BOA Editions Getting A New Home

Posted 23 April, 2007 in Literature, Random Musings, Rochester

BOA Editions, one of the brightest spots in Rochester’s cultural life, is moving to new digs. This is from this morning’s Democrat & Chronicle newspaper:

BOA Editions moving to North Goodman Street

Local publishing company BOA Editions will be moving to the Neighborhood of the Arts.

It is moving from 260 East Ave. to the Anderson Alley building, 250 N. Goodman St. The new address will be effective April 30.

Poet and editor Peter Conners from BOA Editions was a guest on The Jason Crane Show last year. You can check out that episode for an interview with Peter and poetry from a number of great poets.

NewsTalk 950 in Rochester strengthens its lineup

Posted 15 February, 2007 in Radio, Rochester

NewsTalk 950 WROC, former home of the original The Jason Crane Show, is Rochester’s progressive talk station. With the departure of Al Franken from Air America yesterday, WROC took the opportunity to revamp its lineup. The new version is much, much stronger. Here it is:

• 12 a.m. — Politically Direct (hosted by David Bender, sponsored by People for the American Way)
• 1 a.m. — Joey Reynolds (old-school variety talk show from WOR in NYC)
• 6 a.m. — The Bill Press Show
• 9 a.m. — Stephanie Miller
• 12 p.m. — Ed Schultz (live instead of taped, as it had been until now)
• 3 p.m. — Randi Rhodes (also live now instead of taped)
• 6 p.m. — News 8 (audio of local TV newscast)
• 6:30 p.m. — Rachel Maddow (for my money, the brightest light to come out of the whole Air America adventure)
• 8 p.m. — Democracy Now! (finally, a local station dares to air this daily progressive news program from Pacifica)
• 9 p.m. — Lionel (in my opinion, this show is the low point of the schedule, but you can’t have it all…)
• 11 p.m. — News 8 (audio of local TV newscast)
• 11:30 p.m. — Lionel (again)

I’ve got to say that I’m really impressed with this new lineup. Sounds like the program director has a vision for what to do with this station. Kudos!

The full schedule and links to the shows are at the NewsTalk 950 Web site.

Bob Sneider, Joe Locke in Vanity Fair

Posted 7 February, 2007 in Jazz, Music, Rochester

This arrived this morning from guitarist Bob Sneider, who is based here in Rochester:

I do not usually promote someone else’s website. However, this is pretty cool. Just launched this AM on vanityfair.com.

Annie Leibovitz’s Film Noir photo montage of Hollywood’s A-list features the music of the Bob Sneider/Joe Locke Film Noir Project. John Sneider’s “Black Dahlia” is set to the multi-media slide show (featuring Paul Hofmann, Joe Locke, Grant Stewart, Bob and John Sneider, Martin Wind, Tim Horner and Luisito Quintero). This track is on an upcoming release titled Nocturne For Ava Gardner (release date not set).

The behind-the-scenes video of the Leibowitz photo shoot has “Rumblin’” (Bob Sneider) throughout. This is performed by John Sneider (trumpet), Bob Sneider(guitar) and the late great Bob Stata(bass).

Stay warm,

Bob

More coverage of the PAETEC Jazz Festival

Posted 1 February, 2007 in Jazz, Music, Rochester

Music writer Jeff Spevak of Rochester’s daily newspaper, The Democrat & Chronicle, weighs in on the new PAETEC jazz fest in Baltimore:

Jazz fest expands to bigger market
Owners of Rochester event plan a similar gig in Baltimore

Jeff Spevak
Staff music critic

The powerful chords struck by the Rochester International Jazz Festival in its first five years have reached Baltimore.

John Nugent and Marc Iacona, co-owners of the Rochester event, are co-producing a similar festival at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

Attendance soared to an estimated 80,000 jazz fans last year at the critically acclaimed Rochester event, which will be the model for the new PAETEC Jazz Festival — named for the Perinton telecommunications company, the primary sponsor of the Aug. 9-11 Baltimore event.

“He likes what he’s seen and what’s been developed in the Rochester event,” Nugent said of Arunas A. Chesonis, the chairman and CEO of PAETEC who is a Baltimore native.

And it may not stop there: “We went to a bunch of different cities, most that we didn’t have any name recognition in PAETEC,” Chesonis said. “Our biggest issue is just to get people to recognize who we are. We found a city eager to embrace us, in a large market. If we can’t get that place rocking as the first pilot program, we have no business trying to get it going anywhere else, which is our intention.”

Baltimore’s Inner Harbor includes a 4,400-seat open-air shed. But much of the event will probably have the same feel as Rochester, with extensive use of music clubs and free outdoor concerts.

