Western New York rock/jam band Tsavo Highway has released their latest single, “Find a Way,” the first with a solidified lineup.
Formed just over a year ago and led by the soulful vocals of Emily Scripps alongside guitarists Christian Dobosiewicz and Peter Kern and rhythm section of bassist Brian Calisto and drummer Dan Keegan.
“Find a Way” was recorded by Producer Zach Tilton at his home studio. The nearly 6 minute long track is at first poppy with a mid-90s indie rock feel. Grooves build and flow into the next, while vocals from Scripps weave fluidly alongside the tempo.
When we brought the tune to the band it clicked immediately. Everyone had an idea of how to make the song come to life. Christian with his twang in the way he plays the guitar’s lead lick in the chorus, Peter with his added trills and guitarmony in his solo, Brian with the most epic leading bass line, and Dan with his perfectly timed drum fills. Once everyone brought their individual takes and magic to the song, it came together as this wonderful, authentic, catchy tune.
Emily Scripps, Tsavo Highway
Written by Scipps and Dobosiewicz, Emily shares that she wanted the song to have a feel of being at a train station – which explains the child’s train whistle making an appearance at the right times. The station here is symbolic to the middle ground in the journey of life.
“You’re waiting at this middle ground for a sign, a feeling, a glimpse (a train) of something telling you you’re on the right track,” said Scripps. “You can feel it, hear it, you know it’s near, you hope it’s near, you’re calling out for it because it’s just within your grasp. So with this in mind I wanted the overall tone/sound of the song to reflect happiness but not in a sense of comfortability, but more a sense of happiness in being hopeful.”
From playing intimate venues to larger stages, Tsavo Highway has a genuine passion for music that shines through every note they play, leaving audiences captivated by their raw talent and heartfelt performances.
Learn more about Tsavo Highway and stay up to date with showing in 2024 here.
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.
Recently, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Louis Cato performed “Winter Wonderland” on a special holiday edition of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Photo: Scott Kowalchyk/CBS.
GRAMMY-nominated and internationally acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Louis Cato has been keeping audiences engaged on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert since its inception in 2015, and was promoted to the bandleader of the group last summer. Since the age of two, Cato started appreciating music with the purchase of his first drumset, citing artistic influence from southern gospel from his native North Carolina. He has an undeniable talent for crafting sonic landscapes into timeless masterpieces. Releasing his first record STARTING NOW in 2017, Louis Cato produced and mixed the entire record by himself.
His newest record Reflections is slow, spirited, and heavenly, showcasing his kind and empathetic essence. Cato is not just a solo artist though, he has worked with an array of other established musicians, like Snarky Puppy, Jon Batiste, Q-Tip, A Tribe Called Quest, and many more, mixing in his artistic capabilities and talents with theirs. With the voice of an angel, melodies that pull you in, and the funk of James Brown, Cato’s sound is unmistakable.
NPR Music just named “Unsightly Room” from the LP one of the Best Songs of 2023, raving “While other artists released big studio productions, Cato’s simple guitar and haunting voice reaffirm the power of back-to-basics songcraft and storytelling. It’s a deceptively sweet song with an earworm melody, but something truly horrifying is lurking in the shadows.”
For more information about Louis Cato, visit here.
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.
EMPAC / Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has announced its Spring 2024 programming.
From January through May, EMPAC 2024 presents a diverse lineup of interdisciplinary programming, including concerts, film screenings, dance performances, artists’ talks, and a two-day symposium. Furthering their mission of gathering artists, thinkers, and audiences together to explore the boundaries of art, science, politics, and technology, EMPAC’s programming will keep people intrigued and entertained.
EMPAC / the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer is located on the corner of 8th Street and College Avenue in Troy. It is a 220,000-square-foot facility designed expressly for creating and presenting experimental media and performing arts. Since the building’s opening in 2008, the curatorial program has supported more than 600 performances and new works through residencies, commissions, partnerships, premieres, installations, publications, and more.
EMPAC Spring 2024 Programming
Barobar Jagtana (January 11) is a screening of Suneil Sanzgiri’s vivid trilogy of short films. He is a recipient of the UOVO Prize and his solo exhibition is currently on display at the Brooklyn Museum through May 2024. The Konkani title of the series roughly translates to “continuously surviving.” The evening screens three of his films: At Home But Not At Home (2019), Letter From Your Far-off Country (2020), and Golden Jubilee (2021), followed by a conversation with curator Vic Brooks.
Barobar Jagtana connects the childhood experience of Sanzgiri’s father at the tail-end of Portuguese occupation in Goa, India with the broader history of South Asian anti-colonial struggle. The films link past events to contemporary struggles, forging connections between solidarity movements across time with a distinct visual language.
