Singer Mixes Folk, Punk For Concert At Eagle St.
If you need a night of stripped-down entertainment that storms the barricades, you'll want to hear folk-punk guitarist Chairman Ralph, who will perform at 7 p.m. Monday, July 23, at Eagle Street Theatre, 422 Eagle St., South Haven. There is a $5 suggested donation; for other details, call (269) 637-3400.
In real life, he's Ralph Heibutzki, freelance writer and author of Unfinished Business: The Life & Times Of Danny Gatton (2003, Backbeat Books).
Onstage, he's Chairman Ralph, the supercharged guitarist who doesn't lean on a band...because he is the band. Copies of Unfinished Business will be sold, along with self-recorded CDs.
"Good music takes you somewhere that you haven't already been," Ralph states. "That seems like an afterthought nowadays, but not to me. it's all up for grabs."
For two years, the Chairman's been sharpening his guitar style, which he calls "untamed folk, with a twist of Americana, and roots punk."
Chairman Ralph's songs offer twisted takes on everything from idiot bosses ("Fetch 'N' Step") to the slippery nature of fame ("Where's The Crowd?"), and the current political climate ("Move To Finland").
Ralph plans to release these songs independently, and he's expecting to make his first recorded appearance on a Finnish tape compilation, Let's Fingerpaint (tentatively set for release this summer).
Prime time audiences will get a taste at 9 p.m. Wednesday, July 25, when the Artist First Radio Network takes an hour-long look at Ralph's music. For details, see www.artistfirst.com.
For more information, see Ralph's official site, www.chairmanralph.com, or his amazon.com blog for Unfinished Business.
(South Haven Daily Tribune, 7/22/07)