Downtown After Dark is award winning journalist Russ Tarby's weekly take on the best and brightest of happenings inside and outside of Downtown Syracuse. Each week he adds best bets too.
Bio:
Central New York journalist Russ Tarby has been writing about entertainment, crime, sports and politics since the 1970s. His reviews and feature stories have appeared in newspapers such as the Village Voice, the Dallas Observer, the Auburn Citizen and the Syracuse Post-Standard.
For 12 years, he worked as music and books editor for the Syracuse New Times and while there he won several Syracuse Press Club awards including a Best Feature Story award for 'The Sweet Man,' his 1998 profile of 95-year-old jazz trombonist Spiegle Willcox.
In 2000, he was named music writer of the year for weeklies with a circulation of less than 55,000 by the international Association of Alternative Newsweeklies.
Tarby was a member of the steering committees which founded the Syracuse Area Music Awards(Sammys) and the Syracuse Walk of Fame.
He has been a member of the Jazz Appreciation Society of Syracuse's Board of Directors since 1993.
In 2007, Tarby edited "Into The Deep," a book by Dr. Andrew G. Hodges about the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway on the island of Aruba.
Tarby now works as a free-lance writer and editor. He compiles two weekly columns, Downtown After Dark for the Syracuse City Eagle and Livin’ in Liverpool for The Review, both published by Eagle Newspapers.
A half-century ago, Old Liverpool Road glittered and gleamed. For local rock’n’rollers, it was a veritable street of dreams.
Vinal’s Club 320
Vinal’s Club 320, named after its next-door neighbor, the powerful International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 320, did boffo business at 602 Old Liverpool Road booking big-name talent supported by area acts.
Recording artists such as Frankie Avalon and The Belmonts played Club 320 in 1957, according to Ron Wray, the former deejay and long-recognized “Syracuse Music Authority.” In 1958, WNDR-AM brought The Twin Tones there along with local bands The Eldaroes (featuring Bobby Green), and the Rhythm Cadets with Beevo Singleton and Otis Smith (who later fronted Otis & the All-Night Workers).
During the 1960s, as the British Invasion and heavy metal transformed pop music, Vinal’s Club 320 also changed. It was renamed The Shoreline. In February 1973, Elf, fronted by charismatic vocalist Ronnie James Dio, showcased music from the band’s first LP there.
The Shoreline experience
About that time, a local soundman named Matt Forger regularly worked The Shoreline mixing bands such as AlecStar and Kane, featuring Liverpool keyboardist Lou Segreti.
Forger’s knob work became the foundation of a super successful engineering and production career in Hollywood. Shortly after moving to L.A. Forger nailed down a position at Westlake Studios where he worked with producers Giorgio Moroder, Quincy Jones, Bruce Swedien and George Duke.
In 1984, Forger helped create one of the recording industry’s most memorable productions of the century, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” He has continued working for Jackson over the years, as well as with Bruce Springsteen, Van Halen, Lena Horne and Paul McCartney. While he’s proud of his past work with those legends, Forger forges ahead with emerging artists such as Mutant Radio, Laughing With Lulu and The Dharma Bomb.
Forger recalls roots
“My start in the business was actually when I began mixing live shows,” Forger said of his days at The Shoreline. “Live mixing gave me the first money I ever earned in music and the sense that I was on to something that I had a natural ability for. It was being asked to keep an eye on the mixer for friends who had a band. They were impressed that they sounded so much better and that the audience enjoyed the sound.”
Of course, that’s the past – some three dozen years ago – and even his “Thriller” experience is far behind him. Now Forger has his eyes and ears focused fiercely on the future.
“The future of the music business is in the undiscovered talent that flies below the radar,” he said. “That’s who I want to work with. That’s the hope of the music industry: the unique, innovative artists who are creating something new and exiting, not regurgitating an old tired formula, or manufacturing synthetic crap with no emotion or heart. I want to be part of the future.”
Bujak forges the future
An up-and-coming musician with Syracuse roots, Jeff Bujak, stands primed to shape the future of pop music.
Bujak, now based in Northampton, Mass., generates heavily organized piano progressions and winds them amid poly-rhythmic electronic beats to construct a sound that is invigorating the underground music scene. A solo performer using computers, keyboards, effects, samplers and vocals to create a ‘progressive-piano groove,’ Bujak’s sound unites keyboard influences of Peter Gabriel, Album Leaf and Bruce Hornsby with the hard-driving rhythms of Prodigy and DJ Shadow.
On July 26, Bujak worked his electronic music magic at Downtown Manhattans, as part of the Jazz in the Square festival. He performed music from his new disc, “Building: An Arsenal,” a concept album about a woman climbing the steps of a building from which she plans to commit suicide by jumping.
Bujak’s cosmic vision and creative soundscapes clearly mark him as one of those “undiscovered talents that fly below the radar,” as Forger describes them. But you heard it here first: he won’t be flying low for long!
Goo Goo clusters
The Goo Goo Dolls – a Buffalo band that made the big time but never forgot its upstate roots – will play the New York State Fair Mohegan Sun Grandstand at 7:30 p.m. Friday Aug. 22. Songwriter Gavin DeGraw will open the show.
Formed more than two decades ago, the power trio has released nearly a dozen albums, hit the pop and adult rock charts, provided soundtracks for several movies and been nominated for several Grammy awards.
