Say hey to the first live album from Connecticut funk group West End Blend, whose eight-track recording includes a blend of songs from their three previous albums, invigorated with the energy captured during their two-night run at The Waterhole in Saranac Lake.
Captured on a studio-style soundboard engineered by the GRAMMY award winning Brendan Morawski, the recording is bright and full, bringing fans closer to the band without even setting foot in the venue.
Overall the live tracks match the recorded versions in quality, but play out a littler longer and showcase the band’s live flair. Purposeful guitar on “Get By” leaves space for a more intense build, intensifying the plea in the song’s lyrics to make a relationship right. The track is cleverly bookended with emotive guitar instead of the layered vocals and sound effects they used on the studio version, adding weight to the song.
Most of the songs they chose for this album deal with the uncertainties of love (“Day Dreamer” and “The Scene”) and determination and finding inner power (“All You Got” and “I’m Time”). The lyrical content relays compelling and relatable themes backed by powerful dance grooves that emphasize the message.
There are a couple of dates to catch West End Blend before the end of the year including December 21 at Anthology, and December 22 at The Haunt. Check out their Facebook page for event details.
MG3‘s Soulful Christmas Celebration will be held on Friday, December 21 at SALTspace in Syracuse, when Melissa Gardiner brings together an all-star band to perform funk and soul takes on your favorite Christmas classics.
MG3 is a jazz trio with added influence from the blues, gospel, soul, neo-soul, R&B, funk, and fusion. Their diverse repertoire of original music, jazz standards and covers always focuses on a strong groove, combined with creative reharmonization and beautiful soaring melodies.
Trombonist and vocalist Melissa Gardiner put together her jazz trio MG3 in Harlem in 2014. Since that time, they have become an in-demand act in Upstate New York. Besides Gardiner, the trio consists of organist William Gorman and Byron “Kidd” Cage on drums.
Together, they’ve opened up for artists such as Moonchild, Jane Monheit and Jonathan Scales, backed up artists such as Ronnie Leigh and Nancy Kelly and have played at the Rochester International Jazz Festival and most recently, won the grand prize at the Bucharest International Jazz Competition. As individuals, they’ve played with music royalty such as Aretha Franklin, Patti Austin, Dave Matthews Band, Benny Golson, Ernie Watts, Joe Louis Walker and more at venues and festivals all over the world.
They will be joined on December 21 by special guest singers Harper Sinclair, Gabrielle Gorman, Ariana Gates, Alto Phillip Young, Tenor Quinn Lawrence, Trumpeter Tom Killackey and Guitarist Stephen Pale.
The iconic Apollo Theater is ringing in the holidays with a series of spectacular performances during the Holidays in Harlem Series. The fun starts this weekend with Coca-Cola Wonderland, a free event on Saturday, December 15 from 2-6 pm, featuring local choirs, a toy-drive kickoff, and photos with Santa. This is followed by a Holiday edition of Amateur Night at 7:30 pm.
Other events include Cynthia Erivo and Sheoshana Bean on Monday, December 17, Holiday Joy: A Gospel Celebration featuring Hezekiah Walker & the Love Fellowship Choir and CeCe Winans on Saturday, December 22, and KWANZAA CELEBRATION: REGENERATION NIGHT Featuring Abdel R. Salaam’s Forces of Nature Dance Theatre with two performances on December 29.
Save $3 per ticket for Holidays in Harlem Series shows when you bring a new and unused item (children’s toy, home goods, or canned good) for donation to one of our holiday shows listed above. Once you donate in the Apollo Theater Lobby, visit the Box Office to receive your discount code. Visit Apollo Theater’s website for more details.
Dave Matthews Band has been on an extensive fall tour this year, making stops all across the United States, sounding tighter than ever and brought an incredible show to the Times Union Center in Albany, NY on December 5.
Usually, the band makes their way to the Albany area in the summer for their legendary SPAC runs in Saratoga Springs. The group opened up with “You Never Know” into “One Sweet World,” followed by “Samurai Cop (Oh Joy Begin).” Next, Dave Matthews and his band played crowd favorite “Everyday” followed by a cover of Aerosmiths’ “Sweet Emotion.”
The night was filled with crowd pleasers and hits like “Where Are You Going,” “Don’t Drink The Water” and of course “What Would You Say.” The Dave Matthews Band ended the night with a two-song encore featuring “Granny” and the Bob Dylan cover “All Along the Watchtower.” The group continues their tour through December 28 when they close in Miami, FL. Check out photos from their Albany performance below provided by Vinny Otto:
Setlist: You Never Know, One Sweet World, Samurai Cop (Oh Joy Begin), Everyday, Sweet Emotion (Aerosmith cover), Minarets, Where Are You Going, Burning Down the House (Talking Heads cover), Crush, Kill the King, What Would You Say, Here on Out, Don’t Drink The Water, Dancing Nancies, Come On Come On, Grey Street, She, You Might Die Trying
Encore: Granny, All Along the Watchtower (Bob Dylan cover)
Rubblebucket‘s sound may be hard to pin down with influences spanning the umbrella of pop but Talking Heads for the modern age gets you close.
