Covid-19 has cancelled just about everything this year. Sporting events, graduations, and concerts have all been postponed or cancelled in some capacity. The Rochester Lilac 5k/10k is no exception to these cancellations. In the absence of the Lilac Fest, Rochester Events have established their first ever virtual run, the “Roc’n RUN.” This event will benefit MusiCares, a non-profit organization formed by the Recording Academy, who usually run the GRAMMYS, to raise money to provide a much needed safety net for out of work people in the entertainment industry.
Rochester Events owner Jeff Springut stated “Although we’ve probably lost the Festival season, we’re giving not only our local community but anyone in the world a chance to tie up the laces and turn up the tunes! The virtual run and walk has a distance for everyone- and can be run anywhere- whether you are an athlete, music fan, or both!” This event was made possible by The Springut Group, a Rochester-based company with greater than 35 years of experience in bringing events to the community. They produce the Rochester Lilac Festival, Five Star Bank Party in the Park Concert Series, Midtown Eats, and other special events.
The ROC‘n RUN event will take place June 26th – 28th and will host 4 races. The Summer Madness 5K, Lovin’ Summer 10K and Cruel, Cruel Summer Half-Marathon, as well as a Schools Out for Summer 2-Miler for those under 14.
Registration for the ROC’n RUN opened on Wednesday, June 3rd and can be found at their website.
June usually marks a month of LGBTQ+ celebration with parades, festivals, musical events, talks, and etc but due to COVID-19 a lot of the normal festivities aren’t going to be possible this year. Luckily though, CNY Pride (Central New York Pride) isn’t letting this stop them from creating a way for members of the LGBTQ+ community to celebrate. CNY Pride is throwing a Virtual Pride Cabaret on June 20 from 7:30PM to 9PM.
The virtual cabaret celebration will happen via Zoom on the original date of CNY Pride’s Pride Festival. The cabaret will include an array of different performers from their original line-up for the festival. From musical performances, to drag performances, to belly dancing, the cabaret will have a little bit of everything for everyone.
The line-up includes Samantha Vega who will be hosting the event. Burlesque Performers Kitten N’ Lou who will be headlining. Amara Lee Dúpree, Athens Violet-Maraj, Celeste LeRue, Charlotte Diamond Star, Frita Lay, and Sparkle Royale will be performing Drag. Belly Dancer Tessa TrueHeart will be performing. Cabaret Fan Dancer Harlow Holiday will also be on the docket. Solo Musician Nicholas DiMaria and Vocalist Robert Denzel Edwards will also be making an appearance.
For more information on the virtual cabaret celebration visit CNY Pride’s Website.
Opera Saratoga has launched a new series of online programming called OPERA SARATOGA: CONNECT!. This comes in response to the recent limitations placed on many in the music industry from the Coronavirus Pandemic. Moving away from the standard path of releasing archived material that many other organizations have taken, Opera Saratoga has developed six new programs including Daily, Kids, Symposia, Classes, Trivia and Mentorship.
Opera Saratoga’s Artistic and General Director Lawrence Edelson explained: “We have decided to launch programs for our audiences that have been created specifically for the way people engage online producing a combination of newly created video performances for social media, as well as new opportunities to enjoy and learn about opera that are more interactive. Opera Saratoga has always focused on building community. OPERA SARATOGA: CONNECT! was designed to allow us to do just that – connect digitally with our community. Each element of this initiative allows audiences to enjoy opera, classical vocal music, and musical theater in a different way, from short videos released every day throughout the summer featuring members of our Festival Artist program, to interactive trivia games, classes, and symposia, featuring guests from around the globe.”
Programming will be a combination of free and a few paid activities to which there are scholarships available for those experiencing financial hardships during the pandemic. This will provide a wide opportunity for many to experience opera classical vocal music, and musical theater in many different ways right from your home. Complete details about each of the six programs as part of OPERA SARATOGA: CONNECT! may be found online.
For over 50 years Opera Saratoga, formerly known as Lake George Opera, has been a pillar in the upstate community for world class opera. Not only do they perform for more than 25,000 people at the annual Summer Festival but also have become the launching point for emerging operatic artists. They utilize not only their own stage but also the cultural, historic and natural resources of the surrounding Saratoga Springs, the Lower Adirondack and New York State Capital areas to bring unique and innovative opportunities to the public.
Check out below their newest opera ‘The Selfish Giant’ based on the classic children’s story by Oscar Wilde. This was produced remotely after the start of COVID-19 in partnership with the New York City based company American Lyric Theater.
