Recomendation: The Mike Bernos Band
photo: brucespringsteen.net
I love memory lane. Going back in time, it seems like you only remember the good stuff and rarely the stress. I remember back in 1997 or so when Tammy and I lived in this awesome place on the river. It was a tiny apartment and it jutted out and faced south so you could see the St. Johns all the way to the Buckman Bridge and beyond. Every window was waterfront and we had a great front lawn. One year we had Thanksgiving out there. I will never forget that. Another memory from that place on Vernon Terrace was our neighbor upstairs. He had what sounded like a baby grand piano and he would play classical and jazz and blues tunes all the time. We would often times turn off the television and open the windows and just relax and listen to our atmospheric jams. Sometimes he would bang out Springsteen and really rock the spot. That neighbor is my friend Mike Bernos. Over time we both moved from the place. I kept up with him quite a bit as he is a public relations professional. He taught me a lot about how to approach and talk to the media. I caught up with him the other day at the Uptown Market and we talked about a new non-work project that he has been working on. I thought you would be interested. His new cd is perfect for relaxing with the family. It has flavor. I jammed it on a recent trip to Orlando, both ways. Driving old Florida with a folk rock album that supports migrant workers. Takes me back. Feels real.
Tell me about your band, and how you hooked up with all of these guys including Rebecca Zapen (my fav):
Kenny Levine produced the new CD, With These Hands and besides being a fabulous producer and arranger, he is a well respected musician who is networked with Jacksonville’s top artists. He knew the sound we were after and put together Mark Dennison, guitar, Lawrence Buckner, bass, Sam Rodriguez, Percussion, and Teri Levine, vocals. Linda Minke, cellist, had worked with me at the Grape and performed on the CD. When I play the February 18 Harvest of Hope benefit in Riverside at The Church of Good Shepherd and the Harvest of Hope Festival in March these artists will be performing with me. They are phenomenal musicians.
I hear a lot of influences incuding folk and reggae and maybe even a bit of irish/celtic flavor, are these autobiographical for you or bent towards the theme of the album or both:
I think the sound of the CD reflects both my musical bias and alchemy. I like the economy of sound and liberating rhythm of reggae as well as the range its punctuated vocal structure allows me (Black and White, A different Day, Isn’t it Love). Acoustic rock lets me blend the timbre of cello and my tenor, (Believe and Let Her Go), with the elegiac themes of heartache. It’s a sound I’ve always wanted to explore. Being raised in New Orleans instilled a love for blues and the syncopated rhythms of the Meters and Professor Longhair. As you know, Tony, spend any time in New Orleans and the music saturates you like the humidity. You can’t go anywhere without your leg starting to shake. I must admit though, I can be a musical chameleon. Sometimes a sound will just surface within a song, like the Celtic tones in Brown Skin.
New Orleans is prevalent and even tracks that aren't directly about nola have some roux in them, tell me about that...
There is no better city than New Orleans to be raised in if you have any musical talent. I just read Louis Armstrong’s autobiography, My Life in New Orleans, and I don’t think he could ever ascended to rank of greatness that he did had he not grew up in the cultural stew that was New Orleans at the turn of the century. I grew up going to such great venues as Lu and Charlie’s, Tipitinas, Tyler’s Beer Garden and the Maple Leaf Bar, legendary joints where all of New Orleans great musicians played. I suppose my love of the city and its deep and diverse musical influences are expressed in my work both lyrically and musically. Its such an intimate musical community. I backed up Harry Connick, Jr. at a wedding of friends, I jammed with Wynton Marsalis back stage at Le Petit theater. I took piano lessons from blues pianist David Egan.
I wrote Black and White both as a homage and ballad to New Orleans’ cultural diversity as a well as to its epic and tragic mythology as a city.
Where can someone hear you now and how does one find the cd available?
TONY: Please! Go to this SHOW GOOD CAUSE! GREAT JAMS!
