A jazz singer who seeks discipline and adventure

You can’t always get what you want, right, Mick? But if you try some time, you just might find … Well, as much as he wanted to get me some phone time with rising star jazz vocalist Cecile McLorin Salvant for my weekly community blog column today for Syracuse Public Media site waer.com, her publicist…

From the slightly Wayback Machine, my video of the Heath Brothers

On Halloween, I was lucky enough to catch the Heath Brothers performing as part of the Legends of Jazz series at Onondaga Community College. Great show by 89-year-old saxophonist Jimmy Heath, his 80-year-old drummer brother Tootie and their younger mates Michael Karn on upright bass and Jeb Patton on piano. I wrote about it here.…

Eli Cook will drive from Virginia to spread his vision of the modern blues

Eli Cook will point his vehicle north come two weekends from now and be excited about meeting new people. The solo trip from Virginia to Syracuse won’t be so bad when there’s a guitar in the back, songs in your heart and the tradition of a style of music to modernize and keep alive. And…

I first interviewed SpongeBob in 2006, and I can prove it

As I sat watching the silliness of “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water” Saturday at Destiny USA in Syracuse, I kept puffing up my chest like I took in too much water, thinking, I know SpongeBob. Well, sort of but not really. It is a cartoon character, you know, even when the animation stops…

Grammys leave me feeling half empty

Most every year I can’t get to sleep after the Grammys telecast has signed off because the annual celebration of what makes music move us has reminded me of great things past and present and stirred hopes for the future, too. Last night I watched the local news, thought about how I’d have to get…

Beatlecuse proves to be an excellent match of city, music

Why would dozens of Central New York’s finest musicians get together on a cold February night in the Landmark Theatre in Syracuse to play Beatles music? Because they can. I mean, they really, really can. Beatlecuse 2015 on Friday night proved for the second year running that when you set these all stars of several…

Oh, ‘Boyhood,’ now I’ve been spoiled

How am I ever going to watch a movie that took just a year to film again? Richard Linklater, you’ve spoiled me with “Boyhood.” The director took his time filming the story he wrote about a brother and sister coming of age in Houston. The Texas native, in fact, shot the film over a dozen…

If winter is what you’ve got, why not throw a big party

There’s a new baby on the Syracuse festival scene. On Feb. 20 at the Palace Theatre on James Street comes the Snow Plow Blues Festival. If you want to read about the who-is-coming and why-is-this-happening, the event is the subject of my column today for my weekly community blog on Syracuse Public Media site waer.org.…

A mix of big time, little city at Syracuse Area Music Awards get-together

Joe Whiting stood at the podium in front of the asssembled and interested folk in the Palace Theatre on Syracuse’s James Street this morning, a quite capable and appropriate choice to fill them in on the 2015 Hall of Fame class and list of nominees for the Sammys ceremonies that will take place March 5…

Katy Perry is spectacular as NFL turns Lenny Kravitz into a beard

Katy Perry didn’t let me down during the halftime show just now, turning in a short and colorful array of her hits that was likely more entertaining than the first quarter of the 14-14 first quarter of the tie forged in tonight’s Super Bowl by the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots. The special effects…