NYS Music 2023

Blog

  • Sarah McLachlan Announces “The Fumbling Towards Ecstasy Tour,” Stops in Lewiston and NYC

    Grammy and Juno-award winning artist Sarah McLachlan announces The Fumbling Towards Ecstasy 30th Anniversary Tour, live across North America next summer with special guest Feist.

    The 30-date run includes a stop at Artpark Mainstage Theater in Lewiston, as well as a stop at Radio City Music Hall.

    Sarah McLachlan is one of the most celebrated singer songwriters in entertainment with over 40 million albums sold worldwide. She has received three Grammy Awards and twelve Juno Awards over her career and has been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

    In addition to her personal artistic efforts, she founded the Lilith Fair tour, which showcased female musicians and brought over two million people together during its three-year run. Lilith Fair raised over $7 million for local and national charities and was the most successful all-female music event, launching the careers of numerous performers.

    Following Lilith Fair, Sarah was awarded the Elizabeth Cady Stanton Visionary Award for furthering the careers of women in music. In 2002, she founded the non-profit Sarah McLachlan School of Music which provides high quality music education and mentorship free to children and youth facing various barriers to access.

    Feist, special guest touring with Sarah, is an 11-time Juno Award-winning artist and has a Grammy-nominated album Multitudes. She sets her observation on the countless ways we seek out or deliberately hide from the truth: searching the natural world for portents and good omens, pulling tarot cards and masking our true emotions to spare our loved ones from pain. From a lyrical honesty that’s as confronting as it is unguarded, Feist writes of “A crucible of apex events that brought life to a new temperature.” and of “A new dimension of self awareness that time and experience seemed to require.”

    Her sixth full-length and first release since 2017’s critically lauded Pleasure, Multitudes took shape soon after the birth of her daughter and sudden death of her father, a back-to-back convergence of life-altering events that left the Canadian singer/songwriter with “Nothing performative in me anymore.” As she cleansed her songwriting of any tendency to obscure unwanted truths, Feist slowly made her way toward a batch of songs rooted in a raw and potent realism which is touched with otherworldly beauty. 

    At the completion of the developmental run of residencies and in turning to the task of creating the album in a bespoke residential studio in the California Redwoods, Feist produced alongside her frequent co-producers Mocky and Robbie Lackritz, with an ensemble including Todd Dahlhoff, Amir Yaghmai, Shahzad Ismaily (Lou Reed, Tom Waits) and Gabe Noel (Kendrick Lamar, Kamasi Washington) with guest appearances by Blake Mills (Bob Dylan, Perfume Genius) and longtime collaborator Chilly Gonzales.

    A supreme setting for her enchanting voice and all its manifestations, Multitudes unfolds with a near-symphonic grandeur despite its moments of absolute starkness, lending an endlessly mesmeric quality to Feist’s meditations on mortality and connection and the frenetic state of the human condition.

    “I think it’s interesting as an artist or as a human for that matter, to be able to go back and look at a postcard of a time in your life and reflect on it…I think this tour is going to be a real walk down memory lane for me, and I’m hoping that my audience, many of whom have been with me for 30 years, will also be able to go back in time with me.”

    Sarah McLachlan

    The summer tour celebrates McLachlan’s highly acclaimed third studio album, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, which first released October 22, 1993 via Le Studio. The album quickly topped the charts in Canada and went certified platinum within a few weeks, selling over 3 million copies worldwide to date. Hit singles include “Possession,” “Hold On,” “Ice Cream,” and “Good Enough,” among others.

    The 30th anniversary tour will see McLachlan playing the beloved album in its entirety along with some of her most celebrated songs in iconic venues across North America, including the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, CA, Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, CO, Radio City Music Hall and many more.

    THE FUMBLING TOWARDS ECSTASY 30TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR 2024 TOUR DATES:

    Sat May 25 – Seattle, WA – Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery +

    Sun May 26 – Seattle, WA – Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery +

    Tue May 28 – Bend, OR – Hayden Homes Amphitheater +

    Thu May 30 – Berkeley, CA – Greek Theatre *+

    Fri May 31 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl +

    Sat Jun 01– Palm Springs, CA – Acrisure Arena at Greater Palm Springs +

    Sun Jun 02 – San Diego, CA – The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park +

    Tue Jun 04 – Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Financial Theatre +

