The second annual Rail Rider Jamboree is coming to Ellicottville on March 18, 2023, at Holiday Valley Resort, with a stellar lineup comprised of new and old faces.
The Rail Rider Jamboree is a weekend filled with music, skiing, snowboarding competitions, brews and so much more. The promoters of Borderland Music + Arts Festival teamed up with the Holiday Valley Resort to bring this weekend to fans. The Jamboree is outdoors with music starting around 1 p.m. on March 18, with doors opening at 12 p.m. at the resort in the field on Rt. 219 across from the SnowPine chair.
The Jamboree will kick off on March 17 with rail jam contests and live music, slopeside at the base of the mountain at the Rail Park, with some free music by a funk improv band from Buffalo, at the Holiday Valley Cabana Bar from 8 p.m.-10 p.m. The next day will bring some exciting music to the resort, like headliners Dark Star Orchestra. They have performed for over 25 years and at some 3,100 shows, performing a show based on a set list from the Grateful Dead’s 30 years of extensive touring.
Also headlining the Rail Rider Jamboree is Eggy, improv rockers comprised of guitarist and vocalist Jake Brownstein, keyboardist Dani Battat, bassist Michael Goodman and drummer Alex Bailey. Another headliner includes Mike Gantzer, guitarist of groove rock band Aqueous, who is assembling a band just for Rail Rider. Also performing will be local bands Grub from Buffalo and the New Orleans style marching band Brass Machine.
Lodging with options to add on lift tickets and other resort activities are available to book with the resort today, with package Jamboree tickets to be announced. The event is for all ages, and tickets are on sale now.
Ani Difranco, a legend in the indie music scene since the early 90s, hails from Buffalo and got her start playing Beatles covers at local bars, as well as busking alongside guitar teacher Michael Meldrum. A graduate of the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts High School, Difranco began attending classes at Buffalo State College at age 16 and founded Righteous Babe Records, in 1989 at age 19.
DiFranco’s Babeville is a multi-use facility devoted to the arts built inside a 19th century Gothic Revival-style church that was rescued from the wrecking ball to become a home for home for the arts in downtown Buffalo.
According to the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame, DiFranco manufactures all her albums in Buffalo, uses the services of Western New York companies for all her products and employs a staff at her downtown Buffalo offices, thus making both an artistic and economic contribution to her hometown of Buffalo.
Rob Smittix of The Xperience Monthly spoke to DiFranco recently, discussing her then-upcoming show at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, songwriters, up-and-coming musicians, as well as Buffalo and her current home of New Orleans.
AD: Hey is this Rob?
RRX: It is.
AD: It’s Ani calling.
RRX: I recognize your voice, how are you?
AD: I’m good.
RRX: I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me. I’m excited about talking to you.
AD: Aw shucks. You’re in Troy?
RRX: Currently, I’m across the river but you’re coming to Troy November 11th to The Troy Savings Bank Music Hall. It’s a beautiful theatre, have you played there before?
AD: Oh wow, I don’t think so. Although my life is a bit of a blur.
RRX: Well speaking of your life being a blur… you may or may not remember this but my boss here, Art Fredette and his best friend Jim Barrett used to own a record store called Positively 3rd Street in Troy. He said years ago before you really made a name for yourself, you actually came into the store dropped off cassettes and I imagine you had an acoustic with you because they say that you played a few songs.
AD: I mean, I believe it.
(Both Laugh)
AD: I believe that happened. Who’s to say what memory is ? Feels like a memory, yeah.
RRX: I’ve hear that story a few times and it really made an impression on them.
AD: I mean those were the days. I would literally bring in my cassettes to indie stores in the region and that’s how it all started. Supportive local people who are like okay local chick, what do you got? You know?
RRX: But you were really out there hustling for yourself.
AD: Just trying to make a living without a whole lot of backup.
RRX: That’s great. What I’m saying, is that you really started out DIY before DIY became the big movement that it’s become today. Being independent, having your own record label and doing it on your own way before it became the trend, is really cool. Every album you’ve put out was on your label (Righteous Babe Records), if I’m not mistaken.
