Just three days after the release of her debut record When It All Goes Down, Sarah King received the news that she has thyroid cancer. After being told she’d need multiple surgeries beginning in July, she decided to schedule the first following the Grand Point North Festival so she could give her fans a proper “temporary farewell,” with her only full band show of the year.
Her first LP, When It All Goes Down, was released on March 29, 2024, to praise from everyone from American Songwriter to Brooklyn Vegan, The Bluegrass Situation, Glide Magazine, and many more.
Before her hiatus from performing Sarah King, who is based in Vermont, will appear at a handful of festivals, including the Wildflower Festival in Richardson, TX, on May 18 – 19. These will be her first performances since receiving the news.
“While I’m heartbroken not to have the year I’d hoped with this album, the songs will still be there for me when my voice and my body are healthy enough to take to the stage again,” says King, pointing out that while any cancer diagnosis is extremely frightening, having surgery so close to her vocal nerves causes additional anxiety.
King creates thought-provoking, versatile Americana music – touching on real-life emotions and situations, while drawing on classic folk-blues themes, balancing songs about the devil and booze with hard-won moments of reflection and acceptance.
The title track of When It All Goes Down was inspired by doctors not listening to women, seeming like she wrote the song to her future self, somehow knowing that she’d need to “stand up to the devil.”
The album is a testament to King’s strength, reflecting on when she lost her mother, first husband, and dog. Songs like the slow-burning “Stronger Than You’ll Ever Know” find her deftly navigating the hidden spaces between darkness and the light.
“My stories are folk stories,” says Sarah King. “Of the people, for the people, by the people (I’m a person). These are songs for folks who’ve lived through some sh*t and want some music that doesn’t shy away from that.”
For more information and to listen to When It All Goes Down, visit here.
The South Street Seaport Museum and Gaia Music Collective have announced the first event of Blue Mind Fest: a one-day choir event set to take place tomorrow. This will be the first of a series of performances throughout the year that focus on the impact that water has on our lives. These programs that will run throughout the year promise to focus on education, well-being, and sustainability.
The Gaia Music Collective, based in Brooklyn, is dedicated to creating accessible spaces for music making. In accordance with the theme, singers of all levels are invited to sing the song “Water” by singer songwriter Tyla. In light of Gaia’s dedication to inclusivity, singers of all levels are welcome.
This first event of Blue Mind Fest will begin with a rehearsal in the hull of the 1885 ship Wavertree. As the experience progresses, the choir will move to the main deck to perform. The South Street Seaport Museum features collections of art, galleries, and artifacts preserving New York’s history as a port city. The Seaport Museum offers excellent opportunities to learn about New York’s history as a port city. PIX11 News explored the South Seaport Museum and discussed its mission with the museum president.
Proceeds from Blue Mind Fest will be split between the Gaia Music Collective and the South Street Seaport. Tickets start at $1, but a donation of $11-$30 is suggested. This event will be held on Saturday, May 18, from 3-6 PM. Advanced registration is required, and a beverage is included with the ticket.
The House passed the Transparency in Charges for Key Events Ticketing Act on Wednesday to increase consumer price transparency with great praise from organizations such as NIVA and Fix The Tix Coalition.
According to NBC, the TICKET Act would require sellers to list the ticket cost to buyers, including fees. They would also have to disclose whether the tickets they are selling are not in their possession and provide refunds if an event is canceled. It was first introduced by Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., in June 2023.
The act is one of several recent efforts to curb unfair practices in the ticketing industry. A group of bipartisan senators also introduced the Fans First Act in December, increasing cost transparency and preventing resellers from listing tickets at high prices. Since the Eras Tour incident in 2022, lawmakers have sought to address consumer discontent toward the ticketing industry.
The National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) and the Fix The Tix Coalition applauded the act’s passage. They are calling on the Senate to pass S. 3457, the Fans First Act, which has additional provisions to ban fake tickets, to ensure that deceptive imagery on websites does not trick consumers, to increase mandatory reporting of illegal BOTS, to require clear itemizations of ticket prices and fees at the beginning, and to provide meaningful enforcement of these provisions.
We commend House passage of H.R. 3950, the TICKET Act, which will help to improve the ticket buying experience for fans, to protect the livelihoods of artists, and to preserve independent venues across the nation. Not only has the U.S. House of Representatives moved to protect consumers from predatory and deceptive ticketing practices, but states across the country, including Arizona, Maryland, Minnesota and Nevada, have recently banned, without exception, speculative tickets on a bipartisan basis. We call on Congress to do the same, to build on the act and adopt strong, enforceable, comprehensive ticketing reform legislation like the Fans First Act.
