Recently announced by the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation, Utica Music Series (Monday Nite in Utica) has been awarded a multi-year Levitt AMP Grant Award of $90K. Thus, in matching funds to present a free outdoor music series in 2023, 2024, and 2025.
Since 2016, the Levitt AMP Utica Music Series has activated Kopernik Park in Oneida Square. By transforming it into a welcoming, inclusive destination and a venue where diversity is abounded from the stage to audience.
The Levitt AMP Grant Awards is an exciting, multi-year matching grant opportunity bringing the joy of free, live music to towns and cities with a population of up to 250,000 people. The Levitt Foundation has expanded the program from an annual matching grant of $25K, into a three-year matching grant of $30K per year for a total grant award of $90K.
“Emerging from the pandemic, we have all witnessed the importance of community and connection on our well-being, and free, live music in public spaces is a powerful way to bring people together of all ages and backgrounds. Expanding the Levitt AMP [Your City] Grant Awards into a multi-year, $90K grant and inviting additional towns and cities into the program was inspired in part by the positive impact Utica Monday Nite is having on the local community,” says Sharon Yazowski, Executive Director of the Levitt Foundation.
“We look forward to the continued impact of the Levitt AMP Utica Music Series, which has transformed Kopernik Park into a community destination beyond the free concerts, creating a joyful and welcoming space for the entire community, from new to lifelong residents alike.”
Sharon Yazowski, Executive Director of the Levitt Foundation
From Main Street communities to rural towns in the heart of Appalachia to historic state capitals, the 18 returning Levitt AMP grant recipients hail from across the country including rural towns with populations of less than 10,000 like Whitesburg, Ky.; Galva, Ill.; Earlham, Iowa; Shenandoah Junction, W.Va.; Soldotna, Alaska; St. Johnsbury, Vt.; and Middlesboro, Ky.*; to mid-sized cities like Berea, Ky.; Carson City, Nev.; Gallup, N.M.; Ocala, Fla.; Sheboygan, Wis.*; Stevens Point, Wis.; Utica, N.Y.; and Woonsocket, R.I.; to larger cities spanning the country including Fort Smith, Ark.; Springfield, Ill.; and Trenton, N.J.*
Berea, Kentucky (population: 15,773)
Carson City, Nevada (population: 55,244)
Earlham, Iowa (population: 1,382)
Fort Smith, Arkansas (population: 87,788)
Gallup, New Mexico (population: 21,637)
Galva, Illinois (population: 2,539)
Middlesboro, Kentucky (population: 9,242)*
Ocala, Florida (population: 60,021)
Sheboygan, Wisconsin (population: 48,153)*
Shenandoah Junction, West Virginia (population: 1,382)
French DJ and music producer Madeon released his second LP Good Faith back in 2019 but has been touring strong behind the record ever since. Madeon puts on a few different types of shows ranging from DJ sets, to the standard club concerts but he will also perform select shows dubbed Good Faith Forever. These shows boast a unique production, with the most recent one happening at the revamped Brooklyn Mirage last Sunday, September 11.
Madeon’s choice of venue is one of the key factors for the unique Good Faith Forever shows. The venue must have large-scale production capabilities to allow Madeon to take on a larger-than-life presence and completely engulf the audience into the show. For New York City, there is no better choice than Brooklyn Mirage. The venue has a massive LED screen that is curved and wraps around the front end of the crowd, making you feel immersed in the visuals no matter where you are in the venue. The venue has all the bells and whistles already built in, giving Madeon the joy of incorporating lasers into Good Faith Forever for the first time.
A key element to the show takes place in the last leg, when an elevated platform takes Madeon about 20 feet above the stage right as he performs the unreleased song “Gonna Be Good.” At this height, Madeon is towering over the crowd with an intense visual show taking place on the LED, carefully aligned and framing the musician. The venue again provided amplification; not only were fans dwarfed by the show at this point, but the sheer size of the screen and the visuals on it made the entire production feel truly out of this world.
