Maritri Garrett

FROM A GREEK ISLE LUTIST to an EX 'MAD MEN' POET to B-BOY MELDING IRISH HOOFERS: AN EXCITING NIGHT WITH AWoW

“I’ve been working as an actor for at least twenty five years now and I’ve never before been involved in anything quite like this. AWoW is a unique blessing. So happy to be a member.” Jack O’Connell, actor

“What a night…a jam packed evening of talent journeying from a Greek isle lutist, to an Ex ‘Mad Men’ like poet, to B-Boy Melding Irish Hoofers.” John Munnelly, singer/songwriter

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Hammerstep co-founders Jason Oremus and Garrett Coleman, who have performed at Lincoln Center and the Palace Theatre in London, brought their incredible dance act to AWoW’s May showcase. (Rather than speak about it, check out the short video below.) As a company that strives to embrace traditional elements of culturally rebellious dance forms, while breaking down barriers to how they may be integrated and presented to the public, Hammerstep felt right at home alongside AWoW’s other genre-bending artists who like to think outside the box. “AWoW is a uniquely communal place for artists to celebrate and share in that common goal, and Hammerstep looks forward to having AWoW supporters at its premier run of the company’s NYC-based immersive theater experience INDIGO GREY, next Spring,” said Garrett. For updates on the company’s work, check out Hammerstep on Facebook or at their website by clicking here

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Ron Vazzano offered a quartet of poems that played thematically with a couple of current pop culture events: the concluding of the Mad Men series—as Ron once toiled at an ad agency on Madison Avenue in the late 60’s —and horse racing, which is in the midst of its “Triple Crown” season. He ended with a “sendup poem” about our esteemed group (“…a gathering that called itself “Artists Without Walls”/Though they performed in a space called The Cell”) that was both hilarious and poignant, and enthusiastically received by an audience of fellow artists.

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Maritri Garrett performed one of her hits from the album Soulfolk Experience volume one, “No Regrets,” an anthem for living life to the fullest. She followed that up with a compelling cover of “Royal” by Lorde, which takes on a whole different meaning when taken out of the teen demographic for which it was intended and sung by a mature artist. Maritri finished off her set with Police’s popular tune “Message in a Bottle,” by the Police, which had the audience singing along. This extremely talented women moves from the guitar to the piano to cello–all with a her beautiful voice–with shocking ease. And she’s a delight as well.

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Liv Mammone is a poet who attacks life with a strange combination of joy and rage; humor and pathos. Improvising jokes to set the audience after an accidental fall, she then led them deep into her experience as a disabled woman in a variety of ways–a blues song about her chronic pain; a gripping letter to her grandmother about the death of her friend; a loose litany of images from the morning prior to an operation closed out with an encore of “Vagina Resigning” to lift us back up. With honesty and freshness of image, she shows us the universality of the body’s breakdown and how we rise above those changes.

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John Munnelly compacted the life, times and death of Julius Caesar into a witty three verses and a very catchy sing-along refrain.   John is as creative and as strong a writer as his award winning stripes attest to. He sang a paean to love while addressing the escapist daydreams we all have, finally realizing he would be ‘Nowhere without You’.   For the final geography lesson John took us to the world’s most hipster borough in his song ‘Brooklyn’ for a gentle dig at the local hood sighing and singing though the eyes of a wide eyed newbie who ‘knew she’d like it here’ – now she’s living in Brooklyn. This one had the crowd laughing and singing along.

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In the true spirit of multiculturalism, Dennis Demakos, who has been playing traditional Greek music and singing the tradtional folk music of dozens of countries from Europe, Asia, and the Middle and Near East for many years, began his performance with a traditional from the island of Karpathos-Gori To Maksellari Sou, My Lass, Your Pillow- a common themed tune in which a young woman usually gives an embroidered handkerchief to a young lad as a token of her affection. The second tune is a traditional from the island of Kassos-To Pathos, Passion- and is another common themed tune about the heartbreak of living in foreign lands away from one’s Mother and homeland. Beautiful and evocative.

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The next Artists Without Walls’ Showcase will be at The Cell Theatre on Tuesday, June 23, 6:45pm. For more info on the group please contact info@artistswithoutwalls.com

Photos by Vera Hoar.

