NYS Music 202​2

Category: News Desk

  • WAMC’s Wanda Fischer to Celebrate Four Decades of “The Hudson River Sampler” at The Linda

    On September 18, 1982, WAMC debuted “The Hudson River Sampler” on Saturday nights. Hosted by Wanda Fischer, the show featured folk and acoustic music from 8-10 PM. Now, after four decades, the show is still running, and with the same host. 

    wanda fischer

    To mark the occasion, on Saturday, October 8, The Linda – WAMC’s Performing Arts Studio, will host a show to celebrate the occasion, featuring several prominent national and local folk music acts, including Anne Hills, Reggie Harris, Christine Lavin, Sawyer Fredericks, John Kirk and Trish Miller.

    The Linda is pleased to welcome the artists who will be here on October 8. These performers present a cross section of the music Wanda plays every week. This will be a special night.

    Peter Hughes, The Linda

    With a background that goes back many years, Fischer has been involved in this type of music since her father introduced her to it as a child. She’s also been a singer herself, having appeared at coffeehouses in the Boston area in the 1960s and ‘70s and has recorded an album titled Singing Along with the Radio. She and her husband Bill relocated to the Capital District in 1979. She held full-time jobs in the region while doing “The Hudson River Sampler” on Saturdays until her retirement from full-time work in 2014. During lockdown from the pandemic, she did her show live from the WAMC studio. 

    Fischer has been a volunteer on several boards of directors in the region, including Old Songs, Caffe Lena and the Eighth Step. She’s also a volunteer reader for the Reading is Fun program in the Schenectady City Schools and has published a novel and several short stories. A competitive local tennis player, she’s served as the captain of a United States Tennis Association team since 1988. 

    Additionally, the show will be broadcast live during The “Hudson River Sampler’s” normal time slot of 8-10 PM on WAMC’s network and streaming on wamc.org.

    Tickets for Wanda Fischer 40th Anniversary Live! Hudson River Sampler live at The Linda: WAMC’s Performing Arts Studio are $25 and on sale now through thelinda.org.

  • 3 Headed Monster Tour Coming to UBS Arena at Belmont Park

    Three of the premier rappers’ from hip hop’s golden age will make their way to Long Island on October 21. Jadakiss, Cam’ron and Ma$e will all perform at UBS Arena at Belmont Park as part of their 3 Headed Monster Tour.

    Jadakiss announced the 3 Headed Monster Tour on his official Instagram.

    The trio is keeping it short with a 7-stop haul that kicks off in Bridgeport, Connecticut on October 19. Additional stops include Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Elmont, Norfolk, and Augusta, Georgia before making their last stop in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on October 30.

    Moreover, The 3 Headed Monster Tour comes on the heels of Cam’ron and Ma$e’s public reconciliation. The former best friends and Harlem natives have had a long-stemming public feud since establishing themselves in the industry. However, the duo began to make amends after Ma$e’s appearance on the Million Dollarz Worth of Game podcast, in which he expressed regret for their feud. Cam’ron shared similar sentiments when he served as a guest on the popular podcast.

    https://youtu.be/CDQgd8uHkoE

    Ma$e and Jadakiss will undoubtedly perform some of the hits they penned during their days on Bad Boy records. Jadakiss as 1/3 of the LOX and Ma$e as a solo act and both as understudies to the Notorious B.I.G. While Jadakiss and Cam’ron will share the stage again after the historic Verzuz battle between The LOX and Dipset.

    By the same token, fans of hip hop’s golden era should be thrilled to watch three of the best from the Mecca perform together. The three grammy-nominated artists have each set their mark in hip hop’s landscape.

    About UBS and 3 Headed Monster Tour

    Located on the border of Queens and Nassau County, UBS Arena  is  made for music and built for hockey. New York’s newest premier entertainment, sports venue and home of the NHL’s New York Islanders is designed to accommodate 19,000 people for concerts. The $1.1 billion multi-purpose, state of the art arena opened in November 2021 and has welcomed top artists. The likes which includes Harry Styles, Sebastian Maniscalco, Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, TWICE, Eagles and John Mayer.

    Tickets go on sale to the public on Thursday, September 15 at 10 am. Pre-sale is available on Tuesday, September 13 at 10 am by using the pre-sale code: 3HM. Visit the official 3 Headed Monster Tour website for more information.

  • Shawn Colvin, Marc Cohn and Sarah Jarosz to Perform at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall

    The Troy Savings Bank Music Hall will welcome Shawn Colvin, Marc Cohn & Sarah Jarosz: Together in Concert, on February 22, 2023. Coming together for this special evening, this is one show you don’t want to miss.

