The F.X. Matt Brewery in Utica announced the lineup for its 20th anniversary Saranac Thursday series for 2018. The annual event showcases many local and regional acts with the occasional national act as well. This year’s series kicks off May 24 with the Rome-based classic rock outfit, Work Related.
In addition to 20 years of Saranac Thursdays, the brewery is celebrating 85 years of Utica Club, the brewery’s flagship beer, and 130 years of the F.X. Matt Brewing Company.
Gates to the courtyard open at 5:30 and performances begin at 6:00 p.m. each week. A portion of the proceeds benefits the United Way of the Valley and Greater Utica Area. The events have raised more than $600,000 dollar total to date.
2018 Saranac Thursday Schedule:
May 24 – Work Related
May 31 – Chris Eves & The New Normal
June 7 – Big Mean Sound Machine
June 14 – Eric Tessmer Band
June 21 – Our Common Roots
June 28 – Follow the Muse
July 5 – Gridley Paige
July 12 – Last Left
July 19 – LDF
July 26 – Sir Cadian Rhythm
Aug. 2 – Showtime
Aug. 9 – The Old Main
Aug. 16 – The Crazy Fools
Aug. 23 – Handsome Young Ladies
Aug. 30 – The Bomb
Sept. 6 – Floodwood
Disc Jam organizers released the daily lineups for this year’s festival, being held June 7-10 in Stephentown, NY. Daily headliners include Aqueous and Moon Hooch (Thursday), The Motet and Galactic (Friday), Beats Antique and Lotus (Saturday) and Tom Marshall’s Amfibian All-Stars (Sunday). Late night acts include Gubbulidis and solo sets from Ryan Dempsey and Brook Jordan, all of Twiddle (Thursday), DJ Logic & Friends and Barber Acoustic (Friday), and Electron and Tom Hamilton & Holly Bowling (Saturday).
Tickets for the festival are available now. Attendees can purchase full weekend passes or daily passes. Information on ticketing can be found at the Disc Jam website.
Artists at Large
Once again, Disc Jam will have some of the biggest names in the jam scene performing throughout the festival, collaborating with artists and bands each day. Artists at Large for Disc Jam 2018 include Eli Winderman and Rob Compa (Dopapod), Michelangelo Carruba, Shira Elias, Craig Brodhead, Chris Brouwers, Greg Sanderson, Josh Schwartz (Turkuaz), DJ Logic, and Honeycomb. Experience the collective nature of the Disc Jam community as these incredible musicians join more than 100 artists this June 7-10 in Stephentown, NY.
Woods Stage Artists
This year, Disc Jam has four of the hottest promoters in the Northeast taking over the Woods Stage for themed electronic dance music takeovers. Thursday night will be produced by Rezinate, well known for promoting some of the sought after underground parties and events in Boston. Friday’s duties go to Minus Zero Festival co-producers, NV Concepts, who will be presenting an entire night from the top house music artists off the Dirtybird Records Label, including Christian Martin, Kill Frenzy, Golf Clap and Ardalan. On Saturday, Brooklyn-based Sermon will host a night of bass music with U.K. producer Joker topping their list of wompy artists. The Wook of Wall Street will be hosting nightly curated Silent Disco Sets that go until sunrise.
Disc Jam Flow Tribe
Disc Jam Flow Tribe performances at Disc Jam are a staple for attendees and will once again include a renowned team of well rounded performance artists who have been a major part of the Disc Jam family since 2012. The featured flow artist for 2018 is world renowned Hula Hooper Rachael Lust. Rachael will be hosting flow arts workshops for beginner to expert levels, with multiple sessions each day. A variety of workshops will be offered to broaden the mind, body and spirit. Choose from Wellness, Flow Arts, Yoga, Painting, Disc Golf, and Permaculture classes available daily.
Visual Artists
Visual artists, including live painters and artists, will create massive murals and art installations throughout the site all weekend long. Featured artists Gabriel Welch, Stephen Kruse, Andy Reed, Raf Mata and many more will be creating murals, as well as curating an art gallery tent where attendees can view and buy artwork from all of the artists.
