NYC based band Sorry Mom has just liberated the punk-rock single “Shaving My Legs” in preparation for the release of their debut album babyface on May 12th. Following the album release, Sorry Mom will be hitting the road for a short northeast run that concludes with a set at Boston Calling Music Festival.
Sorry Mom is an NYC-based femme punk band whose music chronicles queer experiences and suburban despair through a nostalgic punk sound. Their music boasts the lyrical playfulness of Green Day and blink-182, but sonically has a more hardcore edge.
What began as a group of college friends playing music together quickly evolved into something bigger upon the release of Sorry Mom’s debut EP “Juno Goes to the Big House” in April 2021. As of July 2022, the band has garnered 10M+ streams across platforms and 50k+ followers across socials. In Fall 2021 and Spring 2022, Sorry Mom embarked on tours of the Northeast, playing 30 unique venues across the region.
The first single “Hiccup” shows the side of Sorry Mom that is incredibly hardcore punk. By using their artform to their advantage, they show how unique they are with powerful lyrics and punk melodies. Overall, “Hiccup” makes you want to jump straight into a mosh pit.
The second single “Shaving My Legs,” released on April 14th, provides a fast-paced intro to the overall album. While tackling feelings of being trapped, promising again and again to start making changes tomorrow, the band shows us that tomorrow never comes.
Sorry Mom is also going on tour for the release of babyface, stopping in Brooklyn’s Saint Vitus Bar. For more information and to purchase tickets, click the link here.
To listen to “Shaving My Legs,” click the link here.
The Moscot Mobileyes Foundation has announced a partnership with national music education nonprofit, Music Will, for Punk & Beyond: Legends of the Lower East Side, at the Mark Miller Gallery in New York City.
Punk & Beyond: Legends of the Lower East Side is an immersive art experience celebrating the musicians that rose to fame in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The exhibit is free and open to the public, running Wednesday to Sunday from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. from April 20th – July 9th.
“My Love Rains” by artist Hektad, from a previous exhibition at the Mark Miller Gallery. Credit: Hektad
With support from legendary music producers Perry Margouleff and Steve Rosenthal, Punk & Beyond: Legends of the Lower East Side will raise funds for the launch and expansion of Music Will’s music programming in public schools, and The Moscot Mobileyes Foundation has kicked off the initiative with a $26,000 donation to open four music programs in local public schools to fund teacher training, instrument donations, curricular resources, and scholarships to attend the Music Will Modern Band Summit. Both organizations hope to continue this initiative annually, building lifelong connections between students and music worldwide.
I’m delighted to have the opportunity to evolve Moscat Mobileyes from one passion of providing eye care to those in need, to my other great joy in life—music, by providing music education to local public-school kids. I am dedicated to finding ways to give back to the city that has been so good to Moscat.
Dr. Harvey Moscot
Designed by Daniel Kershaw, Exhibition Design Manager at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Punk & Beyond: Legends of the Lower East Side will feature artifacts from Johnny Thunders, Lou Reed, Norah Jones, David Peel, and more.
“We are so grateful to Moscot Mobileyes for their invaluable support of our mission promoting music education in the Lower East Side, and to Perry Margouleff for his unwavering dedication to our cause,” says Janice Polizzotto, Music Will Interim CEO. “We are so proud to be part of an exhibit that commemorates the rich musical heritage of this historic neighborhood and celebrates its vibrant diversity.”
Moscot Music originated in 2004 when Harvey Moscot grabbed his guitar and started jamming on a rainy Saturday. Since then, Moscot has added a music element to its repertoire, by connecting fans worldwide with emerging and established musical artists. Presently, their initiative has shifted from solely providing medical eyecare to supporting the needs of the community as a whole.
The largest nonprofit music program for schools in the United States, Music Will, in the last 20 years, has provided teacher training, curriculum, and instruments to over 6,000 schools across all 50 states – impacting over 1.2 million students to date. The organization strives to restore and transform music education in schools as districts continue to lose funding for music and arts programs. Music Will hopes to reach one million more students in the next five years.
Zach Nugent’s Dead Set kicked off a six-show run across New York State at Garcia’s in Port Chester on Wednesday, April 19.
Performing with members of Swimmer and Corey Wilhelm on Percussion, a wide range of Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia songs were featured, with a crowd filling the room and enjoying one of the freshest takes on the music of the Grateful Dead you’ll hear.
In concert, Nugent is exhilarating and unforgettable, energizing and inspiring fans, uplifting the crowd from the moment he and the band take the stage, Nugentâs virtuosic guitar playing and deep connection to the music of the Grateful Dead captivates the audience and transports them to another realm.
