Category: Capital Region

Sonic Boom: Cage the Elephant Stampedes Albany’s Palace Theatre

“We’re not going to have any of that sitting down shit,” announced Cage the Elephant’s guitarist, Brad Shultz, during the band’s May 11 show at the Palace Theatre. Staying true to this promise, the Kentucky rock band delivered a stand-up spirited and dynamic two-hour performance — with frontman Matt Schultz constantly careening around the stage — that literally kept the crowd on its feet.

Originally planned for the Times Union Center, the concert was moved to the Palace Theatre earlier this month, and ticket holders were granted general admission seating in the floor and balcony sections of the historic Albany venue.

The night began with the Oklahoma-based indie group, Broncho, who is expected to release a new album, Double Vanity, on June 10. Portugal. The Man followed with an energetic performance that primed the crowd with excited anticipation for the night’s headliner; stand-out highlights include “Modern Jesus,” “Purple Yellow Red and Blue” and a familiar melody heard toward the set’s end that teased the Beatles “I Want You (She’s So Heavy).”

Cage the Elephant opened with “Cry Baby” from their most recent album, Tell Me I’m Pretty (2015), and soon after played “Spiderhead” off of the Grammy-nominated Melophobia (2013). The audience sang along to every word of “Spiderhead,” as Matt Shultz danced and strutted across the stage. His energy was relentless throughout the night, as the lights flashed in sync with the beat of the drums and reached to the balcony with colorful designs.

Toward the middle of their set, they played the crowd-pleasing hits “Trouble” and “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked.” As the night progressed, individuals attempted crowd surfing or jumped on stage themselves to join the band. This didn’t seem entirely discouraged by security, or the band themselves; throughout it all, Matt Schultz displayed unyielding stamina that never slowed down or stopped. They closed the show with the popular tune “Come A Little Closer,” before performing a three-song encore.

Coming back before the encore, Brad Schultz led the audience in a sing-along for touring guitarist Nick Bockrath’s birthday. This was followed by more group singing during “Cigarette Daydreams” with the lead singer holding his microphone stand out to the audience, and again for “Shake Me Down.” As the evening came to a close, more and more individuals jumped on and off stage.

For the last song of the evening, Matt Schultz remarked, “let’s see how many of you we can fit on this stage,” which led to a surge of audience members in floor seating to rush the stage. A mass of people joined the band, dancing along, as Matt and the rest of the gang became nearly indistinguishable among the crowd, while closing with “Teeth.”

Cage the Elephant delivered an unyielding, frenzied performance. Despite sporadic issues with the sound, it will remain as a memorable concert moment, particularly due to lead singer Matt Shultz’s resilience and energy throughout the Wednesday evening Palace Theatre performance.

Set list: Cry Baby, In One Ear, Spiderhead, Take It or Leave It, Aberdeen, Too Late to Say Goodbye, Cold Cold Cold, Trouble, Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked, Mess Around, Punchin’ Bag, Telescope, Back Against the Wall, It’s Just Forever, Come A Little Closer

Encore: Cigarette Daydreams, Shake Me Down, Teeth

May 18, 2016
Fit for a Queen: Holly Bowling Closes Massry Season with a Thriller

A couple years ago, few knew of Holly Bowling. The unassuming Phish fan — a classically trained pianist with a love of improvisational music — was just going about her life. And that life would be changed on July 31, 2013, when Phish dropped a 37-minute “Tweezer” opus in Lake Tahoe.

How are the two connected? Well, Bowling decided to transcribe the improvised jam note-for-note and arrange it for the piano. Her YouTube video has been viewed more than 65,000 times, and spawned her album Distillation of a Dream, which is full of Phish songs reimagined for the piano.

Fast forward to the present, and Bowling has some time under her belt on the road, taking her act of just herself and a piano across the country. On May 12, Holly Bowling headlined the Massry Center for the Arts on the College of Saint Rose campus in Albany, becoming the first person ever to perform at the venue twice in one season. (Side note: This is the second time in a week I was lucky enough to see her live. She played a benefit at Garcia’s at the Capitol Theater ahead of Twiddle’s headlining show last Saturday.)

