John Sacheli has always wanted to be Genesee Johnny. He’s bopped around Rochester for the past 15 years in various bands — most notably the song-centric group, The Spirit of Ontario — but the man’s resume reads more like a detour until Sacheli began to play the blues. The Spirit of Ontario went down in […]
Local Music
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Greg Townson unmasked
The Rochester musician just played in front of 50,000 fans in Mexico City. Now, he’s hanging out for happy hour at Abilene.
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The Meg Williams Band
Meg Williams is soft-spoken and sweet, perhaps even a bit shy. The Rochester-based singer/songwriter/guitarist laughs nervously when discussing her music — a bluesy jam with a casual twist of funk and soul — and her group, The Meg Williams Band. It’s all captured on the band’s excellent debut, “Troubles To The Wind.” But the bashfulness […]
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The Cheetah Whores
The Cheetah Whores have endured. The Rochester band has endured the thankless hardship of being in a band. It’s endured the senseless murder of one of its members, bassist Shalonda “Pearl” Simpson. And it’s endured the Cheetah Whores — its own drunken antics, mania, and onstage volatility. Despite the madness, the members of The Cheetah […]
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The ska’s the limit
Though most bands adhere to a genre — or at least get lumped in somewhere — it seems the overwhelming majority strive to be classified as having their own sound, unique from the others that crowd the road to Xanadu. However few bands achieve that autonomy. Like it or not, they are what they are […]
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ALBUM REVIEW: “Outlier”
Mrs. Skannotto “Outlier” Self-release Mrsska.com Rochester skanksters Mrs. Skannotto will keep you guessing with its new offering, “Outlier.” This band has always been much more than ska — what with its sinister punk energy, slick speed, and clever progressions. When the band does cop to a more ska-centric sound the entire band is painstakingly precise […]
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Dog’s years
I live my life in between musical vignettes and the moments in between. There have been otherwise unassuming shows — or moments therein that have had a profound impact on me as a musician and as music fan. For example, there was the time James Brown nearly put a part in my scalp with his […]
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Roses & Revolutions
Band names can often be misleading and superfluous. And a lot of time is spent in creating a moniker, a title that frequently has nothing to do with the band that puts it on like an ill-fitting turtleneck. But when Tinted Image abandoned its name for Roses & Revolutions, it made perfect sense. Here is […]
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ALBUM REVIEW: “Warning In The Sky”
Sabattis “Warning In The Sky” Jargon Records The music industry is a fickle bitch; a rocky road littered with the broken hearts, souls, and limbs of those trying to get to the Promised Land. Once upon a time — 1968 to be precise — in Rochester, a hard-rockin’ psychedelic outfit called Sabattis came to be. […]
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Low Flying Planes
If a perfect blend of cover songs and original material actually exists in a band’s arsenal, Wayne County’s Low Flying Planes may have found it. The band skates the razor. It’s found the balance — give the people what they want peppered with what you want them to want. The band arrived at this balance over its brief, […]
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Johnny Bauer and Great Escape
Johnny Bauer has performed music for 39 of his 42 years on earth. It started in the crib — if not the womb — and quickly moved to the stage with his family’s band, Bauer Power. “It consisted of my mom, my dad playing guitar,” Bauer says. “My oldest brother playing keyboards and bass, my […]
