Category: Uncategorized

  • Cannibal Corpse Returns Home to Buffalo

    DSC_1941-2The winter in Buffalo has been awfully nice to us this year. For those who know we are known for some of the worst snow conditions. This past Friday was quite the exception. We had a beautiful 45 degree day to welcome Buffalo native legends Cannibal Corpse back to the stage. Hundreds of death metal fans descended upon Town Ballroom, you could tell without a doubt just about everyone was there to see CB. From Denim Jackets with huge patches sown, to zip up hoodies with their name. Cannibal Corpse is currently on tour promoting their latest album from 2014 A Skeletal Domain and joining them on tour are death metal veterans, Cryptopsy, Abysmal Dawn and Obituary, also a heavy hitter in the death metal genre.

    The show opened with Abysmal Dawn.  They provided a high energy 40 minute set that brought a buzz to the already lively crowd. After a short 15 minute break, the road crew had the stage set for Crytopsy. The Canadian veterans brought the crowd to another level of excitement as singer, Matt McGachy, effortlessly took command of the stage and encouraged the rowdiness of the audience.  Midway through their set, a mosh pit formed in the middle of the crowd. Elbows and bodies met as those participating appeared to have a great time as they released a weeks worth of aggression in the pit.

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    Obituary quickly set up and the guys played a instrumental number before singer John Tardy ran onto stage got the crowd roaring. It would be easy and obvious to say turned the crowd into a giant circle pit. The sound was brilliant.  Loud but not too loud, and it was crisp so you could hear every note. Solos were incredible. Every pick, every bend, was clearly audible and in perfect unison.

    When the lights dimmed in anticipation of Cannibal Corpse taking the stage, the venue erupted in cheers and screams. After all some of these guys are Buffalo Natives. For a brief second, vocalist George Fisher could have been mistaken for the mass axe murderer in a horror movie. The  set began with “Evisceration Plague.” After the first song, they dug deep into their catalog, playing some of their best tracks from as far back as Tomb of the Mutilated. It wasn’t until the midpoint of the set that they played a few songs from their 2014 release, A Skeletal Domain, including “Kill or Become,” “Icepick Lobotomy,” and “Sadistic Embodiment.” Throughout their set, the crowd was worked into a hysteria state. This was the type of show that leaves you sweaty and exhausted, in a good way. The show was loud, brutal and electrifying. Cannibal Corpse did not disappoint with their flawless musicianship

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  • Cannibal Corpse Thrashes Through North America, Vinyl Reissue

    This week death metal legends Cannibal Corpse kicked off a quick run through the United States, including stops in New York City and their hometown of Buffalo, before they’ll head off to Europe in April.

    Joining the group as supporting acts this tour will be fellow Floridians Obituary, as well as Cryptopsy and Abysmal Dawn.

    Cannibal Corpse is still touring in support of 2014’s A Skeletal Domain; however, in conjunction with the tour, the classic releases Butchered At Birth, Eaten Back To Life, The Bleeding, Vile and Tomb Of The Mutilated are to be commemorated on vinyl. Limited quantities are available as part of the Metal Blade Classics series. Each LP includes an exclusive poster.

    Tampa death metal vets Obituary will join the headliners throughout the full United States tour. The band’s last release was 2014’s Inked in Blood, which in his review for NYS Music, Jay Saint G noted that, “overall, fantastic album that really takes the listener back into the nasty swamps of Tampa and showcases what true death metal is all about.” Most recently, 3 Floyds Brewing co-created a session pilsner with the band called Hopped in Half. (3 Floyds crafted Amber Smashed Face with Cannibal Corpse last year.) Crytopsy, an extreme metal band from Montreal, released a series of EPs entitled The Book of Suffering October 2015, and Los Angeles-based black metal group Abysmal Dawn debuted their fourth studio album Obsolescence in 2014.

    Presented by the Noise, the 33-date tour got started last night in Atlanta and will cap off at Revolution Live in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, on March 20. The five-piece band originally from Buffalo makes two stops in New York State, including a hometown gig at the Town Ballroom on Feb. 19 after performing at New York City’s Irving Plaza on Feb. 16. Tickets for the Cannibal Corpse 2016 U.S. spring tour can be purchased through the band’s website.

