The Long Island Museum, 1200 Route 25A, Stony Brook welcomes the return of the WUSB Sunday Street Series in the Gillespie Room of the Carriage Museum on Feb. 19 at 3 p.m. with a concert by Joe Jencks and Rod MacDonald.
Joe Jencks
Joe Jencks is a 22-year veteran of the international Folk circuit, an award-winning songwriter and a celebrated vocalist based in the Chicago area. He is known for his performances of musical beauty, social consciousness and spiritual exploration. Joe delivers engaged musical narratives filled with heart, soul, groove, and grit. Co-founder of the harmony trio Brother Sun, Jencks has penned several #1 Folksongs including the ever-relevant Lady of The Harbor. His 2022 release, ’ The Coming of the Years’ has become a favorite of critics. www.joejencks.com
Rod MacDonald
Rod MacDonald began singing professionally in New York City, where he became a headliner in Greenwich Village clubs in the 1980s and recorded 21 songs now in the Smithsonian Folkways collection. He has 13 solo CDs, with 2014’s “Later That Night” making the top ten on national independent music charts, and three CDs with Big Brass Bed, which New Times named “Best Folk Band” in 2016. He is also Music Americana instructor with Osher Lifelong Learning at Florida Atlantic University, and was named Distinguished Faculty Member in 2012. Rod has been a regular in our annual Bob Dylan birthday celebrations.www.rodmacdonald.net
Tickets are $ 25.00 advance sale until February 17th at www.sundaystreet.org. Tickets at the door (cash only) are $30.
These concerts are a collaboration of WUSB’s Sunday Street Series, The Long Island Museum, and The Greater Port Jefferson Art’s Council.
WUSB’s Sunday Street series returns to the Long Island Museum’s Gillespie Room in the Carriage Museum, 1200 Route 25A, Stony Brook on Sunday, Oct. 23 with a concert titled Nanci & Townes: Remembering Two Texas Troubadours at 5 p.m.
WUSB’S Sunday Series returns to live performances by continuing its tradition of honoring seminal singer-songwriters with an evening devoted to the songs of Nanci Griffith and Townes Van Zandt, two Texas-based artists.
Participating are Gene Casey, Delaney Hafener (of the Belle Curves), Caroline Doctorow, Bryan Gallo, Ray Lambiase, Mary Lamont w/ Jim Marchese, Pete Mancini, Gerry McKeveny, and Quarter Horse.
Pete Mancini will emcee the evening which will benefit the Sunday Street Series and WUSB.
The event is co-produced by Pete and Charlie Backfish and a collaboration of WUSB’s Sunday Street Series, The Long Island Museum, and The Greater Port Jefferson Art’s Council.
Nanci Griffith’s passing on August 13, 2021 was universally mourned in the music world. This Austin native received critical acclaim for a career that included sixteen original studio albums as well as two ‘covers’ collections, paying homage to songwriters who influenced her own writing. On the first of those two collections, ‘Other Voices, Other Rooms, she included her version of Townes Van Zandt’s ‘Tecumseh Valley.’ Her song, ‘Up Against the Rain’ is about Van Zandt.
Townes Van Zandt, from Fort Worth, has been considered influential not only by Nanci Griffith but by countless artists cutting across several musical genres. Many of his songs are regarded as masterpieces of songwriting with Steve Earle recently recording an entire album of them. Van Zandt passed away on New Year’s Day, 1997, at age 52. In the 2000’s, extensive interest in him resulted in two books and a documentary film.
Artist Eric Giles will join over 90 exhibitors at this year's event.
Artist Flo Kemp will join over 90 exhibitors at this year's event.
Artist Jo Wadler will join over 90 exhibitors at this year's event.
Artist Justin Cavagnaro will join over 90 exhibitors at this year's event.
Artist Meryle King will join over 90 exhibitors at this year's event.
Gallery North Art Show crowd
By Melissa Arnold
Following a tough year for creatives of all kinds, the return of art exhibitions and concerts is a welcome relief. In Setauket, the community is looking forward to a longtime tradition, Gallery North’s Outdoor Art Show and Music Festival, on Sept. 11 and 12 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The festival has run annually on the grounds of Gallery North and along North Country Road since they first opened in 1965. With last year’s event scaled back to Maker’s Markets throughout the month of September for safety reasons, gallery director Ned Puchner can’t wait to kick things off again.