To a crowd of enthusiasts in a space with room to move, Bowling jumped right into Phish’s “Pebbles and Marbles,” with her form-fitting black dress a near perfect compliment to St. Rose’s black baby grand piano. With an iPad affixed inches from her eyes, Bowling locked in with the focus of a baseball player at bat down by a run in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Aside from the lights, which were provided by Buffalo’s Craig Freudenthal, and the songs, Bowling’s show couldn’t be any more different than what Phish does dozens of times each year. At one point, the green lights providing the backdrop appeared to look like the outside of Hampton Coliseum, a place Phish fans know well.

“Train Song” was next, before Bowling explained that recently, she’s been transcribing Grateful Dead songs. On that note began my all-time favorite song ever written by anyone, the Phil Lesh-penned “Unbroken Chain.” “Theme From the Bottom,” a passionate “Wharf Rat,” “Roggae” and June 18, 1974’s “Eyes of the World”>”China Doll” closed out the hour-long set.

The second set began with “A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing” from Phish’s run at Saratoga Performing Arts Center in June, 2004, which featured a prominent “Piper” tease. To everyone’s delight, Bowling ripped into the entire “Terrapin Station” suite, which took us to the close of the second set. “Slave to the Traffic Light” was a fitting encore to a wonderfully unique experience.

But wait — Bowling wasn’t done. Just after announcing she’s working on a new album of Grateful Dead transcriptions, Bowling played a second encore of Phish’s “Taste,” a regular in her setlist. The crowd erupted in applause and Bowling flashed her overly thankful smile, sending everyone out the door in baited exhilaration.

If you get the opportunity to see Bowling, you should not pass it up. Phish fans tend to be supremely passionate about their band, but Bowling has taken that fanaticism to another level with her performances and dedication.

May 17, 2016
Tonight, Dark Star Orchestra is my Grateful Dead

I love the Grateful Dead.

American Beauty changed my life when I was 14. I have a multi-colored 13-point lightning bolt encompassing a New York Yankees logo tattooed on my left shoulder. I have spent, now, more than half my life chasing “Don’t Ease Me In” with any of the countless bands featuring Grateful Dead band members since 2000. Sometimes I joke that I put one of Phil Lesh’s kids through college with the amount of money I have spent seeing him.

The number of complaints I have with the amount and quality of Dead music I have been lucky enough to catch is the same number of championships the Boston Red Sox won between 1919 and 2003: 0. I’ve witnessed the living members reunite for a show billed as Deadheads for Obama in 2008; I followed almost the entire 2009 tour; Furthur was one of the best jammy treats of the modern era; lastly, seeing Lesh and Anastasio, by far my two favorite musicians currently on this Earth, perform together nearly 20 times has been beyond elating.

All of this is wonderful, as the spirit of the Grateful Dead has carried on in so many ways — as I’ve bragged about above — but there’s something missing that just about any head in my 2003 high school graduating class will admit: None of us were lucky enough to experience the band with its leader and commander, Jerry Garcia. Sure, some can say they saw the man himself, but being 5 doesn’t allow much to the memory of the full band. Garcia, who died in 1995, was such a force and leader of the band, that no one in my age group can really say they have seen the Grateful Dead.

Enter Dark Star Orchestra, a group of highly talented and devoted musicians who have made a nice living out being THE Dead tribute band.

Tribute band. A lot of people might write it off simply because it’s not the real thing.

Except in this case, DSO is the best Dead band going. Their sound is spot on. If they’re recreating February 22, 1974, they capture the hazy, lazy sound of that era. If it’s a mid-1980s show, Dark Star nails down the speedy, more up-tempo sound the Dead had.

Simply put, you cannot get the true sound and essence of the Grateful Dead today anywhere more than a Dark Star Orchestra show.

On November 22, 2009, I was standing at a urinal in Syracuse, N.Y., at a Phish concert. I looked to my right and did a double take.

