The Smith Center for the Arts will be host to several Geneva Music Festival performances, beginning Sunday, May 23rd, including the celebration of a decade of the diverse, talented artists that have taken part in the festival for 10 years.
The performance lineup includes classical acts Forgotten Melodies on Sunday May 23rd at 2PM, Interwoven Dialogues on Saturday May 29th at 7:30PM, and several more acts continuing into the summer. The performances are both in-person at the Smith Opera House or livestreamed. The summer dates will be performed outdoors.
For the 2021 Season, the Geneva Music Festival celebrates its first 10 years, during which it has highlighted diverse influences on classical music such as jazz, Latin, African American, and women composers and musicians, and many others.
The season opens on Thursday, May 20th, with “When the Flowers Bloom: ATLYS in the Sonnenberg Gardens.” This is the world premiere of the “Sonnenberg Suite,” composed by Ari Fisher and performed by ATLYS, the classically trained crossover string quartet. This is one of many delightful performances, and it is dedicated to the eclectic gardens of the Sonnnenberg Gardens and Mansion State Historic Park in Carandaigua, where the performance will take place. Each movement in the concert is for each of the nine gardens. Doors open at 6PM and the concert begins at 7PM.
We have been truly fortunate over the course of our first decade to consistently present world-class musicians. Our programming once again highlights the diverse scope of contributions to classical music and demonstrates the universal nature of our art. We aim to give voice to the possibilities of our time, breaking through exclusionary barriers that, historically, have unfairly restricted composers and performers. The classical canon has traditionally denied audiences the opportunity to experience the range and depth that music offers.
Geoffrey Herd, director Geneva Music festival
All tickets to these in-person performances are $25.00, and FREE for individuals 18 years old & younger. Tickets can be purchased at genevamusicfestival.com.
Additional acts of the Geneva Music Festival lineup include:
City Winery Hudson Valley in Montgomery, NY, has announced their Concerts in the Vineyard Series, starting on June 6.
After live music shows were put on pause because of the pandemic and since the summer is quickly approaching, City Winery is excited for the series. It will take place outdoors, on the lawn of the Hudson Valley location, 20 minutes west of Newburgh.
With COVID-19 still being around, City Winery Hudson Valley will be following protocols such as social distancing and mask-wearing. For people to attend the concerts, they must either be fully vaccinated– meaning the day of your event is 14 days after receiving the total amount of doses– or produce a negative PCR test. Pods are available for general admission and VIP packages. Tickets are now on sale and more information is available on their website.
Creative Concerts has announced yet another show at Apple Valley Park in Lafayette, NY, with Southern rock on tap on June 19, 2021 with The Allman Betts Band performing and special guest, St. Louis based duo River Kittens opening the show.
Like previous events announced in this outdoor series, events will be socially distanced, with fans being able to purchase tickets in roped-off PODS for parties of 2, 4 or 6. In an effort to create a safe experience for guests, a carefully throughout site plan has been developed allowing for temperature screenings and surveys to be conducted upon entering the event grounds. To adhere to social distancing guidelines, all PODS are spaced a minimum of six feet apart. A variety of food and beverage options will be available for purchase. Site map and FAQ for the venue can be found at applevalleypark.com/faq
Tickets go on sale to the general public this Friday, May 7th at 10am at applevalleypark.com
The Allman Betts Band includes Devon Allman & Duane Betts on guitars and vocals, Berry Oakley Jr. on bass, Johnny Stachela on slide guitar, John Ginty on Hammond B3 (Robert Randolph/Dixie Chicks) and Devon Allman Project percussionists R. Scott Bryan (Sheryl Crow) and John Lum. The show features original music from their two recent BMG albums, songs from their solo projects as well as classic songs by The Allman Brothers Band, the legendary group founded by Devon and Duane’s fathers, Gregg Allman & Dickey Betts.
Their sophomore album, Bless Your Heart, was released on August 28, 2020. Like their debut album, Bless Your Heart was recorded at the legendary Muscle Shoals Sound Studios and produced by Matt Ross-Spang (Jason Isbell, Margo Price, John Prine and Elvis Presley).
Apple Valley Park is located in beautiful LaFayette, NY. With its rural atmosphere, rolling hills, and expansive fall foliage, it has proven to be a wonderful home to the annual LaFayette Apple Festival since 1973. More recently it has expanded to host other live entertainment events, including a few successful drive-in concerts in the fall of 2020.
