Upcoming Mount Snow Concerts
We have some unfortunate news regarding the Toots and the Maytals concert Saturday night. There is a visa issue with Toots and the Maytals, their agency and U.S. immigration. At 4:30 pm on Friday, we were notified that they are not allowed in the United States until Monday. We were told that this resulted in the cancellation of three shows: Mount Snow, one in New Hampshire and one in Boston. We are sorry to break this news, and we are just as disappointed as you are. However, we are still holding the Bud Light ReggaeFest, and have added a FREE concert under the big tent Saturday night with reggae favorites, Jah-N-I, Trumystic, and The Well. The concert will begin at 7:00 pm and we expect it to run until midnight. Please note that this is a 21+ concert.
Ticket holders will receive a full refund. If tickets were purchased as part of a lodging package through our Central Reservations office, you will receive a full credit on your credit card. If you purchased tickets through Ticket Web, they will be issuing you a full credit, including the service fee.
Jah-N-I and Dub Station are still playing outside on Cuzzin’s deck and at the Snow Barn this weekend. The annual fun and frolics continue with the Sink or Skim pond skimming contest on Saturday and the inaugural Duct Tape Derby on Sunday. And, to add to the spring madness, we just received 8” of new snow, and conditions are fantastic.
Please bear with us as we try to make it up to you.
State Radio - January 5th, 2008 - SOLD OUT
Few bands are as outspoken and thought-provoking as State Radio, the musically inventive, socially and politically charged trio fronted by Chad Stokes. With its sophomore album, Year Of The Crow, the group–rounded out by bassist Chuck Fay and drummer Mad Dog–matches its conscience-raising messages with an inspiring amalgam of rock, punk and reggae that is as distinctive as it is sublime.
Stokes was first known as the voice behind agit-prop outfit Dispatch, a band that sold 600,000 albums by word of mouth. Although the outfit’s six-year tenure ended in 2002, its members have reunited for noble causes, including 2007’s epic three-night sold-out stand at Madison Square Garden to benefit the plight in Zimbabwe. In lieu of college, Stokes lived in Zimbabwe during his eighteenth year, and the experience not only galvanized his songs, but it also shaped his life with a commitment that is as strong as ever.
“The ultimate goal of State Radio is to have people consider what I’m saying as they enjoy the music we create,” Stokes says of the trio’s objective on Year Of The Crow.“I’m not looking to alienate anyone, but I hope I can enlighten some people.”
Unconcerned with major label deals and radio exposure, State Radio thrives by living and giving as charitable men who play outstanding live shows. Developing a following from the ground up, Stokes is a unique fixture who defies music industry traditions. He’s also proof through his efforts with Dispatch, his forthcoming TV series “How’s Your News?” and State Radio, that a loyal and engaged cult following is arguably the best of all business models.
With the infectious, cerebral “Fight No More” and the desperation–injected “Rash of Robberies,” the band’s musical depth and commitment to lyrical salvos are flawlessly fused. The intensity of “Rash” results in an unusual approach, as the band thrashes along, until it seemingly runs out of gas; then it takes a deep breath and starts up again.
“And the one cool thing about this album is that the quiet parts are quieter than they’ve ever been, but the loud parts are louder than they’ve ever been,” the State Radio brainchild marvels. “And when we play live, there are some really intimate moments where it’s barely guitar and it’s just Chuck and I singing and the crowd is with us.”
Stokes’ uncompromising creative and artistic spirit developed, as he grew up connected to the earth as part of a free – thinking hockey family on a small Massachusetts farm. Chad’s sense of adventure began at an early age as with the willingness to give back and raise issues, it’s little wonder that State Radio’s following–which gravitated to its first album Us Against The Crown (2006) and a series of well–received EPs-continues to expand. Positive karma seems to surround everything that Stokes does, of which he says, “I’m thankful that we’ve been able to grow as a band “As long as people keep believing in us,” State Radio’s leader says, “and we feel like we’re making a worthy contribution to the movement, we’ll keep playing.”
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - Feb 17th - Live at the Grand Summit Ballroom
“Save My Soul”, the new album from Big Bad Voodoo Daddy pays tribute not only to the wellspring of American music but, in the words of bandleader Scotty Morris, my favorite musical city New Orleans.. Like the band itself, the inspiration for the new album goes back a ways.
In 1989, Morris, jaded by life as a young studio guitarist, decided
to launch a three-piece jazz, blues and swing combo. The trio
included drummer Kurt Sodergren and was named Big Bad Voodoo
Daddy after a fateful meeting with blues guitar legend Albert
Collins. He signed my poster - To Scotty,
the big bad voodoo daddy.., Morris explains. I thought it was the
coolest name I ever heard on one of the coolest musical nights I
ever had. So when it came time to name this band, I didn’t really
have a choice. I felt like it was handed down to me.
