Tuba Skinny in Upstate New York

I normally don’t report on one-off concerts I attend, on the theory that (1) it’s in the past and may not ever be repeated, and/or (2) the performers or performance had only local appeal. This treatise is not about a one-off; it’s about a two-off. On June 24 and 25 I saw the stellar New Orleans street band Tuba Skinny at two locations in upstate New York, where I sojourn during the summer. The first was at the multi-day Syracuse Jazz Fest and the second was at a rural venue, Mace Chasm Farm in Keeseville, a few miles from Lake Champlain. I never pass up a chance to see Tuba Skinny, and of the roughly half a dozen times I’ve seen them, only one was on their home turf. Secondly, Tuba Skinny is clearly not a band with only local appeal. First, about Jazz Fest (syracusejazzfest.com). It’s held in late June every year at Clinton Square, a public space bordered by Salina, Water, and Clinton Streets, and Erie Boulevard in downtown Syracuse. A covered stage is set up to protect the musicians from the weather, but the audience is in the open. There is a reserved seating area closest to the stage for paid ticket holders, but non-paying attendees must either bring their own chairs or sit on a low concrete wall farthest from the stage. The area between the wall and the stage is a sunken concrete plaza that is filled and frozen in the winter for ice skating. [caption id="attachmen