    2016 Tour Cannibal Corpse w/Obituary, Cryptopsy, Abysmal Dawn:
    2/13 The Sea – Wilmington, NC
    2/14 Baltimore Soundstage – Baltimore, MD
    2/15 Theatre Of Living Arts – Philadelphia, PA
    2/16 Irving Plaza – New York, NY
    2/18 Paradise Rock Club – Boston, MA
    2/19 Town Ballroom – Buffalo, NY
    2/20 Opera House – Toronto, ON
    2/21 St. Andrews Hall – Detroit, MI
    2/23 Turner Hall Ballroom – Milwaukee, WI
    2/24 The Ready Room – St. Louis, MO
    2/25 The Granada Theater – Lawrence, KS
    2/26 Cabooze – Minneapolis, MN
    2/27 Metro – Chicago, IL
    2/29 The Summit Music Hall – Denver, CO
    3/1 The Complex – Salt Lake City, UT
    3/2 Revolution Center – Boise, ID
    3/3 Hawthorne Theater – Portland, OR
    3/4 Commodore Ballroom – Vancouver, BC
    3/5 El Corazon – Seattle, WA
    3/7 The Fillmore – San Francisco, CA
    3/8 Avalon Hollywood – Los Angeles, CA
    3/9 The Observatory – Santa Ana, CA
    3/10 House Of Blues – San Diego, CA
    3/11 Club Red – Phoenix, AZ
    3/12 Sunshine Theater – Albuquerque, NM
    3/14 The Aztec Theatre – San Antonio, TX
    3/15 Gas Monkey Live! – Dallas, TX
    3/16 House Of Blues – Houston, TX
    3/17 Varsity Theatre – Baton Rouge, LA
    3/18 The Side Bar Theatre – Tallahassee, FL
    3/19 The Ritz Ybor – Tampa, FL *no Obituary
    3/20 Revolution Live – Ft. Lauderdale, FL

  • Nance Out, Trucks in as Widespread Panic Drummer

    News broke a short time ago that founding member Todd Nance is no longer the drummer for Widespread Panic, and that Duane Trucks is taking over rhythm duties from here on out, according to a report on Jambase.

    Nance was WSP’s drummer from 1986 up until September, 2014, when he took a hiatus from the group to  deal with personal issues. Trucks took over for the remainder of that year, all the way up until this year’s Panic En La Playa run down in Mexico, where Nance rejoined the band for the three nights.

    According to the Jambase report, a WSP representative said that Trucks is taking over as drummer, and that Nance, who was a close childhood friend of original WSP guitarist Michael Houser, “will not be on stage this evening” as the band plays a show at the Classic Center in Athens, Georgia.

  • From Flat to Fact: Neil deGrasse Tyson Schools B.o.B with Rebuttal Rap

    The Twittersphere was abuzz this week when Georgia rapper B.o.B — Bobby Ray Simmons — posted a series of tweets dissing the Earth’s roundness theory. But have no fear, the media’s favorite celebrity scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson rushed to the rescue.

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    B.o.B’s self-proclaimed photographic evidence (posted below) in support of the Flat-Earth Conspiracy went viral, causing the New York City-based astrophysicist to fire back with point-blank scientific facts. B.o.B shot off more opinionated tweets, saying things like “the horizon is always eye level” and “once you go flat you never go back.” Tyson’s response? “Duude — to be clear: Being five centuries regressed in your reasoning doesn’t mean we all can’t still like your music.” The spat escalated quickly to a full-on rap battle.

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    On Monday night, B.o.B released “Flatline” on SoundCloud (now removed), and by Tuesday, Tyson had posted his rebuttal — a track titled “Flat to Fact” that was written and recorded by his nephew, Steve Tyson, and labeled B.o.B’s line of thinking as ignorant and mentally enslaving.

    The Twitter fight was trending on news outlets across the country and highlighted on shows like “The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore,” in which Tyson himself made an appearance and did a little freestyling before he literally dropped the mic. Here’s a sample:

    Listen B.o.B, once and for all. The Earth looks flat because, one, you’re not far enough away, at your size. Two, your size isn’t large enough relative to Earth to notice any curvature at all. It’s a fundamental fact of calculus and non-Euclidean geometry—small sections of large curved surfaces will always look flat to little creatures that crawl upon it.”

