NYS Music 202​1

Category: Capital Region

  • Saratoga Winners welcomes Armored Saint and M-16 on this day in 1988

    On Wednesday, February 17, 1988, 33 years ago tonight, the ‘headbangingest band in L.A.’, Armored Saint, played a gig at Saratoga Winners in Latham, NY.  At the time, the band were touring their great third record, ‘Raising Fear’, on Chrysalis Records.  Saint had been to the Albany area before – opening for Metallica and WASP in early 1985 in Scotia in support of first album ‘March of the Saint’, and again in mid-1986, a headline show at the short-lived JB’s Theater, promoting second record ‘Delirious Nomad’, so this gig was packed with enthusiastic headbangers.

    Metroland advert

    The opening act was Albany-area heavies M-16, and the years have dimmed my memory of their set – but I remember them getting a good reaction, not much else.

    saratoga winners armored saint
    Bassist Joey Vera – photo by Mark Kurtzner

    Saint hit the Saratoga Winners stage with the blazing title track of the then-new record, “Raising Fear,” followed by the anthemic first-album classic “March of the Saint,” the chorus roared along with by those in attendance.  The band played a long set, incorporating older songs like “Can U Deliver,” “Nervous Man” and set-closer “Long Before I Die.”  A particular highlight was the creeping, epic tale of nuclear annihilation, “Aftermath,” from Delirious Nomad.  Drummer Gonzo and late, great guitarist Dave Prichard also had solo spots, both killer musicians.  These days the band rarely play songs from ‘Raising Fear’, but that night they did a fair number of tracks from it, including vampire tale “Human Vulture,” “Out on a Limb,” their cover of Lynyrd Syknyrd’s “Saturday Night Special,” “Book of Blood,” and the rampaging “Chemical Euphoria,” the most enduring and the one most oft-played over the years.  The first encore was “Frozen Will/Legacy” from that record – Setlist FM, if you believe “internet truths,” says this was the only known time they played that song live, ever, but maybe it was the only time it was bootlegged.  Either way, great song.

    saratoga winners armored saint
    Guitarist Dave Prichard – photo by Mark Kurtzner

    The show finished with the band raging through a cover of Black Sabbath’s first-album classic “N.I.B.,” and the band’s high-speed, neck-snapping traditional show-closer, the mighty “Mad House.”  A roaring, headbanging night – luckily, the whole thing was filmed by a fan in the audience, and is available online, and the energetic vibe from both band and crowd bleeds through, even via the rough footage available.

    The video caused some drama after the show. My buddy Mark (who took the great photos accompanying this retrospective) and I had set up an interview with singer John Bush for post-concert – I think for my WCDB college radio show – and when we were about to go back, the road manager, a guy named Zach, gave us a major ration about the video. Apparently, someone had seen a friend of ours videoing it, saw us talking, and insisted that we turn over the video before the interview commenced. Of course, it wasn’t our video, we didn’t have it, people tape stuff, that’s life – plus, said bootlegger had left, so what were we supposed to do? Road Manager guy didn’t want to hear it and continued to give us grief. This lasted for a while. I can’t recall how it resolved, but I think someone from the band told him to chill out, and we got a really good interview with John and some of the other guys – I remember we got a really funny, cool WCDB station ID from drummer Gonzo and guitarist Dave Prichard which was used on-air and WCDB for years afterwards. Road manager aside, Saint were/are some great guys.

    saratoga winners armored saint
    Singer John Bush – photo by Mark Kurtzner

    The ironic part of the “road manager giving us crap” story is that, via the tape-trading scene, Saint eventually got a copy of the video, and used the bootleg video recording of “Raising Fear” from this show as part of the ‘Trip Through Red Times’ video/DVD which was released as a tribute to the mighty AS guitarist Dave Prichard after he sadly passed away from leukemia just two years later – what a great guitarist this guy was, and he’s been gone 31 years this month.  A sad loss.  All hail Dave, and all hail Armored Saint. 

