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Tom Knight is a musician, puppeteer and videographer based in Northampton, MA.
He grew up in Cupertino, California (home of Apple Computers), and had
an early love of music, playing violin and trombone in school. He went
to college at UC Santa Cruz, majoring in philosophy, and learned to
play the mountain dulcimer while taking breaks from studying. The
dulcimer made it easy to create simple songs, and that was the
beginning of his songwriting career.
After graduating from college in 1985, he migrated east, looking for a
colder place where the leaves changed color in the Fall. He found a
good place to pursue creativity in Ithaca, NY.
One of his first jobs was working with pre-schoolers as an assistant
teacher at the Ithaca Montessori School. One of the teachers there
(Monica MacNamee) liked how he entertained the kids in class on his
dulcimer, so she invited him to join her puppet troupe - Punchinella
Puppeteers. There Knight met Elizabeth McMahon, (AKA Mrs. McPuppet) and
when the Punchinella Troupe split up, the two of them formed their own
group - The Peanut Butter and Jelly Puppeteers. Over 9 years,
they developed the popular recipe for their shows which included short
puppet skits, original songs, and audience participation. Between
1989 and 1998, Tom and Elizabeth recorded 6 albums separately, and
performed regularly in schools, libraries, festivals, pre-schools
throughout upstate NY and beyond.
In 1995, after 3 recordings of music for families, Knight created a CD
of music oriented towards grown-ups, called Crazy Little Dream. He then
formed Tom Knight & the Blue Moon in order to perform some of the
songs live, as well as to play for swing dances.
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Jim Lawrence has been playing for over 40 years in
the Ithaca and upstate New York music scene, playing styles from Jazz, Folk,
Motown, Fusion, and Pop to New Wave, Bluegrass and Rock n' Roll. Jim's band
"The Backtalk Band" currently plays for weddings and private parties, as
well as Tom Knight's Blue Moon swing band. In 1984 his band "The Choice"
won the BBC Great American Rock n' Roll Talent Search. From 1985 to 1991
Jim was the lead singer in "The Kinetics", and has recorded at Electric
Wilburland Studios, MasterView Soundcrafts Studios, and Pyramid Sound Studios.
Jim has been in opening acts for Graham Parker, The Del Fuegos and
The Gang of Four. |