    Tyson continued by acknowledging the rapper’s freedom to think the world is flat, but deemed this “strain” of thinking for a public influencer as “the beginning of the end of our informed democracy.” And he left B.o.B with one last knowledge bomb:

    Quoting my man Isaac Newton, ‘If I have seen farther than others, it’s by standing on the shoulders of giants.’ So that’s right B.o.B, when you stand on the shoulders of those who came before, you might just see far enough to realize the Earth isn’t fucking flat.”

    While we love a good rap feud, it’s safe to say that Tyson will thankfully be sticking to his day job as the head of the world-renowned Hayden Planetarium. Case closed.

  • Syracuse ‘Fund the Bern’ Concert Raises $16,000

    On Jan. 8, more than 700 people packed the Palace Theatre in Syracuse to “Fund the Bern.” Local music venue Funk ‘N Waffles hosted the benefit concert to support presidential candidate Bernie Sanders—and it made more than $16,000 in one night.

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    Photo by Carol Thoryk O’Leary

    Syracuse musicians Joe Driscoll and Charley Orlando organized the grassroots event to raise awareness about Sanders’ platform and registering to vote

    The Friday night show featured guest speakers and musicians from the Syracuse and Central New York community like Colleen Kattau, Jane Zell, Irv Lyons Jr., Grupo Pagan, Dave Risen, Root SHOCK, the Fat Peace, Subsoil, Castle Creek, Mage IX, Chris Merkley and Sophistafunk. Popular Syracuse food trucks PB&J’s Lunch Box, LLC and The Chicken Bandit were on hand to provide food.

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    On the event’s Facebook page, Driscoll shared a lengthy thank you letter, recounting the evening’s success:

    “There are win-win situations, and then there’s whatever last night was—win-win times twelve, such good vibes, so many great performances, great food and tons of new volunteers recruited for the [Bernie] Sanders’ campaign… We raised awareness, we raised massive funds, we raised the roof and we raised some spirits. Most importantly, the sense of community in the room was so strong; it blew me away. And I haven’t danced and smiled that much in a while.”

    Driscoll also reported that the volunteer group is planning to hold another concert at the historic Palace on James Street in Syracuse in April to continue raising funds for Sanders’ campaign, and he encouraged interested people to stay tuned via Facebook.

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    Photo by Dave Frisina

    Bern Bern Bern Bern Bern Bern Bern Bern Bern Bern

  • Some Kind of Jam 11 Announces Lineup

    Some Kind of Jam 11, which will be taking place April 22-24 in Schuykill Haven, Pennsylvania, has announced its initial lineup.

    The three-day event takes place just 20 miles northwest of Reading and will feature four stages and 31 musical acts. Since 2005, Jibberjazz festivals has been hosting the event. Headliners the New Mastersounds will offer their unique blend of funk/soul/jazz fusion, while the recently reunited RAQ brings an added element of excitement to the bill. Buffalo groove rock masters Aqueous were also announced.

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    The weekend will include a variety of music including jam, funk, bluegrass, folk, blues, rock, reggae and jazz. In addition to live music, festival-goers will have many activities to choose from including various workshops, light shows, fire performances and yoga. The family friendly event will also include a kids’ area and activities.

    The weekend event is located on a 60-acre fairground that includes indoor and outdoor stages, camping, permanent restrooms and showers as well as nature trails, trout fishing and electricity access for RVs. Additional information about the festival, venue and tickets is available through Jibberjazz.

    Complete Some Kind of Jam 11 Line-Up
    THE NEW MASTERSOUNDS
    RAQ
    JASON RICCI & THE BAD KIND
    MIKE DILLON BAND
    BANDITOS
    AQUEOUS
    THE BIG DIRTY
    SHOKAZOBA
    GANG OF THIEVES
    BLACK MASALA
    CAPTAIN GREEN
    ON THE SPOT TRIO
    YOSEMIGHT
    DESMOND JONES
    THE PLATE SCRAPERS
    THE JAKOB’S FERRY STRAGGLERS
    STRANGE MECHANICS
    THE HAWK OWLS
    LOVANOVA
    HEXBELT
    THIS WAY TO THE EGRESS
    APPALACHIAN GYPSY TRIBE
    BONZO TERKS
    UNCLE JAKE & THE 18 WHEEL GANG
    KATE VARGAS & THE RECKLESS DAUGHTERS
    COSMIC COWBOY SOWING CIRCLE
    HEZEKIAH JONES
    MATEO MONK
    GILLIAN GROGAN
    OLDS SLEEPER
    KNITEBITCH