Colony hosts Chris Maxwell record release concert
Saturday, Feb. 29: The man is doing what is not just the best work of his career, but really, the best work of almost anyone’s career.
All posts by John Burdick
Spyro Gyra plays Towne Crier in Beacon
Friday, Feb. 21: Driven by the effortlessly tuneful, graceful playing and composing of reed-player Jay Beckenstein and a light-touch, globally spiced approach to groove, Spyro Gyra unfortunately became a pivot point in the argument about jazz fusion: Were they true heirs of jazz gravity and genius like the first wave of great fusion bands (from Weather Report to early Pat Metheny Group), or were they the godfathers of lite jazz and ’70s TV themes, just a few stone-throws away from you-know-who, with the Kenny and the G?
Reed master Don Byron plays the Falcon
Sunday, Feb. 23: Byron confers seriousness and the harmonic depth of jazz upon the genres that he studies and masters. The genres, in turn, render Byron’s catalogue one of the most listenable, joyous and unpredictable in all of serious and cerebral jazz.
Former New York Times and Wall Street Journal leaders to discuss journalism’s future at SUNY
Wednesday, March 4: Former New York Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger & former Doe Jones Senior Vice President James Ottaway to discuss the future of the press at SUNY-New Paltz.
James Keepnews brings visionaries to the shores of the Hudson
James Keepnews of Elysium Furnace Works is one of the region’s most energetic and least discouraged advocates for some kinds of music that we can’t seem to agree on a name for.
Get set to celebrate Beethoven’s 250th birthday
Not content to be an heir or even the perfection of a tradition, middle-period Beethoven is associated with the Heroic impulse: the expansive, formal grandeur of art that really, really wants to matter. And of course, that bid worked out pretty well. Every symphonic composer thereafter had to answer directly to Beethoven’s nine in the same way that every rock band answers to the Beatles, even if the answer is no.
Smart money’s on Mahomes
I rue the fact that the fans of tomorrow suffer in virtual isolation, and not in geographic and familial clusters of themed fur. Super Bowl LIV: San Francisco 49ers vs. Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday, February 2, 6:30 p.m. at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, FOX-TV. Halftime show, featuring Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, will likely begin shortly after 8 p.m.
Nathans play Unison
Saturday, Feb. 1: With a new band in tow, and some formidable special guests, the Nathans are prepared to unveil Mach Two with full fanfare.
Ask a Naturalist: Is a groundhog’s shadow a harbinger of spring?
While Groundhog Day was first celebrated in 1887 (in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, famously), the myth finds its origins in the Christian holyday of Candlemas: by which the length of winter was measured and calculated in candles. The Germans were the first to associate the ritual with the groundhog, developing the curious myth that we all know: If the groundhog emerges from its hole and sees its shadow, it becomes frightened and retreats back into the hole, prophesying six more weeks of harsh winter. If it sees no shadow, the way is cleared for an early spring.
Steven Wright to perform in Kingston
Saturday, Jan. 24: A great poet of paradox, scientist of the artful non sequitur, Steven Wright may seem like a one-gear comedian, but it is a hell of a gear.