Sisters Kelly and Kat were in high school when they found a Facebook post that encouraged them to participate in the Disney and Kohl’s National Sing Your Frozen Heart Out Contest. To their success, the sisters won the contest and made an appearance during the American Music Awards. Life took them on a different direction, deciding from that day forward they would pursue a musical career as a singer songwriter duo.
The singer-songwriter duo perform at local bars in Long Island and continue to write songs on a daily basis. Their music comprises elements of rock, pop, and jazz accompanied with their soft vocals and smooth harmonies.
Kelly and Kat’s new single “We Were” is a piano ballad that shows the discomfort in remembering the good times of a past relationship. Their previous singles like “One Day” describes the confidence in moving forward from a relationship while “Nobody Knows” explains the significance of learning to accept yourself.
Music has allowed the sisters to form a strong bond. Kelly and Kat share their thoughts on the impact it has had on their lives:
I’m happy with our path and the way that everything turned out. We both knew we wanted to do music and we really love what we do. I love waking up every day and seeing this as a part of my life.
-Kelly
I’ve always wanted to make music that can be a support system for others. There is nothing more intimate than helping someone through music.
-Kat
Check out NYSMusic’s coverage of Kelly and Kat’s release of their debut single “One Day” from 2019.
New York Guitar Festival (NYGF) has announced Set Two of the festival’s 2020 online performance series Reverend Gary Davis: In Search of the Harlem Street Singer. The series focuses on the music of blind blues musician Reverend Gary Davis.
Rev. Gary Davis performed on the streets of Harlem from the late 1940s until his death in 1972. Overcoming poverty, racial discrimination, and blindness, Davis made numerous influential recordings and festival appearances, and also taught students including David Bromberg, Stefan Grossman, Dave Van Ronk, and Bob Weir.
Set Two of Reverend Gary Davis: In Search of the Harlem Street Singer will premiere one video performance each day from July 13-19, at 4pm EDT daily via the New York Guitar Festival YouTube channel. There will be musical performances by Jim James, Chris Thile, David Bromberg, Piedmont Blūz, Jontavious Willis, and a special discourse by DJ Spooky to launch the festival. The schedule for the program can be seen below:
Discourse by DJ Spooky (Paul D. Miller) – Monday, July 13
Access to Reverend Gary Davis: In Search of the Harlem Street Singer is free. The New York Guitar Festival and performing artists are asking viewers to make donations to MusiCares. You can learn more about charitable foundation of The Recording Academy’s MusicCares COVID-19 Relief Fund, and donate here.
The New York Guitar Festival first moved its distinguished musical curation online in May, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, commissioning a diverse group of stellar musicians to participate. Watch Set One ofReverend Gary Davis: In Search of the Harlem Street Singer – featuring performances by Bill Frisell, Rosanne Cash & John Leventhal, Warren Haynes, Fantastic Negrito, Amythyst Kiah and many more below.
“We are incredibly grateful to the artists who have collaborated with NYGF to help shine a light on the authentic soul and humanity of Rev. Gary Davis’ music, and taken inspiration from his resilient life,” explains New York Guitar Festival’s Artistic Director David Spelman. “Heartfelt thanks, too, for the continued support of the Augustine Foundation, and for a special gift from the John and Joan D’Addario Foundation – for helping make Set Two ofReverend Gary Davis: In Search of the Harlem Street Singer possible.”
Donations will go directly towards the Jazz Foundation of America to support the music of our future while you watch. Party Brooklyn Bowl-style via Fans.com.
“We started Broolyn Bowl to bring people together to enjoy the magic of live music. We has a great run, open every night of the week, with people coming from every direction, and e loved hosting every type of musician and fan that you can imagine. Then we had to stop. Even though our stage is dark, we are still turning 11 years old. Having a birthday during this difficult time makes us want to get back to doing what we do more than ever. We will be back.”
– Peter Shapiro, founder Brooklyn Bowl
“We have had a lot of fun in our first 11 years! Because we’re closed temporarily, we now exist as a glowing sense memory of warm vibes, soft light, great sights, and sounds. A place that became a refuge from the ordinary crap in modern life. A place where we rediscovered the simple magic of coming together to celebrate life. This anniversary comes at a moment of enormous pain, stress, and loss for so many of us. But it’s also an opportunity — a giant reset button. All of us can practice greater kindness, mindfulness, and generosity of spirit. We all need to love each other and pull together. We will be back!”
Brooklyn-based funk band Turkuaz recently launched their latest creative endeavor this past with “HEY YOU, STAY TUNED,” their hour-long recurring variety show available exclusively through the band’s Facebook and YouTube channels.