Stephen Parker, Executive Director of the National Independent Venue Association.
Fix The Tix Coalition also applauds the act saying, “The bill provides transparency with all-in pricing and takes important steps to combat speculative tickets and deceptive websites. We urge the Senate to build on this progress by strengthening these provisions, increasing enforcement of the BOTS Act, and providing additional avenues of enforcement to combat predatory and deceptive ticketing practices. The live entertainment ecosystem is counting on Congress to act in the best interests of fans to restore transparency and trust to our countryâs broken ticketing system.”
This September, author Daniel Rachel will stop in Manhattan and Saugerties to celebrate the US release of his book Too Much Too Young. Akashic Books will release the British best-seller for American audiences on June 4th.
Too Much Too Young: The 2 Tone Records Story is a definitive history of the British Ska scene of the 1970s and 80s. The book discusses Ska’s Caribbean island origins, and how British Youth conquered the airways with it throughout the 1980s. This 2 Tone scene was a multi-racial movement using ska as a vehicle to fight racism, right wing extremism and other social issues of Thatcher-era England.
Rachel’s book is a modern classic of music history, receiving praise from critics and musicians alike. The book features interviews with members of legendary ska groups, like The Beat, Madness, and The Specials, giving it a very grounded, informative and intimate feeling. Additionally, the book features an introduction by Pauline Black, lead singer of the 2 Tone band The Selecter.
A brilliant book and a fitting account of one of British culture’s most epochal moments.
Nothing is left out of this definitive book.”
– The Wire
Before his writing career, Rachel had a fruitful music career. He began as lead singer of the Birmingham Britpop group Rachels Basement, before launching a successful solo folk-pop career. Since 2013, Rachel has focused on his writings, which have covered topics throughout British music history. Whether they are about Ska, Britpop or David Bowie, his books have garnered much critical praise. Too Much Too Young has been especially successful, being named book of the year by The Sunday Times, Louder Than War and many other publications.
To celebrate the release of his book in the US, Rachel is planning a cross-country book tour. The tour is set to begin on August 23 in Los Angeles, featuring an interview with Specials guitarist Lynval Golding. This book tour includes two New York locations, with stops in Saugerties and Manhattan. On Monday, September 9, the tour will stop at Saugerties’s Orpheum Theatre. On Thursday, September 12, the tour will stop at Rough Trade’s NYC store in Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center.
For more information on the book’s release and tour dates, visit the Akashic Books website here.
The Blues Society, directed by Dr. Augusta Palmer, will have a week-long run of screenings at Firehouse Cinema in NYC from Friday, May 24 through Thursday, May 30. Dr. Palmer is attending select screenings to introduce the film and conduct a Q&A session afterward.
This feature-length documentary reevaluates the life of the Memphis Country Blues Festival through the lens of race, the counterculture of the ‘60s, and the genre of Memphis blues. It includes interviews with a diverse cast of festival participants and commentators like Dom Flemons, Zandria Robinson, Jamey Hatley, Jim Dickinson, Sid Selvidge, Nancy Jeffries, and the words of Bob Palmer as voiced by Eric Roberts.
The Memphis Country Blues Festival (1966-1969) all started with a $65 check, a ball of hashish, and a bunch of white bohemians who set out to rediscover forgotten bluesmen of the early 20th century.
“I didn’t want to just make a concert film,” said director Augusta Palmer. “I loved the arc of the story. The initial stake was guitarist Bill Barth’s baseball-size chunk of hash and guitarist Jim Dickinson’s sixty-five-dollar check from a Sun Studios session. It was white and black musicians playing together during the height of the civil rights era. The KKK held a rally in that same public park a few days before. I wanted to understand what this moment meant to the people involved.”
The film follows the festival from its start in 1966 as an impromptu happening, through a period of cross-pollinization with New York’s East Village scene, and up to the 1969 festival, which mushroomed into a three-day event. It garnered substantial print and television coverage, including an appearance on Steve Allen’s national PBS show, Sounds of Summer.
Dr. Augusta Palmer. Photo by Paul Reuter.
The Blues Society tells the story of blues masters like Furry Lewis, Nathan Beauregard, and Rev. Robert Wilkins—who had attained fame in the 1920s and 1930s but lived in obscurity by the 1960s. It’s also the story of a group of white artists from the North and the South who created a celebration of African American music in a highly segregated city.