    Thu Jun 06 – Salt Lake City, UT – USANA Amphitheatre +

    Fri Jun 07 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre *

    Sun Jun 09 – Kansas City, MO – Starlight Theatre +

    Mon Jun 10 – Maryland Heights, MO – Saint Louis Music Park +

    Tue Jun 11 – Chicago, IL – Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island +

    Thu Jun 13 – Sterling Heights, MI – Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill +

    Fri Jun 14 – Cincinnati, OH – PNC Pavilion +

    Sun Jun 16 – Indianapolis, IN – Everwise Amphitheater at White River State Park +

    Tue Jun 18 – Lewiston, NY – Artpark Mainstage Theater +

    Wed Jun 19 – Toronto, ON – Budweiser Stage ^

    Thu Jun 20 – Laval, QC – Place Bell +

    Sat Jun 22 – Boston, MA – Leader Bank Pavilion +

    Sun Jun 23 – Bridgeport, CT – Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater +

    Mon Jun 24 – New York, NY – Radio City Music Hall +

    Wed Jun 26 – Philadelphia, PA – TD Pavilion at the Mann +

    Thu Jun 27 – Columbia, MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion +

    Sat Jun 29 – Nashville, TN – Ascend Amphitheater +

    Sun Jun 30 – Atlanta, GA – Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park +

    Tue Jul 02 – Rogers, AR – Walmart AMP +

    Wed Jul 03 – Irving, TX – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory +

    Fri Jul 05 – Austin, TX – Moody Amphitheater +

    Sat Jul 06 – Sugar Land, TX – Smart Financial Centre +

    *Non-Live Nation Date

    + With Feist

    ^ With Allison Russell

    Tickets will be available starting with Artist and Citi presales (details below) beginning on Tuesday, December 12. Additional presales will run throughout the week ahead of the general on-sale beginning on Friday, December 15 at 12 PM here.

    The tour will also offer a variety of different VIP packages and experiences for fans to take their concert experience to the next level. Packages vary but may include premium tickets, access to the pre-show soundcheck, autographed item, specially designed merch and more. For more information, click here.

    $1 per ticket will be donated to the non-profit Sarah McLachlan School of Music. The school provides music instruction at no cost to children and youth facing barriers to access. 

    For more information on Sarah McLachlan, visit her website, or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or Instagram.

    For more information on Feist, visit her website.

  • “Is It Thursday Yet?” Opens at the Perelman Performing Arts Center on December 12

    Is It Thursday Yet?, a beautiful show featuring complex dance choreography and enriching live music, opens December 12 at the Perelman Performing Arts Center. The show features the incredible talents of Jenn Freeman, Holland Andrews, and Price McGuffrey.

    Is It Thursday Yet? is a stunning tapestry of dance, live music and home video footage. The show invites you into the unique complexities of dancer and choreographer Jenn Freeman’s life following her Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis at age 33. Since then, she has navigated an endless sea of epiphanies, examining childhood memories through this new lens. 

    Is It Thursday Yet? is co-created, co-choreographed and performed by Jenn Freeman, co-created, co-choreographed and directed by Sonya Tayeh, and composed and performed by Holland Andrews. The production runs from December 8 through December 23 at PAC NYC.

    Jenn Freeman (they/she) (Co-Creator/Co-Choreographer/Performer) is an Autistic American choreographer, dance performer, and educator based in New York City. Freeman is an O’Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation recipient, a 2023 New England Foundation for the Arts Recipient and the New York State Council on the Arts grant award recipient. Most recently Freeman was commissioned to set a solo for American Ballet Theatre principal dancer, Cassandra Trenary, that premiered at Festival des arts de Saint-Sauveur in 2022. 

    In 2021, Freeman created new work for the Martha Graham Dance Company. In 2018 Freeman produced, directed and choreographed her evening-length world premiere debut: …it’s time… at the Theater at The 14th St Y in New York City. After a sold-out run the show was presented for a second run in 2019. Freeman’s choreography has been commissioned by Marymount Manhattan College, Wayne State University, BYU, and The University of Texas at Austin. Her work has been presented at The Theater at the 14th Street Y, The Kaatsbaan Summer Festival, The Reverb Dance Festival, and The McCallum Theater Choreography Festival. 

    For over a decade, Jenn has worked as Sonya Tayeh’s associate and resident choreographer in the development of pieces for: The Gibney Company, American Ballet Theater, The Martha Graham Dance Company, Guggenheim W&P, LA Ballet, The Juilliard School, and Cirque du Soleil. Professionally, Jenn has danced in works by choreographers Sonya Tayeh, Kyle Abraham, Larry Keigwin, Charlotte Boye-Christensen (NOW-ID), and many others. Freeman is a graduate of the dance program at TISCH School of the Arts, NYU.

