The Beaker Brothers Band at the Redstone Room -- May 9.
Friday, May 9, 7 p.m.
The Redstone Room, 129 Main Street, Davenport IA
Delivering a blues-rock tribute to legendary bands The Allman Brothers and Santana, Iowa City's ever-popular ensemble The Beaker Brothers Band headlines a May 9 engagement at Davenport's Redstone Room, their Fillmore East & West concert finding the musicians performing from a revered repertoire sure to include classics from Santana's Live at the Filmore 1968 and The Allman Brothers Band's At Fillmore East.
Currently, The Beaker Brothers Band is composed of a septet of Midwestern talents: guitarist, side guitarist, and vocalist Steve Grismore; bassist and vocalist Ed English; guitarist and vocalist Dan Bernstein; drummer and vocalist Jim Dreier; drummer and percussionist Dan Hummel; keyboardist and vocalist Bill Peterson; and keyboardist, acoustic guitarist, percussionist, and vocalist Steve Prottsman. The ensemble has been playing the music of the late 1960s to the early '70s in a broad selection of venues and events since 2007, and was founded by veteran area musicians Steve Grismore, Dan Hummel, James Dreier, Dan Bernstein, Ed English, and the late John Shultz. From the start, the outfit was designed both to celebrate the spirit of the original jam bands and to honor the legacy of the Beaker Street radio program. With the show hosted by Clyde Clifford on KAAY from Little Rock and having aired from 1966 to 1972, Arkansas' Beaker Street is still widely considered the home of alternative rock.
As the artists state, "We cut our teeth on the music of Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, the Allman Brothers and the Grateful Dead – and we’re still gnawing on it. Now, we’re going back to where the jam bands came from, to the time when rock, blues, jazz and Latin music met and grew into our inspiration. Call it what you want – post-psychedelic, proto-alternative, protest music (we like that one), retro, southern-progressive-hippie rock, whatever — you can bet that great bands like Phish and Moe and Umphrey’s McGee would still be punching the clock at their day jobs without the contributions of Jimi, Eric, Carlos, Duane, Jerry … and Clyde.
"The Beaker Brothers Band isn’t a nostalgia act or a tribute show. We’re playing music that has been in our heads and our hearts since we first heard it. It’s music of the night from Back in the Day, played by guys who are as awed by it now as when we were driving home from a gig in 1969 and suddenly pulled off the road on a hilltop ’cause Clyde was blowing our minds again, and we couldn’t get the signal down in the valley. This is not your father’s rock band. No, wait, maybe it is. Anyway, we’re sure you’re gonna dig it. Join the Beaker Brothers Band for a joyride from the Summers of Love — it’ll be really groovy."
The Beaker Brothers Band performs their Fillmore East & Werst show at Davenport's Redstone Room on May 9, admission to the 7 p.m. concert event is $15-20, and more information and tickets are available by calling (563)326-1333 and visiting CommonChordQC.org.
