On Friday, September 25, NYC pop artist Nicolas McCoppin released his debut studio EP Loverboy. The eight-track EP includes four new tracks, as well as previous singles “Stuck,” “Ur Love,” “Remember That Night,” and “For Years.” New dance-pop song “Heaven” was released shortly before the EP:
Continuing the lovestruck nature of its singles, Loverboy is positively infatuated. Besides the whimsical and even naive lyrics, McCoppin channels a disco-fied Cupid on the album cover. But in addition to his proclamations of romantic love, the album is equally a love letter to his city.
New York City played a really huge role in the project. It’s where I wrote and recorded all the tracks. In my eyes, the project is not only about falling in love with a boy, but it also doubles as a love note to New York […] I touch on growing up in a small town in Upstate New York and then escaping to the city to find love.
Nicolas McCoppin
In addition to “Heaven” and “Remember That Night” shouting out Brooklyn and the Bronx, there are two whole tracks just about New York: “Subway Sunsets” and “City of Love.” The brief electric guitar bridge in “Subway Sunsets” is one of the album’s most creative moments, and “City of Love” feels like an East Coast “Teenage Dream.” Loverboy’s sound and lyrical content also borrow heavily from Carly Rae Jepsen’s Emotion and Dedicated albums, specifically her song “Now That I Found You,” but the added city homages help McCoppin make the 80s-inspired dance-pop sound his own.
While this type of pure pop is rarely found on the Billboard Hot 100 these days, it still has a steady cult fanbase kept afloat by Jepsen, Kim Petras, and Charli XCX (at least when the latter leans into a more accessible sound). McCoppin fits right in with those artists on Loverboy, and their fans will definitely gravitate towards him.
Ten days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, living legends and new artists came together for a primetime benefit concert, “America: A Tribute to Heroes.” The star-studded lineup included Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, U2, Billy Joel, Céline Dion, and Willie Nelson.
Executive produced by Tenth Planet Productions’ Joel Gallen, “A Tribute to Heroes” was simulcast across all major networks commercial-free. The September 21 concert won the 2002 Primetime Emmy Award for an Outstanding Variety Special, with many artists channeling the somber energy into the best performances of their careers. The telethon portion of “A Tribute to Heroes” raised over $150 million for 9/11 victims and their families, specifically police officers and firefighters. Years later, networks repeated the concert-telethon model for Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy and the 2010 Haiti Earthquake.
The concert was filmed live in New York, Los Angeles, and London, with British and Canadian artists supporting their American peers. At each venue, the stage was decorated with hundreds of candles. Bruce Springsteen opened the show with the then-unreleased song “My City of Ruins,” playing guitar and harmonica. With the E Street Band, he introduced it as “a prayer for our fallen brothers and sisters.” The following year, the five-minute track closed out Springsteen’s 9/11-inspired album The Rising.
Stevie Wonder then performed “Love’s in Need of Love Today,” the opening track of Songs in the Key of Life, with gospel sextet Take 6.
U2 performed “Peace on Earth” and “Walk On” from London with Natalie Imbruglia and Dave Stewart. “Peace on Earth” was inspired by the 1998 Omagh car bombing, but took on new meaning after 9/11. For the performance, Bono changed the original lyrics from “I’m sick of hearing again and again that there’s gonna be peace on Earth” to “I’m sick of hearing again and again that there’s never gonna be peace on Earth.”
Billy Joel had the most hopeful performance of the night, singing and playing “New York State of Mind.” Rather than dwelling on tragedy, he expressed New Yorker pride and even smiled throughout his performance. Joel never officially released “New York State of Mind” as a single, but due to its popularity with fans it’s often mistaken as one.
In addition to the night’s abundance of established acts, then-new artists Alicia Keys and Enrique Iglesias took the stage. Keys performed a cover of “Someday We’ll All Be Free” by Donny Hathaway, beginning with a piano riff reminiscent of her future 2003 song “Diary.”
Enrique Iglesias had just broken out two years earlier in 1999 with “Bailamos,” but his signature hit would go on to become “Hero,” which he publicly performed for the first time that night. Radio DJs later mixed the song with audio from police, firefighters, and civilians, adding to the song’s popularity.
