NYS Music 20​16

Tag: headcount

  • HeadCount Presents “Soundtrack to History” at Brooklyn Bowl

    Tuesday night saw, what seemed like, a never ending election style end to the tune of some funky, improvisational music at this photog’s favorite small NYC venue, Brooklyn Bowl. It was here that HeadCount presented a “Soundtrack to History” via the Everyone Orchestra. Hosted by Matt Butler, Everyone Orchestra is an ever changing cast of musicians who are conducted through a dry erase board and crowd participation.

    This evenings cast for Headcount’s “Soundtrack to History” was no slouch, and included Marc Brownstein, Steve Kimock, Marco Benevento, Karina Rykman, Mihali Savoulidas, Vinnie Amico, Jeremy Salken, Jay Jennings, Chris Bullock, Natalie Cressman, Jans Ingber, and, unannounced for the second set, Robert Randolph. What a list… apologies if I missed someone.

    headcount Soundtrack to HistoryAs you can tell from the gallery below, the Bowl had televisions tuned in to the election, offering a unique vibe to say the least.  There were cheers, jeers, eyes locked high to the walls and not at the stage, and nearly everyone on their cell phone. Not a reflection of the music in any way, as this was my favorite EO show I’ve caught over the years, exceeding expectations to be quite honest. Feel free to make your own call as the show is available on YouTube.

  • Musicians will Advocate HelloVote on National Voter Registration Day

    In celebration of the annual National Voter Registration Day, over 200 musicians will participate in a campaign on Tuesday that will help to roll out “HelloVote,” which is a groundbreaking new technology used by HeadCount that allows you to register to vote via text message or Facebook Messenger.

    “We’ve known for many years that music is the best way to reach Millennials and unregistered voters,” said Andy Bernstein, HeadCount’s executive director. “We also know that text message is how young people prefer to communicate, so this brings all of that together.”

    Musicians such as Wilco, Panic! At the Disco, Jack Johnson, members of the Grateful Dead, Michael Franti, and many more, will make posts on their social media profiles that includes an image of them holding the “Register to Vote” clipboard, and a caption directing their followers to register to vote by texting “COUNT” to 348-387 or by going to HeadCount.org/RegistertoVote.

    According to a press release, HelloVote was developed by Fight for the Future, which is “a nonpartisan, non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and expanding the internet’s transformative power. It is the first tool that allows voters to register over text message or Facebook, in just a minute. It is also integrated with 20 different states’ online voter registration platform, making it the only technology that allows for true online voter registration in a variety of states.”

    This is a monumental step to getting more Americans registered and ready for the presidential election this November. An estimated 96% of Americans own a cell phone, which means that almost every American can be registered to vote by the convenience of their phone. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, reports of the 2012 election showed that 12.7 million of 18-24 year olds were not registered to vote, and only 46% of those registered actually cast ballots.

    Headcount has been working hard to change that. Since its inception in 2004, the organization has amassed over 15,000 volunteers nationwide to work at local concerts, events, etc., to promote voter registration. Headcount has now registered nearly 400,000 new voters.

    Tuesday’s campaign will have a social media reach of more than 200 million followers; you can find it under the VoterRegistrationDay hashtag. For additional information visit, www.headcount.org.

  • PhanArt Coloring Book Draws Phans Toward Charitable Cause

    Need something to do with your hands while your favorite live Phish show blasts in the background? Sure, you’d rather be seeing them in person, grasping a fistful of glow sticks to launch into an animated crowd at just the right moment, but in lieu of that, why not throw some colored pencils on the table and get creative with the PhanArt coloring book.
    PhanArt Coloring Book
     
    The book is a collaboration between PhanArt founder and NYS Music co-owner Pete Mason and Artistic Director of HeadCount, Jamie Huntsman. The contents feature eight artistic submissions hand-crafted by a crew of devoted fans, with cover art designed by Huntsman. All proceeds go to the Mockingbird Foundation, a non-profit organization founded by Phish fans. Their mission is to raise funds for music education, so future generations can continue to create inspiring sounds. Mason and Huntsman took a moment to answer some questions regarding the process of bringing this coloring book to life:
     
    NYS Music: Are there any other underlying Phish themes tying the coloring pages together besides being inspired by the music of Phish?
     
