NYS Music 20​13

Category: Plattsburgh

  • Fledging Crow Fest in the High Peaks Region, August 24th

    Fledging Crow Vegetables is a certified organic farm just northeast of the Adirondack High Peaks region. If you follow the mighty Ausable River you’ll find yourself among some of the greenest, most fertile land New York State can offer and Fledging Crow Vegetable farm is tucked away in the small town of Keeseville. Saturday, August 24th the crew on the farm threw a party – Fledging Crow Fest – for all of their fans. What was once a “Thank You” potluck is now an all out celebration of the good things in life, art, live music, endless dancing, locally crafted beer, and the simple act of sharing a nutritious meal with your neighbors.

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    The weather for this gathering was 75′ and sunny. The sky was purely blue and the sun was shining down with all of its might. Everyone in the crowd was busy, buzzing around the dance tent, the food line, the artists, vendors, the kids area, the unveiling of the pit roasted pork, and the greenhouses. A local favorite, the band Big Slyde got on stage first and shared their ever-evolving music with the crowd as it poured in. They offered the friendly sounds of the guitar, cello, mandolin, banjo, cajon, various percussion instruments and the voices of multiple singers in the band- the perfect introduction to a jam packed day of music.

    As the food was served buffet style and the lines filled up, guests filled their plates and bellies with fresh greens, home made salads, breads, rolls, BBQ chicken, pork, and deserts. Some local breweries had a chance to share some of their finest brews as well. Much to guest’s surprise, the full-glass samples came along with the $30 ticket to get in and the flow of beer seemed endless! Co-owner David Bruce of Schroon Lake’s Paradox Brewery explained how delighted and honored he felt to be a part of something so wholesome and real; he described how it reminded him of the Woodstock generation, a time and place of freedom, self-expression, peace, and strangers coming together as family. What a way to eat, drink and be merry!

    Next up on the stage was one the north country’s finest bands, Lucid. Promising more to come later, they played out their day set with sophisticated jams and classy renditions of songs off of their latest album Home is Where We Wanna Grow. With special guest and friend Meadow on stage singing along, the group got the crowd moving and their words of wisdom filled the air, their lyrics like the anthem of the day. Crow Fest mixed things up a bit and invited a local troupe of Samba/Afro-Brazilian dancers along to perform. The ladies of the troupe danced a mesmerizing dance to the drumming of the congas and djembe. Colorful and lively, their energy was infectious and people young and old joined in the performance; the boundary of the performers and crowd disappearing.  Hands clapping, feet stomping, faces painted and smiles all around, the show went on like a sandy storm of color, worldly rhythm and pure joy.

    As dusk approached and the moon finally graced it’s presence upon the land, the true farm vibe was set into motion thanks to The Blind Owl Band. Dubbed “Adirondack Freight Train String Music”, these boys know how to bring any party back to its roots. With their true bluegrass sound, dusty ol’ display of character and hearty following of fans, this band brings a show through town that is hard to forget and the perfect fit for a farmyard get down. With the crowd asking for more, Crow Fest brought Spiritual Rez along for the ride too. With their island sounds that progress into straight up rock and true funk, Spiritual Rez turned the scene into a dance party. Their lyrics inspired and their beats ignited. The music moved on too fast but Lucid kept playing until sunrise and the vegetable fields filled with sleepy campers.

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    Owners of the farm, Ian Ater and Lucas Christenson were busy all day greeting guests, keeping food and drinks flowing and soaking up the sights and sounds that were filling their quiet countryside farm. Crow Fest creates the backdrop for people to come together sharing their homegrown works of art, whether it be food, music, conversation, or any other organic creation. What a fine mix of dreams coming together, supporting your local neighbors in their endeavors to bring the power back to the land, and back to the people.

