NYS Music 202​0

Author: Alain Clerine

  • LOCKN’ 2020 Lineup Revealed

    The 8th annual LOCKN’ Festival lineup has been announced. Taking place (as usual) at Infinity Downs & Oak Ridge Farm in Arrington, VA. This year’s festivities will be in honor of Grateful Dead bassist, Phil Lesh’s 80th birthday, where he will perform alongside friends and legends alike, with plenty of special guests to boot.

    The three-day event, camping festival, will kick off on June 19. Day one will feature performances from: Phil Lesh Quintet ft. Warren Haynes, Jimmy Herring, Rob Barraco, John Molo, Brandi Carlile, Gov’t Mule, Goose, Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers, The Chain Gang ft. Devon Allman, Duane Betts, Cody Dickinson, Luther Dickinson, Samantha Fish, John Ginty, & Berry Oakley, Jr. play Fleetwood Mac’s, Rumours, Yola, Boombox ft. BackBeat Brass, and Grateful Shred.

    Saturday, June 20, will feature Phil Lesh Quintet ft. Warren Haynes, Jimmy Herring, Rob Barraco, John Molo with David Crosby, Oteil & Friends, David Crosby, Mike Gordon, Black Pumas, Garcia Peoples, Grateful Shred, and Kendall Street Company. In addition, an new headline act will be unveiled in the coming weeks.

    Festivities conclude Sunday, June 21, with performances from Phil Lesh with John Mayer and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, Leon Bridges, Electric Hot Tuna,Railroad Earth, MEUTE, The War and Treaty, Midnight North, and Keller Williams’ Grateful Gospel.

    The first ever three-day LOCKN’ festival doesn’t end there. A special “Steal Your Thursday” add-on will be available for $30, allowing attendees to kick off their festival weekend on Thursday, June 18, while a Wednesday early-entry add-on will also be made available, giving guests a chance to enjoy the farm in preparation for the extravaganza that lies ahead.

    Along with all the great entertainment, attendees will get the chance to try-out various local food vendors and their always enticing cuisine, in addition to craft brewery, and other delectables.

    Three-day LOCKN’ passes are available for $259, with a payment plan that allows fans to pay a deposit of $19.99 (with fees) and make four payments over four months. There will also be VIP passes that offer fans perks such as, enhanced seating/ambience, intimate view of performances, exclusive merchandise and much more. Accommodations will also include; glamping tents, RVs, tour buses, and more and are available as an add-on to festival passes.

    For more information on LOCKN’ 2020 tickets, on-site lodging or special add-ons, click HERE.

  • Life of Ravi Shankar To Be Celebrated in Centennial Series

    The life of classical music composer and sitar virtuoso, Ravi Shankar, will be commemorated throughout the month of May, in celebration of 100 years since his birth on April 7, 1920. Shankar – who passed away in 2012 – is widely recognized as a pioneer in Indian and Hindustani classical music who popularized the use of Indian music in pop culture.

    A five-time Grammy-winner, Shankar is also known for his humanitarian work, being awarded with India’s highest civilian honor – the Bharat Ratna – in 1999. His daughters, Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar, are both accomplished musicians in their own right, with the former being a nine-time Grammy-winning Jazz composer, and the latter, a respected sitar player.

    The Ravi Shankar Centennial Concerts will feature guest-stars, Philip Glass, Dhani Harrison (son of Beatles lead-guitarist George Harrison), an orchestra composed of Shankar’s disciples, as well as his daughters. United States concert tour dates and ticket information can be found below. A centenary concert is also scheduled in New Delhi, India, for November.

    May 16 – San Diego Civic Center – San Diego, CA (fundraiser for Shanktar Foundation)

    May 19 – Walt Disney Concert Hall – Los Angeles, CA (w/ Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar)

    May 22 – Chicago Symphony Orchestra – Chicago, IL

    May 29 – Carnegie Hall – New York, NY. (w/ Philip Glass)

    For detailed information regarding Ravi Shankar Centennial Concerts, CLICK HERE.

