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27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Have some hot fun in the summertime with these outdoor concerts in Vermont
We've been through a stretch of cold, wet weather this spring that makes it easy to wonder if summer will ever arrive. Have faith. Summer will be here. Chronologically it arrives June 20, but psychologically it starts Memorial Day weekend, when many of us have three days to relax, gather with friends and family and contemplate all the fun we'll have when the days are long and the weather is warm. Some of that fun can – and probably should – involve music, especially music that happens outside. The summer-concert season in Vermont offers a little something for everyone, from pop to rock to reggae to jazz to country to hip hop and more. This list starts with the day after Memorial Day and covers those glorious warm months until that crisp fall air makes its presence known four months later. 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 27, a busy season for outdoor shows presented by Higher Ground starts with pop-rockers Vampire Weekend joined by Geese, midway lawn, Champlain Valley Exposition, Essex Junction. $80.96, free for children 12 and under. 5 p.m. Friday, May 30, central Vermont soul-blues act the Dave Keller Band plays the spacious green at Camp Meade, Middlesex. Shows to follow this season include Brett Hughes and That Bluegrass Band (3 p.m. Sunday, June 1), Freeway Clyde (3 p.m. Sunday, June 22), D. Davis and the Bent Nails House Band (5 p.m. Friday, July 11), KeruBo (3 p.m. Sunday, June 29), & the Fire Below (3 p.m. Sunday, July 6) and the All Night Boogie Band (5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29), among many others. Free. 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 4, the first day of the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival (see below) includes the Bruce Sklar Trio, part of Burlington City Arts' summer concert series that features (all at 12:30 p.m.) Brett Hughes (Wednesday, June 18), Moondogs (Wednesday, July 9), Red Hot Juba (Wednesday, July 16) and Skylark (Friday, Aug. 15), among many others, City Hall Park, Burlington. Free. 4:30 p.m. Friday, June 6, the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival begins June 4 with performances including student bands on the Church Street Marketplace through June 6, but the big outdoor shows kick into gear with this event featuring A Celebration of The Meters with Dumpstaphunk featuring George Porter Jr., Okan, Kat Wright, the Roy Hargrove Big Band and DJ Tad Cautious, Waterfront Park, Burlington. The same site gets busy again at 5 p.m. Saturday, June 7 with a bill highlighting The Soul Rebels with special guests Rakim and Talib Kweli as well as Butcher Brown, DJ Taka and Sabouyouma. Free. 4 p.m. Saturday, June 7, the Twilight Block Party that Burlington City Arts presents at 4 p.m. Saturdays begins with The Discussions with Jon McBride's Big Easy, followed June 21by a Juneteenth celebration, July 5 with Copilot with Leddy Moss, July 19 with Cold Chocolate with Emma Cook, Aug. 16 with The Albany Sound with Sheepskin, Aug. 30, Kitbash with Baby Fearn, Sept. 20 an evening of Latin music and Sept. 27, the Jesse Taylor Band with The Leatherbound Books, City Hall Park. Free. 6 p.m. Saturday, June 7, a summer-long series of outdoor concerts has this night of bluegrass and empanadas with Beg, Steal or Borrow as well as shows from the appropriately named Vermont group High Summer (7 p.m. Friday, June 20), singer-songwriter Ali T (6 p.m. Thursday, July 3), pianist-singer Myra Flynn (7 p.m. Saturday, July 12), folk-rocker Audrey Pearl (6 p.m. Saturday, July 26) and Vermont neo-bluegrass band (6 p.m. Thursday,. Aug. 28), among many others, Shelburne Vineyard. Some shows are free, others are ticketed. 6 p.m. Sunday, June 8, the Bandwagon Summer Series by Next Stage Arts in southern Vermont features the Afro-futurist ensemble Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber, and includes among its many acts the Haitian group Lakou Mizik (6 p.m. Saturday, July 5), a tribute to bluegrass legend Earl Scruggs by Tony Trischka's EarlJam and Vermont group the Stockwell Brothers (6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9) and a Celtic and Quebecois mini-festival with Cantrip, Keith Murphy & Yann Falquet and Cecilia, (3 p.m. Monday, Sept. 1), various outdoor locations across Windham County. Ticket prices vary; free for children under 12. 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 10, Higher Ground presents a night of music featuring rock band Mt. Joy, midway lawn, Champlain Valley Exposition, Essex Junction. $80.64, free for children 12 and under. 6 p.m. Saturday, June 14, Jamaican reggae singer Luciano performs for a crowd on the green at Essex Experience. $35 in advance, $40 at the door, $75 VIP experience. 7 p.m. Monday, June 23, singer-songwriter Katie Crutchfield, aka Waxahatchee, follows Kevin Morby in a Concerts on the Green performance presented by Higher Ground, Shelburne Museum. $64.90, free for children 12 and under. 