On Tuesday, November 15, Black Star took the stage at Sony Hall in Times Square for a once in a lifetime performance, presented by Blue Note Entertainment Group and co-presented by podcast platform Luminary.
Black Star is Talib Kweli and Yasiin Bey, the internationally recognized icons of rap, activism, and entertainment. This night, they performed songs from their iconic debut Mos Def & Talib KweliAre Black Star, as well as their new album No Fear Of Time, which was released after an extended hiatus of nearly 25 years. In addition to the Black Star originals, they both performed hits from their individual catalogs.
The Sony Hall show followed their SNL debut on Saturday, November 12th, where Black Star performed “So be it.”
After two years under wraps, The Wonderfront Music Festival makes its first return since 2019. Running from November 18-22, 2022, Wonderfront was started by CEO Paul Thornton and is located right in the marina along the waterfront piers and parks of downtown San Diego. Wonderfront is a multi genre annual festival hosting over 80+ artists, including award winning headliners Gwen Stefani, Cage The Elephant, G-Eazy, and The Zac Brown Band.
WonderFront 2019
One of Southern California’s biggest cities, San Diego has become the perfect location for festival grounds in the SeaPort Village Marina. The Wonderfront Festival is bringing a full package to the comeback lineup for 2022 with many art installations, food vendors like Sophias Kitchen, Pressed and Smash City Burgers, in addition to hosting various retail vendors and partnering with The San Diego Museum of Art, one of the region’s largest and most-visited art museums to accentuate the visual arts experience.
WonderFront Music and Arts Festival Lineup
The lineup includes artists coming from around the globe. Headliners include Gwen Stefani, G-Eazy, The Zac Brown Band, Cage The Elephant, Young the Giant and EARTHGANG. While hosting over 80 artists, Wonderfront pulls from rock, alternative, rap, pop rock to appeal to a wide range of community for the fans. Not only does Wonderfront bring award-winning headliners but brings deserving attention to many more well established artists. Other artists featured on the lineup include Fitz and The Tantrums, Bea Miller, Joey Purp, Hippie Sabotage and many more.
NYS Music will head west for WonderFront Music and Arts Festival and will be reporting back on members of the East Coast music community, several of which are making an appearance at Wonderfront Festival 2022. Bea Miller from Maple Wood, New Jersey, launched her career after placing 9th on X- Factor at the age of only 13. Some of her top hits from album Aurora include “Song Like You,” “Like That,” and “Motherlove.” Another artist representing the East Coast is Two Feet, originally from Manhattan and gained attention in 2016 and rose to success after releases Pink and Max Marco is Dead Right? in 2021.
The night of Saturday, November 12 was a bitter and cold, and at The Rapids Theater in Niagara Falls, The Thom Conde Project, Buffalo’s newest hard rock band, opening the night’s show. Next up, was Buffalo’s Red Letter, followed by Sirens & Sailors from Rochester taking the stage. And among the crowd was unreal anticipation for STEMM to the start their set. Even Rob Arnold, guitarist from the band Chimaira made the trip to see this show from Ohio.
By showtime, the building had filled up and it didn’t feel like a bitter cold night anymore. STEMM has been working for over a year to bring back their old vocalist TJ Frost to play their album Songs for the Incurable Heart in its entirety. TJ flew in from Boise, Idaho for two weeks of constant rehearsals – and let me tell you, it surely paid off. They started with original STEMM songs before TJ was brought out on stage. At this point, the entire vibe in the building was through the roof – it was hot, It was humid and it felt like a jungle inside the venue.
This is where things got fun. Having personally known the guys in STEMM for 25 years and shared the stage with them with my band countless times (before I traded in my gear and became a photographer.) When you add STEMM and TJ Frost – the roof was blown off the building by the crowd. There were multiple people crowd surfing including a 10 year old kid who was witnessed crowd surfing at least 5 different times, like it was his favorite theme park ride. When you think you’ve seen it all, you see a security guard crowd surf, and you know you’re at an amazing show, with all the incredible vibes at this point.
STEMM is Joe Cafarella- Vocals/Guitar; Danny Nelligan – Drums; Alex Scouten- Guitar; TJ Frost- Vocals; Louis Penque – Vocals; Fred Blackwell- Guitar, and Joe Scouten- Bass Guitar. With seven members on stage during STEMM’s set, including their original vocalist Louis Penque from the beginning of their days, to TJ Frost himself, both vocalists were boucing all over the building. On the speakers and on the security gate they were both reaching out as far as they could in the crowd just to give a fan a high five. This is personally the most amazing performance I have seen STEMM perform in more than 20 years. Yet the band is not done – they plan on one-upping this show in the future.