Iglesias wasn’t the only artist to sing a song called “Hero.” A few numbers later, Mariah Carey sang the just-as-famous song of the same name off her 1993 album Music Box. A New Yorker herself, Carey’s performance was more subdued than past renditions but characteristic of the night’s solemn energy.
The event also included some country artists. Faith Hill performed “There Will Come a Day” from her 2001 album Breathe with a backing gospel choir, and the Dixie Chicks (now The Chicks) performed the poignant “I Believe In Love.”
“America A Tribute to Heroes” ended on a patriotic note, with Céline Dion singing “God Bless America” and Willie Nelson leading the Los Angeles performers and speakers in a grand finale of “America the Beautiful.” Dion later released her cover as a single, and performed it again at the Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003. Céline Dion and Neil Young were the night’s only Canadian performers.
Other performers included Neil Young, Tom Petty, Sheryl Crow, Bon Jovi, Sting, Dave Matthews, and Paul Simon. Most major genres were well-represented: multiple pop, rock, country, folk, and soul artists were on the setlist, and despite their thematic similarities for the occasion, they were diverse in sound.
The success of “America: A Tribute to Heroes” prompted two more 9/11 tribute concerts a month later: the similarly diverse “Concert For New York City” in Madison Square Garden, and the pop-focused Michael Jackson-led “United We Stand.” In 2004, Rolling Stone named the 9/11 concerts “one of the 50 moments that changed rock,” and it’s easy to see why—despite the tragic circumstances that brought the artists together, many were on top of their game.
Americana/bluegrass artist Molly Tuttle has released the music video for her cover of FKA twigs’ “Mirrored Heart.” The video coincides with Tuttle’s quarantine cover album, …but I’d rather be with you, comprising 10 covers, both classic and contemporary. Released through Compass Records, the album was co-produced by Tony Berg, a frequent collaborator of Phoebe Bridgers.
The original version of “Mirrored Heart” came out last November, as part of FKA twigs’ second studio album, Magdalene. Whereas FKA twigs’ version is electronic and avant-garde, Tuttle puts an acoustic, familiar twist on it while retaining its sense of melancholy. Her stab at “Mirrored Heart” informs the rest of …but I’d rather be with you, where she makes songs as old as the 1960s into her own.
“I absolutely love the whole album, Magdalene. But this song stood out to me specifically. It totally brings me back to my first heartbreak. FKA twigs really nails the feeling of not being seen and accepted by the one you love. For this album, I turned the lights out in my room and recorded all the vocal, guitar, and harmony vocals myself. We decided not to add anything or anyone else to it, which felt fitting since the song is so intimate. I read a quote of her saying she can’t get through it without crying, and even though I didn’t write it I found myself tearing up while singing it as well — music is wild like that!”
Molly Tuttle
On …but I’d rather be with you, the Nashville singer-songwriter leaps from the Rolling Stones to Harry Styles with ease. The perpetually-sunny “She’s A Rainbow” is an early high point, and its momentum continues into covers of Arthur Russell’s “A Little Lost” and Karen Dalton’s “Something On Your Mind.” Even on the album’s most depressing songs, Tuttle’s voice is warm and inviting. There are no true skips, as every cover showcases another mood for her to breathe to life. The closing track, a cover of Cat Stevens’ “How Can I Tell You,” immediately incites a thirst for the next album.
In addition to “Mirrored Heart,” Molly Tuttle has released videos for her covers of “She’s a Rainbow,” The National’s “Fake Empire,” Rancid’s “Olympia, WA,” and the Grateful Dead’s “Standing On The Moon.” The “She’s a Rainbow” video is a feminist statement with messages from friends, fans, and famous artists. Linda Perry, Tom Morello, Chris Shiflett, Buffy Sainte-Marie, and more all appear holding signs to promote the cause.
For more information, visit Molly Tuttle’s website. Stream …but i’d rather be with you below:
On Thursday, September 10, Glens Falls’ Park Theater is hosting a virtual fundraiser with the streaming of silent film The Marriage Circle. Silent film accompanist Ben Model will supplement the film with an original live score. The show begins at 7:00 p.m. with a presentation from the Chapman Museum about Glens Falls’ 1920s theater scene following the 1928 Spanish Flu pandemic.
