Pete Mason, an Interview with Liam Sweeny – Xperience Monthly

We reached out to Pete Mason of NYS Music and had a productive chat.

RRX: Let’s talk about NYS Music, which is where I know you from. I’ll share with you that, where I live, without giving out the deets, there are NYS Music stickers in places where no sticker ought to be. And I know that was more likely fans put them there than you. So NYS Music is “sticker popular.” Can you tell us a little bit about it?

PM: Well, it has been fun slapping stickers all around the state, as well as sending stickers around the state and fans and readers putting them wherever. When I covered the Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg, Germany last September, I had stickers with me but never expected SO many walls and signs full of stickers. The logo is easy to identify and is always a great low-key form of advertising and grassroots marketing.

RRX: Doing a publication of any sort about the music scene in New York is challenging. New York, whether upstate or downstate, has a great variety of music. In fact, just that we have an “upstate” and “downstate” brings us an interesting dynamic. Which would you say is harder to cover, downstate or upstate, and why?

PM: I don’t see much of a difference between how hard it is to cover the various regions of the state, whether it be Western New York, the Hudson Valley, Upstate, the North Country, or the greater NYC Metro area. There is a great deal of music in every region throughout the year, and the number of summer concert series and festivals has returned to pre-pandemic levels, and then some. Perhaps New York City is the tougher simply because there are SO many places to see music in the five boroughs, and there is always something to see, leading to tough calls of what show to catch/cover on a given night.

RRX: You are a teacher in the world of alter-egos, and you’ve written children’s books. The novelist in me is curious about the children’s books. “Counting Down the Number Line,” with illustrator Ryan Kerrigan, is your fourth. It might seem easy to write a children’s book, words wise, but are there challenges reaching a young reader?

PM: Children’s books are easy in a sense – at least at first when you’ve got a draft written and think ‘Oh the kids will love this!’ Then you have to factor in childhood literacy skills, the font size, how the artwork will align with the text. Each book gets a little more complicated in the sense that Easter eggs are added, more musical connections can be tied in (3 of my children’s books are Phish or Grateful Dead themed, with another one on the way, inspired by the music of Widespread Panic). As long as I can reach a parent or grandparent who loves the music, I find the kids will enjoy it as well, with the enthusiasm relayed to the child via the adult reading to them. That is something that can support early childhood literacy, as well as reading to a child twice a day.

RRX: You promote PhanArt shows, which, when I first read it, made me think of just concerts and PhanArt was just a moniker, but these are different. It seems like the moniker is not a moniker, but a description of fan art. So having been to a few art shows, I have to ask you how do you make it something more than a walk-through for people?

PM: PhanArt is another way to refer to the art made by fans (phans) of Phish. In 2009 I published a book highlighting over 1600 pieces of art – shirts, posters, stickers, tattoos, etc. that were made by Phish fans between 1992 and 2004. In 2013 I began hosting PhanArt shows, making sure the event allowed fans to meet and interact with artists, making the artists and their art the star of the pre-show, making it easier for fans to pick up fan made art, which had always had greater appeal among Phish fans than official merchandise – compared to any other fanbase. Keeping the shows consistently focused on the art, with music taking a secondary role (typically with music curated by Sweeping Views), allows for an event that many fans schedule their pre-show plans around and brings the community together.

RRX: So you’re a part of the Mockingbird Foundation, a non-profit that raises money to support music education through a competitive grant process. What do you do with them? Do you help them raise money, or are you more involved with the actual education aspect? And what can people do to get involved with the foundation?

PM: I am a director for the Mockingbird Foundation which supports music education across the country, and in the cities Phish performs in each year. I got involved in 2004 when I started the PhanArt Book, and in 2021 I was invited to join the Board. Currently I work to develop merchandise and assist with marketing of the site, encouraging fans to support music education and inspire the next generation of musicians. It is among the greatest causes I have been a part of.

RRX: Another interesting, and good, thing you’re involved with is Groovesafe, which aims to address unwanted touching and sexual assaults at concerts. This is something that is supported from within the music community. I can only imagine how much of a problem this is. What can venues do to stop or tackle this?

PM: As an official partner with GrooveSafe, we support their mission of building consent culture. We help them spread their message and raise funds through our various events. I can’t comment directly on their behalf, but we see the powerful work they’re doing and how it benefits our community. That being said, venues have an inherent responsibility to protect their patrons. GrooveSafe has developed a venue safety training program specifically geared towards educating venue employees to support patrons by properly responding to issues on this topic. It all comes back to raising collective awareness and unifying as a community to be more aware of the issues fans may face.

RRX: This is where you answer the question I didn’t ask. Comments? Remarks? Educate, enlighten, emote – the floor is yours.

PM: The Capital District is home to an incredible amount of music history, dating back more than 200 years, and constantly being written by the new bands that make the area so thriving. Statewide, New York has the best music scenes in the country and that is what NYS Music strives to bring to our audience – a look at the past, present, and future of music in the Empire State, every day.