Pearl Street Pub in downtown Albany is generally a home to college students, Albany natives, and ‘out of towners’ alike. On Friday, however, the patrons all had something in common. They all shared a love of funk, and they all loved Ripe.
The night began with a set from the Australian-based group Castlecomer. The quartet got the collective blood flowing just as the packed room began to cut loose. A roar came over the crowd when the headliners later took the stage. Lead singer Robbie Wulfsohn welcomed the band and belted out the beginning to “Pretty Dirty.” “A Little Lighter” followed and the band went into a night-long serenade to the vibrant fans.
The group is taking their tour south later this month as they head to Hulaween, and then head out to the midwest. They will return to the Northeast with shows in Burlington, VT; Syracuse, NY; Northampton, MA; and Norwalk CT in mid-November.
Ripe Setlist: Pretty Dirty, Little Lighter, Talk to the Moon, Passerby, Cease Fire, Lola, Ladies Night, Caralee, Pedro, Young Tom Rose, Text You First, Goon Squad, Flipside, Downward.
Morrison Hotel Gallery in Manhattan will pay homage to the world’s greatest jambands and the many talented photographers who have worked with these legendary performers with a new exhibition opeing on Thursday, October 17 at 7PM. From the Grateful Dead to Widespread Panic: Morrison Hotel Gallery Celebrates the Long, Strange Trip of Rock’s Legendary Jambands will take music lovers from Jerry Garcia and the gang backstage at the Fillmore East to Greg Allman posing next to a portrait of his brother as well as rehearsing with the band. The exhibit examines the forefathers of the jamband movement and takes visitors on an exploration of many of the like-minded bands that have followed, including The Band, Dave Matthews Band, Gov’t Mule, Grace Potter, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Tedeschi Trucks, and more.
The Jambands exhibition will feature images by photographer Jay Blakesberg, known for his iconic shots of the Grateful Dead captured over 41 years of working closely with the band. Blakesberg will also be the featured artist for Morrison Hotel Gallery’s November 3rd Close Up Artist Talk, co-hosted by the ACE Hotel New York. The Artist Talk will be in celebration of the release of Blakesberg’s new book, Jerry Garcia: Secret Space of Dreams, which was released on October 11.
In addition to Blakesberg, the Jambands exhibition will also feature extraordinary images by photographers Danny Clinch, C. Taylor Crothers, Sam Erickson, Herb Greene, Brantley Gutierrez, Lynn Goldsmith, Patrick Harbron, Rene Huemer, Elliot Landy, Gilbert Lee, Catherine McGann, Patricia O’Driscoll, Ken Regan, Amalie R. Rothschild, Norman Seeff, Allan Tannenbaum, Peter Tarnoff, Dave Vann, and Baron Wolman. This exhibition will show many of the musicians in this vibrant scene both on and off stage, over the course of the last 50 years.
The October 17 event is open to the public but an RSVP is required to attend. Email RSVPNYC@thepresshouse.com if interested. Morrison Hotel Gallery is located in Soho at 116 Prince Street.
Following their return to the music festival circuit this summer, Dopapod has announced additional dates on the Emit Time Tour, which kicked off in Denver at the Ogden Theatre, October 4-5.
The tour picks up in Philadelphia just before Thanksgiving, then makes stops in the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast before heading to the West Coast. Dopapod is making the rounds late this fall, bringing with them impressive support acts, with Organ Freeman and Cycles joining already announced bands Ghost-Note, Jojo Mayer / NERVE, paris_monster, and DOMi & JD Beck.
Dopapod Emit Time Tour dates
Nov. 23 – Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of Living Arts* Dec. 6 – Chicago, IL -Bottom Lounge^ Dec. 7 – Covington, KY – Madison Theatre^ Dec. 13 – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club# Dec. 14 – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club# Dec. 27 – Asheville, NC – Salvage Station& Dec. 28 – Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse& Jan. 17 – San Francisco, CA – The Independent@ Jan. 18 – Los Angeles, CA – Teragram Ballroom@ Jan. 24 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom% Jan. 25 – Seattle, WA – Nectar Lounge%
* with Domi & JD Beck ^ with Paris_Monster % with JoJo Mayer/Nerve & with Ghost-Note @ with Organ Freeman % with Cycles
Rumors of a possible Oysterhead reunion ramped up over the weekend when mysterious Instagram and Twitter accounts appeared using the @oysterhead and @realoysterhead tags.
The supergroup, which included Trey Anastasio of Phish, Les Claypool of Primus and Stewart Copeland of the Police last performed in 2006 at both Bonnaroo and the Allgood Festival.
