music

Goo Goo Dolls celebrate 24 years of Syracuse memories
By Daniel Bortz
September 28, 2010 - 10:29pm
The upstate heroes played a lighthearted, often nostalgic show at the OnCenter Tuesday night.

John Rzeznik pointed to a girl in the crowd as the music died down and the lights dimmed. He waved his hand toward his chest, brushing his large golden necklace, signaling for the girl to pass up her big, blinking sign. “Let me see that,” he said. The crowd parted and formed an assembly line across the rows, sending the white sign Rzeznik’s way. It read “biggest fan” in large, blue letters with a row of blinking white swirls underneath. “This is a technological marvel,” he said, gawking at the flashing poster. “Do you want it back?”

Branford Marsalis jazzes up parents weekend
By Ana Barbu
September 26, 2010 - 10:11pm
Review: Marsalis' classic quartet played jazz, swing and bebop to a full house on Sunday.

The Branford Marsalis Quartet brought the swanky vibes of good old-fashioned Harlem jazz clubs to nearly 1,500 Syracuse University parents and students in the Schine Student Center on Sunday.

The Quartet set the tone of their performance with a track composed the night before the show. The four musicians had been jamming on the hotel piano, then grabbed a taxi to campus and sneaked into one of the music practice rooms. There, they developed a track composed by pianist Joey Calderazzo.

Washed up, but not washed out
By Caitlin Dewey
September 26, 2010 - 12:35pm
Review: Several years after their heyday, Rogue Wave attempt relevancy at the Westcott.

It’s nearing 11 p.m. at the Westcott Theater and Rogue Wave frontman Zach Schwartz is starting to look sheepish.

“Play – what?” He says languidly, squinting into the blue-toned stage lights. “Play the entire soundtrack?”

There’s a high-pitched, feminine cry from the front of the tiny crowd.

“The O.C.?” Schwartz grumbles again. “Is that show still on?”

Preview: Three boys named Goo to play the OnCenter this Tuesday
By Samantha Hayden
September 25, 2010 - 5:33pm
Upstate favorites the Goo Goo Dolls finally bring their long-anticipated ninth album to Syracuse

If everything had gone according to plan, the Goo Goo Dolls would have been showing off tracks from their latest album, Something For the Rest of Us, last September. A decision to push the release date back, however, led the group to mix, edit and re-record the songs and produce a freshly polished album. The band hits the OnCenter in Syracuse Tuesday night as part of its extensive nationwide tour to promote that release.

Review: Stars come out over Rochester
By Deandra Modica
September 23, 2010 - 10:51am
The Canadian indie rock giants kicked off their fall tour with a powerful live show.

Stars frontman Torquil Campbell raised his plastic cup to the crowd with a smirk as he sauntered onto the stage at Rochester’s Water Street Music Hall Wednesday night. Someone needs to find out what was in that cup.

Preview: Come for Rogue Wave, stay for folk rock
By Caitlin Dewey
September 22, 2010 - 11:58pm
Midlake and Peter Wolf Crier are well worth a listen, even if Rogue Wave have passed their peak.

There’s a reason Rogue Wave is playing the Westcott this Saturday, and it has nothing to do with Syracuse’s love of mid-tempo indie rock or the proximity of Alto Cinco.

Steve Aoki set to kick off Bandersnatch
By Karen Hor
September 22, 2010 - 6:03pm
The producer and celebrity DJ will bring his hip-grinding beats to Schine on October 11.

Whether you know it or not, you’ve already seen him: in the video game NBA 2K9, perhaps, or next to Lindsay Lohan at a DJ booth. He’s made the rounds with his sister, actress and model Devon Aoki, and guest-starred – as the DJ, naturally – in the video for Cobra Starship’s “Send My Love to the Dancefloor, I’ll See You in Hell.”

Great Big Sea draw a wave of diehards
By Leah Rankin
September 22, 2010 - 3:25pm
The folk-rock stand-bys ranted and roared to an adoring crowd at yesterday's Westcott Theater performance.

Let’s get something out in the open right now: the accordion is sexy.  I thought so before last night’s performance of Canada’s Great Big Sea, and now I’m ready to challenge anyone who tells me otherwise.  It’s the one instrument that rock bands avoid, and the one instrument that can get people on the dance floor without any persuading.

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus bring old hits, headaches to Syracuse
By Deandra Modica
September 21, 2010 - 1:02am
Review: One-time stars rocked an uncomfortably screamo sound at their Lost Horizon show.

Ronnie Winter has the voice, lyrics and hair of a radio rock god. However, his band’s screamo-filled performance at The Lost Horizon Sunday night  proved that The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus won’t make it back on the airwaves anytime soon.

The man behind the music
By Deandra Modica
September 19, 2010 - 4:07pm
Lost Horizon general manager and local scene-booster Scott Dixon now has 2,000 bookings to his name.

Scott Dixon walked onto The Lost Horizon’s stage on Saturday like it was any other night. Relaxed and clad in a black sweatshirt and shorts, he introduced the first act, Mike Roy, and casually mentioned that the local musician has played 43 shows for him.

Forty-three isn’t a lot of shows to Dixon -- he’s booked 2,000 over the course of his career.