NYS Music 202​2

Author: rob smittix

  • An Interview with Ani DiFranco

    Ani Difranco, a legend in the indie music scene since the early 90s, hails from Buffalo and got her start playing Beatles covers at local bars, as well as busking alongside guitar teacher Michael Meldrum. A graduate of the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts High School, Difranco began attending classes at Buffalo State College at age 16 and founded Righteous Babe Records, in 1989 at age 19.

    ani difranco

    DiFranco’s Babeville is a multi-use facility devoted to the arts built inside a 19th century Gothic Revival-style church that was rescued from the wrecking ball to become a home for home for the arts in downtown Buffalo.

    According to the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame, DiFranco manufactures all her albums in Buffalo, uses the services of Western New York companies for all her products and employs a staff at her downtown Buffalo offices, thus making both an artistic and economic contribution to her hometown of Buffalo.

    Rob Smittix of The Xperience Monthly spoke to DiFranco recently, discussing her then-upcoming show at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, songwriters, up-and-coming musicians, as well as Buffalo and her current home of New Orleans.

    AD: Hey is this Rob?

    RRX: It is.

    AD: It’s Ani calling.

    RRX: I recognize your voice, how are you?

    AD: I’m good.

    RRX: I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me. I’m excited about talking to you.

    AD: Aw shucks. You’re in Troy?

    RRX: Currently, I’m across the river but you’re coming to Troy November 11th to The Troy Savings Bank Music Hall. It’s a beautiful theatre, have you played there before?

    AD: Oh wow, I don’t think so. Although my life is a bit of a blur.

    RRX: Well speaking of your life being a blur… you may or may not remember this but my boss here, Art Fredette and his best friend Jim Barrett used to own a record store called Positively 3rd Street in Troy. He said years ago before you really made a name for yourself, you actually came into the store dropped off cassettes and I imagine you had an acoustic with you because they say that you played a few songs.

    AD: I mean, I believe it.

    (Both Laugh)

    AD: I believe that happened. Who’s to say what memory is ? Feels like a memory, yeah.

    RRX: I’ve hear that story a few times and it really made an impression on them.

    AD: I mean those were the days. I would literally bring in my cassettes to indie stores in the region and that’s how it all started. Supportive local people who are like okay local chick, what do you got? You know?

    RRX: But you were really out there hustling for yourself.

    AD: Just trying to make a living without a whole lot of backup.

    RRX: That’s great. What I’m saying, is that you really started out DIY before DIY became the big movement that it’s become today. Being independent, having your own record label and doing it on your own way before it became the trend, is really cool. Every album you’ve put out was on your label (Righteous Babe Records), if I’m not mistaken.

    AD: In one sense it’s always been there, you know? Where’s the line between? There’s local musicians in every community playing around and getting local audiences. Maybe they’re making a recording and selling them at their gigs. It seems kind of silly. I know that I’m kind of indie-girl USA and often touted for propelling the music industry into it’s new future but in another sense it’s very simple; don’t stop, keep rolling with that and f**k all of the assumptions about where you go from there.

    RRX: I respect that! Well that’s cool. I’ve been in a band for years but as we know, only a handful of people actually make it in the business. That’s a dream come true for so many of us. So for people that have made it and that are recognized… that leads me to the question, what are your dreams now? What do you aspire for now?

    AD: As you were asking your question I felt the urge to pushback about… even just what making it means. Along the theme of what we are talking about, you’re a musician, I’m a musician. I think anybody that makes a place for music in their life and can carve out that place somehow and make music in a way that sets them free. If it puts them in touch with their body, themselves and their community, people they play music with or for, maybe it’s a solitary thing but if it helps you process your life and be a healthy, happy person… that’s success!

    RRX: Sure.

    AD: So to finish answering your question, I think holding onto that. That’s all I want. I mean there’s nothing like a pandemic to to refresh my capacity to appreciate my job. After all of these decades it’s still a job. I think if there’s anything I want to do moving forward it’s to stay in touch with my joy of playing music and my purpose of it. Even though it is a f**king job, for me.

    RRX: Right, right, but it’s a job that you enjoy and you do have some control over which is really cool as well. That at least I can relate to. I work in radio and for this magazine that we’ve got going on and that’s a dream come true for me. Now do you keep a dream journal?

    AD: Um.. no, I barely keep a waking journal. Who has time?

    RRX: I kept a dream journal for a really short period of time but then I realized that you can’t always control your dreams and I don’t want anybody reading this stuff.

    AD: Oh, yeah there’s that. I somehow let my journal leak into the wider world, I don’t know if I’d recommend it.

    RRX: Wow, yeah that could certainly backfire. So because I just like to chat and not really do your standard interview, I just wanted to ask what’s been going on in your life? What’s been on your mind? That sort of thing?

    AD: Getting back to touring a lot, which is still just a little bit unhinged. The pandemic changed everything for everybody. Many people that I’ve been working with just splintered in different directions, starting over and the chaos of the touring industry. The whole ride-along of trying to deal with Covid protocols. You feel a little like you’re on the Muppet Show where people are just exploding around you. And the buses… I don’t know if you realize that there were no bus drivers because they all had to go and do something else.

    RRX: Wow, no I didn’t even think of that.

    AD: There were no buses, we were thrown into vans. It’s just been chaotic but really the divides of the shows an audiences are so high. I’ve been really looking towards the elections and trying to get people registered “A” and “B” excited about f**king changing this sh*t! There are a lot of exiting, young, diverse candidates out there, people stepping up to the plate and running for office. I just feel very strongly about supporting this movement to reclaim democracy and diversify government. I’m really excited about organizations like Run For Something. It’s crowd sourced funding of all of these different progressive candidates, in a lot of different areas. You may not have somebody specifically in your neck of the woods that you are super-jazzed about voting for but a victory somewhere is a victory everywhere. Then there’s Emily’s List, which I’ve been involved with for years, that supports pro-choice female and non-binary candidates. All of these organizations that you can contribute to and help people get their foot in the door and help politics be less controlled by the rich.

    RRX: Yeah, I’m really tired of it coming down to the lesser of the two evils.

    AD: Right.

    RRX: I was just thinking, really… why do we always put up with these choices? There’s how many? 330,000,000 people or something like that in America, so I think we can do better.

    AD: It seems like it’s cracking open. It’s changing and all we have to do is throw our weight behind this change and we can make it happen.

    RRX: I’ve got to say and I am generalizing, there certainly are exceptions but I’ve got three kids and I’ve listened to them and I’m not knocking the newer generations but it seems as though many of their priorities and values are compromised. A generation that never knew the world without the internet. Kids that are more concerned about TikTok and social media than anything else. Even video games have some responsibility for the way the minds of our youth have developed. I mean there are 7 year olds who have gotten their hands on Grand Theft Auto. It desensitizes them. But the youth are the future and we need to focus on them.

    AD: For sure but all of this new technology is completely unregulated, it blindsided even our ability. They want to convince you that government is bad and regulation is bad but of course that’s from the perspective of the overlords. They don’t have to be regulated they have the ability to maximize their profits, no matter what. Government is supposed to protect the little guy. Is business protecting us from itself? Or is it government? Which do you think is going to work better? It’s difficult but I believe in order to get this technology under control so that it can do more good than harm to our young people and our future. As a society we have to get the right regulations in place to counteract the insidious negative effect of the invisible algorithm and the downside of connectivity.

