The Roots Report: Barefoot and Strumming: Stage fashion rules (and you know what rules are made for)

Okee dokee folks…Most of you probably know that I hate summer. It’s the heat — I am not a fan and being in the sun actually drains me. So to stay cool, I wear shorts as often as possible, but I WILL NOT wear them on stage! There has been a meme floating around that dictates when wearing shorts at a gig is appropriate: only if you are Angus Young (AC/DC) or a toddler. If you are a professional musician, then shorts are not proper attire on stage. I must confess that many, many years ago I wore shorts at a show. I don’t know why or what I was thinking, but I do know that I wasn’t taking music very seriously then, and my wearing shorts showed just that. Nowadays the only time I break that rule is when the mercury is closing in on 100 degrees and I am performing outside.

While I am on the topic of what is proper to wear or not wear on stage, let me add sunglasses, baseball hats, and bare feet. If you are outside on stage on a sunny day, then sunglasses are fine, but inside take the shades off. Audiences want to see your eyes because they are part of your stage expression. And baseball hats. Are you 12 and playing baseball? If you cannot answer yes to both of those questions then take the baseball hat off while you are on stage. If you feel the need to wear a dome cover, then at least invest in a stylish chapeau — a fedora, fez, beret, cowboy hat, a bowler or even a pith helmet … something with style and individuality that shows that you actually tried to find a decent stage bonnet. And finally, playing a show barefoot should be a no-no. You are not Graham Nash, and at his age even he should invest in some of those Velcro strap, senior citizen sneakers. Being barefoot on stage is not only a turn-off, but it could be dangerous. You could get an electrical shock. You could step on something mid-set and start bleeding profusely from those hooves of yours, and unless you are Gene Simmons or Alice Cooper, the whole gushing blood on stage thing doesn’t work. Be mindful and considerate of your audience, they are there to enjoy what you are doing. Sometimes they are drinking and eating while you are doing it. You want what you do on stage to help it go down easily, not to make it come back up! Read on…   

The sixth annual Providence Folk Festival takes place at its new home at Larisa Park in Riverside on Sunday, August 25. This free festival will present music on two stages from artists Dan Lilley and the Keepers with Amy Bedard, The Joint Chiefs, Flowers and Rain, Cardboard Ox, Hollow Turtle, Lisa Couto Trio, Chris Monti Band, Quahog Quire, Ryan Lee Crosby Trio, Allysen Callery, Bob Kendall, Lisa Bastoni, Kala Farnham, John Faraone, Ric Allendorf, Lara Herscovitch, Swimming Bell (Katie Schottland), Andrew Victor and Seatbelt. For more, get the folk over to providencefolkfestival.com 

The Rhythm and Roots Festival, this year’s Motif Music Award winner for best RI festival, is coming up Labor Day weekend. Do yourself a favor and check it out. You will surely get hooked and make the Rhythm and Roots Festival an annual tradition just like thousands of others! For more about the fest, zyde-go-go to: rhythmandroots.com

Local songstress Joanne Lurgio has completed her much anticipated CD, Crossing Jordon — songs of faith, comfort & healing. She will be hosting a celebratory concert on Sunday, August 18, from 3 – 7pm at St. Kevin Church, 333 Sandy Lane in Warwick, and many of the musicians on the recording will join her on stage, such as Bryan Barrette, Aubrey Atwater, Cathy Clasper-Torch, Elwood Donnelly, Pamela Lowell, Joe Lurgio and Joe Potenza. An opening set will be performed by Alice Pace & Ned Quist. For more, traverse to joannelurgio.com 

Common Fence Music and Hope & Main present Robertico Arias Y Su Alebreke on Sunday, August 18, at the Hope and Main Schoolyard Market from 10am – 12:30pm. Robertico Arias Y Su Alebreke has toured internationally with such bands as Los Hijos del Rey, El Equipo de Dioni Pernandez, Boni Cepeda, The New York Band and La Gran Manzana, and recorded with such artists as David Byrne. For more, cornucopia to commonfencemusic.org 

Motif’s Fall Guide will be our next issue. If you have events taking place this fall, please send the info to me now! Don’t say you weren’t warned!

That’s it for now. Thanks for reading. JohnFuzek.com