Dave Madeloni

Major Label Artists Represent  less than 1% of the music that exists in the world today. Unfortunately, they also command more than 99% the media's attention. So, many deserving performers remain obscure and unheard.

There are some reasons for optimism amongst the indie underdogs these days. The world-wide reach of artist websites, the decreased cost of producing cds, and the burgeoning number of venues available for playing live, has made for new, intriguing ways of receiving all-important exposure. But the odds remain stacked. With unadventurous radio controlled by a handful of conglomerates and the music press obsessed with celebrity voyeurism, finding independent music with guts, heart, and integrity takes some digging for fans and some innovative networking on the part of the musicians.

One such innovation is coming to Brattleboro next Wednesday night, when Tour Baby invades the River Garden, the usual setting for the Wednesday Night Song Jam, Derrik Jordan's fine indie showcase series. The ubiquitous Jordan explained, "Tour Baby is a unique concept in which independent artists have banded together to put on a national tour of regional artists. Ideally, one band from every show "tags" or goes on to open the following nights show in the next town." Each Tour Baby gig is unique, featuring a variety of local players along with an artist coming from the previous show-with a ceremonial doll in tow.

The Brattleboro "tagger" will be New Jersey pianist/singer/songwriter Joan Bujacich, who happens to be one of Tour Baby's organizers. "The idea grew out of a group on the internet called "Musical Thoughts," of which I am a member," wrote Bujacich via email. "A bunch of people launched it and I jumped on to help organize the NJ show in 2002. . . .   Through persistence and a strong belief in this concept of artists helping each other, I ended up on the "Exec" Board, which I affectionately call the "Big Babies."

The grassroots effort, fueled by the kind of linking that cyberspace fosters, could serve as the antidote needed for struggling musicians to overcome the forces that have impeded their ability to be heard…and seen. "We are empowering artists to put on shows," said Bujacich. "We are developing the tools on how to put on a show, how to promote a show, how to get sponsors interested in their shows."

Like an October hurricane, Tour Baby II is heading North. "This year the first show started in Miami and is making its way up the East Coast," explained Bujacich. "The night before my show in Montclair, NJ there will be a show in Philadelphia. The band Flashcube from that show will play at my show, bringing the Tour Baby 'baby.'"

Bujacich, whose parents were musicians, started playing piano at age five. Subsequently, she joined a plethora of bands before flying solo. In many ways, Bujacich represents what is best about indie artists:   a dogged persistence and a passion for their craft. She takes a musical approach that is difficult to pigeonhole, incorporating pop, jazz, classical, and rock influences into a sensual musical stew. "I studied classical right through college and beyond and started playing in bands in 6th grade and kept that going as well. I played in so many different types of original bands along the way from rock, punk, R&B, funk, fusion that I eventually just wanted to concentrate on my own writing and had to give up the other bands to focus on my work. I've always written music. I have little scraps of paper with lyrics on them in crayon from when I first could write and started writing piano music early on, too. I also write more contemporary piano music in a Prokofiev, Ravel, Bartok-like style, but again with my own jazzy-like stamp on it." All the disparate musical elements that Bujacich absorbed over the years eventually melted into the multi-genre sound captured on her latest cd, A Fine Line.

When asked about her influences, Bujacich identified two inventive icons. "If you think of a Frank Zappa, (though my music does not sound like his), he has rock and jazz and classical and a show-like quality to his music -- like a contemporary opera! And then he also composes more art music, contemporary classical. Joni Mitchell also writes in an acoustic folk-rock style and then later had a jazz influence in her music, but she took that jazz influence and made it her own."

Joan Bujacich has taken her many influences and made distinctive music that is clearly her own. Thanks to Tour Baby, she will get the opportunity to share it with us.

This column by Dave Madeloni was first published in our local newspaper, Vermont's Brattleboro Reformer, on Thursday, October 2, 2003.

www.joanbujacich.com/code-bin/frameset.html

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