Albany – really, the Capital Region as a whole – has become a hub for live music over the past four decades, thanks to diverse venues catering to different crowds and genres, but above all, one man has been driving the local music scene over that time span, promoter Greg Bell of Guthrie/Bell Productions.
How do you start an article to encompass 33 years of bringing live music to the Capital Region, giving up-and-coming bands a chance to open for national acts, and established Albany as a must-stop for hundreds of bands over that time span? Well, let’s start with an announcement – Greg Bell is finally retiring from promoting shows.
Not for good of course – live music is in his blood – but he’s definitely taking a step back from the breakneck pace he has had all these years. Multiple shows a week (heck, sometimes multiple shows a night) and having retired from teaching in 2010, he’s pacing himself here on out, but has two big nights of live music coming up.
First on Saturday, December 20, Greg Bell’s Halliday Ball will be held at Lark Hall, featuring some of the great bands that Greg helped build the careers of by promoting their shows in the Capital Region – Ominous Seapods, Conehead Buddha (with Suke Cerulo), Peter Prince and Moon Boot Lover, and Dr. Jah and the Love Prophets. Eastern Highs (featuring Kirk Juhas of freebeerandchicken fame) starts the night off at 6pm at The Eleven, with the party moving upstairs at 8pm for sets from each of the four bands, with music planned to go until quite late – making sure each band has a chance to give their all for Greg.
Then a week later on December 27, Greg has a big night planned for his send off. First up is Glass Pony with Laura Leigh Band at The Hollow from 5-7, followed by moe. at the Palace Theatre with Eastbound Jesus starting at 7pm, then a post-show at Ophelia’s on Broadway with Hilltop, collectively billed as Greg Bell’s Retirement Party.
But as Dave Geoghegan (Dr. Jah) joked, “He can’t retire – once he has to pay to get into shows, he’ll start doing shows again.”
This, among other views on Greg’s profound influence on the Capital Region, and especially the Albany live music scene, were shared in a chat with Geoghegan, Chris Fisher and Terry Lynch of Conehead Buddha, and Max Verna of Ominous Seapods following Thanksgiving weekend, where the four recalled and shared details from their early years working with Greg and his impact on the scene. Additionally, Kirk Juhas of Eastern Highs and Peter Prince of Moon Boot Lover also weighed in, as the entire December 20 lineup is excited and looking forward to a local celebration for the man, the myth and the legend, Greg Bell.
The late 1980s into the early 1990s was the launching point for these five artists, with Dr. Jah and the Love Prophets starting earliest in 1987, linking up with Bell early on. Ominous Seapods got started in 1988, playing shows at Bogie’s with Howard Glassman (later the owner of Valentines) and connected with Greg by 1994. Conehead Buddha, Peter Prince and freebeerandchicken all got going in 1993 (with Eastern Highs starting in 2015), and all bands tracing the roots of their Capital Region success to Greg.
What year was your first show with Greg Bell?
Chris Fisher (Conehead Buddha): 1993. We met Greg at Jah Fest, just south of Albany. It was probably with Lawn Sausages at Valentines, or with Caroline and Mother Judge, or Solomon’s RamaDa.
Dave Geoghegan (Dr Jah): We met Greg in 1989 in Troy, first show was at Billy’s New Town Tavern, with Peter Prince on the billing.
Max Varna (Ominous Seapods): We were playing at Bogie’s independent of Greg and later connected with him by 1994.
Peter Prince (Moon Boot Lover): 1994, making the way to play Valentines and Bogies. The first time we came to town, we played with Dr. Jah, and it wasn’t a Greg Bell show, but our first manager Darren Cohen introduced us to Greg when we played in Troy.
Kirk Juhas (freebeerandchicken): 1995. We spent a couple years in Oswego freezing to death, and soon after arriving in Albany, met up with Greg and we’ve never looked back.
What is one big takeaway of Greg Bell’s impact on the scene in the Capital Region?
Kirk Juhas – We’ve been friends with Greg for a longtime. I’ve seen his impact on younger bands. There should be a statue of Greg in front of the Palace Theatre with a pair of tickets in his hand. He’s taken care of so many bands and given so many musicians a shot and supported them, doing grassroots work for half his life in the Capital Region. There should be a statue – he’s had a profound impact on people. He’s had good nights and bad nights, he’s a legend, and he’s a great guy and good person, never crossed us and been honest with us all the way.
Peter: He brought local bands to the masses, making these bands known locally in front of bigger touring artists. He injected the shows with local talent. Greg has always been a rock in that way, keeping it coming and people know that with his name on it, it’s going to be something good. It reminds me of Bill Graham – you knew you were going to get the good shit. His name was the seal of approval that this band was going to be good.
Max: The scene wouldn’t be anything without Greg. He is the glue, the impetus, the catalyst. We were all there ready to tap in with him, otherwise we would be playing at random bars like Augies on 9W. Without Greg, that would have been our outlet.
Dave: It is easier to deal with one guy than seven bar owners. He would tell you where to go, and where not to go because another band is over there that night.
Max: He put Albany on the map. It wasn’t necessarily a hot spot, and this led to an expansion in Troy and Schenectady. The intersection of I-87 and I-90 helps.
Chris: He was never motivated by money. Many times he’d lose money on a show, but wanted to take care of bands, so he would ask what expenses were and try to make the door so you could at least break even. You could tell he wasn’t doing it for the money, but doing it for the sheer love of music, and still has the energy to do it.
The conversation shifted to the opportunities that Greg gave bands in Albany at this time, opening up for larger bands that were touring through the area in the late 80s/early 90s. If a local band was slated to open for a bigger band, it didn’t just get you in front of a bigger audience, it showed the main act that Albany can fill a room and support their local artists.
