Pianist Holly Bowling has announced the second leg of her unique and groundbreaking virtual concert wilderness tour, featuring extraordinary solo sessions filmed live at some of America’s most spectacular natural locations.
The second leg of the livestream Wilderness Sessions begins Thursday, October 22 with a performance from Casco Bay, Maine, followed every Thursday by new performances filmed at Taos, New Mexico (Oct. 29), Breckenridge, Colorado (Nov. 5), Hardscrabble Mountain, Colorado (Nov. 12) and Moab, Utah (Nov. 19).
The virtual tour comes in advance of Bowling’s new album Seeking All That’s Still Unsung, a solo piano album featuring reimagined renditions of the music of the Grateful Dead, due out Friday, November 20.
All performances will be broadcast for free via Bowling’s official Facebook page; viewers are invited to contribute to the San Francisco-based pianist’s Virtual Tip Jar.
There’s plenty of time to do something different,” says Bowling. “And I desperately wanted to get outside – that’s where I’ve been feeling most okay during all this. So we’re taking this crazy road trip in a self-contained little camper van and driving my gear out to these wild places and setting up and playing in settings I never in a million years thought I’d get to play music in.
Holly Bowling, on the Wilderness Sessions
Bowling recently announced a beautiful new album featuring solo piano renditions of the music of the Grateful Dead. Seeking All That’s Still Unsung arrives everywhere on Friday, November 20. The evocative collection features nine instrumental piano interpretations of songs spanning the Grateful Dead’s extensive catalog — both classics and deep tracks.
Holly Bowling’s Wilderness Tour began on Thursday, September 3 with a performance from California’s Lake Tahoe followed by a performance from Yosemite National Park, Idaho’s epic Bruneau Canyon, Montana/Wyoming’s scenic Beartooth Highway and South Dakota’s Badlands National Park.
Body Language, a Brooklyn-based indie-electronic quartet, will be putting out their fourth LP entitled “Travel Guide” via OM Records on October 9th. The band is comprised of Angelica Bess, Grant Wheeler, Matt Young and Ian Chang.
The band was formed in 2008 and since then they have released three LPs – Social Studies, Grammar, and Mythos. Their hit single “Well Absolutely” off the sophomore album was featured on a Lord & Taylor advertising campaign. Previous releases have been described as a transportive experience.
“One thing is for certain,the album will be transportive (as with their previous releases) whether that’s moving people to dance at home on their own or travel to sunnier days in their imagination.” -Cool Hunting
Ahead of the official release of the their forthcoming 2020 LP, they have released three singles – ‘Perfection’, ‘Boomerang’, and ‘Wherever I Think if You’. ” “Perfection,” is a soulful and bubbly single . The tracks relaxed melodies along with the silky instrumental go along harmoniously with vocalist, Angelica Bess’s easy going voice. The band described the track saying, “we love how alluring Perfection is on the surface…because all the while, we’re portraying the impending ruin approaching…and just like the, the track unravels.”
Body Language’s fresh electronic sound with infusion of R&B, disco, and house have already garnered a great anticipation for Travel Guide, which chronicles an itinerary in route through ten tracks and is their most collaborative effort yet. The album premiered on Glide, who pr commended the group for their ability to meld genres and, “create their own musical mood swings over a virtuous mix of loops, beats and spot-on-vocals”. Perfection by Body Language is a great escape album to look out for.
On October 18 and 19, 2015, Chris Cornell played two sold out acoustic shows at the historic Beacon Theatre in New York City. The shows were in support of what was to become his last solo album, Higher Truth. Playing for over two hours, the set incorporated songs by Soundgarden, Audioslave and Temple of the Dog.
There were also some songs from his solo career as well as some covers including Mad Season “River of Deceit” and U2’s “One” The biggest highlight of the night was when Chris brought out a very special guest, his eleven year old daughter Toni, for a cover of Bob Marley and the Wailers “Redemption Song.”
During the show Chris noted “I think this is my new favorite place to perform.” He sounded absolutely amazing as his voice resonated throughout the 2,900 seat theatre. It was a very intimate show interlaced with insightful anecdotes about his life and career.
Unfortunately, Chris Cornell struggled with depression most of his life. He was found dead in his Detroit hotel room on May 18, 2017. Within an hour of completing a performance at Detroit’s Fox Theatre, Soundgarden lead vocalist Chris Cornell was found unresponsive in his room at the MGM Grand Hotel after a concerned call to a friend from his wife, Vicky. His death was ruled a suicide by hanging.