AD: In one sense it’s always been there, you know? Where’s the line between? There’s local musicians in every community playing around and getting local audiences. Maybe they’re making a recording and selling them at their gigs. It seems kind of silly. I know that I’m kind of indie-girl USA and often touted for propelling the music industry into it’s new future but in another sense it’s very simple; don’t stop, keep rolling with that and f**k all of the assumptions about where you go from there.
RRX: I respect that! Well that’s cool. I’ve been in a band for years but as we know, only a handful of people actually make it in the business. That’s a dream come true for so many of us. So for people that have made it and that are recognized… that leads me to the question, what are your dreams now? What do you aspire for now?
AD: As you were asking your question I felt the urge to pushback about… even just what making it means. Along the theme of what we are talking about, you’re a musician, I’m a musician. I think anybody that makes a place for music in their life and can carve out that place somehow and make music in a way that sets them free. If it puts them in touch with their body, themselves and their community, people they play music with or for, maybe it’s a solitary thing but if it helps you process your life and be a healthy, happy person… that’s success!
RRX: Sure.
AD: So to finish answering your question, I think holding onto that. That’s all I want. I mean there’s nothing like a pandemic to to refresh my capacity to appreciate my job. After all of these decades it’s still a job. I think if there’s anything I want to do moving forward it’s to stay in touch with my joy of playing music and my purpose of it. Even though it is a f**king job, for me.
RRX: Right, right, but it’s a job that you enjoy and you do have some control over which is really cool as well. That at least I can relate to. I work in radio and for this magazine that we’ve got going on and that’s a dream come true for me. Now do you keep a dream journal?
AD: Um.. no, I barely keep a waking journal. Who has time?
RRX: I kept a dream journal for a really short period of time but then I realized that you can’t always control your dreams and I don’t want anybody reading this stuff.
AD: Oh, yeah there’s that. I somehow let my journal leak into the wider world, I don’t know if I’d recommend it.
RRX: Wow, yeah that could certainly backfire. So because I just like to chat and not really do your standard interview, I just wanted to ask what’s been going on in your life? What’s been on your mind? That sort of thing?
AD: Getting back to touring a lot, which is still just a little bit unhinged. The pandemic changed everything for everybody. Many people that I’ve been working with just splintered in different directions, starting over and the chaos of the touring industry. The whole ride-along of trying to deal with Covid protocols. You feel a little like you’re on the Muppet Show where people are just exploding around you. And the buses… I don’t know if you realize that there were no bus drivers because they all had to go and do something else.
RRX: Wow, no I didn’t even think of that.
AD: There were no buses, we were thrown into vans. It’s just been chaotic but really the divides of the shows an audiences are so high. I’ve been really looking towards the elections and trying to get people registered “A” and “B” excited about f**king changing this sh*t! There are a lot of exiting, young, diverse candidates out there, people stepping up to the plate and running for office. I just feel very strongly about supporting this movement to reclaim democracy and diversify government. I’m really excited about organizations like Run For Something. It’s crowd sourced funding of all of these different progressive candidates, in a lot of different areas. You may not have somebody specifically in your neck of the woods that you are super-jazzed about voting for but a victory somewhere is a victory everywhere. Then there’s Emily’s List, which I’ve been involved with for years, that supports pro-choice female and non-binary candidates. All of these organizations that you can contribute to and help people get their foot in the door and help politics be less controlled by the rich.
RRX: Yeah, I’m really tired of it coming down to the lesser of the two evils.
AD: Right.
RRX: I was just thinking, really… why do we always put up with these choices? There’s how many? 330,000,000 people or something like that in America, so I think we can do better.
AD: It seems like it’s cracking open. It’s changing and all we have to do is throw our weight behind this change and we can make it happen.
RRX: I’ve got to say and I am generalizing, there certainly are exceptions but I’ve got three kids and I’ve listened to them and I’m not knocking the newer generations but it seems as though many of their priorities and values are compromised. A generation that never knew the world without the internet. Kids that are more concerned about TikTok and social media than anything else. Even video games have some responsibility for the way the minds of our youth have developed. I mean there are 7 year olds who have gotten their hands on Grand Theft Auto. It desensitizes them. But the youth are the future and we need to focus on them.
