THE WEB: Full Schedule

Friday, September 10th, 2010

Bryan Bowers

  There is a $1/ticket processing fee included.

Bryan Bowers’ creativity and talent have won him induction into Frets Magazine's First Gallery of the Greats after five years of winning the stringed instrument, open category of the magazine’s readers' poll. This distinction put Bowers along side other luminaries, such as Chet Atkins, David Grisman, Stephan Grappelli, Itzhak Perlman, Tony Rice, Rob Wasserman and Mark O'Connor, recognized for their personal accomplishments. In 1993, Bryan was inducted into the Autoharp Hall of Fame to stand only with Maybelle Carter, Kilby Snow, and Sara Carter. From his rather unglamorous beginning as a street singer, Bryan Bowers has become a major artist on the traditional music circuit. He has redefined the autoharp and is also well known as a singer-songwriter. Bryan has a dynamic outgoing personality and an uncanny ability to enchant a crowd in practically any situation. His towering six foot four inch frame can be wild and zany on stage while playing a song like `Dixie' and five minutes later he can have the same audience singing `Will The Circle Be Unbroken' in quiet reverence and delight. For nearly three decades, Bryan Bowers has been to the autoharp what Earl Scruggs was to the five-string banjo. He presents instrumental virtuosity combined with warmth, eloquence, expression and professionalism.
Charlotte’s Web has had the magnificent honor of being a part of Bowers’ illustrious career for almost 4 decades. All who were in attendance at his appearance in Rockford in October 2008 will surely recall the incredible feeling of connectedness and hope when Bryan invited us to join hands and voices in a spine-tingling rendition of “May The Circle Be Unbroken” that released the intense political and societal tension in the air preceding the presidential election. I can still remember this same feeling from when I was a little girl and the circle of joined hands wove around and around the packed downstairs of the original Charlotte’s Web building and the voices still fill my heart. 

Thursday, September 16th, 2010

"Curtain Up"

The Rockford arts community is pleased to present "Curtain Up!", a new kickoff event for Rockford's arts and entertainment organizations' 2010-2011 season.  The event will take place on Thursday, September 16from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Coronado Performing Arts Center.  Admission is free.
At "Curtain Up!", the Rockford community can discover all that their local arts and entertainment organizations have to offer for the 2010-2011 season.  Attendees can talk to representatives from the various organizations and purchase season subscriptions and single tickets. 

The event will include free appetizers, cash bar, live music, and ticket giveaways.  Attendees will have the opportunity to attend a portion of a Rockford Symphony Orchestra rehearsal from 7:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. 

The local arts community will also take this opportunity to welcome SMG to the Rockford area.  SMG will begin managing the Metro Centre in early September.

Presenting organizations include Artists' Ensemble Theater, Charlotte's Web for the Performing Arts, Coronado Performing Arts Center, Kantorei, the Singing Boys of Rockford, Mendelssohn Performing Arts Center, Metro Centre, River District Association, Rockford Area Arts Council, Rockford Art Museum, Rockford Coronado Concert Association, Rockford Dance Company, Rockford Symphony Orchestra and The Element.

For further information, contact Anne O'Keefe at the Rockford Area Arts Council by phone at 815-963-6765 or by e-mail at a.okeefe@artsforeveryone.com, or see the online event calendar at www.artsforeveryone.com.

Sunday, September 19th, 2010

Doug Macleod

There is a $1/ticket processing fee included. 

Doug MacLeod is a singer-songwriter in the American tradition. He is a traveling artist who writes and sings original songs based on his own life and experiences. He learned from the old masters, lived the music, survived the life and carries forward a valuable tradition. MacLeod is known for his superb songwriting, guitar wizardry, warm soulful vocals, wit and unforgettable live performances. At the heart of this is his knack for storytelling, bringing characters-from the faceless to the legendary-to strikingly real life.
In every note he performs and records, MacLeod subscribes to the rule-of-thumb learned from country bluesman Ernest Banks who instilled in him to "Never play a note you don't believe" and "Never write or sing about what you don't know about." Like the old masters who taught him, MacLeod's music expresses life and times via an intangible, elusive quality that may simply be a keen sense of what matters most. There is a philosophic and healing side to MacLeod's music and his stories that has helped others overcome the hardships of their lives.
Although Charlotte’s Web has not yet had the privilege of presenting this master, as soon as we were introduced, we wondered why. Doug Macleod is a perfect match, embodying the musicianship and stage presence that has kept the audience returning to the Web to discover the next artist whose music will feed our souls.
In partnership with Crossroads Blue Society.

