NYS Music 20​18

Category: Ithaca

  • Mike Powell set to release new solo EP, ‘Shelter Without Walls’

    Mike Powell has had a prolific few years, performing throughout the northeast with his solo act, his duo, and his full band the Black River.  He also released a solo album and an album with his band. This Friday, Oct. 5, Powell will release his latest solo effort, Shelter Without Walls.

    shelter without walls

    The six song EP features two previously released, but re-worked songs, “Twenty One Rounds” and “Sad Day in Champion” and four brand new heartfelt compositions. The album can be pre-saved on Spotify and Apple Music through this link. It will be available on all streaming services beginning Oct. 5.

    Powell is a unique storyteller who writes with emotion, breaking down walls to allow the listener into the story. He writes best when he draws from personal experiences. “Twenty One Rounds” tells the tale of a mother who lost her son while serving his country; something Powell has knowledge of through his upbringing in Carthage, just outside of the Fort Drum Army Base in Northern New York. This much-loved song gets a rework on the new EP and has lost little of the original’s emotional appeal.

    Writing songs has always been a soul satisfying activity for me. I just have a deep love for words and telling stories. Music is the most impactful medium I’ve found for connecting with people and evoking emotion. Being able to play intimate acoustic sets in tandem with rock n’ roll shows with my band is like scratching two creative itches at once. I feel like I have two separate vehicles that share the same fuel system.

    “Sad Day in Champion” recalls the closing of a paper mill in that same region of the North Country that affected so many of the people in the region as well as those close to the young Mike Powell.

    One of Powell’s new songs, “Poison Diamond” closes the record. A dirgy number, highlighted by Hanus’ trademark guitar and a church-like organ, where the narrator laments, “You took my hand/You stole my heart/ You loved me to pieces/That’s what tore me apart/You set the fire/And it made me cold/You made me higher/And you cut me down low/That’s what tore me apart/I need some glue, or something heavy I can hold on to/This old bottle here will do/I’m never together with you.”  This is one of the Powell’s most powerful recordings to date, from the lyrics to the delivery to the musicianship within the song. The subdued duet with a female voice on “I’m never together with you” hits the listener in the heart. This song could be Powell’s launching pad to a wider audience.

    shelter without walls

    “The Polite Rebel” will also embark on the most ambitious month of his professional music career beginning Friday. The busy month kicks off with the Black River opening for Canadian rockers The Trews at Exhibition Hall in Watertown this Friday, Oct. 5. Following the Watertown gig, Powell and his duo partner, John Hanus trip down to Goshen, CT for a main stage gig at the Black Bear Americana Music Fest on Oct. 6. The weekend wraps on Sunday with an intimate gig at The Sinclair in Skaneateles on Oct. 7.

    Powell’s intense schedule continues Oct. 10 and 11 as he makes his solo debut at Ani DiFranco’s 9th Ward at Babeville in Buffalo and Lovin’ Cup in Rochester. Oct. 12 sees Powell closer to home at the Brewerton Center for the Arts for another solo show.

    The most highly anticipated nights of the month occur at the historic Nelson Odeon, a renovated former Grange Hall located in the rolling hills of Nelson, near Powell’s current hometown of Cazenovia on Oct. 13 and 14. These shows will be used to record Powell in both solo and duo formats as well as certain selections with the Black River, to be included in a future live Powell album.

    The Odeon is one of Powell’s favorite rooms to perform and is the reason he chose this historic building for the recording of his first live album. He says of the building:

    The Nelson Odeon stands for everything I love about music. It’s like stepping back to a simpler time. I have always dreamed of releasing a live record and this is the perfect room to try and bottle up a moment in time. It will be a special night.

    The Black River, in addition to their gig opening for The Trews on Oct. 5, will take up a Thursday residency at King of Clubs in Syracuse’s famed Armory Square on Oct. 4 and 18. Dubbed “The Thursday Night Rock Show,” this ongoing event is hosted by the band and features some of the region’s top acts. Capital District rockers Wild Adriatic will join the Black River in a November session of “The Thursday Night Rock Show.”

    Finally, on Oct. 19 Powell makes a trip to Blue Mountain Lake for a performance at the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts and wraps up with a songwriters and on Oct. 20 the 18 Songs Tour visits Casita del Polaris in Ithaca. This set brings together three of Central New York’s premier singer songwriters for a night of music – 18 songs- with Powell joined by Charley Orlando and Chris Merkley.

