The Linda (OLD PAGE)

Welcome to The Linda's Myspace page! We've set this up so we can keep everyone out there up to date with all the events we'll be hosting. We're a conveniently located performing arts center located right on the corner of Central & Quail Street in the city of Albany. We're looking all over New York to bring you the best in music, documentaries, and theater. Keep checking here for schedules of performance, tickets, and anything else you might want!
--- UPCOMING EVENTS!! ---
July 2008
Upstate Independents
Tuesday 7/1
6:30 PM
FREE
Upstate Independents, Inc. -- New York’s Capital Region AIVF Salon founded in 1995 -- is home to more than 150 Capital Region independent filmmakers, videographers, producers, directors, actors, screenwriters, and related media artists. Amateurs and professionals alike are welcome.
UI is a membership organization. Meetings are held on the first Tuesday of each month at 6:30 PM at The Linda, WAMC’s Performing Arts Studio. Each meeting features networking time, screenings, special guest speakers and the unique opportunity to get connected to the upstate film community. Anyone is welcome to attend one or two of the monthly membership meetings before joining.
Dancing on the Air
Wed. 7/9
8:00 PM
$12
It's live performance radio with Jay Ungar and Molly Mason and the Dancing On The Air Orchestra featuring Peter Davis and Sam Zucchinni. Each month, they showcase exceptional talent in a wide variety of idioms. The music runs the gamut... whether it's folk, Celtic, swing, Cajun, zydeco, old-time country, bluegrass, rockabilly, blues, jazz, or pop, you can be assured of a fabulous evening of extraordinary live music.
Guests to include: TBA
Tins for Tickets
The Linda - WAMC’s Performing Arts Studio and Food Pantries for the Capital District are pleased to announce Tins for Tickets, a ticket discount program to help collect canned goods for distribution to local food pantries that feed those in need in our neighborhoods. Patrons who purchase tickets at the door for Dancing On The Air, WAMC’s live monthly folk music broadcast at The Linda will receive a $2.00 discount off the cost of a regular $12.00 ticket if they bring one or more canned goods.Visit www.dancingontheair.com for an archive of past shows.
Made possible in part by Tech Valley Communications , and by the New York State Music Fund , established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.
Robyn Hitchcock
Thurs. 7/10
8:00 PM
$25
Robyn Hitchcock began his recording career in 1976 with the punk/New Wave band The Soft Boys, a group with an interest in the odd concept of 'psychedelic punk'. After the group broke up in 1981, Hitchcock began recording as a solo artist and alternated between solo releases and group efforts with his next band The Egyptians, comprised of former members of The Soft Boys, Andy Metcalfe and Morris Windsor.
Hitchcock's lyrics are an essential component of his work and tend to include surrealism, comedic songs, characterizations of English eccentrics and melancholy depictions of everyday life. His themes include what many psychologists view as the roots of modern neurosis - namely, death, sex and eating. (Recognizing this theme, he released an EP in 2007 called "Sex, Food, Death and Tarantulas".)
Over the past three decades, Robyn Hitchcock has built a large and distinctive body of work that's established him as one of rock's most respected and beloved iconoclasts. The prolific English singer/songwriter/guitarist's vivid surrealist song craft has won him an uncommonly devoted international fan base.
Made possible by the New York State Music Fund , established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.
Meet the Composers Night
w/ Graham Parker and Mike Gent
Friday 7/18
Songwriter's Workshop - 5:00 PM
FREE
Concert - 8:00 PM
$20
For nearly 30 years, Graham Parker has been slinging a signature sound across continents and airwaves that has rightly earned him a spot in the pantheon of truly original and influential figures in rock and roll. Since his early days with his band the Rumour (with whom he has two albums in Rolling Stone’s “Top 100 Albums of All Time”), Graham has coupled punk’s energy with his deeply rooted love of American R&B, country and soul music. He’s got a snotty barroom brawler’s rasp and sneer, a soul man’s swagger and an ear for indelible hooks and pop song craft.
Mike Gent is a songwriter, guitarist/vocalist in The Figgs, a power pop band with roots in Saratoga Springs, NY. Aside from playing in The Figgs since 1997, Mike also leads the side project The Gentlemen and has been a sideman with The Candybutchers, Tommy Stinson and the very same Graham Parker.
Together, Graham and Mike will lead a Songwriting Workshop at 5pm breaking down their own styles and dispensing tips on how to build a song from the ground up. At 8pm they will hit the stage to play song selections from their respective careers as well as some unreleased tunes, throwing in stories on how the songs came to be. This is sure to be an intimate and personal evening all the way around; come be a part of it!
