The village of Colonie, located just north of Albany, has been running an outdoor concert series sure to be fun for the whole family.
The series kicked off on July 8 and runs every Thursday from 6-8 PM. Shows are held at the Crossings of Colonie, which was named the Capital Region’s #1 Best Park in 2018. The Crossings is over 130 acres and features scenic walking and biking trails, a tranquil pond, playgrounds for the kids, and grassy meadows for picnics or other gatherings.
Admission to the concert series is free. Audiences are encouraged to bring lawn chairs, blankets and of course, their favorite dance partners.
Colonie is the most populous suburb of Albany, with more than 83,000 residents, so it is no surprise the village has much to offer. Whether it be the bustling farmers’ market (also held in the Crossings) or extensive shopping at the nearby Colonie Center mall, there are countless options for summertime entertainment. Colonie also has a strong music and arts scene, evidenced not only by the concert series but also by the numerous galleries and art shows across town.
The Thursday concerts are rain or shine in the Crossings Park gazebo. For more information contact Laura Archambault (518-783-2760, ext. 2101 or ArchambaultL@colonie.org). The full lineup is listed below.
Schenectady’s Music Haven has announced a three show season of regional and international talent after a year hiatus. Musicians will take the stage at Schenectady’s Central Park on August 15, 22 and 29.
Since 1990, Music Haven has been bringing world-class music to Schenectady. Although the series is shorter than previous years, Music Haven has been working to continue their reputation as a local hub for music exploration.
I’m thrilled to keep Music Haven on the map this summer and welcome friends and neighbors back to the heart of the park.
Mona Golub, producing artistic director of Music Haven
Kicking off the series is local blues band Wyld Blu on August 15. Headlining the night is blues guitarist Albert Cummings, touring in celebration of his new album, Believe.
Albert Cummings
The second concert of the season will feature Israeli/Iranian pop singer, Liraz, who will be accompanied by several members of NYC’s Ethiopian jazz collective, the Anbessa Orchestra. Palestinian Kanun virtuoso, Firas Zreik, will set the stage as the evening’s opening guest.
The Schenectady Symphony Orchestra returns to Music Haven this year, under the direction of Glen Cortese. Closing the series out on August 29, their program is inspired by “The American Songbook” and contains classic music from the Tin Pan Alley era by Gershwin, Porter and Berlin, Copland, traditional American folk tunes and popular film score by John Williams. Special guest vocalists, Mia Scirocco and Casey Grey will be featured throughout the evening.
Schenectady Symphony performing with the Octavo Singers in 2018
Food and drink will be available for purchase from local vendors Michele’s Charcoal Pit, Wolf Hollow Brewing Company and Nine Pin Cider. Ben & Jerry’s ice cream will be on-site as well.
In the case of inclement weather, shows will be held at at Proctors.
All concerts are free and begin at 7 p.m. at Central Park in Schenectady. For more information about Music Haven, visit their website. Show updates, including weather calls, will be posted on the Music Haven Concert Series Facebook.
Check out the schedule below:
August 15: Albert Cummings (w/ guest Wyld Blue)
August 22: Liraz (w/ guest Firas Zreik)
August 29: Schenectady Symphony Orchestra (w/ special guest vocalists Mia Scirocco and Casey Grey)
On Wednesday, July 14th, Albany’s Alive at 5 concert series featured two acts native to upstate New York, indie folk-pop duo, The Sea The Sea, and Folk-rock, multi instrumentalist Amy Helm.
For the third week in a row, the concert was held at the Rain location under the 787 overpass. Despite the uncooperative weather, attendance was near capacity. Check out the setlists and photo gallery below.
Alive at 5 returns this week, Wednesday, July 21, with Hartley’s Encore and YAM YAM.
Setlists from Alive at 5 with Amy Helm and The Sea The Sea
The Sea The Sea: I’ll be loving you, Rainstorm, A thousand years, Broken, In the altogether, Back to the wild, Not the same as goodbye, The meaning of love, This is the way, Love we are we love, Let our Kites Fly, Nothing Brighter, The Art of Feeling, I’m so Lonesome, Stumbling Home, Everybody, Fall before the climb
Amy Helm: This Too Shall Light, Heat Lightning, Breathing, Rescue Me, Roll The Stone, Carry It Alone, Calling Home, Cotton On The Cane, Running Out Of Love, Wait For The Rain, Terminal B, He Called Me Baby, Atlantic City, Didn’t It rain, Sweet Mama
Each Sunday evening from 7-9pm you’ll find EQXposure on WEQX, featuring two hours of local music from up and coming artists. Tune into WEQX.com this Sunday night to hear new music fromSara Devoe, Blackcat Elliot and many more!
