WHERE MUSIC AND COLORS COLLIDE
This is part two of an exclusive two-part interview with Director and Conductor of the Albany Symphony Orchestra, Maestro David Alan Miller (MM) on Nippertown. Read Part 1 here. Part two can be found on Nippertown here.
Elissa Ebersold: How do you go about finding a composer or commissioning someone? How do you discover these individuals to write these pieces for you?
Continue reading “A CONVERSATION WITH MAESTRO DAVID ALAN MILLER, VIRTUOSO OF AN ALBANY TRADITION (PART 2 OF 2)”
This concert held particular significance for me, which is why it’s that much harder for me to write about it. Now I’ve spoken about the start of my concert photography with Moriah Formica, but it is with Finish Ticket that my journey truly began. FT is San Fransisco-based quartet that straddles the line between indie rock and radio-ready pop. I came across their single “Color” them on a now-defunct hidden section of Google Play called the antenna sampler. I fell in love with the catchy melodies and lyrics, and the youthful, yet mature-sounding pop. “Color” in particular fills me with sad sort of nostalgic longing for something I can’t quite place. Shortly after discovering their EP (sometime in mid 2015), a friend and I made our way to Boston to see them perform at Brighton Music Hall. It was here I discovered concert photography.
Continue reading “The Return of Finish Ticket || 09.13.19”
Chances are that if you were born in the early to mid 90s, like me, then you know who the Michalka sisters are. Maybe not by their surname, but by their nicknames: Aly & AJ. These sisters earned their fame in the glow of one of those Disney glow sticks. Alyson was on a show called Phil of the Future (you’re already humming the theme song, I know you are!) and AJ…well honestly I never saw anything she was in except for a Disney Channel movie called Cow Belles but I think that’s because I was aging out of Disney Channel at that point. Anyway, everyone knows that if you’re going to be on a Disney show you can’t just be an actor or actress. You have to be able to sing. Aly & AJ put out two albums under Hollywood Records, both albums were well received and you can be damn sure almost any 90s millennial knows the words to “Potential Breakup Song.”
Continue reading “Aly & AJ: Potential Make-Up Song”Moriah Formica, if you live in the good old 518 area, is not a new name. She is another one of the many extremely hard-working and talented superstars to find fame, be it local or international, on a reality television music competition show. She is what Adam Levine, front man for Maroon5, has called a “pint-size powerhouse” and what country superstar Blake Shelton once referred to as someone who received an extra dose of talent when God got distracted when He was sprinkling it onto people. It’s people like Moriah that make me joke that they need to save some talent for the rest of us.
It’s a little strange for me to write this entry. “How’s that?” you may find yourself asking to no one in particular. Well, that’s because the photo above was the only photo I took last night (04.04.19) at The Secret Sisters performance at The College of Saint Rose Massry Center for the Arts. Not only was it the only photo I took, but I took it with my cell phone. (*Collective gasp of astonishment*). You read correctly. One photo. With my cell phone. I can’t remember the last time I went to a concert just to listen to the music, and can’t remember not having to worry about catching the right shot.
Actually, I did just remember. It was Journey and Def Leppard last May. Although, if we’re being honest I did spend that entire show wishing I was taking photos and seeing all the amazing photos I could have been taking. Ahem. But that’s besides the point.
Continue reading “The Secret Sisters: A Well-Kept Secret”
When it comes to reality TV shows, there’s no such thing as the binary. It’s never just as simple as “I watch it” or “I don’t watch it.” There are so many gradations that float in between “do” and “don’t.” There’s the guilty pleasure watchers. There’s the casual watchers, or the home-sick-in-bed watchers. You could be one of the watching religiously watchers and/or one of the live-tweeting commentating watchers. Or you could be like many and watch when a citizen of your locale becomes a focal point of the show. While I probably more closely fall into the “casual watcher” category, having turned these reality competition shows on and off for the past fifteen years or so, I know the latter category probably encompasses many citizens of New York’s Capital Region these past couple of years. I can’t even blame them with incredible talents such as Moriah Formica (The Voice, American Idol), Sawyer Fredericks (The Voice), and now most recently, the incredible Madison Vandenburg coming out of the woodwork. No, not coming out of the woodwork. Coming in like a Category 5 hurricane. Great talent isn’t such a bad thing to be known for, is it?
Continue reading “Madison Vandenburg: America’s Next American Idol!?”
I think PMJ is a great band to set this blog in motion. Why’s that? PMJ , much like my spirited marriage of photography and music, is the passionate intersection of two diametrically opposing musical motifs: the old genres and the new. Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox is where new songs, whether by Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus or Nirvana, meet vintage arrangements in the stylings of Nat King Cole, Patsy Cline, The Chiffons, any Rat Pack member, or anything of the like. Not only are the rotating vocal talents of this ensemble of quite the caliber, but the big band backing brings as much enthusiasm and skill to the table as one could need to make these arrangements seem authentic. There are no small roles in this band.
I would say there are three areas of the arts that intersect to form me: graphic design, music, and photography. During the day, I am hunched over a desktop computer designing logos and posters and fliers and billboards and anything you could ever see that required some kind of design. At night you may find me in the pit of an auditorium, uncomfortably contorted in front of a lively musician so to get the photo I want. That’s what this blog is about. It’s about the music I hear, the photos I make, and my experiences doing what I love even when I sometimes don’t.