There are local music scene's in every medium to large sized town in the U.S. Often centered around a college campus or large urban area these scenes change every few years and if they are lucky one or two acts break through onto the national radar every so often.
The village of Arden, DE is a very unique community. Tucked into the suburbs just two miles north on I-95 from downtown Wilmington, this small, wooded burg has been home to artisans, sculptors, painters, musicians, writers, and thespians since the late 1800s when it began as a vacation community for creative people from Philadelphia, approximately 20 Miles NE. They came and enjoyed the beautiful creeks and wooded glens that ran down to the Delaware River.
Singer/songwriter Richard Julian grew up here and has since gone on to acclaim as one of the brightest lights on the current AAA radio playlists. His work with side project The Little Willie's brought him even wider attention due to his friend Norah Jones' participation. The group featured takes on classic country tunes and western swing material many of which he may have heard initially from the local group, The Sin City Band now celebrating three decades plus on the DE music scene. Sin City's many appearances on the stages of Arden have endeared them to residents here for many years.
Every year the Arden Fair features not only the most popular area bands in the Shady Grove beer garden in September, but also stages an Arden Music Festival earlier in the year. Many of the local performers you see here graduate to opening slot positions in the Gild Hall put on seasonally by the Arden Concert Gild. National performers such as Bela Fleck & Tony Trischka, Richard Thompson, Sonny Landreth, Jerry Douglass, Chris Smither, Alejandro Escovedo as well as renowned world music, jazz, dance acts have graced the comfy confines of the Gild Hall.
On any given night around sunset, walking through the traffic free, flower strewn lanes throughout the town, you can hear banjo from Pete Renzetti's deck or guitar chords strummed from the window of Brad Riesau's second floor dwelling as well as from any number of neighborhood bonfires where voices join together in song.
One local Arden artist who has performed at most of the venues in town is a wonderful singer-songwriter, Leslie Carey. A music teacher to many of the kids in Arden, and throughout the Wilmington area, Ms. Carey has been performing on the scene since shortly after high school. She is a songwriter of great facility and an engaging live performer as exhibited in her recent set at the nearby Bellefonte Cafe.
Above: Leslie Carey accompanied by Brad Riesau at the Bellefonte Cafe, Bellefonte, DE Oct. 17, 2009...the song is LITTLE STEP words & music by Leslie Carey (c) Leslie Carey
She performed two sets of well-drawn originals and carefully selected cover tunes by the likes of Simon & Garfunkel, Nanci Griffith, Randy Newman and Coldplay.
Leslie Carey's own lyrics come from the heart of of poet--keen observation and subtle grace full of rhythmic and melodic twists and turns, always getting to the heart of the human condition.
Influenced by everyone from Joni Mitchell to Nickel Creek to Mary Chapin Carpenter, her music is subtle and stirring and brimming with intellect. Her piano tunes (she also accompanies herself on guitar) are less pretentious but as stirring as the best of Sarah McLachlan. Folkie yet modern. Check her out.
What You'll Find Here: Music, Movies and Me
Since May 1976, I have written in journals. When I have nothing particularly resonant to say about my own inner turmoil, philosophic ramblings, sexual peccadillos or whining on about the state of the world around me...I have always fallen back on reporting the cultural time consumption that takes up in inordinate portion of my daily goings on.
In the 40+ years since my first concerts seeing Children's Symphony presentations on Sundays at the Pasadena Civic or The Hot Jazz Society's monthly Dixieland romps in an old meeting hall on the edge of the L.A. "River" across from Griffith Park, I have been sold heavily on the magic of live music. As Neil Young so aptly put it, "Live music is better bumper stickers should be issued."
Growing up a few orange groves and canyons length away from Hollywood also contributed greatly to my family's addiction to movie going. From the time I was a small there were weekly trips to the drive-in theaters that dotted the landscape, or the local Temple theater for the Saturday matinees. Once in a while we'd drive the 12 miles into Hollywood and see something in one of the magnificent old movie palaces like Grauman's Chinese, the Egyptian, The Pantages or later the Cinerama Dome. My dad loved Westerns and War movies, as if he didn't get enough shoot-'em-up as an L.A. County Sheriff in his day gig, my mom adored musicals and comedies. My brother and I loved them all.
At SDSU, I played in my first gigging band and began booking concerts on campus as part of the well-funded Cultural Arts Board, kindling for my future life in and around music.
So it's not surprising that my first jobs out of college were working in local video rental places (which were all the rage) or managing a couple of Sam Goody record stores in Mall's on the East Coast where we marveled at the new CD format and sold the first home computers and video games (yes Commodore and Pong and Atari).
So these are really just extensions of all of those journal entries talking about the great new movies I was seeing and LPs/CDs I was listening to.
Though iPODS/iPADs, apps, smart phones and downloads now make music and movies accessible in your own pocket, there is still nothing like sitting in front of a stack of speakers with a room full of people swaying to music created before your eyes. Nor is there anything that works quite so well for me to escape the real world and all of it's pressures just outside than two hours in a dark theater, absorbing the stories flickering across that wide screen as they pull you into their world.
But a really good taco runs a close third...
In the 40+ years since my first concerts seeing Children's Symphony presentations on Sundays at the Pasadena Civic or The Hot Jazz Society's monthly Dixieland romps in an old meeting hall on the edge of the L.A. "River" across from Griffith Park, I have been sold heavily on the magic of live music. As Neil Young so aptly put it, "Live music is better bumper stickers should be issued."
Growing up a few orange groves and canyons length away from Hollywood also contributed greatly to my family's addiction to movie going. From the time I was a small there were weekly trips to the drive-in theaters that dotted the landscape, or the local Temple theater for the Saturday matinees. Once in a while we'd drive the 12 miles into Hollywood and see something in one of the magnificent old movie palaces like Grauman's Chinese, the Egyptian, The Pantages or later the Cinerama Dome. My dad loved Westerns and War movies, as if he didn't get enough shoot-'em-up as an L.A. County Sheriff in his day gig, my mom adored musicals and comedies. My brother and I loved them all.
At SDSU, I played in my first gigging band and began booking concerts on campus as part of the well-funded Cultural Arts Board, kindling for my future life in and around music.
So it's not surprising that my first jobs out of college were working in local video rental places (which were all the rage) or managing a couple of Sam Goody record stores in Mall's on the East Coast where we marveled at the new CD format and sold the first home computers and video games (yes Commodore and Pong and Atari).
So these are really just extensions of all of those journal entries talking about the great new movies I was seeing and LPs/CDs I was listening to.
Though iPODS/iPADs, apps, smart phones and downloads now make music and movies accessible in your own pocket, there is still nothing like sitting in front of a stack of speakers with a room full of people swaying to music created before your eyes. Nor is there anything that works quite so well for me to escape the real world and all of it's pressures just outside than two hours in a dark theater, absorbing the stories flickering across that wide screen as they pull you into their world.
But a really good taco runs a close third...
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