Disc Golf Tournaments
Disc golf is a game for experts, beginners, and everyone in between. Playing at least one round is a must for Disc Jam enthusiasts and the course encourages both the avid and first timer players to try their hand, all at no additional cost to play (outside of tournaments), with discs provided free of charge for those interested in playing.
Disc Golf Tournaments for men and women are held on Saturday and Sunday mornings, with cash and prizes from Innova Disc Golf, Grassroots California, Vibram Five Fingers shoes, Native Eyewear, Suspended in the Trees Hammocks, The Earth Ship Tents and more going to the top finishers. Nationally ranked and touring Team Innova Disc Golf Pro Gregg Barsby will be hosting the tournaments as well as playing rounds, hosting workshops and clinics all weekend long.
Road to Disc Jam Tour
Having kicked off in April, more than 20 Disc Jam artists will perform at 11 venues across seven states including New York, New England and Pennsylvania, with free Disc Jam tickets given away as a door prize at each show.
April 27 – Funky Dawgz Brass Band, Congo Sanchez and Honeycomb – Jewel Music, Manchester, NH April 28 – Formula 5 and Space Carnival – The Hollow Bar and Kitchen, Albany, NY
April 28 – Congo Sanchez – Strange Brew Pub, Norwich, CT
May 4 – Strange Machines and The Clock Reads – Electric Haze, Worcester, MA May 10 – Marbin and Swimmer – Buffalo Iron Works, Buffalo, NY
May 11 – Swimmer and Goose – Nectar’s, Burlington, VT
May 11 – The Wook of Wall Street Pre-Jawn – Sprout Music Collective, West Chester, PA May 17 – Borg Party (members of Dopapod, Turkuaz, Giant Panda) – Flour City Station, Rochester, NY
May 17 – Consider the Source – River Street Jazz Cafe, Wilkes-Barre, PA
May 17 – Kung Fu – Hawks and Reed Performing Arts Center, Greenfield, MA
May 18 – Harsh Armadillo – Arch Street Tavern, Hartford, CT May 18 – Funktional Flow and Swimmer – Funk n Waffles, Syracuse, NY May 19 – Bella’s Bartok and Cousin Earth – Funk n Waffles, Syracuse, NY
May 24 – West End Blend and Craig Brodhead (Turkuaz) – Fete Music Hall, Providence, RI
See the daily schedule and the 2018 Disc Jam announcement below:
Deer Tick may have been nearing the end of a lengthy tour but you wouldn’t have known it from the energy the Rhode Island based band brought to the stage of Buffalo Iron Works on Tuesday May 1st.
They came out of the gate swinging and held the captivated audience entertained with their unique blend of americana soaked indie rock. To start the night off Nashville’s Liz Cooper and the Stampede played an intensely fun set that won over many in attendance.
Ray Brothers BBQ, located on State Route 20 in Bouckville, announced its summer 2018 concert schedule for The Yard Amphitheater, located on the grounds of the popular BBQ joint. The season kicks off on Memorial Day with the 3rd Annual Backyard BBQ & SPCA Benefit featuring the Lightkeepers and Mike Powell & the Black River. Tickets for the Memorial Day show are $10 with proceeds benefiting the SPCA.
Other acts making their way to New York’s antique capital include Zach Deputy, Big Mean Sound Machine, Chris Eves & the New Normal, Hayley Jane & the Primates, Wild Adriatic, Sophistafunk, the Talking Heads tribute band, Start Making Sense and the 2017 NYS Music March Madness winner, Root Shock.
The penultimate event on the calendar is the 4th Annual Hop Harvest Festival featuring Keller Williams. This takes place Labor Day weekend. Williams also performed at the Yard last year.
Tickets for the shows will be available at Ray Brothers and through Ticketfly. For more information about the summer concerts, visit their website here.
The Yard at Ray Brothers BBQ Summer Concert Schedule:
May 28 – The Lightkeepers w/the Black River
June 1 – Zach Deputy
June 6 – Big Mean Sound Machine w/Joe Driscoll
June 16 – Adam Ezra Group w/Mike D & the Laughing Buddha Episodes
June 23 – Root Shock w/the Buddha Council
June 30 – Wild Adriatic w/Barroom Philosophers and the Spring Street Family Band
July 6 – Chris Eves & the New Normal w/the J.J. Murphy Trio
July 14 – TBA
July 21 – The Magic Beans w/special guest TBA
July 28 – A Controlled Incident Presents: To Be Announced!
