Music at The State Theater, Ithaca

A few years ago, a local non profit organization saved Ithaca’s 80 year old State Theater from being demolished. Since then, the theater has gone through rounds of renovations and brought in a new Executive Director, Dan Smalls for their event promotion.  Smalls brought years of concert promotion and  booking experience to Ithaca, where he has pulled big names to this small upstate NY city.  Just a few of the shows from the past two years have included:  Andrew Bird, Government Mule, Emmylou Harris, Billy Bragg, Neko Case, Joan Baez, Crosby Nash, Gomez, Josh Ritter, Steve Earle and Lyle Lovett.

This weekend, Rachel and I went to two concerts at the State.  Friday night was the African Children’s Choir, and last night we saw Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the Blind Boys of Alabama.  Both shows were great, but seeing a group of blind men in their 70s dancing, and singing with the famous Dixieland Jazz band from New Orleans was awesome.