Not only has STEMM became a staple of the music scene in Niagara Falls for the past 25 years, their songs have been used by the UFC, including “Face the Pain” being the UFC’s main theme song from 2002-2018. The UFC has used 25 different STEMM songs as background music over their history. This is saying A LOT from a little band from a the second largest city in NYS, Niagara Falls, NY. And Recently heard at Buffalo Sabre’s and Buffalo Bills games; more STEMM songs.
STEMM – The Rapids Theater, Niagara Falls, NY – Saturday, November 12
Setlist: Wish, Dead Inside, House of Cards, Don’t Act Surprised, Inside, Casualty for Prayer, The Memory Remains, A Song for the Incurable Heart, Till I Die, MONSTER, Pandemic, Numb, On the Surface, 13 Years, Incomplete, Holding On, Between now and Forever, The day the Earth Stood Still, Face the Pain
Radio Woodstock 100.1 WDST has announced the next installment of the “Saturday Night Takeover” series on Saturday, Nov. 19, with Melissa Auf der Maur, who was the famed bassist of American bands Hole and The Smashing Pumpkins.
Radio Woodstock, tagged as the New York Times’ “favorite thing about driving around the Hudson Valley,” has been the recipient of numerous national, regional, and local awards for its innovative programming. Radio Woodstock is one of the most influential rock music stations in the world and is unique for being both listener and advertiser-supported. It has been locally run and operated for over 40 years.
The DJs and programmers present the best emerging artists alongside the largest rock n’ roll library in the world. Radio Woodstock’s live events division has put on experimental live events and is most known for creating Mountain Jam and Taste of Country, which grew to become the largest music and camping festivals in the Northeast, together drawing over 100,000 attendees each year. Recently, the department has produced CannaStock, the first cannabis festival in the Hudson Valley.
Featured on the “Saturday Night Takeover” segment is Melissa Auf der Maur. She is a musician, photographer, curator, multidisciplinary event producer, and film producer. In 2010 she co-founded the multidisciplinary art venue Basilica Hudson in the Hudson Valley Region. She released two solo albums between 2004-2010.
You can tune into Radio Woodstock on Nov. 19 at 10 p.m. to hear Melissa Auf der Maur on the air here or via the iHeartRADIO app.
Pop punk is alive and well these days. The fanbase now spans multiple generations who are selling out festivals and reunion tours all while spawning a thriving scene of up and coming bands with a new found energy and creativity. This was all on display on Sunday, November 13th at Brooklyn Steel for State Champs third show of the ‘Kings Of The New Age’ tour. The Albany-based pop punks led a deep quadruple bill also featuring California natives Hunny along with relative newcomers Young Culture and Between You & Me on support.
Fresh off their appearance at When We Were Young Festival (the Las Vegas pop punk festival featuring almost every band you ever heard of) State Champs were in fine form as they celebrated Kings Of The New Age, their fourth LP released back in May. Frontman Derek DiScanio and bassist Ryan Graham bounced from one side of the stage to the other, greeting a relentless stream of crowd surfers rushing the stage. The band breezed through a career-spanning, 18-song setlist with many of the new songs already becoming crowd favorite sing alongs.
Brooklyn Steel was only the third stop on the tour, with North American dates running until mid December. State Champs close out the stretch with a hometown show at Albany’s Empire Live on December 10th. Tickets for that show are still on sale. Check out the full photo gallery from Brooklyn below and from their last performance at Empire Live in 2021 here. Also make sure to listen to the band’s recently released acoustic singles “Act Like That” and “Outta My Head”.
On Saturday, November 12 at the Broome County Forum Theatre, Maestro Daniel Hege led the Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra in “Green Places,” a program named for a featured concerto by American composer Gary Schocker. The concert began with an unscripted reading of the National Anthem, sung heartily by the audience, followed with the brief fourth Novelette by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, a work for strings and percussion.
“Green Places,” a three movement concerto for flute, featured principal flutist Karen Bogardus, whose stunning green gown helped set the tone for the fanciful piece. Bogardus’ virtuoso playing was fluid and flexible as she led the orchestra in playful calls and responses. Concertmaster Uli Speth concluded the first half of the program with Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “The Lark Ascending.” Speth, dressed in an open vest and bowtie suitable for the English moors, held the audience in rapt attention as his soloistic lines soared over the muted strings.
