On Sept. 8, 2018, Ozzy Osbourne played to a soaking wet crowd at Jones Beach Theater, but once The Prince of Darkness hit the stage, nobody seemed to mind. Ozzy himself came out first before the rest of band and told the crowd, “The crazier you get, the longer I’ll remain on stage.” That’s all it took to get the sold out crowd of 15,000 plus going f—–g crazy!
At this point it was freezing cold and had been pouring for the last few hours, especially during opening act Stone Sour’s set, and the floor was a foot deep with water seeping in from Zach’s Bay where the venue stands. Regardless, Ozzy sounded just as good as I have ever heard as he kicked off the show with “Bark at the Moon.”
Zakk Wylde was back in the lineup on guitar along with Blasko on bass, keyboardist Adam Wakeman and drummer Tommy Clufetos. The stage backdrop was highlighted by a giant cross made up of screens projecting extraordinary imagery and at times looking like a medieval sculpture.
Ozzy’s solo hits made up most of the setlist including “Mr Crowley,” “Suicide Solution” and “No More Tears,” but he also slipped in a little Sabbath like “Fairies Wear Boots” and the epic “War Pigs.”
Black Label Society frontman Wylde was giving his own 20 minute showcase during the show at which time he made his way into the audience playing a medley of songs. He was tearing it up as he played with the guitar behind his neck and even with his teeth at times. He is one of the best metal guitarists the genre has ever known so it was good to see him play alongside Ozzy again. He was even wearing a custom Ozzy denim vest.
Ozzy Osbourne closed the main part of the set with, in my opinion one of the greatest metal songs ever written, “Crazy Train”. The show concluded with an encore of “Mama I’m Coming Home” and Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid.”
Setlist: Bark at the Moon, Mr. Crowley, I Don’t Know, Fairies Wear Boots (Sabbath Cover), Suicide Solution, No More Tears, Road to Nowhere, War Pigs (Sabbath Cover), Guitar Medley: Miracle Man/Crazy Babies/Desire/Perry Mason, Drum Solo, I Don’t Want to Change the World, Shot in the Dark, Crazy Train
NYC singer-songwriter, Melanie Penn, has released an inspiring New-York centric pop anthem paired with a stunning music video for her new single, “Avenue of The Americas”.
As a native of the big city, Melanie celebrates her ties to New York in the cinematically beautiful “Avenue of The Americas” music video. Melanie’s love for the city becomes more apparent with each elapsing second of the video.
The song itself outlines Melanie’s climb to success, with lines referencing dreams of one day finding the spotlight in the Big Apple. Crescendoing synths pulsate in the background as “Avenue of The Americas” gives us an intimate understanding of Melanie’s hopes and aspirations.
Melanie believes now is the perfect time to debut a song that honors both beautiful and humble New York City. At a time where the country is under massive racial and political tension, the uplifting video released along with the single inspires hope and reminds us of our commonalities as New Yorkers.
The music video and single are a part of a promotional roll out in preparation for Melanie Penn’s upcoming, More Alive Vol. 1, full-length album which is set to release September 25. The album is centered around faith, modern upheaval and, overcoming common struggles. The album, which features 10 songs, has been described by Melanie as a tracklist full of “hopeful pop anthems” that will hopefully inspire a sense of community amongst listeners.
To stay up to date with future news regarding Melanie Penn and her music, visit her website.
Dopapod has released a collection of demos from over their decade-plus career, aptly titled Some Demos. The demos are mastered by Luke Stratton, and with a demo of “Turning Knobs” streaming now and the entire album available download at Bandcamp.
These are the tracks I sent to Rob, Chuck, and Neal before we started to learn and rehearse the songs. You can hear how much some of them changed once everyone gave their input and influence. Many of these were written in the van on my laptop as we traveled between shows.
Eli Winderman, keys, Dopapod
SOME DEMOS is now available for download on Bandcamp – name your own price. Tracklist below:
1. Trickery (Demo) 2. Bubblebrain (Demo) 3. Live in the Dream (Demo) 4. Turnin’ Knobs (Demo) 5. FABA (Demo) 6. Like a Ball (Demo) 7. My Elephant vs. Your Elephant (Demo) 8. Mucho (Demo) 9. Bluetooth (Demo) 10. Blast (Demo) 11. Piazole (Demo) 12. Psycho Nature (Demo) 13. Weedie (Demo) 14. Present Ghosts (Demo) 15. STADA (Demo)
Do you need more cowbell? Blue Oyster Cult thinks you do because they’re released music videos for “Box in My Head,” “That Was Me” and most recently, “Tainted Blood” off the Long Island classic rock group’s first album in over two decades, The Symbol Remains.
