Thank you Andru Bemis for a beautiful, humorous, generous night of music! Thank you also to KLOI, the Shark Reef Rounders and our Friends of the Lopez Library for sponsoring this great night in the library! We’re grateful to all of you! Thursday, February 18th at 7 p.m., KLOI, the Shark Reef Rounders, and Friends of Lopez Library invite the public to attend an “Around the Fireplace” concert featuring troubadour Andru Bemis.
Andru Bemis has spent the past 15 years wandering (and lovingly tuning neglected pianos) bringing joy to audiences wherever he goes. Traveling almost exclusively by foot, thumb, and public transportation (trains and boats are his favorites), he carries the tools of his trade in his pack: a piano tuning kit and an assortment of battered musical instruments—banjo, fiddle, guitar, and occasionally banjolele. He will feature some of the library’s musical instruments from its lending library in the evening’s program.
Isthmus.com says, “Straddling the boundary between punk rock and mountain music, Bemis is known for taking traditional songs most people have never heard and adapting them in ways that are both inventive and memorable.” Oscar-nominated actor, comedian and singer John C. Reilly has twice invited Bemis to travel with him as the opening act as fiddler/banjoist for John Reilly & Friends. Reilly calls Bemis “my favorite opening hobo.” Highlights of these sold-out tours include New York’s Lincoln Center, an NPR Tiny Desk Concert, Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music, and Milwaukee’s historic Miller Brewery Caves. Bemis has also performed with Dan Bern, Tony Furtado, Sarah Lee Guthrie, Charlie Louvin, Over the Rhine, Amanda Palmer, Noam Pikelny, Sam Shepard, the Steel Wheels, Two Man Gentlemen Band, Woody Pines, and countless others. His performances are spiritual, enlightening and entertaining for all audiences. His powerful tenor voice and instrumentation harken to a time before television; Pennsylvania’s WPSU says he “sounds like he should be on some dusty old 78 record.” His repertoire includes originals and carefully selected folk songs, some rarely heard today.
This lovely evening performance will be held around the library’s fireplace and is a program for all ages. The event is free but your donation to local Lopez radio station KLOI is appreciated and tune in to our Library Director’s weekly KLOI radio show “Lou’s News and Reviews” Wednesdays at 1:00 pm.