Trumansburg’s Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival has made the decision to postpone the planned 30th annual event until 2022.
Noting that we are not yet at the end of the pandemic tunnel, and factoring in increasing vaccine distribution and decreasing COVID-19 rates, the Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music & Dance will postponing the planned 30th Annual festival until July 21-24, 2022. The preceding fifth Annual Culture Camp will also be postponed, with new dates of July 17-20, 2022.
Admission and camping tickets for 2021 will be honored and automatically transferred to 2022. If a ticket holder cannot attend the 2022 event, they may fill out a Ticket Transfer Request to transfer their tickets to any future GrassRoots Festival in either the Trumansburg, New York or Shakori Hills, North Carolina locations at GrassRootsFest.org.
As a 501(c) not-for-profit organization, this first ever year of no GrassRoots festivals has been a challenge, but the organization is poised to make it through. Donations are always welcome and may be made at GrassRootsFest.org/donate.
Tickets for the 30th Annual Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music & Dance are on-sale now at GrassRootsFest.org/tickets.
A GrassRoots Call to Action:
In the year 1990, as we headed into the last decade of the 20th century, the world faced a new crisis: AIDS. Mysterious, unheard of and deadly; people were scared and dying! Donna the Buffalo and friends, The Horse Flies and Neon Baptist, responded with a sold out benefit show at the State Theatre raising over $10,000 for AIDS Work of Tompkins County. I remember so clearly the feeling of peeking out from the door of the dressing rooms beneath the stage and seeing the packed house of heroic Ithacans, also responding to the call to be there and support a community that a Government was appearing blind to, a joyful mob!
To create joy in the midst of crisis is a powerful thing and brings magic to the table. The wonderful event and its success led to the creation of GrassRoots and 25 years of raising consciousness and funds for organizations that support Arts, Education and the fight against AIDs, both locally and globally.
The Saratoga Performing Arts Centeris bringing back the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s residency making it the first series of live performances since 2020 for SPAC.
The Saratoga Performing Arts Center is located in Saratoga Springs and has been around for over 50 years. Their first summer season hosted 21 shows over the span of four weeks. The center had performances from non-classical musicians over time including Harry Belafonte in 1967 and a record breaking performance from Grateful Dead in 1983. In 2014 the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center became SPAC’s third resident company.
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center developed when the president of the Lincoln Center at the time, William Schuman, wanted an organization dedicated to chamber music. It officially began in 1969 in the Alice Tully Hall. CMS started educational and developmental programs for young musicians. There are about 70 performances that take place outside of New York City and the country per season. They are a part of several residencies and even have their own record label.
The Chamber Music Society residency at SPAC comes back this year after the 2020 season was cancelled due to COVID-19. This season is from June 13 until August 29 featuring compositions from Beethoven’s string quartets and Schumann’s Piano quartet in E-flat major. The U.S premiere of Twelve Blocks by pianist Michael Brown is also a part of the agenda. The co-Artistic directors David Finckel and Wu Han return along with the Calidore String Quartet’s SPAC debut.
The series takes place at Pitney Meadows Community Farm which has large outdoor space for events. It will have a maximum capacity of 200 per performance and each performance is 75 minutes without an intermission. Socially distanced pods for two are provided for ticket buyers from the price of $100-120. Tickets for subscriptions to all six shows will be available on April 1 for SPAC members and April 6 for the general public. Single performance tickets are available on April 12 for SPAC members and April 16 for the general public and won’t be available at the door. Tickets can be purchased on SPAC’s website along with additional information regarding COVID-19 protocols.
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?
The first Saturday Night Live of Spring featured the return of longtime cast member Maya Rudolph as host. She was joined by Kentucky rapper and songwriter Jack Harlow, who earned a GRAMMY nomination for “WHATS POPPIN’ in 2020 and recently released That’s What They All Say.
Harlow first appeared in the Digital Short “NFTs,” a take on Eminem’s “Without Me,” complete with Pete Davidson in a Robin costume similar to that of Eminem in the original video.
Midway through the show, cast member Bowen Yang stopped by the Weekend Update desk to talk about the recent spike in violence towards Asian-Americans and how you can help.