Ben Model plays piano and organ, and his scores have been used by adult orchestras and high school ensembles alike. In addition to The Marriage Circle, he’s produced scores for the films of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Over the past 30 years, Model has composed scores for hundreds of silent films both long and short.
The Marriage Circle, a 1924 comedy, was directed and produced by German-born director Ernst Lubitsch. The film’s writer, Paul Bern, was inspired by Lothar Schmidt’s 1909 play “Nur ein Traum (Only a Dream).” One of The Marriage Circle’s actresses, Esther Ralston, lived in the Glens Falls area in the 1970s. Ralston has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
LA Times.
Tickets for The Marriage Circle livestream are $15. Attendees will receive a link to join 30 minutes before the stream begins. For more information on the event, visit the Glens Falls Park Theater website.
Holly Bowling is taking her talents to the great outdoors. Ahead of her upcoming Grateful Dead album Seeking All That’s Still Unsung, the San Francisco pianist will stream weekly performances from Yosemite, the Badlands, and more. “The Wilderness Sessions” will run for six Thursday shows from September 3 to October 8.
Bowling’s “Wilderness Sessions” arrives after her last series of livestream concerts, “Alone Together: The Living Room Sessions.” In the eight-volume series, she performed Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt,” famously covered by Johnny Cash, as well as Radiohead’s “Idioteque.” While piano covers of songs with full bands have potential to sound bare, Bowling’s arrangements are rich and fully realized. On changing the scenery from her living room to some of America’s most iconic landscapes, Bowling says:
As grateful as I was (and still am) for that opportunity, after a few months it was starting to feel like too much staring at the same walls in the same empty room. I decided if the only option right now is to play to empty spaces, then I wanted to do that in a giant canyon or on a mountaintop in the middle of nowhere. It’s one of those things that would never have worked in normal times. But I realized there’s two ways to look at this time – you can look at all of the things we can’t do, everything we’re missing out on, everything we’ve lost… or you can find the things that you can only do now that you wouldn’t be able to do otherwise, and seek those things out and make them happen.
Leg One dates for “The Wilderness Sessions” include:
September 3, Lake Tahoe, California
September 10, Yosemite, California
September 17, Salt Flats, Utah
September 24, Bruneau Canyon, Idaho
October 1, Beartooth Mountains, Wyoming
October 8, Badlands, South Dakota
Bowling first came to prominence in 2013, when she began performing solo piano arrangements of jam band music. One performance, “The Tahoe Tweezer,” based on Phish’s lengthy “Tweezer” led to two albums: 2014’s Distillation of a Dream: The Music of Phish Reimagined For Solo Piano, and 2016’s Better Left Unsung, a collection of Grateful Dead piano covers. Bowling soon attracted the attention of several Grateful Dead members including Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, and Warren Haynes, and was invited to perform at Terrapin Crossroads and Haynes’ Christmas Jam.
While “The Wilderness Sessions” will be free to view on Facebook and YouTube, Bowling has created a virtual tip jar. Visit Holly Bowling’s website for more information.
“Groove Therapy,” a new podcast combining live music with health and wellness, launched in late August. Produced by Osiris Media and available through Apple Podcasts and Spotify, “Groove Therapy” explores the effects music can have on our minds and bodies.
Founded by Dr. Leah Taylor and Taraleigh Weathers, “Groove Therapy” has two episodes out with a third coming on Friday, September 4. So far, the podcast has explored the idea of “conscious partying” and interviewed Joel Cummins of jam band Umphrey’s McGee. Each episode will have a different guest, either a musician or mental health professional. Listen to the trailer below:
“Groove Therapy” seeks to explore the collective joy of live music with an educational twist. While there’s a time and place for sex and drugs in rock and roll, “Groove Therapy” is about replicating that ectastic feeling when the lights go down at a concert in healthy and responsible ways throughout daily life. “The world needs this now more than ever. What we’re doing is really different: we’re talking about health, hugs, and rock and roll,” said Dr. Leah Taylor in the podcast’s first episode.