    Sonya Tayeh (she/her) (Co-Creator/Co-Choreographer/Director) is a New York City based TONY® Award winning choreographer and director. Since paving her professional career, her work has been characterized as a blend of powerful versatility and theatrical range. She has gleaned many accolades for her versatile work, including a Tony Award, two Emmy nominations, one Drama Desk Award, an Obie Award, and two Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Choreography.

    Holland Andrews (they/them) (Composer) is a vocalist, composer, and performance artist whose work focuses on the abstraction of operatic and extended-technique voice to build soundscapes encompassing both catharsis and dissonance. Andrews develops and performs soundscapes for dance, theater, and film. Notable collaborations include Bill T. Jones, Dorothee Munyaneza, Will Rawls, poet Demian Dinéyazhi, Son Lux, Christina Vantzou, William Brittelle, Methods Body, West Thordson, Peter Broderick, Darian Donovan Thomas, and Nils Frahm.

    Tickets are on sale now here.  

    Perelman Performing Arts Center NYC Memberships starting at $10 for the inaugural season are available. Members are provided early access to purchase tickets and other perks. For more information or to learn how to support PAC NYC, visit their website.

    Tickets start at $39 and are available online at PACNYC.org or by calling 212.266.3000. All performances are at 251 Fulton Street. 

    The public can sign up for important updates from PAC NYC at PACNYC.org/sign-up.

  • Listen to San Fermin’s Emotional Single “My Love is a Loneliness”

    Brooklyn-based eight-piece San Fermin has released their dreamy new single “My Love is a Loneliness.” The third song to be pulled from their upcoming fifth studio album Arms (out February 16th via their burgeoning indie label Better Company Records), “My Love is a Loneliness” takes a bird’s eye view of heartbreak, finding solace in the cyclical nature of loss and redemption.

    San Fermin is Ellis Ludwig-Leone (bandleader, songwriter), Allen Tate (vocalist, producer), Claire Wellin (vocalist), Akira Ishiguro (guitar), John Brandon (trumpet), Stephen Chen (saxophone), Tyler McDiarmid (guitar), and Griffin Brown (drums).

    Arms marks a new direction for San Fermin, as they strip away much of the sonic ornamentation they’ve come to be known for in favor of a more raw, direct sound reflective of Ellis Ludwig-Leone’s candid, plainspoken lyrics. The album was written during one of the most difficult moments of Ludwig-Leone’s life, following the dissolution of two relationships. Over the course of the album’s nine stunning tracks, his lyrics move from anger and disappointment to clarity and acceptance in a steady progression reflective of the roller coaster journey that consumed him for the better part of a year.

    Ten years ago, San Fermin released their critically heralded eponymous album and rocketed to a national audience with NPR inviting them to play a Tiny Desk Concert and calling the album “one of the year’s most surprising, ambitious, evocative and moving records,” while Pitchfork praising their “ambitious chamber pop debut.” Over the next decade the band released four albums and became known for their “knack for simultaneously expressing beauty and crisis” (The New Yorker). Arms is the greatest testament to the community the band has built over the last decade, and illustrates their ability to transform crisis into a communal catharsis. 

    “I liked the idea of someone’s particular brand of love being misanthropic, kind of a misfit. Always taking rather than giving, always leaving rather than showing up. And then the vicious cycle that accompanies that— if your love is selfish, your only companion ends up being loneliness, which becomes a kind of armor protecting you from ever getting too close. If you never let down the armor, you’re safe, but it ultimately leaves you cold.”

    Ellis Ludwig Leone, bandleader and songwriter

    “My Love is a Loneliness” is a heartfelt indie song with incredibly touching lyricism. The song opens with a gut-punching line already: “My love is a loneliness // it sits just next to greed.” The personification of love and comparing that to the loss one feels after losing a relationship with someone is so beautiful.

    On top of the lyricism, this single features a fantastic indie guitar riff throughout the song, as well as an angelic vocal harmony near the midmark to the end.

    The band will celebrate the release of Arms with a 2024 national headline tour that kicks off on March 21st at Treefort Music Fest in Boise, ID, followed by stops in New York, Chicago, Nashville, and Los Angeles among others. Find a full list of tour dates below or visit their website.