The setlist featured Madeon’s latest one-off release “Love You Back” which came out earlier this year, and the show closed with fan-favorite “Shelter” (a collaboration with Porter Robinson). Good Faith was released back in 2019, but given the delays performing live due to the pandemic, the support for the LP did not begin until 2021. Combine that with the variety by which Madeon performs and you have a tour cycle that goes on without ever getting stale. Good Faith Forever makes a few more festival stops including III Points in Miami before heading to Mexico and then Jakarta, Indonesia. There are also a handful of DJ sets mixed in between. Head over to Madeon’s website for the full tour dates.
Tedeschi Trucks Band will make its annual return to New York City’s Beacon Theatre with a seven-show residency slated to begin Thursday, September 29. This run will not only include the band’s 50th performance at the iconic theater with the show on October 3, but also feature extensive material from the band’s recent I Am The Moon release, an epic, 4-album project released last month on Fantasy Records.
Photo: David McClister
For Tedeschi Trucks Band, this upcoming multi-night run at The Beacon will mark their eleventh one here in total. This one will introduce the public to live performances from their most recent album, which began as a pandemic-related writing exercise suggested by TTB vocalist Mike Mattison in May 2020, and transformed into a career-defining artistic statement with a reimagined mythic tale of star-crossed lovers through a modern-day lens. “We’ve had an incredible amount of new material come out this year with I Am The Moon,” says Derek Trucks, “The Beacon shows will be some of the first where we’ll be able to draw from all of it and have the space to really dig in.”
Susan Tedeschi adds, “I Am The Moon is a creative milestone for us – and we’ve got our 50th show at The Beacon, another milestone. We’re looking forward to celebrating both and all the hard work that went into getting here.” The full deluxe version of this new release also includes four album-length companion films to accompany 24 new original songs that features a blend of soul, rock, blues, funk, roots and Eastern influences.
Remaining tickets for these shows, which are listed below with start times, are limited but still available online at Ticketmaster.com, and in person at the Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall and Beacon Theatre box offices.
TEDESCHI TRUCKS BAND – BEACON THEATRE 2022 Thu Sept 29 Amy Helm opens, showtime 7:30pm Fri Sept 30 Two sets, no opener showtime 8pm Sat Oct 1 Two sets, no opener showtime 8pm Mon Oct 3 Surprise opening set, showtime 7:30pm Thu Oct 6 Ruthie Foster opens, showtime 7:30pm Fri Oct 7 Two sets, no opener showtime 8pm Sat Oct 8 Two sets, no opener showtime 8pm
Buffalo singer-songwriter Ian McCuen has returned with their first song in almost nine months, “Lonesome Homesteader,” a melancholy and quiet folk track that spans five minutes. The song was released in promotion of their upcoming fifth album Westward, to Nowhere, slated for November 11 release.
Cover art for “Lonesome Homesteader.”
“Lonesome Homesteader” starts at its loudest point, with a noisy organ intro which stands in contrast from the rest of the subtle track. The song orients itself around a soft, melodic guitar melody and McCuen’s withdrawn falsetto.
Musicianship-wise it’s not perfect, with a number of muted guitar notes here and there, but nothing bothersome enough to hold back the emotional display of Ian McCuen. The lyrics are vulnerable and clear to the listener, with them flashing an isolated and distressed side to the listener. “I’m trying so hard to prove my self worth, make something from nothing on this God-forsaken earth,” they plead on the second verse.
The instrumentation on “Lonesome Homesteader” is sparse but not empty, with a small string section adding a bit of character in between the verses. The song demonstrates a significant change-up here on the final chorus, where it transforms into a swinging banjo rhythm that makes McCuen’s words feel a little closer to home.
For someone with experience writing and creating music about difficult emotions, McCuen demonstrated it here. “Lonesome Homesteader” by Ian McCuen is a vulnerable and down-to-earth song that shows how difficult being human is sometimes.
The Grateful Dead wound up playing more than 50 shows at MSG by the time their touring career ended, but the September 1990 run had a unique feel all its own. With keyboardist Brent Mydland’s recent death just months earlier, the Dead once again found themselves in an era of transition. Vince Welnick was brought on as his replacement, but was still very much finding his footing and shaking off stage fright at this point in his tenure with the band. To combat this, they recruited the willing and able talents of Bruce Hornsby to help them along in this new era of Grateful Dead music. His first shows were during this September run at MSG in 1990, offering fans an extraordinary new addition to the music as well as giving a glimpse of what might have been.
