Costaki @ Edwards Opera House

Being the resident sound technician for the Edwards Opera House, something that I have done for the past two seasons and entering my third - has always been a pleasure. I have the opportunity to run sound for great music and variety acts that I otherwise would not have gone to see ... a perk that I have certainly come to appreciate.

This past weekend was my personal favorite .... two comedians, Tony Deyo and Costaki Economopoulos (from Bob & Tom Show fame). Both comedians touched on a variety of subjects including parenting, sex and politics. It was a sold out crowd and everyone really enjoyed the show.

(Pictured above are Jeff Yette,
Costaki Economopoulos,
Joann Yette & Tony Deyo)

Costaki is know for his "Economonologues" featured on the Bob & Tom Radio show. He gave the a "preview" of his next Economonologues about American Landmarks. You can hear a snippet of of it here.

While the night was intended for mature audiences, the language was mild for the bulk of the show with the occasional f-word, but not in any frequency to make the audience uncomfortable. Costaki closed the night to a standing ovation and after the traditional "signing of the curtain" (see left) both comedians, Brigette from the Opera House, and the folks from 101.5 The Fox (who where instrumental in getting Costaki to perform in Edwards) headed to McDuff's in Potsdam for a Meet & Greet and enjoyed some great conversation, a few cocktails and good food.

Little Italy's Webiste

I'm nearing completion of the Little Italy's (Potsdam) website ... the home of the best pizza in Potsdam, NY.

It's been a bit of a challenge making the navigation work exactly as I wanted it to, but I finally got it 99% there, so I'm happy. The site is pretty dynamic in that it will automatically resize (with in reason) for different screen resolutions.

The folks down there are pretty happy as well. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Phil Hurley 2008 Recap

The North Country was treated to a post-Christmas present with performances by Phil Hurley at Ton’s Sports Bar this past December 26th. The afternoon performance was an intimate session in a family-friendly setting featuring original material spanning Phil’s musical career including selections from his solo work as well as his days in Gigolo Aunts, The Tycoons (a three-piece band including Phil and Chris Ballew of the Presidents of the United States fame), and his new band Stonehoney. He also played a few Christmas songs in spirit of the season and thrilled children in the audience with an encore request of Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer.

The evening session spotlighted other Potsdam natives performing mostly original material. Geoff Hayton started the night out playing original material and entertained the growing crowd with his wit and humor between songs. Kris Farrow, who graced many North Country stages performing in are band Six Foot Midget now resides in Austin Texas and was next to step up to the mic. The audience was amazed with Kris’ picking style of guitar playing and powerful deep voice. By the time Joel and Devon Kelley took the stage, Ton's was approaching a capacity-sized crowd. The two brothers featured acoustic renditions of songs from Joel's group Edison who has toured Europe providing entertainment to our troops. Devon, who until recently was also a member of Edison, decided to leave the band to pursue a career in graphic design and lend his talent to the family business.

Phil Hurley took the stage next to a packed house and didn't let the crowd down. Phil played similar selections form his afternoon performance but with added energy feeding off of the appreciative listeners. His hour-long set was followed up by Sabbatical, a band from the Canton area performing mostly original music with a few cover tunes mixed in for good measure. With Howard and Dave’s raw emotion, Abby’s powerful vocals, Mike’s dynamic percussion and Dwayne’s bass foundation, Sabbatical offers a diverse musical style that is not limited to a single genre.

The entire night was building up to what Phil is referring to as the "All Star Jam" which was kicked off by the band Plan-b, fronted by Potsdam native and Phil's highschool classmate Jeff Yette. The last ninety minutes of the night was a rotating group of musician’s performing local favorite cover songs. Those that took the stage included Plan-B members Bruce Dewey and Jon Glaser, while Illusions' Bill Hill was filling in as the bassist for the night. They were joined by Geoff Hayton, Kris Farrow, Joel Kelley, Chris Vangellow and Jason Travis also from Illusion, Kris' Farrow former Six Foot Midget bandmate Ben Todd who gave an unforgettable version of AC/DC's Highway to Hell, Brandon Snell from Divided Roads, and Mike Charleston with whom Jeff Yette played with for a number of years in the '90s in the band Thump. Of course Phil took the stage several times during the All Star Jam and ripped up the stage with extended solos. (We apologize if we forgot anybody.)

44°North Promotions would like to thank Fourth Coast Entertainment for assistance in promoting the event as well as Northern Music and Video, Ton's Sports Bar, North Country Now and several other area radio stations and newspapers for their cooperation in promoting the event and making it the success that it was. You can find out more information about these musicians by going to their websites listed at the bottom of this article.

Plans have already begun for next year’s show which will continue to evolve into Potsdam's premier holiday showcase for hometown talent. Features such as a slide show from previous performances, additional musicians, a vendor table for performers to sell their CDs and other wares, improved food and beverage services, and audio/video recordings of the shows have been suggested and will be considered.