WEQX has long been the preeminent independent station in the Capital Region of New York, broadcasting from Southern VT to an ever-expanding listening audience. NYS Music brings you a preview of artists to discover each week, just a taste of the talent waiting to be discovered by fans like you.
Sara Devoe
Albany artist Sara Devoe blends a dream pop aesthetic with the songwriting sensibilities of Phoebe Bridgers and Lana Del Rey. “Big Night” is the first single off her debut EP, out this summer. Chill and slightly aloof, it’s tailor-made for solo summer drives.
Blackcat Elliot
Inspired by the CBGB punk scene of the 1970s with a side of 90s grunge, Albany garage band trio Blackcat Elliot is still going strong after 20 years. Made up of Fast Eddie on bass, Marky Balboa on drums and Gus on guitar and vocals, they’re self-proclaimed “troublesome, working class heroes.” Their 2019 album There Is No Good In Us features “Take It Back,” a hard rock number with Grohl-esque vocals.
U.C.
Toronto prog trio U.C. released their album Time Distortion in March. Quirky and experimental, “Magnanimity” pays tribute to the titular five-dollar word with daring production choices. While relegated to the background, the shimmering piano that enters halfway through makes the song. At times, “Magnanimity” appears to pay homage to Freddie Mercury and “Bohemian Rhapsody.” If the listener didn’t know its release date, it could easily be mistaken for a song from the past or even future.
The historic city of Cohoes, located in the Northeast corner of Albany County will be hosting Rock the Block, a free five-week concert series. The concerts will be held on Thursday evenings from 6:30-8:30pm in Canal Square (72 Remsen Street) started on July 15th and end on August 5th.
The city of Cohoes was established in 1630 and was strictly an agricultural area. During the Civil War, the population of Cohoes increased at rapid speeds. There was an abundance of water power which made it ideal for manufacturing and commercial operations. It is known for its textile manufacturing and six large cotton mills. Today, the city has a population of about 16.5 thousand people.
Rock the Block 2021 has a very exciting lineup. There are shows each weekend of July and into the first week of August. Admission is free, and bringing your own law chair is recommended. There will be plenty of food and beverage available for purchase at all concerts, so to get the most out of your Cohoes experience, come ready to eat, drink, and enjoy the rowdy music!
Cohoes Rock the Block 2021 Lineup
July 15th: Aquanett
July 22nd: Damn the Torpedoes (Tom Petty Tribute Band)
July 28th: The Refrigerators
July 29th: Skeeter Creek
August 5th: Funk Evolution
Check out the video below of Rock the Block 2018 to see all the fun that is in store this summer:
Lettuce finished two nights in the Adirondacks as part of their “bring back the love” Summer 2021 and converted Charles R Wood Park to “Lake George Duke,” in honor of funk keyboardist George Duke. Lettuce founding member Sam Kininger special guested on Saturday night.
“Sam’s The Godfather of Lettuce, he believed in us before we did,” said Lettuce drummer Adam Deitch. The current Lettuce hybrid batch has guitarist Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff on guitar, Nigel Hall keyboards/vocals, Adam Deitch on drums, Erick “Jesus” Coomes On Bass, Ryan Zoidis on saxophone and trumpeter Eric “Benny” Bloom. The groups second to last New York show was at the Capitol Theater on 4/20 with special guest John Scofield.
Friday night included a two set performance and encore. The evenings highlight was an original off Lettuce 2008 album Rage! “By Any Shmeeans Necessary” mixed with a New York instrumental tribute to Notorious B.I.G. The band laid down the original funk track “Juicy Fruit” that the Brooklyn artist sampled.
Rolling off this great energy the band put on an epic Saturday night show with special guest Sam Kininger. Sam’s on stage presence was the ultimate “Break Out” for live sets this year. The second set culminated in another New York nod for “Madison Square.” It got everyone on the bandstand lifted with the grooving audience.
This was Uticat’s Kininger second live performance this year. He played his sons wedding at the Stanley Theatre in Utica where he last performed with Lettuce on November 20 2019. “The Sam Fam” were all in attendance for a funked up reunion on the newly crowned “Lake George Duke” Guitarist Micheal Wooten said of the performance “You can tell they are having fun again up there” The band encored with a kickin cover of the James Brown classic “Funky Drummer.”
Drummer Adam Deitch and Bass player Erick “Jesus” Coombs kept the Saturday night groove going at KRIS & Co featuring Ryan Dempsey after show party in town. The duo jammed on the spot to samples of the Grateful Dead’s “Shakedown Street” and J.J. Cale’s “Cocaine.”
