Goddess Lakshmi + Pete Lanctot and the Stray Dogs + Dawn Drake & ZapOte @ The Way Station

8pm- Goddess Lakshmi
Genre: Indy Rock
For fans of: Elvis Costello, Squeeze, B-52s, Talking Heads, Rubblebucket,

Named for the Hindu goddess of abundance The Goddess Lakshmi cut their teeth playing weekly shows at the rough and tumble Paris Blues bar in Harlem. A confluence of diverse influences from blues, blues rock, blue grass and reggae with hints of Jazz and German metal.

“The Goddess Lakshmi is a prime example of the thriving jazz and folk sounds that came together during the Harlem Renaissance with nods to the beatnik cool of the early ‘60s. Harlem is the birthplace of the band and its honed musical style, most evident in the swinging notes carrying the band’s front-woman Kosi through tracks like, “I Want You For My Man”. The Goddess Lakshmi has harnessed a sound that is all their own and with a wealth of experience upon which to attribute it to...

...The new album, LOVE, is the product of one exhausting, yet rewarding journey complete with ‘cuts, scratches, and cigarette burns’. The recording and mixing process ended with a flow of sound amplified by more textural qualities: close-knit rhythm sections, soul-drenched vocals, and story-lines about love: both wanting and losing it.” — Adrienne Bess, JOONBUG

http://thegoddesslakshmi.bandcamp.com/
http://joonbug.com/national/frequency/The-Goddess-Of-Lakshmi/C8hVDsBfnOP
www.thegoddesslakshmi.org

Photo Credit: Michael Baumann

9pm- Pete Lanctot and the Stray Dogs
Genre: Experimental Folk Blues
For fans of: Tom Waits, John Cale, Ernest Tubb, The Mississippi Sheiks

New York Music Daily writes that, “Pete Lanctot personifies pretty much everything good about New York’s most happening music scene.” His songs are surreal and mysterious narratives featuring sordid casts of characters who’s origins are vague, and seem equally likely to be found in present day New York City, a Memphis juke joint of the 1920s or hitchhiking a depression era plains state highway. Steeped in American traditions of blues, folk and country. Backed by The Stray Dogs, a talented and versatile cast of musicians and improvisers Lanctot’s music is original, rabble rousing, heartbreaking and soul searching, always exploring the non-traditional without relying on reproduction.

www.peteandthestraydogs.com

10pm- Dawn Drake & ZapOte
Genre: Afro-Latin Funk
For fans of: Antibalas, Budos Band, ESG, Jamiroquoi, Chico Mann, Cumbiagra, English Beat, Police

Taking its name from a luscious fruit in Cuba known as “ZapOte”, this band is an original Funk Latin Afro-Beat band lead by Dawn Drake, bassist/conguera/singer/songwriter and composer, who manages to wear several hats while setting the scene with her own brand of cool. Her original music takes the listener and dancer into a zone where House, Funk, Afro-beat, Samba, Afro-Cuban rhythms and Jazz are right at home. Poetic lyrics spread messages of universal consciousness, delivered with heartfelt vocals, and are joined with the irresistible grooves of Latin percussion, funky bass, swinging horn lines and improvisation.

BAM CAFE LIVE –Darrell McNeill
“Dawn Drake and her band ZapOte are at the beginnings of a fascinating journey to enthusiastically bridge chasms of cultural and gender disconnect that plagues so much of pop music’s body politic. To hear them is to imagine early period jam sessions between Laura Nyro and Carole King with Sly Stone and Sergio Mendes sitting in. Theirs is a playfully intense dynamic that needs to be seen more.”

-Darrell McNeill, Black Rock Coalition Director of Operations & CURATOR of BAM Café LIVE, Brooklyn Academy of Music GO MAGAZINE –Jenny Lazar
“Dawn contributes heavy Afro-Caribbean licks on congas, bongós and Brazilian caixa as a partial list...and it’s no amateur hour...”

Dawn Drake –Meewsic Records
“Cuban, African & South American styles mesh together into delicious jazz/pop fusion; a wonderful backdrop for Dawn’s sassy vocals. She also arranged the horns (excellent job), played bass and did all the percussion; a truly multi-talented performer!” Brian Fox, Meewsic Records

Jules Bistro Presents Dawn Drake –Jules Bistro
“This saucy debut by soul sistah Dawn Drake is an incredible gift to the world of world music! She skillfully weaves together her bold poetic lyrics, melodic vocals, and a fusion of danceable rhythms performed by herself and a very talented band of musicianados. You’ll love the horns, the deep bass, the compelling percussion...”

Luis Da Silva, Jules Bistro, NYC Third Street Music Concert Series Presents Dawn Drake & ZapOte Salsa -
“[They] were the hit of the season!” Beth Flusser, Talent Booker for Music in Abe Lebewohl Park.

http://www.dawndrake.com
http://www.youtube.com/thedawndrake
http://www.facebook.com/thedawndrake

Midnight Special- Hambone Relay
Genre: Soul Jazz/Funk
For fans of: Soulive, The New Mastersounds, Lettuce, Galactic, Medeski Martin & Wood, Robert Walter

Hambone Relay is a soul jazz organ trio based in Philadelphia, PA. HR3 shrewdly explores the genres of soul, jazz, funk, R&B, blues, and rock. Their live performances deliver brazen jams and contagious grooves with a familiar yet altogether refreshing sonic palette, tipping a hat to such artists as Soulive, Grant Green, Dr. Lonnie Smith, and The New Mastersounds.

http://www.hambonerelay.com
https://www.facebook.com/HamboneRelay
http://www.youtube.com/HamboneRelay
http://www.reverbnation.com/hambonerelay