Mike McKay and bandmates perform 'I Can Set You Free'
By Chris Baker
February 16, 2012 - 8:50pm
The Baldwinsville-based band prepares to release its debut album, Fortress, on Feb. 21.

Shortly before performing his song "I Can Set You Free" for a NewsHouse camera crew, Mike McKay asked if he could take off his shoes.

“I never play with shoes on,” he said. “My fans would know something is weird if I did.”

Barefoot and smiling, McKay and bandmates Dan Deming and Justin Costello launched into song.

Rock the Dome debuts with throwbacks
By Eric Vilas-Boas
February 3, 2012 - 1:40am
Review: Rappers Rick Ross and Ludacris please large numbers with older songs at University Union's inaugural winter concert.

Krystie Yandoli loves rap. She loves it so much that her family even made a joke about it when she was growing up. Sometimes they call her Luda-Krys.

“I’m really excited to see my namesake,” said Yandoli, a senior English student, as she waited in the minutes before rappers Ludacris and Rick Ross took the stage to perform at University Union’s inaugural Rock the Dome concert. Yandoli was one of more than 7,000 who paid to see the duo.

Lights shines bright
By Chris Ballard
January 29, 2012 - 9:33am
Review: Canadian pop star Lights mesmerizes a giddy crowd at the Lost Horizon Saturday night.

Lights fans aren’t your typical mild-mannered concertgoers.

The Canadian pop star's fans shouted impulsive marriage proposals, exclamations of jealousy and showed excessive giddiness at the Lost Horizon during her set Saturday night.

'The Gondoliers' an unpleasant ride for audience
By Sarah Desantis
January 29, 2012 - 3:31am
Review: SU Opera Theatre's production suffers from maturation and casting issues.

Decades of practice and patience lead to greatness--at least for some of the world’s most renowned opera singers, who often wait until their 30s, 40s or even 50s, before their voices mature to a perfect timbre.

Going into The Gondoliers, I kept this in mind.

Plug In Stereo electrifies intimate Funk 'N Waffles crowd
By Brandon Weight
January 21, 2012 - 12:42am
Portland singer-songwriter Trevor Dahl's solo act Plug In Stereo encourages crowd participation and sing-a-longs during his performance Friday night.

Trevor Dahl, lacking a female lead for one of his popular songs, “Oh Darling,” called on the audience to fill in for the bright, acoustic profession of teenage love.

Dahl, better known by the name of his solo act, Plug In Stereo, had the audience swooning and chiming in alongside his fingerpicked riffs. 

On the second day of a tour to promote its two-week old EP, The Patience, Plug In Stereo performed with The Scene Aesthetic and Romance on a Rocketship at Funk ‘N Waffles Friday evening. 

The women's world of comedy
By Pamela Masin
December 20, 2011 - 9:25am
Several campus humor groups, including Zamboni Revolution, has helped shape the new culture of the female comedienne.

Jenna Race walks quickly down a short flight of steps and heads straight toward the right side of the wooden floor raised just a few inches off the ground. The floor is mostly used as a platform for students to easily see their professor as he or she teaches in Kittridge Auditorium in Huntington Beard Crouse Hall. But on Nov. 12 at 8 p.m., when Race walks out, that bland wooden floor becomes a bright stage.

SU Idol runner-up steals the show
By Pete Wayner
December 15, 2011 - 4:49pm
With spiked hair and a hint of Mississippi mellow in his voice, grad student Brian Brister snagged second place and the crowd’s affection in the SU Idol competition.

Brian Brister hails from Mississippi where he attended William Carey University for mass communication and music. When he’s done at Newhouse, Brister says on his website he will pursue a career in fashion photography. The NewsHouse caught up with Brian to get an insider’s look at where he got those pipes.

Bandersnatch series opens with swagger
By Sam Napolitan
November 10, 2011 - 3:38pm
Review: Rapper Lil B spread peace and love at his Schine Underground performance Wednesday night.

Rapper Lil B is a god. Not a benevolent god or even a furious god, but the Based God.

“There’s only one Based God. There will never be another me,” he said before launching into stream of consciousness freestyle at his November 9 Schine Underground performance at Syracuse University. The show was the first for University Union’s Bandersnatch Music Series this semester.

Born Brendan McCartney, Lil B grew up in Berkeley, Calif.

"I think California is a great place if you wanna say this is me,” he said. “I got flowers growing out of my butt. Don’t judge me.”

The Kronos Quartet concludes its weeklong residency with a concert
By Veronica Magan
November 10, 2011 - 3:03pm
The string quartet employed cutting-edge technology and experimentation at the Setnor Auditorium Wednesday night.

As part of a weeklong residency, the Kronos Quartet offered an exhilarating presentation at Syracuse University Wednesday.

SU professor Theo Cateforis, offered a preview before the presentation. He reviewed the quartet’s 30-year history and shared his personal memories with Kronos. He said he remembered when he first discovered the ensemble, hearing their performance of Jimi Hendrix’s "Purple Haze" in 1986.

“Kronos Quartet’s career can simply be called visionary,” Cateforis said.

Noisey College Tour splits the difference
By Josh Breeden
November 2, 2011 - 5:05pm
Review: Kreayshawn phones it in while Neon Indian brings the heat to Goldstein Auditorium Tuesday night.

The Noisey College Tour show at Goldstein Auditorium last night was composed of two distinct halves. One left me energized, even excited. The other left me questioning drug-testing procedures at Columbia Records.

“I’ve drastically underestimated Justin Bieber.”

This thought rattled around my brain throughout the entirety of Kreayshawn’s opening set. Forty minutes of the viral video-goddess’s flimsy, crotch-grabbing hip-hop made Bieber’s pre-pubescent swoons sound like something off Revolver.