Urbano Street announced their U Street Music Festival, inviting people of all ages with an appreciation for street art, culture, and vinyl to celebrate record store day and the return of live music. The all-day festival will be on April 22 from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. in Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY on Suydam St. between Irving Ave and Knickerbocker Ave.
The U Street Festival will feature two stages that serve as a discovery platform for multicultural and non-commercial musicians and street artists. Stars such as Rebelmatic, La Sazound, Dubcorps, Spite Fuxxx, Chico Raro, Tambor y Caña, Hecho en Brooklyn, Eclectic Charango Beats, Prince of Queens, Jah Point, Vee Vee, and Wild Roots will take the stage. The festival also emphasizes the long-standing record of street culture and urban art, focusing on BIPOC artists who enrich New York City. U Street is on a mission to support underground and alternative artists in the independent space.
U Street Music Fest is the first street event of its kind, no one has ever attempted to bring subcultural music communities together before. Think of it as a cumbia punky reggae party on the streets of Brooklyn.
– Diana Hernandez, Urbano Street Lead Organizer
The music festival will expose local talent while also celebrating the diversity of its vibrant community which is largely made up of immigrants from Latin America. Although the neighborhood has recently battled gentrification-related tensions, the U Street Music Festival strives to cultivate collaboration uniting its residents with Bushwick’s artistic roots. They also hope to help bridge the generational and socio-economic gap between old and new members of the community.
Urbano Street is a nonprofit organization that relies on volunteers, music lovers, and donors. Whilst focusing on BIPOC artists who enrich New York City. Urbano Street is on a mission to support underground and alternative artists in the independent space, opening doors for underrepresented musicians by bringing them to urban places and shooting music videos, a passport to more gigs, press, and opportunities.
More information about the non-profit organization can be accessed here.
Patricia Cruz, artistic director and CEO of Harlem Stage invites iconic Contemporary Black artists and thinkers to the Black Arts Movement: Then and Now Conference, to be held from May 18-20 and curated by Harlem Stage Associate Artistic Director/Artist-in-Residence Carl Hancock Rux.
The Black Arts Movement: Then and Now Conference culminates Harlem Stage’s 2022-23 season-long initiative Black Arts Movement: Examined. This is a series of events devoted to escalating the understanding of the historic and cultural relevance of Black Arts Movement and its intersections with the Black Power Movement. The Black Arts Movement: Examined emerged from a conversation between Rux and Cruz about how it might result as a bridge to an exploration of Black art and activism in contemporary America.
The conference will explore areas of tension between the intellectual, ethical, and commercial imperatives of the Black Arts Movement, its scholarship, and the professional demands many of its leaders imposed upon artists, and whether or not the Black Arts Movement’s libertarian, racism-countering goals were ever truly achieved.
– Carl Hancock Rux
The event will kick off at 5pm with a keynote address by the poet, music critic, and arts administrator A.B. Spellman. He is a Director of The Expansion Arts Program at the National Endowment for the Arts, which funded arts organizations that were in and of inner-city, rural, and tribal communities. Thirty minutes later, Miles Davis, Quincy Troupe, David Henderson, and Margo Crawford will respond to A.B. Spellman’s overview, giving further elucidation to the movement’s aesthetic, development, internal and external tensions. These special guests will also explore the movement’s relationship to the Black Power Movement, the AfriCOBRA movement, and Black cultural expression as resistance, and offer a fundamental re-evaluation of its complicated relationship with political insurgency and the larger Black community.
On the second day at 10pm there will be a Black Masculinity Discussion moderated by Jonathan McCrory and featuring Felipe Luciano, Stew, Brent Hayes Edwards, and Lois Elaine Griffith. The set will examine the articulation of misogyny and homophobia often deployed by the Black Arts Movement in service to a masculinist vision of Black liberation principles and its constitution of “real” Blackness. Following that talk will be the discussion Music & Struggle with Angela Davis, Nona Hendryx, and Toshi Reagon Nona Hendryx. Next will be conversations with the activist Sonia Sanchez and multi-award-winning poet Carl Hancock Rux. The final celebration for that day will be a concert showcasing Henry Threadgill, Craig Taborn, and Dafnis Prieto.