    RRX: Also with the youth today, I’ve got to say the music is not helping. The messages that a lot of this music is pushing… and I know we grew up with records that our parents wanted to destroy but it just seems that it’s gotten way worse. Especially the image that woman are portraying in the Hip Hop scene. It’s not what I would want my daughter listening to but kind of hard to ignore it because that’s what they’re putting out now and that’s what is selling.

    AD: There’s a big world out there and it’s all in the palm of their hand.

    RRX: At least there are artists like yourself that do exist and do have good messages to spread. You’ve got something to say, unfortunately a lot of artists are just trying to capitalize on what will sell regardless.

    AD: I feel really strongly about trying to adopt a stance of revolutionary love which hopefully I can employ into everything that I do.

    RRX: It’s a double-sided coin as well because I’m not about art censorship, so even though I don’t like the messages that they’re putting out, it’s freedom of speech, they should be able to do it. I guess the problem is that the quote unquote “industry” wants to get this filth into kid’s ears. On another note, I was hanging out with my keyboardist last night he reminded me about Babeville. I’ve never been but I’ve really got to get up there.

    AD: It was a huge undertaking that’s for sure and it’s a beautiful venue. It’s several venues really and an art gallery, it’s a little scene in this old cathedral. There’s a cool club down in the basement. That building was slated for demolition like so many buildings in Buffalo. Beautiful architectural treasures that because of poverty…

    RRX: Urban blight.

    AD: Like so many cities in The Rust Belt. But it was going to be torn down. We started action to to save the building then our karma was wrapped up in it. I remember the summer that basically two dudes spent hand digging out the basement.

    RRX: Oh my God!

    AD: We couldn’t get a backhoe in there and literally the basement had to be dug from 5 feet headroom to whatever it is. Two dudes! Everything of Righteous Babe went into it but actually in more recent years, I personally have moved on. My partner in Righteous Babe continues on with that venue and I’m down in New Orleans with the record company.

    RRX: I was gonna ask if you were still down in New Orleans.

    AD: Yup.

    RRX: I’ve just seen pictures of Babeville online, so I had to bring it up. It’s really cool that you brought it back to life. I imagine the place is probably haunted. So I don’t want to take up any more of your time. Was there anything else that you wanted to say?

    AD: Well for the show itself, I’m going t be playing with Todd Sickafoose on bass and keys. I’ve been playing with him for about 25 years now, my left hand man. We’re also going to be playing with a completely new drummer Jharis Yokley, so that’s radical and exciting.

    RRX: Definitely.

    AD: The openers are the The Righteous Babes Revue, which is a super group of Righteous Babe artists that are coming together to do these shows and play each other’s songs. It’s really so many awesome and talented babes that are currently on the label that will be opening the show and sitting in with us. This should be a really fun tour

    RRX: Well I really appreciate your time. It’s really been a pleasure and I hope you enjoyed yourself as well.

    AD: Absolutely, likewise and thank you.

    Interview originally published in The Xperience Monthly.

  • Joe Barna: The Man in Front of the Troy Jazz Scene

    Capital District drummer/composer Joe Barna hails from Troy and has become the face of the Collar City Jazz scene in the past few years. Having studied orchestral percussion performance/education at SCCC, then later SUNY Purchase’s Conservatory of Music in Westchester, Barna earned a BFA in Jazz Studies in 2004, with a focus on drumset performance & composition.

    Since then, Barna has devoted himself to a life of composing and performing, bringing his talents around the globe, sharing the stage with many of the worlds top musicians/groups including The Celtic Tenors, Gary Smulyan, Peter Fisher, Ralph Lalama and jazz recording artists Joe Magnarelli, Ray Vega, Grant Stewart, Dick Oatts, Jim Rotondi, Jon Gordon, Jerry Weldon, Josh Evans, & Stacy Dillard.

    Joe Barna

    Joe has performed with many of the Empire State’s regional greats, including Keith Pray, Brian Patneaude, John Menegon, Lee Shaw, David Gleason, Mark Kleinhaut, Michael Louis Smith, George Muscatello, Lee & Leo Russo, The Joey Thomas Band, The Big Soul Ensemble and his own original group Sketches Of Influence. Barna spoke with Rob Smittix of The Xperience Monthly.

    Rob Smittix: Well, it’s nice to finally talk to the man behind the jazz scene.

    Joe Barna: I would say I’m the man in front of the jazz scene.

    RS: That’s a better way to put it, yeah.

    JB: I think everybody knows, the cat’s out of the bag.

    RS: It is and you are really bringing jazz to Troy in particular, how’s that going for you? What
    do you think the response has been?

    JB: The response is overwhelming. I just did a what was originally a four-day but turned into a
    five-day jazz festival at 518 Craft in Troy. They basically wanted to honor me for all of the work
    that I’ve done for the jazz scene in Troy, so they gave me five nights in a row. They wanted me to
    have five different bands featuring five different styles of jazz. The first four nights were
    standing room only, it was packed in there. Every night was insane.

    RS: That’s great. How did this all get started?

    JB: I lived in NYC and went to SUNY Purchase. I was living in Manhattan and I was working a
    small jazz club. I was the front end manager of Mezzrow. Every night I was hanging out with the
    elites of the history of jazz. I was responsible for taking care of them when they were performing,
    making sure that they got paid correctly, making sure they got drinks, making sure the stages
    were set up for them, they had the backline they needed and made sure nobody was bothering
    them. So, I became friends with essentially the top jazz musicians in the world and I did this
    every night. Befriended them, got to play with a lot of them in jam sessions. It became a network
    and more about building relationships than the fact that we were musicians. It has allowed me
    an opportunity that very few people in the Capital Region or smaller areas have had. It’s because
    of the proximity to NYC, not because I’m special but because I know other guys are doing this
    but they live in Idaho or Nebraska or they live in Florida. They don’t have the access to these
    musicians where they can drive in their car last minute and come up two and a half hours to
    play.

    RS: That makes a lot of sense.

    JB: The proximity to these people, the city and the five boroughs has opened up a floodgate of
    opportunities for me. I don’t think anybody outside of maybe Nick Brignola or a couple of his
    contemporaries. It’s given me an opportunity to do some special things.

    RS: Speaking of special opportunities, tell us about what you have going on at Alias Coffee.

    JB: Alias Coffee Company is at 219 4th Street in Troy. It’s this little tiny coffee shop, right? This
    gentleman, Hernan, moved up here from NYC is a master barista. He was serving coffee out of
    518 Craft, where I play every Monday night. He wanted his own shop and space, so he left, and
    he started building up this spot. I went in one day to try the coffee and just say hi, it’s like the
    size of a closet. You’ve got this little counter, little shop with a couple of chairs and off to the left
    is this tiny little kitchen area. I got talking to him, I tried the coffee, which is amazing, it’s like
    velvet in your mouth. The guy is a genius.

    RS: I’m drinking Stewart’s right now, but you’ve got my mouth watering.