On Tuesday, the band announced two dates for 2020 in Colorado. The band will play Feb. 14 and 15 at 1STBANK Center in Broomfield, CO. The ticket request period is open now and runs until Thursday, Oct. 17 at 9:00 a.m. MDT. General on-sale will begin Saturday, Oct. 19 at 10:00 a.m. MDT.
The band came together originally as a one-off for the 2000 New Orleans Jazz Fest when Claypool was tasked by promoters to assemble a band. Claypool contacted Anastasio and the two agreed to ask Copeland to join them to complete the power trio.
They recorded one studio album, The Grand Pecking Order and embarked on a supporting tour in 2001.
Ukrainian metal band JINJER brought their tour to The Montage Music Hall in Rochester for yet another sold out show. With support from The Browning and Rochester natives Poison The Prophet, this was an excellent night of metal music.
Opening the show, Poison The Prophet launched into an aggressive, in-your-face, heavy set that you would expect on this kind of bill. While they didn’t have much room to move around the stage due to the other band’s kits, they made up for it with a pure metal performance.
Poison The Prophet moved quickly through their 6-song set and left the crowd wanting more with loud cheers and applause after every song. Featuring two vocalists, Jason Acevedo and Justin Clay, the duo constantly leaned into the crowd with great interaction and stage presence.
Being a “local” band on a national tour can seem intimidating and often one can tell which bands are the “local” ones of the night. However, Poison The Prophet fit right in, and performed a fantastic set that was the perfect introduction to the show.
Next up were The Browning, the four-piece electronic metal band from Kansas City. Wasting no time opening with “Beyond Stone”, The Browning had the crowd going nuts with their unique fusion of rap, EDM, and heavy metal.
Their 10-song set also went rather quickly as the band flowed through their setlist, with highlights being “Carnage,” “Pure Evil” and “Skybreaker.”
Guitarist Brian Moore was the most notable part of the band’s stage presence as he spun around relentlessly covered in paint while wearing a hoodie that resembled a cross between a zombie and a clown.
Closing out their set with “Geist,” the crowd responded with loud cheers and thundering applause. The Browning was a solid support act to be touring with JINJER and certainly gave it their all on stage. Finally, it was time for JINJER. The lights went dark and fog machines slowly began to fill the venue as the crowd screamed in anticipation. The moment Tatiana took to the stage, the band jumped right into the heavy number “Teacher, Teacher.”
When you think of metal bands with female vocals you probably think of In This Moment, Otep, Butcher Babies, or Arch Enemy. JINJER is very quickly making huge waves in the metal world and, in my opinion, Tatiana has the best voice in metal. The way she can transition from her cleans to the guttural screams is incredible to see live.
JINJER’s set was just pure raw energy. Playing fan favorites such as “Judgement (& Punishment),” “I Speak Astronomy,” “Perennial” and “Outlander,” the band commanded the audience’s attention and left them almost in a trance.
Closing out the night with the encore performance of “Pisces,” JINJER showed exactly why they’re selling out many of their tour dates. Expect this band to be performing at much larger venues very soon. Being able to see them at a club-type venue is something all of these fans will certainly remember.
Be sure to check out any of the remaining dates of this tour:
Oct. 15 – Indianapolis, Ind. @ Black Circle Oct. 16 – Angola, Ind. @ The Eclectic Room Oct. 18 – Columbus, Ohio @ Al Rosa Villa Oct. 19 – Flint, Mich. @ Machine Shop Oct. 20 – Grand Rapids, Mich. @ The Stache @ Interection Oct. 22 – Chicago, Ill. @ Bottom Lounge Oct. 23 – Belvedere, Ill. @ Apollo Theater Oct. 24 – Waterloo, Iowa @ Spicoli’s Oct. 25 – Iowa City, Iowa @ Wildwood Smokehouse Oct. 26 – Racine, Wis. @ Route 20 Oct. 29 – Calgary, Alberta @ Dickens Oct. 30 – Edmonton, Alberta @ Starlite Oct. 31 – Vancouver, British Columbia @ The Rickshaw Theater Nov. 01 – Seattle, Wash. @ El Corazon Nov. 02 – Portland, Ore. @ Hawthorne Theater
Famed author and Syracuse University alumna Joyce Carol Oates will join banjo virtuoso, songwriter and educator Tony Trischka on October 29 for a unique collaboration in Washington Heights. The evening will be recorded for Ben Arthur’s podcast SongWriter, which brings authors and musicians together to collaborate on storytelling and song-making.
