Musikfest

photo: Saed Hindash

I had the best time playing Musikfest over the weekend with Brass Queens. If you aren’t familiar, Musikfest is the nation’s largest free music festival, held in Bethlehem, PA. There were something like 400 different musical performances!

Our first set of the weekend was at the Levitt Pavilion at the base of Bethlehem’s iconic SteelStacks. It was 5pm and by the end of the show we were in full sun on the stage. We still had a blast and it was an awesome way to start out the weekend. Thanks to lehighvalleylive.com for the awesome profile (if anyone wants to talk about the no-analysis rule after reading this article, hit me up!).

Photo: Saed Hindash

The next day, we played an evening set on the PNC Stadplatz Stage which overlooks the valley. Prior to our set, the festival shut down for about 20 minutes due to lightning in the area. We were getting nervous that our set may be cut short, but everything quickly got back on track.

cumberland vibes for sure.

This was definitely my favorite set of the weekend. The energy on stage and in the audience was through the roof. We saw a lot of people from our first show at this one which is always nice. One of the main missions of BQ is to inspire women so it was awesome to see a few young girls right at the foot of the stage. It was HOT out. I drank an entire Vitamin Water during the show and wish I had another. Despite the heat, we unlocked a new level of energy, as seen in this video of Lady Marmalade which was filmed 80 minutes into our set.

I had to leave immediately after the performance as I was subbing my first show at Little Shop the next day (more on that another time). I wish I could’ve stayed longer but I definitely left happy and fulfilled. I hope we return to the Bethlehem region soon!

March Photos

March has already been full of many wonderful gigs so I thought I’d share some pictures!

L to R: Your truly, Najee Gabay, Mason Griffin, Sean Stephens, and Beda Spindola

First up, Sean Stephens’ Redemption of a 90s Kid at 54 Below. To say I had the perfect shirt for this show is an understatement! This set was an absolute blast to play. We opened with Reba McEntire’s “Fancy” and I haven’t been able to get this video out of my mind since I started working on this song. Absolutely epic.

L to R: Or Matias, Shoba Narayan, James Mohamdein, and Tim Basom. Photo by Rebecca J. Michelson.

Next, I got to play with literal Disney Princess Shoba Narayan at 54. Shoba is the first ever South Asian to play Jasmine in Broadway’s Aladdin. She is stunningly gorgeous and has the voice to match! My personal highlight was playing Stephen Schwartz’s “When You Believe” with Shoba and Lindsay Heather Pearce who currently stars as Elphaba in Wicked.

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Then, I got to celebrate the third anniversary of Brass Queens on International Women’s Day! Major shouts to Wandering Barman, a lovely cocktail bar here in my neighborhood, for being exceptional hosts.

I left Wandering Barman as soon as we finished playing because I had to get up at 6am to drive to PS 277 Gerritsen Beach to play with Dawn Drake’s ZapOte for the third grade class. Dawn talked about the music of the Americas and we demonstrated salsa, funk, and samba. They asked a lot of great questions and picked up on the rhythms impressively quickly! Thanks to the Brooklyn Arts Council for sponsoring this engagement.

Governors Ball

I had an amazing time playing all three days of Governors Ball this weekend with Brass Queens. If you aren’t familiar, Gov Ball is an annual advertising music festival held in NYC that usually attracts late-teens and twenty somethings. Thankfully, I didn’t feel as old as I prepared myself to feel, and even though I’m not 20, I have 20 years of festival-going experience under my belt, so let’s just say I’m quite the professional!

We had a blast playing and getting the crowd pumped up. The weather was perfect and it was nice to be at Citi Field and not have to worry about the Mets blowing it in the 9th! I got to catch a bunch of artists that I otherwise would never see. Highlights for me were Megan Thee Stallion, Portugal. The Man (one of very few straight-ahead bands at the fest), and Burna Boy. The definitive musical highlight was, BY FAR, Carly Rae Jepson playing “Call Me Maybe.” Damn, that song is pretty incredible and the crowd was going nuts!

Keep an eye out on the Brass Queen’s Instagram as I’m sure we will be sharing clips from the weekend. I hope we are invited back next year!

It's All Happening!

Knock on wood, but things seem to be getting back to “normal” here in NYC. In fact, we were treated to a fireworks show last night to mark a huge milestone: 70% of our population has received at least one dose of the vaccination. Let’s keep it up, NY!

For the first time in 15 months, I decided to add some shows to my calendar! Saturday, I get to play an ART INSTALLATION! How cool is that? Ballad of Cyclic Change is a collaborative art project my friend Mirabai worked on. I’m not exactly sure what I’m playing on and how, but it’s going to be a really cool hour of musical exploration. Sunday, I am playing a rooftop concert right here in Brooklyn with Brass Queens, hosted by Kid Krill.

In addition to the shows, an educational piece I’ve been working on for nearly a year will be posted to Phish.net (yes, it’s combining my two favorite things: drumming + Phish) and a recording I did with the Quarantined Woodwind Ensemble is forthcoming as well, so stay tuned for those.

I will be spending the first three weeks of July visiting my wife’s family in California, so if you are in LA or the Bay Area, please hit me up for hangs, jams, shows, or lessons!

Thanks for reading and hit that subscribe button above to stay in the know. Peace!