The nation’s largest and best-known Hispanic pop culture and music festival has announced the initial lineup of performers. Dubbed “Calle Ocho Live“, the Hispanic Heritage Month-themed event will take place October 4th via live stream and broadcast TV.
Among the stars joining the growing roster are Gloria Estefan, Camilo, Jessi Uribe, Jorge Celedón, and Bobby Pulido. These artists join previously announced Mau y Ricky, Ivy Queen, who is performing an epic virtual duet with the late Celia Cruz, and Tito Puente, Jr., who is performing a virtual duet with his late all-star father Tito Puente and many more.
The Calle Ocho Festival was originally slated for March before cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That is when the organizers of Carnaval Miami, Kiwanis Club of Little Havana, collaborated with Manny Ruiz, the creator of Altisimo Live and Hispanicize and Ralph Paniagua, creator of Atlantino, to bring the festival back to life.
The three-hour live stream will include interactive experiences to win prizes as well as pre-recorded performances from music artists, entertainers, comedians, and social media influencers.
“We said we would create a strong, inclusive, and powerful line-up that captured the diversity of Latino tastes, genres, and cultures, and that’s what we’ve done here. Through Calle Ocho Live, we’re not only stretching to do well for the families we serve through the Kiwanis of Little Havana Foundation but also through the way we reflect the evolution of Latinos in America.”
Jorge Fernandez, president of the Kiwanis of Little Havana/Carnaval Miami
Featuring live and pre-recorded performances from top Latin music artists, celebrities, and social media personalities, Calle Ocho Live will also highlight stories from the families served by the Kiwanis of Little Havana Foundation.
Funds raised from the event will be used by the Kiwanis Club of Little Havana to assist South Florida families who are in need of things like college scholarships, emergency financial assistance, holiday gifts, and any other support during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Viewers will be able to watch the festival for free on over a dozen broadcasting stations and their respective socials, along with Calle Ocho Live’s YouTube, Facebook Live and Twitter. Attendees are being encouraged to donate $8 or more prior to or during the festival to the Kiwanis Foundation.
For more information, visit the Calle Ocho Live Instagram page.
Syracuse native Martin Sexton is set to play a live concert at New York’s oldest operating drive-in, Fingerlakes Drive-In in Auburn. Announced earlier this week by Creative Concerts and Fingerlakes Drive-In, the concert will take place September 19 at 6PM.
With social distancing guidelines in place, each car pass sold will be for standard passenger vehicles only. There has been a limit of four concertgoers per vehicle allowed.
Martin Sexton got his start serenading the streets and subways of Boston during the early 90’s. Not only have fans heard his explosive voice in famous venues across the world but also many of his songs have been featured in spotlight TV shows such as Scrubs and Parenthood to name a few.
The American Singer-Songwriter has produced nine studio albums including his most current release “Mixtape of the Open Road.” After a successful tour, a decision was made to keep going with more performances beginning with the Fingerlakes Drive-In.
His authentic style of artistry has Billboard magazine calling him “The real thing, people.” Furthermore Rollingstone noted Sexton has “Outstanding taste in songwriting as well as a soul-marinated voice.”
Tickets to the live event are on sale now here. NYS Music is running a contest for one car pass to Martin Sexton on the 19th, and Allman Betts Band on Friday the 18th. For more info, enter on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!
These days, large outdoor spaces are pretty much the only way to get your live music fix. Well there soon will be one more venue option available for bands and concert goers like. Local business Canna Provisions Presents, based in Lee, MA, will be sponsoring Roll On In – a pop-up venue that now inhabits a meadow located in town.
Roll On In is committed to providing socially distanced entertainment, in a world where live music and music culture came to a complete stand still back in March. It boasts festival-level production on stage and large LED screens and line arrays in an effort to deliver the visuals and harmonics that are both so missed in these socially distant days.
This weekend will mark the opening weekend with three nights of live music currently scheduled. Friday, September 18, will feature Rice: An American Band and Rev Tour’s Steal Your Peach Band – an all-star collective of Northeast musicians playing Allman Brothers and Grateful Dead tunes.
Saturday night sees two Massachusetts-based bands take the stage in Trailer Trash and Whiskey City. And Sunday, Beau Sasser’s Escape Plan will headline and be accompanied by Uppercut – another ensemble of musicians collected from bands like RAQ (Todd Stoops), Turkuaz (Mikey Carrubba) and Star Kitchen (Danny Meyer).