The last day of The Black Arts Movement: Then and Now Conference will begin with a discussion called Poder Latino with Felipe Luciano, Lois Elaine Griffith, and more. The speakers will explore the Afro-Latinx cross-cultural influence on the intersection of European colonialism and the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, and the complexities of the Afro-Latinx relationship to the Black Arts Movement. After an 11:30 lunch, the audience will be treated to a Film Screening titled, “Portrait of Jason by Shirley Clarke” in collaboration with Maysles Documentary Center. The film is an experimental documentary by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Shirley Clarke. Ingmar Bergman referred to the production saying it was “the most fascinating film he had ever seen in his life”
After the documentary will be a discourse called “Crisis of the Negro Intellectual”. This conversation will be moderated by Margo Crawford and features Harmony Holiday, Michael Sawyer & Dominic Taylor, moderated by Margo Crawford. To end the conference the audience will be presented with a Closing Plenary by Carl Hancock Rux and a closing-night, curated by Carl Hancock Rux, Tavia Nyong’o, and Vernon Reid. The closing-night will also showcase contributions by Carrie Mae Weems, Stefanie Batten Bland, and Dianne Smith and co-presented with Park Avenue Armory.
More information about the Harlem Stage can be found here.
Brooklyn’s indie-dance band Underground System announced that the release of their latest EP, “Looking In” will be on April 26. The band also revealed their series of live spring performances stopping in Ridgewood NY, and Kingston.
Underground System is one of the most exuberant bands to emerge from New York City within the past few years. The five-member band is acclaimed for innovating a brand that fuses various genres of music. Listening to “Looking In”, gives fans the opportunity to see how Underground System recreates, redefines, and reconstructs elements of afrobeat, dance punk, disco and electronic music. The band has also received global attention from outlets such as Billboard, NPR, and The Rolling Stones, crediting them for their true New York eclecticism.
“It was a long form exploration of various genres we like to blend within the band, and a pointed lyrical climax that paints a picture of action in the face of inequality.”
– Peter Matson, Songwriter and Producer
Peter Matson revealed that to achieve the right sound, the band dug further into stylistic gestures first explored on their debut LP. The group opened with chopped rhythmic flute layers that featured the flute played by Domenica as reminiscent of minimalist music. The EP also features drums played by Chris Eggan.
In December 2018, following Underground System’s release of ‘What Are You’, the band dominated the stage at the French tastemaking festival Transmusicales. This launched the band into an 18-show European tour in 2019, rocking the stages at Eurockeennes de Belfort, Fusion Festival in Germany, and Laurent Garnier’s Festival Yeah as a headliner.
Additionally, Underground System’s partnership with Brooklyn based label Razor-n-Tape, and French label Heavenly Sweetness in the EU has led the group into their next era. After the release of “Looking In”, Underground System will drop club-ready remixes to further cement their penchant for clever songwriting that causes listeners to make their way to the dancefloor.
More information about Underground System and tickets to their live show can be found here .
Acclaimed punk-rock musical Good Vibrations is coming to the Irish Arts Center starting June 14. Written by Colin Carberry and Glenn Patterson based on their BAFTA-Nominated Film and directed by Des Kennedy, Good Vibrations at the Irish Arts Center closes July 9.
The opening of the musical marks the first musical and largest-scale theatrical offering ever presented by the Irish Arts Center.
A scene from Good Vibrations. Credit: Irish Arts Center.
Good Vibrations initially made its world premiere at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast in 2018 to rave reviews and sold-out performances. The Irish Times said, “The full-throated spirit of punk is alive and roaring” in this “glorious” production, and The Irish News described audiences “losing their hearts to [the] fascinating character” of Terri Hooley. Good Vibrations at the Irish Arts Center is sure to be a musical you won’t want to miss.
Since 1968, the Lyric Theatre has been a creative hub for theatre-making, a safe space for nurturing talent, and embodies an unwavering passion for creating meaningful connections through theatre and the arts. The theatre has been a stepping stone for internationally acclaimed playwrights, poets, and actors, and is the only full-time theatre in Northern Ireland to produce its own productions from page to stage. The Lyric Theatre is committed to maintaining a high-quality, diverse, and inclusive program.
Produced by Lyric Theatre, Belfast, Good Vibrations is led by a large ensemble cast that includes Cat Barter as Marilyn Hyndman, Connor Burnside as Billy Doherty, Darren Franklin as Dave, Marty Maguire as George Hooley, Odhrán McNulty as Ronnie Matthews, Chris Mohan as Graham ‘Getty’ Marshall, Christina Nelson as Mrs. Hooley and Mrs. Sharkey, Jolene O’Hara as Polly, Gavin Peden as Brian Young, Dylan Reid as Feargal Sharkey/Greg Cowan, Glen Wallace as Terri Hooley, and Jayne Wisener as Ruth Carr. Good Vibrations chronicles the story of the beloved titular record store/label, through the songs of punk rock legends like The Undertones, the Outcasts, and Stiff Little Fingers (including, respectively, “Teenage Kicks,” “Just Another Teenage Rebel,” and “Alternative Ulster”). The central character is Terri Hooley, who when the Troubles shut down his city and his friends take sides, opens a record shop.