“No f—— way! Fake Jerry!” I said, getting a completely genuine grin in return. Peeing next to me was John Kadlecik, original DSO lead guitarist who had recently left the band to play with Lesh and Bob Weir in Furthur. The journalist in me immediately came out, as I asked him blunt questions about leaving to go play with Dead members. He was incredibly nice and said something that has stuck with me ever since.

“I have never played with a more dedicated group of musicians than [the DSO] guys,” he said, adding that they do not skip even a minute detail in bringing, what appears effortlessly, the highest quality show to everyone in attendance.

I have vivid memories of ringing in 2009 with the band at the Ram’s Head in Baltimore. Noodling my way through the crowd, I kept my eyes closed and did not have to pretend any further than that, that I was at a Grateful Dead show. I was 9 when Garcia died, and I oftentimes say that I would give up every single concert experience I have ever had simply to see the Dead with their leader just one time. The phrase, “there’s nothing like a Grateful Dead show” might be the most pure musical statement ever made, according to the numerous people I have interviewed on the topic who have seen the band.

Let’s not get confused here — I am not telling you that DSO today is the equivalent of the Grateful Dead from 1965-1995.

I’m telling you that, in a Garcia-free world, the members of DSO are keeping alive something that so many people hold so close: The Grateful Dead experience. With my eyes closed, I feel like I am hearing what I missed out on.

It’s why I continue to see DSO upward of 10 times per year. Tonight, at the Egg in Albany, Dark Star Orchestra is performing. I get to be anxious at work all day, debating with myself if they’re going to possibly play one of my favorite concerts, or if they will concoct their own setlist.

I get to text my friends in anticipation. I get to see friends I don’t get to see very often these days.

Tonight, I get the Grateful Dead experience.

Tonight, I love Dark Star Orchestra.

May 17, 2016
Gang of Thieves Tour Stops in Utica and Troy

Gang of Thieves will head out on an extensive tour of the Northeast and South with stops at several New York music festivals and shows in Utica and Troy.

Burlington, Vermont-based rockers Gang of Thieves’s spring and summer tour will take them to several stops in New York as well as neighboring states. It brings them back to Lukin’s in Utica on Thursday, May 26. After a tour of North Carolina and South Carolina through the first half of June, they return to the Northeast. They’re back in New York on June 18 to play the River Street Festival in Troy, and they’ll come back to Troy on Aug. 12 for a show on the Captain JP Cruise Line.

Gang of Thieves has several stops in nearby locations in the Northeast including their tour opener on May 20 at Harlow’s Pub in Peterborough, New Hampshire and the following night, May 21, at the Magic Hat Artifactory in South Burlington, Vermont. Following their tour of the South, they return with a show at the Kingdom Taproom in St. Johnsbury, Vermont on June 11. They play the Middle East in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Friday, June 17. A return to Vermont sees them at the Eat More Kale Festival in Montpelier on June 25 before heading to Manchester, Connecticut on July 1 to play the Hungry Tiger. Beer and music lovers will find them at the Stowe Brewers Festival on July 29 in Stowe, Vermont.

They’re making full rounds of the area festivals including Strangecreek on May 27; Buffalove on July 30; the Organic Smiles Festival in Middletown, Connecticut on Aug. 5; Backwoods Pondfest on Aug. 6; and Mazzstock in Marlboro on Aug. 27.

Gang of Thieves tour dates:
May 20 – Harlow’s Pub, Peterborough, NH
May 21 – Magic Hat Artifactory, South Burlington, VT
May 26 – Lukin’s, Utica, NY
May 27 – StrangeCreek Campout, Greenfield, MA
May 29 – Wicked Weed Brewing, Asheville, NC
May 31 – Independent Public Alehouse, Greenville, SC
June 1 – Charleston Pour House, Charleston, SC
June 2 – Visulite Theatre, Charlotte, NC
June 3 – The Pour House Music Hall, Raleigh, NC
June 4 – Bulls Tavern, Winston-Salem, NC
June 11 – Kingdom Taproom, St. Johnsbury, VT
June 17 – Middle East, Cambridge, MA
June 18 – River Street Festival, Troy, NY
June 25 – Eat More Kale Festival, Montpelier, VT
July 1 – Hungry Tiger, Manchester, CT
July 29 – Stowe Brewers Festival, Stowe, VT
July 30 – Buffalove Music Festival, Westfield, NY
August 5 – Organic Smiles Festival, Middletown, CT
August 6 – Backwoods Pondfest, Peru, NY
August 12 – Captain JP Cruise Line, Troy NY
August 27 – Mazzstock, Marlboro, NY