Patrons can arrive each night at 5 pm and enjoy a full night of music with great food options also on site. Music begins at 6 pm and runs until approximately 10 pm each night. Cars with anywhere from two to six people will be allowed entrance with a cost of $25 per head. For more information and tickets, please visit rolloninshows.com.
Canna Provisions is responsible for the one recreational marijuana shop that has been nothing short of a cash cow for the town of Lee, MA. They are a committed community oriented company that clearly recognizes the importance and vitality of the live music industry. More concerts are expected to take place at this new pop-up venue until November.
This past week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced a considerable fee increase to the touring visa for artists by the end of 2020.
DHS proposed the fee increase last November and it takes effect in October. There are two types of visas involved in this increase. According to NME, O visas are for “individuals with extraordinary ability or achievement,” while P visas can be used by family of those individuals.
The O visa rate will increase by 53%, going from $460 to $705. On the other hand, the P visa will decrease by 51%, making it $695.
To Matthew Covey, an immigration attorney for the nonprofit Tamizat, this fee increase is extremely damaging for most arts institutions.
“The bigger problem is that [Immigration and Naturalization] and later USCIS adjudication of the O and P regulations has become so arbitrary and onerous, that most arts institutions have been forced to hire attorneys to manage the process for them. As such, presenting performing artists in the U.S. now comes with massive legal costs which are — in our opinion — a catastrophic financial impediment to cultural exchange.”
Matthew Covey to NPR
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration service said that “the current fees do not recover the full cost of providing adjudication and naturalization services.”
Because of all regulations on a foreign artist touring visa, many music groups have been deported or denied. This, in turn, can be very problematic for future groups abroad that hope to tour the U.S.
The Amico Barady Quartet, a jazz band started 15 years ago by Vinnie Amico and Jay Barady, are the featured performers. The band members include Vinnie Amico (moe., drums), Jason Barady (Floodwood, mandolin), Rich Williams (saxophone/flute) and Zach Fleitz (bass).
photo by Frankie Cavone
The Palace Sessions is a monthly live music series featuring local regional musicians performing at the Palace Theater in Albany, NY. The Palace Theatre’s mission is to enhance the Capital Region’s cultural and economic development with world-class arts and entertainment. Like many other live music events, The Palace Sessions had to postpone and revamp their previous musical events due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are thrilled to be able to welcome live music back to the hallowed halls of the Palace Theatre. This historic building exists to entertain and create memories and after a nearly four-month absence due to COVID-19, it is a thrill to know that it will again. We hope that our patrons will enjoy these performances as much as we do!”
Billy Piskutz, Executive Director of the Palace Performing Arts Center.
Donations to benefit the Palace Performing Arts Center can be made here or directly through the Palace Theatre’s Text to Give program by texting Palace2020 to 44321.
The Palace Sessions are sponsored by KeyBank, CDPHP, St. Peter’s Health Partners, 102.7 WEQX, Albany.com & High Peaks Event Production. Check out a preview of what’s to come with photos from Frankie Cavone of Mirth Films.
Music icon Bruce Springsteen is set to release Letter To You October 23 with his E Street Band. His 20th studio album is a harmonious fusion of all things Springsteen. At this level it’s hard to push the envelope further, instead Bruce steps back and opens up his heart.
The 12-track album is a micro-burst of Springsteen’s life in real-time, recorded in a mere five days at his home studio. “I love the emotional nature of Letter To You,” says Springsteen in the official press release. “And I love the sound of the E Street Band playing completely live in the studio, in a way we’ve never done before, and with no overdubs…it turned out to be one of the greatest recording experiences I’ve ever had.”
With that first snare-pickup we are catapulted in Bruce’s world, soaring effortless. The songwriting is flawless, opening mid-emotion. It paints distinct imagery only found deep in someones heart -“‘Neath a crown of mongrel trees, I pulled that bothersome thread.”
There is something to be said for the natural beauty and lack of refinement, to expose a new side of Springsteen. Likewise, the album features nine newly written songs and three unreleased tracks from the 1970’s – “Janey Needs a Shooter,” “If I Was the Priest,” and “Song for Orphans.”
Letter To You is Springsteen’s first time performing with the E Street Band since The River 2016 tour, which both Billboard and Pollstar both named as that year’s top global tour.
