Crossing Borders Third Annual Youth Series!

WVBR's Crossing Borders Radio Concert Series has been spotlighting top youth talent once again throughout the month of July for the Third Annual Youth Series, simultaneously broadcast LIVE on WVBR 93.5FM, Saturdays at 8pm. The concerts take place downtown at the Community School of Music and Arts, 330 East State Street, upper floor. The concerts are performed and hosted by youth, and the sound mix is operated by youth apprentices supervised by Crossing Borders audio staff.

On Saturday, July 28th Part IV of the live series wraps up with two more rock bands: Final Call hails from Lansing High School and includes Mike Geiger, Zach Jones, Ryan Mallinson, and Jason Weidman. Rock/crunk/alternative is the descriptive label for the group which has a debut CD due out any day, titled Ready, Aim, Fire. Crossing Borders youth staff and classmate Mark Hewitt (also a 2007 Lansing grad), will host the group for the first set. And finally, Seth Feldman returns to Crossing Borders to close the series with a reunion set. Long established within the Ithaca music scene, the quartet of young men has been featured at all festivals and venues in the area, and has released three highly praised full-length Cds: Proctor Boulevard and Every Day That Begins, and The Equistonaut. Most members of the group are 2006 graduates of Trumansburg High School; they include Benn Bartishevich, Stephen Burton, Scott Nelson, and Chris Ploss. (The group is also featured once again at the Grassroots Festival during the previous weekend.) Admission charge on July 28th is $7.

An extra bonus event for the series will take place on Friday, July 27th. An ultimate Live Dance Party with Nicky Wood will welcome all ages to celebrate the Youth Series and promote upcoming events. The dance will be broadcast live on WVBR and begins at 8pm, at the CSMA upper floor dance hall. Admission is $5. The dance also highlights a concurrent a teen training workshop, offered throughout July as collaboration among CSMA, WVBR, and Crossing Borders, to provide hands-on instruction in sound design for live music and radio broadcasting and production. Participants have also apprenticed in tech positions for the Youth Series. For more information about this, visit www.csma-ithaca.org.

Finally, on Saturday August 4th, the broadcast of Part II of the series that took place on July 7th will air at 8pm, featuring two songwriters and one jazz vocalist. Artists included: Ronnie Garcia, Sean O'Shea, and Amy Carstensen.