The pilot episode sees the eccentric nine-piece ensemble partake in a Hollywood Squares parody, aptly entitled “Turkuaz Squares.” Comedian Brett Siddell, who also recently launched his own comedy special via Vimeo, acts as announcer, while Sirius XM’s Ari Fink hosts the show. Additionally, special guests Andy Frasco and Eric “Benny” Bloom appear as contestants on the game show.
Gameshow antics are accompanied by a pop up video replay of Turkuaz’s official music video for 2017 single “On the Run,” which stars Chris Roberti from HBO’s High Maintenance and Comedy Central’s Broad City. Fans are also treated to never-before-released content from the band’s recent None’sA Ton concert film, with “Nightswimming” and “Coast to Coast” footage from the film spliced in.
Brooklyn-based indie rock band Gooseberry has released their new single “The Protagonist.” The four-piece band met through mutual friends in the Brooklyn music and comedy scenes. After months of intermittent jam sessions in a makeshift apartment studio the Gooseberry Band became official in Fall 2019. The band consists of Asa Daniels (guitar/vocals), Colin Ashen (drums), Sam Rappaport (keys, vocals), and Will Hammond (bass).
Their mix of indie rock, blues, and R&B captures each member’s interests. Sam Rappaport brings the R&B flavor, inspired by the greats like Donny Hathaway, Stevie Wonder, and D’Angelo. Will Hammond leans more towards the indie scene, rock and folk. Asa Daniels bridges the gap in-between, having grown up playing jazz and blues and learning licks from heroes like Thelonious Monk, Eric Krasno, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. He has been pursuing music for nearly a decade, having had some early success with his band, Baked Goods.
Their first single “Berkshires” (listen below) goes back to major influences like D’Angelo, Donny Hathaway, and Stevie Wonder, while their newest “The Protagonist” showcases a more alternative/indie sound in the styles of the Foo Fighters, Courtney Barnett, Arctic Monkeys, and Spoon. Before the pandemic, Gooseberry had a biweekly residency at Harefield Road in Brooklyn, where they were steadily growing a devoted audience around their live shows. They had been gigging fairly regularly in and around New York City, running the full gamut of venues from The Cobra Club to DROM to house shows across the boroughs.
Asa Daniels shares his story on how he came up with “The Protagonist”:
This song started out as a little earworm that I couldn’t quite shake. I’d sit in my apartment in my little makeshift studio and play for hours and end up back on this tiny melody, and each time it would grow. A little more power here, a little distortion there. Before I knew it, there was this thing, this song, and the lyrics just fell into place. The Protagonist is a little about how we are all the lead actors of our own movies, and a lot about smiling as you lose control. The song’s title is tongue-in-cheek, but I’ve always been fascinated by points of view, the idea that we really are all the centers of our own universes, and so on. There’s a joke that those close to me know I always make. It usually comes after an impassioned speech from a friend, a major cultural event, or just a story told by someone else. It’s most effective after there’s a lull of awkward silence. I’ll usually think pensively for a moment, then look at someone and say, ‘Right, but how does this affect me, the protagonist?’ While I’m generally looking for laughs when I say that, underneath the statement is a question that I think a lot of folks are grappling with right now as the country is rife with pandemic, civil unrest, and political rancor. We may each be our own protagonist, but the story is empty if it involves no other characters. It’s important to care for one another, speak out for one another, help one another. Especially as things spiral, often beyond our control.
NYC-based art punks, Rich Girls, released their single “The Fighter,” an anthem of low-key defiance. Frontwoman Luisa Black shares her thoughts on what the song means.
“Fuck bigots, it’s all I thought about this year. If it’s about anything, it’s about that.”
Photo Cred: L. Black
Rich Girls combine British art rock polish with primitive energy of American garage. Black started the band as the solo recording project after the breakup of her San Fran garage band The Blacks. It evolved from series of dark pop demos Black wrote while living in London.
A steady stream of EPs cemented the Rich Girls high/low sound and found a small following in unexpected outposts across the UK and Europe. Rich Girls live create a big, urgent sound out of minimal elements. All proceeds from Bandcamp digital purchases of the single will be donated to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
New York singer-songwriter Paul Loren has released his new single “We’ll Be Together Again.” Loren was raised on the rich legacy of soul, classic pop, and the Great American Songbook and in those musical idioms he feels most at home.
Loren has been keeping himself busy writing new music and entertaining fans via his weekly live stream, “The Leisure Lounge featuring Paul Loren” which can be found on his Facebook and Instagram pages. He is thrilled to share one of his ‘quarantunes’ written with his dearest family, friends and fans in mind. “We’ll Be Together Again” offers hope and solace in the difficult times that we are now living in.
The Huffington Post described him as: “The dashing and retro-chic crooner whose songs bring a modern edge to lounge-era pop.”