    Tour Dates:

    3/15: Utrecht, NDL – Birds of Paradise Festival

    3/21-22: Boise, ID – Treefort Music Fest

    3/23: Salt Lake City, UT – The State Room

    3/24: Denver, CO – Globe Hall

    3/26: St. Paul, MN – Turf Club

    3/27: Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall

    3/28: Madison, WI – High Noon Saloon

    3/30: Nashville, TN – The Blue Room

    3/31: Columbus, OH – The Basement

    4/2: Washington, DC – Atlantis

    4/3: Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts

    4/4: Boston, MA – The Sinclair

    4/5: New York, NY – Racket

    4/30: San Diego, CA – Casbah

    5/1: Los Angeles, CA – Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever

    5/3: Pioneertown, CA – Pappy + Harriets

    5/4: San Francisco, CA – Independent

    5/7: Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge

    5/9: Vancouver, BC – Biltmore Cabaret

    5/10: Seattle, WA – Madame Lou’s

    For more information on San Fermin, visit their website, or follow them on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube.

  • Charlie Wilson to Headline R&B Love Fest At UBS Arena On Mother’s Day

    R&B powerhouse Charlie Wilson will be headlining UBS Arena this upcoming mother’s day as part of Jammins Events’ R&B Love Fest 2024. Featuring KEM and legendary r&b group, Dru Hill, this soul-watering experience is set for Sunday, May 12. Presented by concert promotion/production mainstays, Jammins Events, R&B Love Fest 2024 will feature performances from legendary and contemporary artists.

    Charlie Wilson to headline R&B Love Fest 2024 at UBS Arena
    Charlie Wilson at the main stage during Stavernfestivalen in Stavern on 08. July 2016. Lineup: Charlie Wilson (vocal)

    To be able to do this with Charlie Wilson, KEM and Dru Hill – the entire line-up of talented artists, we are truly excited.

    – Jammins Management Team

    After all, the one nicknamed “Uncle Charlie” is a musical force that has maintained relevancy in a career spanning six decades. Overall, the music icon has garnered 13 Grammy nominations, while topping the R&B charts 13 times with number one singles. Not to mention decades of sold-out concerts, a New York Times and Washington Post best-selling memoir, I Am Charlie Wilson, a BET Lifetime Achievement Award and a Soul Train Icon Award. As such, he has both a star on the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame and will be receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2024. 

    https://youtu.be/25VQZA7yL-c?si=knXVaRnlo2n0LkC-

    Additionally, R&B veterans Dru Hill and KEM will be making guest appearance at R&B Love Fest. Of course, the former has cemented their place in R&B folklore through a series of No. 1 hits, while KEM has been a steadfast presence in the r&b landscape. Meanwhile, Dru Hill has received multiple awards and performed internationally and has topped the Billboard Music charts multiple times. 

    Tickets for R&B Love Fest go on sale to the general public on Friday, December 15 at 10 a.m. via Ticketmaster.

  • Mikaela Davis and Southern Star End Big Year with Big Hometown Show in Rochester

    2023 has been a busy year for Mikaela Davis and Southern Star. It all started in January with two three-show residencies in Rochester and Woodstock that had the band playing one set of originals and one set of themed Grateful Dead material. In the band’s home base of Rochester, the three shows sold out in advance at the living-room-intimate Abilene. The band then took the show’s concept on the road, hitting venues along the eastern seaboard and even more multi-show residencies across upstate New York. They would continue to tour hard throughout the year as headliners, openers, and a part various festival lineups. They also released their first album as a band late in the summer.

    They closed out the year with a short run of shows with their old friends Maybird, culminating where the year, and the band began, back in Rochester. This time at the brand new venue, Essex, which is younger than even their new album. The space holds roughly ten times what Abilene can, and was nearly full, so the hard work paid off with a bigger fanbase. Davis declared it the biggest headlining show they’ve ever played, and the exchange of energy from the crowd to the stage and back was palpable.

    A Brian Blatt liquid light show bathed the stage in slow oozing organic forms throughout the night. From the get go, it matched and complimented the music perfectly. The band was in no rush with a spacey intro to the show opening “Cinderella.” The ensuing “In My Groove” likewise got going with spacey looping. “Get Gone” also got front-loaded with a short jam, this one groovier, almost Dead-like. Post-verses, it showcased one of the bands many strengths as Davis’ harp led the way, interweaving brilliantly with Cian McCarthy and Kurt Johnson’s guitars and Shane McCarthy’s bass.

