“Well, my mom really started buying me albums before I really knew to buy albums, so that’s kind of a gray area for me.
I remember that my first albums were classical. But when I was eight or nine years old, I discovered Doug Kershaw and Johnny Cash, and my mom started buying their albums for me.
We both liked those two artists quite a lot.”
Genre-smashing violinist Mark O’Connor teams up with classical guitarist Sharon Isbin in concert at The Egg in Albany at 3pm Sunday.
If you happen to find yourself at home on Sunday, you might want to check out a couple of marvelous music shows that are slated to be broadcast by WMHT-TV:
5pm Sunday: “Independent Lens: Young@Heart”
A delightful 2007 documentary about the Young@Heart Chorus, an inspiring vocal group of Western Massachusetts senior citizens, whose repertoire consists of such songs as James Brown’s “I Feel Good,” the Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” the Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated” and Sonic Youth’s “Schizophrenia.”
9pm Sunday: “Great Performances: Pete Seeger’s 90th Birthday Celebration From Madison Square Garden”
A gala celebration and all-star concert honoring legendary folk singer Pete Seeger on his 90th birthday – May 3, 2009 – featuring Bruce Springsteen, Peggy Seeger, John Mellencamp, Roger McGuinn, Dave Matthews, Taj Mahal, Kris Kristofferson, Ani DiFranco, Emmylou Harris, more. (The broadcast will be co-hosted by Nippertown’s own Michael Eck.)
NOTE: As a public service, we here at Nippertown.com would also like to warn you that in between those two fabulous shows, WMHT-TV will be broadcasting “Michael Bolton at Royal Albert Hall” at 7:30pm, providing you with the perfect opportunity to take some time off for a quiet Sunday dinner.
David Calarco
Last Friday night one of the area’s premier jazz clubs was converted into a makeshift recording studio – complete with a Grammy-winning sound engineer behind the huge mixing board that straddled at least two tables at Justin’s Savoy Room.
Bandleader David Calarco sat patiently behind the drum kit, holding his sticks and eager to launch into the first number. Recording engineer Malcolm Cecil and the two video camera operators were exchanging last minute words with session-leader Ron Petrides, his electric hollow-body guitar hanging around his neck. The third member of the ensemble John Menegon stood nearby holding his upright acoustic bass and listening intently.
First, the College of Saint Rose and The Times Union teamed up to sponsor a battle of the bands that they’ve dubbed “Garage to Glory.”
Now the Saratoga Performing Arts Center has teamed up with WEQX-FM for its own battle of the bands, which they’ve dubbed “SPAC Battle of the Bands.”
Today marks the beginning of St. Patrick’s Day. (If you still think that St. Patrick’s Day is just a one-day celebration, well, then you probably haven’t lived here in O’Nippertown very long, have you?)
NOTE: Please be careful out there. And, oh yeah, stay away from the green beer and stick with the Guinness, will ya?
So, here’s a little round-up of where to go to hear some great Celtic music between now and Wednesday. If anyone has any other suggestions, please bring ‘em on:
TONIGHT
Emerald Dawn @ the Irish Mist, Troy (6pm)
Grada, Sarah the Fiddler @ the Iron Horse Music Hall, Northampton, Mass. (7pm)
Altan @ the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy (8pm)
The Band of the Irish Guard @ Proctors, Schenectady (8pm)
St. James Gate @ the Bread & Jam Cafe, Cohoes 8pm)
Who’s Your Paddy @ McIntyre’s, Watervliet (8pm)
Hair of the Dog @ Christ Our Light Church, Colonie
Searson @ the Parting Glass, Saratoga Springs (9pm)
The Fighting 86’s @ the Irish Times, Saratoga Springs (9:30pm)
Malcolm Cecil at Justin's on March 5, 2010. Photo by Andrzej Pilarczyk
If you were at Justin’s in Albany last Friday night, you probably noticed the white-haired gentleman crouched over the over-sized mixing board. While jazz guitar master Ron Petrides was firing up his six-string alongside dynamic Castleton drummer David Calarco and bassist extraordinaire John Menegon, engineer Malcolm Cecil was busy recording and filming the evening’s musical magic for an upcoming live DVD release.
