Lake George Arts Project’s annual Bands n’ Beans is back for its 29th year, set to take place on Sunday, March 26 from 2pm – 7pm at The Fort William Henry Conference Center.
Bands n’ Beans is the perfect event for anyone who loves fantastic food and great music. The festival features over twenty restaurants from all over the region, each offering their own unique dish. Whether you like it hot, mild, classic, or vegetarian, you’re sure to find a new favorite.
In addition to the delicious chili, Bands n’ Beans also features a fantastic lineup of musical acts including Matt Mirable & Alison Jacobs, The Switch, Stony Creek Band, Dirt Cheap, Big Sky Country, Mark and Jill, Juniper, Tim Wechgelaer & Chris Carey, and the Radio Junkies.
The proceeds from this years event benefit the Lake George Arts Project’s free and open to all music and art programs like our year-round Courthouse Gallery exhibitions, our Summer Concert Series and our popular Jazz at the Lake Festival.
The Lake George Arts Project would like to thank this year’s sponsors, Fort William Henry Hotel and Conference Center, Barton, Rock Hill Bakehouse, and the Lake George Beach Club. We would also like to thank our participating restaurants, the bands who will be performing, and all of the volunteers and staff that help make Bands ‘n Beans happen.
In celebration of 36 years, industrial-dance trailblazers My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult have announced additional dates for their ‘Evil Eye Tour,’ featuring the band’s classic hits from 1987-1997.
With fans clamoring for dates throughout the East and North Central states, the band released 16 additional dates, once again alongside support acts Adult and Kanga, including Halloween night in New York City.
Hailing from Chicago’s renowned Wax Trax! Records stable of artists, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult have been conjuring up sonic tales of sex, blasphemy and kitschy horror since 1987. The band helped develop the industrial music genre, yet have continued to expand their style, creating one of the most diverse repertoires in modern music. Electronic rock, heavily influenced by both disco and funk can best describe their sound, while spoken-word samples lifted from B-movies gives the band their signature mark. They have released 14 studio albums, a slew of remix compilations, and have contributed to a variety of soundtracks and film scores, including a cameo performance in the 1994 cult movie classic The Crow.
Artist Franke Nardiello and musician Marston Daley, two Chicago neighbors who enjoyed late night binges watching trashy exploitation films and horror flicks, wanted to make their own movie to be called “My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult”. While the project never came to fruition, they wrote some music to be the accompanying soundtrack. Both worked at the Wax Trax record store, and when label founders Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher heard the songs, they were intrigued. Using the film title as the name of the band, they released a 3-song EP in early 1988. The response was overwhelming, and it was clear fans wanted to hear more.
Taking the stage names Groovie Mann (Nardiello) and Buzz McCoy (Daley), the duo began to focus on music full time. They created an occult meets leather biker image to compliment the band’s name which included enlisting a bevy of voluptuous back-up singers / dancers known as the BOMB GANG GIRLZ. In June of ’88, they flew to label mate Luc Van Acker’s studio in Belgium to record their first album, I See Good Spirits and I See Bad Spirits. It was recorded in just ten days, and mixed in another ten days at Southern Studios in London. The fans ate it up! They followed up with two hard-hitting dance floor 12” tracks – Kooler Than Jesus (1989) and Cuz It’s Hot (1990), which features no-wave chanteuse Lydia Lunch on vocals. The New York Times wrote, “Sex, blasphemy, big beats and go-go dancing; they’re all in a day’s work for My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult”. This attracted the attention of indie fans, as well as the ire of the PMRC and conservative religious groups in practically equal measure. By the time of their sophomore release, Confessions Of A Knife (1990), they were far and away one of the biggest selling acts on the label.
1991 saw the release of their third album, Sexplosion!, a calculated sonic and visual departure from their previous work. 1950’s pin-up models replaced the demonic imagery, while sleazy stripper horns, disco beats and house diva vocals (provided by artist Shawn Christopher) took prominence over the more abrasive musical elaments.They put together a provocative stage show, complete with spinning police lights, mirror balls and a stocked bar with bartender to serve the scantily clad musicians and dancers while they performed. It was a huge success, and the group signed a deal with Interscope Records shortly afterwards and released two more albums – 13 Above the Night (1993), and Hit & Run Holiday (1995).
