Category: NYS Music Staff

Pete Mason is a teacher and writer living in Albany, NY. Pete started out as a Staff Writer, covering concerts and festivals in the Northeast, then became Online Editor and helped grow the staff from 10 to more than 40 as of today. As Publisher, Pete edits content, coordinates with staff for coverage of events, finds new staff from throughout New York State and the Northeast, and pushing forth the mission of NYS Music: to promote the music of up and coming artists from New York State and beyond.

A graduate of three Upstate New York colleges – Syracuse University, Union Graduate College and The College of Saint Rose – Pete finds his home in Menands, halfway between Parish Public House in Albany and Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in Troy, living with his 5 year old pup Sky, and previously his dog Halley, both natives of Upstate New York. Pete is the author of PhanArt: The Art of the Fans of Phish, and runs PhanArt.net, which provides a marketplace for Phish fans to sell their art to a wide audience both on and off tour, with proceeds benefiting The Mockingbird Foundation.

Pete is also the co-author of PhanFood: From the Kitchen Pot to the Tour Lot, a cookbook compiling recipes for Phish fans, by Phish fans, with proceeds going to food banks in New York and Burlington. His latest book. The Evolution of the War Film: From Westerns and World War Two to Vietnam is available as an e-book and details the shift in war films throughout the 20th Century. When not teaching, editing or writing, Pete travels throughout the country, having visited all 50 states, and seeks out music festivals. He has written three children’s books, which can be found here. He has written for Huffington Post and Jambands.com. Pale ales, chicken wings and locally sourced produce are known to gain not only his curiosity, but his attention as well.

Pete has been to over 200 Phish shows, 50+ music festivals and countless shows over the course of the past 20 years. His first concert was Huey Lewis and the News at SPAC in 1989, who he met at his third News show in May 2013 in Tarrytown. Some of his favorite musical experiences include Northwest String Summit at Hornings Hideout in 2011, Bonnaroo, Jamcruise, Big Cypress, seeing Patti Smith in Rome, Bloc Party at Paradiso in Amsterdam, Pearl Jam at The Gorge, Rock n Roll Resorts and any hometown show.

Pete has seen a great deal of musicians in his life, but some acts still elude him. His musical bucketlist includes Stevie Wonder, Daft Punk, among others. Among venues to see musical performances in, concerts at Lincoln Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, The Sydney Opera House in Australia, and Royal Albert Hall in London are at the top of his list.

Email: Pete@NYSMusic.com

Raised in the foothills of the Catskill mountains in Oneonta, New York Christopher McMullen was exposed to music at a young age. Dabbling in trombone and percussion, he also was a member of the school choir through high school. While in College at SUNY Oneonta, he traveled often around the country to see his favorite artists perform.

Attending concerts and festivals while still in high school, Christopher’s first solo show was Marilyn Manson opening for Nine Inch Nails at the Knickerbocker Arena in 1994. The very next summer he saw Phish for the first time at Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga, NY on the 25th of June, 1995. He have seen Phish approximately 84 more times since then, along with a plethora of other artists at various festivals and venues. Included in the list of these festivals are Outside Lands in San Francisco, Spin Summit in Colorado Springs, Electric Forest in Michigan, Bear Creek in Florida, All Good in West Virginia, Gnarnia in North Carolina and Wakarusa in Arkansas, just to name a few. Having recently attended Burning Man in Nevada, it’s safe to say that he will travel as far as it takes to go back again. An avid juggler, Christopher performs with an Upstate NY Fire performance troupe Cosmic Karma Fire at festivals all over the country.

He is hoping to travel the world as much as possible before its not an available option. He hopes to catch as many international festivals as possible while traveling. He would like to see some of the greats before they are no longer performing, including Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, BB King, Weird Al Yankovic, Daft Punk, Roger Waters, Tom Petty & the Heart Breakers and Radiohead to name a few. Oh and Caravan Palace, Alt-J, De La Soul, and the Punch Brothers, yeah, them too.

