The 2023 Winter Hoot was held February 3-5, 2023, at the Ashokan Center in Olivebridge. N.Y. This year marks the Hoot’s 10th anniversary, started as a collaboration by Mike Merenda and Ruthy Ungar in conjunction with the Ashokan Center and those in the surrounding area.
Friday night started with a community dinner followed by the showing and discussion of the documentary film “Inhabit: A Permaculture Perspective.,” by filmmaker Costa Boutsikaris. A jam session followed to close out the evening. Sunday activities included yoga, guided hikes around the center and a community sing. Saturday proved to be the meat of this down-home, down-to-earth gathering.
The Hoot is set up as a family fun time. This was obvious from all those who brought their children with them. Saturday featured a kid’s zone of craft making, learning to blacksmith, and an ice sculping exhibition by Thomas Brown.
But music is the star of this semi-annual event. In the main lobby of the Esopus Lodge, you encountered a one-of-a-kind instrument petting zoo. An area encouraging people to pick up an instrument and join in with real musicians to make their own music. Farther into the Ashokan campus, the Pewter house offered small intimate musical performances. The ambiance of the room set the mood of entertainment in earlier times.
In the lodge’s performance hall, you got the feeling of attending a large family gathering on a cold winter day. Those in the Winter Hoot audience were treated to some of the Hudson Valley’s finest musicians. People were encouraged to sing along and when the song was right, dancing would break out in front of the stage. Featured performers included Jay Ungar & Molly Mason, Jude Roberts, Rachael Yamagata, and The Mammals.
This three-day gathering went off without a hitch. Whether you participated in activities or were just there for the music, you came away with the felling of what the Hoot is about. It is love. Love for community, nature, and music.
Sometimes you need to head west in the winter to find some heat, and at 1st Bank Center on Saturday, February 4, that’s just what was found. Amid bitter cold back east, I flew out to Denver for a short weekend and experienced my first Billy Strings show.
This is not to say I’ve never seen Billy Strings perform – I first saw him at WinterWonderGrass in Stratton, VT in December 2018, after years of hearing the buzz about this Michigan bluegrass musician. It took until last summer to catch him a second time, during Outlaw Music Fest when it came to Saratoga Performing Arts Center. But I had never seen him in a regular show setting, and festival sets always give you a different experience than seeing the band for an evening with. Thus, this would be my first Billy Strings show, on the last night of his sold out three-night run in Broomfield, CO, and what a show it was.
Cutting to the chase here, Billy Strings, featuring Mr. Strings (guitar), Billy Failing (banjo), Royal Masat (bass), Jarrod Walker (mandolin), and Alex Hargreaves (fiddle), puts on one hell of a show. There wasn’t a dull moment, an unengaged fan or any feeling I was arriving to the show as an outsider – the crowd was welcoming, one that assured me afterwards that I got a heater at my first Billy show.
With a half an hour before show time (given the 815pm start time the previous two nights), our crew found ourselves on the floor about a third of the way from the front, stage right. With 15 minutes, 10 minutes and 5 minutes before showtime, a brief announcement came on the screens with the voice of god saying “X minutes until Fuzzy Rainbows” – a unique way to get the crowd prepared for the show at the same time the band is getting ready and heading to the stage. With all the shows I’d listened to of Billy Strings’, this was a brand new concept and one of those welcome surprises that did not disappoint.
Kicking off with two substance-tinged tunes, the ever popular “Dust in a Baggie” and “Heartbeat of America,” eyes were drawn to the video screens on either side of the stage. These made Billy and the band seem larger than life (by design), with the band-wide shot above the stage giving a horizontal frame to the band. For those way back in the audience, this was helpful as the five musicians side by side appeared so tiny after looking at the video screens of Giant Billy looking down on the crowd.
The hour long first set had an array of covers, with traditional tunes from Roy Acuff and Larry Sparks complemented by covers from The Moody Blues and John Hartford. Billy Strings’ blending of his own originals and covers that go back through the history of bluegrass, as well as non-bluegrass tunes is a great part of the appeal that makes the music so accessible to so many.
Alongside the video screens were the lights, which were another thing that could not translate to the audio-only experience, let alone festival sets. The lights were on par with the 20th Century Fox intro spotlights, continually shining all around, rotating and occassionally connecting with the disco ball way up in the rafters off stage left. This unexpected element to a bluegrass show gave a never-ending intertwining of lights, something you’d only see at a Greensky Bluegrass show.