Among the band’s best-known numbers is “Iris”, the theme song of the 1998 movie “City of Angels” starring Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan. Other chart-hitting songs include “Slide,” “Here is
Gone,” “Sympathy,” and “Give a Little Bit.” In 2004, the band played a free concert for 60,000 fans in Buffalo during an unexpected rain storm. That concert became a CD and DVD – “The Goo Goo Dolls Live in Buffalo.”
Tickets for the Goo Goo Dolls at the Grandstand cost $39.50 and $29.50; nysfair.org; 487-7711.
Beef Barn Jamborees
Three nights of real country music and displays from New York State’s Country Music Hall of Fame at the Cortland Country Music Park, can be seen during the 2008 State Fair in the Beef Cattle Building.
The scheduled twang outfits include J.D. & The Nashville Ramblers on Friday Aug. 22; Doc Weismore and the Ridge Road Ramblers on Tuesday Aug. 26; and Route 66 next Friday Aug. 29.
All bands begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Beef Cattle Building; 487-7711.
Grupo Pagan Sunday
The Southwest Showcase Sunday concerts continue with the highly danceable Latin R&B; sounds of Grupo Pagan, at 4 p.m. Sunday Aug. 24, at the Spirit of Jubilee Park, on the 100 block of South Avenue. Admission is free; 479-9620.
The band is led by Edgar Pagan on vocals and bass, and also features Rhonda Arns on vocals, Josh Dekaney on percussion, Kenny Budd on guitar, Frank Neubert on drums and Bill DiCosimo on keyboards.
Grupo Pagan’s influences include Santana, Shakira and Sade. The sextet also delivers some powerful and inspiring original music, which can be found on the CD, “Save the World.”
WAER-FM music director Eric Cohen describes the disc’s music ass “truly filled with a passionate energy and a zest for life that is not heard on every record. There is a positive message and a story to be told with every song...Grupo Pagan is a band to be reckoned with.”
Styx & Boston Tuesday
Two legendary bands, Boston and Styx, will fill the State Fair’s Mohegan Sun Grandstand with classic rock music at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday Aug. 26.
Boston burst onto the popular music scene in 1976 with what was then the biggest-selling debut album of its time. The band’s songs remain staples of classic rock stations and include “More Than a Feeling,” “Peace of Mind,” “Smokin,’” “Don’t Look Back” and “Amanda.” Over the years Boston has sold more than 50 million albums.
Styx, known for its theatrical approach and power ballads, was the first band to cut four consecutive multi-platinum albums. The band’s hits include “Lady,” “Mr. Roboto,” “Come Sail Away,” “Babe” and “Lorelei.”
Tickets to the Grandstand double-header cost $49.50 and $39.50. Fans can buy tickets to the 7:30 p.m. show, sponsored by radio station TK99, at the Fair’s box office, Ticketmaster outlets or online at LiveNation.com or Ticketmaster.com; 487-7711.
Best Bets
Rally against violence
The Media Unit’s “Angels with Broken Wings: Starting All Over Again,” will be performed at the SouthWest Community Center’s fourth annual rally against violence, on Saturday, Aug. 23, at 1 p.m., at the corner of Rich and Bellvue on the city’s Southwest Side. This show, the 21st in the Media Unit’s summer tour through city neighborhoods and park, has been cited as “a local “West Side Story” for the 21st Century. Refreshments will be served.
Upstate Unplugged
A variety of CNY performers will play acoustic music on the Chevy Court stage at the New York State Fair at about 6:30 p.m. daily.
The unplugged shows kick off this week with The Barrigar Brothers Thursday Aug. 21; Nancy Kelly Friday Aug. 22; Gary Frenay and Arty Lenin Saturday Aug. 23; The Horndogs Sunday Aug. 24; barbershop quartets Monday Aug. 25; Dan Elliott Tuesday Aug. 26, and Last Minute Aug. 27. The concerts are free, but it costs $10 to attend the fair; 487-7711.
Coachmen unbridled
“Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” indeed! The Coachmen will roll out their deep R&B; grooves twice this week, starting with a Party at the Pool from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday Aug. 22, at the United Inn at Seventh North Street, in Salina. The parties continue rain or shine, and is free; 451-1212.
Then the septet returns to the Regional Market for a free show from 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday Aug. 26; 422-8647. The Coachmen feature Dickie Cappotto, C.T. Putzer, Wayne Muller, Joe Neri, Mark Wildrick, Rick Cappotto and Michael Davis.
Tarzan Bros. unleashed
The Tarzan Brothers unleash oldies, blues and classic rock free at 9:30 p.m. Saturday Aug. 23, at the Limp Lizard BBQ, 4628 Onondaga Blvd; 472-7831. The brothers include Mark Gibson, Wayne Stevens, Bill Harmsa and Howlin’ Ralph Coleman.
Chiefs’ unbound
What have the Chiefs got to lose? Nothing. They’ve already dropped more than five dozen games, so who’s counting? It’s still a rush to watch rookies like lefty Brett Cecil and slugger Travis Snider take their first big steps toward major-league stardom.
Check ’em out at Alliance Bank Stadium as the ballclub hosts the Buffalo Bison at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday Aug. 22-23, followed by the Rochester Red Wings at 6 p.m. Sunday and 7 p.m. Monday Aug. 24-25. Tickets cost between $4 and $9, and parking is $3; 474-7833.
