27 years ago, webcam technology experts EarthCam unveiled their first live stream of the famous Times Square celebrations and ball drop. Fast forward to 2023, EarthCam has announced they are continuing their live streams, using cutting-edge networks of webcams to deliver real-time coverage of festivities and fireworks around the world.
Celebrations start in New Zealand at 6:00 a.m. EST on December 31st. Subsequently, viewers will have the opportunity to see dozens of locations ring in the New Year, including Taiwan, Puerto Rico, Corning, NY, Sicily, Wales, and Alaska. Back in Times Square, EarthCam will be providing multiple live camera perspectives, covering the entirety of the festivities in uncut and unfiltered 4K quality live streams.
EarthCam is the global leader in providing live camera technology, content, and services. Founded in 1996, EarthCam provides live-streaming video, time-lapse construction cameras, and reality capture solutions for corporate and government clients. They lead the industry with the highest resolution imagery available, including the world’s first outdoor gigapixel panorama camera system. EarthCam has documented over a trillion dollars of construction projects around the world.
The Webby Award-winning company hosts many highly trafficked tourism cams, with views of popular locations and landmarks such as Times Square, World Trade Center, Statue of Liberty, Miami Beach, Bourbon Street, Temple Bar in Dublin, Jerusalem’s Western Wall, CN Tower and Abbey Road Crossing in London.
EarthCam has experienced a remarkable expansion in 2023, documenting amazing construction projects globally, including the reconstruction of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine. EarthCam was also chosen to document the crucial emergency repair and reopening of the I-95 bridge in Philadelphia and the I-10 in Los Angeles. Also in 2023, they premiered a new platform to better serve hundreds of news media professionals who feature its live-streaming content every day. Media Priority Access is an unprecedented success in its first year, increasing EarthCam’s media exposure by 260% and earning tens of thousands of media mentions.
For more information and to tune into the live stream, visit here.
Performance Space New York has announced they are presenting artist, composer, and choreographer Richard Kennedy’s Hybrid Peasant from Jan. 11 – 13 at 8:30 p.m.
Combining opera, dance theater, poetry, sketch, and slapstick comedy to create its speculative hyper-reality, Hybrid Peasant, a three-act performance, is another explosive disruption of opera’s formalism from the interdisciplinary artist with a long history of engaging and subverting the classical. It delves deep into the landscape of the “Nightmerican dream,” experienced through the lives of “the housed citizens of Hirth.”
The story unfolds in an exaggerated past-future version of Richard Kennedy’s hometown of Middletown, Ohio. With references and points of departure ranging from Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring to SNL’sWeekend Update, the artist shapes a funhouse portrait of contemporary America’s polarized realities. A call to action, Hybrid Peasant urges us to ascend collectively by nourishing each other, forging a path toward liberation.
Richard Kennedy’s multidisciplinary practice is interested in relationships and navigating sexuality as it occurs at the intersection of class, race, and gender. Considering opera through a language of the African American experience, Kennedy disrupts the tradition of Western theatre to generate new participatory modes of viewership.
This piece is really about the hybrid; an access to high and low has produced a sense, in the opera world, of both access from my experiences and training and career, while also being treated as a peasant. I want to continue to explore opera through this hybrid balance to call more attention to the ways we troll ourselves as a society—to acknowledge the past in the present, and question if this is what we want our future to be.
Richard Kennedy
Over the last 40 years, Performance Space has been propelling cultural, theoretical, and political discourse forward. Founded in 1980, it became a haven for many queen and radical voices. Their focus has been not just on presenting boundary-breaking work but on restructuring their organization towards prioritizing equity and access. Qorks that have dissolved the borders of performance art, dance, theater, music, visual art, poetry and prose, ritual, nightlife, food, film, and technology are presented here.
Jazz WaHi has announced a full day of free events in Washington Heights on New Year’s Eve and Day, featuring family-friendly events and various musicians.
Jazz WaHi is a nonprofit organization promoting jazz performance and music education in Washington Heights. Their mission is to connect jazz musicians with an audience of jazz lovers, expanding it through accessible performances and educational opportunities. Washington Heights jazz musicians/educators Louise Rogers and Mark Kross founded Jazz WaHi in 2014.