“It’s a really nice time of year to get out and enjoy the weather, the community and all of the very talented artists we have in the area,” he said. “The artists really rely on this event on an annual basis to make sales and meet new people. That’s especially true this year after taking a year off for the pandemic.”
The festival has grown considerably over the years, and now boasts more than 90 artists and vendors who come from around Long Island to exhibit and sell their work. There is truly something for every style and personality, including a diverse collection of original paintings, prints, photography, ceramics, pottery, woodwork, glassware, artisan created jewelry, handmade crafts, decorations, and even clothing. Awards will be granted for Best in Show in a number of categories, and award winners will be featured in a special Winner’s Circle exhibition at Gallery North in 2022.
Around 10 years ago, local musicians were also invited to perform throughout the weekend. This year, Gallery North has partnered with WUSB Radio (90.1/107.3 FM) to help broaden the variety of musicians for the festival.
“I had approached Ned in the past about doing some music-related events at the gallery, and then the idea sat aside for a while because of the pandemic,” said WUSB general manager Isobel Breheny-Schafer. “This is the first time we’ve been able to work together, and it’s exciting for all of us.”
The station was intentional about including a mix of genres and time periods for both days of the festival. Staff members at WUSB formed a committee who spent time exploring each act’s music before making their final selections.
Five artists will perform each day on the WUSB Music Stage. Expect to hear a variety of eras and genres, including folk originals and covers from Grand Folk Railroad; Steely Dan hits from Night by Night; rockabilly tunes with Kane Daily and decades of chart-toppers from the Dirty Water Dogs and Kristhen, among others. Local DJs will also be on hand to keep the music coming all weekend long.
“Everyone is excited to get involved. It’s a beautiful venue in a beautiful area,” Breheny-Schafer said. “People need things to look forward to, they need social interaction, and the arts have such an important role to play in bringing people together.”
While all the musicians are compensated for the weekend, many offered to play for free to support the station and the gallery, added Breheny-Schafer.
Artist Gina Mars at Gallery North’s Outdoor Art & Music Festival in 2019. Photo by Heidi Sutton
The art community is equally excited to get back to doing what they love. One of the returning artists, sculptor Gina Mars, is a regular at the festival and this year’s event will mark her first public sale and exhibition since the pandemic began.
“I felt like the pandemic gave me the time to focus more on those things I always wanted to do but never had the chance, like animal sculptures,” said Mars, who lives in Huntington Station. “But so many shows have been canceled, so it was really a year of creating and waiting.”
Mars fell in love with ceramics by accident while taking an art elective in college. Her natural gift led to 30 years of teaching and sculpting along with global exhibitions. This year, she’ll bring a collection of bowls, centerpieces, mugs and animal figures to sell at the festival.
“The Gallery North show is one of the very few shows left that’s truly about craft — everything there has to be made completely by the artist. And everyone involved is so kind and generous. We feel like a family when we come together,” she said. “Being so close to the university gives us the chance to meet amazing people from all over the world. We develop relationships with people who have a genuine appreciation for our work.”
Kids can explore their artistic sides too, with free puppet making and printing demonstrations offered on the patio terrace at the Studio at Gallery North. Food vendors will be available as well including Katie’s Food Truck, Tasty Frosty Ice Cream, and St. James Brewery.
In addition to WUSB, sponsors for the weekend include: Printing Plus, Techmaven, Jos. M. Troffa Materials, Team Ardolino/Realty Connect USA, Glynn, Mercep & Purcell, Stony Brook Vision World, Hamlet Wines & Liquors, Bill and Dina Weisberger, Janice and Jon Gabriel, Ronne Cosel, Judy Gibbons, and Stephanie and Michael Gress.