The show begins in a relaxed manner as the band eases into a “Jack Straw” opener with Hornsby lending early vocal support on some of Garcia’s lines. There’s no issue with the music though, as an enthusiastic early jam develops from this, much to the delight of a roaring MSG crowd. After noodling around with the opening notes, the Dead then burst into “Bertha.” A blistering guitar solo from Garcia, along with some musical interplay with Hornsby – a staple of this run, lead the way on this one. With the crowd now fully engaged, Bob Weir takes over and leads the way through a particularly bouncy “Me And My Uncle.”
As soon as the last note of “Uncle” finishes, the Dead keep it going and use a similar drum beat to jump right into “Big River” which gives Hornsby his first chance to solo on piano. With the show off to a blistering start, things mellow out a bit with the Garcia-led “It Must Have Been The Roses” that follows, one of the few Dead songs that feature both Robert Hunter penned lyrics and music. The first cover selection of the night comes next, with Weir playing the role of Bob Dylan for “Stuck Inside Of Mobile (With The Memphis Blues Again),” a song the band added to its repertoire a few years earlier. Welnick adds some nice touches on the keyboards on this rousing tune that delivers a slow build in emotion.
To wrap up this opening set at MSG, the Dead decide to unleash the vaunted “Help On The Way” > “Slipknot!” >”Franklin’s Tower” combination that sees the band at their collective best with a discernable new feel to it thanks to the two new keys players. But by the end of “Franklin’s,” a delighted MSG crowd could make the case that some things never truly change.
The second set begins with another longtime Dead classic, “Playin’ In The Band.” The band wastes no time in crafting an explosive, early improvisational jam that quickly goes deep, fueled by some frenetic fret board work from Garcia. Instead of progressing even further, the jam instead comes to a crawl and the opening chords to “Ship Of Fools” emerges. This quick side journey is another prime example of an older song getting a new “shine” to it thanks to the new piano and vocal harmonies supplied by Hornsby. Once completed, the Dead then go right back into “Playin’,” seemingly picking up right where they left off before they quickly shift gears once more and collectively merge into another fan favorite with “Uncle John’s Band.”
After a powerful, but fairly concise jam, the band brings back UJB to completion and, right after the outtro jam, immediately leap into a surprise “Let It Grow,” the first time it’s been found in the second set in years. This elicits one of the finer jams of the evening, a steady, driving collective effort that never really strays too far from the song’s original structure. Afterwards, however, structure goes by the wayside thanks to a seemingly off the cuff jam with Hornsby prominently involved on piano along with noodling from Garcia and Weir. It turns out to be one of the better jams of the night, one that naturally builds in intensity and gives an enticing glimpse of what the Dead could have become had Bruce stayed on permanently.
This essentially becomes the fuel for an extended “Drums” > “Space” sequence that sees the Dead fill MSG with a plethora of sounds and emotions that range from the ambient to the psychedelic. Hornsby even sticks around for some of the early “Drums” madness, giving that a different feel as well. After this lengthy group improv runs its course, the show rounds back into form with the familiar opening drum beat of “Going Down The Road Feelin’ Bad,” finally providing a dance number with some tempo.
After an exuberant version that gives all parties a chance to shine, said tempo drops back down for “Stella Blue,” sung with its usual emotion and feel from Garcia. One more juxtaposition in mood then takes place as Weir proceeds to lead the band through a cover of Chuck Berry’s “Around & Around” that features a bluesy jam which continues to build in energy before peaking, closing out the set in style. For an encore, one more Dylan cover makes an appearance with “Quinn The Eskimo.” The Dead would go on to wrap up their six-night run at MSG the following evening.
View this and more Grateful Dead shows from across the years in New York State with our interactive map below
Grateful Dead Madison Square Garden – New York, NY
Set 1: Jack Straw, Bertha, Me & My Uncle-> Big River, It Must Have Been The Roses, Memphis Blues, Help On The Way-> Slipknot!-> Franklin’s Tower
Set 2: Playin’ In The Band-> Ship of Fools-> Playin’ In The Band-> Uncle John’s Band-> Let It Grow-> Jam-> Drums-> Jam-> Goin’ Down The Road Feelin’ Bad-> Stella Blue-> Around & Around,
On Saturday, September 24 at 7:30pm, the Broome County Forum Theatre will once again host the kick off of the Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2022-2023 Season with “American Journey,” a concert exploring classical music of the Americas.
