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Come join us for Grass Valley's

2008 Thursday Night Marketplace

Free Summer Concert Series

The 2008 Thursday Marketplace presents our usual great FREE SUMMER CONCERT SERIES on the Main Street Stage between City Hall and Kane's patio restaurant. These shows present the best of the Sierra and beyond. Limited seating is available and dancing is spontaneous. Music for all ages in all genres. Music starts around 7 pm until 9:30 in July and 9pm in August.

 
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SambaDá (Click link to go to website)

–July 3rd, 7:00-9:30pm

SambaDá is one of the hottest emerging groups on the West Coast music scene, with their mixture of hard hitting dance music and exceptional live show earning them main stage slots at most of the major California music festivals this year. In February, SambaDá headlined the 3 biggest carnival parties in California, in San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. They were a featured band in the San Francisco Carnival held in May, and have played main stage slots at the Harmony Festival, Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, Whole Earth Festival. Most recently they headlined the Salem World Beat Festival, where they wowed more than 6000 people. SambaDa's tunes are playful, vital, and energetic: they make you dance and they make you sing, they are both intimate and exuberant. SambaDá delivers a polished show, whether acoustic on the beach, or at full volume on stage, which is guaranteed to inspire dancing feet and smiling faces.

Saul Rayo & Cocina del Mundo (Click link to go to website)

–July 10th, 7:00-9:30pm

This high-energy band offers Worldbeat and R&B stylings and thoughtful original music of all styles. Song lyrics are socially and environmentally conscious...and all-inclusive. "Our music is completely original. Our following transcends the generations, representing age groups from teens to those in there sixties!" Saul Rayo…Our lead singer and also an extraordinary songwriter, having penned over 350 songs, some for musical legends such as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Saul performs on acoustic and electric guitars and a variety of ethnic drums and rhythm instruments. Jay “Bird” Ladner… Our multi-talented drummer. Jay and Saul started the original band, playing together as a duet on percussion and guitars. Bird is multi-talented & multi-faceted on drums, timbales, tablas, djembe & other assorted percussion instruments. Josh “Tree” Letcher… “Tree” is rhythmic flying dreadlocks on the 5-string fretless bass, congas, bongos and djembe. Josh and Jay grew up and have performed together in bands since high school. As our indomitable rhythm section, they form the foundation for our unique sound. JThomas “Tominator” Schuebel… Studied the wonderful crazy quilt of African music and it comes through in his beautiful lead & rhythm guitar playing. Thomas has been playing and performing on guitar for more than 25 years. He also plays a variety of unusual stringed instruments, including bouzouki and British cittern.

Vince Herman of "Left Over Salmon" and

Great American Taxi (Click link to go to website)

–July 17th, 7:00-9:30pm

Your head would spin adding up all the miles the members of Great American Taxi have traveled individually, and in just over two years together they’ve added a whole lot more to their travelogues. From their home in the high country of Colorado to the shores of the Pacific and back again through the grain belt of the Midwest heading further east to the Atlantic Ocean, Taxi has ridden the highways and biways spinning yarns and delivering high octane music to all who show up at their live shows and consume their 21st century Americana sound. From the bars, clubs and theaters to the main stage of Wakarusa to late night sets at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, up north to the 10,000 Lakes Festival via Summer Camp, and out west to the High Sierra Music Fest, the band has carved out their own territory in a very short time. Audiences are instantly immersed in their their folk and country sensibilities while they are fed large doses of improvisation and rock and roll. Touring relentlessy in 2007 supporting their debut CD release “Streets of Gold,” and with over 200 plus shows behind them in their short time together, Great American Taxi has built a hefty following the old fashioned way. With front-man Vince Herman at the wheel people will recognize threads of the Leftover Salmon fabric all the while being driven by original songwriting and musicianship from guitarist/vocalist Jefferson Hamer and keyboardist/vocalist Chad Staehly. The rhythm section and axles of the ride are supplied by well-seasoned veterans Jake Coffin on drums/vocals and Edwin Hurwitz on bass guitar. Jake spent years on the road with Dan Bern and Edwin clocked many miles with 90’s jambands Shockra and Skin. Great American Taxi traffics their collective past helping create their new Americana without borders brand of music.

