Livin’ in Liverpool: Local musicians bask in the glow of The Sammys

LIVERPOOL — A handful of active musicians from here in the northern portion of the county have been nominated for Syracuse Area Music Awards this year.

Of course, due to the COVID-19 crisis, the somewhat annual awards show will not be staged as usual at the Palace Theater in Eastwood. Instead, the 2021 Sammy Awards Show will be live streamed from SubCat Music Studios at 7 p.m. Friday, March 5. The show will feature performances by Byron Cage, Cam Caruso, Sophistafunk, Stephen Phillips and Vaporeyes.

The event is free, but donations will be accepted. The Sammys Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony has been postponed until next year.

Local musicians get nod

Anyhow, among those recording artists whose work impressed the Sammys Committee are several from Liverpool, North Syracuse, Cicero and Baldwinsville.

Nominated for Best Alternative Recording in this year’s Sammys is Liverpool’s own Chuck Schiele, for his disc “Love Letters.” Schiele wrote the songs, sang them, played guitar and produced the CD which also featured lead guitarist Simeon Flick, bassist Edgar Pagán, drummer Byron Cage and vocalist Heather Kubacki.

In the same category, the Mattydale Music Collective was nominated for its intriguingly titled record, “No Thief, However Skillful.” The Collective includes mainstays Mat Wescott on guitar, Anthony Kratz on bass and singer Lee Knapp along with new guitarist Matt Poworoznek and a new drummer, Sam Roux.

Harmonics and electronics

Two area artists were nominated for Best Other Style Recording. The duo of keyboardist Bill DiCosimo and bassist Edgar Pagán received a nod for their disc, “Con Moto.” DiCosimo lives in Cicero while Pagán resides in Baldwinsville.

Another B’ville performer, the talented Letizia Pinkel, received a nomination for her disc, “You Are Not Alone.”

A band with Liverpool roots, Harmonic Dirt, is nominated for Best Americana Recording for its CD, “Live at The Ridge.” Harmonic Dirt is a songwriting collaboration of multi-instrumentalist Mike Gridley, an alumnus of Liverpool High School, and his wife, lyricist and bassist Susan Coleman, a graduate of Cicero-North Syracuse High School. The creative couple are joined by Taylor Bucci on banjo and vocals and James DaRin on percussion.

And finally, in the Best Electronic Recording category, Christopher Lee Getman from Liverpool has been nominated under his pseudonym, Mazedude, for the CD “Mazequest 3 Original Soundtrack.” Getman has been recording as Mazedude since 1995. He has been specializing in video game music arrangements since 2001.

Nearly 200 recordings submitted

Since its debut in 1993 at the Landmark Theatre thanks to B’ville’s Frank Malfitano, the Sammys Awards Show has honored hundreds of area musicians and valuable members of the Syracuse music community.

This year, despite the pandemic, 166 artists submitted 194 recordings prompting Sammys Executive Director Liz Nowak to comment, “In times of darkness creativity flourishes.”

An independent panel of music industry professionals and educators from around the country, led by Syracuse University’s coordinator of sound recording technology James Abbott, review the submissions and make their selections based on their merit within its genre.
Good luck to all the nominees; syracuseareamusic.com.