January 9-15, 2013 - City Newspaper

Page 14

Bar & Lounge

Music LIVE MUSIC!!!

FRI.JAN 11: HAPPY HOUR WITH

“GHOST COUNTRY”

CITY: How’d you get started?

Natalie B: I’ve been singing since high school. I was in a couple of rock bands in my 20s that never really went anywhere.

SAT.JAN 12, 9:30PM: A SPECIAL NIGHT WITH

“JANE MUTINY”

IT’S A BIRTHDAY BASH FOR SARAH LONG HENDERSHOT, STEVE LYONS, BETSY FULLER…AND JOHN PAPE!!! TUES.JAN 15 & 29:

JIM LANE

Where did you first hear the blues?

THURS.JAN 17: SINGER-SONGWRITER

“ANA EGGE”

I started going the open jam at The Landing in Fairport about three years ago and I started singing the blues there. I really enjoyed he energy it gave. I formed the Natalie B Band last year out of the excellent musicians I met there.

TIX ON SALE NOW! LISTEN TO ANA ON SCOTT REGAN’S “OPEN TUNINGS”

www.abilenebarandlounge.com 153 LIBERTY POLE WAY•232-3230

Check out the daily choices on our website

What is it about the blues that grabs you?

What I liked was that rock was so based in the blues, and I had been missing the point where rock ‘n’ roll had come from, like B.B. King. Or the women like Koko Taylor and Ruth Brown. Blues is essentially a black, maledominated genre. How did you break in?

WWW.ROCHESTERCITYNEWSPAPER.COM

I grew up in the country. We didn’t have a lot, we were working class, I was a single mother for a while. I could relate to the hardship in the blues

CITY

But it seems the sadder the tale, the more gruesome the heartbreak, the more joyful the blues.

Acanthus EVENTS

Beer and Wine, Espresso, Daily Lunch Specials, Appetizers, Small-Plate dinners

Tuesdays

Open Mic Comedy Night See Facebook for more details.

Pure Kona Poetry Night Wednesdays 7-11pm

Thursdays Eastman Jazz Live Music

That’s the therapy in it. That’s what it does. It makes you feel better. While the blues might be based in sadness, local blues rocker Natalie B responds to the music’s therapeutic nature. “It makes you feel better,” she says. PHOTO BY DOMENIC ROSSI

FRIDAY, JANUARY 11 DINOSAUR BAR-B-QUE, 99 COURT ST. 10 P.M. | FREE | 325-7090, DINOSAURBARBQUE.COM REVERBNATION.COM/NATALIEBBAND

THURSDAY 01/10:

Scott Topel Jazz 7pm FRIDAY 01/11:

Garwood and Bones ROCK 10:30pm THURSDAY 01/17:

Dave Chisholm Jazz Orchestra 7pm FRIDAY 01/18:

Windsor Folk Family 10:30pm FRIDAY 01/25:

Anonymous Willpower 10:30pm No cover charge

337 East Avenue • 319-5999

Mon: 11am–4pm, Tues–Wed: 11am-10pm, Thurs: 11am-Midnight, Fri-Sat: 11am-2am, Closed Sunday

14 CITY JANUARY 9-15, 2013

I’ll hear a word or a phrase — somebody passing by will say something that I think is cool, and I’ll write from that.

Queen B Natalie B Band

[ INTERVIEW ] BY FRANK DE BLASE

New Year’s Eve 2013. Sticky Lips Juke Joint. There I was, doing my best Guy Lombardo/Dick Clark/Lenny Bruce mashup to toast the lucky new year. When all of a sudden amidst the champagne, prime rib, noise makers, and confetti canons, a firecracker appeared on stage with The Pubic Market Band. She was a blonde in a little blue sequined dress, and she exploded into a gorgeous wail we all call the blues. The rough-and-tumble alto encounter lasted a mere two songs, and left the crowd

How do you write your original songs? What’s your process?

What do you bring to the blues?

licking their chops for more. No sweat, I told them. She’s Natalie B, and you can catch her all over town. Natalie B — the B stands for Bartholomew — is relatively new on the Rochester music scene, though she’s been singing since her teens. Frequent visits to open-mic night at The Landing in Fairport lit the 34-year-old’s blue fuse. She recently placed third in the Western New York Blues Society’s Memphis Bound competition in Buffalo, and she will perform in Memphis with her band later this month. After that it’s into Sammy G’s studio to hammer out a platter of original blues rockers. And this is only the beginning. This blues mama — a mother of two, to be exact — sat down for an interview to discuss the blues and why she’s got ’em. An edited transcript of the conversation follows.

I definitely have a rock edge. I like taking classics like Ruth Brown and making them a little harder, a little edgier. And I like to shake it. I like to get the audience involved. I like to talk to the audience. I have a song where I call out people’s names and get them involved in the whole show. That’s what I bring. That’s what I like.


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