Lettuce kept burning in the Empire State on Wednesday July 14 for their third New York date, this time at Lewiston’s Artpark. The historic park stage sits next to the running Niagara River across from Canada. The band and audience played off the great landscape for a three hour set and encore. The sunset over the border brought out a third stone from the sun tease by guitarist Adam Smirnoff. The crowd responded to Lettuce outbursts of groove by throwing heads of actual fresh produce lettuce in the air during the performance.
The band resonated by debuting a brand new song not on the setlist named “The Lock,” off an upcoming record. Lettuce is bringing back the love this summer and knocking out crowds along the way. Nigel Hall’s vocals over the grooves, “Think I’d better let it go, looks like another love T.K.O. (Oh, Oh)” during a Teddy Pendergrass Cover.
The band encored with “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears to keep this ’80s-style New York summer resurgence of live music. Lettuce returns to New York at Brooklyn Steel on November 6 2021.
Lettuce 7/9/21 Lake George, NY: Blaze, MR Shminklehuffer, Kron Dutch, Shmink Dabby, By Any Shmeans Necessary( Don’t stop the music/Juicy Fruit) Ready to Live, Larimar, Trilogy->Trap->Makin my way->Checker Wrecker, Suppit, Do it like You do Encore: RVA Dance
Lettuce 7/10/21 Lake George,NY: Luck of Lucien->Krewe, Pocket Change, Gratitude, Mr Yancey, Sam Huffs Flying Machine->Squadlive Royal highness, Supit, Don’t Change, Breakout–>Relax, Nyack–>Madison Square Encore: Do it like you do (funky drummer)
Lettuce 7/14/21 Lewiston, NY: New Reel, Royal Highness, In the Middle -> Silence is Golden, SquadLive, Fly, Phyllis, Love TKO, RVA Dance Encore: Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Lettuce guitarist Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff and drummer Adam Dietch spoke with NYS music about past, present and future music experiences in the state.
Matthew Romano: Tell me about some music you have seen live in New York State that helped put the groove in you
Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff: I remember my Uncle bringing me to see Stanley Jordan at the Blue Note in NYC. That blew my mind as a kid. I have all these different ages of seeing things that changed me. One of my first concerts was Robert Cray “Forecast Calls for Pain Tour.” At 17 years old I saw Phish at Jones Beach for the first time and it helped me understand you could build a grass roots audience. You didn’t need to be on the radio. You could follow your own path. That’s how Lettuce has aimed itself.
AS: Does seeing the Grateful Dead In 1990 at the old Giants stadium count? Sting opened and Branford Marsalis sat in on “Eyes of the World.”
Seeing Prince at Madison Square Garden has to be the big one. He was such a genre breaking musician. He went up there and played what he felt and didn’t have to categorize everything. I feel like for New York that’s a big part of it. It’s the melting pot. We’re all different, a little bit of everything and try and make it a little bit like you too. It also represents modern humanity. That New York attitude. “Just got to pull up your britches, do the best you can do and be yourself.”
MR: Any current musicians that are on the scene that you have been digging?
AS: Well You have Taz, other younger cats like Justin Lee Schultz. DOmi and JD Beck that’s been playing with Thundercat. You got MONONEON. I just got to jam with Cory Henry, TaRon Lockett and Isiah Sharkey.
MR: What about the future of your own musical journey? What’s on the horizon?
AS: Well we have been lucky enough to play with some of our heroes. Our new recording that we just finished I feel we have made some beautiful music and history with Bootsy Collins. I can’t wait for y’all to hear this.
Adam Deitch: Our friend Alissa Bennevente whose an amazing bass player runs Bootsy’s Instagram. She sent us an uplifting video of him speaking during our time off that gave us hope. It’s Bootsy giving a positive message to everyone out there . At the end of the video he just kept saying (finger snaps) “Keep The Funk Alive” (finger snap). I immediately downloaded the sample of it and sent it to the guys
MR: Wow. So you just took the end of him speaking on the video and sampled it? That sounds like an organic way of creating a groove.
AD: Yea exactly. I added drums and quickly sent it to everyone in the band. They all kept adding their parts to it.
AD: We sent it to him and he loved it. He played bass and added his vocals to it. Showed interest in wanting to make a video of it. He even eluded that he’s glad a band like ours is still playing real funk music.
MR: Sounds as if you’ve been added to Bootsy’s shot calling like on the 1980s Dave Sanborn TV special… “Lettuce”… get ready to roll!
On a steamy Friday night, Lark Hall played host to two of the fastest rising jam bands in New York, Long Island’s Baked Shrimp, and Albany’s own Glass Pony, as a warm up to the former’s LonCon Fest.