After a not too long setbreak, set 2 came out swinging with an Oak Ridge Boys tune, a mellow and delightful “Watch It Fall” and the traditional “Cumberland Reel.” From there, the set picked up speed and never let up, dropping in with the dark as hell “Psycho” that segued smooth as silk into J.J. Cale’s “Ride Me High.” The Bad Livers’ tune “Pretty Daughter” – covered often by Yonder Mountain String Band – jumped up late in the set, with Billy moving from side to side on the stage, hamming it up a bit and watching his bandmates take solos. The closing “Turmoil & Tinfoil” rounded things out with a punch, with an all too brief encore of “Tennessee,” noted as the band’s destination for some recording, and not a sit-in with Phil Lesh and Friends the next day in Denver.
And with that, I checked my first Billy Strings show off the list, with assurance from the show and crowd that this would not be the last.
Billy Strings – 1st Bank Center, Broomfield, CO – Saturday, February 4, 2023
Set 1: Dust In A Baggie, Heartbeat of America, Along The Road (Dan Fogelberg), Streamlined Cannonball (Roy Acuff), The Fire On My Tounge > Know It All, John Deere Tractor (Larry Sparks), The Preacher & The Bear (Arthur Francis Collins), Wargasm, Nights In White Satin (The Moody Blues), This Old World, Bronzeback, All Fall Down (John Hartford), These Old Blues (Traditional)
Set 2: Dig A Little Deeper In The Well (The Oak Ridge Boys), Ice Bridges, Watch It Fall, Slow Train, Cumberland Reel (traditional), Psycho (Eddie Noack) > Ride Me High (J.J. Cale) The Train That Carried My Girl From Town (Doc Watson) > Black Mountain Rag, Love Like Me, Whisper Your Name (New Grass Revival), Pretty Daughter (Bad Livers), Nothing’s Working, Turmoil & TInfoil
History is said to repeat itself. In fact, we study textbooks and learn from our past as a means of avoiding it. In the case of hip hop, a genre that began as a social movement by-and-for the local community of African, Latino, and Caribbean Americans, we’ve had the luxury of having monumental moments captured for us by some of histories greatest orators. 50 years after its inception, the best rap songs are time capsules into their respective eras. Keeping in theme, Swedish photography museum Fotografiska have decided to chronicle hip hop’s emergence for its 50th anniversary. From its creation in the Bronx in 1973 and culminating in the worldwide phenomenon it has become 50 years later.
Hip Hop: Conscious, Unconscious chronicles the genre beginning with its origin in the Bronx
What is Hip Hop: Conscious, Unconscious?
Created in partnership with Mass Appeal, Hip Hop: Conscious, Unconscious delves deep into the genres origins, identifying the individual creatives involved in the movement. It is a fitting name considering the intended and inadvertent effect of what is now the world’s most popular genre. Located in Manhattan’s Gramercy Park neighborhood, the show’s layout is by chronology and geography. Additionally, the exhibition brings audiences through five decades of history, culminating in recent imagery of today’s biggest names.
Beginning with formative figures such as DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash, the display captures the era’s larger cultural climate, painting a picture of wthe influential factors that helped inspire the genre’s proprietors. Correspondingly, the show’s imagery features breakdancers, graffiti artist, b-boys and even gang culture which Sacha Jenkins — the exhibition’s co-curator –explains “was the precursor to hip-hop in terms of creating an identity for yourself,” especially regarding the culture’s core philosophies around self-identification.
Hip Hop: Conscious, Unconscious runs from January 26 until May 21, with focus areas that include the early years, the regional and stylistic diversification; and the turning point when hip hop became a billion-dollar industry. In like manner, the set of women who trailblazed hip hop’s male-dominated environment are also extensively documented.
Women’s contributions to hip hop are celebrated thoughout the exhibition.
We made a thoughtful effort to have the presence of women accurately represented, not overtly singling them out in any way,
– Sally Berman, co-curator of Hip Hop: Conscious, Unconscious
You’ll turn a corner and there will be a stunning portrait of Eve or a rare and intimate shot of Lil’ Kim that most visitors won’t have seen before. There are far fewer women than men in hip-hop, but the ones that made their mark have an electrifying presence—just like the effect of their portraits interspersed throughout the show.
