Lettuce is bringing their tight funk-grooves and hip-hop inspired beats to The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester on Saturday, April 20 for a special headlining show with famous jazz guitarist, John Scofield, sitting in as a special guest.
The band is getting ready to premiere their new studio album ‘Elevate’, of which their first single “Krewe” has just been released. Their latest release, 2017’s Witches Stew, is the band’s jazz fusion tribute to Miles Davis. Recorded live at the 2016 Catskill Chill, the album is an interpretive take on the experimental Bitches Brew era. Lettuce continues to push jazz fusion forward with this latest release, a tribute to one of the band’s biggest influences.
With John Scofield as a special guest, you should expect some psychedelic jazz fusion blends from Lettuce at The Capitol Theatre this Saturday. Tickets are still available here.
Soulive has confirmed a six dates at Brooklyn Bowl. Bowlive VIII spans two weekends, from July 11-13 and July 18-20. Tickets go on sale April 19 for individual nights or three-night passes.
Formed in 1999, Soulive is celebrating twenty years of making music together. The jazz-funk trio consists of Alan Evans on drums, Eric Krasno on guitar and Neal Evans on keys. In past years, Bowlive has included such guests as Lettuce, Marco Benevento, Chris Robinson, and Aaron Neville. Follow Soulive on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for updates on Bowlive VIII.
The night of Sunday, April 14 was a special night for all of the Capital Region’s music and entertainment scene at Proctors Theatre. It was the first ever Eddie’s – the Capital Region Thomas Edison Music Awards. The Eddie’s were formed this year by Jim Murphy (marketing and corporate development director at Proctors Collaborative) and Salvatore Prizio (program director at Proctors). It provided an opportunity to amplify, empower, and celebrate all creative professionals that are vital to the Capital Region’s growing music scene. Thirty-three categories, ranging from best photographer, soloist, music venue, and others, and three people’s choice categories, were voted on by the public. Two 2019 Inductees, songwriter, Kevin McKrell, and Music Mobile founder, Ruth Pelham, were inducted into the N.Y. Capital Region Thomas Edison Music Hall of Fame.
As a creative professional in the visual arts, photography, and journalism scene, it was an honor to attend and be a part of this show at Proctors. It was a blast being a part of this show with other creative musicians, photographers, publications, and music patrons. The awards show gave patrons an opportunity to learn more about the musicians, bands, publications, music promoters, photographers, venues, radio hosts, and other creatives that make up our music scene in the Capital Region. It was a great event to support all the nominees and winners that make up our growing scene.
This year’s 2019 Inductees for the NY Capital Region Thomas Edison Music Hall of Fame included songwriter and visual artist, Kevin McKrell and Music Mobile Founder, Ruth Pelham. The video presentations and the speeches that both McKrell and Pelham gave to the audience were both interesting and inspiring, particularly Pelham’s. It was interesting to see how McKrell’s Celtic music and his portrait art of musicians that he created inspired him to become a visual artist and a successful musician who previously performed at the esteemed Carnegie Hall.
Girl Blue with Jamie from Chromoscope Video Productions, accepting the award for “Best Music Video” for “Dreams”Sara Ayers and Paul Jossman accepting the award for “Best Arts Publication” for Nippertown.comA photo video montage shown on the screen held in memory of Caroline MotherJudge.Kevin McKrell,songwriter and recipient of The Eddie’s Artistic Lifetime Achievement Award.Music Mobile Founder, Ruth Pelham, the recipient of The Eddies Lifetime Achievement Award for Music Education or Community Impact.
Sounds Good To Steve and Offside Tavern present a 4/20 celebration in New York City featuring O’Duo and guitarist Will Bart’s project, Johnny In The Basement. The afternoon event serves as an “unofficial” pre show for those going to see Lettuce at The Capitol Theatre, Twiddle at Brooklyn Steel or Dumpstaphunk at Brooklyn Bowl.
The show is free and runs from 2:30-5:30pm, leaving plenty of time to get to Brooklyn, Port Chester or wherever the night takes you. There will be limited 4/20 inspired giveaways, and if you register with Eventbrite, you’ll get a buy back on your first drink. Offside Tavern is located at 137 West 14th Street in NYC.
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.