    JB: No man… you won’t go back after you’ve had Alias. So, in this little corridor it looks like
    there’s a maintenance closet where you would have mops and buckets and crap. I open up the
    door and it opens up into this enormous, industrial wide-open space. No posts, no poles, no
    obstructions and there’s two skylights. I walked in and I said, “oh, my God!” I’ve been looking
    for this space for 20 years. I asked Hernan, “is this yours?” He said “yeah, yeah I rent the whole
    building.” I said, “do you understand what you have here?” He replied, “I don’t know what
    you’re talking about.” I said “Hernan this is a bonafide world-class level performance space.
    You’ve got the potential for one of the greatest performance spaces the Capital Region has ever
    had.” He said, “do you really believe that?” I said, “not only do I believe it, I will take on the task
    of doing it for you.” He said “well, if you’re willing to help me, I’m willing to do it. I was looking
    for something special to do with the space, but I just didn’t know what to do with it.” I said “look
    man, I will do it myself, I will help you clean it, I will organize the space for you, I will get a
    carpenter to build the stage and let’s get a grand piano in here. This will be the premiere music
    space in the Capital Region.” Mark my words.

    RS: That’s encouraging.

    JB: I’m not saying that other spaces aren’t fantastic but there’s something about this room that
    when you walk in, you don’t want to walk out. It’s bizarre. The exposed brick, the concrete floor,
    the two skylights with sunlight or moonlight coming in, it’s wide open and the sound is
    absolutely impeccable. I said, “please don’t do anything to the room, the sound right now is a
    performers dream come true. Don’t mess with it, it’s EQ’d perfectly. There’s very little high,
    there’s a lot of warm lows and some mids but the highs get sucked up by the wooden ceiling.
    This is going to be my project, let me do this for you.”
    I already did one show there, we had a soft opening last month. We only had about two weeks to
    advertise it and had about 54 people there. They all paid $20 to come in. I put out a buffet of
    food. People donated and my friends were helping subsidize it. We had Defazio’s Pizza, my
    mother made these really nice artisan cookies, and we had a fully stocked bar. You’re paying for
    the performance, $20 towards the band and then you get everything else for free! Food, drink or
    whatever you want is on the house.

    RS: You cannot beat that.

    JB: As long as you come and support the music, you can have everything else for free. It’s on us.

    This article originally appeared in The Xperience Monthly.

  • Billy Bragg talks the Passing of Queen Elizabeth II and Playing in Troy for the First Time

    Billy Bragg, the English singer, songwriter and left-wing activist, blends folk, punk and protest music with lyrics that address political and romantic themese. Forming the punk rock band Riff Raff in 1977 and touring London pubs and venues, the band did not receive wide exposure from singles that were released, leading Bragg to become disillusioned with his music career. In 1981 he joined the British Army but after three months, bought his way out of the army for £175 and returned home, having never served in a regiment as a soldier. From there, Bragg made music his career.

    billy bragg

    For more than three decades since, Billy Bragg has had milestones including topping the singles chart, having a street named after him, delivering a seminar on accountability at the Bank of England and meeting the Queen. RadioRadioX interviewed Billy Bragg ahead of his performance at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall on October 12.

    RadioRadioX: It’s very nice to be talking with you. How have you been?

    Billy Bragg: Not too bad and you? 

    RRX: Things have been weird but okay.

    BB: Things have been weird here as well.

    RRX: So, you’re in the UK right now?

    BB: I am indeed and you’re in Troy?

    RRX: Close to Troy, I’m actually right across the bridge.

    BB: That’ll do for me. 

    RRX: So, you’re coming to the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall on October 11th with Alice Phoebe Lou as the supporting act. We’re excited to have you. And this is a US/Canada tour that you’re kicking off. Are you excited about that?

    BB: I am, I’ve never been to Troy before. It’ll be a first time for me. I’m looking forward to having a stroll around between sound check and the gig to see the place. 

    RRX: It’s an interesting historical theater, going back in time. This is a place where Ella Fitzgerald would’ve been standing on that stage. 

    BB: I love those kinds of gigs. We have some in London where Charlie Chaplin and the Marx Brothers performed, you know, old theaters. I always love playing in those places.

    RRX: Traveling wasn’t so easy back then.

    BB: That’s true. I think they probably relied on the railroad a lot more than we do.

    RRX: Absolutely. You’ve been described as a singer/songwriter and activist. I’ve got to address it and it’s big news. How does the queen’s passing affect someone like you?

    BB: It’s very strange. On an emotional level I’ve found it has affected me quite a bit because my parents, like the queen, were both born in the 1920’s. They both passed away now but with the queen dying it’s kind of the end of their presence in our lives, that generation. They’re not just any generation, they are the generation that lived through the second world war. It’s a generation that rebuilt our country, quite an important generation. She was like the final representative, who was still in our national life and whose role in the war still resonated. So, on one level, I feel it, I really feel it and on the other side there’s the legacy of the British Empire and the role the monarchy plays in our society, that really we should be able to question. You know? King Charles will be crowned next year with a crown that most of the jewels on it have been stolen from someone. 

    RRX: Right.

    BB: But I can tell you right now that we won’t be able to have a discussion about that. It’s unfortunate because there’s probably not a better time before they’re putting the damn thing on his head. So, it’s not just a single feeling. I posted something about this on Facebook and a lot of people are having similar feelings. Feelings of sense of loss but also a need for reform, to talk about the way the modern monarchy is in our lives and to deal with the legacy of the British Empire. That discussion is like the legacy of slavery in the United States of America. 

    RRX: Sure.

    BB: There are people that refuse to recognize what effect it’s had on our society. Increasingly there are people who want to discuss that legacy and I’m hoping that the change, the death of the queen will allow us to begin that discussion. It’s going to be a painful discussion but equally it’s one that we really need to have if we want to be able to live in the diverse society that we are. There are so many people in our country, particularly people of color because their parents were part of the British Empire, they came that way. The other weird thing is that the death of the queen has ramifications beyond our borders. These are very interesting historical times but at the moment we’re all a bit amazed it’s come to this because we’re so used to her being there. It would be like if Dwight Eisenhower was still president of the United States or still around and turned up on your TV every Christmas and said a few words about the world. It would be very weird if suddenly he wasn’t there. So, a mixture of feelings really, Rob.

    RRX: Couldn’t have said it better. So obviously you’ve got this tour coming up, anything else on the horizon for you?

    BB: Yeah, next year will be the 40th anniversary of my first album. So, I’m currently knee-deep in my archives pulling together tracks for that. 2024 will be the 40th anniversary of my first visit to the United States of America. The changes I’ve seen in that time are just incredible. When I first came over I opened for Echo and the Bunnymen.

    RRX: That’s cool.

    BB: It was cool. It was amazing. I just sat on the back of their bus, and we drove around East Coast lakes, New Orleans, Texas, it was incredible. There were places we went on that tour that I’ve never been able to find again. That’s why it’s going to be interesting coming to Troy because I don’t know anything about Troy. When I came for the first time to North America it was all new. A couple of years ago I did a tour with a new pedal steel player (CJ Hillman), all of his life he’s been obsessed with America, but he’s never been there. It was so great touring with him because everything was new to him. We ended up somewhere in Arizona, I can’t remember exactly where it was now, but we had a day off. He and I went walking off to find a record store, of course.

    RRX: Of course.

    BB: We stood at this traffic light and a guy pulled up on a big motor bike, it might have been a Harley and he had flip flops and shorts on and that was about it. CJ said to me, “Bill, the thing about America is it’s just so American, isn’t it?” I’m now working on avoiding the part of America that I hate the most… that of course is the airports.

    RRX: (Laughs) Yeah, no kidding, they’re terrible. 

