Sunday, March 26, 2023
Subscriber Login
My Profile
SpotlightNews
  • Home
  • News
    • Election 2022
    • Business
      • Spotlight On Business
      • Spotlight on Finance
    • Crime and Police
    • Discover-Towns
      • Discover Coeymans Selkirk and Feura Bush
      • Discover Delmar
      • Discover Glenmont
      • Discover Guilderland
      • Discover Latham and Boght
      • Discover Loudonville
      • Discover Menands
      • Discover Slingerlands
      • Discover Village of Colonie
      • Discover Voorheesville and New Scotland
    • Fire Departments
    • Government
    • Milestones
    • Schools
    • Sports
    • Obituaries
  • The Spot 518
    • Galleries
    • Art
    • Food and Recipes
    • Health & Fitness
    • Music
    • Theatre
  • Hot Spots Calendar
    • Calendar Listings
    • Submit Your Event
  • Opinion
    • Blogs
    • Our Opinion
    • Point of View
    • Your Opinion
  • Family Now
    • Parenting News
    • Senior News
  • Towns
    • Albany County
    • Bethlehem
    • Colonie
    • Guilderland
    • New Scotland
  • Classifieds
    • Employment – Hire Power
    • Services In the Spotlight
    • Classified Listings
    • Advertiser Login
  • Subscribe
    • Subscriber login
    • Give the gift of news
    • Join us – subscribe today
    • Newsletter sign up
    • Renew Subscription
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Election 2022
    • Business
      • Spotlight On Business
      • Spotlight on Finance
    • Crime and Police
    • Discover-Towns
      • Discover Coeymans Selkirk and Feura Bush
      • Discover Delmar
      • Discover Glenmont
      • Discover Guilderland
      • Discover Latham and Boght
      • Discover Loudonville
      • Discover Menands
      • Discover Slingerlands
      • Discover Village of Colonie
      • Discover Voorheesville and New Scotland
    • Fire Departments
    • Government
    • Milestones
    • Schools
    • Sports
    • Obituaries
  • The Spot 518
    • Galleries
    • Art
    • Food and Recipes
    • Health & Fitness
    • Music
    • Theatre
  • Hot Spots Calendar
    • Calendar Listings
    • Submit Your Event
  • Opinion
    • Blogs
    • Our Opinion
    • Point of View
    • Your Opinion
  • Family Now
    • Parenting News
    • Senior News
  • Towns
    • Albany County
    • Bethlehem
    • Colonie
    • Guilderland
    • New Scotland
  • Classifieds
    • Employment – Hire Power
    • Services In the Spotlight
    • Classified Listings
    • Advertiser Login
  • Subscribe
    • Subscriber login
    • Give the gift of news
    • Join us – subscribe today
    • Newsletter sign up
    • Renew Subscription
No Result
View All Result
Spotlight News
No Result
View All Result
Home The Spot Music

Foster House Studios hosts a night of music with Victory Soul Orchestra

Michael Hallisey by Michael Hallisey
June 10, 2020
in Music, The Spot
Reading Time: 4 mins read
Jamel Mosely

Jamel Mosely

Music is a vessel, hollowed and filled with the libations of words and sounds poured over the world to leave behind a legacy. Music is forever.

“Let me run these rhymes
through your brain

And jog your memory.

Remind you that I’m better
than I think I am.

Yeah, you’re gonna remember me.”

— JB! aka Dirty Moses

Jamel Mosely

John Brown composed those words for “God Self Icon,” a track that appeared on his 2019 album Libations and comes back to life on Victory Soul Orchestra’s latest video through Foster House Studios.

The Albany rapper’s name, known on the stage as JB! aka Dirty Moses, has been linked with the funk and soul band for two years. He’s the gent in the New York Yankees ballcap gesticulating on its Facebook cover picture captured at Lark Fest. He’s been lending words to the voiceless troupe since they crossed paths on the stage one night at Savoy Taproom.

The cocktail bar and restaurant holds the torch for a Lark Street music scene once held by Justin’s. Some people lament the loss of the latter, a classy jazz joint with renowned chef Ric Orlando in its kitchen, as the end of the neighborhood’s Golden Age. However, today’s generation sees places like Savoy and Lark Hall bookending a neighborhood culturally diverse with choices for cuisine and art. It represents the ebb and flow of life.

Savoy’s modest stage was hosting the biggest names in the scene for its first birthday that night. Names included Girl Blue, Ryan Leddick Trio, Jeff Nania and many others. Brown recalls how he was on stage with DJ Trumastr when Victory Soul Orchestra started setting up behind him. Regardless of its size, there’s no hiding a nine-piece band with a horn section as it prepares to play.

There’s usually a break in the music as one band breaks down to make room for the next. Brown’s instrument is his voice, and Trumastr has his turntable. Maybe some assumptions were made, or maybe times were crossed between bands, but a line was crossed somewhere.

Jamel Mosely

“I looked back. Gave them the evil eye. They looked at me. Gave me the evil eye,” Brown said. “Joel [Yannuzzi] and I are too old to do anything stupid.” But, there was some “negative energy” generating between the two acts. People picked up on it, as did Jason Pierce, Savoy’s owner. He approached them both to suggest playing a set together. And, just like that, another birthday was established.

Victory Soul Orchestra adds a different flavor to Brown’s hip hop style. It sounds fresh. Knocks you in the knees to where you think it’s different. Old school rappers laid down words in front of backbeats and melodies captured in songs from the past. A blast from a good horn section is powerful. It worked out alright for Jay-Z and Kanye West not too long ago, but watching an emcee work in front of a live band is a dance worth seeing.

“Basically we wanted to record live with video,” Yannuzzi said, describing something out of MTV’s past. He wanted to capture the energy of a live performance surrounded by an audience. That sparked a conversation with Josh “Mirk” Mirsky at Foster House Studios.