Friday, October 1st, 2010

Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas

Collaborative Concert Event with Mendelssohn PAC www.MendelssohnPAC.org

www.AlasdairFraser.com & www.NatalieHaas.com

Special guest appearance by The City of Rockford Pipe Band
The pairing of Scottish fiddle legend Alasdair Fraser with brilliant young American cellist Natalie Haas is a classic musical marriage made in heaven!  Big and small fiddle, a familiar feature of Scottish music in the 18th century, join together in tunes from the golden era of Robert Burns to Fraser's own compositions. This engaging duo's near-telepathic interplay is dazzling, driving and just plain fun!
Generously sponsored in part by Andrea and Jerry Gibbs and Bill and Tammy Schulz.
In partnership with Mendelssohn Performing Arts Center.

Friday, October 8th, 2010

Roy Book Binder

Back in the early 1960s, Roy Book Binder learned his craft from the legendary blind street singer, Reverend Gary Davis, who was thrust into the national spotlight when Peter, Paul, and Mary recorded his song "If I Had My Way." After two years of traveling the folk-blues circuit with his mentor, Roy struck out on his own. Along the way, he befriended Pink Anderson, an old Carolina medicine show performer (who by the way was the "Pink" in Pink Floyd. Pink's stories and songs will forever be kept alive as long as Roy has a stage to perform on...In his travels, Book Binder has run across quite a cast of characters, including three peg-legged dancers, and a 90 year old classic blues singer with a sparkling smile, who was known as, "Diamond Teeth" Mary (Bessie Smith's half sister). All of these characters have become a part of a "Roy Book Binder show" which is a hilarious educational experience not to be missed! Roy has toured with Bonnie Raitt, Hot Tuna, and J.J. Cale. He has been invited to many festivals including: The National StoryTelling Festival, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the Chicago Blues Festival, and MerleFest where he has hosted the acoustic blues stage for the past 14 years. Roy Book Binder is a guaranteed crowd pleaser.
This show will finally put to an end the more than 3 decade absence from Charlotte’s Web.

Friday, October 15th, 2010

Andreas Kapsalis & Goran Ivanovich Guitar Duo

 The Andreas Kapsalis & Goran Ivanovic Guitar Duo is a guitar duo that not only celebrates the tradition of guitar performance of the old and the current rapport but also as composers they are a part of a movement in the states whose aim is to build the new repertoire for the next generation of guitar players.
Steel string ten finger tapping guitar prodigy Andreas Kapsalis, and nylon string classical guitarist Goran Ivanovic have fused their musical roots with modern, classical, world, jazz and beyond in this experimental duo. As they continue to create "buzz" throughout global music circles, these masterful musicians are also creating genres & musical styles that have yet to be named.
Charlotte’s Web regulars may remember the magical music emanating from the stage when the Web presented the Goran Ivanovic Group at Krypto Music Lounge in November of 2006 and Goran Ivanovic’s hypnotic guitar drove the mind to the campfires in the woods of ancient Europe surrounded by a lively gypsy caravan as the audience remained entranced for 3 full sets and Andreas Kapsalis elicited a similar response in November of 2006. They both have graced many stages in various band configurations with countless top shelf collaborators but this will be their Rockford Premier as the Kapsalis Ivanovich Guitar Duo. This promises to be an incredible guitar experience: unleashing emotions as sounds and the reverse and creating a virtual Parisian underground gypsy jazz club right here in Rockford.

Saturday, November 13th, 2010

Drew Nelson

Drew Nelson’s latest album, Dusty Road to Beulah Land, (the follow up to his acclaimed independent release Immigrant Son), he proves he is not only a great songwriter but also a great storyteller.  Singer/songwriter Meg Hutchinson says “it's not often that someone can so aptly give voice to other people's lives and make us believe every word." Nelson's stories are about the people we know, people we wish we knew, and about the people we are. Drew puts his feelings, and ours, into words and music that capture the spirit and soul of the world around us all with a common thread: Hope. Nelson grew up in Michigan, but escaped the narrow confines of his small-town, Midwestern upbringing by joining the Navy and traveling the world. He was able to see first-hand what was really happening in the world, and come home with fresh eyes to appreciate the realities of life in America. These experiences provided insight and understanding that have found an outlet in songs filled with discovery, revelation, and hope. Nelson is now expanding his love of music to the creation of the instruments he plays. He has just finished making his first guitar, and hopes to start a tradition of building and signing one a year to auction off for charity. In addition to giving back to us through his music, Nelson is involved in many community-based efforts to educate the next generation and make our world a better place to live.  He lives what he writes.
I first heard Drew Nelson at my first Folk Alliance conference in New York in November 2006. He sang songs and told stories with a humor and sincerity that set him apart from so many singer/songwriters in each guerrilla showcase I attended. He sings the silver lining of troubled times with an honesty and warmth. And all you Peter Mulvey fans, Drew will please you indeed.
Co-sponsored by  www.HotelofRockford.com

