LIVE: Rhythm On the Ridge @ Maple Ski Ridge, 6/8&9/13

June 17th, 2013, 4:00 pm by Greg
The Lazy Suns

The Lazy Suns

Review and photographs by Stanley Johnson

My first trip to the Maple Ski Ridge in Rotterdam came with the realization that, although I had never been there, I had seen the place many times from a distance at various locations in Schenectady. So it was with a kind of déjà vu that I made a pretty easy trip (four left turns from the I-88 exit on the Thruway) to the small but spectacular ski center for the fifth annual Rhythm on the Ridge Roots Music Festival last weekend.

The first things I saw on the way were the many piles of branches and broken trees from the recent tornado damage. As we pulled into the festival lot, my next thought was, “Where are all the people?” Well, it had been a very wet week and initial weather forecasts had called for a wet Saturday as well. But it didn’t rain: in fact, within an hour of arrival we had a patch of blue sky overhead. The ground was very soggy but not muddy. There were probably less than a hundred spectators, many of whom were musicians.

Perhaps the attendance was limited by the completely local line-up of American roots musicians without any big name headliners, and perhaps American roots music is too much of a niche genre to draw big crowds, but I think a lot of people just plain missed the ski lift on this one.

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Mick Fleetwood, What Was the First Album You Ever Bought?

June 17th, 2013, 3:00 pm by Greg
Mick Fleetwood

Mick Fleetwood

“It was probably the Everly Brothers, I think. Yes, probably the Everly Brothers. Or if not them, then it might have been something by Cliff Richard & the Shadows.

“But the first music that I ever remember hearing was broadcast from a commercial radio station in Luxembourg. I used to listen to it on an old crystal radio set.”

Mick Fleetwood slips behind the drums once again at 8pm on Wednesday (June 19) to fuel mega-platinum rockers Fleetwood Mac in their return to the Times Union Center in Albany. Tickets are $37.50, $65, $95 & $125.

Song o’ the Week: Pete Donnelly’s “Face the Bird”

June 17th, 2013, 2:00 pm by Greg

Here’s a slightly belated Father’s Day present for you from rock ‘n’ roll dad, Pete Donnelly of the Figgs. Donnelly’s band in this Geoffray Barbier-directed video just happen to be his own kids – ages two, four and seven. The song is the title track of Donnelly’s upcoming sophomore album, due out later this summer…

Tanglewood Copies Mass MoCA: To Screen “West Side Story” with BSO Playing Bernstein’s Score [Berkshire on Stage]

June 17th, 2013, 1:00 pm by Sara
The screen in Tanglewood’s Music Shed rivals that of most movie theatres.

The screen in Tanglewood’s Music Shed rivals that of most movie theatres.

By Larry Murray

When it comes to the Berkshires, change comes slowly, and most of our rural sophisticates eschew outright one-upmanship but there seems to be a subtle, and wonderful, rivalry developing between the BSO’s Tanglewood and Mass MoCA.

Before Wilco became the highlight of the Mass MoCA summer, they played at Tanglewood’s shed, with the ushers getting all upset when some attendees started dancing in the aisles. Mass MoCA welcomed the energetic rockers to their campus, and it has morphed into the fabulously successful Solid Sound Festival. I estimate, with a near capacity audience of 9,000 or so, that it is a million dollar operation this year. Let ‘em dance anywhere they want!

Then there is Mass MoCA’s “Banglewood” festival each year when the Bang on a Can gang takes up residence at the museum to create dozens of new contemporary works while looking back at their greatest “hits” and offering an all-you-can-hear Musical Marathon. This year it takes place from July 15 to August 3. At Tanglewood, there has long been an important Contemporary Music Festival, this year August 8-12 and led by Pierre-Laurent Aimard, but it is older and some think too far off in twelve-tone belch-and-squawk land compared to the more rhythmic and melodic doin’s at Mass MoCA.

Click to read the rest at Berkshire on Stage.