The song was written during the first week of the New York City COVID-19 lockdown, unsure of when I’d get to see my loved ones again. I love those old WWII-era songs like “We’ll Meet Again” and “I’ll Be Seeing You,” and thought the referential nod to another difficult time in our history felt right. It’s a mission statement of sorts. We WILL be together again, even though circumstances are unpredictable—it’s about creating something sure in a very unstable climate. Amid times of uncertainty and separation, it is a song of hope and optimism.
Paul Loren
Check out this stream and more through our series NY Stream and Support, where you’ll discover artists around the Empire State streaming nightly, and ways to support musicians and charitable groups close to home!
Kitchen Dwellers have released Reheated Vol. 2, their take on Pink Floyd with three covers – “Welcome to the Machine.” “Hey You,” and “Pigs (Three Different Ones).” This release marks the second installment of their Reheated series featuring covers interpreted by Kitchen Dwellers through their eclectic and expansive approach to Bluegrass music. Kitchen Dwellers launched their Reheated series in 2018 with Vol. 1, a four-song EP that reimagined songs from The Band.
Reheated started out as a way to play the music of some of our favorite bands while putting our own twist on it. We draw influences from all kinds of styles and types of genres, so diving into somebody else’s work is fun for us. It creates its own set of challenges and we tend to incorporate some of the things we learn along the way into our own songs and playing. For the first volume, we released songs from The Band. We love their approach to songwriting and singing so we really had a lot of fun with that one.
After many rounds of debate, we ultimately chose to do Pink Floyd for the second volume. Throughout their long career, they have been so inventive and experimental. As a kid, I used to think the band members of Pink Floyd wore lab coats and twisted nobs to make their music. Their songs also pose big questions about life and have the ability to make you think from different perspectives. We chose one song from three of their most influential albums; Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall. All songs were recorded and mixed with Colin Bricker at Mighty Fine Productions in Denver, CO. We tried to recreate some of the iconic sounds that Pink Floyd managed to produce in the studio, this time, with acoustic instruments. Every single instrument track was recorded on one of our four instruments except for one, so we really had to work on getting it right. This release has been highly anticipated for us and It’s with great excitement that we can put this out into the world.
Max Davies (guitar/vocals)
The Montana-based bluegrass band has performed for thousands at Red Rocks, shared bills with the likes of Railroad Earth, The Infamous Stringdusters and Twiddle, graced festival stages from Northwest String Summit to WinterWonderGrass, and transcended traditional genre boundaries.
OFC Creations have announced the 2020 line up for ROC Summer Theatre Experience will continue this summer with added precautions and safety measures for July and August.
From July 6 through August 22, 2020, campers ages 4 to 18 will participate in a variation of 15 musical theater productions across three venues with 25 directors. Most camps run two weeks from 9 AM to 3 PM with options for before-care and after-care hours. Each camp concludes with performances open to family, friends, and the public. Camps will take place at various locations throughout Rochester including the Kodak Center, the Lyric Theatre, Seton School, and OFC’s brand-new theatre, The OFC Creations Theatre Center in Winton Place Plaza.
Summer 2020 camps include the following productions:
Ages 4-7
Chicken Little, The Three Little Pigs, Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella
Ages 7-11
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Aladdin Jr, Matilda Jr, Willy Wonka Jr, Peter Pan Jr, The Sound of Music, Law and Order: Fairy Tale Unit
Ages 11-17
Footloose the Musical, Sweeney Todd: School Edition, Chicago: School Edition, Rock of Ages: School Edition
New safety precautions will be added to all summer camps including spaced drop off and pick up times, keeping campers in groups of no more than 10, wearing masks especially while singing, as well as hand sanitizing stations and frequent hand washing. OFC’s health advisor, Erika Kozlowski, will be on hand at camp with a focus on health and safety and answering any parent questions. A full breakdown of safety precautions are now on OFC’s website.
OFC Creations Executive Director, Eric Vaughn Johnson, is no stranger to summer camp programming. From 2013 to 2018, Johnson had designed and spearheaded the Summer Stock program at RAPA, leading an upwards of 400 campers throughout the summer. Johnson also served as the artistic director of SNAP Musical Theater for four summers with casts of 80 kids performing shows including Hairspray and The Little Mermaid.
Johnson says why he wanted to continue the ROC Summer Theatre Experience:
We wanted to bring a one-of-a-kind theater opportunity for youth in Rochester during the summer months. Kids have been stuck inside without any social interactions for months, they need this summer now more than ever.
Here are some of the teaching artists and staff members at OFC Creations:
Emily Beseau is a frequent teaching artist for OFC Creations. Beseau graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Ithaca College. Currently, Beseau is teaching OFC’s Experiencing Broadway class.
