Yes, the music scene in Syracuse is lovely

Joe Driscoll smiled widely from the podium on the stage of The Palace Theatre on James Street during Friday night’s Syracuse Area Music Awards show. He gripped his shiny black Sammys trophy for best Jam Band recording with Sekou Kouyate and told the capacity crowd of 600 or so how he always laid claim to…

Here’s to the memory of Syracuse drummer David Read

Veteran Syracuse drummer David Read has passed away. Fellow drummer Mike Donahue, an important player in the Syracuse Area Music Awards as well as curator of the the significant CNY Music Archives Facebook site, sent me a Facebook message this weekend noting that he’d posted the video I took of The Works’ reunion at the…

I’m drawn in again by the pull of the Sammys

They announced a lot of cool news about the Syracuse Area Music Awards at a news conference Tuesday morning at the Palace Theatre in Eastwood. I was lucky enough to have a good reason to take the time from my job at the library to get there. The news included that jam band moe. was…

When you’re on the other side of the stage

Every year still, the good folks who put on the Syracuse Area Music Awards ask me to join the ranks of their celebrity presenters. It’s an honor in my neck of the woods that started at the first one back in 1993, when I covered music for the big daily. It continued past the layoff…

The Sammys honor the dedication and music of many

The good people of Syracuse have been doing it right as far as it comes to music since a few heads came together in 1992 and Frank Malfitano opened up the grand Landmark Theatre for the first Syracuse Area Music Awards in 1993. Friday night in The Palace Theatre on James Street, the community came…

The big Syracuse music party will bring together Jam Factory

If there’s anything I’ve learned from watching musicians and music fans mix and mingle at the Syracuse Area Music Awards since the debut edition in 1993, it’s that everybody digs the reunion set. This year’s spotlight band will be Jam Factory, the Sammys organizers announced last week at a news conference at The Palace Theatre…

The B-Sides sound A-1 at Shifty’s

When my good friend Dave Kaspar gives me the heads-up that a trip to Shifty’s is needed to see a new band on the Syracuse scene, I believe him. After all, over the last quarter century, I’ve stood next to the guy hundreds of nights, appreciating the best our city has to offer. And then…

The Sammys wants your best work

‘Tis the season to think about awards shows. Organizers are asking for the best work from Syracuse-area musicians and producers again. The Syracuse Area Music Awards has put out its annual application for submissions for the 2016 edition of the show that’s affectionately called the Sammys. The impressive black trophies will be handed out March…