popcorn youth

The Sim Redmond Band is engrained in Ithacan culture, so I felt like I was undergoing a local rite of passage when I finally saw them last Friday night.

They were supposed to perform on Cornell’s Arts Quad, but the rain infuriatingly displaced the concert to Uris Hall. It was packed, especially with moms/dads/kids – understandable since the band has a certain wholesome, family-friendly feel. Their Afro-Caribbean music reminded me of something you would hear from the Putamayo record label. I came in with high expectations, given their reputation, and was impressed overall (if not by the sound quality of the lecture hall).

They are constantly performing in the area, so it’s pretty easy to catch one of their shows. Visit:
-http://www.simredmondband.com/shows.html (to read about upcoming Sim Redmond shows)
-http://www.sce.cornell.edu/ss/about/events/index.php?action=list&f=type&v=Outdoor%20Concert (to read about other upcoming FREE summer concerts on the Arts Quad)

Also, other musical tidbits from the weekend:

The Shop on Saturday evening

Jam session (left) and keyboardist (right), both at the Farmer’s Market on Saturday

[From the Ithaca Times; text by Luke Fenchel] Now that the venerable Ithacan institution ABC Café has shut its doors, its closing is felt not only by vegetarians, but also by the musicians it regularly welcomed through its doors.

But if the number of alcohol-serving live venues within city limits seems to be shrinking, unofficial and unconventional spaces have stepped up to fill the gap. These up-and-comers, The Shop, The Sweet Spot, The Pirate House and a salon series called Sound & Season are, respectively, a coffee shop, a simulated golf course and two private residences. All have found success in serving niche audiences, and offering music that isn’t readily found at the local watering hole.

Though there was no paucity of live music Friday, June 19, with Dan Smalls presenting Vieux Farka Touré and The Horse Flies offering their semi-annual show at Castaways, it didn’t stop 65 people from attending an event promoted by Ithaca Underground. Three touring bands from Cleveland, Los Angeles and Brooklyn joined Ithaca’s Why the Wires for a 7:00pm all-ages show; it set attendees back five bucks.

“I was a little concerned about that show,” Bubba Crumrine, Ithaca Underground’s head, said a few days after. “The CSMA was a new space for us, and a lot of people were asking where it was all that week [It’s at 330 East St. St]. Upsilon Acrux [the band from L.A.] had never toured in New York State, so we were pretty worried. But we were really happy with the turnout…the bands were happy and the crowd was too.”

Crumrine got his start booking shows at No Radio Records, the now defunct record store owned by Bob Proehl. After taking over Ithaca Underground in August 2008, Crumrine has booked 39 shows. Though he works with The Haunt - the venue has hosted a few Ithaca Underground showcases and will host three in July - some shows work better at other venues, coffee shops and his own home, a venue he has christened The Pirate House.

The Pirate House is located on 505 Cliff St. next to a parking lot that provides ample spaces for attendees. It has hosted punk, metal and experimental bands from around the corner and around the globe. A May show featured Buried Inside, a metalcore band on Relapse Records that drew more than 40 people.

“The first show I did had about six people at it, and that was at No Radio,” Crumrine, who has an astounding recall of every show he has ever promoted. “We had a couple of shows with twelve people…but by the time we hit January we did our first show at The Haunt and we had 109. They were pretty happy and we were too.”

Crumrine is happy to work with The Haunt, but some shows have what might be called a specialized audience. “We do some shows and the kids go crazy but the bartenders don’t,” Crumrine acknowledged. “Some shows work better at The Pirate House.”

Another semi-public location that has catered to a particular music scene is a salon series called Sound & Season. The residence of Jarek Miller (of the avant free-improv duo American Sphinx) and Sasha Kellner-Rogers, 1175 Ellis Hollow Rd. has already been home to a March event showcasing avant-garde music and astoundingly great food prepared by Kellner-Rogers. “The idea is to combine music with prepared seasonal food,” Kellner-Rogers noted.