This Saturday night, Cecil will take off his headphones, pick up his bass and step into the spotlight to join Petrides and cellist Garfield Moore as they kick off the 2010 concert season at the Sand Lake Center for the Arts in Averill Park. The trio calls themselves SuperStringz.
But that’s only the latest chapter in the long and revolutionary musical career of London-born Malcolm Cecil.
Popsy Dixon, Sherman Holmes and Wendell Holmes
The members of opening act Scrapomatic settled into their chairs onstage at The Egg. Vocalist Mike Mattison thanked the headliners not only for the opportunity to share a stage with them, but also for their dedication to keeping the American music tradition alive.
“Here’s a song that we wrote,” Mattison added. “It’s called ‘Louisiana Anna.’ 1,2…”
Suddenly, his introduction was interrupted by the intrusive ring tone of a cell phone. While members of the crowd began casting accusatory glances at their fellow audience members, Mattison sheepishly reached into his shirt pocket, pulled out his cell phone, turned it off and put it away.
Not exactly an auspicious beginning…
But wait, there’s more…
We’re giving away a pair of tickets to see Altan @ The Troy Savings Bank Music Hall on Friday and we’re choosing the winner this afternoon!
Congratulations to Lorre S, who won a pair of free tickets to see Altan tomorrow (Friday) at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall.
We still have a contest running to see Sisters in Soul, featuring Marcia Ball, Bettye LaVette and Maria Muldaur at the Music Hall on Sunday. And we’ll have more contests next week, so be sure to stop back.
Bettye Lavette at the Freihofer’s Jazz Festival in 2009 (photo by Andrzej Pilarczyk)
“‘Rockin’ Robin.’ I thought that was the best-sounding song I’d ever heard in my entire life. I guess I was 11.
It’s interesting that you say ‘bought,’ because we had a jukebox in our house, so for many years I didn’t have to buy any records. All the popular records were on the jukebox. It was so pretty. My family didn’t know that everything old was going to be new again, so it just went by the way.”
The sublime veteran soul singer Bettye LaVette will team up with Maria Muldaur and Marcia Ball for the “Sisters in Soul” concert at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy at 7pm on Sunday.
NOTE: We here at Nippertown.com are very excited about this concert, and we’re giving away a pair of tix for the show. Just go here for details…
Personally, we think the idea of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is ridiculous. Rock and roll ain’t baseball, boys and girls. You can’t boil it down to statistics. It ain’t all about the hits.
Or at least, it shouldn’t be. I mean, really, if there were even a smidge of justice in the world, NRBQ would have been inducted years ago, right? Lenny Kaye? Don’t get me started…
But with this year’s induction ceremony looming on Monday night, we decided to take a look back at the Hall of Fame’s 25-year history, as encapsulated on the 9-DVD box set, “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Live,” from Time Life Entertainment. There’s also a more general-consumer-friendly 3-DVD version, as well as an obsessive-only 14-DVD-and-book set (which still doesn’t include any of the omitted performances that are noted later in this story). We decided to take the middle ground.
NAME: Mary McCaslin
INSTRUMENT: Guitar, banjo
1. THE FIRST ALBUM I EVER BOUGHT WAS … Marty Robbins’ “Gunfighter Ballads & Trail Songs” (Vol. 1 – followed by Vol. 2)
2. THE FIRST CONCERT THAT I EVER SAW WAS … Marty Robbins
3. THE FIRST MUSICAL INSTRUMENT I EVER OWNED OR PLAYED WAS … an accordion!! (Took up guitar at age 15 – accordion taught me rudimentary music theory)
4. THE FIRST SONG THAT I EVER PERFORMED IN PUBLIC WAS … “Beautiful Brown Eyes”
5. THE FIRST BAND I WAS EVER IN WAS … solo / Mary McCaslin
Mary McCaslin returns to the stage at Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs at 8pm Friday, as the coffeehouse continues its Decades Concert series in celebration of the Caffe’s 50th anniversary. McCaslin will team up with Garnet Rogers to represent the ’80s.
What do Jimi Hendrix, the Troggs, reggae star Sister Carol, comedian Sam Kinison, LA punk pioneers X, Cheap Trick, Hank Williams, Jr. and a host of other musicians over the past almost half century have in common?
All of them have performed and recorded singer-songwriter Chip Taylor’s seminal 1960’s hit, “Wild Thing.”
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