    saratoga winners armored saint

    Setlist: Raising Fear, March of the Saint, Human Vulture, Nervous Man, Out on a Limb (Last known live performance), Aftermath, Book of Blood, Chemical Euphoria, Can U Deliver, Gonzo Sandoval’s Drum Solo, Can U Deliver (reprise), Dave Prichard’s Guitar Solo, Saturday Night Special (Lynyrd Skynrd cover), Long Before I Die 

    Encore: Frozen Will / Legacy (Only known live performance) , N. I. B. (Black Sabbath cover – Last known performance), Mad House

  • America Sings Returns to Caffe Lena After Shutdown from COVID-19

    Saratoga Springs company, Opera Saratoga, has announced that their series dedicated to highlighting BIPOC talent, America Sings, returns on February 21 to Caffe Lena.

    America Sings Caffe Lena
    America Sings Headliner Luis Alejandro Orozco

    The free concert, America Sings, takes place at Caffe Lena after months of being paused due to the pandemic. America Sings was created to lift up the voices of the unheard and underrepresented racial groups on the opera stage. Texas native baritone, Luis Alejandro Orozco, is the first performer for this comeback, along with pianist Michael Lewis. The program will also feature music from classical composers, Schubert, Brahms and Piazzolla.

    Orozco is a Mexican-American opera singer and was apart of Opera Saratoga’s Young Artist Program. He is noted for his baritone and legato. For several seasons, Orozco performed in several shows for a plethora of operas. Due to COVID-19, the 2019-2020 season was short-lived, he performed at the Opera in Williamsburg and Opera Roanoake. While he has already performed nationally and internationally, he made his Swiss debut recently at Theater St. Gallen.

    America Sings debuted in November 2020 with Mezzo-soprano Deborah Nansteel as the headliner for the first concert with pianist Giovanni Reggioli. COVID-19 put the series to a halt, however, it is ready to be put back in action. It is live-streamed and free to the public but viewers are encouraged to donate through a virtual tip jar. The tips are split evenly to support the Opera Saratoga and the performing artist since both parties have been financially impacted by opera shutdowns.

    The series comes back this Sunday at 7 p.m. Future performers include soprano Brandie Sutton, baritone Justin Austin and composer and pianist Damien Sneed, who were originally supposed to perform in December and January. Leadership support for the show comes from Greenburg Traurig, LLP and hospitality sponsorship from The Hampton Inn & Suites Saratoga Springs. America Sings live-streams on Caffe Lena’s Youtube channel and Facebook and Opera Saratoga’s Facebook.

  • Albany Symphony Orchestra Showcases Rarely Performed Brahms

    On February 13, the Albany Symphony Orchestra performed three works: Sir William Walton’s Facade: An Entertainment, Tyson Davis’s Distances, and Serenade in D, op. 11, by Johannes Brahms. The concert was streamed virtually from Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga Springs.

    Albany Symphony Orchestra Brahms

    William Walton was a British composer known for his instrumental writing, and was nominated for two Academy Awards in the 1940’s. He was inspired by a friend’s poem to write Facade. It started as a piece just for speaker and six instruments, but Walton later expanded it to an orchestra. The ASO did well on this piece. The speaker, Lucy Fitz Gibbon, navigated the tricky passages and was able to shine.

    The next piece performed by Albany Symphony Orchestra was Distances. It was composed by Tyson Davis. Davis, 21, a young but talented composer. He entered the UNC School of the Arts, studying with Lawrence Dillon. Later, he wrote for Eighth Blackbird, the Attacca String Quartet, and UNCSA Symphony Orchestra. He worked with the National Youth Orchestra to premiere a work that was commissioned by the American Embassy in Berlin to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

    Albany Symphony Orchestra Brahms

    Written after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Davis wanted to explore themes of emotions and anxieties that the “New World Order” of a pandemic have caused. To do this, he left the piece with ambiguity and lingering passages.

