POSTED ON FEBRUARY 22, 2021 BY LONG
This week’s Mid-Week Intermission comes from Andy Beaudoin, drummer for Montopolis (get a taste of their sound here before tuning into also tonight’s Good Vibes Only). Between teaching percussion students over Zoom and helping his nieces navigate online school, Andy hasn’t let Covid slow him down.
Hi, everyone!
Andy Beaudoin here. I am a professional musician living in Austin, TX, and you can catch me playing drums with Montopolis on tonight’s Good Vibes Only stream. I’ve performed at the Rollins Theatre in the Long Center a number of times over the years. The first time was with a pit orchestra playing original music by Justin Sherburn (Montopolis’ music director) for a very unique and absolutely fantastic production of The Red Balloon.
In many ways, the complications of a Covid reality have led to a simplifying of my everyday routine. Last fall, I taught an online History of Jazz class. I also currently teach around 20 percussion students… all on Zoom.
Don’t forget — catch Laura and the rest of Sun June tonight on Good Vibes Only, streaming free at 8pm. Plus, you’ll hear some of their new tunes!
Other than that, I’ve been trying to stay creatively sharp and physically active on my own. After an initial bout of writer’s block in the early days of quarantine, I’ve broken through with composing a batch of songs for my band Nori. In lieu of pickup basketball at the Y, I’ve taken up running. I’m also about dive into the MasterClass online series. For my first class, I can’t decide between Herbie Hancock teaching jazz or Steph Curry teaching basketball. At that level of mastery, I imagine they’re one and the same.
I want to close with some encouraging words. The vaccine is here, we are on the verge of a music renaissance, and cedar season is almost over! And if you want to help out the Austin music community, the best thing you can do is support HAAM. I’ll also leave you with a drum solo I like to call “Drum Quarantine.”
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POSTED ON FEBRUARY 8, 2021 BY LONG
This week’s Mid-Week Intermission comes to us from Laura Colwell of Sun June, tonight’s featured Austin artist on Good Vibes Only. Read on to see how the band made the best of 2020, the latest on their new album ‘Somewhere,’ and Laura’s special connection to the Long Center (she might have even served you a drink at a show!).
Hey y’all,
This is Laura from Sun June. Although we can’t gather in theaters and clubs and sway together in one large mass, we can try and do the next best thing and meet online at a virtual concert for some good vibes.
The Long Center is actually a very special place for me — I’ve gone to lots of events, attended countless film screenings, some of which were films I worked on (shout out to Also Starring Austin crew!), and I used to sling drinks at the cocktail carts that line the halls of the theater.
This is why I can honestly say it was such a thrill and honor to walk on stage as a performer in the LC’s Rollins Theatre. It really did feel like a full circle moment. And even though we played to an empty room, a friendly face emerged from behind one of the cameras to reveal themselves as an old friend of mine — someone who actually had seen our band perform back at some of our very first shows. For a brief moment, it felt like a regular night out playing a show at Cheer Ups, surrounded by a community of supportive friends and fellow artists. I don’t think that happens in many places. Gotta love Austin for that.
We did our best to adapt with all that 2020 had to throw our way. We finished recording our second album, ‘Somewhere,’ down in Lockhart at Good Dany’s the day that Austin went on lockdown, made four music videos, moved out of Austin, moved back to Austin, and left our bandmate/co-songwriter (and my boyfriend *gush*) Stephen in North Carolina to start a grad program.
Unfortunately, we can’t all be together as much as we’d like, but I’m still grateful for the time we have. I feel extremely lucky to have stayed in good health and that we had each other to lean on for support. Our group text has never been stronger. And while Stephen hasn’t been able to perform with us, our good pal Santiago Dietche (of Daphne Tunes) has stepped in to play rhythm guitar and sing backup.
It’s a strange time to be releasing music, but we went ahead and put out a record just last week! And while we are all trying to plan our year ahead, we know we can only take it one day at a time. Hopefully we can all see each other again real soon.
In the meantime, you can find our albums, merch, and more on our website. Follow us there, on Twitter, Instagram, Bandcamp, and Facebook.
I also wanted to give a quick shout out to some amazing artists who are out there doing good work:
Free Lunch is a meal support organization run by Jade Skye Hammer (who has taken lots of lovely pictures of us!), Carrie Fussell Bickly (of Calliope Musicals), and Jazz Mills. check it out!
And later this month, Mobley’s virtual tour/record release show is donating all ticket sales to the DAWA Fund, a financial assistance program for musicians, artists, and service workers of color. We recorded a song in our backyard for this event, too!
Thanks for tuning in and stay safe out there <3
Don’t forget — catch Laura and the rest of Sun June tonight on Good Vibes Only, streaming free at 8pm. Plus, you’ll hear some of their new tunes!
