Water Street opens calendar to more local musicians
- The Club at Water Street is opening its calendar to more local acts.
- The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra presents a free concert of excepts from the upcoming 2015-'16 season on Tuesday.
- Connie Deming, Rochester's finest pop singer, performs Joni Mitchell's Blue in its entirety on Feb. 28.
- Santana returns for an 8 p.m. Aug. 15 show at Constellation Brands-Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center.
It's been no secret that the relationship between Rochester music clubs and local acts playing original music has not been a mutually beneficial arrangement this century. The clubs note, correctly, that no local acts seem capable of drawing large audiences. The local musicians claim, correctly, that the clubs are unwilling to invest in strategies to build an audience.
But now the city's largest club, Water Street Music Hall, has taken a few steps that may help, even just a little, to shift that landscape. It's opening up the smaller club side of the venue to more performances by local musicians.
"Cat said they're going to treat local shows like national shows," says Roy Stein, one of the local musicians who recently met with Water Street talent booker Cat Bauer and the club's owners. "And I think that's fabulous. Whether it will work, I don't know."
While not all local clubs engage in a policy of "pay to play," Water Street has done so in the past, typically paying acts $2 to $3 for every ticket that the bands themselves sell for shows. It's meant to motivate bands to get involved in promoting shows.
Under the new arrangement, the first $400 in ticket sales will be divided equally between the venue and band, and any money raised over that $400 amount will go to the band. So musicians still have a vested interest in drawing a crowd. "If you draw, you get paid," says Stein, who's played the scene for years as drummer with bands such as New Math, Atomic Swindlers, Jet Black Berries and, most recently, My Plastic Sun. "If you don't, you get nothing.
"If this works, it's gonna have to be the local bands that make it work."
Tickets ($5 in advance; $10 the day of the show) will be distributed to outlets by the club, which will also handle promotion through press releases, advertising and social media. And not only will prime weekend dates be made available to local acts if they haven't been committed to national touring bands, but also the shows will start at an audience-friendly 8 p.m.
"It's a great venue in that it has two really great sides," Stein says; Water Street's larger stage can handle an audience of 1,100, the smaller club side 375. "I love the idea that the shows start at 8 and end at 11. That's what Cage the Elephant does when they tour. That's what The Black Keys do when they tour. Here, it's been the local bands go on at 9:30 or 10 and the show ends at 1. And we have to compete with the TV in the corner playing the NCAA game. It never feels like a show at those venues."
Granted, none of these moves rise to the level of the auto-industry bailout. But the hope among local musicians is that, if Water Street Music Hall treats local acts as though they are touring acts, the vibe might spread. Clubs such as the Bug Jar, Abilene Bar & Lounge, Lovin' Cup Bistro & Brews and the new Flour City Station have built a reputation for treating musicians fairly, despite their limited resources. "I think they do it because they love the music," Stein says. "The people who do it because they want to make money, I think we recognize them real quick."
Musicians interested in getting on board can contact the club at admin@waterstreetmusic.com.
Fairport native Julia Nunes' monthlong Kickstarter campaign to fund her next album closed out on Wednesday. The singer-songwriter, now living in Los Angeles, was hoping to raise $25,000. Looks like she could afford to do a boxed set of angsty, guitar-ukulele pop; she collected an astounding $135,403. The album should be ready by late spring.
Music director Ward Stare leads the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in a free concert of excerpts from the upcoming 2015-'16 season at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Kodak Hall at the Eastman Theatre, 60 Gibbs St. While the event is free, advance tickets are required, available by calling (585) 454-2100 and mentioning the word "Surprise." They're also at the Eastman Theatre box office.
No one does Joni Mitchell like Connie Deming. Mitchell excluded, perhaps. So this is the perfect cover show, when Rochester's finest pop singer, Deming, performs Mitchell's Blue in its entirety. It's at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 28 at Rochester Christian Reformed Church, 2750 Atlantic Ave., Penfield. A lot of people think this 1971 release is Mitchell's finest album, and Deming's voice is a perfect fit for these sad, deeply confessional and strikingly beautiful songs. Since Blue is only 10 songs, Deming will do an opening set of her music as well as selected Mitchell songs: She's been known to do "Electricity" and "Big Yellow Taxi" in the past. Admission is $10 at the door.
Santana returns for an 8 p.m. Aug. 15 show at Constellation Brands-Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center, near Canandaigua on the campus of Finger Lakes Community College. Known for hits such as "Oyo Como Va" and "Black Magic Woman," Carlos Santana's most-recent album, Corazon, is a collection of duets with Latin performers. Santana's last performance in the area was a 2012 show with The Allman Brothers Band at Darien Lake Performing Arts Center. Tickets ($55.50, $75.50 and $95.50 for the pavilion; $30.50 in advance and $35.50 the day of for the lawn) are available at ticketmaster.com, (800) 745-3000 and the Blue Cross Arena Box Office, 1 War Memorial Square.