Harlow’s first performance featured a medley of “Tyler Herro” and “WHATS POPPIN.” Herro, a friend of Harlow’s and Miami Heat guard is mentioned in the first verse of the song: “My homeboy Tyler he play in South Beach / He told me this summer he gon’ fix my jumper.”
Giving a nod to the early influence of Saturday Night Live, Harlow said on Twitter, “I grew up watching SNL with my family every weekend. I vividly remember seeing Kanye perform Love Lockdown and Heartless in 2008. Thank you for making this happen. Another dream come true.”
https://youtu.be/tkSvFzC7GGo
For his second performance, Jack Harlow welcomed surprise guest, Maroon 5‘s Adam Levine, to duet on “Same Guy.” Levine is featured on the studio version of the track, an album that also features appearances by Lil Wayne, Lil Baby, and Static Major.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doi4H-BNkxQ
Harlow also recently donated $500,000 to two HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) – Kentucky State University in Frankfort and Simmons College of Kentucky in Louisville – after winning Bleacher Report’s Open Run 2-on-2 basketball competition earlier this month.
SNL returns next week with host Daniel Kaluuya and musical guest St. Vincent.
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 Northsidesound, Annie Scherer 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.
“Five” by Northsidesound out of Albany kicks off EQXposure on Sunday. Pearson says of the group, “The fastest and probably the worst comparison to make to describe their sound is to recall Sublime – however, that seems far too weak of a link to pin this band down. The vibe of tune “Five” is only similar, but the playing of all the musicians on the cut share a glimpse of things to to come. There seems to be nothing that these guys can’t achieve and this song is outstanding to say the least – fun, hip shaking, and some truly great guitar playing and melodies.”
Annie Scherer‘s “ You know” is up later in the show. Annie is celebrating the release of her album Garden Bed, and her latest single “You Know,” which debuted on 102.7 FM WEQX this past Thursday, is a gorgeous piece of music. A slow jam that is magnetic and infectious, peering directly into the soul of the listener. Annie’s melody and lyrics are so deeply personal and direct, it’s as if she is singing directly to and about the listener.
On Wednesday March 27, 2019 – 50 years to the day of the formation of The Allman Brothers Band, The Allman Betts Band made their debut at Brooklyn Bowl in New York City and they certainly did not disappoint.
Allman Betts Band consists of Devon Allman, Duane Betts and Berry Oakley Jr., (you can probably figure out who their Father’s are), guitarist Johnny Stachela, drummers Jon Lum and R. Scott Bryan and keyboardist John Ginty. Devon and Duane have been playing together for over 30 years and both have solo albums, and the other members of the band are definitely top notch musicians. Any Allman Brothers super fan like myself will certainly enjoy this group.
The setlist was a mix of new music from the band’s debut album Down To The River, solo cuts from both Devon and Duan’s solo albums. Of course there were also a few Allman Brothers classics like Elizabeth Reed, Blue Sky and Dreams. There was even a cover of Prince’s Purple Rain featuring country singer and Brooklyn born Jessica Lynn. You can see the full setlist below.
On April 9, 2021 the group will finally hit the road again and start their Spring tour at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe, Az continuing through the midwest for 15 dates. After that they will continue for 12 more show in May and June mostly in the south. You can see all of the upcoming tour dates here. They also have a follow up album to Down To The River called Bless Your Heart which was released last summer. Due to Covid19 the band was unable to tour last year but now many states are easing restrictions and it appears that live music is finally making a come back.
Setlist: All Night, Melodies Are Memories, Blue Sky (Allman Brothers cover), Left My Heart In Memphis (Royal Southern Brotherhood cover), Taking Time (Duane Betts cover), In Memory of Elizabeth Reed (Allman Brothers cover), Multi-Colored Lady (Greg Allman cover), Seven Turns (Allman Brothers cover), Mahalo (Devon Allman’s Honeytribe cover), Purple Rain (Prince cover with Jessica Lynn), Dreams (Allman Brothers cover), Good Ol Days, Shakedown Street (Grateful Dead cover)
Throughout the past year, we’ve all had more time on our hands. Some of us made sourdough and/or banana bread, we’ve worked on our houses, worked out, and made the best of the circumstances. One art teacher from Long Island, Brian Baker, came across LEGOs that a friend was looking to get rid of, combined his love for moe. and new found skills in stop-motion animation. The result is “moe.rons on parade,” capturing the spirit of a moe. show in LEGO form.