    When not on the road, Powell will be in the studio recording the Black River’s sophomore effort. The band released its debut, Classic Universe in January.

    Check out the video for “Sad Day in Champion” below featuring Powell and members of the Black River.

  • West End Blend announces expansive fall 2018 tour plus ‘Live at the Waterhole’ Album Release

    The soulful funk group, West End Blend, shared this week that their impressive Fall 2018 tour will be expanding across cities in the Northeast, Southeast, and Midwest. In what Sam Horan, the band’s drummer, has described as “one of our most exciting tours to date,” eager fans can expect performances including surprises such as a Secret Location TBA for Halloweekend.

    This tour will mark the band’s next step to spread their unique sound as they claimed: “We’re visiting some brand new cities and we look forward to expanding that WEB family!” Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased via the band’s website.

    This announcement is only the first of many plans for this upcoming fall. West End Blend prides themselves on their own vibe and flair and what better way to do that than with a live album release. Horan mentioned that they have been getting so many requests for this project because “Everyone can agree that while our studio albums sound great, they just don’t quite capture the raw energy and vibe that you see from us live.” It’s the ultimate way to provide the most authentic content possible and Live at the Waterhole will be released Oct. 5.

    Recorded during a two-night long session at the Waterhole in Saranac Lake, the album sees technical contributions from GRAMMY Award-winning engineer Brendan Morawski. By building a studio-style soundboard side stage, Morawski was able to capture studio quality recordings of both evenings. This was also taken into consideration for which songs would be included on the album since the objective was to pick those which have taken on new arrangements and morphed significantly from the studio album versions. This direction the band is taking will demonstrate how they want the utmost interactive experience for the fans and how they are constantly rearranging their songs during live performances to showcase their progression as a group.

    See Tour Dates and Tracklist below:

    Live at the Waterhole Tracklist:

    1. Attitude
    2. Say Hey
    3. Get By
    4. I’m Time
    5. Too Heavy
    6. Day Dreamer
    7. Is that All you got
    8. The Scene

    West End Blend Tour Dates:

    Sept. 18 – Brooklyn Bowl – Brooklyn, NY *
    Sept. 19 – Buffalo Iron Works – Buffalo, NY *
    Sept. 20 – Funk n Waffles – Syracuse, NY *
    Sept. 29 – Brighton Music Hall – Boston, MA ^
    Oct. 5 – Toad’s Place – New Haven, CT #
    Oct. 6 – H.O.M.E. – Portland, ME
    Oct. 12 – The Hollow – Albany, NY
    Oct. 18 – Woodlands Tavern – Columbus, OH
    Oct. 19 – Emporium – Chicago, IL
    Oct. 20 – Founder’s Brewery – Grand Rapids, MI
    Oct. 27 – Halloween Horror Camp – Secret Location TBA
    Nov. 7 – Hofgarden – Richmond, VA
    Nov. 8 – The One Stop – Asheville, NC
    Nov. 16 – Pour House Music Hall – Raleigh, NC
    Nov. 17 – Heist Brewing – Charlotte, NC
    Nov. 24 – Riverwalk – Nashua, NH
    Nov. 30 – Tropicalia – Washington DC
    Dec. 7 – King’s Rook Club – Erie, PA
    Dec. 22 – The Haunt – Ithaca, NY @

    * w/ Five Alarm Funk
    ^ w/ Strange Machines
    # w/ Bella’s Bartok
    @ w/ Root Shock

  • Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo Fire Up Del Lago in Waterloo

    This summer’s concerts have been heating up for sure. Friday July 27 was no different when four time Grammy winner, Pat Benatar and her long time husband/guitarist Neil Giraldo co-headlined the Vine at Del Lago along with another 80’s icon, Rick Springfield.

    Pat and Neil have been performing together since 1979 and have been an unstoppable husband and wife team since 1983. Together they have written and produced many gold and platinum and multi-platinum hits including “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”, “Love is a Battlefield”, “We Belong”, and “Invincible”.

    At just about 9 p.m., the seasoned musical veteran performers hit the stage with their band and kicked right off into “All Fired Up”, “We Live For Love”, and “Invincible”. The dynamic duo of Pat and Neil had the sold out audience at Del Lago fired up for sure, as no one was quite sure who would be performing first on the bill, Rick or Pat and Neil.

