On Monday, Nov. 21, country’s beloved Parker McCollum announced the extension of his 2023 tour. Dates revealed for the second leg of his upcoming tour for this summer, which includes a performance at the ArtPark in Buffalo on August 17 and St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheatre at Lakeview in Syracuse on August 19.
Parker McCollum (Photo Credit: Chris Kleinmeier)
The second part of the Texas native’s tour is to be co-produced through the collaboration of Live Nation and Emporium Presents and will feature support from rising country artists including Larry Fleet, Jackson Dean and the Randy Rogers Band. McCollum is scheduled to close off his tour in New York on August 19 in Syracuse.
Parker McCollum 2023 Tour Dates
May 18 2023 – Toledo, OH -Toledo Zoo Amphitheater *with Larry Fleet
June 3 2023 – Wilmington, NC – Live Oak Bank Pavilion *with Jackson Dean
June 9 2023 – Midland, TX – La Hacienda Event Center *with Larry Fleet
June 10 2023 – Dallas, TX – Dos Equis Pavilion *with Larry Fleet
June 24 2023 – Indianapolis, IN – TCU Amphitheatre at White River State Park *support TBD
June 29 2023 – Saint Augustine, FL – The St. Augustine Amphitheatre *with Larry Fleet
July 14 2023 – Huntsville AL – The Orion Amphitheatre *with Flatland Cavalry
July 29 2023 – Nampa ID – Ford Idaho Center Amphitheater *with Jackson Dean
August 10 2023 – Morrison CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre *with Randy Rogers Band
August 17 2023 – Buffalo NY – ARTPARK *with Larry Fleet
August 19 2023 – Syracuse NY – St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheatre at Lakeview *with Larry Fleet
Throughout the winter season, historic venues across Central New York present holiday show offerings to keep up with the Christmas festivities. The most popular event being Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker; it wasn’t until the 1960s that performances of this ballet really took off as an annual Christmas tradition. This year, there will be many popular holiday events preformed in places such as Utica, Cortland, and Endicott this December.
EPAC Nutcracker with the FUSE Dance Center of Binghamton
Established in 1998, The Endicott Performing Arts Center provides a high quality performing arts venue to local, regional, and touring artists. Thus, enabling their students to present, develop, and improve their artistic efforts. This season, EPAC presents four performances of “The Nutcracker” December 9th, 10th, and 11th. With the amazing dancers from The FUSE Dance Center of Binghamton, teaming up with the EPAC Repertory Company, ‘The Nutcracker’ has become a holiday tradition that you don’t want to miss.
Four performances are held on Friday December 9 at 7pm, Saturday, December 10 at 2pm and 7pm, and Sunday, December 11 at 2pm.
Tickets are $20 Adults / $18 Seniors and Children.
For more information, reserve seating, and to purchase tickets, click the link here.
Photo credit to Matt Ossowski
Upcoming Concerts and Events at The Stanley Theatre
This holiday season, there will be many upcoming shows you won’t want to miss at The Stanley Theatre. The most popular being The Nutcracker which the Board of Directors and Artistic Director, Melissa Larish, have endeavored to make the production unique, through major investments in sets, costumes, choreography, lighting and guest artists. Other shows like Mannheim Steamroller Christmas, Home Alone, and A Charlie Brown Christmas will all be held throughout December.
The Nutcracker
December 2nd | 7:00 p.m.
December 3rd | 7:00 p.m.
December 4th | 2:00 p.m.
Mannheim Steamroller Christmas
December 7th | 7:30 p.m.
Home Alone (1990)
December 8th | 6:30 p.m.
A Charlie Brown Christmas
December 20th | 7:00 p.m.
Cortland Rep Downtown Holiday Events
Cortland Repertory Theatre Downtown, located at 24 Port Watson Street in Cortland, offers an exciting and festive December of holiday shows and events. For the first time since 2019, CRT is offering a weekend of photos with Santa, on Saturday, December 3rd from 10:00am-12:00pm and 2:00pm-4:00pm, and on Sunday, December 4th from 1:00pm–3:00pm. Along with this, they will also be offering a Holiday Broadway Brunch on December 10th, a performance by The Rave-On’s December 11th, Third Thursday Trivia on December 15th, and more to come.
Holiday Broadway Brunch
December 10th at 11:00am
The Rave-Ons
December 10th at 7:30pm and December 11th at 2:00pm
Third Thursday Trivia
December 15 at 7:00pm
The Story of Ebenezer Scrooge by The Traveling Lantern Children’s Theatre Company
December 17th at 11:00am
Dancin’ Thru the Decades New Year’s Eve Community Dance
December 31st at 9:00pm
For more information or to purchase tickets to any of these events, please visit the link here.