New pop rock outfit Losers Club have released their first song “Emerald Eyes” this week. The song is a rallying call for those for whom everything seems to be going wrong, but who never lose sight of hope.
“At the time I wrote this song, I had no idea Losers Club would even exist. It was just another personal demo I wrote to get my feelings out of my head for a while,” says frontman Nate Blasdell. “I’m currently working full time as a middle school teacher, so my schedule had been super busy. There was an unexpected snow day in late February, so I took advantage of it with the intention of writing a song about things I had been feeling recently. I can’t remember the last time I wrote a song in full and recorded it in a single day, but once I got started on this song, it just took off on it’s own. The lyrics came so easy because it was all stuff I had been felt for so long the previous year. I had just gotten off a Europe tour in December that was the most emotionally tolling tour I had ever done and my mental health just hit rock bottom. That particular tour had numerous obstacles on top of so many things going on back home that I wasn’t there to deal with at the same time. This song was really just putting that whole thing into perspective. “
The Rochester-based band includes Andy Champion on bass, Aidan Snyder on guitar and vocals, Cody Wagner on drums, and Blasdell on lead vocals and guitar. Active in the music industry since the age of 16, Blasdell has been a member of several bands, including The Bunny The Bear and I Set My Friends on Fire. He’s also got songwriting credits for bands like MKTO, The Vamps, and Big Time Rush.
“Losers Club is kind of a collective of every idea I’ve ever wanted to do but wasn’t confident enough to pull the trigger,” Blasdell says about the project. “Even though most of my platform and social media branding had been built in the metal scene, my heart has always been in Pop-Rock. I’ll openly admit, I was afraid to sacrifice giving up what I had, what I had worked for, and the opportunities in front of me, to ‘start over’ in a different scene that I had been out of for so long and there was a lot of self-doubt.”
Blasdell continues, “To be honest, I’ve lived a pretty great life and it took me a while to realize that I had my mental health was not nearly as strong as I thought it was. I needed an outlet, so I started writing basement demos for myself with the intention of never showing anyone. It was a new perspective and the first time I was ever really able to be fully honest with the state my mental health was in. Soon after writing the songs, I realized it wasn’t about being ‘good enough’ or what other people thought, and I didn’t have to give anything up. Everything was so ‘all or nothing’ in my head. I could still play metal. I could still tour. I could still be a teacher, but I could do everything I was afraid to do as well. Somehow, I managed to find three best friends that I could relate to on a personal basis but were all incredible musicians as well. None of us cared about ‘being good enough’ or ‘fitting in’ to the industry’s stand point. We’re all goofy guys. We’re all weird. And we’re all fucking losers, but we’re embracing it head on and learning to let go of the things that aren’t Important in the process. These are songs that have helped us and we can only hope they help you too.”
Follow Losers Club on Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date on this exciting new venture.
The 29th annual Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival Of Music & Dance takes place July 18-21 this year. Held in Trumansburg, the event includes more than 70 musical performances. In addition to hosts Donna the Buffalo, headliners include Hayley Jane & The Primates, Driftwood, Railroad Earth, and Giant Panda Guerrilla Dub Squad. The lineup also includes a diverse array of national and regional acts.
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. A Culture Camp chock full of workshops, food and dance, will be held July 14-17.