AD: For sure but all of this new technology is completely unregulated, it blindsided even our ability. They want to convince you that government is bad and regulation is bad but of course that’s from the perspective of the overlords. They don’t have to be regulated they have the ability to maximize their profits, no matter what. Government is supposed to protect the little guy. Is business protecting us from itself? Or is it government? Which do you think is going to work better? It’s difficult but I believe in order to get this technology under control so that it can do more good than harm to our young people and our future. As a society we have to get the right regulations in place to counteract the insidious negative effect of the invisible algorithm and the downside of connectivity.
RRX: Also with the youth today, I’ve got to say the music is not helping. The messages that a lot of this music is pushing… and I know we grew up with records that our parents wanted to destroy but it just seems that it’s gotten way worse. Especially the image that woman are portraying in the Hip Hop scene. It’s not what I would want my daughter listening to but kind of hard to ignore it because that’s what they’re putting out now and that’s what is selling.
AD: There’s a big world out there and it’s all in the palm of their hand.
RRX: At least there are artists like yourself that do exist and do have good messages to spread. You’ve got something to say, unfortunately a lot of artists are just trying to capitalize on what will sell regardless.
AD: I feel really strongly about trying to adopt a stance of revolutionary love which hopefully I can employ into everything that I do.
RRX: It’s a double-sided coin as well because I’m not about art censorship, so even though I don’t like the messages that they’re putting out, it’s freedom of speech, they should be able to do it. I guess the problem is that the quote unquote “industry” wants to get this filth into kid’s ears. On another note, I was hanging out with my keyboardist last night he reminded me about Babeville. I’ve never been but I’ve really got to get up there.
AD: It was a huge undertaking that’s for sure and it’s a beautiful venue. It’s several venues really and an art gallery, it’s a little scene in this old cathedral. There’s a cool club down in the basement. That building was slated for demolition like so many buildings in Buffalo. Beautiful architectural treasures that because of poverty…
RRX: Urban blight.
AD: Like so many cities in The Rust Belt. But it was going to be torn down. We started action to to save the building then our karma was wrapped up in it. I remember the summer that basically two dudes spent hand digging out the basement.
RRX: Oh my God!
AD: We couldn’t get a backhoe in there and literally the basement had to be dug from 5 feet headroom to whatever it is. Two dudes! Everything of Righteous Babe went into it but actually in more recent years, I personally have moved on. My partner in Righteous Babe continues on with that venue and I’m down in New Orleans with the record company.
RRX: I was gonna ask if you were still down in New Orleans.
AD: Yup.
RRX: I’ve just seen pictures of Babeville online, so I had to bring it up. It’s really cool that you brought it back to life. I imagine the place is probably haunted. So I don’t want to take up any more of your time. Was there anything else that you wanted to say?
AD: Well for the show itself, I’m going t be playing with Todd Sickafoose on bass and keys. I’ve been playing with him for about 25 years now, my left hand man. We’re also going to be playing with a completely new drummer Jharis Yokley, so that’s radical and exciting.
RRX: Definitely.
AD: The openers are the The Righteous Babes Revue, which is a super group of Righteous Babe artists that are coming together to do these shows and play each other’s songs. It’s really so many awesome and talented babes that are currently on the label that will be opening the show and sitting in with us. This should be a really fun tour
RRX: Well I really appreciate your time. It’s really been a pleasure and I hope you enjoyed yourself as well.
The Chautauqua Institution announced its 150 season, and annual Summer Assembly events, running from June 24 to August 27.
The Chautauqua Institution will be putting on live performances ranging from lectures, orchestras, and concerts with new and old faces. Some lecturers include Stranger Things and The Goonies actor Sean Astin on June 30, NPR puzzle master Will Shortz on July 7, political commentator Bill Kristol on July 10, and Jordan’s Her Majesty Queen Noor on Aug. 25.
The Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra will have 23 performances in weeks one through nine. The Music School Festival Orchestra will present five concerts in 2023 during its residency weeks one through six. The School of Dance will be in residence weeks one through seven, with performances inclusive of two student dance galas and the beloved Alumni All-Star Dance Gala. The Chautauqua Opera Company & Conservatory will produce a combined season featuring five productions. The 2023 theater and opera repertoire will be announced in January.
