St. Joe's grad tops Billboard charts

A graduate of St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute in Kenmore finds himself on top of the world this week -- or at least at the top of the Billboard Classical Album chart.

Dynamic Catholic's new Advent and Christmas CD, "O Emmanuel," sold 2,600 copies in its first week. Dynamic Catholic partnered with GRAMMY Award-winning pianist, conductor, and composer, J.J. Wright to bring O Emmanuel to life. Wright says the Billboard recognition is an incredible honor.

"I can't remember the last time a newly composed piece of sacred music made it to the top of the Billboard charts," says Wright, the St. Joseph's grad.

The 10-track album by Wright features the Chicago-based Fifth House Ensemble and the Notre Dame Children's Choir. O Emmanuel takes listeners to the heart of the holiday season through the harmonious blend of angelic children's voices, a jazz piano trio, adult vocal soloists and talented instrumentalists.

Using ancient traditions paired with a modern twist, the CD moves listeners directly into the drama of salvation history and the birth of Jesus by fusing the ancient texts of the "O Antiphons" with chant ("Hodie Christus natus est"), hymnody ("Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming," "O Come, O Come Emmanuel"), and jazz improvisation.

Recorded at the University of Notre Dame's DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, O Emmanuel was produced and edited by GRAMMY Award-winning producer Thomas Moore and engineered by GRAMMY Award-winning engineer Robert Friedrich of Five/Four Productions, Ltd.

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HEaRD in WNY: Top shows for the week of Nov. 28 - Dec. 4

This week's featured event is: Stamps Stands With Standing Rock: 8 p.m. Friday

In January 2016, the Dakota Access Pipeline was unanimously approved for construction, with the aim of creating a direct route to transport crude oil from the North Dakota Bakken region through South Dakota and Iowa into Illinois. The controversial pipeline could destroy ancestral burial grounds and poison the water supply for a sovereign nation -- as well as millions of Americans downstream who rely on the Missouri River. In recent months, thousands from across the globe have joined in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to stop the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline. The protest has also brought together 200 or so tribes that have not united for more than 150 years. This is historic.

Our local venue Stamps The Bar has joined the cause with a benefit to help support the water protectors at Standing Rock. Any money donated will go to the main camp through Burning Books on Connecticut street. There are several people locally who go there and have friends and relatives at Standing Rock. Stamps The Bar is looking for donations of clothing and hygiene items like fishing hip waders, men's and women's boots, winter coats, and blankets. Local bands Cardboard Homestead, Radical Operations, Onpoint, Rap and Destroy, Don Roth, Bagel Jesus, & Jessica Helen Brant will be performing starting at 8:00 p.m. Entry fee for this event is any amount of cash or item donation. Even if you can't make it, just contact Chuck Rose or Damon Rose for more information about how to donate towards this great cause.

/// other shows ///

• We Are Scientists: 7 p.m. Monday at the Studio at Waiting Room
• Wax: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Iron Works
• Midnight Snack & Dreambeaches: 8 p.m. Wednesday at Nietzsche's
• DAGON's Birthday Bash: 7 p.m. Thursday at Mohawk Place
• Winter Masquerade Party: 8 p.m. Friday at Mohawk Place
• Debt To Nature EP Release Show: 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Mohawk Place
• Ironsoul, The Taken, & more: 8 p.m. Saturday at Evening Star Concert Hall
• Clash of the DJs: 10 p.m. Saturday at the Studio at Waiting Room
• Folk For Hope: 2 p.m. Sunday at Iron Works

Greg Burt is a Concert Promoter/Sound Guy/Music Supporter/Keyboardist/etc. He can be reached at Greg@FTMPEvents.com. For the full FTMP show calendar, visit www.FTMPEvents.com.

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GURNETT: An exchange with Weepies' Steve Tannen

Indie darlings The Weepies are coming to the Tralf on Thursday, Dec. 1.  For this tour, they are leaving their backing band at home and performing with only core members, husband-and-wife duo Steve Tannen and Deb Talan.  The show should be an intimate performance of the band's melodic, pretty and insightful music. I exchanged some emails with Steve to dive deeper. Here's what we talked about:

RYAN GURNETT: What do the Weepies listen to? What musicians inspire you?

STEVE TANNEN: We tend to binge on one writer or artist at a time. Right now it’s Lin-Manuel Miranda’s "Hamilton." Recently we went through an Ana Tijou phase, an Amy Winehouse month, and an M.I.A. year. “Row Row Row Your Boat” is still the song to beat.