Of course the best way to experience such a sonic celebration is in concert and a celebration is just what happened on a cold winter night on December 5 at Buffalo’sBabeville.
Horns blared, polyrhythms took hold, lines between stage and crowd blurred while dance parties sprang to life.
The Texas trio Khruangbin brought their unique blend of Thai influenced funky psychedelic music to Toronto’s Danforth Music Hall for a sold out show on Thursday, November 29. As the venue was filling up, Ginger Root opened the show with their self-described aggressive elevator soul. After a short pause, Khruangbin calmly took the stage to an enthusiastic audience weaving elements of hip-hop, soul, and surf-rock into their unique mostly instrumental sound that made for a most memorable evening.
Located in the center of downtown Plattsburgh, The Strand Theater is a historical landmark that has been the cultural heartbeat in the North Country for almost a century. Opened on December 29, 1924, as a Vaudeville theater featuring stunning architecture and interior design. The Strand Theater provided the community with theatrical and musical productions of all types and was considered the “Pride of Northern New York.”
The Strand went through some changes over the years. In the 70’s the theater was renovated in such a way that it became a two-room movie theater, and eventually a four-room theater. The changes covered the original interior design. The beautiful and ornate features were no longer visible, and the theater took on a different feel. The theater struggled financially and went on to change hands several times until in 2004 when the North Country Cultural Center for the Arts purchased the building. This was the beginning of a ten year, four-million-dollar restoration project.
Years of hard work, public and private grants, donations, and the dedication of the community has paid off. Now known as The Strand Center Theater, the venue is flaunting the ornamental design meant from its inception in 1924. Two highlights from the restoration include the replica of the original chandelier, donated by Swavorski Lighting, and a 1924 Wurlitzer organ. The Wurlitzer was donated by Leonard and Louise Johnson of Hingham, MA, owners of the Colney Theater in Philadelphia. A group of volunteers refurbished the 1924 instrument and it is now fully functional and an astonishing sight.
Not only has the theater completed its restoration and is sporting its fancy facelift, but The Strand Center Theater also has a new Executive Director creating quite a buzz in Plattsburgh. Mr. Bob Garcia relocated from New York City to Plattsburgh and is the first permanent director for The Strand in three years. Mr. Garcia has an impressive background in theater and production. He worked at Radio City Music Hall and Madison Square Garden in finance positions for many years. Mr. Garcia has much enthusiasm about the future of The Strand and has great ideas about ways to make the theater more and more successful with each event.
Recently Mr. Garcia brought Dave Mason, Traffic co-founder, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee to The Strand. Dave Mason is a rock legend, having an artist of this caliber grace the stage in Plattsburgh was a huge honor. Between his unsurpassed guitar playing, storytelling and great sense of humor, Mason gave the audience one of the best shows to date. Receiving several standing ovations throughout the night Dave Mason’s performance brought an undeniable, tangible energy to the theater. The seated crowd ended the evening on their feet and dancing in the aisles. The following weekend The Strand Center Theater welcomed another world-class musician. Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters brought their classic soulful blues to Plattsburgh, and it was a show the audience won’t forget. Earl is known for his old-school style, mesmerizing fans since he started playing in the 1970’s. B.B. King has stated, “…he is one of the most serious blues guitarists you can find today. He makes me proud!” Another top-notch performance for The Strand, with many more to come.
The Strand Center Theater is excited to announce that The Allman Betts Band set to perform on March 30, 2019 and Lonesome Traveler, a concert version of the acclaimed off-Broadway musical with special guest star and Folk Legend Peter Yarrow, the only living member of Peter, Paul & Mary. The musical tells the story of Americana music over the years. More event listings including comedy shows, ballet, theater, art and orchestra events can be found at the venue’s website.
The future of this historical theater in the North Country is bright. With Mr. Garcia at the helm, continued passion and support of the community, this venue is bringing back the heartbeat in downtown Plattsburgh.
On December 13, celebrate a Funk Night Christmas with an Ugly Sweater Party at Parish Public House in Albany! Join the band and sing some Christmas songs at this special holiday rendition of NYS Music’s Albany Funk Night! Take $5 off the cover charge when you bring a toy for our Jam for Tots drive.
The Funk Night Christmas lineup includes Hayley Jane, Beau Sasser (Kung Fu), Chris DeAngelis (Kung Fu), Justin Henricks (Wurliday), and Bryan Brundige and Phil Chow (The Chronicles). Tickets and more info are available here.