Saturday, November 20th, 2010

My Sweet Patootie

  My Sweet Patootie is more fun than drinking martinis at a tractor pull! They are the “li’l big band” that’s busy ripping up the pea-patch with their very own strain of hayseed jazz. Armed with fiddle, finger-style guitar and two voices, My Sweet Patootie is an old-fashioned shotgun wedding of cool uptown swing and rural Ontario grit.  Based in Mount Forest, Ontario, Terry Young (guitar & vocals) and Sandra Swannell (fiddle & vocals) met as soloists touring and recording with Canadian Folk Music Award winning veteran roots-group Tanglefoot. They soon discovered a mutual love of big bands and swinging country blues. Thousands of miles and shows later, when Tanglefoot made the decision to trade in a life of touring for shuffleboard and wearing pants up to their armpits, Terry and Sandra changed into their zoot suit and party dress to re-emerge as My Sweet Patootie. They had one goal, to produce fun music with deadly playing. While their new sound is a complete departure from Tanglefoot, Terry and Sandra deliver a stage show packed with the same amount of energy, charm, wit and humour. Sandra and Terry are both long established artists in the Canadian folk-roots community. 
Though March of 2005 was the beginning of our love affair with the energetic and harmonious Tanglefoot, we met them in the winter of their life as such and witnessed with some remorse their farewell concert tour at the Mendelssohn PAC in April of 2009. Well, lucky for us, Terry Young and Sandra Swannell have taken this Canadian music tradition and turned up the humor, added some folklore and voila – Canadian vaudeville is born, Tanglefoot style!
Co-sponsored by  www.HotelofRockford.com

Wednesday, November 24th, 2010

3rd Annual Thanksgiving Concert Event

ERNIE HENDRICKSON AND... MILES NIELSEN!!!  www.MilesNielsen.com & www.ErnieHendrickson.com

How many times before an event qualifies as a hardy perennial? If an event is enough fun, it’s worth doing again, right? Well, last year was number two for this event and we had such a blast that we simply must go for number three. Each previous Annual Thanksgiving Concert Event featuring Miles Nielsen and Ernie Hendrickson has delivered above and beyond the ordinary concert fare and this year promises nothing less. Seating is limited at the Sullivan Center and this show could definitely fill a much larger theater. Nonetheless, we prefer the intimacy – it feels like we’re right up on stage with the stars. We hope you’ll join Charlotte’s Web, Kryptonite Bar and The Element to welcome the mega stars to the cozy theater as only their hometown can!
Ernie Hendrickson has been crafting songs straight from the heart of Middle America with a songwriting style that's as natural as a summer breeze, venturing into the realm of acoustic blues, bluegrass, folk, and pop with a seamless transition. Having spent years creating an identity in Chicago's aggressive music scene, Hendrickson has found his place amongst the finest national singer-songwriters. With a never-ending dedication to his muse, this is an artist to watch. 
Somewhere between a bar and the recording studio, Miles Nielsen stirs up his own brand of Beatles-esque cosmic Americana with pop rock arrangements and sunny melodies tucked between a long lost country folk steel guitar floating through speakers around crashing drums and bouncing bass lines as smooth as butter. Born in Rockford, Miles is one of the few who can claim out loud, “That sound...it comes from the Midwest.”
WITH BANDS AND SPECIAL GUESTS! Cash bar in lobby.

Saturday, February 5th, 2011

Corky Siegel, Randy Sabien, Frank Donaldson

www.RandySabien.com  & www.ChamberBlues.com

~MORE TO COME IN A MINUTE~~~

Saturday, February 19th, 2011

The Dang-Its

www.Dang-Its.com

~MORE TO COME IN A MINUTE~~~

Friday, March 25th, 2011

Panoramic featuring Liam Teague

www.PanoramicMusic.net

~MORE TO COME IN A MINUTE~~~

Friday, April 1st, 2011

The Honey Dewdrops

www.TheHoneyDewdrops.com

~MORE TO COME IN A MINUTE~~~

Saturday, April 16th, 2011

Jamie Anderson

www.JamieAnderson.com

~MORE TO COME IN A MINUTE~~~