    Their sound was like pure vinyl. If you closed your eyes, it was as good as a recording. Flawless. Pat’s vocals were simply powerfully amazing as she hit all the high notes effortlessly, especially on “We Live For Love. Neil’s guitar work is just plain brilliant. His technique and playing style that has defined the Benatar sound for nearly 40 years remains perfect never missing a lick, bend or nuance.

    Their set included a stripped down, acoustic side as well when they performed powerful “Shine” intimately for the audience. “Shine”, released in 2017, was written in support of  the women’s rights movement, and the record reflects the Shine Together Movement, which is her voice to hopefully affect positive change in the world and government. This was a beautifully performed acoustic number.

    Finishing out the twelve song set, was a very cool rendition of “Heartbreaker” with a few twists thrown in including a medley of Cash’s “Ring of Fire”, Hendrix’s “Purple Haze”, The White Stripes “Seven Nation Army”, and a cool little “Godfather Theme” instrumental.

    After nearly forty years of making hit after hit, Pat and Neil have pretty much proved that they are in fact invincible.

    Setlist: All Fired Up, We Live for Love, Invincible, Promises in the Dark, We Belong, Disconnected, Hell is for Children, You Better Run, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Love is a Battlefield (Encore: Shine, Heartbreaker

  • Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance: A One of a Kind Festival

    People from all over the world rolled into a small town called Trumansburg in upstate NY on Thursday, July 19 for the 28th annual Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance. The festival works to nurture local artists while reaching around the globe to bring a world’s worth of music, introducing it to new audiences. The festival tries to do all of this while creating an environment to inspire creativity and foster community building. Some people even arrived four days early to attend the festival Culture Camp, four days of workshops on musical instruments, dance and art. The festival is known for not being like most other festivals and is joked about by locals as, “Such an ‘Ithacan’ thing,” because of its close proximity to the city of Ithaca.

    Grandstand of Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance.

    The festival started off sunny at the stroke of noon with onsite campers rushing in to get their preferred spots with distant recorded music in the background playing greatest hits reggae until the live music started at 1:30. Like most years at Grassroots, I spent the first couple hours setting up my tentsite, right outside one of the four stages, and in the only shady area of the festival. With it being common to hit 100+ degree days, campers want all the shade they can get!

    Thursday’s biggest highlight was roots reggae sensation and headliner, Toots and the Maytals, performing at the Infield stage. They put on a show no one is going to forget, starting off with their classic hit, “Pressure Drop” and by the end of their set, the large crowd was all smiles and cheers. The other big highlight of the night was The Ithaca Bottom Boys, a local favorite who transcend falling into a certain genre with their folky twang, hinting at the background of all their songs, but with this overlaying groove that one can’t help but dance to. Their song “Some Are Beavers” had the crowd going wild as most of them either knew the words or caught on very quickly and were singing their hearts out to it.

    On Friday, the morning started with yoga and the instrument contest like it does every year. The Grassroots festival schedule has an air of familiar repetition to long time attendees, but one thing attendees can always count on is the array of different genres introducing artists they haven’t heard of before, but won’t soon forget. Artists like Dakha Brakha, a Ukrainian folk quartet that left the crowd speechless. Or Danielle Ponder and the Tomorrow People, rooted in classic groove and soul, but expanding into so much more. During her performance on Friday, she parted the crowd from the stage, jumped off stage, and ran up and down the created aisle, pulling people from the crowd to dance with her. It was an intimate experience you usually don’t get with a festival the size of Grassroots, which has an attendance reaching around 15,000 people. It’s not every day you get a musician like Danielle Ponder dancing just a few feet from you, tripping slightly on a backpack, losing her footing, and you get to reach out and help keep her on her feet, like I got to.

    Danielle Ponder and the Tomorrow People

    At this festival you not only get intimate shows, you get to see the band members walking around enjoying the festival, like members of festival fan favorite, Uma Galera, who performed on Friday night to a huge crowd. With their Latin-infused sound, high energy, and mid-performance dance moves, they were definitely one of the most anticipated and enjoyed acts at the festival. This being their third year returning, not only were people excited to see them, but knew words to their songs. They couldn’t leave the stage without at least three encores on their Friday night and their Saturday night performances. Other big names who killed it Friday night were folk music singer-songwriter Patty Griffin, and Valerie June’s unique mixture of folk, blues, gospel, soul, country, Appalachian and bluegrass, both of which brought in big crowds and devoted fans to their respective shows.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BlldJFwF1oN/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

