NYS Music 20​17

Category: News

  • ‘David Bowie: The Last Five Years’ Documentary Coming to America via HBO

    HBO has acquired the television rights to air the BBC documentary David Bowie: The Last Five Years. The 90-minute landmark film is a snapshot of the grand finale of the iconic artist’s life.

    David Bowie: The Last Five Years is a follow-up to 2013’s David Bowie: Five Years. Documentarian Francis Whately returned to the subject after Bowie succumbed to a battle with cancer last year. Whately expertly weaves together  interviews and prime footage to present an in-depth look at the artist’s creative resurgence, including the making of Bowie’s last albums, The Next Day and Blackstar, and his play Lazarus.

    BBC aired David Bowie: The Last Five Years in January. HBO has yet to announce when the documentary will be aired.

    https://youtu.be/C2bL6ARhkUw

  • Disc Jam 2017 Initial Lineup Announced

    Disc Jam Music Festival 2017 announced the initial lineup for its 7th edition.  The June 8-11 festival returns for the third year to Gardner’s Farm in Stephentown, NY, a Berkshire Mountain town near the Massachusetts border.

    The weekend of music, art and disc golf features more than 60 acts on its twin main stages and two side stages and features headliners The Motet, Break Science Live Band, Dopapod, Turkuaz, Manic Focus, TAUK, Kung Fu, Pink Talking Fish, Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad, Aqueous, Gubbulidis (Twiddle side project), Ghost-Note (Snarky Puppy side project), Electric Beethoven, Consider the Source and Honeycomb.

    The festival’s grounds are home to a 27-hole disc golf course that will play host to a number of tournaments throughout the weekend appealing to the enthusiasts as well as casual players.

    Other announced artists reads like a list of the Northeast’s best talent, including: Yheti, lespecial, Esseks, Brightside, Of the Trees, Spiritual Rez, Roots of Creation, Holly Bowling, Hayley Jane, Agent Lockhart, the Mallett Brothers Band, Strange Machines, Congo Sanchez, Sophistafunk, Wild Adriatic, After Funk, Funky Dawgz, Funk You, Swift Technique, Litz, Calliope Musicals, Earphorik, West End Blend, Teddy Midnight, Mister F, Formula 5, Chromatropic, Annie in the Water, Goose, the Mushroom Cloud, Eggy, Lord Electro, William Thompson Funk Experiment, Ben Silver (Orchard Lounge), Toadface, Saltus, Uncle Bob, DELTAnine, Klassik, Leila, Detox, Tsimba, Zerogravity, Zoologic, Bunk Buddha, Bells & Robes, Icculus, Echo Mecca, Kroma Kode, In Flux, Stephen Lewis, Mether, Qwill, Oogee Wawa, the Other Brothers, Humble Digs, Monotronic, Resin Heads, Big Jon Short, Zack Slik, Political Animals, Schooley Mountain Band and Cal Kehoe.

    Promoter Tony Scavone said of the talent:

    We’ve put together a Who’s Who of Northeast musical talent without straying from our funk/jam roots, while keeping with the times to include the electro-fusion craze that has taken hold of new music being created by today’s fastest rising acts

    In addition to the breadth of music and disc golf, there will also be flow arts workshops, interactive art throughout the grounds and daily yoga sessions. Craft and art vending will be sponsored by PhanArt.

    Early bird tickets are available now at the Disc Jam website for $125. This includes camping and early entry to the grounds. Special VIP packages include a stay at nearby Jiminy Peak.

    Check out Dopapod’s performance with the West End Blend horns from last year’s festival below:

  • Landmark Albany Theater Building Up For Auction

    All Over Albany has reported that the 101-year-old EBA, short for Electric Body Arts, a landmark theater building, located on the corner of Lark and Hudson in Albany, is up for sale by online auctioneers Collar City Auctions.

    EBA founder Maude Baum, purchased the building in 1977, from the Daughters of the Eastern Star, and has been running dance classes out of the building ever since, making it one of the staples of the community. Although this era is coming to a close, Baum states that the company will continue.