    BB: Buffalo I haven’t been there since 1985 with R.E.M., so I’m looking forward to that. I’m just trying to keep it interesting. It’s a job like anything else. I don’t want your readers to imagine I’m living some kind of fabulous rockstar lifestyle. It is a schlep, even in England it’s a schlep. Someone once said they pay me for the travel, I do the gigs for free. So, cutting that (airports) out, not just for my benefit but for the environment as well, means that there will be more visits to places like Troy. Places I’ve never been or haven’t been for a long time, keeps it interesting for me.

    This interview with Billy Bragg originally appeared in The Xperience Monthly

  • An Interview with Albany’s Haunted Cat

    Fun bands are great. It’s strange, in that some bands, you listen to their music and lyrics and you feel so light that you don’t realize how difficult the music might be to put together. Like they say; the great ones make it look easy. And it’s refreshing to have a music that just does what it’s supposed to and gives you a good time.

    Haunted Cat is just such a band, and from their eclectic mix of grooves and styles to their never shying away from engaging in festivities, you will find a good time the moment you click ‘play.’

    RRX: Haunted Cat has a lot of holiday specials, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. To see a band do one holiday special in a year is something, but it seems a pattern for the band. How did Haunted Cat start doing holiday specials? Was it a goof that just stuck, or was it something in the band’s basic design?

    DB: Let me start by saying it warms the cockles of my heart that you think of HC as a fun band! We have heard that and always appreciate it. We also aim to strike terror into the souls of audience members so their hair turns fully white on the spot, and folks are frequently seen sobbing heavily at our shows as well. Those people are usually watching Steel Magnolias on their phones. The key is, we want to take people on an adventure and hit on all the emotions one could possibly feel, as long as it’s not boredom.

    To that point, and with respect to the specials, there are all these ideas that excite us beyond what we’re going to play at a live performance or release as audio recordings. Stuffing those ideas away because they’re outside of a traditional band activity would be bad for morale. They need to happen. We don’t want to just do holiday specials either, we may soon venture into fetish videos, reenactments of obscure political assassinations, revitalizing the Jurassic Park franchise… and, look, this could all be the same project. The important thing is, we want to keep ourselves entertained and interested, and if we are doing that, some other people will probably be entertained and interested. Hopefully? 

    RRX: The band seems to have a sort of light, sort of lackadaisical feel, from what I’ve listened to. It’s very inviting, very welcoming. And I feel like it leaves a lot of room to experiment and improvise with your sound; you don’t seem tied to some traditional orthodoxy. But do you have any root notion around which the band revolves?

    DB: My heart cockles are an absolute inferno right now by your words. “Root notion” whence we orbit? There are some bands that are consciously trying to sound like bands that they like, or a specific genre. It kind of makes sense, you like that music, you want to play music pretty close to like that. I would say the most important thing for Haunted Cat is to operate extremely far away from that, and rather separately and intensely appreciate all art via any mediums that we find most exciting, and filter things we love through ourselves and our collaborators into something that is hopefully unique and new. We get compared to other acts, and writing about music it’s very hard if not impossible to avoid that, but I never think we actually sound like those things. 

    RRX: The previous question alluded to the fact that Haunted Cat’s sound is diverse. That usually comes from people that have diverse tastes in music coming to the table. I saw that, in one of your specials, you had a song originally sung by Liberace mentioned. That seems like a big shot out in left field for music in these parts? What was that about?

    DB: To clarify, in last year’s Halloween Special we brought Liberace back via seance, which was not as easy as you think, and we were granted an exclusive performance of “Violet” by Hole. Liberace is a total pro and we are still honored he showed up despite being very busy with his afterlife passions of snowboarding and jai alai. We could have brought John Lennon back because he has the universal stamp of acceptance, but that would have been extremely boring unless it was the period where he was getting super trashed and making an ass of himself in public, toward the end there. Liberace was way more fun. We had a wheel we spun that included Bam Bam Bigelow and Jesse Pomeroy, but we spun the wheel and the wheel spoke.

    RRX: I also saw a picture of you all playing at the Low Beat, which is no longer around. It’s bittersweet to see venues go, as far as the memories we have as listeners, audience members. But a fun night for us may have been a major accomplishment for a band onstage. Any venues, Low Beat included, whose loss you’ve really felt? Why?

    DB: For a very long time I couldn’t think about the loss of Valentines without feeling real sorrow, and when I pass that area, I still truly feel the loss. It was devastating to Albany when Valentines closed. That was the place for me and for a long time, nothing came close to filling that in the immediate Albany area. But looking forward there are a lot of great newer venues. No Fun in Troy is just amazing. Every time I go there I have a blast, and it seems it’s just getting better.  We still haven’t even played there yet, but we have really enjoyed seeing other shows there. I absolutely love Rare Form and saw like 100 great bands there last summer! We are playing there again on 7/23!

    RRX: Going back to the specials. I see specials on television, and they’re usually themed, usually extravaganzas, and it’s as much me being in a holiday mood as it is the special’s performance. But when you guys do these specials, you go all out. And you probably start them well before the season. So, is it like celebrating the holidays twice?

    DB: We collaborate with local artist-of-all-trades and technical wizard Eric-jon Tasker on many artistic endeavors, but we truly couldn’t do the specials without him. Together I think we started the Halloween one in April and we would just have our incredibly wonderful and game guest stars come weekend after weekend to film, and then we’d edit whenever we could. We lost a ton of footage when a hard drive fell on a concrete floor, and it was a wild ride. We have such limited resources so it was really a miracle that we pulled it off, especially since it included a live performance filmed at Desperate Annie’s like two days before we released it. By time Halloween came we were pretty much ready to move on to The Brazilian Republic Proclamation Day Special. The goal is that we can increase our resources, funds, etc. so we can go even bigger and have more options with whatever we want to do creatively.

    Originally published in The Xperience Monthly

  • Interview with Jordon “Jordo” Simpson of Faced

    Some music is misunderstood. In the fifties and sixties, older generations didn’t understand rock ‘n’ roll. And in the thirties, preachers had a problem with blues. But metal has seldom been understood throughout the generations. And the cool thing is that metal actually enjoys it. Defiance to the norm is on the underside of every nickel-wound string and dropped D.

    Faced is a metal band, and they’re one to watch. With an album out in 2020, they came through the other side of ‘crazyville’ to lay down brutality in the studio. I sat down with Faced’s Jordan (Jordo) Simpson to talk turkey.

    faced

    RRX: You released II Coming in September of 2020, which was a pretty crazy time. I won’t ask how hard it was to put it together during that time; old news. But it touches on a point. Metal is about insane shit, apocalypses, general doom and whatnot. Does it feel different singing about, well, dystopia, where we’re living in it? 

    JS: A lot of the material was written for a couple of years. On this record there is a range of topics from out of the mind and body experiences to straight up anger, loss of will and hope, smoking weed, the list goes on. So, the timing of it fit the period in all of our lives. 

    RRX: Faced has a really tight sound, not clean in the sense of like clean guitar, but clean as in maybe streamlined, well put together. And yet the sound is chaotic. And people who don’t listen to metal think it’s all chaos because their ears aren’t trained to it, but some metal is cleaner, tighter, than other metal. How do you control the chaos? 

    JS: That’s a good question. We have always been musicians that push the edge. Always trying to zero in on how to do things better. So, with drive and practice combined we just strive to be the best metal band we can be, and the result is that tight sound you hear. We just try to be ourselves and true to the art. We don’t follow trends or fads. We just pour ourselves out there.