Aug. 4 – Danielle Ponder & the Tomorrow People w/special guest TBA
Aug. 10 – TBA
Aug. 11 – Sophistafunk and Kris Lager w/West End Blend
Aug. 18 – TBA
Aug. 25 – Hayley Jane & the Primates w/Nina’s Brew
Sept. 2 – 4th Annual Hop Harvest Smoke Out with Keller Williams (special guest TBA)
Sept. 8 – TBA
Sept. 15 – Start Making Sense: Talking Heads Tribute Band
The ninth episode of this season’s Rochester Indie Musician Spotlight series features guitarist Mark Grover. In this session, Grover talks with producer and host Dan Gross about what drew him to playing this style of guitar and his process for writing and transcribing the works of others for playing finger style. After the interview, he plays a selection of songs, including renditions of “Isn’t She Lovely” and “Higher Ground,” arranged by Grover and Eric Roche.
The Adirondack Independence Music Fest 2018 is quickly becoming one of the fastest growing festivals in the Northeast. This year’s festival is taking place Sept. 1 and 2 at the Charles R. Wood Festival Commons in Lake George and features two sets from both Pigeons Playing Ping Pong and Lucid along with a host of other national and regional acts.
Additional artists scheduled to perform at the 2018 festival include Keller Williams, Pink
Talking Fish, Badfish: A Tribute to Sublime, Lespecial, Formula 5, Jen Durkin & the Business,
Steal Your Peach Band, Gratefully Yours, Swift Technique, Goose, Let’s Be Leonard, Root
Shock, the Melting Nomads and LDF (Ladies Drink Free), with more bands to be announced
soon. The festival also plans to announce a big headliner in late July.
Music runs from 1:00 p.m. to 11:00pm each day on 2 alternating main stages at the festival
grounds, followed by late night performances each night at local venue, King Neptune’s until
3:00 a.m.. Goose, LDF (Ladies Drink Free) and Gratefully Yours have currently been announced
for late night performances at King Neptune’s. Additionally, there will be a free kick-off party
on Friday, August 31, with performances scheduled for both Shepard Park in downtown Lake
George and King Neptune’s. So far, The Funky Dawgz Brass Band have tapped for the kick-off
party, with additional bands still expected to be announced.
Early bird tickets for Adirondack Music Fest 2018 are on sale now and are priced at $70 for the weekend or $170 for weekend VIP tickets. More information can be found at the festival’s website.
Meanwhile, check out the Mirth Films promo video for this year’s event below.
The Dave DiPrimo Band (DDB) was back at it at Buta Pub on Saturday April 14. The band brought their upbeat attitude to warm up a crowd that was brave enough to venture through the ice and the rain, and had the place on fire all night long. The band consisting of lead singer Dave DiPrimo, saxophonist and guitarist Kares Gregory, drummer Reid Hoffmeier, and bassist Ian Benz; has been performing around New York State together for over a year.
The band has a constantly evolving sound that is electric and catchy. DDB came to Buta Pub with one goal in mind, to celebrate. DDB did so in a fantastic way with the theme of the show being a glow party. DDB brought glow sticks and glow glasses for the crowd who enjoyed every minute of it. DDB played some some fan favorites like the spicy Latin melody of “Selena” and the always catchy “Caroline”. DDB always brings an eclectic mix of fast paced songs like “End of the World” and slows it down and connects with the audience with the slower rhythms of songs like “Four Letter Word” and “Whiskey Melody”.