    Baum talked about the current situation:

    There are lots of places to hold classes, there are lots of places to perform, there are lots of places to rehearse. I’m OK with it. I’m sort of at the point where it’s time for a change.

    The building was up for auction a while back, but developers only wanted the land, not the building. They discovered that their original plans of demolishing the building, wouldn’t be cost effective according to Baum. She stated:

    It’s built like a Mack truck. The beams are 15-inch metal studs so it’s structurally sound. It’s in excellent shape. We just finished shingling, there’s a new boiler, and a new tin ceiling in the theater.

    Before considering the online auction route, the company was turned down for a state Main Street grant, hoping to add apartments and offices to the building.

    EBA is still holding regular scheduled rehearsals, performances and classes until the bidding closes on March 2, with an assessed value of $518,400, according to city tax records. After that, Baum and her board of directors are up for any ideas, opportunities, and possibilities.

    Baum on the future of the building:

    Who knows, maybe someone will buy the building and want to lease the space back to us, or share it with us somehow. Anything could happen.

    Everything that has happened here is still in my heart — All the artwork and performances — They’re still inside of me. What’s the difference if you look at a photo here or you look at it someplace else.

  • Grateful Dead Announce Official Release of Legendary Cornell ’77 Show

    One of the Grateful Dead‘s most revered shows is finally seeing the light of day in an official release this spring to mark the show’s 40th anniversary.

    The band played its first of three shows (1977, 1980, and 1981) on May 7, 1977, booked by the Cornell Concert Commission after some troubles with booking live acts in the years prior. May ’77 wasn’t first live Cornell campus appearance from the Grateful Dead family however. The Jerry Garcia Band had performed at Cornell’s Bailey Hall less than two years prior on 10-27-1975. The May 1977 lineup for the Grateful Dead included the core of Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, as well as Donna and Keith Godcheaux.

    Photo: dead.net

    The official release, in the form of a 5-LP box set and CD, will contain the entire Cornell ’77 show mastered from the Betty board tapes. Not only will this Barton Hall show be released, included in another 11-CD box set (May ’77: Get Shown The Light) will be 5/5/77 at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in New Haven, CT, 5/7 at Boston Garden, and 5/9 at Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

    Cornell ’77 Poster designed by Cornell alumnus Jay Maybrey

    Many sources of the Barton Hall show have been circulated over the years, including unofficial soundboards (heard over on archive.org) which are of decent quality, though with some flaws inherent to the taping and matrix mixing process. Rolling Stone gave a sneak preview of “Morning Dew” from the upcoming release and after listening to the bootlegs of Barton Hall, the release promises to be a fantastic treat for Deadheads.

    The various release formats for the Cornell ’77 show and the other May 1977 shows debut on May 5 and pre-orders for it are available now over at dead.net. Only limited quantities of the 5-LP vinyl box set of the Cornell ’77 show are available.

    Peter Conners, author of “Growing Up Dead” and other works on the Grateful Dead is working on a book titled “Cornell ’77,” chronicling the Dead’s appearance at Cornell set to be published by Cornell University Press.

  • Phish to Release ‘St. Louis ’93’

    Phish has announced the release of St. Louis ’93, an archival collection of two shows from consecutive tours recorded at St. Louis’ American Theatre, as a 6-CD boxed set.

    In 1993, Phish went on tour in support of their fourth studio album, Rift, and, at the same time were, hitting up larger venues, like theaters and colleges. The first part of St. Louis ’93 finds the band on April 14, 1993 in the midst of an extensive winter and spring tour. The show is dubbed the “Roger’s Proposal” show as Trey Anastasio’s childhood friend, Roger Holloway proposed to his girlfriend on stage at the start of the second set. The show features a memorable “AC/DC Bag” > “My Sweet One” for Holloway and his fiancée, a creative “Stash” > “Kung” > “The Horse” mashup and a fantastic “Harpua” > “Runaway Jim.”