Incidentally, for anyone curious about that odd 5:45 p.m. starting time for Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companionat CMAC on June 6: That's to accommodate the live broadcast of the show, starting at 6 p.m. on National Public Radio. Here that's WXXI-FM (88.5). No word yet on the guests. Tickets ($35, $55 and $75 for the pavilion; $20 in advance and $25 the day of the show for the lawn) are available at ticketmaster.com, (800) 745-3000 and the Blue Cross Arena box office.
Paris-born, Brooklyn-based Stephane Wrembel, who's taking Django Reinhardt-style Gypsy jazz guitar in interesting directions, is hanging around after his two shows Saturday to play Sunday brunch at Lovin' Cup Bistro and Brews, 300 Park Point Drive, Henrietta, near the campus of Rochester Institute of Technology. Doors open at 11 a.m., Wrembel plays from noon to 2 p.m. Admission to the show is $10; brunch is extra. Call (585) 292-9940.
The dead are coming to Rochester. But it's neither zombies nor a reunion of the Grateful Dead. Theresa Caputo, the star of the TLC reality show Long Island Medium, has a 7:30 p.m. April 21 date at the Blue Cross Arena at the Community War Memorial. In the show, Caputo claims she can speak with the departed, which she'll claim to be doing for audience members as she tells her story of psychic discovery. Caputo has written two books on the subject, most recently You Can't Make This Stuff Up, which debuted last September at No. 9 on The New York Times best-sellers list in the "Religion, Spirituality and Faith" listings. In the same vein as seeing your favorite hardcore metal band sing about decapitation, it may be wise to consider this show strictly for its entertainment value: Caputo has also been described by paranormal debunkers such as D.J. Grothe and James Randi as "a charlatan." Another investigator of psychic claims, Ron Tebo, says, "She's bringing comfort under false pretenses, and taking advantage of vulnerable, grieving people." So apparently, there are some people who think you can make this stuff up. Tickets (starting at $39.75) are available at ticketmaster.com, (800) 745-3000, or the Blue Cross Arena box office.
Soul and R&B singer-songwriters Lyfe Jennings and Raheem DeVaughn have an 8 p.m. Saturday show at the Auditorium Theatre, 885 E. Main St. Tickets ($48, $58 and $68) are available at ticketmaster.com, (800) 745-3000, rbtl.org and the Auditorium Theatre box office.
Breaking Benjamin is here for an 8 p.m. Saturday show at the Main Street Armory, 900 E. Main St. The metal band, which had collapsed in 2010 due to lead singer Ben Burney's health troubles (which he described as neurological and liver damage resulting from alcoholism), followed by an intra-band lawsuit, re-emerged at the end of 2013 after Burnley won rights to the name. On this tour, he's joined by four new band members. Tickets ($35 in advance; $40 the day of the show) are at mainstreetarmory.com and ticketfly.com.
Relationships will be the theme when Garth Fagan Dance hosts its sixth annual "Evening of Duets" at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Garth Fagan Dance Studios, 50 Chestnut St. A pre-reception with complimentary drinks and hors d'oeuvres precedes the dances, which Fagan will introduce. In a press release announcing the show, Fagan said each dance "express the complexity of human relationships, in whatever form they may take — male/female, female/female, male/male, same race/interracial, or gay/straight. Each tells a different story of generation, culture, or class — embracing both the similarities and differences between all relationships and all mankind." Fagan and the dancers join the audience afterward for a champagne toast, dinner and dessert, with the dancers will be seated among the guests. Tickets ($150, which also includes valet parking) are available garthfagandance.org or (585) 454-3260.
The Monophonics have a 8 p.m. April 17 show at The Club at Water Street, 204 N. Water St. The San Francisco act — a new, interesting young soul band — is inspired not only by the funk and soul of Sly & the Family Stone and The Temptations, but also by the psychedelics of The Zombies and Pink Floyd, often presented in a very cinematic context. Tickets ($13 in advance; $15 the day of the show) are available at waterstreetmusic.com, Record Archive, Aaron's Alley and (888) 512-7469.
Also at The Club at Water Street, the electro-rock jam band Jimkata plays at 8 p.m. April 24. The Rochester pop-harpist Mikaela Davis opens. Tickets ($12 in advance; $15 the day of the show) are available at waterstreetmusic.com, Record Archive, Aaron's Alley and (888) 512-7469.
JSPEVAK@DemocratandChronicle.com