Cello Like You’ve Never Heard – ‘Dirty Cello’ Playing SJI, Orcas & Lopez Islands – Don’t Miss It!
A CNL2 VIDEO IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE
Friday, June 14, 2024 at 2:18 a.m.
Interview by Sasha von Dassow
Directed by Jeremy Tyler
Written by Jeff Noedel
The cello — short for the Italian world violoncello — is normally associated with beautiful Baroque music by composers like Bach, enjoyed in lovely chandeliered halls after a lovely brunch, wearing one’s Sunday loveliest. When imbibing in a Cello concert on the islands, one might slip on a finer pair of shoes and opt for a collared shirt or blouse. Cello music, such as that played by SJI’s Sasha von Dassow, is beautiful in its piercing precision and clean beauty. It nourishes the brain.
Dirty Cello, playing at three venues in the San Juans next week, promises to be cello like you’ve never heard (or seen) before. It will tickle your brain in different ways.
Singer, songwriter, and cellist Rebecca Roudman, of San Francisco, is the bandleader of ‘Dirty Cello,’ a cello-fronted band that plays rock ‘n roll, blues, and bluegrass cello music. Her husband and best friend Jason Eckl plays the guitar. When Dirty Cello plays near home in California, they’re a five-piece. On their current road trip, they’re a four-piece. In addition to the Roudmans, Josh Mellinger is their drummer. Colin Williams is on bass.
Rebecca, a classically trained cellist, is the daughter of a music teacher. Nowadays, The Sacramento News and Review calls Rebecca “the Jimi Hendrix of the cello.”
Rebecca was in Juneau, Alaska when she was interviewed Thursday by SJI’s Sasha von Dassow, CNL2’s new music reporter. (Sasha happens to be a classical cellist himself.)
Rebecca told Sasha, “Sometimes when people are new to our band they don’t know what to expect by hearing a cello-fronted band. They’re expecting classical music or serious music. We are definitely not that. We are a fun, energetic, silly band. But more importantly, we’re a rock and blues band, so you’re going to see a cello shredding on this stuff instead of a guitar. It’s pretty fun to see.”
Dirty Cello has toured all over the U.S. and from Iceland to Italy to China. They play eclectic music in sometimes eclectic locations. Tomorrow night, they will play at The Musk Ox Farm in Palmer, Alaska. They’ve rocked out at a nude beach in California, in the bottom of a cave, on a whale watching boat in Iceland.
And they are popular. They are booked well into 2025. So this is a lucky opportunity for the San Juans.
Dirty Cello performs at the San Juan Community Theatre Saturday, June 22 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are still available as of the publication of this article, but they are selling fast. Orcas Center’s Summer Concert Series features Dirty Cello on Sunday, June 23rd. And they play on Lopez Monday, June 24th.
In addition to covering some very familiar popular hits, they also feature songs authored by Rebecca, including
- “Don’t Call Me Honey”
- “I May Not Be Perfect but I’m Pretty Damn Good,” whose lyrics jumped out during an argument with her husband
- “Southwest Airlines Blues,” and
- “Ballad of the Onion Rings”
The band takes requests, and is happy to play classical when asked.
To watch YouTubes of their performances or read more about Dirty Cello, click here.
To buy tickets ($25 full price, Student Reserved $15) for the Saturday, June 22 San Juan Community Theatre performance, click here.
On Orcas Island, Dirty Cello will perform at the Orcas Center’s 2024 Summer Concert Series Sunday, June 23 at 5:00 p.m. on the Village Green. Admission is free. For details, including a list of the many generous sponsors, click here.
On Lopez Island, Dirty Cello performs at Lopez Center for Community and the Arts Monday, June 24 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets (adult $20; youth $10) can be purchased here.
CNL2 congratulates Sasha on a wonderful inaugural interview. Sasha, we’re proud to have you take a volunteer role in CNL2’s music coverage. Viewers, what “beat” could you cover at CNL2? Gardening? Painting? Sports? Sailboats? Whales? Foxes? Books? Cooking? Grilling? Classic cars? The Most Interesting People of the Islands? CNL2 is community radio and television. For the San Juans, by the San Juans. We need people to come to us and drive the creation of new content — like Sasha is doing. Thank you Sasha!
Sasha liked what he was seeing on CNL2, so he called Jeff Noedel. A meeting was arranged, and Sasha volunteered to do music reporting. And look at what he did Thursday!
New to TV and radio? We love to train. Going forward as a non-profit, our distinguished Board of Directors sees training people of all ages as fully one-third of our mission. Pick your passion: on-air host, announcer, reporter, sportscaster, weather expert, musician, dancer, comedian, storyteller, web developer, app developer, graphic designer, animator, cartoonist, political cartoonist, camera operator, writer, editor, video editor, audio engineer, podcast producer, television producer, director, Spanish language translator, accountant, statistician, data sculptor, clerical, IT expert… we need all of you! All ages! All islands!
For example, if you love music, CNL2 needs a cadre of volunteer audio engineers! If you possess that rare skillset, we need you to help engineer music performances, productions on our set, and challenging live remote productions. CNL2 is deep into the process of converting to a non-profit now, and the staff will largely be volunteer. That’s how community TV and radio works. Friends and neighbors informing and entertaining one another. Audio engineers, we need you!
This CNL2 video is approximately 28-1/2 minutes in duration.
