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Johnny Kelly (Drummer) shares some insight with RadioRadioX Music Journalist Rachael Skinner.
Zan and the Winter Folk @ Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, 2/5/2025
The latest offering in the Lift Concert Series at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall showcased Zan and the Winter Folk. The Troy-based Americana band performed both old and new selections at the intimate show.
Zan and the Winter Folk are:
- Zan Strumfeld: vocals, guitar
- Michael Gregg: banjo
- Will Brown: lead guitar
- Sean Fortune: upright bass
- Brendan Tompkins: drums
Photography by Timothy Reidy.
Week Seven: Jesse Sample’s Freak of the Week: “Blood Simple”
Jesse Sample’s Freak of the Week airs EVERY WEDNESDAY at 6pm EASTERN only on RadioRadioX.com
This is Jesse Sample. What does the phrase “Blood Simple” mean to you? Most accounts of the phrase trace it back to 1929 Dashiell Hammett novel Red Harvest. It is loosely defined as a term that means to be “crazed by violence or to be in a state of diminished intelligence due to involvement in murder.” The 1984 Movie named, “Blood Simple” beautifully demonstrated the nature of the condition when Marty, a small-town bar owner, discovered his wife having an affair and set out to have her and her newfound lover killed.
I discovered the phrase through the NYC based heavy metal band, “Blood Simple’ who’s album was coincidentally named Red Harvest. I was a great album and I listened to it a bunch over the last 20 plus years. The movie and the band are my touch points. I watched the movie for the first time last night.
What does it mean to be blood simple? You took a life and now your world is different. Is a seasoned gangster less susceptible than a jealous husband? Consider the diminished intelligence angle. In this movie, the characters botch their way from situation to situation. Is this real?
If you are so inclined check out the movie. If you are so inclined, check out the heavy metal album. I have yet to read the book. It was a phrase that I kept seeing and after watching the movie last night, it left an impression.
Thanks to all of you tuned into RadioRadioX. This is the Freak of the Week, “Blood Simple.”
Sean Lippin – Interview – Thanks for Asking!
Sean Lippin – Interview – Thanks for Asking! – by Liam Sweeny.
RRX: Like songs, every artist has a unique feeling about their first show. What was your first show like? Was it your best show? If not, what was your best show like?
SL: My first official show was at Coffeelabs in Tarrytown back in 2019. I played it with my buddy Will Holland aka Blues Davenport. It was the first time I put myself out in public as a solo artist playing completely original material. I put up flyers on telephone polls around town to promote it! It was exciting for me to see unexpected faces attend the gig. I worked at Trader Joe’s at the time and I told a customer who ended up coming to the show because I told them about it!
RRX: What do you think is the most poorly understood thing about music, or the music you play?
SL: The problem with music today is that the barrier to entry has become way lower so it’s devalued in a way that almost anybody who wants to do it, can. People try to make it as artists today using computer generated music and then they ride social media algorithms to build a following based on merely pressing a few buttons. There’s just so much garbage to sift through in the tundra that is the world wide web. So how does one stand out in this field? Authenticity is the answer.
RRX: Artists, musicians, we immortalize. We set it in stone. Is there anyone who has passed that you feel you have immortalized in your work? If so, can you tell us a little about them?”
SL: Tom Petty is the answer for me. He was a phenomenal songwriter and his music captures this sunny, driving down the coast kind of vibe that I look to capture in my songwriting. I’ve really gotten into him over the last decade, once I started learning more of his catalog. Whenever I turn on one of his tracks, I picture what it must have felt like before the days of the internet, to come home from the record store, pop his work into the record player, get in the right mind set, and just let his music carry you away.
RRX: What do you think is the most dangerous song to cover from the perspective of criticism? Who do you think is too hard to cover, and why?
SL: Anything by Stevie Wonder because his voice is so unique and out of range for most male singers. Also the technicality of his songs is very challenging!
RRX: With the exception of singing, everyone has an instrument, an inanimate object that has the distinction of being a lifelong friend. Smooth or temperamental, these objects have a character. Can you tell us something special about what you play, your technique, your instrument?
SL: I used to get criticized for my singing until I took lessons and really focused on technique. Through this process, I realized that learning how to sing is like learning any other instrument. It takes coordination, a good ear, except the instrument is your entire body. There is truly so much that goes into singing that people don’t realize. A sung note can sound off just because of the way your mouth is shaped in a specific instance.
RRX: What would you like fans to know before they come to see you play?
SL: I’d like for my fans to know that my intention is to empower them. We live in a world where so many people and things try to knock you down and just tell you that you can’t be you. In my original music, I intend to convey a message that one can overcome the most challenging of obstacles, no matter what. I really focus in on writing lyrics that are relatable and have an edgy sense of humor. You can’t take life completely seriously!
Grandma’s Ashes in the Park – The Weird Side of the Internet
Grandma’s Ashes in the Park – The Weird Side of the Internet – by Liam Sweeny.