Under the direction of Maestro Daniel Hege, the program will include: Seven O’Clock Shout, a 2020 tribute to healthcare workers by contemporary composer Valerie Coleman; George Gershwin’s renowned Piano Concerto in F performed with soloist Andrew Russo; Aaron Copland’s Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo; and Arturo Márquez’s playful Danzón No. 2.
Maestro Daniel Hege
Enjoy a pre-concert dinner at DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Binghamton for $35 per person, with 5:00pm, 5:30pm and 6:00pm seating times. Call 607-722-7575 ext. 1610 (ask for Patty) to make a reservation. Enjoy dinner and park for free while you enjoy the show.
There will be a pre-concert chat at 6:30pm in the Recital Hall from Professor Sarah Gerk, PhD (Binghamton University) titled “I, Too, Sing America”: The Glorious, Messy, Difficult History of Composing American Music, and Why It Matters
All children 17 and under get free admission, courtesy of M&T Bank, the Classical Series Sponsor for the Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra.
Joe Jencks and Kray Van Kirk traded songs at Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs on Sep. 16. The night was divided into three sets: a solo set by Van Kirk followed by a solo set by Jencks, then both singers came on stage to trade songs back and forth for a story-filled hour plus from these two singer songwriters. Joe Jencks was last featured on NYS Music at the folk music Old SongFestival of Traditional Music and Dance.
In the solo sets, Kray Van Kirk started the night off. A highlight from Van Kirk for this listener was when he introduced a song with this: “I am going to spend my time rejecting my heritage.” He then sang a song of solidarity with people of all kinds. Van Kirk said after the show that his “ancestors were slave owners in this country.” He finished his solo set with the title track from his most recent album Midnight Commander.
Joe Jencks took the stage for his solo set and began by saying that he was standing in solidarity with the workers of Amtrak. Jencks mentioned that his friend Van Kirk, who lives in California, was fortunate that he took a plane over to the Northeast, as a trip via train could have been tricky. The highlight for this listener was also a title track. This time it was Jencks singing the title track to his new album The Coming of the Years. Jencks mentioned how this song was an homage to “getting together” and how nice it was to get together with an audience considering the past couple years of the Covid pandemic.
During the combined set, Van Kirk told an incredible story/legend about Irish Selkies. These are the Irish people’s version of Mermaids. Jencks continued the theme of water-related storytelling. He sang a song of acceptance that centered on “The Lady of the Harbor” (Statue of Liberty). Both singers spun tales of politics and bravery. Concluding the night, the two singer songwriters invoked Pete Seeger telling the US Congress that he was not invoking his 5th Amendment rights; he was invoking his 1st Amendment rights. Then the crowd sang along to a swelling rendition of The Youngbloods’ Smile on Your Brother.
If you grew up in the early 1960s, or watched Nick at Nite in the late 1980s, you probably remember this theme song:
An ear worm if there ever was one, the theme song to Car 54, Where Are You? is one of the greatest in television history and one that traverses four of New York City’s boroughs in just 16 seconds of the 29 second theme song. Meanwhile, Officer Gunther Toody (Joe E. Ross) and Officer Francis Muldoon (the legendary Fred Gwynne) are playing checkers on the dashboard of the titular Car 54.
For a run of 60 episodes, starting on September 17, 1961, Car 54, Where Are You? was the start of a career for a few of the actors on the show, and served as one of the early examples of portraying police, fire and even the military in more comedic situations than had been the custom on TV and in cinema.
The cast also included Al Lewis as Officer Leo Schnauser; Charlotte Rae as Sylvia Schnauser; Nipsey Russell as Officer Dave Anderson and Paul Reed as Captain Paul Block. Guest stars were a staple of the show, and featured notable names including Tom Bosley, Hugh Downs, Hal Linden, Charles Nelson Reilly, Sugar Ray Robinson, Jean Stapleton and many more.
