The Top Ten Greatest Syracuse Musicians

The other day, my fellow Shoutmouth writer NeutralMilk did a story on the top musical innovators from Chicago, as part of his month-long stay in the Windy City.

This weekend, I'll be headed on a little trip of my own. That's right, in just a few hours I'll be off to Syracuse, New York, in order to attend a luau party (and possibly to visit my parents). Did I mention I'm from Syracuse? I grew up there, spending a good 15 or so years following the Orangemen and hanging out in Armory Square before hitching my way downstate with nothing but a bag of clothes and a dream.

(By "hitching," I mean "driving a Dodge Stratus," and by "a bag of clothes and a dream," I mean "a bag of clothes, a bed, a stereo, a TV, a computer, a couch, an iPod, a coffee table, a TV stand, a dresser, a kitchen table, a couple more bags of clothes, a CyberShot H9 Hi-Resolution digital camera, a few hand-crafted Victorian-style silk throw pillows, and absolutely no dreams whatsoever.")

Anyway, the details of my journey to the NYC area are irrelevant. What's important is that Syracuse will always be my hometown, my one true love. And because I'm headed there this weekend, I thought I would steal NeutralMilk's idea and make a list of the top ten musicians to ever come from The Cuse.

As you'll see, the Salt City is a veritable hotbed of musical excellence.

1) Earth Crisis

Earth Crisis was a hardcore band from Syracuse, whose career lasted from 1992 until 2001. They were an extremely influential for later hardcore bands, and were seminal in promoting both the straight-edge and vegan movements.

2) Ra Ra Riot

Ra Ra Riot is still up-and-coming on the national scene, but they've already managed to make a huge impression in The Cuse. The guys have been featured on prominent music websites like Spin and NME, and are getting rave critical reviews. Sadly, the band recently dealt with the unfortunate loss of its drummer, John Pike, who passed away last month in Massachusetts. It was a tragedy shared by all Syracusans. Nevertheless, the band vows to continue on, and they should see great success in the near future.

3) Walter Trout

Walter Trout is front man of the aptly-named Walter Trout and the Radicals. Technically, he's from New Jersey, but he goes and plays blues guitar at the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que a lot. The Dinosaur has the best pulled pork sandwiches in the world, so we're gonna count Walter Trout as part of Syracuse.

4) Pink Floyd

OK, try to stay with me. The author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is from Chittenango, a suburb of Syracuse. As we all know, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was made into a quite popular movie that synchs up in a strange fashion to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album (but only when you're high). So it's pretty clear: Pink Floyd is, at heart, a Syracuse band.

5) Joe Whiting

Joe Whiting hails from Skaneateles (pronounced "skinny-atlas"), which is essentially the Hamptons of Syracuse. It's one of those towns where they ban McDonald's and make the True Value have a green roof so it blends in with the rest of the old buildings; high-class shit. Anyway, Joe Whiting is an acoustic singer/songwriter, and he's quite popular with the middle-aged Syracuse crowd. I saw him perform last month at the Green Gate Inn while I was eating dinner with my parents, and there were a couple of housewives going crazy. His smooth acoustical stylings added a pleasant flavor to my salmon dish. I think he's won a bunch of SAMMYs as well (the SAMMYs are the Syracuse Area Music Awards; don't worry that the acronym doesn't work out.) Along with Tom Cruise, Richard Gere, Jim Boeheim, and the guy in Dewitt who chained the 16-year old girl in his basement, Joe is one of the most well-known figures from Syracuse.

6) Gridley Paige

Gridley Paige is the premier cover band in all of Central New York. I think they're actually from Utica, but they're constantly playing shows in Syracuse. I caught them a couple years back at the Tully's Thursday Afternoon Block Party and they did a kick-ass rendition of Weezer's "Hash Pipe."

7) The Guy Who Always Plays Acoustic Guitar at Coleman's

I don't know this guy's name, but he's always at Coleman's Pub. Every time I go, he's there. And I go to Coleman's all the time. In fact, I can almost guarantee I'll end up there tonight, and I can almost guarantee he'll be playing. I don't know if he's the house band, or what. He covers all the acoustic-guitar-playing-guy-at-the-bar staples, though: "Sweet Home Alabama," Steve Miller Band, Don McLean, "Sweet Caroline," "Wonderwall," that Garth Brooks "I Got Friends In Low Places" song, "Rockin' in the Free World," that "Laid" song, Eagle Eye Cherry... all the classics. He even does a solid version of the J. Geils Band's "Angel Is The Centerfold." Quality stuff.

8) Mr. Farnsworth

He was the band teacher at my middle school. I think I had him for 3^rd period study hall. He yelled at me a lot. I always hated that guy. But damned if I didn't respect him.

9) Jeff Stepien

Jeff was my neighbor back in the day. He was a really good saxophone player, and he also played the drums. He teaches music now in one of the Syracuse school districts - possibly Manlius - and I think he might be in a band as well. I'm not really sure because I haven't talked to him in awhile. Well, actually, I saw him about a month ago, but it was a pretty quick conversation and I can't remember exactly what he said he was doing these days.

10) The Hummingbirds Outside My Parents' House

They're always waking me up on Saturday mornings with their chirping. In fact, if they wake me up before 10AM tomorrow, I'm probably going to get out the pellet gun and show them what's up. That said, they really know how to hold a high A.

Honorable mention: Grace Jones, Jimmy Van Heusen, Indicies, Anyone who has ever played "Party in the Plaza"

How does one little city in Central New York produce so much talent? We may never know.

Up next week: Rochester!