The Chautauqua Institution announced some exciting performers set to come to the Amphitheater. On June 30 at 8:15 p.m. a special performance by Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons graces the stage. The group has sold over 100 million records worldwide, with Valli having a very successful solo career as well. July 7 at 8:15 p.m. brings Straight No Chaser to the stage, a group with 2 RIAA Gold Certified albums, over 1.5 million concert tickets sold, over 1 billion streams on Pandora, and over 2 million albums sold worldwide. Other artists performing include Natalie Merchant and Girl Named Tom, among others.
The Chautauqua Institution has an exciting lineup announced for the Summer Assembly programs. Gate passes and single event tickets, as well as parking and docks, will go on sale to the public on Jan. 17, with the season’s best prices from Jan. 17 through Feb. 20.
Westward expansion. An 80+ year stretch marked by hope, oppression, sorrow, and death. For Ian McCuen, it serves as a provocative metaphor for a life of disappointment and a world of heartbreak on their fifth album, November’s Westward to Nowhere.
It’s not the first record inspired by grief and the idea of travel. Modest Mouse did the same thing twice in the 90s to massive acclaim. What sets the Buffalo indie folk musician’s concept album apart though is its consistent and clear narrative, which progresses towards its natural finish by the end of the project’s behemoth 18-track, 80 minute run.
Cover art for ‘Westward to Nowhere.’
The early going of Westward to Nowhere depicts McCuen’s character as a damaged and traumatized young adult who anticipates and hopes for better things with a change of scene. The lo-fi acoustic opener “Westward” introduces the album’s historical symbolism with the noises of a train and the repeated closing line “westward home, westward home, and I know that I must go,” a phrase which is made a motif via the three interludes found across the record.
Follow-up track “Independence, MO” is a fuzzy but light indie rock song about the “thrill of anticipation” for starting new, coming before lead single “Lonesome Homesteader” (or “Lonesome Dreamer” according to the album listing), a gloomy acoustic ballad spaced out by stretches of organ and banjo. “I walk for miles at a time, daydreaming of a place that’s always mine,” McCuen sings on “Lonesome Dreamer.
This continues onto the waltzy “California Bound,” where McCuen analogizes seasonal change with grief and recovery, hoping that change of scenery will “wash away past trauma.” The same goes for the synth and violin-laden “Beatrice, NE,” where McCuen dreams of traversing the Great Plains and scaling the Rockies. “Goodbye Beatrice, so much world left to see,” they sing on one of several tracks that personally address the pinpointed location on McCuen’s journey.
Musically, Westward to Nowhere is highly consistent and consistently melodic. McCuen’s near whispered falsetto heavily reminisces of Elliott Smith, with their low-key acoustic approach and sentimental subject matter also ringing true of the legendary singer-songwriter. This tonal steadiness doesn’t mean a lack of variety in texture or instrumentation though, with McCuen’s parts on guitar, piano, organ and more being complemented by guest musicians such as Lissa Reed on cello and Sally Schaefer on violin. Reverb-heavy moments of guitar noise add contrast to long stretches of acoustic subtlety on songs such as “American Retreat.” There’s “The Plea,” which closes its six minute runtime with a biting and bluesy guitar solo and hints of trombone. All makes for an experience which sonically conveys McCuen’s sorrow in an affecting and musically accessible fashion.
While primarily personal, Westward to Nowhere has its political moments too, “The Plea” being explicitly so. “Can’t you hear the chanting, ‘no justice no peace,’ how much fucking longer we gonna let Kansas bleed,” McCuen asks on the final verse’s closing line.
There’s also the on-the-nose “Running Still (Worker’s Hymn),” a mostly acapella anthem where they sing in the first person about working class strife with exploitation, and the heartful late-placement ballad “American Retreat” which addresses Native American genocide, abandonment of military veterans, and general lies from “the lofty speak of what an infinite frontier provides.”
Such cynicism defines the rather hopeless back half of Westward to Nowhere. There’s “Letter,” on which Ian McCuen pens letters to a sister, an old friend, and a former lover, detailing fun reminiscence, regret, but most of all, agonizing over the distance created from these loved ones. “I can hardly recognize where I’m heading or from where I came,” they observe over the light drumming of the song’s chorus. “On my shoulders lays the blame.”