    Brahms was a dominant composer of the nineteenth century; he was not revolutionary in terms of structural change, but he wrote beautiful, sweeping melodies. The Serenade was his first work for a “larger” group (originally eight people). The piece usually contains six movements, but the ASO opted instead for a rarity. Instead of those six, the ASO played four. Symphonies are traditionally four movements, not six, so the ASO played movements 1, 3, 4, and 6. With these four, it encapsulates what a traditional symphony is: a faster first movement, a slow second, a minuet or scherzo third, and a fast finale.

    Albany Symphony Orchestra Brahms

    Brahms originally cast the work in four movements. Like so many of Brahms’ early efforts, that original form suggests a young composer wrestling with specter of the greatest of all symphonists, Beethoven, and trying to create a first symphony. The other movements were added later to create the Serenade.

    Overall, the Walton was phenomenal, especially with the addition of Gibbon. If I had to describe Davis’s piece in one word, it would be, emotional. The piece evokes emotions that everyone is feeling. The symphonic arrangement gave better understanding of an earlier Brahms symphony.

  • Sarah King, Skeletons and many more are featured on this week’s EQXposure

    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 from Joe Mansmen and the Midnight Revival Band, Sarah King and many more.

    sarah king

    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.

    Sarah King has just released a new single ahead of her debut solo EP The Hour, due out in March. “Not Worth the Whiskey” is a gritty, bluesy, stomp-and-holler murder ballad that is raw and authentic with devil-may-care whistling, and atmospheric blues-rock guitar. King stands up to the idea that women should just smile and be quiet, exploring how righteous anger, revenge, and fear can actually lead to empowerment.

    Joe Mansmen and the Midnight Revival Band have unleashed a new single from their forthcoming album Renegade called “Wild Woman” that will be played at the top of Sunday night’s EQXposure show at 7pm. Raw visceral rock and roll at its finest, and EQXPosure is the only place you can hear this jam.

    You’ll also catch “Grape Juice,” the latest single from Skeletons; Red Light Rivals from Mayfield, NY with their latest “Ghost Town,” and “Turn to Dust,” the title cut off Son of a Gun’s newly released EP of the same name which will make it’s EQX debut on EQXposure. Read our profile of Son of a Gun here.

  • SPAC Dance Residency Unveils “Too Darn Hot” Virtual Performance

    On February 8th, Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) unveiled “Too Darn Hot,” a video featuring performances by 104 fourth grade students who took part in SPAC’s public-school dance residency.

    The popular in-school dance residency has continued this school year despite the pandemic with safe but immersive dance training for students at the Charlton Heights Elementary School and online fourth graders in the Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake school district.

    Image result for SPAC dance residency too darn hot
    Charlton Heights Elementary School students practicing “Too Darn Hot”

    Led by SPAC Teaching artists Cristiane Santos, J. Michael Zygo, and Brian Melick as well as Dennis Moench, former Broadway star and Senior Director of Education at SPAC, a total of 104 students (both in person and virtual learners) took part in SPAC’s Dance Residency in October-November 2020.


    The students participated in two in-person or virtual classes and continued with a series of video lessons on the SPAC Learning Library to learn Broadway-style choreography to the show tune “Too Darn Hot” from the musical Kiss Me, Kate.

    The students then performed their dance by filming individual videos for the SPAC team to combine into the virtual performance that premieres today to celebrate the students’ achievements and share their work with their families, peers, and the community.

    This program is a reimagined dance residency – a program that SPAC offers to elementary schools every year. As of last year, there were already eight local schools receiving the 5-10 week in-school dance program with SPAC teaching artists. This spring, SPAC plans to provide this virtual programming to other schools who participated last year to keep dance alive in their classrooms.

    “We were concerned that we might see a decline in student engagement in comparison to previous years with this new, primarily virtual format,” says Moench. “But we were pleasantly surprised when we saw all of the students fully commit to the program and give 100% of their energy immediately on day one!”


    “The arts are such an important part of the educational process, and it has been such a pleasure to work with the amazing and talented professionals from SPAC to bring dance to our fourth graders at Charlton Heights,” says Tim Sinnenberg, principal at Charlton Heights Elementary. “Our students have loved their experience, and practiced with all of their hearts for the recording of their moves.”