    Saturday started with yoga once again and the band contest, a popular competition with a first prize being a slot at next year’s festival. The day then progressed through Grassroots classics consisting of many festival favorites like Keith Frank and The Soileau Zydeco Family Band, Sim Redmond Band, Donna the Buffalo, Uma Galera, and many more. And this is when the rain started. Now for Grassroots a little rain isn’t a problem, in fact it’s expected. Locals joke that the rain knows when the festival is happening and makes a point to make an appearance which, having attended it for over a decade, I can attest to being true. But the rain didn’t stop people from going out and dancing their socks, shoes and other possessions off late into the night with Keith Frank and The Soileau Zydeco Family Band playing until almost four in the morning.

    Sunday came early and soggy to most people, with the rain not letting up, but that didn’t seem to phase many festival goers as they still got up bright and early for their yoga. As someone who has been attending this festival for over a decade, it’s hard for me to put into words how this festival is different than others I’ve attended. Luckily for me, I had a friend attend with me this year who had never gone before and he was able to pinpoint what is so different about it a little bit better than me. He said, “I was amazed at the variety of music Grassroots brought to the table, seamlessly blending reggae, rock, soul, dance and many other genres into a festival experience everyone can enjoy. Even going into the festival not knowing any of the lineup, I found that there was more than enough variety to always keep me entertained and excited for more.”

    Apart from music, the festival also has the annual Happiness Parade, a variety of workshops with musicians and artist in the Workshop Tent, massages, acupuncture and meditation at the Healing Arts Tent, a kid’s area with crafts and games, and volunteers worked at the Kids Tent, the Art Barn, the Congo Square Market, and the Sustainability fair throughout the weekend. There were also lots of vendors both for food and arts, clothing, drums, etc. and even a changing station for cell phones run by solar panels.

    The music was above par, the people attending are polite and generally good spirited, the food is good (even though it’s a little expensive), and the general atmosphere was just pleasant. The thing about Grassroots is, there really is something for everyone, and that can be seen by the different types of people that attend it. From seniors to children, frat boys to punks, parents to singles ready to mingle, American flag-wearing to hippy-loving non-showering-folk, the festival really had something for everyone. The festival was a great experience as it always is and I will definitely be back again next year.

    Uma Galera
    Valerie June
    Valerie June. Photo by Isabella Romeo-Hall.
    Grandstand view. Photo by Isabella Romeo-Hall.
    Onsite tent camping. Photo by Isabella Romeo-Hall.

  • Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival Of Music & Dance kicks off on July 19th 2018

    The annual Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival Of Music & Dance takes place July 19th- 22, 2018 in Trumansburg and takes place on four stages with approximately 75 bands each year. This year has notable acts such as Patty Griffin, Toots and the Maytals, and Valerie June.

    Patty Griffin courtesy of the Grassroots website.

    The festival is held at the Trumansburg Fairgrounds in Trumansburg which is located about 10 miles north of Ithaca on the west side of Cayuga Lake in Finger Lakes region of Central New York. The festival is also a mission-based organization which basically means, besides the music, they also try to work to nurture local artists and talent while reaching around the globe to bring world music and culture to new audiences, creating environments that inspire creativity and foster community building. A big part of this fostering and inspiring can be found in their Culture Camp which takes place the four days before the festival.

    Donna the Buffalo is known as the Grassroots host artist and will be performing as usual, closing out the festival on Sunday night. Some of the other notable artists performing are: Patty Griffin, a Grammy-Award winning artist; reggae legends, Toots & the Maytals, and Valerie June, a multi-instrumentalist encompassing a mixture of folk, blues, gospel, soul, country, Appalachian and bluegrass. The full lineup can be found here.

    The festival is full of all kinds of music from local to national and international artists but the experience isn’t limited to just that. Other offerings include camping, local food and craft vendors, children’s activities, daily yoga, healing arts and instrument workshops, visual arts exhibits, and so much more.

    For tickets and more information visit the festival’s website.

  • ¡Viva Mayhem! Takes on CFCU Summer Concert Series Again

    ¡Viva Mayhem!, commonly referred to as Viva, is an eight-piece post-wave ska band out of Ithaca, NY which are fan favorite at the CFCU Summer Concert Series that takes place at the Bernie Milton Pavilion stage in Bank Alley on the Ithaca Commons. Sean Bonney-Burrill is one of the original member and founders of the band and still an active participant when he’s not attending Berklee College of Music in Boston for Contemporary Writing and Production.