Setlist: Misery Chain, Before We Disappear, Can’t Change Me, Cleaning My Gun, Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart, Fell On Black Days, Redemption Song, Say Hello To Heaven, River of Deceit, Wide Awake, Doesn’t Remind Me, Sweet Euphoria, Blow Up The Outside World, Let Your Eyes Wonder, One, Seasons, The Day I Tried To Live, When I’m Down, Worried Moon, Rusty Cage, Black Hole Sun, Like A Stone, Hunger Strike, A Day In The Life
While the issue of police brutality prevails in the U.S., artists are speaking out through their music to raise awareness. For Drea D’Nur, her whole life revolves around it.
I am not an entertainer. I am a master healer through music and sound. To be a vessel of healing sound is a great honor and responsibility. Moment by Moment, I seek and work to become a better vessel. Every show is an offering of my entire self. In a world, where many are living numb, my intention is that you would feel, heal, and be inspired at each Live Experience.
Drea D’Nur
Drea D’Nur
Buffalo based activist and musician, Drea D’Nur, teamed up with American Muslim figure Rami Nashashibi to release her newest single, “Mama Please,” a tribute to Cariol’s Law.
Cariol’s Law passed in early October on behalf of Cariol Horne. Horne gained national attention in 2008 when she was fired from the Buffalo Police Department because she stopped a fellow officer from choking out a black man, Neil Mack. Since then, she has continued to protest for the Black Lives Matter Movement and is still working towards getting her full pension. The law now requires officers in Buffalo to intervene if a coworker looks like they are using excessive force.
Cariol’s Law is a proposal for legislation to have a mandatory stature on police bystander intervention, provide protection from retaliation, require external investigation with mandated reprimanding for abuse or misconduct, create a required reportable registry.
According to the Cariol’s Law website
Along with being a riveting performer, D’Nur is an activist who founded Feed Buffalo, the first Organic, Safe, and Halal Food Access Resource Center in western New York, but it doesn’t stop there. She’s also a volunteer for Project Mona’s House that provides resources and housing for human trafficking survivors.
D’Nur’s purpose for “Mama Please,” is to push for Cariol’s Law to be passed nationwide. Her new single is one of the tunes from her upcoming album, ‘This LOVE Thing,’ expected to drop on Oct. 23. Meanwhile, watch and listen to this beautiful work activism to support the destruction of police brutality.
NYC’s first outdoor cycling studio — BYKlyn Yard— has been partnering up with DJ mixing competition Vibes Music Game, to bring music lovers a fun and safe outdoor experience that many might have been craving, in light of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Located at 421 Dean Street in downtown Brooklyn, the Yard began as an outdoor cycling studio that offered a safe way to stay fit during turbulent times, hosting 40 cycling classes per week. Yet, with normalcy disrupted for the foreseeable future, the Yard is host to another form of socializing that has gone awry as a result of the virus. “From the start, we wanted to host events beyond cycling that bring people together — something we all miss and crave right now,” explains1 BYKlyn CEO and founder Amy Glosser.”
In turn, they have partnered with Vibes Music Game. A competition that brings together up-and-coming DJ’s to showcase their music, mixing skills and entertainment potential. At the BYKlyn Yard, each of the three New York City DJs get one Saturday night to hype the crowd and show off their style and music. “The VIBES Music Game grew out of the concept of friends passing around the auxiliary cord,” says VIBES Creator Jamahn Warren-Bey. “These jam sessions brought people together to share culture, dance and new music. Now we’re bringing that same vibe to the public in a fun game show.”
Events at BYKlyn Yard use the Sound Off Experience sound system, consisting of personal headsets instead of loud music, allowing participants to experience the atmosphere to the fullest, while not disrupting neighbors. And with a maximum capacity of 32, all events are COVID-19 friendly as everyone entering the BYKlyn Yard gets a temperature check, fills out a health questionnaire and wears a mask at all times. Groups can gather if they come together, otherwise, party-goers are encouraged to maintain distance.
Scheduled for every Saturday in October, silent parties at the BYKlyn Yard has hosted gatherings on 10/03, 10/10 with two more events set for the 17thand 24th. Beginning at 8 p.m., the final event (October 24), is a live-streamed battle. Like an improv show, the audience names the genre and the DJs mix their music on the spot. The audience, both live and virtual, vote on the winner.
More information about BYKlyn Yard events can be found here and tickets to Saturday dance parties cost $20 a person and can be purchased here.
The Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust will host a virtual live concert from Edmond J. Safra Hall in New York City on October 25 at 7 p.m. The livestream is the Museum’s first event since the COVID-19 pandemic and will broadcast from their website.
The livestream will include a performance from Klezmer Brass Allstars, Eleanor Reissa, and Deep Singh with songs about love, protest, political commentary, the Holocaust, and liberation, inspired by their previous collaborations “Vilde mekhaye-Wild Ecstacy” and “Mir geyen nisht tsurik/No Looking Back. Grammy award-winning trumpeter-composer, Sir Frank London will lead The Klezmer Brass Allstars along with trombonist Brian Drye, clarinetist Michael Winograd, tubist Ron Caswell, drummer Aaron Alexander, accordionist Ilya Shneyveys, and guitarist Brandon Seabrook. London’s work celebrates multi-cultural Jewish music and honors those killed in the Holocaust and Hungary. His work is a celebration of Jewish life and Yiddish culture through a multicultural lens. London’s latest poetry/music release is Salomé: Woman of Valor with Adeena Karasick.