Flushing Town Hall has announced a virtual Jazz Jam in honor of all mothers for Mother’s Day. The celebration will take place on May 12, 2021 at 7 PM EST for free on Facebook or Zoom.
Flushing Town Hall’s monthly Jazz Jam is supported by the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation and has been led since 2016 by Astoria resident Carol Sudhalter. House band members include illustrious musicians such as Joe Vincent Tranchina, Scott Neumann and Eric Lemon, who pay tribute to the great Louis Armstrong, performing songs associated with the legendary trumpeter/vocalist every month. Every month, jazz musicians have come together to play tunes reflecting each month’s theme.
Since Flushing Town Hall went online back in April 2020, the Jazz Jams have been popular monthly features, reaching more than 7,000 viewers, and exceeding 1,700 engagements online. Over time it has become a haven for jazz lovers from around the world with musicians joining from across the U.S. and from as far away as Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Italy, the UK, Ireland, Trinidad and Japan.
Flushing Town Hall is putting the call out to musicians interested in participating in the celebration. Those interested should email education@flushingtownhall.org with the suggested three- to four-minute tune they intend to play in line with this month’s theme. The performance can be live or a pre-recorded audio or video (but not a professional, edited recording such as a CD or YouTube video). Musicians who performed in 2020 are now welcome to return. Each month, up to five returning musicians and up to 15 new musicians can participate. Selection is on a first-come, first-served basis.
The virtual Jazz Jam for mothers day will air on the Flushing Town Hall’s Facebook page or Zoom on Wednesday, May 12 at 7PM EST and will be open and free to the public. For more information visit the Flushing Town Hall’s website.
SunSquabi and Too Many Zooz will team up for a pair of shows as they head across the Empire State, stopping in Buffalo and Bouckville, NY.
The high energy groups will be performing at the Buffalo Outer Harbor Drive-In on June 11, with special guests Witty Tarbox making an appearance across the scenic backdrop of Lake Erie. The pair will also be performing in Bouckville, NY, at The Yard Amphitheatre on June 12.
SunSquabi has gained national attention with their mixing of various genres in addition to their unique production style. The three-piece group provides an electronic funk experience. The band is composed of Kevin Donohue, Josh Fairman, and Chris Anderson. Their rhythm-driven sound is what keeps fans drawn alongside their latest album, Instinct.
SunSquabi
Playing beside SunSquabi is NYC’s phenomenon Too Many Zooz. This unique trio blends jazz, Afro-Cuban rhythms, funk, EDM structures, and house music. Their historic performances on Beyoncé’s Lemonade and alongside The Dixie Chicks have made this group well established in the industry.
Too Many Zooz
To add to this already dynamic lineup, Buffalo’s very own Witty Tarbox will be joining on the 11th. This upcoming surf-rock band has already made their mark in WNY and plan to continue to do so while they open for other iconic musicians.
The Drive-In event charges per car with up to 5 persons per vehicle. This Buffalo Outer Harbor show is open to all ages and begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are now available here. Tickets to the Bouckville show can be found here
Live music returns to Saratoga Springs this June, and the concert announcements just keep getting bigger. Trey Anastasio will perform solo at Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) for three nights, June 18-20, with tickets pre-sale starting May 5 at noon. Read our review of the weekend of shows here.
Anastasio was originally supposed to play at Tanglewood on June 18 with the Boston Pops, but cancelled the show in March.
Aside from the Beacon Jams this past fall, these shows mark the first live performances for Anastasio since January 2020 at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester. Trey last performed solo shows in the Fall of 2019, closing out the run at Carnegie Hall.
The timing of the shows follows the recent passing of longtime Trey Anastasio Band bassist Tony Markellis, a Saratoga Springs resident for more than 40 years, who passed away last week.
Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) has announced the following guidelines for the three Trey Anastasio shows:
Social Distancing For our upcoming Trey Anastasio events June 18-20, capacity will adhere to state guidance. Currently, all seating will be sold in “pods” and each group of seats must be purchased together.
COVID-19 Testing Or Vaccination Requirements Guests have three options to demonstrate they are eligible to attend an event. Please note the required timeframes associated with each option so you can plan ahead accordingly:
1. Proof of a negative antigen COVID-19 test taken within six hours of the event start time OR 2. Proof of a negative PCR COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of the day of the event OR 3. Proof of vaccination. To ensure you fully vaccinated, the day of the event must be at least 14 days after your second dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine or at least 14 days after your single dose of the Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen COVID-19 vaccine.
