Photo by Mike Thut

Michael Falzarano announces East Coast Summer Run 2021

Beginning Thursday, June 10th, Michael Falzarano will begin his summer run, featuring performances with The Englishtown Project, and Professor Louie & Miss Marie of The Crowmatix.

Michael Falzarano has been a working musician for over 50 years, lending his talents to legendary bands such as Hot Tuna and New Riders of the Purple Sage. Falzarano is a regular contributor at Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peace Ranch, and a bandleader with his own long-standing project Michael Falzarano & the Extended Family and triple tribute band, The Englishtown Project- who pay homage to the historic Englishtown Raceway show from 1977 that features the Marshall Tucker Band, New Riders of the Purple Sage, and the Grateful Dead.

In December 2020, Rolling Stone reviewed Falzarano’s Christmas album,  A Kaleidescope Christmas, citing that it must be heard.  His other recent release with The Extended Family, “I Got Blues For Ya,” has received widespread critical acclaim. Falzarano is currently working on an album of traditional blues songs, with his ‘usual cast of characters’ backing him up.

Falzarano currently resides in the Dallas region, but performs mainly on the East Coast, and his upcoming run will begin at upstate New York’s historic Caffé Lena in Saratoga Springs, where he will perform with old friends, Professor Louie (of the Crowmatix and a producer of multiple albums by The Band), Miss Marie (of the Crowmatix), and Rob Wolfson. When Live Music News & Review spoke with Professor Louie this week about playing for an audience again. He said, “Nothing like an audience to make you play and perform better.”

We also spoke with Rob Wolfson about live music regaining some normalcy this year. He said, “You know, for a good while it was beginning to feel like live music might never return, at least as it was before COVID. For many of us the only thing that kept us going was live streaming, whether from our basements,  limited capacity venues, etc. Everyone’s of course thrilled to be getting back out there, slowly but surely. There certainly seems to be a considerable amount of pent up anticipation from music fans – we’ll all have to accept a slower pace for a while, but  it sure is a great feeling to be booking gigs and looking forward to performing again.”

This week, Andrea F. Flohn of Live Music News & Review caught up with Michael Falzarano about his new album, upcoming summer run, and how it feels to be back on tour.

LMNR: How does it feel to be out there, playing for people again?

MF: It feels great to be out playing for people. I recently did a show out in Ohio with Jorma Kaukonen, and it was really great to play a live show for a live audience. It’s probably been fifteen months for me, which is the longest time I’ve gone without playing a show since I was sixteen; and that was a long time ago. It seems to be that things are opening up slowly, and people are being pretty respectful of each other and doing what they can to be safe.

LMNR: What will we be hearing from you on this upcoming June/July tour?

MF: I’ll be performing a melting pot of material that encompasses my career. There will be a mixture of original songs I’ve done over the years, whether recorded by myself or others. I’ll also be doing some New Rider tunes and some Hot Tuna songs; more of the traditional stuff that Hot Tuna did, such as “Hesitation Blues,” and “How Long Blues”. And with Professor Louie’s connection to The Band, and the work I’ve done with most of the members of The Band over the years, we’re going to do a couple of those songs as well.

LMNR: Who are you looking forward to sharing a stage with?

MF: Louie, Miss Marie, and I have shared a stage for years; decades now. I always look forward to playing with Jorma, which I just did recently. I’m looking forward to playing with the Englishtown Project again. Rob Wolfson, as well as Kylph Black and Tom Circosta of the Zen Tricksters are all my old friends from Long Island. It’ll be fun to play with them, we have a few shows together in June and July, as well as In August. I have fun playing with everybody. When I’m down in New Jersey, I like playing with Sandy Mack and his Jamily AllStars. In fact, I’ll be with Sandy at Delvetto’s in Neptune, NJ on this upcoming run as well.

LMNR: Any venues you’re looking forward to playing again?

MF: I always look forward to playing the Jersey venues like The Stone Pony. I’ve played there quite a number of times with everyone I’ve ever played with, from Hot Tuna to New Riders from the Airplane Family to the Englishtown Project as well as solo. There are also a couple festivals I’m looking forward to playing: Grateful Get Down, Bear’s Picnic, Wormtown (if it happens) up in New England. I like the medium-sized rooms and festivals. I’ve played gigs in Golden Gate Park to 100,000 people, and those are fun don’t get me wrong! But I like playing a place like The Stone Pony where you can really feel the energy of the room.

TOUR DATES:

Thursday, June 10, 2021 w/ Professor Louie, Miss Marie, and Rob Wolfson

Caffé Lena

47 Phila St.

Saratoga Springs, NY

Music at 7 PM

TICKETS

-Sunday, June 13, 2021 w/ Mack Sunday Jams band (Brian Abrect, Johny Burkey, Mike Caruso, and Sandy Mack)

The Lot at Delvetto’s Pizzeria

3705 NJ-32 Neptune City, NJ

Music 4-8PM

FREE

-Wednesday, June 23, 2021 w/ Prof. Louie and Miss Marie

Daryl’s House

130 NY-22 Pawling, NY

Doors at 5 PM

Dinner/Music 7:30 PM

TICKETS

-Friday, June 25, 2021 w/ Klyph Black

The Grateful Get Down

Blain Picnic Grounds

532 Picnic Grove Rd

Blain, PA 17006

TICKETS

-Saturday, June 26, 2021 w/ The Englishtown Project

The Grateful Get Down

Blain Picnic Grounds

532 Picnic Grove Rd

Blain, PA 17006

TICKETS

-Saturday, July 31, 2021 w/ The Englishtown Project as well as Pure Jerry

Circle D Under the Stars Concerts

The Lord’s New Church (LNC)

1725 Huntingdon Rd.

Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006

TICKETS


Doors at 6 PM

Music 7-10 PM

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