    Shawn Colvin, Marc Cohn and Sarah Jarosz to Perform at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall

    A singular and enduring talent, Grammy winner Shawn Colvin’s songs like “Sunny Came Home” are slow-release works of craft and catharsis that become treasured, lifetime companions for their listeners. 

    After winning a Grammy for his soulful ballad “Walking in Memphis,” Marc Cohn solidified his place as one of this generation’s most compelling singer-songwriters, combining the precision of a brilliant tunesmith with the passion of a great soul man.

    Though just barely in her thirties, Texas native Sarah Jarosz has compiled a remarkable career, winning four Grammy Awards in both the Americana and Folk categories.

    Tickets are on sale now at troymusichall.org.   

  • Fernway Announces Fourth Annual Halloween Show

    Buffalo-based Fernway has announced the return of their fourth annual Halloween Show on Oct. 29 at Buffalo Iron Works.

    Fernway Halloween show poster with ghosts, graves, pumpkins, announcing tickets and acts.
    Poster by Francesca Bubb

    Fernway’s Halloween Show features stacked performances, including Vertigo Child, The Safest Ledge, Amateur Hockey Club, and Roy G Biv. In addition to the musical performances, attendees can also participate in a costume contest to win prizes.

    Fresh off of the release of their debut album, Autocrave, Fernway has been on the road with shows across the U.S. The group recently supported Ohio-based band The Safest Ledge earlier this September and will reunite with them for the Halloween Show on Oct. 29.

    Fernway band crowds together in front of a red background.
    Photo by: Matt Sledziewski

    Formed in 2017, Fernway consists of five Buffalo natives: RJ DeMarco, Brett Robertson, Jonah Wrest, Alec Dube, and Tanner DeMarco. The five musicians blend together pop rock, alternative emo, jazz, and more for a sound uniquely their own.

    Tickets for the Halloween Fernway show at Buffalo Iron Works go on sale on Sept. 9 at 10 a.m. EST. The price for an advanced ticket is $15 and $20 for a ticket at the door. The show will open at 6 p.m. with music starting at 7 p.m. Fans of Fernway’s music can find them and keep up with them on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

  • Caroline Shaw & Sō Percussion to Perform at Skidmore College

    Skidmore College and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center have announced a concert with violinist Caroline Shaw and NYC quartet Sō Percussion at the school’s Tang Teaching Museum.

    Slated for Friday, September 23 at 7:30 pm, the free-to-the-public show will feature Shaw and the group performing their 2021 collaborative album, Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part. This record marks Shaw’s debut, a Pulitzer Prize winning instrumentalist, singer, and composer. The concert stamps a return to the Tang for the Grammy-winning Sō Percussion, who performed at the Museum in 2014.

    Caroline shaw
    Left to right: Eric Cha-Beach & Jason Treuting of Sō Percussion, Caroline Shaw, Josh Quillen & Adam Sliwinski of Sō Percussion.

    Shaw, along with winning the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music, has won three Grammy awards in addition to receiving an honorary doctorate from Yale and a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. She’s worked with artists such as Rosalia, Yo-Yo Ma, and Kanye West and has contributed music to movies such as Bombshell and TV shows such as Beyonce’s Homecoming.

    Sō Percussion, having formed in 1999, has over 20 albums to their name in addition to collaboration with artists such as The Dirty Projectors along with score performance for works such as HBO’s The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, a 2015 documentary mini-series.

    Additional information regarding the event and more can be found on the Tang’s website.

  • Brooklyn Bowl serves as Spiritual Oasis for High Holidays celebrations this September

    For the 11th year at Brooklyn Bowl, The Friday Night Jam & FANS have announced a series of spiritually and musically inclined High Holidays services. Four services in late September and early October will be broadcast live for free via Fans.live, led by Rabbi Daniel Brenner and musical director Jeremiah Lockwood, featuring Antibalas’ Jordan McLean, Yuli Beeri, Lenny Kaye, saxophonist Stuart Bogie and a full live band.

    The livestreamed shows will take place at Williamsburg’s Brooklyn Bowl (with a select number of tickets for sale) and Relix Studios. 

    brooklyn bowl high holidays

    The services will feature a mix of live music and remote video contributions from a mix of musicians. Confirmed remote guests include: Dave Harrington (Darkside), Alex Bleeker (Real Estate), Dan Lebowitz (ALO), Eric Krasno (Soulive and Lettuce), Karina Rykman, Ross James (Terrapin Family Band), Aron Magner (Disco Biscuits) and Josh Kaufman (Bonny Light Horseman), among others. 

    The house band consists of Jeremiah Lockwood, Antibalas’ Jordan McLean, Antibalas’ Timothy Allen, drummer John Bollinger, saxophonist Stuart Bogie and Yula Berri on vocals and bass. The services arrive at the end of a busy summer for Bogie and McLean, including appearances at the lauded Newport Jazz Festival. Internationally based teacher Aliza Rivka will also lead a guided meditation at each event. On the morning of September 26, Leslie Mendelson, Eric Slick (Dr. Dog), and Armo will also make special appearances at Brooklyn Bowl as part of the High Holidays festivities. 

