Archive for the ‘LIVE’ Category
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010
Usually if someone mentions the classical harp, one of two visions immediately springs to mind – winged angels or the mischievous Harpo Marx.
But when two lovely young blond women in little black dresses walk up onto the stage and each nestle a towering harp in the crook of their neck, you definitely don’t expect to hear them launch into the Metallica songbook.
Not in a recital hall. And not in a bar. But that’s what happened on Wednesday evening at the Judge’s Inn in Troy. Ashley Toman and Mollie Marcuson are either the baddest girls in the classical music world, or they’re the most sophisticated headbangers around.
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Tags: Harptallica, The Judge's Inn, Troy
Posted in LIVE | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010
Chicago indie rock experimentalists Califone have a sweeping cinematic sound that utilizes a broad sonic and stylistic pallette that stretches from raw, rural country to dense urban cacophony.
Which makes them an ideal band to lend their live musical performance to a film. What sets “All My Friends Are Funeral Singers” apart from the pack of musicians who have conjured up live soundtracks to films is that Califone singer-guitarist-bandleader Tim Rutili wrote and directed the feature-length film.
In other words, Califone’s music was custom-made for the movie. Or is it the other way around?
Whichever, it’s a hand-in-glove perfect fit.
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Tags: Califone, MASS Moca, North Adams, Tim Rutili
Posted in Film/TV/DVD, LIVE, Music | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010
Joe Barna and Sketches of Influence (photo by Andrzej Pilarczyk)
Yes, it’s sad, sad news that the
Bread & Jam Cafe in Cohoes will be shuttering its doors for good on Friday. (
Read more here.)
But we also have a warm feeling in our hearts for the efforts made by owner Salvatore Prizio and all of the fine folks who made it such a great place for the past two years.
And of course, we also have some great musical memories. Here are reviews/photos from some of our fave Bread & Jam Cafe shows:
Tern Rounders’ Moonlight Jamboree (July 17, 2010)
Keith Kane, Population 2 (May 28, 2010)
Joe Barna & Sketches of Influence (April 2, 2010)
Bryan Thomas, Julia Brown (March 19, 2010)
Joe Barna & Sketches of Influence (August 17, 2009)
heARTS aligned (June 20, 2009)
Tags: Bread & Jam Cafe, Cohoes
Posted in Flashback, LIVE, Music | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, August 31st, 2010
Spectators stood for miles wrapped around the steep sloop and cheering on their favorites as riders literally flew over their heads at the Mountain Bike World Cup finale in Windham last weekend. The four-day event kicked off on Thursday, and riders spent the first two days registering and training for the race.
The event took place mere days before riders compete at the World Championships currently taking place at Mont-Sainte-Anne in Quebec, and the small town of Windham went all out with the festivities – including a block party, bike stunt show, rock concert by Chris Barron and the Time Bandits, fireworks, a pool party and an indoor/outdoor expo that would make any mountain bike-lover drool.
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Tags: Lindsay Malachowski, Mountain Bike World Cup, Windham
Posted in Festivals, LIVE, Real Good For Free | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 31st, 2010
Sgt. Dunbar & the Hobo Banned
Wow! Was that great, or what?
I managed to log about six and a half hours at Rest Fest on Sunday, and the primary thought that kept running through my mind was, “Damn, I wish I’d been able to have been here on Saturday, too!”
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Tags: Albany, Alex Muro, Alta Mira, Grainbelt, Railbird, Rest Fest, Restoration Funstival, Sgt. Dunbar & The Hobo Banned, St. Joseph's Church
Posted in Festivals, LIVE | 3 Comments »
Monday, August 30th, 2010
Forever Plaid: J.D. Daw, Joseph Domencic, Marcus Stevens and Chris Crouch
“We’re the pure, the proud, the plaid,” proclaims Sparky, the wiseguy of the male vocal quartet, Forever Plaid. They’re also dead, but that’s not going to get in the way of the foursome performing one final concert before being recalled to the Great Beyond.
That concert is what you get when you see “Forever Plaid,” Stuart Ross’ jukebox musical that’s playing at Proctors in Schenectady through Sunday, September 12.
Director Guy Strohman manages to elicit some laughs from the slight script, but the “plot” is so thin it’s practically transparent.
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Tags: Forever Plaid, Proctors Theatre, Schenectady
Posted in LIVE, Theater | No Comments »
Monday, August 30th, 2010
She owned the stage – slinking and strutting, whirling and waltzing, singing and singing and singing in that sensual, conspiratorial contralto that drew you in close and closer.
There’s nothing like that deliciously decadent Weimar cabaret music, and while popsters from Tom Waits to Nick Cave and beyond have all mined the style in recent years, no one has such a total command of it today as German chanteuse Ute Lemper.
On Friday night, Lemper brought her cabaret show, “The Last Tango in Berlin,” to the intimate yet glamorous Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, and it was masterful, a stunning performance sung in a half-dozen different languages.
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Tags: Colonial Theatre, Pittsfield, Ute Lemper
Posted in LIVE, Theater | No Comments »
Friday, August 27th, 2010
John Michael Montgomery
It was nearly showtime for the Racin’ & Rockin’ Country Music Show at the Glens Falls Civic Center. It was Saturday night, party night. People streamed into the hockey arena – either heading to their seats or going to get a beer. The techs were buzzing around the stage finishing some last minute adjustments for the quadruple bill featuring some of country music’s biggest stars.
It was a joint headlining bill with Jo Dee Messina and John Michael Montgomery sharing the top spot with up-and-coming stars Jack Ingram and “American Idol” star Bucky Covington opening the show.
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Tags: Andrzej Pilarczyk, Bucky Covington, Glens Falls, Glens Falls Civic Center, Jack Ingram, Jo Dee Messina, John Michael Montgomery
Posted in LIVE | No Comments »
Friday, August 27th, 2010
“It’s not every day we have a member of the Los Straitjackets in our band, so I figured we’d do some surf,” announced roots-rock guitarist Deke Dickerson near the start of two sets at Valentine’s Music Hall on Monday night.
A tall guy in a straw cowboy hat, Dickerson looked like he could lead his own cattle drive as he charged through surfed-up versions of the mythic cowboy tale “Ghost Riders in the Sky” and rockabilly rave-up “Whistle Bait.”
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Tags: Deke Dickerson, Flyer Squad, Kirsten Ferguson, Pete Curry, Valentine's Music Hall
Posted in LIVE | 9 Comments »
Thursday, August 26th, 2010
Erin Mackey, Julia Murney conductor Steven Reineke and the Philadelphia Orchestra
“Diva” is a word I’d personally like to eradicate from the lexicon. It’s often a dig wrapped in a compliment – a slap at a talented woman by implying that she’s difficult by default.
But it’s also a term commonly used to describe a leading female opera singer, or – in a campier sense – marquee-topping women in popular music.
For “Wicked Divas” night at SPAC last Thursday, two nights before the Philadelphia Orchestra ended its summer Saratoga run, the word “diva” was used broadly to tie together the most disparate of music – from the Broadway musicals of “Gypsy,” “Chicago,” “Ragtime” and, of course, “Wicked,” to the disco dance-floor hits of Diana Ross, Gloria Esteban and Donna Summer.
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Tags: Andrzej Pilarczyk, Erin Mackey, Julia Murney, Kirsten Ferguson, Philadelphia Orchestra, Saratoga Springs, SPAC, Steven Reineke
Posted in LIVE | No Comments »
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