North Beach Music Festival announced dates and lineup including Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Spafford, and The Motet. The festivities will take place on December 10-11, 2021 in Miami, Florida.
The festival is being presented by GMP Live which is a concert promoter, festival producer, and talent curator based in Miami. North Beach Music Festival will take place at Miami Beach’s historic open-air art deco amphitheater, the North Beach Bandshell. The North Beach Bandshell is an open-air amphitheater in the heart of Miami Beach’s North Beach neighborhood. It has been managed by the Rhythm Foundation – a Miami Beach-based nonprofit cultural organization – for the City of Miami Beach since 2015 and was built back in1961. The festival will feature some improvisational rock bands, jam bands and funk bands will descend upon the Bandshell, and the adjacent Bandshell Park, for performances over two stages.
The festival has three well known New York based artists coming to perform. Marco Benevento, Aqueous, TAUK, and Karina Rykman will all be performing sets at North Beach Music Festival.
The lineup for Friday, December 10, 2021 features a headlining performance from Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, as well as performances from The Motet, TAUK, Karina Rykman, The Heavy Pets, Electric Kif and Tand.
he lineup for Saturday, December 11, 2021 promises two headlining sets from Spafford—one entirely improvised and another titled “Spafford & Friends”—in addition to performances from Marco Benevento, Aqueous, Ghost-Note, Eric Krasno & The Assembly, Brandon “Taz” Niederaure, the special Brendan Bayliss & Jennifer Hartswick collaboration, as well as Holly Bowling and JUke
Tickets are on sale now with single day GA tickets for $80 for Friday and $90 for Saturday. VIP tickets are $130 for Friday and $140 for Saturday. More information on ticketing and travel packages can be found here.
For information on North Beach Music Festival visit their website here.
Here we are, returning back to normal. The Main Street Music Series is back in person returning to Rose Hall this month and December. Catch them with a series of four Friday night concerts with audiences, with the next show on November 19 featuring Rochester’s Dirty Blanket, James Vandeuson and the Rollin’ Rust, and Roger Decker.
Main Street Series is committed to enriching Cortland’s culture and showing a good time in Downtown. American Vintage Productions returns as the production company, providing sound, live streaming and promotional services for the series.
We’re excited to return to live audience performances after being virtual only last year. This year our concert format will return to normal with three bands at each concert. The openers will perform in Studio AV on the first floor at Rose Hall and the headlining band will be in the concert hall upstairs.
Chris Merkley, MSMS Board President
Rose Hall doors open at 6 p.m. and admission is free. Donations to support the series can be made at the door or online. Not to worry for those wishing to watch from home, the concerts will also be streamed through the AV Live Network.
The remaining concerts in the Main Street Music Series include:
Nov. 19 – Featuring Dirty Blanket with James VanDeuson & The Rollin’ Rust and Roger Decker
Dec. 3 – Featuring The Unknown Woodsmen with Bug Tussle and Dana Twigg
Dec. 17 – Featuring Sophistafunk with People People and Gary Carpentier
New York City native Miles Francis will be playing a hometown show at Brooklyn Bowl this Saturday, November 13.
The artist, who identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, recently announced the release of their new album, Good Man on November 10. Francis shared the title track, “Good Man”, as a teaser for the album, which comes out March 4, 2022.
Think the track sounds like it was inspired by 80s music with a hint of turn-of-the-century pop? You’d be spot on — Francis’ musical inspirations are Prince, David Bowie, and early 2000’s boy bands.
Francis explained the track, saying,
“‘Good Man’” is sung by a man who preaches progressive values, who identifies as ‘one of the good ones’ – yet he fails to recognize his perpetuation of patriarchal behavior in his own life. There are lots of outwardly ‘bad’ men out there – but it’s the ones who claim their ‘good’-ness that can be particularly troublesome and capable of causing real harm.”
Still not sure if you’d like to attend? Read our review of their show at Baby’s All Right in October.
Miles Francis will be opening the show for Antibalas this Saturday at Brooklyn Bowl. Purchase tickets for the show online.
Following the release of “Baltimore Scrappledorf,” ElephantProof have announced tour dates for January 2022. Accompanying artists for the January dates include Annie in the Water, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, and K.R.I.S.
The genre-bending group with powerhouse Goose drummer Ben Atkind was one of the most talked about performances at Fred the Festival after their late night set in Garcia’s Forest.
A very Ted set at Fred The Festival for ElephantProof.
“ElephantProof was a journey that took me everywhere I ever wanted to go with music. It got dark, it got deep into theory and wild chords that I never thought would work together, and the music was ALWAYS weird in the best way.”