    We have said for years that Brooklyn Bowl is our sanctuary, clubhouse, church and synagogue, so it only makes sense that it has grown into the spiritual home for our musically inclined Rosh Hashanah services over the years. Especially at a time when so many of us have been apart from our friends and family due to the pandemic, we hope that our suite of traditional-but-open-minded-and-inclusive services will allow us to connect with each other as we ‘begin again’ at the start of this new year.

    Relix’s Editor-in-Chief Mike Greenhaus.

    As part of the event’s anniversary celebration, as part of the Sunday, Sept 25 service, Lockwood’s The Sway Machinery will present Hidden Melodies Revealed 15 at Brooklyn Bowl. This new iteration of the concert-ritual will celebrate the widening circles of cantorial revival, and Yiddish experimental expressive culture that have emerged in the last decade.

    Offering a counterpoint to The Sway Machinery’s futurist sound, a second stage will be set up in the middle of the venue that will host a “radical traditionalist” band performing new arrangements of Jewish ritual music on strings, led by virtuoso violinist Jake Shulman-Ment, and featuring vocal soloists Yoel Kohn, a leading voice in khazones emerging from the Brooklyn Chassidic community, and Shahanna McKinney-Baldon, Midwest Ska pioneer and thought leader on Jews of Color in the United States. For this performance, McKinney-Baldon will premiere a piece from her upcoming performance project inspired by the life and work of Goldye Steiner, a pioneering Black woman cantor of the 1920s. The resulting worlds of sound will cross boundaries of time, calling upon ritual, and invoking the power of ancestors to imagine radical futures.

    In addition to musical guests, the event will also feature revered actor Debra Winger, in the role of the narrator of the animated films The Akeidah, by Shawn Atkins, and Scenes From the Life of Ben Zion Kapov Kagan, by Andrea Dezsö. The narration and score for these animated films will be performed live.

    Schedule of High Holidays Events

    Sunday September 25 – 7:30PM EST at Brooklyn Bowl. Tickets available here, stream live via Fans.live

    Monday September 26 – 10AM EST at Brooklyn Bowl. Tickets available here, stream live via Fans.live

    Tuesday, October 4 – 7PM from The Relix Studio, stream live via Fans.live

    Wednesday, October 5 – 10AM from The Relix Studio, stream live via Fans.live

  • Caffè Lena at SPAC Festival Returns in October

    In partnership with Caffè Lena, the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) announced the return of the “Caffè Lena @ SPAC” Concert Series, a free two-day festival happening on Oct. 1 and 2 from noon to 4 P.M.

    Caffè Lena

    The two-day festival will feature six bands that explore global and American folk music. The festival started in 2017, and it highlights the unique, ongoing collaboration between the arts center and the folk music venue. Sarah Craig, executive director of Caffè Lena, spoke about the diverse lineup in a statement.

    This annual collaboration has found the sweet spot of area music fans. They love the setting and the line-up. They ask me about it all year, wanting to be sure they don’t miss it. Both SPAC and Caffè Lena have deep roots, and a taste for musical exploration. The festival line-up reflects that. We have Dreamers’ Circus from Denmark bridging the folk and classical worlds. We have Oshima Brothers bridging pop and folk. We have the righteous anthems of Crys Matthews and gorgeous harmonies of Hold On Honeys. There’s a brass band playing Eastern European tunes. It’s just a huge variety, like you might find on our stages year round.

    Sarah Craig, executive director of Caffè Lena

    Oct. 1 Lineup

    Resonant Rogues from noon-1 P.M.

    Resonant Rogues are from Asheville, North Carolina, and have been winning over audiences with their genre-hopping tunes since 2013. Their original songs by Sparrow and Keith Josiah Smith speak to the heart with poetic lyrics and appeal to the ears with amazing musicianship and arrangement.

    Resonant Rogues

    Cocek! Brass Band from 1:30-2:30 P.M.

    The Cocek! Brass Band has been led by led by Sam Dechenne since 2014 and is influenced by Eastern-European and New Orleans dance songs, Afrobeat, Klezmer, and elements of reggae and Western classical pieces.

    Cocek! Brass Band.

    Dreamers’ Circus from 3-4 P.M.

    Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen, Ale Carr, and Nikolaj Busk came together to form Dreamers’ Circus in 2009 after an impromptu jam session in Copenhagen. The Scandinavian musicians have toured across Europe, Japan, Australia, and North America with their inventive reimaginings of Nordic folk and traditional tunes.