    Pete Mason: The theme of this first volume is animals. There are many animals mentioned throughout the Phish catalog (Sloth, Horse, Mockingbird, Spastic dead-eyed hound), and it became the basis for the inspired pages created by the artists.
     
    Jamie Huntsman: We wanted a really loose theme for each volume of the coloring book. This one is Phish animals—the next [volume], not sure. We might do characters in songs (Wilson, Tela, etc.) or maybe closer to Halloween we could do a scary/evil Phish theme (They Attack! or Big Black Furry Creature from Mars).
     
    NYS: What were each of your roles in creating this coloring book?
     
    PM: Jamie came to me with the idea last fall, and once we sorted out the logistics, I reached out to artists I had worked with in the past who I felt would contribute a page to the book.
     
    NYS: How many volumes do you expect to produce?
     
    JH: I think as long as there’s interest both on the side of the artists willing to donate their art to this book and phans willing to purchase, we’ll produce.
     
    NYS: How often do you plan to release new volumes?
     
    JH: At least twice a year. This is a volunteer project, so whatever we have time for and interest in. And the more Phish tours, the more we will produce.
     
    NYS: Were you pulling from a small pool of submissions or purposefully kept the first volume short and sweet?
     
    PM: We kept the first volume at this length based on initial responses from artists, and gaining eight pages, plus the cover (designed by Jamie), it was a good start to get the ball rolling on this new piece of PhanArt.
     
    NYS: Did artists have to follow any particular guidelines for their submissions?
     
    PM: Simply to design something that was unique and featured an animal from Phish lore. We kept a list going of what was spoken for so we didn’t get repeats of the same animal.
     
    JH: We also didn’t want to include any infringing work, so, artists needed to keep their work within PhanArt guidelines—no logos or copyrighted names/images.
     
    NYS: Have the two of you collaborated in the past?
     
    PM: YES! Jamie is featured in the book PhanArt: The Art of the Fans of Phish, with her posters spanning from the late ’90s through 2004.
     
    JH: HA! Has it been that long? Oh my. Yeah, Pete has really established himself as an authority in the Phish community, so, when I had this idea it was natural for me to go to him for execution.
     
    The coloring book can be purchased for $5 here. It is offered as an instant download, so it’ll be ready for your eager artistic scribbling way before the end of that extended “Tweezer” jam.

  • Update: Project/Object Cancels Spring Tour

    Announced this afternoon via Facebook, the Frank Zappa Tribute band Project/Object is postponing their April 2016 tour dates until further notice. The cancellation comes due to the ongoing health issues surrounding the group’s production assistant-social media manager-merch seller Robin Gelberg, who survived a tragic car accident about a month ago near Shelby, NC; she is the partner of the band’s guitarist Andre Cholmondeley. According to Cholmondeley’s post, this is the first time Project/Object has cancelled concerts during his time with the band since the 1990s. A support page has been set up for Gelberg through GoFundMe.

    Project Object2:58 pm For Immediate ReleasePROJECT/OBJECT TOUR POSTPONEDIt is with a heavy heart that I have to…

    Posted by Andre Cholmondeley on Tuesday, March 29, 2016

    Original story:

    On April 14, Project/Object will bring the sounds of Frank Zappa back to life on stage at The Hollow in Albany.

    The alumni-based Zappa tribute band, featuring Ike Willis and Don Preston, is touring the Northeast this spring in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Zappa’s debut album, Freak Out! Willis’ booming baritone vocals and rhythm guitar appeared on Zappa band tours and albums from 1978 to the final FZ tour in 1988. Preston, a well-known synthesizer and jazz pioneer, played on the Mothers Of Invention records until 1974’s Roxy and Elsewhere; he has also scored soundtracks for feature films like Apocalypse Now.

    The tour kicks off in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on April 7 and makes stops in Marlboro the following night before shows in Brooklyn, Buffalo, Rochester and closing out in Teaneck, New Jersey, on May 1.