-Chad
Heavily rotated since Fred, ElephantProof’s 2021 album EP EP displayed versatility for the drummer and showcased a variety of styles blended together to land somewhere between Lettuce and BoomBox with a jazzy twist.
“Baltimore Scrappledorf” gave an energetic surge to listeners, and left many feeling as though the best is yet to come at future shows.
“When surrealism meets the human ears and eyes, you know you’re at an ElephantProof show. Bringing sights and sounds together that make a recipe for an unforgettable experience.”
– Mandy
Expect no relaxation of the face when seeing ElephantProof
As the Goose tour shows no signs of slowing down, take every chance to see this band when possible.
For more on the mysteries that happened at Fred the Festival, check out our review below.
On Thursday, November 11, pianist, composer and ensemble leader Michele Rosewoman will present “A Function at the Junction: Ancestral Bridge, Musical Streams” / “Una Función en el Cruce: Puente Ancestral, Corrientes Musicales,” a collaborative, multimedia event that will bring together Rosewoman’s New Yor-Uba ensemble, Francisco Mora Catlett’s Afro Horn and Román Díaz’s Rumba Ensemble in live performance with video documentation, a subsequent HotHouseGlobal broadcast and Habana/Harlem panels.
The program will take place at the Clemente Soto Velez Center, Flamboyan Theater in New York City at 107 Suffolk St, as part of Arts for Art’s three-day festival, Jazz Libre. Tickets are available here, with a cost of $15/set, $25/night in-erson, and $5 for a livestream. View the full schedule here.
On December 18, the event will be broadcast on Cuban national television (and beyond) as part of a 2-night event (Dec 18/19) through the HotHouseGlobal streaming platforms on Twitch, YouTube, HotHouse’swebsite, and Facebook Live. A recipient of the prestigious Southarts Jazz Road Creative Residency grant, Rosewoman has created a night that gives broader space and voice to the inspirations and traditions that have shaped and nurtured her.
With New Yor-Uba, we pay homage to the journey of centuries-old Yoruba traditions from Nigeria through Cuba to present-day New York, reflecting its contemporary manifestations.
Michele Rosewoman
The ensemble’s distinctive repertoire features Ms. Rosewoman’s original compositions and visionary arrangements that incorporate a large spectrum of Cuban spiritually-based musical traditions including, Yoruba (Nigeria), Arará (Dahomey), Abakuá (Calabar) and rumba/guaguanco, a uniquely Cuban musical form.
Rosewoman’s vision is that of a unique community of musicians in NYC with deep ties to both spiritually-based Cuban folkloric traditions and contemporary jazz, Rosewoman, Román Díaz and Francisco Mora Catlett share conceptual, artistic and spiritual intersections. Rosewoman sees this residency as an opportunity to “incorporate and stage the work of treasured co-creators who also highlight these traditions in unique contemporary contexts, while building bridges between artists and cultural voices based in NY and also those artificially separated by Cuba/U.S. policies.”
Master folklorist Román Díaz, a member of all three ensembles (leader of one), as well as a former member of Yoruba Andabo (Cuba) has been a featured and foundational member of her New Yor-Uba ensemble since 2008. Fulfilling a desire to further share her music (deeply informed by traditions born of Cuba) with Cuban audiences through her partnership with HotHouseGlobal, especially gratifying for Ms.Rosewoman is the fact that Mr. Diaz is featured in all 3 ensembles.
Michele Rosewoman | Credit: Chris Drukker
Michele Roswoman’s New Yor-Uba lineup includes: Michele Rosewoman– piano/vocals. Alex Norris–trumpet. Mike Thomas- alto & soprano saxophone, Isaiah Collier-tenor saxophone. Chris Washburne–trombone/bass trombone/tuba. Gregg August–bass. Robby Ameen–drums. Román Díaz – percussion/vocals. Rafael Monteagudo–percussion. Mauricio Herrera-percussion/vocals, Abraham Rodriguez- lead vocals.
This project enables us to share Mr. Díaz with the Cuban communities he is born of but separated from, as they experience his impact on the jazz community here in the U.S,” says Rosewoman. “And by ‘taking’ this music to Cuba, we all return to the source and pay homage to the roots of our inspiration, nurturing this junction.
Francisco Mora Catlett’s Afro Horn, an avant-garde ensemble that highlights the African presence in the Americas through an assemblage of prime musicians and a repertoire of written and improvised jazz expressions and Cuban folkloric influences, will also perform. Mora is especially known for his work with Motown, Sun Ra and Max Roach and as co-founder of the Oyu Oro Afro-Cuban Experimental Dance Company (2000) with his wife Danys Perez Prades, performing dance and music from the African Diaspora. Lineup: Francisco Mora Catlett–drums. Sam Newsome–soprano saxophone. Román Díaz –percussion. James Weidman–piano. Rashaan Carter–bass. Alex Harding–baritone saxophone.