Every year, Jazz WaHi puts on several events including the Washington Heights Jazz Festival, Jazz WaHi for Kids concert, The Jazz Vocal Series, and the Weekly Jazz Jam.
New Year’s Schedule
New Year’s Eve
Noon – 2: Hot Club Jazz (a la Django Reinhardt) at La CreParis on 187 with Ollie Soikkeli and Brad Brose.
3-3:45: an interactive, participatory performance for kids, focusing on the trumpet. The event will encourage the children to sing and dance, featuring Shareef Clayton, Louise Rogers, and Mark Kross at Le Cheile Upstairs.
5:30-6:30 pm: Making Space for Serenity at St. Frances Cabrini Shrine solo piano with Alec Castro.
6-8 pm: 181 Cabrini with flutist KAT modiano and bassist Maksim Perepilca.
7-9 pm: Jazz and Blues at Kismat with John Albin, Pete Venzel, Adam Asarnow, Rick Strong, and Jeff Potter.
9:30-midnight: Latin Jazz Party at Northend Food Court on Broadway.
New Year’s Day
Noon – 2: New Year’s Day Brunch at Le Cheile with Emiko Hayashi and Steve Marks.
JazzBuffalo has announced the 2024 Canterbury Woods Jazz Series, bringing three incredible concerts featuring award-winning jazz artists to the brand-new Canterbury Woods Performing Arts Center.
JazzBuffalo is the d.b.a. and brand name for the Greater Buffalo Jazz Society, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to building jazz awareness and jazz appreciation in the WNY area. The organization promotes jazz and builds audience appreciation for jazz through jazz news, live performances, concerts, festivals, jazz series, event calendaring, ticketing, hosting internationally recognized jazz musicians, and jazz education.
On February 14, 2024, the 2024 Canterbury Woods Jazz Series presents A Cole Porter Valentines featuring Konrad Paszkudski and Pasquale Grasso. After receiving his jazz piano education in his native Australia, Konrad Paszkudski relocated to the U.S. where he embarked on extensive tours alongside jazz legends such as trumpeter James Morrison and the John Pizzarelli Quartet. Within just four years, he led over 1,000 performances. Konrad will be joined by rising star jazz vocalist, Olivia Chindamo, one of the most promising young jazz vocalists in the jazz scene, celebrating their love for Cole Porter and the Great American Songbook.
Kathy Kosins, an ASCAP Award-winning vocalist, is delighted to present her highly acclaimed project, “The Ladies of Cool,” at the Canterbury Woods Performing Arts Center on Friday, March 22 at 7:30 PM. It is a contemporary homage to the iconic West Coast School of Cool, celebrating the timeless artistry of Anita O’Day, June Christy, Chris Connor, and Julie London. Kosins brings classic songs to life with her smoky vocals and clever arrangements, exuding glamour, sophistication, and a sense of cool. Kosins’ album of the same name received accolades from international media outlets such as the Huffington Post and All About Jazz.
Finally, the 2024 Canterbury Woods Jazz Series wraps up on April 21, 2024, with “El arte Del Bolero” featuring Miquel Zenón and Luis Podermo. Renowned jazz artist and 11-time GRAMMY Nominee Miguel Zenón, a recipient of prestigious Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellowships, will present his two albums dedicated to the cherished Latin American art form of bolero. He collaborates with and will appear with the virtuoso Venezuelan pianist, composer, arranger, and educator, Luis Perdomo, a GRAMMY Nominated jazz artist based in New York, and a longtime partner in their musical endeavor.
Hudson Valley Live has announced their winter/spring 2024 lineup at The Local, Saugerties’ new year-round, multi-arts venue. The season features nearly 30 must-see events ranging from unforgettable concerts to thought-provoking conversations to family-friendly programs, all between January and June 2024.
Housed in a former Dutch chapel built in 1876, The Local is a space for arts, culture, and community under the guidance of Isabel Soffer and Danny Melnick, co-founders of Hudson Valley Live. The two Saugerties-based music producers and performing-arts professionals have each devoted more than 30 years to producing festivals, concerts, and curated arts experiences.
“After an exciting fall season, we’re returning in 2024 to celebrate an even wider variety of musical traditions and cutting-edge sounds, encouraging discovery through culture. We look forward to bringing even more people together through the arts, with diverse programs for people of all ages and interests right here in Saugerties,” said Isabel Soffer.