McCuen’s journey away from misery has made life even more hopeless, something fully emphasized in the album’s final three tracks. There’s the upbeat organ/violin-driven “Lonesome Drunkard” with its alcoholism play-by-play, followed by the overpowering gloom of nine-minute “Deadwood, SD,” which takes their sadness to suicidal levels.
McCuen forecasts themselves as “face first in the dirt with a bullet in the brain” and “just another number in the morgue,” and reminds of the album’s historical symbolism by alluding to “repeated failed attempts at finally striking gold. In the last few minutes, over a subtly building assembly of piano, guitar, , McCuen echoes frustration with a disgustingly wrong promise, singing “I’m so fucking sick and tired of hearing ‘Westward Home,’ after all this time I still don’t know where the hell I belong.”
No point is more bleak though than the closing track “Nowhere.” The train from the end of “Westward” returns, not to take McCuen on a life changing journey, but to take them out. “My brain and my body have given out on me, so I’m giving in to let these tracks take me,” they sing after two minutes of desolated acoustic guitar playing. McCuen’s echoey vocals and the track’s eerily sparse musical framing make this a haunting self-eulogy, as they talk about an eradicated sense of youthful optimism, reflect on a life of unfulfilled self, and envision a memorial not consisting of any heartfelt tributes, but “just regret for my days.”
Westward to Nowhere begins with a clear point and ends on a resounding personal message: the grass isn’t always greener elsewhere. Change of scene and change of personal direction don’t always lead away from misery. It may lead nowhere, and it might make life more isolating than ever imaginable. Originally aiming for California, McCuen never got farther west than Montana, a testament to the fleeting nature of personally prophesied destinations.
The album bears similarities to 1984 hardcore classic Zen Arcade by Husker Dü, a concept record about a boy who leaves a troubled home to find a world of nothing but. Ian McCuen never comes close to being as loud as Husker Dü, but the emotional ideas and big picture thinking are all there.
This is a long record that doesn’t do anything musically shocking, but within the album’s historical approach, it’s all fitting. Continental travel is long, consistent, and miserable, often like life. On Westward to Nowhere though, Ian McCuen conveys this in a way that ends up being pretty enjoyable to listen to.
The CGI Rochester International Jazz Festival will feature the great Bonnie Raitt on June 27th at the Festival’s 20th-anniversary edition. More than just a best-selling artist, expressive singer, and accomplished songwriter, Bonnie Raitt will bring her “Just Like That…Tour” on Tuesday, June 27th, 2023. The festival will be held from June 23rd to July 1st, 2023, in downtown Rochester.
The infamous Raitt has become an institution in American music. Born to a musical family, the ten-time Grammy winner is the daughter of celebrated Broadway singer John Raitt and accomplished pianist/singer Marge Goddard. Raitt was raised in Los Angeles where she grew up to have a respect for the arts and a commitment to social activism.
Bonnie is as known for her lifelong commitment to social activism as she is for her music. She has long been involved with the environmental movement, doing concerts around oil, nuclear power, mining, water and forest protection since the mid 70’s.
She even stated, “I’ve always wanted to make a record here, and once vaccinations made traveling safe again, we were thrilled to get everyone back together.” The mix of sounds and approaches on Just Like That…reveals how, 50 years after the release of her debut album, Bonnie Raitt continues to personify what it means to stay creative, adventurous, and daring over the course of a life’s work. “I think the absolute joy and relief of reuniting to play live music is really palpable on this record.”
With Just Like That…, this is her twenty-first album and first new release in more than six years. Rolling Stone even named her as both one of the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time” and one of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.” Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Bonnie Raitt continues to draw on the range of influences that have shaped her legendary career.
Tickets for Bonnie Raitt at CGI Rochester International Jazz Fest range in price from: Boxes $140, Orchestra $125, Loge/Mezzanine $105, Balcony $85. Tickets go on sale Friday, December 16th at 10am. To purchase, click the link here or call (585) 454-2060.
