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Event Description

From The Georgia Straight - June 24/04

Music Notes Music Notes Archives
Benefitting A Legend
By john lucas
Publish Date: 24-Jun-2004

Back in February, this column reported on Vancouver musician Randall Carpenter's efforts to aid respected Texas singer-songwriter and playwright Alejandro Escovedo in his battle against Hepatitis C. Carpenter organized a couple of tribute concerts and announced that he--working alongside fellow Escovedo aficionados Gordon Nicholl, Chris Houston, and John "Buck Cherry" Armstrong--was putting together a CD that would feature various artists covering the Texan great's songs. Well, that compilation is now finished. The 18-track CD, titled Escovedo 101: Songs of Alejandro Escovedo, features contributions from a number of acts, many of them local, including Herald Nix, Linda McRae, Bob Egan, and the Minimalist Jug Band. In a poignant note, the disc also includes the final studio recording of the late Ray Condo, who sings Escovedo's "Everybody Loves Me".

The release of Escovedo 101 will be celebrated next Saturday (July 3) with a benefit concert at the W.I.S.E. Hall featuring a few of the artists on the album, including Bughouse 5, Kevin Kane, Graham Brown, the New Modernettes, Kevin House, Joe Mavety, Mike Webster, and the Mud Bay Blues Band. The show gets underway at 7:30 p.m., and tickets are available at the door for $15.

All profits from the album and any related fundraising endeavours will be donated to the Alejandro Fund, which was set up to help the singer, who has no health insurance, cover his medical bills and offset the loss of income that has resulted from his inability to tour or record. Escovedo collapsed after a performance in Phoenix, Arizona, on April 26, 2003, and was hospitalized due to complications from Hep C. The father of seven is now undergoing treatment at his home in Canyon Lake, Texas. Find out more about Escovedo and his struggle at www.alejandrofund.com/.

***

Magnetic West Productions and Paramount Recorders proudly announce the release of ESCOVEDO 101 - Songs Of Alejandro Escovedo, a benefit album tribute to the highly acclaimed Texan singer - songwriter - musician - playwright currently battling debilitating illness.

Escovedo, named No Depression magazine’s Artist of the Decade for the 1990s and widely hailed as one of the most innovative, distinctive performers on the contemporary scene, is afflicted with Hepatitis C and in April 2003 was incapacitated by the effects of the disease. The severity of his condition necessitated treatment both physically disabling and financially devastating and the music community from coast to coast rallied to his support, staging benefit concerts and raising funds for Alejandro Fund.com, a trust fund set up in the U.S. to provide assistance.

Local efforts, organized by producers Randall T. Carpenter and Gordon Nicholl and musicians Chris Houston and Buck Cherry, have culminated in ESCOVEDO 101 - Songs Of Alejandro Escovedo, featuring many of Canada’s premier recording artists and musicians performing their favorite Escovedo songs--including the late great Ray Condo‘s final studio recording.

Eight months in the making, the 18 song CD will be released July 3, 2004, at a benefit concert at the W.I.S.E. Hall, 1882 Adanac St. (7:30 p.m. - midnight, tickets $15 at the door) featuring ESCOVEDO 101 recording artists Bughouse 5, Kevin Kane, Graham Brown, New Modernettes, Kevin House, Joe Mavety, Mike Webster and Mud Bay Blues Band.

All artists and project personnel donated their time and talents to pay tribute to a valued friend and respected peer and all profits from ESCOVEDO 101 and related fund-raising endeavors go directly to Alejandro Fund.com.

For more info, contact Randall T. Carpenter at 604 255 6395 / rtcarp@telus.net

"Alejandro is one of the great American songwriters and his work is in a direct line that stretches from Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams through Bob Dylan and Steve Earle. Our hope is to promote this great body of work and point people towards Alejandro's own recordings of the songs. We think of the record as being an Alejandro primer, Escovedo 101."

Chris Houston, October 2003

ESCOVEDO 101- Songs of Alejandro Escovedo

1./ EVERYBODY LOVES ME (Ray Condo)

2./ ONE MORE TIME (Linda McRae)

3./ CROOKED FRAME (The Goods, The Baz & Stumpy Joe)

4./ GUILTY (Mud Bay Blues Band)

5./ WAVE (Bob Egan)

6./ NICKEL AND A SPOON (Herald Nix)

7./ RHAPSODY (Bughouse Five)

8./ BY ELEVEN (New Modernettes)

9./ FOLLOW YOU DOWN (Kevin Kane)

10./ I WAS DRUNK (Mike Webster)

11./ SHE TOWERS ABOVE (Kevin House)

12./ ABOUT THIS LOVE (Joe Mavety)

13./ PYRAMID OF TEARS (Solemn Fist)

14./ PARADISE (Heather Griffin & Good Wood)

15./ ROSALIE (Graham Brown)

16./ TUGBOAT (Walker Band)

17./ LAST TO KNOW (Captain MacDonald)

18./ THIRTEEN YEARS (Minimalist Jug Band)