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Happy AppleHappy Apple is Erik Fratzke (fender bass, guitar, composer), David King (drums, cymbals, toys, composer), and Michael Lewis (saxophones, keyboards, upright bass, composer), who have been making innovative freeform jazz together since 1996. It has been a while since the Apple last played at The Cedar, but the group has not been idle: in August 2007 they released a new record modestly titled "Happy Apple Back on Top" We're glad to hear it, and glad to have them back! Opening will be James Buckley Trio, lead by James Buckley on bass, and featuring J. T. Bates (drums), and Brian Nichols (piano). Their debut album Stitches has been praised as "a weathered and care-worn gem whose best quality is the way its resolutely lo-fi sound accents and enhances the comfortable and intimate interplay between the players." (Steve McPherson, ReveilleMag.com)

Carrie Newcomer

“Rapturously tuneful, Newcomer's material asks all the right questions and refuses to settle for easy answers.” (Rolling Stone)

Describing Carrie Newcomer as a singer-songwriter is a little like saying Noah was a boat-builder. So much goes unsaid when we fall to easy labels. ‘I just have a great love and passion for creating music, for writing, for telling a story,’ says Newcomer, who makes no effort to separate her art from the other parts of her life such as her teaching, her family, her activism, and her spirituality. ‘Sometimes I think you don’t choose your art form; it chooses you, and it doesn’t let you go because that’s who you are. I really believe we are most effective in this world when we’re doing something that is by nature what we love and who we are. That’s when we give our best. Life is short and I want to give the best of what I am.’ Carrie lives her philosophy with her Feb 12, 2008 release on Rounder, The Geography of Light, a skillfully arranged and performed collection of folk-roots tracks with Appalachian and classical influences.

Founded in the University of Minnesota School of Music in 2002 by Professor Doug Geers, SPARK brings internationally recognized scholars and performers of electronic music and arts to the West Bank Arts Quarter for lectures, performances, master classes and multimedia installations. The festival has continued to expand to include submissions by choreographers, visual artists, theatre artists, and artists who specialize in interdisciplinary work. This year’s featured guest artists are sound artist Paul DeMarinis, Romanian composer Iancu Dumitrescu, sound designer/artist/remixer Richard Devine, music writer Simon Reynolds, and art group Graffiti Research Lab. The Cedar is delighted to be this year hosting four afternoon and one evening SPARK concerts (Feb 27–Mar 1). All SPARK concerts at The Cedar are FREE and open to members of the public.

This afternoon's works:

The Brass KingsGive some people enough rope and they'll hang themselves. Give The Brass Kings enough rope, throw in a washtub and a washboard, perhaps a tambourine and a beat-up fridge door, and an acoustic or resonator guitar, and they come up with their brilliant second album Washboard Rope Guitar. Some of the hardest-working musicians in town, the trio (Steve Kaul, Mikkel Beckmen, Brad Ptacek) won over Cedar audiences with their gutsy 2007 performances opening for David Lindley, and a memorable summer evening set on the patio at Grateful for the Cedar. Now it is their turn in the limelight. Joining the Brass Kings onstage will be a host of guest artists including, Dave Simonett (Trampled By Turtles), Mike Gunther, Grant Johnson (Bitter Spills), Nate Sipe (Pert Near Sandstone), Dave Babb (Front Porch Swingin' Liquor Pigs), Molly Maher, Jon Rodine and Jayanthi Kyle (Black Audience).