Twenty6 Productions, Buffalo Iron Works, and Lockhouse Distillery & Bar have announced dates for the 5th annual Cobblestone Live Music & Arts Festival, taking place Friday, July 14th and Saturday, July 15th in the Historic Cobblestone District of Downtown Buffalo.
The festival will follow in the success of its 2022 dates, featuring two large outdoor stages, two indoor stages, a vendor village, a Kid’s Village, food trucks, and beverage stations throughout the festival grounds featuring craft and domestic beverages.
We are excited to be able to bring our beloved Cobblestone Live Festival to the WNY music and arts community for its fifth year. 2022’s festival was proof that we can unify the community after overcoming Covid setbacks, and 2023 is the year that we will prove that this festival can continue to grow for years to come.
Festival Founder & Twenty6 Productions CEO Josh Holtzman
There will be plenty of surprises in store for the fifth year, so be sure to stay tuned to Cobblestone Live socialmediaoutlets for the latest news on the 2023 festival.
Electronic-fusion band Lotus will be on the road has announced a massive 2023 US Tour in support of their new album Bloom & Recede, released in August of 2022. The coast-to-coast tour features nearly 40 shows in the early part of 2023, with stops in the Northeast, Midwest, Southeast, Texas, California, the Pacific Northwest and more.
They’ll make stops in Albany at Empire Live and Buffalo at Town Ballroom in January, as well as two nights at Brooklyn Bowl over Thanksgiving weekend, November 25-26. Get tickets here.
Lotus is a five-piece instrumental band who have been playing music for more than 20 years ago. One of hte first bands to fuse electronic beats with dance, jam, psych-rock, post-rock, disco and jazz. the group have become renowned performer and have built a loyal following wherever they venture.
Live Lotus shows take listeners on a dance-inducing journey of improvisation that can only be described as a one-of-a-kind experience. They’ve toured actively throughout the U.S., working their way up from dingy basement clubs to world class venues such as Red Rocks. They’ve become festival favorites, performing at Bonnaroo, Outside Lands, Electric Forest, and more. Lotus additionally hosts their own annual Summerdance Festival in Garrettsville, OH with a lineup of various Electronic artists.
In 2021, Mike Rempel departed the band he founded, and Tim Palmieri (Kung Fu, The Breakfast) joined Lotus, who forge ahead with Mike Greenfield, Luke Miller, Jesse Miller and Chuck Morris on this national tour.
LOTUS 2023 TOUR DATES:
Nov 25 & 26 – Brooklyn Bowl – Brooklyn, NY
Dec 10 – North Beach Music Festival – Miami, FL Dec 30 & 31 – Boulder Theater – Boulder, CO
The Caroga Arts Collective announced the events for the fourth annual WinterFest, including music from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, Handel’s Messiah, and favorite Christmas singalongs. These events will be happening from Dec. 14-17.
The Caroga Arts Collective presents over 50 performances and community events in the Southern Adirondacks throughout the year, featuring world-class musicians from across the country and from various styles of arts and entertainment.
Before kicking off the WinterFest, there will be the fifth annual tree lighting ceremony at Sherman’s Park on Nov. 26, and the Caroga Arts Collective is asking for volunteers to help light up the park. On Dec. 14, the popular “SAUNDERSFEST Christmas” hosted by Canada Lake-based brothers Geoff and Rich Saunders will be happening at The Nick Stoner Inn & 19th Hole at 7 p.m. Tickets are on sale now.
On Dec. 15 and 16, the Caroga Arts Ensemble will perform the Tchaikovsky Holiday Spectacular at Paul Nigra Center. They will perform selections from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite and other beloved works. Tickets are on sale now for both events.
The last day of WinterFest brings the free Hallelujah, it’s Handel! event. The Caroga Arts Ensemble will perform music by Handel, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, and more at St. John’s Episcopal Church. There will also be selections from Handel’s Messiah and Christmas sing-a-longs.
The Caroga Arts Collective’s fourth annual WinterFest will take place from Dec. 14-17 at various locations in the Adirondacks, showcasing the talent of the area in different musical forms.
Phish’s Trey Anastasio has announced the release of The Beacon Jams which will commemorate the artist’s legendary eight-show virtual residency at New York City’s legendary Beacon Theatre in the Covid-riddled fall of 2020. These iconic shows will now be encapsulated in the form of an 18-track, 145-minute new anthology that will be available digitally on Friday, November 25. Proceeds will benefit The Divided Sky Foundation, an initiative launched by Anastasio to finance a residential recovery program in Ludlow, VT, which is set to open next year.
