• Toad the Wet Sprocket/Ari Hest/ Willy Porter/Ellis Paul/Alternate Routes - Fleming Artists APAP Showcase -1/7
• 5:00pm Seating / 7:00pm Show

A special Fleming Artists APAP showcase, featuring a choice mix of top indpendent artists.

The APAP Conference 2011 brings together luminaries in the Performing Arts world for a five day conference in New York City. The Annual conference also acts a showcase for new and emerging performers.

List of artists, order and set length is subject to change

Toad the Wet Sprocket, Ari Hest, Willy Porter, Ellis Paul, Brother Joscephus and the Love Revival Revolution Orchestra, Alternate Routes

Schedule:
7:00pm-7:25pm Ari Hest
 
7:35-8:05pm Brother Joscephus and theLove Revival Revolution Orchestra
8:20-8:50pm Ellis Paul (duo) Keyboard and guitar
 
9:00pm – 9:30pm Willy Porter
 
9:40-10:10pm Alternate Routes
 
10:30-11:30 Toad the Wet Sprocket

TOAD THE WET SPROCKET

Named in honor of a sketch by the Monty Python comedy troupe, this 4-piece band of Santa Barbara, CA high school cronies came to be known as Toad the Wet Sprocket in 1986. To this day, their mellow, melodic folk-pop sound made them one of the most successful alternative rock bands of the early 1990s.

Singer Glen Phillips, guitarist Todd Nichols, bassist Dean Dinning, and drummer Randy Guss spent time honing their skills in area bars. Then, in 1988, they entered a nearby studio and came out with their debut LP, Bread and Circus. Recorded in just 8 days and for a cost of $650, this inaugural recording was originally sold in Santa Barbara area record stores as a home- made cassette. While the band was recording their second album, Pale (16 days & $6,000) they caught the attention of the LA offices of Columbia Records. After agreeing to the band’s request to reissue Bread and Circus only in its original form — without any alterations or remixes – Columbia Records signed Toad the Wet Sprocket.

Then in 1991, Toad the Wet Sprocket’s commercial breakthrough came as the single “All I Want” (which had nearly been left off the 1991 album Fear) became a Top 20 hit. Gavin’s airplay reports also listed it as number one. After “Fear” was certified platinum, another single from the LP, “Walk on the Ocean,” also became a successful track for the band. They played over 300 shows on the Fear tour, a two-year marathon ending in throat surgery for Phillips’ overused pipes.

Three years later, Toad returned with Dulcinea, generating yet another Top 40 hit (not to mention a six week run as number one on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks) with the single “Fall Down.” Dulcinea then also sold enough copies to reward Toad with another platinum certification.
1995 brought In Light Syrup, a collection of unreleased material, B-Sides and movie soundtrack songs. Featuring “Good Inten- tions,” another hit single that’s also been featured on the platinum selling Friends TV show soundtrack, In Light Syrup recently became certified gold.

Coil, Toad the Wet Sprocket’s fifth proper LP, followed in 1997. Then in July, 1998, the group parted ways. Even so, in 1999, PS (A Toad Retrospective) was released. In 2004, Columbia/Legacy released Toad’s live CD Welcome Home, Live from the Arlington Theater.
Since 2006, the band has played to enthusiastic crowds of all ages across the country, proving that great music truly is timeless.

ARI HEST

The release of Sunset Over Hope Street on March 1, 2011 via Downtown Records' Mercer Street imprint marks Ari Hest's first full-length album of new material in four years. That's not to say he hasn't been busy in the years in between.

After releasing The Break-In on Columbia Records in 2007, Ari decided it was time to take more creative control over his music and parted ways with his label. Utilizing all the technology available to him, in 2008 he launched his highly successful 52 project, a web based subscription service that found him writing, recording, and releasing a new song every Monday for an entire year. For those keeping track, that's 52 new songs in 52 weeks! Performing Songwriter called these songs "high-caliber and heartfelt."

WILLY PORTER

How does a young viola player become a folk-rock guitarist? Perhaps Leo Kottke is to blame. At least in Willy Porter's case he is. Upon hearing Kottke's 6 & 12 String Guitar, everything changed for a young Porter. He put down his bow and grabbed a pick. The rest is history and still in the making. Hailing from Wisconsin, the multiple WAMI (Wisconsin Area Music Industry) award-winner honed his performance chops in the cafes and clubs around Madison. He also sat on the concert committee in college where he met another guitar legend who would influence him greatly, the late Michael Hedges. A singer, songwriter, storyteller, entertainer, and extraordinary guitarist, Porter defies labels and bends genres. He moves between slide blues, acoustic folk, grooving rock, and soulful pop with grace and equipoise. They all combine to create the uniqueness that is his sound.