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 24, eclectic rock trio Khruangbin joins John Carroll Kirby in a Concerts on the Green show presented by Higher Ground, Shelburne Museum. Sold out. 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 25, a third consecutive night of Concerts on the Green presented by Higher Ground has a night of indie sounds co-headlined by Peach Pit and Briston Maroney and also featuring Bnny, Shelburne Museum. $70.31, free for children 12 and under. 8 p.m. Thursday, June 26, this summer concert series begins with the Adam Ezra Group and continues at 8 p.m. Thursdays (unless otherwise indicated) with Morgan Evans (July 3), Amos Lee (July 10), The Record Company (July 17), Trampled By Turtles (July 24), The Elovaters (July 31), Kaleo (Aug. 7), Grace Bowers (Aug 14), Andy Grammer (Aug. 21) and Dawes (Sunday, Aug. 31), Lake Morey Resort, Fairlee. Free. 5 p.m. Friday, June 27, the new Maloney Performing Arts Plaza is officially launched by Twiddle co-founder Mihali and continues to host shows all summer, including performances by the Connor Young Quartet (5:30 p.m. Saturday, July 5), folk-blues-rocker Sarah King (5:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 2), retro rockers Atom & the Orbits (5:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 16) and Australian/Samoan musician Bobby Alu (5:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29, among many others, Town Hall Theater, Middlebury. Free. 6 p.m. Friday, June 27, the Romany jazz sounds of the Devonian Hot Club begin the monthly 'Music in the Alley' series presented by TURNmusic and Blackback Pub that also has (both at 6 p.m. Fridays) the New Orleans-based Noah Young Trio (July 25) and Belgian-born singer-songwriter/cellist Helen Gillet (Aug. 15), Jack's Alley on Stowe Street, Waterbury. Free. 7 p.m. Friday, June 27, the Levitt AMP St. Johnsbury Music Series debuts this summer with local country band Ashley Jane's Hootenanny, Railroad Street, St. Johnsbury. Free. 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 27, guitarist Gary Clark Jr. brings his blues-and-beyond style with opener Grace Bowers in a Concerts on the Green show presented by Higher Ground, Shelburne Museum. $70.60. Saturday, July 5 (time not yet announced), Vermont favorites The Samples play a rare concert, on the green at the Essex Experience. Ticket prices not yet announced. 5:30 p.m. Thursday, July 10, the new concert series Party on the Bricks begins with Vermont folk-pop-rockers Troy Millette & the Fire Below, followed (all at 5:30 p.m. Thursdays) by Moonbird (July 17), The Blue Dahlia (July 24), The Tenderbellies (July 31), Rachel Ana Dobken (Aug. 7), Barbacoa (Aug. 14) and High Summer (Aug. 21), Church Street Marketplace, Burlington. Free. Friday, July 11-Sunday, July 13, the Grateful Dead vibes of The Dead of Summer Music Festival will be conveyed by acts including Melvin Seals & JGB, The Wailers, Steely Dead, Talking Dreads, Bearly Dead, Jatoba, Organ Fairchild, Deadgrass, Krishna Guthrie and Bow Thayer and many more, Hunter Park at Northshire Civic Center, Manchester. $30-$250. 7 p.m. Friday, July 11, sometimes he rocks, sometimes he croons, but Father John Misty usually surprises, as he likely will with legendary opener Lucinda Williams in a Concerts on the Green show presented by Higher Ground, Shelburne Museum. $68.01, free for children 12 and under. Friday, July 11-Saturday, July 12, the 10th Jeezum Crow Festival offers music from Dark Star Orchestra, Mihali, The National Parks, LaMP, Charlie Parr, Zach Nugent's Dead Set, Taj Farrant, Rigometrics and Dan Weintraub, Stateside Amphitheater, Jay Peak Resort. $45-$75. 2 p.m. Saturday, July 12, the annual event known as Summervale offers a day of live music, local food and more, Intervale Center, Burlington. Details to be announced. 2 p.m. Saturday, July 12, the annual Do Good Fest this year offers The Fray, Plain White T's and Sammy Rae & the Friends, the lawn at National Life Group, Montpelier. $5 minimum donation with all proceeds to go to the Vermont Foodbank. 6 p.m. Sunday, July 13, Jakob Dylan leads The Wallflowers onto the green at Spruce Peak Arts, Stowe. $48.34-$63.85. 7 p.m. Sunday, July 13, the Middlebury Festival on the Green begins its week-long run with Durham County Poets and includes Caitlin Canty (7 p.m. Monday, July 14), Honey & Soul (8:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 15), Ali McGuirk (7 p.m. Wednesday, July 16), Dobet Gnahore (8:30 p.m. Thursday, July 17), (8:30 p.m. Friday, July 18) and a festival-ending street dance featuring the Vermont Jazz Ensemble (7 p.m. Saturday, July 19), Middlebury Village Green. Free. Friday, July 18-Sunday, July 20, the Frendly Gathering (remember, there is no 'I' in Frend) returns with a lineup including the Gubbuldis Orchestra, Little Stranger, Fruition, Moon Hotch, Satsang, the Hayley Jane Band, Myra Flynn, Madaila and lots more, Timber Ridge, Winham. $287.68. Friday, July 18-Sunday, July 20, the annual Stowe Jazz Festival hasn't announced its lineup yet (other than to say all mainstage bands will be led by women), but it has announced a new location, moving from The Alchemist brewery to the Stowe Events Field. Free. 