Finger GrassRoots Headliners:Donna the Buffalo – Taj Mahal Quartet – Willie Watson – Railroad Earth – Rising Appalachia – Todd Snider – Ryan Montbleau Band – Hayley Jane & the Primates – Driftwood – Tony Perez Band BKO – Keith Frank & the Soileau Zydeco Band – Giant Panda Guerrilla Dub Squad – Garifuna Collective – Nativos Jammin’ Orchestra – Sammus
New Finger Lakes GrassRoots Acts: Jose Albizu Jazz Trio – Swamp Kids – Root Shock – Feufollet – The Turbans – The Crucials Ephniko DJ Evo Evolution – Oliver Bates Craven – Aaron Lipp & the Slack Tones – Dirty Blanket – ¡Viva Mayhem! – Ruth Rosenblatt & George Cooke – PA Line Drank – The Gold Tattat – Folkfaces – Vicious Fishes
Finger Lakes GrassRoots AllStars: Jim Lauderdale – Preston Frank & His Zydeco Family Band – Richie & Rosie Cortadito – Sim Redmond Band – Gunpoets – The Campbell Brothers – The Blind Spots – Mosaic Foundation – Keith Secola & His Wild Band – Ithaca Bottom Boys – Sihasin – Fall Creek Brass Band – Jones Benally Family Dance Troupe – The Flying Clouds Of South Carolina – Moontee Sinquah – Walter Mouton & the Scott Playboys – Kevin Kinsella – Hank Roberts – Tenzin Chopak – Empire Kings Double Tiger – Traonach – Mac Benford & Up South – Mary Lorson – KidBess & the Magic Ring – Bubba George String Band – Nery Arevalo – Plastic Nebraska – The Fly Rods Laila Belle – The Sutras – Ithaca Underground – Move-Along Songs w/John & Diane – GrassRoots Chamber Orchestra
Remain in Light, the Talking Heads’ fourth studio album, peaked at number 19 on the U.S. Billboard 200 in 1980. Even more impressively, Rolling Stone named it the fourth best album of the decade in 1989. On April 11, Grammy winner Angelique Kidjo will perform her interpretation of the iconic album at Kingston’s Ulster Performing Arts Center (UPAC).
Angélique Kidjo, (Angélique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo) is a native of the West African nation Benin. No stranger to creating astounding albums, Kidjo won three Grammys for her contemporary world music and was nominated on multiple other occasions. Kidjo premiered Remain in Light at Carnegie Hall in 2017 and she claims that West African influence on the original Talking Heads’ album made her interpretation an organic fit. While Kidjo’s musical interpretation will be a unique twist, the Talking Heads’ lyrics are sure to be familiar to all.
Collaborators for this Angelique Kidjo project include producer Jeff Bhasker, who has worked with The Rolling Stones and Beyonce among others, Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend and songwriter Dev Hynes, also known as Blood Orange. Bhasker states the lofty goal of the collaboration was “to rip out [Remain in Lights’] guts and turn it on its head.” He explains that he and Kidjo hope the project brings the worlds of rock and African music closer together. The event takes place on Thursday, April 11 at 7:30. UPAC, located on Kingston’s historic Broadway, hosts the event. Tickets can be purchased here.
It was 10 years ago this month that Saratoga Winners, one of the Capital District’s favorite live music venues, burned down in an early morning fire. This Saturday, a reunion is to be held to remember it and the people who made it special at Chrome Food and Spirits.
From the outside, Saratoga Winners wasn’t much to look at. It was a two-story roadhouse nestled between the Mohawk River and the Town of Colonie Landfill. There was no pretense surrounding the place, other than having Saratoga in its name, which was technically across the river. Nonetheless, in the years before it closed its doors in 2006, it hosted an A-list of musical acts that rivaled the more polished and refined Saratoga Performing Arts Center.
And, that’s where the comparisons end.
“I went to a ‘hardcore’ show there at the very end when they weren’t even selling alcohol anymore,” said Ali Hibbs, former Spotlight News and Metroland reporter. “The lead singer in the last band broke his ACL on stage and no one even knew he was hurt for a moment because he was already screaming!” Someone then realized the situation; the singer’s mother. Hibbs said she stopped the show and called for an ambulance, “but the kid refused to let them take him until he finished his set.”
From the inside, Winners was structured like a barn. Vaulted ceiling, and an exposed wooden frame, including pillars and support beams, reminded one radio personality of a “wagon wheel.” With an open floor layout, patrons had a good view of the band regardless of where they stood.
David Byrne, the Ramones, Melissa Etheridge, Ben Folds, the Black Crowes, Wilco and Paul Westerberg were just a few of the names of established stars and up-and-coming artists who drew crowds through the doors.
“It changed personality considerably act to act,” said Ivan Rodat, a former reporter for Metroland. A stereotypical rock venue that wasn’t pigeon-holed into an exclusive genre. He recalled seeing R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe in attendance once as Fugazi performed on stage. “Great, weird place.”
Towards the end of its lifespan, Winners became a home for punk and heavy metal music.
Jason Keller was an on-air personality for 103.5/103.9 FM The Edge. He’d take over the Albany airwaves to play classic rock and alternative music once Howard Stern was done with his syndicated broadcasts. He recalled hosting several shows at Saratoga Winners on behalf of that radio station.