    Languid and lovely, “The Pearl,” featured a slowly unfolding gorgeous improvisation that had all five members contributing an interlocking piece of the whole. A rock band led by a harp is unique in-and-of-itself, but add in a pedal steel and a sax-playing guitarist, and a penchant for turning pretty things into down and dirty jams, and Southern Star is a one-of-a-kind marvel. Even when they lean into familiar influences, they’re approached from a new-to-the-world angle. No one is doing this, sounding like that.

    “Leave It Alone” let loose with this uniqueness. A lengthy guitar choogle dissolved into spacey noodling. Davis grabbed the reins and the band slowly crystallized around her flourishing harp. Cian McCarthy switched to his sax and the music took a turn into avant-garde jazz, reaching into searing cosmic domains. When McCarthy got back on his guitar, the jazz tenor remained, advancing to a 70’s style fusion for a short spurt. His brother pounded a repetitive theme into submission and eventually the rest of the band followed as they deftly drifted into “Promise.” The extraordinary sequence highlighted the growth a year on the road as provided.

    Later, “Don’t Stop Now,” provided more groundwork from which they could showcase their multi-faceted approach. Davis answered the age-old question, “Can a harp choogle?”, with a big jam out of the gates, which ceded to guitar and then Johnson’s electric lap steel and eventually back to McCarthy on sax. They went deep into a sparse and chunky space which would slip into the psychedelic “Pure Divine Love.”

    The show closed out with “Other Lover,” with the opening band Maybird out in full, each on a different piece of percussion, from the traditional congas to the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink variety (literally) like a metal colander. Maybird, another Rochester band, appropriately joined Mikaela Davis on her first tour. But more than that, Kurt Johnson was an original member of Maybird and Shane McCarthy is frequently playing bass for them. Davis and Josh Netsky frequently collaborated in various projects before Maybird or Southern Star were even conceived. So it was an appropriate end-of-the-year hometown billing for sure.

    The ragtag group of percussionists would be back for the encore, along with Overhand Sam on guitar as the band ripped a celebratory version of “After Midnight” played just before 11pm. And now we wait to see what 2024 has in store for Mikaela Davis and Southern Star. Of course we know it will start with a co-headlining tour with Circles Around the Sun, so check that out if they’re heading your way.

    Maybird opened with a solid 45 minutes overview of their strengths, including some of their oldest material and some of their newest. “Open Your Eyes” appropriately opened up into a quality psychedelic workout, with guitarist Overhand Sam and keyboardist Sam Hirsch combining into a fuzzed-up mash.

    Shane McCarthy was pulling double-duty, holding down the bass for both bands, wearing the appropriate band tee for each set. Brother Cian and Kurt Johnson joined in on the fun during the band’s namesake “Maybird.” With Johnson returning to his former band, and McCarthy on sax, the band was truly at full power. The denser their sound gets the better, and that played out perfectly during the slow ferociousness of “Maybird.” The pair stayed on board for the following “Gonna Lose Your Mind,” and Johnson remained for the rest of the set. He provided some just-like-the-old-days moments during “Turning Into Water” and “Call You Mine.”

    It was a great night to celebrate Rochester music, past and future, at Essex with Maybird and Mikaela Davis and Southern Star.

    Setlists

    Mikaela Davis and Southern Star: Cinderella, In My Groove, Home in the Country, Get Gone, The Pearl, Far From You, Leave It Alone, Promise, Don’t Stop Now, Pure Divine Love, Other Lover*

    Encore: After Midnight**
    * with Maybird on various percussion
    ** with Sam Snyder on guitar, Maybird on percussion

    Maybird: Keep In Line, Don’t Keep Me Around, Open Your Eyes, Lost In Wonderland, Maybird*, Gonna Lose Your Mind*, Turning Into Water**, Call You Mine***
    * with Cian McCarthy on sax, Kurt Johnson on pedal steel/lap steel
    ** with Kurt Johnson on guitar
    *** with Kurt Johnson on lap steel

  • Benny The Butcher Drops Scintillating New Single And Music Video Ahead of New Album

    Benny The Butcher continues to ramp things up in anticipation of his Def Jam debut, Everybody Can’t Go. His latest drop, the thumping new single “One Foot In,” features frequent collaborator Stove God Cooks and sees Benny The Butcher continue his evolution into the mainstream.