-Sally Berman
Why should you go see this exhibit?
Hip Hop’s comeuppance is no small feat. What began as humble break parties in the Bronx has emerged to inspire millions around the globe. It’s representation of youthful urban culture is now the cultural norm. However, for those who trail-blazed the movement, hip hop meant freedom and the ability to express unfiltered thoughts and emotions. Sadly, time has faded the memory of the movement’s many vanguards. Several key figures played roles in amplifying this energy shifting movement and now many of these forgotten pioneers will get their proper due.
In addition to the genre’s periphery figures, world-famous photos like Geoffroy de Boismenu’s 1994 portrait of Christopher “Biggie” Wallace staring at the camera with an off-center blunt in his mouth, Run DMC’s feet under the table at The Fresh Fest press conference, a 20-year-old Mary J. Blige in New York, Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean on an East Harlem rooftop while shooting the music video for “Vocab” and many more iconic photos will feature heavily throughout the show.
It’s easy to forget that there was a time before hip-hop was an industry and before it made money. It wasn’t conscious of itself. It was just existing with young people living their lives, dressing as they did, trying to entertain themselves with limited resources and creating an aesthetic that registered amongst themselves. It wasn’t for the world; it was for a very specific community. Then there was an exponentially paced transition where hip-hop culture became a conscious of itself as an incredibly lucrative global export. The exhibition’s lifeblood is the period before hip-hop knew what it was.
– Sacha Jenkins, exhibition co-curator and Chief Creative Officer of Mass Appeal
Information about Fotografiska New York and Hip Hop: Conscious, Unconscious can be found here.
Captivating the audience with beautiful harmonies and songs of both heartbreak and hope, Hayley Jane and the Hold On Honeys put on a stellar performance at Lark Hall in Albany on February 2nd. Collaborating with each other for the first time and trading sit-ins, the immediate chemistry between these two respective acts could be felt by everyone in the room.
Haley Jane performs with Troy, NY’s Hold On Honeys at Lark Hall on 2/2/2023
Kicking off the show were Troy natives The Hold On Honeys, an indie folk minimalist vocal trio comprised of Emily Curro, Raya Malcolm and Shannon Rafferty. Trading leads and singing to their strengths, each member of the Honeys’ was given an equal chance to shine, but the true beauty came when this pitch-perfect trio sang together as one. After serenading the highly receptive audience with songs like “Case of You,” “Lullaby,” and “Maple Lane,” tender ballads about finding love and losing it, the gals then showed their more optimistic and fun-loving side with “Get High,” before sending us to intermission with “Down Home Girl.” A very enjoyable set, but it wouldn’t be the last time we’d see this promising up-and-coming act.
The Hold On Honeys opened the show at Lark Hall on 2/2/2023
After a quick break in the action, it was officially time for Hayley Jane to grace the Lark Hall stage. A familiar face to the Albany crowd, Jane has been playing the area for years, mostly with The Primates behind her, or as part of Yes Darling with Ryan Montbleau. For this run however, Hayley enlisted an equally talented group of Burlington, VT based players that featured Josh Dobbs on keyboards and the former Swimmer rhythm section of Jack Vignone handling bass and Cotter Ellis on drums.
Opening her set with “Look to the Moon,” the pace quickly picked up when Hayley went into a bit of medley of mashup cover songs. Touching on a Cowboy Junkies-esq rendition of “Blue Moon Revisited” that took a ‘tasty’ left turn into the Italian classic “That’s Amore,” before eventually paying homage to the Grateful Dead with a beautiful version of “Ramble on Rose.”
Haley Jane gives up her secrets at Lark Hall on 2/2/2023
Inviting you in with her undeniable charisma and vulnerability, Jayne’s storytelling between numbers left you feeling like you actually knew her. Looking around the room, you literally could see an entire audience falling in love. Working her way through a few songs from her most recent solo album, “Road Map” and “Soul Shaken,” from 2021’s Late Bloom, one of the most powerful and emotional highlights of the night came next when Hayley Jane performed “For Someone Who Needs It,” a song about depression, loneliness and reaching out for help. Fan shot footage of that can be seen below.