We’ve got five must-see music suggestions to end your year this December here in Rochester. From the 1st to the 31st, we’ve got you covered. So work off that holiday meal, take a load off your holiday shopping stress, and get down and groovy with these great shows coming to town. Get out and celebrate a full (relatively) unimpeded year of live music!
Right off the bat we’ve got an incredible musician coming to town on the first of the month. You can’t really go wrong with an Honest Folk show, really you shouldn’t miss anyone they’re bringing in, but this show in particular is a bit extra as the kids say. As far as folk music goes, you’re not going to get much better than Charlie Parr these days. A scraggly looking Minnesotan, he’ll finger pick some blues tunes that’ll pierce your soul, up above the lit-up East End streets.
Rochester has been fortunate to be a longtime regular stop for Toronto’s The Sadies. Tragically they lost their founding member Dallas Good earlier this year. Though they are persevering, getting the band back on the road just recently with a tour of Europe. They’re blowing through town with a stop at the hole-in-the-wall Skylark Lounge, where they last played mere days before the pandemic shutdown. This will both rock and roll.
You gotta love a venue with a well-curated show schedule. Danny Deutsch, who both owns and books Abilene, knows good music. So when he books a band multiple times, you should take notice. When he books a band multiple times in the same year, you better go see why. He’s got Angela Perley back at the joint after she played back this August. Time then to get out to see what her “cosmic swirl of alt-country, psychedelic rock, and amplified Americana” is all about.
Water Street Music Hall is closing out the year with an excellent one-two punch of live music. Rochester’s favorite roots rock reggae band Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad opens up the festive weekend with their homecoming blast. They’re bringing Notorious B.I.G. cover band The Frank White Experience and local groovers The Sideways along for the ride as well as other surprise guests. Both sides of the club will be open and rocking so don’t miss out on this night of music and revelry.
One night later, Buffalo jam mavens Aqueous return to Rochester for some more heady goodness. Aqueous has long found a second home here and never let us down. If you’re looking for a New Year’s Eve that stretches and elongates and parties on until 2022 is no longer visible in the rear view, Water Street is the place to be. The Funky Dawgz and The Pickle Mafia round out the evening but as with Giant Panda, there are sure to be more “friends” popping up on stage.
Show starts at 7pm and tickets are $25.
That’s it for this month, see you out at the shows and see you back here next year!
Alt-pop group Ripe announces the release of their sophomore album Bright Blues, and tour dates for the spring, including a stop at Terminal 5 in New York City on April 15.
Photo Credit: Brent Goldman
Ripe first became a group at Berklee College of Music and immediately began drawing fans in with deep funk, soulful jazz, pop melodies, and well-done improvisations. Hailed by Boston’s WGBH as “teeming with a pop swagger, confidence, and total self-assuredness,” Ripe is comprised of singer Robbie Wulfsohn, guitarist Jon Becker, drummer Sampson Hellerman, and trombonist Calvin Barthel.
The group’s new record pushes them in a different direction, as the pandemic and everything around them was crumbling down. They enlisted rising pop producer/songwriters – and Berklee classmates – Noah Conrad (BTS, Niall Horan) and Ryan Linvill (Olivia Rodrigo, Dermot Kennedy), who helped infuse songs like “All or Nothing” and the hypnotic “Paper Cups” into new depths of creativity.
Ripe will be releasing their new album Bright Blues on March 10. They will be embarking on a spring tour, stopping at Terminal 5 in New York City on April 15. Tickets for the tour are on sale here.
Canadian singer/songwriter Alan Doyle is headed to the U.S. for 2023 on a month-long tour which includes four New York concert dates.
Opening on February 15 Buffalo’s Town Ballroom and closing March 11 in Bonita Springs, FL, Doyle’s U.S. run also features stops at the Clayton Opera House on February 16, Sony Hall in Manhattan on the 24th, and Port Washington’s Landmark on Main Street on the 25th.
Cover art for ‘Here, Tonight.’ (photo credit: Michelle Spice Photography)
The tour is in promotion of Doyle’s recent live album, Here Tonight, released in March. It’s his first appearance on the road since the COVID-19 pandemic halted his 2020 Canadian national tour.
A Newfoundland native, Doyle is a 12-time JUNO Award nominee for his solo material and work with his band, Great Big Sea. Also an author, his 2020 book All Together Now: A Newfoundlander’s Light Tales for Heavy Times was his third national bestseller.
Tickets for Alan Doyle’s U.S. tour can be found here.