Together, Leah and her co-host Taraleigh have over 35 years of experience in health and wellness. Leah has an MA in Counseling Psychology and a PhD in Mind-Body Medicine, while Taraleigh is the author of a book, How to Rock Your Life: Maintain the Magic of Live Music in Your Everyday Experience.
“Groove Therapy”’s September 4th episode is set to feature Zach Gill, of Animal Liberation Orchestra and Jack Johnson’s band. Leah and Taraleigh promise a “long list of fun people” in future episodes. For more information about the podcast, check out the Facebook community group.
In a year where things can’t seem to get any worse, Added Color provides a rare hopeful vision. The Brazilian-American Brooklyn rock band returns with their new song “Something Better,” the lead single for their upcoming November EP, If You Had It All.
“Something Better” impressively tackles a myriad of problems plaguing Western culture without skimping on any of them. Using topical slogans like “resist” and “I can’t breathe,” it sounds like a socially conscious mosh pit. The accompanying lyric video complements the song with a staticky aesthetic, depicting this year’s protests, inedible fast food, and corrupt politicians. But despite including the likes of Donald Trump and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, Added Color believes these presidents merely personify deep-rooted societal issues:
We feel that the greed, corruption, and cruelty that is embodied by world leaders such as Trump and Bolsonaro is a symptom of something that’s been decaying for quite a while now. A lot of people are depressed; a depressing amount of people are addicted to drugs. Police brutality is a massive issue—it seems we hear a new heart-wrenching tale of senseless loss of life on a daily basis. Access to decent healthcare is a nightmare for millions of people in what is supposed to be the richest country in the world. Fast food franchises reign supreme; it’s a challenge to eat decently in a lot of places.
It all amounts to a huge macro need for Something Better. The capitalization is not just because it’s the name of a song. It’s an idea for another world: one that we all deserve, and one that we can create together.” Of course, the song’s bridge decides that “Something Better starts with you.
“Something Better” precedes Added Color’s November EP, If You Had It All. The band is releasing the EP through Damp Interactive, in partnership with global distributor Symphonic Distribution. Recorded and produced by Johann Meyer (Gojira, Mastodon, Shinedown) and Jamie Uertz (Blind Melon) in Brooklyn, guitarist and vocalist Kiko Freiberg says If You Had It All is “darker, more political, and more powerful” than past projects. Drummer and singer Daniel Freiberg elaborates:
“The EP attacks the ‘free world’ as a society designed for failure, where corporations and government work hand in hand to thrive off the backs of the oppressed. Unfortunately, it took a pandemic to make the world pay attention to the societal diseases that plague our revered ‘Western Society.’ It’s time to make a change.”
Added Color has played in over 25 states as well as internationally. They’ve toured in Morocco five times, including at the 2019 L’Boulevard Festival, and played at some of Brazil’s biggest music festivals. Since the pandemic has stopped them from touring, they’ve instead planned live performances online. Every Tuesday at 3:00 P.M. ET, the band streams their “Chevy Expressions” series on Instagram Live.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CESO8ZHDjns/
Stream “Something Better” here, and visit Added Color’s website for more information.
This fall, Saratoga’s Caffe Lena is expanding its music school. First announced back in January, the Caffe Lena School of Music has proven so popular it’s offering even more classes for children and adults alike.
Photo from Caffè Lena’s website.
“With people cooped up and needing a positive outlet, especially school kids, the timing turned out to be unexpectedly good,” said Caffè Lena School of Music Coordinator, Vivian Nesbitt.
Saratoga musicians Oona Grady and James Gascoyne will continue overseeing the children’s program, with fall classes beginning on September 15. Courses include beginner and intermediate fiddle, ukulele, and guitar, as well as Irish tin whistle and fiddle tunes. If students qualify for free or reduced school lunch, the school offers full scholarships for their lessons and instruments.
Each class consists of 10 weekly 40 lessons over Zoom in groups of four. Despite the distance, Caffè Lena seeks to uphold the tradition of teaching and learning folk music as a group. Parents have praised the program, calling it “a stellar service” that inspires “motivation to keep the creative spark alight.”
“This is how people entertained themselves before radio and television turned us into music listeners instead of music makers,” said Nesbitt. “It fills our hearts to make music together, even if it has to be online for now.”