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 19, Higher Ground brings Les Claypool and his eccentric rock band Primus, plus opening act Ty Segall, back to the midway lawn at the Champlain Valley Exposition, Essex Junction. $70.60, free for ages 12 and under. 6:30 p.m. Sunday, July 20, the folk-flavored sounds of Iron & Wine and I'm With Her top a bill that includes Ken Pomeroy in a Concerts on the Green show presented by Higher Ground, Shelburne Museum. $70.60, free for children 12 and under. 6 p.m. Thursday, July 24, the funk-pop band Ripe plays the village green at Spruce Peak Arts, Stowe. $43.52-$58.50. Saturday, July 26, details are scant so far, but the annual event known as The Ramble has set this date for its day of music and other activities across the Old North End of Burlington. Free. 7 p.m. Saturday, July 26, jazzy hip-hop legends Digable Planets follow E-Block at the Stateside Amphitheater, Jay Peak Resort. $50; free for ages 6 and under. Noon Saturday, July 26, the fifth-annual Maple Roots Music Festival goes on all day with music from DJ Logic, Freeway Clyde, Michael-Louis Smith, Lara Cwass, HiFi, the Vermont Jazz Ensemble, Parker Shper, the Jaded Ravens and more, Morse Farm Maple Sugar Works, Montpelier. Free; $25 parking fee. 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 1, country-Americana musician Lyle Lovett and his Large Band return in a Concerts on the Green show presented by Higher Ground to the Shelburne Museum. $64.39-$70.60, free for ages 12 and under. 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 2, another veteran of Higher Ground's Concerts on the Green series, singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus, joins Jay Som at the Shelburne Museum. $70.60. 6 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 3, Los Angeles rockers Phantom Planet play the village green at Spruce Peak Arts, Stowe. $43.52-$58.50. 7:15 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7, folk-rockers Mumford & Sons head out on their 'Railroad Revival' tour joined by guests Trombone Shorty, Nathaniel Rateliff, Lucius, Madison Cunningham, Leif Vollebekk, Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show, Chris Thile and Celisse in a concert presented by Higher Ground, midway lawn at the Champlain Valley Exposition, Essex Junction. $152-$403. Friday, Aug. 8-Sunday, Aug. 10, then on-again, off-again music-and-renewable-energy event known as Solarfest is on with tunes from Donna the Buffalo, Into the Fog, Bow Thayer, the Ray Vega Quintet, Phil Henry & the News Feed and more, Solarfest Center, Brandon. $50-$100; free for children 12 and under. 1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9, the Strawberry Hill Jam 2025, co-presented by Zenbarn, is headlined by The Wood Brothers and includes Mononeon, Karina Rykman, The Rumble, Phish bass player Mike Gordon with daughter/vocalist Tessa Gordon, Mal Maiz and Bob Wagner, among others, Strawberry Hill Farm, Stowe. $86.91. 8 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 10, big-name Grateful Dead tribute act Joe Russo's Almost Dead headlines the Stateside Amphitheater, Jay Peak Resort. $60-$100; free for ages 6 and under. Thursday, Aug. 14-Sunday, Aug. 17, the Green Mountain Bluegrass & Roots festival offers a lineup including Watchhouse, Molly Tuttle, Steeldrivers, Peter Rowan, Bonny Light Horseman (featuring Vermont native Anais Mitchell), Tommy Emmanuel & Michael Cleveland, Fruit Bats and many more acts, Hunter Park, Manchester. $50-$650; free children under 12. 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 16, country-folk musician Oliver Anthony of 'Rich Men North of Richmond' renown plays the Vermont State Fair, Rutland. $45-$55.50. Friday, Aug. 22-Saturday, Aug. 23, '90s jam-rock favorites Strangefolk return for their annual Garden of Eden Festival with help from the Seth Yacovone Band (Friday) and Pink Talking Fish (Saturday), Stateside Amphitheater, Jay Peak resort. $40-$65. 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 22, '80s hitmakers 38 Special and Loverboy share a bill on opening night of the Champlain Valley Fair, Champlain Valley Exposition, Essex Junction. $39-$69. 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23, the that ruled Vermont summers a generation ago has been revived with acts including Barrington Levy, John Brown's Body, Lambsbread, The Skatalites and the Channel 2 Dub Band, Switchback Brewing, Burlington. $75-$150. Saturday, Aug. 23, the time, prices and musical acts haven't been announced, but the Fledge Fest has set the date for its day of music at Fledgling Farmstead, Tunbridge. 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23, country-rock performer Brantley Gilbert takes the outdoor stage at the Champlain Valley Fair, Champlain Valley Exposition, Essex Junction, $39-$69. 