Joe Hertler and the Rainbow Seekers are currently out on the road bringing their unique blend of funk, soul and pop to audiences far and wide. The party came to Buffalo Iron Works on Sunday, November 18. Check out the pictures below to see what went down.
For those familiar with the progressive, ukulele-heavy tunes hailing from Brooklyn’s Cousin Earth, then you may be well acquainted with their fun, quirky sound and pleasing melodies. It’s with heavy hearts that Cousin Earth announces Tara Lawton’s decision to part ways with her role as vocalist and keyboardist with the group she’s flourished with over the last five years.
After months of preparation, Lawton will soon take her final bow with the musical collaboration. The Brooklyn outfit will then welcome Melissa Raye to officially take over vocals, following months of filling in and manning the mic. Celebrating five years of connection, growth and music, Cousin Earth will perform their last gig with Lawton on Thursday, November 29 at Mercury Lounge in NYC with Albany’s own Formula 5.
NYS Music chatted with Tara Lawton, reflecting on her 5-year stint with Cousin Earth.
We’re sad to see you go, but know there’s tons of fun memories to dwell on.
Alyssa Ladzinski: What’s something you wish you could tell yourself 5 years ago at the beginning of this journey?
Tara Lawton: Nada. The journey was and has been exactly what we needed it to be. The amount of growth I’ve experienced personally, musically and emotionally these past 5 years with Cousin Earth is unsurpassed. I wouldn’t change a thing. Every element, every unexpected twist and turn led to the creation of some amazing collaborative musical art and I think our full length album Human Music shows just how eclectic and electric our journey together has been.
AL: Try to sum up your experience with Cousin Earth in 5 words or less.
TL: Crazy-ass music-making life-changing musical expedition. (See how I cheated with the hyphens there…)
AL: How have you changed as a person/musician in this timeframe?
TL: How many pages do you have for this article? No really….! I’ve changed immensely. From learning how to write collaboratively (let me tell you it takes love and patience), to playing keys with a band for the first time (I’ve played piano since I was 7 but never with a band before), to making sure we take care of each other as well as we take care of the music we create together. I have become a much fuller and more musically-rounded version of myself as compared to 5 years ago.
Joey Calfa (ukelele, vox) and I met in Corey J. Feldman’s (U-Bass, vox) project Mercury Landing in May of 2013 and Joe asked me to sing a few duo gigs with him playing ukulele. It’s all a bit blurry now how exactly it took off from there, but the whole of Mercury Landing ended up jumping on-board and shifting into Ukulelien (the band you now know as Cousin Earth). I remember bringing the melodica to the table with this unique idea that I could use it as a rhythm instrument to compliment the uke (who does that?!)…then came the keyboards and it’s all history from there. I cannot express how my musicianship has grown from working with these guys, particularly within the writing and keyboard spaces. I’m eternally grateful for their patience and encouragement as I blossomed into a keyboard player within the band.
AL: We hope to hear more music from you. What’s coming next for your musical future?
TL: Great! Me too! The decision to no longer perform with Cousin Earth wasn’t made lightly. I have been given the opportunity to make a living with a full-time singing job which just didn’t leave time to remain a full-time member of Cousin Earth. The collaboration deserves full commitment and I understand why the decision we reached needed to be made. The new singing job is mostly private events, but I am working on some solo stuff to remain in the music community publicly. I’ve never been the singer/songwriter type, so get ready for some one-woman band kinda stuff with tap shoes, accordions and other insanity. In the meantime, you can catch me making an appearance with David Schnurman, writing and singing on Teddy Midnight’s EPFrench Press (my rapping debut – yes, that is me spitting the rhymes I wrote at the end of the song “Come Over” with the magic of an Ableton Live filter!), playing live original keys and vocal loops for Vinyasa class at Daya Yoga Studio on Monday nights and teaching private voice lessons from my home in Bushwick, Brooklyn. I’m looking forward to further exploring what I can do musically as just one person.
AL: What do you think Melissa will bring to the group next?
TL: I’m not overly familiar with Melissa’s work, but from what I have heard her voice is incredible, soulful and full. I will be most interested to hear what she brings to the writing collaboration process and I wish her the best. She seems to have a soul of golden kindness which I’m sure precedes her onto every stage she lights up.
AL: Which Cousin Earth song has the most meaning to you?
TL: Again, how many pages you got?! Let’s start from the beginning:
“Hey Ya” Cover – This was our first musical collaboration making a YouTube video all together as a ukelele band & it will always hold a special place in my heart. I found that glockenspiel used in the video in the trash outside of our rehearsal space in Bushwick, Brooklyn, NYC and we affectionately named her “Trash Glock.” She currently resides with me in Brooklyn.