    Photos by Michele Trifunovski

  • It’s All Good in the Woods! A Review of Backwoods Pondfest 2013

    The city of Peru hosted one of the best kept secrets of Upstate New York on August 2nd and 3rd 2013 at the Twin Ponds Campsite with the music festival Backwoods Pondfest. The intimate music festival was set at the tip of the North Country, only a few exits short of Canada, making for a scenic ride from any direction for dedicated music lovers. Offering weekend tickets as well as single day passes, Friday’s guests were treated with a double rainbow in the early evening after a brief rain shower. Visitors were allowed to select their own campsites with car side camping. Whether in the far off quiet area, woods or grassy field camping, any spot on the festival grounds offered plenty of cool afternoon shade with a full sky view of the bright stars at night. Bands were located either on the Main Stage next to the bright blue school bus, named Lucy (belonging to host band Lucid) or on the Tent Stage, next to the wooded camping, with a soft sandy dance floor.

    Friday

    With a name like Backwoods Pondfest, it wasn’t a surprise that the bearded quartet Blind Owl Band was one of the first bands to start the weekend on the Tent Stage. The Saranac Lake locals consist of Arthur Buezo on guitar, Eric Munley on mandolin, James Ford on banjo and Christian Cardiello on bass. Their aggressive string music mixed with rowdy harmonies greeted festival goers to their neck of the woods with open arms and dancing feet. Spiritual Rez made everyone forget that they were even in New York with their heavy reggae dance music. Toft Willingham spit out rebellious lyrics to the crowd while thrashing about his long blonde hair as Rob O’Block shredded on the guitar. Kory Stanbury on saxophone and Quinn Carson on trombone provided a strong horn section throughout the set as Mohamed Araki surprised fans everywhere with his keytar. Ian Miller kept the party going with a constant quick rhythm and Jesse Shaternick’s lighthearted bass notes. The band has great chemistry as they provide an energetic performance with never ending reggae funk magnitude. Be on the lookout this fall for their new album release, Apocalypse Whenever and upcoming shows at The Catskill Chill and Wormtown Festival.

    For the past seven years, Backwoods Pondfest has been hosted by the Adirondack “Woods Rock” band known as Lucid. Their sound is unique as it varies from classic rock to blues to funky jazz to reggae and even doo-wop, a little something for everyone. With the festival set in their neck of the woods, Lucid has a dedicated fan base that overflowed from underneath the Tent Stage on Friday night. “Whiskey Dream”, with steady beats and cymbals from Kyle Murray was a crowd favorite as Andy Deller kept the keys at a playful tone. One of the highlights of the set was Kevin Sabourin repeatedly singing out the chorus line, “Friday is the best day of the week because I don’t have to work tomorrow” resulted in a massive tent-shaking sing along. Lowell Wurster blared off on his harmonica especially during “Backwoods”, a song meant for that weekend.

    Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad sent out a psychedelic reggae groove that made it easy for fans to dance all night. The band, hailing from Rochester, consists of James Searl on bass, Chris O’Brian playing drums, Dylan Savage and Dan Keller on guitar and Tony Gallicchio on keys who bring a laid back vibe that relaxes and recharges listeners at the same time. The night was set ablaze from the fire spinners and jugglers from Cosmic Karma Fire located to the left of the Main Stage.

    Jimkata lit up the Tent Stage with their electrifying rock that is similar to a Mario Bros. soundtrack for adults, complete with beeps, boops and mind melting instrumental jams. It’s no wonder this up and coming Upstate New York band from Ithaca has been building up fans on their busy summer tour with big performances at Summer Camp and Gathering of the Vibes. The end of the night performance at the Main Stage was from the experimental techno funk group, Dopapod. Keyboardist Eli Winderman, drummer Neal ‘Fro’ Evans, guitarist Rob Compa and Chuck Jones on bass swirled together a set that was full of funky melodies with robotic harmonies and pure reckless rock.