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23, singer-songwriter Gregory Alan Isakov follows Ocie Elliott in a Concerts on the Green series performance presented by Higher Ground, Shelburne Museum. Sold out. 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28, singer-songwriter Katie Pruitt plays the village green at Spruce Peak Arts, Stowe. $43.52-$58.50. 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30, country musician Dustin Lynch makes some noise at the Champlain Valley Fair, Champlain Valley Exposition, Essex Junction. $39-$69. 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30, folk-rock legend Ani DiFranco joins Hurray for the Riff Raff in a Concerts on the Green show presented by Higher Ground, Shelburne Museum. $64.39. 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 31, hip-hop veteran Lil Jon helps conclude this year's Champlain Valley Fair, Champlain Valley Exposition, Essex Junction. $39-$69. 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 4, Australian singer-songwriter Vance Joy headlines a Concerts on the Green show presented by Higher Ground that includes Evan Honer, Jonah Kagen and Kyle Schuesler, Shelburne Museum. Sold out. Friday, Sept. 5-Sunday, Sept. 7, the Green Mountain Reggae Festival includes acts such as Jesse Royal, 10 Ft. Ganja Plant, Sister Nancy, Giant Panda, Guerilla Dub Squad, Sundub, Mighty Mystic, Signal Fire, Dub Apocalypse, Kotoko Brass and many more, Bradford Fairgrounds. $143.66; free under age 12. 7:15 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 20, bluegrass favorites Alison Krauss & Union Station share a bill with Jerry Douglas, bringing an end to Higher Ground's Concerts on the Green series – as well as an unofficial end to the outdoor music season – with help from Willie Watson, Shelburne Museum. Sold out. Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@ This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Summer concerts in Vermont, from big-name headliners to local heroes
Hindustan Times
22-05-2025
- General
- Hindustan Times
Geese rule Chicago as residents watch their fluffy parade: 'It is crazy how people stop traffic for them'
A heartwarming video of a gaggle of geese, complete with a trail of fluffy goslings, confidently walking on a bustling street in Chicago is capturing the internet's attention and hearts. Captioned, 'It's the Geese's city, we're just living in it,' the clip shows people walking along as the feathered family marches across the road with surprising authority. The scene sparked a wave of amused and adoring reactions online. One user quipped, 'Even geese love Chicago's walkability,' while another gushed, 'I love seeing all the baby geeses.' A user noted the irony of urban life: 'It is crazy how people stop traffic for the geese. People almost run people over but when they see the geese trying to cross, they slam on their brakes.' One user added, "The 'majestic Canada Geese' Also read: The India-inspired bag selling for $48 on Nordstrom has desis amused: 'My mother got it for free' Chicagoans are no strangers to sharing their sidewalks with unexpected wildlife, especially in spring, when geese are often spotted shepherding their young through parks, neighbourhoods, and — as seen — across intersections. But the respectful halt of the city's usual hustle for these birds is a small, unexpected testament to collective patience. Once nearly extinct in the 1960s, Canada geese are now thriving in Chicago and other Midwestern cities, owing to a mix of urban comforts and their own impressive adaptability, according to researchers. Chicago, in particular, offers geese the perfect habitat: plenty of ponds for swimming, neatly trimmed grass for grazing, limited natural predators, and no hunting. Add in human food waste, from grass to garbage to the occasional handout, and it's no surprise the geese have settled in comfortably. Also read: CEO breaks silence after Chicago Sun-Times shares AI-generated list of fake books: 'Unacceptable' More young geese are also surviving, as predators like raccoons and coyotes have turned to easier urban food sources, reducing pressure on goslings. U.S. Geological Survey researcher Richard 'Ward' says geese are not only smart, but remarkably adaptive. Over time, they've learned clever ways to make the most of city life, even in harsh winters. The geese have figured out it's a reliable feeding spot. In winter, they flock to the flat, heat-retaining roofs of factory buildings to stay warm, a trick that helped them survive even the brutal -30°F temperatures during the polar vortex a few years ago. Ward's team has also discovered that geese share information with each other. Birds that migrate from far northern regions, like Churchill in Manitoba, seem to know within a day of arriving where to go in Chicago, whether it's the best grass at Marquette Park or the warmest factory rooftop on the South Side. 'And when it gets really, really cold,' Ward adds, 'they head for rooftops or to the Cal-Sag Canal, which rarely freezes over.' Also read: US man uses ChatGPT as a lawyer to get ₹2 lakh refund from airline, hotel