Photo Credit: Danny Clinch
Performed at an empty Beacon Theatre and livestreamed around the world over the course of eight Fridays, The Beacon Jams saw Trey teaming with a range of collaborators to boldly reimagine music spanning his three-decade career. It includes performances from Trey Anastasio Band cohorts like Cyro Baptista (percussion), James Casey (saxophone, vocals), Natalie Cressman (trombone, vocals), Jennifer Hartswick (trumpet, vocals), Russ Lawton (drums), Ray Paczkowski (keyboards), and, in his final performances with the group, the late Tony Markellis (bass).
Also featured are frequent collaborators Jeff Tanski (keyboards), Celisse Henderson (vocals), and Jo Lampert (vocals), as well as the debut of The Rescue Squad (Katie Kresek – violin, Maxim Moston – violin, Rachel Golub – viola, Anja Wood – cello).
In addition to great music and different interpretations of Phish and TAB songs, the Beacon residency also saw Anastasio interacting with fans via Twitch between songs for a completely unique live music experience in a time where pandemic restrictions made such things close to impossible. “What made it feel successful to me was that we weren’t trying to recreate a live concert,” Anastasio says. “What I was hoping was that it would be a fresh form of entertainment – turning lemons into lemonade. I feel like that turned out to be the case.”
photo by Jake Silco
Tracklist: Corona, A Wave of Hope, What’s The Use, And Flew Away, The Moma Dance, The Silver Light, Pebbles and Marbles, Bouncing Around the Room, Carini, I Never Left Home, Money Love and Change, Last Tube, Quantegy, You Enjoy Myself, Goodbye Head, Tube, Slave to the Traffic Light, First Tube
Buddy Guy will return to UPAC in Kingston for the final time on his ‘Damn Right Farewell’ tour, on June 15, 2023, with special guest the Samantha Fish Band.
At age 86, Buddy Guy is a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, a major influence on rock titans like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, a pioneer of Chicago’s fabled West Side sound, and a living link to the city’s halcyon days of electric blues. Buddy Guy has received 8 GRAMMY Awards, a 2015 Lifetime Achievement GRAMMY Award, 38 Blues Music Awards (the most any artist has received), the Billboard Magazine Century Award for distinguished artistic achievement, a Kennedy Center Honor, and the Presidential National Medal of Arts. Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him #23 in its “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.”
In July of 2021, in honor of Buddy Guy’s 85th birthday, PBS American Masters released “Buddy Guy: The Blues Chase The Blues Away”, a new documentary following his rise from a childhood spent picking cotton in Louisiana to becoming one of the most influential guitar players of all time. The documentary features new interviews with Buddy Guy, Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, John Mayer, Gary Clark Jr, and more. Watch the full documentary at PBS Online here.
Though Buddy Guy will forever be associated with Chicago, his story actually begins in Louisiana. One of five children, he was born in 1936 to a sharecropper’s family and raised on a plantation near the small town of Lettsworth, located some 140 miles northwest of New Orleans. Buddy was just seven years old when he fashioned his first makeshift “guitar”—a two-string contraption attached to a piece of wood and secured with his mother’s hairpins.
In 1957, he took his guitar to Chicago, where he would permanently alter the direction of the instrument, first on numerous sessions for Chess Records playing alongside Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, and the rest of the label’s legendary roster, and then on recordings of his own. His incendiary style left its mark on guitarists from Jimmy Page to John Mayer. “He was for me what Elvis was probably like for other people,” said Eric Clapton at Guy’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2005. “My course was set, and he was my pilot.”
Seven years later, July 2012 proved to be one of Buddy Guy’s most remarkable years ever. He was awarded the 2012 Kennedy Center Honor for his lifetime contribution to American culture; earlier in the year, at a performance at the White House, he even persuaded President Obama to join him on a chorus of “Sweet Home Chicago.” Also in 2012, he published his long-awaited memoir, When I Left Home.
These many years later, Buddy Guy remains a genuine American treasure and one of the final surviving connections to an historic era in the country’s musical evolution.