Car 54, Where Are You? aired on Sunday nights from 8:30–9:00 p.m. on NBC, following Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color and preceding Bonanza. The show wrapped up on April 14, 1963 after two seasons.
Created by Nat Hiken and with theme song and lyrics composed by John Strauss, Car 54, Where Are You? had multiple directors, including Hiken, Al De Caprio, and Stanley Prager. The show was filmed on location and in the Bronx at Biograph Studios, which burned down in 1980 and now is the home of the New York Department of Sanitation. The show was nominated for four Emmys, winning one for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy for Nat Hiken in 1962.
In order to renew the show for a third season, NBC wanted to negotiate a part ownership deal for the show. Hiken would not agree to the deal and the show’s sponsor, Proctor and Gamble, could not convince CBS into taking the show over, where there was no room on the schedule. Hiken had become burnt out with writing, directing, and overseeing the show, and becoming exhausted with issues on the show, he ended the show after the second season and never worked on anothre series again. Not maintaining the success of the first two years – where the show placed in the top 20 of shows each week – led to cancellation in 1963. Hiken would pass away a few years later at age 54.
An early show that made light of the boys in blue, viewers did find enjoyment in the show, as seen in Nyack, NY where a patrol car was stolen from the police station parking lot was given the nickname “Car 54.” Not every police officer liked the show, leading one high-ranking New York police official, speaking anonymously, said he’d have liked to see the show cancelled as he believed it made all policemen look morons. “Being a policeman is a grim and humourless business, not at all funny,” he was quoted as saying.
Still, while being set in the fictional 53rd precinct in the Bronx, Car 54, Where Are You? was filmed at a studio in the Bronx’s real-life 48th Precinct, where the captain of the 48th made the show aware that he and his men found the show amusing and enjoyed it in their squad room.
Gwynne and Lewis would go on to greater fame in The Munsters, and Gwynne would write children’s books while extending his acting career into the early 1990s with his memorable role in My Cousin Vinny.
Joe E. Ross would provide vocals on a popular Milt Jackson jazz track, “The Oo-Oo Bossa Nova” on the album Jazz and Samba, a reference to Officer Toody’s trademark catch phrase “Oo-Oo.”
In the early 1980s, the show’s theme song is parodied as “Mario, Where Are You?” in an Atari commercial for Mario Bros. video game.
The lyrics to the theme song include five calls to respond to that lie in and outside the 53rd precinct: a hold up in the Bronx, fighting in Brooklyn, a traffic jam that spans from Harlem to Jackson Heights in Queens (a stretch of 7 miles), a missing child report and the head of state of the U.S.S.R. arriving at the future JFK Airport who presumably needs a police escort a mere 17 miles away. Can Muldoon and Toody really be expected to handle all these crises at the same time? Of course not, but the myriad of duties these two and their station are needed for expresses a positive view of the police in the early 1960s, keeping the role comical yet respectable. But was Car 54, Where Are You? an early form of copaganda, or just a light-hearted look at an integrated precinct in the melting pot of New York City?
The line “Khrushchev’s due at Idlewild” is the only part of the theme song that reference real events (although a cross-borough traffic jam is not out of the question), dating to September 1960, when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev flew into Idlewild Airport (now John F. Kennedy International Airport) to attend the United Nations General Assembly.
Debuting in the 1960 when merchandising became a key part of any major network show, there were multiple comic books based on Car 54, Where Are You?, as well as a board game, a car model, and puppets of Toody and Muldoon.
The Car 54, Where Are You? board game
A reboot of the show took place on the big screen in 1994 when Orion Pictures released what would be a bomb in Car 54, Where Are You? Starring David Johansen (of New York Dolls and Buster Poindexter Fame) as Officer Toody and John C. McGinley as Officer Muldoon, they were joined by original-series cast members Al Lewis and Nipsey Russell, and accompanied by Fran Drescher, Rosie O’Donnell, Daniel Baldwin, Jeremy Piven, Tone Loc, The Ramones and Penn and Teller. Among the reasons the movie bombed – the movie was filmed as a musical, but most numbers were later cut, leaving the movie to the dustbin of Hollywood.
A Car 54, Where Are You? comic book
A classic television show set in the Bronx, Car 54, Where Are You? serves as an early TV show set in the Bronx with a legacy that goes beyond its memorable theme song.
