The Soul Rebels, a brass/hip-hop ensemble out of New Orleans, has announced a winter tour in support of their new album, Poetry In Motion. Joining them on tour will beMatisyahu, Tank and the Bangas, and Big Freedia who are also featured artists on the album.
During the month of March, The Soul Rebels will make four stops in New York. First, they will be performing at Buffalo Iron Works on March 1. They will travel to Syracuse for a night at the Westcott Theater on March 2, before journeying downstate to Poughkeepsie to play at Revel 32 on March 7. Finally they will spend their last two days on March 13 & 14 at the Brooklyn Bowl where they will be joined by unannounced special guests.
Released in October via their imprint Rebelution Music Group, on Artistry Music/Mack Avenue Music Group, Poetry in Motion debuted at #1 on the Contemporary Jazz charts and was in the top 20 for the Current Rap, R&B/Hip – Hop and R&B Album charts. The song “Greatness” was ESPN’s official College Hoops Blockbuster promo song for the 2019-20 season. Recently The Soul Rebels appeared on Dave East feat. Nas‘ track “Godfather 4,” adding harmony and backup vocals.
NYS Music is proud to announce 15 Jam for Tots shows around the Empire State this holiday season. Kicking off on November 27, each show will have a Toys for Tots box set up for patrons to donate gifts to kids in need.
With a wide variety of artists, including Consider the Source, Runaway Gin, Annie in the Water, Tim Herron Corporation, Strange Machines, and Swedish metal guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen, this annual series will connect live music fans with those most in need in their local communities.
Support kids in need this holiday season by bringing an unwrapped toy to any of the following shows. Jam for Tots is brought to you by NYS Music.
Regional shows include:
Mid-Hudson Valley
Nov 27 Open Jam – Main Street Public House, Philmont
Dec 5 Open Jam – The Stewart House, Athens
Dec 7 Yngwie Malmsteen – The Chance, Poughkeepsie
Dec 14 IS – Hilltop Bar and Tavern, Tannersville
Westchester
Dec 4 The Spadtastics – Garcia’s at The Capitol Theatre, Port Chester
North Country
Dec 6 Hunter – The Monopole, Plattsburgh
Western New York
Dec 14 Strange Machines w/s/g Haewa- Flour City Station, Rochester
Dec 20 PA Line “Chrismukkah Show” w/ Special Guests – Buffalo Iron Works, Buffalo
Capital Region
Dec 14 Annie In The Water, The Deadbeats – Putnam Place, Saratoga Springs
Dec 14 Consider the Source w/s/g Swimmer – The Hollow, Albany
Central New York
Dec 8 The Old Main – Woods Valley, Rome
Dec 19 The Action! – Copper City Brewing Company, Rome
Dec 28 Tim Herron Corporation – Funk n Waffles, Syracuse
The historic Bardavon 1869 opera house in Poughkeepsie will kick off the Hudson Valley Philharmonic 60th Anniversary Season with the opening concert, Moon Landing, on Saturday, October 26 at 8 p.m.
More than 80 years ago, the Dutchess Philharmonic Community Orchestra was founded by four local amateur musicians, and 60 years ago conductor Claude Monteux elevated the orchestra to a fully-professional ensemble, renaming it the Hudson Valley Philharmonic. The 60th season also represents the HVP’s 21st year under Bardavon management and the 27th under the music direction of conductor Randall Craig Fleischer, who will conduct Moon Landing.
The Hudson Valley Philharmonic 60th anniversary opening concert at Bardavon celebrates the 50th anniversary of the moon landing with Mozart’s “Jupiter,” Prokofiev’s violin concerto with an HVP String Competition winner and Ravel’s suite from Daphnis et Chloé with projected images from outer space. The program includes:
Mozart: Symphony no.41, K.551, C major (Jupiter) Prokofiev: Violin Concerto no 2, op. 63, G Minor w/ 2018 HVP String Competition winner Cherry Choi Tung Yeung Ravel:Daphnis et Chloé Suite no. 1 & 2 w/visuals from outer space by Dr. Jose Francisco Salgado
Audience members are invited to a pre-concert talk with the conductor and soloists and/or members of the orchestra one hour prior to the performance.
