Looking for good live music? Go no further than Princeton's very own Frist Campus Center.
This spring, Café Vivian will host a total of five musicians as part of the first ever Frist Café Concert Series. Tonight is the second concert, and critically-acclaimed singer Patty Larkin will perform at 11 p.m. as part of her tour to promote her latest album, "Regrooving the Dream."
The series was put together by three members of the Undergraduate Student Government Social Committee — Dave Morris '03, Alex Rosenfeld '03, and Scott Lescher '03. It emerged from their love of different styles of music which fall outside the realm of mainstream pop. They discussed ideas for a concert series in the spring of last year, but didn't really start planning until last semester.
All three members are deeply involved with music. Morris works as Jazz Director for Princeton's radio station, WPRB, and is primarily interested in indie rock. Rosenfeld is one of the founders of Princeton's Modern Improvisational Music Appreciation club (MIMA), which puts together shows such as last year's Disco Biscuits concert and has a large e-mail list membership. Lescher is the drummer in the Princeton University Jazz Ensemble.
They put together a proposal for the USG and Trustee Initiative, who are sponsoring the five-concert series along with Frist. Then, they contacted the artists' agents that they wanted to have play.
"This is an opportunity to present new styles of music to the University community," Lescher explained.
In addition to making available different genres of music, there are hopes that the series will foster a new, alcohol-free social scene to provide students with a weekend alternative to the alcohol-centered 'Street.'
The first event, featuring RANA, drew between 100 and 120 enthusiastic students to Café Vivian. An even bigger turnout is expected for Larkin's performance.
A graduate of the famous Berklee College of Music, Larkin has won an unparalleled eleven Boston Music Awards as well as a Distinguished Alumnae Award from Berklee. Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston has even proclaimed a "Patty Larkin Appreciation Day."
Larkin burst upon the national music scene in the mid-eighties with the release of her first album, "Step Into the Light," a catchy, yet sensitive, collection of songs.
She went on to produce eight more albums including "Regrooving the Dream" and her penultimate album, "Perishable Fruit," which received wide critical acclaim and was even named one of the top ten albums of the '90s by The Wall Street Journal.
She also appeared on numerous other artists' albums and movie soundtracks including the soundtrack of the Mel Gibson flick "Random Hearts" and the David Duchovny/Julianne Moore comedy "Evolution."
Her sound is lulling, folksy, and a little funky with soft, deep vocals and edgy guitar rhythms reminiscent of fellow folk siren, Ani DiFranco — though her songs are not as politically-charged or angry. Larkin's songs are instead whispery and subdued, weaving stories and recalling powerful emotions with superb dialogue-like lyrics.
"It is all about air and sound and feeling," says Larkin on her website. "It is about not thinking. About playing to your heart's content. This is why I do what I do."
Larkin, in addition to singing, plays both the guitar and piano, which she learned growing up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After her performance here, Larkin will be touring in Australia until April, when she will return to the U.S. to play eighteen more gigs. She then will enter the studio again to record her tenth album, tentatively titled "Tail of a Kite," which will be released next January. She is also co-producing a compilation album called "La Guitara," a collection of songs by past and contemporary female guitarists.
The other three Frist Concert Series performances are scheduled to take place in April. Erase Errata will perform on April 4, Mark Ribot Y Los Cubanos Postizos on April 11 and Gibb Droll Band on April 27.
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