Made possible by the New York State Music Fund , established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.
Annie and the Hedonists
Saturday 7/19
8:00 PM
$15
Annie and the Hedonists will release their third CD, "Good Old Wagon" and the dynamic Peter Davis will join the quartet as a special guest. “Good Old Wagon” is the band's 3rd CD and continues to provide a rich mixture of acoustic blues, jazz, swing, country and traditional music.
Lead vocalist Annie Rosen, guitarist Jonny Rosen, multi-instrumentalist Steve Fry, and bassist Betsy Fry are a familiar sight and sound at regional events and coffeehouses. The sultry, blues tinged singing of Annie Rosen and tight group harmonies are framed by a variety of knockout lead instruments including guitar, mandolin, trumpet, keyboards, and dobro on an eclectic mix of blues, jazz, swing, folk, and country.
Panel Discussion
Practical Tools and Tips for
Alzheimer’s and Dementia Caregivers
Thurs. 7/24
1:00 - 2:00 PM
FREE
The Leon J. Goldberg Foundation is sponsoring a series of WAMC radio broadcasts highlighting topics related to Alzheimer’s disease held at the Linda.
Questions will be answered by a panel of Capital Region experts and moderated by WAMC’s Alan Chartock.
This months program: Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most difficult challenges an individual and his/her caregivers will ever face. Fortunately, there is a growing body of information about the disease as well as state-of-the-art programs available to help. Join this panel of experts to learn about the resources available as well as the legal and financial planning necessary for success.
Panelists:
Elizabeth Smith-Boivin, Director - Anne B. Goldberg Alzheimer’s Resource Center, Albany Medical Center
Martin S. Finn - Attorney, Lavelle and Finn Attorneys At Law
Thomas Brockley - Senior Vice President-Investments, UBS PaineWebber
Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive brain disease which causes problems with memory, thinking, and behavior. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia and currently has no cure. Over 5 million Americans suffer from this disease and that number will continue to increase with the increase in older adults. Until medical science discovers how to prevent this devastating epidemic, we must strive to diagnose people in the earliest stage when medications and other therapies are most effective. Audience members will learn how to differentiate early Alzheimer’s disease and dementia from normal aging memory as well current treatment strategies for each.
Crumbs Nite Out
Thurs. 7/24
Mixer - 7:00 PM
Music - 8:00 PM
$10
The Linda and Crumbs.net, the online place where all musicians and local music fans start the process of networking with everyone who’s anyone in the Capital Region music business, have joined to present Crumbs Night Out at The Linda. We bring the official hub of the Capital Region music scene off the internet and into The Linda, WAMC’s Performing Arts Studio. The evening will feature local artists, a special pre-show mixer, industry vendor tables and local online classified music ad updates from Crumbs.
Musicians:
Mark Frederick never thought he would be a singer. He has spent most of his life learning how to play all sorts of instruments, invented a few on the way, all to indulge his attention deficit tendencies. Over the years he put together an albums worth of songs, so he decided to put a band together to record them and get them out of his head, play out once or twice, and put it to bed.
Katie Haverly is a singer/guitarist/songwriter of uncommon gifts. After living in such diverse locales as Colorado, Chicago, North Carolina, and New York’s Capital Region, Katie’s music displays a wealth of passion, living and maturity; a depth of flavor, if you will, that you are unlikely to find in another person of similar age and experience. Her songs cut a bright, living arc through her first two albums, Face Down and The City, showing us an emerging talent in its rising. Her songs map the human heart with an understated, but undeniable intensity.
Joe Nacco began his career 10 years ago with the indie-classic alt rock band HEAD. 6 solo albums later the two-homed Nacco remains Upstate NY’s top recording artist and one of Huntington Beach’s finest. Nacco has performed across the United States from L.A. to N.Y.C. playing with acts such as G. Love and Special Sauce and Rahzell. Nacco has won several Songwriting Awards and charted several times on Indie stations throughout the U.S. and Australia. Nacco has held several number one spots on Internet Radio.
Made possible in part by the City of Albany, NY .