U.S. TOUR DATES
FEB 15 / BUFFALO, NY @ Town Ballroom FEB 16 / CLAYTON, NY @ Clayton Opera House FEB 17 / BARRE, VT @ Barre Opera House FEB 18 / BOSTON, MA @ City Winery FEB 19 / BOSTON, MA @ City Winery FEB 21 / PORTLAND, ME @ Aura FEB 22 / AMHERST, MA @ The Drake FEB 23 / CONCORD, NH @ Capitol Center for the Arts FEB 24 / NEW YORK, NY @ SONY Hall FEB 25 / PORT WASHINGTON, NY @ Landmark on Main FEB 26 / PHILADELPHIA, PA @ City Winery FEB 28 / ANNAPOLIS, MD @ Rams Head On Stage MAR 1 / WASHINGTON, DC @ City Winery MAR 2 / CHARLOTTE, NC @ Neighborhood Theatre MAR 3 / RICHMOND, VA @ Tin Pan MAR 4 / RALEIGH, NC @ Lincoln Theatre MAR 5 / ASHEVILLE, NC @ Grey Eagle MAR 7 / PONTE VEDRA, FL @ Ponte Vedra Music Hall MAR 8 / OCALA, FL @ Reilly Arts Center MAR 9 / CLEARWATER, FL @ Bilheimer Capitol Theatre at Ruth Eckerd Hall MAR 10 / BOCA RATON, FL @ The Funky Biscuit MAR 11 / BONITA SPRINGS, FL @ Centers for Arts Bonita Springs
Folk singer Judy Collins has received a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album for her record Spellbound, which is a remarkable album for Collins as it is her first album with all original songs.
Photo credit: Shervin Lainez
Judy Collins began her musical career in the 60s playing folk music in Colorado and Connecticut. She made her break in Greenwich Village and released her first album A Maid of Constant Sorrow in 1961. Over her life, she has played with icons like Stephen Stills, Randy Newman, and Joni Mitchell.
Her record Spellbound explores her experiences with substance abuse, the Greenwich Village scene in the early ’60s, her love for nature, and the vast open spaces of Colorado, where she was born and raised. This record was the 29 album she released in her career.
The Grammy nomination for Judy Collins is the first one she has had in six years and her seventh nomination overall. She previously won Best Folk Performance in 1969 for her recording of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now.”
Judy Collins has been averaging nearly 100 shows every year and has announced a new tour. Six of these concerts are dedicated to Wildflowers, her 1967 album. She’ll be performing the album front to back, with a full orchestra. Some of the tour will be stopping in Port Washington, Tarrytown, North Tonawanda, and New York City. Tickets for her tour are on sale here.
TOUR DATES:
*Wildflowers performances
11/25 – Wilson Theater at Vogel Hall – Milwaukee, WI
11/29 – Bing Crosby Theater – Spokane, WA
12/02 – South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) – South Orange, NJ
12/03 – Landmark on Main Street – Port Washington, NY
12/04 – Greenwich Odeum – East Greenwich, RI
12/09 – Tarrytown Music Hall – Tarrytown, NY
12/10 – Sacred Heart University Community Theatre – Fairfield, CT
12/11 – The Jay and Linda Grunin Center for the Arts – Toms River, NJ
12/16 – Jonathan’s – Ogunquit, ME
12/17 – Jonathan’s – Ogunquit, ME
12/18 – Tupelo Music Hall – Derry, NH
12/23 – Riviera Theater – North Tonawanda, NY
01/05 – Byham Theatre – Pittsburgh, PA
01/06 – Avalon Theatre – Easton, MD
01/08 – Birchmere – Alexandria, VA
01/11 – Rio Theatre – Santa Cruz, CA
01/13 – Old Town School of Folk Music – Chicago, IL
01/15 – Old Town School of Folk Music – Chicago, IL
01/18 – Van Wezel Performing Arts Center – Sarasota, FL*
01/19 – The Emerson Center – Vero Beach, FL*
01/21 – The Peabody Daytona Beach – Daytona Beach, FL*
01/24 – Mackintosh Church, Queen’s Cross – Glasgow, UK
This holiday season, the Greene Space at WNYC & WQXR in Soho will be presenting a window display of “Christmas Mountain,” a family friendly 21-day multimedia story event from NYC live arts collective Piehole.
Beginning with an opening night celebration on Thursday, December 1, presenting daily chapters of its story in an advent calendar fashion until the winter solstice on the 21st. WNYC radio host Brian Lehrer will narrate the tale about of a town of mice scurrying to fix their TV signals in time for the night of the solstice. The display will be available in-person until January 9 and on the “Christmas Mountain” website.
The Greene Space opening night celebration, along with debuting the first episode of “Christmas Mountain,” will feature a brief panel on the history of Christmas celebrations in NYC that inspired the project. The doors will open at 6 p.m. with the event beginning at 6:30.
Incorporating the work of over 20 different artists, the presentation will include animatronics, embedded videos, and original music.