Having taught art in K-12 in the Three Village School District in Stony Brook, NY, Baker, like every other art teacher across the country, was put in a tough position last spring – how to teach art online. With such a tactile and hands-on subject needing virtual or least socially distanced lessons, improvisation was needed. In the past year, Baker learned the art form of stop-motion animation, one that he will be bringing to his students after learning the basics at home.
A 2003 graduate of Hartwick College where he majored in Fine Arts and played lacrosse, he’s been coaching junior high football and JV lacrosse at various schools on Long Island since he graduated college, recently and at various other schools for nearly 20 years.
Baker first saw moe. at the Oneonta Fieldhouse on April 28, 2001, possibly the only time they’ve played the town. He had heard them a few years before and had a few albums. And having only seen a lot of Phish prior, it was time to diversify.
“moe.rons on parade” features “Four” and “32 Things” with Baker telling a short story of a young couple’s first experience at a moe. show through LEGO characters. The video shows quite the effort and love for the band on his part, one that will not only satisfy veteran moe. fans, but newcomers as well.
Pete Mason: What’s your teaching background and how did you start in on this moe. LEGO project?
Brain Baker: This is my 14th and by far craziest year of teaching, and I think that helped generate this project. I am currently teaching 7th-9th grade and have anywhere between 15-20 kids in class and 1-10 kids remote on a Google meet at the same time. Trying to make things equitable has been a challenge. We have to make sure everyone has the same materials. On a normal year, I would have kids, be making clay boxes, cutting stencils for acid etching, creating stained glass mosaics, cutting glass bottles, weaving baskets, making jewelry and other hands on stuff. A lot of these things aren’t practical or safe for kids to use unsupervised at home. So we have had to get creative with what we can do.
Last March when schools started closing and throughout the summer, I really challenged myself to learn some new skills so when we came back to school I had some fresh and fun projects for kids to do. They deserve it. Their whole universe got totally upended last spring and they need some fun social things to get it back to normal. Also, I am not allowed to collect artwork from kids, just photos. So how do we show off their work? I learned a lot about the iMovie program and other animation software by putting together some short clips of student work.
I learned a lot about the imovie program this year. They say kids are really resilient which is true, they adapt to things very well. It was a real challenge figuring out all the technical things (lighting, camera angles, focus, computer skills) and I had quite a few mishaps along the way. But it was an awesome way to spend some time and I am looking forward to seeing people’s reactions. I am having a few friends over for an outdoor viewing on the projector Saturday night. I am also looking forward to showing my students the edited version. I shared all the different steps and clips with them along the way and they want to see the end result.
PM: So it seems you’ve had some time on your hands. When did you start this project and what kickstarted the concept for you?
BB: Well, as a dad of a 2 year old girl (Althea) and a 4 year old boy (Frederick), time is something in short supply these days. They are “full speed ahead” kids. Even though Covid cancelled my coaching gigs for a while, it has still been a busy year for my wife Liz and I trying to keep them active and engaged. Last March when everything started shutting down, I kept my sanity by getting us outside and building stuff. We started with a small kids train made from my old deck wood. Then we built a 9-hole mini golf course in the backyard. My son helped me through the whole thing. And I did several other backyard recycling projects. But this project really was the perfect storm. I started teaching an animation class this year, and my friend’s kid really wanted a puppy. So his compromise was the play room was going to be the puppy room. The LEGOs have to go.
So I got a huge supply of LEGOs to play with. My son loves building things and mechanics, so he was instantly in love. And with the animation class we have already done a ton of drawing, so this will be a nice “mix it up” project for the fourth quarter. I mostly worked on this project at night after they were in bed or sometimes I would have them come down and play LEGOs with me during the day. With stop-motion, you generally use a remote shutter, so I was also able to include my 4 year old in some of the photo taking process. He helped build a few of the smaller pieces as well. I started putting the stage together in the beginning of February and then began shooting photos later in the month. Once it got rolling I pretty much worked on it everyday until I was done for anywhere between 15 minutes and 7 hours. After I saw the band post the pics on their page I practically lived in the basement that weekend.
PM: How many hours did it take to complete the construction, prior to filming?