On your way to SPAC, don’t forget that Stewart’s Shops is your ice cream shop! With over 345 shops in 31 counties across New York and southern Vermont, the convenience store chain is known for their fresh &local dairy products. With dozens of choices at the cone counter, you’re bound to find something you love! Try a shake, sundae, or cone today, What’s Your Flavor?
Luke Bryan will kick off his ‘Proud to be Right Here’ Tour on July 8, 2021 in Syracuse. Special guests include Dylan Scott, Caylee Hammack and Runaway June along with DJ Rock.
Luke Bryan (lukebryan.com)
Tickets are on sale now for the Proud to be Right Here Tour. Luke’s announcement comes a day after his Crash My Playa 2022 concert vacation event set for January 19-22, 2022 sold-out due to record-breaking demand from returning event alumni and Luke’s fans through pre-sale access. The sell-out is the event’s fastest in its seven-year history.
“There is nothing more gratifying about writing and recording music than getting to play it live for the fans. There’s several songs off my new album that I’ve never performed live” shared Luke. “I can’t believe this moment is nearly here when we get to hop on the tour bus and roll into towns across America and get back to doing what we do best. What we live to do!”
Luke Bryan is critically acclaimed with several #1 albums on the Hot Country Albums and Hot Country Songs Charts. He has won multiple awards, ranging from Billboard, American Music Awards, and the Country Music Association.
Luke Bryan’s fanclub information can be found at here and tickets at lukebryan.com.
Oct 16 San Bernardino, CA – Glen Helen Amphitheater *
*indicates concerts that have been rescheduled to these dates Dylan Scott on all dates except July 8-18 Caylee Hammack on all dates through August 14 Runaway June on all dates beginning August 19 DJ Rock on all dates
Bard SummerScape is back in New York’s Hudson Valley with an adventurous lineup of live performances from July 8th through August 15th of 2021.
Staged for limited in-person audiences, the 2021 season presents the 31st Bard Music Festival, “Nadia Boulanger and Her World,” which pays tribute to one of the most important female figures in classical music history; the first fully staged American production of King Arthur (Le roi Arthus), the only opera by Boulanger’s compatriot and near-contemporary Ernest Chausson; the world premiere of I was waiting for the echo of a better day, a major new dance commission from Bard’s Fisher Center Choreographer-in-Residence Pam Tanowitz and Sphinx Medal of Excellence-winning composer Jessie Montgomery.
Also featured are Most Happy in Concert, comprising songs from Frank Loesser’s The Most Happy Fella, directed by Tony nominee Daniel Fish; “Black Roots Summer,” a two-weekend celebration of Black roots music curated by Michael Mwenso and Jono Gasparro; and a newly commissioned concert from longtime SummerScape favorite Mx. Justin Vivian Bond.
All programs will be staged between July 8 and August 15 in both the Frank Gehry-designed Fisher Center and outdoors at Bard’s Montgomery Place campus, a designated National Historic Landmark set amid rolling lawns, woodlands and gardens against the spectacular backdrop of the Catskill Mountains. Select programs will also be livestreamed at UPSTREAMING, the Fisher Center’s virtual stage.
Gideon Lester, Artistic Director of the Fisher Center at Bard College, explains:
This summer’s festival includes new works by artists who have deep and evolving relationships with the Fisher Center. We are also thrilled to be presenting several artists for the first time, including some we’ve collaborated with over the past year as part of our continuing journey toward becoming a more equitable and inclusive organization. After the uncertainty and isolation of the pandemic, the coming months will offer particularly joyous and meaningful opportunities for all these artists to return to rehearsal and performance again, inviting audiences to join them on voyages of creation and discovery.
The health and safety of Bard’s audiences, artists and staff are of paramount importance. All SummerScape productions will be presented in adherence with strict COVID protocols and in accordance with CDC and NY State guidance and regulations. Learn more about SummerScape 2021 health and safety protocols here.
Bard SummerScape 2021 – highlights by genre
Music: 31st Bard Music Festival, “Nadia Boulanger and Her World”
Founded by co-artistic director Leon Botstein, it is the Bard Music Festival – “a highlight of the musical year” (Wall Street Journal) – that provides the creative inspiration for SummerScape. The first woman to come into Bard’s festival spotlight, Nadia Boulanger (1887–1979) was a true musical polymath.
A prize-winning composer, peerless composition teacher and trailblazing conductor, organist and scholar, she is “arguably … the most important woman in the history of classical music” (BBC Music magazine).