For the opening set of the night, Glass Pony tore in with “Maximus” that segued incredibly into Oasis’ “Morning Glory,” but so smooth you wondered ‘is this a new song inspired by the 90s, or are they deep in a 90s cover?’ Sure enough, as guitarist/singer Eddie Hotaling belted out the lyrics, you knew the story. After the high energy and upbeat lyrics of “Something Good,” bassist Jeff Picarazzi sang lead on Leo Sayer’s “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing.” With a new album coming down the road, and a crowd that was getting down from start to finish, Glass Pony has a lot more music in store.
Setlist: Maximus > Morning Glory, North Bound (unfinished) -> Something Good, Check it Again, You Make Me Feel Like Dancing -> Daydream (unfinished) > House on the Hill, Doppler, Bottom of the Ocean
Baked Shrimp, a jam power trio from Long Island put on a prog/funk clinic. For their entire 90 minute set the band moved seamlessly through complicated chord progressions and never lost a beat or the attention of the crowd. The young trio has great potential in their three members, bassist Scott Reill, guitarist/singer Jared Cowen, and drummer Jager Soss, a doppelganger for Andy Frasco. Their festival LonCon will be held in Parksville, NY over August 27-28. Find out more details on the festival here.
Setlist: The Manatee, Numpty, Synth, The Method -> Now’s Your Moment -> The Method, Four Corners to Every Side, Orpheus, Down the Drain
Timbre Coup has long been an Albany band with a heavy following and an energetic fanbase. Ahead of their long awaited fourth studio album, Sudden Urge, the first in almost 10 years, Timbre Coup put on a release party at Putnam Place in Saratoga Springs on Friday, June 25.
With a full night ahead of them, the band started strong weaving heavy guitar riffs with blasting bass lines. The first set was comprised mostly of their new album, playing it almost in its entirety.
The second set brought back a lot of fan favorites, bringing back a slew of tunes from their album, Knuckles and Valleys. An incredible cover of “Give It To Me Baby” ended an incredible night. Not known for playing covers, this was a real treat.
Set 1: Verbal Kint, Running Always, Mustache, Sudden Urge, Z#, Loaftones, Chupacabra, Snoop Tiger, Watching You
Set 2: Mother Nature, July, HTRAB, January, May, February, March, Give It To Me Baby
Each Sunday evening from 7-9pm you’ll find EQXposure on WEQX, featuring two hours of local music from up and coming artists. Tune into WEQX.com this Sunday night to hear new music fromNext Station, Swamp Baby and many more!
WEQX has long been the preeminent independent station in the Capital Region of New York, broadcasting from Southern VT to an ever-expanding listening audience. NYS Music brings you a preview of artists to discover each week, just a taste of the talent waiting to be discovered by fans like you.
Next Station
Next Station, an Upstate NY band founded in 2010, released their album The Flow on May 5. The title track is as cool and confident as its name suggests, like an auditory lazy river. “The Flow” deserves to be longer than its runtime of three and a half minutes, and sounds even better on repeat.
Swamp Baby
Albany chamber pop band Swamp Baby is known for their atmospheric ballads. “Identified Submerged Object,” the opener of their 2020 album Water Gods, converts the northern lights on the cover into sound form. The track reaches a crescendo at the halfway point, when its vocals are overtaken by a sweeping piano and string instrumental. Water Gods follows Swamp Baby’s first two LPs, All Fours (2010) and For Baby’s Babies (2012).
E.R.I.E.
E.R.I.E., an indie pop-punk quartet from Albany, uses the tagline “Not yer Dad’s dad-rock.” Based on its title, their song “The Dirt Inside Your Soul” seems to tease a bitter breakup jam, but it’s actually the opposite. Frontman T.J. King vows to love the song’s subject not just in spite of their flaws, but because of them.
For the second week of the City of Albany’s Alive at 5 concert series, funk was on the lineup and Soule Monde and company delivered. Moving to the rain location at the boat lunch under 787, the night started on time with Victory Soul Orchestra, who have been on the rise over the last year with memorable streams and now, live performances.
Headlining Alive at 5 tonight was Soule Monde, featuring Russ Lawton and Ray Paczkowski from Trey Anastasio Band. The drums and keys duo sounds more like a full band and got the ample crowd up and moving. Deep funky Afrobeat influenced rhythms framed much of the performance, one that paused for 15 minutes following the song seen below, and then continued until the 8pm curfew.
Alive at 5 returns next week with Amy Helm headlining, and The Sea The Sea opening the night.