    The second half of St. Louis ’93 sees the band’s return to the American Theatre on August 16, 1993 in the middle of their summer tour. The tour saw the band taking greater risks and digging deep into their repertoire. From the press release:

    Unique interstitial jams connected many of the songs, adding an extra element of mystery to the proceedings. Highlights include a non-stop opening sequence of “Axilla” > “Possum” > “Horn” > “Reba” > “Sparkle” and the only “Mike’s Song” > “Faht” > “Weekapaug Groove” combination ever played. The show finished with an unexpected quartet of classic Phish covers, including Duke Ellington’s “Take The ‘A’ Train,” Led Zeppelin’s “Good Times Bad Times,” “Amazing Grace,” and Felice & Boudleaux Bryant’s country standard, “Rocky Top.”

    St. Louis ’93 will be released on March 31. Several pre-order packages are available through the Phish website.

    Phish will play a 13-night run at New York City’s Madison Square Garden starting July 21 and concluding Aug. 6. Tickets for those shows go on sale today at noon.

    St. Louis ’93 Tracklist:

    CD 1/6
    April 14, 1993 Set I:
    1. Buried Alive >
    2. Poor Heart
    3. Maze
    4. Bouncing Around The Room
    5. It’s Ice >
    6. Stash >
    7. Kung >
    8. Stash
    9. Kung >
    10. The Horse >
    11. Silent In The Morning >
    12. Divided Sky
    13. I Didn’t Know
    14. Golgi Apparatus

    CD 2/6
    April 14, 1993 Set II:
    1. Roger’s Proposal
    2. AC/DC Bag >
    3. My Sweet One >
    4. Tweezer
    5. Mound
    6. Big Ball Jam
    7. You Enjoy Myself >
    8. Spooky >
    9. You Enjoy Myself

    CD 3/6
    April 14, 1993 Set II, cont’d:
    1. Harpua >
    2. Runaway Jim
    Encore:
    3. Lengthwise >
    4. Contact >
    5. Tweezer Reprise

    CD 4/6
    August 16, 1993 Set I:
    1. Axilla >
    2. Possum >
    3. Horn >
    4. Reba >
    5. Sparkle

    CD 5/6
    August 16, 1993 Set I, cont’d:
    1. Foam
    2. I Didn’t Know
    3. Split Open And Melt
    4. The Squirming Coil

    CD 6/6
    August 16, 1993 Set II:
    1. Mike’s Song >
    2. Faht >
    3. Weekapaug Groove
    4. Mound >
    5. It’s Ice >
    6. My Friend, My Friend
    7. Poor Heart >
    8. Big Ball Jam >
    9. Take The ‘A’ Train >
    10. Good Times Bad Times
    Encore:
    11. Amazing Grace
    12. Rocky Top

  • PWR BTTM Announces New Album, Release ‘Big Beautiful Day’ Music Video

    New York’s PWR BTTM announced their sophomore album will be released on May 12 on Polyvinyl Records. Pageant is the follow-up to 2015’s acclaimed Ugly Cherries. The punk duo plans to tour extensively in 2017. The North American summer tour kicks off Friday May 26 at Toronto’s Velvet Underground, and comes to New York’s Webster Hall on June 21. Tickets are available starting noon on Friday, February 17.

    PWR BTTMCoinciding with the album announcement, PWR BTTM also released the video for “Big Beautiful Day,” the final song on Pageant. The music video, directed by Christopher Good, is chock full of deliciously decadent glam. The day-in-the-life concept starts with band members Ben Hopkins and Liv Bruce having waffles for breakfast and builds up to an extravagant dance party.

    Pageant is available for preorder as a digital download, compact disc, metallic gold cassette, and maroon vinyl.

    PWR BTTMTracklist:

    1 Silly
    2 Answer My Text
    3 LOL
    4 Won’t
    5 Now, Now
    6 Sissy
    7 Pageant
    8 Oh Boy
    9 New Trick
    10 Wash
    11 Kids’ Table
    12 Big Beautiful Day
    13 Styrofoam

  • Melissa Etheridge Bringing True Self to Troy

    Academy Award and Grammy winning musician Melissa Etheridge is bringing everything she’s got to the Troy with the Hodges Brothers this April.

