The Loop is a showcase of singer-songwriters from the Boston area and beyond. It is normally held each month on the 3rd Thursday of the month. Four Performers play 30 minute sets . Formerly held at Arts at the armory in Somerville, the show is now Online until further notice . We encourage performers to present their original music to our listening audience. The monthly shows are run in turn by Linda Marks and Rick Drost, and other volunteers. Mark Abare is massively helpful with tech issues, monitoring, and chats during the event.
The April show is Thursday April 20 7-9. On show nights we arrive at 6.30, do final sound checks etc. We go live at 7. We do the four sets, and usually say a brief group goodbye to the audience and to each other at the end. I’ll Host, with Mark Abare of the Hearing Room and Greenfield Junktion fame cohosting , working the tech magic
I use Streamyard for the broadcast so the show appears on “The Loop at the Armory” group page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/605186336292335 and on “The Loop at the Armory” YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5pvJk8 and be archived in both places.
For singers we have:
Kenny Selcer, Carlisle, MA, kennyselcer.com
Thea Hopkins, Somerville MA , TheaHopkins.com
Diane Battistello, Norton MA, dianebattistello.com
Rick Drost, Cambridge MA, FB Rick Drost, website rickdrostsongs.com
Biographical information on the performers
Thea Hopkins Bio
A member of Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe of Martha’s Vineyard MA, performing songwriter Thea Hopkins calls her music - Red Roots Americana. She has been described as a “standout writer” by the Washington Post.
In March 2021, the 22nd Great American Song Contest selected her song "The Ghost of Emmett Till," for its Grand Prize winner. The song was selected from over 1900 entries from forty-two countries. Her 2018 album “Love Come Down’, was nominated for a 2019 Indigenous Music Award in the folk category, an international competition.
Thea was a Western Arts Alliance 2019-2022 Native Launchpad Artist. The Banff Arts Centre in Alberta, Canada selected her as an artist resident for their 2019 Wichoie Ahiya Indigenous Singer Songwriter Intensive. She received an artist fellowship from the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation in 2017. Venues where Thea has performed include the Kennedy Center (DC), Brooklyn Americana Festival (NY), Woody Guthrie Festival (OK), The Moseley Folk Festival (UK), the Summertyne Americana Festival (UK), the Museum of Fine Arts (MA), and the Bluebird Cafe (TN).
Thea first came to wider public notice when Peter, Paul & Mary recorded her song "Jesus Is On The Wire" in 2004, and then again in 2010 with the Prague Symphony Orchestra. It is considered one of their later signature songs. She is currently recording a new album, to be released in January 2024.
Visit theahopkins.com for more information and songs from Thea.
Diane Battistello
Massachusetts native Diane Battistello is an acoustic singer/songwriter performing at open mics and coffeehouses from Boston to Providence.
"I grew up on the Wading River, in Norton, MA and we had a swimming hole there. When I was young, I would go to the end of the diving board and sing to the trees. They were a lovely audience; the swaying branches and rustling leaves sounded amusingly like applause.”
Years later Diane would escape to Lake Champlain and Burlington, VT, where she bought her first guitar. Influenced by early Joni Mitchell, Diane's vocals and lyrics would start to come together as she embraced a finger-picking guitar style. The spell cast from the graceful shores of that glacial lake and the neighboring Adirondack Mountains never left her. ‘Green Mountain Blue’, her signature song, is a song that wrote itself years after she returned to life in Massachusetts. It’s the title cut from a 6 song EP by the same name. She’s turning that into a full album to re-release.
Greg Brown's writing inspired her towards a more topical writing style. Diane often uses her music to raise awareness of social issues. One of her latest songs, ‘Big Fat Lie’ addresses the gun lobby. The song, ‘Gold, Diamonds, Tin Ore’ draws a connection between our use of computer technology and the Congo’s child soldier human rights atrocities. ‘Winslow Farm’ was written as a fund raiser for Debra White, a high school friend who owns and operates a stay-for-life animal rescue sanctuary in Norton.
She’s currently working on a post-pandemic cd, ‘Introvert’s Buffet’ (or how I spent my COVID vacation). She served as secretary on the Rhode Island Songwriter Association (RISA) Board of Directors from 2017-2021. A speechwriter by trade, she holds a Master of Arts degree from Bridgewater State University. You can find out more about Diane’s schedule at: www.dianebattistello.com.
Kenny Selcer
Kenny Selcer plays a sizzling blend of Americana, folk, rock, roots, reggae, Americana, and everything in between, that will get your toes tappin’, your head noddin’ up and down, your mouth singin’, your brain thinkin’ and maybe even get you dancin’ in the aisles! The stunning guitar work and intimate vocals keep audiences asking for more. He has 4 solo cds and has enough recorded material for 2 more, available online. These days he performs as a soloist and in a duo. He backs up other musicians, and he has had a successful career as a pro sound man, a producer, an engineer, and has owned a full service sound and graphics business. www.kennyselcer.com and www.kennyselcer.bandcamp.com
Rick Drost
Rick writes and sings songs with depth and heart- songs that repay repeated listening and convey a long love of classical music, natural wonders, poetry. His songs treat life from a varied angles - Jilted lovers, swans in the Public Garden, leftover lobsters, and meditations on meditation. Longtime inspiration came from Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen; Originally from Western New York, Rick travels from Cambridge, MA to sing at coffeehouses, house concerts, small festivals and Folk Alliance Events from New England, to Colorado to the Southeast. His 2017 album “Turning the World” still gets occasional radio airplay
See www.rickdrostsongs.com for tunes, videos, etc.