VERA HOAR'S PHOTOS from AWoW's MAY SHOWCASE at THE CELL

Vera Hoar’s photos from the Artists Without Walls’ Showcase at The Cell Theatre, May 26, 2015

Desiree Jacobs and John Munnelly — **Front Row Seats**

**Hammerstep: Garrett Coleman and Jason Oremus**

"BRINGING TOGETHER DIVERSE PERFORMERS": ANOTHER GREAT AWOW SHOWCASE COMING UP THIS TUESDAY

“In bringing together diverse performers…it makes for an event the likes of which you will rarely, if ever, experience. A melding of artists within the walls…it was a memorable night. Yes, it was that good.” Ron Vazzano

Yes, as Ron says, an AWoW Showcase is always “that good.” May’s Showcase is shaping up as more of the same. And, Ron, a writer and poet, whose monthly on line “Muse-Letter,” a mix of essays, reviews, poems, quotes, wordplay, which has become quite popular among AWoW members and friends, will be one of the evening’s presenters. Ron’s essays have been posted on the Artists Without Walls’ website and he’s also read his poetry on a number of occasions at Showcases over the past year. In a former life, he spent some years as an actor appearing in theatrical productions in New York City as well as on the road. If past is prologue, Ron’s performance will be timely, witty and spot on.

The dance group Hammerstep has had successful international performances, including at New York City’s Lincoln Center and The Palace Theatre on London’s West End, as well as an online viral video of their recent appearance on America’s Got Talent. We’re thrilled that Hammersmith’s founders, Garrett Coleman and Jason Oremus, will be performing for us on Tuesday. Traditionally trained in Irish Step dance as a child, Garrett has consistently found himself drawn to types of dance that are rhythmically innovative and that push the boundaries of athleticism through dance. Jason, originally from Sydney, Australia, Jason won 5 consecutive State and National Solo Irish dancing titles from 1999-2003. Both Garrett and Jason have toured with the world famous show, “Riverdance.”

Maritri Garrett recently performed at Rockwood Music Hall as part of AWoW’s “The Musical History of the Lower East Side.” Maritri played piano and sang a couple tunes from the American Songbook and then switched gears completely and accompanied Niamh Hyland on Blondie’s “Call Me.” A very gifted and multi-talented performer, Maritri also plays the cello and guitar. You can hear Maritri performing one of her original songs, “Rain” at the bottom of the page.

Back for her second appearance at an AWoW Showcase will be poet Liv Mammone, a vivacious young voice that will be heard on the New York performance poetry circuit for years to come. Using her background as a novelist, she uses various characters, including Venus de Milo, a fictional gangster, and a certain part of her own anatomy, to provide insight into what she calls “all the million ways one must be moved; the changes we make on our migrations through the world.” Anyone who heard and saw Liv’s laugh out loud, brilliant reading of her poem “Vagina Resigning” won’t soon be forgetting that experience.

John Munnelly, who is an award winning ASCAP singer-songwriter with a social conscience, will be making his first appearance at an AWoW Showcase. Born in Ireland now of Brooklyn, John is known for his witty & humorous nature, sometimes performing under the stage name ‘LaughJohnLaugh.’ John is a prolific writer in many music genres from Pop to the Prophetic releasing his ‘Hello World’ album in 2013 (available on iTunes) He toured Ireland to promote the album release in 2013. This will be John’s first appearance at an AWoW Showcase, which he says is, “Too good a show to miss – I’m playing three cracking songs. Hope to see you there.”

In the true spirit of multiculturalism, Dennis Demakos, who has been playing traditional Greek music and singing the tradtional folk music of dozens of countries from Europe, Asia, and the Middle and Near East for many years, Dennis will be making his first appearance at an AWoW Showcase. Dennis can be heard with two Bay Area California bands, The Disciples of Markos- disciplesofmarkos.com, and Balkalicious Fire Drive- bfdmusic.com. with whom he is pictured on the far right.

It promises to be a great night. Join us at The Cell Theatre, Tuesday, May 26. The bar opens at 6:45pm. See you there.

ARTISTS WITHOUT WALLS' PRESENTATION SERIES: THE MUSICAL HISTORY of THE LOWER EAST SIDE©

“Blown away tonight by the most talented collection of musicians! Artists Without Walls hosted a terrific musical evening at Rockwood Music Hall. What a line up of super talented vocalists. One after another boom, boom, boom! All equally stunning performances! Niamh Hyland, Maritri Garrett, Honor Finnegan, Basya Schechter, Ashley Bell and with equally beautiful instrumentals from Noah Hoffield and Deni Bonet. Curated and M.C’d by the one and only, Charles R. Hale. A slice of New York History. Take it on the road guys! Hopefully this will be done again…. not to be missed.” Actress/Director Aedin Moloney

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This past Thursday night, as part of Artists Without Walls’ Presentations Series, a number of the organization’s musicians, with narration by Charles R. Hale, presented The Musical History of the Lower East Side Copyright © 2015 [ARTISTS WITHOUT WALLS] celebrating the music of New York City’s Lower East Side, an area from which many of our nation’s ethnic groups can trace their origins.

