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.
Category: Genres
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The Strand Center Theater: From Vaudeville to Rock and Roll
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.
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Fritz’s Polka Band announces 19th album
Celebrating 40 years of performing, the Verona-based Fritz’s Polka Band will release its 19th album, Hey! on Friday.
Recorded at SubCat Studios in Syracuse over the course of several weeks this fall, the album marks a bit of a departure for the band. Of the twelve original tracks included on what was originally planned to be a double album, half stick to the band’s namesake style. The other half spans various styles lead singer/accordionist Fritz Sherz and his bandmates, Gabe Vaccaro (bass/vocals), Frank Nelson (guitar) and Mike Faraino (drums) have dipped into throughout the years while busting open the polka band stereotype.
Several guests make appearances on the new album, including SubCat Studios owner Ron Keck and previous Fritz’s Polka Band collaborator, Rocko Dorsey. Those familiar with Guns ‘n Roses guitarist Slash’s solo outings will recognize the name Todd Kerns. Kerns is the bassist in Slash’s band, Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators and a friend of Sherz. He contributed guitar tracks to the title song written by Sherz. The song eschews the typical polka format for more of a Flogging Molly-style Celtic vibe.
(L-R) Mike Faraino, Todd Kerns and Fritz Sherz The new album hits this Friday, Nov. 30 on all major streaming services and will be available for purchase at all Fritz’s Polka Band gigs or through Sherz himself. For more information, follow Fritz’s Polka Band’s social media channels of visit their website here.
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Sonic Temple Begins Where Rock on the Range Left Off
Sonic Temple, the new art and music festival that has replaced one of rock, and metal’s biggest annual festivals in Rock on the Range in 2019, has announced the weekend lineup for their inaugural event May 17-19, 2019 in Columbus, OH.
Since it’s debut in 2007, Rock on the Range’s fan base grew bigger with each passing year, along with the star studded headliners and supporting bands that helped make the festival feel special and unique every year. Sonic Temple continues that trend.
Foo Fighters, Disturbed, and System of a Down are the scheduled headliners for each night of the festival.
Also included in the three day lineup are Bring Me the Horizon, The Prodigy, Ghost, Halestorm, Lamb of God, Chevelle, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, The Cult, In This Moment, Gojira, Meshuggah, Killswitch Engage, Parkway Drive, Black Label Society, Beartooth, Avatar, Pussy Riot, Bad Wolves, Fever 333, Badflower, the Glorious Sons, Issues, Yungblud, H09909, the Black Dahlia Murder, Don Broco, Wage War, Hands Like Houses, While She Sleeps, Palaye Royale and several more.
Andrew Dice Clay, Henry Rollins, and Pauly Shore will headline the Sirius/XM Comedy and Spoken Word Tent.
Rock on the Range co-founder, Danny Wimmer, and his promotion/production company Danny Wimmer Presents, have now turned their attention to Sonic Temple. Wimmer stated:
I am so proud of what we accomplished with Rock on the Range, and with the debut of Sonic Temple Art + Music Festival, we’re excited to bring our devoted rock fans and the city of Columbus a one-of-a-kind, world-class event that expands on the festival experience. The idea behind Sonic Temple is walking into something bigger than yourself, where YOU belong, or where you were always meant to be. The crowd is unparalleled, and the energy is electrifying, like going to a place of worship. We want this festival to be a temple of rock n’ roll. We want this to be the ultimate rock experience for the true fans who love the genre as much as we do.
Tickets go on sale to the general public Nov. 30. Packages include Weekend VIP: $379.50 plus fees, Pillar Premium VIP Package: $1,949.50 plus fees (accommodations for 2), Weekend Field General Admission: $199.50 plus fees, Weekend Stadium General Admission: $99.50 plus fees, and RV Camping: $250.
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It’s a Funk Night Ugly Christmas Sweater Party in Albany on December 13!
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.
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Continental Closing Its Doors
East Village bar Continental is closing its doors on Dec. 15. In its heyday from 1991-2006, the bar featured live music and hosted some of the greatest icons of the era: Iggy Pop, Guns N’ Roses, and The Ramones. The historic midtown Manhattan building that has been home to the bar for 27 years is being torn down for redevelopment.
It is with heavy heart that I have to inform everyone that Continental’s days are numbered. Sometime late this year, this entire corner will be knocked down and developed. It’s truly heartbreaking that we and so many Old Skool places are falling by the wayside… This Bar has been my life. First as a Rock Club and then as a Dive Bar and I’ve loved every minute of it (mostly speaking). – Trigger Smith, Owner
The Continental webstore is stocked with memorabilia including a 15 Years of Rock and Roll T-shirt and Live At Continental compilation CD’s featuring The Ramones, Agnostic Front, and many more NYC-based bands.