Francisco Mora Catlett’s Afro Horn
Also performing is Román Díaz, a scholar of religious and folkloric music, composer & performer of folklore and contemporary jazz. Considered both a pillar of the New York City jazz avant-garde and one of Afro Cuban music’s great innovators, his Rumba Ensemble displays his vision of the confluence of New York City’s tradition of music of the African diaspora. He has performed and recorded with Merceditas Valdes, Raices Profundas, Paquito D’Rivera, Michele Rosewoman, Henry Threadgill, David Virelles, Jane Bunnett, Juan Carlos Formell, Orlando “Puntilla” Rios, Oriente Lopez, Afro Horn& Danilo Perez among many others.
Román Díaz ‘s Rumba Ensemble: Román Díaz -percussion/vocals. TBA-percussion. Clemente Medina-percussion. Rafael Monteagudo-percussion. Abraham Rodriguez-vocals, TBA- vocals. Onel Mulet-saxophone/flute.
Three years since their last trip to Port Chester, Ween will return to the Capitol Theatre for three nights to paint the town brown.
Tickets for the February 18, 19 and 20 shows will go on sale Friday, November 12 at 10am. Get tickets early via venue pre-sale on Thursday, November 11 from 10am-10pm using password TURNTHECAPBROWN. Get Ween at The Capitol Theatre tickets .
Gotham Early Music Scene also known as GEMS announced their Open Gates Project launching with three concerts featuring women of color. The concerts will take place November 12-14, 2021 across three boroughs of New York City.
Open Gates Project inaugural concert series is The Divine Feminine: Centering Women of Color in Early Music. This concert series is focusing on the 17th–century works celebrating the animating feminine spirit featuring an ensemble composed of women of color.
The 17th–century female composers it will be focusing on are Chiara Margarita Cozzolani, Barbara Strozzi, and Francesca Caccini. The concerts will be performed by outstanding rising and established American and international artists, with careers encompassing early, chamber, and Classical music, opera, jazz, and musical theater. The program is bookended with works devoted to the Virgin Mary. It opens with Madre, de los primores by New World visionary Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz who is considered the first great Latin American poet and recognized for her influential perspectives on women and scholarship. Pergolesi’s glorious and sublime Stabat Mater closes the program.
The Open Gates Project and GEMS as a bigger entity is committed to helping make significant efforts to make early music performance opportunities more equitable for artists of color and more accessible to historically excluded communities of color. Over the coming year, the Project will offer a rich variety of music performed by distinguished artists for diverse audiences throughout New York City.
The three performances will take place starting on Friday, November 12, 2021 at 7 PM at the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Manhattan. Then on Saturday, November 13, 2021 at 7 PM at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center in Queens. And will wrap up on Sunday, November 14, 2021 at 4 PM at the Pregones Theater in the Bronx. All audience members must have proof of vaccination and wear a mask. Check the GEMS website closer to the opening dates for full COVID-19 protocols and any updates.
The lineup includes Nicole Besa singing soprano, Aine Hakamatsuka singing soprano, Heather Hill singing soprano, Amaranta Viera singing soprano, Tanisha Anderson singing mezzo-soprano, Guadalupe Peraza singing mezzo-soprano, AnnMarie Sandy singing mezzo-soprano, Hai-Ting Chinn singing alto, Jessica Park on violin, Maria Romero Ramos on violin, Amelia Sie on violin, Patricia Ann Neely on viola da gamba, and Duangkamon “Wan” Wattanasak on harpsichord.
The program includes performances of: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Madre, de los primores, Chiara Margarita Cozzolani: O dulcis Jesu, Barbara Strozzi: I baci, Francesca Caccini: O vive rose, Alessandro Stradella: Sinfonia No. 22 in D minor, and Giovanni Battista Pergolesi: Stabat Mater.
Tickets are available for $15–$30 ($5 for students, ID required at venue) are all General Admission seating and are available onlineby calling 212-866-0468, or at the door depending on availability..
For more information on the GEMS Open Gates Project and its upcoming events visit their website.
Gianluca Tramontana, music journalist and host of the Radio Free Brooklyn showSitting with Gianluca, spent 2017–2019 in the mountains around Guantánamo City, Cuba, immersed in—and recording— joyous, all-inclusive and mostly improvised, riff-based acoustic roots music of the island. The music was born in the sugar and coffee plantations in the mountains around the city, less than thirty miles from Guantanamo Bay, and serves as the soundtrack for joyous three-day parties called Changuisis.