Susan Rice has been a staff writer for for a little over a year. Her love for music started at a young age from her parents who filled her childhood home with song, dance and love. They always encouraged her exploration of all things music, signing her up for chorus, piano/drum lessons, and attending many of her school musicals. Her first concert was with her family at Madison Square Garden to see Billy Joel and Elton John in 2002 on their “Face to Face” Tour, bringing to life all the classic hits she had loved on her many family road trips.

Before catching the bus to high school each morning, Susan had the morning ritual of enjoying breakfast in front of the television and watching the top 20 music videos of the week on VH1 or MTV. It was one morning when she saw/heard “No Such Thing” by John Mayer and became intrigued by the acoustic guitar. She quickly took up guitar lessons afterwards and joined the AV Club, where she learned about the history of music starting in the 60’s and 70s. Susan went through a diverse phase, as does everyone growing up, with a heavy influence from her peers in school and in college. Throughout the years, she attended a handful of Dave Matthews Band shows as well as John Mayer, Maroon 5 and O.A.R.

After graduating college, Susan began working in a bakery with a kitchen staff that had a love for the jamband scene. A lifelong friend took her to her first Phish show on June 19th, 2010 at Saratoga Performing Arts Center and a co-worker took to her first moe. show that December at the Washington Armory, introducing her to a massive network of dance crazed, thrill seeking friends. 2011 was a monumental year for Susan as she experienced a great love and an even greater loss of a dear loved one, who passed suddenly in late August. Desperate to “feel” again, she started attending local shows in the capital area more often, where lucky enough, you can find live music every night of the week. Since joining in 2012, Susan has covered everything from small shows to big name festivals all over the East Coast. It has given her a greater sense of self, redirecting Susan to the pursuit of happiness, which in her case turns out to be music.

Susan’s Musical Bucketlist includes Huey Lewis and the News, Talking Heads, The Black Keys, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, Pork Tornado, Eric Clapton, Dragonforce, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Alabama Shakes, Old Crow Medicine Show, U-Melt, Mumford & Sons, and Phil Lesh & Friends with Trey Anastasio.

Tim “T-Bone” O’Shea currently resides in Westfield, NJ where he was also raised. He attended St. Joseph’s High School in Metuchen before studying Broadcast Journalism at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications of Syracuse University, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in 2002. During his college years, he attended and reviewed many live shows in the Syracuse area at such venues like Armory High and Planet 505 amongst others.

He currently works as a Paralegal at a large collections law firm in Morris County, NJ. Hobbies include reading, visiting the Jersey Shore and, of course, live music. This summer he celebrated his 100th Phish show at Saratoga Performing Arts Center and has also seen acts like moe., The Disco Biscuits and Donna the Buffalo multiple times.

Tim’s musical bucketlist includes Pearl Jam, The Allman Brothers Band and Furthur

Kimberly Zesky is a young writer from the Adirondack Mountains of New York who was introduced to music at a very young age, growing up with parents who were live DJ’s and a father who has always been an avid guitar player. Being introduced to a wide variety of genres, has allowed her to expand her musical horizons and build in depth knowledge and appreciation of all types of music. Seeking to explore music on all of its levels, Kimberly is especially interested in the history and progression of music, as well as its political role in society. But experiencing music live and in person is above all, her true passion.

In the summer of 2004, Kimberly was led to her first music festival and was deeply moved by its ability to unite, enliven, and inspire people. She felt motivated to write about it, and share her experience with others. Since then she has written multiple show reviews and in the winter of 2011 she wrote her first official review for UpstateLive. In the past year she has covered shows in the North Country region of the state and offers words on all different types of music.

Some of her favorite bands include: Railroad Earth, moe., Yonder Mountain String Band, String Cheese Incident, Driftwood, Sim Redmond Band, Rubblebucket, Beats Antique, Widespread Panic, Bob Dylan, Otis Redding, and Alison Krauss & Union Station. Kim’s musical bucketlist includes Bonobo, Mumford & Sons, Neil Young, Van Morrison and Crosby Stills & Nash.

