entertainment

GO ART! presented its annual Community Arts Awards Saturday at Terry Hills.

Above, The Humans, presented with a Community Arts Award for "making an indelible mark on music history in Orleans County and Western New York."

Here's a video of their song "Warning." 

[videohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-4qHr-9MXI]

Barb Toal receives a Community Arts Award from Diana Kasten on behalf of the Friends of the Batavia Peace Garden. The award was for "dedication, drive and leadership in developing a unique cultural asset in the community."

Laura Gardner, owner of A lily & A Sparrow in Medina, with her award for "opening up new avenues of personal expression and creating a unique cultural experience in Medina."

Carol "Kay" McMahon, with Bill McDonald, who presented her award for "sharing musical and performing arts talent and encouraging the love of music in others." McMahon and McDonald then performed a song with their band The Old Hippies, which was also the house band for the night.

Mary Pat Hancock, chair of the County Legislature, was presented with a Special Recognition Award for her patronage and recognition of art and culture in Genesee County.

New this year is the Linda L. Blanchet Award, which consists of an award and a $500 scholarship for an artist from Orleans or Genesee county to assist the artist in the ongoing pursuit in art as a profession. The first winner was Joe Waszak, a fine art photographer from Orleans County. Examples of Waszak's work can be found on the Oak Orchard Review.

Assemblyman Steve Hawley was the emcee for the evening.

Not pictured, Howard Owens, publisher of The Batavian, who was presented with a Community Arts Award for "promoting the arts and cultural life in Batavia and integrating artistic visual imagery in reporting."

Taikoza, a group of musicians playing traditional Japanese music, with an emphasis on large drums, performed in GCC's Forum today as part of an "Experience Japan" program this quarter at the college.

Besides the music today, students and faculty could enjoy a lunch of sushi.

GCC attracts international students every year and this year, like previous years, there are a number of Japanese attending the college.

Batavia residents Will Jakes II and Julio Morales were outside the Pok-A-Dot this afternoon belting out a few tunes. It was a beautiful day. There's a bench outside the restaurant, so it seemed to them like a good place to hang out and jam.

BTW: Jakes recently welcomed his grandson into the world, Will Jakes IV.

Press release and photos submitted by Douglas R Mellentine:

The "Ghost Riders Drum & Bugle Corps" based in Batavia, NY, took home the coveted "1st Place World Title" in the "Mini Corps" competition. The Drum Corps Associates World Championships were held at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium this past Labor Day weekend in Annapolis, Md.    

The "Ghost Riders" were formed in 1996 to compete in the "DCA World Championships." This is the 18th consecutive appearance for the "Ghost Riders" -- a record that may never be broken by anyone else. They own two 1st Place titles, the first in 2000 and now again 2013.  

Many hours of preparation went into achieving this goal. They defeated the reigning Champion "Star United" from Indianapolis, an undefeated corps, who has held the title for the past six years. This year was no exception for them, "Star United" was on their game as well.

Special mention must go to the following for their contributions to this achievement. 

First, a Huge Thank You to the membership who have worked so hard to make this a reality.

Second, special thanks to The Salvation Army of Batavia, who allow us to use their facility for winter rehearsals. 

Third, Thank You to Donny Allen our music arranger and instructor, who painstakingly gets us to a level we need to be, in order to achieve such a lofty goal. 

And finally, thanks to the neighborhood near Clinton Street and Grandview Terrace, who through the summer months, hear the sounds of music coming from GRC (Ghost Riders Central) in the backyard at 63 Clinton St.

As director and founder of "Ghost Riders Drum & Bugle Corps," I could not be happier.  Not only to win this title, but to observe the friendships and camaraderie this fine group of individuals has developed throughout the years. As we always say "GO GHOST"!!!

About 150 barbershop singers were at the YWCA on Monday night to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Barbershop Harmony Society.

The singers came from five area chapters -- Rochester, Buffalo, East Aurora, Geneva, Warsaw, Batavia.  The chapters are part of the Seneca Land District of the society, and Batavia resident Eric Saile, who acted as host for last night's event, is president of the district.

The event included lots of signing, of course, but also pauses to watch videos of barbershop singers in TV shows and movies from over the decades.

Our photos include the chorus, the Friends of Harmony Singers, singing "Singin' in the Rain."

The two young men in the bottom pictures are Rocco, 12, and Blaise, 10, Lucciano, of Clarence. Blaise became the youngest member of the society and was given a membership proclamation and a label pin. Rocco became the youngest member ever to be awarded the "Man of Note" pin. The "Man of Note" is a person who recruits a new member. The awards were presented by Mac Sabol, choir director for the Friends of Harmony Singers.