Through the prism of her life and career, “Nadia Boulanger and Her World” offers an illuminating series of concerts, pre-concert talks and panel discussions over the final two weekends of SummerScape.
On August 6–8, Weekend One explores Music in Paris in the first half of the 20th century, and on August 13–15, Weekend Two addresses The 20th-Century Legacy of Nadia Boulanger. Twelve concert programs spaced over the two weekends explore such themes as Paris as the epitome of chic, the crosscurrents of influence between France and America, and the relationship between French Catholicism and spirituality.
The festival will present examples of Boulanger’s own, little-known oeuvre alongside music by her teachers and mentors, including Gabriel Fauré, Louis Vierne and Charles Marie Widor; her Parisian contemporaries, like Claude Debussy, Olivier Messiaen, Francis Poulenc, Maurice Ravel, Erik Satie and expats George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Igor Stravinsky; her male students, including Jean Françaix, Astor Piazzolla, and illustrious Americans Marc Blitzstein, Elliott Carter, Aaron Copland, Philip Glass, Walter Piston and Virgil Thomson; her female students, like Marcelle de Manziarly, Thea Musgrave, Julia Perry and Louise Talma; other women composers, Germaine Tailleferre and Lili Boulanger, Nadia’s celebrated sister, among them; and some of the bygone composers whose music she vociferously championed, like Monteverdi, Bach and Brahms.
Finally, two thought-provoking panel discussions will be supplemented by informative pre-concert talks to illuminate each concert’s themes. As the Los Angeles Times writes, Bard offers “the summer’s most stimulating music festival.”
Opera: Ernest Chausson’s King Arthur (first fully staged American production)
Musical America observes: “Bard’s annual opera has become an indispensable part of the summer operatic landscape.” Of an earlier generation than the Boulanger sisters, Ernest Chausson (1855–99) played a pivotal part in the development of French late-Romanticism. Set to his own libretto, Chausson’s sole completed opera, King Arthur (Le roi Arthus, 1886–95) depicts the tragic love triangle between the mythological English king, his wife Guinevere and his trusted knight Lancelot. Despite having enjoyed recent revivals in Edinburgh and Paris, the opera has yet to be seen on the American stage.
With its rich lyricism, ravishing harmonies and otherworldly final chorus, however, it has won many advocates. In King Arthur, Gramophone affirms, “passion is often white-hot; the orchestration is opulent; and there are … passages of sheer beauty.”
Marking the opera’s long overdue first fully staged American presentation, Bard’s new production will be directed by Princess Grace Award-winner Louisa Proske, Founding Co-Artistic Director of Heartbeat Opera and designated Associate Artistic Director and Resident Director of Germany’s Halle Opera.
Singing the title role will be baritone Norman Garrett, who made his Metropolitan Opera debut in last season’s Porgy and Bess after winning top prizes in more than a dozen international vocal competitions. He will be joined by Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke as Guinevere under the baton of Leon Botstein, who previously led the opera both on a Telarc recording with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and in a 2001 concert performance with the American Symphony Orchestra at Lincoln Center.
That performance was hailed as “one of the best Leon Botstein and the American Symphony have given together,” showing Chausson’s score to be “sumptuous, majestic, brilliant in its fanfare moments and often powerful” (Paul Griffiths, New York Times). King Arthur will run for four performances in the Fisher Center’s Sosnoff Theater on July 25, 28 and 30 and August 1.
Dance: world premiere of I was waiting for the echo of a better day by Pam Tanowitz and Jessie Montgomery
SummerScape has long produced and premiered significant dance productions, including commissions from choreographers Ronald K. Brown, Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs, Bill T. Jones, John Heginbotham and Mark Morris. SummerScape 2021 opens with the world premiere of I was waiting for the echo of a better day, a new commission from Pam Tanowitz, the Fisher Center’s inaugural Choreographer-in-Residence, in collaboration with Jessie Montgomery, next Composer-in-Residence of the Chicago Symphony, whose honors include the ASCAP Foundation’s Leonard Bernstein Award.
Set to new arrangements of Montgomery’s chamber music, which has been called “turbulent, wildly colorful and exploding with life” (Washington Post), along with material from her collaboration with Eleonore Oppenheim, big dog little dog, this large-scale work marks Tanowitz’s first return to SummerScape since the resounding success of her ballet Four Quartets.
A Fisher Center commission, Four Quartets was named “Best Dance Production of 2018” by the New York Times, which pronounced it “the greatest creation of dance theater so far this century.”