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCn1NfcMBK8[/embedyt]

May 17, 2016
Once at Proctors Captivates with Enchanting Music and Love Story

Think about the first time you heard your favorite band. Remember that feeling when you discovered the way that certain music changes you? Well, that’s the feeling you’ll get again after seeing Once at Proctors.

Once is a musical like no other. You’ll be transported to Ireland – the only set is an intimate Dublin bar that transforms into a music store, a home, a bank, and a music studio just with lighting and the changing of tables and chairs. Most unique about the show is that the actors double as the orchestra, all of them singing and playing their own instruments on stage.

It’s the story of Guy, an Irish street musician and vacuum-cleaner repairman, who is still overcoming a tough breakup. We meet him when he is ready to give up on his music career, until Girl, a Czech singer-pianist, comes along. They begin making music together and quickly change each other’s lives.

Theatre-goers are invited to enjoy the real on-stage bar before the show, and, unlike any Broadway show I’ve seen before, most of the cast comes out about 15 minutes before the show for a jam session. From the very first note, it sets the captivating atmosphere of the evening and reminds you that this isn’t your normal Broadway show.

The house lights didn’t even begin to dim when Sam Cieri, who plays Guy, began the first song of the night, LEAVE. But you become so enveloped in Cieri’s unique voice and the power he puts behind the music, that you don’t even notice when the lights finally go out.

Mackenzie Lesser-Boy, who plays Girl, makes you fall in love with her immediately with her charm and quirky personality. Her chemistry with Cieri is so strong you’ll catch yourself leaning forward in your seat waiting for a kiss between the two.

The Oscar-winning song from the show (and movie the musical is based on), FALLING SLOWLY, is only the second song of the show with a reprise at the end. But in-between, you’ll be immersed in all of the enchanting songs like GOLD, IF YOU WANT ME, and WHEN YOUR MINDS MADE UP.

Once isn’t a Big Broadway show. It doesn’t have big dance numbers or bright costumes. But it does have a real story with real music that will resonate with you, and not just on the drive home. It’ll stay with you when you wake up the next day and go with you into the next week, reminding you of the power of the perfect song. It gives you that feeling like you’ve just discovered the way music can change you, all over again.

When: Now – May 15
Where: Proctors Theatre, 432 State Street Schenectady NY
Tickets: $20-$80 on proctors.org

May 14, 2016
NYS Music presents Phish SPAC after-parties with Mister F and friends

Part of the fun in attending a Phish show is often the plans we make for the before and after parties. For those heading to Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) July 1 to 3 to see the boys, you’re now completely covered.

The Capital Region’s own Mister F will host three nights of after-parties at Nanola in Malta to keep the fun going long after Phish’s encore. Shuttles will be available to and from SPAC – a quick 10-minute ride.

Mister F recently welcomed Mike Candela as new guitarist to a band that formed in 2013 from regional acts Timbre Coup and Capital Zen.

While a schedule is to be determined, they will be joined by the McLovins, Lespecial, Strange Machines and Hayley Jane and the Primates.

Presented by NYS Music, the bread to this Phish sandwich includes pre-parties on Saturday, July 2 and Sunday, July 3.

Nanola features a full bar, great beer selection and traditional pub fare in addition to creole favorites like jambalaya, oysters and po’ boys.

Tickets are available in a variety of options. Shows are $10 per night. Shuttles are also $10. A combo pass including all shuttles and after shows is $50.

Additional details including the daily schedule and ticket information will be announced soon.

May 12, 2016
Catching up with Holly Bowling, Returning to The Massry Center on May 12

Time has flown. It’s been half a year since we last spoke with Holly Bowling, who has been traversing the country performing the music of Phish, The Grateful Dead and more through her classical transcriptions of music from the two, and stops at the Massry Center on May 12.

