Support the venues that support live music! [ a sample from the newsletter ] See the list of live music events under Wednesday listing. Not too late to add yours if you are not listed there … just email me! With so many great musicians in the Ithaca area, there is no need to go to a club that does not have live music! Hey … maybe that would be a good New Year’s Resolution? For 2009 patronize the bars and clubs that host live musicians! :-)

Dance Flurry - Mail in advance ticket form is now online! links http://canaaninstitute.org/mikesmusic/viewtopic.php?p=2221#2221 - Facebook group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8001273807 - Facebook Event http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=34544458457

Tue Dec 30    Irish Session - Chapter House Collegetown Ithaca starts about 8 pm - this is the regular weekly session http://www.chapterhouseithaca.com/

Tue Dec 30    Maxie’s has live music every TUE and SUN 6-10 pm http://www.maxies.com/events.html Gerard Burke

Tue Dec 30    Orbiting Art Ensemble - Mike Stark leads an all-star line-up through out the winter on Tues. night’s at The Lounge . Musicians include …Hank Roberts , Jennie Sterns , members of Tzar , Wingnut , The Piano Creeps and many , many more Local favorites …more info to come at the Lost Dog Cafe Ithaca http://www.lostdogcafe.net/ithaca/events/

Wed Dec 31    New Year’s Eve — start the evening at The Pourhouse with Billy Eli 19 West Main Street in Trumansburg, New York 14886 http://www.tburgpourhouse.com/ 7:00 pm

Wed Dec 31    New Year’s Eve — at Castaways with Sim Redmond Band http://www.castawaysithaca.com/musicschedule.cfm

Wed Dec 31    New Year’s Eve — Contra Dance in Rochester with Great Bear Trio at www.rochestercontra.com or: Concert & Contra Wed, Dec 31, 2008 Whoopee!!  Celebrate New Year’s Eve with the energetic, innovative music of the Great Bear Trio, Andrew, Noah & Kim Van Norstrand.  Concert from 7:30-8:30 pm and exuberant dancing called by Sarah Van Norstrand from 9:00-12:30.  Covenant United Methodist Church on the corner of Culver and Parsells

Wed Dec 31    New Year’s Eve — Early Show at Felicia’s on Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 6:30pm-8:30pm – SHARON COSTIANES will be replacing Wendy Woods as the vocalist for the Early Show at Felicia’s Atomic Lounge on New Years Eve: 6:30pm-8:30pm New Years Eve Early Show:  Show Tunes and Jazz Standards with pianist Lisa Bloom (Blue Water Day, Phoenyx Rising) and NOW with soprano SHARON COSTIANES, best known for her critically acclaimed vocal performance in Cornell’s dance production, Spoglia, in early 2008.  No cover.

Wed Dec 31    New Year’s Eve — Pot luck and Contra dance celebration at Bethel Grove — Pot luck, open band, details http://canaaninstitute.org/mikesmusic/viewtopic.php?p=2250#2250

Wed Dec 31    New Year’s Eve — at the Rongo in Trumansburg with The Green Deeps 10pm Live Music New Year’s Bash with the Green Deeps, T-Burg All Star Jam and all the New Year’s Eve festivities!

Wed Dec 31    The regular Wednesday jam is canceled due to New Year’s Eve! Happy New Year! Normally there is an Open Jam at Mike’s every Wed - Traditional Celtic and American fiddle dance tunes - Newcomers welcome - All instruments: Guitars, Mandos, Banjos etc … welcome! ALMOST EVERY Wednesday 7:00 - 9:30 pm INFO HOLIDAY SCHEDULE http://www.ludgatefarms.com/mus_jamcann.html and/or email Mike mailto:michael@canaaninstitute.org BLOG http://canaaninstitute.org/mikesmusicblog/?p=3 — NEXT REGULAR WEDNESDAY JAM IS JAN 07, Guitar Workshop Jan 14.

ANNUAL TWELFTH NIGHT COMMUNITY CELEBRATION — SATURDAY, JANUARY 3, 2009 — An evening of story-sharing, merrymaking, and imagination, to mark the end of the holiday season, at the Unitarian Church, corner of Buffalo and Aurora, in downtown Ithaca, 7:30 pm until…?, Saturday, January 3, 2009. Bring: A STORY TO SHARE, if you wish, A MUNCHIE or SNACK to pass and A COUPLE OF BUCKS to share expenses.

