The third annual Fools Ball has expanded into five nights of programming! Get a pass for the whole week's events for $30.00 (a $75.00 pass includes the Sponsor's Reception at the Westin).

All events will take place at AS220 except Jeanne d'Arc (Johnson & Wales' St. Xavier Chapel) and the Sponsor's Reception (Westin Hotel).

JAZZ

Tuesday, April 8 9pm $7.00

The best of New England jazz with the Hal Crook Jazz Trio with special guest Mick Goodrick. Hal is an internationally acclaimed jazz trombonist, composer, arranger, recording artist, educator, clinician and author, currently teaching at Berklee College of Music and touring world-wide. Hal has professional associations with the Phil Woods Quintet, the Clark Terry Quintet and Big Band, Chuck Israel's national Jazz Ensemble, Doc Severinsen and the Tonight Show Orchestra, the Louis Bellson Big Band, the Woody Herman Big Band and the quintet XO with Jerry Bergonzi.

Joining the Hal Crook Jazz Trio for the AS220 Fools Ball week of performances will be guitarist Mick Goodrick. Mick has recorded with Gary Burton, Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra, Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition, Pino Daniele and Claudio Fasoli, as well as releasing several solo CD's. He has performed with Michael Brecker, John Scofield, Marc Johnson, Peter Erskine, and John Abercrombie.

Hal plays weekly at AS220 with drummer Bob Gullotti. Bob is also an experienced performer and teacher, with a highly successful background as a professional musician, gathering acclaim both in the U.S. and abroad. His experience includes tours of Europe, South America, Australia, Canada and the United States with his own band and with such well-known artists as Joe Calderazzo and Jerry Bergonzi. His band, The Fringe, is a three-time recipient of Boston Music Awards #1 Jazz Act Award. Also, he has over twenty recordings to his credit and currently his band has a multi-record release contract with Soul Note Records, one of the top jazz labels in the world.

Also performing with Hal is Rick Peckham. Jazz guitarist Rick Peckham is active internationally as a performer, teacher, clinician and writer. Since 1991, he has served as Assistant Chair of the Guitar Department at Berklee College of Music, and has taught at the school since 1986. A frequent contributor to down beat magazine, he is currently working on a book for Germany's Advance Music regarding jazz guitar comping.

IRISH MUSIC AND DANCE

Wednesday, April 9 9pm $7.00

Wednesday evening is the regular Irish music session at AS220, a longstanding downtown tradition in Providence where fiddlers, pipers, singers and other musical types gather informally to share tunes, songs and perhaps a step or two. The week of the Fool's Ball brings out the regulars along with a host of invited guests from around the Irish music scene, along with the opportunity to try your toes on a jig or a reel.

Jim McGrath of Newport's notorious Reprobates will offer some Irish-American classics in that rich baritone voice of his, the perfect accompaniment to a pint! Another featured singer will be Stephanie Twomey. Ceili and set demonstrations and a bit of instruction with Laura Travis and Joe Healy will get folks up on the dance floor. Jon Campbell, who just might be coerced into bringing his uilleann pipes along, will not doubt spark out some tunes and original songs on banjo and bouzouki (be sure to request "How Bars Used To Be"). Session regulars, Pendragon's Bob Drouin on bouzouki and fiddle and Phil Edmonds on accordion and whistle, along with a whole batch of up-and-comers, will finish out the evening with a rousing 'seisiun' of Irish traditional music.

CHESS WITH ERIC

Wednesday April 9th and Thursday April 10th, 4PM, Free

Eric Suggs, chessmaster to the stars, is organizing a two-part chess showdown for Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. Come on down and watch the fur fly!

JEANNE D'ARC

Thursday, April 10 at 8:00 and Friday, April 11, at 8:00 and 10:00 at Johnson & Wales' St. Xavier Chapel $15.00
Limited seating! Call 401 831-9327 for reservations today!

A performance of local composer Steven Jobe's historical opera.

Local composer Steve Jobe's version of the Joan of Arc legend explores the visionary aspect of her character and follows her from spiritual inspiration to death by fire. The music draws from the medieval folk and art music of Joan's day, and its dramatic tension, original harmonies and unique instrumentation give it the power to express the extraordinary range of the narrative.

The eleven singers and fifteen instrumentalists involved in the opera come from overlapping networks of local folk, avant-garde and classical musicians. Invented instruments will be a feature: there will be a giant hurdy gurdy , and a set of glass bells will help invoke the visions of Joan of Arc.

GOLD STAR INVITATIONAL

Thursday, April 10, 9:00 PM, $5.00

The Gold Star Invitational Showcase was created as a forum for people to try out new material, with two simple rules: do something you've never done before, and keep it under ten minutes. For the artists involved, it is an opportunity to expand their skills and forge new collaborations. This challenge has led to some bizarre and delightful results, and local favorites like the Bunyans Four, Mount Everett, and Shawn Wallace's mandolin act have all had their debut at Gold Stars past.

For the audience, the result is a marathon jambalaya of performance, with painters playing banjos, singers reading stories, sculptors showing films and a wide range of unclassifiable artists doing unclassifiable things. With the price of admission comes on guarantee: everything at the Gold Star will be something you've never seen before.

ROCK ROCK ROCK

Friday, April 11, 9pm, $7.00

Friday night will some of the best the Providence rock scene has to offer, with The Ultra-Violets, Ether, Chick Graning and Delta Clutch. The Ultra Violets are a great new band coming out of Rhode Island College. A tribute to the glam scene of the Seventies, they are captivating live. Ether presents a guitar-driven wall of sound. Chick Graning, formerly of the popular group Scarce, is cultivating a semi-acoustic solo project. He, his acoustic guitar and a drummer play raw alternative pop songs. Delta Clutch features the talents of Aaron Burr, Pip Everett, Chris Cugini and Nate Leavitt. They are described as the quintessential rock and roll bar band, serious music to drink by.

The Fools Ball

The Main Event
Saturday, April 12th
Sponsors Reception and Dinner at the Westin Hotel 6:30 - 8:30/$75
Three Story Downtown House Party! 10pm-3am/$10

The Fools Ball at the Westin offers acoustic and ambient sounds, a cavorting Fool, an Auction, delightful dinner, the Lunch Cart Circus, and a procession back to Empire Street with the Marching Mob where the talents of the Smoking Jackets, the Neo 90's, Plymouth Rock, Honeybunch, the Wholebellies, Meatballs/Fluxus, Tom Sgouros, Joyce Raskin's Rola, Her Serene Highness Princess Pearl, a belly dancer and more will entertain on two floors into the wee hours. Guests can visit open studios of AS220 artists, view a photographic history of AS220, peruse the Residents Show and Wall Art Mart, frolic in the Hallway Meadow, whack a piñata, marvel at the Virtual Volkswagen, and generally party until 3am.

Foolish dress is expected for all guests.