The on-air host remembered Winners looking like a wooden “wagon wheel.” Despite that observation, it didn’t stop bands from using pyrotechnics onstage. Keller remembered feeling the heat of a “jet engine” ignited from the stage, as he stood across the room next to the soundboard.
“This can’t be safe,” he said, with an uneasy chuckle. Regardless, no one was hurt.
Keller is now Commercial Production and Station Imaging Director at 102.7 WEQX. You can still hear him on the air, too.
Fire
In the early morning of April 30, 2009, firefighters responded to a call at Saratoga Winners. By the time they arrived, it was engulfed in flames. The original call came in shortly after 3 a.m. The Cresent Bridge was closed for about seven hours as eight fire departments battled the blaze.
At the time of the fire, Saratoga Winners had been closed for three years. Ownership had changed hands and a new owner reportedly showed interest in returning the venue to its former glory. Authorities later determined that the fire was caused by arson. Just over a month later, the owner was indicted for arson, insurance fraud and reckless endangerment.
Reunion
Holly Stah’s memories of Saratoga Winners are more vivid than others. She worked there for eight years. First in the office, then behind the bar. It holds a special place in her heart. It’s where she met her husband, Scott.
“You could see the bands. You could dance if you wanted to,” said Stah. “All of our friends were there.”
A big music fan, Stah has collected pictures of herself standing next to Alice Cooper and Billy Sheehan, among others. She likes hard rock enough to recognize characteristics from just the band name, alone. For example, rock bands with an acronym as a name play especially loud. That was proven one night while such a band performed a sound check. Stah was standing near the stage. As the bass player started, she heard a sound from across the room.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EscxBucHIwQ
“Glasses were falling off my trays and shattering on the floor,” she said. “I couldn’t get down to the bar fast enough to stop them from falling off and shattering on the floor.
She later shared her observation of bands with acronyms to the owner. One day, the owner thanked her for the advice by sharing a decision he made. He turned down a request to have “D.I.O.” perform.
It wasn’t an acronym. The owner was referring to Ronnie James Dio and the band he formed after leaving Black Sabbath in 1982, producing rock anthems like “Holy Diver” and “Rainbow in the Dark.”
Stah was not happy.
“I thought I was going to cry,” she said, with a laugh.
Stah has spent the past year organizing a reunion for people to remember Saratoga Winners and the music that once played there. Saratoga Winners Reunion #3: The Final Chapter will feature music from Untaymed, Divine Right, Maxx Thrust, Bone Box and Enertia at Chrome Food and Spirits on Saturday, April 6, at 4 p.m.
The lineup includes bands that had played Saratoga Winners, Stah said. It will capture the spirit of the old place. Something she said she is looking forward to.
“I’m going to see people I haven’t seen in a very long time.”
This article was originally published by The Spot 518, is property of Spotlight Newspapers in Albany, N.Y., and appears as a special to NYSMusic. TheSpot518 and NYSMusic work in partnership to provide readers with in-depth coverage on the local music scene in the Capital District and New York state, respectively. For more, visit TheSpot518.com
A collaboration no one expected will tour this summer as ‘The New Beetles.’ Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will be joined by Boy George and Elton John, which, according to Starr, will allow “A new generation to be able to say they saw John, Paul, George and me, Ringo.”
The New Beetles will perform classic songs from The original Beatles catalog and Boy George songs, as well as new classics such as “Instant Karma Chameleon,” “Can You Feel the Love Me Do,” “A Day in the Wind,” “Cry Baby Crying Game,” “I’m Still Seeing her Standing There,” “Do You Really Want To Hold My Hand,” and many more.
“I’m most excited to play “Goodbye Yellow Brick Submarine” and “Get Back, Honky Cat,” said Elton John. “I always felt like my songs could use a little influence from the Fab 4, and here we are, rehearsing “The Bitch Is Back In The USSR.” It’s really quite fascinating.”
Angélique Kidjo, (Angélique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo) is a native of the West African nation Benin. No stranger to creating astounding albums, Kidjo won three Grammys for her contemporary world music and was nominated on multiple other occasions. Kidjo premiered 