    Viva Mayhem’s drummer Sean Bonney-Burrill playing at the Ithaca Festival taken by Edna Brown Photography.

    Nora Hones: So tell me a little bit about your position in ¡Viva Mayhem! and how the band formed?

    Sean Bonney-Burrill: So my position in it is really weird because the band formed, I don’t remember exactly what year it was formed, but it was five or six years ago as Mayhem Attack Squad and at the time I was the drummer for the band. And at that point, it was just two horn players, guitar, bass, drums and vocals and it kind of went from there to what it is today. Over the years I have switched gears, switched instruments many times. I went from drums, to doing vocals, to doing both vocals and drums at one point, but I didn’t really feel like that had enough energy going on upfront. I felt like that we needed someone upfront to get the crowd excited so since we were having a hard time finding a vocalist that was sticking around in Ithaca, I decided to jump on doing the front man position for a while. Then when I went away to school, we got a new vocalist and a new drummer and I just sort of filled in on whatever instrument needed to be played when another member was out and besides that I would play aux percussion or keyboard. But right now, this summer, I am playing drums again which I haven’t done in almost five years with Viva which is really awesome.

    NH: So how long have you guys been performing at the CFCU summer concert series? Because I know this isn’t your first year.

    SBB: It’s not the first year. I think it was two years ago we started. I know we opened for SAMMUS the first year we did the concert series. It’s basically been since the series started at the Bernie Milton Pavilion after the Commons renovation ended. But we have a lot of fun each time. It seems like the CFCU concert series has been progressively growing a lot stronger each year and bringing in new and interesting bands and really getting some good talent from a bunch of different spots in New York.

    Photo courtesy of CFCU Concert Series website.

    NH: So what got you involved in it? Like did someone approach you or did you apply to be part of the concert series?

    SBB: We did let the CFCU people know about us a few years ago and then it sort of just happened organically over time. As Viva was playing more places around Ithaca and getting their name out more and more we started not as much looking for gigs but working with people to put gigs together. Like I said we opened for SAMMUS our first year that we played the CFCU concert series and that gig was an Ithaca Underground showcase which is actually what we are doing again this year as the headliner instead.

    NH: What is it about this concert series that keeps you coming back to keep performing at it?

    SBB: Well, it always pulls a really cool crowd. You see people that you wouldn’t necessarily see at other shows. It’s great that it’s free and a family event because there’s definitely some festivals around town and stuff like that, but it’s one of those few series that anyone can go and enjoy. You don’t have to pay to go there. you don’t have to be a certain age, we love that. We get to see a really diverse fan base from that. It also always feels like a really good way to connect with the community in a really cool way. It feels like a very quote unquote “Ithacan” thing to do. But besides that, like I said, they always bring in a lot of really cool talent so it’s awesome to be put in a lineup with so many other cool bands who are doing really interesting things with their music in Ithaca and the regional area around Ithaca.

    NH: So what do you think it is about you guys that makes this concert series want to keep bringing you guys back?

    SBB: I would say that the number one thing that we have going for us as a band is energy and excitement. I think that we do really good job engaging with the audience and I think the audience really enjoys engaging back. It doesn’t really feel like performer, audience, and like there’s a barrier between the two. We really want to interact and make people have a good time, get people dancing, and I think because of that people think, “Oh this band is playing on the Commons, should we go? Yeah, we always have a good time. It’s fun and dance-y.” I think that’s one of the reasons they enjoy us is because we are really excited to just go out and perform for people and show them the best time we can.

    NH: You already mentioned it a little bit while we have been talking but I was wondering, as a participant of these concert series, what do you think a concert series like this can bring to a city?

    SBB: Well one really cool thing they can do is make connections between different musicians that you wouldn’t necessarily get to see at some shows because it’s such a wide range of people coming to play these series. And I know, for myself, I love to check out all the other bands playing over the summer. And it’s a different thing than if we were just playing shows and looking for other bands that fit a similar style to us, it doesn’t necessarily work in the same way, which is really cool. Besides that, it’s a way to see people in Ithaca that you wouldn’t always see. It’s hard to have enough money to go see all the great bands in Ithaca, so being able to check out some people who you couldn’t make it to their normal shows at the concert series is really cool. It’s cool to have that showcase on a Thursday evening when there isn’t normally a lot else going on and they always have really quality acts so if you wanna go you know you’re going to have a good time.

