As we look back over the past year

Greetings,

As we look back over the past year, we celebrated the 90th Anniversary of the Knickerbocker Café, and continued growth of the Knickerbocker Music Center, as a non-profit organization. Joining our sister organizations, The United Theatre and the RI Phil Music School at the United, we are creating amulti-venue regional campus for the arts. While coordinating with the United on programming, we are also providing space for lessons and performance throughout the week for the RI Phil Music School. We host numerous music school events including Youth on the Mic, that provide a stage for live performance for young musicians, as well as concerts performed by music school bands. In addition to the many great performances of bands like, Ryan Montbleau, The Felice Brothers, Hiss Golden Messenger, Will Evans, Nick Bosse and Edie Brickell, we continue to celebrate the great tradition of Blues music with performances by Sugar Ray Norcia, Greg Piccolo, Duke Robilard, Al Copley, Jeff Pitchell, The Founders, and Roomful of Blues. It is fitting that we celebrated the 90th Anniversary of the Knickerbocker Café with the sold out performance by the award winning Knickerbocker All-Stars®, a band that exemplifies the great Blues tradition that made the Knickerbocker Café famous.Music is such an important part of life in any community and we support that by sponsoring the Watch Hill Summer Concert Series and the Rhythm & Roots Festival as well as our partnerships with the United and RI Phil Music School.We would like to thank you, our community, for supporting live music.

Mark Connolly. Executive Director. Knickerbocker Music Center

The once and future Knick: Westerly’s iconic blues club turns 90 with an eye to the future

It’s the default observation when visiting old structures where notable events have occurred. Lee and Grant in the McClean House at Appomattox. The “roundtable” literati waxing snarky in the Algonquin Hotel. The papal enclave where Julius II and Michelangelo negotiated the Sistine ceiling commission.

“If these walls could talk…”

Then there’s the structure at 35 Railroad Avenue in Westerly, which has been long renowned as the Knickerbocker — one of the most iconic blues and jump blues music rooms in the world.

If these rooms could SING!

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THE KNICKERBOCKER FINDS AN INNOVATIVE USE FOR EMPTY STAGE

“Adjusting” has been a key word to describe the last 10 months. Regardless of your profession – if you still have one – or what your life as a whole is like, you’ve definitely had to do things a tad differently because of COVID-19. Due to the nature of an industry that relies on people gathering, music venues have made plenty of adjustments as well. The Knickerbocker Music Center on 35 Railroad Avenue in Westerly has shifted from its status as one of the most legendary establishments for musical sounds in New England to a recording studio and practice space. In fact, they also have a livestream series happening this weekend that’ll go on for the next few months.

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THE KICKERBOCKER MUSIC CENTER STILL ROCKS

According to Merriam-Webster, “Knickerbocker” is an old-school nickname for a New Yorker, or, more specifically, a descendant of New York’s early Dutch settlers (supposedly because they were known to wear loose, short trousers called “knickers”). So how, pray tell, did such a designation become the name of a beloved blues institution in downtown Westerly?

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