“Universoul” -Our first music video! What a time we had making that music video. All of the palpable love shared in that room and the cinematic brilliance brought by Michael Varley and Jessi Highet! I was in the T-Rex suit in the video because our good friend and super-fan Evangeline Rera wasn’t feeling well enough to be in full dino costume. The “viral” T-Wrecks Tap Dancing video came from that day as well. They made me into a meme! Crazy. What a time to be alive!
“Alive” (Track 7 on Human Music) – Writing this song was truly our first full-band collaborative experience. Corey wrote it on ukelele, hence the trading of uke for u-bass live, and brought some lyrics that Joe & I worked with to turn into the song you hear today. I remember work-shopping the song at Corey’s Williamsburg apartment and writing a rough melody that we recorded a scratch track of and sent off to the others. Next rehearsal Joe shows up with a killer bass-line, Nate (always) brings the finesse with that smooth beat and Terry adds stellar interesting, echoing harmonies…bam. Alive.
“Peculiar Patterns” (Track 1 on Human Music) – This song is particularly special to me because of the vocal work and harmonies. I wanted an opportunity to improvise vocally in a similar manner to how Joey improvises on uke and it was provided for me in the middle section of this tune. (Thanks, guys!) Corey came into a rehearsal one night with awesome lyrics and a vocal line over Joey’s beautiful ukulele composition. Terrence Brennan (vox, keys, kazoo) throws on a harmony and I remember having missed that rehearsal because the next time I was in rehearsal I heard for the first time what Terry and Corey were singing and I didn’t even have to think twice about my high harmony part. A harmony that follows the curves of the verses, adds a smooth lyrical element over the dancey B-sections and “falls” down from the top like the rain as the other parts rise slowly from underneath to meet the challenges of that very rainfall. That rehearsal was magic for me and I remember it vividly. There was no thought, the song wrote itself.
While recording “Peculiar Patterns” with Matt Einsidler at Audio Workstations, Inc. where we recorded the album, I was going through honestly probably thee hardest experience of my lifetime and I poured my soul into the singing and recording of this track. It’s actually difficult for me to listen to still to this day, particularly around 4 minutes and 18 seconds when I let out a large vocal wail. I can hear and feel all of the pain I was experiencing…so fresh and so raw at that time in my life and it remains a doorway to that place of intense longing, vulnerability and inability to understand. I can’t help but feel for my younger self as she struggled to accept the circumstances. It’s a story for another time, but this song has my heart in a way that is so very, very special to me and it always will. My boys in Cousin Earth also allowed me to NOT BE AUTO-TUNED on this album (which is unheard of in 2018) and so here I shall use my bragging rights I have reserved. I will forever be grateful to them for allowing just me, my voice to be captured on Human Music.
“Keep On (Show Me the Numbers, Ian)” [Track 9 on Human Music] – My baby. My first tune I’ve written and recorded with a full band. Dope. The weirdest song you will ever hear; I admit I wrote it to be difficult. I wanted a very challenging musical piece and I got it, but in hindsight I definitely would have done some things differently while writing that piece to make the listening experience more fluid. What is life experience if we do not learn from it, eh?
The guys were lovely enough to indulge this crazy idea – a theatrey, jazzy sounding A-section juxtaposed by an off-tempo eerie sounding B-section that I originally wrote as a vocal loop with my Boss Loop Station. Drummer Nate Searing helped to pull this song together by mastering the challenging tempo changes and developing the syncopated hits in the middle section of the song which Corey brought to the table (a true collaboration!). The lyrics are odd, but if you listen closely it tells our Cousin Earth love story. This song is the only sort of love song I would willingly write, and it is for my love of the four amazing men, my brothers that make up Cousin Earth. I am proud and grateful to have this song on Human Music and we will be playing it live for my last show with Cousin Earth at The Mercury Lounge in NYC on Thursday, November 29 (doors at 9pm; show at 9:45pm with Formula 5 of Albany, NY). It’s likely to be the last time the band ever plays the song live. Please join us in celebration!
AL: Do you have a message for the fans?
TL: I’m not going far. If you’ve read this entire article, I promise I love you and I thank you for your support both of my personal career and Cousin Earth. Whether at shows of my fellow musician family, sitting in or performing solo, I’ll see you out there…in the words of Cousin Earth…WAY out there.
Trombonist and vocalist Melissa Gardiner put together her jazz trio MG3 in Harlem in 2014. Since that time, they have become an in-demand act in Upstate New York. Besides Gardiner, the trio consists of organist William Gorman and Byron “Kidd” Cage on drums.
The night was filled with crowd pleasers and hits like “Where Are You Going,” “Don’t Drink The Water” and of course “What Would You Say.” The Dave Matthews Band ended the night with a two-song encore featuring “Granny” and the Bob Dylan cover “All Along the Watchtower.” The group continues their tour through December 28 when they close in Miami, FL. Check out photos from their Albany performance below provided by Vinny Otto:
