Karen Ponzio Photos
Ceschi Ramos
“Happy Halloween” Ceschi Ramos yelled to the growing crowd gathering at Three Sheets on Elm Street this Sunday, the afternoon of St. Patrick’s Day. Ceschi was playing the inaugural show of the bar’s newest series of music called “Unplugged,” set to feature one to two acts on the fourth Sunday of each month playing acoustic versions of their songs and talking about them, themselves, and their influences and inspirations.
According to Rick Seiden, co-owner of Three Sheets New Haven, he and Sara Scranton, curator of the Art in the Back, Music in the Front Series, were discussing new ways to present music at the bar, and Scranton suggested a Sunday series that was more stripped down and allowed the performers to talk about themselves and their music.
“I thought it would be a good way to get larger acts into Sheets that we couldn’t normally get in due to stage size and sound equipment. This would accommodate those larger acts as one- or two-piece acts instead and possibly catch them as they are coming through town. So many acts come through on their way to New York from Boston or vice versa and don’t necessarily book New Haven. This kind of show opens doors to getting them to stop by,” Seiden said. “We want it to be more intimate than usual, artists sharing their background stories and talking about their song writing, band history, and influences.”
Seiden said he has been reaching out to a few bands, including a couple of bands “from out of state with New Haven roots” with Scranton doing the coordinating and booking. He also mentioned that Scranton came up with the idea of possibly putting two bands of different genres together or booking bands with crossover members. Aptly enough, when I spoke with Scranton yesterday before the show she confirmed that she had booked local bands Goodnight Blue Moon and Goat Herder for April’s show as well as RYXNO and The West Rockers for May.
“I didn’t want to paint ourselves into a corner. I want to reach out to different bands, expand the genres.” said Seiden. “I want to go out beyond what we normally do because we’re asking them to go out beyond what they normally do.”
For New Haven’s own Ceschi Ramos, this series was quite possibly more along the lines of what he normally does, or what he likes to do. He’s just as used to playing larger stages across the country as he is sitting down on the floor of a small bar or walking out on to the sidewalk while singing and strumming his guitar and having his audience follow him. He did not make any treks outside on Sunday, but he did interact with his audience comprised of many friends and fans there to hear both old favorites and a few of his newer tunes, some from his newest album Sad, Fat Luck, which is set for release on April 4 and is to be accompanied by a tour — the first show of which will be held in New Haven on April 5 at The State House on State Street.
But for tonight, it was the Three Sheets stage, set to mood with three candles lit and a room mostly filled but with a bit of space left near the stage for all, including Ceschi, to move around.
“I’m not taking requests,” he joked. “I’m not doing House of Pain, but I will do Kriss Kross. No ‘Jump Around,’ but I will do ‘Jump.’” He eventually did ask the crowd for requests, but to begin the show he chose “This City is Killing Me,” a song he recorded with Pat the Bunny from a split 12-inch; the cover art of that, by Michael Crigler, has graced the walls of Three Sheets ever since the Fake Four Inc. 10-year anniversary show back in November.
Also on the stage was a pitcher with a sign indicating that tips and donations were being accepted for Justice for Caleb and Noah. Ceschi spoke of the plight of the two young men from New Britain and their families before singing the song “Prison Sporks,” “a song about me going to prison and realizing the hierarchies within the prison system. It’s also about how we are less than human in there.”
Alex Burnet — of Laundry Day and The Proud Flesh and also a frequent collaborator of Ceschi’s — joined on banjo after that and the two launched into the crowd favorite “All Dogs Go to Heaven,” which saw the audience chiming in on vocals and got a few of them closer to the stage as Ceschi called them onward. For some of the crowd their reverence of the material seemed to hold them captive in a somewhat entranced state. Some people came right up and moved and interacted. Others stayed in their seats and held their gaze. The vibe was high as people smiled, sang and swayed, and the room pulsed with the love and admiration of all whether standing or seated. This was more than evident with the “Survival Series” of three songs that Ceschi played next, the final of the three being “Say Something” off of the album Broken Bone Ballads, which had nearly everyone in the room singing along.
Ceschi also talked about the “trilogy of music” he was in the midst of completing — Sad, Fat Luck being the first of the three to be released — and played songs from those albums, the third of which he said he was currently mixing.
Ceschi in his most natural element
He also took the time to acknowledge a few of his influences.
“I take from many philosophers and teachers,” he said, singing a song called “Red Emma,” that Emma being Emma Goldman, “a good one for me,” he said. He also referenced Karl Marx, who “who taught us to question everything” and spoke of solidarity with Venezuela, and the need to “let the people choose for themselves.” Freedom of both thought and movement is key to a Ceschi performance, and on that note he found it difficult to remain seated on the stage, eventually making his way to the floor amidst the crowd where he launched into one of his newest songs “Electrocardiographs,” that ends with the lyrics “everything is a test, everything falls in line, like flat ones on electrocardiographs when we die.” He carried that right into another of his newer songs, “Say No More,” which also had a large number of the crowd blissed out and singing along to lyrics such as “oh Lord, teach me differences between right and wrong.”
He went back to the stage and was rejoined by Burnet, giving the city its own shout out with “Elm City Ballad,” which was combined with “Bite Through Stone,” both getting the sing along treatment from the majority of the audience as well and receiving a rousing and loving applause.
(Speaking of audience participation, this reporter would be remiss in leaving out the following part of the night. When speaking to Ceschi before the show, I had told him that his song “One Hundred Dragonflies” was my favorite of his and that I had been playing it more recently due to my mother passing away. He mentioned it was difficult to play, but guess what? Play it he did, and I sat on the floor right up against the stage to sing and cry along to it.)
Ceschi in the back room at Sheets
Further requests from the audience, such as “This Won’t Last Forever,” again got the sing along treatment. He then ended up in the back room of Three Sheets singing “Galapagos” with a smaller but still dedicated crowd around him singing along to such lyrics as “I hope they fly to Galapagos / and drop your remains in paradise / somewhere warmer than Connecticut / somewhere where the gas is half the price.”
Ceschi continued to interact with fans and friends after the songs were over, and as an added bonus, he brought along copies of his new album (“New Haven gets it first,” he announced from the stage) for advance purchase. He invited everyone to come to his release show. If this show was any indication of what that one might be — as well as what the future of the Unplugged series looks like — New Haven is in for more holidays than the calendar can hold.
For information about future Unplugged shows at Three Sheets to be held the fourth Sunday of each month, please visit the bar’s Facebook page or website. For more information about Ceschi’s new album and album release shows please visit www.sadfatluck.com