Gauraa Shekhar was born in Delhi, India, but grew up on the fringe of Bollywood in Mumbai.

She spent her early years accompanying her father to television studios, reading comic books wrapped in dust-jackets of historical biographies. She has since, admittedly, been inclined to slight musical pretensions, not sure whether she likes Bob Dylan because of his music or because of his status as major poet loved by university professors and music writers.

She moved to Jakarta, Indonesia when she was eight years old, where she drummed in several pop-punk cover bands to drown her parents’ love for Bollywood hits and Springsteen songs. Her stint as musician ended in her first year of college, shortly after she sang in a Hunky Dory cover band, which she joined solely because the bassist looked like the guy from Seether.

Gauraa’s all-time, top 5 artists are Steely Dan, Elvis Costello, The Cure, Liz Phair and Big Star, but she will always have a ventricle reserved for Good Charlotte and My Chemical Romance. Her impossible musical bucket list includes Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley, Elliott Smith and other songwriters who, as Nick Hornby once wrote, “have ever had an inkling of what Jesus felt on a bad day.”

She joined NYS Music a wide eyed freshman, her first month at Syracuse University, while studying in the Bandier Program for the Music and Entertainment Industries. Though she interned for several artist management firms, PR agencies, music publishing houses and record labels, she still considers her Valentine’s day themed interview with Aaron Carter for NYSMusic the highlight of her collegiate career. She currently divides her time between New York and Mumbai. She has released her first book, Notes. Pick up a copy here.

Greg Jackson began writing for NYS Music in early 2008 and quickly rose to the additional position of Editor (With the immeasurable skills of his wife, Sandra, doing layout and cover design, the visual and professional image of a Music Guide was fast-forwarded toward it’s present stature) until 2012 when he resigned due to health conditions. Now, a cancer survivor, Greg has worked his way back onto the pages of NYS Music.

During his most active three years, Greg contributed some of our biggest “gets” including interviews with Steve Hackett and local luminary Dave Frisina, cover/feature articles on regional and national bands from UL favorites like AudioInflux, Roots Collider and Mark Doyle and The Maniacs, to Porcupine Tree, Renaissance, Todd Rundgren and world-touring Pink Floyd tribute, Brit Floyd. Pulling from his experience as manager/agent for Childhood’s End-A Tribute to Pink Floyd, he penned a series of interviews/concert reviews across the spectrum of Floyd tributes plus the mighty Kashmir-The Ultimate Led Zeppelin Experience.

Greg’s love of music has been reflected in his nearly 40 years participating in the local Syracuse scene as a guitarist/singer with the Syracuse area bands U.S.S., Fable, The Max and Hasty Retreat, then as manager/agent of Animation in 1985. He returned to the scene in 2005 as manager/agent of Childhood’s End which he turned over to Sandra in 2012. During this time he also had stints with AudioInflux, The Heavenly Chillbillies, The Moho Collective, Mark Doyle and The Maniacs, Last Train Out and The Thin Line.

Besides his large music collection and his musical endeavors, his concert attendance record since the ’70s gives Greg a depth of experience that he brings to each article he writes for NYSMusic.com . Greg’s contributions will remain centered on concert promotion, concert reviews and in-depth music reviews.

Greg’s Musical Bucketlist is pretty short considering the volume of shows he’s attended, but Porcupine Tree, King Crimson, David Gilmour, Radiohead, Muse and David Bowie would be welcome additions to his live music cadre.

Kayla Lyn MacLachlan joined the family after Sterling Stage Folkfest back in 2009.  She first became interested in journalism while studying English at the State University of New York College at Fredonia, but it was writing for that truly helped her to hone in on her craft.  Kayla’s writing grows from the depths of her inspirations – and if you read her work, you’ll find that music is something in her life that truly runs deep.  In the four years since she has been writing for , she has been a bit of a wayfarer – living in California, and now currently residing in Virginia.  But at the end of the day, she always returns to her roots.  Writing for gives her a chance to culturally reclaim her New York self, even when living miles away.

