On January 8, award winning singer / producer / multi-instrumentalist Ariel Levine returns to The Casbah for his annual show celebrating the music of David Bowie. The free show is always a dream gig for die-hard Bowie fans, the night’s setlist digging deep into his catalog, while still playing some of his best-known material. For this seventh edition, Levine and his band will perform the 1976 album Station To Station in its entirety, “plus, since we are the only band that night, we are doing a second set that includes Side A of Scary Monsters, plus a few surprises,” said Levine.
“This began back in 2017 when we performed his final album, Blackstar,” he recalled. “It was on the one-year anniversary of its release, which also happened to fall on his birthday. Since then, we’ve put on a different Bowie tribute every 8th of January, save for a few missing years during the pandemic.” He plans on keeping this a special annual event, both due to the eclectic nature of the setlist as well as the musician’s busy schedules. “I try to never do the same show twice, and I’m insistent on only doing this once a year,” he said. “People have asked us to perform at different venues for different occasions, but I’m very careful not to turn this into a tribute band; no wigs, no makeup, no vocal imitation, just me. Not that there’s anything wrong with tribute bands, I’ve done quite a few, but I prefer to keep this as more of a special event… of course, money talks,” Levine said good-naturedly.
Bowie’s untimely death in 2016 hit Levine hard. “It was the first time I had the odd feeling of mourning over a celebrity. And I was not the only one, it became very evident how far and wide his influence had spread, how many lives he affected. The world felt just a little more fragile. Here in town, we in the music community shared the weight of his loss among each other, there were tribute shows throughout the year. I felt it appropriate to close out that year of mourning with Blackstar, which suddenly became this monolithic requiem after he died 2 days following its release.”
Bowie’s final recording had an immediate impact on Levine. “What a masterpiece that album is, and what an incredible challenge it was to mount it on stage,” he said. “It was a cathartic experience for myself, my band, and the audience at the Casbah. We really saw some serious Shiva that night! With such an extensive and diverse catalog, there’s no shortage of music to honor, so mounting a different Bowie album/era became a yearly tradition since then.”
While Levine and company have tackled much of Bowie’s later career, fans won’t be hearing tunes from his early 1970s Ziggy days. “I avoid the Ziggy Stardust era,” he noted. “It happens to be my favorite album, but we already have such a great Ziggy act in town, I can’t top it. Luckily there are so many great eras before and after Ziggy. I like finding the cross section between the songs I really want to play, and what will please a Casbah crowd. I love his later years; I love all the 90s and 00’s albums nobody else listened to. But I also understand what the masses will take to. It’s fun to mix and match the mainstream with the obscure. If after every show I get at least one person thanking me for playing “fill-in-the-blank weird side-b song”, I know I did my job right.”
The musicians taking part in this year’s show are “the usual suspects, and a few new faces,” Levine commented. “From my band, Mechanical Royalty, we have Eric Brozgold on drums and MIke Chartrand on bass, these guys are my rock and I can’t play without them. On guitar is the ever-reliable Ben Zinn, whose diverse skills can deliver more Earl Slick, Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp licks than you can shake a stick at. On keys is Aimee Jacobs, who joined the band last year. She is an evil genius and a complete weirdo… like me, which makes her perfect for playing Bowie. Joining us fresh this year are Lauren Leigh and Will Stucky, both on vocals and guitar. Some of the hardest-working musicians in town, these two took on the job two months ago and have been bombarding me with videos of them practicing ever since. It’s fun, they’re fun. “
Beyond the upcoming Bowie tribute, Levine hopes to have new music sooner than later, and is keeping busy with studio production work. “I know each year I keep threatening to build a new band and get back on stage with new original material; I swear I’m going to make it happen this year,” he said. “And I’ve really been enjoying my role as producer and mix engineer for other artists. I have a small studio space at Singing Serpent where I hope to help more local artists realize their visions in the coming year.” Levine also recently scored a short film for local director Grant Reinero. “I hope to get more scoring work as well,” he said. “Please, get in touch with me, come by the studio, and let’s make some magic!”
In the meantime, Levine is focused on his January 8th Casbah performance. “Each year the show gets a little more involved, a little more theatrical,” he remarked. “I’ve been putting more energy into costumes, lighting, photo shoots & fliers, etc. Last year we did a Berlin show, playing selections from Low, Heroes, and Lodger. But I took it one step further by incorporating elements from other Berlin-based works, such as Lou Reed’s album, Berlin, and (the play) Cabaret; rounding it out as a theatrical experience. I’m gonna have to figure out how to make this year even bigger,” Levine said.
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