![[IMAGE] Sunny Weather](sunnyweather.jpg)
Sunny Weather, a local zydeco band that's one of the acts featured on the I-Town Records lineup.
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The group of twenty- and thirty-something musicians pass a single boom mic stand around the circle. Each bears an acoustic guitar, and each is able to showcase material in a different format than they usually do.
In a room full of college students, a Ugandan musician and his two musical partners play songs that blend the traditional sounds of a kalimba with modern technology that allows them to sound like an orchestra or a full choir.
A singer-songwriter takes the stage for the first in an ongoing series of concerts aimed at commemorating a much-loved daughter and also at recognizing emerging talent. Through two sets of music, including an impromptu a cappella song after breaking a string, she appears to relive the moments in her music, making the effect all the more powerful.
To celebrate the release of a compilation album, half a dozen or so of the town's strongest local bands share two stages for an evening of celebration and mutual support. A cellist sits in with both a band inspired by African rhythms and a reggae group and receives a hearty welcome from the audience both times.
There is no simple way to capture the essence of the Ithaca music scene. "A solid blend of talented musicians with diverse musical interests and a sense of mutual responsibility" might come close. The last of the scenes above is an excellent example of this essence. I-Town Records, which has become the pre-eminent local label, has a simple philosophy: we can accomplish more by pooling our efforts than we can apart. Thus, I-Town releases the music of John Brown's Body (reggae), Sunny Weather (zydeco), and the Sim Redmond Band (African rhythms and classic songwriting), as well as Wingnut (jazz), Mbusi (soul crossed with hip hop) and Plastic Nebraska (an impossible to describe blend of roots music and modern overtones). They feature singer-songwriters (Uniit) and hard rockers (Rompa Room).
Yet what makes I-Town Records different from most local labels, aside from the diversity, is their marketing strategy: where one goes, all go. When John Brown's Body plays Wetlands in New York City, their merchandise includes releases from everyone at I-Town. It's the same when Plastic Nebraska hits Rochester, or Sunny Weather ventures to North Carolina. And this is the spirit that seems to flow through the music scene here. In a business fueled by ego, Ithaca musicians give more than they take.
Take the third scene above as just one indication of this. Sam Shaber (Cornell University Class of 1994) recently opened the Lauren Pickard (Cornell 1990) Emerging Artists Series at Cornell. This occasional series is funded in memory of an active volunteer and student staff member of Cornell's Willard Straight Hall. Shaber, now based in New York City, bears the unmistakable mark of her time in Ithaca. It's not just the pants that she wears ($6 at Trader K's on the Commons). Rather, it is the way that she can both command the stage during her performance and be humble enough to ensure that Pickard's life and what it gave to Cornell were planted firmly at center stage.
Among Shaber's most riveting performances on this night was "Rain and Sunshine," which tells of the aftermath of a car accident she and her best friend from college had while travelling across country. As she wound her way through the beautiful melody, it almost appeared that she was reliving everything. True to the nature of Ithaca musicians, Shaber spent her intermission and post-show hours talking to all who wanted to bend her ear. Although she is a city dweller now, she takes a bit of the Ithaca mentality with her. One of her many projects is to serve as the catalyst behind "Live From New York," a travelling group of New York City-based singer-songwriters who promote each other. Sound familiar?
As this example shows, I-Town Records is just a part of what makes the Ithaca scene what it is. For every band on the label, there are two or three that are not. And, unlike other scenes that allow such insignificant divisions to define who plays where and when, the Ithaca scene thrives by providing multiple options. And it comes together several times throughout the year, most noticeably during Ithaca Festival and the GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance (itself a benefit for local organizations). Witnessing the impromptu jams between members of different bands at these events drives home the fact that regardless of genre or record label, Ithaca musicians have a common bond and take every opportunity to enhance it.
