Tag Archives: A Friendly Five

Four female vocalists share how their lives run on more than just musical talent In honor of Women’s History Month, we decided to focus A Friendly Five Column on musical women in our community. The following are two spotlights on women who are more than just musicians. ONCE AN ‘AMERICAN IDOL’ CONTESTANTRobert Stroman is the father of 10, five boys …

Frank Malfitano, founder and executive director, discusses the future of Jazz Fest For the past 35 summers except for maybe a few, the folks around Syracuse have been treated to a weekend of free top-quality entertainment. We’ve grown to anticipate it every year and await it like students waiting for the last day of school. It marks the season and …

Music columnist travels from Syracuse to South Africa to learn black musicians on each continent share strikingly similar experiences As a longtime local musician and appreciator of live music, I have recognized that there is a large disparity between the presentation of local artists of color and white artists at many of the live music events hosted in the city …

‘Motown the Musical’ coming to Syracuse

Local band Brownskin excited to celebrate 10th anniversary The SAMMY Award-winning band Brownskin is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2017, and bandleader Nathaniel “Nate” Brown is excited about the future. The band has been around since 2007. “Since then, like a lot of things, we have evolved,” Nate said. “Back then, an early working version of the band consisted of …

At 80, legendary guitarist Bobby Green is still A Cut Above the rest

Saxophonist, vocalists catch attention with their strong musical performances I ran into Pat Odom about a month or so ago in the supermarket. Pat was my daughter Maricia Danielle’s chaperone back in 2003 when she won first place in the local ACT-SO competition in the vocal music category. The win allowed her to travel to a national competition in Miami. …

‘A lot of young girls don’t get the encouragement needed to pursue it’ As March of each year rolls around, we start to think about the impact of women on our world. Women have been leaders in just about all aspects of modern society, including politics, business and religion. Music is no different. For Women’s History Month, it is fitting …

Emmanuel Atkins and Eddie Brown bring back memories of their legendary time together For this column, I thought it would be a good idea to write about a musical organization with some local history since this is Black History Month. I wanted to write about an organization that could take us back a few years but still have relevance today. …

South Sider invites in musicians to sing, record and mostly have fun Meet Ozell Cooper. Ozell lives on the South Side. He is a musician and singer and a longtime self-employed carpenter. Ozell used his skills to build a studio in his basement and a rehearsal hall in his garage. He christened the rehearsal space “Coop’s Boom Boom Room.” The …