Tag: Music News

Cattle Decapitation and Phish Meet as Garbage Dick

Recently at Club Metronome in Burlington, musical worlds collided when Phish drummer Jon Fishman collaborated with members of Cattle Decapitation, King Parrot, Black Crown Initiate and Dark Sermon, merging for a performance under the name Garbage Dick.

Cattle Decapitation bassist Derek Engemann posted this picture with Phish drummer Jon Fishman.

Played a random set for GARBAGE DICK with Mr. Jon Fishman from Phish #cattledecapitation #phish #garbagedick #quitplayin

A photo posted by Derek Engemann (@derekfuneral) on Oct 2, 2015 at 10:13am PDT

While we await video of this odd performance, go see Cattle Decapitation on tour with Cannibal Corpse as they play several shows across New York state this month including:

Oct 14 @ Emporium Patchogue, NY

Oct 16 @ The Chance Poughkeepsie, NY

Oct 17 @ Lost Horizon Syracuse, NY

October 6, 2015
Perpetual Groove Returns to New York After their Two Year Hiatus

NYS Music would like to welcome back Perpetual Groove, a name that jammers sadly said their goodbyes to after an indefinite hiatus began following their April 5, 2013 show. They head to Brooklyn Bowl on their reunion tour.

Their 2015 comeback shows in at the State Theatre in Petersburg, FL on July 31 and Aug. 1 have only been followed by an Aug. 29 show at the Pisgah Brewery in North Carolina and a two-day set at the Resonance Arts and Music Festival in Ohio on Sept. 25 and Sept. 26.

The Brooklyn Bowl shows on Friday Oct. 9 and Saturday Oct. 10 are their only northeast shows scheduled for 2015, so make sure you purchase your tickets in advance. And if you needed another twist of your arm, the McLovins will be opening Friday night’s show and The Hip Abduction will be opening Saturday.

Tickets: $17 advance / $20 day of show. Doors: 6 p.m. Show: 8 p.m. 21+

October 6, 2015
Update: Battle of the NYC Festivals: Panorama Gains Political Support, Poses Rivalry to Governors Ball, Madison Square Garden Festival Uncertain

In the ongoing development of NYC Festivals news, it was announced recently that key Queens leaders have joined together in support of the proposed Panorama Music Festival, slated to take place a few weeks after Governors Ball. Taking place at the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park (site of the 1939 and 1964 World’s Fairs), the festival is promising to be a big boost for the local community.

Congressman Joseph Crowley (Jackson Heights), and City Councilmembers Julissa Ferreras (Corona), Karen Koslowitz (Forest Hills) and Petter Koo (Flushing) have all made statements favoring the Panorama festival, citing its potential for an economic boost. “The Panorama Music Festival will provide a fantastic opportunity for Queens to take its rightful place as a New York City showcase,” Crowley stated in a press release from Goldenvoice, the festival promoter.

The press release issued by Goldenvoice, a plan is outlined for its commitment to being a sustainable partner for the park with Panorama. The festival plans to offer a three-day medical clinic for local residents (with a capacity of 1,500). Portions of ticket sales will be donated to a newly formed Flushing Meadows-Corona Park Alliance, and the local businesses expect to fair well with the influx of festival goers.

No official date for Panorama has been set yet, although rumors point to mid-June, just a few weeks after and only about seven miles from Governors Ball.

UPDATE 11/3/2015

The New York City summer festival situation is starting to look more like the Triwizard Tournament from Harry Potter. This week the New York Post reported that Madison Square Garden is now seeking permission for a major festival in Queens around the same time as AEG Live has proposed their Panorama festival NYS Music first reported below. Unlike AEG Live’s festival, MSG would keep their festival planning in NY hands. However, this would still pose a risk to the independently-run Governors Ball festival, whose organizers have launched a petition for Mayor DiBlasio to reconsider AEG’s proposal. Founders Entertainment, the NYC-based organizers of Governors Ball and Farmborough on Randall’s Island have not yet commented on MSG’s entry into the festival circuit.

Original posting:

New York City has seen a rise in the music festival scene in recent years, most notably with the Electric Zoo festival and the increasingly popular Governors Ball festival held on Randall’s Island.

Recently the promoters of Coachella, AEG Live, have been eyeing a location for a major festival opposite the East River from Manhattan in Flushing Meadows, Queens – Corona Park to be more specific. It would be one of the borough’s largest events since the 1964 World’s Fair. The organizers of the festival are showing they are ambitious, already in preliminary talks with artists who could be on the lineup.

A second major alternative festival in NYC would be a welcome addition. Governors Ball has been sold out in advance of the festival for the past few years, showing that the interest and demand for a weekend of live music is strong and even growing. As most major events do, the new festival would likely help the local economy out but could come with concerns for short-term headaches arising from festival traffic and other municipal demands.