Kendrick Lamar once said, “Critics want to mention that they miss when hip-hop was rappin’/ Motherf*****, if you did, then Killer Mike would be platinum.” As great of a line as that was, let’s make one thing clear; all forms of hip-hop are respectable. Lyricists, mumble rappers, crooners, they all have their place within the genre. Moreover, while we often look for messages in our art, understand that you won’t find it in what I like to call “easy listening rap.” Artists who view hip-hop as a competitive sport tend to challenge themselves. They think of more elaborate rhyme schemes, pick more challenging beats to rap on and (some) interpolate different subject matters in their music. Easy listening rappers find a formula and stick to it, no matter how redundant their sound. However, their inability (or unwillingness) to change does not invalidate them. We need fun-party music, but we need the former as well. Hip hop duo Killer Mike and El-P probably won’t go platinum with this latest effort – much to Kendrick Lamar’s chagrin – yet, their latest project — RTJ4– is undeniable.
Give up the information.
Originally scheduled to be released June 5, the album was pushed up, releasing two days early, with an accompanying note: “F*** it, why wait. The world is infested with bullsh** so here’s something raw to listen to while you deal with it all. We hope it brings you some joy. Stay safe and hopeful out there and thank you for giving 2 friends the chance to be heard and do what they love. With sincere love and gratitude, Jaime + Mike.”
The fourth installment of the Run the Jewels series covers similar themes as its predecessors: racism, capitalism, socioeconomic issues. Basically, you know what you’re going to get. Even so, their ability to pinpoint America’s discriminatory ways – and Killer Mike doing an excellent job of reversing the black community’s ethos from victimhood to one of power – have resulted in 39 minutes of thought-provoking content, which is not a given in today’s hip hop climate. On “walking in the snow” Killer Mike exposes the corrupt ways in which black people are targeted, while attacking the black community themselves for their acceptance of their role as casualties.
“The way I see it you’re probably freest from the ages one to four / Around the age of five you’re shipped away for your body to be stored / They promise education, but really they give you tests and scores / And they predictin’ prison population by who scoring the lowest / And usually the lowest scores the poorest and they look like me / And every day on evening news they feed you fear for free / And you so numb you watch the cops choke out a man like me / And ’til my voice goes from a shriek to whisper, “I can’t breathe” / And you sit there in the house on couch and watch it on TV / The most you give’s a Twitter rant and call it a tragedy / But truly the travesty, you’ve been robbed of your empathy / Replaced it with apathy, I wish I could magically / Fast forward the future so then you can face it / And see how f***** up it’ll be / I promise I’m honest, they coming for you / The day after they comin’ for me.”
“I’m robbing you.” “What for?” “Whatever you got.”
Throughout the project, Killer Mike shares several cathartic moments with the audience while veteran emcee El-P plays the role of ally, addressing the nation’s corruption. On the album’s intro “yankee and the brave (ep.4)” he raps,
“it’s scammer bliss when you puttin’ villains in charge of shit / All of us targeted, all we doin’ is arguin’ / Pardon them as they work until every pocket’s been picked and soul been harvested / I’m ready to mob on these f***** Charlatans.”
On the same track, Killer Mike takes the term “Black Power” to a whole new level by doubling down on his refusal to be martyred. “I got one round left, a hunnid cops outside / I could shoot at them or put one between my eyes / Chose the latter, it don’t matter, it ain’t suicide / And if the news say it was, that’s a goddamn lie / I can’t let the pigs kill me, I got too much pride / And I meant it when I said it, never take me alive.”
It is noteworthy to mention that he also did this, but his words are powerful nonetheless.
He maintains his stance of power throughout the project, only relenting on the albums outro “a few words from the firing squad (radiation),” where he grapples with his role as a famous entertainer, his potential to make a difference within the Black community, its sometimes deadly consequences and the divisiveness it can cause within Black families.
“It’d be a lie if I told you that I ever disdained the fortune and fame / But the presence of the pleasure never abstained me from any of the pain / When my mother transitioned to another plane I was sitting on a plane / Tellin’ her to hold on and she tried hard but she just couldn’t hang / Been two years, truth is I’ll probably never be the same / Dead serious, it’s a chore not to let myself go insane / It’s crippling, make you want lean on a cup of Promethazine / But my queen say she need a king / Not another junkie, flunky rapper fiend / Friends tell her he could be another Malcolm, he could be another Martin / She told her partner I need a husband more than the world need another martyr.”
Even with excellent lyricism, there are supplementary elements that make this album noteworthy. While the duo’s cohesiveness is seen through their mutual world views, the beat selection, however, is raw and unfiltered. Heavily rock influenced, RTJ4’s production is not always sonically pleasing – possible to deter the masses who are only trying to hear “good vibes.” Instead, they are purposeful. Loud guitar riffs, drums and alarms are heard throughout as they amplify the messages. Almost as if they picked beats that would not allow the audience to drift away (sometimes a catchy beat or chorus can hinder the record’s message).