    RRX: I love that guitar sound. So maybe we talk shop for a second. Let’s talk pedals. First off, do you guys use them, or is it all in great amps? If you do use them, what do those pedal boards look like? And how do you manage pedal boards in a live show – punch them during the show, or set and forget? If no pedals, what stops you?

    JS: Glad you like the tone!! I’ve worked many years to find my sound. Live and in the studio I use a Randall RM-100 head with a 4 x 12 loaded with Marshall Celestions speakers. In the studio I use a few pedals. For delay I use a DD-8 Delay pedal for leads. For wah, I use a Dunlop 525Q. I also use a stereo chorus from the 80’s made by Arion. Which is a diamond in the rough. But everyone loves the sound. For live I use a Headrush pedalboard thru my loop in my Randall. It sounds great and doesn’t kill my back. 

    faced

    RRX: I’ve listened to Faced from the studio and Faced live on one of the Booze Cruises. There’s a lot of similarities, and differences. I don’t think it’s even possible to recreate a live metal sound in the studio unless you record in a venue and let people mosh in the recording booth. Do you try things to bring the live sound into the studio? 

    JS: The studio is a different beast. We always try to capture the Faced sound. That’s what we aim for. We don’t want to sound like another band live or in the studio. So being true to ourselves is what comes through live and in the studio. Live we throw different things in there and take risks. We try to always outdo ourselves. If you came to a show to hear what’s exactly on the record what good is that. We always want it to be an experience. You never know what you will see or hear at a Faced show. Like to keep the fans on their toes. 

    RRX: Metal in the Capital Region is a tight group. Part of that is the music itself. Metal is a music that doesn’t mix well with other music. You wouldn’t see a metal band booked with a folk or a blues band. That said, metal does mix very well when it’s mashups with other genres, like rap, country, blues, folk…pretty much everything. Why is that? 

    JS: Well, I can only speak for our music. We have played with many genres under the sun. We love many types of music. We have shared the bill with many different acts playing many different genres. Hell, we even played a rave once! Our thing is as long as you have a dream and you’re doing everything possible to make that dream a reality we back you 100%. Musicians stick together. 

    RRX: Most music, or most musicians, have a theme. Just basic, there’s stuff we care about, so there’s stuff we sing about. If I think the CIA implants radios in peoples’ fillings, my albums might be me revealing that belief in 4/4 time. And that’s a stupid example but Faced probably has themes to its music. What is the Faced message? 

    JS: We have many messages through many songs. We tell stories about life through real experience. It’s real songs with twists and turns through the mind.  We scream about things we have lived through and have seen. Pretty much it’s all left up to interpretation. We make the listeners think about what it all means to them in a lot of songs. 

    RRX: This is where you answer the question I didn’t ask. Comments? Shout-outs? Educate, enlighten, emote – the floor is yours.

    JS: Come out to a show and party with us. We don’t bite…much! Check us out on every streaming platform there is. If you dig it, pass it to a friend.

    We would love to give a few huge shout outs to our manager Bear without him some of the things we have done wouldn’t have been possible. We would also like to give a shout out to the social outcasts, the misunderstood and the bullied. We love you all and embrace every last one of you. A Faced show is where you are accepted for who you are. Come out and be part of it. Thanks for all the support!!

    Originally published in The Xperience Monthly

  • Capital Region Time Keepers: Art Bernstein

    Art Bernstein has been playing, recording, teaching and writing about drumming for over 30 years. As a contributing writer to “Drumhead Magazine”, a teacher with The Empire State Youth Orchestra, and performer on over 40 albums, Art is a master at his craft, whose teachings, publications and performances have undoubtedly enriched the lives of so many drummers.

    To top it off, Art is a terrific guy; very down to earth and humble. I am proud to call him my friend, and a terrific drummer. His work with jazz guitar virtuoso Chuck D’Aloia is exceptional in every way. Art has written several lesson books, including “Kangarudiments”, which is one of the best lesson books that I’ve ever read. Art is a true gem in the world of percussion. So please welcome, my friend, Art Bernstein!

    RRX: Hey man. Let’s start out with the basics; How old were you when you started playing?

    AB: I started playing in sixth grade as I remember. I started on snare, and quickly moved to snare drum and drum set. In seventh  grade I played in the concert band and jazz ensemble. In eighth grade I started playing in both the middle school and high school jazz band. My eighth grade year was very busy, doing both jazz bands, concert band, as well as some drum set work on upop” tunes at the time. The jazz ensemble material was almost always focused on swing, jazz/funk and fusion; really all over the map, and this really helped me grow as a drummer. I am so thankful for the time I had with all that material. In the summer of 1984, I was full time at the Eastern US Music Camp at Cortland State University, playing in multiple ensembles all day every day, and studying privately with Tom Brown. In high school I studied with Kathleen Lowry, who is Tom Brown’s daughter! I am so happy to have had the opportunity to study with those gifted players, as well as my private instructor at the time, David Bitner. I am so thankful for having these wonderful teachers while growing up.

    RRX: It sounds greatl Who inspired you early on in your drumming life?

    AB: Too many to list! I was a very young drummer, but would cite Neil Peart, Stewart Copeland, John Bonham, Mitch Mitchell, Chad Smith, Steve Gadd, Dave Weckl, David Garibaldi, Chick Webb, Gene Krupa, Philly Joe Jones, Louis Benson, Buddy Rich, Tony Williams…the list goes on.

    RRX: A long list! Tell me about your “dream kit”.

    AB: As an Ayotte guy I have to say pretty much what I am playing right now. Custom Ayotte four or five piece. I would love to add a 20″ x 14″ kick that could be tuned like a 22″ or 24″ kick if needed. A separate vintage wish list would include a vintage Ludwig Black Beauty, Supraphonic, and anything Gretsch Round Badge!

    RRX: Nice! You’ve been teaching, writing, and playing your tail off for years; is there anything that you prefer to do?

    AB: I truly love it all.

    RRX: It shows! I like to ask jazz players about rock and roll drummers like Charlie (Watts) and Ginger (Baker) who preferred to be known as jazz players. So, having played several different styles of drumming, in your opinion, what is it about jazz that seems to attract even the most “rock and roll” type drummers?

    AB: I could go on for hours but let me boil it down and try to be succinct. First, I think that this is our history, as drummers. I think that we are drawn naturally to find out where we came from. If it were not for jazz, would there be rock? Second, to know as much as you can about where you came from historically with your craft, will assist you in so many ways, to help you figure out where you’re going. Third, outside of straight rock playing all 8th and 16th notes completely straight and playing triplets in strict orchestral fashion, everything swings to a varying degree. From totally swung to a James Brown funk feel, or a New Orleans jazz feel, and all things in between, they’re all related, and there is no right or wrong in my eyes, As Duke Ellington once said, “If it sounds good, it is good!” Fourth, in my mind, music is language, music is communication, most importantly as drummers, as we are listening, reacting to what we’re hearing, and subsequently being a supportive player with what we choose to play/say. No matter what we are doing stylistically we are always listening and communicating as we play. In all music, but particularly in jazz, we are supporting the other players, often through “comping” (which means to compliment) the other players. It makes a lot of sense to me that drummers are so drawn to this kind of improvised musical communication. I don’t mean to imply that jazz is the only musical style where this occurs, but it does seem to provide more opportunities for this type of playing. Finally, jazz drumming welcomes playing that incorporates four way independence and can span many genres within one tune when applied in a jazz fusion setting. That, combined with all my previous points creates a super fun, musically expanding and rewarding experience,

    RRX: So true. Ok; worst gig ever?

