Saturday October 6, 2012

8:00pm

CARLA ULBRICH

with special guests CHASING JUNE

$20 ($17 for members)

Click HERE to order tickets online

"Ulbrich has her own spunky style and sings beautifully. 'What If Your Girlfriend Was Gone' is a masterpiece."
- DR. DEMENTO

Carla Ulbrich is a comical singer-songwriter and guitarist from Clemson, South Carolina and currently living in New Jersey. Insert your own punchline here. Carla has a love of wordplay and a keen observational eye. She is primarily known for her humorous songs about such topics as wedgies, Waffle House, Klingons, and how rich she would be if she had the copyright on the 'F' Word.

Something of a mix between Phoebe and Jeff Foxworthy, she cites her biggest musical influences as Sesame Street, camp songs, and commercial jingles for beer and breakfast cereal. The Professional Smart Aleck has toured all over the US and England, and has appeared on ABC, USA Network, the BBC, Dr. Demento, Sirius XM Radio, and The Bob and Sherrie Show and venues such as the Falcon Ridge and Kerrville Folk Festivals, Club Med, Eddie's Attic, and the Bluebird Cafe. 

 

Carla started out on guitar at age 8, taking lessons from a nice lady down the street who only taught beginners. At age 12, she was told the teacher had nothing left to teach her, so Carla joined the school band, playing the flute. The band was particularly- well, bad- and they played the same music every year, so Carla switched instruments every year to prevent boredom: flute to clarinet to piccolo to tuba to xylophone, finally becoming the drum major her senior year. Had the band been anything worth bragging about, Carla may have ended up being a band director, but no. Hey, we'll always have the memories of "this one time at band camp..."

Instead, she went to college to major in music in performance, where she frequently got in trouble with her professors for wasting time writing her own songs when she should have been practicing scales and listening to 12-tone "music." So, she wrote songs about her professors as well. Those approximately 18 minute and 20 second tapes, much like the Watergate tapes, have been conveniently erased.

College, however, was not a total waste. It was where Carla overcame crippling stage fright. "I used to sign up for open mics and then literally run away before my name was called. One of my friends threatened to never speak to me again if I did not get over myself and perform. If it weren't for her, I'd probably still be working in the mall selling suitcases and dancing flowers. Do they still make dancing flowers?
Carla's first CD, Her Fabulous Debut, was released in 1999, the same year she won the South Florida Folk Festival Song Competition. 

n 2002, Carla suffered two strokes and kidney failure. Undeterred, she re-learned the guitar from scratch that year. Under the stress of constant "care," Carla finally snapped and became "The Singing Patient," resulting in her third CD, Sick Humor. This collection features songs such as "Prednisone," "Sittin' in the Waiting Room," "On the Commode Again," and "What If Your Butt Was Gone" (a parody of one of Carla's own songs, also featured on Dr. Demento's 2005 Basement Tapes collection). Most of the lyrics were written during her many hours in doctors' waiting rooms. (Caution: contains some poop humor. Hey, write what you know. Sorry guys, she's taken.).

  

 
In 2009, Carla released her 5th CD, Live From Outer Space, recorded at Sirius XM Radio's Performance Theater. The CD was chosen as a "Top 10 CD of 2009" by George Graham (WVIA), Festival Radio, and the Serious Comedy Website. The track "Duet with a Klingon" was the #5 most requested song of 2009 on Dr. Demento.  

2011 saw the release of Carla's book of humorous essays about her medical adventures as "The Singing Patient": How Can You NOT Laugh at a Time Like This? (pub: Tell Me Press). This book has received the Lupus Foundation Seal of Approval.

"I remember the first time I heard a song of hers on the radio -- I was in a car crossing the George Washington Bridge, I asked everybody to shut up because I just HAD to know who that was. Every now and then I thank my lucky stars that I am beyond the age of jealousy. This is one of those times. " 

- Christine Lavin

"A fresh tongue-in-cheek delivery that Garrison Keillor should know about... A lot of fun, and a refreshing change from the norm."

- Recording Magazine

* * *

Opening the evening will be Chasing June. Chasing June is the folk rock collaboration of two New Jersey singers and songwriters, Judy Aron and Steve Coleman.
 
Hailing from the northwest region of NJ, Judy and Steve first met in the summer of 2009 when Judy was holding court on stage at Lake Mohawk’s famous brewpub Kroghs. Steve drifted over to have a listen, and in about 1-2 minutes, he knew he might have found a writing partner, who could sing her heart out and command her guitar. Judy and Steve liked the idea of a co-writing duo and quickly went to work as Chasing June.  

In their short history Chasing June has gained attention of venues, promoters and DJs as they have been asked to open for National acts as Angel Band and Antje Duevkot. Musikfest 2011 (Bethlehem, PA), an invitation to showcase at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival for Acoustic Live (NY), several house concerts from NJ to MD, the Keene Music Festival (NH), the Black Potatoe Music Festival, Listen Live Music (PA), Stone Soup Coffeehouse Series (RI).