Tracklist: 1. One Minute You’re Here 2. Letter To You 3. Burnin’ Train 4. Janey Needs A Shooter 5. Last Man Standing 6. The Power Of Prayer 7. House Of A Thousand Guitars 8. Rainmaker 9. If I Was The Priest 10. Ghosts 11. Song For Orphans 12. I’ll See You In My Dreams
Toots Hibbert, the Jamaican reggae and ska frontman for the Maytals has died at 77 years of age. While a cause of death has not been announced, Hibbert was recently hospitalized due to complications from COVID-19.
photo by Mickey Deneher
Born Frederick Nathaniel Hibbert on December 8, 1942, the singer/songwriter was known for hits including “Sweet and Dandy,” “Monkey Man,” “True Love is Hard to Find” and “54/46,” inspired by his time in jail for marijuana possession in 1967. Hibbert, who coined the term ‘reggae’ with his song “Do the Reggay,” had been in a medically-induced coma at the Tony Thwaites Wing of the UHWI and was placed on a ventilator. His family shared this on his Facebook page.
It is with the heaviest of hearts to announce that Frederick Nathaniel “Toots” Hibbert passed away peacefully tonight, surrounded by his family at the University Hospital of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica.The family and his management team would like to thank the medical teams and professionals for their care and diligence, and ask that you respect their privacy during their time of grief. Mr. Hibbert is survived by his wife of 39 years, Miss D, and his seven of eight children.
Hibbert grew up in May Pen, Jamaica, about 30 miles west of Kingston as the youngest of seven children, Hibbert’s parents were both Seventh-Day Adventist ministers and would often sing in church, according to Variety. Hibbert lost his parents at any early age, with his mother dying when he was eight and his father dying three years later.
Hibbert moved to the Jamaican capital of Kingston where he lived with his older brother John, who nicknamed him “Little Toots.” In 1962, singers Jerry Matthius and Raleigh Gordon heard Toots singing at the barbershop he worked at and formed the trio the Maytals. Over the next 10 years the group recorded with a series of producers that reads like a Reggae hall of fame: Coxsone Dodd, Prince Buster, Byron Lee, Leslie Kong.
A contemporary of Bob Marley, both artists would find success with different songs titled “Redemption Song.” Speaking to the Jamaica Observer in 2018, he said of the early years with Marley:
Sometimes the Maytals would close, sometimes The Wailers would close the show. We had no problems, no professional jealousy, we were all very good friends. Out of all of us though, me an’ Bob were very good friends. It was out of one of those conversations that I did the song ‘Marley.’ He was telling me that he was going to be a dreadlocks Rasta an’ I laughed an’ said, ‘I want to be a comb-locks’ Rasta like Selassie I’ an’ he laughed, just like the words in the actual song.
Toots Hibbert, speaking to the Jamaica Observer
Toots Hibbert appeared in “The Harder They Come,” starring Jimmy Cliff, and his 1969 hit “Pressure Drop” was featured on the movie soundtrack and was later covered by the Clash in 1978, giving Hibbert a wider audience of new fans.
photo by Rob Teller
Toots and the Maytals won Best Reggae Album at the Grammy Awards in 2005 for the album True Love, which featured duets with a number of music legends, including Eric Clapton, Willie Nelson, Jeff Beck, Bootsy Collins, Marcia Griffiths and Keith Richards, among others.
Hibbert toured regularly since the 1970s, with a break in 2013 following an incident in Virginia when a fan threw a vodka bottle onstage and hit Hibbert in the head. Suffering a concussion in the process, Hibbert canceled his remaining shows and would not return to the stage until June 2016, although he continued to grapple with headaches and anxiety related to the injury.
Toots and the Maytals performing at Summer Camp Music Festival, May 2019. photo by Pete Mason
According to Rolling Stone, to form this new style, Hibbert infused reggae precursors like rocksteady and ska with elements of traditional Jamaican mento, as well as gospel, soul, R&B, and rock n roll. He could start a party as easily as he could deliver spiritual musings and social-justice rallying cries, all in a voice that recalled the likes of Otis Redding and Ray Charles but was always distinctly “Toots.”
Ziggy Marley said in an Instagram post “I spoke with him a few weeks ago told him how much i loved him and what he means to me. We laughed and shared our mutual respect. I am fully in sorrow tonight. I will miss his smile and laughter his genuine nature. Toots was a father figure to me; his spirit is with us his music fills us with his energy. I will never forget him”
Toots and the Maytals recently released their first album in over ten years, Got to be Tough. The album features many originals as well as a Bob Marley cover of “Three Little Birds” featuring Ziggy Marley. It also features a track with Ringo Starr on percussion and Ringo’s son and longtime Who drummer Zak Starkey on guitar.
