Follow Us
Drama Around the Globe
  • Home
  • About
  • Maerten van Heemskerck
  • Contact
  • Articles
  • Books
    • Academic >
      • Barrymore Handbook
      • Distortions
      • Germans in English Short Stories
      • How to develop professionalism among student writers
      • Literary Exile in the Twentieth Century >
        • Stefan Heym
        • Hans Henny Jahnn
        • Hermann Kesten
        • Else Lasker-Schüler
        • Heinrich Mann
        • Stefan Zweig
      • Writer Perception, Writer Projection
      • Wuppertal- Bethel Exchange Program
    • Creative >
      • Iran, Iran: Secret Poetry--an introduction
      • Iran, Iran: Secret Poetry samples
      • Who's Afraid of Noam Chomsky?
      • WriteWriteRewrite
      • Workbook Poetry
      • Kreative Schocks, Creative Shocks
    • Educational >
      • Aristotle's Word Processor
  • Drama
    • Plays >
      • A Doll's Confession
      • Alan Lost in Boston
      • "Beat me, Beat me!"
      • Canterbury Tales
      • Encounters
      • Happy Shalom
      • Mah Own Constitution
      • Mendelssohn Does Not Live Here Anymore
      • Metronome Ticking
      • Private Moments
      • Rent-controlled Apartment in the Village
      • The Americans are Coming
      • The Astrologer
      • The Funeral: A comedy
      • The Girl on the Other Side of the Fence
      • The Rehearsal
      • Van Gogh's Jewish Daughter
      • Victorian Holiday
      • Vow of Silence
    • Rescued Jewish Theater
    • Videos
  • Essays
    • Education Essays >
      • How to develop professionalism
    • Language Essays >
      • Language
    • Literature Essays >
      • Literature
  • Film
    • Private Moments
    • The Americans are Coming
    • Victorian Holiday
  • German
    • Artikel
    • Biographie
    • Bücher
    • Gedichte
    • Geschichten
    • Schauspiele
  • Interviews
  • Poetry
    • Poem Blog
    • America
    • Friends
    • Humor
    • Passion
    • Tributes
    • War Zones
  • Reviews
  • Satires
    • Satire Blog
  • Stories
    • Stories Blog
    • Stories: Europe
    • Black Shoe Polish
    • Santa Claus on an Overcrowded Train
    • Stories: America
    • A stained-glass window that no longer allows light to come through
    • Free Italian chandelier
    • Old Tibetan carpet dealer visiting the U.S.
    • Stories: Asia
  • Translations
    • Translations: Dramas >
      • La Ronde, Henrik Eger translation
    • Translations: Stories >
      • The Message of the Christmas Night
      • Spoerl, Waiting. Warten.
  • Translations: Misc.
  • Workshops
  • Individual Reviews
  • Editor's Desk

LAST CHANCE: From law to lyrics, from classics to folk, interview with Jack Scott and Ingrid Rosenback, Philadelphia’s popular duo.

3/24/2015

1 Comment

 
Last Chance, the musical duo of singer-songwriter Jack Scott (banjo and guitar) and fiddler-vocalist Ingrid Rosenback, has been playing together since 2011 and as a duo since 2012. They perform mostly original songs. They are participating in WXPN’s Musicians On Call program, and are playing extensively in Philadelphia and the surrounding area to people of all ages.
Picture
Henrik Eger: Last Chance has become very popular. How do you explain that success?

Jack Scott: We love to play and sing together, and our audiences know. After each show we make sure everyone was satisfied. We keep our music fresh and varied, growing and improving all the time.

Ingrid Rosenback: Many of our jobs arise from our audiences spreading the word. All our songs are different, interesting, and exciting.

Henrik: Ingrid, is it true that you became a musician from the moment you raised your hand when your fourth grade teacher asked who wanted to take violin lessons?—at least, that’s the charming story being passed around by musicians in Philadelphia.

Ingrid: True story, but I actually studied biology first and worked with rats and mice and bugs and earned a degree in pharmacy. I then studied violin at Temple and became a classical violin teacher. I played classical music in orchestras and chamber groups for quite some time. Eventually, I taught myself to improvise.
PictureLast Chance. Photo by Rick Prieur.
Henrik: Jack, how did you become a guitar and banjo player, a composer, and a lyricist?

Jack: I’ve been playing, singing, and writing songs since I was in high school. I loved folk music and rock, and the Beatles made popular music even more interesting. I listened to all the great songwriters and gradually developed my own style.

Henrik: You worked as a successful lawyer, and now you write lyrics and give concerts all over Philadelphia. Tell us about that transition.

Jack: Yes, I practiced law for over 37 years, but I never stopped playing and writing music whenever I could find the time. When I reached the point where I could move into music full time, I jumped at it. As for Law, I never looked back. Since last fall, I’ve been teaching a songwriting course at Temple’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Philadelphia.

Henrik: Wonderful. What a great transition. Ingrid, you are a successful classical violin teacher. Why did you decide to form Last Chance and perform fiddle tunes and new songs?

Ingrid: I’m totally dedicated to my students, but I love to play for the sheer enjoyment. In Last Chance we can create our own music, style, and arrangements, record, and perform for the love of it. We’re doing what no one else is doing. Our music is original and it has a contemporary feel. We craft the songs as we see fit, and we work as long as it takes to get the sound we want.