José Francisco Salgado is an Emmy-nominated astronomer (BS in Physics, Univ. of Puerto Rico; PhD in Astronomy, Univ. of Michigan), experimental photographer, visual artist, and public speaker who creates multimedia works that communicate science in engaging ways. As the Executive Director and co-founder of KV 265, a non-profit science and arts education organization, Dr. Salgado collaborates with orchestras, composers, and musicians to present films that provoke curiosity and a sense of wonder about the Earth and the Universe. His Science & Symphony films have been presented in more than 350 concerts and lectures reaching a combined audience of more than 400,000 people in 18 countries.
Cherry Choi Tung Yeung was born in Hong Kong, 22 years ago. Cherry studies with Ms. Ida Kavafian at The Juilliard School and has been admitted to the highly selective accelerated program, where she will finish both Bachelor’s and Master’s Program in four years; she is currently a senior/ first year master student. Cherry was accepted to the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) Junior Program as a scholarship student at the age of 6. Cherry skipped high school and later at the age of only 15, she was accepted as a full-time student at the HKAPA.
Single tickets to all HVP concerts are $20 – $58 based on location. For more information visit the Bardovan website.
Ace Frehley and his band once again returned to the Hudson Valley on September 28 at The Chance Theater in Poughkeepsie. Ace and his bandmates Ryan Cook, Jeremy Asbrock, Phillip Shouse and Matt Starr performed to a full house and the energy was electric.
The Rocket Man was consistently in top form and still blew the audience away. The night was a good mix of Ace’s originals from the opening song “Rip it Out” to a great cover of Eddie Money’s “I Wanna Go Back” along with many KISS classics like “Rocket Man,” “Cold Gin,” “Detroit Rock City,” a few sizzling guitar solos and, of course, the crowd favorite, “Back in the NY Groove.” The venue was packed and the band was on fire, combining with excellent sound and lighting from the historic Chance Theater. It was a show to remember.
Ace’s tour continues with dates in Stuart, Orlando and Kruisefest in Florida in October; then Dallas and Houston in TX; Bakersfield, Big Bear Lake, Agoura Hills, Ramona, Santa Clarita and Pasadena in CA in November; and Rosemont, IL and Westland, MI in December.
A 3-D photo from the front row which is only viewable on Facebook as 3-D
Setlist: Rip It Out, Parasite, Hard Times, Watchin’ You, Rocket Ride, I Wanna Go Back, Mission to Mars, Strange Ways, 2000 Man, Rock Soldiers, New York Groove, Shock Me, Cold Gin, Detroit Rock City, Deuce
This November and December, guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Casady will take to the road to close 2019 as Hot Tuna and wrap up their 50th year with acoustic shows with electric holiday performances as well.
Town Hall in New York City will host the tour kick off with two nights of electric Hot Tuna on Nov. 29 and 30, with special guest Steve Kimock. The Jefferson Airplane alums will then team up with Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams for 11 shows around the Northeast and Midwest, including stops in Troy, Poughkeepsie and Buffalo. Hot Tuna will then close out 2019 in Florida with shows on Dec. 28 in Clearwater and Dec. 31 in Ft. Lauderdale with an electric performance. Full tour dates can be found below.
Hot Tuna Fall Tour Dates
Nov. 29-30 – The Town Hall – New York, NY* Dec. 2 – Musikfest Cafe at ArtsQuest Center – Bethlehem, PA^ Dec.3 – Troy Savings Bank Music Hall – Troy, NY^ Dec.5 – Bardavon 1869 Opera House – Poughkeepsie, NY^ Dec. 6 – The Colonial Theatre – Keene, NH^ Dec. 7 – Garde Arts Center – New London, CT^ Dec. 9 – Asbury Hall – Buffalo, NY^ Dec. 10 – The Palace Theatre – Greensburg, PA^ Dec. 11 – Kent Stage – Kent, OH^ Dec. 13 – Park West – Chicago, IL^ Dec. 14 – Fitzgerald – St. Paul, MN^ Dec. 15 – Turner Hall Balroom – Milwaukee, WI^ Dec. 28 – Bilheimer Capitol Theatre – Clearwater, FL Dec. 31 – Parker Playhouse – Fort Lauderdale, FL+
* w/ Steve Kimock ^ w/ Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams
The Furious Bongos are extending the season of Halloween shenanigans and observing the unofficial holiday of Frank Zappa! They’re returning to some of their favorite venues and expanding into new territory as things are rapidly growing for this fiery band. They’ll kick off tour at The Chance in Poughkeepsie on November 1, then make stops in Albany and Buffalo. Bring your ponchos…or your best Zomby Woof costume!