    Photo courtesy of Viva Mayhem website.

    NH: Okay, so just to close us up, is there anything about Viva Mayhem we should keep an eye out for?

    SBB: Well on Tuesday, July 3 we will be on WVBR with Tuesdays With The Band at 6 and we will be playing some music off of our newest album, we will be playing music live in the studio and just sort of be talking about the show with the CFCU concert series on Thursday July 5. Besides that, our next big thing we are really looking forwards to is playing at Big Mean BBQ where we will be playing with a huge, awesome lineup of regional musicians like Big Mean Sound Machine, Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad, Ithaca Bottom Boys and a bunch of other really fun bands. And that will be August 24 and 25 and we are really pumped to do that right now. We have a lot of new music we are writing right now, which has started to be introduced through our last few weeks of shows, so if you come out on Thursday you will probably get to hear something by us you haven’t heard before.

    The CFCU Concert Series takes place Thursday evenings on the Ithaca Commons. The series is a free outdoor concert series which is open to the public held every Thursday evening from 6-8pm. The series started on June 21 and runs until September 6 (with the July 18 concert moving to Wednesday evening and a special Saturday afternoon show on August 18 at 1 pm.)

    July 5 – Viva Mayhem (Ska)
    July 12 – Maggie Koerner (Soul/Rock)
    July 18* – Taj Weekes & Adowa (Reggae/Afro Folk)
    July 26 – Searson (Canadian Celtic Pop)
    Aug. 2 – Fall Creek Brass Band (Brass Funk)
    Aug. 9 – Stone Cold Miracle (Soul)
    Aug. 16 – The Hilltoppers (Bluegrass)
    Aug. 18* – East Hill Classic Jazz Band (Jazz)
    Aug. 23 – The Blind Spots (Moxy Rock)
    Aug. 30 – Kwame Binea Shakedown (Roots Rock)
    Sept. 6 – Gunpoets (Hip-Hop)
    *Denotes non-Thursday shows. Taj Weekes is performing on a Wednesday evening and East Hill Classic Jazz Band is performing on a Saturday at 1 p.m.

    For more information on ¡Viva Mayhem! Visit their website.

    For more information on the CFCU Concert Series visit their website.

  • Alice’s Restaurant Back By Popular Demand Tour Announced

    Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the movie “Alice’s Restaurant,” based on the song by Arlo Guthrie and to commemorate the occasion, Guthrie is arranging an extensive tour which will stretch from the fall of 2018 through 2020. The majority of shows just announced for this fall will take place in New York and surrounding states. They include a hometown show in Great Barrington, Massachusetts on Nov, 17 and a return to Carnegie Hall on Nov. 24. See the full list of dates below.

    Guthrie wrote a folk song about a series of incredulous events that began on Thanksgiving in 1965. “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” struck a chord with the anti-war counterculture. By 1967 Guthrie had gone from playing small clubs to playing festivals and stadiums.

    “Arthur Penn (who had just finished filming Bonnie & Clyde) heard the record when it came out in 1967,” recalled Guthrie in an interview with NYS Music. “He also happened to live in Stockbridge, where the events took place. He thought it would be a great idea to make it into a movie. And he did.”

    For this tour, Guthrie will be joined on stage by longtime collaborators Terry “A La Berry” Hall (drums), Steve Ide (guitar, vocals), and Carol Ide (vocals, percussion). His daughter, singer/songwriter Sarah Lee Guthrie, will be opening each performance.

    “I didn’t think I was gonna live long enough to have to learn ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ again,” Arlo Guthrie says with a smile. “It was a quirky kinda thing to begin with. Nobody writes an 18-minute monologue expecting fame and fortune. The initial success of the song really took me by surprise more than anyone else… I’m surely looking forward to it again being a centerpiece of my live repertoire.”