When she isn’t attending live shows, Kayla’s work is her life’s pleasure.  She is a teacher and program manager at the Allegheny Mountain School – a sustainable farming and food fellowship program located in the Allegheny Mountains, just outside of the West Virginia line.  Currently, she is living in the least populated county east of the Mississippi, but she entertains herself by noodling on her mandolin, weathering her djembe, clogging, and joyfully working in her expansive gardens, barefoot in the mountain air.  She has also taken up a keen interest in home brewing, with the intent of opening a farm brewery/live music venue someday.

Much of Kayla’s musical bucketlist would require taking a step back in time, but out of all of her travels and all of the show’s she has attended, she still has yet to see The Wood Brothers, Paul Simon, Taj Mahal, The Deep Dark Woods, The Bridge, Jack White, and a private concert by Jackie Greene. Kayla would also like to catch an Umphrey’s McGee New Year’s run and spend some time hanging at Horning’s Hideout before it’s too late.

James Corbett joined in early 2013. As a student at Syracuse University, he began reviewing shows at The Westcott Theater. He is also an alto saxophone player and loves funk and jazz music. He performs with his band, The Monk, which was started at Syracuse University. Raised on classic rock, he’s also a passionate vinyl collector. He likes to go all out on Record Store Day each year, purchasing as much new and exclusive vinyl releases as possible. His favorite acts to see live are Phish, Lettuce and Soulive. These three acts seem to always push the boundaries of both concert production and improvisation and that’s what makes them worth seeing time and time again.

In addition to his love for live music, he also enjoys all racquet sports, snowboarding, climbing and ultimate Frisbee. James is an aspiring music industry professional that is majoring in Music Business at Syracuse. He has previously worked at music festivals and venues in the tri-state area and hopes to continue to keep music at the forefront of his life. Traveling is also one of his favorite things to do, as he has spent college semesters in both London and Los Angeles studying music and the music industry. During his overseas excursion he visited The Netherlands, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Portugal and France.

Since he’s only been an avid concert goer for about five years, James has plenty of acts to see on his musical bucketlist. He hopes to get an opportunity to see Daft Punk, Radiohead, Phoenix, Shpongle’s full live set, Marcus Miller, Modest Mouse, Jamie xx, Mutemath and Nine Inch Nails. If he could turn back time, he’d want to see The Grateful Dead, James Brown, Louis Armstrong, The Meters original lineup, Gangstarr, Cannonball Adderley, The Ramones, Pink Floyd and Binary Star. As far as events go, James would like to attend Coachella, Bonnaroo, Bowlive at The Brooklyn Bowl and South By Southwest.

Andy Hill has been a working photographer for over 10 years. His arenas of photography have included commercial, architectural, catalog and most recently political photography. Being an avid music lover for much longer, following the likes of Phish, moe. and the assorted Grateful Dead projects to name a few, it did not take Andy very long to marry his two passions – live music and photography.

Andy started grinding it out and honing his skills in local bars in Utica, NY, Boston, MA, and Albany, NY, where he now lives. He eventually gained the attention of editors of State of Mind Magazine and Hidden Track/Glide Magazine who ultimately gave Andy his first assignments with press credentials and with that, real access to exclusive shows in premier venues across the country. Since 2011 Andy has been working for which has allowed him to continue to highlight a bounty of local, regional, and international touring acts in his home, Upstate New York. Thus far he has had the pleasure of shooting amazing acts such as Phish, Trey Anastasio Band, Umphrey’s McGee, moe., Jane’s Addiction, Ween, Keller Williams, The Disco Biscuits, Lotus, Fishbone, Phil Lesh & Friends, Tim Bush, Bela Fleck, Yonder Mountain String Band, Levon Helm, and many, many more. Outside of his body of work with , you can find more of Andy’s work at his flickr page.

While Andy has had the good fortune to see a great many bands doing their thing, bands on his bucket list that he has yet to cross off include David Byrne (if only the Talking Heads would reunite), B.B. King, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Eric Clapton, and Medeski, Martin and Wood with John Scofield.