Localized end to a Fab year

On the surface, the creators of "The Minnesota Beatle Project, Vol. 1" CD look like savvy geniuses to have picked this year, of all years, to put out a charity CD of local bands covering songs by the Liverpudlian legends.

For starters, Twin Cities grade-school music programs -- which the tribute album will benefit -- are in greater need than ever, thanks to budget cuts on many levels this year. But 2009 also wound up spawning more Beatlemania than usual via the "The Beatles: Rock Band" video game and the newly remastered albums.

The truth is, though, the local nonprofit behind the disc has been raising money for school musicians for four years now, and the idea for its Beatles CD was hatched right around the start of this year.

"We really had no idea it was going to be this kind of Beatlemania year," confided Vega Productions founder Mark Gehring. "We just thought a Beatles tribute CD is something that always has broad appeal."

"Broad" could be applied in several different ways to "The Minnesota Beatle Project." There's a broad range of local acts, including hipster-club stars Mark Mallman, Ice Palace and Jeremy Messersmith (who duets with Solid Gold's Zach Coulter), rootsy/jam-band favorites like Trampled by Turtles' Dave Simonett and The Feelin' frontman Nicholas Mrozinski, plus suburban bar stalwarts Tim Mahoney and the Casablanca Orchestra. Many of the acts offer up a broad interpretation of the original songs, too, from Messersmith's and Coulter's ambient, organ-tinged take on "Norwegian Wood" to Ice Palace's hazily rocking version of "Strawberry Fields."

Best of all, the universality of the material is broadened by the welcome feminine touch of Roma di Luna's Channy Moon Casselle (offering a gorgeous "I Will") and Velvet Lapelles bandleader Lucy Michelle (a wry and winking "Sexy Sadie").

Probably the most meaningful track, though, is the "Sgt. Pepper's Medley" that closes the disc. The music was performed by the Susan B. Anthony Middle School Band of Minneapolis, using the 37 instruments that Vega Productions donated to the school, with money raised at last year's New Year's Eve show with the Big Wu.

"I had an instrumental version of 'Norwegian Wood' that I arranged in college," said Coulter, who bonded with Messersmith over a plate of nachos in the Dallas airport on the way home from South by Southwest and later tapped him for the project. "Jeremy coincidentally started playing it as well. The overall feel and swing of [our version] was how he played it -- no thinking really, just us having fun in the studio."

"The Minnesota Beatle Project" will be on sale starting Tuesday in local record stores as well as Schmitt Music outlets, where donations for Vega Productions are also accepted. It'll also be available on iTunes.

Tuesday also happens to be the day of the Twin Cities' biggest annual Beatles fête, Curtiss A's 30th annual John Lennon tribute at First Avenue, which I've repeatedly held up as one of the highlights of the local concert calendar. To help raise awareness for the "Project" CD, some of its participants will perform at the Lennon bash. The plan is for Romantica (who covered "Something" on the album), Mrozinski ("Across the Universe") and Michelle & the Velvet Lapelles to play mid-show between sets by Curt, who welcomed the extra Beatlemania activity this year.

"Any time there's big Beatles news, it always seems to happen around this time of the year, like when George died or the Cirque du Soleil thing or whatever they're doing to milk holiday shoppers," he said. "It gives our show a little extra push. But, of course, we tear it up every year regardless."

Mean Mr. Almsted promised numerous songs Tuesday that weren't in the lineup in recent years, plus some new twists on some of the standards.

Merry tide of shows As is often the case, the days between Christmas and New Year's eve are filling up with gigs by locally reared acts we don't see much throughout the year. The Gear Daddies will reunite once again at the Fine Line on Dec. 26, and word is that's the only one they're doing (Martin Zellar, however, also has a rare solo gig Dec. 13 at the Varsity). The Bad Plus will return to the Dakota to play six shows total over three nights starting on Christmas. Heiruspecs will be back at it for two shows Dec. 26 at the Triple Rock. And emo-ish rockers Quietdrive will wind down a rather rocky year -- in which it split with one of its guitarists and its label Epic Records but self-released a new EP -- with a holiday concert at the Varsity on Dec. 26.

A couple more holiday shows to plug before the holidays: Sounds of Blackness is putting on its annual "Night Before Christmas: A Musical Fantasy" at the Guthrie Theater's Wurtele Thrust Stage on Dec. 21 (details at SueMcLean.com). Also, acoustic guitar maestro Billy McLaughlin has put out a new holiday album, "Small Town Christmas," and put together a new ensemble called Simple Gifts -- with vocals -- to play a string of shows, including Saturday at the Lakeville Area Arts Center (7:30 p.m., $20, SimpleGiftsMusic.net).

Worth Fawning over Lucy Michelle fans might dig another young ukulele-led act hosting its CD-release party Saturday at the Kitty Cat Klub: the Chord and the Fawn, led by string-plucking, harmony-swapping, flowy-dress-wearing duo Danielle Lewis and Angela Krabe. Lewis' vocals recall Michelle's sweet songbird style with some of Joni Mitchell's siren-like folky delivery, and her ukulele playing sounds as if it washed ashore straight from Hawaii. The light and playful 10 songs on their full-length debut, "M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I," |are rounded out by bouncy bits of organ, melodica, glockenspiel and enough hand-clapping to raise ire from the local drummers' union. Absent Arch and Will Tolle open Saturday's show (9 p.m., $5).

Random mix For those who see the Edge, Nick Zinner and Marc Ribot more as guitar heroes than Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, Saturday's Modern Guitar Festival at the Cedar Cultural Center should be right up your alley. The show was put together by Bill Mike Band leader Mike Michel and will feature local innovators including Jeremy Ylvisaker (Andrew Bird's band), Terry Eason, Jake Hanson (Halloween, Alaska), Blair Krivanek (Nachito Herrera), Christopher Cunningham (Marianne Faithfull, Marshall Crenshaw) and more. Local guitar-equipment manufacturers will also be there displaying their work (8 p.m., $10-$12). ...

With the Timberwolves sucking wind of late, my colleague Jon Bream found time to knock out another book, "Neil Diamond Is Forever," a 160-page coffee-table tome on a superstar he has interviewed numerous times in his 35 years at the Star Tribune. The Electric Fetus in Minneapolis has made Bream one of its MinnEconomy artists in December and will host a signing, Q&A and memorabilia display with him Thursday at 6:30 p.m. ...

After last weekend's blissful "Let It Be" tribute (recap at startribune.com/music), it sounds like the consensus is First Ave will host another Replacements tribute this time next year to mark the 25th anniversary of "Tim." ... I am now a proud member of two new Facebook groups I urge you to look up: one called "Don't ban 18+ shows in Minnesota," and another with the going tag "We demand that Run Westy Run reunite." This could become Facebook's one useful trait: empowering local music fans.

chrisr@startribune.com • 612-673-4658