    Saturday

    Few things taste better than fresh music in the morning. The Chronicles from Albany opened up the Main Stage with set full of hot hip hop and sweet jazz served best for a Saturday morning after an all night rager. The Metroland, Albany’s alternative newsweekly, acknowledged them as “Best of Jazz” in 2012 and 2013, paying tribute to their unique blend of all things jazz, funk and gospel. Tyrone Hartzog displays a cascade of notes as he glides over the keys. One of the best things about The Chronicles is their unpredictable jams, especially with the horn section of Bryan Brundige on trombone and Jeff Nania on saxophone. Daniel Lawson sneaks in the heavy bass notes and with Justin Henricks strumming along gives the way to a rockin funk wave. Andrae Surgick keeps a steady and chill rhythm that sends plenty of cymbals sparks flying.

    Rack Em Let’s Go! definitely catches your attention with their band name alone but their music will stay with you way after their show. Exploding out of Boston, the rock and roll quartet gave a high energy performance, combining old school rock with a twist of modern soul and funk. Switching up the scene on the Main Stage was Fikus, delivering an electronic rock show with complete with funky harmonies and fast paced extraterrestrial melodies. Catch Fikus this coming weekend at Bella Terra Music Festival in Stephentown, NY. The Capital District’s top jam band Formula 5 steamed up the Tent Stage with their original dance heavy tunes plus a hot rendition of Phish’s “Sand” with guest appearance by Justin Henricks of The Chronicles on guitar.

    A music festival isn’t complete without a Grateful Dead cover band these days and Backwoods Pondfest booked the best one in Upstate New York, The Garcia Project. The Saratoga Springs locals provided fans with an easy listening afternoon full of their favorite Dead songs, especially a treasured version of “Tangled up in Blue” with haunting vocals from Mik Bondy and Kat Walkerson. Capital Zen played a hard hitting set under the tent with uncontrollable beats from Rye Wylie, reckless guitar from Terry Scoville and wild bass bombs from Tony Leombruno.

    Fans were left speechless from the first few soulful notes belted out from Jennifer Hartswick and especially during an extraordinary cover of the Talking Heads’ “This Must be the Place (Naïve Melody)” and Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine”. The Jennifer Hartswick Band overflows with musical energy that carries its own direction.

    Electronic hip hop trio Sophistafunk tore the Tent Stage to pieces with bass heavy notes from Adam Brown, groovy beats from Emanuel Washington and robust vocals from Jack Brown. Afterwards, one of the founding fathers of funk, Bernie Worrell, gave a thunderous performance on the Main Stage with his heart stopping piano solos. The Bernie Worrell Orchestra lays out the funk, one layer at time, each grooving into the next twilight zone. Later, the Vermont based quartet Twiddle carried out the party vibe onto the Tent Stage and through the crowd. Their improvisational jams can start with a heavy rock feel then blasting into a reggae melody all with a fiery passion. Keeping with tradition, Lucid ended the festival weekend with their annual second set to close the Main Stage. It was a true free for all as festival goers, staff members and musicians danced together to the unrelenting and lively music of Lucid.

    Throughout the weekend, musicians and fans alike had nothing but positive feedback about the festival given the wide range of musical talent and beautiful scenery. Amid a very chill environment where festival goers formed a close knit bond, dedicated music lovers reveled in their adventure up north to Backwoods Pondfest.

  • Backwoods Pondfest 2013 Announces Band Schedule

    On August 2-3, 2013 at Twin Ponds Campsite in Peru, New York the 7th Annual Backwoods Pondfest will take place, with a weekend slate of live music, camping, art and fun. The festival includes several face-melting bands from throughout the Upstate Region featured on two stages. Performers include Dopapod, Jennifer Hartswick Band, Twiddle, The Garcia Project, Jimkata, Sophistafunk, Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad, Blind Owl Band, Capital Zen and Buffalo’s own Aqueous.

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    Backwoods Pondfest 2013 offers some things the larger festivals don’t like car-camping, campfires, and reasonably priced Saturday Only tickets ($50) for those who can’t make it both days. Fire spinners, food vendors, craft & novelty vendors and many more will be on hand throughout the weekend.

    The cost for a weekend pass is $65 in advance or $80 at the gate.  Tickets can be purchased through the Backwoods Pondfest website.