Run the Jewels 4 is meaningful. Not only because of the subject matter, but the delivery itself. In our current climate, it’s rare to find conscious rap that doesn’t portray Black people as victims. El-P and Killer Mike take the opposite approach, challenging the oppressed to defend themselves, let’s hope they take heed.
Brooklyn-based duo Drug Couple return with two new tracks, “No Outside” and “Alone 2gether,” a pairing of B-Sides released via Papercup Music. The prescient tracks were written and named before the pandemic, and offer a meditation on bunkering down with someone special while the world outside burns
The two tracks find Miles singing and playing guitar, keyboard, and chimes, with Becca on bass and vocals. Their music attempts to showcase a dialogue between genders, as opposed to the one-sided soliloquies that define so much of popular music. The two singles precede the release of their sophomore EP Choose Your Own Apocalypse, due out August 2020 on PaperCup Music.
Choose Your Own Apocalypse stands to be a collection of songs about finding someone special to share the end-times alongside. The music is not fresh from the effects of the pandemic, but find their roots in the summer of 2016. As events lead up to the election of Donald Trump, it already seemed certain that, one way or the other, Armageddon was right around the corner. Drug Couple decided to make a record based around the concept of falling in love mid-apocalypse without fully realizing that’s exactly what they were doing.
Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, a non-profit organization which works to provide all with rich and diverse art through performances as well as education, has announced it has cancelled its annual Pavilion season.
Photo courtesy of Bethel Woods Center for the Arts.
Since 2004, Bethel Woods Center for the Arts has been holding Summer concerts at its outdoor pavilion. The performances would continue even under horrible circumstances: through “torrential rain, lightning, and squalls of wind,” Chief executive Eric Frances says. However, due to the continued threat of the Coronavirus pandemic, the Pavillion stage would not open this year. This year’s set was supposed to include artists such as Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Norah Jones, and the Black Crowes.
Although not all concert dates have been rescheduled yet, some have announced plans to perform in 2021. Frances announces that Bethel Woods is still “[looking] to provide alternative programming throughout this year” by “utilizing [their] amazing venue in a responsible manner” even in this time of uncertainty. Bethel Woods is looking forward to being able to open their museum exhibits, the event gallery, and their outdoor augmented reality tour as soon as it is safe to do so.
Photo courtesy of Bethel Woods Center for the Arts.
As Bethel Woods Center for the Arts is a 501(3)c non-profit organization, all of their revenue comes though ticket sales and donations. Because their Summer sets are cancelled, Bethel Woods could be in financial trouble. To encourage otters to participate, its Board of Trustees has graciously offered to match each each donation which is given to Bethel to increase finances.
In the video in which Frances announces this unhappy news, he delivers and important message to the public: with the upcoming 51st anniversary of Woodstock, its original message of the “strength in unifying for peace” is crucial for everyone to remember right now. It is more important than ever to remember that “we are one.”
For the next installment of moe.ron Monday on Nugs.TV, the band heads to Colorado for their February 6, 2015 performance from the Ogden Theatre in Denver. moe. also recently announced the upcoming digital release of their new album This is not, We are, with select songs now available for streaming.
As of Friday, June 12, the self-titled debut album from Mariah Carey is 30 years old. With four consecutive #1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 including “Vision of Love” and “Someday,” it instantly shot the Long Island-born diva into superstardom and an elite class of vocal legends including Whitney Houston. While Mariah’s legacy has been watered down to that of a washed-up Christmas singer in recent years, this unfair revisionist history ignores the impact she’s had on virtually every pop and R&B act after her.
When Mariah Carey released “Vision of Love” in 1990, the French-German duo Milli Vanilli had just been busted for lip-syncing and artists like Madonna made up for subpar vocal talent with shock value and spectacle. On the contrary, Carey demonstrated she was capable of belting, runs, melisma, and whistle tones in less than four minutes, swinging the pop pendulum the other way and reintroducing the concept of pop stars as vocalists with few gimmicks besides their own voices. More of these rose to fame throughout the 90s, from Brandy to Usher to Destiny’s Child, and the explosion of reality talent shows in the 2000s only intensified the phenomenon. Mariah’s power ballads like “Vision of Love” and “Hero” have been American Idol since its inception, a show she eventually judged.
Throughout the 90s and 2000s, Carey achieved 18 #1 hit singles on the Billboard Hot 100. She wrote and produced 17 of them, the sole exception being a cover of the Jackson 5’s “I’ll Be There” for her MTV Unplugged EP. She also shared the record for the chart’s longest-running #1 with Boyz II Men for their 1995 single “One Sweet Day,” which spent 16 weeks at the top and had yet to be surpassed until Lil Nas X’s 2019 hit “Old Town Road” beat it with 19 weeks atop. Late last year, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” finally hit #1 on its 25th anniversary, giving Carey her 19th #1 overall and the first in 12 years.
