important, and why I mean every word I write and sing."
Born in 1980 in Boston, MA, Dee grew up in nearby Arlington. He got his first taste of soul music from local oldies radio station WODS when he was eight years old. As a child, he was drawn to the sounds of The Drifters, The Shirelles, Smokey Robinson, Sam Cooke and other doo wop, Motown and R&B greats. He always loved singing, and would often record made-up tunes into his tape recorder. He sang in school theatre productions and church choir, and was writing songs by his mid-teens. Dee began fronting a band soon after, but didn't pick up his first guitar until he was 18. With help from his musically inclined father and The Bob Dylan Six-Chord Songbook, he taught himself the instrument well enough to start performing as a solo artist a year later. During this period, Jesse immersed himself in the music of Otis Redding, Jackie Wilson, Solomon Burke, Etta James, James Brown and all the deep soul masters, listening, learning, writing and continuing to hone his craft by playing live every chance he could get.
Dee attended Massachusetts College Of Art And Design, studying illustration, performance, production, mixed-media and composition. He sang with the ten-piece soul ensemble Decifunk, and toured up and down the East Coast. In the early 2000's he even lent his voice to rock ‘n' roll band The Dirty Whites before starting his own group. He released his first album, Bittersweet Batch, in 2008, and heads immediately began turning. The New York Daily News awarded the CD a rare four-star review, saying, "I am blown away by what's coming out of my speakers…remarkable…there isn't a bad song to be found…upbeat and soulful."
The success of the CD allowed Dee and his band to travel beyond Boston, making new converts in Washington, DC, New York, Philadelphia, Nashville, and Chicago. He first toured the Netherlands, the UK and Italy in 2009 before heading back again the following two years, this time adding Ireland, Belgium, Germany, France and Spain to his itinerary. Dee has opened for soul greats Al Green, Solomon Burke, Etta James, Bettye LaVette, and blues rockers Los Lobos and the J. Geils Band, and has shared stages many times with fellow soul singer James Hunter.
With his new relationship with Alligator Records, Dee is ready to set the world on fire. He will tour widely, bringing his modern, fun and timeless music to clubs, concert halls and festivals all over the world. Dee is proud of the songs on On My Mind / In My Heart, saying the music is a perfect representation of where he is as an artist. "Soul music is capable of touching the greatest and most diverse group of people," Dee says. "All the best soul music is based on shared experience. Songs have the ability to affect people, shine a light, lift them up, and push them forward. There's hope in these songs," he continues, "and people need that now more than ever."
Sarah and the Wild Versatile formed in February 2015 at a jam session put together by Salem, MA guitarist Eric Reardon. Looking to form a band, he began collaborating with bassist Steve Burke and drummer Derek Hayden, eventually adding multi-instrumentalist Derek Dupuis to the group. As Eric recalls, "The thing that stood out for me was everyone's admiration and respect for each others' talents as well as their musicianship."
Eric next invited to the mix Sarah Seminski, his writing collaborator since 2006. The two reconnected to some acclaim forming the acoustic duo "Cozy Covers", performing for sold out crowds at events such as the North Shore Rhythm, Funk and Blues Fest (Nov 2014), and opening for Grammy winner Booker T. Jones (Feb 2015).
After only three rehearsals, Sarah and the Wild Versatile had their debut performance opening for national touring act "Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds" at Great Scott in Boston (March 2015). The group played through a strong set of original material previously written by Sarah and Eric - music rooted in rock but touching upon genres they naturally connect with such as funk, jazz, soul, blues, and R&B. "The music has nice hooks and catchy parts, but doesn't totally stay in traditional progressions. Yet it isn't so weird that the common listener would feel left out," says Derek Hayden.
The group has been building a strong catalog of original works, and also breathing new life into previously written songs by Sarah and Eric. "I love the broad scope and power of our compositions," says Derek Dupuis. "Sherman's March, for example, presents a tale of war and the loss of love. It contains vastly different sections, yet they are connected together into a sprawling story."
Sarah and the Wild Versatile are currently performing throughout the Northeast US while continuing to write and record new material. "I love that our songs sound like us," says Steve Burke. "The music and lyrics Sarah writes are honest and personal. Everyone in the band has a voice on their instruments, and it comes through in this band."
Along with it's slightly older cousin, The Larcom (built in 1912) The Cabot Theatre is a North Shore treasure and legacy of the visionary showmanship of the Ware Brothers, who built them both. Opened in 1920 as a movie palace, it was hailed as "the most impressive auditorium of its size east of New York". This Ware Theater shared a distinguished architectural pedigree, designed by the architects of Boston's Athenaeum and Olympia Theater and Dorchester's Strand Theater. For its first 40 years, it served as a center of community life for downtown Beverly.
The venue was purchased in 1960 by movie chain giant E.M. Loews, who renamed it the Cabot Cinema. A unique and remarkable transformation began in 1976 when it was purchased by Le Grand David and his own Spectacular Magic Company. For 37 years, the Cabot hosted a long-running magic show that entertained local audiences, made seven White House appearances, and won recognition in the Guinness Book of Records and the magazines of TIME, Smithsonian and National Geographic World.
No ordinary buildings, the Cabot and The Larcom Theatre are rare survivors. Only 250 similar theatres still exist in the U.S.
But The Cabot's future came into doubt when the Magic Company wound down and they placed the theater up for sale.
With an irreplaceable civic treasure at risk, a passionate group of Beverly citizens has formed a nonprofit organization, Cabot Performing Arts Center, Inc, to operate as "The Cabot".