Hollywood also embraced the KULT, recognizing the unique cinematic aspect in their sound. Most notably, the band scored five songs for animator Ralph Bakshi’s Cool World (1992) and wrote the lap dance song for director Paul Verhoven’s saucy Showgirls (1993). Comedies BASEketball and The Flintstones Movie prominently feature songs from the Hit & Run Holiday album. They have been roasted by MTV’s Beavis & Butthead, and were written into the story line of the film Sexy Evil Genius which also features the song “A Daisy Chain 4 Satan”. Most recently the club hit “Kooler Than Jesus” can be heard blasting in Season 3 of the Netflix series Narcos.
Today SLEAZEBOX.com boasts the complete THRILL KILL KULT catalog, in addition to related works and McCoy’s self titled projects. They continue to work with Wax Trax! Records for the purpose of re-issuing special limited edition vinyl. Buzz and Groovie still record and perform live along with veteran band mates Mimi Star (bass) and Justin Thyme (drums), all the while making a reputation for themselves as one of the most notorious and controversial cult bands of their generation.
For Mor Information, and to purchase tickets, please visit the bands website.
Empire State Youth Orchestra (ESYO) has named two winners plus a runner-up in its annual Lois Lyman Concerto Competition, who will be performing with the orchestra on April 2 at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall.
The Lois Lyman Concerto Competition has been an ESYO tradition for decades, and encourages ESYO Symphony Orchestra members to perform a concerto of their choice. Each participant performs a ten-minute slice of their piece from memory in front of a panel of judges.
Empire State Youth Orchestra (ESYO) challenges and inspires young people to achieve excellence through music in a progressive learning environment leading to high-level performance opportunities. More than 500 youth from New York’s Capital Region and western New England are selected by audition each year to perform in ESYO. With 13 performing ensembles and orchestras suiting a range of playing levels, members receive training from outstanding conductors and coaches, and tutelage from extraordinary guest artists.
The winners are Yu-Heng Wang, who performed the Bartok Viola Concerto, and William Lauricella, who performed Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. The runner-up was Liam Sullivan, who performed Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1. Yu-Heng and William now have the honor of performing their concertos with the full ESYO Symphony Orchestra during the ensemble’s concerts in April and October, respectively.
Yu-Heng has been playing viola since he was in fourth grade and has been an ESYO member since seventh grade. “Ever since eighth grade, I told myself that I would win the Lois Lyman Concerto Competition. I was determined to one day play in front of an orchestra”.
“What was most difficult for me was the fact that I had to balance my auditions for various music schools, as well as auditions for various summer programs along with the concerto competition. As deadlines inch closer, I become more and more stressed about whether or not I am going to have it ready by the date of the competition. But thanks to my less busy schedule at school combined with help from my teacher, I was able to greatly increase my efficiency in learning and preparing the concerto. Luckily, I had already been playing the first movement of the concerto for around a year now, which helped a lot, as it is the most difficult portion of the piece. I learned that once you’ve gotten the notes of a piece down in the memory, all you have to do is relax and let the bow and fingers do the work, and everything will turn out fine.”
Yu-Heng will perform Bartok’s Viola Concerto in full on April 2, 2023 at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall along with the rest of the ESYO Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra will also perform Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring and Li Huanzhi’s Spring Festival Orchestra, as well as a movement of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5, which will serve as a preview of the orchestra’s season-closing concert at Carnegie Hall on June 4.
Tickets to the Empire State Youth Orchestra concerto competition will take place on April 2 at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall.
Saratoga Performing Arts Center has announced its new inaugural fundraiser to kick-off the summer season, “Summer SPACtacular.”
Featuring an expansive celebration across the SPAC grounds “Summer SPACtacular” will include live music, a multi-course “Summerscape Supper,” culinary tastings, cocktails, a whiskey and cigar lounge, fireworks and a dance party on SPAC’s historic stage. Slated for Friday, June 2 from 5:00-11:00 p.m., the event will benefit SPAC’s mission, residencies, and youth education initiatives.
“Our new Summer SPACtacular is both a summer season kick-off and a celebration of SPAC’s expanded mission and its new campus – from cocktails and a dance party on our historic stage, to exquisite tastings with live music throughout the grounds, and a cigar and whiskey lounge in our Pavilion,” said Elizabeth Sobol, President & CEO. “We are grateful to the SPAC Action Council and Friends of SPAC for their incredible efforts to make this event a reality – all in support of our resident companies and educational programming.”