One of the most satisfying and rewarding things one can do is to turn some abandoned plot of land into something beautiful, like a garden or a park. In Cornwall, England, gardener Paul Caruana, along with a small cadre, a “green thumb brigade,” have taken an ignored and forlorn stretch of the River Truro, and made it into “Sunny Corner,” a little slice of heaven for all who visit.
But it isn’t actual heaven, and this distinction may be lost on a number of folks who have been emptying the urns of their loved ones onto Sunny Corner’s verdant fields.
Now I get it. If your loved one isn’t in a coffee can on the mantle (Hi, dad!) you will want to find a place for their earthly remains. A lot of people know where they want to go, and they put it in their wills. But the guardians of the garden a Sunny Corner are begging people not to. And they’re asking for a bizarre and very reasonable reason; when they’re cleaning the garden, occasionally the wind takes an unlucky turn, mixes it up with a rake, and Uncle Teddy’s ashes go into the gardener’s mouth.
That’s gross, right? If the gardener swallows, is that cannibalism? Ans as I just described it, it has probably happened more than once.
They’re not total spoil sports. You are allowed to bury ashes there if you go through them, but most people aren’t.
Oh, and as a side jet, I read, from a funeral director, that no matter how hard they try, the contents of the urn do not only contain your loved one. Close, but not 100%.
Might as well go for a second side jet for the sake of symmetry. You can call the National Park Service (in America) and get permission to lay ashes in “memorialization.”
Jim Gaudet and the Railroad Boys @ McGeary’s, 2/3/2025
McGeary’s is back at it with their First Monday Concert Series with Jim Gaudet and the Railroad Boys. Jim ran a little leaner than normal, with Bob Buckley and Rich Pagano the only Railroad Boys for the night.
Photography by Timothy Reidy.
Kerosene Heights / Elephant Jake / Senior Living / Everybody That Loves You @ No Fun, 2/2/2025
On Groundhog Day, Save the Cat Touring and Byrdhouse Records brought two out-of-town punk bands to No Fun: Kerosene Heights (from North Carolina) and Philadelphia’s Elephant Jake. Local favorites Senior Living and Everybody That Loves You rounded out the bill.
Photography by Timothy Reidy.
Caffe Lena – Week at a Glance – 2/17 – 2/23
Greetings – Wow, what a bunch of weather we’ve been having! The folk repertoire has songs for every ocassion. I’m sure you’ve all heard “The Show Must Go On.” Well, sometimes travelling just isn’t worth the risk for the touring bands, the audience and the venue crew. It was disappointing that both the matinee and evening concerts this past Sunday had to be canceled, but after the stretch of cancellations we all endured between March 2020 and April 2021 this snag feels manageable. It sure feels manageable next to the frightening year of 1816, described in this beautiful and timely ballad by the late Pete Sutherland and performed by Steve Gillette & Cindy Mangsen.
With fingers crossed that the weather calms down for the coming week, we have some great shows planned for you. Sunday’s Gospel Concert & Dinner is a unique cultural event. WMHT made this mini-documentary about the series that I know you’ll enjoy watching. And definitely check out the show’s scrumptious menu in the concert listing below. What a special event!
See you at the show,
Sarah
Monday
7 PM Open Mic Night
Tuesday
7 PM ROCHMON RECORD CLUB LISTENING PARTY: TRAFFIC “JOHN BARLEYCORN MUST DIE”
8 PM “Live From Caffe Lena” on WEXT 97.7 or 106.1 FM
Wednesday
10:30 AM Folk Club Kids – Dance Tunes, Sing Alongs & Stories – Free – Infants – Pre-K
7 PM Bluegrass Jam
7 PM & 12 AM “Live From Caffè Lena” on Folk Music Notebook
Thursday
1 PM Weekly Slow Jam – Folk, Bluegrass, Blues and More!
7 PM PETER MULLER & THE KINDRED SOULS AND CASSANDRA KUBINSKI
Friday
8 PM HOT CLUB OF SARATOGA
Saturday
12 – 2 PM Songwriting Club with Darryl Rahn – Hosted by Reese Fulmer & Matt Griffin – $5 donation
8 PM MARY FAHL – FORMERLY OF OCTOBER PROJECT
Sunday
9 AM Dharma Meditation with Pierre Zimmerman
5 PM “A JOYFUL NOISE!” GOSPEL DINNER WITH SOULIST GARLAND NELSON & FRIENDS
Dodging Bullets – The Weird Side of the Internet
Dodging Bullets – The Weird Side of the Internet – by Liam Sweeny.
Two kids, friends. Smoking weed, talking smack. Gun afficionados or maybe just badasses. One friend tells the other he can dodge bullets. Again, smoking weed. Two guns and they go into the garage. One unloads, the other zen’s himself for the dodge. It’s not real, just an aim and a dodge and a very rough determination of whether or not the ephemeral bullet was dodged. One wasn’t dodged, and sadly, this one was a real bullet that never got unloaded.
A shot in the chest, buddy tries rescusitation but it’s a no-go. Paramedics come, they go, but there’s no luck, no restoring the mortal coil. The law hits the shooting friens with manslaughter and weapons charges.