ENTERTAINMENT SCHEDULE
Saturday, Sept. 11
10 to 11 a.m. — Mike and Mel
11 a.m. to noon — Kane Daily
Noon to 1 p.m. — Dirty Water Dogs
2 to 4 p.m. — Claudia Jacobs
4 to 5 p.m. — International Orange
Sunday, Sept. 12
10 to 11 a.m. — Kristhen
11 a.m. to noon — Brian Reeder Trio
Noon to 1 p.m. — Danny Kean
1 to 3 p.m. — Night by Night
3 to 5 p.m. — Grand Folk Railroad
List of Exhibitors:
A 1Gallery North
A 8Jo Glazebrook — pottery
A 9Gail Applebaum — glass art
A 10Gerard Lehner — fiber art/works on paper
A 11Amy Schwing — jewelry
A 14Madison Muehl — photography
A 15Brianna Sander — jewelry/mixed media
A 16Tamara Hayes — pottery
A 17Joyce Roll — fiber art
A 19Jennifer Lucas — mixed media/works on paper
A 20Douglas Keating — pottery/sculpture
A 21Patricia Paparo — wood
A 33Chloe Wang — painting
A 34Denisse Aneke — jewelry
A 35Marlene Weinstein — mixed media/works on paper/photography
A 36Cassie Hussey — works on paper/printmaking/drawing
A 37, 38Flo Kemp —works on paper/printmaking/drawing
A 39Toni Neuschaefer — jewelry
A 40Simon Zeng — painting
A 41Matt DiBarnardo — wood/painting/sculpture
A 46Russell Spillman— pottery
A 47Three Village Community Trust
B 2Emily Bicht — pottery/works on paper
B 3Donna Glover — jewelry
B 4Rachel Gressin — jewelry/works on paper
B 5Don Lindsley — wood
B 6Joseph Waldeck — jewelry
B 7Nancy Weeks — painting
C 57David Arteaga — photography
C 58Susan Rodgers — jewelry
C 59Jessica Randall — jewelry
C 60Joanne Liff — works on paper/ watercolor/pastel
C 61Renee Fondacaro — soaps/wellness
C 62Anthony Cavallaro — wood/mixed media
C 63Laimute Onusaitiene — painting
C 64,65Linda & Scott Hartman— mixed media/watercolor/paper
C66Marlena Urban — painting
C 67Eva Pere — wood/jewelry
C 68Joyce Elias — glass art/jewelry
C 69 Peter Robinson Smith — sculpture
C 70Gina Mars — pottery
C 71Nancy Pettersen — jewelry
C 72Christopher Santiago — painting
C 73Jennifer Bardram — mixed media/works on paper
C 74Kate Ackerman — fiber art
C 75Daniel McCarthy — painting
C 76Rachel Fournier — jewelry/fiber art
D 86William Low — painting
D 87Aja Camerlingo — jewelry
D 88Michael Waltzer — wood
D 89Don Dailey — wood
D 90Four Harbors Audubon Society
D 91John Mutch — jewelry
D 92Paul W. Zuccaire Gallery, Staller Center for the Arts
D 93Jonathan Zamet — pottery
D 94Meryle King — fiber art
D95 Lou Frederick — jewelry
D96 Lynda Lawrence — mosaics
D97 Bebe Federmann — pottery
D98 Cassandra Voulo — works on paper/printmaking/drawing
D 99 Lynn Pisciotta — jewelry/sculpture
D 100 Russell Pulick — pottery
D 101 Ned Butterfield — painting
D 102 Vincent Delisi — mixed media/works on paper
D 103 Stephanie Occhipinti — jewelry
D 104 Andrea Feinberg — jewelry
D 105 Michael Josiah — wood
D 106 Tracy Levine — jewelry
D 112 Jo Wadler — jewelry
D 113 Dawn Jones — glass
D 125 Melanie Wulfrost — pottery
D 126 Jane Ruggiero — jewelry
E 148Brianna D’Amato — painting
E 149Susan Alexander — fiber art/mixed media
E 150Christopher J. Alexander — painting
E 151Najda Adman — fiber art
E 152Daphne Frampton — soaps/wellness
E 153Michael Iacobellis — photography
E 154Neal Wechsler / Tom Venezia— honey/spices
E 155Barry Saltsberg — wood
E 156Cathy Buckley — jewelry
E 157Denise Randall — pottery
E 158Diane Bard — soaps/wellness
E 159Justin Cavagnaro — glass art
E 160Stefanie Deringer — wood/glass/jewelry
E 161Eric Giles — mixed media
E 162The Brick Studio and Gallery — pottery
E 163Joan Friedland — fiber art
E 164Samantha Moyse — jewelry
E 165Donna Carey-Zucker — jewelry
E 166Keith Krejci — photography
The 55th Annual Outdoor Art Show and Music Festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. the weekend of Sept. 11 and 12 on the grounds and area surrounding Gallery North, 90 North Country Road, Setauket. Admission is free. For more information, visit www.gallerynorth.org/oas2021 or call 631-751-2676.