On November 21st, I Prevail brought their True Power tour, named after their latest album, to Buffalo RiverWorks, with Pierce The Veil, and Fit For A King. Stand Atlantic was supposed to be on the bill but due to the lake effect snow that hit Buffalo and other regions, the show was postponed to the 21st from the 20th, and could not make the rescheduled date.
Fit For A King
When heading to the venue, you can see why they had to postpone the show, with snow piles all over the city. At first it was a sold out night, but with the reschedule, more tickets opened up but you would not be able to tell as the line to get in was still long.
Since Stand Atlantic had to step off this show, Fit For A King opened up the show, though while waiting for things to kick off, suddenly out of nowhere, there were multiple balloons being tossed around in the crowd, after a while, you noticed someone from the upper floor, blowing more to toss down, it was some needed entertainment as the doors opened up at its scheduled time but they didn’t move up the timeline so people had to wait longer for the show to start.
Pierce The Veil
Once things kicked off, it was full blast, with Fit For a King slaying it, everything was going well till suddenly the band stopped playing, it wasn’t clear at first what was happening but EMT’s were needed, come to find out someone had a seizure in the crowd. The EMT’s pulled the person from the crowd and the show continued on.
Next to go on stage was Pierce The Veil, who hasn’t had an appearance in the state for a few years now. Again, the show was going great, until people from the crowd were yelling at the band to stop again. This time, it was never clear as to what happened but many people were climbing to get out of the crowd and off to the side, being with a almost sold out show, the floor level was packed, so during the set, it was easier to go to the front. After everyone wanted to get out, the show continued but half a dozen or so people were seen by EMT’s throughout the show. Then on next, last to take the stage, I Prevail. This time, everything seemed to go well with the show not having to stop for medical emergencies.
On Thursday, Live Nation announced the return of Lawn Pass, a service which guarantees customers special access to concerts at select venues across the country.
Services of the Lawn Pass include guaranteed general admission lawn seating all summer long for 30+ shows at specific venues such as the SPAC for $199 in addition to a fee. General sale will begin online this Wednesday at 1 p.m., while previous Lawn Pass holders have had the chance to purchase again since Thursday.
Citi cardmembers will also have presale access from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Tuesday through the Citi Entertainment program.
After purchase, Lawn Pass holders will receive a custom personalized credential that will serve as their ticket on each show day. These credentials will be shipped directly to customers this upcoming Spring.
Full list of venues participating in the Live Nation Lawn Pass program:
· Ak-Chin Pavilion (Phoenix, AZ)
· Blossom Music Center (Cuyahoga Falls, OH)
· Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek (Raleigh, NC)
· Concord Pavilion (Concord, CA)
· Darien Lake Amphitheater (Darien Center, NY)
· Dos Equis Pavilion (Dallas, TX)
· Freedom Mortgage Pavilion (Camden, NJ)
· Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – Tinley Park (Tinley Park, IL)
· Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – St. Louis (St. Louis, MO)
· Isleta Amphitheater (Albuquerque, NM)
· iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre (West Palm Beach, FL)
· Jiffy Lube Live (Bristow, VA)
· Lakewood Amphitheatre (Atlanta, GA)
· MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre (Tampa, FL)
· North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre (Chula Vista, CA)
· PNC Bank Arts Center (Holmdel, NJ)
· PNC Music Pavilion (Charlotte, NC)
· Ruoff Music Center (Noblesville, IN)
· RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater (Ridgefield, WA)
· Saratoga Performing Arts Center (Saratoga Springs, NY)
· Shoreline Amphitheatre (Mountain View, CA)
· St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at Lakeview (Syracuse, NY)
· The Pavilion at Star Lake (Burgettstown, PA)
· Toyota Amphitheatre (Wheatland, CA)
· USANA Amphitheatre (West Valley City, UT)
· Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach (Virginia Beach, VA)
On November 18, Rochester recording artist Ryan Sutherland released his third album, Sutherland II. In the album art, by illustrator Sabrina Cintron, neon green smoke curls around a pumpkin-headed scarecrow. Set against “crimson skies” emanating out of a huge, looming full moon with black cats hanging around its crescent, you gain the perfect visual of Upstate New York, taken as the days get cold, the season of the witch, after the harvest.