    Benny The Butcher "One Foot In" covert art

    Accompanied by a scintillating music video, Benny The Butcher and Stove God exchange bars on life in the streets. Meanwhile, the hook illustrates this duality as Benny examines a life with one foot in the streets and one in the rap game. In like manner, the music video illustrates the parallels between life and the streets and life as a successful rapper. Coupled with more digestible production, the uptempo street anthem offers to fill the void of authentic street records that littered hip hop of yesteryear. However, despite the uptick in production budget, the Buffalo native has maintained his raw and descriptive style, with lyrics full of vivid imagery.

    And this one for the hustlers I was handing ounces. Now look at God, I wrote this in my Grammy outfit.

    – Benny The Butcher

    After all, “One Foot In” follows the release of Benny’s previous single, “Big Dog,” featuring Lil Wayne, who is no stranger to hard-hitting, lyrical bangers. Correspondingly, the record has already amassed 3.2 million Spotify streams and counting, with the music video tracking an additional 2.5 million views. With Everybody Can’t Go slated for a January 26 release, Benny continues to build anticipation for what could be a trajectory defining-album.

  • Levitate Music and Arts Festival Announces 2024 Dates

    Levitate Music and Arts Festival has announced their 11th annual return to Marshfield, MA this summer. The event will be on July 5, 6, and 7 at the Marshfield Fairgrounds, featuring national and local music talents, exciting vendors, and food and beverage options for all.

    Levitate Music and Arts Festival July 5, 6, and 7 2023

    The festival has yet to announce this year’s lineup. Previous performers at the festival’s 10-year anniversary included Brandi Carlile, Trey Anastasio, Peach Pit, and Larkin Poe. The festival includes not just music, but also local art displays, skate demonstrations, and gourmet food and beverage offerings for the crowds of Marshfield, MA.

    Levitate Music and Arts Festival

    The Levitate brand began in 2003 as a surf and skate shop dedicated to representing East Coast surf culture. The brand has grown into not just the surf lifestyle representative, but also a clothing brand, summer camp, and nonprofit education project that connects children with music, arts, and outdoor education. 1% of every ticket sold to the festival will be contributed to the Levitate Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to cultivating communities through music, art, and the outdoors.

    Multi-day loyalty ticket on-sale will be announced soon; just in time for holiday gifting for friends and family. To receive the latest information about tickets and weekend passes, fans can sign up for the newsletter here and visit https://www.levitatemusicfestival.com/.

  • The College of Saint Rose Announces Closing, Music Industry Programs in Limbo

    The College of Saint Rose in Albany has announced the institution will not operate beyond the Spring 2024 semester, citing enormous financial debt and insufficient resources to continue. The loss is significant for the area’s economy, with many wondering what will happen to the pristine academic buildings and equipment. One of the biggest losses is the valuable Music Industry program.

    The College of Saint Rose was cited by Billboard as having one of the best music business programs in North America, setting students up for success in the fast-paced environment that is the music industry. Those in the program were instructed in three areas of study: songwriting and composition, audio recording and music production, and music business and entrepreneurship. Those interested in the business side of the industry could also enroll in the Music Business program, learning more about music management, publishing, entertainment law, marketing and sales, and more.

    The Music Industry Program allowed students to learn many different and important skills. Featuring state-of-the-art recording studios, students could learn to engineer, mix, and compose music, as well as use the college’s audio post-production rooms, television and radio studios, computer labs, and the showcase studio. Students could even learn how to press vinyl in the analog recording and record-cutting station.

    One of the most interesting parts of the program was the in-house record label Rose Record, which celebrated its tenth anniversary this year. The label allowed students to work in different departments, from engineering entire records or singles, radio promotion and distribution, voting on potential clients, or as the potential artist working with the company. The website for the label states its mission is to “develop an elite catalog and promote original music by creating and collaborating through the innovations of rising talent,” something of critical importance that is now lost with the decision to close the institution.

    The music program required internships, setting students up in some of the top cities in the industry, including Nashville, New York City, Boston, Seattle, San Francisco, and more. Another interesting about the Music Industry program was the senior Capstone, where students create a full-length CD written, produced, engineered, performed, and recorded in the Saints and Sinners Recording Studio. Alumni of the State Rose program went on to work at various places, including Equal Vision Records, Hopeless Records, SONY, ASCAP, Universal, and more.