The performance, hosted by the black-owned Ethiopian micro-roastery Cafe Buunni, will feature Joyce Carol Oates reading her short story, “A Brutal Murder in a Public Place,” and songwriters Tony Trischka and Jennifer Marks will perform songs written in response to her story. SongWriter is hosted by Ben Arthur, and is released as a podcast and excerpted on the syndicated radio program Acoustic Cafe for 2M listeners.
Cafe Buunni is located at 4961 Broadway between 207th Street and Isham. Take the A Train to the last stop at 207th Street. The show begins at 8pm, with a suggested donation of $10. More information can be found here.
I can imagine it is sometimes difficult to be called an Americana band. I’ve heard a number of music fans hear that description and respond, “You mean they sound like Mumford and Sons, or The Avett Brothers?” That response is not only limiting, it’s unfair. Listening to The Drunken Hearts pending release, Wheels of the City, dispels the notion that they are a one dimensional entity. There is country, with pedal steel and banjo, as well as elements of soul, some of the classic Laurel Canyon sound, touches of rock comparable to Drive-By Truckers, and alt-country stylings reminiscent of Son Volt.
The Drunken Hearts
The album, recorded at Denver’s Silo Sound Studios, starts out with “Fire in a House,” slowly building an intro, leading to a verse, a piano melody, and continuing with layers of other instrumentation and backing vocals. The tune eventually deconstructs to some degree toward the end, sonically arriving back where it began. “Alive ‘n Free” reflects the overall upbeat feel of Wheels of the City, as evidenced by the lyrics
“Sometimes in life, you get to where you want to / Sometimes in love, you fall just where you’re meant to / Sometimes this world shows you how to be free / Alive ‘n free.”
The addition of strings and a female accompanying vocal on “Passchendaele” lend a sense of sad elegance to a song about one of the most prolonged battles of World War I, and a soldier discovering lost love after returning home from war. “In the Middle” is an uptempo tune that can easily have the listener singing along, tapping their toes and swaying to the music.
“Two Hearts (On a Limb)” perhaps best fits the “Americana” genre, although The Drunken Hearts display a much broader range than any one single style. That range is displayed on “Wheels of the City.” The title tune begins with a country music feel, and as horns come in midway through the song, it morphs a bit into a soul sound. That subtle transition reflects the chameleon-like qualities of the songs, and the band as a whole. By virtue of the way the songs take advantage of multiple band members’ instrumental skills, this may well be a group that hits its stride in live performances more so than in a recording studio. That’s not to say Wheels of the City is lacking in any way, it’s simply that some bands build their chops over the course of hundreds of live gigs, and the band took a decidedly different approach to this release – writing and recording eleven new songs in eleven days, rather than recording familiar pieces that had been road tested.
The album closes with “The Cave,” which begins with a spoken word intro and leads into an instrumental section which is markedly different than the rest of the album. As noted, the band’s novel approach to this recording was a rather daring roll of the dice, with unknown possibilities.
Wheels of the City will be released on multiple platforms as well as the band’s website on Friday, October 18. For more about the band, click here.
Key Tracks: Alive ‘n Free, Two Hearts (On a Limb), Wheels of the City
The Drunken Hearts current tour will provide opportunities to see them throughout New York State. All five of those shows are in support of Yonder Mountain String Band. The Saturday, October 19 show will be a homecoming of sorts for bassist and vocalist Jon Macartan, a native of nearby Guilderland, New York, in the capital region. The New York State days are listed below.
Wednesday, October 16, at Buffalo’s Tralf Music Hall Tickets here.
Thursday, October 17, at Center for the Arts of Homer Tickets here.
Saturday, October 19, at Putnam Place in Saratoga Springs Tickets here.
Thursday, November 11 at Brooklyn Bowl Tickets here.
Sunday, November 17 at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock Tickets here.
Phil Lesh announced on Monday that due to his recovery from recent back surgery and postpones his upcoming “Phil-O-Ween” run at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY, planned for October 31, November 1 and 2.
Filling in for Phil and Friends will be Dark Star Orchestra, who plan to perform their own three-night Halloween run, where they will recreate classic Dead shows from The Capitol Theatre. Tickets will go on sale tomorrow, Oct. 15, at 10 a.m.
The Capitol Theatre said in a Facebook post, “Phil’s surgery was a success and we are working with Phil to reschedule the shows and will announce new dates as soon as we can.”
Lesh said in a video explaining the postponement “I’m feeling really good, but the doctors recommend that I take more time to recover from the surgery.”
Marco Benevento threw a party in Cohoes and the audience came prepared to get down and dance. As he always does, the Mad Hatter of the jam scene brings a show full of non stop fun to the Capital Region, and for the first time, at historic Cohoes Music Hall. Energy was in no short supply with bassist Karina Rykman jumping for joy and happily bouncing around the stage throughout the groovy, disco-tinted set.