Goose, the buzz-heavy Connecticut-based indie groove band, plans to move their two drive-in shows north in early October.
The weekend tour includes a visit to Essex Junction, Vermont on Oct. 2, and Swanzey, New Hampshire on Oct. 3.
“I’m super stoked to get back to Burlington, the groovy UV has a special place in my heart. I spent a bunch of time up there, chillin’ in the Green Mountains with Champ.”
Trevor Weekz, Goose bassist
Ticket sales for both Goose shows will open on Thursday, Sept. 10. At 10:00 a.m. Click here for tickets to the Essex Junction- Burlington show and Click here for tickets to the Swanzey show.
As the inaugural release from his upcoming Official Bootleg series, Neil Young chose a concert from December 4, 1970 at Carnegie Hall. It is an unheard solo acoustic concert that happened shortly after the release of After the Gold Rush.
Young performed two shows at Carnegie Hall that week. These gigs were the end to a phenomenal year for him due to the success of After the Gold Rush and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young’s Deja Vu. How important were they to Young and his budding career? He flew his parents to New York from Canada to witness the show.
In his book, Neil and Me, Young’s father, Scott Young, wrote,
“We sat, I guess, like visitors from another world, but once the place was dark, we could all see this dark form approaching the front of the stage and then the spotlight came on him: tall and thin, blue jeans, checkered shirt, work boots, dark straight hair to his shoulders or beyond, two acoustic guitars on a rack beside a plain wooden chair, a concert piano to his let. Moving gingerly as if his back was bothering him. No music to play except the songs in his head, all his own.”
Young has not yet announced a release date for the Carnegie Hall show, but fans could likely see the release before the end of the year. It is one of many projects, including the second volume of his Neil Young Archives box set and a 1990 club show with Crazy Horse.
“This one — Carnegie Hall, December 4th, 1970, is very special to me. Change happens fast. As I have gone through these early bootlegs, Carnegie Hall, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion [2/1/70], Royce Hall [1/30/71] and others, they show a change, something you can hear — an evolution.”
Blue Note New York has announced their fall schedule for Blue Note Live, a completely online concert series featuring 19 performances from jazz legends, including the John Scofield Trio and Joe Lovano. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at bluenotelive.com.
The performances will be broadcast at 8:00 P.M. EST. They will then be re-streamed at 11:00 P.M EST that day, 8:00 P.M. Japan Local Time (7:00 A.M. EST), and 8:00 P.M. Central European Time (2:00 P.M. EST) the following day.
The series hopes to continue a relationship between the fans and the artists as well as other fans. To do this, they plan to use several interactive features through the livestream including a chat feature where they can interact in real time.
Blue Note New York Streaming Live Fall Schedule:
John Scofield Trio FT. Steve Swallow & Bill Stewart – September 11 at 8:00 p.m. Michel Camilo – September 12 at 8:00 p.m. Bill Frisell Trio FT. Thomas Morgan & Rudy Royston – September 18 at 8:00 p.m. Keyon Harrold – September 19 at 8:00 p.m. Madeleine Peyroux – September 24 at 8:00 p.m. Phony Ppl – September 25 at 8:00 p.m. Marcus Strickland Trio FT. Ben Williams & E.J. Strickland – September 26 at 8:00 p.m. Will Calhoun’s Changing Times Trio FT. Orrin Evans & Uganna Okegwo – September 30 at 8:00 p.m.James Carter Organ Trio – October 1 at 8:00 p.m. Joey Alexander – October 2 at 8:00 p.m. James Francies – October 3 at 8:00 p.m. Theo Croker – October 9 at 8:00 p.m. Mike Stern – October 10 at 8:00 p.m. Eddie Palmieri Afro Cuban Jazz Sextet – October 15 at 8:00 p.m. Ben Williams – October 16 at 8:00 p.m. Kenny Werner & Chris Potter Duo – October 17 at 8:00 p.m. Joel Ross “Good Vibes” – ‘Who Are You’ Album Release Concert – October 23 at 8:00 p.m. Joe Lovano’s Joyous Encounter – October 24 at 8:00 p.m. Trio 3: Oliver Lake, Reggie Workman, Andrew Cyrille FT. Vijay Iyer – October 30 at 8:00 p.m.