Sound & Season is modeled on their experience in western Massachusetts, where Kellner-Rogers studied at Hampshire College. “There is a fairly vital and a fairly informal scene out there,” Miller said. “There are a lot of house shows and basement shows.”

The first installment featured a member of the popular garage rock group Awesome Color, and the pair are anticipating two more, a “midsummer” July 13 show with a Kentucky-based ambient synthesizer duo Caboladies, and an “Indian summer” August 9 show with two Boston-based artists named Eli Keszler and Ashley Paul. Part of the so-called “lowercase improvisational” scene, Keszler also plays in a group called Red Horse.

Miller looks forward to the upcoming installments. “The first event got just the right amount of people. Nobody stole anything from our house, nobody clogged up the toilet, nobody harassed our dog, so we’re not frightened to open our home to others. We’ve seen great shows at the Lost Dog and No Radio and we wanted to add to the repertoire.”

Over at No Radio, Phoebe Aceto recently took over the space, and rechristened it The Shop, a coffee shop that also offers baked goods. Both a special one-off show in May with We Are the Arm and its grand opening featuring Kevin Kinsella and the Aceto Brothers on Thursday, June 18 were a success.

Aceto professed to not know exactly how many dropped by to celebrate her grand opening, and then settled on two words: “Maximum occupancy.” “If you’re talking about unique visitors, then we were well above a hundred,” she said.

The Shop, open seven days a week (Monday through Saturday 9am-11pm, Sunday 11-5pm) and located at 312 E. Seneca Street, has been open less than a week but already has shows booked in July.

“I always knew music would have to be a part of it,” Aceto said of shows at The Shop. “Natasha and Bubba are able to continue booking as they did before for No Radio, and people can contact The Shop if they have a specific date in time.” Aceto continued: “It’s especially important for us to host music because so many places are closing down, and you especially need a place for all-ages shows.”

The Sweet Spot, which in the wintertime operates as an indoor golf simulator, isn’t an all-ages venue, but its booker, Sprocket Rages is excited about the space. “They just put the bar in, the owners are wonderful people, the space is new and fresh, and I get to build the character,” Rages said.

The venue will offer country, rock, and when the students return, jam bands, but will also focus on harder rock and metal. Rages added: “With the loss of venues downtown, I think it’s important to the central New York scene to make this venue happen.”

Both The Pirate House and The Shop host bands and artists that fly under the radar, and their musical offerings are in some sense as unconventional as their spaces. “What we’ll offer is really varied,” Aceto said. “My dad is going to play here a bit. I told him that he has first dibs on the schedule. But if you’re wondering what The Shop will sound like, it will be really varied.”

The Pirate House (505 Cliff St.): Sakes Alive! + Such Gold + The Berettas + The Plebes (July 1, 7pm), Monster Machismo + Zona Mexicana + Sleep for the Nightlife + The Motivators + Plasma 36 (July 30, 7pm). For more info visit www.ithacaunderground.com.

Sound & Season (1175 Ellis Hollow Road): Caboladies (July 13), Eli Keszler + Ashley Paul + American Sphinx (August 9).

The Shop (312 E. Seneca St.): Dufus + John Ludington + Andrea Zvaleko + Dead Canaries (July 3, 8pm, $3), Popcorn Youth presents Metalux + Bill Nace + Amen Dunes (July 9, 8pm), Preemptive Strike + Ailments + The Dead Army + Dusqkee (July 11).

The Sweet Spot (1779 Hanshaw Rd. at Rte. 13): Emerson B (July , Those Particular Individuals (July 10), Thirteen South + Twelve oz. Muzzle + Sugar Mama (July 11), F.B.I. + Nevaris (July 31), open blues jam Tuesday nights. For more info visit www.sweetspotithaca.com.

Ithaca Underground Presents at The Haunt: Avant Prog KAYO DOT + TZAR (July 6, 6pm), Red Scare Tour: Cobra Skulls + Menzingers + Sidekicks (July 23, 5pm), Dead But Not Resting + Iwo Jima Medkit + Makeshift + The Reputables (July 25, 8pm).