    AB: OMG too many to mention! I won’t name names though. Even the worst gig has its rewards. It’s all about the music.

    RRX: Do you polish your cymbals?

    AB: I absolutely understand why some drummers do, but I don’t. Something about the sound of an aged cymbal that is fairly well cared for seems to work for me.

    RRX: Tell me your feelings on roto-toms.

    AB: Wow! Roto-toms! I have not played them since the mid 80’s. I did own a set though. Benefits in my eyes include, easy to tune, simply swivel the head, three toms to one stand, and cost effective to add three toms to a kit! Drawbacks? Well, it’s a distinct sound, but probably has a place. Maybe there will be a roto-tom revival! That might be quite cool and fun!

    RRX: t am waiting for the roto-tom Revival. That’s a good name for a band. Is there one drummer in history that you would like to sit down with and interview?

    AB: Again, too many to narrow down to one.

    RRX: Ok Professor, as a teacher, performer, author etc., what is your favorite warm-up before playing?

    AB: A cup of java and mixing things up with something different every day. Always rudiments, followed by a specific style, rotating every day. One day, Afro Cuban, the next day Brazilian, the next day swing/jazz, next day New Orleans, and then slow blues, funk, the next day…

    RRX: Art Bernstein is not only a tremendous player, author, and teacher, but also a wonderful guy. Check out his work at “Drumhead Magazine”, or any of his recordings, especially the ABCD albums, or at his website, artbernstein.com. You will not be disappointed!

    Originally published in The Xperience Monthly

  • Music is the Spice: An Interview with DJ Mickey D

    DJ Mickey D recently spoke with Liam Sweeny of RadioRadioX.

    When you think of a DJ, you might think of turntables and scratching, record skipping and beat tracks and all kinds of bending of time and space. But DJing, in its simple reality, is providing a soundtrack for an experience. We might think that DJs play music tracks, and the good ones are talented, but maybe it’s more to the point that DJs play the crowd itself.

    DJ Mickey D

    DJ Mickey D has a wealth of experience playing different crowds, from “Rocking New Year’s Eve” with Ryan Seacrest to DJing for Mary J. Blige. And with a show called “The Spice of Life”, he shares with his crowd a special little mix of his own.

    RRX: On your website, you talk about DJing never being a job, but a passion. And you’ve DJ’d for such people as Mary J. Blige and Jay Z. So, most people would see your resume as a dream come true. When you talk about it being your passion, there is also a job in there. How do you keep it a passion when there is so much work involved?

    MD: I started DJing when I was 13. It gave me such self-confidence which I needed because I had low self-esteem due to being born with a cleft-lip and palette. I found that I was able to connect to people through music and make them smile. Over the years I have always volunteered to DJ for all sorts of worthy causes like Operation Smile fundraisers, Boys & Girls Club, the list goes on. I always make sure to give back and my gift to give is music. I think that’s how I stay passionate about music. It always gives me confidence like nothing else in my life, and I always make sure to play gigs that are changing the lives of others.  

    RRX: When you open for a superstar, when you open for a Jay Z, it’s probably not the same as when you open up for your cousin Mark. There are, I imagine, requirements, conditions you have to navigate through that you wouldn’t on a smaller gig. And I’m not talking state secrets; just a different level. What might be some differences? 

    MD: I created the opportunity to open for Jay Z as well becoming Mary J Blige’s tour DJ. That’s the first and most significant difference. Jay Z was on his “American Gangster” tour and when we hit the Hammerstein in NYC the dream gig presented itself. Funk Master Flex was opening the show and had to leave early while Jay Z has been delayed and was coming in late. I approached the tour manager and told him that I was an awesome DJ and wanted to play.  It turned into an unbelievable 40-minute set of old school NYC hip hop in front of a sold-out crowd. It was a similar situation with MJB. The front of house engineer was playing boring music at the top of the show so I approached the tour manager and asked if I could DJ. I had researched Mary’s influences and put together a sample playlist of what I would play. The next day I auditioned in front of the tour manager as well as Mary’s manager and the gig was mine. It’s important to note I didn’t get paid extra to DJ and I still had to perform my stage-managing duties. But I knew the experiences would be amazing and pay off in the long run.

    When creating these amazing opportunities, it’s important to stay humble and true to the task at hand. Just because you have a massive sound system to play on and thousands of people to play for doesn’t mean that’s your opportunity to become DJ number one and create an energy that is not conducive to the opening acts or headliner taking the stage. My name was not on the marquee or the flyer. My job was to play music that set the crowd up for the show to take them on their journey. 

    If I could offer someone one piece of advice to a DJ that finds themselves in the position of opening for an act of any caliber, don’t play their tracks during your set!

    RRX: You have a show, called the “The Spice”. I saw that you had Whoopi Goldberg on the show for the season two finale. And also, climatologist Ginger Zee. It’s a diversity that speaks to a show called the “The Spice”. Can you tell me a little bit about the show, how it started? Who was an interesting person you’ve had on that surprised you?

    MD: When the pandemic began, and we went into lockdown I quickly became bored with livestreams. There was no connection between the performer and the audience. And we needed to connect to one another. I started throwing Zoom dance parties and that evolved into the virtual events company Uru Connects with my partners Chris and Kerstin. My role is director of events so I began experimenting with different ideas for music centric virtual events. This is when The Spice was born. A show where friends gather each month to tell stories and share memories that remind us how essential music is to our lives. The first season was completely virtual. The second season was streamed live from a private social club in Brooklyn called Club Curious. This club is a creative space created by my friend and the owner of the craft nonalcoholic beverage Curious Elixirs. Having the guest in person with a small feast of friends gave the show such amazing energy that I decided to take The Spice on the road this summer. First stop is Arlington, VA on 6/12 with Meghan McCain and Kyra Phillips. 

    MD: During my NYC DJ Series I had Catori from Bespoke Musik as guest. Catori is an accomplished actress and musician who fell in love with DJing while working at The Boom Boom Room in NYC. Under the tutelage of my friend DJ ObAH (Oldskool Beats and Harmonies) who was also a part of the DJ series (at the time of booking I didn’t know about this connection). I learned that Catori has only been DJing for four years and she was already playing massive events such as Burning Man as well as headlining consistently in NYC, LA, and Miami. If I remember correctly, I told her she was a rocket ship.

    RRX: There’s something about variety shows, like what I feel Spice of Life is, and correct me if I’m wrong. It’s all in the pattern. Like if you look at something up close, it’s yellow and blue dots; step back, it’s green. So, if you step back from all different types of guests you’ve had on Spice of Life, what do you see?

    MD: When I step back and look at the guests that I’ve had on The Spice the first thing I see is friends and family. For the first season this is literal the only people I could convince to come on my show were friends and family. Now that I’m booking more well-known guests and the list grows longer (23 total so far!), I still see friends, but more so I see an entire spectrum of life perspectives that can all be related to music. And that’s the beauty of my show. No matter social or economic status, everyone has the song that reminds them of their mother. Everyone who loves music can relate to every question of every show because we all have soundtracks to our lives. I can ask you what song makes you smile the same way I can ask everyone from a movie star to the guitarist from a heavy metal band (shout out Joey Z LOA!). I mention smile because I am starting an initiative through The Spice to raise funds for Operation Smile, an organization that is near and dear to my heart.

