entertianment

It was another smokin' night of music at Frostridge Campground on Saturday night as the summer concert series Jam at the Ridge saw its second installment.

The headliner tonight was Blackberry Smoke, a band that's been winning fans in the year since the group last visited Le Roy, but for me, the highlight of the night was Blackjack Billy, the second act on the bill.

Blackjack Billy's country rock is fun and infectious, and they're also incredibly nice guys, giving fans all the time they needed for autographs after the show.

The band has one single out, which I was told is being downloaded 5,000 times a day on iTunes. The song is The Booze Cruise. The band played four or five other original tunes in their 90-minute set, mostly pretty much in the same vein -- rockin' country.

The band is based in Nashville and is comprised of Noll Billings, lead vocals, Jeff Coplan, lead guitar, Rob Blackledge, rhythm guitar, Patrick Cornell, bass guitar, and Brad Cummings, drums.

Next up for Frostridge is Molly Hatchet, July 13.

Before the show, fans who purchased VIP passes were able to go back stage and meet members of Blackberry Smoke, get autographs and get a souveniar picture with the band.

Jim Maier, of Brockport, won the drawing for the autographed guitar.

First slide show, Blackjack Billy, second slide show, Blackberry Smoke.

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Music students from nearly a dozen communities were in Batavia today for a strings workshop sponsored by the Genesee Symphony Orchestra.

The goal of the workshop was to prepare students to play in a concert April 29 at Elba Central School alongside members of the GSO.

Maestro Raffaele Ponti led the workshop assisted by string teachers Jonathan Jaeger, Andrea Meier, Annie Wright and Claudia Diebold.

While most of the students were children, adult students were also welcome.

Students attended from Perry, Pavilion, Elba, Batavia, Albion, Brockport, Pittsford, Wyoming, Middleport, Le Roy and Corfu.

The two pieces practiced today were "Dance of the Tumblers" from the "Snow Maiden" by Rimsky-Korsakov and "Barcarolle" from "Tales of Hoffman" by Offenbach.

Genesee County is a long way from Vietnam, both as a matter of time and geography, but for GCC graduate Philip Sacco, it was just the right location to shoot some of his first feature film, "When Soldiers Cry," which will be released on DVD in two weeks.

Sacco, who works professionally as Joe Black, has spent three years on the self-funded project. He said he fell in love with film making after taking a multimedia class at Genesee Community College.

Before that class, he was working on a degree in physical therapy.

"I loved photography and film so I wanted to give that a try," Black said. "Five minutes into the program I was hooked."

"Mr. Chow showed me the tools and how to use them, from there it was up to me to bring the tools to life," Black noted. "I think we both sat down one day and said something like, 'don't just take a picture, make one.' To me, that's all you need to start with. Mr. Chow pushed me in media by critiquing my work and projects. He's a tough teacher but also a good friend. He has been my mentor throughout this entire endeavor."

Black wrote the screenplay for "When Soldiers Cry." He also planned the filming, hired the cast, and did the primary shooting and editing.

The movie is based in1965 South Vietnam. Private David M. Church awakes from being rendered unconscious to find all of his squad killed by the Vietcong. During his lonesome journey to the Landing Zone for extraction, Church mistakenly shoots an American Tunnel Rat who is disguising himself as a Vietcong. Mentally broken, Church starts carrying the Tunnel Rat to save his life, fully knowing it may end his own. Trapped in the jungle surrounded by war, the only thing keeping them alive is the promise they made to their families to return home at any cost.

"Creating this film has been a tedious process," Black said. "I've learned so much. I've learned that nothing happens overnight, to be cautious each step of the way and that some people make films to make money and some make films to tell their story. I want to tell my story and hopefully the money will follow."

WBTA's Geoff Redick spoke with Black (mp3) who said his biggest goal was securing a good distribution deal.

"You need to go into Best Buy or Walmart so everybody can see it and say, 'this is a piece of crap,' or 'it's pretty good.'"

(Portions of this post rely on a press release from GCC)