    Fourth grader Kadynce Dahl summed up the experience this way, “I have a lot of energy and I like horsing around so the dance residency was so awesome because I got to use my energy!”

    SPAC education partner Stewart’s Shops will be showing the video in its stores throughout Saratoga County from February 8-22.

  • theRep Adds Four Distinguished Figures to Associates Artist Program

    Albany’s Capital Repertory Theatre (theRep) welcomes four renowned theatre figures into their Associate Artist Program this month for their 2021 class.

    theRep

    Among the newest Associate Artists are Gordon Greenberg, Barbara Howard, Stephanie Klapper and Jean-Remy Monnay. Each of these members has made major accomplishments throughout their career and has contributed greatly to the theatre world. The recent members join the Associate Artists from 2019, Kevin McGuire, Yvonne Perry, Freddy Ramirez and Josh D. Smith.

    theRep associate Gordon Greenberg

    Gordon Greenberg is a writer and director who is currently based in New York. Some of his directing accolades include Broadway, Off-Broadway, London’s West End and 11 of theRep’s productions. Greenberg writes for television and stage productions and has developed and directed projects for art academies around the nation. He is currently co-writing and directing several works. He also has membership in Stage Directors & Choreographers Society, the Writers Guild of America, the Dramatists Guild and the Lincoln Center Theatre Directors Lab. 

    Albany native Barbara N. Howard has already been working with theRep as the storyteller for their virtual program for elementary students called Story Hour. Howard is also a teaching artist for theRep at Arbor Hill Elementary School and she’s performed on their stage in their production of The Trip to the Bountiful. She’s directed and acted in several plays and achieved several awards for her work. Her most notorious role as Lena Younger in A Raisin in the Sun gained her the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Theater Association of New York State. Howard also received the “Woman of Distinction” award from the Black Women’s Association of Albany.

    Stephanie Klapper is a casting-director from New York and was theRep’s casting director for almost 30 years. She worked on productions with Broadway, Off-Broadway, nationally, internationally and on small screens and big screens. Klapper has a casting team called Stephanie Klapper Casting and they have been involved with many projects. 

    Finally, Jean-Remy Monnay was born in Haiti and moved to New York in the ’80s. After living in New York for over a decade he moved Upstate and began performing in different theatres. He’s worked with theRep onstage and as a part of their Community Bridge Building Program Neighbors for Neighbors. Monnay founded and is the producing artistic director of the Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate NY, Inc. Monnay produced the collaboration 8:46 which theRep contributed to as well.

    Their duties as Associate Artists consist of acting as ambassadors for theRep and participate in one production per season of their three-year term. They become a part of the artistic leadership team and serves as the spokespersons for theRep to the community and vice versa. Members give their input on playwrights, directors, actors and more to the projects and work with the Producing Artistic Director Maggie Mancinelli- Cahill and Associate Artistic Director Margaret E. Hall. The program is meant to help breed more art from the associates.

  • Quintocracy Begins Residence At Troy Savings Bank Music Hall

    Capital Region based quintet Quintocracy has begun their new residency at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall. Their first project with the Hall is a series of four concerts featuring women composers. All performances will be broadcast live from the Music Hall stage.

    Quintocracy

    Coming together in 2019, Quintocracy was created with the goal of showing the beauty of chamber music to the masses. The group prides themselves on there unique live shows in which they instill a sense of community through their funny audience interactions. Members of Quintocracy have preformed at a wide array of New York based concert halls from the likes of Carnegie Hall to Lincoln Center. Quintocracy consists of Melanie Chirignan (Flute), Kelly Lockwood (Oboe), Michael Dee (Clarinet), Kathryn Svatek (Horn), and William Safford (Basoon).

    The Troy Saving Bank Music Hall is a historic classic music hall located in the heart of Downtown Troy. The Hall of built out of what used to be a banking office, hence The Hall’s name, and has since been host to hundreds of music acts from around the world. Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic The Hall has pivoted to offering several online concert performances, postposing all live shows until further notice.