The early days of the Blue Oyster Cult.
“That Was Me” is one of the many singles being featured on their upcoming album, The Symbol Remains. Their new album comes out Oct. 9 and embodies the well-known saying, “Good things come to those who wait.”
Music video for new song, That Was Me.
Blue Oyster Cult started producing the album in 2019 and thinks it represents the where the band is ‘here and now.’ The album is a mix of music they worked on years prior and brand new tracks.
“With the song demos emerging for this record, we realized there was as much if not more variety in style and content on this record as any in our history. We embraced this and the thing tying all the disparate elements together is the band’s sound and performance,” said Eric Bloom, vocals/guitarist.
Blue Oyster Cult formed in Long Island, NY at Stony Brook University in the late 1960’s. There, Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser and his friends created sounds of psychedelia and acid rock. Through a jam session, rock critic Sandy Pearlman overheard the band and decided they were worth it.
Over the years, they created a melody of rock tunes that would captivate the world. One of their most famous, “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper,” reached 12 on the Billboard charts and became a rock classic.
Roeser talked about the band’s goals in creating this new album saying, “The goal was for the new music to stand up to the quality and vitality of our legacy recordings, and I believe we have successfully done that. Other than that, the sound of our voices and style of our writing and playing can’t help but sound familiar to fans of our work.”
BOC has recently released the video for “Box in My Head,” the second single off The Symbol Remains, due out on October 9. For more information visit Blue Oyster Cult’s website.
The most recent premiered video for the single “Tainted Blood” was written by Eric Bloom and Richie Castellano, featuring lead vocals by guitarist Richie Castellano. The Symbol Remains will be released on Friday, October 9.
Among the many guitars in the cache of Jerry Garcia, “Wolf” stands as the most legendary of them all. “Wolf” was customized by luthier Doug Irwin, and was delivered to Jerry ahead of his appearance at a private show for the Hell’s Angels on September 5, 1973 in NYC.
Late in 1972, Garcia came across the first guitar Doug Irwin made for Alembic, which he bought on the spot for $850. He then asked Irwin to customize a guitar for him, and “Wolf” was born. Made from amaranth/purpleheart and curly maple with an ebony fingerboard and twenty-four frets, which were inlaid with African ivory (the first fret is mother-of-pearl).
The original version had a peacock inlay, later followed by Irwin’s eagle logo in its place. Later, a cartoon wolf licking his chops was placed by Jerry Garcia just below the tailpiece, which gave the name to the guitar. Irwin would later inlay the sticker into the guitar, which was labeled as “D. Irwin 001.” The guitar would cost Garcia $1,500, or around $8,700 in 2020 dollars.
“Wolf” would be played for two decades, becoming his most well known guitar and played across countless recordings, concerts and even in “The Grateful Dead movie.” Here, Irwin discusses the intricate detail of “Wolf.”
A few years after I delivered Wolf to Jerry, the guitar took several tumbles during Grateful Dead’s European tour. The first, a fall of about fifteen feet off the stage onto cement, had no effect on the guitar at all, but the second incident caused a crack to appear in the peghead. When Jerry finally brought me the Wolf for repair, the crack was actually very minor, but a stitch in time, saves nine. Repairing the crack wasn’t much of a problem, but having the guitar again made me reassess my early inlay work, and prompted me to reface the peghead with ebony and replace what I determined to be a poor excuse for a peacock with my signature eagle inlay cut from mother-of-pearl.
“Wolf” was played throughout the ’70s and ’80s, alongside “Tiger” and “Rosebud,” also designed by Irwin. “Wolf” was brought out of retirement in 1989 when Jerry explored using a MIDI synthesizer, and was played for the last time with the Grateful Dead at Oakland Coliseum Arena on 2/23/93.
In 2002, “Wolf” was purchased by a Deadhead, who later auctioned the guitar off for a great cause. The anonymous fans said:
I’ve been a fan of The Dead since I was a kid, and playing this iconic guitar over the past 15 years has been a privilege. But the time is right for Wolf to do some good. My wife and I have long supported the efforts of the Southern Poverty Law Center, and if ever we needed the SPLC, we sure do need them now.
Anonymous owner of “Wolf”
“Wolf” would be auctioned off at a price of more than $1.6 million, a bid that was matched by an anonymous donor, raising a total of $3.2 million for the SPLC.
The first show that Jerry Garcia would play “Wolf” at was a private show dubbed “Pirates Ball” on September 5, 1973, a private Hell’s Angels party aboard the S.S. Bay Belle. Performing with Merl Saunders in New York Harbor, the ship was known as the “largest marine ballroom afloat,” and was renamed to the Sound Line later after the show. The show also featured Bo Diddley, Elephant’s Memory and Mission Mountain Wood Band.
The S.S. Bay Belle, later named Sound Line
The guitar can be see in the movie/documentary Hell’s Angels Forever, directed by Richard Chase, Leon Gast, Kevin Keating, and Lee Maden.
Setlist: It Ain’t No Use, Favela, You Can Leave Your Hat On, Mystery Train, Harder They Come, Think, Finders Keepers
Wolf’s first appearance with the Grateful Dead was at the Nassau Coliseum on September 7th, two days later. The Dead were off the road for a month, and were refreshed getting back to business. Donna Godchaux was pregnant at the time, with her husband Keith having taken over keyboard duties from Pigpen a year prior.
This show marks the debut of Weir/Barlow’s “Let It Grow,” and one of the last “Bird Song’s” of 1973 before the song was shelved for a few years. Highlights include “New Potato Cabooose,” the jam that arose from “Playin’ in the Band,” a hefty jam from “The Other One,” and the “Eyes of the World” that followed.
Deadheads reported a heavy police presence that evening, with many fans arrested at or after the show. Cops reportedly drove on the sidewalks as the show ended and attempted to clear the crowd. They also seemed to use their batons to clear the area in front of the band between sets. This would influence the Dead’s decision not to return to Nassau for many years, until January, 1979.
Setlist: September 7, 1973, Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY
Set 1: Promised Land, Sugaree, Mexicali Blues, They Love Each Other, Jack Straw, Looks Like Rain, Deal, El Paso, Bird Song, Playin’ In The Band
Set 2: Here Comes Sunshine, Me & My Uncle, Loser, Let It Grow-> Stella Blue, Truckin’-> Drums-> The Other One-> Eyes Of The World-> Sugar Magnolia, E: Around & Around
A mighty gig this was. 35 years ago tonight, on Sept. 5, 1985, AC/DC and Yngwie Malmsteen’s Rising Force performed at Glens Falls Civic Center.
Remember Ticketron?
This was actually AC/DC’s first headline gig in New York’s Capital Region – they had played Albany’s Palace Theater in the Bon Scott era in 1977, 1978 and 1979 opening for Rush, Rainbow and UFO, but the band skipped the area on the ‘Back In Black,’ ‘For Those About To Rock’ and ‘Flick of the Switch’ tours. Thus, the Civic Center was packed this night.
photo by Jim Polkowski
The opening band was Swedish guitar phenom Yngwie Malmsteen with his solo band, Rising Force, playing their first area gig. Yngwie had played Albany’s Palace Theater the year before with his old band Alcatrazz, opening for Ted Nugent, but in the year since he had released two solo albums, and the songs this night were tracks from his mostly-instrumental solo debut, and then-new record ‘Marching Out,’ featuring vocalist Jeff Scott Soto who was the singer for this gig. The sound for Malmsteen was fairly horrible and full of echoes in the hockey arena this night, opening with then-single “I’ll See The Light Tonight” and including some instrumental workouts like “Far Beyond The Sun” and “Black Star” which, despite the dazzling guitar playing, received a muted response due to the wretched sound.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooJCjKGYF28
No such troubles for the headliners though. AC/DC were promoting the Fly On The Wall album (which history has not shown to be one of their most beloved albums) and they opened with the title track, before settling into a set of rapturously-received classics and hits: “Back In Black,” “Shook Me All Night Long,” the rarely-played “Have a Drink on Me” and a rousing “Shoot To Thrill” were mixed with a couple of the better new songs (“Shake Your Foundations,” “Sink The Pink”) and a whole host of older Bon Scott-era favorites: “Dirty Deeds,” “The Jack,” “Jailbreak,” “Highway To Hell,” “Whole Lotta Rosie” and an extended, Angus-doing-a-walkabout “Let There Be Rock” which finished the main set and brought the house down.
photo by Jim Polkowski
The encore was similarly no-filler: “Hell’s Bells” and the giant bell, a raucous “TNT” had the entire arena roaring, and the show finished with an explosive “For Those About To Rock,” Angus duckwalking and headbanging across the stage, Brian Johnson howling like he was going to burst a blood vessel, Malcolm and the rhythm section locked in with deadly groove, and of course the cannons exploding during the fast part at the end. Has there ever been a better live heavy rock band? Few can compare. All hail the mighty AC/DC.
photo by Jim Polkowski
Rising Force Setlist: I’ll See The Light Tonight, On The Run Again, Far Beyond The Sun, Anguish & Fear, Guitar Solo, Black Star, Caught In The Middle.
AC/DC Setlist: Fly On The Wall, Back In Black, Shake Your Foundations, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Shook Me All Night Long, Have A Drink On Me, Jailbreak, The Jack, Shoot To Thrill, Highway To Hell, Sink The Pink, Whole Lotta Rosie, Let There Be Rock, Hell’s Bells, TNT, For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)
Each Sunday evening from 7-9pm on 102.7 FM, you’ll find EQXposure on WEQX, featuring two hours of local music from up and coming artists. Tune into WEQX.com this Sunday night to hear music from Sydney Worthley, The Sweats, and many more!
WEQX has long been the preeminent independent station in the Capital Region of New York, broadcasting from Southern VT to a ever-expanding listening audience. NYS Music brings you a preview of artists to discover each week, just a taste of the talent waiting to be discovered by fans like you.
From the Finger Lakes who just released their full-length debut album Caught in a Wave recorded at Pyramid Sound Recording Studios in Ithaca. You can pick up the album for contributions on BandCamp. Singer Travis Durfee says they hope to sell a few digital copies to make up what they’ve lost this year in live shows and that they are already working on material for a new album. Check out their quaratine videos on Facebook.
In February, Worthley went to Nada Recording Studio in Montgomery, NY to record five new songs in five days and you can hear them all on the new album Rose Colored Glasses. Worthley is a notable advocate for mental health awareness, having performed in Saugerties at the annual Hope Rocks Festival.
Ronnie James Dio, the Cortland native and heavy metal legend, brought his band DIO to the RPI Fieldhouse in Troy 35 years ago today, September 4, 1985.
This was the second Albany-area appearance by Dio with his solo band – he’d played the Glens Falls Civic Center less than a year before, in November 1984 on the ‘Last In Line’ tour. In 1985, the band was promoting the third Dio album, Sacred Heart, a patchier effort than the first two Dio albums.
This was the last tour to feature the original DIO band backing Ronnie: NYC (ex-Black Sabbath) drummer Vinnie Appice, Scottish (ex-Rainbow) bass player (the late) Jimmy Bain, and Irish guitarist Vivian Campbell (ex-Sweet Savage), who would be fired midway through the tour, breaking up the original foursome which had made the classic first two Dio records.
The opening group was Rough Cutt, one of those spandex-ey LA bands, there by virtue of being managed by Dio’s wife, and they sucked. The RPI crowd was unmoved.
The house was packed for Dio’s set – despite the dip in quality offered by Sacred Heart, Ronnie James was in 1985 viewed as a deity in the heavy rock world, and the Fieldhouse was accordingly full of metalheads. This was the era of over-the-top stage shows, and this one was particularly Spinal Tap-ish, with lasers, a giant crystal ball and a giant dragon (which Dio himself “battled” with a sword), pre-taped wizardly creepy voice intro to the song “Sacred Heart”, and each member getting a big long solo.
Frankly, the whole thing would have been better if they dropped all that and just played a whole bunch of songs. That said, it was the 80s, you had to expect that kind of thing. The bands opened with a couple of the better new songs (“King of Rock’n’Roll”, “Like The Beat of a Heart”), played a slew of already-classics from the first two records, and a couple of the less-essential new ‘Sacred Heart’ songs, such a the somewhat corny title track, and the depressingly commercial “Hungry For Heaven.”