Since October, Bowling has found herself at two major festivals – Jamcruise, AURA, and performances in New Orleans during Jazz Fest, and is now amid a tour of the Northeast, with stops in Burlington (a birthday show at Higher Ground, May 11), New York City (a midnight set at Blue Note Jazz Club, May 13), and Syracuse (Westcott Theater, May 14).

Holly’s live show has evolved and developed quite a bit over the past six months as she has incorporated more Grateful Dead songs into her shows. Bowling says she “loves how the two catalogs can meld together and allow for an expanded range of musical styles and emotions.”

Beginning last fall, when a show at the the Winery in Pittsburgh, PA, sold out, she quickly added a second show, but wanted something unique for the second night, and decided upon a show not strictly of Phish but also of Grateful Dead songs. Bowling says this is part of what she has found gives her “freedom to improvise into uncharted territory, take risks and see where it leads to, bringing the music to new areas and provide room to grow in the spirit of both of the two bands improvisational histories.”

As a result of this catalog expansion, later this year, Holly will release an album of Grateful Dead songs arranged for classical piano, in a manner similar to her 2015 debut album Distillation of a Dream. Fresh out of the studio weeks ago before last weeks’ New Orleans Jazz Fest and her Northeast Spring Tour, the album’s music is slated to be quite different with a larger focus on improvisation, allowing more space for Holly’s own style of improv to come through, as opposed to Distillation where the songs were much more tightly arranged, closer to the original compositions. “There is a really interesting parallel between the two albums and the mix of the bands and freedom of the songs. It will be interesting to see how that develops in live shows as well as the album,” said Bowling.

2016 began with Jamcruise 14, a first for Bowling both as a fan and performer. “The thing that really blew me away how it’s a multi-day music festival where each band who plays is still there for multiple days; it is unparalleled and special, on the water and in the tropics, it’s all pretty magical. The opportunity for connection and community when everyone is there really sets it apart.”

Bowling recently performed at New Orleans Jazz Fest, having attended as a fan and now for the first time as a performer. A performance at The Little Gem Saloon, was ideal for Bowling: an emerging artists showcase for bands from New Orleans and other areas around the country who shared the bill together. With pianos upstairs and down, Bowling remarked that Little Gem “you have my heart.” Her show at Howling Wolf in the Den, a small room off to the side, was performed in between sets of Turkuaz (covering The Band) and Jazz is Phish (which followed ‘Thankful for Amy,’ a tribute to Amy Winehouse fronted by Elise Testone) “This was a super fun gig to play because the energy was super high. I came on at 2 am and the town and energy were electric and had the best energy going. Turkuaz was a tough act to follow, but I find it easy to get fired up by others and playing music is always a nice segue. I was already in that happy musical head space when I went out for my set.”

Now in the Northeast, Bowling will offer a different show at The Massry Center than last October, factoring in Phish, The Grateful Dead and and “more improvisation, as the show concept has developed and as she’s gotten more comfortable with the music.” The Massry Center, frequently a venue for jazz and classical music, is a premier performance space and with Bowling in the room, the show can push the envelope in terms of the music people are typically seeing. “Bringing in different music to venues that is counter to what type of music typically appears there creates a hybrid of the two musical worlds that I love seeing music in.”

Expect a unique and memorable show on May 12. Tickets are $20 or $10 for students.

May 9, 2016
Twenty One Pilots Announce Tour, Includes Albany and Brooklyn

Twenty One Pilots will play the Times Union Center in Albany on January 25, 2017 as a part of their Emotional Roadshow world tour.

The Twenty One Pilots tour begins in Cincinnati and continues throughout North America. It has already sold out two shows at Madison Square Garden in addition to two nights in Boston.

Twenty One Pilots have garnered much success recently with their hit “Stressed Out,” which has spent months on the Billboard Top 40 chart and won iHeartRadio’s award for Alternative Rock Song of the Year. They’ve also recently received nominations for the 2016 Billboard Music Awards.

Tickets go on sale beginning May 13 at noon, and pricing begins at $46.50. In addition to Albany, they will also play Brooklyn on Jan. 20.