Performed with live musical accompaniment from artists including Montgomery on violin and Oppenheim on double bass, I was waiting for the echo of a better day will premiere in three performances on July 8, 9 and 10 against the glorious backdrop of the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, using the historical parkland of Montgomery Place as inspiration.
Concerts on the Stage at Montgomery Place: Most Happy in Concert
The legendary composer-songwriter behind Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Frank Loesser accrued a string of honors including an Oscar, multiple Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize. Featuring some of his most soaring lyricism, his classic 1956 show, The Most Happy Fella, “is one of the greatest musicals ever. Or one of the greatest operas. Hell, it’s just great,” declares New York magazine.
Loesser’s songs take center stage in Most Happy in Concert, a setting of his ebullient songs for a cast of seven female and non-binary vocalists with a 13-piece instrumental ensemble. Originally developed for a full production in SummerScape 2020, this meditation on our longing for human connection, made only more poignant by the isolation of the past year, will now be presented as a concert under the summer sunset.
Helming the concert is director Daniel Fish, whose revelatory, Tony Award-winning revival of Oklahoma! debuted at SummerScape 2015 before traveling to St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn and then to Broadway, where it scored the director his first Tony nomination. Most Happy in Concert will take place in three performances on August 5, 6 and 7 on the Stage at Montgomery Place.
Concerts on the Stage at Montgomery Place: Black Roots Summer
Bard celebrates the uplifting spirit of Black roots music over two weekends this July, with Black Roots Summer, presented in association with Electric Root and curated by jazz vocalist Michael Mwenso, the London-raised Sierra Leone native whose mentors include James Brown and Wynton Marsalis, and Jono Gasparro, former curator of Ginny’s Supper Club in Harlem.
Both weekends take place on the Stage at Montgomery Place, where Mwenso and the Shakes give two performances of their set “Love Will Be the Only Way” on July 23 and 24. Fronted by Mwenso himself, the Harlem-based Shakes hail from destinations ranging from Madagascar, South Africa and France to Hawaii and Jamaica. Taking listeners on a journey through the kaleidoscope of Black ancestral diasporic music and traditions, by way of Fats Waller, Muddy Waters, James Brown and other musical legends, the Shakes’ international blend of jazz and blues has been called “intense, prowling and ebullient” (New York Times).
Next, on July 29, Mwenso leads a lineup of special guest vocalists in “Genius Mother Mary”: A Sonic Retrospective of Mary Lou Williams. A Black woman in the male-dominated field of jazz, Grammy-nominated American pianist, arranger and composer Mary Lou Williams (1910–81) wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements, some of them for Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, as well as making more than a hundred recordings and serving as a friend, mentor and teacher to Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and many more.
As NPR put it, it was Williams who “mastered the language of swing and pushed the genre towards more expansive, experimental sounds.”
Finally, on July 30 and 31, the hills come alive with The Sound of (Black) Music, when Bard presents “Edelweiss,” “My Favorite Things,” “Do-Re-Mi” and other favorite songs from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s beloved final musical, as reimagined through an Afrofuturistic lens by the 20-plus BIPOC vocalists and instrumentalists assembled by Mwenso and Gasparro.
Concerts on the Stage at Montgomery Place: Mx. Justin Vivian Bond
A longtime SummerScape favorite, Mx. Justin Vivian Bond has been heralded as “the greatest cabaret artist of this generation” (New Yorker). The recipient of an Obie, a Bessie and a Tony nomination, they return to Bard this season for three performances of a new concert specially commissioned for Montgomery Place, in the picturesque setting of the Stage at Montgomery Place on July 15, 16 and 17.
SummerScape tickets
All tickets go on sale on June 2. The Box Office can be reached by telephone at (845) 758-7900, on Mondays through Fridays at 11am–4pm EST, or by email at boxoffice@bard.edu. Tickets are also available 24/7 on Bard’s website at fishercenter.bard.edu.
The 2021 SummerScape season is made possible in part through the generous support of Jeanne Donovan Fisher, the Martin and Toni Sosnoff Foundation, the Advisory Boards of the Fisher Center at Bard and Bard Music Festival, and Fisher Center members, as well as grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
Commissioning and development support for the Stage at Montgomery Place provided by the Fisher Center’s Artistic Innovation Fund, with lead support from Rebecca Gold and S. Asher Gelman.
Commissioning funds for I was waiting for the echo of a better day are provided by Jay Franke and David Herro.