    RRX: “Rocking New Year’s Eve”, with Ryan Seacrest, I have to ask about that. Something like that is an intersection between an entertainment event and a historical event. And as a DJ, you have a huge responsibility for stoking the crowd in between segments. It’s high pressure, I imagine, but also high fun. Any neat facts about RNYE?

    MD: Every New Year’s Eve for the past nine years I’ve worked as Ryan Seacrest’s audio handler. I run through Times Square with Team Ryan all night making sure he sounds good, can hear what he needs to hear, as well as managing communications for the others in our group. I’ve always said you could never get me to go to Times Square on New Year’s Eve unless you paid me. Be careful what you wish for. It can be a grueling gig with the endless rehearsals and terrible weather (a few years ago it was the coldest New Year’s Eve in 100 years, that sucked). But no matter the challenges, the energy of the show is always amazing and Ryan is awesome to work with. He really sets the bar for energy and professionalism and when it’s cold and wet, he is suffering the same as his crew. But he always pushes through with a smile and so do we because like they say, the show must go on.

    RRX: You do a lot of events and play in a lot of places. You’re constantly being put into new situations and having to adapt. So, if you have a choice between a big, huge show or festival, or a small, intimate gathering, is it an easy choice on its face, or does it depend on who’s there? Do you have a ‘sweet spot’ for places to perform?

    MD: For me at this time in my life it’s not about the size of the crowd or the venue. It’s all about whether or not I can play the music I want to play. My father passed last year from cancer and this was a very difficult and transformative period in my life. My dad was a DJ also and even though he moved to South Carolina when I was 12 and we didn’t have the closest relationship, we always had music and DJing. So many times he would be at a wedding and hit me up for music to play. We couldn’t talk sports, but we certainly could talk music. When he died, I thought about the amount of anxiety I go through when preparing for gigs such as weddings and corporate events, the panic attacks on the way to the show, and I realized I was having these problems because I wasn’t staying true to myself. I was continuing to endure pain because the money was great. Not to say I didn’t enjoy these gigs; I always rocked the party and have only five star reviews. But when I decided to get real with myself and stop taking gigs because of the money, so many amazing opportunities opened up for me. Now I’m a Love Prophet with Dr. Jah & The Love Prophets as well as the DJ and color commentator for an MMA promotion in Rockland County. I don’t make nearly what I did before but I don’t care. I have so much fun and only play music that I love.

    Originally published in The Xperience Monthly

  • An Interview with Peter Hughes, GM of The Linda WAMC Performing Arts Studio

    Peter Hughes is a man of many talents, serving as both General Manager and Programmer for The Linda, WAMCs Performing Arts Studio, as well as on-air host of “Live at the Linda” on WAMC Northeast public radio. A former market manager for Talmi Entertainment, Peter has overseen the he growth, development and operations of the Park Theater in Glens Falls, and before that spent two decades at Proctors Theater in Schenectady.

    Peter Hughes

    Rob Smittix of RadioRadioX spoke to Hughes about The Linda, the history of the building, and the best lunch options in Albany.

    RadioRadioX: I’m actually here at The Linda in the green room, which is behind a bank vault.

    Peter Hughes: It’s in the bank vault, it is actually the bank vault.

    RRX: In the bank vault, sitting with Peter Hughes. Peter what is your official title?

    PH: I am the… it’s not that exciting, I am the General Manager and Programmer of The Linda which is WAMC’s performing arts studio here on beautiful Central Avenue in Albany, New York.

    RRX: This really is really prime Albany, this is right in the center of everything.

    PH: This is the heart of Albany. This is the Central Avenue business district, there are at least 17 different languages spoken just within two blocks of this building. It is a cultural milieu and it’s got the absolute best restaurants, most authentic and wonderful places to eat from all around the world just within walking distance. Lunch is a gorgeous buffet of options, it’s pretty remarkable. 

    RRX: Yeah, there is a… I forget the name of the place, there’s a Jamaican spot a few blocks down on Quail and on Wednesday’s they have mannish water soup. 

    PH: We’re addicted here to Afghan kabob, the number 12 beef and lamb over rice is the staple of my diet at this point.

    RRX: That’s why I came here really to talk about food because we all love food!

    PH: Let’s talk about food!

    (Both laugh)

    RRX: Well, the Linda. I love this place. I played a show here myself; it was one of my absolute favorite shows my band has ever played and we’ve played hundreds of shows. 

    PH: Thank you.

    RRX: This room right here in the vault, this is where all the magic happens. 

    PH: Just to describe in case people that are reading this don’t know what the Linda is. The Linda is short for The Linda Norris Auditorium, and it is WAMC Northeast Public Radio 90.3FM, I think 17 other stations and 28 other broadcasters that is available in seven states. WAMC’s performing arts studio, with emphasis on the word studio. It is a live recording studio for the performing arts for Northeast public radio. This is not something that’s been happening recently strictly because of the shutdowns of Covid, we were closed for a year and a half to live audiences, so that filters out everything that we do. But traditionally and we will again…this is a place where live interviews happen, the roundtable with happen occasionally from here with a live audience and fund drives and occasionally Live at The Linda which is my radio show eight o’clock on Wednesdays and Sundays. Which for four hours every week on local radio you can hear concerts either recorded or sometimes live done right here and broadcasted from this building. So, when you are here for a music concert (which is not everything we do) you’re not just here for the music, like a club or a bar or other venues, the uniqueness of The Linda is that you are part of the show. There are microphones recording you as part of the broadcast audience and that is completely unique in the Capital Region. Completely unique for an NPR station and that is a one of a kind, one in the world type situation we have here. 

    And if we keep saying things about the vault. This building is 100 years old (which was converted 20 years ago), it was originally one of the gorgeous giant, huge, hard lock, concrete, art deco banks. The vault which is (bangs on wall) 30 inches of American steel and concrete is where the green room is. There’s no safer guest/green room in the State of New York with the sketchiest Wi-Fi signal ever. 

    So, if you come here and you can get back stage (there’s some public access here), you can spy the incredible, heavy, meticulous bank door which is something straight out of an old time gangster film. You expect to see someone with a tommy gun and a bag with a dollar sign on it. It’s very cool and that’s one of the unique things about this place.

    RRX: Now how long have you been with The Linda? 

    PH: I’ve been here just over a year. My personal history, you know straight out of the womb (laughs) out of college. I worked for Proctors in Schenectady, and I was there for almost 23 years. I started out making five bucks an hour at the box office and eventually made my way up to heading the marketing team. I was in programming and producing of events. Producing of a film series, Broadway marketing, entertainment marketing, producing, all of that. You do everything over that amount of time. That was a long time, so I moved on to other ventures, bounced around a little bit and then Covid hit. I was working for a wonderful organization in Massachusetts The Talmis who produce the great Nutcracker around the country. We were working on that, and everyone was just devasted, everyone was laid off, everyone was unemployed. Every job I ever had was gone. You know this as a musician, we’re all just on the sidelines. The sitting on the bench part was too difficult.