Opener Mikaela Davis was equally impressive, playing harp with a full band, and driving the songs home collectively. The pairing of Davis and Benevento is wonderful and one we hope to see more in the future.
Setlist: Say it’s all the Same, Let it Slide, Solid Gold, Dropkick, Greenpoint, Heartbeats, Baby don’t make me Wait, Live a Certain life, Stay in line, I can’t see the Light, You got Away, Coyote Hearing, Story of Fred Short, Tyrone Encore: At the Show
World music and electronic act Thievery Corporation closed out the Summer Concert Series at the Pier 17 Rooftop on Friday night to a sold out crowd, despite temperatures in the 50’s and high winds. The show featured a number of talented musicians who rotated in and out during the set, as well as two acoustic songs. They were joined by Brooklyn-based nu-disco band Escourt.
Nikki B and Escourt
Escourt opened the evening and got the crowd’s blood flowing with their signature disco dance-hall style beats plus synthesizer-driven harmonies. The band was led by singer Nikki B, sporting a long white tiered train, as well as founders Eugene Cho (synthesizer) and JKriv (guitar). The lineup also included Jim Orso on drums and singers Daniela Bauer and Layla Dionne. Their set had plenty of banter from Nikki B, and closed up with “Cocaine Blues” from their 2011 album Funkytown.
Thievery Corporation co-founder Rob Garza
Led by co-founder Rob Garza, Thievery Corporation was up next. They cycled through a number of musicians throughout the night, and delivered their eclectic mix of electronica, dub, hip-hop, Indian, Brazillian and other genres. The core band included Garza (synthesizer, producer), Jeff Franca (drums), Rob Myers (sitar, guitar), Frank Orrall (percussion, drums, vocals), Ashish “Hash” Vyas (bass) and two unknown trumpeters. Additionally, the following musicians were on stage providing vocals for various songs: Racquel Jones, Puma Ptah, Natalia Clavier, Mr. Lif, and Loulou Ghelichkhani.
Racquel Jones on stage with Thievery Corporation
The set began at 8:20 p.m. with “Marching the Hate Machines (Into the Sun)” from the 2005 release, Cosmic Games and featured Orrall wearing a contraption of lights radiating from his back and hand. Racquel Jones joined the party for “Letter to the Editor” from the 2017 release The Temple of I & I. Puma Ptah stepped in for the next tune, also from The Temple of I & I, “Babylon Falling.” Natalia Clavier then lended her vocals for the classic downtempo tune “All That We Perceive” from The Richest Man in Babylon. Orrall stepped away from the percussion kit to sing “The Heart’s A Lonely Hunter,” also from Cosmic Games. At one point, Orrall was standing above a speaker, swinging an illuminated poy above his head. Next, Mr. Lif made an appearance in the hip-hop meets downtempo “History,” from their most recent release, Treasures from the Temple.
Natalia Clavier
“The Forgotten People” from Radio Retaliation preceded a delightful acoustic sequence with two songs from Saudade. Loulou Ghelichkhani contributed vocals for “Le Coeur” and Clavier rejoined the band for “Claridad.”
Loulou Ghelichkhani
Thievery Corporation returned to their electronic instruments for “Sweet Tides,” also from Radio Retaliation. Puma Ptah was back in the mix, providing vocals for the Cosmic Games classic reggae tune, “Amerimaka.” Ghelichkhani took over vocals for the next song, “Voyage Libre” from Treasures from the Temple. The band next played their classic downtempo tune from The Richest Man in Babylon, “Omid (Hope),” followed by another Cosmic Games tune, “Warning Shots.” Mr. Lif then rejoined the band and announced that the next song is for those in dark places, which caused the crowd to erupt with emotion. He then provided vocals for hip hop based “Fight to Survive” from The Temple of I & I. The show closed out with the Indian music-inspired and rarely played original “Lebanese Blonde” from 2000’s Mirror Conspiracy.
Rob Garza and Rob Myers
Thievery Corporation’s tasty electronic and world mix of original tunes kept the crowd warm on a chilly night in New York City’s Financial District, atop the Rooftop at Pier 17, closing out the Summer Concert Series at the venue. NYC eagerly awaits the return of this talented electronica outfit.
Pier 17 lights always delight
Setlist: Marching the Hate Machines (Into the Sun), Letter to the Editor*, Babylon Falling**, All That We Perceive***, The Heart’s A Lonely Hunter, History%, The Forgotten People, Le Coeur****^, Claridad***^, Sweet Tides, Amerimacka**, Voyage Libre****, Omid (Hope), Warning Shots, Fight to Survive%, Lebanese Blonde