The film’s genesis began as a family affair for director Dr. Augusta Palmer. She grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, went to Rhodes College in Memphis, and Sarah Lawrence College, before settling in Brooklyn. Her father, Robert Palmer, was a founding organizer and player in the festival, and her mother was also there tearing tickets.
“I officially started working on this film in 2016,” she said, “but you could say I’ve been working on it for all my life. When that woman makes a speech at the end, where she’s saying, ‘Why can’t you just pay for your tickets people?’ to people who snuck in. That’s my mom. She was pregnant with me when she made that speech. So, I kind of went to the 1969 Memphis Country Blues Festival. I didn’t know my dad very well until I was a teenager, but this festival was a big part of his life.”
Robert Palmer later went on to become a music critic for the New York Times and Rolling Stone and authored the seminal blues history book Deep Blues—which in turn inspired the 1991 documentary Deep Blues: A Musical Pilgrimage to the Crossroads.
Music executive and Memphis Country Blues Fest organizer Nancy Jeffries was approached by Gene Rosenthal with 16mm footage of Memphis Country Blues Festival that he shot and kept in his basement. Jeffries brought Palmer on board after seeing her feature film The Hand of Fatima. They began developing the film in 2013, but the project stagnated due to rights issues and conflicting ideas on what this film should be. A few years later, Fat Possum Records bought the footage and put together the 2019 concert film Memphis ’69: The 1969 Memphis Country Blues Festival, and were generous enough to offer her access to the footage.
Palmer made it a point to bring in diverse voices to give this film a historical context. Memphis writer and filmmaker Jamie Hatley talked about when she wanted to separate herself from images of poverty in the blues, and that it took her a while to come around to appreciating the genre. Henry Nelson, a black man from West Memphis, Arkansas, hoped he could get a ride to Woodstock, but wound up at the Memphis Country Blues Festival. Don Flemons discussed how the blues lost its appeal for young African Americans as we move into the more radical Black Panther era.
We all love the idea that music conquers all. Everyone can appreciate the blues music in this film, but love for this music didn’t cure white supremacy, and white blues fans were part of a power structure that took advantage of black artists. I love the enthusiasm of that white hippy idealism, but the rules were much more stringent back then. There were segregated bathrooms for employees at the bandshell. Racial inequality has become more and more clear to the nation since the pandemic. We’ve come a long way, but still have a long way to go.
Augusta Palmer
The Blues Society premiered Indie Memphis and won the Audience Award, won best Doc Feature at the Oxford Film Festival, and will have theatrical runs in New York City, Memphis, Columbus, Ohio, and Portland before being released to streaming services this summer.
Tickets for its New York City run are available now.
The last round of artists has been added to tomorrow night’s tribute to the music of Crosby, Stills & Nash at Carnegie Hall. Steve Earle, Guster, A.C. Newman (of the New Pornographers), and Sarah Jarosz are set to join a star-studded lineup that will pay tribute to the iconic rock band. The show is also set to raise proceeds to support music education for kids.
It promises to be another successful Music Of tribute concert, produced by Michael Dorf Presents. This last round of artists will combine with Todd Rundgren, Grace Potter, Taylor Meier of Caamp, Yola, Iron & Wine, Rickie Lee Jones, Joseph, Shawn Colvin, Real Estate, Aoife O’Donovan, Neal Francis, and Sammy Rae of Sammy Rae & The Friends to bring their interpretations of both Crosby, Stills & Nash and their respective solo careers to Carnegie Hall.
The evening will also feature a special performance by Music Will (formerly Little Kids Rock), a beneficiary of the Music Of Series, further highlighting the series’ commitment to support music education initiatives for children across communities.
To be a part of this incredible evening at Carnegie Hall, celebrating the music that David, Stephen, and I created together, is a profound honor. I look forward to seeing a diverse and talented group of artists perform our songs. Music has always been about connection, about sharing stories and emotions that resonate with each other. This event allows us to relive those connections and support a cause close to our hearts—music education.
~ Graham Nash
With Nash scheduled to be in attendance, the concert’s performances will be anchored by a house band of remarkable talent, led by Todd Caldwell and featuring Adam Minkoff, Michelle Willis, Thad DeBrock, Chris Bruce, and Josh Dion. Founder of the Music Of series, Michael Dorf notes, “This extraordinary lineup coming together to celebrate the enduring music of Crosby, Stills & Nash at Carnegie Hall is truly remarkable. It’s not just about paying homage to these icons; it’s about investing in the future of music and ensuring that every child has the opportunity to explore the transformative power of music.”