Media Sponsor: Exit 97.7 WEXT
The Asylum Street Spankers
Tues. 7/29
8:00 PM
$20
The magnificently indefinable Asylum Street Spankers began in 1994. Christina Marrs and Guy Forsyth met Wammo and during a night spent singing and playing along the banks of the Llano River they made a pact to keep the all-night-sing-along-anything-goes spirit of that party alive. Upon returning to Austin they gathered a few like-minded pals and began playing free shows at clubs and busking on the Guadalupe Street Drag. (Guadalupe was known as Asylum Street because it led to the state, um, hospital. A Spanker is someone who can play their instrument vigorously and proficiently.)
Within a year they conquered Austin, playing three SRO weekly residencies, including the city’s original Gospel Brunch at La Zona Rosa. With the departure of Forsyth in 1998 the band began venturing out into the wider world. Since then, Christina and Wammo have pushed their ever-evolving troupe from simple country-blues revivalism toward smart, challenging music of boundless variety, sophisticated arrangements, stunning showmanship and determined inventiveness.
In short, the Asylum Street Spankers are a roots-rock riddle, nestled in a satirical Vaudeville enigma, packaged in an old-timey radio-show puzzle and slathered with hippie-fied mystery sauce. You don’t want to miss this performance at The Linda.
Made possible by the New York State Music Fund , established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.
August 2008
The Gourds
Aug. 27
8:00 PM
$23
Austin, Texas' The Gourds have never been much on sentiment. Since the band started defining Gourds Music, as it has come to be known, with Dem's Good Beeble in 1997 and the quirky Stadium Blitzer in 1998, they have chugged through America fueled by music and a near-pathological need for a good time. And while songwriters Kevin Russell and Jimmy Smith have written the most dense, reference-laden country songs of the last 10 years and almost single-handedly made a place for deep thought in a genre of "Honky Tonk Badonkadonks" they have, for the most part, shied away from the tear-in-my-beer ballads that made country music a commercial powerhouse over the last 50 years.
Made possible by the New York State Music Fund .
September 2008
Keith Pray's Big Soul Ensemble
Thurs. 9/18
8:00 PM
$15
The Big Soul Ensemble is a lot of band with a lot of soul. Comprised of over a dozen of the Capital Regions finest musicians, the ensemble is a traditional jazz big band with a twist. Instead of looking to the past for their repertoire, the Big Soul Ensemble pays homage to the past while playing material specifically written or arranged for the band by its own members.
"The goal of the Big Soul Ensemble is to present a swingin' big band with the freedom of a jazz quartet" says saxophonist Keith Pray, a native of upstate New York who recently returned to the area after a lengthy tenure in New York City. "I want to showcase the writing and arranging skills of many of the area's players in a traditional big band setting while giving all of the guys a chance to improvise as well."
Ira Glass
Saturday 9/20
8 PM
$100
On September 20, as a major fundraiser for the station, WAMC will proudly present ”This American Life’s” creator, Ira Glass, for his first appearance at The Linda. During this special presentation, the audience will enjoy a live media experience as Glass lectures, plays audio clips, and answers questions.
Ira Glass started working in public radio in 1978, when he was 19, as an intern at National Public Radio's Washington headquarters. Over the course of the next 17 years, he worked on nearly every NPR news show and did nearly every production job they had: he was a tape-cutter, desk assistant, newscast writer, editor, producer, reporter, and substitute host. He spent a year in a high school for NPR, and a year in an elementary school, filing every week or two for All Things Considered. He has filled in as host of “Talk of the Nation” and “Weekend All Things Considered”. He moved to Chicago in 1989 and was a reporter at NPR’s Chicago Bureau till 1995 until he launched This American Life in November of 1995.
Since its debut, the unique format of “This American Life” has contributed to the overwhelming popularity of the show. It successfully combines a hybrid of journalism, fiction, docu drama and old fashioned storytelling. One of the people who helped shape the program, Paul Tough, says “What This American Life does is apply the tools of journalism to everyday lives, personal lives. Which is true. It's also true that the journalism we do tends to use a lot of the techniques of fiction: scenes and characters and narrative threads.” It’s a documentary show for people who normally hate documentaries; a public radio show for people who don't necessarily care for public radio. Such luminaries as David Sedaris, Sarah Vowell, Russell Banks, Jhumpa Lahiri, Anne Lamott, and Spalding Gray have all participated. Now the show can be heard on more than 500 public radio stations across the country with a weekly audience of about 1.7 million. It's won a lot of awards—the Peabody, the duPont-Columbia, the Murrow, and the Overseas Press Club, to name a few. Ira Glass was named best radio host in the country by Time Magazine. The American Journalism Review declared that the show is at "the vanguard of a journalistic revolution.