INTERVIEW: Bill Payne: “It All Boils Down to Complete Freedom”

June 17th, 2013, 12:00 pm by Greg

Interview and story by Don Wilcock

“It took me 63 years to find my voice, quote, unquote, with regard to myself, not within a band,” says Bill Payne, the founding keyboardist of Little Feat, the enduring American band with a 40-plus year legacy. They performed at The Egg in early January, but on Tuesday (June 18), Payne returns as a solo act to WAMC-FM’s The Linda in Albany.

“I didn’t do any solo shows until a year ago,” he says. At that time he had Dennis McNally open for him. McNally was the long-time historian and publicist for the Grateful Dead who wrote the definitive biography of the band, “Long Strange Trip.”

There has been a long, psychic connection between the two bands that suddenly became more tangible last year when the Dead’s lyricist Robert Hunter began a songwriting collaborating with Payne.

When I interviewed Payne in December to advance Little Feat’s show at The Egg date I wrote, “Never as popular as the Dead, Little Feat is adored by critics and die-hard fans alike, and like the Dead, they retain their distinctive sound despite the comings and goings of various personnel. Payne and Hunter’s title track to Rooster Rag [Little Feat's latest album] sounds like a logical extension of Payne’s ’70s anthem “Oh Atlanta,” and the band’s high energy eclecticism remains a West Coast answer to New Orleans gumbo.” At that time, Payne had written 13 songs with Hunter.

Recently, we reconnected for this interview:

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Real Good for FREE: The Athens Summer Concert Series

June 17th, 2013, 11:00 am by Greg

The Athens Summer Concert Series is back again for another batch of excellent free shows in Athens’ Riverfront Park.

All concerts are scheduled to take place at 7pm on Fridays, and the series will kick off with the annual performance by David Malachowski & the Woodstock Allstars on Friday (June 21).

Here’s the schedule of shows for Athens Summer Concert Series all summer long:

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Five Firsts: James Frederick

June 17th, 2013, 10:00 am by Greg
James Frederick

James Frederick

NAME: James Frederick
INSTRUMENT: Guitar

1. THE FIRST ALBUM I EVER BOUGHT WAS … The Gin Blossoms’ New Miserable Experience. I also learned to play guitar by playing along to that album.

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6/17/13: Today’s Tips: Monday

June 17th, 2013, 8:00 am by Greg

MUSIC: Ramblin Jug Stompers @ McGeary’s Pub, Albany. Cousin Clyde, Bowtie, Mister Eck and Wild Bill serve up a dose of vintage back-porch Americana. 7pm. FREE.

MUSIC: The Lindsey Webster Band @ Club Helsinki, Hudson. In support of their new debut album. 8pm. FREE.

MUSIC: Biohazard @ Bogie’s, Albany. With Sworn Enemy, Born Low, Before the Betrayer, Trife Life, Here Is My Obituary and Peaks. 7pm. $15.

MUSIC: Your Demise @ Upstate Concert Hall, Clifton Park. With Expire, the Harrowing and Artisan. 7pm. $12. UPDATE: This show has been cancelled.

MUSIC: The Duke McVinnie Band @ the Bearsville Theater, Woodstock. McVinnie and his band – Jane Scarpantoni, Matthew Cullen, Manuel Quintana, Tom Goss and Colin Almquist – will be joined by special guests during their month-long Monday evening residency. 8pm. $10.

MUSIC: Katherine Winston @ the Lion’s Den, Stockbridge. Acoustic, jazz, country & indie. 8pm. FREE.

MUSIC: Acoustic Blues Song Swap @ Saratoga Springs Public Library, Saratoga Springs. Hosted by Low ‘n Lonesome. All interested are encouraged to bring an acoustic instrument and a blues song or two to share. 7pm. FREE.

FILM: “Rocky” @ Proctors’ Mainstage, Schenectady. It’s the one that started it all for Sylvester Stallone back in 1976. 2:30, 5 & 7:30pm. $5.

FILM: “The Manchurian Candidate” @ Proctors’ GE Theatre, Schenectady. Strange casting trivia: Although she plays his mother in this 1962 Cold War thriller, Angela Lansbury was only four years older than Laurence Harvey. 1:30, 4:30 & 7:30. $5.

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