The Guardian
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘People think I've gone crazy': indie sensation Cameron Winter on leaving crowds in tears with his wild lyrics and supernatural voice
T he sign in the church reads simply: 'God is real.' Well, they would say that, wouldn't they, being a church. But it's not a determined vicar who has put the poster up in a bid to convince his congregation. Rather it's 22-year-old Cameron Winter, frontman of New York rock band Geese and now solo artist behind one of the year's most beguiling albums. Winter is in church – St Matthias in north London – for his first ever UK solo show. And while it may or may not convince you of God's existence, it certainly feels like an encounter with the divine. Hunched over a piano, his hands run up and down the keys freely as he pours out his stream-of-consciousness lyrics in a voice that has to be heard to be believed – fragile and prone to cracking yet also powerful, soulful, almost supernatural. Who is this creature, you wonder. I meet Winter at his record label offices the following morning. Tall with long hair that falls over his eyes, he might appear taciturn or awkward at first. But it doesn't take long to realise that he has a wonderfully dry sense of humour. When I tell him I didn't realise it was going to be just him and a piano – the album features guitar, the odd bit of percussion and an array of peculiar noises – he replies: 'Yeah, well I was supposed to be playing with a 10-piece band but they didn't show.' The hard part is to get your consciousness to the point where its stream is interesting Heavy Metal is an album as intriguing as its creator. It boasts vivid lyrics ('Cancer of the 80s / I was beat by ukuleles'), amorphous arrangements and, thanks to the single Love Takes Miles, a bona fide pop banger. It's been compared to works by Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits, although for me it shares its greatest affinity with another canonical classic: Van Morrison's Astral Weeks. Not so much in its sound as in the sense of a young man, wise beyond his years, attempting to reach some kind of other-worldly transcendence through music. During his set in St Matthias church, Winter is not shy about referencing God, Jesus and the Lord in his music – and at the end of the song $0 he breaks out into the passage that inspired his posters: 'God is real, God is real, I'm not kidding, God is actually real … I'm not kidding this time, I think God is actually real.' What, exactly, does he mean by that? There is a long pause, so long that I wonder if Winter is actually going to answer my question. Then, after almost a full minute, he says: 'Just … the big guy deserves a shout out every once in a while, you know?' Would he call himself religious? Another long pause. As an interviewer you're trained to wait these out, to let your subject feel the need to fill such awkward silences. But it turns out Winter really doesn't mind awkward silences. Eventually, after twiddling his hands together for a couple of eternities, he says: 'Yeah, it seems like it?' It's difficult to read whether or not Winter is being deadly serious. The backstory he gives around Heavy Metal certainly sounds like a flight of fantasy: according to him it was recorded in a series of Guitar Centers around his native New York with contributions from a five-year-old bassist while he partook of recreational blood-thinning medication. 'Don't we all like thin blood when it's not a week night?' he says today, although even he struggles not to crack a smile at this. I was trying to sing normally – then a reviewer said Cameron's weird voice was even more disturbing Why, I ask, did he feel the need to invent tall tales like having a child bassist? 'No, listen!' he says, suddenly quite animated. 'There's this musician friend I have whose nieces and nephews all play instruments from a really young age. One day he brought his nephew along and we were like, it'd be cute if he could pick up this giant bass that was way too big for him. We showed him what to play and then he just did it! He ended up replacing a bunch of the bass that we had on the record.' Winter: 'I'm free as a bird.' Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi/The Guardian Prior to music, Winter says he wanted to be an ice hockey player. His parents would drive him out to Long Island for games but they soon became alarmed at the amount of head injuries he was receiving. After one particularly bad concussion they pulled him out of the team. 'That really bummed me out,' he says. But looking back, it may have been the moment his obsessional nature switched towards music. Winter was only in his early teens when he formed Geese with school friends in 2016. Their second album, Projector, caused a buzz with its spiky post-punk stylings, but by its followup, 2023's 3D Country, they had already moved on. A psychedelic, country-tinged take on Led Zeppelin with elements of math rock, 3D Country was nobody's idea of a band being musically restrained. Yet Winter still craved the pure freedom of going solo. 