Jamel Mosely

Mirsky has lent a hand to Yannuzzi and the band before. When the band dropped Astrobeat last January, it prepared to hold a release party at The Hollow Bar + Kitchen. When the band got up onto the stage to play its set, they discovered the struck head had punched a hole through their kick drum. A few minutes later, the band takes the stage and starts to play. Mirsky is standing in the VIP section babysitting the fresh bass drum he just brought over from his studio. Our music scene is family. Snap back to this January, the band was recording in that same studio atop Washington Avenue Armory.

Mirsky said he always wanted to do a “Live at Foster House” series. He’d host a band and record the audio tracks while a videographer comes in to capture the visuals. There was another idea to produce the production like a silent disco, supplying the audience with headphones to hear the mastered product.

“We filmed it. … It doesn’t sound like a live album. It sounds like a studio album,” Mirsky said. “It really came out awesome.”

Jamel Mosely of Mel eMedia produced the video, which was released on YouTube last month. It features the JB and Victory Soul Orchestra surrounded by about 30 friends and family dancing or swaying in their chairs with their headphones on. “He was a quiet presence the whole time,” Yannuzzi said of Mosely. “He’s a great observer.”

The four-song video opens with “Suspension of Disbelief” before the band goes full throttle with “Shoot Your Shot.” The only track off Astrobeat that features Brown on the record, it carries the inspirational message to go out and grab your dream. Mirsky calls the Victory Soul Orchestra video the “maiden voyage” to his idea of producing similar video-recording packages for a Foster House Studio series that will feature local bands. Capturing the energy of a live performance while not compromising sound quality on a monthly basis, he said, would be ambitious.

“If I can apply that and get enough people interested it would be one of the more fun things I’ve done for my studio and in my studio in a very long time,” Mirsky said. “I really enjoyed it.”

A libation is a ritual that serves to honor the dead. It involves the pouring of a valued substance, often the product of one’s hard work — wine, olive oil, rice, honey. It’s a practice that extends back to antiquity throughout several cultures including those in Africa.

Brown’s libation was an offering through music. “God Self Icon” served as the final of four songs on the video, but the band continued to play a concert afterwards to entertain the audience, many of whom helped fund the video and recording; passing on the gift of music.

Tags: Dirty MosesGirl BlueJohn BrownSavoy's
ShareTweetShareShare
Previous Post

Voorheesville Farmers Market begins season on June 17 with special regulations

Next Post

Empire State Youth Orchestra 40th birthday culminates with three-night digital festival and premiere of Ágreda’s “Ay Caray”

Leave Comment

Stay Connected with Us

Recent News

Colonie Area Weekly Police BlotterMarch 15th – March 22nd

March 26, 2023

Bethlehem Area Weekly Police Blotter March 15th – March 22nd

March 25, 2023
The Rail Trail bridge over Route 85 March 2023. Photo by Scott Anson.

Route 85 to close Monday for bridge replacement

March 25, 2023
Spotlight News lists calls from Delmar, Elsmere, North Bethlehem, Slingerlands and Selkirk fire companies. These department are comprised of local volunteers. Please consider serving your neighbors as a volunteer firefighter. This data is compiled from the Town of Bethlehem Communications Center.

Bethlehem Volunteer Fire Log March 10 – March 16

March 25, 2023

Hot Stories This Week

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest

Colonie Area Weekly Police Blotter March 8th – March 15th

March 19, 2023

Bethlehem Area Weekly Police Blotter March 8th – March 15th

March 18, 2023

Hamlet’s first family’s home up for sale

March 22, 2023
The Rail Trail bridge over Route 85 March 2023. Photo by Scott Anson.

Route 85 to close Monday for bridge replacement

March 25, 2023

Colonie Area Weekly Police BlotterMarch 15th – March 22nd

March 26, 2023

Bethlehem Area Weekly Police Blotter March 15th – March 22nd

March 25, 2023
The Rail Trail bridge over Route 85 March 2023. Photo by Scott Anson.

Route 85 to close Monday for bridge replacement

March 25, 2023
Spotlight News lists calls from Delmar, Elsmere, North Bethlehem, Slingerlands and Selkirk fire companies. These department are comprised of local volunteers. Please consider serving your neighbors as a volunteer firefighter. This data is compiled from the Town of Bethlehem Communications Center.

Bethlehem Volunteer Fire Log March 10 – March 16

March 25, 2023
Spotlight News

Spotlight News, The Spot 518 and Capital District Family Now are divisions of Community Media Group, LLC. Our local offices are located at 341 Delaware Ave, Delmar, NY 12054. You can contact us at 518.439.4949.

Browse

Follow Us

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact the Editor
  • Employment
  • Our Team
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Legal Notices Portal

© 2022 Community Media Group, LLC - 341 Delaware Ave. Delmar, NY 12054. 518.439.4949

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Election 2022
  • News
    • Crime and Police
    • Fire Departments
    • Milestones
    • Real Estate and Housing
    • Schools
    • Sports
    • Spotlight On Business
    • Spotlight on Finance
  • The Spot 518
    • Galleries
    • Art
    • Theatre
    • Music
    • Food and Drink
    • Health & Fitness
  • Hot Spots Calendar
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Opinion
  • Classifieds
    • Advertiser Login
    • Service Directory
    • Hire Power – Employer Spotlight
  • Capital District Family Now
    • Parenting News
    • Senior News
  • Towns
    • Albany County
    • Bethlehem
    • Colonie
    • Guilderland
  • Log In
  • Subscribe

© 2022 Community Media Group, LLC - 341 Delaware Ave. Delmar, NY 12054. 518.439.4949