This incredible collection of recordings, which includes over 50 brand new remote recordings and 100 intimate photographs of the culture and its people, was released this past July 30 by Petaluma Records as a three-disc deluxe box set with a hardbound full-color book and extensive liner notes titled Changüí – The Sound of Guantánamo. This release, the most extensive exploration of the Changüí style to date, has garnered four- and five-star reviews (MOJO, Songlines, No Depression, and Afropop) and been featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition, BBC6, PRI’S The World, and the CBC.
On November 17, Radio Free Brooklyn is partnering with the Pine Box Rock Shop for a free event that will be part belated record release party, part panel discussion and slideshow dedicated to this vibrant brand of Cuban music. Hosted by Tramontana, the event will include a conversation with four-time Grammy-winning producer Steve Rosenthal (co-producer) and Ned Sublette, Cuban music expert and author of the definitive tome Cuba and its Music. This will also serve as a “better late than never” album release party where a copy of the box (and some other special gifts) will be raffled off to a lucky audience member.
The Pine Box Rock Shop is located at 12 Grattan Street, Brooklyn. The 90-minute event kickoff at 8 pm. RSVP here.
Radio Free Brooklyn is a non-commercial freeform Internet radio station, streaming original content by the artists and residents of Brooklyn 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Listen live here.
moe.’s Midnight Sun 2022 event will take place in Iceland. The event was announced across moe’s social media and will take place August 5-7, 2022 in Reykjavik, Iceland supported by Dopapod and Aqueous.
Midnight Sun will consist of moe. playing six sets over three nights at Reykjavik’s Eldborg Hall in the Harpa Center. Dopapod and Aqueous will be there as supporting acts. with additional late night performances set to take place at venues near Harpa, with more details and specifics will be announced in the near future. Part of the draw of Iceland for the moe.’s Midnight Sun festivities is the fact it will be taking place in summer which will provide daylight that stretches long into the evening.
moe. recently celebrated 30 years together as a band, having formed in 1989 at University of Buffalo. A true New York band, guitarists Al Schnier and Chuck Garvey hail from Oneida County, while drummer Vinnie Amico calls Saratoga County home.
Dopapod formed at Berklee College Of Music back in 2007, with Eli Winderman, Rob Compa, Chuck Jones, and Neal “Fro” Evans filling out the original and current lineups. Aqueous is an indie-jam rock group that formed in Buffalo back in 2007, composed of Mike Gantzer, David Loss and Evan McPhaden and Rob Houk.
VIP tickets will go on sale on November 8, 2021 at 12 PM EST and the general on-sale goes on sale on November 11, 2021 at 10 AM EST. The VIP packages will include prime seating, access to an acoustic brunch set and more to be announced. Tickets can be purchased here once they are available.
For more information on Moe’s Midnight Sun 2022 visit their website.
The Del Lago Casino venue “The Vine” is bringing an infamous night from San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom back to life. The famed concert of “The Last Waltz” will be recreating music by “The Band” at the Del Lago Casino on Saturday November 13th. The evening’s playbill includes over 40 performers as part of “The Salt City Waltz.” The 2021 edition promises to feature new faces and music added to the show. The production inside The Vine offers a glimpse into the 1970’s Winterland Ballroom. It will transport the concert goers to the same movie lens Martin Scorsese shot the original in.
Rick Danko of the Band
The classic house band will feature Los Blancos from Syracuse featuring Mark Tiffault on drums, Colin Aberdeen on Guitar, and Steve Winston on Bass. The addition to their core of Scott Ebner on Piano, Mark Westers on Guitar, and Bill Barry on Organ will help shape the Vine stage nicely.
To make the performance sound full circle at the Vine please welcome the Levon Helm Studio Horns. Featuring Jay Collins on Tenor Saxophone, Erik Lawrence on Baritone/ Alto sax, Steve Bernstein on Trumpet. Special guest on trombone and tuba, from Bruce Springsteen E Street Band Clark Gayton will join the Waltz this year. As Levon Helm once said, “I love horns and the bigger the band, the better it sounds in my ear.”
Producer Stacey Waterman has curated all four editions of the Salt City Waltz; creating an atmosphere very much like that Thanksgiving night in 1976, right down to a chandelier. The idea behind this show is to celebrate the music of The Band and The Last Waltz. The musicians who assemble for this each year are the cream of the crop and leave the audience feeling thankful. You can purchase tickets to the event here.
Levon Helm’s infamous studio barn in the Hudson Valley is still hosting their own live music. The music never stopped through his daughter Amy Helm and the list of other great acts to still turn the same wheel. Music also lives on at Bob Dylan’s Big Pink House that The Band famously recorded at in Woodstock as well.
The Power of Music just kinda kills all those ills. It cures everything and you’ve got more energy because of the music. And I’ve Never Seen it Fail. Its good for ya…real good for ya