Frank London’s music and artistry, rooted in Jewish Heritage, provides an opportunity for us to come together in real-time to remember, celebrate, and heal during these difficult times. Although we must remain apart, we hope this event will bring people together, and are excited to launch our Live from Edmond J. Safra Hall concert series with such inspiring, talented presenters.
Jack Kliger, President & CEO of the Museum of Jewish Heritage–A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
The Museum is the third-largest Holocaust museum in the world and the second-largest in North America, with a commitment to educating diverse visitors about Jewish life, before, during, and after the Holocaust.
Our Live from Edmond J. Safra Hall concert will be as close as we can safely come to performing for an audience in real time. Thanks to the visionary presenters at the Museum of Jewish Heritage for creating this groundbreaking event. It’s the first real concert we’ve played in months.
Sir Frank London
Click here to register for a ticket and make a donation
Bieber brought out Chance the Rapper as a surprise special guest for the night’s first song “Holy.” With a church-in-the-woods stage design, the more mature Bieber gives a nod to his relationship with wife Hailey Baldwin, and making references to their shared Christian beliefs. The lyrics stand out as a departure from Bieber’s past songs.
That the way you hold me, hold me, hold me, hold me, hold me. Feels so holy, holy, holy, holy, holy. On God, runnin’ to the altar like a track star. Can’t wait another second.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlQY-MBWHik
For the second performance of the night, Bieber was joined by benny blanco on piano for “Lonely,” a song referencing his early rise to fame in the past decade. This performance began from Bieber’s SNL dressing room, singing in the mirror, then walking towards the stage through the halls of Studio 8-H. This intro is similar to the music video for “Lonely” that was released this past week, starring Jacob Tremblay as a young Bieber.
Maybe when I’m older it’ll all calm down, but it’s killing me now. What if you had it all but nobody to call, maybe then you’d know me. Cause I’ve had everything, but no one’s listening, and that’s just oh so lonely. Everybody knows my past now, like my house was always made of glass. Maybe that’s the price you pay for the money and fame at an early age.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rml0FwAL8H0
Bieber does not hold back on “Lonely,” with a single spotlight on him for the song on a barren stage, save for Blanco. The two songs present Bieber in a different spotlight than the tabloid view of recent years. Justin Bieber appears focused and stepping into a new phase of his career with “Holy” and “Lonely.”
Watch last week’s musical performance from Jack White, where he paid tribute to Eddie Van Halen, and Megan Thee Stallion from the season premiere.
Laura Jinn has revealed the title of her debut extended play, “Sick!” and relased the first single off the EP.
Jinn wrote “Sick!” from the perspective of a feverish girl’s plea for love and affection. The girl within the song is aware that she’s not well enough to be in love, but still chases after that feeling. Jinn also plays on the word ‘sick’ , which can mean feeling unwell, or how some younger adults use sick as a placeholder for awesome. Jinn duly expressed the duality of the feeling on the goth-pop track, and is filled with synth, electronic influences.
Laura Jinn is an artist and producer born and raised in Cincinatti, OH and is now living in Brooklyn, NY. Jinn spent her early years listening to emo music and hanging out with older girls on LiveJournal. Jinn eventually left home and had faced a new, difficult reality.
Despite the challenges she encountered on her journey, her experiences carved out her creative and interesting spin on music. Jinn expressed her music through a friendly, calm tone. However, the twist of her music is the underlying themes that focus on horror, violence, and etc.
Jinn wanted to see how people defined what being sick was, and how the culture perpuated these thoughts. Jinn wrote the demos for the EP in 2019. However, when the pandemic began, Jinn made some obersavtions and noticed how much stronger the feeling was.
Jinn eventually produced the final versions of the extended play with co-producer Tatum Gale while quarantined in Brooklyn. The two poured themselves into the music while grappling with bigger issues: the devastation happening around them, their fear for themselves, and the privilege that kept them safe.
While Saratoga’s Caffè Lena has gone without customers since March, its livestream and music school have helped it stay afloat. That said, the 60-year-old cultural landmark still needs donations in order to survive the shutdown. If the cafe can raise $50,000 by Saturday, October 31, The Sarah B. Foulke Charitable Fund promises to match donations by 100%. Sarah Foulke was a Saratoga Springs attorney who died in 2016, and regularly volunteered at Caffè Lena.