Chris: We probably opened up for Guster at Valentines, Greg was big on trading gigs with out of towners.
Terry: If you loved X, you’ll love Y. He would try to match an opener up with a receptive crowd. He put Conehead Buddha with Jimmy Cliff at the Palace Theatre (2000)
Dave: Dr. Jah played with Burning Spear (the band’s tangential relationship with reggae landed them many opening spots), as well as ekoostik hookah, Fishbone, and Spin Doctors.
Peter: Jazz is Dead, I opened solo that night, but when we came to town we played rooms we could fill for An Evening With.
Dave: He could do Dead cover bands but didn’t want to. Schleigho, Consider the Source, The Slip – he got ’em right on the way up to becoming super famous. I was at Bonnaroo 2002 and saw bands on each stage that served as a local opener’s platform to reach a wider audience. He paired up bands well, sometimes two openers, and wanted bands that would do something different and interesting.
Of course, no conversation about bands coming from Albany in the 1990s is complete without moe.
Dave: We all played shows with moe. over the years. One time we went out to Buffalo to play Broadway Joe’s, opened for moe., and I got home in time to coach soccer the next morning.
Kirk: freebeerandchicken opened for moe. just when they were starting to crack through playing The Wetlands and all. Greg gave us really great opportunities. Eventually, we were on the first moe.down lineup.
Rob Derhak, bassist of moe., when reached for comment follows this mindset – “Greg Bell has been with moe. every step of our career. He took a chance on booking us into Valentines for our first gig ever in Albany, and continued to book us until people finally showed up to our shows. He has been our partner in Albany since the early 90’s and we have zero regrets. With his retirement there will be a very large pair of shoes left to fill in the Albany music scene.”
The band members then opined on advice Greg offered over the years that they took, as well as advice they were offered but didn’t take, which segued into Greg’s honest, plain spoken, no BS way of talking with bands and artists.
Chris: You gotta get your guest list under control (all on the call nodded in agreement).
Dave: Told us to do whatever weird shit we thought was cool. But we also didn’t drive further for shows or go out for weeks at a time, that wasn’t in the cards.
Terry: I had a fun adversarial relationship with Greg, had fun with him; he would start complaining about things beforehand to get ahead of things. He is an honest dude.
Chris: He said we were the worst band he saw when he first saw us.
Max: Don’t play Grateful Dead covers at all, it’s a trap. As soon as you are a Grateful Dead cover band, you’ll never break out of it. There are already great bands doing it, no reason to fall into it.
Peter: Greg has never been one to dole out advice to me, but being patient when a crowd is slow to arrive, he’d say ‘It’s early’ – it was almost fatherly advice – ‘It’s a late crowd,’ and then you go on late. He never freaked out – I’ve seen promoters freak out – he was always patient and he was teaching that to us young puppies.
Kirk: We played an early Bellstock. He and Marilyn and everyone started going to bed, but we were freebeerandchicken and we partied pretty hard. We went on the stage on the back of the house and we started playing the drums and he came out in his jammies, all tucked in, yelled ‘stop playing’ and possibly ‘shut the fuck up’ and we did not take his advice and he was not happy.
The musicians then looked ahead to the show this coming Saturday, answering the prompt: what do you play when it’s a retirement party for the promoter of the show?
Max: As old school as possible. This isn’t a retirement party, it’s a continuation of Greg.
Terry: He’s retiring from shows he doesn’t make money on. (everyone nods and laughs)
Chris: How many times have I heard this will be the last Bellstock?
Dave: I asked Marilyn for Greg’s favorite songs, we played eight of them at the 2025 Bellstock. We’ll probably play “Freedom Warrior,” he mentioned he liked it and thought it was our best song years ago.
Chris: We’ll play songs written in the last 5 years, just to keep the show engaging and fun, fits with Suke Cerulo playing.
Terry: It’s hard picking one hour worth of material to play.
Peter: I don’t want to give anything away but I’d like to find something to sneak his name into – maybe “Hit the Road Jack,” “Thunderstruck,” “Memories,” or “My Way” but in a bloated Elvis jumpsuit.
Kirk: We’re looking forward to playing one of our originals, a holiday song “Everyone is Home.” This song is for when the house is whole again, the kids coming home from college. There is nothing more amazing for the parents than to have the kids back home, and I feel like that’s going to be happening at the show on Saturday.
Story Time / Miscellany
Terry: We played at 7am for Greg’s students at Philip Livingston Middle School sometime in the mid-90s or early 2000’s. (Greg has a limited recollection of this, but recalls a school benefit where they played on the school steps.
Dave: This was a passion of Greg’s, he really wanted to make it work and try to figure out how to do this no matter what. There were those trying to book shows away from him, but he kept the scene that grew into a family, and got some recognition. Even an asshole promoter is better than no promoter.
Terry – In a business where you are constantly dealing with disappointment, we were happy to just have made a friend that you have a level of trust with, where you can call them a friend… that’s rare to find.
Peter: He always said positive and encouraging things and you don’t get that a lot from people you work with in the music industry – I think Greg having a regular day job kept him grounded. I’ve never seen him freaking out like a promoter who’s about to lose a bundle on a show, but he’s so authentic – he is who he is and there is no talking out of both sides of his mouth – what you see is what you get. That’s what we love and trust about him.
Who is next Greg Bell?
Terry: To compare someone, given his body of work and passion, for decades… I am not sure we will see anyone else like that again.
Now, you may be asking – what order do the bands play in on Saturday? Well, Greg didn’t want to make that call, so he left it to Geoghegan, who suggested drawing straws to figure out who plays when throughout the night. So show up and be ready to be surprised with who takes the stage starting at 8pm on December 20. Get tickets now – this show will sell out.
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