December 31, 2011 - 2012 First Night® Performers
Learn more about a performer by clicking on the links below to view their website.
Please Note: Food and beverages are not permitted in any sites, expect where sold at on-site concessions. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis and all sites will be emptied before the next audience is allowed in. Many performances take place in houses of worship: please pay them proper respect.
Adam Falkner: Adam is a New York City based poet, performer, essayist, full-time public high school teacher and educational consultant. Published in a number of anthologies and journals, Adam's work has also been incorporated into post-secondary course packs and has been featured on HBO, BET, Michigan and New York Public Radio and in Time Out New York. In addition to having performed at over 100 colleges and universities throughout the United States, Adam also leads professional development workshops for faculty and staff at institutions of higher education on how to incorporate performance art, creative writing and intergroup dialogue into the teaching and training processes. He currently teaches 11th grade English & Creative Writing at the Academy for Young Writers in Brooklyn.
www.adamfalknerarts.com.
Caroline Couture, a native of the Saranac Lake area, and Danny Golub met in 2007 at Purchase College where they both studied Studio Composition. This soon-to-be husband and wife team have been writing and performing original music for over four years. Both Caroline and Danny, who write songs independently, have been members of a wide range of performing groups. A mutual liking for each others' songwriting styles eventually lead to the collaboration now known as Bee's Kneez performing a refreshingly unique and diverse collection of songs.
www.beeskneezmusic.com.
The Crabgrass Puppet Theatre, performing Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky, is an award-winning touring puppet theatre founded in 1982 by Jamie Keithline and Bonny Hall from Halifax, Vermont. They have twice been awarded the prestigious Citation of Excellence from the American Center of the Union Internationale de la Marionette (UNIMA-USA), the highest honor in American puppetry, in 2001 and again in 2005. They have given many thousands of performances in schools, libraries, museums, and arts festivals, and have performed at over two dozen regional, national and international puppetry festivals reaching over 100,000 people throughout the United States. One of the best known poems in children's literature springs to life through the wit and whimsy of Crabgrass Puppet Theatre. Explore the magical world of Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass where you'll meet wondrous creatures like the mimsy borogrove, the frumious bandesnach, and the dreaded Jabberwock! This celebration of the imagination is a fabulous and funny adventure tale filled with stunning puppets and fantastical scenery.
www.crabgrasspuppets.com.
Native American storyteller David Kanietakeron Fadden is a member of the Wolf Clan of the Mohawk Community of Akwesasne. He shares in the operation of the Six Nations Indian Museum in the Northeastern Adirondack Mountains in Onchiota, New York. David attended and graduated from the Saranac Lake Central School where he received recognition for his art. He also attended North Country Community College in Saranac Lake. In conjunction with formal art training, he has learned technical skills, artistic insight, and other appropriate knowledge from his parents John Fadden, educator, illustrator and painter; and Elizabeth Eva Fadden, wood sculptor. His particular area of expertise, with respect to creating images of Native Americans, has been nurtured by learning from his paternal grandfather, Ray.
www.sixnationsindianmuseum.com.
Drew, Director of Choral Activities at the Saranac Lake High School, conducts the Festival and Concert Choruses, teaches vocal lessons, and is vocal coach for the select Men's and Women's Vocal Ensembles. A native of Northern New York, he has served as a public school music educator both as Director of Instrumental Music at Saranac Lake High School and as Director of Choral Activities at the Peru Middle/High School. He is an active lecturer and clinician, having recently presented at the NYSSMA Winter Conference in Rochester, New York, and is in frequent demand as a guest conductor for honors bands and choruses throughout New York State. He has performed liturgical music for over twenty years in churches all around the Northeast. The Great American Songbook: “Music of Broadway” is a musical tribute to the uniquely American genre of Musical Theater. This performance spans the gamut from treasured classics to more obscure recent works to grace the "Great White Way." Pianist and vocalist, Drew gives contextual clues to help the audience better understand the nature of the music and how it contributes to the story being told.
This acoustic roots music features Eddy's detailed, descriptive and frequently humorous lyrics backed by his fluid guitar, mandolin, and resonator guitar work along with Kim's solid upright bass playing. Eddy was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, and spent a decade in New York City before settling in the North Country of New York State in 1992. With eight solo albums to his credit, he has garnered critical praise in many publications, including Dirty Linen, Acoustic Guitar, The Village Voice, CMJ, Folk-Roots, Performing Songwriter, New Country, and Sing Out. Eddy has appeared at clubs, coffeehouses, and festivals across North America, both as a headliner and as an opening act for many well-known artists. These days, he performs in concert with his wife, Kim, who accompanies him on upright bass. The Lawrences live and work in a solar powered cabin/recording studio on their 130 acre homestead in Moira, New York.
www.snowplowrecords.com.
