Zeke Leonard, musician
Here is an idea whose time has come.
We look forward to more music/concerts and live shows at Forman Park along the Connective Corridor. Today we witnessed professor Zeke Leonard climb atop a car to perform “This Land is Your Land,” complete with a recycled ukulele and a NY-made-kazoo.
Leonard’s lunchtime performance was part of the Corridor’s Green Streets and Local Eats festival.
Let’s find a way to keep the music going at Forman Park.
Happy National Record Store Day: Blues singer Johnny Rawls holds up his latest "album" during a performance at the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que.
Professor Colleen Kattau performed Thursday at Punto de Contacto for the Cruel April Poetry Series.
Let’s file this under the things we’d like to see index…
Johnny Rawls brought his Mississippi mojo to the Dinosaur Restaurant in Syracuse on Thursday night. He played the Rochester Dinosaur on Wednesday.
Congratulations to the Syracuse New Times for the redesign, re-org, and also for recognizing the story behind the music of our friend Drummer Byron Cage. We particularly enjoyed the local connections column (Melissa Gardiner, Alex Boatman and Jesse Collins) that accompanied the article.
J. Cole, Elle Varner and Bas rocked the Dome on Friday night (by Najah)
Multi-instrumentalist and singer Elle Varner opened the Phi Beta Sigma fundraiser in the Dome on Friday night. The fraternity is celebrating 100 years in 2014. The headliner was J. Cole.
Pamela Williams serenades Syracuse's Al Cutri with her sax during the 2008 Northeast Jazz & Wine Festival (Clinton Square).
Tony Monaco played in and around Syracuse numerous times, including a Jazz in the City gig that was held in Little Italy back in the day. Monaco will return next month to play with the CNY Jazz All Stars for a show he’s calling “Swing Italian Style” at the Sheraton Hotel.
Jesse Collins Trio & Friends
We caught the live show from Jesse Collins at Al’s Whiskey and Wine Bar on Sunday night, and they played everything from New Orleans Jazz to Parliament Funkadelic.
It was good to see familiar faces from the pages of SIF such as Byron Cage and Melissa Gardiner; but it was equally fun to experience for the first time Collins (on alto sax), John Delia (clarinet and tenor sax) and the steady bass licks of Dickie Bureau. At one point during the show, the groove got so intense that Delia blew his clarinet apart (true story).
The crowd seemed to also enjoy the vibe from several of Collins’ original compositions, including his “hula hoop” anthem.
“Free to be Free” is the title of Collins’ new album.