Halloween’s spirits and spooks still hang in the air like old smoke as winter dramatically conquers fall; decreeing daylight cut-backs and strict sunlight curfews. While winter reigns, cold seeps through cracks in the once-grand, now dilapidated houses that line neighborhoods, the kind college students crowd into. Meanwhile, everyone dons kingly robes: trailing coats, vintage furs, cashmere socks, grandmother’s knits. Everyone’s digging things up, remembering, forgetting. Everyone’s just trying to get through another Upstate winter.
Through love affairs, drinks with the boys and a trip to the psych ward, Sutherland II documents how Sutherland himself gets through these days — with graceful vulnerability and powerful guitar chops. It nails down acutely the beautiful sadness of winter, its forced periods of intense introspection, its loneliness and its frustration. Sutherland validates all those emotions through shared experience and earnest vocals.
The sharp wind of winters can pull tears out the eye unwittingly, can flush cheeks artificially; the early sunsets can warp time — 6 p.m. starts to feel like midnight. Everything is not as it seems, but in the frigid sunlight you can see your own air when you breathe, it reminds you you’re alive, it reminds you where you are. “Take a deep breath / it’s the only thing that’s real,” Sutherland sings on “Breathe.”
Sutherland II is comprised of 11 tracks of psychedelic rock n’ roll. Sutherland is on guitar, vocals and bass, Alex Cote is on drums, and local legend Ben Morey played organ on “Breathe,” in addition to engineering and recording the album at his Submarine Sound Studios in Rochester. Ryan Sutherland notes his references as the likes of Kurt Vile, Bob Dylan and Sturgil Simpson, but there’s also a bit of Billy Bragg in his tone and chord progressions.
The album is perfect to listen to when walking through snowy streets at night, when they haven’t been plowed just yet, when the snow just fell, blanketing everything in eerie silence, stillness. You can listen through earbuds tucked into puffer jackets and hats and scarves, cold beer in a cold hand, frozen finger flicking a lighter, cracked knuckles, chapped lips. When it’s so quiet, too quiet, and you think you might go crazy, listen to track six, “Psych Ward Blues.” Sutherland shouts out the local Rochester staple: Strong Memorial Hospital, and bluntly recounts checking himself in, with smart timing and easy humor.
Driving Upstate in this season is surreal as well — all black trees, white lakes and red barnes. It’s depressing, but the depression of Upstate winters twists itself in the minds of those of us who have been here for the long haul, and it turns into a sense of pride, a game of “how much of this can I take?” “Everybody wants to leave Upstate NY,” Sutherland sings on “Everyone’s Leaving (Upstate NY)” Even Sutherland wants to leave sometimes, when the cold is bitter, when his boss calls him into his office, when the economies bad and he can’t save a dime. Still, Ryan Sutherland doesn’t leave, a mysterious force exists, holding him here, the beauty in the sadness: “I got a feeling this city needs me / or I need it / desperately.”
Buffalo-based indie singer-songwriter Marina Laurendi has released a stunning music video for the track “Stay Mine,” off of her EP of the same name that came out in August.
Marina Laurendi is a singer/songwriter and musician, originally from the Western New York area. She started performing as an actress, singer, and dancer at a young age. Her career in musical theater led her to NYC, where she performed around the East Coast and Off-Broadway. Her music takes influence from the pulse of the NYC scene and the calmness of her Western NY upbringing.
Since the release of her EP, she has garnered over 10,000 streams on Spotify, and she was recently a quarter-finalist in this year’s competition to open at the Hollywood Bowl. When talking about the track and accompanying video, Laurendi said it is about the longing to have beautiful shared experiences with someone that matches your personality.
I had this sense of restlessness when I was writing it like I was just dying to start filling my life with these crazy adventures that make you feel like you can be forever young and I think that translated into the song. When we’re performing it, I always visualize it like a scrapbook of amazing memories so with the video, Luke Haag, our director/videographer, really helped me hone in on the best way to convey that. The whole thing is snapshots of this relationship where we really see the good, bad, and the ugly. It’s a healthy mix of reality and this pipe dream of what could be.