This tour featured less of the classic Ronnie James-era Rainbow and Black Sabbath songs that had featured in earlier Dio tours, all delivered during extensive medleys, and a truncated version of Sabbath’s “Heaven & Hell” got the biggest roar of the night. Rainbow classics “Man on the Silver Mountain” and “Long Live Rock’n’Roll” were played – again, in shortened form – in a medley with new yawner “Rock’n’Roll Children.” In fact, medleys were a big part of the show – the band played an extended, almost 40-minute medley of the song “Last In Line,” which incorporated “Holy Diver”, solos by all band members, more “Last In Line,” “Heaven & Hell,” “Sacred Heart,” and concluded with more “Last In Line.” The main set finished up with speedy early Dio classic “Stand Up and Shout” – a roaring highlight – and encores were Dio evergreens “Rainbow In The Dark” and a storming “We Rock.”
All hail Ronnie James Dio!
Setlist: King Of Rock’n’Roll, Like The Beat Of A Heart, Don’t Talk To Strangers, Hungry For Heaven, Medley: Last In Line/Holy Diver/Last In Line, Drum & Bass Solos, Heaven & Hell, Guitar & Keyboard solos, Sacred Heart, Last In Line, Medley: Rock’n’Roll Children/Long Live Rock’n’Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/R’n’R Children, Stand Up & Shout, Rainbow In The Dark, We Rock.
CHQ Assembly announced their fall programming including lots of musical programming. The programming will start in September and will wrap up in November. The CHQ Assembly programming will be posted on the CHQ Assembly’s website.
The CHQ Assembly is a digital outlet of Chautauqua Institution which is a nonprofit organization that exists to explore the best in human values and the enrichment of life. The Assembly has some free content but also offers a subscription program for $3.99 a month or $45 a year after a 90 day free trial. People interested can subscribe here. Subscribers to the CHQ Assembly Video Platform will have year-round access to nearly all our 2020 broadcasts. People can revisit their favorite programs, or catch up with ones they missed over the course of CHQ Assembly’s jam-packed nine-week summer assembly season. The programs try to focus on exploring critical issues of the day through a range of experiences including lectures, artistic experiences, master and enrichment courses, and conversations.
The musical programming starts on September 15 at 12PM with a release of 2020 Piano Recitals featuring Gavrylyuk, Kobrin, Paremski, Buechner, Taylor, Zhu and many more. On October 1 there will be a Lecture by Grammy Award-winning Violinist Nicola Benedetti speaking on the impact of music education and to inspire us through music.. On October 6 at 12PM there will be an DEAs in Classical Music series. This four-part series of conversations on inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility will explore issues in the classical music industry. And then in November with a to be determined date and time there will be a premiere of Chautauqua Opera Company’s A Cappella Song Cycle. This is a three-month project featuring 2020 Chautauqua Opera Company Young Artists and created by Composer-in-Residence Frances Pollock and librettist Jerre Dye.
For more information on the CHQ Assembly programming visit their website.
Chicago Cubs legend Ernie Banks is famous for the saying “Let’s play two!” Well, The Disco Biscuits have decided to “play four” and have added two more shows to their weekend stay at the Yarmouth Drive-in on Cape Cod. After the first two shows scheduled for October 16 and 17 sold out in under an hour earlier this week, shows for the 18th and 19th are now scheduled as well.
Tickets are on sale now at yarmouthdrivein.com. Tickets will also be available the night of show at the gate, subject to availability. Each ticket will cover one car with up to four people in it each night. They will range from $165 to $300 depending on the parking spot. Fans with more than four guests in their vehicle can purchase additional tickets. Those are capped at three tickets for $40 each.
The Disco Biscuits
Ticket seeekers should join the Cape Club at yarmouthdrivein.com for the latest news about upcoming attractions, and first access to tickets. The Yarmouth Drive-in on Cape Cod is located at 669 Route 28, West Yarmouth, MA. The venue is acting as a haven for live music right now with other upcoming performances scheduled for the likes of Marcus King Band, Pink Talking Fish and Goose.
These performances at the Yarmouth Drive-in will be the Disco Biscuits’ only shows for the remainder of 2020. Aside from a one-set performance in June at an empty Citizen’s Bank Park in Philadelphia , they have not taken the stage since beginning the year with three shows at the Riviera Theater in Chicago.
