idle chatter

Guardian Angels

It all started with a conversation. Karen Mihalyi, director of the Syracuse Community Choir (SCC), was talking with Oren Lyons, faith keeper of the Onondaga and Seneca Nations of the Iroquois, about the recent nuclear crisis in northeastern Japan resulting from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Mihalyi felt that the public needed to become fired up about the potential damage the disaster could have on the environment, and encourage change.

“We were discussing the real danger the earth is in,” Mihalyi said. “I couldn’t help thinking, what will it take to get people to stop what is happening? We’re kind of in a denial about it, I think.”

The choir will dedicate its annual Sumner Solstice concert to that very subject. On Friday, June 10, the group will present the “Earth Guardians Concert” from 7:30 to 9 p.m., at Plymouth Congregational Church, 232 E. Onondaga St.. Tickets are on a sliding scale, $10 to $25, children under 12 are free.

Mihalyi says the evening’s repertoire was selected in order to inspire individual and collective commitment to the earth. “It’s our responsibility to be Earth Guardians,” she said. “We need to start being more fierce about it.”

In tribute to the Japanese people, the choir will perform a song in Japanese, and include a poem by cultural icon (and lightning rod, in some circles), Yoko Ono. Other selections include songs from Brazil and Zambia.

The choir will shift its focus from global to local, by performing “Hydrofracking Blues,” an original song by Alison Frost, a longtime choir member. Frost, a farmer by day (she and husband Karl run Frosty Morning Farm in Truxton), said she originally wrote the song last summer for a planned Environmental Protection Agency rally in Binghamton. The rally never happened, but the song fit perfectly into the theme for this year’s SCC summer concert.

“Lyrically, it’s a warning about what hydrofracking could mean for the environment—but also a call to stop it from happening,” Frost said. “I think the dangers associated with it are more serious than any other environmental threat because it can directly affect our water, air and quality of life. As a farmer, that’s very important to me. We try to grow organic food, but if the environment is polluted, our food is.”

The choir has performed other songs by Frost, who has been singing with the group since 1994 and she enjoys the collaborative spirit the SCC harbors in its members. “Karen makes space for anyone who wants to do more, and that give them an opportunity to shine,” said Frost, taking a brief break from her formidable spring farming tasks.

Frost was inspired to join the choir after becoming involved in the People’s Music Network for Songs of Freedom and Struggle, a national network of resources and support for musicians and cultural organizers.

Like Mihalyi, she believes music is a natural gateway to emotional release and community building.

“Songwriting is a good way to get something off your chest,” she said with a laugh.

“As for singing, I never was in any kind of choir before this. I’m not a professional musician: I’m a farmer.”

As with all Syracuse Community Choir shows, the group’s teen choir will also perform. Their repertoire will include Laura Nyro’s “Save the Country.” Mihalyi said their participation is especially poignant, as it is the young people who will be left to contend with the misdeeds the current generation has committed against nature. “We have to do this {get involved} and we have to make a commitment to them, our children.”

She adds that it was important to include the Onondaga Nation in the Summer Solstice, as the whole idea of Earth Guardians is a traditional aspect of life among the native peoples.

Lyons, who maintains a breakneck schedule as an author, educator, and public speaker, will be able to attend and speak at the event.

Mihalyi said she also hopes the concert will remind Central New Yorkers that they have more in common with the people of northeastern Japan then they’d like to admit. “We’re not separate from them,” she said. “Literally, the {nuclear disaster} is going to affect all of us. And, we’re sitting on {a power plant} right near us {Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station in Scriba}. Hopefully there will be a response—and soon.”

Mihalyi said while she would like to see more emotion behind the environmental movement, the choir’s message is one of balance—delivered in the diverse, uplifting manner its audience has come to expect. “I really like the music we’re doing this time,” she said. “It’s enriching. Yes, it’s a call to action, but we don’t want to give a doomsday message. We have  to do this work with hope and gratitude. We have to acknowledge {the dangers associated with nuclear energy} and hold that information in our hearts.”

To learn more about the Syracuse Community Choir, and its upcoming performance, call 428- 8151, email syracusecommunitychoir@gmail. com, or visit syracusecommunitychoir.org.

—Tammy DiDomenico

Making a Fracking Splash

A good cause meets awesome bands this weekend at the Syracuse Big Splash, a free concert that will highlight the defense of New York state’s waters against unsafe gas drilling. The action takes place at the Inner Harbor, 390 W. Kirkpatrick St., on Sunday, June 12, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Event coordinator Jon McNamara was prepping for a sister Big Splash event in Binghamton when he spoke about the Salt City edition with the Syracuse New Times. “It’s all very exciting,” he says. “Every band we’ve asked to play has agreed, which I think says a lot about the cause. It takes a lot to get a band to play for free and right now we’ve got 100 bands on a waiting list to play an event. We’ve been approached by every community in the state.”

After the Syracuse anti-hydrofracking event, McNamara hopes to bring it to markets elsewhere including Rochester, Buffalo, Albany and maybe the Catskills. At each event, several popular local acts are picked and placed on the bill. In Syracuse, that includes Donna the Buffalo, Sophistafunk, Driftwood, Thousands of One, Auyrveda, Tim Herron Corporation, Dutch Bucket System and others.

“We try to put every city as our partner and we’ve gotten a lot of municipal support,” McNamara says. “It’s not every day that music and municipal groups are working together.”

Food, outreach and information tables and workshops will also be available throughout the event. A $10 donation is suggested. For more information on Big Splash and the Finger Lakes CleanWater Initiative, visit www.fingerlakescleanwaters.org.

Augustine Goes Down Memory Lane

Local band Augustine has recently been rechristened as Just a Memory. And along with the new name comes a new EP they will soon be recording at J.A. Castle Studios, 2317 Genesee St., in Utica. The band feels more prepared than ever.

“We’re on a fast track now,” says vocalistviolinist Leila Dean. “We want to get things done really quickly so people who have been waiting for music can have it in their hands. It’s really exciting. We’re ready.”

The band decided to make the moniker switcheroo when they began running into other outfits also named Augustine. Since another Augustine from New York City already had the name federally trademarked, the locals made the change to Just a Memory.

“We all have our own interpretation of the name,” Dean says. “For me it’s that the moment you’re living in is the only moment that’s not just a memory in your life. Every second that passes becomes a memory and that’s what life is all about.”

As Augustine, the band recorded the EP, but found the quality wasn’t nearly what they needed to mix it properly and had to throw out what they had done. This time, they’re hoping to do things right.

The group topped a Band Wars contest in Utica in January and won the grand prize: 20 hours of recording time at J.A. Castle. They’ll begin recording mid-month and plan on mixing and mastering the EP at SubCat Studios, 219 S. West St. The band is also keeping their schedule full with shows throughout the surrounding area in June and an East Coast tour in July spanning Virginia to Massachusetts.

For founding member, guitarist and lead vocalist Joey DiMaggio, all the new developments of the band are a dream. “Everything’s happening at once, everything’s coming together,” he says. “It’s insanity, trying to get things to a national level. And even though we didn’t have a choice with the name change, it’s worked to our advantage.”

The band’s next show will be at Mac’s Bad Art Bar, 1799 Brewerton Road, Mattydale, on Friday, June 10, 9 p.m., with Born Again Rebels, When Everything Fails and The Dark Thrill. Cover is $5. For more information, call 455-7223.

—Jessica Novak