    Dreamers’ Circus.

    Oct. 2 Lineup

    Hold on Honeys from noon-1 P.M.

    Hold on Honeys is composed of Emily Curro, Raya Malcolm, and Shannon Rafferty, which offers tight-knit harmonies to nourish the soul and invigorate the senses. They began singing together during the pandemic and began public performances in June 2021.

    Hold on Honeys

    Crys Matthews from 1:30-2:30 P.M.

    Cry Matthews is among the brightest stars of the new generation of social justice music-makers. She is a powerful lyricist whose songs reflect her lived experiences of what she calls “the poster-child for intersectionality.”

    Crys Matthews

    Oshima Brothers from 3-4 P.M.

    The Oshima Brothers (Sean and Jamie Oshima) were raised in a musical family in rural Maine. They are known for their harmony-rich blend of contemporary folk and acoustic pop. The brothers have released two albums, one rooted in acoustic folk and the other more retro and metro.

    Oshima Brothers.

    Guests are welcome to bring in food, drink, blankets, and lawn chairs for the concerts. Food concessions will also be available. The concerts will take place rain or shine. Visit here for more details.

  • Flushing Town Hall Mashup Series Continues With “Jazz Piano Meets Venezuela”

    Flushing Town Hall’s ongoing concert series, Common Ground: Mini-Global Mashups, picks back up Sunday, September 18 with “Jazz Piano Meets Venezuela.”

    Common Ground, which started last October, brings together musicians from different national/artistic backgrounds for never before performed collaborative works. It’s curated by trumpeter and composer Frank London of The Klezmatics, who played in the original, large scale version of the series.

    flushing town hall venezuela
    Amina Claudine Myers (left) and María Fernanda González. (right)

    The two artists on program for this upcoming show at Flushing Town Hall are American jazz artist Amina Claudine Myers and Venezuelan musician María Fernanda González, a player of the bandola llanera, a guitar-like instrument native to Venezuela and Colombia.

    Myers, an Arkansas-born artist, composer, and educator, has had her musicianship recognized on an institutional level, having received multiple grants and awards from organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet The Composer, and The New York Foundation for the Arts. She also was inducted as a member of the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame in 2010.

    González, a Northwest Venezuelan artist, composer, educator, and journalist, is one of the only female musicians in the world playing her instrument, becoming the world’s first female electric bandola llanera player in 2016. She’s also participated in and won competitions at Colombia’s Joropo Festival.

    Information regarding tickets, schedule and more can be found on the Flushing Town Hall website.

  • Sugar Hill Music Festival Returns For Year Six in Harlem

    The sixth annual Sugar Hill Music Festival is set to take place Saturday, September 10 in Harlem with a program of concerts and other festivities beginning at 3pm.

    sugar hill music festival

    Taking place at Harlem’s Sugar Hill Luminaries Lawn, the performers include Camille Thurman, a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, performing with the Darrell Green Quartet, Clifton Anderson, a Harlem trombonist who’s been on stage with renowned names such as Stevie Wonder and Dizzy Gillespie who will be playing with his signature sextet, the Steven Oquendo Latin Jazz Orchestra, a nineteen-piece led by the Washington Heights composer and trumpeter, and the Sugar Hill Quartet, the longest running house band in New York City.

    The festival is run by While We Are Still Here, a Harlem non-profit which aims to “educate, enshrine and preserve the extraordinary legacy of Harlem as an influential incubator that was vital to the intellectual, cultural, social, and political advancements of the Harlem community as well as the African Diaspora.”

    The festival follows a “pay what you will” model, with admissions of any price up to $100 towards While We Are Still Here being accepted. Information about the performing acts and more can be found here.

    One of several educational shorts on the While We Are Still Here YouTube channel.

  • Oobleck Schedules Two October Concert Dates In NY

    Capital region funk band Oobleck has announced three concert dates across the next two months, two of which are taking place in the Capital District.

    Oobleck concert dates
    The members of Oobleck (credit: Kiki Vassilakis)

    The group has over a month of time between their coming show in Shelburne, VT on this Saturday the 10th and the following performance date, with them next performing at the Unihog in Hoosick Falls on Friday, October 21. The 21-and-up event will begin at 8pm.

    Oobleck’s other scheduled show is on Sunday, October 30th is at Schuylerville’s Saratoga Apple. Running from noon to 3pm, the free concert is open to attendance from all ages.

    Formed in 2008, three of the group’s records can be found on Bandcamp where they are available for purchase.

    More information in regards to Oobleck’s Hoosick Falls and Schuylerville concert dates can be found on each show’s respective Facebook event page.

    Oobleck plays “Whiskey Song,” the sixth track from their most recent album released in 2015, Don’t Mistake the Barn for the Basement.