Taking her listeners on a humble journey, Hayley would tell the audience she was raised as a Baptist, and despite some groans, would give credit to her church choir for teaching her to sing. After belting out stellar versions of “Ignite” and “Madeline,” another of Jane’s favorite covers, Gregory Alan Isakov’s “Big Black Car” was next. Revealing a little more about herself, Jane would say the best thing she ever did was stop caring what other people think about her.
Essentially freeing her to be who she really is while also allowing a natural relationship to develop with the audience, Hayley confessed that “nerds rock” and are also “better in bed.” “Loose Screws” and “Madam Humphrey” would take a little walk on the wild side before Haley would play a new one called “Assembly of Words,” a song that was written while living in California and simultaneously going through the pandemic and a tough break-up. Some of her most vulnerable lyrics yet, afterwards she would admit to “feeling nervous” and “naked” during that one.
Hayley Jane and the Hold On Honeys captivate an intimate Lark Hall crowd on 2/2/2023
Picking the pace back up with another rocker from The Primates 2014 album Gasoline was “Hey Mister,” followed by an unreleased new song that was recently recorded with members of The Main Squeeze called “Girl.” Instead of leaving the stage and returning ala your typical encore however, Hayley would invite the members of the opening act, Hold On Honeys, to join her on stage for the remainder of the night. What then transpired was pure magic. Playing in Levon country and rambling together for the first time, Hayley and the Honeys’ uncorked an absolutely beautiful version of The Bands’ classic song “The Weight,” a rite of passage in this part of New York.
Feeling the combined energy of the women on stage, Hayley beamed with pleasantries for her new gal pals, even claiming she’d love to take them out on the road with her. As the curfew came and went, Jane would quickly check with Lark Hall staff if it was “Alright” to play one more. Once given the green light, Haley would quickly teach the Honey’s the chorus to the final song of the evening, “Make It Alright,” which was then jammed out to perfection, fusing multiple genres and stretching its legs all the way to the 15-minute mark and included “Wild Thing” teases for good measure.
Haley and the Honeys made a cold February night more than alright at Lark Hall 2/23/
After thanking everyone for coming out and wishing them well on their way home, the girls would convene near the center of the stage for a group hug and shared smiles. An exceptional performance all around and yet another reason to never miss a Thursday show at Lark Hall. An evening filled with genre bending, thought provoking, and at times heartbreaking music. Honest storytelling and songwriting, surprise collaborations, dancing, and beautiful down- home harmonies. Great medicine for these modern times indeed. While it remains to be seen how serious Jane is about taking her new friends out on the road, what we do know is that ‘Hayley and the Hold On Honeys’ sure has a nice ring to it.
Haley Jane | Albany, NY | 2/2/2023 | Lark Hall Setlist: Look to the Moon, Ramble on Rose, Roadmap, For Someone Who Needs It, Ignite, Madeline, Big Black Car, Loose Screws, Soul Shaken, Madam Humphrey, Assembly of Words, Hey Mister, Girl
Encore: The Weight, Make It Alright *Grateful Dead cover **Gregory Alan Isakov cover ***The Band cover featuring The Hold On Honeys **** Featuring The Hold On Honeys
Hold On Honeys | Albany, NY | 2/2/2023 | Lark Hall Setlist: Wisely, Calling All My Children, TN River, Chicago, Getting Home, Case of You, Lullaby, I’m On Fire, Maple Lane, Knowing, Get High, Down Home Girl
Vevo, the world’s peerless music video network, announced the celebration of its 50th Anniversary of Hip-Hop. Vevo’s celebration of its anniversary serves as tribute to all aspects of hip hop. Music from “Legends In Concert,” “Hip-Hop International,” “2K Hip-Hop Legends,” “Rock Meets Rap,” “70’s Sampled Songs,” ‘80’s Sampled Songs”, and more will encompass the commemoration.
The celebration begins with an exclusive behind the scenes viewing of Public Enemy’s groundbreaking music video “Fight The Power” by Chuck D. Chuck D explains the writing process, concept for the video, the intermix of sounds used and public reception of the Spike Lee-directed video.
The anniversary allows you to enjoy Vevo footnotes, a series that takes viewers behind-the-scenes of their favorite videos. Come celebrate with your favorite artist to enjoy this honoring of hip hop. Expect to see stars like A$AP Rocky, Common, Cypress Hill, De La Soul, Grand Puba, Havoc (Mobb Deep), Lil Wayne, Ludacris, Macklemore, Mack Maine, MC Serch (3rd Bass), Naughty by Nature, Public Enemy, Raekwon, Salt-N-Pepa, Souls of Mischief and T.I.