    Each show this tour will feature two sets of Zappa music with Willis and Preston; the Boston show is double billed with Consider the Source. And this April run continues the voter registration partnership with HeadCount, as shared on Twitter last month:

    Project/Object: The Music of Frank Zappa has toured the United States, Canada and Europe during its 20-year existence. The group was founded in the 1990s by guitarist Andre Cholmondeley as a tribute to Zappa, who died of cancer in 1993 at 52. In 2015, Willis and Denny Walley came out of retirement for a special tour in celebration of Zappa’s late ’70s catalog, playing several shows in New York state. Alongside Willis (guitar, vocals), Preston (keys, vocals), Cholmondeley (guitar, vocals) and Walley (bass), the group will include musicians Ryan Berg (drums), Kendall Scott (keys, synths) and special guest Rich Rakowski (sax) at select shows.

    Tickets for the 9 p.m. show at The Hollow are on sale through the venue’s website, along with passes for Brooklyn’s The Hall, Tralf Music Hall in Buffalo and Rochester’s Lovin Cup. Project/Object’s show at The Falcon in Marlboro does not require a cover charge for live music, but donations are appreciated. See the full tour dates below and visit the band’s website for more venue and ticket sales information.

    Project/Object Spring 2016 tour dates:

    4/7 – The Acoustic – Bridgeport, CT
    4/8 – The Falcon – Marlboro, NY
    4/9 – House of Independents – Ashbury Park, NJ
    4/10 – Iron Horse – Northampton, MA
    4/12 – Higher Ground – Burlington, VT
    4/13 – The Middle East – Boston, MA
    4/14 – The Hollow – Albany, NY
    4/15 – The Hall – Brooklyn, NY
    4/16 – Arch St. Tavern – Hartford, CT
    4/17 – American Brewing Company – Harrisburg, PA
    4/19 – The 8×10 – Baltimore, MD
    4/20 – Club Café – Pittsburgh, PA
    4/21 – Radio Radio – Indianapolis, IN
    4/22 – Shank Hall – Milwaukee, WI
    4/23 – Martyrs – Chicago, IL
    4/26 – Beachland Ballroom – Cleveland, OH
    4/27 – The Tralf – Buffalo, NY
    4/28 – Lovin Cup – Rochester, NY
    4/29 – Havana’s – New Hope, PA
    4/30 – River St. Jazz Café – Wilkes Barre, PA
    5/1 – Mexicali – Teaneck, NJ

  • HeadCount Talks Politics and Music with New Hampshire Voters

    HeadCount headed to New Hampshire prior to yesterday’s primary to discover young voters’ favorite candidates and musical preferences. The organization interviewed volunteers for the various campaigns, rally attendees and people still shopping for a candidate.

    Music and politics have a long history together. Woody Guthrie wrote songs promoting populism and socialist viewpoints, particularly with “This Land is Your Land.” The civil rights movement adopted “We Shall Overcome” as their chant. The ’60s saw war protest songs being written by popular rock and folk artists. Punk music took an anti-establishment swing.

    So, it’s no wonder that HeadCount, which has become pervasive at concerts helping attendees register to vote, would ask those they interviewed about their favorite music. The last question they asked was, “If you could pick any artist to rewrite the national anthem, who would it be?” (The final answer might surprise and/or delight some of our readers.) HeadCount also managed to catch Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz walking by and asked him about his favorite music. Sadly, he did not respond and simply kept walking.

    headcount

    The biggest takeaway from this video is that you cannot determine who a person might support based on their looks, occupation or musical preferences.

    The most glaring omission from the video is a lack of any Hillary Clinton supporters. HeadCount said that they reached out to the campaign and even visited their New Hampshire office, but the Democratic candidate’s campaign chose not to participate.

    The video (included below) was filmed prior to yesterday’s primary and catches the voters’ excitement for the process. Now that the primary has ended, we have the results. In the Republican primary, with 95 percent of precincts reporting, Donald Trump won with 35.3 percent of the vote. John Kasich came in second with 15.8 percent. Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush are in a virtual tie for third with 11.7 percent and 11 percent, respectively. In the Democratic primary, also with 95 percent of precincts reporting, Bernie Sanders won with 60 percent of the vote, while Hillary Clinton received 38.3 percent.

    Register to Vote