For more on the society, visit the Seneca Land District's home page. The Batavia chapter always welcomes new members, Sabol said.

They call it Jam at the Ridge and on Saturday night, the two acts topping the bill fulfilled the promise of that title, cranking out hot tunes and kicking up some heels.

The headliner was Jerrod Neimann, who found a crowd ready to rock after The Farm put on a show that was as much party as concert.

And there was a lot to celebrate for The Farm, with Krista Marie, a native of Alexander, playing her first big-time show in Genesee County.

The amphitheater was packed with friends and family -- so many who lined up for autographs and pictures after the set that security guards were trying to hurry the line along before Niemann took the stage.

Previously: Hometown girl brings big time act to Frost Ridge

As a little girl Krista Marie Robusto would watch her mom in Rotary shows and think, "Oh, gosh, I want to do that someday."

About 10 years ago, Krista was the lead of the Batavia Rotary's production of the "Wizard of Oz."

Now, Krista Marie -- just Krista Marie to her fans -- is living in Nashville and hitched to a rising star.

Tonight, her band, The Farm, plays at Frost Ridge Campground in Le Roy.

Krista Marie, Nick Hoffman and Damien Horne were friends in Nashville, all working professionally -- Krista pursuing a solo career and Hoffman toured with Kenny Chesney and Horne with John Legend. The three young artists decided to try writing some songs together.

Soon, their songwriting projects evolved into putting some serious thought into forming a band.

"When we finally decided to be a group we looked at each other and said, 'OK, we've got to be all in,' " Krista said. "We said, 'we're going to be betting the farm.' That was the little bell that went off and we said, 'OK, betting the farm,' and that's it, The Farm."

The Farm was signed with Warner Brothers and they were off and running. The first song the trio wrote together, "Home, Sweet Home," became the band's first hit single.

The last three years have been filled with nearly nonstop touring, and though The Farm has played two gigs in Rochester, tonight is The Farm's first shows "inside the county lines," as Krista put it.

"I'm super excited," she said.

"Every time I come home I absolutely remember how lucky and how grateful I am to be from Western New York," Krista said. "The people are great. The food's amazing and it's just really awesome. I'm really, really proud to be a hometown girl from Upstate New York."

Krista grew up in Alexander and attended Alexander Central School through 10th grade before starting home school. Her mother and father owned and operated Pat's Meat Market in Batavia. They were both musicians and performers and Krista's father was an internationally acclaimed accordian player.

All of those influences -- along with the Rotary shows, singing in church, dance lessons at That Dancing Place -- all pointed her in the direction she wanted to go, which is performing country music.

"If you're from here you know how country we are," Krista said. "I grew up riding and in 4-H and my dad was a butcher. I grew up riding horses, got into four-wheelers and motorcycles, and we have beautiful farmland up here. It's as country as it gets. I live in Nashville, Tennesee now and I'm always bragging on what awesome country we've got up here."

Krista is feeling pretty good about the trajectory of her career -- a career that started playing country music locally with Richard Fink and Johnny Cummings, including a series of summer-long gigs at Darien Lake Theme Park (she hopes The Farm can play there as soon as next summer) that helped her earn the money to buy her first motorcycle.

She said she's very grateful for Genesee County making her into the hometown girl she still is, even on any stage anywhere in America.

"I grew up with the Rotary shows and I grew up singing in church and I grew up riding and showing horses at the Genesee County Fair," Krista said. "I raced mini-stocks at the Genesee County Fairgrounds, so all of this is who I've become and it's a big part of who I am today."

The Farm takes the stage at Frost Ridge at 7 p.m., opening for Jerrod Niemann.

Krista Marie and her mother, Barb Galliford, with a school bell that was once belonged to Krista's grandfather (it may have been a school bell for a school in Batavia originally). It was a gift to Krista today from her family. Barb said, "Of course I'm proud of her, and my thing is whatever you do, try to do it well and with all your heart, and she's done that."

Information and photos submitted by Kevin Robertson.

Actress Alison Arngrim, who portrayed nasty Nellie Oleson on the '70s television series "Little House on the Prairie" recently made a visit to the residents at The Greens in LeRoy.

The Greens of LeRoy is an independent senior living community and Arngrim was in town as part of the festivities at the Genesee Country Museum's Laura Ingalls Wilder weekend.

The actress took time out of her busy schedule that weekend to give a presentation at The Greens.

