About me... I like music. A lot.
I'm touring a bunch these days with King Wilkie, a great band that has one foot in bluegrass and one foot in... not bluegrass. I spend a good chunk of time satiating my old-time-jazz jones with the inimitable Cangelosi Cards, in addition to leading Mona's Hot Four every Tuesday night. I recently started a side project called Lichtman's Roundup, or Lichtman's Brain Cloudy Band, with the Cards' incredible singer, Tamar Korn, in which we gracefully smash bluegrass and early jazz together.
Some recent highlights have been recording with Peter Rowan for the new King Wilkie album, a few weeks in Brazil playing and studying choro with some masters, and performing with some great artists – to name a few: King Wilkie, the Cangelosi Cards, Astrograss, Brazilian Acoustic Ensemblel, Frank London, Chris Hillman & Herb Pedersen, Scott Kettner's Forro Brass Band, Stephane Wrembel, Acoustic Project/Object, Dan Zanes, Choro Ensemble, and a whole helluva lot more.
Most-asked-question-of-the year-award: "What is your MAIN instrument?" Answer - I go through phases of feeling better about one or the other, and right now clarinet's probably temporarily out front... but really clarinet, mandolin, and fiddle all feel pretty good to me.
My parents were kind (cruel?) enough to stick a violin in my hands when I was 5, then subjected themselves to more aural torture by renting me a plastic clarinet in 4th grade, under the false impression that at some point I would choose one or the other. To get chicks, I bought a red electric guitar in 9th grade using money I saved from selling used golf balls... it didn't get me chicks but it led me to that other great seductress, the mandolin, in 11th grade. My first mandolin was a reward for not failing chemistry (thanks Mom, Dad, and Mr. Belmarsh) -- although I *barely* didn't fail and therefore had to pony up half the money. At conservatory, I split my time between scales, long tones, and touring around the northeast with Mori Stylez, playing epic instrumental jazz-groove-metal compositions on my Mandoblaster electric mandolin (there's a huge market for that, you'd be surprised). Classical clarinet degree in hand, I headed to New York City to make tens of dollars annually playing everything BUT classical music.
Here are websites for a few bands I'm involved with now or have been recently:
King Wilkie - http://www.kingwilkie.com
Cangelosi Cards - http://www.downhomeradioshow.com/the-cangelosi-cards/
Astrograss - http://www.astrograssmusic.com
Brazilian Acoustic Ensemble - http://www.billynewman.com/bae.shtml