The smooth sounds of Kares Gregory on the sax makes the slow songs methodical and dreamy while on the faster paced songs like “Selena” the sax drives the tempo of the song pushing the pace and then reeling it in in the tense moments of the song. Gregory is also a stellar lead guitar player as he shreds solos on songs like “End of the World” and “Whiskey Melody”. Drummer Reid Hoffmeier is always great as he controls a lot of the band’s emotions and feelings throughout the show. Not only is Hoffmeier an amazing drummer who can do everything that DDB requires him to do and more, he is the underlying humor and emotion that the guys are feeling during their show. Ian Benz was spectacular as always on the bass; fulfilling that low under tone that DDB was missing back when the original band was put together years ago. The front man and the person the band is titled after is Dave DiPrimo. All the songs are written by DiPrimo and DiPrimo will lead the band to spontaneous jam sessions at some point in the show.
At Buta Pub the crowd cheered for the jam session as DDB uses this opportunity for crowd participation. Whether it’s a hula contest or simply a call and answer song, the band always brings the room to life. DiPrimo not only has a voice that can hit all the ranges of the demanding setlist; whether its screaming in “End of the World” and in parts of “Selena” or the soft gentle whisper of “Four Letter Word” and at the end of “Out in the Cold”, DiPrimo can do it all as he executes every word with passion and clarity. DiPrimo also sports three different guitars throughout the band performance. The classic electric acoustic he uses for the softer songs, the Resonator he uses for some of the folk songs and the electric for solos on songs like “Glory Days” and “Know you Best”. DiPrimo’s guitar playing has improved over the time DDB has been together as the solos he played sounded crisp. His confidence not only as a singer and guitar player can be seen improving in every show; but also his confidence speaking to the crowd on a more personal level.
The sizable crowd enjoyed every moment of DDB and was crowded around the stage dancing and having a good time. DDB will be performing on April 27 at Funk ‘n Waffles Music Hall with Corey Glover of Living Colour and The Alchemystics. The Dave DiPrimo Band has released two albums, the first being One Year with original band members and Reflections with the current band. Both CD’s are available for purchase at all DDB shows with other merchandise that the band sells. You can also find DDB’s music on all music streaming sites like: Spotify, Apple Music, I tunes, Google Play, Amazon and all of DDB’s music can be streamed and purchased on their website
This past weekend, Amy Helm kicked off her second annual Woodshed Residency Tour, a revolving run of shows that is split between three venues across New York State and Massachusetts. Night one was held at Albany NY’s The Hollow Bar, a return venue for Helm, and the ebullient and groovy kickoff show set the bar for the whole trip at a lofty height.
Each stop on the Woodshed Tour will feature guests that Helm has procured from her ever expanding roster of musical friends and colleagues. Rocking night one at The Hollow Bar was The London Souls guitarist Tash Neal, Chris Robinson Brotherhood bassist Jeff Hill, Woodstock-based guitarist and keyboardist Connor Kennedy, and Brooklyn-based Yuval Lion on drums. Just like the late Levon, her old man, Amy Helm seems to have an affinity for not only surrounding herself with incredible artists, but for getting the most out of them on stage. Together, the four-piece made for a seriously airtight jam session that on the one side played Helm’s originals very professionally, but on the other hand had a lot of daring and creative fun with a slew of cover tunes.
But Helm first dove into the former, offering confident and well received versions of songs from her first and latest album, Didn’t It Rain. “Odetta” and “Didn’t it Rain” opened the evening with a grand, almost spiritual feel. Later on, “Rescue Me” from this same album hit off with The Hollow crowd as much if not more than any other tune of the evening.
The show also included a whole mess of other covers, which as Helm has described is another element naturally built into the essence of the Woodshed Tour—Helm’s background has given her an affinity for tributing the rich and expansive americana songbook that makes up her musical universe. Every cover at the Hollow was appreciated in full, as Helm and her jam session put a shine on all of them. One of the first was a Mary Goshen cover upon which the band flexed out a breezy little jam, that eventually cascaded into an “I Know You Rider.” The apex of the evening clearly revealed itself after this in the uptempo version of “Will The Circle Be Unbroken,” for which Helm and crew gathered around one microphone. It imbued a stripped-down feel to the buzz of the night until Neal put a cool, Dick-Dale-style guitar solo on it.