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    In additional to the art and entertainment, Strangers Helping Strangers will also be hosting a food drive at Backwoods Pondfest. Strangers Helping Strangers is a nonprofit organization that provides organization, support and resources to care for those less fortunate by setting up food drives at concerts and festivals. After the event they deliver the supplies to local food banks, pantries and shelters.

    To download a venue map or printable map with driving directions please visit the festival’s website www.backwoodspondfest.com/info.html

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  • Hearing Aide: This Train I Ride is Made of Wood and Steel: The Blind Owl Band

    As original as the title, The Blind Owl Band presents their sophomore disc. A distinct set of vocal accompaniment would have one wondering if Tom Waits dropped in (he didn’t) for a batch of fiery bluegrass and dirty jams.  Using traditional instrumentation, Arthur Buezo (guitar, vocals), Eric Munley (mandolin, vocals), James Ford (banjo, vocals) and Christian Cardiello (bass), all transplants to Saranac Lake, NY, draw upon their youthful influences mostly defined by their fathers’ flare for the good stuff.  This Train I Ride is Made of Wood and Steel is a testament to their past whilst forging a path where their sound is becoming uniquely their own.

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    “Sailor Song,” whether intentional or not, exemplifies the magical undercurrent of the past popping up in today’s music.  The disc intro gives a nod to a “House of the Rising Sun” look alike, but only for a few seconds.  From this point forward, the disc launches into a fun-filled, fast-paced, barnburner, ho-down of a good time.  They give a breather by slowing it down in “Missing My Home,” where Eastbound Jesus’, “Holy Smokes!” is given accolades.  A bass solo introduces “Jazzy McGee,” in a tune that sounds just like its title.  A neat little contrast in The Blind Owl Band is the depth of the tenor and bass vocals and the high-pitched use of the mandolin, where a balance is met and the band is defined.

    The Blind Owl Band is quickly gaining attention by both fans and other, well known musicians. Performing around the northeastern territory, rich in roots Americana, has helped launched these bearded boys in musical stardom.  With a new disc underway, an album release tour is scheduled.  Please visit The Blind Owl Band for a list of tour dates.

    Key Tracks: Missing My Home, Cherry Tree, Rain On

  • Classic Ominous Seapods Shows Resurface on Archive.org

    In the past few months, a group on Facebook of Ominous Seapods Fans have had the benefit of having first listen to OS shows that were, for the first time since the original performance, transferred and uploaded to Archive.org. Thanks to Rich Lemire, Taper Wayne and a lot of patience, these recordings are now free for fans of the Seapods to download or stream at their leisure.

    To get an idea of what went into this task – unearthing and uploading shows from 15-20 years ago, Publisher Pete Mason talked with Rich Lemire about the process, the history and technology behind these classic recordings of The Ominous Seapods.

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    Pete Mason: Take me back – you were clearly an early Seapods fan. What were the early shows like, especially as the fan base began to grow around the state?

    Rich Lemire: The shows were always a lot of fun! From the very first time I met the guys, you could just tell that they were a lot of fun to hang with and while they were serious about their music, they were just as serious about having some fun! You could tell that they were having a great time playing together and finding their sound as a band.

    The first year or two I saw them, I only caught them in Albany and Plattsburgh, so I couldn’t really comment on any other shows they were playing elsewhere. But they were either a bit on the intimate side like they were in Albany, when they were establishing themselves after they moved here, to totally rowdy affairs when they would return to Plattsburgh, their original stomping grounds in college.

    PM: How many shows would you estimate you saw? How many would you estimate you taped?

    RL: While the band was together and a touring unit, I would estimate I saw roughly 300 shows, most of them during the four year period I was working with them. I’d say roughly seventy-five percent of those shows I saw were taped.

    PM: The tapes – currently, they are mostly from 1992 and a few from the later 1990s. Why did they only come to light now?