    On April 23. at 7:30 PM, Etheridge will be performing at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy on her M.E. tour. With two Grammys and an Academy Award win behind her, Etheridge has continued for over two decades to be one of America’s beloved female singer-songwriters.

    Known for hit singles such as, “I’m the Only One”, “Ain’t It Heavy” and “I Want To Come Over,” Etheridge is bringing her signature smoky, raspy vocals to Troy alongside new content for her tour.

    On Oct. 7, Etheridge released, Memphis Rock & Soul, her first album since 2014’s critically acclaimed, This Is M.E. Receiving praise from renowned publications such as Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly, Etheridge will be sharing some of her newer works across the country for her M.E. tour.

    Etheridge is also known for inspiring people beyond her music. Beating her battle with breast cancer, Etheridge appeared at the 2005 Grammys to perform Janis Joplin’s, “Piece of My Heart,” bald from her chemotherapy. Doing so, Etheridge inspired women across the world with her powerful message.

    Tickets go on-sale for the M.E. tour this Friday, Feb. 17 at 10 AM.

  • New York Artists Make a Splash at 2017 Grammys

    Talk of the 2017 GRAMMYs will center on Adele’s profanely humble request to re-start her tribute to George Michael so she can “get it right for George,” Beyonce’s cinematic performance of “Love Drought” and “Sandcastles” from her universally acclaimed album Lemonade or Bruno Mars’ role as the Purple One in the joyous celebration of Prince that also included Morris Day and the Time. The televised portion of the awards is the show, with the focus on performances and the marquee categories. However, there was a slew of awards presented throughout the weekend that weren’t televised. NYS Music detailed a number of the New York-based honorees and nominees in December. Many took home Grammys this weekend.

    2017 grammysThe late David Bowie was nominated in five categories for his groundbreaking album Blackstar and won all five. Taking home the Grammy for Best Rock Performance, Blackstar, Best Rock Song, “Blackstar,” Best Alternative Music Album, Blackstar, Best Recording Package, Blackstar, and Best-Engineered Album, Non-Classical, Blackstar.   Bowie had never won for his music throughout his storied career prior to this year. In his later years, the Great White Duke maintained a residence in Woodstock.

    DJ duo the Chainsmokers, Andrew Taggart (a Syracuse University graduate) and NYC native Alex Pall, were nominated in three categories – Best New Artist, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for their single, “Closer,” which also features Halsey on vocals, and for Best Dance Recording for their single, “Don’t Let Me Down,” featuring Daya – ultimately leaving with a win in the Dance category.

    2016 Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan was nominated for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, Fallen Angels, and for Best Historical Album, The Cutting Edge 1965-1966: The Bootleg Series, Vol.12 (Collector’s Edition), winning for Best Historical Album.

    New York-via-Texas transplants, Snarky Puppy were also nominated and won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for Culcha Vulcha, an album NYS Music reviewed last year. The jazz fusion band made several stops in New York last year, breathing new life into the genre. You can read our review of Snarky Puppy’s Syracuse stop last year here.

    Perhaps one of the most powerful performances of the night came from Queens natives a Tribe Called Quest who were joined by Busta Ryhmes and rising rap newcomer Anderson .Paak to perform “Award Tour” and “We the People.”  An empty microphone stand was present in tribute to fallen Tribe member Phife Dawg, who passed away last March.

    The performance with Rhymes delivering a particularly scathing diatribe of President Trump and the executive order signed to prevent people from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. It concluded with a parade of people of varying ethnicities entering the stage to cheers from the people in attendance.

    Art rock pioneers the Velvet Underground were honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award, an award few would have imagined for the band in the burgeoning New York City art scene of the late 1960s. The late Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison, former roommates at Syracuse University, along with Welsh-born John Cale formed an early version the Velvets, called the Worlocks in the mid-60s. Cale was in attendance at Sunday’s ceremony to represent the band.

