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Gray Areas: Grammy nominee comes home for benefit show

Assorted ramblings from the world of entertainment:

A two-time Grammy nominee is coming home to Youngstown this weekend to benefit an organization run by a childhood friend.

Tenor Lawrence Brownlee headlines There's Power in Music at 6 p.m. Sunday at Stambaugh Auditorium. All proceeds from the event go to Building Neighborhoods of Youngstown, a non-profit organization co-founded by Darrell Harrison Sr. along with Ricky Tigner and Samantha Fox.

Harrison and Brownlee have been friends since childhood and sang together at church, but only one of them went on to perform with opera companies around the world.

"We had a conversation (when) he came home, and he came down to the office," Harrison said.

"We've been working on low- to moderate-income houses in the city of Youngstown, trying to give people quality of life. He agreed to help us out ... I'm just really excited that he took the time to even do it."

The effort has been in the planning stages for a while, but Brownlee found a gap in his performing schedule and they were able to set a date for the event.

It's a busy schedule. According to his website, Brownlee will perform in 2026-27 in productions with Opera Philadelphia, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Paris National Opera, Hamburg State Opera and Hungarian State Opera as well as a "Golden Age" recital tour with soprano Erin Morley.

Brownlee, a 1991 East High School graduate, was nominated in 2023 for a Grammy for best classical solo vocal album for "Rising," an album highlighting the work of African-American composers, and previously was nominated for "Virtuoso Rossini Arias," recorded with the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra.

When I interviewed Brownlee in 2024, he talked about how important his activism is to him, and he credited his time performing in the Youngstown Connection, led by Carol Baird, with instilling those values in him.

"I want to make a difference, because I want to show love, because I can use my voice for good," he said in that interview. "My activism started about being vocal, being out front, unashamed of the message I want to put out there."

Harrison may have described himself as a "Nobody. I'm just a guy working every day, nine to five," but he's using his talents to make a difference as well.

Last year Building Neighborhoods of Youngstown repaired 101 roofs in the city.

"I know we're doing some good," Harrison said. "We can't do the work without the finance, without the resources. Gotta have the resources."

Harrison said he hopes the concert raises money for BNOY and also makes potential donors aware of the organization and what it does.

"The end goal is to let people know that we exist and we're here doing good, a lot of good in the neighborhoods," Harrison said.

They plan to make "There's Power in Music" an annual event, although it probably will be moved to later in the year so they can get area school choirs involved.

Also performing Sunday will be Aliza Patterson and the NightCap Band along with Jazz Coalition.

Tickets are $50 and are available online at experienceyourarts.org and by calling 330-259-9651.

Veteran music writer Dave Marsh died Saturday at age 76.

No one was a louder champion of music and artists he loved or more scathing in tearing down acts that didn't meet his standards.

He was co-editor of the "The Rolling Stone Record Guide," which I bought when it came out in 1979 and read from cover to cover. It both turned me onto music I might not have discovered that early in life and made me want to toss it across the room whenever Marsh eviscerated one of my favorite bands (his dislike of Rush was well documented).

I had the second and third editions as well, and it was a valuable reference source in the pre-internet days.

Marsh wrote many other books, including the first biography of Bruce Springsteen, "Born to Run," in 1981. I went to a book signing in Cleveland in 1987 for Marsh's second Springsteen book, "Glory Days," and I got my copy of "Born to Run" signed as well.

I got to talk about Christmas music with him when I interviewed him in 1993 about "Merry Christmas Baby: Holiday Music from Bing to Sting," which he co-wrote with Steve Propes. I'm sure we talked about Springsteen too, but I don't think I mentioned Rush.

Andy Gray is the entertainment editor of Ticket. Write to him at agray@tribtoday.com.