The Albany music scene has lost a legend as musician, Nippertown founder and former Times Union music writer Greg Haymes passed away on Wednesday, April 10.
Haymes founded Nippertown, focusing on the Capital District music scene that he championed over more than 40 years as a musician, artist and writer.
Known as Sarge Blotto to his many fans, Greg was the voice behind Blotto’s 1981 hit “I Wanna be a Lifeguard,” the video of which aired on the first day of MTV.
More than a few writers and photographers at NYS Music got their start through Nippertown and Greg’s impact is a great loss for us and the Capital District music and arts scene.
In a 2003 interview, Jon Fishman said “Look, Trey shits music.” He would know, having played with Trey since 1983 and observed his obsessive song-writing habits. Fishman joined Trey for the first time in a side project, the brand new Ghosts of the Forest, which debuted this month in Portland, ME. When Trey spoke during the encore at The Palace Theatre in Albany on Tuesday, April 9, he said he hoped to play music for 50 more years, and given Trey’s workload – writing Kazvot Vaxt and Ghosts of the Forest nearly back to back – and his increasingly positive outlook on life, that task is not out of reach.
This is Trey who is the unofficial celebrity spokesman for Light (now, with MORE brightness!). He’s been dropping notes of light in songs for a decade now, and with Ghosts of the Forest, we may have hit a new peak with Trey’s profoundly personal and positive lyrics. Trey spoke about Albany as being his second home, and close to those he loves in Burlington and New York City, and how excited he was to bring this new project to the Palace and a sold out ‘hometown’ crowd.
With a band consisting of Fishman on the kit (sans muumuu, he looks like your neighbor who side-gigs as a session drummer), a healthy Ray Paczkowski behind the keyboards, and Jennifer Hartswick and Celisse Henderson who provided gospel hued vocals that not only backed up Trey, but added a sonic layer to the group’s psychedelic rock. Saratoga Springs’ Tony Markellis took up bass duties, as he has in every side project Trey has had since 8 Foot Fluorescent Tubes debuted in 1998 at Higher Ground. Energy in the room was palpable, as many eschewed listening to the recordings of shows from earlier this month for a first-look experience that is otherwise hard to come by. Even the album won’t be released until April 12, making this a nearly-virgin experience for the majority of fans in attendance.
The production design by Abigail Holmes, who worked on Stop Making Sense and The Wall among many other shows, created a playground for her to color, using LED screens behind thin tapestries affixed with folded white paper in sweeping patterns. The symphony of light accented the music and was choreographed to each song of the night. During “The Green Truth,” a rainbow LED projection of Trey floated behind the band across the stage, while a stratified nighttime rainforest sky filled the stage during “Mint Siren Dream,” bringing the audience to Pandora for a brief moment.
Ghosts of the Forest can be translated as deep memories in our mind, and throughout the songs, themes of loss, love and decade-long friendship were present. Trey lost close friend Chris “CCott” Cottrell to cancer recently, and the experience led to a number of the songs performed by Ghosts of the Forest. Trey spoke to Rolling Stone about playing acoustic guitar while CCott was in his final stages, and would play as he went in and out of consciousness. “Drift While You’re Sleeping” draws from that, while having a mid-1970s psychedelic rock feel – think Derek and the Dominoes with space built in for Trey to stretch.
“Beneath a Sea of Stars Parts 1 & 2” was a fun Beatles-esque rocker, with a third part to close the set. “Stumble into Flight” had direct hints of Phish – “Pigtail” meets “Cool Amber and Mercury” with a dash of Steely Dan mixed in. “Ruby Waves” jumped out as a late 70s Neil Diamond show-stopper on steroids. A highlight among the night was “A Light Beyond the Dream,” with lights cascading as if entering a stained glass window and beaming on the congregation, combined with encouraging lyrics of not giving up hope.
This is prophetic Trey: upbeat, happy, and encouraging, dad-like at times but not playing dad-rock. Ghosts of the Forest is a culmination of Trey’s last decade of writing. Trey said he wants to play for another 50 years. This is just the beginning.
Trey Anastasio – Ghosts of the Forest – Palace Theatre, Albany, NY – April 9, 2019
Setlist: Piano intro, Ghosts of the Forest, Drift While You’re Sleeping, Friend, Sightless Escape, Halfway Home, If Again, In Long Lines, There’s a Path Above, About to Run, The Green Truth, Beneath a Sea of Stars Parts 1 & 2, Mint Siren Dream, Stumble Into Flight, Ruby Waves, Shadows Thrown By Fire, Wider, A Light Beyond The Dream, In This Bubble, Beneath a Sea of Stars Part 3 (blue)
Talking Heads! The band that inspired dozens of artists from Vampire Weekend to Phish take the crown as the winner of this year’s NYS Music March Madness! The band of RISD graduates who moved to New York City and got their start at CBGB in Manhattan’s East Village have had a profound impact on generations of musicians who have followed.
via Rockhall.com
It does however seem likely that the group will never reunite, and Byrne made it clear to Rolling Stone a year ago that a reunion would overshadow his own personal accomplishments:
“There’s a lot to that. I see what happens with other people when they do their reunions – and then it turns into a second reunion and a third reunion. With someone like the Pixies, it’s different – they’re getting the audience now that they deserved ages ago. But with a lot of them, it just seems like you don’t have anything new to say, and you go, “OK, this is just some kind of nostalgia exercise.” And I’m not interested in that.”
Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz defer to Bryne, and seem to be on board with a reunion. As Tina told Rolling Stone in 2013:
“You’ll have to ask David Byrne about that. We never ended Talking Heads ourselves. That’s entirely in his court. We never had a fight. I don’t see why there shouldn’t be a reunion. On the other hand, I’m not going to hold my breath because life goes on. Life is too short to sit around moaning about what could have been or what was. We are in touch with the band and we all would love to do it, but we can’t do it without David.”
Frantz referred to the situation as ‘hopeless’ in a 2009 interview with SPIN:
“The rest of the band would love to do something but our singer doesn’t see it that way. He prefers to play “Burning Down the House” with a Talking Heads cover band while wearing a tutu and then tell us that to go out would make us a parody of ourselves.”
So there’s that. In the meantime, there’s always Start Making Sense, if you’re looking for an ‘as close as you’ll ever come’ to a Talking Heads experience.
We would like to thank our sponsors Buffalo Iron Works, Anthology, TIP the Band and Funk n Waffles for being a part of this year’s March Madness. Support your local bands and venues so that they can be a part of New York State’s continued legacy of music for decades to come!
Two groups who got their start in New York City, who both have been inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame and who are both immensely influential round out the finals of this year’s NYS March Madness. Vote below to decide who the greatest artist is to come out of New York State.
Growing out of the 1970s punk scene in New York City, Talking Heads became an immensely popular band by the early 80s, influencing the likes of Vampire Weekend, Phish and many more. The new wave genre can be traced back to Talking Heads and their songs have become an irrevocable part of classic rock n roll from the 80s. “Once in a Lifetime,” “This Must be the Place (Naive Melody),” “Burning Down the House,” “Girlfriend is Better,” “Slippery People,” “Cities,” and “Road to Nowhere” are the tip of the iceberg of the hits that defined their career.
Talking Heads only had a brief tenure as a band (1977-1991), but their impact has lasted more than twice the length of their career. While their tenure was shorter than fans new and old would have liked, the intense period from 1977-1983 is remarkable for their albums and touring history, a spawn of the CBGB scene. Collaborations with producer Brian Eno netted More Songs about Buildings and Food, Fear of Music, and arguably their greatest album, Remain in the Light. 1984’s Stop Making Sense continues to be heralded as one of the greatest concert films ever, and the Jonathan Demme film won a National Society of Film Critics Award for best non-fiction film that year. Although David Bryne, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz and Jerry Harrison may never perform together again, their music is timeless and the legacy continues to grow.
So listen up, ‘cause you can’t say no to the Beastie Boys. One of the biggest names in hip-hop can be summed up into one hyphenated word: influential-chaos. It’s impossible to capture all of the audio-idiocracies in tracks like “Girls” or “Triple Trouble,” that mimic the chaos of New York City streets. As pre-teens growing up in 80’s pop-culture, the ‘Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Inner Excellence’ collapsed a mass of influence, and basically every musical genre, into one acronym. From the whitful inception of “Cookie Puss,” about a Carvel cake recorded overnight in a friends home studio, to their collaboration with Rick Rubin and rocking entirety of Woodstock ‘99 in a 200,000 person titlewave, the Beastie Boys dominate.
Seven of the nine albums went platinum, in addition to selling over 50 million records across the globe makes them more influential than the five boroughs would have ever imagined. When they weren’t fusing jazz and metal loops with their punk roots, the group popularised the appeal of rap music beyond black culture with anthems like “Fight For Your Right.” Moreover, Beastie Boys influenced well beyond music speaking out on culture, politics and human rights issues in such a potent time in America. Issues we are still battling, thirty years later. Licensed to Ill is the most influential album of all time. It broke into Billboard’s top 100 as the first rap album. It was number one. Their music was potent, so potent riots broke out mid-set. They were influenced and then influenced the world. Beastie boys, and their music, stand toe-to-toe with relevant artists today, despite their disband in 2014.
Vote now for who you think is the greatest artist to come out of New York State. You can vote on Twitter too! The winner will be announced on Monday, April 8.
Following Phish’s cow-funk laden 1997 Fall Tour, Phish embarked on a 4-night ‘Island Tour‘ with two shows each on Long Island and in Providence, Rhode Island. The result was four historic shows that continued the free flowing jams from 1997 and a new era of exploratory Phish. Unexpected jams arose from “Roses are Free,” “Cavern” and “Weekapaug Groove,” and debuts of “Shafty,” “Twist” and “Birds of a Feather” were peppered throughout the run.