Danny and Isabel, photo by Dion Oguest.
Tickets go on sale January 9, with performances by singer-songwriter Tracy Bonham, who celebrates her birthday with a performance on March 16, New Orleans singer-songwriter Joy Clark (Feb. 1), five-time GRAMMY winner Cindy Cashdollar (Feb. 24), banjo extraordinaire Nora Brown (April 20), and more.
The Local will also continue to bring world-renowned global acts to the Hudson Valley, such as Firas Zreik, Palestinian-born, NY-based master of the kanun (Feb. 10); JigJam (March 12), an Irish-bluegrass quartet from Ireland; women-led Caña Dulce y Caña Brava (April 10) who perform music and dance from Veracruz, Mexico; and a rare appearance by Iran’s Persian classical music virtuoso Kayhan Kalhor (June 15), among others.
The Local is a place for community, and whether that’s through the performances we offer or through private events that take place here, we’re thrilled to be a cultural hub for all, right in the Hudson Valley. We’re so encouraged by the economic impact we’ve had here and look forward to engaging with local businesses even more as we expand.
Danny Melnick
The venue’s intimate space is the perfect setting for intriguing conversations, including Consider This, a new discussion series kicking off on March 19 with famed astronomer Bill Berman, who will shed light on the total solar eclipse in April, as well as three other celestial events. Later in the season, acclaimed neuroscientist Farzan Nadim discusses the biology of addiction.
Other new series’ at The Local in 2024 include two family-friendly programs, featuring a street-dance lesson led by teaching artists on the Flex’N style (Feb 4), and a found-object instrument workshop and performance with Dendê’s Brazilian Recycled Sounds (April 21). Barbès x Local, a collaboration with Barbès Brooklyn, one of NYC’s most beloved music clubs, comes to the venue, including psychedelic French-Latin fusion, Southern Appalachian banjo, and legendary global hybridists. Finally, In the Round continues this year, an acoustic series that is intimate, striking, and unforgettable.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit here.
The Local’s confirmed January-June 2024 season lineup:
January
Fri., Jan. 12, 7 pm – John St. Jam: Erene Mastrangeli, Kurt & Cheryl, Abby Lappen, Bennett Harris, Matt Holloran, Jeff Entin & Bob Blum
Sun., Jan. 21, 6 pm – The Spontaneous World of Lonnie Holley
February
Thurs., Feb. 1, 7 pm – Songs of Peace & Love: Joy Clark
Oregon State University has announced that Benjy Eisen will be the keynote speaker for the 2024 Phish Studies Conference in Corvallis on May 17-19, 2024. Eisen, a NYT Best-Selling author, artist manager, and co-host of the “Undermine” podcast, will deliver the address to the gathered attendees.
artwork by Ryan Kerrigan
The second Phish Studies conference will feature new contributions to the emerging field of Phish Studies, which encourages multi-disciplinary scholarly approaches to Phish’s music, fan culture, social impact, and enduring popularity.
“I first fell in love with Phish during my first semester of college, and for the following four years they were an inseparable part of my college experience,” said Mr. Eisen. “Heading to OSU for an academic conference on the band feels full circle or, perhaps, full donut.”
“We’re thrilled that Mr. Eisen will deliver the 2024 Phish Studies Conference keynote address,” said Dr. Stephanie Jenkins, associate professor of Philosophy at OSU and Conference Program Committee Chair. “As a live music journalist, writer, and chronicler, he brings unique experience and wisdom to Phish scholarship.”
2019 saw OSU host the inaugural Phish Studies Conference
Like the inaugural conference in 2019, when nearly 200 fans and scholars attended the event and more than 50 scholars presented research, the 2024 gathering will represent diverse disciplinary approaches and feature scholars from across the country who are exploring the boundaries of Phish research.
“With a second conference, I foresee us going much deeper and exploring new horizons of Phish scholarship,” said Dr. Christina L. Allaback, assistant professor of Theatre at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg and Program Committee member.
OSU also announced that Phish Studies Conference committee members will be available for office hours at PhanArt on Dec. 30 from 1-6pm at Hill Country BBQ in NYC, during Phish’s MSG run.
