You don’t need electric guitars, drums or wild hair to make dance-in-the-aisles rock and roll.
Sometimes a few cellos or a bouzouki and harmonica will do.
Two groups proved this point in Greater Morristown last Friday. CELLObrate pounded out a heavy metal tune, Pain and Pleasure, on six — count ’em, six! — cellos, at the Fridays on the Green lunchtime series at the Presbyterian Church in Morristown.
A few hours later, the roots band Spuyten Duyvil injected a healthy dose of folk rock into the Minstrel in Morris Township with a rollicking rendition of Judge Not.
CELLObrate consists of six students of Marnie Kaller, who led the young ladies through a half-hour Bach to Beatles program that showed off the versatility of the cello. Musicians Amy Chang, Rohana Chase, Danielle Chung, Jeanna Qiu, Olivia Seltzer and Caylynn Yao donned cool shades to cop the proper attitude for their rock adventure.
Marnie, who performs frequently on cello with the Heritage Piano Trio, admitted Friday’s show was a departure for her. But worth the trip, don’t you think?
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Our first encounter with Spuyten Duyvil was under the stars late one night at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. The band’s repertoire reaches back centuries–but this gang from Yonkers hastens the journey by playing every song at nearly the speed of light.
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Friday’s ensemble was led by singer Beth Kaufman-Miller and her bouzouki- and dobro-playing husband, Mark Miller, with foot-stomping support from Tom Socol on guitar, Jim Meigs on harmonica, John Neidhart on bass and Rik Mercaldi on mandolin and lap steel guitar.
Spuyten Duyvil refers to a Bronx creek, and according to folklore, the Dutch phrase translates to “In spite of the devil.”
Which sounds appropriate. Rock and roll is the devil’s music, right?
Fridays on the Green concludes at noon on March 30 with classical guitarist Carlos Cuestas. At 8 pm Friday, the Minstrel features the Celtic combo Long Time Courting, with harpist Maeve Gilchrist as opener. You can catch Spuyten Duyvil on July 15 at the Black Potatoe Festival in Clinton.
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