RG: When Deb was diagnosed with cancer, an-all star band stepped in as your backing band. What was it like getting that outpouring of support?

ST: It was profoundly moving, not because of the loftiness of everyone, but because everyone was so human about it all -- friends, strangers, fans, business people, everyone. Our takeaway was that people are good and want to help. It’s uplifting to be reminded of that any time, and having it come in such a dark moment was very humbling.

RG: Has Deb's diagnosis (and defeating) of cancer done anything to change your perspective creatively?

ST: We’re more forgiving of ourselves as writers. We take it a little less hard. We still fret over getting things right, but we can see it’s okay to let our own work go, too.

RG: How was the recording process different on this last album, being done not only remotely but also with people you hadn't recorded with before?

ST: Everything was a workaround. But the solutions we had to come up with -- the remote recording, the early morning sessions, arranging horn parts over email, and the basic exhaustion and very focused time in the studio -- gave the record its particular flavor. We wouldn’t want to do it again, but we’re glad it went how it did. The high degree of difficulty was freeing, because the actual performance of the music was so easy compared to everything around it. We didn’t have time for many takes.

RG: This tour, you're going solo with smaller, more intimate shows. What inspired you to do this?

ST: We want to keep connecting. We’ve been doing big bus tours with a band and crew, and it’s incredible, but we numbed out as the tours rolled on -- everyone was so awesome that we would sit back a lot. We wanted to open ourselves back up to the audience and to the danger of doing everything ourselves again.

RG: I have to ask... I've been trying to get my wife to start a band with me for 8 years. What is it like having your wife as your other primary band member? Does it create any differences in the way you write and record? What would you say are the benefits (and drawbacks, if any)?

ST: A band IS a marriage, and if you’re in both at the same time, there’s really nowhere to hide. Things come blazing out into the open. On the other hand, when it works, it just feels easy and there’s nowhere else you want to be. Right now, Deb’s making a solo record; we’re both thrilled about it. It’s critical to maintain a separate sense of ourselves, and that’s probably the biggest challenge.

RG: What's the most bizarre thing that's ever happened to you on stage?

ST: We played a heavy metal festival in Germany, and it was one of the most connective experiences of our lives. That was truly bizarre. Someone booked us by mistake -- The Weepies opening for Tool. We went out in front of thousands of heavily tattooed shirtless young German men all ready to mosh. And we started with the softest song we could, “Nobody Knows Me At All” -- Steve gently on guitar, Deb alone singing -- and the audience started swaying, and clapping, and completely said yes. They simply decided they were into it and it worked. It was overwhelming. No idea how it happened, but it was a magic.

RG: What's your favorite on-tour snack?

ST: Is Jack Daniels a snack? No? Then French fries.

RG: Is there another Weepies album in the works, and if so, can you tell us anything about it?

ST: Absolutely. However, it’s very Steve-heavy at the moment, since Deb has been pouring heart and soul into her solo record, which is really almost done. We have a busy winter lined up to get another Weepies record in the can.

RG: Is this the Weepies first trip to Buffalo? If so, what are you looking forward to?

ST: First time since Deb was BORN there. We don’t know a soul! Please come say "hello" and tell us where the best French fries are.

RG: Are there any songs that you just HAVE to included in every set, or do you prefer to mix things up?

ST: Luckily we have no hits! Kidding, sort of. We are doing this whole tour to mix it up, and there are songs we have never played out before that we’re playing. With that said, we know which songs have gotten tens of millions of streams, and as music fans we appreciate that when you go see Gnarls Barkley, at some point they should play “Crazy” or you’re going to feel a little cheated. It is a different show each night, but we’re still excited to play the ones people really know.

RG: What's the worst thing that's ever happened to you on the road -- any good nightmare stories?

ST: Knock wood, we’ve been pretty lucky so far. We got thrown out of our own show once. The venue owner just took a serious dislike to us, and started screaming and threatening, and we were like, Whoops! Time to go! Everyone is fighting a great battle, and we had come into a hard moment for the venue owner. It was early on in our career, the audience was very small, so the audience helped us throw our equipment in the car, and we bought everyone a drink at another bar down the block.

RG: Your songwriting is very insightful. What advice would you give to fellow songwriters?