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Lotus Plays Games With Playstation Theater
Lotus has been on top of their game this year, bringing their heavy bass-line jams across the country and on Saturday, November 24, the quintet came to NYC and played to a packed show at the Playstation Theater in Times Square.
Set I: 128, Hammerstrike, Inspector Norse > Cosmosis, Cain & Abel, Travel > Greet the Mind
Set II: Slow Cookin > Wooly Mammoth, Faceblind, Through the Mirror > Sunrain, Spaghetti > Age of Inexperience
E: Strawberry Letter 23
You can catch the boys this winter at Dominican Holidaze and on their New Year’s Run. They play the Majestic Theater in Detroit and the Intersection in Grand Rapids before finishing with two nights at Park West on December 30 and 31.
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Pop-Fest 518 Showcases Original Local Talent
Pop-Fest 518 takes place at The Linda on Saturday, Dec 1 from 7-10 pm. Featured in this evening of eclectic musicians are Blockhouses, Sydney Worthley, Pop-Clique, Sarah Kohrs & Coyote, and Daniel Conley. While students can get a $10 ticket at the door with ID, all-ages $15 tickets can be purchased through The Linda’s Pop Fest 518 event page. This one-night show not only showcases original work by performers native to the 518 area, but admission goes towards the upstate arts community fostered by the Columbia Arts Team.
Blockhouses The pop trio Blockhouses will groove the audience followed by festival-seasoned, 16 year old Sydney Worthley, who takes the stage to build on that energy with her country/rock infused lyrics. Expect a blast to the past as the internationally recognized Pop-Clique takes concert-goers back with a ’60s flavored vibe. A new face joins the stage with them as notorious singer/songwriter Liv Cummins makes her Pop-Clique debut on Dec. 1 at Pop-Fest 518.
The mood changes yet again as Sarah Kohrs & Coyote deliver their take on blues and jazz; the influence of iconic female vocalists Joni Mitchell and Amy Winehouse comes through in Sara Kohrs’s performance. To cap of a great night of 518 artists, Daniel Conley has a large body of work to pull his Americana offerings from as he has launched two albums in the last year.
The Columbia Arts Team is a non-profit performing arts company that promotes local arts efforts and has partnered with The Linda to make this performance possible. The Linda is committed to growing the arts in New York as it serves as the performing arts studio for Albany-based public broadcast radio station WAMC. There is growing community interest in the cultivation of original, local, musical talent. Pop-Fest 518 gives these unique voices a stage where they can truly shine.
There aren’t a lot of options for purely original local artists to perform in a concert format…This is music that belongs in a ‘listening’ venue, not a bar. This is music that needs to be heard.
– Andy Gregory, WEXT Radio’s Local 518 program host.
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Joe Perry Cancels Remaining 2018 Shows due to Health Scare
Earlier this month, legendary Aerosmith and Hollywood Vampires guitarist Joe Perry was taken to the hospital after his guest appearance during Billy Joel’s Madison Square Garden show. The emergency involved breathing complications that resulted in Perry’s overnight stay at the hospital. Despite previous assumptions that Perry would resume his schedule once he was clear, the seasoned artist has decided to take a well deserved rest for the remainder of 2018.
Joe Perry sent his apologies to fans who were looking forward to the events, but realizes he needs to put his health first. Fans of the rock legend will be seeing him soon though as Perry states that he is looking forward to further touring to come in 2019. Refunds for the cancelled shows can be obtained at the point of purchase.
Perry released a new solo album earlier this year titled Sweetzerland Manifesto that the tour was going to feature. His band was to include former Extreme vocalist and brief member of Van Halen, Gary Cherone and Perry’s Aerosmith partner Brad Whitford.
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A Spectacle at The Palace: The Disco Biscuits Return to Albany
The Disco Biscuits visited Albany’s Palace Theatre for a 2-night run this past weekend, the band’s first time in the Capital District since 2010’s show at The Egg. Opening up the night was the local and nationally touring band Formula 5 making their debut at the Palace. Though the weather was quite brisk, fans came out in droves to see both bands work their magic at the famous venue.
Formula 5 kicked the night off with an hour-long, all original set, opening with a newer tune “In The Sand,” into “Sad Bed,” a rocking cut from the group’s recent studio album All Points North. “Sad Bed” was left unfinished as the band transitioned into “Booher’s Pass,” a more somber instrumental tune that featured the best jam of the set, leading the group into some experimental type-2 territory. After another original “Gettin’ Tough Again,” the group closed out their set with another new song, “Breaking Glass.” The song mixes lyrical sections with synth-heavy, prog-like riffs and does it well, as the crowd was responding very positively to what F5 was laying down.