One of the strongest delivered covers was a rousing take on “Michigan” by The Milk Carton Kids—a terrific songwriting duo of brothers out of California. The end of this one featured a frenetic and trilling guitar solo from Kennedy. Other gems included a Ronnie Hawkins tune, sung by, in Helm’s words, “one of the greatest singers of all time” (Richard Manuel), and a bubbly take on The Pointer Sister’s “Yes We Can Can,” which Helm clearly was hip-hop style verses.
For sure, Helm has implied challenges of stage fright throughout her past, but today it seems that on stage any supposed nervousness washes away pretty quickly. Every single time the music revved back up, almost uncontrollably Helm was persuaded by the energy of the band and the responsive crowd, and repeatedly took command of it all. She became the center of her little musical melting pot, and shined as a lead singer, as a troubadour, as a stage performer.
Helm and her bandmates hung out afterwards around The Hollow’s bar, trading stories with fans and taking photos. It encompassed the spirit that seems to be at the center of this Woodshed Tour, and The Hollow seems to be a no-brainer, choice spot for a tour of this musically rare nature.
The tour continues this Sunday night with another set at The Hollow, among dates at other venues such as Marlboro’s The Falcon, Northampton’s Parlor Room, and NYC’s Rockwood Music Hall.
Woodstock. If you’re not from the Hudson Valley, chances are when you hear that name, you have a similar thought as everyone else: a monumental music festival that took place over three days with a bunch of hippies on some farm in upstate New York that changed the world as we know it. Everyone has a story about their dad’s friend who stayed around for Hendrix’s famous Monday morning set, or their uncle who abandoned their car on Route 17B and walked six miles through Bethel to make it to the free-love oasis. Ironically, the most popular song written about the festival, “Woodstock,” was also written via hearsay and stories from friends by folk singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell, who spent the weekend watching the festival unfold on television as just another fan in a New York apartment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRjQCvfcXn0
Despite being scheduled to appear at Woodstock, Mitchell cancelled her performance last minute on the advice of her agent, David Geffen, out of fear that she would not make it back to New York in time for her television appearance on The Dick Cavett Show. Watching the television coverage and hearing stories from her then boyfriend, Graham Nash, had such a profound impact on Mitchell that she wrote the ‘60s anthem within a few weeks of the festival and debuted it live at the Celebration of Big Sur festival the following September. Since then, it has been covered by countless artists, including her ex-boyfriend in his folk-rock supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young.
“Woodstock” tells the story of a narrator who encounters a boy on his way to the festival at Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel (not Woodstock as originally intended) who explains to her that he is going not only for the music, but also to live off the land and cleanse his soul. She joins him on his journey because she too feels the need for a spiritual awakening and wants to get away from the rigid life she is living. By the time they arrive at the festival, it is in full swing, and even better than what they had hoped. They find a fantastic celebration, and the idea of hope in a time when the world was so unstable.
What inspired Mitchell the most about the event was the fact that people could be so good to each other and coexist without any issues, even if just for a few days. In a 1995 interview, Mitchell said:
“The deprivation of not being able to go provided me with an intense angle on Woodstock. I was one of the fans. I was put in the position of being a kid who couldn’t make it. So I was glued to the media. And, at the time, I was going through a kind of born again Christian trip – not that I went to any church, I’d given up Christianity at an early age in Sunday school. But suddenly, as performers, we were in the position of having so many people look to us for leadership, and for some unknown reason, I took it seriously and decided I needed a guide and leaned on God. …So I was a little ‘God mad’ at the time, for lack of a better term, and I had been saying to myself, ‘Where are the modern miracles? Where are the modern miracles?’ Woodstock, for some reason, impressed me as being a modern miracle, like a modern day fishes-and-loaves story. For a herd of people that large to cooperate so well, it was pretty remarkable and there was tremendous optimism. So I wrote the song ‘Woodstock’ out of these feelings…”
Joni Mitchell
The giving nature and comradery of Woodstock began before the festivities even started, however, when the original site of the festival in Woodstock, NY fell through. Just weeks before it was planned to take place, dairy farmer Max Yasgur offered up his farm in Bethel, NY as site of the festival, anticipating around 40,000 attendants. When it was all said and done, more than 400,000 people attended the festival, making Yasgur a counterculture hero to all those in attendance and countless others.
