DAGMAR (the band)
IT'S LIKE GRANDPAPPY USED TO SAY. "Kids . . ." he'd say, "the further you go, the further away you get, and sometimes, you just don't know where that's at." "SOMETIMES," he'd continue, "things don't turn out the way you plan, and sometimes . . . that turns out to be not anywhere near so peculiar as you might imagine." DAGMAR USED TO BE ONE THING and now it's something different. "TOTAL VICTORY!!", as The Dauphin would say. WE PLAY in clubs, in the streets, in the subways, and in the living rooms of strangers, for the most part, FOR PEOPLE IN MOTION, broadly speaking, in places with no dull moments, more or less, on a transmogrifying journey FROM HERE TO WHEREVER, basically. Lively is good. These are the facts:
MEMBERS: Jim Bauer (music, lyrics, guitar, vocals) Meghan McGeary (vocals, melodica, percussion, mandolin)
FORMED: 2005
GENRE: "free-folk"
1st GIG: June 25, 2005; Joe's Pub, NYC
1st ALBUM RELEASED: September 2006 (self-released; Pontoon Records)
2nd ALBUM RELEASED: April, 2009 (self-released; Pontoon Records)
3rd ALBUM RELEASED: (underway; due April 2010)
DAGMAR free-folk duo Jim Bauer and Meghan McGeary have been singing and playing together since 2001, when McGeary joined the cast of Bauer's then nascent, today fully developed and still active theatrical song cycle "THE BLUE FLOWER". Bauer writes the music and lyrics, sings, and plays guitar, keyboards and computers. McGeary sings and plays assorted percussion, mandolin, melodica, flute and accordion. Bauer lives in Boston, McGeary in New York City, and they skitter back and forth. They started DAGMAR in 2005, and presented DAGMAR in its first public performance as a 6-piece band at Joe's Pub in New York City on June 25, with DAVID ROZENBLATT on drums, MAT FIELDES on bass, VESSKO GELLEV on violin, and PABLO RIEPPI on percussion. They've played the small club scene in Boston (Lizard Lounge, Toad, Middle East, Bulfinch Yacht Club, Cantab, Mercury Lounge, The Church) and New York (Joe's Pub, The Knitting Factory, CBGB's, Arlene's Grocery, The Cutting Room, Galapagos Art Space, The Living Room). Since 2007 they have been playing almost exclusively as a duo in the subways of New York under the MTA's "Music Under New York" (MUNY) banner. As they've carefully calculated, they play to over 6,000 different people every hour. In the summer and fall of 2009 they hit the streets and subways of Boston/Cambridge/Somerville, making many new friends and selling CD's like CD's are meant to be sold. McGeary moved to Boston for the winter, and as the cold weather rolled in, DAGMAR rolled out on a scorched earth open mic tour of New England, discovering hidden musical gems, nooks and crannies, and finding new ways of making and presenting music. Next up is to explore the increasingly popular world of private "house concerts" and get on the road for the festival circuit when spring chases the winter away.
"DOOR No. 1", their first CD introducing the song cycle about a guy who can't get out of bed in the morning and an insect goddess who plunges through the ether to rescue him, was released in September 2006. Joining Bauer and McGeary on the recording are David Rozenblatt (drums), Pablo Rieppi (percussion), Mat Fieldes (bass), and Vessko Gellev (violin). "DOOR No. 2", the second CD, a duo album with Bauer and McGeary covering all the bases, was released in April 2009. It takes the transmogrifying song cycle from the surreal to the real, tracking Dagmar on its misadventures from "here to where", as their homespun video documentary series on YouTube is called. "DOOR No. 3" is under way, exploring the "free-folk" genre, and should be ready for release in March 2010.
DAGMAR on MySpace
DAGMAR on YouTube
DAGMAR on i-Tunes
THE BLUE FLOWER on MySpace
THE BLUE FLOWER official website
THE BLUE FLOWER on i-Tunes