Notes on Mieka Pauley, Ron Pownall, and Deborah Henson-Conant
By JIM SULLIVAN | October 30, 2007
Mieka Pauley |
Somerville-based singer-songwriter MIEKA PAULEY may have a degree in biological anthropology from Harvard, but right now music is her primary focus. After spending most of this year recording her second CD, Elijah Drop Your Gun, she opted to release it on her own Label of the People and offer fans the option of paying for various package deals through her Web site, from CDs with bonus tracks to private concerts. She’s raised $16,000 so far. “Music is everything now. It’s all I’m doing. I am pursuing my dream, but the dream is a little different, managing a label and doing ‘businesswoman.’ ” Pauley has done her share of local busking, but she doesn’t consider herself a folk artist. “I am a singer-songwriter, and you can take that however you want, but I feel I’m in the rock genre with soul influences. The songs are stories and personal experiences. Some are sad, but I make a point not to have everything be a downer. They experience the entire spectrum of emotions.” Pauley and her backing quartet celebrate with a CD-release party November 2 at Johnny D’s. . . . Veteran Boston rock photographer RON POWNALL — who’s taken great shots of Mick, Keef, Elton, Jimi, and scads more — has an exhibit of classic and unpublished photos up at the Center for Arts in Natick up from November 2 through January 2. . . . Electric-harpist and Grammy nominee DEBORAH HENSON-CONANT celebrates her birthday with a one-woman show in Newburyport at the Firehouse Center for the Arts on November 9. How old is she? “You’ll have to come to find out.”
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