The 1969 Woodstock festival put the town Bethel on the map, although many locals were not too excited about the new exposure at the time. Many of his neighbors were against the festival from the get-go and pushed to boycott Yasgur’s milk for years afterwards. However, nearly 50 years later, the site of the festival has only become more famous. Today the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, a cultural non-profit that hosts concerts and events, exists on the site of Yasgur’s farm and has become a major stop for nationally touring artists. It was added to the National Registry of Historic Places by Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2017 who called the festival “a pivotal moment in both New York and American history.” There have even been talks about a Woodstock 50th anniversary festival being held at the site in the summer of 2019, but only time will tell if if it can summon the same magic that made the 1969 Woodstock festival so historic.
‘Woodstock’ Lyrics:
I came upon a child of God He was walking along the road And I asked him where are you going And this he told me I’m going on down to Yasgur’s farm * I’m going to join in a rock ‘n’ roll band I’m going to camp out on the land I’m going to try an’ get my soul free
We are stardust We are golden And we’ve got to get ourselves Back to the garden
Then can I walk beside you I have come here to lose the smog And I feel to be a cog in something turning Well maybe it is just the time of year Or maybe it’s the time of man I don’t know who I am But you know life is for learning
We are stardust We are golden And we’ve got to get ourselves Back to the garden
By the time we got to Woodstock We were half a million strong And everywhere there was song and celebration And I dreamed I saw the bombers Riding shotgun in the sky And they were turning into butterflies Above our nation
We are stardust Billion year old carbon We are golden Caught in the devil’s bargain And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden
Old Crow Medicine Show has announced their 2018 summer tour with a stop at Ommegang Brewery. The country-bluegrass group most well-known for their song “Wagon Wheel,” announced Friday, an expansive tour throughout the U.S. in support of their upcoming album Volunteer.
This will be the band’s 20th anniversary, as they plan to kick-off their tour with a two-night stint in Nashville, TN on April 20 when the band also plans to drop their latest album. Old Crow will hit Cooperstown on July 14as part of the Ommegang Summer Concert Series. They will also be making stops in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont as well.
OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW SUMMER 2018 TOUR DATES:
April 20 – Nashville, TN – Grand Ole Opry
April 21 – Nashville, TN – Grand Ole Opry
April 23 – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel (Sold Out)
April 24 – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel
April 25 – Charleston, WV – Municipal Auditorium
April 26 – Charlottesville, VA – Sprint Pavilion
April 28 – Washington DC – The Anthem
May 3 – New Orleans, LA – New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
May 4 – Meridian, MS- MSU Riley Center For The Performing Arts
May 5 – Jacksonville, FL – Moran Theater
May 6 – St Petersburg, FL – Jannus Live
May 25 – Evans, GA – Banjo BQ Music Festival
May 26 – Charlotte, NC – Outlaw Music Festival at PNC Music Pavilion
May 27 – Cumberland, MD – Delfest
June 7 – Little Rock, AR – Clinton Presidential Park
June 8 – Robbinsville, MS – Horseshoe Casino’s Bluesville
June 9 – Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival
June 22 – Cincinnati, OH – Outlaw Music Festival at Riverbend Music Center
June 23 – Noblesville, IN – Outlaw Music Festival at Ruoff Mortgage Music Center
June 24 – Detroit, MI – Outlaw Music Festival at DTE Energy Music Center
June 27 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
June 28 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
July 13 – Cleveland, OH – House Of Blues July 14 – Cooperstown, NY – Brewery Ommegang
July 15 – Greenfield, MA – Green River Festival
July 17 – New Haven, CT – College Street Music Hall
July 19 – Hampton Beach, NH – Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom
July 20 – Providence, RI – The Strand
July 22 – Shelburne, VT – The Green at Shelburne Museum
July 24 – Philadelphia, PA – The Electric Factory
July 27 – Dewey Beach, DE – Bottle & Cork
July 29 – Floyd, VA – Floydfest
Aug. 15 – Kansas City, MO – Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland
Aug. 16 – Salina, KS – Stiefel Theatre
Aug. 17 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheater
