We set up in the lobby of one of our favorite venues, the Palace Theatre in Albany, NY, during rehearsals for our Fall Drive-in Tour and recorded the whole thing. Along with our playthrough of Not Normal, we recorded a full 2 set show that will premiere on December 11.
With venues across New York State being severely impacted by closures related to COVID-19, the need for assistance for these businesses to continue to remain open is greater than ever.
Join moe. on Friday, December 11 at 8:30PM for a special performance to benefit the Palace Theatre. Pick up Broadcast tickets and poster bundles here – a portion of every ticket and ticket bundle sold will be donated to the Palace Theatre.
photo by Frankie Cavone
The Palace has been Albany’s iconic downtown landmark for more than 80 years, bringing the biggest names in entertainment to the Capital Region. The history and programming of the Palace is a unique and often untold story with roots dating back to the period of the Great Depression.
The Palace Theatre was built in 1931 and originally presented vaudeville acts, feature films and later became a civic auditorium before closing its doors in 1969. The theatre maintains its original beauty and design and is a historical landmark in the City of Albany.
The Palace Performing Arts Center was established in 1984 and incorporated as a nonprofit organization in 1989, created to operate the Palace Theatre. The Palace brings world-class arts and entertainment to New York’s Capital Region, greatly enhancing the area’s cultural and economic development.
Read more of NYS Music’s past coverage of shows at The Palace Theatre, and tune in for moe. on December 11.
The Doobie Brothers have announced their release of a video of their 2018 Beacon Theatre performance to stream via longform rental and download on major video streaming platforms. The performance included playing their albums, Toulouse Street and The Captain And Me in their entirety, for the first time in 25 years.
The Doobie Brothers are a roots-based, harmony-laden, and guitar-driven rock and roll band that formed back in the 1970’s. The Doobie Brother’s have three multi-platinum, seven platinum, and 14 Gold albums. Best of the Doobies album has sold more than 12 million copies and is considered a rare “diamond record.” They are four-time GRAMMY Award winners and 2020 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees.
The performance at the Beacon Theatre offered an opportunity for fans to hear entire albums and songs never-before performed live by the band, such as “Mamaloi,” “O’Connelly Corners,” “Ukiah,” and “The Captain And Me.” The show begins with the ten songs from the group’s second studio album, Toulouse Street. The album was released back in 1972 and is certified platinum. The performance also included songs from the third studio release, The Captain And Me. Originally released in 1973, it reached number 7 on the Album Chart and certified double platinum.
Earlier this year, The Doobie Brothers rescheduled their 50th Anniversary Tour originally slated to begin this past summer to now begin July 17, 2021 in Palm Beach, FL. For more information and tour dates visit here.
The Doobie Brothers Live From The Beacon Theatre was initially released last year on CD, DVD, and Blu-ray. A video for “Toulouse Street,” featuring a live horns arrangement is available now and can be found here.
For more information onThe Doobie Brothers visit their website.
Live from The Beacon Theatre Video Track Listing:
Five Corners, Listen to the Music, Rockin’ Down the Highway, Mamaloi, Toulouse Street, Cotton Mouth, Don’t Start me to Talkin’, Jesus is Just Alright, White Sun, Disciple, Snake Man, Natural Thing, Long Train Runnin’, China Grove, Dark Eyed Cajun Woman, Clear as the Driven Snow, Without You, South City Midnight Lady, Evil Woman, Busted Down Around O’Connelly Corners, Ukiah, The Captain and Me, Take me in the Arms (Rock Me), Black Water, Listen to the Music (reprise)
The late, great Hal Ketchum passed away at 67 years of age Monday night. A social media post from his wife explained his passing was due to complications from dementia. The world certainly feels a little smaller now.
Born April 9, 1953 in Greenwich, New York, Hal Ketchum went on to be a widely-loved, yet under-the-radar country singer of his day. Leaving New York at 17, finding home in Texas and finally residing his later life in Nashville, respectively.
Hal Ketchum – The Egg
After his 1988 debut, Threadbare Alibis, under Watermelon Records, Ketchum would release his mots notable hits “Small Town Saturday Night” and “I Know Where Love Lives” off of Billboard #2, Past the Point of Rescue. The album reached Gold status as well as “Small Town Saturday Night,” which peaked #2 on the US Country charts. The talent went on to earn acclaim on nearly 20 Billboard mentions.
Growing up traveling, on long open roads with a pile of country cassettes, Hal Ketchum grabs hold of your heartstrings early on, a lost art, of country breeze strumming onward. He embodies that stand-up, “tough as nails, hard as steel,” southern gent, that’s utterly sentimental. Hal Ketchum is country. Despite not living his life in the limelight when compared to other hits of his day, Hal hit the sweet spot balancing a hearty career, family and now, heartfelt-fanbase.
Andrea Ketchum, Hal’s wife, revealed he had been (officially) diagnosed with Alzheimer’s back in 2019. Accounts of him already battling the disease had stringing for “for some time now.”
Don’t worry Andrea, it surely will. Especially on the angelic vibrato of “gold,” as Ketchum’s voice touches our hearts and his guitar fades up into heaven. God bless, long live country and we send the most beloved prayers to The Ketchum Family, and friends.
May his music live on forever in your hearts and bring you peace.
This was soft country at its finest, but at times the tempo picked up to a good foot tapping and head bobbing and that was the only workout the audience was getting tonight. “Small Town Saturday Night” was one of these songs, a pure American song through and through, full of twang and Mellencamp lyrics and guitar.
[The comedian bantered] “What am I, a jukebox?” Hal shook his head and an audience member said “Play what you want!” with a bit of applause in favor. “Chickadee” was dedicated to his five grandchildren, and “Mama Knows the Highway” was played despite not being practiced, but came off perfect. Hal said afterwards, “Good country music will never steer you wrong.”
Billy Squier had pretty much jumped the shark by ’89 – he was constantly on rock radio in the early 80s, but his melodic hard rock throne had been usurped by hair metal bands by this time. His unintentionally hilarious, career-destroying 1986 ”Rock me Tonight” MTV video did not help, in which he sashayed around like… well, go watch it on YouTube, and read the comments, which are fantastic and hilarious, much like the video itself. If this place held 2500 max, there were maybe 200-300 there. The world had moved on from Billy.
Clifton Park Arena, which was not far from where Upstate Concert Hall is currently, wasn’t around for long – it was an ice-skating rink that hosted smaller arena-level gigs in 1989 and 1990. Alice Cooper, and also The Cult played some pretty well-attended shows there not long after this gig. This was not really a well-attended show.
King’s X opened, promoting their brilliant Gretchen Goes To Nebraska second record. They’d just played the area just two months before at Saratoga Winners, a pretty packed show, and played to many less people – dozens, maybe – during their early slot at this show. They did maybe six songs, that were excellent, but few were there to see it. One of the great, underhailed-yet-brilliant bands of loud rock. All hail King’s X.
A few more people joined for Blue Murder, kind of an all-star outfit with leader/Btitish guitar hero John Sykes (previously with Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy and Tygers of Pan Tang), plus celebrity drummer Carmine Appice and ex-Firm bassist Tony Franklin. Sykes had made his fortune with Whitesnake’s massive ‘1987’ LP, which he had co-written and played on, and he was looking for a repeat with Blue Murder. It was not to be. BM were a pretty good band – that self-titled first record had some solid tunes on there, but nothing great. It was all very over-produced and Whitesnake-like sounds proved a bit dated these days. As fantastic as Sykes’ playing is, by 1989 the public was moving on from that kind of thing.
Blue Murder’s very produced, ‘big rock’ sound, with an image that looked like pseudo-glamorous, made-up pirates, was a couple years past the sell-by date. People wanted Metallica, Jane’s Addiction and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Big hair-big rock was on its way out, it just didn’t know it yet. They played a bunch of songs from that first BM record and “Still Of The Night,” which confused most of the sparse crowd, who didn’t know that Sykes had played on it, because he hadn’t been in the video.
A full report on Billy Squier those 31 years ago, is not possible. After the BM gig, I went and interviewed Blue Murder for my WCDB college radio show, and asked Sykes a ton of Thin Lizzy and Tygers of Pan Tang questions. He was very cool and friendly, telling lots of stories about Phil Lynott and early Tygers.
These days, Sykes is largely an international man of mystery – after Blue Murder dissolved, he toured through the later 90s and early 2000s with a reformed, tribute Thin Lizzy, made a few solo albums. For well over a decade he has been out of the public eye, occasionally teasing a return to action, but largely his mighty guitar has been absent from the world.
I didn’t really see Billy Squier – never really being a fan, and only saw the first couple songs before we went to interview Sykes. He came out and opened with a couple of those hits they always played relentlessly on PYX-106 and MTV (“Lonely Is The Night,” I think was one). While watching, Blue Murder’s road manager found me and said “pretty good so far, eh?” I had to admit it was. “It’s all downhill from here,” he replied, before leaving to interview Sykes + co. I didn’t bother going back afterwards. That said, a solid triple-bill before a less-than-packed house.
As the anniversary draws near for My Life, the iconic sophomore album from Mary J. Blige, Geffen/Ume records will celebrate the November 29 anniversary with a re-release that features three physical forms.
The repackaged classic features 2CD’s, a standard weight black double vinyl, and a triple vinyl edition in translucent blue with a lenticular cover, including bonus tracks featuring rap icon LL Cool J, and underground cult-figures Smif ‘N Wessun. The 3LP edition will also be available digitally which will also feature commentary by Mary J. Blige on the original album tracks.
As one of the most celebrated R&B albums of all-time, My Life was the catapult towards the Bronx native’s placement as the queen of R&B. After a highly successful debut that featured records like “What’s the 411?” and “Real Love,” Mary J. Blige’s subsequent work showcased her songwriting abilities, going in depth about trials and tribulations and exploring topics such as; abuse, alcoholism and self-love. Her increased involvement in the songwriting process, along with her collaboration with Bad Boy Records and their much-heralded group of producers “The Hitmen,” resulted in a transcendent piece of work. Much more than that, records like “Mary’s Joint,” “No One Else,” helped her become a symbol for women’s strength, soulfulness, beauty and resiliency.
https://youtu.be/hI7GqHxr7EE
My Life was nominated for Best R&B Album at the 1995 Grammy-awards, and in ensuing years, Rolling Stone included the album on their 50 Essential Female Albums (#17), 100 Greatest Albums of the ’90s (#63) and 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (#279) lists. Blender Magazine ranked it #57 on its 100 Greatest American Albums list, and TIME deemed it one of their ALL-TIME 100 Albums.
In a showcase of the Legendary songstresses’ lasting relevance, Vice-president elect Kamala Harris’ celebratory walkout after clinching her seat in the White House was serenaded by Blige’s “Work That.”
In honor of its 10-year anniversary, NYC band Consider The Source is selling a limited edition vinyl of their album That’s What’s Up.
CTS’s That’s Whats Up Album Art
On Friday, November 13, Consider The Source made a limited 250-copy vinyl pressing available for pre-order on their online store. The $30 record ships in April 2021. Besides the vinyl, the band’s store includes “Sourceror” shirts, the name for CTS’s fanbase. Their third effort, That’s What’s Up was their last studio album to feature former drummer Justin Ahiyon before he was replaced by Jeff Mann in 2012. On the day of the vinyl release, they did a Facebook and YouTube livestream concert, the first time they performed most of That’s What’s Up since Ahiyon left. In addition to the new vinyl, the eight-track album is available for streaming on Bandcamp.
Consider The Source formed back in 2004 as a jam band consisting of John Ferrara, Gabriel Marin and Justin Ahiyon. Their style is hard to pin down, but they’ve described it as “sci-fi Middle Eastern fusion.” They released their self-titled EP in 2005, and their debut album Esperanto in 2007. They’ve since toured internationally to Israel, Turkey, and Germany.
Consider The Source released their most recent studio album last year, called You Are Literally a Metaphor, featuring the lead single “Enemies of magicK.” Back in July, they did a Radiohead-themed livestream with covers of “Paranoid Android” and “Reckoner.” In late October they did a short series of socially-distanced live shows spanning across Virginia and the Carolinas. Consider The Source also released F**k It! We’ll Do It Live, Vol. 3, their latest live album. Unlike the first two volumes, this release is 100-percent improvised.
Inner City Bedlam have a stated mission to break the boundaries holding back the inner cities of every city in the nation, to destroy racist ideology while providing the soundtrack to the inner city, and seek to change the face of American culture by providing outlets to educate the world about black culture through music.
David Jonathan and the Inner City Bedlam create an expansive and kaleidoscopic sound, formulated around their love of jazz-inspired melodies and warmly sophisticated rhythms. In teaming up with Chuckie Campbell, they release a stunning remix version of “No Collusion,” which stands out for its modern, organic sound that is polished but not overproduced.
In addition to the edgy performance value, quality production and a balanced mix makes for a lively and stark sonic approach. Many subtle nuances are found in “No Collusion,” which adds to the richness of the track when taken together.
Collaborating on “No Collusion” is Chuckie Campbell, an American recording artist, poet, fiction writer, editor, publisher, and educator who has been named Best Hip Hop Artist by All WNY Music Awards and ArtVoice Awards. Campbell performs with The Black Den, a six-piece live approach to hip hop filled with fluid instrumentation, lush musical arrangements, and heartfelt poetic lyrics.
We’re moving through NYS Music in Motion’s inaugural season with rocker Frank Palangi, and we’ve got three big episodes to go. Coming up on Friday, November 27, Frank welcomes Fulton County native, The Voice’s Sawyer Fredericks.
Music in Motion brings together seasoned musicians from across New York State, who hail from or have made New York their home, with host Frank Palangi, a guitarist and singer from Warren County. On December 11 Palangi welcomes Wavy Cunningham and on December 18 he’ll sit-down with Dopapod’s Rob Compa to close out Season 1.
Sawyer Fredericks won Season 8 of The Voice and has amassed a sizeable fanbase. He released “Born” on April 1 via American Songwriter. Sawyer has 12 songs on his latest new album, covering his journey growing up as a working musician. His “free range folk” merges blues, roots rock and jazz with real-time live instrumental arrangements throughout.
Set a reminder below for Friday’s episode of NYS Music in Motion with Sawyer Fredericks.
Subscribe to the NYS Music YouTube channel and get the scoop on Season 2 plus videos from across the state and beyond.
Catch up With NYS Music in Motion
Added Color performs “Something Better,” a bonus track to their NYS Music in Motion sit-down with Rocker Frank Palangi. “Something Better” is off Added Color’s latest “EP If You Had It All.”
Phish’s now monthly installment of Dinner and a Movie will revisit a classic Fall ’97 show from Hampton Coliseum. On Saturday, November 28 at 8:30 pm, Phish will offer a free stream of November 22, 1997.
Part of the Phish Destroys America tour, the show ranks as the 11th highest rated show according to Phish.net, and for good reason. The show begins with a 17-minute “Mike’s Song,” and 18-minute “Harry Hood” and closes with Hendrix’s “Izabella” – and that’s just the first set. Set two opens with 26 minutes of “Halley’s Comet” and blasts off from there.
Released as part of the Hampton/Winston-Salem ’97 box set, just before Set 2 started, the audience made a group effort to sing “Destiny Unbound,” a song that had been shelved for six years at that time, in an effort to have the band bring the song back into rotation. The banter from Trey in response is hilarious and well worth hearing, and now seeing, on this week’s Dinner and a Movie.
For the dinner portion of the evening, lighter fare is offered, courtesy of Nashville-based chef Ryan Poli, formerly of the famed Catbird Seat restaurant. Butternut squash soup with chipotle chiles and popcorn, a brussel sprouts salad, and a sticky toffee pudding with a spiced caramel sauce are on the menu. Recipes can be found here, and fans are encouraged to tag photos of their creations with #phishdinnerandamovie.
The beneficiary for this weekend’s Dinner and a Movie is The Food Empowerment Project (F.E.P.), a non-profit organization that seeks to create a more just and sustainable world by recognizing the power of one’s food choices. F.E.P encourages healthy food choices that reflect a more compassionate society by spotlighting the abuse of animals on farms, the depletion of natural resources, unfair working conditions for produce workers, and the unavailability of healthy foods in low-income areas. Donate at phish.com/waterwheel.
Setlist via Phish.net
Set 1: Mike’s Song -> I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, Harry Hood > Train Song, Billy Breathes, Frankenstein > Izabella Set 2: Halley’s Comet > Tweezer > Black-Eyed Katy > Piper > Run Like an Antelope[1] Encore: Bouncing Around the Room > Tweezer Reprise [1] Lyric changed to “Michael Esquandolas.”
Ignition on, as we drive off into the horizon with Brooklyn based White Cliffs. The two-sided single, “Six Cylinder Run,” was bred from an impromptu cross-country trip, released Friday, Nov. 13. The single marks a kick off too future releases as we move later into the year.
Rafe Cohan, aka. White Cliffs is a virtuoso of all things music with a slew of singles and EP’s being released since 2018. A musical chef, if you will, blends his talents as a guitarist, pianist, percussionist, singer and songwriter. Moreover, his producing talents fuse these ingredients to create a numbing effect, synonymous with wide open roads and endless travel.
The title track, “Six Cylinder Run,” instigates the hype of a road trip. Suspended echoing-synth leads layer as Cohan sets off with his newfound friend. Tight drum beats prove calming as we move steadily down the highway at 75.
Artists, and travellers alike, can relate to the bottomless feeling White Cliffs emulates across both tracks. He is nor here nor there, constantly in motion. Thus, the void is created. It is a void where musical expression blooms. We stew on its endless exploration. We harness creativity, but we never interrupt the drive.
Last summer I met this new friend. I didn’t know him very well but we became very tight when he was moving to LA… He was supposed to drive across the country so I went with him and we made an EP starting with me in the passenger seat of a car with no real instruments, just on a laptop.
White Cliffs
Watch “Six Cylinder Run” music video here, released November 18.
“On My Mind” gives you a second wind with a phat dub-bass ostinato. Written to back-half the trip, your neck begins to sway with the landscape. It’s getting late, but you seemingly rejuvenate, despite hours to go. The only gripe with these releases is the short sub-three-minute track length, aiding to an industry shift in a shorter attention span.
‘On My Mind’ is 2AM and you have hours ‘til you get to the hotel, pulling this U-Haul trailer and this is like hell. We worked on the songs in the hotel, we brought a bunch of gear with us, little synths, monitors, working on it in Albuquerque and in LA.
Dubbed as a purist, and lost in the art of producing, White Cliffs opens our minds to the days on the road. Listeners relate, especially with touring or traveling experience that encompasses the music industry. Cohan has experimented and crafted, leading him to debut under the moniker White Cliffs in 2017. He has toured with Big Wild, Elderbrook, STS9, in addition to performing at New York City’s Panorama Festival.
With this cook in the kitchen, passengers are left feeling incomplete in its length. The singles don’t transcend the journey, leaving us audio-less quickly. In hopes of accumulating a larger album, White Cliffs will certainly lure his future listeners into the carpool lane for one last late night drive. For now, toss both singles onto your road-trip mixtape.
Take a deeper look into “Six Cylinder Run” and producing craftwork.