When bassist/arranger Conrad St. Clair decided to tackle this project, knowing Zappa drew on influences ranging from Stravinsky to Leadbelly, he felt it was important to assemble musicians with backgrounds as farflung as Zappa’s influences. As a result, the band has a heavyweight and eclectic resume, including work with artists like Yo Yo Ma, India Arie, Mick Fleetwood, and Les Paul. This tour will also feature amazing violinist Randal Harrison and master mallet player Matt Peters, as well as Grammy-winning Jay Frigoletto on keyboards for the first half of the tour.
Since Zappa’s music was constantly evolving and adapted to the musicians he was playing with at a given time, doing a note-for-note rendition of ‘Song X‘ from ‘album Y‘ while staring at their shoes didn’t seem like the proper way to go about this project. The Furious Bongos tracked down hundreds of pages of transcriptions and quickly scribbled notes from former band members and other sources, painstakingly compared different versions of the songs, and even dug up copies of rare scores in Frank’s own hand (coffee stains included). The end result is arrangements that you won’t hear anywhere else.
The Furious Bongos understand that however people describe Zappa, safe or vanilla aren’t usually first in mind. And, they appreciate Frank’s role as an entertainer, not just as a composer It’s a show that pays respect to an iconic legacy but is still new and different and dangerous and FUN, with lots of eyebrows. Kinda like Frank.
There was nothing but a good time at Orange County Chopper Cafe in Newburgh, NY on Saturday, July 13. The crowd was on their feet dancing and singing along as if it was 1990. Before Shot of Poison took the stage, The Beacon River Dogs warmed up the crowd with a mix of originals and covers.
The Beacon River Dogs have been howling their songs for the last five years in the Hudson Valley area of New York. The band consists of Robert Stell on vocals and lead rhythm guitar, Fred Czaszar on bass, and Vinnie Quattrocchi on drums. Rob plays many original songs. He is strongly influenced by KISS, but he remembers having a passion about music since he was a young child, stating he used to listen to AM radio and loved hearing Stevie Ray Vaughn, Aerosmith, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Paige, and Randy Rhodes. He started his first band when he was only 14 years old, playing the guitar his grandmother had given him.
Robert Stell – vocals and rhythm guitar
Grandma must have seen something in that kid. He has since opened for many artists, including Lou Reed, John Corobi, Government Mule with Warren Haynes, Rick Derringer, and tribute bands such as SATO Ozzy Band, the Alice Copper tribute band School’s Out, Rolling Stones tribute band Satisfaction, and on this night, for Shot of Poison, a Poison tribute band.
The setlist for The Beacon River Dogs was quite extensive as they were asked to play a little longer by the promoter, Rockin Rob Jagusch. Songs included were “Riding Home,” “Angel Christine,” “Give Me Back My Gun,” “Billy the Kid,” “Little Cryer”, and “Let it Bleed.” Check out their Facebook page for upcoming shows.
Bassist Fred “Z” also mentioned “Rock Out the Dope” The Opioid Prevention and Awareness Music Festival will be held on August 9-11 at the Blackthorne Resort located in East Durham, NY. This family friendly event will feature over 100 acts at 13 stages during the three-day event. Find out more here
The Beacon River Dogs
Fred Czaszar
Fred Czaszar
Rob Stell
Fred Czaszar
Rob Stell
Vinnie Quattrocchi
Vinnie Quattrocchi
Rob Stell
Rob Stell
Shot of Poison then came on stage to a roaring crowd and thrilled them with “Cry Tough”. It was a non-stop party after that. The band consists of Ken Gillman on drums, Adam Boc on Bass, Bruce Bennett on guitar, and vocals by Frank Pupillo.
