South Coast Today, January 3, 2014
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/artic...0109993/101136
Dave Mason, former member of the rock band Traffic, to perform at Zeiterion
NEW BEDFORD - Whether it’s a photo album or a music album, we bask in our nostalgia.
And when Dave Mason performs Saturday, Jan. 17 at the Zeiterion Theatre in New Bedford, he will be entertaining both musically and visually. While he and his bandmates roll through Mason’s vast catalog of music — including his days with the classic rock giants Traffic — they will be backed by a sizeable video screen that will take the audience on a visual voyage to compliment the visual one.
The video screen provides audiences on an optical version of Mason’s vast career, at the same time taking them back to their own youthful heydays.
“There are a lot of people who can relate to what Dave Mason is singing about,” says Brad Martin, afternoon drive-time personality on classic hits station Cool 102 in Hyannis. “Everyone’s been in that moment, and that relationship. He’s part of a fabric that makes up rock and roll.”
The show will be part of “The Traffic Jam” tour. Tickets are $45.50, $37.50, and $29.50.
Mason’s resume is one of the most impressive in rock. Aside from Traffic and his individual music he has performed and recorded with The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Fleetwood Mac.
“It’s an honor to be in Dave Mason’s presence with the history he’s lived and when he brings to the stage,” Martin says. “He’ll take you down a musical voyage he has travelled so well, including a reminder of how great Traffic was. Audience members will be surprised at how much great rock and roll Dave Mason has been a part of.”
Mason remains productive. In 2014 he released “Future’s Past,” a collection of reworked classics and new material.
But for Mason, the inspiration doesn’t end musically. A portion of the proceeds from his concerts goes to the organization Work Vessels for Veterans, a group that he’s co-founded and focuses on assisting veterans returning from the Iraq and Afganistan wars. Work Vessels for Veterans aims to help soldiers restart their lives after returning from military duty, providing start-up funding, farm land, agricultural opportunities, tools, equipment, vehicles, and electronic products. They also assist veterans with cars, boats and sporting equipment.
“When I came to America from England in 1968 I was ashamed at the way the veteran soldiers were treated,” Mason says. “I had a personal interest — my father and my brother were in the military and I witnessed the bombed-out buildings from World War II. To combine that with the spirit of the 60’s has been a great influence on me.”
And while much of Mason’s music will be a celebration of the past, one of his charities is very progressive. In November, Work Vessels for Veterans teamed energies with WeedHire, an organization devoted to assisting veterans in finding jobs in the developing industry of legal cannabis, or marijuana. The plant is being used for medical and recreational use, and it is expected to provide increasing access to jobs for many veterans.