Featuring two different ticketing options including a “Party Pass” and an “All-Access Pass,” attendees will have the opportunity to experience SPAC like never before with tastings, libations and entertainment throughout the SPAC campus. Guests who purchase a “Party Pass” will enjoy live music by Saratoga Springs native Jes Hudak, tastings from local eateries, distilleries and breweries, and a whiskey and cigar lounge – all culminating with a dazzling fireworks display and a DJ dance party on the stage.
In addition to the “Party Pass” offerings, the “All-Access Pass” also includes a reception with craft cocktails and live jazz on the amphitheater stage, followed by an intimate “Summerscape Supper” featuring three courses that celebrate spring’s culinary bounty with wine pairings produced by CulinaryArts@SPAC with renowned regional chefs Kim Klopstock, Michael Blake, and Kevin London. An exciting paddle raise hosted by emcee and News10ABC’s Lydia Kulbida will also highlight the supper. The “All-Access Pass” also features exclusive admission to post-dinner aperitifs and sweet treats on The Pines Terrace.
“The SPAC Action Council and Friends of SPAC are thrilled to present this inaugural event – one that screams FUN from the minute you enter the grounds. If you’ve never experienced SPAC outside of a performance, this is your chance to do so in a new, intimate way,” says Keeley DeSalvo, Saratoga Performing Arts Center Action Council President.
Ashley Budd, Friends of SPAC President adds, “You won’t want to miss this supercharged evening of food, drink, dancing and more as we celebrate the coming season and raise funds in support of SPAC’s mission. We anticipate this magical night will sell out quickly, and encourage everyone to purchase their tickets early!”
The Summer SPACtacular is the largest fundraiser to support SPAC’s mission, classical residencies and youth educational programming in the community, which has gone from serving 5,000 students to more than 50,000 students.
Tickets to the SPACtacular are available online at spac.org.
Lionel Richie has announced his 2023 “Sing A Song All Night Long” Tour with very special guests Earth, Wind & Fire. The 20-city arena tour kicks off Friday, August 4 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, MN, and includes a stop at Madison Square Garden (MSG) in New York City on Saturday, August 12.
Lionel Richie is known for his mega hits such as “Endless Love,” “Lady,” “Truly,” “All Night Long,” “Penny Lover,” “Stuck on You,” “Hello,” “Say You, Say Me,” “Dancing on the Ceiling,” and co- wrote one of the most important pop songs in history, “We Are the World,” for U.S.A for Africa. His song catalog also includes his early work with The Commodores, where he developed a groundbreaking style that defied genre categories, penning smashes such as “Three Times a Lady,” “Still” and “Easy.” Richie is one of two sole songwriters who has written eight No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.
2022 was a pivotal year for Lionel Richie, who has now sold over 125 million albums, as he was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, won the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song by the Library Congress and was honored with the Icon Award at the American Music Awards. With over 100 million albums sold worldwide and an impressive nine GRAMMY® Awards, Earth, Wind & Fire has cemented their lasting impact on popular music as they continue to inspire new audiences and thrill those who have been with them from the beginning. These two iconic artists have now sold a combined quarter billion albums worldwide.
Earth, Wind & Fire, formed In 1969 by music legend Maurice White birthed the music force named after the elements from his very own astrological charts. With soul as deep as the plant, Earth, Wind & Fire charted a history that will live on forever. They’ve scored eight number one hits and have sold more than 100 million albums worldwide. They’ve released 23 albums; eight of those albums went Double Platinum and hit the Top 10, making them one of the best-selling artists of all time. They’ve won an impressive nine GRAMMY® Awards including one for Lifetime Achievement (2012). In 2000, Earth, Wind & Fire was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, cementing their lasting impact on popular music and, in 2019, their contributions to arts and culture was acknowledged in Washington DC with the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors.
Tickets will be available Monday, March 13 at Lionel Richie’s website.