I asked Ken Gilman, the drummer for the band that originally started ten years ago, “”How did this all start?” Although it was successful, it was short lived, only lasting about a year. But he didn’t give up. He envisioned something bigger, and better. It finally happened in November of 2017, with new band members and more lively artists. When you see how busy they are with the tour, you know how successful it is.
Bruce Bennet, Frank Pupillo and Adam Boc of Shot of Poison
When asked, “Why Poison?” each band member had their own input: KEN’s answer: To me, Poison is the epitome of ’80s glam metal and Bret Michaels is to glam metal what Elvis Presley was to adult rock in the ’60s and ’70s. ADAM’s answer: I learned a lot from starting another tribute band five years earlier. I studied statistics and the market landscape, and saw a market gap for a top-quality Poison tribute. Bruce similarly learned a lot from starting a tribute earlier. He always loved Poison, and he also saw the potential. Frank enjoys the glam style, in general, and saw an opportunity to express his love for entertaining people. And boy, did he entertain.
At first, you close your eyes and you hear Bret Michaels, but unlike some tribute bands, you open your eyes, and you also see “Bret Michaels.” Frank does an amazing job portraying the fun-loving Michaels, and he got the crowd involved throughout the night. From having the crowd sing along, to Bruce and Frank getting into the crowd and performing their rose ceremony, if you were there, you were a part of the show. They interacted with any willing fan. At one point, upon seeing the camera, they stopped what they were doing and posed. What a fun bunch.
The set-list was non-stop as well and featured songs like “Cry Tough,” “I Want Action,” “I Won’t Forget You,” “Talk Dirty to Me,” “Love on the Rocks,” “Nothin’ But a Good Time,” “Back to the Rocking Horse,” “Tearin’ Down the Walls,” “Look But You Can’t Touch,” “Fallen Angel,” “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” “Unskinny Bop,” “Life Goes On,” “Ride the Wind,” “Something to Believe In,” “What I Like About You,” “Rock and Roll All Nite” and “We’re an American Band.”
Check out the list of upcoming locations and make a plan to experience Shot of Poison first hand, you will be amazed.
Upcoming dates/locations Fri, AUG 9 – Finnegan’s Irish Rock Club – Scranton, PA Sat, AUG 10 – Woodlawn Beach & Tiki Bar – Buffalo, NY Thu, AUG 15 – Maple Tree Place Summer Concert Series – Williston, VT Fri, AUG 16 – Sharkey’s Summer Stage – Liverpool, NY Sat, AUG 17 – New London Veterans Motorcycle Run – New London, OH Fri, AUG 23 – Mc Sober’s Saloon – Coldwater, OH Sat, AUG 24 – Goodstock Music Festival – Goodland, IN Sat, SEP 7 – Sterling Fair – Sterling, MA Fri, SEP 13 – Gusto’s – Barre, VT Sat, SEP 14 – Mixers Nightclub & Lounge – Sabattus, ME Sat, SEP 28 – Hairfest 2019 at Indian Ranch Amphitheater – Webster, MA Sat, OCT 12 – The Phoenix – Stonington, CT Thu, NOV 21 – Granite State Music Hall (with Mr. Speed) – Laconia, NH Fri, NOV 22 – Blue Ocean Music Hall (with Mr. Speed KISS tribute) – Salisbury, MA
Blacktop Mojo will be bringing their Can’t Sleep 2019 Tour to The Chance in Poughkeepsie, NY on Wednesday, August 7. Athens, Gerogia’s hard-rock grunge band, Lullwater, will be providing support.
Blacktop Mojo is touring in support of their upcoming record, Under the Sun, which comes out this September. The album follows, Burn the Ships which featured the singles “Where the Wind Blows” and their cover of Aerosmith’s “Dream On.” Under the Sun is available now for preorder at all download platforms. Anyone preordering Under the Sun will receive the first single “Can’t Sleep” as an instant gratuity track.
