Talk about the power of suggestive thinking. When local party band Orange Crush learned that a new show set to air on Cartoon Network was seeking 1980s-esque tunes for its soundtrack, they promptly sent off their studio calling card, 80s All Over Again, for consideration.
“Ironically, the execs gravitated towards one particular song on that called ‘Play This,'” adds O-Crush frontman Scott Lawson Pomeroy. “And on episode five, which recently aired, that’s just what they did—play our song!”
The show—titled Tower Prep and airing Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on CN—follows a group of superpower-laden high-schoolers in a mysterious preparatory school. They are equally unsure about how they arrived and how to leave.
Pomeroy says he got a fairly good idea of just how much promotion was behind the fledgling series while waiting for a feature film at the local Cinemark recently. “An advance preview for Tower Prep came up on the big screen, and instantly I think, ‘Holy shit, this thing could be going worldwide.'”
While Pomeroy and pals await the show’s global domination—or, at the very least, a renewal offer for a season two and subsequent request for further tuneage—they continue to ply their trade regionally both as Orange Crush proper and as various offshoots.
In fact, the band is already readying for the ski slope circuit—Orange Crush is scheduled to play the Sunday River Resort in Maine Dec. 18 and Vermont’s Stowe Dec. 23—while Pomeroy can be found playing solo in addition, cranking out Christmas carols at both Old Sturbridge Village and Storrowton Tavern.
“It’s like playing at a colonial amusement park,” he says. “Think of Six Flags, but the rides are all horse-drawn.”
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Similarly inspired by the sounds of the season is celebrated Noho singer/musicologist Tim Eriksen (timeriksenmusic.com). Although the former frontman for prophetic folk-noise rockers Cordelia’s Dad turned Americana/shape-note aficionado has played everywhere from CBGB’s to Carnegie Hall and been a major contributor to a major motion picture soundtrack (2004’s Cold Mountain), he says that he realized he had never before in his vast and varied career taken on a solo Christmas show. And that’s a situation he’s looking to remedy with back-to-back Montague Bookmill shows Dec. 17 and 18.
“I chose the Bookmill because when I play near home I especially like doing intimate concerts in places like that,” Eriksen says. “But the main reason for doing them is that I really love old carols. It’s really cool, intense music that often gets lost in the shuffle. I’ll be doing somewhat different songs each night—throwing in some old folk and originals for good measure— but I promise both shows will offer everyone plenty of opportunities to sing along as well.”
On tap for Eriksen in 2011 are no less than three CD releases including a live, double-disc effort with Cordelia’s Dad, a collection of 19th-century Maine music with his Northampton Harmony outfit and a solo Christmas outing. He’s also booked for tours of Bosnia and the Czech Republic and plans to bring 40 shape-note singers to Glasgow in January.
“I’m also supposed to squeeze my Ph.D. dissertation in there somewhere, too,” he notes with a laugh.
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Last up, this Friday, Dec. 17, the Iron Horse hosts Jimmy Webb, a man the likes of Frank Sinatra and Billy Joel have cited as an influence. Others—particularly Glen Campbell, for whom Webb penned both “By The Time I Get To Phoenix” and “Wichita Lineman”—owe their careers to him. For more information or to order tickets for Webb’s show, kindly point your web browser to iheg.com.”
Catch the Nightcrawler every Wednesday at 8:50 a.m. on the Steve Cantara Radio Show, WRNX 100.9 FM. Send correspondence to Nightcrawler, PO Box 427, Somers, CT 06071; fax to (860) 394-4262 or email garycarra@aol.com.