Due to popular demand, the deadline for proposals for presentations, art, and performances has been extended to January 15, 2024. Fans are encouraged to attend PhanArt office hours to discuss their proposal ideas.
“PhanArt is an event with such great energy,” said Dr. Jake Cohen, musicologist and Program Committee member. “We’re so excited to share our enthusiasm for the conference and help phans turn their ideas into Phish Studies proposals.”
The Call for Presentations, Art, and Performances, as well as information about conference sponsorship opportunities, can be found on the conference website, phishstudies.net.
The Cayuga Chamber Orchestra Youth Orchestra (CCOYO) will hold its opening concert of the 2023-24 season on Saturday, January 13, 2024, under the baton of Music Director, Kirsten Marshall.
This exciting concert opens with Chaminade’s Callirhoë Ballet Suite, Mascagni and Leoncavallo’s dramatic Intermezzos, and Grieg’s thrilling Concerto in A minor with pianist and concerto competition winner, Nathaniel Shuhan.
As a playful twist in this concert’s repertoire, winners from the Top Toy Tournament Fundraiser will also be featured in Haydn’s Toy Symphony. The afternoon will conclude with Tchaikovsky’s timeless Romeo & Juliet, promising a symphony of emotions.
Now in its seventh season, the CCO Youth Orchestra is embarking on its first overseas concert tour to Italy in April, 2024. Musicians will perform free concerts in major venues in Florence and Venice, including a side-by-side concert with an Italian youth orchestra. In addition to performing, students will visit museums and historic sites, study drawing, and attend an operatic performance.
To raise funds for the trip, the CCOYO have been hosting fundraisers throughout the fall semester, including a chamber concert, coffee fundraiser, leak raking fundraiser, and more. Among these efforts is the , where the most donated nominee winners will perform one of the seven, coveted solo parts in Haydn’s Toy Symphony.
The mission of the CCO Youth Orchestra is to offer a high-quality symphony orchestra experience for youth in Ithaca and the Finger Lakes Region of New York State. Now in its seventh successful season, we are thrilled to have a robust student membership of 67 players from all around Tompkins County. Our season typically includes two full-length symphonic concerts plus two run-out concerts to rural schools.
We will also be touring Italy in the Spring for our first overseas trip! Part of our mission is to bring our music to surrounding communities that might not otherwise experience live classical music and to educate and engage our students in being ambassadors of music. CCOYO students have experienced a side-by-side performance with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra as well as individual sectional coaching with CCO members.
The Cayuga Chamber Orchestra Youth Orchestra’s Winter Concert be held on Saturday, January 13 at 4:00pm at Ford Hall, Ithaca College. This concert has free admission and donations are gratefully accepted.
Before signing off for the holidays, David Letterman would have on two regular guests for a Christmas show to end the season.
With Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra looking on, comedian Jay Thomas would regale the crowd with, as Letterman put it, “the best story I’ve ever heard,” about an encounter with Clayton Moore, the actor famous for playing The Lone Ranger. It became a holiday tradition for the 17 years until the Letterman retired in 2015.
After Thomas delivered the punchline, he and David Letterman would alternate throwing a football at the meatball on top of the Late Show Christmas tree. To wrap up the show, and the year for the Late Show, Darlene Love would put on a big production with her holiday show stopper, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).”
Jay Thomas passed away in 2017, but his humor lives on. Watch below to see the joke over the years.
What used to be called First Night Saratoga, the rebrand to Saratoga New Year’s Fest happened in 2022 as pandemic restrictions loosened. Festivities are planned from December 29, 2023, to January 1, 2024. This year’s events will feature more than 30 performers on nearly two dozen stages. In addition, there will be a 5K run, a fireworks show, a family-friendly pre-fireworks block party, and other events.
“This is a joint presentation: the city the Chamber, Discover Saratoga, the City Center, and myself,” said producer Robert Millis of the 398Group, during this week’s festival announcement. “We put this idea together last year to bring back First Night – and it worked. We met our milestones. It’s all part of a three-year plan to make this thing get bigger and bigger.”
For more information about the Saratoga New Year’s Fest and to purchase, visit here.