Poetry & Fairy Tale (January 19) is a piano recital by award-winning pianist and composer Conrad Tao, hailed “the kind of musician who is shaping the future of classical music” by New York Magazine.Tao has performed as a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and Boston Symphony, and his original compositions have been performed by orchestras throughout the world.
This new program combines Western repertoire and provocative contemporary works. Inspired by themes of poetry and fairy tales, Tao’s one-night-only recital tests a line-up that includes music by Johannes Brahms, Tod Moellenberg, David Fulmer, Rebecca Saunders, and Maurice Ravel.
In February, EMPAC presents Reembodied Sound 2024 (February 2-3), a two-day festival and symposium on transducer-based music and sonic art, co-presented with the Rensselaer Department of Arts. A famed member of the New York School, David Tudor pioneered transducer-based artworks in the 1960s and 70s, inspired by the work of his frequent collaborator John Cage. Tudor created Rainforest IV in 1973, which used “surface speakers” (electric transducers) to excite the sonic possibilities of such objects.
The symposium has three tracks: a remounting of Rainforest IV by students of the Rensselaer Arts Department with John Driscoll and Phil Edelstein in commemoration of its 50th anniversary in 2023, a series of demonstrations and paper presentations, selected from an open call that received 189 project submissions from around the world, with a keynote address by noted sound art scholar and composer Cathy van Eck, and a concert of transducer-based works to be announced. All activities are free and open to the public.
Grounds of Coherence #1 / but this is the language we met in (February 9) is a multifaceted evening with filmmaker Shen Xin and performer Ali Van that includes an American premiere film screening, a live performance, and the debut of their collaborative project, AX Archive. Van opens the program in a performance with Shen that aims to mirror the narrative style of Shen’s most recent film. His new short film is from the ongoing series Grounds of Coherence and explores how language can be used to create spaces of belonging. In it, myths are recited in English between two lovers, a story is narrated in Arabic, and protesters chant in regional Mandarin. The duo’s EMPAC appearance concludes with improvisation, incorporating spatialized audio.
Dancer and choreographer Ligia Lewisis at EMPAC 2024 with the first East Coast presentation of her stage production, A Plot / A Scandal (February 16 & 17). After debuting in Germany in 2022 it was recently awarded the prestigious annual Der Faust prize, citing Lewis as the “master of ceremonies.” This piece explores fantasy, pleasure, and narrative experimentation. Lewis’ prior performances in the U.S. have been called “the most vital new work…beautiful, blistering” by the New York Times.
Akoma (March 15) previews the new multimedia production from acclaimed electronic musician and Pulitzer Prize for Music finalist Jlin, and visual artist Florence To, in preparation for the upcoming tour of Jlin’s latest album of the same name. Jlin’s music is influenced by “footwork,” a genre of post-house music originating in Chicago, featuring athletic and hyperactive rhythmic drive. For this concert, Florence To designed an interactive landscape of sound and light mapped onto various surfaces and lighting rigs that respond to Jlin’s music.
EMPAC-commissioned concert Susceptible Chambers (April 5) by composer-performers Antonia Barnett-McIntosh and Jessie Marino is continuing the season’s theme of sonic exploration through everyday objects. It begins with the reconstruction of a simple microphone and expands into technologies from different eras, like pulley systems, pianolas, needlepoint, and sodium vapor lamps. Barnett-McIntosh and Marino create a new performance that draws the audience into an unusual and playful sonic and visual world, experimenting with and challenging accepted practices of today’s electronic music and contemporary music more broadly. They also present an open studio and talk (January 17) at the start of the season.
Space Carcasses (April 23) by performing artist and choreographer Onye Ozuzuis a work-in-progress dance performance that explores how architectures haunt the body and impart their histories to us as physical effects. The work includes a virtual, composite space layered with audiovisual data from three different architectural sites. Space Carcasses is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation & Development Fund Project with an international society of co-commissioners that includes dance centers across the states. At EMPAC, this free presentation offers a window into Ozuzu’s research, development, and production of Space Carcasses, including how the artist and EMPAC production teams are engineering a “sound dancer” using EMPAC’s spatialization sound technology.
Iconic Afro-gothic composer and vocalist M. Lamar closes out EMPAC’s Spring 2024 season with Machines and other intergalactic technologies of the spirit (May 3), the third collaboration with experimental music duo The Living Earth Show, as part of their ongoing residency at EMPAC. Lamar gains the production backing to put on his largest-scaled work to date: an evening of psychedelic rock, noise music, opera, and doom metal, drawing conceptually on the “Astro-Black mythology” of the visionary jazz artist Sun Ra.