This is a double-your-gift challenge grant to help Caffè Lena survive the shutdown. Caffè Lena is a landmark venue. We want to help them evolve their online platform, and we’re rooting for them to raise the full $50,000 this month so that we can donate $50,000. Unique cultural institutions such as Caffè Lena make our region special and deserve our help. We hope others who love Caffè Lena and Saratoga Springs will join our effort.
Suzan Nolan, advisor of the Sarah B. Foule Fund
Caffè Lena’s event calendar shows new streams nearly nightly. Besides live concerts, streams include storytelling nights and poetry readings. Some streams celebrate a specific genre of music, such as jazz and bluegrass. All of these events are free, with only the music school requiring a fee. Caffè Lena also offers Community Classroom, a non-partisan platform to discuss civic issues, and a program called On the Road, which brings live music to senior citizens and community service organizations.
“The community is getting so much out of our daily programming. We don’t want to have to pause,” said Caffè Lena Executive Director Sarah Craig. She continued:
This fundraising challenge is a way we can stay active for our community while Congress decides what it’s going to do to save the live music and theater industries. If this pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that every expression of care, whether it’s a $5 tip, a $500 donation, or a special comment, adds up to helping live music survive and grow during this time of extreme challenge.
The second week of Trey Anastasio’s The Beacon Jams served to be even more jam packed with surprises than the first week, including a string quartet joining in, and one of the most beautiful versions of “Divided Sky” you’ll ever hear.
Trey Anastasio at the Beacon Theatre, Week 2. Photo by Jake Silco
Once again, the live streamed performance from New York City’s Beacon Theatre we available free via Twitch, with donations encouraged to The Divided Sky Fund, which focuses on delivering quality care and compassionate treatment for those battling addiction, through Phish’s WaterWheel Foundation. On this night, the goal of $100,000 was surpassed roughly 100 minutes into the performance (9:41PM ET), with Anastasio sharing his experience on the road to sobriety, and the plans to open an addiction treatment center in Vermont.
Photo by Jake Silco
The night began as it did last week with familiar faces from Trey Anastasio Band – Tony Markellis on bass, Russ Lawton on drums, Ray Paczkowski on keys and Cyro Baptista on percussion. Cyro dove into his cache of percussion to create bird call noises preceding the show opening “Gotta Jibboo.”
Official poster for The Beacon Jams by Jim Pollock
After “Undermind,” which Trey said held the secret of the universe, was the world premiere (and a college try) of “Evolve,” one of Trey’s quarantunes, which quickly showed huge potential for both Trey Anastasio Band and Phish versions in the future. Trey was then joined only by Jeff Tanski for “Divided Sky,” which stands as one of the all-time great versions. The pair together performed the entire composition flawlessly, with Tanski getting a round of applause from the band after, and likely from many at home.
The first ever live performance of “Sigma Oasis” sincethe release of Sigma Oasis followed, a rousing number despite containing the now errant ‘take off your mask’ lyric. “Back on the Train” was nicely accented by Cyro’s train crossing sounds and shakers, and led into an enthusiastic “Ocelot.”
Photo by Jake Silco
Prompted by a fan comment in the stream, Trey took a few moments to opine on what we are experiencing during this time, remarking that this was “Just another chapter, a big wave crashing in the ocean … and we’re gonna surf with it a little bit.” While he was talking, a string quartet took the stage, later dubbed “The Rescue Squad Strings,” Trey clearly having memories of being stuck 40 feet above the stage this past New Years Eve. String members tonight included Anja Wood on cello, Maxim Moston and Katie Kresek on violin, and Rachel Golub on viola.
Photo by Jake Silco
Over the second hour of this week’s Beacon Jams, the quartet added depth and beauty to “Strange Design,” “Water in the Sky,” the quarantine track “Greater Good,” “Greyhound Rising,” and the first ever “Wolfman’s Brother” with string accompaniment plus Lawton and Baptista adding in subtle percussion, and Trey introducing the four classical musicians over the ending of “Wolfman’s.”
“No Man in No Man’s Land” was arranged well for this TAB configuration, and had Trey remarking afterwards that Tony was an absolute beast on the Phish jam-vehicle, but jam of the night honors go to excellent “Plasma.” To close the set, Cyro added in some creepy ‘Poltergiest’ sounds at Trey’s request, which fit perfectly as they segued into “Ghost.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGbBXvljwFb/
Next week Anastasio returns to The Beacon Theatre with more surprises surely in store.
[1] Debut. [2] Only Trey with Jeff Tanski on piano. [3] Only Trey acoustic with The Rescue Squad Strings. [4] Debut; only Trey on vocals (no guitar) with The Rescue Squad Strings. [5] With The Rescue Squad Strings. [6] Trey acoustic with The Rescue Squad Strings. [7] TAB debut. [8] With Trey quoting a line from Poltergeist in the intro.