Tickets and VIP Packages are currently available at musicof.org
Caroga Arts Collective announced they are receiving a grant award totaling $850,000 from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) to support the construction of a year-round artists’ lodge at Myhill as part of the Sherman’s Legacy Campaign.
Myhill Lodge Performance Hall rendering by Steven Smith.
This grant is part of a capital project funding announcement by NYSCA, totalling over $32 million for 102 capital projects across New York State. At Myhill, Caroga Arts Collective will construct a lodge, including eight bedrooms, four baths, a large wing, and a basement. The plan will provide needed living space, practice space, dining, kitchen, bedrooms, administrative workspace, rehearsal/performance space, and more.
The mission of Caroga Arts Collective is to reimagine the Adirondack experience through the power of the arts. Founded in 2012, Caroga Arts presents over 50 performances and community events each year, welcoming more than 150 artists to the Southern Adirondacks. They focus on revitalizing the region through community outreach, partnerships with local businesses and non-profit organizations, and arts education programming for youth and adults.
“The over 100 projects we’re supporting through this funding will showcase arts and cultural organizations across the state and spur economic development for decades to come,” Governor Hochul said. “From historic sites to new multi-use arts centers, these diverse projects will expand the accessibility and the sustainability of arts and culture organizations while growing local economies, driving tourism and creating jobs all across New York State.”
Recently, the 2024 Caroga Lake Music Festival lineup was announced, featuring over 150 world-class artists and 40 performances. Among the artists appearing this summer is future hall-of-fame guitarist, Cory Wong on July 30. This event will be unique and rare with Wong performing “unplugged” tunes with an intimate string section, and interspersed conversation about his life/music making between pieces. Moreover, a special raffle drawing for a Limited Edition Fender guitar, The Cory Wong Stratocaster (case included), signed by Cory Wong himself will be held.
We are incredibly grateful to the New York State Council on the Arts for their support of constructing a year round multi-use lodge at Myhill as part of our Sherman’s Legacy Campaign. This grant will help us create the supporting infrastructure for year round engagement and programs in Caroga Lake and surrounding regions thus helping further our mission of reimagining the Adirondack experience through the power of the arts.
Kyle Barrett Price, Founder, Executive and Artistic Director of the Caroga Arts Collective.
The Sherman’s Legacy Campaign will help Caroga Arts revitalize Sherman’s Park and the Myhill Campus into an Adirondack vacation destination where music, arts, community, and culture flourish. Constructing an artists’ residential lodge is part of the project’s first phase, which also includes the creation of a state-of-the-art amphitheater.
NYSCA Executive Director Erika Mallin said, “We are grateful to Governor Hochul and the Legislature for their support. These projects are essential to the prosperity and well-being of our creative industry and our communities, especially as we continue to navigate the recovery of our creative sector. This support will help stimulate local economies, catalyze investment in our communities, and help to ensure the vibrancy of our cultural organizations for now and for the future. Congratulations to Caroga Arts Collective, NYSCA is a proud supporter of your contributions to New York’s arts and culture.”
For more information about Caroga Arts, visit here.
Stop Zena Development Coalition is organizing a family-friendly event to bring awareness to the importance of protecting the wild spaces surrounding Woodstock that are being proposed for development with the Woodstock Walk & Rock: A Benefit to Save Our Forest on June 15 at 11 a.m.
Woodstock Walk & Rock: A Benefit to Save Our Forest will take place in the heart of the village. The event is a peaceful walk from the Woodstock Playhouse to the Colony’s outdoor event space, culminating with an eco-conscious puppetry performance by Arm-of-the-Sea Theater at 1 p.m.
Stop Zena Development is a partnership between the Woodstock Land Conservancy, environmental activists and nonprofit entities. The coalition believes the proposed development by Zena Development LLC (formerly Woodstock National LLC) will negatively impact the habitat in the eastern Catskills region. The project includes land designated a “Critical Environmental Area (CEA)” by NYSDEC because of its importance to protect water resources and habitat protection and diversity.
We designed Walk & Rock to encourage families to join our effort to save the Zena Woods. Habitat loss can give children a feeling of despair and helplessness. Being a part of a walk-a-thon to save a local forest gives children a voice in what happens to their future. By proactively engaging in a local issue, helplessness is replaced with empowerment.