The Philharmonic rose to the many challenges of Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, one of the least known but most technically difficult of the nine. Highlights were the tight string sections, spot-on winds, and remarkably fine timpani playing.
The next event for the Binghamton Philharmonic is Winter Wonderland on December 10, featuring performances of music from Home Alone 2 (John Williams), The Polar Express (Alan Silvestri), Nightmare Before Christmas (Danny Elfman), The Snowman (Howard Blake) and many more.
Akshatha Ganesh and Ashwyn MuthukumaraswamiAmanda Green and Mark GreenAmi Titus and Barbara ReardonKimburlee Stewart and Kevin OriolPokey Crocker and Ann Scala 2Reenie Wilson, Ann Machlin, and Kathie Winckler
On Thursday night, November 11th, Guthrie Bell Productions threw another fantastic party at The Hollow in downtown Albany and things got more than just a little bit strange. The lineup of Bella’s Bartok and The Dust Bowl Faeries was yet another great move as the entire night was a delicious ride from “creepy carnival music” to “foot-stomping freak folk.” And despite the fact that it was a Thursday night show, no one left early and no one really even sat down.
The Dust Bowl Faeries
The evening opened up with a local band called The Dust Bowl Faeries. It was my first time seeing this band, but it certainly won’t be my last — and everyone I spoke with had the exact same reaction. Self-described as “dark carnival music” this band was unlike anything I have ever seen or heard before. I knew it was going to be good when the lead singer hopped on stage with a taxidermy ram’s head on her back, and they exceeded my expectations.
If you are curious about The Dust Bowl Faeries, and you should be, you should check out their website immediately. They have a new album titled Carnival Dust coming out in January and on December 6th you can check out their brand new video by Thin Edge Films.
Bella’s Bartok
I have to admit that Bella’s Bartok has been a favorite of mine for many years now — they are one of the most energetic, unique, and entertaining bands in the scene. Their set on Thursday night was well over two hours long and despite that, it seemed like they could have kept right on going. I can’t get enough of this band’s on-stage chemistry and their lead singer’s antics, including hopping off the stage and walking around while singing in the crowd.
Other bands have to work really hard to get the crowd to participate. Bella’s fans — AKA “The Strange Ones” are the exact opposite because the energy is palpable and the band is electric. If you missed them last night, they have several dates coming up in the northeast so get your tickets fast.
Shenanigans
All in all, it was a perfect night with a perfect lineup of strange shenanigans and creepy delights. Check out our full gallery below.
Reaching the halfway point of their collaborative tour, TABoose took over the Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls on Sunday, November 13, formerly the Civic Center and site of the legendary 1994 Phish Halloween show.
Leaning away from the Beatles cover that was highly speculated, both bands threw down hot 90-minute sets as their confidence both with each other and as individual musicians seems to grow with every concert.
photo by Derek Java
Goose opened up the night with “So Ready”, the Shenanigans Nite Club cut letting loose with standout guitar solos from Rick and Peter as Spuds pushed the tempo to breakneck speed. “California Magic” came next, breaking its longest gap since debuting in March.
“Thatch” a new song that Rick remarked was “only two days old”, continued the quintet’s set. Featuring a hard-charging groove and crunchy clav, lots of potential was immediately shown and I eagerly await future performances of the song as it grows into Goose’s ever-expanding catalogue.
A rare mid-set cover of The Band’s “Don’t Do It” whipped the crowd into a frenzy as Peter and then Rick took great solos.
Note the vintage jacket Peter is wearing – Glens Falls Red Birds, a minor league baseball team from mid-1990s. photo by Derek Java
The improvisational centerpiece of the show came in the ensuing “Madhuvan”, giving us the dose of darkness and extended jamming we had been hungering for since Portland. Featuring an aggressive synth tone from Peter on Nord Lead rather than the Prophet, dissonance reigned as the first song to cross the 20-minute mark since Portland displayed Goose’s improvisational capabilities.
After the always-fiery end to “Madhuvan”, the quintet brought Trey up on stage to contribute to “Red Bird”. Perfectly singing one verse of Peter’s emotional song written about his mother, Trey proceeded to lead the jam away from the fiery guitar duels we have seen in the past few shows and into more of a rhythm-based motif for a while before exploding back into a great peak. “Hot Tea”, also featuring Trey, closed out the set with incredible guitar interplay once again.
