{"id":15949,"date":"2025-02-04T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/315music.com\/?p=15949"},"modified":"2025-02-04T00:07:12","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T05:07:12","slug":"2025-sammys-hall-of-fame-class-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/315music.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/04\/2025-sammys-hall-of-fame-class-announced\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 SAMMYS Hall of Fame Class Announced"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The 32nd edition of the Syracuse Area Music Awards<\/a> will take place Friday, March 7 at the Palace Theatre<\/a> in Eastwood, beginning at 7:00 pm. Preceding the awards show, the annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony and dinner will be held at a new venue, the Beer Hall at Middle Ages Brewing Company<\/a> on Thursday, March 6, also at 7:00 pm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organization announced its 2025 Hall of Fame class, special award winners, and nominees across 13 categories Tuesday morning at Subcat Studios. The event was live streamed through their Facebook page, which you can watch here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year’s Hall of Fame class includes one of the area’s premiere bands of the ’70s and ’80s, who will also be reuniting for a performance at the awards show on March 7; a Syracuse watering hole that has hosted live, local music for 55 years; a Syracuse area studio owner, producer, and educator; another legendary band that spawned two of the area’s most prominent vocalists; a music educator who leads the Pride of Syracuse City School District Field\/Marching Band; and a recording engineer who worked on Michael Jackson’s biggest albums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SAMMYS 2025 Hall of Fame Class:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alecstar<\/a><\/strong> recorded their first single \u201cTaking It Over\u201d on their own Smart Alec label in 1979. In the spring
of 1982 they released their self titled LP. Two years later the band released a highly unique picture disc,
which featured a photo of the band underneath a see through 45 rpm vinyl disc.
During the bands tenure, Alecstar has opened for many of the major acts of the day, including Boston,
Foghat, Eddie Money, Ronnie Montrose, Pat Benetar, The Guess Who, Johnny Winter and others.
Alecstar played its last show as a gigging band in January of 1985.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Shifty\u2019s<\/strong><\/a> opened in 1969, as a small corner bar and hasn\u2019t changed much since. It replaced Wysocki\u2019s which had been open since 1917, including during prohibition. Adding great live music and awesome food along the way, Shifty\u2019s has become a destination for those looking to relax and enjoy some of the best live bands Central New York has to offer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current owners are Ron Schultz and Vicky Richardson, and are the 5th set of owners that have kept the name Shifty\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Education and innovation have been the driving forces behind Keck\u2019s extensive career in music. Keck studied music at Onondaga Community College and Syracuse University. For 25 years, he taught the best and brightest percussion musicians in the Central New York area, gaining notoriety as one of the region\u2019s premiere instructors. In fact, Ron has become known as a world class snare drummer, holding several world champion snare drumming titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Keck was one of the first to embrace computer technology in music production in the 1980. He edited and mastered audio for 13 years, until founding SubCat Studios<\/a> in the fall of 2001. His broad equipment and wiring knowledge led him to design and develop SubCat\u2019s studios located in Armory Square, Syracuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wilkesbury Brigade<\/a> was born in 1969 in an old unheated garage on a remote country road in the town of Cicero. Members of the group changed frequently during the first two years. In 1971-72, Wilkesbury Brigade was graced by having two of the finest vocalists in music in the band at the same time, Dan Elliott and Ronnie Leigh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Late 1972 saw the biggest changes in the group, as Warren Paschetto took over lead guitar duties and
Tommy \u201cWoody\u201d Forest (formerly with The Monterays, Saints and Sinners, and The Seven) replaced
the departing Elliott and Leigh. These changes created what became Wilkesbury Brigade\u2019s classic line-up. Only one other change occurred, and that was in 1975 when drummer Brian Meegan replaced Mike Campbell, who joined The Alligators. During this prime four-year period, they performed almost every Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beginning in early 1972, Wilkesbury Brigade and the famous live band club on Old Liverpool Road in Liverpool, The Poor House North, were synonymous cornerstones of the Central New York rock and roll scene. The band performed there every Saturday night for over 200 consecutive weeks to huge crowds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Holly McCoy, the 2025 Music Educator of the Year, started her music education at Onondaga