Governors Ball, which has only been around since 2011, has claimed a stronghold in the festival scene with solid lineups spanning alternative and indie genres. Ticket demand for GovBall show that it shouldn’t be competing with what would be a similar festival taking place not too far away on the western end of Long Island. The only problem: This new festival, tentatively dubbed Panorama, may occur two weeks after Governors Ball (which has taken root to the first weekend in June) and could draw attendance away from the independently-run festival.

Founders Entertainment, which runs Governors Ball and the newer FarmBorough festival, is an independent music and brand promoter based out of NYC. AEG Live is a global sporting and music entertainment promoter based out of Los Angeles, second in scale to Live Nation.

(Some details taken from the New York Daily News.)

October 2, 2015
Former Jillian’s Building Purchased at Steep Discount

The former Albany home of sports bar and adult arcade Jillian’s from 1999 to 2012 was purchased last month by two locally established bar and restaurant owners who have a vision of turning the space into a bar and music hall on the first floor, with a dance club upstairs.

The 34,000-square foot building at 59 North Pearl St. is located not far from the Palace Theatre and the Times Union Center, and it’s right in the middle of many bars and clubs in Albany’s downtown area.

Chris Pratt and Alessio Depoli own the Pearl Street Pub, Barrel Saloon, The Capital American Eatery and Public House in Albany. The duo bought the Jillian’s building for just $855,000, a big discount from the more than $2 million the former owner, New York Business Development Corp., had reportedly been seeking. The NYBDC is a nonprofit that uses its sway to work with banks to help local economic growth by facilitating deals. In 2010, it acquired the building for $2.3 million.

“We see this as an investment in downtown Albany,” Pratt told the Times Union last month. “The building cost far less than (Spillenger) paid for it, and it hasn’t deteriorated very much at all.”

He also said that he has had offers to make similar moves in Schenectady and Troy, but he cited Albany’s recent growth as the reason he chose the city.

Pratt added that he will need to invest more than $100,000 into the building’s infrastructure, and he’s hopeful he can have the doors opened before the end of the year.

The building has a few apartments on the top floor. Pratt said he’s looking into making the basement, where the arcade used to be, into a fully functional workout center.

October 2, 2015
Phish Release 11/22/94 Archive Show

In the middle of their 47-show U.S. tour in 1994, Phish stopped at the University of Missouri on a Tuesday and blew the roof off the place, and phans will now be able to relive the classic show in high quality with a new Live Phish release of 11/22/94

The “Buried Alive” opener comes in flying with a brisk transition to a clean and excitable “Poor Heart,” followed by a beautiful, vocally top-notch “Horn” > “Foam.” In addition to that hungry-energy unique to ’90s Phish, this show is extra special with its heavy doses of bluegrass thanks to the band’s five-day intensive training sessions not long before this show with Aquarium Rescue Unit’s Jeff Mosier.

The band’s infatuation with bluegrass at the time is clear as day in the second set; a raging “Big Black Fury Creature From Mars” ends acoustic and leads into a “I’m Blue, I’m Lonesome” > “Little Tiny Butter Biscuits” > “My Long Journey Home” before resolving into an exceptionally patient “Bowie.” And the “Lizards” encore? Sprinkles on the icing on the cake.

The show was recorded by Paul Languedoc to digital multitrack and was mixed/mastered by Jon Altschiller. The sound quality is crystal, and even the crowd noise is a nostalgia overload, putting the listener in an intimate small auditorium setting with the band that is now gearing up for their return to Madison Square Garden for a four-night New Year’s run.

The new release is available through LivePhish and the LivePhish App. Tickets for this year’s MSG shows are available today at noon EST through Ticketmaster.

October 2, 2015
DMX Now a Hip IHop Artist

Where My Hot Dogs At? No, the headline is not a misprint. Yes, rap artist DMX was seen working at a Buffalo-area IHop flipping some chicken fajita omelettes. But as of right now, the troubled hip hop star has no plans on working at the fast food breakfast chain.

In fact, DMX, who decided to stay in the Buffalo area after his early release from prison on Friday, was at the restaurant to meet his manager.

DMX was so impressed with his meal that he wanted to go in the kitchen and thank the cooks. When he did, the rap star became so friendly with the cooks that he decided to pick up a pan and crack some eggs. He even put an IHOP employee’s nametag on his shirt while he mastered the grill.

DMX was incarcerated near Buffalo for child support issues.

On January 25, 2018, Earl Simmons, better known as DMX, played B.B. King Blues Club in NYC shortly before the venue permanently closed its doors. Despite his late arrival, DMX managed to put on a great show and win back the restless crowd that waited hours for him to arrive.

The crowd went crazy when he finally came out, but many were skeptical if he was going to be able to perform due to his recent issues with substance abuse. DMX proved everyone wrong who doubted him as he started his set with the hard hitting “We Right Here.” He sounded like he did in ’98, the year his first album, It’s Dark and Hell is Hot came out.

Read more at NYS Music…

October 1, 2015
SU Organist Annie Laver to Play in Troy Friday

The Syracuse Alumni Club of the Capital District and the American Guild Of Organist are teaming up to bring a special music outing from Annie Laver to Troy.