The Irish, leaving behind famine and poverty, began streaming into the country in the 1840’s. The emigrés wrote a large number of emigrant ballads, which were usually sad laments, steeped in nostalgia and self-pity, and despite the troubles they’d left, singing the praises of their native soil. But they also brought Celtic music with them. One tune “Red Haired Boy,” a melody common to fiddlers throughout Scotland and Ireland was transferred nearly intact to the American fiddle tradition where it has been a favorite of bluegrass fiddlers in recent times. Fiddler Deni Bonet opened the evening with a rendition of the tune.

Stephen Foster known as “the father of American music” was an American songwriter known for his parlor and minstrel music. The minstrel show was an American form of entertainment developed in the 19th century, consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface. Popularized in the 1830 and 40s, in New York City alone, when minstrelsy was at its height in the 1850s and 60s, there were ten theaters in New York City devoted almost solely to minstrel entertainment. Bonet strung together a medley of Foster’s tunes, illustrative of the minstrel style: “The Old Folks at Home,” “Camptown Races,” and “Oh Susanna.”

Singer Niamh Hyland, cellist Noah Hoffeld joined Deni to perform two of Foster’s parlor songs, “Hard Times Come Again No More,” written in 1854 and “Slumber My Darling,” written in 1862, two years after Foster moved to New York.

Many ethnic groups or cultures tend to claim sections of New York City as historically their own. The Lower East Side is especially remembered as a place of Jewish beginnings in America. Between 1880 and the start of World War I in 1914, about two million Yiddish-speaking Jews left Eastern Europe and

Russia where repeated pogroms made life unbearable for many. The immigrants brought a great deal of their European music with them and the music became an integral part of the immigrant’s life. Two of these songs “Oyfn Pripetchik” and “Shnirele perele” were performed by guitarist/singer Basya Schecter and cellist Hoffeld .

The first Italian opera, Rossini’s Barber of Seville, was performed in the United States in NYC in 1825, but it wasn’t until a steady stream of Italian immigrants began arriving in America in the late 19th and early 20th century—four million—that the popularity of Italian opera picked up steam. The Metropolitan Opera debuted a number of Italian operas, including Giacomo Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi in 1918. The most popular aria from that opera remains “O Mio Babbino Caro,” which was performed by soprano Ashley Bell who accompanied herself on piano.

Canzone Napoletana, sometimes referred to as Neapolitan song, is a term for a traditional form of music sung in the Neapolitan language. Many of the Neapolitan songs became world-famous after they were taken abroad by emigrants from Naples and southern Italy. The music was popularized in New York City by performers such as Enrico Caruso, who took to singing the popular music of his native city as encores at the Metropolitan Opera. Bell sang one of the most popular Neapolitan songs, “No ti Scordar di me.”

If many are unfamiliar with the names Israel Baline, Samuel Cohen, Isidore Hochberg, and Jacob and Israel Gershowitz, it’s because they were better known as Irving Berlin, Sammy Cahn, Yip Harburg and George and Ira Gershwin, composers who were either born or raised on the Lower East Side. George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin’s “Someone to Watch Over Me,” was sung by Maritri Garrett, who played the guitar, with additional accompaniment from fiddler Bonet.

Yip Harburg wrote a number of popular tunes including “Brother Can You Spare a Dime,” and “April in Paris,” but he’s probably best known for the Wizard of Oz’s “Over The Rainbow,” which he wrote with Harold Arlen, and for which they won an Academy Award. The versatile Garrett moved to the piano and performed “If I Had A Brain,” also from the “Wizard.”

The East Village was once considered the Lower East Side’s northwest corner; however, in the 1960s, the demographics of the area above Houston Street began to change, as hipsters, musicians, and artists moved in. And from 1968 to 1971 the Fillmore East, located in a Second Avenue building that was originally a Yiddish theatre, was the rock palace of the world. The performers are legendary: The Allman Brothers, Jimi Hendrix Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin and many others performed there. The brilliant singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell appeared at the Fillmore on April 26, 1969. Honor Finnegan, accompanied by Carl Money on guitar performed two of Mitchell’s songs, “All I Want” and “Both Sides Now.”

Some American music critics began using the term “punk” in the early 1970s to describe garage bands and their devotees. By late 1976 Patti Smith, Television and the Ramones in New York City were recognized as the vanguard of a new musical movement performing in such places as the famed CBGB at 315 Bowery. To close out the evening Hyland, Bonet, Hoffeld and Garrett performed a song from that era, a rousing rendtion of Blondie’s “Call Me.”