Susan Paynter, environmental activist and co-chair of the coalition.
Attendees will kick off the half-mile walk at the Woodstock Playhouse (103 Mill Hill Road). The group will walk up Mill Hill Road ending at the Colony (22 Rock City Road). Those who can’t participate in the walk can still join the group at the end. There, guests will enjoy a puppet show by the acclaimed Arm-of-the-Sea Theater, a mask and puppet theater company based in Saugerties that combines art, ecology, and social action in its performances.
The event is a follow-up to the coalition’s sold-out benefit last October, a concert featuring resident and nationally acclaimed musician Marco Benevento & Friends, which applied pressure to the Zena Development Group (formerly Woodstock National). This and other grassroots activism campaigns stopped previously proposed development by the firm, such as an 18-hole golf course with a helipad.
Advance tickets are available for $15 starting May 10 (free for children 12 and under) and can be purchased here. There will be full-price tickets for sale at the Playhouse for $20 on the morning of the walk. Commemorative T-shirts will also be available for purchase. The event is positive-weather only; in the event of inclement weather, updates will be announced by 6 a.m. day-of on the website and social media, with a rain date TBD.
Sonya Cohen Cramer (1965-2015), the singular vocalist, graphic designer, and art director is being honored again with the new track “When I Was Most Beautiful,” ahead of the first-ever collection dedicated fully to her music, You’ve Been a Friend to Me, releasing on May 17 via Smithsonian Folkways.
Sonya Cohen Cramer was raised in a family committed to revitalizing the oldest songs of the American musical canon. Like her father John Cohen of The New Lost City Ramblers and her mother Penny Seeger, she believed in the transformative qualities of folk songs and traditional ballads. She has collaborated with her aunt Peggy Seeger, uncle Pete Seeger, Elizabeth Mitchell, Daniel Littleton, and the folk-fusion group Last Forever. She was the granddaughter of musicologist Charles Seeger and the avant-garde composer Ruth Crawford Seeger, and her godfather was Folkways founder Moe Asch. While shaped by the roots of her family tree, the radiating and clear sound of Cramer’s voice is distinctly her own.
Known mainly for her graphic design work for Folkways, her musicianship during her time in the New York Times-acclaimed folk band Last Forever (featuring composer and producer Dick Connette) was admired by the likes of Jeff Buckley, Loudon Wainwright III, Meredith Monk, and Joe Boyd. The upcoming project reveals her life as both a familial and mission symbol of the Folkways ethos, committed to revitalizing the oldest songs of Folkways Records and the American musical canon.
“When I Was Most Beautiful” incorporates lyrics from a poem Pete Seeger found while on tour in Japan in 1967 and got permission to record in the 60s for Columbia Records. Seeger accompanies Sonya on guitar for this version. The two performed this anti-war tune together at the Library of Congress in 2007.
For more information about Sonya Cohen Cramer visit here.
After an extraordinary 30-year career with the Bardavon, Chris Silva is set to retire as Executive Director on December 31, 2024.
Bardavon, photo by Tim Lee.
Arts Consulting Group will facilitate a national search for a new Executive Director. Board members and full-time Bardavon employees will aid in ensuring that the new Executive Director continues the transformational momentum of Bardavon & UPAC that began over three decades ago.
Stephen LaMarca, Managing Director of Theatre Production, joined Bardavon full-time in 1994 and will retire in December. AnnMarie Faust, Managing Director of Finance, joined Silva and LaMarca the same year and retired in March 2024.
The trio operated as a dynamic and successful team for over three decades. Together, they accomplished much, including twenty-two million dollars in capital renovations between the two historic theaters. In addition, nearly three million patrons have attended Bardavon-produced events over the last thirty years and some of the world’s greatest artists have graced the stages; from Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, and Carlos Santana to Al Pacino, John Legend, Jon Batiste and Yo-Yo Ma. The Bardavon/UPAC education programs routinely reach 20,000 young people every year.
Silva and LaMarca will remain involved with the Bardavon as program consultants and will work directly with the new Executive Director. While they will no longer oversee daily operations, “…we are fortunate to have a great staff, and aspects of all our jobs have been or are being absorbed by our team right now,” Silva stated. He is confident of the organization’s future success with the staff and board they have curated and the dedication they have instilled into the foundation of the Bardavon since 1994.
For information about the Executive Director position opening, visit here.