    Schedule for Future Quintocracy Shows

    Part 2: Music for Flute and Guitar Sunday, February 14, 2021, at 3 PM, click here for the sign-up link
    Part 3: Music for Flute, Cello, and Piano Sunday, March 14, 2021, at 3 PM, click here for the sign-up link

    Part 4: Music by Katherine Hoover for woodwinds Sunday, April 18, 2021, 3 PM, click here for the sign-up link

  • Albany’s Rock-Outlaws Son Of A Gun Turn To Dust Friday

    New York capital region Rock-trio, Son Of A Gun, is on the run with the release of their second EP, Turn To Dust, to be released Friday, Feb. 12.

    While the band probably isn’t smuggling shine in their petina post-war Buick Roadmaster down the Hudson Valley, their stone-cold rock jams will take you on a wild ride. The proof: Turn To Dust corrodes Son Of A Gun and their Rock and Roll sheen with a wild-side, proving more raw than their former effort.

    Son Of A Gun Turn to Dust

    The title track to this EP, “Turn To Dust,” kicks up a washy hi-hat drum intro, instantaneously energising the band. The pages turn, like a storyline from their lyrics to musical motifs. The textured drum beat tightens up for the band’s versus and solo, but remains the driving constant. Son Of A Gun, leaves us trailing behind, right on their coattails. They throw you into a groove immediately, fronting as that under-assuming opener you never saw coming.

    Their concise burst of talent, in the forum of yearly releases keeps us intrigued. Their familiar tones reminisce of The Black Keys “Tighten Up” on tracks like “Watch and Wait,” yet keep you dancing with the song’s moving bass-lines. The solos scream, each and every time.

    Turn To Dust will feature their hip lick “Find the Seam,” as featured live at Albany’s Low Beat in Dec. 2019. These guys have claimed their spot in New York’s Rock arena. They are fuelled to roll through energising live performances as their fanbase multiplies, and venues re-open. As the band burst at the seams, hang on for the ride.

    “Find the Seam,” live at Albany’s Low Beat in Dec. 2019.

    Son Of A Gun formed late 2018 “bringing a jam sensibility to straight-ahead Rock & Roll.” Their 2020 self-titled debut aids to classic rock fans with a stout major chord mentality. Gritty guitars and loose-mix drums keep a humble garage-rock edge and live feel. The trio has a hearty sound that could fit the bill on any headline stage. Their tracks soar like a hand in the wind as you cruise down the HRE – a floating momentum that kicks off with momentum solos on “Down The Highway.”

    “…the band’s musicality and their compositions were tight and developed. They were songs that you could certainly rock out to. What was interesting was that their sound didn’t specifically fit into any musical genre. Sometimes it would sound more like Pearl Jam (heard through the vocals of “Winds of Change”), or you could hear the country-rock vibe of “Hope & Heartache.” Listening to both “Down the Highway” and “Call of Days Past,” you can tell that it centered around blues-rock, even including little hints of “Call Me the Breeze” in the guitar & bass riffs and hearing the vocals one could listen from Sly Fox and The Hustlers.”

    – Amy Modesti on Radioradiox

    Check out Son Of A Gun on their Website and Facebook.

  • Celebrate Valentine’s Day Weekend with Albany Symphony and Composer Tyson Davis

    Composer Tyson Davis’ commissioned orchestral work, Distances, will be Performed by the Albany Symphony on its Valentine’s Weekend “Romantic Brahms” Concert on February 13, 7:30 pm EST.

    Tyson Davis
    20-year-old Composer, Tyson Davis.

    The Albany Symphony will be performing the orchestral work titled Distances by Tyson Davis. This 20-year-old composer has been writing music since age eight and currently attends the Juilliard School of Music. Tyson Davis has composed many pieces for small ensembles and solo instruments. As a child, Davis created works as he learned the piano. The instrument awoke the creativity within him, and he knew that music would be his one and only passionate path. His love for he process of seeing things grow propelled him into the world of composition. 

    In addition to Distances, music by composers Sir William Walton and Johannes Brahms will be performed by the Albany Symphony. The event will be streamed live from Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga Springs. There will be a pre-concert talk at 7:00 pm and a post-concert question and answer session with the artists for season subscribers.