This situation could be upended and twisted corkscrew and spring a bouquet of megaphones, but at it’s heart it’s a story of idiocy. Guy thought he could dodge bullets. Having been a connoisseur of high grade pot for a time in my life, I can say that I have believed I could do things. I could play like Hendrix, paint like Renoir, write like Cervantes and cook like an incarcerated chef with a huge commissary. But I never thought I could dodge a bullet, not even down a block, much less in a eight foot garage. This is a sad story, but I think if there were no guns involved, they would’ve done some other dumbass thing that would’ve gone wrong.
My pick is one of them would’ve said they were immune to electricity and the other would’ve brought a toaster into the bathroom to prove it. It’s not that people shouldn’t have fun and sometimes live dangerously, but do it in such a way that if you go down, it doesn’t end up in the fifth column down on your local weird news page.
REMEMBERING : Bruce Corbitt
Words by Jesse Skinner. Photo provided by Joey “Blue” Gonzalez.
Bruce Corbitt, also known as the “Batman of Metal” was a heavy metal vocalist best known for fronting the iconic bands RIGOR MORTIS and Warbeast. The self titled debut of RIGOR MORTIS in 1988 showcased Bruce’s belligerent vocals in what would become one of the most iconic speed metal albums ever released. The band also featured Casey Orr, known as Beefcake in the current lineup of GWAR, and Mike Scaccia, notable for playing guitar with Ministry. Bruce Corbitt didn’t just play heavy metal, he lived it.
Bruce got his start with RIGOR MORTIS in the mid ’80s, performing legendary shows that would seemingly turn violent. Fights would break out with the mix of minds during the early years on the metal scene, resulting in Bruce literally being stabbed in the back and being arrested with fellow members of the band. Shortly after the debut on Capitol Records, Bruce took an absence from the band. While the other members of RIGOR MORTIS moved on and eventually worked with other bands such as Gwar and Ministry, Bruce seemingly stood on the sidelines and waited patiently for his return to the stage. Around 2006, with members of Gammacide and DEMONSEED, Bruce started the Texas Metal Alliance (which would later become Warbeast) and was taken under the wing of Philip Anselmo of Down and Pantera fame and signed to Housecore Records. However, tragedy took a turn. In 2012, on what would be Bruce’s 50th birthday celebration, guitarist Mike Scaccia collapsed on stage and died from heart disease while performing. Roughly two years later, Bruce would return to RIGOR MORTIS and release what would be their last album, “Slaves to the Grind,” which was recorded in El Paso at Ministry’s 13th Planet Studios.
Warbeast made a name for themselves by being a straight up thrash metal band, bringing the 1980s thrash movement to the modern day, but on steroids. Fronted by Corbitt, the band also featured guitarist Scott Shelby from GAMMACIDE and Joey “Blue” Gonzalez, the most notable drummer on the Housecore Records scene. I was lucky enough to see Warbeast in 2013 when they toured the Northeast for the Technicians of Distortion tour with Philip H. Anselmo and the Illegals and local opening/support act Armor Column. The show was at Upstate Concert Hall in Clifton Park. Bruce displayed everything a front man needed to get the crowd pumped for the main act, and even hung out with fans after the performance. Warbeast released four albums: “Krush the Enemy” in 2010, “War of the Gargantuas” in 2013, “Destroy” also in 2013, and “Enter the Arena” in 2017. With the success from the albums and being on national tours, the tides took another turn for the worse for Bruce in 2017.
Bruce Corbitt was diagnosed with stage 3 esophageal cancer in 2017. He was very open about his battle, constantly streaming his story of survival on the social media platform Facebook. Bruce not only took the bull by the horns, he openly shared his brave story with everyone in the world during his surgeries and even as his prognosis got worse day by day. Sharing his updates after meeting with surgeons and doctors, it was as if you were fighting the battle along with him. Bruce didn’t cave into his diagnosis. He showed the world how strong you would have to be to be able to defeat a sickness with such a death wish. That integrity stayed with him, even to his final days. Bruce shared everything, even a video clip of iconic guitarist Joe Perry of Aerosmith (Bruce’s favorite band), playing guitar backstage, wishing Bruce the best of luck with his battle. The overwhelming amount of support was felt throughout the metal community. Bruce took the stage one last time with Warbeast. Even though the average person could not perform under the same circumstances, Bruce geared up and hit the stage. In what would be one of the most emotional performances of a lifetime, Corbitt once again took the bull by the horns and made the stage his b*tch in front of friends, family, and former bandmates.
Bruce finally succumbed to his illness and passed away on January 25, 2019. Throughout the long battle, Bruce embodied strength and determination, showing the world what a true warrior is. Not only will Bruce be remembered for his gore-themed lyrics, thrash metal displays of power, and Batman obsession, he will go down in history as one of the greatest fighters against a cancer diagnosis. If there’s anything we can learn from Bruce’s battle, it’s that we can’t help what cards we are dealt in the game of life, we can only face the music, jump in, and Krush the Enemy.