Poughkeepsie
Live:
The “Beat Club” of the Hudson Valley
By Peter Aaron
CONTINUE...
“Ohhh…kayyyy…,
“ Conte says. “Three, two, one, and… We’re
in!”
Bouncy
theme music issues from speakers in the adjacent green room.
“Poughkeepsie
Live,” Hudson Valley television’s only live weekly music
show, is on the air. Originating from Time Warner Cable Channel
6 studios, the half-hour program has been bringing national and
local musical talent to the region’s 200,000 subscribers for
nearly 20 years. And while Conte, Sirohi, and a few other members
of the rest of the show’s 13-strong staff also hold down day
gigs with the station’s news broadcast and other programs,
no one here tonight is doing this for money. That’s right:
“Poughkeepsie Live” is an all-volunteer show.
“We
show up because we love the music,” says cameraperson Kathy
Grahn. “It really is a privilege to be doing this, working
with so many great musicians.” She’s not kidding when
she says many. Thickly papering the walls around her are the signed
8x10 glossies of only a fraction of the hundreds of artists who
have performed on the show over the years. Most of the faces are
less known outside the viewing area, but embedded among them are
shots of international stars like Pete Seeger, Burning Spear, John
Pizzarelli, Shannon McNally, David “Fathead” Newman,
and others.
Tonight’s
guests? The Warhol Crowd, the wildly young outfit (oldest member:
19) that formed at the city’s Arlington High School in 2004,
and went on to win the Garage Rumble in Woodstock the following
year and a coveted slot opening for Phil Lesh, Gov’t Mule,
Robert Randolph, and others at this year’s Mountain Jam festival
in Hunter. ONTINUE....
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