Rounding out the creative team is Katie Richardson(Musical Director), Jennifer Rooney (Choreographer), Grace Smart (Set Designer), Gillian Lennox (Costume Designer), Jack Knowles (Lighting Designer), Megan Joyce (Audio Engineer), Barry McCusker (Live Sound Engineer), Aidan Payne (Set Carpenter), Ian Vennard (Production Technician: Sound/Lighting), Simon Bird (Production Manager), and Stephen Dix (Deputy Stage Manager/Props).
Founded in 1972 and based in Hell’s Kitchen, the Irish Arts Center is a home for artists and audiences of all backgrounds who share a passion for the evolving arts and culture of contemporary Ireland and Irish America. Additionally, IAC provides community education programs and access to the arts for people of all ages and ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Through a historic partnership between the people of Ireland and New York, the Irish Arts Center recently opened a state-of-the-art new facility to support its mission for the 21st century.
Tickets and more information are available on the Irish Arts Center’s website.
Benny the Butcher continues to make noise in the rap game. This time, the Buffalo-bred MC is making his mark through his Black Soprano Family imprint, recruiting gritty Hartford, CT rapper, Fuego Base, to continue the BSF name. In like manner, Fuego Base is making a name for himself with his wordplay, innate storytelling and raw delivery, which has earned him likeness to Jadakiss.
After signing with Benny’s BSF imprint in 2022, Fuego joined Benny and Rick Hyde for Charlie Sloth’s Fire In The Booth, and he followed that up by appearing with Westside Gunn later that year for the “Intro” on BSF’s Long Live DJ Shay album. Fuego also impressed on his On The Radar Christmas cypher, representing BSF.
Biggest Since Camby will be Fuego Base’s debut project on Benny the Butcher’s BSF imprint.
Fuego Base’ Next Step
Now, Fuego Base takes the next step with his official BSF debut project, Biggest Since Camby. With a aptly timed 4/20 release date, the tittle is an ode to former Hartford, CT basketball star Marcus Camby who was drafted 2nd overall in the historic 1996 NBA Draft. Moreover, Biggest Since Camby features appearances from some of hip hop’s grittiest MC’s including Benny The Butcher, Sheek Louch, 38 Spesh, Uncle Murda, OT The Real and his fellow BSF cohorts.
“I want to make a big impact on the game, and that’s why my album is called Biggest Since Camby” Fuego Base explains.
We are from Hartford, and it’s a forgotten place, but with the platform, Benny has provided me and being a member of BSF, I can shine some light on the city. I’m really rapping too! Tell my momma I’m a rapper.
– Fuego Base
In anticipation for the album, Fuego Base released “The Warehouse” — and later an accompanying music video — featuring Benny The Butcher and OT The Real. The record fits right in Benny’s wheelhouse as they — along with OT The Real — seamlessly exchange street tales. Backed by a menacing and equally sorrowful violin riffs, the trio share their own personal journeys in the underbelly.
I don’t care what nobody says, Fuego Base is one of the hungriest rappers in the game right now. I know because I remember being in that beginning phase and I can see that fire in him.
Saliyah Itoka is a singer and a songwriter and a model, and if you watch her perform, you’ll realize she does have a plan to kill everyone in the room.
One of the best things about my gig here is that, by default, I have to expose myself to every type of music. I have to challenge myself, because it’s easy to ask a rocker what kinds of strings they use if you’re into electric guitars. But it’s a challenge to run across a singer/songwriter that’s out of your depth.
I connect with Saliyah and we discuss our best cocktail mixes.
Liam Sweeny: I’m listening to What You Doing, the video on Youtube. I love your style, it’s great. A sense I get from you by your lyrics is that you’re a strong, confident woman and you are in absolute command of what’s around you and what’s in your world. How much of what we see of you as a performer and how much is actually you?
Saliyah Itoka: What my audience sees from me as a performer is actually all me. I’m still learning to be comfortable as a performer and that comes from the type of shows I do. And it comes from reading the room and being confident that I can command the room. But everytime you see me hit the stage; I’m aiming to be the best.
LS: I’m learning about you from listening to your videos. You’re a singer/songwriter, and I’ve heard plenty of them, but I’ve not heard anyone bringing what you’re bringing. I fully admit this is me; I’m a rock guy. So let me ask simpler questions due to my own personal lack of depth. When and how did you get started singing and writing songs?