'I don't even really go on stage with a setlist. I'm free as a bird.' This freedom is evident in his lyrics, which are full of Joycean wordplay and Beat generation streams of consciousness, although he's not sure that's the right term. 'My usual stream of consciousness is, 'I have to pee. I've got to go put gas in my car.' That's not much to write about. So the hard part is to get your consciousness to the point where the stream is interesting.' 'They stopped raising their eyebrows a long time ago' … Winter with Geese in 2024. Photograph:When we last heard Geese, Winter had adapted his vocals into a histrionic take on Robert Plant. His solo stuff sounds like someone entirely different. Critics have noted a similarity to Rufus Wainwright (and I'd throw Micah P Hinson and Devendra Banhart into the mix) – although, really, it doesn't sound like anybody else. Had the band heard him sing this way before? 'They've heard me sing every possible way,' he says with a smile. 'They stopped raising their eyebrows a long time ago.' Is this his natural voice? 'The sick part is it does feel like my natural voice. This album is actually me trying to sing more normally. And then the first review said something like, 'Cameron makes his weird voice even more disturbing and strange.' I was like, 'Damn it!'' Don't we all like thin blood when it's not a week night? When Winter first played Heavy Metal to friends, the reaction was muted. 'It's not their fault,' he shrugs. 'I don't think they expected my solo album to sound like that. They thought it would be like my band only slightly less good, like most solo records are.' Even Winter's father – a composer himself for TV and movies – tried to temper expectations. 'It wasn't that he disliked it, he was just, like, 'Do whatever you want. But you may find out why most people don't just do whatever they want.'' And yet doing what he wanted turned out to be a pretty good idea. Rave reviews, a profile in the New York Times and a performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live all followed. Did it feel like he'd proved everyone wrong? 'I thought it would be like that but it's not really. I mean, I believed people when they said the record wasn't going to do well. So the fact it has, that's great, but it doesn't make me feel like doing much of a victory lap or anything.' Winter has spoken before about the strange sense of deflation that accompanies success. Suddenly he's doing what he's always dreamed of … so why doesn't it feel as good as he imagined? 'Yeah, well, you know, I gotta get over that shit,' he says. 'It's like, boo-hoo.' Winter … 'I mean, who the hell is satisfied with the world?' Photograph: Colesilb Yet disillusionment does seem to be a reason why fans have connected with the record. While the lyrics can be cryptic, they seem to convey a very modern sense of dissatisfaction with the world. When I suggest this, Winter falls silent again. It feels as if seasons change and entire new species evolve before he is finally ready to respond. 'I mean, who the hell is satisfied with the world?' he says. 'Saying the world is dissatisfying is like writing a song called Donuts Taste Good.' He prefers to think of his songs as more multilayered than that, which is understandable. Heavy Metal is frequently funny, surreal and uplifting as well as prone to melancholy. Still, it's hardly what you'd call an upbeat record. He agrees: 'There are some people who can make good songs out of being happy and they put them in Despicable Me and stuff like that, you know?' he says. 'I was tapped up for that too but I couldn't get an idea going.' (He's joking … I think). When he is done promoting Heavy Metal, Winter will return to Geese. They have a new album, which he says will be 'out next Winter Olympics'. It's likely to be another stylistic shift. One thing he has noticed is how different audiences have been on these solo dates compared with when Geese visited the UK. 'There's a lot less nitrous oxide left in the parking lot,' he says. 'And a lot more reverence than I was expecting. I normally try and make people laugh or do something silly with the piano to break that.' At the St Matthias gig, that involved changing the word 'dollar' to 'quid'. 'Yeah, that broke them,' he smiles. What he really enjoys from an audience, though, is confusion; a sense that they have no idea how to react. When he sings the 'God is real' passage live, he says a lot of people who have not heard it before start laughing. 'They think I've gone crazy or I'm on drugs or something.' But other people will close their eyes in rapture or start crying. 'It feels very good to have a song that can elicit such a huge range of emotions,' he says. You might even call it a religious experience.