Lullwater is touring with their critically acclaimed new album Voodoo, which is available now.
As previously announced, Blacktop Mojo will be doing extensive touring throughout 2019 and 2020 in support of the record. Tickets for the first leg of touring are currently on sale and can be .
Ask Jimmie Vaughan what he thinks of what the Fabulous Thunderbirds have done since he left the band in 1990, and he chuckles. “I don’t know what they’ve done. I’m busy worrying about myself.”
The T-Birds may have been his highest profile gig outside of Family Style, the one double-Grammy winning CD he recorded with his late legendary brother Stevie Ray Vaughan, but he’s won two Grammys since then as a solo act and plays the Suffolk Theater in Riverhead, New York on Friday, July 12 and Darryl’s Place the next day touring on the release of his latest CD, Baby, Please Come Home.
The Chicago Tribune summed Jimmie up adroitly when they said, “Jimmie Vaughan is one of the great guitarists of the last 30-40 years, though you might not know it – he’s not about calling attention to himself. He’s about substance and economy rather than excess and showmanship.”
While his guitar work with the T-Birds fused the swamp blues sound of Slim Harpo and Lazy Lester with a gritty bar band rock that made the songs “Tuff Enuff” and “Wrap It Up” pop chart hits more than three decades ago, his current style rests comfortably in the retro R&B songs he covers on the new album.
The originals of all 11 numbers were first released in the 1950s including Chuck Willis’s “What’s Your Name,” Fats Domino’s “So Glad,” Jimmy Reed’s “Baby, What’s Wrong,” and T Bone Walker’s “I’m Still in Love with You.” As diverse as that sounds, the arrangements consistently feel like they were recorded in the Duke/Peacock label’s Houston studios between 1947 and ’54. Vaughan’s guitar playing throughout is elemental, retro perfect, on point, prickly and as unlike his late brother Stevie Ray’s sound as Chuck Berry is to Jimi Hendrix.
It is unavoidable that Stevie’s history-making legacy would cast a huge shadow over everything Jimmie has done since his brother died in a helicopter crash in 1990 a month prior to the release of Family Style. Jimmie Vaughan says the pain even today of having to put out that album after his brother’s passing is indescribable.
“We were together every day in the studio. We had a great time. We went to New York, Memphis, Dallas. We had a good time with each other, and we enjoyed it, and we had a fabulous record. We were looking forward to it coming out, and then that happened. I don’t even know how to describe it. I don’t know what to say still.”
Listen to any one of Jimmie’s solo albums back to back with one of Stevie’s, and it makes you wonder how two brothers four years apart in age and living together growing up could be so different. The common thread was Jimi Hendrix.
“We both loved Hendrix. I found the 45 of “Purple Haze” in the garbage can at a TV show. It was a promotional copy that they had thrown away. So, I got it early on before it came out. If you’re already into Muddy Waters, and you hear Hendrix, it’s exactly like Muddy Waters had a kid who went into outer space and came back and knew stuff nobody else knew. But it’s still Muddy Waters.
“I could do “Purple Haze” and “Foxy Lady” with the band I was in. They were all 21, and I was 15, (in 1966). Stevie was there on that set, and then somebody would challenge him. Stevie had to outdo me in his mind. He was my little brother, and sometimes little brothers have to try harder than big brothers.”
Stevie would go on to become the biggest influence in helping blues cross over into the mainstream since Hendrix himself, eclipsing his brother’s popularity by a huge margin. And when they recorded Family Style, it was that process that added a capability to Jimmie’s talents that finally would turn him into a solo recording artist four years after Stevie died. The biggest boost to Jimmie’s solo career came from handling vocals for the first time.
“I never had any vocals training. It wasn’t my goal. So, when I got to Family Style with Stevie, (producer) Nile Rodgers said, ‘Stevie’s gonna sing his songs. What songs are you going to sing?’ I said, ‘Well, I wasn’t really thinking of that.’ He said, ‘Well, you gotta sing.’ So, I said ok. I had to do it. That was a good way to start for me. and I’ve been singing ever since.”
