The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Chris Barron of the Spin Doctors back today for ‘The Sunday Buzz’
Plus: Marco Benevento at Space Ballroom Thursday
NEW HAVEN — Chris Barron of the Spin Doctors is back in town for a matinee at Cafe Nine today — and he’s got Tim Palmieri of The Breakfast and Kung Fu opening for him this time around.
Best known as the lead singer of the Spin Doctors, one of the longtime stalwarts of the jam band world, Barron is one of those people who you generally would expect to see on a stage a lot less intimate than the one at Cafe Nine.
Nevertheless, he returns there today for the second time in a year — this time for an appearance at “The Sunday Buzz” Matinee, brought to you by Fernando Pinto Presents and Cygnus Radio.
Showtime is 4 p.m., with doors open at 3. Admission is $15 in advance, available at cafenine.com, or $20 at the door. Cafe Nine is located at 250 State St.
While he’s generally associated with electric music, Barron as a solo act “plays nifty chords on an old Gibson to masterfully crafted songs that are poignant yet wistful and funny,” according to the blurb on the Cafe Nine website pitching the show.
Just as importantly, he’s known as a storyteller as well as a musical performer.
Born in Honolulu and raised in the Bronx and Rye, New York, and Sydney, Australia, Barron — born Christopher Gross — was a close friend who went to high school in Princeton, New Jersey with John Popper of Blues Traveler.
After attending Benthe nington College in Vermont for a year, Barron went back to Princeton, got a job in a restaurant and plunged into making music. One night in 1988 Blues Traveler came to town and, after hanging out one night and hearing Barron’s songs, Popper invited him to move in with them in New York City.
So at age 20 — with $100 and an acoustic guitar — Barron did just that. He joined a band called Trucking Company with Popper and Canadian guitarist Eric Schenkman, although Popper later left the side project to focus on his main gig with Blues Traveler.
With a name change to Spin Doctors, as well as the addition of Aaron Comess and Mark White, Spin Doctors’ classic lineup was in place by the spring of 1989.
The band went on hiatus after Barron lost his voice in May of 1999. His voice returned in early 2000 and Barron began performing solo, with his own band and the Give Daddy Five in March 2000. The Spin Doctors remained inactive until September 2001, when they reunited to play at New York City’s The Wetlands during its final week open.
If you’re a fan of the Spin Doctors, there’s a good chance you’re also a fan of pianist Marco Benevento.
So you might be interested to know that he’ll be performing Thursday at the Space Ballroom in Hamden. Brian Larney opens. Showtime is 8 p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance, available at spaceballroom.com, or $18 at the door.
Among his many musical roles, Benevento is a member of Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, a Grateful Dead tribute band that includes Russo on drums, Dave Dreiwitz on bass, Tom Hamilton on guitar and Scott Metzger on guitar.