Featuring the best in traditional and contemporary folk music, the seventh annual Fiddle & Folk Festival returns to Benner’s Farm in East Setauket this Sunday, Sept. 16 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The day-long event will showcase three stages. Emceed by guitarist and singer Bob Westcott, the Main (Back Porch) Stage will feature four acts this year. The Shady Grove Stage, which will be hosted by WUSB’s Charlie Backfish, will allow visitors to meet the performers and attend workshops, and the Jam Hollow Stage will highlight a sing-along and a fiddle workshop. There will also be a roaming fiddler, appropriately named Jack Fyddle, who recently appeared as a reenactor in TBR News Media’s feature film, “One Life to Give.” The evening will end with a family contra dance in the barn.
Larry Campbell and Theresa Williams
Reached by phone, Amy Tuttle, program director at the Greater Port Jefferson-North Brookhaven Arts Council who’s also on the festival committee, said she’s familiar with the groups and looks forward to their performances, adding that this year’s headliners will have more of “a rock feel, more on the Americana, modern folk spectrum.”
Back by popular demand, The Stony Brook Roots Ensemble will open the festival. Formed in 2015 by Taylor Ackley, the ensemble features grad students from Stony Brook University. Tuttle said the group “takes the mountain music and the western music that [Ackley] grew up with in Montana and Washington State and play it with classical instruments and it’s really cool — everybody loves it.”
The festival will continue with a performance by Brooklyn-based The New Students, who “do a modern twist on traditional folk music,” and will be followed by Pete Mancini & the Hillside Airmen. According to Tuttle, Mancini was the former frontman of Butcher’s Blind. “He just started this band and was recently signed to Diversion Records based in Chicago,” she said.
Larry Campbell and wife Theresa Williams will close out the festival. “They are musicians’ musicians,” explained Tuttle. “Larry was a member of Bob Dylan’s Band, and Theresa is also a songwriter and singer and they have been in Levon Helm’s band and have become the musical director of Levon’s Midnight Ramble. They’re the ones that are carrying on the torch now that Levon has passed.”
The New Students
She is most excited to introduce the community to this duo, having tried for several years to get them to come. “These folks are known worldwide among people who appreciate great musicianship.”
Tuttle said there will be plenty of activities that children can participate in as well by taking part in the sing-along workshop, enjoying stories and creating artwork in the Kids Corner.
Visitors are also encouraged to stroll around the 15-acre working organic farm, meet the resident farm animals, tour the vegetable gardens, purchase organic produce and feel like a kid again on the Big Swing. For Tuttle, this is one of those special events that she looks forward to every year. “The quality of the music is just top notch, the setting is gorgeous and the vibe of the festival is relaxed and friendly.”
Presented by Benner’s Farm, Homestead Arts, the Greater Port Jefferson-Northern Brookhaven Arts Council, TBR News Media and WUSB Radio, the music festival will be held rain or shine.
Benner’s Farm is located at 56 Gnarled Hollow Road in East Setauket. Admission to the festival is $18 for adults, and $13 for children and seniors at the door. Please bring seating. For a full schedule of events, visit www.fiddleandfolk.com. For more info, call 631-689-8172.
Evening will honor the music of longtime Smithtown resident
By Kevin Redding
Mose Allison. Photo by Michael Wilson
A reporter once asked the late jazz and blues pianist and singer Mose Allison — regarded among musicians like Bonnie Raitt, Leon Russell, Pete Townshend and Van Morrison as “one of the finest songwriters in 20th century blues” — why he wasn’t more famous.
“Mose, you were a social critic before Bob Dylan, satirical long before Randy Newman and rude before Mick Jagger,” the reporter said. “How come you’re not a big star?” Allison, who was born in Mississippi and moved from New York City to Smithtown in the mid-1960s to raise a family and spent much of his time walking in the local woods and swimming in the Long Island Sound, responded: “Just lucky, I guess.”
On Saturday, March 24, The Long Island Museum, in partnership with WUSB-FM’s Sunday Street Concert Series and the Greater Port Jefferson-Northern Brookhaven Arts Council, will give the 2006 Long Island Music Hall of Fame inductee his proper due with The Word From Mose: A Celebration of the Music of Mose Allison, a tribute concert in the Carriage Museum’s Gillespie Room at 7 p.m.
Jack Licitra
The concert, following the tradition of other Sunday Street Series shows organized by Charlie Backfish, Stony Brook University history lecturer and host of the university’s weekly radio program “Sunday Street,” will feature local and outside musicians, who will strum and sing through decades of Allison’s breakthrough material, including his more well-known tracks “Your Mind Is on Vacation,” “Everybody’s Crying Mercy” and “I Don’t Worry About a Thing.”
