Drummer Parks has Atlanta gig on Friday night
By ALEX MCRAE
alex@newnan.com
Newnan native and accomplished drummer Deantoni Parks has a new gig with a new band.
If you'd like to see — and hear — where Parks' musical journey has led him, make plans to be at Terminal West music venue in Atlanta on Friday when Bosnian Rainbows, featuring Parks on the drum kit, performs.
Lopez and Parks make up half of Bosnian Rainbows. The other two slots are filled by keyboardist Nicci Kasper and singer Teri Gender-Bender, who is also a member of Le Butcherettes.
In a recent magazine interview, Rodriguez-Lopez said, “I invited Deantoni Parks into The Mars Volta as our drummer, as a hired musician. But, as I got to know him, I realized ‘Wow, this guy is a brilliant composer.’ He works as hard as me and he’s got thousands of songs in his catalogue. We must have made six records together over the years. It’s the same thing with Nicci Kasper, we all love writing music. It’s really something else.”
Bosnian Rainbows will be appearing at Terminal West, at 887 West Marietta St., Atlanta. Terminal West is a 7,000-square-foot music and special events venue in the King Plow Arts Center.
Bosnian Rainbows performs at 9:30 following opening act, Marriages.
After one Atlanta show, Bosnian Rainbows hits the road to Asheville, N.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York as part of their 2013 U.S. and Canada tour.
When he is not touring with Bosnian Rainbows, Parks keeps his calendar full performing with other artists. In January, he appeared on Jimmy Fallon's late night TV show playing drums with John Cale, co-founder of Velvet Underground.
Coweta County residents know that Parks has been performing since he was old enough to pick up a stick. After graduating from Newnan High School, Parks took his act to Boston’s prestigious Berklee School of Music and then on to Brooklyn, where he started his professional career. After college, he and fellow Berklee students Sylvia Gordon and Nick Kasper formed the group called KUDU.
Parks has collaborated with artists including Meshell Ndegeocello, Sade, John Cale and Asteroid Power-up!
Parks recently produced his first solo album via Rodriguez Lopez Productions. It is titled “Touch But Don’t Look.” In between writing and performances he has been participating as part-time faculty at Stanford Jazz Workshop, Berklee College of Music and NYC’s Drummers Collective.