Buddy Guy 2023 Damn Right Farewell Tour
Feb 17 – Rockford, IL – Coronado PAC Feb 18 – Joliet, IL – Rialto Square Theatre Feb 23 – Fort Wayne, IN – Embassy Theatre Feb 24 – New Buffalo, MI – Silver Creek Event Center Feb 25 – Anderson, IN – Paramount Theatre Feb 26 – Evansville, IN – Victory Theatre Mar 01 – Baton Rouge, LA – Baton Rouge River Center Theater Mar 03 – Austin, TX – Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theater Mar 04 – Austin, TX – Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theater Mar 05 – Houston, TX – 713 Music Hall Mar 08 – Dallas, TX – Majestic Theatre Mar 11 – Kansas City, MO – Uptown Theater Mar 13 – Chesterfield, MO – The Factory Mar 14 – Memphis, TN – The Orpheum Theatre Mar 16 – Knoxville, TN – Tennessee Theatre Mar 17 – Atlanta, GA – Atlanta Symphony Hall Mar 20 – Spartanburg, SC – Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium Mar 21 – Chattanooga, TN – Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium Mar 22 – Charlotte, NC – Ovens Auditorium Mar 23 – Greensboro, NC – Steven Tanger Center for the Perf. Arts Mar 30 – Toronto, ONT – Massey Hall Mar 31 – Toronto, ONT – Massey Hall Apr 08 – Tyagarah, Australia – Bluesfest Apr 10 – St Kilda, Australia – Palais Theatre Apr 12 – Sydney, Australia – Enmore Theatre June 15 – Kingston, NY – UPAC
The holidays are upon us, and that means time once again for Jam for Tots! Since 2014, Jam for Tots has been held across New York State and the Northeast, bringing live music fans together to support those most in need in their local communities.
At 10 venues around New York State, fans are encouraged to bring an unwrapped toy for a child (under 13) and drop the toy off in the box. These toys will be brought to local charities within the venue’s community, to ensure that these toys brighten the day of children within the local area.
Things kick off this week at Lark Hall with The Last Waltz, on Wednesday, November 23rd. The second annual Last Waltz on Lark Street will feature local musicians, including Brian Bean (bass and vocals), Mike Coleman (bass), Tom O’Connor (guitar and vocals), Rick Rothermel (keyboards and vocals), Sarah Sheppeck (vocals), Joe Sorbero (drums and vocals) and Jeremy Walz (guitar and vocals). And, in the true spirit of The Band, Levon Helm and The Last Waltz, the band will joined by special guests throughout the evening.
Then on Saturday, November 26, eberwine and Quantum Cosmic will be at Putnam Place, with a night full of special guests in store.
See below for the full lineup of Jam for Tots shows across New York State (alphabetical order)
On an ominous day in music history, The Seapods, featuring members of the Ominous Seapods, will come together for a night of music at Lark Hall in Albany on February 11, 2023.
Appearing at The Seapods 2-11 show include Max Verna (guitar, vocals), Tom Pirozzi (bass), Brian Mangini (keyboards) and Ted Marotta (drums). The fifth member of the group, guitarist/singer Dana Monteith will not be in attendance. Thus, the show is billed as The Seapods featuring these four members from the group’s classic ‘90s lineup.
The evening of music lands on an unofficial holiday for the band, who consider the February 11 date a marker for great gigs, including a memorable performance in 1995 at a Dartmouth frat party. One explanation that has been offered for the meaning behind 2-11:
There are numerous accounts of people making a purchase at their local Kwik-E Mart and having the total come to $2.11, or getting home from a Seapods show at exactly 2:11a.m. These occurences have spawned a movement know as “Twoelevenlutionology” (a.k.a. “Twoelevenism” or “Twoelevenology”) where 2-11 is the chosen leader. His disciples follow him along the 211-fold path of Enlightenment to the Dumpster of Destiny, and bask in the ominous beauty of the mystical number 211. And all good Twoelevenologists know what they should be doing at 2:11 on Wednesday afternoon!
As they add to the Ominous Seapods history with jamming and improv done only as the Seapods can, the evening is sure to be a hugely successful night in Albany. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased here.
As the family-friendly holiday activities start rolling out, consider a live music event, like the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes’ holiday concert this December 3. The concert will showcase diverse vocalists and genres, as well as compositions created by international musicians. The OSFL will explore themes of healing and community; encapsulated in the season’s felicitous motto: “Together We Are Sound.”
To ensure the event includes all holidays in its festivity, the OSFL commissioned an Israeli-American composer, Avner Finberg, to write a medley of iconic Klezmer dances. His composition, Dances in Freygish, will put Hanukkah in the global spotlight, as the December 3 concert is its world premiere.