Marina Laurendi
The music video shows an intimate portrait of the highs and lows of a relationship. It matches the song’s build-up, as the passion between the couple is met with growing tension and a darker side of the love is revealed. The song focuses on these perfect imperfections as Laurendi sings the opening line, “you’re my favorite headache.” An interesting part of the video is that some of the scenes were shot at multiple locations around Buffalo and the Niagara Falls area. Laurendi also channels old Hollywood and the sounds of Lana Del Rey and Phoebe Bridgers throughout.
Marina Laurendi showcases that she is here to make a splash in the industry and become the next star. She recently has performed at places like The Bitter End in NYC, Hard Rock Cafe in Niagara Falls, Nietzsche’s and Ironworks Buffalo, just to name a few. To stay up to date on new show announcements, go to her website.
Charlie Parr walked onto the Arbor Loft stage, bundled up in a made-for-Minnesota-winters cardigan, minutes after opener Al Olender finished up her set. He sat down, settled in with his Mule resonator guitar and started to tune it. Or was he just playing?
The Rochester crowd milled about, conversing, getting a set break drink. Parr kept picking away, and it became more and more evident this was some mighty fine playing that deserves an attentive ear. And after a little while he leaned into the mic and started singing, “Can you remember what it’s like / When all the world’s filled with light / Now do you have that in your sight / Then spread it around, do.”
And Parr’s set started just like that, no welcome, no pretense, he just got right to it with “817 Oakland Avenue” off his excellent 2022 release Last of the Better Days Ahead. The crowd quickly quieted, the lights went down, and the show on Thursday, December 1st, had begun.
About 90 minutes later, after the peppy “Jubilee,” he flatly announced that was the end of his set, “Do you mind if I do the encore now?” With that he left the crowd with a stirring a capella rendition of the gospel, “Ain’t No Grave Gonna a Hold My Body Down.” He opened unceremoniously with a long guitar exploration and closed with just his voice. In between those bookends, the set was filled with the lush combination of his deft finger picking and rich voice.
Sometimes seeing an artist perform solo, even the great ones, you are left wondering what could be gained with a band or even just an accompanist. Not so with Charlie Parr. He sounded perfect all on his own. Through finger picks, slides, foot stomps and that ragged voice with unexpected range, there wasn’t empty space wanting for anything more. And modifications, like an “aggressive capo” on the mostly instrumental “Jaybird” got even more sound from that guitar.
“You know you’re at a folk show when a guy talks awkwardly while tuning his guitars.” Parr said, while tuning his guitar. He tuned quickly though, and like the way he opened his show, his tuning turned to playing without pause or hesitation. The show kept moving, with engaging upbeat songs, even if they were depressing in nature. He provided “palette cleansers” with some traditional folk blues tunes, like Brownie McGhee’s “Sportin’ Life” and Blind Willie McTell‘s “Delia,” the closest he was getting to playing a seasonal holiday song (not very close at all.) His original “On Stealing a Sailboat” referenced Arlo Guthrie in style, a romping spoken word story. No, there was no question or doubt about this being a folk show, or an Honest Folk show for that matter, the promoter closing out the year in grand fashion. We look forward to what’s in store for 2023.
The full house lent an attentive ear to opener Al Olender, a young singer-songwriter from the Hudson Valley making her third return trip through Rochester this year. She immediately connected with the crowd on catchy and clever “All I Do Is Watch TV,” finger picking and strumming her vintage electric guitar and emoting with her silky smooth vocals. Her friend Amanda Brooklyn came out to aid with sparse but well-placed harmonies. She cut through sad subject matter with engaging and humble humor, in her lyrics, with in-song jokes, and witty banter. She was admittedly nervous performing a cover of Roy Orbison’s “Blue Bayou,” (you wouldn’t have guessed it from her delivery) but had no hesitation baring all about her own experiences in a bad breakup on “Liar Liar.” Olender is a new voice to keep an eye out for.
Charlie Parr – Arbor Loft, Rochester – December 1, 2022
Setlist: 817 Oakland Avenue, Last of the Better Days Ahead, Everyday Opus, Sportin’ Life (Brownie McGhee), Don’t Send Your Child to War, Cheap Wine, 1922 Blues, Dog, Jaybird, Over the Red Cedar, On Stealing a Sailboat, Delia (Blind Willie McTell), Jubilee Encore: Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down