Allison, who died Nov. 15, 2016, just four days before turning 89, was a four-time Grammy nominee and frequent collaborator with jazz greats Zoot Sims and Stan Getz whose songs spanned more than 30 albums — The Rolling Stones, Diana Krall, The Who, The Pixies and Elvis Costello are among those who have recorded Allison’s songs.
Pete Kennedy
The lineup includes “Sunday Street” regular and New York-based singer-songwriter Pete Kennedy; Pat Wictor, electric and slide guitarist of the group Brother Sun; Jack Licitra, a Sayville-based keyboardist and guitarist as well as the founder of the music-teaching studio South Bay Arts in Bayport; and Abbie Gardner, an acclaimed Dobro player who has toured for many years as part of the trio Red Molly. Some members of Allison’s family, including his daughter and singer-songwriter Amy Allison, will also be in attendance.
The evening will also include a screening of a short BBC documentary on Allison called “Ever Since the World Ended,” featuring interviews with Costello, Morrison, Raitt and Loudon Wainwright III and footage of Allison performing.
“Not only is he such an important artist, Mose Allison was someone who lived in this area for many decades and we thought it was time to do something like this for him,” Backfish said of the decision to honor the musician. “When he wasn’t on tour, which was quite often, he would be back in the area and playing shows at the Staller Center at Stony Brook University or jazz clubs in Port Jefferson.”
Pat Wictor. Photo by John Mazlish
Backfish said he also had the opportunity to interview Allison on his radio program many years ago. “He had such an incredibly rich catalog in so many ways and these artists are going to get together and play both well-known songs of his and the deep tracks,” he said. “I would hope that if people aren’t aware of Mose, they’ll suddenly find someone they will check out and listen to, and for those who know him, this will be a great way to celebrate his music and listen to artists reinterpret his songs.”
Wictor, a longtime Allison fan who, with his band, recorded a version of “Everybody’s Crying Mercy,” said Backfish approached him to participate in the concert for his “affinity” for the man’s work. “I love Mose partly because he cannot be categorized easily,” Wictor said. “He sort of mixed jazz and blues, and social commentary, in a way that nobody else did. And I like his sense of humor in his lyrics, which were always a little sardonic and mischievous. He comes across as a person that doesn’t suffer fools gladly and that’s always enjoyable to me. The songs themselves are very musically interesting, too — blues-based but they always have a unique musical and lyrical quality unlike anything else.”
Abbie Gardner
Kennedy said Allison was unusual among jazz musicians in his time because he wrote a lot of songs with lyrics, while others primarily stuck to instrumental compositions. “Allison actually wrote songs that he sang and that’s what we’re focusing on during the concert,” said Kennedy, who noted that he’s had a lot of fun examining Allison’s songs more closely and learning them in anticipation of the show. “His songs sound totally modern to me now, even the old ones from the 1950s and ’60s. The writing is really clever, really humorous and had a little bit of social commentary to it, but not in a negative way.”
Licitra, too, expressed his excitement over his involvement, calling Allison’s music “the thinking man’s blues.” “I’m really looking forward to giving people a taste of his style of intellectualism and humor,” he said. “And for me, this is all about the group of performers on the bill. I’m a big fan of all of them and so I’m excited about playing with them and seeing how they each interpret Mose’s [work].”
The jazz legend’s son John Allison, who grew up in Smithtown, said while his father was a true “musician’s musician” and beloved in many artist’s circles, he was as low profile as could be at home. “There he was, living in Smithtown, so unassuming that even our neighbors, for 15 years, didn’t know what he did until they saw him on TV with Bonnie Raitt for a PBS concert at Wolf Trap,” John Allison said, laughing. “He just wanted to do his thing. He read books and played music. I’d come home from high school and he’d be listening to some weird Chinese, classical music and just laughing and loving it … [and] sometimes he did tai chi in the living room.”
The Long Island Museum is located at 1200 Route 25A, Stony Brook. Advance tickets to the tribute show are $25 through Friday, March 23 at www.sundaystreet.org with tickets at the door for $30 (cash only). Beer, wine and cider will be available for purchase. For more information, please call 631-751-0066.
The festival has run annually on the grounds of Gallery North and along North Country Road since they first opened in 1965. With last year’s event scaled back to Maker’s Markets throughout the month of September for safety reasons, gallery director Ned Puchner can’t wait to kick things off again.
ENTERTAINMENT SCHEDULE
List of Exhibitors:
