Howdy Y’all! Hope everyone’s enjoying the beautiful weather, when it’s not raining. Don’t forget, April showers bring May flowers… hey, what the hell? IT”S JUNE!!! Well anyway, be thankful for the good ones when they come along.

The Towne Crier in Pauling has finally closed in preparation for their move to Beacon. In my opinion, this is a great move for The Towne Crier, and for the city of Beacon, although probably not so much for Pauling. That said, Beacon has been up and coming for quite a while, and in recent years, the town has accelerated it’s pace of rising hip quotient, so much so that I wanna go there and check the place out! It sounds really cool! I don’t know if it’s any closer than Pauling, but Pauling was quite a hike, so I don’t think it could be any worse! And Beacon will now have a “crown jewel” in it’s rising tide of galleries, restaurants, clubs, and places for musicians to play. My best wishes to The Towne Crier in its new location, and folks, they book a lot of different types of artists here, all good. There’s something for everyone at The Towne Crier, so please support these guys when they re-open. Moving costs a fortune nowadays and they’ll probably need all the help they can get at the beginning.

Farm Aid’s coming to SPAC! That’s right, Willie, Neil, Mellencamp, and the rest of the Farm Aid board are bringing the show back to the heartland, after a few years in NYC. The shows at Saratoga Performing Arts Center (one of the most beautiful places anywhere to see a show), are scheduled for September. Line up TBA.

This week’s live picks:

Wednesday, June 19 – DAVID MURRAY is a giant in the Jazz world! Tonight, his new band, THE INFINITY QUARTET, will be playing at Subculture, at 45 Bleecker Street, with MACY GRAY as guest featured vocalist. I love Macy Gray, and this just might be a titanic show! Reprise performance Thursday. Also in the city, IAN MCGLAGEN, of Small Faces, and later, Faces, who has been living in Austin, Texas for years, at Iridium, and BILL PAYNE of Little Feat at Highline Ballroom. Further north, FLEETWOOD MAC at Times-Union Center in Albany, and LEO KOTTKE, the world’s foremost living progenitor of trance-raga music, is at Club Helsinki in Hudson.
Thursday, June 20 – I don’t often recommend Hip Hop shows, but tonight, three titans of the Rap world are getting together at Roseland ballroom, and if you have a fondness for Hip Hop, or maybe even just like it a little, or sometimes, then you have to sit up and take notice at this show with three of the best and most influential originators of the genre, LL COOL J, PUBLIC ENEMY, and ICE CUBE from NWA! This is seriously huge! The only way it could get better, would be if they added Run-DMC to the show! Up in the mountains, HOT TUNA’s at Bethel Woods.
Friday, June 21 – My parent’s wedding anniversary. I’ll be celebrating by going to see IAN MCGLAGEN at The Bearsville Theater! Really looking forward to this one! For the more adventurous among you, WILCO’S SOLID SOUND FESTIVAL kicks off tonight at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Mass., and continues through the weekend. They have an impressive lineup this year, and if the weather co-operates, this should be a blast! More info at www.solidsoundfestival.com. And if you’re thinking about taking in the Wilco festival, you might want to think about making a short stop on the way there, at Infinity Hall in Norfolk, CT for to catch the ASSEMBLY OF DUST show. This place is tiny! I can’t even believe AOD is playing here! And it’s also a really nice old building with a great restaurant. The room where the music takes place reminds me of a smaller Ryman Auditorium! Lovely staff as well. Infinity Music Hall deserves your support. It’s a bit of a drive, but a lovely one, so go early, enjoy the drive, eat dinner before the show, and then rock out to Assembly of Dust, a really good band! Back in NY, the excellent, inventive guitarist JOHNNY A is at The Falcon in Marlboro. Johnny spent 7 years as guitarist and musical director for Peter Wolf before launching his solo career in 1999, with an album released on Steve Vai’s label! Steve ain’t signin’ no slouches! If I hadn’t been looking forward to Mac’s show at Bearsville for so long, I would definitely be here. The “A” is for “Awesome”!
Saturday, June 22 – If you’re not in the middle of Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival, there’s only two choices for you tonight. One, really, depending on where you are. If you are in Manhattan, the great FEMI KUTI and his band, THE POSITIVE FORCE, is at Central Park for a FREE concert! That’s right, I said free! Femi is the son of the immortal Fela Kuti, who practically invented Afrobeat music, and an amazing artist in his own right. The show is at 72nd Street in the middle of the Park. This will be a great night out! Upstate, the all day ROSENDALE ROCKS THE RIVER will be starting at noon, and yours truly will be performing at 2 PM, followed by one distinguished band after the next! C’mon out and get yer feet wet!
Sunday, June 23 – Wow! There is so much good music out there tonight, stretching across the entire state of New York, that you’ve gotta find something to make you happy tonight. We’ll go from North to South geographically, but artistically, we’ll start in the South, with Florida native son, TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS at SPAC in Saratoga Springs. TP and the H’breakers are one of the best live bands around, this is one of the best live venues around, and this will be one of the best shows you will see all year! Moving south, we come to the city of Kingston, where STEVE MARTIN, EDIE BRICKELL, AND THE STEEP CANYON RANGERS will take over UPAC for a night of Bluegrass music. Ah, Steve and Edie, together again! Martin is a credible banjo player who’s recorded a pretty good record with The SC Rangers, and from what I’ve heard, has also made a really nice album with Edie Brickell! Of course, his comedy career needs no introduction. Any way you look at it, this combination of artists should produce some music worth hearing! Continuing south, we come to The South again. Great new band, ALABAMA SHAKES is at The Capitol Theater in Port Chester, and finally, one of my all time favorite bands, SOCIAL DISTORTION, are at Warsaw in Brooklyn.
Monday, June 24 – Two interesting shows tonight, one upstate, one down. In the city, guitarist LITA FORD is at Iridium with The Les Paul Trio, and at The Bearsville Theater, the multi-talented DUKE MCVINNIE BAND will be playing the last night of their June residency. This will be your last opportunity to catch this unique band here for a while. They are great and deserve your support, and, you’ll be lovin’ it!
Tuesday, June 25 – The STEVE AND EDIE (Martin and Brickell, with The SC Rangers) show moves to Town Hall, and NAZARETH moves their exquisite version of “Love Hurts” to BB King’s, both in Manhattan.
Wednesday, June 26 – Amongst all the great music we have to choose from this week, ROBERT CRAY at Infinity Music Hall is my Pick of the Week. Rarely does an artist of Mister Cray’s stature play a venue this small and intimate. It’s a prefect place to observe the talents of the man. In the city, there are two shows that I find interesting, rather than out and out recommend. One is MOE at The Beekman Beer Garden Beach Club, at 89 South Street. Moe is a well loved jam band, and I have the idea this venue will be very cool. Any place that combines “beer garden” and “beach club” is A-OK in my book! The other is COURTNEY LOVE at Warsaw in Brooklyn. Love has become more of an embarrassing celebrity than a singer or musician, but, Hole rocked, and maybe she still can too!
Thursday, June 27 – Tonight, we’re back to the geographical tour. In the city, BUDDY GUY at BB Kings. Hudson Valley – GABE BUTTERFIELD BAND with Rob Papparozzi, Jimmy Eppard, and special guest, fantastic guitarist, Kal David! Check him out on YouTube and you’ll be there!

Have a great week!

Fred Perry is the owner of Reservoir Music Center on Route 28 in Kingston, and founding member of Alt-Country supergroup, The Brooklyn Cowboys, is from a 3rd generation musical family and lives in the Hudson Valley, where he does what he can to promote live music.