October 2008
Cheryl Wheeler
w/Special Guest
2Late
Fri. 10/3
8:00 PM
$23
Back by popular demand Cheryl Wheeler has to be seen to be appreciated. Nothing you read and nothing you hear from her album prepares you for how good a performer she is. From her albums you can tell that she is a gifted songwriter with a beautiful voice. From other people's comments about her you can learn that she is a natural story teller with a fantastic sense of humor. But until you see her in person, you never really believe what you've been told about her. Besides, almost half of the songs she does during her shows haven't been recorded.
Cheryl's songs are often emotional portraits of people, leaving you with the impression that you know the characters. You find yourself being dragged into the song rather than standing outside and observing. Other songs by Cheryl are hilarious situation comedies.
Opening the show will be local favorite 2Late
Frigg
Thurs. 10/9
8:00 PM
$23
Frigg is a multitalented Finnish-Norwegian seven who produces fresh Scandinavian folk fiddling accompanied by fretted instruments, upright bass and endless energy. The style they represent is a mixture of Kaustinen (Finland) and Nord-Trondelag (Norway) -traditions flavored with a taste of Americana and Irish folk music.
Frigg has been chosen as "The Band Of The Year" 2003 of Kaustinen Folk Music Festival. The band Frigg is at the crest of this new wave, full of fresh ideas and taking the next leap forward for Finnish fiddle music.
With their galvanic live shows, and the 2005 second album, Keidas ­ Oasis ­ Oase building on the buzz caused by the 2002 debut album Frigg, the band have been catching ears on both sides of the Atlantic. For example, during the recent US tour an appearance on Garrison Keillor's famous networked radio show A Prairie Home Companion had the studio audience baying for an encore. That's the way it's turning out wherever they play.
Uncle Rock
Fri. 10/10
10:00 AM
FREE
An Uncle Rock performance is a joyous, interactive, adult-friendly experience that uses music as a means of bringing folks young and old together.
Many of the catchy, rhythmically propulsive songs on Uncle Rock's Here We Go!, Plays Well With Others, and Uncle Rock U. were born at his day job as a teacher’s assistant for preschoolers, where he landed after four years as a stay-at-home dad to his son Jack (who joins him on many songs). Uncle Rock’s persona draws inspiration from the likes of Maurice Sendak, The Ramones, The Beatles, Woody Guthrie, James Brown and Shel Silverstein. While there are plenty of celebratory, goofy singalongs, the material doesn't shy away from shadowy elements of life, often showing how music can help one to face the dragon in the closet.
Uncle Rock's three CDs of "rock of all ages" family music have won critical praise from The New York Times, the L.A. Times, The New York Post, and Cookie Magazine, and he is a mainstay on Sirius Satellite Radio's Kids Stuff Channel 116.
Made possible by:
Tim O'Brien
Fri. 10/31
8:00 PM
$23
Though he first won renown as a member of one of bluegrass's premiere bands, Hot Rize, O'Brien's been doing solo performances for a long time.
At a point in his career where you'd think he'd be charging at full speed toward the next big thing, Tim confounded expectations by doing something else: he took time--and plenty of it--to create the next small thing. His latest CD Chameleon, is an intimate project that, in its blend of virtuosity, wit and warmth, is unmistakably his. And this time around, it's literally his alone. Chameleon rambles from the autobiographical to the whimsical, and themes emerge, whether it's the nods to tradition found in the appearance of hoary lyric phrases in "Where's Love Come From" and the sly quotation from Bill Monroe in "Hoss Race," or the wry political observations in a trio of songs ("This World Was Made For Everyone," "When In Rome" and "World Of Trouble") planted in the back half of the collection.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Fri. 10/31
11:00 PM
$6
Rocky Horror in residence at The Linda!
Doesn’t matter how many times you’ve seen it, it just feels good to put the fishnets on! They’re back, Brad, Janet and the whole kinky troupe from transsexual Transylvania! Without a doubt this film is one of a kind. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is still the weirdest film out there, and probably the ultimate cult classic even after more than 25 years. Whether you’re a TRHPS virgin or a true fan, come be a part of a truly unique movie going experience. So break out your fishnets and bustier and don’t forget your toast!