New York Times
05-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
On the Verge of Rock Stardom
On a sooty, dank spring afternoon in March, the musician Cameron Winter sat hunched over a portable keyboard inside a rehearsal studio in a nondescript neighborhood of central Los Angeles. Mr. Winter, 23, was rehearsing for an appearance on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' the next evening, and was teaching four middle-aged horn players his song 'Drinking Age,' a melancholic ballad off his debut solo album, 'Heavy Metal.' At first, they struggled to find their chemistry — partly because the five musicians deciphering a structurally amorphous piece of music did not know one another, and partly because the horn players, all women, stood in a clump off to one side. Mr. Winter was not sure he wanted them there at all. The Kimmel team had suggested he choose something more entertaining and TV friendly than Mr. Winter sitting with his 6-foot-3 frame hunched at a piano. Also, maybe he could play something other than a whiny dirge? 'My suggestion was I get a bloody nose onstage,' Mr. Winter said. As a compromise, they agreed: No bloody nose and Mr. Winter could choose the song, with the addition of a brass quartet to fill it out. As the rehearsal progressed, the singer's well-mannered-Brooklyn-boy temperament triumphed, and a big-sister energy emerged from the four women toward this shaggy burgeoning star in his corduroy bomber jacket and fan-made T-shirt. 'I'm an idiot when it comes to this stuff,' Mr. Winter said sweetly, as Laura Brenes, the mellophone player with the bleach-blonde mullet, wrote out the song by hand so that she and the rest of the players could follow more easily. An hour later, they exchanged high-fives. 'And that's how we'll do it,' Mr. Winter said, smiling. First Time Alone This was not Mr. Winter's debut appearance on a network spot, just his first as a solo artist. He performed on television in 2022 on 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert' with Geese, the rock band he and four childhood friends formed in 2018. Mr. Winter loves the built-in community and original sound that comes from making music with close friends. 'A band needs real friendship to work,' he said. 'Nothing can exist without that, and that keeps it in this really great, real place.' But that closeness is also what drove Mr. Winter on a detour from the band, threatening to derail its considerable momentum. He needed to make something that could happen only when he was alone. The independence cost him. The initial response to 'Heavy Metal' from important people in his life and from his label did not bode well. 'I'd never faced that much pushback and I didn't know how to handle it,' he recalled. 'I was really scared.' Friends and confidants told Mr. Winter the album would flop. 'I'd sunk so much time into this, I just felt like an idiot,' he said. It was suggested that he release the songs as an EP, or shelve everything but the poppiest song on the album: the exquisite and sunny 'Love Takes Miles.' In the end, he recorded a new final track — the heartfelt, mournful 'Can't Take Anything,' because he agreed that the record should end with 'more of a jump shot' than the '7-minute-er' he had originally planned. After that, Mr. Winter dug his heels in and put out the record he wanted to make. To everyone's surprise, 'Heavy Metal' has been received as a tour de force, the kind of offering that has people making comparisons to Bob Dylan and Tom Waits (see also: Stephen Malkmus, Jeff Mangum, Bill Callahan and the droller side of Lou Reed's solo work). But it has also turned Mr. Winter into the kind of artist that has fans analyzing every detail of his impressionistic lyrics and telling him his work has kept them from suicide. In other words, 'Heavy Metal' has received the kind of response that a record earns when the artist who made it is on their way to a certain kind of highly personal stardom. His debut solo tour is now sold out. Getting Out of His Own Way Mr. Winter started writing songs when he was about 10 years old. The first, 'I-95,' was about a lonely trucker. 'It was just sort of like an A.I., like spitting out sad stories,' he said. A decade or so after he began, his songwriting had advanced, but Mr. Winter still had a sense that he was following established conventions. When he told his Geese bandmates he was going to make a solo album, it was partly because he wanted to see if he could get out from under those strictures. 'I just listened to stuff that made it clear to me that I had been following rules that did not have to be followed,' Mr. Winter said over lunch at Tam O'Shanter, one of the great, old, dark and gnarled Los Angeles steakhouses. He listed Leonard Cohen, Federico García Lorca and William Carlos Williams as influences in opening up his own process. 'They all have this feeling of, like, innocent nudity,' he said. 'It's so plain and so terrible — so aching.' He stared at his Caesar salad, pushing it around with his fork, adding, 'I don't know how they do that.' He decided to try to write less from 'imagining a story or imagining a point to be made,' and more from instinct, following breadcrumbs as they appeared. 'It's hard to get to that place, there's a lot of overthinking that has to be exhausted,' he said. But when it happened, Mr. Winter almost felt like it had not come from him at all. 'I'm young and not afraid of living with my parents,' Mr. Winter had said as part of the 'Heavy Metal' release announcement. He now explains he was essentially subtweeting a higher-up at his label who had negged the record, telling him 'Heavy Metal' was not 'the album to get you out of your parents' house.' As the child of two creative people — his mother is a writer and his father is a composer — Mr. Winter grew up attending the progressive Brooklyn Friends school and was free to explore unconventional paths. Recently, Mr. Winter moved out of the family home and got his own spot in Bed-Stuy. 'Baby's first apartment,' he said. He has roommates, because he does not want to be lonely, but he marvels at the fact that he can pull off this kind of independence at all. 