Adult classes are 4 weekly lessons of 90 minutes each, also via Zoom. Two-time Grammy winners Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer have joined the faculty, teaching beginner clawhammer and guitar. Other adult classes include songwriting and accompaniment with Dan Navarro, blues guitar with Guy Davis, and clawhammer banjo and old-time fiddle with Bruce Molsky. Caffè Lena’s website has suggested experience levels for some courses.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDl79mnpImi/
“We believe in the power of music to get us through the hard times,” continued Nesbitt. “Zoom is not what we had in mind when we launched the School of Music, but it won’t be long before these students are on stage in front of a live audience. Our dream is that the next generation of folk musicians will be born out of this crisis.”
Thanks to its increased online presence, the legendary folk venue is still going strong despite restricted operations. In addition to its burgeoning music school, the cafe has been offering a near-nightly “Stay Home Sessions” streaming series on YouTube. The full calendar of Caffè Lena events is available on their website.
Mariah Carey announced her upcoming compilation album, The Rarities, out on October 2. While the Songbird Supreme has previously released seven compilation albums, The Rarities is the first to feature new material instead of past hits. The album’s lead single, “Save The Day,” features vocals from Ms. Lauryn Hill and samples The Fugees’ cover of Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly With His Song.”
Mariah started recording “Save The Day” back in 2011, but scrapped it for unbeknownst reasons. Co-written by frequent collaborator Jermaine Dupri, it was originally meant to be a charity single. Thankfully, its message of hope and unity is even more relevant in 2020 than when it was first conceived. The only disappointment is that Lauryn Hill fades into the background: she doesn’t have a solo or new lines beyond the iconic sample.
The Rarities has 32 tracks and two discs: one with unreleased music from every era of her career, another with live performances from Mariah’s Tokyo Dome show in 1996. The album coincides with her memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, out on September 29. Mariah first teased The Rarities back in June to celebrate the 30th anniversary of her debut album, but postponed its release to focus on the Black Lives Matter movement. Now, she’s devoting the rest of the year to #MC30 festivities for her fans.
Flushing Town Hall is joining Global Music Month with a virtual concert series. A collective of world music festivals and events across the U.S. and Canada, GMM 2020 consists of 19 presenting organizations. Throughout September, the historic arts landmark in Queens will showcase archived “Global Mashup” concerts as well as live Latin and Korean music.
No two Global Music Month events are the same, and each concert offers a unique blend of sounds and cultures. The Town Hall is kicking off the festivities with replays of their 2018 Global Mashups, where two types of international music come together. Each band performs a solo set, then they combine their talents and jam out together.
The first such concert, “Latin Boogaloo Meets Afrobeat,” technically isn’t part of Global Music Month because of its pre-September date, but it airs at 7:00 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, August 25. After that, the series will continue weekly at the same time through September 22. Subsequent mashups include “Egypt Meets Haiti,” “Mexico Meets Guinea,” “Balkans Meet El Barrio,” and “Texas Meets Peru.”
Besides the archived 2018 mashup series, Flushing Town Hall has assembled two nights of live music.
Latin American Rhythms Night starts at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 16, exploring New York City’s colorful Brazilian, Mexican, and Argentinian artists. The night features live and pre-recorded performances from David Vieira, Sinuhe Padilla, and Pedro Giraudo. The show is hosted and curated by Martin Vejarano of the Cumbia River Band, and also features “Spanglish” stories and interviews.
Finally, psychedelic Korean folk band Coreyah is closing out Global Music Month at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 29. Since 2010, the band has melded a contemporary pop sound with traditional Korean music.
“As a cultural institution whose mission is to bring people together by presenting global arts for a global community, we couldn’t be more thrilled to be a part of this unique and diverse consortium and to participate in the Global Music Month 2020 online festival,” says Ellen Kodakek, Flushing Town Hall’s Executive & Artistic Director. “The fact of it being virtual means audiences throughout the country and around the world can enjoy our content and not just those in New York, where our venue is located. We are especially proud to present this programming free of charge.”
While all Global Music Month shows are free, Flushing Town Hall still encourages donations. The full Flushing Town Hall Global Music Month lineup is available on their website.