Turn off your TV, log off the World Wide Web, shut down your cell phone and…Tell me a Story. The Annual Twelfth Night Celebration, an Ithaca tradition for over three decades, is a rare example of what happens when people decide to entertain themselves, instead of letting someone else do it.  It is primarily an evening of storytelling, in which the storytellers are members of the audience who feel like telling a story.  Anyone is welcome to tell a story, and anyone is welcome to come listen.  All ages are welcome.  Stories can be true, or “true” (aren’t all stories “true”?).  Most of the storytellers tell exactly one story a year in public, and that, of course, is at Twelfth Night.  Yes, it’s perfectly OK to just come and listen.  Bring a tasty treat to share, a couple of bucks to share expenses, and there’s all the makings of a great party.

The Annual Twelfth Night Celebration is the final event of the Twelve Days of Christmas, a fitting end to the holiday season, and a last gasp before we have to face the reality of January in Ithaca.  In a traditional English Christmas recitation, Old Father Christmas says: “Christmas comes but once a year, and when it comes it brings good cheer!”  So let us extend the good cheer through until Twelfth Night.  The tradition of storytelling on Twelfth Night is centuries old, and forever contemporary.

At some point in the evening, the storytelling will be rudely interrupted by the “Champeons of Folly”, a band of travelling players and dancers who will regale the assembled multitudes with an outrageous Mummers’ Play, with Morris dancers a-leaping and jingling.  This will be followed by the pageantry of choosing and crowning the Monarch of Twelfth Night (the Lord or Lady of Mis-rule).  The Monarch will then read the proclamation of pronouncements and predictions for the year 2009.

Come one, come all, be part of this tradition.  It’s a lot of fun, and a lot of magic.

Twelfth Night is presented by various members of Ithaca’s folk music community.
For further information:  Phil Shapiro 607-844-4535, pds10@cornell.edu.

NOTE TO EDITORS: “Champeons” is not a typo.  That’s the correct spelling.

PHOTO: “Phil Syphrit of Ithaca tells a story at Twelfth Night”

Fri Dec 19    *CANCELLED* due to the storm — Tunescape playing music for the Friday CONTRA  Ted Crane calling. NEXT DANCE IS NEW YEAR’S EVE AT Bethel Grove Community Center - 1825 Slaterville Road, Ithaca NY — Contra Dance every Friday at Bethel Grove Community Center 8 pm $6- dance FACEBOOK contra group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=31552309563

Fri Dec 19 *CANCELLED* due to the storm — Bluegrass Jam - http://canaaninstitute.org/mikesmusic/viewtopic.php?p=2009#2009 at LONGVIEW 6:30 - 8:30 pm every other Friday

Fri Dec 19 *CANCELLED* due to the storm — The [ Ithaca ] Downtown Partnership has canceled all music performances for tonight, due to the storm.

Fri Dec 19 Toivo at Felicia’s is also cancelled. Ithaca

Fri Dec 19 Teada in Syracuse is still happening see message here http://canaaninstitute.org/mikesmusic/viewtopic.php?p=2264#2264

Local CDs That Shouldn’t Be Missed

Joe Crookston - Able Baker Charlie and Dog - Produced by Joe Crookston 2008 Milagrito Records

Critically acclaimed local songwriter Joe Crookston may seem hard to catch in a live show here in Ithaca because the man seems to be touring all the time– but, luckily you can catch his newest release “Able Baker Charlie and Dog” at Ludgate Farms and other local retailers right now!

Crookston wrote all of the songs on this 13-track CD, with the exception of two wonderfully rendered covers. I won’t spoil the surprise as to what the first one is (the first song on the CD) but if you are like me, you will keep saying “I know that song!” and run to the liner notes and laugh when you find out what song it is. The other cover is a lovely, haunting version of the late Dan Fogelberg’s “Wandering Shepherd.” It’s a fitting tribute from one fine songwriter to another.

But now to Crookston’s songwriting. He’s a storyteller who can sing and play the guitar exceptionally well. Many of his songs were locally inspired—he wrote several of the songs on this album as part of a 2007 Finger Lakes song project for which he received a grant to collect stories and write songs about his experiences meeting people and traveling in the Finger Lakes region. We are reminded of upstate New York’s role in the underground railroad in the hard-driving “John Jones.” John Jones was an escaped Virginia slave who ended up in Elmira who helped free hundreds of other slaves.

As with our local history, there’s a great sense of human continuity in Crookston’s songwriting, and Crookston personalizes his journey in the album’s title song “Able Baker Charlie and Dog”. This song beautifully captures the innocent complicity of the average American, and how seemingly mundane actions can change world history. Crookston’s grandfather was a Seabee, and his Navy Construction Battalion during WWII was simply told “our job would be the one to end the war.” And “Hands, Metal and Wood” sweetly evokes Fogelberg’s “Leader of the Band” in which the son recognizes the value of the skills, knowledge and love his father passed down to him.

