Dancing Across New England

With a thick funk of Prince-ly proportions and an album of nine original tunes, Stand Up Eight's maiden voyage into the New England charts gets up for the proverbial do wnstroke. The sextet of current and former Dartmouth students financed, produced, and released their inaugural opus Dance With Gravity in the fall of 1997 to see 600 copies disappear from the shelves in Hanover alone. Their success is due to an original mix of intricate folk-rock melodies, guitar-funk rhythms, and soulful saxophone riffs that drive their sound to an effervescent pitch. Josh Nadelberg '98 (guitar and vocals), who writes most of the music and lyrics, was part of the original conception of the band in 1996 as Groovemerchant along with fellow '98s Joe Nagraj (guitar) and Alan Grubner (drums and jazz violin). The metamorphosis to Stand Up Eightincluded the addition of Mike Roberts '00 (guitar), Andy May '97 (bass), and the powerful saxophones of Tony Jurado '99. Details: or (603) 643-3772.

• Pat Burtis '91 did his part to make folk music jam with his first solo release, Three Days in the Box. While the time he spent at Sanborn noticeably pays off with rather poetic lyrics, it is his catchy melodies and milk-and-honey voice that win you over. Clean-cut guitar rhythms are the rule, and the particularly smooth title track will get you moving. Details: ,, or (617) 576-6187.

• Though they once filled the Hanover Plain with their lonesome folk-rock melodies (as The Regulars) and now call San Francisco home, Center Divide chose a barren Nevada highway as the inspiration and location for their first release, Lovelock to Winnemucca. '95s Justin Wells (vocals, guitar, and harmonica), Todd Miller (bass), and Joey Muller (piano), who comprise three fourths of Center Divide, say they prefer California: "You know, we get lots of sun." Details: , , or (415) 437-5073.

Stand Up Eight rocked Alpha Delta at Halloween