In the years that followed, Morris and Sodergren formed the rest of the band which includes Dirk Shumaker on string bass, Andy Rowley on saxophone, Glen “The Kid”. Marhevka on trumpet, Karl Hunter on saxophones and clarinet and Joshua Levy on piano. The chemistry between the band, like the success that soon followed, was undeniable. They kicked off the swing revival in the mid - 90s with their appearance in the film Swingers and began touring ferociously, delivering killer shows night after night, city after city.
With tours now spanning across the globe, the band was ready to meet any challenge, including their fourth album. So the guys started asking themselves: What’s the plan? Got any new songs? When do we get started?
Then came New Orleans.
We played Jazz Fest,. Morris remembers and saw all these
great artists play and suddenly, the idea for Save My Soul came
with a rush. I started writing like crazy - first the Professor
Longhair/Fats Domino groove, You Know You Wrong and then
the Louis Armstrong inspired Simple Songs.. When I played them
for the band, they loved it. We locked ourselves away in an old
abandoned card club, which had been closed down years before.
The vibe set the tone as the entire band worked out all of the
tunes together. Within a couple of weeks, we finished
everything.
In hindsight, the match of BBVD and New Orleans seems obvious. I’ve always loved the music that came from there‚ Morris says. On our earlier albums, we’ve hinted at how important this music is but this is the first time we’ve gone completely full-blast with it. The proof is in the proverbial pudding. Listen to the horns on Next Week Sometime, as they moan like a bunch of graveyard ghosts, floating across the Bayou. Or on the Blue Lu Barker classic Don’t You Feel My Leg, how the rhythm section slithers like a bunch of Cajun snakes behind what has to be the most challenging vocal ever tackled by Morris - the woman’s point of view! I just dig that song, he smiles. I’m always looking for something I can use to make a thousand people out-and-out laugh at a concert. So I felt if I played it as a woman, that would be pretty funny.
From that fateful night with Albert Collins back in 1989, up to the present day, BBVD continues to prove why they are the best at what they do.
When we’re all playing together, something great always happens‚ Morris says. You can hear that on “Zig Zagitty Part 2”. from the new album. That trumpet solo by the Kid. (Glen Marhevka) is amazing, it’s the coolest solo he’s ever recorded. You never know when one of us is going to knock the other six guys up to another level. Right now‚ musically‚ we’re feeling like we just can’t do wrong, even if we tried..
It’s not bragging if you’re telling the truth. And with “Save My Soul”, BBVD ain’t telling no lies.
Soulive - March 7th, 2008 - Click here for tickets
Check out Soulive's website
Stax is back with Soulive's No Place Like Soul, a bold new statement from New York's preeminent groove machine and the first new-artist release from the Concord Music Group's relaunch of the legendary Memphis soul label. Since forming Soulive in 1999, guitarist Eric Krasno, organist Neal Evans and drummer Alan Evans have developed a reputation as one of the most sought after instrumental soul-funk trios around, a hard-touring live act that's thrown down everywhere from small rock clubs to opening arena shows for the Rolling Stones. 
Yet an interesting thing happened when the three veteran musicians hooked up last year to begin work on the follow-up to 2005's critically acclaimed Break Out: They discovered that rather than extend their past achievements, they were more interested in racking up some new ones.
We all show up at our rehearsal spot, and we're sitting around looking at each other," Alan remembers. No one brought any tunes. So we're like, 'What're we gonna do?'" The drummer laughs. Slowly we started working on some stuff. I threw something in, Eric threw something in, Neal threw something in. And it all ended up being vocal-based."
Vocals aren't entirely new for Soulive: Featuring appearances from soul-music luminaries like Chaka Khan, Ivan Neville and Corey Glover, Break Out found the trio beginning to push its music in a less improvised, more song-based direction. But this time the band-experienced collaborators who've recorded with Dave Matthews, Talib Kweli and Meshell Ndegeocello, among others-craved bigger change.
We've been playing instrumental music for eight years," Alan says, and we love doing it. But we've always strived to reinvent ourselves; none of us wants to hear the same old thing all the time." The drummer cites in particular his and his bandmates' varied solo and side projects (including Krasno's production work with the Fyre Dept.) as having fueled their desire for a makeover. So for the first time, Soulive increased its ranks, inviting singer Toussaint-a versatile Boston-based vocalist who's spent the past several years touring the East Coast with his reggae outfit the China Band-to join the group on a permanent basis. After nearly a decade as a trio, Soulive is now a quartet.
This isn't the three of us featuring a guest singer," Alan says. It feels like it's a new band. All of us wanted to go in a different direction; outside of Soulive, we were all doing more song-based stuff. So we just figured, Why don't we go in that direction inside the band? It's just music. We don't wanna get caught up in what genre or style it is. If we wanna get up there and play death-metal polka, it'll still be Soulive playing it