The Kate Gaffney Band (Click link to go to website)

–July 24th, 7:00-9:30pm

Kate Gaffney returns to Northern California after spending the majority of 2007 in a Los Angeles studio recording her upcoming album "The Coachman" with producer Barrie Maguire (The Wallflowers, Natalie Merchant, Amos Lee). Musicians including Jackie Greene, Steve and John Kimock, and The Innocent Criminals all contributed to the record. Leaving her career as a social worker in 2002, Gaffney began to perform and write alongside local artists, while soaking in the Americana music scene that was flourishing in Sacramento at the time. It was in Northern California where Kate first found her musical calling and began to hone her skills as a songwriter. She hit the road and returned to her native East Coast, where she independently released two albums, "Highways" and "The New Then." Her regular touring led Kate to Austin, TX where she met even more of "the good people" in music. Most notably, Gaffney was befriended by the late Clifford Antone, Austin's music mogul, who gave her the validation to keep on with her musical calling. Gaffney spent recent years immersed in the Philadelphia music scene, quickly becoming a standout favorite in the city’s top venues. A permanent return to California was only a matter of time for Gaffney. It is here that she regains her musical roots and brings her throwback but contemporary sound back to the West Coast. Kate forever calls both coasts home.

Earth Rhythms African Dance Troupe

Grass Valley Taiko (Click link to go to website)

–August 14th, 7:00-9:00pm

Earth Rhythms Dancers & Drummers based in Nevada City, CA, is a group of performers that presents dances, drum rhythms and songs from the Congo, West Africa, the Carribean, Brazil, and North America. Most of the group's performing repertoire are traditional dance and drum pieces from the cultures that some members have apprenticed with, and some pieces are a collective choreography creation by the members of this troupe. Earth Rhythms performances are high energy, energetic presentations that depict the power and love of the life force in the members of the collective and in the cultures from which the dance pieces derive their roots.

Taiko, a Japanese style of drumming , has a long and rich history. Originating in China, it traveled through many countries and took on various forms, finally settling profoundly in Japan. Here, it was used to call the Gods to alter existing conditions such as warding off pestilence, bringing rain, blessing a harvest or inviting the ancestors to join in celebration of the family. Mitzi Garnett, student of Grand Master Tanaka, has carried that torch and formed Grass Valley Taiko. Founded in 2000, the group has taken root and is now actively participating in many community events. Mitzi's creative interpretations of traditional pieces along with those created by the members of Grass Valley Taiko, presents a variety of styles and rhythms to appease the audience.

Ivan Najera & Friends (Click link to go to website)

–August 21st, 7:00-9:00pm

Iván Nájera studied guitar and piano at the National Conservatory in Quito, Ecuador and went on to join a Colombian Latin jazz/salsa group as lead singer and guitarist, performing at hotel-casinos throughout South America. In 1975, Ivan moved to California to further his career and began performing and recording his compositions, and simultaneously earned a degree in digital electronics. Ivan's music has been described as exhilarating, contagious exciting, explosive emotional, and sensual. His influences are rich in cultural diversity, inspired by Spanish and Flamenco, Brazilian, Tropicalia, Andean, jazz, and contemporary styles—enriched with an underlying hint of classical seasoning. In addition to his solo performances, he has shared the stage with greats that include Jose Feliciano, Julio Iglesias, and Enrique Coria. His CDs include: Jungle An emotionally charged musical explosion Devotion A combination of classical, Flamenco, and jazz recorded with Tony Unger Malaguena The purity of the Najera and Unger guitars.

Buck Love & The Humperheads (Click link to go to website)

–August 28th, 7:00-9:00pm

With four lead singers, three guitars, keyboards, bass, lots of percussion and drums you'd be wondering if these guys could possibly keep the music on the pavement...well they do, as long as you don't need the road to be straight. This music is a melting pot of R&B, Soul, Funk, Southern Rock and Reggae, Folk, Jazz, World Beat and jam band style party music which after almost 20 years has brought six entirely different musical universes into alignment with each other like some weird and crazy musical solar system. Dancing to this music is like taking a big hit of fresh air...and while their kinetic and intoxicating energy with old classic songs is stunning, their original songs and lengthy improvisational jams are even better. The band hails from Nevada City CA and made their first appearance on July 4, 1986 and have been playing together ever since at clubs, festivals, benefits & parties all around Northern CA. The group is made up of six professional musicians each of whom performs all around the country with a variety of acts as sidemen or fronting their own shows. They Include: Mikail Graham - guitar & vocals, Paul Kamm - guitar & vocals, Tom MacDonald - guitar, percussion & vocals, Bill Smart - electric bass & vocals, Mark Yedinak - drums & electronic percussion, Lenny La Rue - keyboards

photo by Bruce Levy