Community College. She then earned her Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Nazareth University. She has 28 years of public teaching experience, including teaching in instrumental, vocal, and general music. Being the director of the Syracuse City School District\u2019s Henninger High School Concert Band, Marching Band, Jazz Band, and the new Pride of Syracuse City School District Field Band\/Marching Band, has been her dream come true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McCoy serves as Brass Adjudicator for NYSSMA, New York State Band Directors Association\u2019s Treasurer,
Large School 3 Representative for the New York State Field Band Conference, and New York State
Representative of the Women Band Directors\u2019 Association. She has also presented at NYSSMA, NYSBDA, and NAfME conferences, the Midwest Clinic, and local workshops. Her topics include urban education, classroom management, personalized learning, mentorship, brass, and percussion. On the other side of the podium, she performs on the horn with the Central Winds, a Music Educators\u2019 Wind Ensemble, and other community groups. She also plays in local school musicals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient is Matt Forger. Forger began in the music business by mixing live sound for rock bands in Syracuse. He also designed and built sound systems and studios. After moving to LA, and getting a job at Westlake Studios, he met and worked with producers Giorgio Moroder, Keith Forsey, Harold Faltermeyer, and George Duke. This was followed by the opportunity to work with Quincy Jones, Rod Temperton, and Bruce Swedien, and become part of Jones’ \u201cA-Team.\u201d He worked on the Michael Jackson film \u201cGhosts\u201d with director Stan Winston. He also re-mastered and added bonus tracks to the \u201cSpecial Edition\u201d albums of Michael Jackson\u2019s \u201cOff the Wall,\u201d \u201cThriller,\u201d \u201cBad,\u201d and \u201cDangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He collaborated with Michael Jackson on the \u201cThriller\u201d album. He also worked on the \u201cE.T. Storybook Album\u201d with producers Quincy Jones and Steven Spielberg. He then worked with director John Landis on Jackson\u2019s \u201cThriller\u201d video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forger works in the LA singer\/songwriter community with new artists. He also consults on the creative recording arts. The basis for his work is the emotional content of the recording. \u201cRemembering that music is a form of emotional communication is important,\u201d he says, \u201cToo many people view recording as a technical experience. It is important to understand technology and be able to control it, but it\u2019s the music at center stage. It\u2019s the song people remember, not the recording system.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is also recording in a classic format called \u201creality recording.\u201d This is a live-to-2-track style. It uses a carefully placed stereo mic and a high-quality signal path. It is to capture a performance and put the listener there to share the experience. \u201cIt is especially well suited to acoustic performances and elegant in its simplicity,\u201d explains Forger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tickets for the Hall of Fame dinner and SAMMY Awards ceremony are available through the SAMMYS website<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newschannel 9’s Bridge Street<\/a> program is also spotlighting several SAMMY Award winners and nominees weekly at 10 am. Artists scheduled to perform: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jan 31 \u2013 Emma Jude with Seth Owen Becker (Watch that performance here<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feb <\/a>7 \u2013 Queeto<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feb 14 \u2013 Transient Kicks<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feb 21 \u2013 Pride of Syracuse: Syracuse City School District Marching Band<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feb 25 \u2013 Irv Lyons Jr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mar 7 \u2013 Alecstar<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 32nd edition of the Syracuse Area Music Awards will take place Friday, March 7 at the Palace Theatre in Eastwood, beginning at 7:00 pm. Preceding the awards show, the annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony and dinner will be held at a new venue, the Beer Hall at Middle Ages Brewing Company on Thursday, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,4,11,109],"tags":[5201,5226,5780,3535],"class_list":["post-15949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-central-ny","category-features","category-news-desk","category-syracuse","tag-bridge-street","tag-hall-of-fame","tag-sammys-2025","tag-syracuse-area-music-awards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/315music.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/315music.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/315music.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/315music.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/315music.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/315music.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/315music.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/315music.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/315music.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/315music.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}