Despite her immense success, Mariah’s career hasn’t been without its setbacks. She made bizarre guest appearances on MTV’s TRL and Cribs in the early 2000s that she later attributed to bipolar disorder, and she was the subject of public ridicule when critics panned her 2001 film and album Glitter. However, she returned to form with her 2005 comeback single “We Belong Together” and its accompanying albumThe Emancipation of Mimi, winning three Grammy Awards. And although her 2016 New Year’s Eve fiasco temporarily made her the butt of the joke again, she set it right with a pitch-perfect performance the following year.
Mariah Carey with her three wins for The Emancipation of Mimi at the 2006 Grammy Awards.
Carey is also no stranger to engaging in public feuds with other singers. Interestingly, a short glance at the long list of artists Carey has feuded with shows that they’ve all been influenced by her in one way or another: Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Lopez, Demi Lovato, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj, to name just a few. They might not like her, but they still respect her achievements and emulate her in their music, style, and personas. With the Ol’ Dirty Bastard remix of “Fantasy” in 1995, Mariah became one of the first mainstream pop singers to feature a rapper on a song’s verses while singing the hook—now a common crossover recipe for top 40 artists.
Even Canadian electropop artist Grimes defended her love of Mariah Carey to Pitchfork, saying, “I know very few adult males who consider themselves serious ‘music guys’ who don’t laugh when I say I like Mariah Carey. Why? Because she’s beautiful and people like her. Therefore she must be selling sex, right? So obviously her music is terrible, right? Ugh. The first time I heard Mariah Carey, it shattered the fabric of my existence.”
Let’s head north on I-87 to Glens Falls for the May 5, 1981 Grateful Dead show at Glens Falls Civic Center. This is a high energy show, especially Set 2.
The opening set goes back and forth on Jerry and Bobby tunes until “Althea” breaks out for 10 minutes, and the set-closing pair of “The Music Never Stopped” -> “Don’t Ease Me In” is worth a listen. Set 2 stands out on paper, and for good reason. The transition from “Scarlet Begonias” into “Fire on the Mountain” is as musically tight as one could ask for, with melodic solos throughout each.
backstage pass via Larry St.Pierre
“Estimated Prophet” gets dark quick and leads into the uplifting “Eyes of the World.” A Spanish jam that develops from “Truckin’” leads into “Alabama Getaway,” and closes a set with “Johnny B. Goode.” This show is a hidden gem among Dead shows in Upstate New York. Listen below.
Grateful Dead – Glens Falls Civic Center – May 5, 1981
Set 1: Feel Like A Stranger, Peggy-O-> El Paso, Ramble On Rose, CC Rider, Althea, Passenger, Brown Eyed Women, The Music Never Stopped-> Don’t Ease Me In
Set 2: Scarlet Begonias-> Fire On The Mountain, Estimated Prophet-> Eyes Of The World-> Drums-> Uncle John’s Band-> Truckin’-> Alabama Getaway-> Johnny B. Goode
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. Each Sunday evening from 7-9pm on 102.7 FM, you’ll find EQXposure on WEQX, featuring two hours of local music to discover from up and coming artists. NYS Music will bring you a preview of artists to discover each week, just a taste of the talent waiting to be discovered by fans like you.
Tune into WEQX.com this Sunday night to hear music from Belle-Skinner, The Abyssmals, Paradisa and many more!
Belle-Skinner – “Red“
Belle-Skinner is a singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer based out of Troy and Brooklyn. She describes this song as a blood moon western apocalyptic west world tune inspired by Exudos and The Grapes of Wrath and strangely enough, it was written and recorded before COVID-19 became a big thing. Check out her new album Violets which you can buy at her belle-skinner.com.
The Abyssmals – “Let’s Forget“
This Schenectady bands unique psych-garage sound is influenced by everything from Nuggets-era classics, surf guitars, 70’s punk, Motown/Stax records, Britpop and Shoegazers of the 90’s, and Beyoncé. They’ve had music featured on various network and streaming series such as The Punisher, Nancy Drew, and Shameless. They say this song is for fans of Jesus and Mary Chain, Pulp, Ramones, karaoke, intimacy, and Nick-at-Nite.
Paradisa – “Can’t Get Enough“
Straddling the line between hooky alternative rock and the musical freedom of the neo-progressive movement of the mid-2000s, Upstate New York’s paradisa is an amalgamation of influences, experiences, and viewpoints. Four longtime friends who found each other in various corners of the burgeoning punk & alternative scenes of Northern NY, the newly anointed band have found themselves searching for truth in a world of fallacies.
