A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a column about the grand opening of The Anchor, a new club in Kingston. This week, in an effort to give equal time and recognition to other venues that are helping to keep live music alive in the Hudson Valley, I turn my attention to BSP Lounge in Kingston!

BSP is a place that has had its share of ups and downs, but since Trevor Dunworth came aboard as manager, it’s come alive! Nice room, good music, hip crowd, it’s one of the hottest spots around, in my opinion! Very sophisticated, urbane, and cosmopolitan. Not your average Hudson Valley nightspot!

Their booking policy has brought all sorts of national acts to Kingston in the past few months. Former Captain Beefheart guitarist, Gary Lucas was there in June, former Stiff recording artist, Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby in July, they’ve had Grace Potter and The Nocturnals and Assembly of Dust on a double bill, Neko Case (who just tore it up at Radio City Music Hall!), Marco Benevento, 3, Mercury Rev, and last Saturday night, BSP brought Sean Lennon to Kingston, with Charlotte Kemp Muhl, and their band, The Ghost of a Sabre Tooth Tiger!

The place was packed with the hippest people for miles around, the opening bands, Parakeet and Brother JT, were awesome! Parakeet performing a long ambient piece of music and Brother JT waking up the crowd with their punk infused original songs! Brother JT must be singled out for special mention, and I am planning a longer piece on them, as soon as I can! They were intense, weird, and great!

But everyone was there to see Sean, and he didn’t disappoint! Hanging out at the bar before they went on, Sean seemed to be, like his father, a man of the people. Very casual, very relaxed, seemingly very comfortable in his own skin. Sean and Charlotte took the stage like experienced pros! I didn’t know what to expect, because people had warned me that Sean had more of his mother in him than his father (not necessarily a bad thing), and was heavily into electronic music, but I’m happy to report that Sean channeled both of them and added his own thing to emerge as a real artist in every sense of the word! The show was marvelous! The band was rockin’, the songs were good, and, without being slavishly imitative at all, were very John, with a Sean filter. Really, really good stuff! Not Electronica at all! Just Rock and Roll, and a splendid time was had by all in attendance! Come back Sean! You said Kingston was hip from the stage, now come back and give us some more love, brother!

In an effort to meet my deadline, let’s get right to this week’s live music picks!

Wednesday, October 2 – There’s a great venue that I just discovered called The B Side Ballroom. It’s up in Oneonta, and after I go there for their first anniversary celebration tonight, to see the iconic BILLY JOE SHAVER, I just might write something about this promising venue. It sounds like my kind of place. We shall see. Stay tuned. Back in Kingston, the uncompromising, unusual, and very unique DUKE MCVINNIE BAND starts their October residency at BSP Lounge in Kingston. Check www.bspkingston.com for more info. Just another example of the fine work they’re doing at BSP! In the city, STEELY DAN are on the third night of their 7 shows in 9 nights run at The Beacon Theater, and THE RAVI COLTRANE QUARTET are on the second night of a 6 night run at the legendary Village Vanguard.
Thursday, October 3 – The WOODSTOCK FILM FESTIVAL starts tonight and continues all weekend. www.woodstockfilmfestival.org for more information. For you rockers in the city, MARKY RAMONE AND ANDREW WK are at Irving Plaza tonight, and again on Saturday night.
Friday, October 4 – Big show tonight at Roseland Ballroom, so why not make it a Pick of the Week? BLONDIE and X together should make this a night to remember! My old friend GARY LUCAS is out at Brooklyn Academy of Music tonight and tomorrow with his band, GODS AND MONSTERS, performing The Edge of Heaven, his tribute to some of the greatest Chinese singers of the last century! Very esoteric, as Mister Lucas always is! Up in the Hudson Valley, the great CKS is at The Falcon in Marlborough, and AMY HELM PRESENTS FRIDAY NIGHT AT LEVON’S BARN in Woodstock! www.levonhelm.com for more info.
Saturday, October 5 – Couple of really big shows tonight, as Ed Sullivan used to say, in the city! LIVING COLOR reforms for a show at Ginny’s Supper Club in Harlem, and RUFUS WITH SLY STONE are at BB King’s! I’m not expecting much from Sly because he is way out there, but this could be great, so I’m making both of these shows Picks of the Week, with a stronger nod going to Vernon Reid’s Living Color, which will be more rockin’!!
Wednesday, October 9 – GINGER BAKER starts a five night engagement at Iridium in Manhattan tonight!

Th-th-th-th-th-that’s all folks! See you next 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.