TAB’s set opened up with a laid-back “Drifting” ahead of “Set Your Soul Free”, “Ocelot”, and “Magilla” – all showcasing TAB’s growing confidence on stage as this tour progresses. Pure energy kicked off “A Wave of Hope”, one of the most prominent tracks from 2020’s Lonely Trip that has become a live staple of the Phish catalogue and has led to some of the best jams this year. While last night’s version didn’t hit 20 minutes or go outside the main song structure, Trey instigated the “second jam” and drove to many blistering peaks before concluding.
Trey then took a moment to talk about his connection to the city of Glens Falls and his time spent in nearby Saratoga Springs during his time in drug court after his arrest in late 2006 before a beautiful rendition of “Shade”.
Last night’s MVP took centre stage on the next song, an absolutely BLISTERING “Burlap Sack and Pumps” – saxophonist James Casey ripped up the baritone sax for an amazing solo that saw him going back and forth with Trey as the tension built.
“Spin” offered a similar placement and vibe to “About to Run” at Mohegan – a late-set opportunity for Trey to rip over a foundational groove. The song’s outro jam was its usual slinky self, bassist Dezron Douglas seeming to get lost in the vibe as they dug deeper and deeper into the amazing song.
photo by Derek Java
The pounding “Last Tube” gave way to “hey stranger”, the latter getting its second play of the tour – lots of potential in this song that I hope makes its way to Phish in the future!
“Valentine” brought the TAB portion of the set to a close, and Rick and Peter were welcomed on stage for an absolutely BLISTERING “Mr. Completely”. Taking some time at first to have a musical conversation, Rick and Trey harmonized as they have been doing so well on this tour before ceding a solo to the keyboardists. Egged on by Ray’s organ blasts, Peter ripped up an awesome piano solo before the jam transitioned into TAB’s usual solo-modulation sections. Once the horns had taken a spin with the tune for a little while, Trey cued everyone to drop out as he and Rick faced each other with huge smiles on their faces and continued to shred – it is impossible to tell at this point in the tour which guitarist is having more fun playing with the other!
A set-closing “Rise/Come Together” and an encore of “Possum” brought the incredible night in Glens Falls to a close on an extremely high note.
Four shows in, four shows left. TABoose tour has already exceeded expectations thus far and I cannot wait to see the collaborations that are on the horizon!!
TABoose tour continues on Tuesday in Carnot-Moon, PA. Webcasts are available via Nugs.net and LivePhish.
Tune in to Day After Show live with Always Almost There, HFPod, and The Great Beyond the day after every show at 3pm ET as we recap the tour in real time!
When you listen to “Without A Me,” you are brought into an intimate space: a belfry filled with fluttering bats, a cluttered room, the side of a highway where people hold signs and implore honks and kool-aid condenses in its paper cup, an attic — evoking those bats again — all imaginary, all in the mind of Syracuse singer-songwriter Stephen Mullane. Except of course, that the song was recorded in Mullane’s own self-contained world as well: the song is his first to be written, performed, recorded and produced entirely in Mullane’s home studio, a space he fashioned by himself for himself.
“Without A Me” is Stephen Mullane’s newest single; it follows two albums he released in 2021, recorded at More Sound Recording Studio in Syracuse. Mullane is an independent — it’s just him, his voice, his guitar. His lyrics are the highlight, they’re ripe with imagery, wit, ad-libs and inconsistent rhyme schemes that all seem to work out in the end. Called to mind are Elliot Smith’s slowly unfolding “King’s Crossing,” Pavement trading incomprehensible verse in “… And Carrot Rope,” or Bob Dylan’s self-critical look at current affairs in “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)”.
Mullane thrives in this folksy, rambling space of sound because his lyrics hold enough interest and nuance to be stark against the minimal acoustic background. The stream of consciousness is overwhelming, but the consistent rhythm and vocals hold strong against the current.
The song is out now, listen below. To see Stephen Mullane live in Syracuse, his next gig is at Skaneateles Brewery on Sunday, November 27, his third show at the brewery.
On Saturday, November 12, TABoose (Trey Anastasio Band and Goose) took over Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut for an incredibly fiery sold-out show as the third night of Goose and Trey Anastasio Band‘s co-headlining tour.
Goose’s performance on Saturday marked their second appearance at Mohegan this year – the home-state arena hosted the eighth annual Goosemas celebration this past February. Unlike that show, where there was extra space on the floor and no seats open behind the stage, the room was absolutely packed with people, a full 10,000-person sell out.