JANUARY
17 Providence, RI Dunkin Donuts Center
18 Bridgeport, CT Webster Bank Arena
20 Brooklyn, NY Barclays Center
21 Newark, NJ Prudential Center
22 Charlottesville, VA John Paul Jones Arena
24 Allentown, PA PPL Center
25 Albany, NY Times Union Center
27 Pittsburgh, PA Consol Energy Center
28 Chicago, IL United Center
29 Moline, IL iWireless Center
31 Madison, WI Alliant Energy Center Memorial Coliseum

FEBRUARY
1 Omaha, NE CenturyLink Center
3 Wichita, KS INTRUST Bank Arena
4 Sioux Falls, SD Denny Sanford Premier Center
7 Bozeman, MT Brick Breeden Fieldhouse
8 Boise, ID Taco Bell Arena
10 San Jose, CA SAP Center
11 Sacramento, CA Golden 1 Center
14 Fresno, CA Save Mart Center
15 Anaheim, CA HONDA Center*
18 Las Vegas, NV Mandalay Bay Events Center
19 Tucson, AZ The Tucson Arena
21 Tulsa, OK BOK Center
22 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
24 Birmingham, AL BJCC Arena
25 Greensboro, NC Greensboro Coliseum Complex
26 North Charleston, SC North Charleston Coliseum
28 Tampa, FL Amalie Arena

MARCH
2 New Orleans, LA Smoothie King Center
3 North Little Rock, AR Verizon Arena
4 Memphis, TN FedEx Forum
5 Louisville, KY KFC Yum! Center
24 Wellington, NZ TSB Bank Arena
25 Auckland, NZ Vector Arena
27 Brisbane, AU Entertainment Centre
29 Adelaide, AU Entertainment Centre
31 Melbourne, AU Rod Laver Arena

https://youtu.be/VRpU9KJmVGs

May 9, 2016
Albany’s Move Redefines Music Festivals

Close your eyes and picture the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the words “music festival.” It’s a safe bet that you’re picturing an outdoor stage, maybe a few. Maybe there’s an accompanying camping area with tents as far as the eye can see. And there’s definitely food and merchant vendors lining the parameter of the grounds. Now erase those images from your mind, because the Move Music Festival in Albany, NY is nothing like this.

Yes, the fifth annual festival held April 22 – 24 featured 100 artists in myriad genres ranging from bluegrass to funk and on to reggae. But with 10 venues in locations across “SmAlbany,” ticket holders have free range in the city with the added comfort of knowing they have their own bed to look forward to at the end of the night.

Bands included The Arkells, Food Will Win the War, Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad, New Madrid, Roots of Creation, The Big Takeover, Hard Soul, The Titanics, Eastbound Jesus, The Parlor, Mirk and tons more.

While some venues did feature outdoor stages under tents, the majority of acts at this Indian ledge Music Group production made home to indoor stages at small to moderate sized bars.

More than live music performances, Move not only gives exposure to regional talent but it provides musicians with insight on how to conduct their careers in today’s independent music scene. In addition to live performances, artist are able to participate in interactive panels with industry professionals to help with the development, management and progression of their music careers.

With so many acts and venues, the Move Music Festival is best experienced firsthand, but below you can re-visit some of the acts that rocked Albany in April.

May 8, 2016
The Show Goes On: WRPI’s Steve Daub Bids Farewell to ‘Stormy Monday Blues’ This Week

It’s a Monday night in Troy, and radio host Steve Daub shuffles into the WRPI studios with a small duffel bag of CDs in hand, ready to pick through some of the new local and national blues records on the shelf. At the top of the 8 o’clock hour, his distinct voice carries the words, “You’re listening to Stormy Monday Blues on WRPI-Troy,” over the intro riff of the blues tune of the same name. This Monday, he will give that intro on the radio one more time.

Steve Daub in the studio, May 2016

Underneath the stadium-style lecture halls of the Darrin Communications Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute resides the university’s radio station. WRPI pumps out music and programming with all sorts of content from the whacky musings of Harmando in the morning to the Capital District EDM staple of DJ Scooter’s “The Sounds of Now” on Friday nights. In between sits many other notable programs, including Steve Daub’s “Stormy Monday Blues.”

