Signs on porches and fences across Schenectady’s north side proclaim the second PorchFest hits on Saturday: 14 acts playing on six porches in and around the GE Plot.
Last year’s inaugural fest was mobile musical fun despite intermittent light rain.
2023 Panorama view on Rugby Road
Like last year, It’s mostly jazz and enticingly local, both in its regional music-makers and convenient, compact locations. I live only about a mile from the most distant of those porches – some owned by friends – and plan to migrate from porch to porch and band to band.
PorchFest presents some tough choices between simultaneous sets. Last year, I clocked 11,000-plus steps trying to see some of everybody. Fortunately, however, fewer sets overlap this Saturday than last year.
From 2023: Cliff Brucker’s New Circle in the groove on Rugby Road; from left: Wayne Hawkins; piano; Don Nicholson (behind pillar, mostly), trombone; Brucker, drums; Rich Syracuse, bass; Chris Pasin, trumpet
Busy bassist Mike Lawrence will play, as he posted on Facebook, “with the Dadtet at noon, OMS guitar club students at 3pm and Mike Benedict’s Jazz Vibes at 4pm.” He messaged me a few days ago about the Oneida Middle School Guitar Club: “We’ll have 8th and 9th graders playing ‘Iron Man’ and ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit.’ I know there’s a lot of great music that day!”
Indeed – Let’s look at the porches.
1204 Rugby Rd.
12 – 12:45 p.m. Dadtet
2 – 2:45 p.m. Cliff Brucker & New Circle
3 – 3:30 p.m. Oneida Middle School Guitar Club
4 – 4:45 p.m. Mike Benedict Jazz Vibes
1183 Stratford Rd.
1 – 1:45 p.m. Kaitlyn Fay Quartet
3 – 3:45 p.m. Chad McLoughlin Trio
1226 Wendell Ave.
12 – 12:45 p.m. Epilogue Trio
2 – 2:45 p.m. Kevin Carey Group
1050 Avon Rd.
11:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. Backyard Brass
7 Douglas Rd.
1 – 1:45 p.m. Brass Abbey
3 – 3:45 p.m. Hansbrough-Quigley Flute and Guitar Duo
1095 Ardsley Rd.
12 – 12:45 p.m. Dominant 5 Brass Quintet
2 – 2:45 p.m. Nice Hockey
4 – 4:45 p.m. Angelina Valente
Food service is by the Broken Inn and 518 Wood Fired.
In addition to the hosts/porch owners, sponsors include the New York State Council on the Arts, the Arts Center of the Capital Region, Mohawk Valley Society for Live Music, Electricity Arts and Entertainment District, American Federation of Music, Schenectady County and the Schenectady Foundation.
Last year, it went like this. (There’s more, but these are my general comments.)
“The music invited neighbors and visitors to listen, walk around and talk, and likely made visitors covet homes in the comfy, well-treed GE Plot that hosted the fest. Any event that makes us feel better about neighbors and neighborhood deserves community love. Add a cool soundtrack and the gentlest of rain and that event wins big.
“Part of its charm came from the fact that it wasn’t big; none of the four porches drew as many as 100 people. Crowds were fluid, flowing from porch to porch. Musicians gazing at sparse throngs wondering “Where is everybody?” soon got their answer as parades of lawn chairs showed up. Hosts deployed chairs, some handed out blankets, and a balloon-festooned sidewalk birthday party on Ardsley spilled over generously into Porchfest, sharing cake, custom mock-tails and a block-party welcome feel to music-fan strangers.
“Two women, one visibly and happily pregnant, pushed a stroller bearing two toddlers together and led three well-behaved dogs on leashes. They and many other children spotted at porch after porch changed my view of the neighborhood’s demo, definitely skewing younger.
2023: Extra-young fan on the corner of Ardsley and Rugby
“The neighborhood was busy at times with the hammering sounds of carpentry; almost NEVER on the beat, though. A curious woman drawn by the music but unaware it would be happening walked up to join the Rugby crowd in paint-spattered clothes. She wiped paint from her hands with a rag and said the music was more fun than rehabbing her porch.
“I was sorry to miss the (bassist) Linda Brown Jazz Project on Douglas with guitarist Mike Novakowski and violinist/singer Teresa Broadwell, as I’ve known Linda since we both worked at the Gazette; so did both parents and brother Gary. But no way I could race from Ardsley down to Douglas and back to Ardsley when there was no scheduled break between Dylan Canterbury’s Quintet and Nice Hockey back to back on Ardsley.
“Among people-powered vehicles were maybe a dozen bicycles, several skateboards and a tandem.
“I spotted a purple WWOZ (New Orleans NPR station) cap in a porch-to-porch commuting crowd clad in everything from aloha shirts and shorts to parkas.”
MORE JAZZ – SUNDAY IN TROY
Drummer/composer/bandleader/cultural sparkplug Joe Barna says farewell from performing this fall, presenting his Fall Into Jazz Festival Sunday at Alias Coffee (219 4th St., Troy). The tireless Barna soon begins a full-time gig with Destination Kia, promoting this festival as his swan song, with only a few club shows remaining in his hyperactive onstage career here.
In late August, Joe Barna, right, led a different version of Sketches of Influence to close the season at at Jazz on Jay; from left, Ian McDonald (sitting in for David Gleason), keyboard; Jason Emmond, bass; Keith Pray, alto saxophone; and Barna, drums and cymbals (as he prefers to be credited.)
Fall Into Jazz begins with dinner service, with dessert, then live music by three groups.
Guitarist Justin Hendricks leads his trio to start at 6 p.m.: Ian MacDonald, organ; Nick Anderson, drums.
Next up, at 7, Jeanine Oudewrkirk sings and plays piano with Shaun MacCarthy, guitar; Mukund Rangaswamy, bass; and Barna, drums and cymbals.
Barna’s Sketches of Influence closes, starting at 8, an elastic band that features these cats on Sunday: Stacy Dillard, saxophones; Fima Chupahkin, piano; Malik McLaurine, bass; and Barna again, drums and cymbals.
He’s played with everybody, supported everybody, booked many shows for many bands in venues all over Troy and deserves a great send-off.
Advance tickets: $39.19 ($35 plus fees). https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fall-into-jazz-festival-at-alias-coffee-in-troy-ny-tickets-1002665689067?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl&fbclid=IwY2xjawFX3x9leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHR9BjMFeVrWOYZCXpT279oAsAyfVuoy6QcYVd6HD4x4Fp8Tfs9rON4HK2A_aem_2s5qvPM8RV3xC7mVYB4s_g
Hoke's Jukebox 