Gary Santarella and Roger Kimball are veterans of the New England
area music scene, and on Saturday, May 21 they brought their five piece
ensemble to the Village Tavern in Slame, where they usually perform as a
duo every Saturday from 4 – 7 pm.
Playing their dizzying array of
covers – Santarella goes from the Rolling Stones to Neil Young/America
and beyond. He embraces everything Beatles (both Lennon and McCartney,
as schoolmate Brad Delp of the group Boston did for so many years) and
James Taylor – which – if you close your eyes – sounds exactly like
James Taylor.
The five piece Ditto band, which is what they are called as opposed
to the Ditto duo or duo of Ditto, had the place rocking, and the focus
was on the new CD, Unconditional Love. “Don’t Kick Me When I’m Down,”
perhaps the best known of Gary Santarella’s originals having received
lots of 50,000 watt airplay in 1986 and heard by many a record
executive, to “Rocky” – an irresistible song about a beloved doggy,
where the album’s title was drawn from, to “Daddy-O” and what is shaping
up to be a regional hit, “Punta Cana.”
“Punta Cana” has all the elements. Think the vibraphone and joy from
Elton John’s “Island Girl” with the fun of “Margaritaville,” but
without Jimmy Buffett’s intentional frivolity. “Punta Cana” is serious,
melodic, and the audience responded to it. Great party which they will
hopefully replicate in the Boston area, the group mostly touring on the
north shore and the Cape Ann area these days.
http://www.tmrzoo.com/2016/70040/joe-vigs-first-impressions-2
No comments:
Post a Comment