Bob Greco can’t help it. He is what he is: a musician, a comedian, a father. He has had brushes with triumph and brushes with death. He’s lived the high life, he’s been down and out. He’s seen the world while singing and performing with party band to the stars, Nik and the Nice Guys. […]
Music Feature
Posted inMusic
Break of Reality: Ten years of breakthroughs
From Java’s to Kilbourn Hall to Kodak Hall in just 10 years. Cello-rock band Break of Reality emerged from Eastman School of Music as a student start-up and has grown into a modern instrumental ensemble with a list of accomplishments practically the length of Gibbs Street. That’s particularly impressive when you consider that this young […]
Posted inMusic
Red Inc.
Often in rock ‘n’ roll, the best bands have a weak link, a member that comes up short, or a particular dynamic that feels a little flat among the others that sparkle. And we’re not just talking local kids-in-the-garage bands, either. There are major acts with major deficits in their ranks. Hell, The Ramones made […]
Posted inMusic
10³²K
There’s no mistaking it when Ku-umba Frank Lacy really gets going. He lifts his trombone to the sky and then plunges it back to the ground in a split second. Up and down the long horn goes while the note he’s suspending spreads far and wide. “I’m into a sort of rarefraction of the sound,” […]
Posted inMusic
Chuck Mead and his Grassy Knoll Boys
“We’re gonna make sure shit gets broke at Abilene,” promises country singer/songwriter/all-around rambunctious hillbilly cat, Chuck Mead. And though he and his band, the Grassy Knoll Boys, will undoubtedly tear up the joint, Mead is a respectful artist who speaks with an excited reserve when talking about his latest platter, “Back at the Quonset Hut.” […]
Posted inMusic
Where have all the cowboys gone?
Country music is huge. Yet the appeal seems to drop off sharply when it comes to country music on a local level. Where are the bands? Where are the country-music fans the other days of the year that megastars like Chesney aren’t here?
Posted inMusic
MUSIC PREVIEW: Screaming Females
As punk itself has risen from the underground and righteously staked its claim to part of mainstream culture, so has New Brunswick trio Screaming Females emerged from sweaty, beer-soaked New Jersey basements. In a town where punk bands grow on trees, what is it about Screaming Females that will make you want to sit under […]
Posted inMusic
MUSIC FEATURE: The Fox Sisters
It was no big deal; just another night of rock ‘n’ roll in the Flower City. The smart set had shoehorned itself into Abilene on a Friday night in March for headliners 5Head and an unknown support act. You could’ve spread the energy with a spatula. It was palpable within the crowd-powered steam heat when […]
Posted inMusic
Nikki Hill
All hyperbole aside, St. Louis-based soul shouter Nikki Hill is one of the best roots-rock singers I have ever seen. And I’ve seen quite a few. And I’m not just talking about the stars of now, but of all time. I rate her up there with Wanda Jackson, Barbara Pittman, Etta James, and Ruth Brown. […]
Posted inMusic
MUSIC FEATURE: Steve Gadd
Most drummers would acknowledge that Steve Gadd is among the most dynamic percussionists in the world. The rest just call him Steve God. But when he talks, Gadd is no cymbal crasher; he’s disarmingly soft-spoken. The man whose brilliant solo adds the exclamation point to Steely Dan’s “Aja,” whose fife-and-drum-corps lines on Paul Simon’s “50 […]
Posted inMusic
MUSIC FEATURE: Danielle Ponder
At the forefront of funk-soul-rock act Black August’s infectious groove was Danielle Ponder, a fireball of soul, of consciousness, of action. The Rochester band was at its best, playing great shows, drawing big crowds, when it surprisingly opted for a fade to black. Ponder was in law school at Northeastern University in Boston for three […]
Posted inMusic
MUSIC FEATURE: The Lumineers
It really only takes one band to spearhead the initiative, to get things rolling. Two bands and you’re underground. Three or more bands and it becomes a scene. And if one or more of those bands hits the Top 40 and is selling out venues wherever it plays, well, you’ve got yourself a movement — […]