Jimmie’s vocals on Baby, Please Come Home are a perfect complement to his extraordinary guitar playing.
Eric Clapton who lost three members of his entourage in the same helicopter crash that killed Stevie, invited Jimmie to perform at five Royal Albert Hall blues concerts in London soon after the accident. I was working on my Buddy Guy biography at the time and spent an evening with Jimmie, his mother, and the Beefeaters guards in their pub in the Tower of London. The Brits made this American blues journalist feel like royalty. The good cheer was palpable, but it was as if Jimmie were inside a bubble apart from the goings on. I didn’t know what to say to him. “Well, neither did I. I didn’t know what to say to you or anyone. So, it’s just what I had to do, and actually it was the best thing for me at the time to play which is what I’ve always done anyway.”
It was four years after Stevie’s passing before Jimmie released his first solo album Strange Pleasure including the song “Six Strings Down” dedicated to his brother. It was produced by Nile Rodgers and featured Dr. John on bass. Career highlights since then have included a special guest appearance on Bo Diddley’s 1996 album A Man Amongst Men, playing guitar on the tracks “He’s Got A Key” and “Coatimundi.” He played a member of the fictional Louisiana Gator Boys led by B.B. King in the Blues Brothers 2000 film and earned a Grammy for Best Blues Album for his 2001 release, Do You Get The Blues?
In the new millennium he’s recorded with Omar Kent Dykes’ On The Jimmy Reed Highway, Lazy Lester’s Blues Stop Knockin’, toured with Dylan in 2006, and joined Gary Clark, Jr. for the encore of Clapton’s show at Madison Square Garden on May 19, 2017.
If you read between the lines, you could get the impression that Jimmie’ career is about the guitar licks where his brother’s was about the glory.“The thing about Stevie and I playing so differently is just that he would do the Hendrix thing, and he would do Albert King and Hendrix incorporated into his style. He stole their riffs and put it into his playing and did it so well, that it became part of his thing.
“I already was doing a different thing. So, if Stevie were here right now, it would be interesting to see how he played, but when you’re young and you’re out there having a good time and – ”
He pauses.
“This is not to take away from Stevie’s playing. I don’t want you to think that. I’m just trying to explain why he did all that.”
One has to wonder where Jimmie would be today if Clapton hadn’t pulled him back out on stage. “I’m grateful that Eric got me to play ’cause I didn’t know what to do and how to handle a group at the time. I had left the Thunderbirds, and I was just in turmoil. Like, what do you do with all this information? Where do you put it? Where’s my place in it? You know what I mean? So, anyway, that was my first outing, and I’ve been playing ever since. So, I think I was good for me that Eric got me out of the house and away from myself.”
Last Pharaoh screamed out melodic power/progressive metal and neo-classical music at Orange County Choppers on Saturday night which left the crowd roaring for more. Influenced by Iron Maiden, Saxon, and Queensryche, Last Pharaoh was signed by Pure Steel Records in 2018. Their first album, “Mantle Of Spiders”, was released last year on September 21. After their ‘blowing off the roof’ rendition of “Bark at the Moon,” they treated the crowd to their soon to be released “Intruders” as their last song of the night (which will be on their new album and first single).
The four band members each bring a rocking history of their own and combine to a fantastic blend of guitar riffs and metal screams, Ron Toth on guitar, Michael James on bass, Ed Shelinsky playing drums, and Tommy Santangelo performing on vocals. They are based in the Hudson Valley, however, they will be coming to the Albany area at Chrome in Waterford, NY on May 25. Look for their music on Spotify, YouTube, Apple music, iTunes, Amazon, and of course, your local record store.
Setlist: Into the Darkness, The Headless Horseman, Jekyll and Hyde, Desert Dreams, Deadly Dreams, Machinic Non-Conscience, Slave to the Kill (The Son of Sam), Mantle of Spiders, Psychohouse, Bark at the Moon, Intruders
Pure emotion carried the crowd away
Michael JamesRon TothEd ShelinskyTommy SantangeloMichael JamesTommy SantangeloRon TothTommy Santangelo