Lamar performs in a 15-foot tall rocketship-boat-coffin structure, with images of outer space as popularized by mass media over the years, ancient Egypt, and pre-Atlantic Christianity. The performance is a follow-up to M Lamar and The Living Earth Show’s 2019 Met Cloisters collaboration, Lordship and Bondage: The Birth of The Negro Superman.
The EMPAC Spring 2024 season also presents a curated set of lectures, with appearances from composer and artist Marina Rosenfeld, giving a work-in-progress talk that takes her decades-long work with dubplates into new visual and sonic territory (January 24); scholar André Lepecki, on choreographic works that challenge the ideas of time as a technology for policing movement (January 25); Marina Vishmidt, on art, labor, and value, reflecting on projects from EMPAC’s archive (February 22); Ezekiel Dixon-Román, on computation influenced by black radical anti-colonial thought, cybernetics, and critical philosophies of technology (March 21); and Peli Grietzer, on art’s structures concerning architectures of artificial intelligence (April 11).
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit here.
Allison Russell will captivate audiences with an exclusive Saturday Night Takeover on Radio Woodstock, airing on Saturday, December 23 at 10:00 PM. Russell is a GRAMMY-nominated singer, songwriter, poet, activist, and multi-instrumentalist.
Allison Russell’s Saturday Night Takeover is not only a celebration of her own artistry but also a journey through the sounds that have shaped her as a musician. The playlist will feature a mix of her own tracks alongside carefully selected songs that have left an indelible mark on her musical identity.
Since her first solo album, OutsideChild, two years ago, Russell has redefined what artistry means in the 21st century. Now comes the second chapter in her story, TheReturner, released this past September, currently nominated for four GRAMMYs, a body-shaking, mind-expanding, soulful expression of Black liberation, Black love, of Black self-respect.
Russell has consistently used her newfound platform to elevate, educate and inspire; curating the history making Once And Future Sounds: Roots and Revolution set for the Newport Folk Festival in 2021 and mobilizing this year’s triumphant Love Rising All-Star benefit concert in support of LGBTQIA+ causes in Nashville, are just two of the many examples where she’s raised her voice with power and purpose.
This takeover on Radio Woodstock provides fans and music enthusiasts with a rare opportunity to experience Russell’s musical world in an intimate setting.
We are thrilled to have Allison Russell host a Saturday Night Takeover on Radio Woodstock. Her talent, passion, and unique perspective promise to make this a memorable evening for our listeners.
Radio Woodstock Music Director Aja Whitney
The “Saturday Night Takeover” series represents Radio Woodstock’s independent music voice. For over 40 years, Radio Woodstock has championed new music and pioneered a unique music line-up with a mix of new artists, legendary musicians, and special music programming.
Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of an intimate musical experience with one of the most captivating voices in contemporary music.
Tune in for “Saturday Night Takeover” as Allison Russell takes over the airwaves on Saturday, December 23, from 10 pm to 11 pm on-air at 100.1, or listen online at RadioWoodstock.com or via the iHeartRADIO app.
The HERE Foundation, fresh off last year’s successful music festival, announced the date and lineup for HERE for NY, taking place at The Knockdown Center on Feb. 10, 2024.
HERE for NY is the next stop in the global concert series dedicated to creating hyper-local action within cities worldwide. With a focus on supporting local organizations and nonprofits, HERE aims to empower Gen-Z individuals and businesses to impact their communities positively. The festival is the first of its kind, transcending traditional festival experiences and embracing a new era of action, empowerment, and community.
Last December, HERE for LA showcased 22 acts, engaged over 1200 attendees, and made an incredible impact on HERE’s nonprofit partners. HERE Foundation is a non-profit organization that works at the intersection of culture and cause, supporting individuals, organizations, and nonprofits with charitable events, activities, gatherings, and workshops around causes that young people are passionate about.
HERE for NY welcomes artists across genres including Eartheater, Vegyn, Liv.e, RXK Nephew, Underscores, Roy Blair, James Ivy, 454, DJ_Dave, Alice Longyu Gao, Push Ups, and MGNA Crrrta.
“We think people are going to be very surprised when they show up on February 10th,” said co-founders Ethan, Stella, and Connor. “It’s not a vast grass field with the traditional layout and nonprofit booths, we have created something uniquely different from the existing array of festivals out there today” they share.
In line with HERE Foundation’s commitment to social responsibility HERE for NY is excited to partner with Big Reuse and the Urban Justice Center for Social Equity, local nonprofit organizations dedicated to climate justice, social equality, and education. HERE For NY sponsors include Perfectly Imperfect, Dice, and more.