    One day last April, a year ago, I get an email from a really good friend of mine who said “Hey, WAMC is looking for a new guy to run The Linda and you should go for that.” I’m so depressed at that point, I’m thinking I’m never going to get it because I’ve been let down so many times. So, I apply on a Friday, I get a call on Monday, I get interviewed, hired on Wednesday and start on Thursday. Boom I was back in the game! 

    They told me my first day that I had a radio show. I thought great! Immediately started working on virtual concerts at that point which was what everyone was doing at that moment. We made a transition into winding those down because we had to look towards re-opening for live humans. There were a mountain of restrictions and social distancing rules, so we needed a very detailed plan in order to do that. We did that last June.

    RRX: I am so glad you did. 

    PH: So back to music, cinema events, speakers, authors, scientists and political debates (again we are an NPR affiliate). All of that is part of what The Linda is. It was built to be a community asset and a room dedicated to the concept of free speech. 

    RRX: I don’t remember exactly when The Linda became The Linda.

    PH: I think 20 years ago. From what I hear, and this may not be the total story so don’t quote me as this being fact, it’s just the story that I’ve heard. Dr. Alan Chartock, who is our Executive Director, would walk by this bank building on his way to get lunch (likely Ichiban) and would say one day we’re going to turn that into a performing arts center. 

    RRX: Well, I hope that is the story because I can just envision Alan Chartock and his dream coming into fruition. That’s pretty neat. 

    For more on The Linda WAMC’s Performing Arts Studio visit thelinda.org

    Originally published in The Xperience Monthly

  • NEQ: Never the Lesser Song Played

    We’re very opinionated when it comes to music. That stands to reason, since music is so much a guiding force in our lives. So, we listen to songs, and when we find one we love, we want to hear every song like it. That’s how we ended up with genres. And it is not easy for a band like NEQ that crosses genres to gain traction, because, essentially, they are creating their own, new genre.

    NEQ

    Interview by Liam Sweeney, for RadioRadioX/The Xperience Monthly

    NEQ, a.k.a. Nelson Esposito Quintana, is just such a band, and their new album, Nevertheless is a fine example of how to cross musical boundaries. The band is comprised of Todd Nelson, Kyle Esposito, Manuel Quintana, Mike Kelly and Carlos Valdez.

    RRX: Okay, so not to bury the lede, you have a new album out, “Nevertheless.” It’s amazing. Tell us a little bit about it, if you will. How long did it take to put it together? And what was your concept for it going in, or was it more a collection that precipitated from some jam sessions?

    TN: All told, it took a couple of years, although we weren’t working steady on it. We did a couple of tracks in 2018, and then the band kind of took a hiatus for a little while from live gigs, and we can talk about the reasons for that, but then we reconvened when COVID was getting kind of hard and realized we could keep working on this if we did it in such a way that the recording was done remotely. Rather than having such a large ensemble all playing together, we’d have maybe two or three people in the studio at a time. It was all put together in Manuel’s studio, although some of the recordings are done here at my house, and Manuel very expertly integrated all of those things.

    KE: I think the concept sort of snowballed as it went along, as far as our approach, I mean, it became evident to us what it was like, what the strength of it was, which it became almost more of a cinematic approach where we weren’t really thinking about can the trio play this live? But more, what does the individual song call for? And we just went with it completely. So, in a way, that’s different from our previous recordings, where we kept it closer to a trio format. No holding back there as far as overdubs, adding what it seemed to need.   

    RRX: NEQ is so-called because of Todd Nelson, guitarist Kyle Esposito, and Manuel Quintana. And the great thing about the band is that, by listening, none of you are clearly ‘leading.’ It seems very much an equal contribution to the music. Now you usually think in a band like this, one person puts everyone together. Was that true with NEQ?

    MQ: I think it was a team effort, but I think Todd led the way, as far as bringing in both full compositions and sections that were completed to some extent. But it was a big collaboration, I think we all put our stamp on it and what not.

    TN: I have to say that you were the person that was the impetus behind the recording. If you didn’t have this great studio and the motivation to work on this stuff, because you did a lot of the work on your own. And as far as the composition of the stuff, it kind of just worked out that I’d written all of the composition of this particular album. We’d written together in the past, and I’m sure we will in the future. But usually, the way we would do that is through jam sessions, we would get an idea, and take it home and develop it, decide what needs another section. So, we would work that way. But we couldn’t really work that way with the COVID thing going on.  

    RRX: When I hear NEQ, I think fusion. I think Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report, with a feel of a Friday Night in San Francisco – McLaughlin, Dimeola, DeLucia. A lot of references, but it’s a feel of musical exploration. But fusion is something more than simple experimentation. How does NEQ transcend ‘noodling around?’

    Kyle: I’m a strong proponent for noodling around, but I think this is the least we’ve ever left to chance as far as putting the songs together. Solos are still solos, but even the sections that are their places are composes, not the solos but sections set aside for someone to improvise on, as opposed to just playing the song over and over again, different people soloing over the same form, that kind of thing, that’s what I’m getting at. There’s a lot more through-composed material, a lot more specific events set out to conquer in this batch of tunes, for the most part. That’s my impression. 

    Todd: That’s basically what I was going to say. I think that people want to hear soloing, I think they want to hear that kind of thing, but I also get tired of it. I think what we’re trying to do is tread the line between that jam-band thing and a totally composed approach, and not fall too heavily to either side. That might keep people’s interest, hopefully. 

    Kyle: And I think that the solos are interspersed with other sections which, to go back to my cinematic comment, there are a lot of scene changes going on in the songs that are pretty much designated. We’ll go from a keyboard solo to another section that’s composed for everybody to play their part and move on into another section where there’s space for a guitar solo, that kind of thing. It is kind of Weather Report-ish in that way.

    Todd: Yeah, they were not head-solo-solo-head. A lot of that arrangement comes from jazz musicians – it’s their language, and that’s how they get together and play together even if they’ve never met each other, never played together before, makes it easy to gig. 

    RRX: One thing I would definitely say about NEQ is that it’s a very expansive sound. I had a very worldly signature. I imagine that having such an expansive sound is difficult, not just a matter of skill, but also a matter of vision. I mean, we’re talking about musical sources that evolved and intermingled globally. Are there any guiding principles to this?

    Manuel: I don’t think we had any guiding principles, no. However the song came to be what we went with.

    Kyle: It’s a bit of a mystery. I think it comes down to tastes and sounds and grooves that we all like as individuals, what overlaps, and really the essence of what Todd’s idea was to begin with. Things didn’t change that drastically; now that I think of it, wasn’t Camoplaid a jam?

    Manuel: Yeah, that was a rehearsal from a long time ago. Rehearsal jam; Todd may have had it. Recorded piece for a while too. We definitely sat on that, and I do think it came from a jam.

    Kyle: The beginning bassline thing I remember being out of the blue. Maybe I was working on a different song too; maybe it was that song.

    Todd: Yeah, I remember writing the melody for it, but I don’t remember jamming on it.

    Kyle: Getting back, that’s all to say that it’s stuff we’ve been influenced by that just comes out without too much intention.

    Todd: One intentional thing for me is to not censor myself so much, you know? And as a band, we refrain from censoring ourselves, saying ‘oh that’s too Latin sounding,’ or too something else. We embraced it all, we didn’t look at something and say ‘that style doesn’t belong.’ We just let it happen.

    Originally published in The Xperience Monthly.