    The Velvet Underground was a band that never achieved significant commercial success. But as producer Brian Eno once said in an interview, “everyone who bought one started a band.”

  • Metallica 2017 North American Tour Announced, Includes Stops at MetLife Stadium and Uniondale

    After being disrespected at this years Grammys, the kings of thrash Metallica have officially announced their 2017 North American Tour in support of their new album Hardwired…To Self Destruct.  The first date kicks off in Baltimore, and concludes in Edmonton, AB, Canada.  But for the first time in over 6 years, Metallica will be stopping twice in the New York City surrounding area with a May 14 date at the glorious MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ and May 17 at the New Coliseum in Uniondale, NY (which is set to open their doors for the first time on April 5.)  Avenged Sevenfold and Volbeat are slated to be the openers on this tour. Gojira is set to open on the Canadian dates.

    This is likely to be one of the highest grossing tours of 2017, and tickets will be going fast as they go on sale to the public this Friday, February 17. Check out the tour dates below.

    Metallica 2017 North American Tour Dates

    May 10 – Baltimore, MD – M&T Bank Stadium
    May 12 – Philadelphia, PA – Lincoln Financial Field
    May 14 – East Rutherford, NJ – MetLife Stadium
    May 17 – Uniondale, NY – New Coliseum
    May 19 – Boston, MA – Gillette Stadium
    May 21 – Columbus, OH – Rock On The Range Festival
    June 4 – St. Louis, MO – Busch Stadium
    June 7 – Denver, CO – Sports Authority Field
    June 11 – Houston, TX – NRG Stadium
    June 14 – San Antonio, TX – Alamodome
    June 16 – Dallas, TX – AT&T Stadium
    June 18 – Chicago, IL – Soldier Field
    July 5 – Orlando, FL – Camping World Stadium
    July 7 – Miami, FL – Hard Rock Stadium
    July 9 – Atlanta, GA – Suntrust Park
    July 12 – Detroit, MI – Comercia Park
    July 14 – Quebec City, QC – Festival D’Ete
    July 16 – Toronto, ON – Rogers Centre
    July 19 – Montreal, QB – Parc Jean-Drapeau
    July 29 – Los Angeles, CA – Rose Bowl
    August 4 – Phoenix, AZ – University of Phoenix Stadium
    August 6 – San Diego, CA – Petco Park
    August 9 – Seattle, WA – Centurylink Field
    August 14 – Vancouver, BC – BC Place
    August 16 – Edmonton, AB – Commonwealth Stadium

  • Mountain Jam Lineup Finalized, SCI Joins Petty, Miller as Headliner

    The field for the 13th edition of Mountain Jam is set. The annual Catskills festival, held at Hunter Mountain, announced its lineup and headliners, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and the Steve Miller Band back in November. Friday, the full line up was announced, including additional headliner String Cheese Incident.

    Also added to the June 16-18 bill are indie folk artists the Head and the Heart, reggae rapper Matisyahu, Brooklyn-based sax buskers Moon Hooch, Sudanese pop, krautrock, free jazz artist Sinkane, country legend Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives and “hometown” girl Amy Helm and the Handsome Strangers.

    Helm is the daughter of the late Band drummer Levon Helm, whose studio, affectionately known as “the Barn,” is located in nearby Woodstock.

    Matisyahu, Moon Hooch and Sinkane will participate in the Late Night Jam. The full lineup is available here.

    Noticeably absent from this year’s bill are festival hosts Govt Mule and Mountain Jam regular Grace Potter. However, festival mainstays Michael Franti and Spearhead and Gary Clark, Jr. will appear. Also appearing is Peter Frampton, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Holly Bowling, TAUK, White Denim and the Big Takeover.

    Mountain Jam prides itself on its family inclusive environment and the kids can expect to see sets from the Paul Green Rock Academy and Ratboy Jr. along with kid friendly activities in the Kozy Kids area.

    Three-day general admission tickets, camping and parking passes as well as several VIP packages are available at the festival’s website.