BB: Building the stage and all the sets and characters took maybe 5 or 6 hours over the course of a week. The photos took a month and a half of many, many hours. I took somewhere around 30,000 photos.
PM: Is this your first foray into stop-motion animation?
BB: I did a short stop-motion a few years ago on powerpoint and my son and I made a police station getting smashed by the Incredible Hulk earlier in the winter, but this was my first real serious stop motion project. It was a huge learning experience.
PM: Any fun Easter Eggs or tips of the hat that you worked in?
BB: Yes. You’ll have to look. Lets just say there are some band references and funny characters.
PM: What is your favorite moe. song and moe. experience?
BB: Favorite song? That’s like picking a favorite kid! Let’s just say there are no moe. songs I don’t like. There are a few Grateful Dead ones I don’t enjoy, quite a few Phish songs I can’t stand, but I love moe. They play music exactly how I like music to be played. The diverse influences and song writing styles are awesome. The first time I listened to them was NYE ’99. A buddy put on “Rebubula” and I said to myself “Yes….this is what I’m looking for in my life.” I think we listened to the No Doy album three or four times that night. I went and picked up a few more albums and some shows on tape. The rest is history. I’ve only seen 60+ shows, but I listen to them more than anything else. I try to catch every live webcast or the old Facebook Live streams (remember those?). Big ups to the moe.stream team for setting up quality live show audio streams.
moe. fans are an awesome group of people. I have had some great conversations through the years, connected with cool people and shared tons of fun experiences. This is my 16 minute and 30 second thank you to them and the band.
Distrokid, a digital music distribution company, announces digital concert series, “Isolation: Concert for No One”. The series focuses on several artist traveling to idyllic natural destinations throughout the Untied States playing concerts to an empty crowd.
The bands began their roundtrip around the Southeastern Untied States in the fall of 2020 with the goal of trip to document their experiences and perform empty concerts in scenic wilderness area. The featuring artists include Andy Frasco, Shawn Eckles, Kitchen Dwellers and Mihali from Twiddle. The groups all traveled together, not only growing closer but honing their music chops on the way. The goal of these concerts is to emphasize the importance of isolation and being out and nature, ideas brought to light because of the current global pandemic.
We’re doing this to show people that isolation is needed. Sometimes we need to go outside of our comfort zones and go outside of what we know; we are trying to experience something together that we haven’t experienced in four months because we’ve been sitting in our houses.
Andy Frasco, Musician
Distrokid, in collaboration with Fans.Live, is hosting “Isolation: Concerts for No One” as a four episode concert series which filmed across the week-long caravan featuring sets from each act, never-before-seen collaborations, and behind-the-scenes footage. New episodes will air every Tuesday night beginning March 30 at 9 PM ET. Fans can purchase each episode for $10, or the full season for $30. Episodes will remain on demand through Sunday, May 25.
March – it comes in like a lion and out like it’s been trampled by lambs and pecked by the dove. For Phish’s next installment of Dinner and a Movie, they’ll feature a show from the band’s famed April 1998 “Island Tour,” specifically April 4, 1998.
The show at Providence Civic Center is a perfect sample of how the cow funk from Fall 1997 continued four months later in a fan favorite run of shows. Reportedly the hardest ticket of the run, this show features must hear versions of “2001,” “Brother,” and “Ghost,” not to mention the “Tweezer” show opener.
For the dinner portion of the evening, Chef Sara Bradley, the chef and proprietor at Louisville, KY’s The Freight House, has prepared a menu for the evening. She has recently received runner-up honors on Season 16 of Top Chef, and is also a Phish fan. Sara offers up recipes for Melty Grilled Cheese with Piquillo Pepper and Tomato Soup, and Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies for dessert. Find full recipes here.
While the webcast is free, fans are encouraged to make donations through Phish’s The Waterwheel Foundation. The evening’s beneficiary will be Northeast Organic Farming Association, with donations being split between the New York and Rhode Island chapters. The Northeast Organic Farming Association an organization of farmers, consumers, gardeners and environmentalists working together to promote organic farming and organic land care practices resulting in a sustainable regional food system that’s ecologically sound, economically viable and socially just. For more information visit NOFA.org.
Dinner and a Movie will air on Tuesday, March 30 at 8:30pm ET at webcast.livephish.com.
