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Arts & Entertainment

Folk Rock Bands Rock Narragansett

Adrian Hardkor Krygowski, Harris Face, Torn Shorts and Dennis Emsley's Hiding Behind Youth come to the Bon Vue Inn.

The Bon Vue hosted four different bands on Friday, ranging from folk to indie, and it turned out to be an interesting evening.

Opening the show was Adrian Hardkor Krygowski. He drove eight hours from Washington, D.C. to open the evening. He is known for his “maniac folk rock” with his band, Adrian Hardkor Krygowski and the Bad Decisions. Last summer, they opened up for indie legend Dr. Dog. Krygowski played a well-done solo folk set.

Second on the bill was another folk musician from our nation’s capital, Harris Face. Harris’s set was also acoustic, but a tad more upbeat than Kygowski. 

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Harris quotes Wilco's Jeff Tweedy on his business card, which he finds amusing and inspirational. Harris is originally from New York. He has a new EP out called Escalated Romance, and has only been performing for five months, which is quite shocking, considering how talented he is.

Third to take the stage was The Gamblin Hands’ Josh Grabert. He has a new side project, called Torn Shorts.  

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Torn Shorts is a one-man band, to be exact. A bass drum decorated with holiday lights, a tambourine on his left foot and an electric guitar, Grabert’s vocals are haunting and his performance is amazing. 

Lastly, nominated for “Break Thru Band” in Motif’s 2011 Music Awards, Dennis Emsley and his band rocked the Bon Vue Inn with some great tunes.

Emsley is a veteran of the Providence scene. He was lead singer for the 1990s band The Curiosity Factor, which was runner-up for the WBRU rock hunt in 1993.

Emsley is currently touring for his new album, Hiding Behind His Youth, which was released a few months ago. He has a collection of Rhode Island musicians playing on the album, including each member of The Gamblin’ Hands.

The current band he plays with include guitarist, Adam Newell who is also in Mother of Dylan and Green Frequency. Newell also worked on the new album. Band member Zach Zarcone is also in The Green Frequency.

They are half his age, Emsley proudly told me as a reference to not only the current band, but also some of the musicians on the album. He is calling his band Dennis Emsley’s Hiding Behind Youth.

Do you know the saying, “Play with kids your own age?” Dennis Emsley isn’t, and instead of the band he had hoped for, he ended up correcting them on stage, during the performance. Tempers flared, musicians walked off stage, and after a few attempts to fix the situation, the set was ended. 

I thought Emsley and his band put on a good performance, despite some of the on-stage antics, and I look forward to another show by Dennis Emsley’s Hiding Behind Youth in the future.

In the meantime, you can catch him play on May 14 at the Providence Books Through Bars benefit concert, along with Joe Fletcher and The Wrong Reasons, and Daniel Chase.

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