The Alexandria Kleztet: News

Happy (almost) Autumn!

On Saturday, February 28, the 24th annual Washington Area Music Awards (or "Wammies") were held at the State Theatre in Falls Church, Virginia.  We're happy to report that, once again, The Alexandria Kleztet was honored with two Wammies from our colleagues in the greater Washington musical community.  Band leader Seth Kibel was awarded the Wammie for "World Music Instrumentalist" for the SEVENTH year in a row, and "Peace, Love and Coffee" became our fourth consecutive album to receive the Wammie for "World Music Recording." 

In other news, we want to hip everyone to the brand new album from SONiA & disappear fear.  It's called "Blood, Bones & Baltimore," and it's really an amazing record.  It features contributions on almost every track from The Kleztet's own Seth Kibel and Helen Hausmann.

Ketsad M'rakdin

Bei Mir Bist Du Schein

Cantina Band (yep, from Star Wars)

Youkali

Mi Ha'ish

Saturday, October 3 -- Art on the Avenue Festival
10 - 11 am 
Mount Vernon Avenue & East Oxford Avenue, Alexandria, VA
Free!

Sunday, October 4 -- Interview/live performance on WRNR
9 am-ish
This won't be the full band, but Seth, Helen, and our good friend, pianist Sean Lane, will be playing a few songs live, on-the-air, as well as discussing the new album.  Tune in to WRNR Annapolis, 103 FM, around 9 am, to have a listen!

Tuesday, October 6 -- FODfest '09 (Friends of Daniel Pearl)
Beit Tikvah 
7 pm 
5802 Roland Avenue, Baltimore, MD  21210
410-464-9402
Free!
This is the Baltimore stop of a nationwide tour celebrating the life, legacy, and mission of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.  In addition to his work as a journalist, Daniel Pearl was an accomplished fiddler, and used music as a way to bridge cultural divides in his travels.
In addition to The Kleztet, artists performing will include: Greg Colburn, Howard Markman, Mama's Black Sheep, Sam Weiser, Sharon Klein, SONiA, Terry Gourley & Tobias Hurwitz, Todd Mack

Wednesday, October 14 -- Peabody Institute
7 - 9 pm
1 East Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore, MD  21202
410-659-8100
Free!
Another one of our free concerts at one of the most prestigious conservatories in the nation!  With us for this show will be guest percussionist Wes Crawford, filling in for Tim Jarvis, who will be away on a top-secret mission.
As of press time, we're still not sure what hall we'll be playing in that evening.  If you're planning on attending, I strongly encourage you to drop me a line prior to the show for specific information! 

Sunday, October 18 -- Jammin' Java
Double CD Release show with Susan Gaeta and special guest Jon Carroll
2 - 4 pm
227 Maple Avenue East, Vienna, VA  22180
703-255-1566
Tickets: $10

Sunday, October 25 -- The City Winery 
Klezmer Brunch
10 am - 2 pm 
155 Varick Street, New York, NY  10013
212-608-0555
Tickets: $10
We're coming back to the Big Apple!  This will be our first appearance at what is becoming one of the leading klezmer concert series in the NY metropolitan area.  The City Winery is a wonderful new music and dining venue in The Village.  Help us make a big splash by buying your tickets here!  And please tell all of your NYC area family and friends -- we promise to tell them you love them! 

This Wednesday, August 26, we'll be kicking off a series of "official" CD Release shows for our brand-new album, Peace, Love and Coffee. We decided to start right at the top, so we'll be performing at the most prestigious venue in the Greater Washington area, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. We'll be playing from 6 to 7 pm on The Millennium Stage. As I mentioned, it's completely free, and no tickets are required. And if you can't make it in person, you can watch it live (or archived after the fact) on the web here:

http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/millennium/

We'll be playing a program almost entirely of music from the new record which will be, of course, available for purchase from your friendly Kleztet sales team. We hope you can make it!

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We're kicking the promotion for this record into high gear, so anything you can do to spread the word would be greatly appreciated. Tell your friends. Tell your enemies. Tell your frenemies. Speaking of which, this Friday, August 21, you can hear extended excerpts from the new album, plus a witty and wacky interview with yours truly, on Metro Connection, WAMU's (88.5 FM) award-winning local affairs program. You can hear the show live at 1 pm, or anytime afterwards at the Metro Connection website.

And the great press just keeps rolling on in:

Here's a great review from DC's On Tap Magazine

We've been getting a lot of airplay on various folk, world music, and Judaica radio shows all across the country. If you listen to one, please request us! If they don't have our album yet, let us and know and we'll send 'em one!

So don't forget to buy the new record -- it's available on-line just about everywhere fine music sold, both as a physical CD and as a digital download. And go friend us on MySpace and/or Facebook and/or ReverbNation and/or OurStage. We'd love to sink our many digital tentacles into your online lives...