Saratoga New Year’s Fest Lineup
Friday, December 29
DJ Logic, 10 p.m. at Putnam Place
Saturday, December 30
The Nth Power, 7 p.m. at Universal Preservation Hall
The Weight Band, 8 p.m. at Universal Preservation Hall
Sunday, December 31
Afternoon
Kids Music Show, 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. at Caffe Lena
TBA Band, 3 p.m. at the City Center “Jazz Room”
Will Pedicone, 2:30 p.m. at Impressions of Saratoga
Maurizzio & Kaos, 2:30 p.m. at Franklin Square Market
Pete Pashoukas, 3 p.m. at Sixth Generation Strings
Erin Powers, 3 p.m. at Overland on Broadway
Late Afternoon
Swing Docs, 4 p.m. at the City Center “Jazz Room”
Gibson Brothers, 4 p.m. at Universal Preservation Hall
Toss The Feathers, 4:45 p.m. at The Parting Glass Irish Pub
Jeff Brisbin, 4:30 p.m. at The Holiday Inn
Erin Powers, 4:30 p.m. at The Coat Room
New Year’s Eve
Halfstep, 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at The City Center “Dead & Groove Room”
Country Kickers Line Dancing, 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at The City Center “Country Room”
Chris O’Leary with Tia Comedy Show, 5 p.m., 6:30 p.m., and 7:30 p.m.at The Inn at Saratoga
Erin Powers, 5 p.m. at The Coat Room
Kristian Montgomery, 5 p.m. at Tap & Barrel
Shine On, 5 p.m. at Embassy Suites
Family Tree, 5 p.m. at Ellsworth Jones Place (outside of the City Center)
Tracy Bonham, 6:30 p.m. at Universal Preservation Hall
Triskele, 7 p.m. at The Parting Glass Irish Pub
Robert Randolph, 7 p.m. at The City Center Main Hall
Double Barrel, 7 p.m. at Nashville of Saratoga
Ragged Company, 7 p.m. at Quarters
Toubab Krewe, 7:30 p.m. at Universal Preservation Hall
Classic Rock Tent, 8 p.m. at The Ice House
Patrick Wisdom Stewart, 8 p.m. at Baileys
Organ Fairchild, 8:30 p.m. at The City Center “Dead/Groove Room”
Ward Hayden & The Outliers, 8:30 p.m. at The City Center “Country Room”
GA-20, 8:30 p.m. at Universal Preservation Hall
Maggie’s Clan, 8:30 p.m. at The Parting Glass Irish Pub
Joan Osborne & Band, 9 p.m. at The City Center Main Hall
The Ally Coalition (TAC) held its 9th Annual Talent Show last night at the Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, welcoming once again an incredible array of talented artists and comedians, to support the LGBTQ youth community. The event raised over $430k, which will support TAC’s mission to serve LGBTQ youth through partner organizations around the country.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 19: St. Vincent performs with Bartees Strange and Bleachers during The 9th Annual Talent Show presented by The Ally Coalition at Skirball Center for the Performing Arts on December 19, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Taylor Hill/Getty Images for The Ally Coalition)
The evening, curated and hosted by TAC Founders, Jack Antonoff and Rachel Antonoff, the night featured performances from Bleachers, St. Vincent, Bartees Strange, Jason Isbell, Claud, Clairo, Red Hearse, Andrew Dost, along with comedians Sarah Sherman, Sam Jay, Chris Larker and Jacqueline Novak.
Over the weekend prior, TAC partnered with The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in Manhattan for its 2nd annual Day of Services, providing essentials and resources to over 100 unhoused LBGTQ+ youth. New York’s PIX 11 came out to capture some of the day’s proceedings.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 19: Bartees Strange, Jack Antonoff, Bobby Hawk, and Clairo perform during The 9th Annual Talent Show presented by The Ally Coalition at Skirball Center for the Performing Arts on December 19, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Taylor Hill/Getty Images for The Ally Coalition)
Today, there are over 4 million unhoused youth in the USA – with almost 40% identifying as LGBTQ+. These youths are far more likely to be victims of depression, violence, bullying and suicide. The American Civil Liberties Union is tracking nearly 500 anti-LGBTQ bills across the U.S. Over the past decade the TAC Talent Show events have raised over $2M to support unhoused LGBTQ+ youths.