Frankenpine is a Brooklyn-based string band with roots reaching from the subway platforms of the city up the Hudson Valley to the crooked mountains of the Adirondacks. The banjo and fiddle--in its ranks--give it a touch of bluegrass, but the band's original music draws on a wide range of influences—everything from blues to gypsy jazz to rock to old-time. Its lyrics are similarly eclectic, exploring themes of loss and ambition; telling the stories of outlaws and the outspoken. The band formed as a trio in 2007 and has since grown to include Kim and Matthew Chase, Liz Bisbee, Ned Rauch, Colin DeHond and sometimes Andy Mullen. They play acoustic and resonator guitars, mandolin, bass, fiddle, harmonica, banjo, accordion, percussion and whatever else is within reach. Frankenpine's instrumentation evokes the mountain holler, but the Brooklyn-based group's original songs are a stew of rock, folk, bluegrass and country. Their rhythms churn, their solos slice and their harmonies soar.
www.frankenpinemusic.com.
Featuring mezzosoprano Beth MacLeod Largent, bass-baritone George Cordes and pianist Elizabeth Cordes. High Peaks Opera was founded by bass-baritone George Cordes and his wife, pianist Elizabeth Cordes. As a principal artist with New York City Opera for six seasons, bass George Cordes appeared in two Live from Lincoln Center telecasts: in Tosca in 2000 and in La Boheme in 2001. As a Metropolitan Opera artist for four seasons, George appeared with the Met in the Parks in Rigoletto, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly. He also has sung with Chicago Lyric Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and Dallas Opera, as well as Santa Fe, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, New Orleans, Boston, and many other companies. Pianist Elizabeth Cordes spent seven years with Tri-Cities Opera in Binghamton, New York, as accompanist, coach, and director of the education-outreach program. Mrs. Cordes also spent six seasons as accompanist for Ohio Light Opera, as well as three years as accompanist and coach for the opera/musical theater program at the University of Akron School of Music. She has taught and accompanied singers as a faculty member of the Duxbury Music Festival. For the past four years, she has been the choral-music teacher at Tupper Lake Middle/High School and directed productions of Bye, Bye, Birdie, The Boy Friend, Seussical: The musical Annie and most recently, Thoroughly Modern Millie. This is delightful program of light opera and operetta arias and duets, interspersed with the infectious waltz music of The Merry Widow, Die Fledermaus, and other great works by the masters of operetta. So bring your dancing shoes (ball gown optional) and come help us waltz in the New Year in operatic style
www.highpeaksopera.org/.
Jay began his stand up comedy career in Boston and became a regular at at the Hollywood Improv and Comedy Juice shows in Los Angeles. Beloved for his unabashed physical comedy and off-the-cuff audience interplay, he regularly performs at The World Famous Comedy Store, The Laugh Factory, and The Icehouse. He has been seen on “The Rebels of Comedy” pay-per-view special, as well as The Comedy Time Network. Check out Jay's website at
www.jaymontepare.com.
Joey Izzo is local musician, born and raised in Lake Placid. Since earning his beginning reputations by winning a local talent show and playing in various Saranac Lake and Lake Placid musical events, Izzo has continued full steam into what he hopes to be a full time musical career. Joey is now the lead singer and keyboardist for the local band Placid, but on the solo side of things he is known for his moving renditions of many jazz, classical, and rock tunes, into each of which he adds his own personal touch of musical artistry.
Julie Robards & A Fine Mix: The band "A Fine Mix" bridges the musical generation gap with a fine mix of traditional classic country. Julia Robinson Robards, from Upper Jay, lead vocalist and rhythm guitar, started out as a church song leader in 1985 and in the mid-1990s rediscovered a love for old time traditional bluegrass and classic country. Russ Mulvey of Wilmington is a jazz bassist whose fancy finger work on country and bluegrass tunes steers the band away from a traditional sound. Larry Stone of Wilmington, a talented rock and blues guitarist, changes from a 1931 National Steel guitar, to a 1957 Fender electric, to a great old acoustic Martin. Max VanWie of Elizabethtown is the youngest member of the band, and he attends Keene Valley High School and burns up the mandolin as he takes the lead on several tunes.
Incorporating Zydeco, Cajun, New Orleans R&B and Mardi Gras songs, along with Ska and Reggae, the band also features original songs written by guitarist and singer Josie Ritter. They will rock the house and burn it down with hot rhythms from Cajun/Zydeco country! One of Vermont's leading bands for over fifteen years, this band draws its inspiration from the music of the Southern United States, Louisiana and the Caribbean. Along with Josie, band members include: Gus Ziesing, accordion, saxophone, vocals; Dana Lavigne, guitar, fratoire (rubboard), vocals; Mimi Ryan, alto saxophone, vocals; Mike Graziadei, bass; Allen Bilson , drums.
http://sites.google.com/site/mangojamcajunzydeco/.
