Groovelily Returns to Rock the Holmes Theatre
Live Music Alert: November 21, The Historic Holmes Theatre, Detroit Lakes MN, 7:30 pm, Adults $22, Students $11. Tickets: 218-844-7469 or www.dlccc.org
The musical collective Groovelily brought its live rock opera, Striking 12, to The Historic Holmes Theatre in Detroit Lakes in 2007. It was a rare tour since the group usually keeps close to Manhattan where they had debuted this piece, which morphed the fairy tale, “The Little Matchgirl,” into a rock, jazz, and classical show. This Saturday, they will reprise that performance.
Groovelily, a three-piece band out of New York City, creates theater, using a minimalist brush–no sets or costumes. They rely on the strength of the lyrics and the theatrical elements in their delivery to sell their story—and they do it with flair.
Valerie Vigoda, the front person for the band, plays electric violin and is their principal singer. She traces the early roots of the band to twelve years ago when she and Brendan Milburn, now her husband, began writing songs and touring as the Valerie Vigoda Band. Milburn plays keys and has an MFA in Musical Theater Writing. They were supported by Gene Lewin on drums whenever he was free. He became a full-time member in 1997, a year after they changed their name to Groovelily.
At that time, they were doing what any indie band does. “We were touring around in our van, trying to get signed to a record label,” says Vigoda. Though what they were doing was more pop and rock influenced, they still weren’t raising industry interest. In fact, Vigoda’s connections when she toured the world with Cyndi Lauper and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra were not instant pass to a record deal.
What was happening with their audiences, however, gave Groovelily pause. “We knew that the audiences we were reaching were very receptive,”Vigoda says. “People were responding in wonderful ways.” They were natural storytellers whose strength was in lyrics and in phrasing–and they were damn good musicians. “Frequently, we’d play for someone in the music business, but they would tell us that we were great, but they had no idea how to market us.” It was always the same: They were too theatrical.
Then in 2002, when they were faced with the question of how to keep touring and raise a family, they decided to create a special holiday show so that they all could be home for Christmas. That was when Striking 12 was born. “That really helped us figure out our niche.”
Striking 12 is about Grumpy Guy who is so depressed he’s staying home on New Year’s Eve and decides to read Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Little Match Girl.” That’s when Light Bulb Girl knocks on his door, trying to sell him full-spectrum lights for Seasonal Affective Disorder. The show interweaves the fairy tale with modern reality and comes out with witty lyrics and great music.
For Groovelily, finding a vehicle to showcase their talent without the grueling trek back and forth across the country was serendipity and genius combined. “This was amazing!” says Vigoda. “We had been living like nomads.” Now, they could set up in one theater and be there for a month. The infrastructure of the theater also took care of marketing, promotion, and making sure their needs were met.
Vigoda and Milburn have also been busy with other writing. Some of their songs were picked up by Disney and appear on the new DVD, Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure, which will become a series of films. Vigoda and Milburn’s songs will also grace two more Tinkerbell stories that will be released in 2010 and 2011.
Saturday’s show starts at 7:30 pm and will highlight the fourth annual Holmes Art Show, which will offer arts displays and demonstrations in the ballroom. Tickets for Grovelily are $22 for adults, $11 for students, and can be purchased at the Holmes Box Office, 826 Summit Ave., by phone at 218-844-SHOW (7469), or online at www.dlccc.org.