    The past few years took a toll on the program, with several cuts and faculty changes. News 10 in Albany reported that alumni and adjunct professor at the college, Kelly Bird, is looking into trying to save the Hearst Communications Center, turning it into an independent center.

    One of the biggest losses, besides the music program itself, is the loss of the beautiful and acoustically superior Massry Center for the Arts. It was a creative showcase not only for the Saint Rose community, but for distinguished artists, musicians, vocalists, and orchestras from around the world, featuring 46,000 square feet. Picotte Recital Hall featured geothermal heating and cooling helping to make it more energy-efficient than a comparable, conventionally constructed building. Unfortunately, the venue hadn’t had performances since COVID, leaving the venue now to collect dust until people buy it.

    The College of Saint Rose’s Music Business and Music Industry programs set up many for success, teaching students valuable production, songwriting, management, and business skills to help them in the difficult music industry. Unfortunately, such an outstanding program is being lost with the closure of the institution, and hopefully, those in the program can find another equally good institution to finish their studies.

  • Bowery Electric Announces Return of 20th Annual New Year’s Hank-O-Rama

    The 20th annual Hank-O-Rama festival, celebrating the musical life of Hank Williams, will be held at Bowery Electric on New Year’s Day.

    Hank Williams will be celebrated at the Hank-O-Rama show 71 years after his death. Williams is regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century. He recorded 55 singles that reached the top ten of the Billboard Country & Western Best Sellers chart, including 12 that reached No. 1.

    Hank Williams was just 29 when he was found dead in the back seat of his Cadillac on the morning of Jan. 1, 1953, in Oak Hill, WV, en route to a New Year’s Day gig in Canton, Ohio. The Hank-O-Rama celebration is a symbolic rain date for the last show Williams would ever miss. September 17, 2023, was the 100 anniversary of his birth.

    The show features more than 30 of Williams’s hits and rarities, including “Cold, Cold Heart,” “Hey, Good Lookin’,” “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” and many others, performed live by recording artists and Hank-O-Rama founders The Lonesome Prairie Dogs.

    Special guest vocalists include Tammy Faye Starlite, Tom Clark, Elena Skye & Boo Reiners of the Demolition String Band, Jack Grace, Monica Lil’ Mo Passim, Cliff Westfall, Sean Kershaw, Mony Falcone, and other stars of the NYC & Brooklyn country firmament. 

    Hank-O-Rama will also include The Lonesome Horns featuring trumpeters Jordan McLean & Billy Aukstik, with original horn arrangements for Williams’s “Ramblin’ Man,” “Alone and Foresaken,” and others.

    Tickets for Hank-O at the Bowery Electric are $15 in advance, $20.00 at the door. Doors open at 6:30, music at 7:00. 

  • In Focus: Lespecial rages Buffalo Iron Works with strong support from Grub

    Lespecial’s Odd Times Tour stopped in to play Buffalo Iron Works Dec 06, 2023 to an eager and packed house. Opening for Lespecial this night and next on tour is Grub. Grub, a Niagara Falls based band are well known to the Western New York music scene and beyond for their high energy flowing Psych Rock jams.

    Grub took to the stage and wasted no time jumping right into their set. The spacy, angelic, bass thumping, drum driving songs filled the room to a very engaged crowd all night from the very first song on. There is no surprise why this band has a continually growing fan base.

    The trio is made up of Zack Tilton – Guitar/Vocals/Synth/Samples, Nick Woodcock – Bass/Vocals/Synth, and Ryan Henderson – Drums/Samples.

    Lespecial are no strangers bringing the house down with their building shaking, body pounding and air ripping sound. And that’s exactly what they did all night. Right from the start they came out hard and fast. The crowd took notice and kept right up with them dancing and cheering. Some almost seemingly ready to mosh with the energy so high.

    This prog-tronic Power Trio is made up of Luke Bemand – Bass/Synth/Percussion/Vocals. Jonathan Grusauskas – Guitar/Synth/Sampler/Percussion/Vocals. Rory Dolan – Drums/Sampler/Percussion/Vocals

    Setlist: Lungs of the Planet, Snells Fleet, Jackwise, Fear the Djinn, Repeater, Machine Elf, Homieverse, Whats Crappenin’, DGH II (FT Noah Fense), What’s the Use (FT Noah Fense), Fruit Wolf Dance, I Might Be Wrong, Rays, Onlookers, Chird, Chromakey, The Vessel, They Live
    Encore: Tonberry