“Hip-hop hasn’t just shaped music; it’s shaped culture as a whole – from fashion, language, sports, even politics and beyond, and music videos have been there to aid in propelling those cultural shifts forward,”
Jordan Glickson
Since 2009, Vevo has been connecting an ever-growing global audience to high quality music video content. Vevo offers fans an abundance of premium content to choose from, showcasing official music videos alongside a constantly developing lineup of live performances and trailblazing programming. From top superstars to rising new talents, Vevo brings incomparable cross-promotional support to artists across the musical spectrum. Vevo is available on YouTube, Samsung, Samsung TV Plus, Roku, Pluto TV, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Echo Show, Freevee, Apple TV, Google Tv, etc. More information on Vevo can be accessed here.
“Hip Hop turning 50 means that there can be no doubt, no argument, no ignorance
about its consequence in the world. Back when PE was coming up, it was in the days before social media. Videos were the only way to connect with hip hop fans around the world. They delivered songs in a full package of sight, sound, story and style. A truly underrated art form. Vevo keeps that connection solid, not only for us but for hip hop artists
from every corner of the globe. Here’s to the next 50.”
Canadian music group Skinny Puppy is scheduled to celebrate their 40th anniversary with a performance at Irving Plaza in New York City, accompanied by special guest Lead Into Gold. The April 21 performance will be one of the last for the group, as the Skinny Puppy: Final Tour kicks off on April 6 in San Antonio.
Skinny Puppy’s upcoming final tour also marks a return to the road for the group.
“It’s been eight long years since we’ve toured, and there is no better way to end our run as a group than with a tour celebrating our 40th anniversary. To our west coast fans, don’t worry! We’ll see you soon!” – Skinny Puppy
All current members cEvin Key (Kevin Crompton),Nivek Ogre (Kevin Ogilvie), and Mark Walk will be present for the upcoming final tour.
Originating in Vancouver in 1982, Skinny Puppy is in large part created for founding and popularizing the industrial rock and electro-industrial genres. Formerly of the new wave band Images in Vogue, Key initially envisioned the group as a side project. After the addition of vocalist Ogre, they evolved into a full-time project.
Skinny Puppy’s first full-length album, Bites, was released in Canada in 1985 and certified gold by Music Canada in 1994. Their subsequent releases have charted in North America and Europe. Noted for their theatrical and controversial live performances, Ogre once remarked that touring for himself was like “dating hydrogen peroxide”, referencing the numerous injuries he has acquired while touring.
Tickets for Skinny Puppy’s final tour and Irving Plaza show are available for purchase beginning Friday, Feb. 10 at 10 a.m.
SKINNY PUPPY: FINAL TOUR 2023 TOUR DATES:
Thu Apr 06 – San Antonio, TX – Aztec Theater
Fri Apr 07 – Houston, TX – House of Blues
Sat Apr 08 – New Orleans, LA – House of Blues
Mon Apr 10 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Revolution
Tue Apr 11 – St. Petersburg, FL – Jannus Live
Thu Apr 13 – Atlanta, GA – The Buckhead Theatre
Fri Apr 14 – Charlotte, NC – The Fillmore Charlotte
Sat Apr 15 – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel
Mon Apr 17 – Pittsburgh, PA – The Roxian
Tue Apr 18 – Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of the Living Arts
Wed Apr 19 – Silver Spring, MD – The Fillmore Silver Spring
Fri Apr 21 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza
Sun Apr 23 – Boston, MA – House of Blues
Tue Apr 25 – Montreal, QC – The Corona Theater
Wed Apr 26 – Toronto, ON – History
Fri Apr 28 – Cincinnati, OH – Bogarts
Sat Apr 29 – Cleveland, OH – House of Blues
Mon May 01 – Minneapolis, MN – The Fillmore
Tue May 02 – Lawrence, KS – Liberty Hall
Wed May 03 – Denver, CO – Summit
Thu May 04 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Depot
Sat May 06 – Garden City, ID – Revolution Concert House and Event Center
The seventh annual Love Rocks benefit show for God’s Love We Deliver will be live and streamed online from the Beacon Theatre on March 9, featuring artists like James Taylor, John Mayer Trio, Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, and many more.