Piehole, having been founded in 2008, has produced live art for theaters, galleries, and digital spaces such as collaborations with the LA-based Tender Claws in AR and VR: Tendar (2018) and The Under Presents (2019).
Classic holiday songs by the acclaimed Mariah Carey will be premiered, along with an orchestra performance, in Broadway Sings on December 5th at Sony Hall in New York City. Carey’s prominent festive albums, Merry Christmas and Merry Christmas II You, are planned to be part of the concert series for this season.
Broadway Sings Concert Series Advertisement
Broadway stars Jeannette Bayardelle from the Girl from the North Country musical, Amber Ardolini of Funny Girl, Alysha Deslorieux of Hamilton, Keri Rene Fuller of Six and more will be featured in the cast to sing memorable Christmas tunes, including “Silent Night,” “All I Want For Christmas Is You” and “O, Holy Night”. A 14-piece orchestra will be along with the song performances to be held at the venue that is owned by Blue Note Entertainment Group.
Sony Music Hall in New York City
Doors for “Broadway Sings Mariah Carey” on December 5 open at 6pm and the show begins at 8. Tickets can be purchased on the Sony Hall website.
Broadway Performer Sings Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You”
Bop Shop Records, an independently owned record store in Rochester, will celebrate 40 years this weekend, with four evening performances you won’t want to miss.
Tom Kohn opened Bop Shop Records in 1982, having spent his formative years in the 1970s working for MXR and Rounder Records, while collecting and listening to as much recorded and live music as he could. He has turned Bop Shop Records into special record show, well worth visiting as music collectors from all over the world frequently spend entire days there.
Specializing in fine-condition vinyl records and CDs (as well as buying records too), patrons can quickly learn that Kohn is passionate about sharing the music that moves him with people who are excited and curious about it, too.
Since 1988, Bop Shop has hosted jazz, folk and blues concerts at the store, including internationally renowned and up-and-coming artists. For 2022, the shop planned 40 Concerts Celebrating 40 Years, with the final four taking place over Friday, November 25 through Monday, November 28.
Those of you who’ve joined us for our first 36 concerts know that 2022 has been a great year of amazing performances at the Bop Shop. We’ve made new friends and rekindled old friendships, and definitely heard music that gave us the comfort and inspiration we’ve needed this year.
Tom Kohn
Kohn has also recently revived Bop Arts Inc., a not-for-profit that exists for the soul purpose of supporting the music the shop brings to town. All the funds generated from the concerts, along with donations, help Bop Shop Records bring the best in new forward-thinking jazz to Rochester.
A special four-night pass is available for $55, with single day tickets available for $20.
Bop Shop Records 40th Concerts Celebrating 40 Years – Final Shows – All start at 8 pm
Friday, 11/25 –Three Shamans – Ken Filiano, Phil Haynes and Herb Robertson.
Saturday, 11/26 – Joe Fiedler’s Open Sesame with Kirk Knuffke, Jeff Lederer, Chris Lightcap, Michael Sarin and Fiedler.
Sunday, 11/27 – Joe Fonda and Bass of Operation with Lederer again, playing clarinet, flute and piccolo; Michael Rabinowitz playing bassoon; Harvey Sorgen playing drums; and Fonda playing bass.
Monday, 11/28 – Michael Musillami Trio with guitarist/composer Musillami, bassist Fonda and drummer George Schuller.
On Friday, April 21, 2023, folk-slinger Arlo Guthrie will settle down at The Egg in Albany for a stop on his “What’s Left of Me’ tour. Guthrie had announced his retirement from touring in 2020, but admitted that “retirement was fun while it lasted” and returns with a spoken word show.
The show will be moderated by author, music historian, and former director of the Grammy Museum Bob Santelli. It will also include rarely-seen video footage and an audience Q&A.
photo by Steve Malinski
Anyone who has had the good fortune to attend a performance by Arlo Guthrie knows that while the songs are wonderful, the stories are what really make the show something really special.
As the oldest son of Woody & Marjorie Guthrie, Arlo first made his appearance onstage at age 13, made music history with the composition “Alice’s Restaurant” and a legendary performance at Woodstock. After 60 years on the road there should be a lot to talk about.
Read NYS Music’s interview with Arlo Guthrie on Thanksgiving traditions and his family legacy.
The son of legendary Woody Guthrie, Arlo Guthrie is best known for the Thanksgiving song/saga “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree,” the classic “The City of New Orleans,” and “Coming into Los Angeles.” He also performed at Woodstock in 1969 on Saturday, August 16.
Tickets for Arlo Guthrie “What’s Left of Me” are currently on sale online at theegg.org or by telephone at 518-473-1845, or in person at The Egg Box Office Monday – Friday from 11 AM – 3 PM.
