Folk singers Charlie King and Karen Brandow will
perform in concert on Monday, March 5th, at 7PM at
CSPS in Cedar Rapids. ?Concert tickets are $10 in
advance or $12 at the door. ?Charlie and Karen will share the
bill with comic, theatrical folk duo, the Prince Myshkins.
Charlie King and Karen Brandow are musical storytellers and
political satirists. ?They have been performing together since
1998. ?Their repertoire covers a century and a half and four
continents. They perform with the sweet and precise
harmonies of life partners. They sing and write passionately
about the extraordinary lives of ordinary people. ?Their central
vision as entertainers is to leave audiences with a sense of
optimism and possibility about the future. "We try to cover a
broad emotional landscape in our concerts. The stories we
collect and the songs we write take the listener on a journey of
humor, heartache and hope. What we most value in a song is
the way it helps us see an old reality in a totally new light."
The Prince Myshkins take their name from the selfless
and virtuous Dostoevsky character from The Idiot. ?They are
Rick Burkhardt and Andy Gricevich. ?Rick plays accordion and
sings; Andy plays guitar and sings. ???In addition to touring the
national folk circuit they also co-founded the Nonsense
Company in 1999, a group of musicians dedicated to the
performance of new works of contemporary classical music by
exciting younger composers. Rick and Andy are both
enthusiastic readers and writers of experimental poetry, and
continue to perform political theater at every opportunity. ?
They now live somewhere between San Diego, California and
Madison, Wisconsin.
Charlie King has been at the heart of American folk music for
over 40 years. ?His songs have been recorded and sung by
other performers such as Pete Seeger, Holly Near, Ronnie
Gilbert, John McCutcheon, Arlo Guthrie, and Peggy Seeger. ?
In May of 1998 the War Resisters League gave their
Peacemaker Award to Charlie and to Odetta. ??In 1999 Charlie
received the Sacco-Vanzetti Social Justice Award, for which
Pete Seeger nominated him. ?Charlie has released a dozen
solo albums since 1976.
Karen Brandow has been performing with Charlie King since
1998. ?While doing human rights work in Guatemala from
1986-1994, Karen studied voice, performance and classical
guitar. ?She performed at political and cultural events in that
country as a soloist and was a founding member of the a
cappella singing group, the Non-Traditional Imports. ??The duo
currently resides in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts.
All four performers are proud members of Local 1000 of the
American Federation of Musicians.