Capital Region Noise: An Introduction

They call it the Greater Capital Region.
When I first moved here a few years ago from my native New York City,
a lot of people seemed to go to great lengths comparing the two cities.

Our version of Greenwich Village, they would say, pointing to the downtown areas fronted by eateries and art galleries. The weekly alterna-arts newspaper was the region’s Village Voice, rock ‘n’ roll clubs like Bogie’s and the QE2 – a particularly dark and noisy place ala the Bowery’s CBGB – proof of its musical scene, from the State Capitol City of Albany to the horse farms of Saratoga.

I don’t know if this was an effort to make me feel more comfortable in my new home by comparing it to the place I grew up, or, if it was something that my new friends told each
other so many times they believed it to be true, but after spending some years in this region now, I think the comparisons unfair to both.

There will never be enough people in sheer number to ever be capable of creating a scene in the way that was created in places like New York and San Francisco and metropolitan Seattle.

So let the Capital Region stand on its own, a cultural stew of musicians and poets, painters and filmmakers who do it night after night, year after year, for little more than some pocket money, some local recognition, and the art of sharing their own personal vision with anyone who cares to listen.
These are some of their stories.