There’s a lot of heart, sweat and soul in “Able Baker Charlie and Dog”. As a musician and songwriter, Crookston balances an earthy realism with a poetic delicacy, and this beautifully recorded and produced album is nicely enhanced by the talents of several local musical luminaries. We really do have gems in this region, and singer/songwriter Joe Crookston is one of them.

Lisa Ann Wright

Continuing the celebration of their new album, Until the Ocean, The Horse Flies will perform at Castaways in Ithaca on Saturday December 13, 2009 from 10:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.

THE HORSE FLIES

One of the earliest bands to bring truly innovative ideas and energy to American fiddle music, The Horse Flies have undone tradition to create a unique sound that remains fresh, powerful and captivating. Artful original songs; a strong, wild groove; esteemed instrumental skills; and emotive singing come together in a mix of  alternative rock, world percussion; modern songwriting, fiddle music, and minimalism.

NEWS

Featured on influential radio station KCRW, Santa Monica, CA and currently in Paste Magazine’s “Paste Recommends”, The Horse Flies’ new album, Until the Ocean, is being played around the world and garnering positive comments from all corners.

Of the new album, radio is saying things like:

“Man, this new CD is the BEST you guys have ever done. Absolutely top-notch. “Build a House and Burn It Down,” “Carnival Lips,” you just can’t pick a best cut. Nothing bad on this album. We’re playing the crap out of it at WVTF. It has gotten instant phone and e-mail response. Thanks for sending this. We’re gonna be playing this one continually for a long time.”?Seth Williamson, WVTF, Roanoke, VA

Fans are saying:

“Sounds like they used all their influences and made a darn near perfect album.” (I-Tunes user)

“Stunning new album. Boy am I a happy man. If you know the music of the Horse Flies, you’ll know what you’re in for. Wowdom. Unique and groovy.” (Quincy, MA)

Press is saying:

“Unique and treasurable” (fRoots Magazine – 5 star review)

“To start a CD review with superlatives is unusual, but outstanding, sublime, magnificent, innovative, breathtaking and arresting are terms that spontaneously come up when listening to this studio album from the Horse Flies, their first in a long time.” (Rootstime, Belgium)

“Until The Ocean, The Horse Flies’ first studio release in more than fifteen years, is an immense and captivating work of sophisticated art: not only the finest album to come out of the Ithaca area in many years, it stands among the best American releases from any region in any genre this year. While most US bands seem content to rehash and revisit well-trodden territory, only venturing tentatively and hesitantly into the uncharted landscape of new sounds and ideas, The Horse Flies confidently chart a course that transcends both topographic and sonic classification.”  (Luke Fenchel, Ithaca Times)
The Flies’ new album, Until the Ocean, is their first since the passing of their beloved bass player of 17 years, John Hayward, in 1997. Recorded at Electric Wilburland, Pyramid Sound, and the band’s Gray House, it was mixed by Canadian, Kevin Doyle (Sinead O’Connor, Van Morrison, Ron Sexsmith, Alannah Myles, and many more) and mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling  Sound in Manhattan.

For more information about the Horse Flies:
http://www.thehorseflies.com

FORUM THREAD http://canaaninstitute.org/mikesmusic/viewtopic.php?p=2210#2210

The new CD is now on sale at Ludgate’s Farm Market on Hanshaw Road! [map] and other local Ithaca retailers.

Joe Driscoll 10 pm at The ABC Cafe on Dec 12th at 308 Stewart Ave Ithaca, NY 607.351.6430 www.theabccafe.com and www.myspace.com/theabccafe

Creating waves on both sides of the Atlantic are the transcendental sounds of modern day one man band, Joe Driscoll. His revolutionary take on music is without boundaries. Effortlessly fusing hip-hop, reggae, soul, folk and rock to create a completely original and unique sound; an innovator not only for the genre defying music he creates, but for the groundbreaking way in which he performs it. A true renaissance man, Driscoll is a lone figure on stage and in the studio, yet is able to create the complete soundscape of a full band utilizing heavy vocal percussion, an array of instruments, a loop pedal, and a lot of imagination.

Haling from upstate New York, Driscoll was spotted and signed by London based label Buttercuts Records while touring the U.K. The resulting album ‘Origin Myths’ is the perfect synthesis, combining the raw live magic that has made him an international underground legend, with a more polished presentation created with thoughtful craftsmanship in the studio. Though the album is a more sculpted sound, thanks to producer Pierre Duplan, every audible creation is all Joe. The drums are beat box (oral percussion) with layers of guitar, mbira, bass, verse, and rhyme created by the man himself. The accompanying DVD features live performances and interviews, enabling viewers to witness his technique, which is almost impossible to grasp even when watched and explained.