November 2008
Red Molly
w/Special Guest
Steve Kirkman
Sat. 11/8
8:00 PM
$20
In the wee small hours of a summer night, a group of singer-songwriter friends gathered to share their latest tunes at a hilltop campsite at the 2004 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. The song circle grew smaller as, one by one, sleepy campers drifted off to their tents, leaving only Laurie MacAllister, Abbie Gardner, and Carolann Solebello in the citronella-scented candlelight. Not yet ready to call it a night, these women, who had long admired each other’s solo work, began sharing favorite songs by other songwriters. Before long, Laurie, Abbie and Carolann were singing their fellow campers off to sleep in three-part harmony on songs by contemporary writers like Gillian Welch and Iris DeMent, bluegrass standards, old-time southern gospel, and classic American tunes. And before the sun rose on Hillsdale, NY, Red Molly was born.
Everything Red Molly sings is delivered with tick-tight arrangements, crystalline vocals, and caramel harmonies. But what is most striking is the ardor they bring to everything they do, whether snuggling into the sweet parochialism of an old spiritual, or the gritty pathos of a Gillian Welch tune. They come on less like stars strutting for their minions than pals sharing their favorite songs. In the friendly world of the coffeehouse, that remains a starmaking quality." - Scott Alarik, The Boston Globe
Opening the show will be Steve Kirkman.
Terry Gross
Friday
11/14
8 PM
$100
On November 14, as a major fundraiser for the station, WAMC will proudly present Terry Gross, the host and co-executive producer of Fresh Air, taliking about her career as host of one of public radio’s most beloved programs. Following her presentation there will be a book signing reception and meet and greet.
Gross’ award-winning interview style distinguishes her from the rest; she combines compassion and tenderness, genuine inquisitiveness, and sharp intelligence. She has also been known to ask the tough questions, whether it’s a politician, writer, actor, artist, or musician while always providing an atmosphere that typically is comfortable for those that she probes. Gross observed, "Anyone who agrees to be interviewed must decide where to draw the line between what is public and what is private. But the line can shift, depending on who is asking the questions. What puts someone on guard isn't necessarily the fear of being 'found out.' It sometimes is just the fear of being misunderstood."
Gross has drawn added public attention to herself and her show when she has clashed with her guests on the show. In a few instances, the interviewees have been offended or shocked by the questions asked. In response, Gross released her well-received book All I Did was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists in 2004.
Fresh Air was honored with a Peabody Award in 1994 which cited Gross for her “probing questions and unusual insights”. Gross received a Gracie Award in the category of National Network Radio Personality in 1999 by the America Women in Radio and Television. In 2003, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting gave Gross the Edward R. Murrow Award for advancing the “growth, quality and positive image of radio”. Most recently, in 2007, she received the Literarian Award from the National Book Foundation.
Gross has served as a guest host for the weekday and weekend additions of NPR’s All Things Considered in addition to her work on Fresh Air. She’s also appeared as a co-anchor of the PBS show, The Great Comet Crash, produced by WHY-TV, and has guest-hosted the show CBS Nightwatch.
Join us on November 14, when Terry Gross shares her unique insights gained from years of interviewing those in the spotlight, and don’t forget about the book signing and reception following. This will be an event that you won’t want to miss.
Jim Gaudet
Sat. 11/22
8:00 PM
$15
Albany, New York's Jim Gaudet has paid his dues to both the stage and his age before meeting up with his muse. He sang his first original when he was thirty somethin' -- in a voice with the gentle authority of someone who'd lived a little life already, been a little up and a little down, who'd traveled as a musician, stayed home as a father, and grappled with the conflicting demands of both. Soon after, he compared his own metamorphosis to a frozen brook in one of his earliest tunes, "I'm Comin' Alive" -- "His words flow free and he begins to say/That I'm comin' alive/Spring is arriving/The mercury's climbing/My spirit is high."
Jim is a folksinger -- but without all that microscopic self-examination and tedious political correctness. Mostly, he's a storyteller -- and he does it extremely well. Whether singing about a baseball hero, a death row inmate, or a childhood love, Jim's straightforward approach is remarkably refreshing.
CD Release Concert
Doc Scanlon
Sat. 11/29
8:00 PM
$20
For over twenty years, Doc Scanlon has rocked the capitals of the world from Albany, New York to St. Petersburg, Russia with an exciting blend of Big Band Swing and Rockin' Rhythm and Blues but always return to their roots to showcase their new collections of music. Style and showmanship has made the band popular concert and club attraction both on their own and in appearances with such performers as B.B. King, Asleep at the Wheel and the Count Basie Orchestra. Audiences can't resist tunes by Louis Prima, Ray Charles, Glenn Miller, The Temptations, Nat King Cole, Chuck Berry, and Brian Setzer - put a dance floor in front of this band and flying feet fill it!