A chance to try out a song among friends
CAMBRIDGE - If it's Wednesday, it must be Monkey Rock night. In fact, just about everybody here at All Asia in Central Square knows what night it is.
Even Volker Bielfeldt, a 47-year-old farmer who lives in Germany, is here to check out the three-hour song-swap session - formally called the Monkey Rock Writer's Circle, a free weekly showcase of original music played by local singers, songwriters, and musicians. The bulk of them tend to be drawn from the Berklee College of Music, but Johnny Nicholson, a 21-year-old Berklee singer-songwriter who hatched the idea almost two years ago and persuaded All Asia to let him give it a try, wants to expand the pool of talent and programming.
"Some weeks early on we had a really good turnout, and some weeks we'd have five people in the audience," says Nicholson, who named the series after the mountain he grew up on in northern California. "For a year, it was probably just people learning about it. So we've kind of built up this thing by word of mouth, and we get a lot of submissions from artists who hear about it and want to come participate."
If Nicholson sounds jazzed, it's because he is, and for good reason. He's been steadily booking the shows in advance - anywhere from five to 10 songwriters are slotted into the 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday time slots - and has also staged shows at the Lily Pad in Inman Square and in New York City. The next local show is scheduled for July 23 at Church.
The musicians who have become regulars say they look forward to the sessions, which give them the support to try out songs, bounce ideas off one another, and connect in a nonclassroom setting. The nights, they say, have helped to build a close kinship among the musicians.
Speaking of family, this is Bielfeldt's first trip to Boston and Cambridge to visit his son, Jorn, a drum major who just finished his first year at Berklee. Volker's English is a bit broken, but it's clear that he's here to have a beer and listen to his son play the drums, not talk. Jorn, meanwhile, beams broadly, grateful for his dad's company and the friends and classmates around him. He watches as Flightless Buttress, a jazzy guitar-and-cello duo, takes the bigger-than-you-might-think stage on the right side of the room.
"We're getting our dreams together," says the younger Bielfeldt, whose percussive flair is made all the more remarkable when you notice he plays a snare drum and bangs on a cymbal with his hands, sans sticks. "It takes a lot of time to go out and find the right people and the right energies. I'm really glad I became part of this and that I get to play with these people."
Nini Fabi of the folk-blues duo Nini and Ben echoes those sentiments. It's the sense of community that counts, she says after the pair's spirited, high-lonesome songs have filled the room.
"You come to play, but you also come to listen," says Fabi as her partner, Ben Gebert, nods in agreement. "It's not about competing. At college, often times you lose that initial love of the music that you had."
In some cases, the nights allow artists to explore a wholly different aspect of their performance. Andrew Burri, for instance, is the charismatic lead singer for Sex!, an up-and-coming Berklee rock band now recording its first album. But Burri says he's been writing folk songs for a dozen years and gets to present that side of his musical personality in front of his peers every Wednesday.
And the best part of the night? "Sometimes it's the response you get after your set," Burri says. "Other times, you are very inspired by watching another songwriter perform. But just being here allows both of those things to happen."
As well as other creative sparks. One intriguing element of Monkey Rock that you can't help but notice is Terry Kiminta, painting on a canvas off to one side of the stage. Kiminta says he paints whatever the music makes him feel and even invites audience members, curious passersby - anyone who takes an interest, really - to add their own flourishes of color and imagination to the canvas.
"We don't have space in here for a boccie court," Kiminta says, "so if you're not going to have boccie, you might as well bring in a canvas and paint for some people. I like coming here to paint, shoot pool, talk to women, dance, and be myself - and be somebody else."
PERNICE'S PULP FICTION: Pernice Brothers leader Joe Pernice plans to kick off a short solo tour in August in support of his debut novel, "It Feels So Good When I Stop," to be published by Riverhead Books. Pernice says he also plans to release a "novel soundtrack" of the same name, featuring the songwriter-turned-author performing songs both real (Sebadoh's "Soul and Fire," for instance) and fictional ("Black Smoke, No Pope") mentioned in the book. Pernice will also read from his novel. The dozen-date tour hits the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge for two shows Aug. 5. For tickets, go to www.worldmusic.org or call 617-876-4275.
Know something cool on the local music scene? E-mail Jonathan Perry at roughgems@aol.com. 