Laver is an instructor at Syracuse University‘s Eastman School of Music, where she also acts as coordinator of Organ Outreach Programs and Events for the Department of Organ, Sacred Music, and Historical Keyboards, which included running the annual Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative Festival, as well as directing summer organ institutes for high school students and a retreat for Eastman organ alumni.

She frequently performs solo organ recitals in the United States and Europe.

Annie Laver will perform music from Bach, Mozart, Judith Bingham, Pärt and Vierne at the First Presbyterian Church located on 1915 Fifth Ave. in Troy this Friday, Oct. 2, starting at 7:30 p.m. The church’s pipe organ was originally a 1907 Hutchings & Votey (Boston) instrument, though it has seen substantial rebuilding in 1962, 1981 and 2001.

Admission is free, though the Syracuse Alumni Club of the Capital District will be gladly accepting donations.

October 1, 2015
Holly Bowling to Perform Solo Phish Renditions at Saint Rose

Classically trained pianist Holly Bowling will perform her re-imagined Phish songs for the Capital District with an event to take place at the Massry Center for the Arts at The College of Saint Rose on Wednesday, Oct. 28. The two-and-a-half-hour show will start at 7:30 p.m., with tickets costing between $10-$20.

Bowling began playing piano when she was 5 years old. Holly has attended more than 300 Phish shows and became obsessed by their famous July 2013 rendition of “Tweezer” from Lake Tahoe. This event possessed Holly to transcribe the 37-minute improvisational masterpiece into a solo piano arrangement.

Even though the process is painstaking, Holly’s inspiration to transform other Phish songs, along with well-known live jams, into solo piano interpretations has left her feeling fulfilled.

These events eventually helped lead Bowling to her debut album, Distillation Of A Dream: The Music Of Phish Reimagined For Solo Piano, which is a two-disc set that features 15 tracks. Three of those songs were transcribed from live renditions, including the Tahoe “Tweezer.”

Bowling’s arrangements are not just tributes to the modern day kings of jam, but are considered as fully developed classical pieces.

September 29, 2015
Pope Francis Set to Release First Album In November

While Pope Francis was en route to Madison Square Garden to say mass on Sept. 25, the Vatican announced a new album, Wake Up!, from His Holiness will be released on Nov. 27. The album is available for pre-order on iTunes now.

The first single from the pontiff’s debut, titled “Wake Up! Go! Go! Forward!” was posted on Soundcloud earlier in the day:

“Wake Up! Go! Go! Forward!”

Prog Rock musician and former Van Der Graaf Generator collaborator Tony Pagliuca composed several tracks on the album. Producer Don Giulio Neroni has been the musical guiding force behind releases from Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI in addition to his work on the new Pope Francis venture.

Since being elected in 2013, Pope Francis has created a sense of renewed energy in the Catholic church and beyond. The creation of this album, using popular music, is another way for him to spread his message and is sure to top the charts upon release.

Pope Francis wrapped up his historic visit to the U.S. this past weekend in Philadelphia.

Wake Up! Track List

1. “Annuntio Vobis Gadium Mangum”
2. “Salve Regina”
3. “Laudato Sie…”
4. “Poe Que’ Sufren Los Ninos”
5. “Non Lasciatevi Rubare La Speranza!”
6. “La Iglesia No Puede Ser Una Ong!”
7. “Wake Up! Go! Go! Forward!”
8. “La Fa Es Entera, No Se Licua!”
9. “Pace! Fratelli!”
10. “Per La Famiglia”
11. “Fazei O Que Ele Vos Disser”

September 27, 2015
Jeanne Sagan Departs All That Remains

Bassist Jeanne Sagan of All That Remains has decided to part ways from her metal brothers after 10 years in the band to pursue other opportunities and personal interests.

all that remains – photo via band

All That Remains will continue to tour and support their new album The Order Of Things with new bassist Aaron Patrick, who has played for the likes of Bury Your Dead, DevilDriver and Lamb of God to name a few.

Sagan stated on Facebook that leaving All That Remains leaves her with a heavy heart, but in the end she has decided to follow her heart and pursue other opportunities in life. Jeanne Sagan also stated that she truly appreciates the amazing experiences and great fans over the last decade. She then wished All That Remains all the best going forward.

All That Remains frontman Phil Labonte explained on social media that after nearly 10 years, Sagan has decided to close the ATR chapter in her life. Labonte went on to say that everyone in ATR wishes her nothing but happiness and success in any and all of her future endeavors.

Labonte announced that Aaron Patrick will take over the bass duties for the upcoming Hard Drive Live Fallout Tour. Labonte said the band was excited to announce Patrick as the new bass player. He said Aaron has been a friend for years and, “We’re sure he’s going to be the perfect fit and considering his musical history, Labonte thinks Patrick will add a new cool dimension to ATR’s sound moving forward.”

Aaron Patrick stated that he is beyond excited to step in and play bass for All That Remains. Aaron further stated that they have toured with each other over the years and have become close friends, so the family element is already there.

September 26, 2015