Remembering Ralph II - May 19th at the Lilac Festival Mainstage

This is from the press release sent out by Sally Cohen, PR as Creative as You Are.

2ND ANNUAL "REMEMBERING RALPH" AT LILAC FEST

Rochester, NY – The second annual "Remembering Ralph" concert takes place on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 from 4-8:30 p.m. at the Lilac Festival's Sam's Club Main Stage (corner of South and Highland Avenues). The show is free, but donations to the Ralph Ortiz Memorial Fund, which provides music scholarships to area students, are welcome.* In addition, all participating musicians are waiving their fees, and the Lilac Festival will donate $2,000 to the fund. Organizers hope the event will become an annual Lilac Fest tradition.

MC'd by WRMM 10.3 FM's Tony Infantino , the tribute features performances by the Stormy Monday Blues Band reunion (4-4:45 p.m.); Uncle Plum (5-6 p.m.), Mambo Kings (6:15-7:15 p.m.) and Prime Time Funk (7:30-8:30 p.m.) Guest artists include Steve Lyons, Rich Iman , Todd East , Jeff Martin and last year's scholarship recipients .

On April 26, 2009, more than 70 area musicians – all of whom had played with bassist Rafael "Ralph" Ortiz at one time or another – came together at Water Street Music Hall to create a nine-hour benefit concert in honor of their friend, who had passed away suddenly in February after a short battle with cancer. In addition to paying medical, funeral and travel expenses to fly Ralph's mother from Puerto Rico to attend the tribute, the first "Remembering Ralph" funded two scholarships: $1,000 to a deserving senior at Ralph's alma mater, Newark High School (Joe DeRue); and $500 worth of lessons to a deserving student (Mark Malsegna) at Northfield Music in Pittsford, where Ralph taught for 20 years. Those scholarships will be awarded again this year.

More about this year's performers:
Stormy Monday Blues Band reunion : the popular Monday night house band at the former Shnozz's in the Village Gate during the 80-90's returns with all of its original members: Jeff Cosco, Jim Richmond, Mike Andressi and Dave Cohen. Ralph often filled in for SMBB's bassist, Ricky Ellis . Guest artists: Steve Lyons from The Legendary Dukes, Richard Iman from the Park Avenue Band and Jeff Martin from Joyful Noise.

Uncle Plum : Unable to perform at the first "Remembering Ralph," they were the first to volunteer for RR2.

Mambo Kings : Ralph played with the band for several years, including several concerts with the RPO at Eastman Theatre and in Vail, Colorado.

Prime Time Funk : co-founded by Ralph and Jim Richmond in 1996, the ten-piece horn band continues to perform all over the Northeast with bassist, Ron France. Todd East, a former PTF member, will perform with the band.

yours in music,
tracy

Congratulations to Gabe Condon and Graham Keir

In my email today, I received the XRIJF newsletter which had an article about two Eastman Students who have won Downbeat magazine music awards.

I don't know Graham Keir, a senior, but I do know Gabe Condon. Just a freshman, Gabe's talents and "musical soul" are way beyond his years. I believe this is his second Downbeat award.

Congratulations to both of you!

yours in music,
Tracy

What happened to my photo?

Well, the other day I was working on some photos from Dave and Tina's gig at Smokin' Joe's. I was editing in Picasa, and it said I could export directly to Blogger. I did that, and it seemed to work at the time. I was going to come back to it later but got sidetracked. It wasn't until it was brought to my attention this morning, that I realized it didn't work.

So, to remedy that, I'm going to try again. Using the method I really know. Anyway, the pictures aren't great because of the light streaming in the windows behind the band, and I didn't want to keep flashing in their faces. I would find that distracting. Though, these musicians are professionals, and maybe it doesn't bother them.

So, Tina and the Two-Timers is a fun band with a wide variety of types of tunes in their repertoire. From blues to R&B, a little jump, jive, 'n' wail, to Steely Dan to John Mayer, and everything in between; Tina and the Two-Timers covered it well. The Two-Timers include Bill Blind keeping the beat on drums, Dave Charneski on guitar (and I think I caught him singing some backup vocals), Bob Miller on guitar and backup vocals and Richie Simbari playing bass and offering some backup vocals as well. Tina is the incomparable Tina Albright - the woman with the voice I never tire of hearing.

And that top photo is my Joe sitting in with the band. I used the flash then, and I'm glad I did because it's a cute picture of him with Tina.

You can catch this band on May 14th at Rab's Woodshed and May 28th at Smokin' Joe's. You should check them out; I think you'll like them!

yours in music,
Tracy

WXXI: Nominees to the Rochester Music Hall of Fame (2010-04-30)

WXXI: Nominees to the Rochester Music Hall of Fame (2010-04-30)

What fun!

After a lot of work on many people's parts, a lot of donated time and TALENT, and lots of love and vision, the Rochester Music Hall of Fame launched! The party was good. There really were a ton of people there; some I knew, many I didn't. It was great to see all those people enjoying the twelve bands we had assembled for the event. There was so much enthusiasm right from the first moment.

A little recap on the night, though I did not get to hear as much of each of the bands as I'd have liked - the Spencerport High School Jazz Band was really good, and obviously deserving of the awards they've received. John Akers is excellent, it was a shame to have him on so early in the evening before the bigger crowds came. Next time he plays, it will have to be later in the evening. I missed Paradigm Shift totally, but I heard from many that they were smokin'. I caught just a bit of Cross Roads Project. I am not a big country fan, but this was high-energy contemporary country, and the people listening to the them in The Keg seemed to be really enjoying them.

I missed Redline Zydeco, but having seen them before, I can only imagine that The Keg's dance floor was filled. I heard part of one of Small Town's tunes, and they sounded as great as ever. I was able to catch two of Tinted Image's songs, and I really liked them. They are normally a five-piece, but they played a stripped-down trio version last night. They have a real nice sound - the sax was sweet, the guitarist sounded good on both acoustic and electric, and the female vocalist had a lovely, natural voice. I predict big things for this band.

Crescent City Connection, the New Orleans style band, was lots of fun. They followed Senator Joe Robach's announcement of the first slate of 23 nominees for the Rochester Music Hall of Fame. The Mambo Kings were hot, as always. I was too busy to get in to enjoy them, but it looked like the crowd did. Prime Time Funk was, of course, awesome. They never, ever disappoint. The dance floor filled up during their set and people were really into it. The Atlas horn section joined them for Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours), and WOW - very cool. Atlas followed PTF, and they have a really big, high-energy sound that the crowd liked. The dance floor stayed busy. Oh, and I very much wanted Julianne Holiday's black sequined pants! She looked like a rock star. With their very cool and unique sound, the Buddhahood took the stage last, and there were still a lot of people there ready to dance even though it was late by then.

Thanks to these bands, all of our volunteers, photographers (pictures to follow), and the great group of people who came out to enjoy and support this venture, the Rochester Music Hall of Fame is off to an excellent start!!

yours in music,
Tracy