Bard SummerScape 2021: Key dates
July 8–10 Dance: I was waiting for the echo of a better day by Pam Tanowitz and Jessie Montgomery (world premiere)
July 15–17 Concerts on the Stage at Montgomery Place: Mx. Justin Vivian Bond
July 23 & 24 Concerts on the Stage at Montgomery Place: Black Roots Summer, Weekend One
July 25–August 1 Opera: Chausson’s King Arthur (first fully staged American production)
July 29–31 Concerts on the Stage at Montgomery Place: Black Roots Summer, Weekend Two
August 5–7 Concerts on the Stage at Montgomery Place: Most Happy in Concert
August 6–8 Bard Music Festival, Weekend One: Music in Paris
August 13–15 Bard Music Festival, Weekend Two: The 20th-Century Legacy of Nadia Boulanger
After months of livestream shows, Marble Eyes announce their first series of tour dates, beginning Friday April 30th in Saratoga Springs.
Marble Eyes Tour Poster
Marble Eyes is a fresh new band that formed during the pandemic, comprised of members from Pink Talking Fish, Kung Fu, The Indobox and more. Using downtime from tour, the band crafted over 40 songs, with a debut album out later this year. Several of these new songs have debuted over the past year during their free “Marble Eyes Mondays” livestreams, every other Monday. You can find these on the nugs.net Youtube page.
The first show kicks off this Friday in Saratoga Springs NY at Putnam Place, followed by the band’s debut in Colorado for 2 nights in Denver at Knew Conscious. They will head back east for some more shows, hitting several states in New England.
Marble Eyes’ 2021 tour dates 4/30: Saratoga Springs NY at Putnam Place 5/14: Denver CO at Knew Conscious 5/15: Denver CO at Knew Conscious 5/23: Wayne PA at 118 North 6/03: Stowe VT at Stowe Cider w/ Zach Nugent 6/04: Pembroke MA at Soundcheck Studios 6/06: Portsmouth NH at The Music Hall “Live Under The Arch Series” – 2 Shows 7/31: Mason NH at The Range supporting Melvin Seals & JGB 8/12: Brunswick ME at The Grateful Campout
The State Theatre of Ithaca announced its 10th annual “Benefit My State” free virtual concert which will take place on May 8, 2021. The benefit concert will feature tribute band Pink Talking Fish who will also be playing some Grateful Dead tunes in honor of the Cornell ’77 performance.
The performance is dubbed “PINK TALKING FISH play DEAD”, and is being performed and streamed live from the historic State Theatre of Ithaca. The tribute jam band will perform the music of Pink Floyd, The Talking Head, Phish, and Grateful Dead tunes inspired by the treasured concert on Cornell’s campus, exactly 44 years to the day of the original show.
Pink Talking Fish formed back in 2013 and has performed over 500 shows including headlining numerous historic music venues throughout the country. Additionally, Pink Talking Fish has appeared at many prominent festivals including The Peach Music Festival, Jerry Jam, StrangeCreek Campout and The Buffalove Music Festival. They are known for creating a fusion of some of the most beloved and well known bands in the jamband scene.
On Mothers’ Day back in 1977, The Grateful Dead performed one of the most significant concerts of their extensive career at Barton Hall in Ithaca, New York. The Grateful Dead are known for playing more than 2,000 concerts in their time but the performance at Cornell University’s Barton Hall on May 8, 1977 has continued to spark interest and provoke discussion quite like any of the other of the bands performances. A lot of the Deadheads know it as simply “5/8/77” and this performance is one of the most collected, circulated, and debated concerts by any band ever, and has topped numerous fan polls through the years.
The annual “Benefit My State” concert is the State Theatre of Ithaca’s biggest fundraiser of the year. This event will also feature an online silent auction with over 25 unique, one-of-a-kind items offered to all viewers and is particularly needed this year in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Doug Levine, the Executive Director of The State Theatre, spoke on this benefit saying, “We are still in need of additional support to help us get through this very challenging year. The lack of shows due to COVID resulted in huge hurdles to overcome and we are not out of the clear yet. We hope that the folks that are able to tune in and enjoy this show will consider making a donation to help sustain us until we are allowed to safely reopen.”
Although the concert is free, donations will be accepted with all proceeds for the 10th Annual “Benefit My State” concert directly supporting The State Theatre of Ithaca. The Pink Talking Fish Play Dead benefit will be streamed LIVE from The State Theatre of Ithaca for free at The Relix Twich Channelon Saturday, May 8th at 7PM EST.
For more information of the benefit concert visit the State Theatre Of Ithaca’s website.