The quintet took the stage to thunderous applause and jumped into “Animal.” The perfect opener choice for the energetic crowd, guitarist Rick Mitarotonda took his time on the middle jam section and brought it to a rolling boil before closing out the catchy tune.
“Flodown” was tapped next and saw Mitarotonda once again lead the jamming, this time not with punchy guitar playing but with a bevy of delay effects. As the extended intros to this song are wont to do, the propulsive beat of drummer Ben Atkind and percussionist Jeff Arevalo was peppered with squiggly guitar freak-outs until exploding into the song proper.
Keeping the energy up in this no-breathers set was the first track from Dripfield to appear on this tour, the jamming staple “Arrow.” Taking the dance-y groove out for a shorter-than-normal spin, Mitarotonda pushed through a broken string to lead the rest of the band through a smooth segue into a cover of Bob Seger’s “Hollywood Nights,” not played by Goose since May 4, 2018 or 311 shows. Arevalo sported an ear-to-ear grin throughout the cover as the band kept the energy at a screaming level as they finished off “Arrow.”
Wasting no time, multi-instrumentalist Peter Anspach used his wireless guitar set-up to join Rick center-stage on the ensuing “Dripfield.” Debuted alongside “Hungersite” during the third set of the Goosemas show in the same room back in February, last night’s “Drip” had a similar effect in an arena setting — pounding drums and churning guitar echoing around every corner of the space as massive smiles were sported by all band members.
Anspach then called up the TAB horn section to help on a cover of “Fish in the Sea” by Fat Freddy’s Drop – a staple of the live Goose catalogue. Bassist Trevor Weekz driving groove laid the perfect foundation for the horns to solo over as saxophonist James Casey and Mitarotonda traded licks phenomenally.
Trey was brought out for the set closer, and the crowd went absolutely nuts for the opening notes of “Factory Fiction.” For those of you who may not know the history of the song, “Factory” was penned by Mitarotonda and songwriting partner Matt Campbell over a decade ago as part of Goose precursor band Vasudo’s catalogue. Rarely played in the earlier days of Goose, it was busted out at crew member “Coach” Jon Lombardi’s wedding in October 2019 and was a standout part of their 2020 livestreamed Bingo Tour. Since then, the song has been played numerous times at “special occasion” shows, or times when the vibe just calls for a little extra.
Excitement swept the crowd as the song progressed, and we were treated to another dose of Allman Brothers-like guitar playing from Anastasio and Mitarotonda as the jam built to multiple screaming peaks to close out Goose’s incredible set.
TAB’s set began with the first repeat of tour, catalogue classic “Sand.” Moving from there into “Shine” and “Twist,” Anastasio’s normally bouncy energy seemed multiplied last night as he ripped his fretboard to shreds during the opening songs.
A quick bounce through “Mozambique” gave way to the tour’s first “Night Speaks to a Woman,” a song filled with impressive vocal contributions from Natalie Cressman, Jennifer Hartswick and James Casey while Trey continued to shred.
“Mercy,” a beautiful song crafted from the composed piano intro to the Ghosts of the Forest live shows, offered a breather ahead of a bubbly take on “Undermind.” Trey led the band through relative rarity “…And Flew Away” from his Lonely Trip quarantine album before the brightness of “Pigtail” kept smiles on faces.
Taking a late-set spot that is perfect for the song, “About to Run” featured what may have been Anastasio’s strongest guitar playing of the night. Bassist Dezron Douglas dug into the groove as the roof was blown off the arena. “Push On ‘Til The Day” closed out the main portion of TAB’s set with another blistering peak that had the crowd even more dialed in and crazy than they had been before.
Bringing Mitarotonda and Anspach on stage, the band jumped into a peppy “No Men in No Man’s Land” that once again showcased Douglas and drummer Russ Lawton‘s rhythm section connection, with the former turning to face the latter throughout the deep groove. Focusing once again on guitar showcases rather than deep improv, Anastasio and Mitarotonda brought forth peak after peak in “NMINML” and the set-closing “46 Days” that left ear-to-ear grins on those in attendance.
For the encore, the rest of Goose was brought up on stage as Trey remarked that “sometimes you just need two bassists” before ripping directly into “Carini.” More smiles on the faces of every band member, more fretboard fireworks and one final venue-destroying peak closed out the third show of TABoose tour.
With five shows remaining, both bands continue to be growing in energy and confidence as the tour goes on and we all eagerly await the collaborations to come.