'At least, for the way I live right now, money's kind of not an issue and that's insane, making music full time, it's ridiculous,' he said. 'Before the album came out, I successfully divorced myself from any pleasure or pain at its success or failure. And so when it didn't fail, I also felt nothing. It could have flopped just as easy as it didn't.' But Still, the Band Geese released their last album, '3D Country,' in the summer of 2023. In addition to the Colbert appearance, 'Rolling Stone' once called them 'legit indie-rock prodigies.' The band appeared on the cover of the British music magazine NME, with the promotional line: 'meet NYC's most promising young rockers.' Geese also hosts an annual show, Geesefest, which has grown to a three-night event at Music Hall of Williamsburg, furthering their reputation as leaders of a rising New York-based rock scene. The idea that the band's lead singer and songwriter would disappear for even a few months to commune with dead poets and write an album of almost aggressively anticommercial piano tracks was met with 'a certain amount of discouragement,' Mr. Winter said. Given the stakes, it would make sense if Mr. Winter's approach to his solo album was to become super rigorous, set a tight recording schedule and stick to it grimly. Instead, he felt relaxed. 'I didn't feel nervous at all, for better or for worse,' he said. In a move that has now become a bit of Cameron Winter lore, he began recording 'Heavy Metal' by strolling into a Guitar Center in Brooklyn and messing around with the store's recording equipment. Over the next several months, Mr. Winter recorded his album in three different New York City Guitar Centers. Something about the anodyne spaces helped him get inside the songs. 'There's just very little pressure in that environment to do anything,' he said. Eventually, Mr. Winter worked with a co-producer (Loren Humphrey) and some professional players, but in general, the record was stitched together in this ad hoc, meandering way, with vocals recorded at home in Brooklyn or in hotel bathrooms while on tour with Geese. Looking Ahead It's tempting to think of Mr. Winter as the latest in a line of freakishly charismatic New York rock kids destined for a certain kind of fame. And maybe he is. But he already seems burned out on that perceived glamour. 'It feels like an obligation sometimes,' he said. 'Like, why aren't I euphoric all the time, if I'm ostensibly successful in rock music? That's supposed to come with its own giant pile of Xanax and willing concubines and all that stuff, but it's kind of exhausting.' He's already been on a version of that ride. 'I lasted like two seconds,' he said. What still feels vital is his connection to the record he made, which he will tour in April, and to Geese. The band just spent a month over the winter living together in a house in Los Angeles and recording its third LP, expected out later this year. 'A lot of weed, a lot of taco detritus,' Mr. Winter summarizes. 'We were messy, but we got five stars on Airbnb.' He seems surprised by the easy pleasure of returning to the warmth of the band. 'It's weird, when I'm with them I kind of revert into this more adolescent place that I guess I repressed over the years,' he said. 'I'm trying to be all serious and stuff in my life and then I'm with them and suddenly it's just a gigantic poop joke. It's fun.' One too many questions about what life was like in the rock 'n' roll house provokes a classic Cameron Winter good-natured sarcasm jag. 'Well, you know, Dom swept the chimneys, and I cleaned the drain pipes and Max paid the mortgage,' he says, smirking. Who made the beds in the morning? 'Oh, that's our little elfin helper, Ezekiel.' While Mr. Winter may already feel weary of the trappings of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle before he's truly lived it, there is one aspect of the rock star pose that he seems to truly enjoy: messing with journalists. Has he ever been asked a question that he preferred not to answer and then made up a response that seemed outlandish for the purpose both of avoiding the question and because it was fun? Mr. Winter smiles and makes direct eye contact for the first time all day. 'I would never do that,' he said. 'That's disrespectful.'
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Fowl play: Goose attacks 6-year-old visiting Wichita
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — They're a part of life in Wichita. Geese populate the river and parks, walk the streets and block traffic, on occasion. It was an unfortunate combination of factors that led to Heather Ashworth and her daughter Parham becoming victims of Wichita's geese population's natural instincts. '[It] literally flew in the sky out of nowhere,' Heather Ashworth said. From North Carolina, she and her daughter visited town for the NCAA tournament. While walking back from their hotel near Waterman and Main, the mother and daughter were blindsided by a goose. 'There was two geeses and I fell when they smashed me, then they smacked me again and I ran down the hill,' six-year-old Parham Ashworth said. She received no serious injuries but walked away from the experience with a black eye. A researcher with Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) says this is likely due to timing. 'This time of year, they're forming pair bonds. The male and female are getting together and are starting to get ready for nesting, so they get a little bit territorial around their nesting,' Dr. Jon Beckmann, Assistant Director of Wildlife Research for KDWP, said. Geese's mating season lasts roughly from February to late April, so the NCAA tournament came right in the middle. 'If they feel like people have invaded their space too close, then they'll get a little more aggressive toward people this time of year,' Dr. Beckmann said. He expects the Geese's aggressiveness to decline in the coming month. But for Heather and Parham, they took their experience back to North Carolina. Dr. Beckmann reminds people that although they live throughout the city, geese are still wild animals, so give them their space. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