SI: I started singing when I was 3 years old, and I started writing songs at 11 years old. I’ve always loved to write and I’ve always been fascinated with how my favorite artists wrote their songs. I used to open the CD and read the paper insert and see how the lyrics were formatted and I would write them out myself. I studied artists like Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder, and Sade in regards to their writing and composition. As far as singers, I listened to a variety of artists growing up but I’ve always gravitated towards R&B and the artists that I idolized for singing were Toni Braxton, Aaliyah, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, and Tamia.
LS: Some people have an aim, or an inner vision with what they want to create or produce and they’re never there yet, stuck in a home studio with every instrument on earth. Then there are people who just pick and grin and smile and will pick and grin forever. Do you have a vision for what you write now and what you want to write?
SI: It depends on a few factors. Sometimes, I’ll get a random line or melody that pops into my head and I’ll write it down quickly so I can build on it later. Other times, it depends on the track that I’m given or the vibe I get from the track. And there are instances where the vision of what I want to write about will just appear and I just follow its course until its completion.
LS: Music transcends our differences and puts our hearts in the hearts of others, and that is an amazing property. But music doesn’t exist in a vacuum. None of our lived experiences are the same. As a black woman in America, you have to share your experience to audiences that won’t get it. How do you try to reach them? Do you try?
SI: I believe that being and staying authentic to your true self is how you reach greater audiences. And I also believe that being open to having those conversations and asking the questions is how we reach understanding. As a black woman in America, I want to be able to express my experience in the way that I have lived in and hope for it to be a roadmap or even a glimpse into understanding who I am as an artist as well as a human being.
LS: You were nominated for the 2022 Listen Up awards. As I write this, the 2023 awards are coming. By the time you get this, you might be twice-nominated, or you might be a winner. This is a fan awards thing; we don’t vote for anything. Do you have something to say to the fans? Do you want to nominate anybody?
SI: To my fans, I just want to say thank you for all of the support. It’s heartwarming to be a consideration for a nomination. I appreciate everyone who has taken the time out to listen to my music and have followed my journey and I can’t wait for you all to see what I have in store. As far as me nominating anybody, there are so many people that I can see being nominated. There are a lot of artists who are really stepping out of their comfort zone and really showing their talents from the 518.
LS: You are also a model on top of being a singer/songwriter. I love it when people have some other cool thing on top of being a musician. I figure you have more to pull from. We are getting out of an age where modeling was abusive on women in the sense of body image. How do we reform the modeling industry? Any ways that aren’t easily seen?
SI: I think we should understand that everyone is beautiful in their own way and that there is a market for everyone. I think that the flaws that each of us have make us unique and that not everyone is going to fit into the same category. With that said, there is a market out there for everyone and I believe that every single one should be showcased. It doesn’t matter what size or fit or shape you are, you are beautifully made. I feel that the stigma that a model should only look like this versus a model that looks like that puts unneeded pressure and unneeded expectations on the mind. We are all beautiful and we need to keep an open mind in the discussions of what beauty is because the definition is different for everyone.
This article was originally featured on RadioRadioX
The Rock and Roll Playhouse has announced a special run of shows over Earth Day Weekend benefiting international non-profit Oceanic Global on Saturday April 22 and Sunday, April 23. Featuring the music of Bob Marley and The Grateful Dead, The Rock and Roll Playhouse will bring family fun to 13 different venues across the country where kids and parents can rock out to the classics.
The Rock and Roll Playhouse introduces the next generation to timeless music while providing kids with early music exposure and encouraging creativity. The Playhouse was founded in 2013 at its flagship venue Brooklyn Bowl by Peter Shapiro, entrepreneur and co-owner of the Bowl and owner of The Capitol Theatre, and Amy Striem, a certified Early Childhood and Elementary teacher.
Designed to create opportunities for families to experience live music together in historic venues, The Rock and Roll Playhouse continues to unite families through music with hundreds of unforgettable shows nationwide as the largest national concert series for families where kids can “move, play and sing while listening to works from the classic-rock canon”.
Supporting Oceanic Global on Earth Day Weekend is not just about bringing families together through the power of music, but also about teaching the next generation the importance of preserving our planet. By creating unforgettable experiences for families while supporting a worthy cause, we can inspire a love for music and a passion for environmental activism in our children that will last a lifetime.
Stephen Grybowski, Senior Director of The Rock and Roll Playhouse
Founded in 2016, Oceanic Global reconnects humanity to the ocean as the beating heart of the earth, and provides tangible solutions and blueprints for coexisting in harmony with the natural world. The 501c3 non-profit builds tools, mobilizes communities, and develops educational resources and standards that inspire global action and catalyze cross-sector change.
Tickets are available now, and admission is free for children one years old and under. For more information please visit The Playhouse’s website.