    RL: Most of the Seapods shows I recorded and want to archive digitally are from late 1991 when I first saw the band, through the summer of 1997, with some random shows from 1998-2001 thrown in. It’s just time for them to be digitized and shared, you know? They’ve been sitting in tape racks the entire time, some I haven’t listened to in almost 20 years. Their conversion only came to light recently after a couple of conversations I had with their former sound engineer Marty, and TaperWayne who was Conehead Buddha’s archivist while they were together during the ‘90s and early ‘00s. Marty and I had a conversation during the setbreak of a Phish show at Madison Square Garden a little while back, about the band being on indefinite hiatus now that Dana is in Australia, and that it would be really great to preserve the recorded legacy of the band.

    I had given thought to doing it for a quite a while beforehand, but it always came down having the time to deal with it. To create the digital files, it’s a real time process to play the audio cassettes and create the tracks digitally. And that’s where TaperWayne comes in!

    I need to say that Wayne’s effort has really been the key to this project, and I’m thankful he is into the project as much as he is!! He’s totally psyched to help get the shows converted and added to the Live Music Archive, just to get them out there for people to hear. We’re old friends and he’s out in Wisconsin these days, so it’s just great to just keep in regular touch while working on it. We eventually want to convert and upload more shows down the road, from other bands I was seeing and recording, like Moon Boot Lover, God Street Wine, Shockra and a bunch of others in my archives from the ‘90s. It just made the most sense to start with the Ominous Seapods archives.

    PM: How were these shows recorded, taped and transferred?

    RL: The shows were recorded mostly by just taking a feed directly from the soundboard right to the tape deck. Some of the earlier shows I taped were audience recording and some of the very early stuff I posted from the archives was passed on to me by Eric Buecken, the band’s manager at the time, when he was stepping away from handling the band’s affairs.

    The majority of the Ominous Seapods shows that I recorded were on Sony D5 or D6 cassette decks, some were recorded on a home cassette deck in instances where I was dealing with repairs on mine or another taper friend was borrowing it to run multiple decks at Grateful Dead or Phish shows they were hitting. Towards the end of recording them and for the most part taping regularly, I started dabbling in some DAT recording, either using either a Sony D3 or Sony D7.

    All of my recordings that have been posted so far have been transferred by Wayne, using a deck he has that is specifically used for archiving purposes. From the cassette playback, he extracts the audio files from the cassettes and creates the digital files in .WAV format in a program called Audacity. From there, he does some clean up or normalization to the files as needed and converts them to FLAC files in a program called CDWave. FLAC is an acronym for Free Lossless Audio Codec. It’s a format much like an MP3 or WAV file, but it’s lossless, meaning that the audio is compressed without any loss in quality. From there, one of us uploads the FLAC files to the Live Music Archive or to etree if the band is not on the Archive.

    PM: Are there any shows that have stand out among the shows you are sharing, or any shows that you have specific memories from?

    RL: As you can probably imagine a lot of those nights 15-20 years ago are a total blur now, as some of them were a blur back then! Ha ha! We’re only two batches of tapes into the conversion project, so were really just getting started. So while I can’t say anything that we’ve done yet has really stood out for me personally, what has been cool with this project so far, at least to me, is to hear the progression that some of the older songs they played made as they continued to play them through the years, maturing as musicians and as a band. I am really looking forward to re-listening to some of the shows from 1994, which is when I felt the band really became the well-oiled machine they were. This was about a year after Ted joined the band. They had evolved into a really tight unit writing some great tunes and putting on some great rock shows! I hope people are really digging checking out these shows, as much as Wayne and I have been converting them. There’s much more to come!!

    Here are the first batch of Ominous Seapods shows that have been released on Archive.org. We’ll update this list as more shows are uploaded.