SING A SONG ALL NIGHT LONG 2023 TOUR DATES:
Fri Aug 04 – St Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center
Sat Aug 05 – Chicago, IL – United Center
Tue Aug 08 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena
Wed Aug 09 – Montreal, QC – Bell Centre
Fri Aug 11 – Boston, MA – TD Garden
Sat Aug 12 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
Tue Aug 15 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
Fri Aug 18 – Washington, DC – Capital One Arena
Sat Aug 19 – Baltimore, MD – CFG Bank Arena
Tue Aug 22 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena
Fri Aug 25 – Fort Lauderdale, FL – FLA Live Arena
Sat Aug 26 – Tampa, FL – Amalie Arena
Tue Aug 29 – Austin, TX – Moody Center
Fri Sep 01 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center
Grammy-Award winners Jason Isbell and the 400 Unithas announced the upcoming release of their eighth album, Weathervanes, along with a brand new North American tour.
Written and produced by Isbell, Weathervanes features 13 brand new tracks. “Death Wish,” the debut release from the collection, is available now. Weathervanes is a collection of grown-up songs: Songs about adult love, about change, about the danger of nostalgia and the interrogation of myths, about cruelty and regret and redemption. Some will make you cry alone in your car and others will make you sing along with thousands of strangers in a big summer pavilion, united in the great miracle of being alive. Isbell is a storyteller at the peak of his craft, observing his fellow wanderers, looking inside and trying to understand, reducing a universe to four minutes.
“There is something about boundaries on this record,” said Isbell. “As you mature, you still attempt to keep the ability to love somebody fully and completely while you’re growing into an adult and learning how to love yourself.”
Jason Isbell
Weathervanes was recorded at Nashville’s Blackbird Studio and features Jason Isbell’s Grammy-winning band, The 400 Unit. Special guests include GRAMMY winner Amanda Shires and harmonicist Mickey Raphael, with background vocals on “If You Insist“ by renowned producer and engineer Sylvia Massy & Ian RickardandStrings on “Death Wish” by Morgan O’Shaughnessey.
Also announced today, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit will be hitting the road throughout the summer, including a show at Artpark Mainstage Theater in Lewiston on August 5.
Pop icons the Jonas Brothers have announced a five-show, limited engagement at the Marquis Theatre in New York City from March 14 through March 18.
On each night of these very special performances, the band will focus on one of their albums in order of release, beginning with their 2007 self-titled album JONAS BROTHERS, in addition to other chart-topping hits from their discography and the first single, “Wings” off their forthcoming project, The Album. The fifth and final show, the Jonas Brothers will treat fans to the first-ever live performance of The Album.
The Jonas Brothers new single “Wings,” out now via Republic Records launches a new era for the band and is the first single off their sixth full-length record The Album, executive produced by Jon Bellion. The Album is set for release on May 12.
The Jonas Brothers took the world by storm in 2019 with the surprise release of their critically acclaimed and widely successful single “Sucker” following a six-year hiatus. The 5x-platinum single debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100, becoming the first #1 for the band and the first #1 debut from a group this century. The band went on to release Chasing Happiness, an Amazon Original film documenting the brothers’ rise and return to music, before going on to deliver their third #1 album with the arrival of their platinum-selling Happiness Begins. The trio continued to soar with their sold-out “Happiness Begins Tour,” selling over 1.2 million tickets.
For tickets and more information, please visit the Jonas Brothers website.
Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) has announced the return of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) back to the Spa Little Theatre for its summer residency from June 11-August 20.
Marking the 10th anniversary of its collaboration with SPAC, the six-concert summer season follows two previously announced performances on March 18 and May 13 by CMS, now a year-round presence in Saratoga Springs.
“Our 2023 season carries a celebratory theme across all of our residencies, but none more so than with the 10th anniversary of our partnership with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center,” says Elizabeth Sobol, President and CEO of Saratoga Performing Arts Center. “Over the past decade, SPAC and CMS have cultivated a dedicated audience of chamber music devotees in Saratoga Springs and we are excited to the continue the tradition not just every summer, but year-round as well.”
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s summer season opens with “From Classic to Modern,” showcasing works from Brahms and Beethoven to Bloch, Khachaturian and Milhaud (June 11), followed by “Great Quintets” of Mozart, Dohnányi and Dvořák (June 18); “From Vienna to Paris” (July 16); a program from guest artists The Miró String Quartet (July 23); and “Spanish Journey” (August 13). The season closes with “New Classics” (August 20), which includes quintets by Bloch and Suk that CMS has ushered into the standard chamber repertoire.