This concert also promises big band fun, the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes will play a collection of 40s jazz favorites by Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and more.
The concert will take place in the Clemens Center Powers Theater at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $20-$50 for adults, $10 for college students with ID, and free for youth under 18 (if accompanied by a ticketed adult.)
The organization was formed in 2004, by educators and musicians who really, really have a passion for music. And they created it to preserve and celebrate Long Island’s musical heritage
Ernie Canadeo
Grand Opening
Joan Jett
The Hall of Fame will feature world-class displays and unique memorabilia that showcases Long Island’s rich and diverse musical and entertainment history. This past week Joan Jett’s classic Jaguar will be on display along with other donated memorabilia from Billy Joel, Twisted Sister, The Good Rats, Debbie Gibson, Blue Oyster Cult, and from the families and estates of Harry Chapin, Guy Lombardo, John Coltrand and so many more.
The Hall of Fame and Museum is open Wednesdays-Sundays from noon to 5pm. The first exhibit, created by world-renowned designer Kevin O’Callaghan, is titled “Long Island’s Legendary Club Scene – 1960’s-1980’s and is designed to be “a club crawl” through Long Island’s legendary 60’s, 70’s and 80’s club scene.
The Long Island Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame (LIMEHOF) is dedicated to preserve Long Island’s musical heritage for future generations. To date the organization has inducted more than 100 musicians and music industry executives and also offers educational programs, scholarships, and awards to Long Island Students and educators.
Besides supporting future musicians, Chairman Canadeo spoke to the healing power of music and how LIMEHOF will be partnering with one of their sponsors, Catholic Health Services:
We will be partnering on a program called Health and harmony next year, where we will be sending musicians and comedians and bold types of entertainers into senior centers into hospitals.
Ernie Canadeo
During the interview on The Long Island Sound podcast Erne and I both recognized the pent up need to reconnect with the community after the quarantine and Covid. There is great pride in being a Long Islander, and recognizing the wellspring of talent in the region. I invite you to review the List of over one hundred LIMEHOF Inductees over the past years, it’s quite remarkable.
Grand Opening in Stony Brook
Simon and Garfunkel (inducted 2008) and their song Homeward bound is so appropriate for the emotions surrounding this Grand Opening:
Home, where my thought’s escaping. Home, where my music’s playing. Home, where my love’s lie waiting, silently for me, silently for me.
Simon & Garfunkel
Everyone needs a place to call home. Now the musician and entertainment community with roots on Long Island have a place to call home in Stony Brook. With the rotation of new exhibits, the Hall of Fame is sure to attract musicians, students, educators and those headed homeward bound.
During this holiday season, let’s be generous with our joy, and let the music take us on a journey.
The Syracuse Jazz Festival has announced they are currently searching for private and public sector funding to help fund the 2023 edition of the festival.
The Syracuse Jazz Festival is now in its 37 year and returned last year after a five-year-long hiatus due to financial issues. It is the nation’s 12 longest-running festival and the world’s 12 longest-running jazz festival. It was previously named “The Largest Free Jazz Festival In The Northeast”, winning 30 International, national and regional awards as the Best Music Festival.
Many legendary artists have performed at the festival, including Aretha Franklin, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Charles, and Sonny Rollins. These performances gave the festival international acclaim.
The festival organizers are currently pursuing private and public sector funding to mount a 2023 edition of the festival in the amount of $650,000. According to festival founder and executive producer Frank Malfitano, “The cost of mounting a world class, non ticketed festival – one that remains free of charge for area residents and visitors – has risen dramatically.” He also went on to say that artists’ fees have doubled and even tripled since the pandemic. In 2022, the festival got $400,000 in funding to bring it back.
This past year, with the help of Amazon, Onondaga County and the City, we achieved our primary goal of bringing the festival back, and we’re extremely proud of that collective accomplishment. We’re also proud of the fact that we were able to showcase many of our region’s finest jazz artists in 2022 at 20 different venues over 3 evenings, providing needed work opportunities for more than 100 Syracuse-based artists who had been negatively impacted by the pandemic. While we were successful in helping revitalize the region’s cultural and music scene by achieving those goals, we simultaneously fell a little short of securing needed and hoped for multi-year funding commitments for Jazz Fest. But, we’re hoping our success in 2022 will lead to even greater success in 2023.
Frank Malfitano
Malfitano concluded by saying that anyone interested in learning more about the 2023 Syracuse Jazz Fest Sponsorship can contact him here.