"Little House on the Prairie" is a favorite of the residents and Arngrim spoke to them about working with Michael Landon, what it was like to be on a televison show, its longevity and popularity and answered any questions that the residents had.

Following her presentation, Arngrim took time to visit with the residents, take pictures and sign autographs. One resident invited the actress to her apartment afterward to show her an 1800s wheelchair, one very much like the ones used on the series.

Kim Pasquale, director of The Greens organized the visit and said that residents thoroughly enjoyed Arngrim's presentation and were thrilled that the actress stopped by while she was in town.

Today Darien Lake Theme Park hosted the “Fiesta Latino Americana." The event was an all day festival of Latino music and dancing, including dance lessons for guests.

Unfortunately, my schedule didn't allow me to be there but for a short time today. I did drop in to see the Victor Antonetti Band.

The turnout for the Uproar Festival at Darien Lake Performing Arts Center was moderate -- something over 6,000 paying customers, but those who did make their way to the venue surely weren't disappointed. There was plenty of quality music for the punk/grunge/heavy rock fan.

There were also activities and merchant booths to amuse concertgoers between acts.

While some might think all the of the action was on the main stage, the secondary change may actually have been more entertaining. The bands there were Cry to the Blind, the Chuck Shaffer Picture Show, Dead Daisies, Middle Class Rut, New Politics and Walking Papers.

The Dead Daises are an interesting act -- kind of a super group, though most fans would readily recognize the names of band members, they've all performed on hit records. The Dead Daisies are billed on the band's Web site as a project of former Guns and Roses guitarist Slash, but performing on lead guitar in Darien on Sunday was Richard Fortus, who has also taken on lead guitar duties with Guns and Roses.

Walking Papers was another experienced, tight band that knows how to put on a live show.

Definately in the up-and-coming category is the Chuck Shaffer Picture Show. 

New Politics was entertaining, to say the least, and has a bit of an old-school British Punk vibe to their music.

On the main stage there was Circa Survive, Coheed & Cambria, Jane's Addiction and Alice in Chains.

Great performances all the way around, of course, but it was something special to see Dave Navarro (guitarist, Jane's Addiction, top photo) perform live.

You won't see photos of Alice in Chains here. The band's management insists on pre-publication approval of photos. I won't sign such an agreement. My deal is, I won't tell you what songs to play and you don't tell me what photos to shoot.

Perry Farrell, Jane's Addiction.

Adam Gilbert, drummer with the Chuck Shaffer Picture show.

Richard Fortus, lead guitar, Dead Daisies.

Middle Class Rut

Søren Hansen, guitarist, New Politics.

Anthony Green, Circa Survive.

Claudio Sanchez, Coheed & Cambria.

Claudio Sanchez, Coheed & Cambria.

James Maslow, member of Big Time Rush, which performed at Darien Lake last night, stopped in at Next Level Fitness yesterday for a workout.

Big Time Rush is both a boy band and a television series on Nickelodeon.

Maslow is a singer-songwriter and actor from La Jolla, Calif. who plays in the television series a Minnesota Hockey player who's moved to Los Angeles and cast into the band Big Time Rush.

Pictured are Andrea Mistler, Kristin Bates, Maslow and Tim Walton.

Photo submitted by Tim Walton.

One night you're playing the Grand Ole Opry. A few nights later, you're playing a campground. That's the life of a touring country star.

But Phil Vassar made it clear last night that he couldn't be happier playing Frostride in Le Roy.

He praised the setting. He praised the hospitality. He praised the acoustics of the venue.

"This is a special place," Vassar told the crowd after his fourth song. "We play a lot of places around the country and there's no place else like this."

On Tuesday, Vassar played at the Opry in Nashville and two days ago a 13,000-seat theater in Memphis on Thursday, but on Tuesday he said he was thrilled to be back at Frostridge, meeting with fans before the show and playing in the open air.

Vassar has 19 hit singles, including two number ones, "Just Another Day in Paradise" and "In a Real Love."

The opening acts included Rochester's Johnny Bauer, Jordan Diggory and Madeleine Snyder, a talented 15-year-old from Pittsford.

Val Zinni and Carmen Del Plato will perform in Jackson Square tonight as part of the Over the Hill Musicians Society show.

Performing as the Hutchins Street Blues Brothers Rhythm and Blue Review, Zinni and Del Plato will reprise a performance they've staged a few times over the years since 1981. That year they entered the talent show -- which was right after "The Blue Brothers" movie came out -- at the St. Anthony's Lawn Fete. 

