Eddie's 529 Club

Okee dokee folks…Well, I guess we are not going to have a woman president. I am very disappointed. I really think that it was the right time. And yes, I am going to be a STUBBORN Hillary supporter!

Anyway, at least in some places, the talent and experience of a woman is recognized and appreciated. Though it won't be in the White House, it will be in a big, white, historic building with massive columns. This big, white building is the 175-year-old First United Methodist Church of Warren. The women are the Women of RISA. On Saturday, June 21, the Rhode Island Songwriters Association will be presenting the annual season closer of the Church Street Coffeehouse, The Women of RISA.

This show was started a few years back when RISA was doing a show at Stone Soup and it was noticed that no women were on the bill. There was a Church Street Coffeehouse show scheduled for the next month but the performers were not booked. RISA decided to have an all-women show to compensate for the gender oversight.

The show was a huge success. RISA and the Church Street Coffeehouse decided to make it an annual event and this year's show will be the fifth. Pascoag singer-songwriter, Jan Luby, books the acts, is the host of the show, and performs as well. She has been the host for most, if not all, of the Women of RISA shows at the Church Street Coffeehouse. The women of talent and experience for this incarnation of the event will be: the multi-award winning Becky Chace, Mary Ellen Casey, Jackie Bartlett (recent nominee in the Motif Music Awards), and one of the out-of-town RISA members, Lisa Lawrence, will be heading down from Haverhill.

It's a wonderful line-up and the Church Street Coffeehouse is the perfect intimate setting for this show. Tickets are ten dollars and available at the door. Show starts at 8 p.m. For more information go to www.risongwriters.com (all of the women have links on the site) or call Church Street Coffeehouse at 401-245-8474.

Bonniepalooza. Yes, you read that correctly. Bonniepalooza. This is the creation of the owner of Eddie's 529 Club on Warwick Ave. in Warwick, Bonnie Donahue. She started the "festival" last year but she picked the wrong weekend.

"We were up against the Patriots AND the Red Sox… we have learned a lot since then," Bonnie told me over the phone. She did TRY to talk to me in person, but I had just played a set with Forever Young in 100 degree heat and was delirious. I had to wait for everything to cool down. Have I mentioned over the past years how much I hate summer??? OK, I got a little off track... Bonnie Donahue has been at Eddie’s 529 for over seventeen years. The business has been in her family for thirty-five years. She is now running the club and is a STRONG supporter of music and the arts.

She really wants to make this a destination venue. She told me that she worked so much over the years that she missed out on going to other clubs like the Met, where she said her friends saw Dave Matthews when he showed up and jammed there many years ago. She wants to turn Eddie’s 529 into that sort of place. "If you build it they will come" she proudly commented. Donahue is working hard at turning Eddie’s 529 into a place that supports live music and the arts. Acts such as Geri Verdi, Bailey's Fault, and Lovetrain have already discovered the space. Mark Cutler recorded live tracks from the “Men of Great Courage” CD there.

Bonniepalooza is a step in getting more music noticed and getting folks out to Eddie’s. Donahue has a lot of energy for and faith in her vision. She has also scheduled the Black Top Film Festival for August 23. She is presenting this in conjunction with the RI Independent Film Association.The second annual Bonniepalooza will be "paloozing" on June 29. The music kicks off at 2 p.m. and goes until dusk. The "palooza" will be outside of Eddie’s 529 and if the weather doesn't cooperate, though Bonnie says it will, things are postponed until the following Sunday, July 6.

Admission to the show is FREE. Scheduled to perform are: Louie Lloyd Variety Show with Shorty James, CLO - the Conimicut Light Orchestra, Dan Lilley and Lovetrain, Mark Cutler, Forever Young. And other special guests are sure to show up...

For more info, call Eddie’s 529 at 401-941-9423 or check the web site www.eddies529club.net.

Look at all the women doing great things. Hillary could have done it! She'll get 'em next time. Thanks for reading, John. (www.johnfuzek.com) By John Fuzek