“Car 54, Where Are You?” theme-song lyrics
There’s a holdup in the Bronx, Brooklyn’s broken out in fights. There’s a traffic jam in Harlem That’s backed up to Jackson Heights. There’s a scout troop short a child, Khrushchev’s due at Idlewild Car 54, Where Are You?
British folk rock band Bear’s Den played at historic Webster Hall in the East Village on Thursday, September 15. They have been touring nonstop for the past 18 months gaining a loyal fanbase. The duo consists of Andrew Davie (lead vocals, guitar) and Kevin Jones (vocals, drums, bass, guitar). Christof van der Ven joined the band in 2016 as a session musician and plays in their live shows. Jools Owen is also their current drummer and horn player when they perform live.
Bear’s Den performs at Webster Hall 9.15.22
Bear’s Den opened their set with the title track of their recently released fifth studio album Blue Hours. The album was released in May of 2022 and debuted on the UK Albums Chart at # 6. They then played “Frightened Whispers” which is also featured on the new album. Fans were excited when the band went back in time a few years and performed “Red Earth & Pouring Rain” from their 2016 album of the same name.
Bear’s Den performs at Webster Hall 9.15.22
Continuing the mix of new and old material, the next portion of the set included “Fuel on the Fire,” “All That You Are” and “Isaac.” A big highlight of the night was when the band performed an unplugged version of the 2013 song “Sophie.” After that, they played a few more new tracks from the new album including “New Ways” and “Shadows.”
They then performed their newest single released only a few days ago, “Stitch In Time.” The song was developed during the creation of the new album, but wasn’t completed until they recently started touring again. When asked about the meaning of the song, the duo said, “‘Stitch in Time’ is a song exploring ideas around trauma. Specifically the idea of reaching back through time to be with someone in a difficult moment and just being with them and letting them know that it’s not ok.” You can listen to the new song below.
Perhaps my favorite part of the show was when the band went into the crowd during the encore at the packed Webster Hall and performed “Gabriel.” Without the help of mics, the band sounded amazing and really brought the crowd together for a communal experience. The show ended with “Agape,” the first track from their first album Islands released in 2014.
Setlist: Blue Hours, Red Earth and Pouring Rain, Frightened Whispers, Fuel on the Fire, All That You Are, Isaac, Sophie, New Ways, Shadows, Stitch in Time, Magdalene, Crow, Love We Stole, Spiders, Auld Wives, Pompell, Gabriel, Agape
Chestnut Grove, a Pennsylvania-based rock band, is on the road in support of a new single, with some New York dates in the near future. “All For You” is now available on streaming platforms and the band plans to release an EP titled Can’t Stand The Music sometime early next year.
Last month, Chestnut Grove performed a “revved-up” Free at Noon set at Philadelphia’s World Cafe Live for a lively audience who danced, sang along and got a preview of the new EP. Click here for pictures and an audio recording of the performance. This comes in advance of their scheduled gig this weekend in Camden, NJ for WXPN’s Xponential Music Festival on September 18.
In late October and early November, Chestnut Grove will make their way throughout New York State. Shows in Syracuse and Saranac Lake are scheduled for October 28 and 29, respectively. And the band’s show on November 3 at Putnam Place in Saratoga Springs will receive support from Consider the Source. Additional tour dates can be seen below.
Chestnut Grove 2022 Fall Tour
September 18th Xponential Music Festival, Wiggins Park – Camden, NJ
September 24th Pro Re Nata Brewery – Crozet, VA w/ Disco Risque
October 8th Pick Fest – Boyertown, PA w/ The Manatawny Creek Ramblers
October 28th Funk N’ Waffles – Syracuse, NY
October 29th Waterhole – Saranac Lake, NY
November 3rd Putnam Place – Saratoga Springs, NY w/ Consider the Source
November 17th Sellersville Theater – Sellersville, PA w/ Consider the Source
November 23rd The Soundback – Phoenixville, PA w/ Hunter Root
November 25th Jeremiah’s Banquet Hall – Williamsport, PA
November 26th King’s Rock Club – Erie, PA w/ Medusa’s Disco