    “I am so excited to share this program with our community, featuring three extraordinary composers just starting out on their glorious careers. We are very proud to introduce Tyson Davis and his wonderful new work. He is an immensely gifted composer. In addition, we are thrilled to present a virtually unknown major early work by Johannes Brahms, the original version of his First Serenade, in a version that simply may never have been played or heard before!  And Walton’s wildly charming, witty, surreal narrated work, “Facade,” is one of my very favorite works from the early 20th Century,“ said Music Director David Alan Miller. 

    Tyson Davis
    Composer Tyson Davis

    The Albany Symphony was founded in 1930 and is now highly acclaimed with many ASCAP and Grammy awards. David Miller, the director for 27 seasons, fostered a community of diverse musical compositions. With numerous education programs, the Albany Symphony empowers youth to tackle issues of diversity and self-expression through songwriting, improvisation, and teamwork.

    The 2020-2021 season continues through the American Music Festival in June. Concerts will be live and virtual, with the ability to purchase access online or by calling the Albany Symphony Box Office at 518-694-3300. Subscribers are also invited to attend a pre-concert chat and a post-concert, real-time “talk-back” session with guest composers, soloists, and Maestro Miller.

  • Hearing Aide: Mr. Days “Infinitus”

    On January 22, 1977 Johnny Cash brought his band to Upstate New York to the Onondaga County War Memorial to promote his 56th album The Rambler. A concept album about traveling, the songs interspersed with dialogue between Cash and hitchhikers he picked up or other people he met during the album’s cross-country trip. It truly is an American roots album where Cash shares various county road tales about the lost love of women and family anecdotes about his grandfather’s preaching days in North Carolina.

    Outlaw country outfit Mr.Days from Albany have adopted a similar alt-country/jam/Americana sound concept for their first album, Infinitus. Released on January 1, 2021 is influenced by the same America as Cash was. Mr. Days is a trio consisting of James Matlock on guitar and vocals, his father Rick Matlock on guitar and vocals and Jacob Karker on drums and vocals. The father-son duo have been writing these songs and performing them in Capital Region saloons for a couple years now.

    Mr. Days

    The Matlocks wrote a song called “Bill and Ed,” a story about their great-great-great grandfather who made a living in part by traveling the country selling Christmas trees by train in the winter. There was a family legend that he had died when looking out the window of a moving train during one of these endeavors, being decapitated by a light pole. Genealogical research indicated that it was actually just a train crash that resulted in his passing, but it still holds roots for a great ballad, with drums echoing the train rolling down the tracks. The Matlocks sing, “Riding out toward Toledo, got four cars of spruce, that Christmas pine, the train keeps rolling and a winter storm is blowing.”

    Rick Matlock’s travels in America are also reflected in the tune “Carolina Bound,” a musical memoir of his trips down south to visit family, singing, “Pack my bag and leave the valley, say goodbye to Mohawk cold … I’m moving on to the southern plains where I belong.” Another great track that reflects America’s history is “Appalachian Bloodstone.” This song travels to the hillsides of West Virginia where the Buffalo Creek Flood occurred in February 1972. The Pittston Coal Company impoundment dam in Logan County had burst four days after having been declared “ satisfactory” by a federal mine inspector. The accident that was referred to as “an act of god” and displaced the 5,000 people who lived along Buffalo Creek Hollow. The Matlocks praise, “we all sink the same … that’s the price they pay for taking all that blood stone”

    Mr. Days
    Rick Matlock, Jacob Karker, James Matlock

    Mr. Days started their own history in 2021 with the release of their debut record. Hopefully it will bring them across the vast American landscape that they sing heartily about. Much like Johnny Cash on The Rambler, the journey of Mr. Days takes place on the open road. Cash preaches “Life out on the interstate is very much alive, there’s magic in the mountains and music in the valley down below, and my song ain’t through playing yet so I believe I’ll hit the road and go”.

    Key Tracks: Bill and Ed, Carolina Bound, Appalachian Bloodstone






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