  • Kyle Stockman Releases Latest Gem with ‘Opal’

    Singer-songwriter, Kyle Stockman, has released a two-song package titled Opal. It’s been a few months since we’ve heard from Stockman, whose last project, Hearts, was released in June of 2019. “Since I moved back to the city [for school] I’ve been having a lot of trouble finding like-minded people, I was questioning what was going on in my life,” Stockman says of the new project. “It’s me reaching out and asking these questions.”

    The records are “Opal” and “Sundays.”  The former, is a ballad in which Stockman croons about his longing for that special someone. “I’m speaking through the lenses of talking to one specific person, but it’s really me speaking to everyone around me,” he elaborates. “If someone wanted to love, how could they do it for me without me having to put in all the work?”

    “Sundays” sees Stockman break out a lot more spoken-word, while the record itself relies a lot less on melodies for the verses. He evaluates his current standing in life. Surrounded by peers, he contemplates where exactly he fits in, with the record resembling a self-therapy session. “Sundays talks about what I’m seeing around me, the people around me and what I’m realizing about what going on in my life,” says Stockman. “At the end, I go back questioning ‘do you want to be with me?’ Bringing it back full circle.”

    On the heels of this new release, Stockman says he is looking more into performing, dialing back on releasing full-length project and focusing more on growing his brand and his name.

    Opal is available on all streaming platforms, with a lyrics video for “Sunday” already on YouTube.

  • 2020 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductees Announced, Featuring Whitney Houston and The Notorious B.I.G.

    Inductees for the 2020 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame have officially been announced. The committee in charge of inductees – made up of more than 1,000 historians, members of the music industry and every living Rock Hall inductee – have included two prominent names in music culture, whose body of work was not based in the genre. In an effort to diversify the Rock Hall of Fame, soul songstress Whitney Houston and iconic hip-hop emcee The Notorious B.I.G., will make their entrance into the hallowed halls of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. They will be posthumously induced, at the 35th annual Rock Hall of Fame Induction ceremony, on Saturday, May 2, 2020, at Public Auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio.

    The duo headlines an illustrious class, which features influential rock band The Doobie Brothers, Grammy-winning rock act, Nine Inch Nails, English rockers, T. Rex, who were prominent in the development of the rock scene during the early 1970s, as well as Depeche Mode, a dominant force within the electronic music scene.

    Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

    Jon Landau, the longtime manager of Bruce Springsteen, and entertainment executive Irving Azoff will also be recognized at the ceremony. They will be presented with the Ahmet Ertegun Award, which honors songwriters, producers, disc jockeys, record executives, journalists, and other industry professionals who have had a major influence on rock & roll.

    The ceremony will be broadcast live for the first time on HBO on May 2 at 8 p.m. ET. Performances and special guests and Induction Week programs will be announced later.

    Tickets go on sale to Rock Hall members on February 25 and to the public on February 27 at 10 a.m. ET, at ticketmaster.com or by calling 800-745-3000.

  • 2020 Syracuse Area Music Awards Drawing Near, Still Time To Submit and Vote

    The Syracuse Area Music Awards (SAMMYS), an annual celebration of the Syracuse music scene, will be held at the Palace Theatre on James Street, in Syracuse, NY. The two-day event will consist of the hall of fame ceremony – held upstairs of the theatre at the Dino – on Thursday, March 5, while the SAMMYS award show – is set for Friday, March 6.

    With the award ceremony drawing close local musicians, bands and artists are encouraged to submit their commercially available recordings in CD format. Recordings released between January 1 – December 31, 2019 are eligible for consideration. Submission forms and instruction can be found on the official SAMMYS website. The submission deadline is Monday, January 6, 2020.

    The public is also encouraged to nominate their favorite venues to see live music, local artists, music series and festivals, as part of the SAMMYS “people’s choice,” initiative. There will also be a 4thcategory added to include; live, local academic or musical organizations. Daily online voting begins January 14, 2020. People’s choice voting forms can be found HERE.

    https://youtu.be/Ei9Tc9ac5r0

    A press conference for the event is scheduled for February 4, 2020, with tickets set to go on sale the same day.

    For more information, as well as updates and news, the Syracuse Area Music Awards follow them: Facebook or Twitter.