This example also points to an area of the Ithaca music scene that is ignored all too often: the music that happens at Cornell and Ithaca College. Both schools have incubated bands that have gone on to draw large crowds in area clubs, from the old-school ska stylings of the dominant 7 to the alternative rock of Zen FM. Both of these bands have roots in the Just About Music Program House (JAM), a residence hall at Cornell. Have you seen listings for the reggae band the Uplifters at the Odyssey? They are a spin-off of the dominant 7, now based in New York City and fronted by JAM alum David Linhart, himself an accomplished solo artist. Rap group Poetic Alchemy, who were featured at this year's inaugural Muse Fest, also started in JAM. Each year, more bands form in JAM than in almost any other single corner of Ithaca. Annual fall and spring festivals feature these bands, and they release compilation CDs every few years.
JAM is also the site of the second scene described in the opening. Samite of Uganda, who lives in Ithaca, has been playing exclusive concerts in JAM each spring for the past ten years. Samite weaves stories and songs that captivate audiences. Each year he brings an audience that starts off shy and reserved to their feet, dancing and singing along. With tall, expressive American Ema on guitar and silent, entrancing Mar Gueye on drums, each Samite performance is a blend of rest and motion, beauty and exhilaration.
Speaking of beauty and exhilaration, these are only two adjectives that describe Ithaca College's Bora Yoon, a singer-songwriter who makes frequent appearances at the ABC Café. She is also the force behind the Ithaca College Songwriter's Circle, a group of musicians from both of Ithaca's colleges. The Circle have a compilation of their own due out late spring, with a release celebration to follow in the Fall. Bora has soared on the local scene since winning the GrassRoots Band Competition a year or two ago, earning herself an evening spot on that year's schedule as well as an instant spot in the ears of interested Ithacans.
Bora is not the only product of South Hill, though I admit to being less familiar with that scene than with Cornell's. Funk masters Revision and Buttah hail from IC, as do piano-popsters Thanks Mr. Brown. Ithaca College is also a haven for the local hardcore scene, having spawned such nationally known zines as Muddle. Although JAM hosted hardcore and punk shows in the mid and late 90s, Ithaca College students like David Brown and John Zigga were the ones who planned those concerts and saw them through.
And this only scratches the surface. Dozens of excellent musicians remain to be mentioned, including some bands that seem to define the Ithaca scene. Good live music is happening every night of the week in Ithaca. Sometimes, choices can be difficult to make, and not just on Friday and Saturday nights. Take the recent Tuesday when concert-goers could choose between the alt.country sounds of Hubcap and the acoustic vibes of Tamara J. Brown. Two consecutive Sundays in April featured difficult choices between high-quality national folk acts appearing live at the Café at Anabel Taylor Hall for WVBR's Bound for Glory (Denice Franke and Sparky Rucker) or the previously mentioned Samite show and the opening scene above. No other town of similar size can boast the richness of music that Ithaca does year after year. And no other town with a music scene the size of Ithaca's can claim to have a scene that is as mutually supportive and community minded as ours.
Who were the five musicians in the opening scene, passing the mic? Uniit Carruyo and Sim Redmond from the Sim Redmond Band were there. Sunny Weather accordion player, lead singer, and guitarist Trevor MacDonald sat between them. And John Brown's Body leader Kevin Kinsella sat at the end opposite Uniit. Who was between Kevin and Sim? Why, Bert Scholl, of course, in one of his first-ever appearances before a crowd. It makes no difference that he doesn't have the pedigree of an Ithaca-based band behind him. Observing the easy give and take, the friendship and sharing that happened on stage that Sunday night, it becomes apparent that Scholl will be up there again. And Ithaca musicians will support him because that's what Ithaca musicians do.
Alan Rose is a follower of the local music scene in all its variations. An accomplished singer-songwriter, perpetually in search of a band, Rose was also the Residence Hall Director of JAM for two years. It is not unusual to find him taking in six or more musical events in a given week.
Have a favorite band or genre of music that you would like to see covered in a future issue of 14850 Magazine? E-mail Alan Rose at alrose@14850.com with your suggestions. He wants to write more but has a hard time choosing just one thing to write about.