Love Rocks NYC launched in 2017, and has since raised more than $25 million to date and helped fund more than 2.5 million meals for New Yorkers in need. The benefit concert highlights God’s Love We Deliver’s mission of providing meals and nutrition counseling for people in the New York Metropolitan area living with severe illness. The not-for-profit was founded in 1985 as a response to the AIDS pandemic, now serving people living with more than 200 different diagnoses, home-delivering more than 3.3 million medically tailored meals to more than 10,500 individuals last year.
Executive produced by iconic international fashion designer John Varvatos, NYC Douglas Elliman real estate broker and prominent concert producer Greg Williamson and esteemed concert/events producer Nicole Rechter, and featuring appearances by Stephen Colbert, Andy Cohen, Chevy Chase, Phoebe Robinson, and newly added special guests Gina Gershon, David Burtka and Neil Patrick Harris, the concert will support and honor the work of the cherished New York-based not-for-profit
The past six benefit concerts have featured a wide array of music including Cyndi Lauper, Keith Richards, Jon Bon Jovi, Dave Matthews, Robert Plant, Joe Walsh, Sara Bareilles, Hozier, and more. This year’s all-star lineup, led by Music Director and Band Leader Will Lee will feature James Taylor, John Mayer Trio, Sheryl Crow, Mavis Staples, Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, St. Vincent, Rufus Wainwright, Jim James, Stephen Marley, Gary Clark Jr., Allison Russell, The War and Treaty, Bernie Williams and more to be announced.
The outstanding house band will include Steve Gadd (James Taylor, Eric Clapton), Shawn Pelton (Saturday Night Live), Larry Campbell (Levon Helm, Bob Dylan), Eric Krasno (Soulive, Phil Lesh & Friends), Pedrito Martinez (Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Camila Cabello), Michael Bearden (Lady Gaga) and a six-piece horn section.
Fans in NYC and elsewhere can experience this memorable night of music by signing up here, and for a $20 fee will be able to access a live stream link to the concert via Fans.Live while also helping support the organization as $20 = 2 Meals for New Yorkers living with severe and chronic illness.
Conductor Gustavo Dudamel is leaving the L.A. Philharmonic to become the Music and Artistic Director for the New York Philharmonic.
Joel Saget/AFP via Getty Images
Dudamel will step into the role of leading the New York Philharmonic at the beginning of the 2026-27 season. For the 2025-26 season, he will serve as the orchestra’s Music Director, and his full contract will last for five years. He has been with the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 2009.
In addition to the L.A. Philharmonic, Dudamel has been the Music Director of the Opéra National de Paris since 2021, and Music Director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela since 1999. His mission statement is wanting to bring music to people across the globe, which he has accomplished through YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles), developed in 2007, which provides 1,500 young people with free instruments, intensive music instruction, academic support, and leadership training.
Some of the honors Dudamel has achieved during his career include the Americas Society Cultural Achievement Award in 2016, the 2014 Leonard Bernstein Lifetime Achievement Award for the Elevation of Music in Society from the Longy School of Music, Spain’s 2020 Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts, the 2019 Konex Foundation Classical Music Award, Distinguished Artist Award from the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA), and many more.
In a statement, he said he was “grateful” for the new title, and “grateful to the musicians and leaders of the New York Philharmonic as we embark upon this new and beautiful journey together [and] to my beloved family at the Los Angeles Philharmonic and YOLA [the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles].” NY Phil Board Co-Chairmen Peter May and Oscar Tang said they are excited to welcome him to the Philharmonic. “Building on this orchestra’s great legacy, he joins a historic list of distinguished Music Directors.”
Gustavo Dudamel conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic, 2022, photo by Getty Images.
Dudamel’s hire to the New York Philharmonic means the L.A. Philharmonic will be looking for a music director of its own. Said best by Gary Ginstling, Executive Director and incoming President & CEO, “With Gustavo Dudamel, the Philharmonic is poised for what I believe will be one of the most exciting chapters in its storied history.”
Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City has announced they will be introducing an alternative ticketing method for fans. This is particularly timely given the recent Ticketmaster Senate hearing regarding the disastrous ticket pricing and inconvenient ways to purchase tickets.
