($15 at door)

We are pleased to bring you a special summer musical event: the phenomenal Anthony da Costa and a new favorite band in the area, Pesky J Nixon. This could be the show of the season for music lovers. (Watch for some one-of-a-kind collaborations on stage.)

Anthony da Costa is an “MSNBC.com 2009 Top 5 Up-&-Coming Young Singer,” and is on so many other “top” lists that it’s impossible to count at this point. His music combines indie, alt, folk, Americana and pop, plus what it’s like to be “a very, very young man, with a very, very old soul” (Pete Fornatele, WFUV).

In 2007, at 16, he became the youngest winner ever at the Falcon Ridge and Kerrville Folk Festivals. In 2008, at 17, he released two critically-acclaimed albums. He also played prestigious folk festivals, including the Philadelphia Folk Festival and Tonder Festival in Denmark, and opened for music icons, like Loretta Lynn and Dan Bern.

Now, in 2009, at 18, and before heading off to Columbia University this fall, he’s released a new record, Not Afraid of Nothing. But, in this album, his eighth, Anthony ventures into new musical territory. While one foot’s in folk, the other foot’s loose and wandering into various genres, influenced by the work of Elliott Smith, Ryan Adams and some other, less-obvious artists, like The Smiths and Jay-Z. It’s a homegrown record, recorded mostly on a Macbook Pro with an MBox in living rooms and basements throughout his hometown of Pleasantville, NY.

Says Neil Pearson of Fish Records (UK): “Anthony da Costa — an important, emerging artist — has obvious links to modern day songwriters such as Jonathan Byrd and Dan Bern, but he’s a distinct talent and writer who knows how to connect with his audience in both the live setting and in his recordings. It’s obvious he will be leading a new generation of singer/ songwriters in the near future.”

. . .

Also on the bill is Pesky J Nixon, a unique band with a growing following. Band member Ethan Baird has North Shore roots, having lived in Swampscott, attended St. John’s Prep, and volunteered at the me&thee coffeehouse as a teenager. The band offers rich harmonies and musical versatility with infectious energy and stage banter bordering on brotherly bickering — Pesky J. Nixon (PJN) brings a heck of a show to the stage. The group brings thoughtful urban folk with southern gospel harmonies to each performance.

Ethan Baird (vocals, guitars) has a background in music composition and music production. He’s worked over a decade as a sound engineer for live venues and in his own Glowdog Studios. He’s also spent the last fifteen years as a folk music rat attending and performing in coffeehouses throughout New England. Jake Bush (vocals, accordion, piano, harmonica) has been tearing up the a cappella charts for over a decade as a member of Brandeis University’s Spur of the Moment, Beacon 706, Altavoz, and Six Appeal (later renamed Playback).

Dan Carp (vocals, djembe, cajon, hand percussion) has worked as a studio drummer and in orchestral pits and ensembles for twenty years, and sang a cappella and in musical theater at the University of Pennsylvania. Zack Root (vocal, accoustic/electric/upright bass) mature stage presence, strong harmonies and unique bass techniques have been honed through years of playing and performing both on his own and with Lowell based groups 50 Ways and the Bella Birds.

In September of 2008 Pesky J. Nixon's first album, Good Grief, was released. Recorded around campfires and in venue backrooms and on stages like the Paradise in Boston Massachusetts, Good Grief is a collection of twelve songs written by Pesky J. Nixon and close friends.

Photo by Jake Jacobson