    Arlo Guthrie Presents The Alice’s Restaurant – Back By Popular Demand Tour
    Oct. 4  – Count Basie Theatre – Red Bank, NJ
    Oct. 6  – Gordon Center for the Performing Arts – Owings Mills, MD
    Oct. 7  – Keswick Theatre – Glenside, PA
    Oct. 10 – Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center – Stowe, VT
    Oct. 12 – Palace Theatre – Manchester, NH
    Oct. 13 – Durgin Hall – Lowell, MA
    Oct. 14 – Memorial Hall – Plymouth, MA
    Oct. 19 – NYCB Theatre – Westbury, NY
    Oct. 20 – College Street Music Hall – New Haven, CT
    Oct. 21 – Paramount Center – Peekskill, NY
    Oct. 24 – The Greenwich Odeum – East Greenwich, RI
    Oct. 26 – The EGG – Albany, NY
    Oct. 27 – State Theatre – Ithaca, NY
    Nov. 1 – EJ Thomas Hall – Akron, OH
    Nov. 2 – State Theatre – Kalamazoo, MI
    Nov. 7 – Ron Robinson Theater – Little Rock, AR
    Nov. 9 – Wildey Theatre – Edwardsville, IL
    Nov. 10 – Wildey Theatre – Edwardsville, IL
    Nov. 11 – Buskirk-Chumley Theater – Bloomington, IN
    Nov. 16 – Infinity Hall – Hartford, CT
    Nov. 17 – Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center – Gt. Barrington, MA
    Nov. 24 – Carnegie Hall – New York, NY

    More dates will be announced. Stay up to date on ArloGuthrie.com.

  • Grassroots Culture Camp Set to Kick Off July 15th

    The annual four day Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance has been alive and kicking in Trumansburg since 1991. It’s known for its for it’s multi-stage, multi-genre, multi-day fun but now it’s also getting known for its addition of the Grassroots Culture Camp which takes place July 15-18, the four days before the Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance.

    Culture Camp photo courtesy of the Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance website.

    The point of the Culture Camp is for participants to be able to Immerse themselves for four straight days of instrument, dance and movement workshops, with themed nightly dinners & dances include. The Culture Camp is a unique way for amateurs and professionals to connect and learn from each other. From those just picking up a fiddle for the first time, to those who are knowledgeable on an Irish fiddle, there is instruction for all. Most of the workshops are taught by performers at the Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance.

    And at the end of the long day of instruction there are new workshops included just this year called the, “Old Time Jam” and the “Cajun jam” which is basically a time when after a long day of workshops and before the nightly dinner where everyone can get together and jam. It’s open to all levels and everyone is encouraged to grab their instruments, join in and experience playing old time tunes in a group.

    There are workshops in: fiddle, banjo, bass, guitar, banjo uke, mandolin, old time jam, pedal steel, accordion, accordion and fiddle, Cajun double fiddling, Cajun Jam, Triangle, Scoreboard, Afro-Carribean hand drumming and song, Bodhran, Cajun drums and bass, origins of country drumming, improvisation, adult singing, singsong for children, Cajun song, country songs old and new, country harmony singing, songwriting, Native American, Cuban Son music, accompanying oneself on piano, one mic: hip hop and the power of voice, workshop for social change, “On the road again” (Learning the business side of getting your band out there), Dance, Yoga, Tai Chi, acrylic painting, youth square dance, and youth percussion.

    Full instructor bios can be found here for each work shop. For more information and to purchase tickets visit the Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance website. There is also an option to volunteer at the Culture Camp and in doing so acquiring admission free in exchange for working one three hour shift for each day you would like to attend the camp. Camping at the Culture Camp is also available for purchase.

  • Big Mean Sound Machine Announces Summer Tour

    Central New York funky big band, Big Mean Sound Machine announced summer tour dates through June and July throughout New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts. The stretch of shows leads up to the fourth annual Big Mean BBQ festival in August.

    big mean summer

    The festival is set to take place in Trumansburg, just outside Ithaca. Curated by Big Mean the festival has extended to a two-day weekend, featuring over 22 bands and two headlining performances by the band themselves.

    Weekend camping and RV passes are on sale now, to purchase passes head to the festival’s website. It l kicks off on Saturday Aug. 24 and features bands Giant Panda Guerrilla Dub Squad, Driftwood, the Blind Owl Band, Marco Benevento and Kat Wright. For the full list of participating acts and ticket information, visit the festival website.

  • Listen to Episode 4 of Empire State Music Podcast featuring The Blind Spots

    In episode 4 of Empire State Music Podcast, host Andy Hogan sits down with The Blind Spots, a female-fronted, indie-pop power house out of Ithaca, NY who have toured throughout the United States. From playing with bands & artists like Lake Street Dive, Amy Helm, and Sharon Jones, The Blind Spots are guaranteed to make you shake your bones. Tune in on iTunes and Simplecast or listen below!

    https://soundcloud.com/empirestatepod/the-blind-spots

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