Hunter Ekberg, originally from Minneapolis Minnesota, Ekberg frequents the Rochester stage as a performer in children’s theater productions. Ekberg is currently vocal directing OFC’s Frozen Jr and Mamma Mia productions.
Rebecca Kemp is the general music teacher for Park Road Elementary School and will be vocal directing several of the youth shows for summer. Kemp recently vocal directed Barker Road Middle School’s production of Spamalot.
Jason Rugg, Irondequoit NY, is a theater teacher for Irondequoit High School and will be directing several summer camps. Rugg serves on the board of Pittsford Musicals, performs in community productions, and directed The Frog Prince at the Kodak Center in summer 2018.
Additional directors and staff members include:Lizzi Adams (Monroe Community College), Tammi Colombo (Rochester, NY) Andrea Gregoire (Rochester, NY) Mandi Gurell (Penfield, NY), Kendra Hacker (University of Kansas School of the Arts), Jane Huffer (University of Rochester), Misty Irwin (Spencerport, NY), Gregory Maddock (Rochester, NY), Jillian Oddo (Rochester, NY), Brianna Ross (SUNY Fredonia), Eric Schutt (Greece, NY), Courtney Weather (Brighton, NY), and Jamie Wisset (Brighton, NY).
Registration is now open for 2020 summer programs. Discounts are available for campers signing up for more than one camp. Registration information and details are available at www.ROCSummerTheatre.com and at www.OFCCreations.com.
Brooklyn-based indie rock band, The Next Great American Novelist (aka NGAN), share their new single, “Drag,” from their upcoming sophomore record, Careless Moon. Written before the pandemic and a better-late-than never Civil Rights revolution took the main stage of society. The new single, “Drag,” works to show that there was never a comfortable or correct “normal” in life when times were “precedented,” fully working for everyone.
Songwriter Sean Cahill explains the new single, saying:
I love New York City, though, some days it feels like a dysfunctional landscape of ill-routine. Living here, you realize you’re functionally necessary but of small significance or importance within the larger enterprise. I’m immersed in a series of habits: standing in line, getting on a train, heading to work, buying coffee, buying booze… Are these choices I want to make or am I just keeping the machine going.
Cahill was on the verge of ending his The Next Great American Novelist project before it really even got off the ground. He recalls his experience saying:
I was working in life insurance, and I had a gig at some small venue in Bushwick. I almost didn’t do it because I was so depressed from my living situation and work. I knew nobody, and my girlfriend didn’t show up. I played the show solo, and I was so over everything. I just didn’t give a shit, so I was very open and honest on stage. And this guy who was super shy came up to me afterwards and was like, ‘Hey, I really like your music. I’m a sound engineer, you should come by my studio,’ and gave me his card.
That shy fan was Justin Helm, an engineer at New York’s The Cutting Room. Cahill later stopped by the studio and met the in-house producer, who happened to be Cummings. The two quickly hit it off, connecting over a love of The Beatles and Dirty Projectors. With Helm co-producing and engineering, Cummings would go on to co-produce and play onI’ll See You in the Art You Love, Cahill’s partially crowd-funded debut as The Next Great American Novelist.
It wasn’t long before the pair went from friends to true creative collaborators. As soon as Art You Love was completed, they started approaching a few dozen bedroom demos Cahill had written. Eventually, Cummings expressed a not-so-secret desire to join NGAN, and Cahill was happy to welcome him to the foil. From that moment, the band’s trajectory dramatically changed.
Cahill had never fostered a strong ambition to take his music beyond a personal escape. He’d studied classical guitar in college, but left the program when the criticism and perfection of academia began to suck the fun out of the art. Now with Cummings to play off of, Cahill was rediscovering the joys that attracted him to writing and performing in the first place. The duo have applied creative efforts outside the band as well, writing jingles for everything from Swedish Fish to dog medication.
More than ever, Cahill wanted NGAN to become a band people brought their friends to come see live. United, Cahill and Cummings set to work creating new songs that would “make sense live.” It all came together in the studio with drummer Danny Sher of Horse Torso (his outfit with Baroness bassist Nick Jost) laying down the rhythm live to tape as they built towards their new record, Careless Moon.
Careless Moon is about the relationship between romance and indifference. How it’s possible to see different concepts in the same symbol. One night, you could look at the moon and see an illuminating presence, brimming with light, offering clarity to a sky that is otherwise shrouded in darkness. The ridges of its surface appear as something familiar, a face, looking down and bringing you comfort. Other nights the moon can seem callous: an indifferent rock suspended unwillingly by gravity. You remember that the moon drifts from the earth by 3.8 cm each year, orbiting away from you as it barrels out into space. Your life changes but the moon doesn’t, each night you can find it waiting for you. When you realize that it has no attachment to you, it is frightening.