Since 1981, the Blue Note Jazz Club has been a cultural institution in NYC and one of the premiere jazz clubs in the world. It strives to preserve the history of jazz, and the club practices the foundations of jazz on a nightly basis and carries the torch for the genre in the 21st century.
The club has been frequented by celebrities such as Scarlett Johansson, Colin Jost, Zoe Kravitz, and Jon Hamm, and has featured musicians like Robert Glasper, Ron Carter, Pat Metheny, Ms. Lisa Fischer, Christain McBride, Keyon Harrold, Meshell Ndegeocello, and more.
Blue Note will be partnering with the company Yellowheart for the second year in a row. They look to develop smart tickets to help prevent the most common issues with traditional ticketing, like scalping, fraudulent tickets, expensive resale prices, and more. This is especially timely considering the Ticketmaster Senate hearing, where the site came under fire for mishandling and botching the presale of the latest Taylor Swift tour.
About the new ticketing system, Blue Note marketing director Jennifer Harrington said “By partnering with YellowHeart, we are able to offer exclusive access to shows on our stage and a peak behind the scenes with the artists who perform here. Smart ticketing with blockchain technology has long been on our radar and now we have the ideal partner to bring this moment to life.” There will be a select number of smart tickets available for every show that have added benefits, such as VIP seating, and exclusive media airdropped directly via the tickets, which can include recorded performances to messages from artists in the business.
The first ticketed performance will be STOUT: The Live Avenger Experience on March 6 at the club. To purchase tickets and to see other events happening at the venue, visit here.
The late Gord Downie & Canadian producer Bob Rock have just released their latest single “The Moment Is A Wild Place.” The epic rock duo has also just announced their upcoming album Lustre Parfait, the ninth album to bear Downie’s name outside of The Tragically Hip, and the first to bear Rock’s.
The single is a long-fabled collaboration between Gord Downie, late front man of legendary Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, and GRAMMY® Award-winning producer/musician Bob Rock. Their partnership began in 2006 when Rock produced The Tragically Hip’s acclaimed 10th studio album, World Container, followed in 2009 by the chart-topping We Are The Same.
Robert Jens Rock, record producer, engineer, guitarist, and songwriter has produced and engineer top-selling albums by such timeless artists as Metallica, Bon Jovi, The Tragically Hip, The Cult, Mötley Crüe, Aerosmith, Cher, Loverboy, Bryan Adams, Simple Plan, Michael Bublé and many others. He is known for his robust, radio-friendly production touch and the intuition to play to an artist’s character and strengths, Rock is perhaps best known for his long-standing role as producer for Metallica.
“I’ve always been a fan of long pieces of music,” says Bob Rock. “Setting a mood and going someplace, just taking you somewhere. The music was based on that journey, this rising tide of chords, crescendos in the chorus. Somehow, I stumbled on this magic chord, a simple minor to a major progression, and it moved me. And Gord reacted to it. It’s absolute perfection in terms of songwriting and in terms of what he did. It’s special because of what he talks about. The lyric was written before he was diagnosed with the sickness that he had. They say you gotta live in the moment. It causes you to look back, and I get choked up every time I hear it, still. I think most people will be moved by it. It’s one of his finest moments.”
More than a decade in the making, Lustre Parfait sees Downie’s peerless lyricism and incendiary heart given newfangled energy by his longtime friend and collaborator, famed producer/musician Bob Rock.
Gord Downie is the late lead singer and songwriter of The Tragically Hip, who, over more than 30 years and across fourteen studio albums, built an enduring legacy as perhaps the essential Canadian rock band. With seven solo albums to his name, Downie’s own music refutes definition, renowned for its adventurous poetry, collaboration, elastic composition, and singular vocal wail.
Unfortunately, Downie passed away on October 17th, 2017. Since his passing, The New York Times stated that Downie has “no parallel in the United States. Imagine Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and Michael Stipe combined into one sensitive, oblique, poet-philosopher, and you’re getting close.”
“First and foremost Gord was my friend,” continues Rock, “and having the opportunity to work with him on these songs was one of the biggest highlights of my professional life. I am grateful that I got to witness his genius in such close proximity.”
To listen to “The Moment Is A Wild Place,” click the link here.
To preorder the upcoming album Lustre Parfait, click the link here.