Island Tour Setlist courtesy of Phish.net
April 4, 1998, Providence Civic Center, Providence, RI
Soundcheck: Jam, Shafty, Roggae
Set 1: Tweezer > Taste, Bouncing Around the Room, Funky Bitch, Ginseng Sullivan, Limb By Limb, Lawn Boy, Character Zero
Set 2: Birds of a Feather > Also Sprach Zarathustra[1] > Brother[2], Ghost -> The Lizards, David Bowie
Encore: Harry Hood
[1] Unfinished. [2] With short instrumental reprise.
2001 contained a Long Train Runnin’ tease from Trey and was unfinished. Brother included a brief Dave’s Energy Guide tease and was followed by a short instrumental reprise, which was announced as the “radio-friendly version.” Trey contrasted this with the normal version, which was deemed un-radio-friendly due to its length. Ghost, which Trey jokingly remarked was also not radio-friendly because it is long and slow, included an I Can’t Turn You Loose tease. This show is available as an archival release on LivePhish.com.
White Cliffs, a psych-electronic band based out of Brooklyn and masterminded by multi-instrumentalist Rafe Cohan, released a new music video for their song “Kick the Can” off their recently released debut EP Stockholm.
The White Cliffs music video debuted on VENTS Magazine website on March 23rd. The songs central focus is on growing old but a addressed in a playful manner which highlights Cohan’s musical and directorial talents.
Cohan edited and directed the video, recording all over Rockaway Beach, Queens and Highland Park in New York City. It was shot on a vintage Super 8 film and developed by Mono No Aware in Downtown Brooklyn. Makeup artist Kate Browse help Cohan to achieve an old man look to go hand and hand with the song’s themes of ageing and the old school directorial methods.
I shot this little video to give a visual element to the meaning of ‘Kick the Can.’ The song is about an old man who is realizing the beauty of mortality and aging. We will all be old one day, so I just wanted to poke fun at what I might be doing when I’m 80 or so.
Rafe Cohan, Musician
White Cliffs formed in Cohan’s home town of Brooklyn in 2017 after years of experimentation and attempting to find a sound that really spoke to Cohan. The result of this is the duality seen throughout much of White Cliffs work, the balance between the purist and the unconventional creator. Cohan’s first big break was securing a cross-country tour with Big Wild, among other acts like Elderbrook, STS9, in addition to a set at the Panorama Festival in New York City and debuting a four-person band at CRSSD Festival in San Diego.
Stockholm EP featuring “Kick the Can ” is available on all streaming platforms.
Syracuse’s Vaporeyes has released the video for “Donye Wump,” off their recently released album Cantrips. Having premiered on Friday, March 19th, the video was shot in the Salt City, as well as in and around band practice spaces.
With a goal of creating a video that their fans and others used to their shenanigans wouldn’t expect, band member Jonas Reddy-Nicholson, shared insight on the video:
We had an idea of a conflict happening in this video. The lyrics I wrote very much came from a place of inner conflict, wanting change, and “killing the past,” so Shannon (bass) wanted to play with the conflict idea as much as possible. But we kept the fight between ourselves and our “other” selves, or inner demons in the video so people didn’t think it was some statement or something. It’s not. We just had fun with it. The name of the song actually has nothing to do with anything. Sometimes we just really try to blur the line between goofy and serious/heartfelt.
Jonas Reddy-Nicholson
“Donye Wump” was directed by Thomas Calandra of Synthesis Films (also a member of metal band Bleak), with Director of Photography Mark Kelley, both of whom entertained the band’s wacky ideas and kept Vaporeyes on track to finish the shoot in four days.
When we came to them with the idea of a fight scene VS ourselves for the end of the song, we thought they would turn it down. But not only were they into it and knew how to make it work, they had some ideas of their own. Thomas asked how we felt about drawing inspiration from the goofy gang fight in Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange.”
We were into it, so we all sat on the couch and watched the fight together the day before the fight scene shoot. We are so glad they were into the fight, and they really did a great job. That’s even Thomas getting the glass broken on his head in the beginning, per his insistence. (Movie prop bottle, don’t worry).
Jonas Reddy-Nicholson
Vaporeyes recently made it to the Elite 8 of NYS Music’s March Madness. Check out more on them here and watch the video for “Donye Wump” below.