Anchored by Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Artistic Directors Wu Han (piano) and David Finckel (cello), this season’s guest artists also include violinists Arnaud Sussmann, Alexander Sitkovetsky, Ani Kavafian, Ida Kavafian, Stella Chen, Danbi Um, Kristin Lee, and Aaron Boyd; violists Paul Neubauer, James Thompson, Molly Carr, and Matthew Lipman; cellist Sihao He, pianists Wu Qian, Juho Pohjonen, Soyeon Kate Lee; clarinetist Ricardo Morales, guitarist Jason Vieaux, soprano Rihab Chaieb, and The Miró Quartet.
The summer season follows two previously announced spring concerts offered by Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. On March 18, soprano Jessica Rivera joins pianists Michael Stephen Brown and Gilles Vonsattell, cellist Nicholas Canellakis and percussionist Ian David Rosenbaum to present “Voices of the Americas,” a program celebrating the range of ideas, sounds, and cultures that have inspired composers from the Americas in the 20th Century like Copland, Gershwin, Golijov, and Villa-Lobos. On May 13, pianist Wu Han, violinist Arnaud Sussmann, and cellist David Finckel unite to perform works by Beethoven and Dvořák.
For a full schedule of performances, and to purchase tickets, visit SPAC’s website for more information.
Storied NYC rock band, Hooray For Earth will play a Bandcamp Daily livestream performance, ‘Live From Death By Audio’ broadcasted from the Death By Audio in Queens, NY on Sunday, February 26.
Beyond the actual livestream on the 26th, the performance will be available to view for an additional 48 hours.
Established in 2003 by Noel Heroux as a placeholder name for Noel’s solo recordings, “Hooray For Earth”left the disc and found band members in Jessica Zambri, Cristi Jo Zambri, Seth Kasper, Joseph Ciampini, Gary Benacquista, and Noel’s dear childhood friend Christopher Principe.
Various live configurations toured frequently in the U.S. and internationally, engaged in radio appearances and studio collaborations while releasing Cellphone EP (2008), MOMO EP (2010), TrueLoves (2011), Never/Figure (2012), and Racy (2014)before ceasing activity via amical band breakup in Fall of 2014. After eight years away, Hooray For Earth materialized to support Modest Mouse on tour in summer and winter of 2022. Noel has spent much of the last few years in the studio.
Earlier this year, Hooray For Earth shared a reissue of their 2011 LP True (featuring tracks “True Loves,” “No Love,” “Realize It’s Not the Sun”), out now via Bandcamp, alongside previously unreleased track from the original recording sessions entitled “La Que” The True Loves reissue is out now via Bandcamp.
Saxophonist Ricky Ford, one of the last of a generation of influential jazz artists to make their home in Europe, is scheduled to appear in downtown Syracuse’s Jazz Central Theater on March 3rd at 7:30 with his current U.S. touring combo for a full-length concert.
This marks the second trip to Syracuse for the 68 year-old tenorman now living in Paris, who is midway through a tour of the Northeast. His current touring group includes John Kordalewski on piano, Tony Marino on bass, and Thurman Barker on drums.
Ricky Ford came up on the heels of the greatest icons of the art form as a young Bostonian making his mark on the national jazz landscape. At age 20, he was picked to succeed the legendary Paul Gonsalves in Duke Ellington’s band. He worked on the international scene with such legends of jazz history as Sonny Stitt, McCoy Tyner, Yusef Lateef, Freddie Hubbard, Charles Mingus, and Lionel Hampton, before settling in France in the 1990s.
“We’re pleased that Ricky Ford had such a good time in Syracuse last time and made us a stop again on his current schedule,” said Larry Luttinger, leader of CNY Jazz. “His first gig here in 2021, during the early days of the pandemic recovery, was well attended. We’re predicting a sell out crowd for this one. Those who got shut out of our sold out Black History Month Cabaret will get a second chance to experience some world class music at this one.”
Seating is limited in the cozy 63-seat Jazz Central. Advance sale ticket purchase is recommended. Advance sale tickets for Ricky Ford are on sale now at CNY Jazz’s website.