When 22-year-old harmonica ace Annie Raines first sat in with 42-year-old country blues guitarist Paul Rishell in a Boston bar in 1992, few in the crowd suspected that they were witnessing the beginning of a musical partnership that would span the next nineteen years. Paul and Annie have racked up hundreds of thousands of miles on the road in the U.S. and Europe, collaborated on original songs, and released I WANT YOU TO KNOW (Tone-Cool/Artemis 1996), MOVING TO THE COUNTRY (2000), the W.C. Handy Award winner for Acoustic Blues Album of the Year, and GOIN' HOME (2004), which was nominated for two Handy Awards. Annie Raines was born in 1969 in Boston. She picked up the blues harp at 17 and made her stage debut at the 1369 Jazz Club in Cambridge a few months before her high school graduation. Paul Rishell was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1950. At the age of ten, he discovered that he could keep time on the drums, though his feet didn't reach the pedals. He started a band a few years later, playing surf music and rock ‘n roll, until a friend turned him on to country blues. He immediately took up the guitar and in the early 70's Paul moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and had the chance to play with many of the first and second generation of blues.
www.paulandannie.com.
Richard Stillman is a multitalented performer, who offers colorful, fast-paced programs featuring his unique combination of talents as a singer, dancer, storyteller and instrumentalist. All shows involve extensive audience participation and include a wide range of instruments. Performances are adapted for all ages, from pre-school through adult. Richard Stillman's stories and songs of the Wild West and the Oregon Trail are woven together with guitar, banjo and mandolin picking, cowboy hat tricks, western rope spinning, and country clog dancing to create a vibrant tapestry of the settling of the American West.
http://encoreperforming.com/rs.htm.
This group is modeled after the great steel bands of the Caribbean. The magical sound of the steel drum instantly transports listeners to sun drenched beaches and warm climates. Join them on this frosty Adirondack winter night for some barefoot dancing under the palms! They bring the magical sound of the steel pan and the signature sound of the Caribbean to wherever they play. The group is modeled after traditional island steel bands and aims to educate and entertain, presenting steel pan history and music to create a little taste of carnival in Northern New York. This community group is directed by Alexandria Central School music teacher Dan Hammond and is made up of students from several Watertown area schools.
www.rrrp.net.
Sara is a successful solo artist, singer, fiddler, composer and bandleader and an accompanist for many other artists in different musical genres. She has performed throughout the US and Europe in the Americana-roots, folk, rock, bluegrass, celtic, and Appalachian music scenes, both solo and in collaboration with artists such as Richard Shindell, Pete Seeger, Eliza Gilkyson, Cathie Ryan, The McKrells, Quickstep, and Antje Duvekot. Her CD, Daisycutter (2009), was a nominated Grammy semifinalist. Sara began playing the fiddle when she was four years old, joined The Adirondack Fiddlers at age seven, and was leading her own bands by age nine. Throughout her teen years, she won several bluegrass and old-time fiddle and song contests and performed with the Empire State Youth and Repertory Orchestras and several string quartets. She released her first recording at age twelve and at fifteen followed with a CD under the name Sara Miles which was a Grammy-nominated semifinalist. She left school at sixteen to hit the road with NY bluegrass band The McKrells, but several years later attended Cornell and received a degree in biology. Sara will be accompanied by Greg Anderson and Brian Melick.
www.saramilonovich..com.
Steve is a physical comedian, juggler, unicyclist, stilt walker, rope walker, hatchet thrower, balloon sculptor and balancer. All performances are fast-paced and exciting displays of many classic vaudeville and circus skills including feats of daring, bravery, and side-splitting foolishness. The high point of each performance is invariably the audience participation involving volunteers, both young and old. This continual interaction keeps everyone involved and laughing. www.webpages.charter.net/sgratto0931/.
Steve Langdon has been performing blues and original music locally and abroad for twenty years. He plays a mix of 1920's and 30's Delta and Piedmont blues along with traditional and original tunes. His fingerstyle and slide arrangements of old blues are uncluttered by the influences of modern rock and roll, while his original tunes are inspired by musicians that range from Bruce Cockburn to Blind Willie McTell. In the late 1990's Steve toured extensively in Northern Germany with the Professor Washboard Band based in Hamburg and appears on Professor Washboard's Prime Partner's 2000 CD.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSHuCMtVTvo.
Brent McCoy presents his hilarious all-ages show--a fantastic one-man comedy and circus extravaganza by a performer who has been called fabulous, funny, and amazing by audiences all over the world. McCoy is based in Northeastern Vermont, but has performed at festivals, theaters, schools, and street corners internationally since 2003. Highlights include clown festivals in China, street performances and vaudeville festivals all over Canada and the United States, at hundreds of schools and camps around the Northeast, and even the Vermont Statehouse! Brent's show combines circus skill, physical comedy, and audience participation for original, hard-working entertainment.
www.brentmccoy.com.
The band, comprised of Woody Pines on guitar, banjo, harmonica and lead vocals, Zack Pozebanchuk on upright bass, Darin Gentry on fiddle, and Nathan Taylor on drums, epitomizes the swinging ragtime and country sound and embraces a simpler time. “New Orleans has music seeping out of the bricks in the old French quarter," said Woody, who moved to New Orleans to steep in the city's famous music scene, but now resides in Asheville, North Carolina. The group has been playing together for two and half years with Pines as the driving force both creatively and on stage. Compared to Bob Dylan, Pines describes the band's sound as a ragtime rhythm and a swinging good time.
www.woodypines.com
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