JOSH PANDA RETURNS!!!! Josh & the Murder Ballads absolutely lit up our venue in a January appearance THEN Josh & friends packed the patio on a Friday night during Jazz fest and he has been a regular on the Skinny waterfront patio ever since.  Josh has said, "I heard Burlington was a hip town with a home-grown music scene...and that's where I want to be right now. Just hoping to be that double-shot of espresso in the mug of Burlington's music scene."  Indeed Josh's music is strong stuff, that'll get you moving. For a taste, www.myspace.com/joshuapanda and join us Saturday August 1st.

From his website: Joshua Panda, a twenty-four year-old singer/songwriter from Charlotte, North Carolina, is an exceptional combination of folk and soul, Bob Dylan and Otis Redding, and has traveled with this unique sound to a unique place: Vermont.

Joshua grew up in Huntersville, NC where at age three he started singing gospel music at Rockwell Baptist Church. From the church, he adopted the gospel hand wave, the rhythm, the wailing, and most importantly the embodiment of spirit. Ever since those early days in the choir, Joshua has oozed with uncontainable emotion and passion.

Integrating such soulful energy into his original folk writings, Joshua not only has established an entirely new genre of music, but also has captured a spirit in his performance, which encompasses both the flailing of a fervent preacher and the intimacy of your best friend telling you a story.

Currently, Joshua is playing with any variation of musicians from Vermont, Montreal, New York City, and North Carolina. Typically his band features guitar, mandolin/piano, accordion, pedal steel, and upright bass. His debut album will be released this summer—an album of love and loss that Joshua calls “my own brand of soul and gospel-based story-telling” He plans to record his second album live in the fall—a compilation of songs that he deems “pull more from my country influences but are still all about story-telling.”

"If one were to take the noun, music, and give it a form--a living, breathing, passionate, rich life form in all its shapes, sizes and sounds, it would be delivered in the package that is one, young, Joshua Panda. When Josh sings, plays or performs, there are no boundaries. He weaves his heart and soul into every song, whether it's an original composition created for his solo or band projects, or covering anything from Sam Cooke to Marvin Gaye to Dylan, The Avett Brothers to The Beatles, there's nothing I can think of, or heard, that he can't do, and do powerfully well. And when he comes to the mic and effortlessly pours out those controlled and commanding vocals, one can only stop, listen...or groove..then ask for more. Music is not only IN Josh Panda's blood, it IS his blood." -Laurie Koster (Charlotte Area Promoter)

Kim Davidson is a solo performer in the Folk/Americana/Country vein, from Medford, MA. She balances moody, emotional lyrics against upbeat melody lines, while her voice lends itself with a range and scope of sound few possess, running the gamut from fragile to sultry to bring-the-house-down & every nuance in between.

Kim was a recent winner of the Lizard Lounge (Cambridge, MA) Open Mic Challenge. Check out her music ttp://www.myspace.com/kimdavidson and catch her show at the Burlington Skinny Pancake beginning at 9p.m.