David Bromberg

1981-01-31 David Bromberg

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Strand Theatre (Ithaca, NY)

This must have been the first time I saw Bromberg.  Tapes of the WLIR broadcasts of the shows from the Bottom Line were popular among friends in Ithaca.  This one is part of a run of great shows I saw in 1981 at the Strand Theater in downtown Ithaca, one of the finest old theaters around, and right in downtown Ithaca. See the post for 11/22/1980, where I show an old news clippings from Cornell that tell more of the story. Here is what it looked like:

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The Strand is not to be confused with the State Theater on the other side of the pedestrian mall.  The State today is operating with some good shows during the school season (Hot Tuna is appearing in 2018). 



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1990-02-17 David Bromberg

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The Bottom Line

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Waiting outside to get in was kind of a unique part of the experience at the Bottom Line in Greenwich Village, NYC. I heard a familiar sounding voice, it was Penn Jillette on the line with us, fooling around as usual.

In a previous post I mentioned the popularity of the tapes that circulated of Bromberg’s Bottom Line shows. This was one of the anniversary shows there, and always something to enjoy thoroughly.

1995-09-09 David Bromberg

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Town Hall

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This was David's 50th Birthday celebration, and he talked about how his wife allowed him to celebrate it by doing this show. Around this time Bromberg had decided to move to Delaware with his wife, settle down, and mostly retire from touring. It was always great to see Bromberg with his big band, although I enjoyed seeing him at The Bottom Line more than at this venue. Town Hall is a storied venue, now being sandwiched in among giant glass towers.

2014-05-17 Wesley Stace's Cabinet of Wonders (with David Bromberg and Ian McLagen)

in

City Winery

The Cabinet of Wonders is a musical and literary variety show based at New York City’s City Winery hosted by Wesley Stace, aka John Wesley Harding, who I saw play several times with his own bands. Writers and poets join an eclectic group of musicians at these performances. This particular edition featured David Bromberg and Ian McLagen whose work prominently influenced so many people and looms large in my musical world. It was pretty amazing to see all these folks on one small stage. I would include a complete list of performers for this cabinet but Wes’ website no longer includes the archive of all Cabinet events.

I am grateful that I had this chance to see Mac on piano and takes some photos of him shortly before he passed away.

Below: Wesley Stace, Ian McLagen and David Bromberg performing with Cabinet of Wonders.

Slideshow below: Cabinet of Wonders, May 16, 2015