Henrik: How would you describe your music?

Ingrid: Jack writes his songs in a thoughtful, poetic way. The songs can twist your heart or make you laugh, and each one sparkles in its originality, whether sweet or bluesy or raucous.

Jack: Our music is not limited to any particular style or time frame, but extends across traditional genres, continues to evolve, and appeals to many different age groups.

Henrik: In your many concerts, you seem to be presenting new songs all the time. How do you do that?

Jack: I’ll bring to Ingrid both old and new songs, and we work together to develop them for our performances.

Ingrid: We design each show for its audience. I would be bored if we always played the same songs. We don’t cover other artists’ materials. However, sometimes we’ll add a traditional fiddle song to the set.

Henrik: How did the two of you meet?

Jack: Since 2001, I’d been playing with Whirled Peas in Wilmington. In 2011, our fiddle player and some other musicians left the group. I missed the sound of a good fiddler. When I attended an acoustic jam in Swarthmore, Ingrid was there, playing beautifully. I played one of my songs and she added a harmony fiddle part right on the spot. The song never sounded better.

Afterwards, I told her Whirled Peas needed a fiddler. She fit in immediately, and she rarely has missed a Whirled Peas show since.

Ingrid: I’m so glad Jack asked me to join Whirled Peas. So much of my previous musical life had been playing in chamber music groups that were fairly formal. To improvise and play with other folk musicians was really learning a new style of music for me.

Henrik: What’s the difference and a between a violin and a fiddle?

Ingrid: They’re the same instrument, but called by different names depending upon the type of music being played.  You won’t find a fiddle in an orchestra, or a violin in a bluegrass band.
Henrik: Fascinating. Could you describe the first performance by Last Chance

Jack: We were a duo before we had the name “Last Chance.” I entered a singer-songwriter showcase at a local arts center. Ingrid agreed to join me with fiddle accompaniment. Before we went on stage, Ingrid asked me if I was nervous. I said, “Yeah, a little. Are you?” She said, “No.” From that moment forward, I’ve never been nervous to perform a show with Ingrid.

Ingrid: Ironically, I used to suffer from terrible stage fright. All through music school, I was so anxious while performing. It’s totally different now in Last Chance.
PicturePhoto by Rick Prieur.
Henrik: How did you come up with the name Last Chance?

Ingrid: We wanted something catchy, simple, and memorable. We’ve both played lots of music before, and this is our “last chance” to play music exactly the way we want. However, when we play weddings, we call our group “Rambling Heart.”

Henrik: Have you had any memorable moments from your shows?

Ingrid: We’ve played for the WXPN Musicians on Call Program at the Philly VA, a home for veterans with very serious health conditions. When we play there, people barely conscious, come alive, start moving to the rhythm, even clapping, and moving around in wheelchairs. We’ve played for people who were at the very end of their lives.

Jack: We recently played a new coffeehouse for disabled people. We played a house concert and donated all the proceeds to Jubilee School in West Philadelphia.

Henrik: Last Chance is known not only for a special kind of music but also for its generosity, and capacity to connect with an audience.

Ingrid: Thank you. We played a house concert in Philly on the same bill with two young musicians who were on the road. We decided on the spot to donate our share of the evening’s fee to the musicians with whom we shared the bill.

Jack: Our most unusual event was for a celebration of a loving couple, diverse in every way. Ray Duvall and Ron Hunter were two gay men from the Philadelphia theater community—one was Jewish, the other was raised Christian. One was white and the other African American. Finally, one was alive, the other deceased. The event was a celebration of life and a posthumous marriage ceremony. We performed “Wouldn’t You Know” that evening, which Ingrid solos on with stunning beauty. She gets too emotional to sing that song now, and we’ve taken it out of our repertoire.

Henrik: I vividly recall those extraordinary moments at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre that night. Your music was so moving most people cried. At other concerts of yours, I have seen the audience snap their fingers and sway their bodies with an energy rarely seen elsewhere. Thank you, Ingrid and Jack!

Last Chance perform Thursday, March 26, 2015, at Lansdowne Folk Club [84 S. Lansdowne Ave, Lansdowne, PA]; folkclub.org/concert-schedule. Check out a full schedule of their shows and their albumWe Came to Play, on their website lastchance.co.vu.

Last Chance was featured on an Internet TV show, see this YouTube link. If you want to go directly to the songs, start at around 18:05. 
​
*This interview was originally published by Phindie. 

Back to Editor's Desk
1 Comment
Ray Naylor link
5/18/2016 09:32:45 am

Eger,

Thanks for including the link to my show.

Ray

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Archives

    December 2020
    November 2020
    September 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    September 2013
    June 2011
    January 2011
    November 2009
    July 2008
    June 2008
    January 2002
    January 1992

    RSS Feed

​Click below for a translation into your own language 
from Afrikaans, Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, and  Azerbaijani to Vietnamese, Welsh, Xhosa, Yiddish, Yoruba, and  Zulu—​thanks to the latest version of Google Translate.
Picture
Tower Of Babel
by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1563).
Click here to contact the Editor
Copyright Henrik Eger, 2014-2020.
Update: December 30, 2020.
All images are credited to the best of our knowledge. We believe known sources should  be shown and great work promoted. If there is a problem with the rights to any image, please contact us, and we will check it right away. 
​