    Bogie’s, Albany, 11/15/91
    Bogie’s, Albany, 12/20/91
    Bogie’s, Albany, 10/30/92
    Aiko’s, Saratoga Springs, 1/4/92
    P.B. Finnan’s, Plattsburgh, 4/24/92
    Bogie’s, Albany, 5/2/92
    Bogie’s, Albany, 6/6/92
    P.B. Finnan’s, Plattsburgh, 10/17/92
    P.B. Finnan’s, Plattsburgh, 11/7/92
    Rhinecliff Hotel, Rhinecliff, 11/20/92
    Bogie’s, Albany, 3/11/94
    Bogie’s, Albany, 2/25/95
    Bellstock, 7/27/97

  • Review: Lucid’s Album Release Party for ‘Home Is Where We Wanna Grow’, June 14

    Anybody who has spent quality time in the North Country and enjoys a bit of live music has heard of Lucid. Their vibrant and multi-faceted musical capacity is enough to make anybody stop for a listen. The band of six celebrated lots of hard work and the connections they have made along the way with their Home is Where We Wanna Grow Album Release Party on Friday, June 14th. The event was held at the infamous and well-loved Waterhole Music Lounge in Saranac Lake.

    The members of this band radiate the friendly, family-like vibe that Upstate New York’s live music scene is known for. They are always on the floor among the crowd before a show and during set breaks, greeting guests and interacting with their fans and this night was no different. As soon as I arrived I could spot percussion and harp player Lowell Wurster and had no problems getting his attention. We chatted for a moment and his excitement about the release of the new album shined. He explained that, “This one is for the people that want to get local. In a world full of so much doom and gloom, we want to represent something good, be people who aren’t just talking about it but actually doing something. We are working together to build good things and create change, and we have some good people helping us to do that.” Referring not only to connections made through live music, but also to the local organic food culture that is so prevalent here in the North Country, one that is getting bigger and better thanks to the people of Fledging Crow Vegetable Farm that the members of Lucid are so respectfully connected to. This is clear in the lyrics of the first song on the album “We can build this thing, from the ground on up, with a little bit of help from everyone”, that are chanted with such truth. Their inspiration and motivation is high and where there is a will, there is a way.

    There was excitement in the air as the band kicked off the night with a welcoming “World Full” that filled the room warm island sounds. They hopped from one genre to the next and busted out a few favorites before moving on to play the new album in its entirety. The songs were so diverse, showing how expansive and sophisticated their music abilities truly are. Every person at The Waterhole was dancing to the beats and singing along and I found myself in the middle of it all. During the new song “Highest Vibration”, the dance party turned into a 1950’s get-down. To my right I saw many familiar faces and to my left couples in Harley Davidson attire, the crowd as diverse as the music. There was truly something here for everyone. Keyboardist and singer Andrew Deller surprised the crowd with his accordion playing, while James Armstrong jazzed up the night with his sax. After a quick setbreak the music began again and some old favorites were played, including “Skipping like a Stone”, “Whoa Mamma”, “Psychedelic Circus” and a solid pair of Talking Heads covers, “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)” and “Psycho killer” , both of which you can always count on hearing.

    These guys have an array of instruments as well as character. They have so much fun on stage and are clearly proud to share their music with anybody who wants to join in and become a piece of their colorful mosaic. Their new album reminds us all why we have a love affair with this band and why the North Country would just not be the same without them.

    Be sure to check out Lucid’s 7th annual Backwoods Pondfest, in Peru, NY on August 2nd-3rd!

    Download Home Is Where We Wanna Grow on iTunes for free

    Read Lindsey Jones’ review of Home is Where We Wanna Grow

  • Album Review: Lucid’s “Home is Where We Wanna Grow”

    I first experienced Lucid about a year ago at a sushi restaurant after one of the Phish shows at SPAC. They had been on my radar for several years, as they regularly toured Upstate NY, but I had never had the pleasure until that night. I was excited to learn that they were working on a third album, Home is Where We Wanna Grow. With two solid studio albums under their belt, 2005’s Miles Deep and 2009’s Dewdmanwah, as well as a live album, extensive tour dates and their own festival, Backwoods Pondfest, the timing of this album is perfect.

