NYS Music - New York's Music News Source

While the year 1977 typically, and justifiably, gets a lot of the attention in Grateful Dead lore, the previous year has its fair share of gems too. With the Godchaux tandem now firmly entrenched and the return of Mickey Hart, the band was…
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The Grateful Dead wound up playing more than 50 shows at MSG by the time their touring career ended, but the September 1990 run had a unique feel all its own. With keyboardist Brent Mydland's recent death just months earlier, the Dead once…
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On this day in 2007, the first ever Farm Aid was held in New York State, with the annual benefit concert for farmers held on Randalls Island. The official announcement came on June 11 with Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp making…
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In 2021, veteran rock writer Frank Mastropolo gave us a mega-informative book about the history of one of New York’s most legendary performance venues in Fillmore East, The Venue That Changed Rock Music Forever.  Now he’s back with New…
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Hellbound Train is an astounding double-album retrospective from the always revelatory American guitarist Steve Tibbetts, a stalwart innovator who has been associated with ECM Records for 13 albums over 40 years. /*…
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What’s the most eardrum pummeling cowbell moment in rock? Thanks to that famous Saturday Night Live sketch, you might think it’s Blue Oyster Cult’s “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper.” But for my money, it’s the cowbell count-off pounded out by…
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Playwright James Rado, best-known as the co-author and lead actor in iconic, counter-culture Broadway musical, Hair, has passed away in a Manhattan hospital. His reported cause of death was cardiorespiratory arrest, said his publicist and…
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Guitarist, songwriter, and singer Jim Miller of the band Western Centuries passed away unexpectedly from cardiac arrest while on tour in Boston last week. Miller was 69 years old and his passing has been felt hard on…
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Taylor Hawkins, the drummer for the Foo Fighters, died unexpectedly at 50 years old. A statement released on the band’s Twitter confirmed his death shortly before they were scheduled to perform in Bogotá, Colombia. Photo by Michael…
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