Del Plato said after winning the talent show, Zinni kissed Monsignor Aquavia "right on top of his bald head," John Belushi-style, Del Plato said.

At first, Zinni and Del Plato performed to recorded music, but a few years ago they started performing with Del Plato's brother's band.

"We'll be performing two songs because the band won't let us do any more than that!" Del Plato said.

Show time is 7 p.m.

Photo by Shelley Zinni.

After hamming it up with Tom Mazerbo during his performance Thursday at the Genesee County Fair, Elvis impersonator Patrick Johnson said, "I better not see that on the front page of the paper."

OK, it's not on the front page of the paper.

Mazerbo was quiet happy with the scarf he got from Elvis.

The concert season at Darien Lakes Performing Arts Center continued Friday with country superstar Brad Paisley headlinging another one of his annual shows locally, with opening acts Lee Brice and Chris Young.

Brad Paisley.

Lee Brice.

Guitarist Travis Bettis with Lee Brice.

Chris Young.

Chris Young's bass player, Shane Chilton.

Before the gray hair, before the jobs, the mortgages, the children, they were the boys in the band.

At age 15 and 16, from about 1967 to 1969, Geno Ceccato, Greg Deck, Andrew Martorana, Jerry Keating, Bob Baker and Tim Martin (top photo, in that order) were known in Western New York as The Middle Class and later, after a change in sound and Tim leaving the band, Faith.

The boys stayed in touch and the families always heard the stories of those glory days, but the former bandmates had nothing from that pre-digital time that showed "this is what we did."

No long ago, Martorana decided maybe a reunion was in order so there could be a little more documentation that they once were a band.

"We realized we didn’t have any kind of legacy to leave our families," Martorana said. "They would hear these stories, but there were no recordings, no videos, just a couple of snapshots here and there."

All week The Middle Class/Faith have been rehearsing in space at the Harvester Center and tomorrow they will go in the studio to record a CD.

Martorana's wife has been making a video, interviewing band members and taking snapshots to include on a DVD of this week's "reunion tour."

None of this is for any commercial/public release. It's just a family thing, a living memento that these six men were once, in fact, a band.

While Jerry, Tim and Greg all carried on with musical pursuits after the band split in 1969, Martorana, who lives in Le Roy, put away his drums, stowed his sticks and pursued a career as an electrician. Before starting to practice for the reunion, he hadn't played drums in 43 years.

After he had been practicing a while, he posted a couple of videos on YouTube of him playing and sent the link to a couple of drummer friends.

"They said, 'oh, man, you've gotta keep playing after this,' " Martorana said. "I talked with my wife and she said I should keep playing. So I'm shopping for a band."

It was Greg, he said, who made the point that the music never dies.

"You may have to relearn it, but it's always in your soul."

The 2013 Ramble Music and Arts Fest was again a success with hundreds of music fans enjoying performances by three dozen bands.

Several bands put in great performances and one of the most impressive was from a band called Verse (top photo and third photo).

Bill Kauffman (second photo) opened the event with these remarks:

What is Batavia? It’s Centennial Park in the autumn, all red and orange and melancholy. It’s Dwyer Stadium as the sun sets behind the left-field wall. It’s gamblers watching the longshot they bet on at Batavia Downs come in dead last, as it always—almost—does. It’s three on three basketball at Williams Park, or the Little Leaguer in right field at MacArthur Park praying “please don’t hit it to me.” It’s the St. Joe’s lawn fete. It’s Adam Miller’s. It’s beef on weck at the Pok-a-Dot. It’s 20-year-olds talking and laughing through the night in a corner booth at Sport of Kings. It’s reading about old classmates in the police blotter. Then in the obituaries. It’s drinking and dancing in Jackson Square. It’s Billy Walker walking down Main Street. It’s Wayne Fuller’s voice. It’s Bill McDonald with his guitar.

And it is the Ramble. Now in its eighth year, this annual gathering of musicians and people who love music has become a part of the score of Batavia. We have such a rich and varied musical history in this city, this county. We have the oldest community orchestra in the country. We were the Motown of the accordion. We’ve had thriving garage rock and folk music scenes. We’ve had, and have, alternative and heavy metal and country and rap musicians and bands, as well as gospel singers and crooners of the standards. We have church choirs and we have kids banging away at thrash and metal music in their basements. Discordant and harmonious…peaceful and angry…traditional and twisted…It’s the soundtrack of Batavia.

And so I give you…the 2013 Ramble.

To purchase prints of any of these photos, click here.