To open up the Palace show, The Disco Biscuits played the rocking “7-11,” an older song that was met with open arms by just about every fan in the theater. “7-11” was just the beginning of what became an incredible first set, which was foreshadowed by the band absolutely nailing the composed section of the tune. The jam was extremely fast-paced, featuring lots of drummer Allen Aucoin hammering away on his drum pad laying down an untzy groove for the rest of the group to build a heavy jamtronica groove off of. “7-11” was left unfinished so that the group could transition into the ending of “Above The Waves,” signaling to the fans that the band was inverting the song. Following the quick peak of “Waves” the group started working through the song’s composed section, another tune from the early days of the band.
The “Waves” jam continued the uptempo jamming from “7-11” before dropping back into the song’s chord structure and bringing the jam back to the peak it had opened with. Following a heavenly solo from Barber, the group dropped into “Minions,” a more recent tune that had a mysterious feel to it. Keyboardist Aron Magner utilized the full extents of his rig during this tune, looping a funky clavinet part during the verse and singing the chorus through a vocoder on one of his synthesizers. The majority of the “Minions” jam was the band flexing their funk muscles before they started lifting the jam into the last song of the set, “Voices Insane.” This version of “Voices” was superb, the band locked in and smoothly transitioning between each composed section, allowing some of the movements to breathe a bit before moving onto the next part.
After a quick set break, the group came out and opened the second set with “Sweating Bullets,” a grandeur tune that had a medieval feel to it during the composed section. The jam was fairly short and featured a somewhat dub reggae feel before coming to a close. The group then took a quick pause and dropped into “Resurrection,” which had an R&B feel to it and allowed for the group to show off a different side of their musical capabilities. The “Resurrection” jam was slower than most of the night’s previous jams, and served more as a jumping off point for the segue into “I-Man,” which is where the second set started to pick up.
The band very suddenly dropped into the fan favorite “I-Man” during the “Resurrection” jam, beginning with Barber singing out the opening lyrics of the tune, which was met by loud cheers from the entire crowd. Following the lyrical sections, the group started into the jam of the night, a supernatural peak that was incredibly patient in its build up, delivery, and subsequent redelivery as the group started back into the song’s chorus. Following “I-Man,” the group broke into Muse’s “Knights of Cydonia,” a song that has only been performed three times prior by the Biscuits. The “Knights” jam was full of untz and dove back into the jamtronica side of the Biscuits, before a very dramatic drop back into the song’s lyrics and main riff. To close out the set, the group broke into the upbeat “Story of the World,” which rounded out the stronger second half of the set. After the main composed section, the group broke into some more funk-themed jamming, bringing back some of the musical flavor that “Minions” was offering during the first set. The peak was pretty quick and brought the tune back into the melody of the tune before one last chorus and ending the set. For an encore the group played an extremely short, “World is Spinning.”
Saturday night was a spectacle of its own, with the crowd revved up from the night before and ready to rage the Palace. Opening with “The Tunnel,” which has found its way back into the rotation in the last few years took a journey that ended up in the latter section of “Spectacle,” which would also open Set 2 with the first portion of the song. “M.E.M.P.H.I.S.” brought the energy level even higher through the composition and eventual jam, which worked into Biscuits anthem “We Like To Party,” a statement that encompasses the tone of the crowd over the weekend. “Rock Candy” and “Save the Robots” took it back old school for a tight pairing to close the set.
To keep the party going in the second set, a 45-minute pairing of “Spectacle” -> “spacebirdmatingcall” made for a sweaty run of energetic of the Biscuits signature trancefusion jams. A brief “Hope” was a well placed breather, if you consider the flowing peaks of the song a place to rest. “Reactor” featured an inverted “Crickets” sandwiched inside, a crunchy progression of classic Biscuits jam vehicles that brought the set to a tremendous finish. “Portal to an Empty Head” closed the night in the encore slot, wrapping up the first multi-night Biscuits run in the Capital District since Camp Bisco was held in nearby Mariaville.
The Disco Biscuits have been on fire as of late, and have a few more runs you can catch them at before their NYE run at The Fillmore in Philadelphia. Check out photos from Filip Zalewski for a taste of what the the evening was like.
Setlists
Formula 5, Friday, November 23, 2018
Set: In The Sand > Sad Bed*# > Booher’s Pass, Gettin’ Tough Again, Breaking Glass
*”In the Sand” tease
# UnfinishedThe Disco Biscuits, Palace Theatre, Friday, November 23, 2018
Set 1: 7-11* > Above the Waves (Inverted) > Minions > Voices Insane
Set 2: Sweating Bullets, Resurrection > I-Man, Knights of Cydonia**, Story of the World
Encore: World is Spinning
*Unfinished
**Muse CoverThe Disco Biscuits, Palace Theatre, Saturday, November 24
Set 1: The Tunnel -> Spectacle, M.E.M.P.H.I.S.-> We Like to Party-> Rock Candy, Save the Robots
Set 2: Spectacle-> Spacebirdmatingcall, Hope, Reactor-> Crickets (inverted)-> Reactor
Encore: Portal to an Empty Head