We had an amazing weekend playing music in upstate New York! A Friday night gig at Lot 10 in Ithaca, a Saturday art and music exhibit at Zink Tees screen print shop in Oswego, and lots of pretty fall tree colors, tasty apple harvest fest treats, and visits with good friends in between 🙂
We pulled into Ithaca Friday afternoon, as the annual Apple Harvest Fest was in full swing. Perfect timing to get that fall apple pie fix before heading straight to Lot 10, Ithaca’s hip downtown bar and venue on Cayuga St. It sure felt like it had been a while since we last played music there and it was great to be back!
Saturday was our very first trip to Oswego. Aaron Z. Lee, who is a talented graphic designer, hosted a ‘Month of Halloween’ art and music exhibit. Everything took place in the ‘Darkroom’, a cozy gallery and performance space within Zink Tees screen print shop. With comfy couches opposite the stage, a rug in the center of the floor, cool screenprints hanging on the walls and quirky decorations placed about the room, the Darkroom has to be the most unique and comfortable venue I’ve ever played! And who goes to a screen printing shop without printing some tees?? Not us! 🙂 We got the chance to print our own shirts after the gig. Glen, the man behind the Zink, gave everyone a behind-the-scenes look at the screen printing process and taught us the magical ways of making band shirts. Thank you!!
Hazlitt Winery on Seneca Lake hosts a happy hour every Friday from 5-8 where folks can sip on delicious wine while enjoying the beautiful view of vineyards, the lake, and live music by local bands. Even though we moved out of Ithaca, I still feel local to the finger lakes region, and I was so happy when we were invited to play the Hazlitt Happy Hour last weekend. We blended a mix of Rungs songs with Diwas’s Nepalese songs and a long list of our favorite covers. It was quite refreshing to play a nice long set. After playing so many of those ‘hurry up and get on stage you have 5 minutes to set up and 30 minutes to play and then you gotta breakdown fast!’ it felt really nice to be able to just keep playing. The happy hour takes place in a large covered outdoor deck called ‘The Oasis’ which houses a bar, seating area, restrooms, and a place for bands to set up. Having grown up in Florida, I couldn’t help but feel like I was on a beach deck that somehow landed in the middle of upstate NY. It was awesome.
Here is a pic our friends caught of us, thanks guys!
The benefit was a success! We raised over $1000 for women’s and children education programs in Nepal, and attendance at the door was just over 100.
Diwas rode the bus in from New York City late Friday night arriving only a few hours before setting up for the 4-8pm Saturday evening benefit. After not seeing each other for a couple of weeks, it felt so good to play our songs together on stage! Much of our set is dependent on bouncing spontaneous ideas off of each other, so it’s a little different each time. Sometimes being a little less rehearsed makes for a fun energy on stage and after being under the weather for practically all of January, it felt good to just let the songs take me away.
Mandy & Diwas @ Rock for Himalayas photo by Local Shakes
Gabe Tavares and Sisu PTM followed The Rungs opening set. It is usually just Gabe Tavares and Powder the Moon, but Diwas played drums with them for the first time, hence the addition of ‘Sisu’ in the name. I loved the sound of the trio!
Gabriel Tavares & Sisu Powder the Moon photo by Local Shakes
Following their set, Diwas joined the drummer from his old band Ayurveda to play some popular Nepali songs. Those two can really rock together and I enjoyed jumping up to play bass on a couple of songs with them.
Mike the bad-ass drummer! photo by Local Shakes
Closing the evening was one of our favorite Ithaca bands, Boy With a Fish. We were so happy they agreed to volunteer their time for our event, it was really very special! The crowd just lit up when Boy with a Fish began to play, everyone danced and cut loose to the music.
Boy With a Fish photo by Local Shakes
After breaking everything down we had to hustle over to another venue, the Haunt, where the Sutras were opening up for the Fly Rod’s CD release. I’ve been singing with the Sutras since July and I just love it! I feel so lucky to be a part of this band.
The Sutras!
The Fly Rods are good old rock ‘n roll and they capped the night with just that. My sister and I got our groove on the dance floor while they rocked on stage. Overall I’d say they had a successful CD release, but I do wonder what’s going to happen to CDs as the Internet continues to influence music. The amount that people are willing to pay for music seems to decrease. I know these guys put a lot of hard work into putting their album together and it sounds fantastic. Definitely a staple in my car cd collection (since long drives are when I really enjoy my cd collection!)
Fly Rods CD Release photo by Local Shakes
Lots of pictures and videos were taken at the events by local music promotion team, Local Shakes. Artists can just be the worst at promoting themselves and local shakes is doing something really important for local musicians, promoting and spreading the word about music and events. If you are in the Finger Lakes region, get in touch with these guys!! All (but one) of the pictures in this entry are by them and more videos are available on their facebook page.
I just wish every Saturday was filled with back-to-back shows like this!!!
therungsband.com 