FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Shea Theater Benefit Features Award-Winning Documentary:
So Glad I Made It: The Saga of Roger Salloom,
America’s Best Unknown Songwriter

“A superb story teller with a good sense of rhythm and a great sense of timing, and the music is incredibly infectious.” ─ Rolling Stone Magazine

(February 2007, Turners Falls, MA) The award-winning documentary, So Glad I Made It: The Saga of Roger Salloom, America’s Best Unknown Songwriter, will be presented at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls, MA on Saturday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m.  The film, produced and directed by Chris Sautter, chronicles the musical career of one of Northampton’s favorite singer/songwriters, Roger Salloom.  This presentation is a benefit for the Shea Theater and will be followed by a Q&A session with Roger Salloom and Chris Sautter.  Roger Salloom will conclude the evening with an acoustic performance of songs from his CD, “Eventually” which was listed on the 2006 Grammy Awards ballot in an uncommon 8 categories.  The film was also on the 2006 Grammy Awards ballot and is listed by Grammy Magazine on its Top 16 list of must see music documentaries made in the last 5 years.

The film focuses on the highlights and missteps of a gifted musician who went on hiatus from performing his craft. Guided by frustration, disillusionment, and personal need, Salloom chose to walk off the stage and take up the challenge of raising his two young sons as a single father. Salloom enjoyed success as a musician in the late 60’s and early 70’s, recording under the band name Salloom, Sinclair, and the Mother Bear on Chess Records.  Well known on the West Coast,  playing venues like the Fillmore West, the Avalon, the Carousel Ballroom, and sharing the marquee with Santana, Procol Harum, Van Morrison, BB King, and other headline acts, Salloom could not break through the glass ceiling that kept many talented artists from becoming the main attraction.  Some would say Chess Records dropped the ball when promoting Salloom and his band.  Salloom neither supports nor disputes that claim, instead letting the movie lead the viewers to their own conclusions.

His boys are now grown, and Salloom has met and married his soul mate. It was at her steady encouragement two years ago that Salloom moved out from the shadows in search of center stage. Armed with a portfolio of original songs, gifted with a voice that conveys a riveting range of emotions, and his guitar tuned and ready, Salloom is performing once again. Rolling Stone Magazine accurately describes Salloom as “a superb story teller with a good sense of rhythm and a great sense of timing, and the music is incredibly infectious.” 

For more information about Roger Salloom, the film, and to sample his music, visit www.rogersalloom.com and www.sogladimadeit.com.

For tickets, contact the Shea Theater at (413) 863-2281 or purchase tickets online at www.theshea.org. Tickets are $10. in advance and $12. at the door. Doors open at 7:00 p.m. the night of the event.  Tickets will also be available at the World Eye Bookshop, 156 Main Street, Greenfield.

Sponsors for this event include the Valley Advocate, Yankee Candle, A.H. Rist Insurance Agency, WHAI, WRSI, Silver Screen Design, the Wagon Wheel Restaurant, and Mohawk Real Estate.

About the Shea Theater
The Shea Theater is Franklin County’s performing arts civic center with performances throughout the year. The Shea works with regional artists and professional touring companies who offer a variety of programs in music, theater, movement, and dance.

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