Geoff Hayton http://www.myspace.com/geoffhayton
Kris Farrow http://www.myspace.com/krisfarrow
Joel Kelley (Edison) http://www.edison-rock.com
Phil Hurley http://wwww.myspace.com/philhurley
Stonehoney http://www.myspace.com/stonehoney
(http://www.stonehoney.com/)
Sabbatical http://www.myspace.com/sabbaticalroxs
*plan-b)) http://www.myspace.com/planbnewyork
(http://www.44dn.com/planb)
Northern Music http://www.northernmusicandvideo.com
44°North Promotions http://www.44dn.com
Fourth Coast Entertainment http://www.fourthcoastentertainment.com

Private X-mas party @ 37 West

We had an amazing time playing for a multi-company Christmas party held at 37 West in Akwesasne, NY. They provided food (which was awesome ... appetizers included bacon wrapped pheasant, orange glazed chicken, stuffed mushroom, asparagus puff pastries, etc. - main entrees were Vodka Chicken Penne, Chilean Sea Bass, Prime Rib, Shrimp Fra Diavalo over Angel Hair Pasta or Surf & Turf). There was wine on the table, open bar ... they hired a DJ and us as the band ... these people know how to party.

We ended up knowing the DJ guy who also did a karaoke thing ... that is he sang, not that he opened up the mic for other sing, just him. He has a great bluesy voice and as such he had him up singing a few songs.

We also met Larry Jock, a blues guitartist/harmonica player. While he didn't get to hear any harp from him, he did grab the guitar for some impromptu blue jams to which I tried by best to remember some lyrics to songs like "Move It Over" and "Pride and Joy".

At the end of the night, the crowd wanted more, but the venue said no so we shut down right around 1:45pm.

Great night all-in-all. Hopefully we'll be able to hook up with Larry in the near future and have a better grasp of material that do with him. It would be nice to work in a blues set occasionally and play some more gigs down his way.

Sexton-Seiler Wedding

The Sextion-Seiler Wedding (8/2/08) was a beautiful event. The reception was held at the bride's parent's house. This was one of the more elegant outdoor events that we have had the pleasure of participating in. We provided MC and DJ services including music for cocktail hour and dinner as well as our Live Band for dancing. The catering was done by Clarkson University's Aramark who prepared a delicious Chicken Florentine with new potatoes and green beans with sliced almonds. The cake was very nice and was surrounded by bite-sized cheesecakes in several different flavors. The photographers (Photo Worx and Allan Smith Photography) were very pleasant to work with and were on point for all of wedding events (dances, cutting the cake, etc.) and seemed to a lot of candid/action photos ... I can't wait to see some results as they took several pictures of the band including a group photo that we hope to use for our promo materials. The numerous tents (6 in total I think) were all nicely arranged and decorated with all white lighting and the main tent had several extremely large Chinese Paper Lanterns that created a warm glow as nightfall approached.

By default, we provided some "Day Of" type services to help keep the caterers and photographers informed of when events (speeches, dances, etc.) were happening to help keep the flow moving.

The wedding party and guests were very receptive to the music and sang long, often above the volume of the band, to many of the songs. This was one the best weddings we have been involved with in the past several years.

3 Bands - 1 Night Recap

All-in-all, the "3 bands in 1 Night" event was great. There was delay in getting things going at the Potsdam Summer Festival main stage as the act before ran an hour over which cut Jacked's time in half to keep a 10pm start time at Ton's. When Jacked arrived, David Wells was playing a mix of covers and originals. As members of Jacked were getting situated on stage, they accompanied David on a couple of covers and then took the stage until Midnight. During their 2 hour+ set, Jacked invited David Wells back up on stage to join them on the drum kit for a couple songs.

Following Jacked on both the downtown main stage and Ton's was powerhouse Triskelion. This 4-piece hailing from the Governuer area did a mix of rocked-up covers such as The Devil Went Down to Georgia and Pink Floyd's The Wall as well as original songs. The night wrapped up with members of Jacked and Triskelion sharing the stage for Little Bones and Kryptonite.

Phil Hurley Recap

or those of you that were there this past Saturday (12/22) ... I don't need to tell a rare event you were part of. For those that missed it ... you missed perhaps the most exciting performances to hit a small tavern stage in Northern New York.

The afternoon (3pm-5pm) show was a completely acoustic and was well attended. Phil featured music from his solo work, The Tycoons and his new band Stonehoney. Phil was joined on stage by Joel Kelly (formerly of High Tower) of Edison for a Gigolo Aunt's tune and a couple of others. At $2 advanced sales ($3 @ door), which is the less than most bars are charging on a Fri/Sat night for a DJ or live band, it was well worth the price to see a great singer/song writer highlight two and a half decades of work.

The evening show started in the same way ... just Phil, his guitar and his music. Then Phil joined the local band "Jacked" to do full band performances of two Stonehoney songs ... "Million Pretty Girls" and "Two Years Down" as well as several covers. From the night was an evolving group of musicians that Phil invited on stage to join him and/or members of Jacked to form impromptu groups performing local favorite cover tunes. In total, there were over twenty musicians that shared the stage with Phil including (and I apologize if I missed anyone) … Joel Kelly and his brother Devon Kelly (formerly of High Tower now with Edison), Shawn Gillett (playing harmonica on Road House Blues), three of members of Divided Roads (Andy Deon, Mike Forget & Brandon Snell), Jason Travis from Illusion (covering for Jeff Yette who was battling with strep throat), the remaining members of Illusion (Chris Vangellow, Todd Travis and Bill Hill), Ben Todd (6 Foot Midget) and

At one time there was 8 musicians on stage performing at one time ... 2 electric guitars, 2 basses, 1 Acoustic Guitar, 1 Keyboard, drummer and a singer. There were over 150 people through the door for the evening performance. As the kickoff event for 44°N, this went far better than expected.

Look for more in the near future!