There’s a great show going down at the Pirate House tonight  —  don’t miss out! It pairs nicely with this month’s (actually, last month/June) Live Wire column, which helps break down what it is Bubba and Ithaca Underground do. From Bubba, on tonight:

Sakes Alive!!
Such Gold
The Berettas
The Plebes

The Pirate House
505 Cliff St
Ithaca, NY 14850
7PM $5 All Ages

Please park in the parking lot next to the house. Plenty of space there! Not so much in front of the house.

Sakes Alive!! is heading out on tour and bringing their Rochester friends, Such Gold on tour with them! Last seen playing to 100+ at the first IU Last Saturday show back in January, these punks have been fiending to play Ithaca again. This time its in the basement at The Pirate House so get ready to get intimate. go crazy, and go deaf!

Such Gold are a pop punk hardcore quintet known for their sing alongs, gang chants, pile-ons, and sharing the DIY times with good people. TBurgs finest, The Berettas gear up for more shows this summer and our first since the sweaty and circle-pitting show back in February when they stepped up to headline when Yo, Adrian! had to cancel. You know the words so come out and sing along!!

First IU performance alert!! After a couple name changes and more possibly to come soon, The Plebes look to strike a chord in the IU circuit with their opening debut at the house.

See you all there!!

Thanks again to everyone that came out for the show on Friday night. The evening was a massive success and I hope everyone enjoyed themselves! The next Popcorn Youth show is just around the corner: BILL NACE and METALUX and AMEN DUNES on Thursday, July 9 — my first show at the brand new venue, THE SHOP! I can’t wait!

For those of you that are missing out on the Ithaca date -

Magik Mouth Tour (Magik Markers/Mouthus)

6/26-Ithaca, NY-Lost Dog Lounge
6/27-Toronto, ON-Music Gallery Courtyard
6/28-Montreal, QC-Suoni Music Festival (w/Cousins of Reggae and Disguises)
6/29-Pittsfield, MA-Copperworks

Fuck — still speechless about this one. A complete genius & mesmerizing presence; the King of Pop, indeed.

RIP Sky Saxon. You will be missed.

Hey everyone! My name is Annie, and I’m another Arts & Entertainment intern at the Ithaca Times this summer. While I’ve attended school here for two years now (!), I’ve only recently developed a very delayed, wide-eyed excitement about Ithaca, due to finally exploring it properly. I actually feel like a little bit like a tourist - granted, a tourist who has lived in the area for two years. I hope to convey this excitement in my blog posts about random things (shows, lectures, concerts, whathaveyou) in an attempt to dispel the widespread misconception that Ithaca is a sleepy little town that gets very cold in the winter. Actually, that last part is true, but it’s not as bad as people think!

Other basic facts: I study Sociology and Spanish, everyone should see “Gutenberg!” at the Kitchen Theatre, and I love falafel more than anything (the $5 falafel wrap at SIndbad’s is the most bang for your buck in Collegetown by the way).

Also I will probably talk about Cornell Cinema a lot (full disclosure: I work there). For example, you should go to tonight’s outdoor screening of “Duck Soup”!

Apologies for the tardiness in this week’s show calendar; I may be biased, but this weekend’s clear winner is the Magik Markers & Mouthus gig at the Lost Dog Lounge tomorrow at 10pm. Get there early for a good spot.

June 25 - Creek Dippers with Steve Selin, Rosie Newton [Six Mile Creek]
June 25 - Driftwood / Hee Haw Nightmare [Castaways]
June 26 - Bayou Road Krewe [Felicias]
June 26 - Magik Markers / Mouthus / American Sphinx [Lost Dog]
June 27 - Boy with a Fish / Mary Brett Lorson [Castaways]
June 27 - VAW with Brian Wilson [Chapter House]
June 28 - Johnny Dowd Project [Felicias]

I have a feeling that this afternoon’s relaxed jam at Six Mile Creek will also be pretty pleasant; Carrie Erving will be in town and be sitting in with Richie Stearns, Rosie Newton, Rich Hallet, Steve Selin, and Chris Watrous.

Loving on this new Ithaca / Rochester blog, Skipster. It’s run by some savvy folks with killer taste in music, so be sure to check it out.

>>>>WHAT IS SKIPSTER?
media group based in Ithaca, NY and Rochester, NY. We care a lot about music. Whether it’s reviewing it, talking about it, promoting it, whatever. We book small scale talent that we love and believe in, to help enrich the community through arts. we don’t know where we’re going with this, but we hope you become a part in some way. ideas and questions, see below.

CONTACT:
booking: Want to book a show in Ithaca, NY or Rochester, NY? Email Scott.
questions: comments, want us to review something? or better yet, want to write for us? Email us.

//disclaimer: all music posted is for review purposes only, we try our damnedest not to make things available as mp3s. rather listen/stream, enjoy, then buy or check you out live. but if something is up and you aren’t feeling it, let us know pronto and we’ll delete it!//

FRIDAY, JUNE 26
LOST DOG LOUNGE

MAGIK MARKERS
MOUTHUS
AMERICAN SPHINX

9PM DOORS / 10PM START / $7
112 S. CAYUGA ST. / DOWNTOWN ITHACA

Greetings! I have a thrilling announcement for a show at the Lost Dog Lounge this Friday, June 26: noise-rock duo MAGIK MARKERS will make their first appearance in Ithaca, and will be joined by fellow Ecstatic Peace! labelmates MOUTHUS and perennial Ithaca favorites AMERICAN SPHINX.

Magik Markers — the duo of Seattle resident Elisa Ambroglio and Brooklynite Pete Nolan — have releases on Arbitrary Signs, Three Lobed, Ecstatic Peace, Not Not Fun Records, and their current home, Drag City Records. They have toured extensively with the likes of Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, Sunburned Hand of the Man, Jandek, Six Organs of Admittance, and have amassed a rabid cult following in the nearly 10 years they have been playing.

Their most recent record and first for Drag City, ‘Balf Quarry,’ finds the duo moving further away from their post-hardcore no wave freakouts to a heavier, psychedelic stoner-rock zone. Drag City describes the record thusly:  “mulchy,” “spectral,” “fervid,” “needling,” “expansive,” “fireworks,” “ball-breaking,” “piss-soaked,” “admirably failing,” “meth-hurried” and “quicksand drones”, while Marc Masters of Pitchfork says:

“This is Magik Markers’ most coherent, self-contained effort to date. A friend called it “a road trip into the basement,” and that pretty well captures the album’s America-in-the-rear-view-mirror vibe. As the smoky grooves roll by, it’s easy to picture singer/guitarist Elisa Ambrogio and drummer Pete Nolan camped out in a cellar, dreaming that their loose, swaying songs are treks down a hazy, endless highway… Ambrogio drops numerous references to road-drenched Americana. Her songs are littered with gamblers, lawmen, whiskey, and losing lottery tickets. This makes ‘Balf Quarry’ something like a 1970s indie film shot through a modern-day lens, similar to the way Vincent Gallo’s ‘The Brown Bunny’ felt like a simultaneously faded and updated road-movie replica.”

“The Magik Markers are exactly what rock needs: something more challenging and miles away from the pedestrian pretentiousness and brainless rehashing of many modern-day groups.” — Andrew Earlies, Paste Magazine

New York City noise stalwarts Mouthus will also be celebrating the release of their latest album, ‘Divisionals’ (Ecstatic Peace!). The post-industrial, innovative guitar/drums/electronics duo of New Yorker Brian Sullivan (Eskimo King, Chaw Mank, White Rock) and recent Baltimore transplant Nate Nelson (Religious Knives) has long been a Popcorn Youth favorite — Friday’s show will mark their third appearance in Ithaca, and first at the Lost Dog  — and for good reason. Marc Masters also had something to see about these guys, on ‘Divisionals’:

“We get heavy doses of guitar drones and feedback loops from Sullivan, hypnotic clangs from Nelson’s hybrid electro-acoustic drums, and something resembling vocals buried deep below. It’s all wrapped in the duo’s trademark combo of robotic repetition, microscopic precision, and messy, organic growth. The overall effect is like that of a metallic flower blooming into a statue and slowly rusting before your eyes… ‘Divisionals’ is clearly another honest day’s work from a band that always shows up on time.” — Pitchfork Media

Rounding out the evening will be Syracuse-Ithaca guitar/drums duo American Sphinx, who continue to surprise and innovate. As the Markers are only visiting three other cities on this brief promotional tour, this is an extremely rare opportunity to see one of the most exciting American rock bands around in an extremely intimate setting. From their early free form noise rants to their churning blues jams of late, Magik Markers continue to inspire and move me every single day. Do NOT miss out, and please spread the word!!

Friday’s concert also marks my final concert at the Lost Dog, a space that has been extremely giving and receptive to Popcorn Youth programming. I am extremely grateful for all of their support over the years and I couldn’t imagine a better band than Magik Markers to help celebrate its place in our community.

Update for tonight’s Tom Carter / Shawn David McMillen / Steve Gunn show: If you attend the Ithaca Underground Upsilon Acrux / Why the Wires / 1000 Year Plan / Clan of the Cave Bear show at CSMA at 7pm (which I HIGHLY recommend that you do), show their stamp at our door, for a discounted ticket price of $4! There is time to see both, and I want to reward those that do! Thanks and hope to see you out tonight!

For those who read the Ticket this morning, this is pure sadness. As a former intern of Jim Catalano already three years ago (!), I know firsthand the significance and relevance he has to the local music community. It’s encouraging to hear that he’ll continue to be a presence in our music community and I can’t wait to see what he takes on next.

This will be the last Soundoff column for awhile, as I’ll be leaving The Ithaca Journal after this week due to the continuing cutbacks at the paper. It has been a real pleasure serving as Ticket editor for the past six years, not to mention writing this column since 1992. Given Ithaca’s vibrant arts scene, I couldn’t have asked for a better place to have such a job.

After taking a much-needed break, I hope to resume writing about the local scene again. Until then, I’ll be around town continuing to check out as many shows as possible and trying to keep up with all the local bands. (Feel free to e-mail me news at jimcat@aol.com.) Have a great summer, everyone!

Thanks for a great run, Jim!

There is a LOT going on in this week’s show calendar. As many people have noticed, Friday is pretty much stuffed to the gills with tantalizing musical options. Want my two cents? Vieux Farka Toure seems to come here on a twice a year basis, and The Horse Flies — as much as I love them — are a local band and aren’t going anywhere. You’ll be able to see them in a month at Grass Roots! AND: They are playing a FREE show the next day at the Ellis Hollow Community Center! So you can still see them this weekend, no problem.

Ithaca Underground’s 7pm concert on Friday is must-see, so I propose you stop by the CSMA on Friday to Upsilon Crux and Why the Wires, and when the show is over at 10pm, roll on over to the Lost Dog for Tom Carter, Shawn McMillen and Steve Gunn. THAT, my friends, is the real double-bill of the weekend.

June 16 - Crow Greenspun [Maxies]
June 17 - Ms Marty / Mike Hansen [ABC]
June 18 - Ithaca DJ Tag Team Cookout [The Haunt]
June 19 - Cask Night [Stellas]
June 19 - Vieux Farka Toure [The Haunt]
June 19 - The Horse Flies [Castaways]
June 19 - Upsilon Crux / Why the Wires [Ithaca Underground at CSMA]
June 19 - Tom Carter / Shawn McMillen / Steve Gunn [Lost Dog]
June 20 - Earth Wind & Fire / Chicago [Turning Stone]
June 20 - The Horse Flies [Ellis Hollow Community Center]
June 21 - Crow Greenspun [Felicias]
June 21 - Steve Selin / Richie Stearns [Danby Town Hall]
June 21 - Sublime Frequencies Film Screening [RoCo]
June 23 - Hee Haw Nightmare [Maxies]