As mentioned by Trey after the debut of “Birds of a Feather,” Phish was about to record Story of the Ghost shortly after the tour, before heading to Europe to test out even more new tunes before heading back for Summer Tour. Watch videos from the two Nassau Coliseum shows and relive the glory of Island Tour as it turns 21.
Two weeks ago, we started with 64 artists from New York State, representing all genres and corners of the state. Now we have reached the Final Four of NYS Music’s March Madness and these four remaining artists represent four different genres – folk, rock, rap and jam – an eclectic mix of what makes New York State a breeding ground for all types of music.
Beastie Boys bested Billy Joel to take the crown in the TIP the Band region, and they will face off against the lone Upstate victor in the Final Four, moe., fittingly, out of the Funk n Waffles region.
Vote below for who you think is the best artist from New York State in the past century! The finals will start this Thursday, April 4. You can also vote on Twitter!
In early 1969, Michael Lang made multiple trips to the mid-Hudson Valley to find a place for Woodstock Ventures to hold their festival. As Lang mentions in his 2009 book The Road to Woodstock, he contacted a real estate agent about renting the Winston Farm, but the price of $40,000 for 12 weeks was far beyond the budget for Woodstock Ventures.
Barefoot in Babylon by Bob Spitz offers more detail on this potential property. It was owned by a frankfurter magnate named Shaler, in the town of Saugerties. With trees lining the property, permanent buildings, drainage, plumbing, wells, electric power, and a convenient exit right off the New York State Thruway, all of Woodstock Ventures partners – Lang, Artie Kornfeld, Joel Rosenman and John Roberts – rented motorcycles and drove to Shaler’s property on March 29. Although there was an initial agreement to the terms – $40,000 for 12 weeks, plus posting bond for damages and returning the land to its original state – a meeting with Shaler’s lawyer which lasted less than half an hour was ‘abrupt and cataclysmic,’ with Shaler opting to not rent the land to anyone, leaving it for his sons.
At that time, word got out about the festival. A call from Woodstock town supervisor Bill Ward, as well as an official from the county health department, made it clear that they did not want an event of this size in the area. The county had a population of 140,000 in 1970, and the festival would end up selling 100,000 tickets on presale alone. Nearly 400,000 would attend the festival, which clogged roads in rural Sullivan County, but in Ulster County it surely would have overwhelmed public services and caused even more headaches, especially along I-87.
So the search continued for a place to hold “An Aquarian Exposition: The Woodstock Music and Art Fair.” On March 30, 1969, Lang and his partners the came across an industrial park in the town of Wallkill, near Middletown. The developer was Howard Mills, interested in leasing the property to Woodstock Ventures before showing it to industries for further development. Discussing with Mills about the event, in terms of an ‘art fair,’ to appeal to the broader community, with the addition of “small concerts, featuring a few of the area’s finer musicians.” They had assumed Mills, a country farmer, would never got for a rock festival on his property. he was inclined to work with Woodstock Ventures, even if Lang and his partners had their reservations. But time was running short and they needed a venue; after much discussion, they warmed to the idea of holding their festival in Woodstock. A planning board meeting in mid-April would set the wheels in motion for everything that would come next.
We’ve made it to the 4th Round of NYS Music’s March Madness, featuring 8 elite artists who call New York home or got their start in the Empire State, as voted on by our readers. We have 8 incredible artists to consider to determine who is the greatest musician to come out of New York State in the past century.
We’ve made it to Round 3 of NYS Music’s March Madness, a Sweet 16 of artists who call New York home or got their start in the Empire State. We have 16 incredible artists and some tough matchups coming up.
There’s B.O.C. vs D.M.C., Jigga vs Aqueous in a battle of Bed-Stuy and Buffalo, Joan Baez (who narrowly beat out KISS by one vote) taking on Beastie Boys, and two of the biggest names to come out of New York, Neil Diamond vs Lou Reed.
Voting for the Sweet 16 is open until midnight on Wednesday, March 27. You can also vote on each bracket on Twitter, and we will combine all votes together ahead of the Elite 8, which starts on Thursday, March 28 at Noon.
It’s that time of year again – sure there are a few dozen basketball games happening over the next few weeks, but its also time for the 2019 NYS Music’s version of March Madness! In the past, we have looked at up and coming bands from around the state, for a friendly competition that introduces these rising artists to the NYS Music audience.
This year, we look to the past and present for our field of 64 famous New York musicians and artists from all corners of the Empire State. Frank Sinatra, Jay-Z, Paul Simon, Arlo Guthrie, Cab Calloway, Billy Joel, KISS, Anthrax, Neil Diamond and Lou Reed are all included, as well as more recent artists breaking through such as Sean Rowe and Aqueous.
Voting for Round 2 is open until midnight on Sunday, March 24. You can also vote on each bracket on Twitter, and we will combine all votes together ahead of Round 3, which starts on Monday, March 25 at Noon.