Daub began officially hosting the program in April 2000 after co-hosting it with former host Bill Burdick on a few occasions. Just over 16 years later, “Stormy Monday Blues” will again be passed on in a similar fashion. The program was started in the early 1980s by Jim Barrett (River Street Beat Shop, Troy) as a spin-off of his long-running program, “Kaleidoscope,” which currently airs on WVCR at Siena College. Since then, some of the hosts include Dave Thomas, former Smithsonian post-doctoral associate Kip Lornell, and Bill Burdick.

A mainstay of “Stormy Monday Blues” over the past few years has been frequent, live in-studio performances and interviews with local blues artists, some such as Rhett Tyler and Professor Louie & The Crowmatix taking residency status. On top of being a prominent figure in advocating for the patronage of live, local blues performances, this lead to Daub’s November 2012 induction into the NY Blues Hall of Fame.

Soon after Daub’s concurrent retirement from his professional career comes a relocation that will make him unable to make it to the studios to keep doing the show, but he is leaving it in good hands. Regular listeners of the program have become familiar with the new voice of the show over the past few months.

Though Daub is leaving “Stormy Monday Blues” this week, he by no means will part ways with music. While he wraps up some odds and ends around the Capital District through part of the summer, he plans on filling in some air time on WRPI, perhaps making an encore appearance on “Stormy Monday Blues.” He is looking forward to splitting more of his time between New York and New Orleans to take in the rich music scene and culture of the city where he already makes an annual pilgrimage for the New Orleans Jazz Festival, and he may look to pick up some on-air time in the Crescent City at Tulane University or the renowned jazz and blues station WWOZ.

Prof. Louie, a frequent “Stormy Monday Blues” guest, performing at Paramount Hudson Valley in Peekskill, Oct. 29 2015

An inductee of the New York Blues Hall of Fame as a musician (February 2015), Sonny Speed has a wealth of knowledge of the blues, which he will bring with him as the new host of “Stormy Monday Blues.” As an accomplished musician and record producer, Speed has opened for some big names including the Zombies, Cactus, Leslie West, Leon Russell and Toby Walker, among others. On top of that, he has shared the stage with Joe Louis Walker, the Drifters, Murali Coryell, Taz Cru and Chubby Checker to name a few. Speed has been getting acclimated to the radio environment as a co-host with Daub for the past handful of months.

Sonny Speed at the keyboards

It wasn’t entirely a chance encounter that brought Speed to the WRPI studios. Daub and Speed have worked together in the past judging blues events, meeting at Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs.

As Sonny recalls:

I was hosting the Capital District Blues Network jam at Caffe Lena some time this past December. Steve was there watching the acoustic jam and later that night he called me to the back room and says ‘I want to talk to you about something. I’m going to be retiring and I’d like you to take over my show. I think you’ve got a good fit with what I’m doing there.’ He didn’t want to go to just anybody who didn’t have a depth in the blues.

Speed owns Sun Spot Studio in Saratoga Springs and has produced more than 75 albums, so hosting a radio program that incorporates live sessions will be a natural fit for him.

Rhett Tyler performing on “Stormy Monday Blues,” Nov. 23, 2015

Speed lists several big-name blues artists as his favorites starting with Toby Walker, Albert Collins, Buddy Guy, Keb’ Mo’, and New York-based artists Slam Allen and Joe Louis Walker. Though he has a similar taste in the blues to Daub, Speed is looking forward to presenting his own take on the genre while bringing in new and returning live studio guests and continuing his own music activism to get people out to see live music.

Although “Stormy Monday Blues” will just be CDs from the studio this Monday, be sure to tune in as Steve Daub signs onto the show one last time to share some memories and words of thanks before drifting into the night as Sonny takes over to finish the rest of that evening’s show.

Catch “Stormy Monday Blues” as it continues every Monday with Sonny Speed from 8 to 10 p.m. on WRPI, broadcasting to the Capital District at 91.5fm and worldwide at wrpi.org.

May 7, 2016