Syracuse music, with The Works

And the winner is … Friday night, 13 best-of category recipients will be announced at the Syracuse Area Music Awards annual ceremony at the Palace Theatre. There also will be shiny black trophies handed out for the Brian Bourke Award for best new artist, hall of fame inductees (including Chris Goss of Masters of Reality)…

Josh Batstone gets his shot, and chooses Adam Levine

The singer from the Syracuse area picked the LA coach. It took the fourth show of blind auditions before Josh Batstone, the teenager from Fulton, a snowy burg some 20 miles northwest of Syracuse, got his first camera time on this season eight of NBC singing competition “The Voice.” I was ready with my iPad…

A Palooza of a time for Donna Colton

The community came through for Donna Colton on Sunday. DonnaPalooza was a sweet and vibrant success at the Westcott Theater in Syracuse, from the rich music that filled the air from the volunteer bands and musicians on stage to the buzzing fans and friends who hugged, talked, ate, drank and wished well to veteran Syracuse…

Getting set for DonnaPalooza and hanging out with Althea

Today’s the day when the Syracuse music community is going to pay tribute to the wonder that is Donna Colton. Donnapalooza will celebrate the music and personality of Donna Colton, the singer, songwriter and guitarist who’s been spreading her rich vibe of warmth in Syracuse and its surrounding counties through the decades. Donna has been…

The Guise lays down a familiar and comforting sound

The Guise, “Forthcoming,” Sound Ideas Music I popped “Forthcoming” into my car CD player and said to myself, “yup,” as soon as the first notes of “You Never Know” hit my ears. No way had I heard this song written and being played by The Guise before. But I knew it was going to make…

A new hour talks about Syracuse music and entertainment

You have to want to get to the studio of WVOA-FM out on the eastern outskirts of Syracuse. James Austin had asked me to be a guest on the new music and entertainment hour he hosts with Scott Johnson that’s broadcast online and over the air, so I drove the snowy Wednesday night down 298,…

Talking Springsteen, ‘SNL’ and Syracuse with blogger Phil Prehn

I’ll always jump at the chance for a live chat with somebody whose blog I follow. So when Phil Prehn emailed during this bitter Syracuse winter to set up a coffee get-together at Cafe Kubal, up James Street from my dear wife Karen and I’s Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood, I…

Sitting in at the first Snow Plow Blues Festival heats things up

The wind chill was way into double-digit-negatives and the murky white banks flanking Syracuse’s James Street were way over your waist as the music fans some 150 strong braved their way into the Palace Theatre. Promoter and host Tom Honan had the right words to set the mood. “We were going to do it outside,”…

The Sing-Off soars live, and it’s all because of the voice

I hear it often when I decide to write about America’s continued fascination with the singing competition, whether it be “American Idol,” “The Voice” or “The Sing-Off.” But watch them I do, on FOX for the first through double-digit years now, and NBC for the last two for a shorter but equally devoted duration. Why,…

A party to celebrate 2 years of spreading Syracuse music

Mark Turley and Nicholas Oliver have a passion for the Syracuse music scene that comes from making art their own way. Do It Yourself, or DIY, as the acronymists of the world like to say. For almost 20 years, Turley has played in bands and Oliver has taken pictures, created art and collected vinyl albums.…