ST: That’s kind. Writing for us is both a compulsion and a discipline. We rewrite constantly. We work every day; even if we only have time to write a sentence on our phones while waiting in line somewhere, we’ll do that. We write on scraps of paper through the day and then defend blocks of empty time to write (and we often waste that time from a lack of discipline). That model works for us because it’s how we deal with in the world in a way that keeps us going. We’re still trying to fix the process.

RG: What do you two like to do in your down-time on tour?

ST: We like to try to find secret places. Or nap. We wander.

RG: Do you have any other projects that you'd like people to know about?

ST: Deb’s solo record!! It’s coming out soon. It’s really good. Look for it; we’ll be really loud about it when it comes out.

RG: Imagine you're watching a concert. One of the band members spontaneously combusts and you get called onstage to replace that band member. Which band is it?

ST: What a karmically dangerous question! Please, no more of our heroes falling this year. Too many! We politely refuse and hope all musicians live forever, which they sort of do.
 
Ryan Gurnett is a local musician with an appreciation for other local music. Email him at never_really_been@hotmail.com or find him on Twitter @SirWilliamIdol.

Photos courtesy of The Weepies.

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PODCAST: ThinkSoJoe Show for Nov. 22, 2016

This week's special edition of the ThinkSoJoe Show includes music from I Was Myself For Halloween, Kill The Clock, Lost Elysium and more! 

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HEaRD in WNY: Top shows for the week of Nov. 21 - 27

This week's featured event: Live Music is Back at Showplace: 8 p.m. Saturday

How many things have you heard "I miss [insert venue name here]"? How many times has someone come along and made that dream come true? Personally, this is the first time I've seen a wonderful new owner bring every single thing to the table to make an old venue that so many people have great memories at into a perfect & beautiful new place for music! If you've been under a rock, Showplace Theater has officially been declared as reopen and celebrated with their first event on Halloween which went over beautifully. Now it's time to take things back to their roots with some good ol fashioned Local Rock Bands who are poised to take the new stage at this iconic Buffalo location! But don't forget, this isn't the Showplace Theater you may remember. Joe Roxbury has gutted everything and replaced it with modern furnishings. Yes, that means the floor is no longer slanted, the seats are gone, there's no random pipes, or sketchy looking anything. This is Showplace for a new generation, and we're all really excited to see someone spending this much time and money on our local music scene! Doors open back up at Showplace at 8 p.m. this Saturday, November 26th and there's only a $5.00 cover! Show you support towards this great new/old venue and its hard working new owner who is quickly filling the calendar with much more awesome events to come!

/// other shows ///

• Metal Monday At Mohawk!: 7 p.m. Monday at Mohawk Place
• Caving & Jaclyn Heuser: 6 p.m. Tuesday at Mohawk Place
• Mockba Transit Authority: 7 p.m. Wednesday at Mohawk Place
• Intrepid Travelers & The Observers: 9 p.m. Wednesday at Nietzsche's 
• Exham Priory & The Rifts: 6 p.m. Friday at Stamps
• WNY Stands With Standing Rock: 2 p.m. Saturday at Evening Star Concert Hall
• Black Saturday with Darkapathy: 7 p.m. Saturday at Mohawk Place
• Left Behind & Skincarver: 5 p.m. Sunday at Sugar City
• Da Villy Kids: 6 p.m. Sunday at Evening Star Concert Hall

Greg Burt is a Concert Promoter/Sound Guy/Music Supporter/Keyboardist/etc. He can be reached at Greg@FTMPEvents.com. For the full FTMP show calendar, visit www.FTMPEvents.com.

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Billy Draws 2 draws a crowd for CD release show

NIAGARA FALLS -- After an extended hiatus, Billy Draws 2 returned to the stage Friday night, playing before a crowd at Evening Star Concert Hall for the release of their new CD, "Now With KungFu Grip."

The band, which had taken time off while drummer Mike Miller "beat fucking cancer," as lead singer Billy Horn so eloquently put it, returned with energy and their signature humor. Guitarist Doug Life and bassist Rosie Lorenti helped to get the already-excited crowd even more into the show.

Opening for BD2 were Mystic Ape and Exham Priory.

More photos of the show are available here.

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PODCAST: ThinkSoJoe Show for Nov. 16, 2016

It's an all new ThinkSoJoe Show with music from Mystic Ape, Billy Draws Two, Bruce Wojick, and Dream Spectrum!

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