    Home is Where We Wanna GrowHome is Where we Wanna Grow is a diverse mix of genres, instruments, vocals as well as intensity. Lyrically, the album is an intricately blended mix of tongue  in cheek humor, observation and inner reflection. Songs range from the bouncy and hard-hitting “Boats” to the soulful and searching “Purple Moon”.

    Lucid brings distinct musical personalities and feels to each song; “Parisian Melancholy” brought thoughts of a Paris street, while “Highest Vibration” felt like a song one would hear at a 1950’s sock hop. Even ska made an appearance in “Green Money”. I was impressed with the thoughtfulness of their lyrics, as well as the care that they took with each song, making it truly a holistic listening experience. Overall this album offers a wonderful overview of all that Lucid offers, and I am excited to see them live again soon.

    Pick up their new album at their release party, Friday June 14th at the Waterhole in Saranac Lake or at their website www.rulucid.com. You can also check out Lucid’s festival, Backwoods Pondfest, August  2-3 in Peru, NY.

    Key Tracks: Ground on Up, Boats, Pterodactyl Lips

  • Lucid at Saranac Lake’s Winter Carnival, February 9th at The Waterhole – Full Show Video

    Back at the Waterhole for the final edition of Winter Carnival 2013, the North Country’s biggest act, Lucid, closed out the night of music accompanied by Flabbergaster with their mix of party rock. The music of Lucid is a mix of jamming, blues, rock, and funk that brings an awesome party sound rarely found elsewhere, especially in Upstate. Kevin Sabourin on guitar, Lowell Wurster on percussion, Jamie Armstrong on saxophone, Chris Shacklett on bass, Andy Deller on keys and Kyle Murray on drums make up this sprawling act that meshes together with ease. One of the notable parts of the night was when the band brought out proud dad George Wurster to belt out some tunes and wail on the mouth harp, just like his son Lowell. All of the tunes were fantastic, especially the cover of War’s “Why can’t we be Friends”, as well as Chris Shacklett playing earlier in the day with The Blind Owl Band and covering “Psycho Killer” by Talking Heads.

    Video footage by Ryan Woodard

    For more on Lucid, visit their website, MySpace, Sonicbids and Youtube sites.

    Thanks for watching listing and stay tuned for more coverage of more great Upstate NY bands!

  • Listen to the new Formula 5 album

    Formula 5, one of the fastest up and coming acts in the Capital District are about to release their debut, self-titled album, and has your first listen to these tracks. If you don’t know about Formula 5, here’s a primer from an interview with the band last fall.

    formula 5 albumAs for the tracks, take a listen below. We’ll have a full review later this month, so take a listen to a solid debut album from Formula 5, and catch them for their CD Release show on March 2nd at Red Square in Albany with Funktional Flow from Buffalo supporting. They are also playing on February 15th with Vasudo at Acoustic Cafe in Bridgeport, CT; March 1st with Funktional Flow at The Monopole in Plattsburgh; March 12th with Assortment of Crayons at Oasis Cafe in New Paltz; March 22nd at The Waterhole in Saranac Lake with Project Weather Machine; and May 11th at Upstate NY’s first BIG outdoor event of the year – The Upstate Spring Revival in Lyons, NY

  • The 2013 Saranac Lake Winter Carnival, February 1st-10th

    The Saranac Lake Winter Carnival will take place February 1st-10th, 2013. Back in 1897, The first “Mid-Winter Carnival” began as a way to enjoy outdoor recreational activities such as skiing, sledding, and skating in the coldest days of winter. That inaugural  2 day event featured skating races, a parade and an ice tower. The following year, the first Ice Palace was constructed from blocks of ice from Lake Flower’s Pontiac Bay. Today, the The Ice Palace stands as both the centerpiece and symbol for the Winter Carnival.

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    Another long standing tradition at Winter Carnival is the Waterhole‘s live music series. Each night of Carnival, Waterhole features the region’s top bands and/or local favorites. This year’s lineup is top notch, check out the flier below and hopefully we’ll see you there!

    waterhole-wc