On a seemingly never ending world tour, the venues and acts Joe has worked with are as diverse as the sounds he creates. From coffee shops to theatres, bars to festivals, crowds are moved by his poignant lyrics, deep rhythms, personal storytelling and funky grooves. He has shared the stage with acts ranging from Matisyahu to Regina Spektor, Coldcut to Gym Class Heroes, at hundreds of venues and events in both the US and EUROPE. From the unitiated to music royalty, JOE inspires. With the release of ORIGIN MYTHS gaining critical acclaim, Radio One airplay, Indy Award nominations, and sell out release shows in NY and London, the appeal of this one man magician/musician is undeniable. The overwhelming response from audiences, critics, and industry insiders makes it clear that the future is here.

“A sonic wonderkid who creates his own 21st century ‘folk’ live onstage sample by sample, beat by beat… one to watch’– Time Out

“If you are looking for innovation, buy this album’– Beatbox legend Scratch of The Roots

“Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful… synching and threading all the decidious threads of American roots music with multi-modern fibres like hip-hop, reggae, and a vision strong. No end of whacky, soulful sounds.”– Crud 4/4 stars

“Gangsta got an iron lung!”– Cee-Lo Green (Gnarls Barkley, Goodie Mob)

“Probably the most energetic performer on the planet”– Revolving Door

“Personal and profound messages, pure style and creation… you need to hear him! He blasts throught stereotypes…. the pioneer of a completely new approach to making music.”— Subba-Cultcha

Emily Arin is now taking subscribers for her 3rd New Music Subscription series to begin in 2009 which can be purchased on the Store page of her website. By signing up in December, you will receive a free mp3 of one of Emily’s earlier songs. If you are new to the idea, the subscription includes receiving one newly written and recorded song each month over the course of six months. Each song is sent as an mp3 via email with a story behind the song. The beauty of the project is that each subscriber plays an active role in producing new work in the world–a unique way to act as a modern day patron of the arts.

The $15 for the 3rd series will additionally help provide free music lessons (either on piano or guitar) over the six month series to three deserving students in Schuyler County, New York–the northern-most county in Appalachia where Emily currently resides.  The monthly emails will include an introduction to the students and updates on their inspirations and progress as young musicians.

Signing up is a great way to support independent music. With the holidays here, a subscription is also a unique and affordable gift to give to music-loving friends and family. The past two series were boutique in terms of the number of subscribers. It is Emily’s goal to start supporting herself as a songwriter this coming year by reaching 1,000 subscribers or more! www.emilyarin.com

I did 2 HorseFlies gigs recently and wow. Just wow. Thursday 11/20 they played at The Corning Museum of Glass, and Saturday 11/22 at the wonderful Elk Creek Cafe in Millheim, PA.

The Corning gig was a hi tech extravaganza with a full light and video show. I got to mix the band on a new Yamaha digital console. But better than all that The HorseFlies played a great set.

But that was apparently just a set up for the stunning performance they did on Saturday night at the Elk Creek Cafe in Millheim, PA. The Elk Creek Cafe is a very cool cafe and micro-brewery kinda in the middle of nowhere, 25 miles from State College. The drive there was nice, the food delicious, and we stayed in a nice bed and breakfast. All really nice. BUT, the Flies freakin rocked! The room was sold out with folks young and old moving and churning to the HorseFlies grooves, and the band rallied, burning through fiddle/banjo grooves driven by Jeff’s relentless uke, Taki’s percolating world rhythms, Ricks pumping accordion and smoothly supported by Jay’s awesome bass lines.

DO NOT MISS THE HORSEFLIES AT CASTAWAYS ON SAT DEC 13! THIS BAND IS ON FIRE!

On Friday 11/21 I has the supreme pleasure of seeing my dear friend Martin Simpson play at the Unitarian church here in Ithaca. I will tell you straight up that if you were not there, you blew it. He was stunning.

I first met Martin in the early 90s when he was living here in Ithaca. He came to Wilburland to record a CD called When I Was On Horseback, which included the talents of cellist Hank Roberts, violinist Eric Aceto and bassist Doug Robinson. One of the best recording I’ve done. I also did another more blues oriented CD with him called Smoke and Mirrors.

The show was classic Martin Simpson. He played a perfect combination of instrumental fingerstyle, slide and vocal tunes, intermixed with wonderful stories. Martin was a stunning player when I met him and he has gotten even better. An amazing evening was had by all.