+ Micky Kemp
Back for another belting night of New York
style rock and sweat from the excellent Joe
D'Urso and the Stone Caravan
In
these days of mass produced Pop Idols and a chart full of cover versions , New York rocker
Joe D'Urso is a shinning light in the
darkness for fans of real music. Together with his band, Stone Caravan,
Joe has been kicking up a storm at gigs throughout Europe and the USA for
a decade. Indeed Joe has played several times in Newcastle always delivers
the business. Not seen them before? Well expect
some gritty rock
based performances from an outfit that thrives
on live stage shows. Don't expect
just noise, expect a high quality band, cracking
music and excellent lyrics as Joe is pretty good
at song writing. Joe comes off the same New
Jersey musical heritage that has produced Bruce Springsteen and
of course Newcastle favourites, Southside Johnny.
Joe will crank up his own
version of high-octane fueled rock and roll with the passion and power of
Springsteen. The atmosphere is always superb at Joe's gigs and the Cluny
is an excellent venue with a fabulous range of real ales. It might be
cold outside, but it will hot in the Cluny!
Joe D'Urso ....
After finishing school, JOE D’URSO
worked as an assistant booking agent for Premier Talent Agency before
setting out on his independent trail in 1996. At the agency, Joe typed
contracts for U2, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Tom Petty, Leonard Cohen,
The Pretenders, The Who and many other great artists. Through this
experience, Joe mounted a great live band that could travel the states as
well as Europe delivering a brand of high energy and emotional rock and
roll.
JOE D’URSO & STONE CARAVAN
released their (1st) independent CD in 1993 "Rock-Land".
As a result of the bands work ethic, persistence and great live
performances, they have sold thousands of copies exclusively at their live
shows, by mail order and the Internet. "Mirrors,
Shoestrings & Credit Cards" the band's 2nd record was
released in 1996. This album has sold very well internationally and
continues to attract fans to Joe and the bands rootsy rock sound.
JD & SC have supported newly established artists including Joan
Osborne, Big Head Todd & The Monsters and Wilco. In addition the
band has supported such veteran artists as The Allman Brothers, Jimmy
Buffet and Joe Grushecky/Bruce Springsteen. Joe has also performed
solo acoustic with Shawn Colvin, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Suzanne Vega, the
Jayhawks, Graham Parker and the BoDeans. It was through Joe’s solo
performances on the Hooters 1993 and 1994 Theatre Tours of
Scandinavia that opened the doors for Joe and the band to Europe.
JD & SC continued to support "Mirrors,
Shoestrings & Credit Cards" throughout 1997 as Joe toured
many parts of Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Scandinavia and the USA.
Shows included support dates in Charlotte, Raleigh and Nashville on the Counting
Crows/Wallflowers summer tour as well as dates with Jimmy Buffet
and JD & SC's annual return to Summerfest, the largest music
festival in America.
The close of 1997 and into 1998 saw the band included on two compilation
releases. The first, a Capitol Records/Right Stuff tribute CD single from
" One Step Up/Two Steps Back: The Songs of Bruce Springsteen"
which included an appearance by Joe and the band at the renown Beacon
Theater in New York City to benefit the World Hunger Year, founded in 1975
by the late Harry Chapin. The second release was the "Los Angeles
Independent Film Festival CD Music Sampler", featuring JD &
SC’s single "Tell Me Why." 1998
also saw Joe touring solo acoustic in Switzerland, Hungary, Italy and New
Zealand with full band dates in Sweden and Norway.
1999 proved to be Joe and the bands best year yet. He and the band started
support on their new release "Glow".
Dates in the USA with the full band included shows at The Bottom Line and
Irving Plaza in NYC, The Music Hall in Westchester, NY with repeated
performances in North Carolina, West Virginia, New Jersey, Chicago,
Seattle, Pennsylvania as well as the bands annual appearance at Summerfest
in Milwaukee.
1999 also saw JD&SC’s
first tour of Canada with stops in
Toronto, Ottawa and Kingston as well as an appearance on Breakfast
Television in Toronto and as a panelist on TSN’s "Off the
Record". JD&SC also toured England for the first time in
February of 2000 and performed once again in Sweden and Norway.
The summer/fall of 2,000 brought the release of JD&SC’s "rock
and roll station". The CD is a concept of sorts as it follows
the two day life of a CD being played from the morning alarms of a Friday
to the weekend slowdown of Sunday 4 a.m. The CD, which is being called a
"first of its kind," received incredible word of mouth reviews
from those who attended the 7 prerelease shows in Rockland County, New
York City, Jersey Shore, Chicago, Milwaukee and West Virginia.
The summer saw Joe and the band perform in front of over 10,000 people at
the Gananoque Music Festival in Gananoque, Ontario. JD&SC were
the only non-Canadian band selected to perform at the festival. November
of 2000 saw the band play at the newly reopened Stone Pony in Asbury Park
where Bruce Springsteen joined Joe and the other artists involved in the
Parkinson's Disease Foundation Benefit, for a rousing two song finale.
With tour dates in England, Wales, Scotland, Italy, Switzerland, Canada
and the United States, it seems that in 2001 a bit more of the world will
get a chance to hear first hand JOE D'URSO & STONE CARAVAN’S
own brand of Roots-Rock & Roll.
More details available from
www.jdcaravan.com
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@
the Cluny, Newcastle
Friday 9th February
2007 This is the gig
that nearly wasn't ..... Joe was
forced to pull the previous nights show in Glasgow as
his flight from Italy into Stanstead was cancelled due
to snow. Due to land at 12.00
noon today, the flight was 2 hours late. Yes, there was
some pacing around .... would they make it or not? Due
to more poor weather and naff road conditions the band
did not arrive until 8.10pm.
Without stopping for food or even a glass of water,
everyone pitched in to get ready. Well done to Cluny
sound engineer Colm and the whole band for working so
hard.
By 8.45pm
Micky Kemp and his band were strutting their
stuff on stage and we were underway. It was a cracking
opening set and just the job to settle everyone down.
With a 90 second change,
Joe D'Urso and the
Stone Caravan (still
no food) were on stage. Even though it had been a very
stressful day, Joe and the lads were soon into their
stride and once more we were treated to an excellent set
and well worth the wait. By the
way, while the band was on stage, we ordered some Indian
takeaways to arrive at 11.15pm. Sorted! |
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