The Inner Harbor is operated by another company with local ties, the Baltimore-based management company Cordish Co. Earlier this week, Cordish said that it had agreed with Rochester officials to terminate its contract to run the High Falls Entertainment District. Mayor Robert Duffy confirmed Tuesday that the city and Cordish are parting ways in High Falls.

PAETEC was a small sponsor of previous years of the Rochester festival, and it was the rapid ascent of the event in the jazz world that convinced Chesonis to jump on board with Nugent and Iacona. There are no plans to increase sponsorship locally.

“They’re both good businessmen, very successful not just in Rochester but in a number of other events. They built Rochester from a small festival to a nine-day extravaganza. And Rochester is a wonderful town, but it’s a small market. There are a lot of markets out there with much greater potential.”

Big money at stake

At Wednesday’s news conference in Baltimore, promoters of the new jazz festival noted that last year’s Rochester International Jazz Festival generated $10 million locally.

“If we don’t make a $10 million impact in three days in Baltimore, we’d be very disappointed,” Nugent said, according to the Baltimore Sun. “But we’re looking to bring $20 million to the city.”

Iacona, president of Simcona Electronics, is also an investor in PAETEC and first began working out the details of the jazz partnership with the company five months ago.

No performers’ names were offered at Wednesday morning’s news conference in Baltimore’s City Hall. That is expected to happen in May.

Now in its sixth year, the June 8-16 Rochester International Jazz Festival will announce in April its lineup for the nine-day event, the bulk of which takes place in the East End Entertainment District.

Since 2000, Nugent has also produced the Stockholm Jazz Festival, whose 24th season is July 17-21. It drew 50,000 fans last year.

“We’ll have some big plans to announce for Rochester,” he said by phone from Baltimore on Wednesday. Those plans are expected to include expanding the festival beyond the East End District.

“Marc and I hopefully will be doing some good stuff around the country as well,” Nugent said.

Nugent, who has lived most recently in Toronto but holds dual citizenship, is also reinforcing his personal commitment to Rochester. He’s buying a house in Brighton and is expecting to close the deal on Friday.

“I’m excited to be in town and hopefully contribute to the local arts scene,” he said.

The original story is here.

Again, I couldn’t be happier at the success of the Rochester International Jazz Festival, or at its migration to Baltimore. I have family in the Baltimore area, and I’ve spent a fair amount of time at Inner Harbor. It’ll be a great site for a jazz festival.

I also think John Nugent’s decision to move here to Rochester is a strong sign of his committment to this town and to the RIJF.

Supporting Rochester’s Jazz Festival

Posted 30 January, 2007 in RIJF, Rochester

The Democrat & Chronicle, Rochester’s daily paper, weighed in this week in support of using the arts as a growth engine for Rochester:

A mix of activities: Jazz Festival’s growth should inspire Music Fest surge

(January 30, 2007) — As part of a larger plan to create a dynamic city, Rochester officials must provide entertainment on a large scale.

So news that the city is headed in that direction with the annual Rochester International Jazz Festival is encouraging.

With just $35,000 last year, the event managed to attract 80,000 people. Imagine what could be done with the $250,000 the city has asked for.

The idea is to expand the festival beyond the East End and hold events in other areas of the city such as High Falls and Corn Hill, creating a more appealing event.

This would be money well- spent. But the focus on the jazz festival creates a question. What about Music Fest?

The event was a product of the Johnson administration, and has primarily highlighted R&B and hip-hop acts. The event has seen some changes over the years — a reduction in the number of days it is held and a change of venue last year to Frontier Field. Charles Reaves, commissioner of recreation and youth services, said keeping the Music Fest going for years to come remains a priority of the city.

He said sponsorship for the event hasn’t grown to the level the city would like to see, but an audience is there.

Broadening the Music Fest to include other genres of music could be a smart way of appealing to more people and keeping the event fresh, though Reaves said variety can be achieved within the R&B and hip-hop genres by offering a mix of new, old and local acts.

He said it’s striking the right mix, as the jazz festival has done, will help to build the Music Fest’s appeal.

Officials will meet soon to determine the details of this year’s event, and the City Council will vote on whether to approve additional funding for the jazz festival. Nurturing both events should be on the top of the city’s to-do list.

That’s a song I’ve been singing for years. You’ll find that opinion and a lot more about the Rochester International Jazz Festival by looking through the RIJF category here at jasoncrane.org.

Otto’s back

Posted 30 December, 2006 in Music, Radio, Random Musings, Rochester

My good friend Otto Bruno is back in two media: He’s (finally!) got a new entry on his blog, From Where I Sit, and he’s also on the radio tomorrow (New Year’s Eve) with his wonderful show the Sunday Music Festa. Tomorrow’s show features an interview with vocal legend Julius La Rosa. Don’t miss it. Tune in to Jazz90.1 in the Rochester area, or visit jazz901.org to listen live via the Internet.

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