Thursday night I agitated the backstage gravel in the Gray Ghost with the Tin Man riding shotgun to catch Leon Russell at Party in the Park. Upon our arrival, Ithaca-based Driftwood was serving up its whirling stomp-and-shout spin on bluegrass. The group brought excellent vocals and intensity, especially when the fiddle player wound up and […]
Water Street Music Hall
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Concert Review: Hatebreed, Slide Brothers, Record Store Day
Digging deep into its catalog, and adding generous doses from its new “Divinity of Purpose” album, Connecticut hardcore harbinger Hatebreed pummeled the heavy crowd at Water Street Music Hall Thursday night. The twin guitars were l-l-l-loud yet discernible as they lead the rhythm-driven onslaught. There was plenty of push and pull between instruments that antagonized […]
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Concert Review: Deerhoof, People Get Ready, The Demos at Water Street
The members of Deerhoof have said that they are never sure what kind of music they will create next. Since the band’s formation in 1994, it has kept fans and critics guessing, too. While the San Francisco group’s earmark may be unpredictability, a Deerhoof show is sure to include batty stage antics and a kaleidoscopic […]
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Concert Review: Meat Puppets, Heavenly Chillbillies, This Life, Bogs Visionary Orchestra
In an attempt to see Methanol’s extension project, The Atomic Swamis, I stumbled upon Buffalo bar-room heavyweights The Heavenly Chillbillies instead. I landed at Sticky Lips Juke Joint on Friday as the band was plowing through Dave Alvin’s tribute to Hank I in “Long White Cadillac.” So naturally I warmed to these guys in a […]
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Concert Review: Greener Grass Band, Bordertown, Extended Family
You can always tell when Giant Panda Guerrilla Dub Squad is off the road, because there are multiple Dan Keller sightings as the GPGDS guitarist sits in with various bands around town. On Friday night I caught the cat tickling the ivories beneath a porkpie hat with the Greener Grass Bandat the Firehouse Saloon. This […]
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Concert Review: Deadstring Brothers, Cowboy Mouth
Best show of the winter alert: The Deadstring Brothers served up an excellent set of honky-tonk barroom boogie Friday night, winding the packed house that Abilene built into a two-step frenzy. The band rocks out the country without losing sight of the actual country. It’s like a more rural, less collegiate Old 97s. The instrumentation […]
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Exodus To Jazz goes on semi-hiatus
Citing low turnout for earlier shows in the season, promoter Jose DaCosta has announced that the Exodus To Jazz series is going on a semi-hiatus while the schedule is reconsidered. That means that the E.J. Strickland and Rene Marie concerts, originally scheduled for Saturday, October 27, and Thursday, November 15, respectively, are being postponed due […]
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Concert Review: Trash Wave Fest, All Time Low
So there I was at the Bug Jar Friday night for the first of what I hope will be many Trash Wave Fests, digging on the Clockmen as the band sunk its teeth into some dangerously fast and loud thinking-man’s punk (as I like to call it). This is one mighty trio, softened only by […]
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CONCERT REVIEW: The Antlers at Water Street Music Hall
Nick Principe and Peter Silberman, childhood friends and musical collaborators, the former, the force behind Port St. Willow, the latter, the gloomy genius responsible for fellow Brooklyn band, The Antlers, brought their magically mopey brand of 21st century indie rock to the stage at the Club at Water Street Wednesday, September 26.
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Breasts, guys, and videotape
The boys huddle in groups, slouching in their hooded sweatshirts and Carhartt jackets, hands jammed into their jeans pockets. When pressed they’ll admit why they came out this snowy Saturday night. “I’m here to see tits,” Frank from Dansville says when I sit next to him at the bar at Water Street Music Hall. He […]
